To properly consider the impact of integrating with the global economy on China, Japan, India and Southeast Asia, it is useful to first define the global economy. When did it come into being? Frank (1998) posits that a global economy had existed since the start of the thirteenth century. Although financial flows were limited, there was a burgeoning exchange of commodities between Asian and European economies. Of the Asian economies, China and India stood out for the extensiveness of their trade links and magnitude of their trade volumes. Both countries traded with Southeast Asia, the Islamic world, the Mediterranean and European countries. In addition, China traded with the Middle East and North Africa.
However, while the extant global economy in 1500 spanned three continents, it could not considered truly global until the America had properly joined it. Flynn et al. (1995) place the birth of global trade in 1571 – the year the city of Manila was founded and a permanent and direct trade link between the America and Asia consequently established. It marked the beginning of an era in which all important populated continents exchanged goods continuously and in volumes of significant value. Integration with the global economy meant an actor making the move from a regional stage, to playing any or more than one of a few roles in the global arena – producer or consumer of commodities, products, money or services or that of entrepôt.
Within Asia, the main participants in the global economy were China, India, Japan and Southeast Asia. Each exported commodities and goods, which were sought after overseas, in exchange for foreign commodities and goods. China was famed for its exports of porcelain and silk. These were much sought after as ...
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Stewart Gordon is an expert historian who specializes in Asian history. He is a Senior Research Scholar at the Center for South Asian Studies at the University of Michigan and has authored three different books on Asia. Gordon’s When Asia Was The World uses the narratives of several different men to explore The Golden Age of medieval Asia. The fact that this book is based on the travels and experiences of the everyday lives of real people gives the reader a feeling of actually experiencing the history. Gordon’s work reveals to the reader that while the Europeans were trapped in the dark ages, Asia was prosperous, bursting with culture, and widely connected by trade. This book serves to teach readers about the varieties of cultures, social practices, and religions that sprang from and spread out from ancient Asia itself and shows just how far Asia was ahead of the rest of the world
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China has gone through many changes in its history. Changes include economic, political, and social. In the early 1500 and throughout history, mostly all social classes followed Confucianism. Confucianism is a type of religion based on an ideal society (Chang 2012, 22). China was molded though Confucianism but that slowly deteriorated as years went on. One main group that has been a main part in these changes is the Chinese literati. The Chinese literati include the higher-class people such as officials and scholars. The Chinese literati were the dominant social class during the 1500’s but their power slowly decreased throughout history. Throughout my paper, I will explain the Chinese literati involvement as centuries passed.
The introduction outlines the author’s argument that after European influence Southeast Asia became highly compartmentalized, whereas they area was previously maintained and controlled by three dynasties. The following chapters examine a powerful region prior to British invasion (Siam), and after (the Malay Peninsula). “Siam, 1767-1868” focused on how the Siamese state achieved a newfound dominance in Southeast Asia prior to intervention from outside European forces. The chapter on the Malay Peninsula tells a similar, but different story. This chapter focused on the last portion of the eighteenth century, and how it was shaped by conflict and turmoil from different sources attempting to assert dominance over the
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The imperial realms of East Asia before the 19th century were largely based on the theory that Asian countries were far better than their neighbors in the West. The nonchalant manner portrayed by East Asian countries towards western technology and culture led China to become unknowledgeable of the Western empires. As a result, China was astonishingly impacted by imperialism from Great Britain during the 1800’s. During the 18th century Great Britain had set up trade off the coast of the Chinese borders to trade British silver for China’s soft silks, fine porcelain, and strong teas. During this period Qing officials overlooked the foreign brokers. By the early 1800’s, however, Great Britain b...
The Kingdom of Thailand, formerly known as Siam, has been one of the major countries in Southeast Asia that was influenced by Westerners during and after the imperialism period despite the fact that the country itself has never been under European colonial rule. Western technology and education were integrated into Siam’s business and tecnology, leading to a new era of modernization. Due to the increasing demand for foreign goods and workforce of the royal family, Chinese merchants and labors gathered themselves into Siam to serve the palace as well as to seek better job opportunities. This paper aims to argue that throughout the late 19th century to the 20th century, Chinese people had made a significant impact on Siam industrial economy and its technology adaptation from the Western countries.
Southeast Asia has been controlled by Imperialistic powers since 1400s. These nations become prized for the various countries natural resources, strategic location, and the new markets to be found. The geographical locations become one of the most important factors that lead to the development of each country separately. As we reach the 19th and 20th century, European, American and Asian imperialism still has its claws deep in Southeast Asia. Imperialists are the ones who decide and shape the nation’s leading them down the path to where they are now. Their location to other Southeast nations becomes another reason of interest, which eventually lends a hand in forming a nation.
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...cal Continuities." Module 2: Timeline East Asia: Historical Continuities. The Ohio State University, n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2014.http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/bender4/eall131/EAHReadings/
During the twentieth century, the world began to develop the idea of economic trade. Beginning in the 1960’s, the four Asian Tigers, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, demonstrated that a global economy, which was fueled by an import and export system with other countries, allowed the economy of the home country itself to flourish. Th...
Our preliminary class gave a brief, yet detailed outline of major events affecting the East Asian region. Within that class, prompted by our limited geographical knowledge of Asia, we were given a fundamental explanation of the geographical locations of the various events taking place in the region. In subsequent classes, we were introduced to the major wars, political shifts, and economic interests which shaped Japan, China and Korea to what they are today. We examined the paradigm of pre-modern Japanese governance, the Shogunate, and the trained warriors which defended lord and land, Samurai. In addition, we examined the socio-economic classes of Medieval Japan, which included the Samurai, peasants, craftsmen, and the merchants. We also examined pre-1945 Japan’s policies toward foreign entities, notably the Sakoku Policy, which sought to expunge all foreign presence and commerce in an effort to protect its borders and culture. 1945, however, saw ...
Prasannan Parthasarathi, Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not : global economic divergence, 1600-1850, (Cambridge, 2011).