1. Relating Ming China and Tokugawa Japan to the ‘Big Picture ’ themes of 1450-1750.

2. Compare/Contrast Are there more similarities or differences between Ming China and Tokugawa Japan? Explain your answer.

3. Absolutism Hongwu removed chief minister position Established a bureaucracy Developed Imperial City and the Forbidden City Killed rivals, ruled through terror (public beatings) Civil service exam (stopped family connections) Chose imperial wives from humble families Limited number of eunuchs Censored writings Continued subordination of youth to elders and women to men Ieyasu created new capital at Edo. Led bureaucracy and controlled daimyo Ensured Tokugawa succession Banned Christianity (threatened loyalty to the shogun) Banned Western books Ensured rigid class structure Restricted foreign trade

6. Plantation System Introduction of new crops and crop rotation led to a surge in population growth. When public works projects failed and floods, droughts, and famines hit, local landlords built huge estates and took advantage of the peasants. Agriculture increased - improved farming techniques. The shogun was responsible for distributing rice (national crop). Farmers got the least and they were often tempted to defy shogun's orders and move to cities to engage in trade.

7. Gunpowder Civilizations Gunpowder cannons were used in the Mongol conquests of the 13 th century. The city walls of Beijing were designed to withstand an artillery attack and the Ming dynasty moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing because the hills around Nanjing were good locations for invaders to place artillery. Cannon technology in Europe outpaced that of China and these technological improvements transferred back to China through Jesuit missionaries who were put in charge of cannon manufacture by the late Ming and early Qing emperors. Introduced by the Europeans and the Japanese then manufactured firearms themselves - which revolutionized local warfare. Issued and strictly controlled by the government

8. Sea-Based Empires Under Emperor Yongle, expeditions between 1405-1423 to southeast Asia, Persia, Arabia, and East Africa under Zheng He. Did not continue Hideyoshi's overseas expansion plans (Korea), but concentrated internally.

9. Global Trade Chinese goods like paper, porcelain, and silks were in demand throughout Asia and Europe. Europeans were allowed to come to Macao and Canton to do business. Ming were active traders in Indian Ocean (major ports were Hangzhou, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou). Traded for silver with Europe and Japan. European traders exchanged firearms, clocks, and printing presses for Japanese silver, copper, and artisan products. By 1616, merchants confined to a few cities; by 1630 no Japanese ships sailed overseas; by 1640 only Dutch and Chinese ships could visit Japan to trade at Deshima Island. (Nagasaki)

10. Similarities Chinese Example Category Japanese Example ► Eunuch-dominated royal court court Centralized Bureaucracy ► Samurai evolved into bureaucrats bureaucrats ► Daimyo’s “Alternate Attendance” Attendance” ► Civil service exams ► Foot binding ► Patriarchal family structure Neo- Confucian values ► Social Hierarchy ► “Thinning the rice shoots” ► Limited foreign merchants, to Guangzhou/Macao to Guangzhou/Macao ► Peasants Agricultural econ. w/ limited trade ► Seclusion Edicts ► “Dutch Learning” 1/Yr @ Nagasaki/Deshima @ Nagasaki/Deshima ► Zheng He’s voyages ended, ships scrapped ships scrapped ► Gov’t considers techno- logical change “disruptive” logical change “disruptive” Cultural Insularity ► Native Learning ► “Floating Worlds” ► Christianity outlawed

11. Differences Chinese Example Category Japanese Example ► Eunuchs centuries old tradition, no children tradition, no children Centralized Bureaucracies ► Samurai former warriors ► Daimyo lived in Edo ½ of year year ► Buddhism part of social fabric fabric Neo-Confucian values ► Chen (Zen) Buddhism ► Shintoism part of Japanese culture culture ► Large territory w/ large population population ► Population grew rapidly Agricultural econ. w/ limited trade ► Severely restricted territory ► Terrace farming ► Impossible to isolate from trade w/ rest of world. (Silk trade w/ rest of world. (Silk Routes, Manila galleons) Routes, Manila galleons) Cultural Insularity ► Island empire ► Relatively small ► Seclusion Edicts not 100% successful. (Smuggling) successful. (Smuggling)