1. China and Tokugawa Japan and Korea

2. The Ming Dynasty
*before the 1400s China had sent out exploratory voyages- no goals of settling, colonizing or trading- after the mid 1400s, China stopped all of these voyages Ming Dynasty (overthrow of the Mongols) Ming Government- centralized government, vast bureaucracy- all civil servants had to pass a rigorous examination High producing factories and workshops, advanced canal systems to trade from North and South China (grain)

3. The Ming Dynasty
Zheng He (court official of Yong Le, the Emperor who moved the capital to Beijing and built the Imperial City (Forbidden Palace)- seven voyages of exploration
Reached East Africa- returned with many animals, food and information from the “outside” world
The voyages were halted due to the Confucian philosophy that trading activities were unworthy (What if????)
1514- Portuguese fleet arrived at Macao and Canton- “unusual form of Barbarians”

4. The Ming Dynasty
Portuegese had very little impact on Chinese society at first
Limited direct trade with China- the exchange of ideas was much more profound and unintentional- Christianity (Jesuits)- clocks, European eyeglasses
Reports from Europeans about China made people very curious and therefore increased the amount of travel to China
Late 1500’s- weak Ming rulers led to corruption and chaos- High taxes led to peasant unrest and environmental disasters- “there were few signs of human life in the streets and all that was heard was the buzzing of flies”
1644 Peasant overthrow of Beijing

5. The Qing Dynasty
pacified the countryside, corrected the social and economic ills and restored peace and prosperity
The Qing Dynasty was ruled by the Manchus, roughly 1% of the population of China- they became the nobility, large landowning and exempt from taxation (hmmm…)
The Manchus rulers allowed the Chinese to fill some of the lower levels of administration
Kangxi (Kong-See)- reigned for 61 years- patron of the arts, scholarly and highly tolerant of Christians- allowed some of his officials to become Catholic

6. Japan
Late 1400’s the Shogunate had collapsed and Japan was ruled by individual Daimyo, heads of noble families who controlled their own lands and warred with their neighbours. Late 1500s, a process of unification occurred- Tokugawa shoguns would remain in power from late 1500s to 1868 “Closed Country” policy- Portuguese traders arrived in 1543 and were welcomed- tobacco, clocks, eyeglasses and weapons 1549 Francis Xavier arrived converting many people however, part of the conversion involved destroying old shrines Shogun Hideyoshi prohibited all Christian activity within his lands

7. Japan
Soon European merchants were expelled, only a small Dutch community was allowed to stay
Taokugawa’s ruled using a feudal system- the daimyo were required to stay at the court of the shogun- their feudal lands were controlled by their family- therefore the samurai were no longer needed as warriors- many became the land managers of the daimyo
Trade and Industry at this time boomed as the old Confucian attitude towards trade was removed
Very strict class system- warriors, peasants, artisans and merchants- no intermarriage