Portuguese traders reached China in 1514

The Ming allowed the Portuguese to build a trading post at Macao, near Canton.

European goods were inferior to Chinese products and the Chinese demanded payment in gold and silver.

Trade was supervised by imperial officials and Europeans had to sail away when the trading season ended.

A few Europeans, like Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci, made a positive impression on Ming China

Ricci learned to speak Chinese and adopted Chinese dress but had little success spreading religion.

The Ming dynasty was failing and in 1644, Manchu armies seized Beijing and made it their capital.

The Manchu set up a new dynasty called the Qing (“pure”) – two important rules were Kangxi and his grandson Qianlong.

Kangxi ruled for 61 years and spread Chinese power and culture into central Asia.

Qianlong ruled for 60 years, expanded China's borders, and ruled the largest area in China's history.

The Chinese economy grew, new crops from the Americas boosted farm output, and the population boomed

Handicraft industries grew and European demand for Chinese goods increased

Restricting foreign trade proved disastrous - in the 1800s China learned about western advances the hard way

Like China, Korea restricted outside contacts in the 1500s and 1600s and became known as the "Hermit Kingdom”

A Japanese invasion in the 1590s devastated the land of Korea

In 1636, the Manchus conquered Korea and Korea became a tributary state

The Portuguese reached Japan in 1543, followed by the Spanish, Dutch, and English

At first, Japan was more open to European missionaries like Francis Xavier than China

The Tokugawa shoguns became hostile and saw foreigners as agents of an invading force

They expelled missionaries and executed thousands of Japanese Christians

By 1638, the Tokugawas barred all western merchants, forbid Japanese travel abroad and outlawed the building of large ships

They permitted just one or two Dutch ships a year to trade at a small island in Nagasaki harbor

Japan maintained a policy of strict isolation until it was forced to reopen contacts with the western world in 1853