China and Japan
From 1500 to 1800, China and Japan tried to politically and economically established their countries in very different ways. Japan fought war after war for a century before they changed their ways. China on the other hand slowly established a government and used education as a tool to be politically and economically strong. Japan would later do the same.
China was one of the most politically and economically strong countries during 1500 – 1800. The state was identified as family. It brought unity and integration. The political system was an expanded role of Confucianism. From 1500 – 1800, China was the most highly commercialized non-industrial society in the world. China had what is known as the perfected late imperial system. The two Dynasties that ruled China during this time period were Ming (1368 – 1644) and Ch’ing (1644 – 1911). They both had the same type of government, good familial and good educational system. The emperor was stronger than ever during Ming - Ch’ing. It made all-important and UN-important decisions. Below him were the Grand Secretaries. They made all decisions the Emperor did not want to make. The Ming and Ch’ing had an organization of offices, at the top was the military, censorate, and administrative branch, below them were six ministries. They ran a Confucianism political system. These were also Chinas last Dynasties.
During the ruling of Ming, population doubled from 60 million to 125 million. Food supply was on the same pace. They had their fare share of epidemics. The great plague of 1586 – 1589 and 1639 – 1644 killed 20% - 30% of the most populated areas. Ming re-populated open lands by re-settling villages and expanding water supply like the re-opening of the Grand Canal in 1415. Silk and cotton dominated the local markets. Silver was a dominate market in the mid 1600’s. It was imported from mines in Western Japan. Spanish Galleons brought Peruvian silver into China. This led to the opening of the private “Shensi Bank” branches to accommodate the transfer of funds. Rather than paying taxes in grain or labor, farmers would sell grain and cash crops and pay taxes in silver. Ming collapsed in 1644.
In the late 16th century, a Leader unified the Manchurian tribes, proclaimed a new Dynasty, and established a government. After the collapse of the Ming Dynasty, they took over and are know as the Ch’ing Dynas...
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...century due to taxes. Peasants would pay appoximently 33% of their annual income towards taxes. In return they would get military protection.
In the 17th century, Japan’s economy grew. The resources previously used for war were now used for land reclamation. This doubled agricultural production and doubled population from 12 million to 24 million. Some of the by products produced were, cotton, silk, indigo, and lumber. After the growth of the economy, commence also grew. Townsmen governed districts and Samurai watched over the cities. Services such as schools, police, and Firefighter companies were provided. Merchants provided moneychangers, pawn brokers, peddlers, small shops retail establishments, and wholesale merchants. In the early 18th century, Japan adopted Confucianism, which would put schools in every district.
In conclusion, China and Japan started out differently. Japan used war to establish unity and China use education and political growth. China was very strong in international trade; Japan was a secluded country. China grew slow and strong and Japan grew fast after the Warring States era. In the late 1800’s both countries were strong politically and economically.
In conclusion, Japan tried to isolate themselves, and China tried to compete with them, using their land, and excess of population. Documents one through ten were all about China, and documents eleven through sixteen was about Japan. Documents one, two, three, and seven was talking about if China was prepared for the European countries, and documents five, six, and nine talked about whether or not China compared to the European countries. Documents twelve, fourteen, and sixteen all talked about negative interactions between Japan and the European countries. So, as a total, I think that neither way from both China or Japan will work in the long run, but that they will recover from it.
...ther religions since they never really comitted to one main religion. Han China spread Confucianism by leading Confucius lives, they used Confucius ideas for their law codes and taught Confucius ideas to their children. The Confucian ideas spread by the Han helped rulers like Wudi have long reigns of power by embracing rule by morals and ethics. It also helped spread written exams as ways to determine peoples places and jobs in society based off of merit as opposed to putting anyone anywhere just to give people jobs. China also had a growing population of Daoists who believed in the power of nature. As time progressed both of their societies changed their religions. Rome slowly progressed from a basic Hellenistic polytheism to the once persecuted Christianity. Meanwhile China, which was mainly a Confucian and Daoist led society began to accept and embrace Buddhism.
From the time periods of 1900- 1950 changes like the emerge of the Communist Party and the end of the Qing Dynasty greatly affected China’s further construction of their government. Before, the rise of the Communist Party, China depended on the Dynastic cycle for centuries to govern. The cycle was used as a tool to replace failing dynasties with new families. As a result, of the decline of the Qing Dynasty
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Chinese and Japanese faced much internal conflict, but while China faced a combination of economic setbacks and political weakness, the Japanese were riddled with wars along their countryside. First, the Chinese emperor was too weak in comparison to his bureaucracy, which ended up making most of the decisions for the last Ming dynasty emperor. This was due to the emperor’s realization that having a title as Son of Heaven did not mean he had all the power of the empire. Instead he lived a laid back life where the bureaucrats vied for power and wealth amongst themselves and he merely managed them. Like the Chinese, the Japanese also saw elites battling it out for power, but this time on the battlefield with armies of samurai. These battles put Japan in a period much like the Warring States period in early Chinese history, where families fought and fought for power almost endlessly. The political weakness in China contributed to its economic failure as well. With no force to manage to seas, pirates were free to raid trade ships and villages along the coast line, weakening the Chinese economy that relied on a transport system to supply the country. These two major forces led to China’s fragmentation and eventual takeover by the Manchu. In contrast, the battles happening in Japan were not harmful to the economy as much as they were in China. This is due to the fact that the Japanese daimyos were independent...
