East Asian (1400-Present Times)
Chapter 20
China
Mongol Dynasty- might all be questions
● The emergence of the Mongol dynasty dates to 1206
● Genghis Kahn was able to unify under his leadership all of the Mongol nomads
in the area
● The Mongol dynasty ruled portions of and then eventually all of China
● The Mongol empire was the largest land that ever existed
● Over time, unequipped leaders, struggle for power, and frequent rebellions
led to the fall of the Mongol empire
● The Mongol Empire fell in 1368
Ming Dynasty Founding/Geographic Accomplishments
● With the fall of the Mongol dynasty in 1368
● The founder of the new dynasty took the title Ming Hong Wu ( the Ming
Martial Emperor)
● This was the beginning of the Ming Dynasty which lasted from 1644
● Under Ming emperors, China extended its rule into the Mongolia and central
Asia
● Along the northern frontier, the Chinese strengthened the Great Wall and
made peace with the nomadic tribes that had troubled them for many
centuries.
The Great Wall of China
● The Great Wall of China was continuously built from the 3rd century BC to
17th Century Ad
● It was considered the great military project
● 13,171 miles long
● The workers from ancient times left their names on the bricks
● It is not once continuous line it breaks where lakes and mountains offered
protection
● No work had been done on the wall since 1644
Ming Dynasty Domestic Accomplishments - know this
● Ming Rulers ran an effective government using a centralized government
● They set up a nation-wide school system
● Manufactures goods were produced in workshops and factories in high
numbers
● New crops were introduced which greatly increased food production which
increases population
● The Ming rules renovated the Grand Canal, making it possible to ship grain
and other goods from southern to northern China
The Emperors of the Ming Dynasty
● Ming Hong Wu ruled from 1368-1398
● After his death, his son Yung Lee became emperor
● In 1406 Yong Le began construction of the imperial City in Beijing
● The Imperial City was created to convey power and prestige
● It is an immense complex of palaces and temples surrounded by six ½ miles
of walls
● Because it was off-limits to commoners, it was known as the forbidden city
The Ming Dynasty’s Decline
● After a period of prosperity and growth, the Ming dynasty gradually began
to decline
● During the late 16th century internal power struggles led to a period of
government corruption
● High taxes due to the corruption led to peasant unrest
● 1630s a major epidemic greatly reduced population numbers the suffering
eventually led to a peasant revolt
● The revolt began in central China and then spread to the rest of the country
● In 1644 peasant forces occupied the capital of Beijing
● When the capital fell the last Ming emperor committed suicide in the palace
gardens- cut himself across the stomach with a sword (custom)
Ms. McGinley’s Notes
● Manufacturing
● School system
● New crops- food production- people
● Renovated the Grand Canal (spread goods quickly and efficiently)
● Last ones to work on the Great Wall of China
● Created the Imperial City (only government officials/close to the emperor
could enter)- the Forbidden City (Beijing)
The Qing Dynasty
After the Overthrow of the Ming Dynasty
● The overthrow created an opportunity for the Manchus
● The Manchus were a farming and hunting people who lived northeast of the
great Wall in an area known as Manchuria
● The forces of the Manchus declared the creation of a new dynasty
● The called the dynasty Qing
● The dynasty was created in 1644 and remained in power until 1911
How the Qing dynasty had Threats in the Beginning
● Some Chinese resisted their new rulers and seized the island of Taiwan
● In order to identify, the rebels, the government ordered all males to adopt
Manchu dress and hairstyles
● They had to shave their foreheads and braid their hair into a pigtail
● Those who refused were assumed to be rebels and were executed
The Qing Dynasty Starts to thrive
● Gradually accepted as legitimate rulers, the Qing flourished under a series
of strong early rulers who pacified the country
● The leaders corrected serious social and economic problems and restored
peace and prosperity
● The Qing Dynasty kept the same political system as the Ming Dynasty
The Qing Dynasties Top Ruler
● Kangxi (KONG-SHI) who ruled from 1661-1722 was considered the greatest
of the emperors who ruled China during the Ming and Qing dynasties
● A person with political skill and strong character
● Kangxi calmed the unrest along the northern and western frontiers by force
● Patron of the arts he gained a lot of support from Chinese scholars
Kangxi and His Trading Practices
● In 1689, during Kangxi’s reign China and Russia came to an agreement on
trade
● The both signed the Treaty of Nerchinsk
● This treaty established a good trade relationship between the 2 empire
○ stopped Russia’s push east, ended the frontier wars, and established
trade between the two empires
● Who was the Czar of Russia at the time?
