Geopolitics: Imperial Ages of China & Japan Chapter 11, Section 4
For HW (due Thursday) Reading and notes pgs 491-499. Remember the qualities of good notes Complete thoughts Well-organized Main ideas in complete sentences Historical details to support Analysis
China: Powerful Dynasties Dynastic rule Mandate of Heaven Son of Heaven Confucian based bureaucracy Isolation Middle Kingdom Influence over Korea & Japan Nomads are a constant threat Favorable trade balance Silk Road
Emperor Qian Long: Letter to George III, 1793 As your Ambassador can see for himself, we possess all things. I set no value on objects strange or ingenious, and have no use for your country's manufactures. This then is my answer to your request to appoint a representative at my Court, a request contrary to our dynastic usage, which would only result in inconvenience to yourself. It behoves you, O King, to respect my sentiments and to display even greater devotion and loyalty in future, so that, by perpetual submission to our Throne, you may secure peace and prosperity for your country hereafter. http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/qianlong.html
The Opium Wars (1839-1860) Europe looking to shift the balance of trade Opium used to shift trade deficit 1821: 4,500 chests (150 lbs of extract in each) smuggled into China 1830:30,000 chests 1838: 40,000 chests 1842: 2 million of 400 million Chinese use opium 1881: 130 million of 370 million use opium British easily defeated China, creating an internal breakdown.
Lin Zexu: Letter to Queen Victoria, 1839 The products that originate from China are all useful items. They are good for food and other purposes and are easy to sell. Has China produced one item that is harmful to foreign countries? I have heard that you are a kind, compassionate monarch. I am sure that you will not do to others what you yourself do not desire. The present law calls for the imposition of the death sentence on any Chinese who has peddled or smoked opium. Since a Chinese could not peddle or smoke opium if foreigners had not brought it to China, it is clear that the true culprits of a Chinese's death as a result of an opium conviction are the opium traders from foreign countries. If the merchants of your honorable country wish to enjoy trade with us on a permanent basis, they must fearfully observe our law by cutting off, once and for all, the supply of opium. Under no circumstance should they test our intention to enforce the law by deliberately violating it. You, as the ruler of your honorable country, should do your part to uncover the hidden and unmask the wicked.
Treaty of Nanjing (1842) China separated into Spheres of Influence
JAPAN 1600-1868 Tokugawa Shogunate Isolation, NOT stagnation Military rule under shogun No/very limited foreign presence
1868-1889 Meiji Restoration Restored emperor Industrialized Japan Shogun, daimyo and samurai disappear Industrialized Japan Needs raw materials Copied western styles Wants to be seen as powerful as western powers
1905 Russo-Japanese War
1931-1945 Militarism, Expansion and WWII
Post WWII Japan U.S. Occupation Democratization Japanese Economic Miracle Post WWII Japan
The Cold War (1945-1990s) JAPAN CHINA KOREA Post-war recovery Ally to the U.S. Democratic and capitalist CHINA Civil war (Nationalists vs. Communists) Becomes a communist nation in 1949 KOREA Divided by the USSR and U.S. 1950-1953 Korean War North Korea: isolated, dictatorship, poverty, nuclear threats South Korea: growth, wealthy trade nation
For HW (due Thursday) Reading and notes pgs 491-499. Remember the qualities of good notes Complete thoughts Well-organized Main ideas in complete sentences Historical details to support Analysis