China and Japan’s main differences in responding the Western invasion was that Japan accepted Westernization and China did not, which resulted in Japan becoming a modernized nation while China failed to do so. In order for China and Japan to keep their trade to a minimum, but also have a spread of trade goods that they wanted, each nation had opened one port specifically for trade; Guangzhou and Nagasaki, respectively (Fruhstuck, Lecture). Both countries had limited trade with the West and maintained isolation from around the sixteenth century to the late eighteenth century. China opened Guangzhou by the late seventeenth century but the western merchants that landed there had no rights or privileges and were confined to the borders ...
Japan and China reacted differently to the reforms of Imperialism. When put under pressure, Japan succumbed to the power of Western Imperialist ideas. Conversely, China, resisted for a long time. As a result, Japan had more technology, while China was unenlightened of the new advances. Japan also gained more respect from other countries, that China did not have.
In the middle of the 19th century, despite a few similarities between the initial responses of China and Japan to the West, they later diverged; which ultimately affected and influenced the modernizing development of both countries. At first, both of the Asian nations rejected the ideas which the West had brought upon them, and therefore went through a time period of self-imposed isolation. However, the demands that were soon set by Western imperialism forced them, though in different ways, to reconsider. And, by the end of the 19th century both China and Japan had introduced ‘westernizing’ reforms. China’s aim was to use modern means to retain and preserve their traditional Confucian culture. Whereas Japan, on the other hand, began to successfully mimic Western technology as it pursued modernization, and thus underwent an astounding social upheaval. Hence, by the year 1920, Japan was recognized as one of the world’s superpowers, whereas China was on the edge of anarchy.
To fortify their nations, Japan and the Ottoman Empire underwent modernization and reformations between 1850 and 1914. At the start of the reforms both regions efforts at modernization were defensive, and both regions adopted Western elements into their society. Nonetheless, Japan worked to become a more industrialized nation, dissimilar to the Ottoman Empire, which was unable to create an industrial economy or strong state. Differences are also apparent during this modernization where women in the Ottoman Empire experienced greater opportunities than women in Japan who were suppressed in both public and political life.
The Ming Revival In the mid-1300s, China was in turmoil. The Mongol Yuan dynasty was still in power, but disease and natural disasters had weakened the Mongol grip. Bandits and rebels roamed the countryside. In 1368, a Chinese rebel army overthrew the Mongols. The rebel leader, Zhu Yuanzhang (JOO yuwen-JAHNG), took power and established the Ming dynasty. In Chinese, the word Ming means “brilliant.”
It is seen that Japan while allowing these relations even against their better judgment were found to be better for it. China on the other hand suffered due to their resistance. Western powers fought their way in but it was fought every step of the way. While the treaties and agreements made by Japan weren’t done with terms favorable to its country, a dynamic economy was the result of it deciding to open itself back up to relations with the outside world. Japan had realized after the Meiji transformation period that if they wanted to become a world power much like those who had forced their ways on them, that they would have to welcome these powers and when they did many doors starting to open for them. These doors opening included establishing new industries and adopting new agriculture advancements. From the start China was in the mind set of defiance against any and all western influence. It didn’t stop the influence from coming but China went kicking and screaming the entire way. The country tried its best to reform and make effort to advance the country as challenged to do so by the west while trying to preserve Chinese customs and values. They tried valiantly to make themselves a super power like Japan had but they couldn’t find the right formula to make themselves strong enough and were
The Han Dynasty governed China for more than four hundred years. It rose to power in 206 BC and stayed until 220 AC. The Han Dynasty played a vital role in China’s development. This dynasty pioneered a political system and social structure that lasted in China for almost 2,000 years. The Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire were considered two of the most strongest civilizations at that time. The Roman Empire lasted from 27 BC to 393 AD. This empire changed the way Romans lived. The Romans made rapid advancements in science and technology. Both of these civilizations successfully took control of their countries. While they both have an abundant amount of similarities, they is an overwhelming amount of differences that set these two empires apart. The decline of these two civilizations were both caused by internal affairs. The Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire both ruled close to the same time span, they both had highly centralized political systems, and they both were the most advanced civilizations in their region of the world. Their similarities did not overshadow their differences however. The Roman Empire had a senate that served as their legislative body and in China, the emperors ruled over the city. The Han Dynasty implemented national equality, and used Confucianism thoughts to keep the country united, while the Romans divided their citizens into different social classes and kept ethic discrimination. While both civilizations had strong social class separators, the Roman Empire made their’s more apparent. Both civilizations were strong and advanced for their time, however, they both ruled their countries differently.
During the 19th Century, China and Japan each responded differently to western penetration. China was against industrializing and did not want to create an empire like those of the western empires. Japan however learned that if they wanted to survive they had to adopt the changes that the western empires were adopting. Japan began to create an industrialized society and soon became one of the major industrial powers. China went through many rebellions and finally decided to industrialize just enough to be able to fight off the western empires. However, they did not industrialize fast enough or big enough, and they could not defeat the west. Although they responded differently, both China and Japan were affected by western penetration economically,
East Asia from 1450-1750, including China, Japan, and Ming China, used many different strategies for empire and state building including taking voyages around the world to get ideas for their empire, having a good educational system and a strong, powerful government, including women in schooling and political events, having different views on religious freedoms and having a tough military.
... Imperialism. Their responses and actions to western imperialism would set a foundation for their future destiny in a world that was rapidly changing and moving forward, and leaving the traditional world behind. Both countries shared the fear of foreign influence, China continued to go against foreign influence and ultimately got taken over by western powers after being involved in four wars. On the other hand, Japan was more open to foreign influences and used it to their advantage. As a result, Japan had more technology, gained better understanding in political and moral ideas of western civilization. On the other hand China was against the new advances and couldn’t grow their nation as quick Japan did and was ultimately left behind. During this time of progressive change, one nation seized the opportunity to change and adapt quick enough while the other didn’t.
The main reason for the creation of the Ming Dynasty was the collapse of the