○ Peter the Great
● This treaty gave Russia special trading status with the Qing
● Other European powers were limited to only trade at certain ports
The Qing Dynasty Starts to Show Weakness
● Under the Qianlong who ruled from 1736-1795 the Qing Dynasty
experienced the greatest period of prosperity
● It also reached its greatest physical size
● However, as the emperor grew older, he fell under the influence of
destructive elements at court
● Corrupt officials and higher taxes led to unrest in rural areas
● Population growth also exerted pressure in the land and led to economic
hardships
● Central China's unhappy peasants launched a revolt known as the White
Lotus Revolt (1796-1804)
● The revolt was suppressed, but the expenses of the war weakened the Qing
Dynasty
The Fall of the Qing Dynasty and the Rise of
Modern China
1st cause of the Decline of the Qing Dynasty - Western Influence
● The Ships, guns, and ideas of foreigners highlighted the growing weakness
of the Qing Dynasty
● By 1800, Europeans had been in contact with China for more than 200 years
● Wanting to limit contact with outsiders, the Qing Dynasty had restricted
European merchants to a small trading outlet
● The merchants could deal with only a few chinese firms
● The British did not like this arrangement
Qing Dynasty Decline Western Influence (Trading)
● Britain had an unfavorable trade deficit with China
● Britain imported more goods from China than it exported from China. Britain
had to pay china with silver for the difference
○ Import: tea,silk porcelain
○ Export: Indian Cotton
● THe British tried to negotiate with the Chinese to improve the trade
imbalance (by making it western)
● Negotiations soon failed and the British turned to trading opium
The Opium War
● Opium was grown in northern India under the sponsorship of the British East
India Company and then shipped directly to Chinese markets
● Opium is a highly addictive drug and the demand for it in South China jumped
dramatically
● Silver was flowing out of China over to the British East India Company
● The Chinese reacted strongly and appealed the British government to stop
the traffic of opium
Opium War Escalates to Violence
● The British refused to halt their activity
● As a result, the Chinese blockaded the small trading outlet and forced
traders to surrender their opium
● The British responded with force starting their Opium War (1839-1842)
● The Chinese were no match for the British and after the British went
unopposed through the rivers of China the Qing Dynasty made peace
The Treaty of Nanjing 1842
● In the Treaty of Nanjing the Chinese agreed to open five coastal ports to
british trade
● The Chinese limited taxes on imported British goods
● And the Chinese would pay the costs of the war
● China also agreed to give the British ownership of the island of Hong Kong
which the British would have ownership of till 1997
○ 99 years
● Nothing was said in the treaty about the opium trade.
Hong Kong and Western Influences
● The five ports, Europeans lived in their own sections and were subject not to
Chinese laws but their own laws
● The practice is known was extraterritoriality
● The Opium War marked the beginning of the establishment of Western
influence in China
● Soon thriving foreign areas were operating in the five treaty ports along the
southern Chinese coast.
Hong Kong Present time
● The British only leased Hong Kong from the Chinese with the Treaty of
Nanjing
● With the lease nearing its end in the late 20th century the Chinese would
not consider extending the lease any further
● With the signing of a joint-declaration in 1984 Britain agreed to hand over
Hong Kong if the economic and social systems remained unchanged for 50
years
● With the signing of the declaration the British government handed over
Hong Kong in 1997
● However, the Chinese government went back on their word
Internal Conflicts Among the Qing Dynasty
● While the Qing Dynasty was dealing with the pressures of western influence
and trade internal struggles continued in the Qing Dynasty
● Peasant rebellions and a devastating civil war from 1850-1864 weakened the
Qing Dynasty even further
● While the internal civil war was taking place France and Britain applied to
gain greater trade privileges
● As a result, in 1858 the Chinese agree to legalize opium trade and open even
more ports in China to foreign trade
After All the struggles the Qing Dynasty tries to Reform
● By 1870, in it s weakened state, the Qing court finally began to listen to the
appeals of reform- minded officials
● THe reformers called for a new policy
● This policy was called Self-Strengthening - China would adopt western
technology but keep its Conducian values and institutions
● Some reformers wanted to completely change China’s political climate and
proposed democracy
● However, those ideas were too radical for the reformers
● During the last quarter of the 19th century, the Chinese government tried
to modernize China’s military forces and build up industry (weapons,
factories, railroads, and shipyards)
● Without touching the basic elements of Chinese civilization
Qing Dynasty (1880-1900)
● Over the next two decades the Qing dynasty dealt with problems domestic
and abroad
● 1894 brought a war with Japan where the Chinese were easily defeated.
● Internal struggles continued in 1898 with the emperor of the Qing dynasty
trying to reform themselves copying military and cultural tactics of the west
● Leaders among the Qing Dynasty could not find common ground with How to
reform themselves for the better
● With all these struggles both Great Britain and the United States feared
other nations would overrun the country should the Chinese government
collapse.
Open Door Policy
● In 1899, the US secretary of state wrote a note to Britain, France,
Russia, Germany, Italy, and Japan proposing an idea.
● That idea was an open door policy- all powers with spheres of influence
in China would respect equal trading opportunities with China and not set
tariffs giving an unfair advantage to the citizens of their own country.
● The policy essentially lessened Britain, France, Germany, and Russia’s
fears that other powers would take advantage of China’s weakness and
attempt to dominate the chinese market for themselves
The Boxer Rebellion
● The Open Door Policy came too late to stop the Boxer Rebellion
● Boxers were members of a secret organization called the Society of
Harmonious Fists
● The Boxers were upset by economic distress and foreign takeover of
Chinese lands
● In the beginning of the 1900s’ boxer bands roamed the countryside
slaughtering foreign missionaries and foreign business people.
