Early Modern Middle East and Asia

Mr. Stikes

SSWH11 Students will investigate political and social changes in Japan and in China from the seventeenth century CE to mid-nineteenth century CE.

a. Describe the policies of the Tokugawa and Qing rulers; include how Oda Nobunaga laid the ground work for the subsequent Tokugawa rulers and how Kangxi came to rule for such a long period in China.

b. Analyze the impact of population growth and its impact on the social structure of Japan and China.

JAPAN

Early Modern Middle East and Asia

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Geography of Japan

• Four main islands

– Hokkaido

– Honshu

– Shikoku

– Kyushu

Tokugawa Shogunate

• Changes in Society– Mobility?• 1586 – farmers

tied to land• 1587 – only

Samurai can carry sword

– Feudal system

eta

EMPEROR

Samurai

• Warrior Class

• ~ 7% of population (2 of 30 million)

Samurai

• Shogun – military leader, chief daimyo who controlled most of Japan

• Daimyo – local lords given control of land by the Shogun in return for service

DID YOU KNOW: Shogun was a title given by the Emperor of Japan. In theory, all land in Japan was owned by the Emperor and given out in return for support. However, in the Tokugawa Shogunate, the Emperor had little political power.

Samurai

• Lower samurai – served as soldiers, policemen and bureaucrats in the government

• Unemployed samurai (ronin) – lowest, soldiers for hire, teachers

Farmers• Mainly grew rice

• Life was difficult– Labor-intensive

Rice

• Cornerstone of economy

• Farmers would have to give ½ their crop to their daimyo

• Used to feed people, also to barter

Craftspeople & Merchants

• Craftspeople higher in social scale than merchants due to Confucian teachings

• Merchants had access to wealth– Difficulties?• Travel hard – no wheeled vehicles

Eta

• Outside social system– Tanners, Animal disposal, etc.

• Religious outcasts:– Buddhists – vegetarianism– Shinto – purification after touching dead things

“Warring States” Period

• Unrest in Japan– Local leaders (daimyo) fighting each other– No powerful central government

Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582)

• Attempts to unify Japan under his rule

• Ruthless– Mt. Hiei Monastery

• Embraced Western culture– Christianity– Firearms– Ironclad warships

• Assassinated by two of his generals

Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598)

• Successor to Oda Nobunaga– Finishes political

unification (1590)

Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598)

• Made social classes hereditary– 1588: Sword Hunt – Only samurai could be armed– Tied farmers to their land

(Taiko Land Survey 1583-1598)

• Invaded Korea

DID YOU KNOW: Both Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi were born as poor peasants. Hideyoshi’s fear of others like him likely led him to making social classes hereditary.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598)

• Relationship w/ West– Began as friend, gradually becomes strained due

to political threats of Spain/Christianity

– "Edict Prohibiting Forced Conversions“• 1587• Christianity denounced

Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598)

• Relationship w/ West– "Edict of Expulsion“• 1587• Limits Jesuit missionaries

– San Felipe (1596)• Shipwreck• Bickering between Jesuits and Franciscans leads to ban

of Christianity, crucifixions.– 26 Martyrs of Nagasaki

Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616)

• Finished work of unification

• Battle of Sekigahara (1600)– Last opponents defeated– Established supremacy

• 1603 – Made Shogun by the Emperor– Establishes the Tokugawa Shogunate

DID YOU KNOW: Neither Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi achieved the title of Shogun. Instead, each was given the title of kampuku, or regent.

Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616)

• Government centered at Edo– Becomes Tokyo

• Required daimyos to spend time in Edo (sankin kōtai or alternate attendance)– Wives and children permanently in Edo, daimyos

have to live their every other year– Attempt to keep others weakened & centralize

power

Edo

• Grows in stature

• Largest city in world by 1721, over 1,000,000 people

Sakoku (Isolation) • Policy enacted by Tokugawa Iemitsu between

1633-1639

• Illegal for foreigners to enter the country– Notable exception – Dutch in Nagasaki permitted

once per year

• Illegal for Japanese to travel outside of Japan without specific permission

• Lasts until middle of the 19th century

Summary

Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582)– Begins process of unification

Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598)• Builds structure of unified state

Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616)–Finishes process of unification

CHINA

Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)

• Known for arts:– The novel written in the vernacular, Wood-cut and

block-printing, porcelain (blue & white)

• Known for scholarship:– Dictionaries, encyclopedias

• Built/repaired Great Wall

DID YOU KNOW: The great Chinese explorer Zheng He explored the Indian Ocean during the reign of the Ming.

Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)

• Isolationism– China turned inward after Zheng He – limited size

of ships & interaction with foreigners

• Internal power struggles led to the Ming being conquered by the Manchu peoples from the north

DID YOU KNOW: The name Ming means “brilliant” in Chinese.

DID YOU KNOW: In 1421, the Ming Emperor Yong Le moved his capital to Cambaluc, renaming it Beijing. Beijing has remained the capital of China since then.

The Forbidden City in Beijing

The Dragon Throne of the Chinese Emperor

Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)

• Chinese name for Manchu invaders that conquer the Ming

• Beginning of dynasty marked by stability– 3 rulers ruled for 133 years

• Strict separation of Manchu and Chinese– No intermarriage, 1 Manchu and 1 Chinese for

major government jobs

Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)

• Required Chinese men to dress as Manchus

• Taxes lowered & infrastructure improved

DID YOU KNOW: Qing means “clear”

or “pure”

Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)

• Chinese population more than doubled between 1600 and 1800 – from 150 million to 350 million

• Agriculture became more diversified and more productive– Crops: Rice, cotton, silk

• Internal trade made the Chinese economy strong, although it was isolated from the rest of the world

Contact w/ Europeans

• Mainly kept around for scientific reasons

• Did not gain widespread converts, although a sizable minority did convert

Kangxi (r. 1662-1722)

• 8 years old when he comes to the throne

• Attempts to stabilize China– Wins over elite society

because he recruits scholars to come to his court

Kangxi (r. 1662-1722)

Vase from Kangxi period

Seal of the Kangxi Emperor, Kangxi period 1662—1722. Sandalwood, with cord of yellow silk. The Palace Museum, Beijing.

DID YOU KNOW: Kangxi initiated the writing of The Complete Collection of Illustrations and Writings of Ancient and Modern Times. This massive work, first published in 1762, contains over 800,000 pages and over 100,000,000 Chinese characters documenting all Chinese writing that was known at the time, including both prose and poetry. Not surprisingly, this is the largest encyclopedia ever made.

Qianlong (r. 1736-1799)• Expands borders of

China to their greatest extent

Growth of China

• Height of Qing dynasty politically and artistically

DID YOU KNOW: We are told that Qianlong himself wrote over 40,000 poems and 1,300 works of prose

Qianlong (r. 1736-1799)

• China as multiethnic– Han, Mongols, Tibetans, Manchus– Religious and Ethnic diversity– Problems today?

• The “Universal Ruler”– Regarded himself as ruler of the world

DID YOU KNOW: Qianlong ruled China at the same time George Washington was President of the United States

Qianlong

Note the different ways in which he was presented to each group in his empire