● Response to the killings was quick an allied army of 20,000 British, French,
German, American, and Japanese troops restored order in China
● The imperial government was now weaker than ever
The Final Collapse of the Qing Dynasty
● The first signs of revolution in China were seen in 1890 when young radical
Sun Yat-sen believed that the Qing Dynasty was in state of decay and could
no longer govern the country
● Yet-sen believed that unless the Chinese were united under a strong
government . they would remain at the mercy of other countries
● In October 1911, followers of Sun Yat-sen launched an uprising in central
China
● The Qing Dynasty finally collapsed in 191
Aftermath of the Qing Dynasty Collapse
● In the eyes of Sun Yat-sen's party the events if the 1911 uprising were a
glorious revolution that ended 2000 years of imperial rule
● However, the 1911 uprising was hardly a revolution it produced no new
political or social order
● After the collapse of the Qing Dynasty the military took over
● Eventually by the mid 1916 China had fell into a civil war the power of the
central government disintegrated and military warlords seized power in the
provinces
● The soldiers caused massive destruction throughout China
● By 1928, China had unified and became the National Government of the
Republic of China or just the Republic of China and they would last until 1928
Japanese Affairs
Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)
● In the early years of World war II Japan made itself known as a world
power and preyed on the vulnerability of the Chinese
● The Japanese exploited these vulnerabilities by trying to take territory in
mainland China
● Japan's first tactic was to take capital cities within China
● The Japanese were successful as they seized the cities of Bejin and
Shanghai by 1937
● Next Japan took aim to capture the city of Nanking (Nanjing)
● The Sino-Japanese war historians believe to be the first step of World War
II in Asia and is known for the atrocities and war crimes the Japanese
committed against innocent Chinese people
Japan invades Nanking
● The chinese fearful of losing more soldiers in battle ordered for the
immediate removal of soldiers from Nanking
● China wanted Nanking held at any cost therefore, they forbade the
evacuation from the citizens of Nanking
● Sensing the trouble a small group of western doctors, missionaries, and a
Nazi officer developed Nanking Safety Zone to help civilians (roughly the
size of Central Park)
● On December 1, 1937 the Chinese government abandoned Nanking and left to
be run by the Safety Zone committee
Rape Of Nanking (December 1937- February 1938)
● On December 13th the first Japanese troops will enter Nanking.
● Through cultural misinformation the japanese people did not see the Chinese
as their equals and saw them as less
● Because of this cultural background Nanking will be forgotten holocaust
committed during World War l
● Chinese soldiers were hunted down and killed by the thousands leaving them
in mass graves.
● Entire families were executed including women, elderly, and infants
● Japanese looted and burned at least ⅓ of all Nanking’s buildings
● Between 20,000-80,000 Chinese women were raped by the japanese
soildiers.
Japan ignores the Safety Zone
● Initially, Japanese soldiers respected the international safety zone on
Nanking
● Eventually, the Japanese would want those Chinese refugees hidden in the
safety zone
● By January 1938, the Japanese declared that order had been restored to
the city and dismantled the safety zone
● The western committee members and doctors tried to save as many Chinese
refugees as they could but eventually some of the safety zone occupants
would be killed by the Japanese
● The killing and massacre continued until the first week of February 1938
● A puppet government made of the Japanese would be put on place in Nanking
until the Japanese surrendered in World War II in 1945
Communism Develops in China (1948- Present)
● At the end of World War II , two Chinese governments existed side by side
the Nationalist government set up in southern and central China, and the
Communists led by Mao Zwdong were based in Northern China
By the end of World War II, 20 to 30 million Chinese were living under
communist rule
● When efforts to form a coalition government in 1946 failed a full-scale civil
war broke out between the Nationalists and the Communists
● By 1938 the Communist army surrounded Beijing and soon occupied Shanghai
● During the next few months, the Nationalist Leaders fled to Taiwan
● On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong mounted the throne in Beijing and the
communist party took over China
Chinese Culture
Religion in Chinese Society
● Although sometimes characterized as a religion. Confucianism is more of a
social political philosophy than a religion
● “Confucianism is a philosophy and system of ethical conduct that since the
5th century B.C. had guided Chinese society”
● Confucianismm mainly addresses humanist concerns rather than things like
God revelation, and the afterlife
● Confucianism emphasizes tradition, respect for the elderly, hierarchical
social order, and rule by a benevolent leader who is supposed to look out for
the well being of the people
● Named after a Chinese sage named Confucius
● It contains elements of ancestor worship, which is why it sometime partly
regarded as a religion
● Today, China is officially an Atheist state
● But, the government formally recognizes these religions: Buddhism, Taoism,
Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam.
Chinese Culture (1600-1800) Family Life
● Chinese society was organized around the family
● The family, was expected to provide for its members’ needs including the
education of children, support of unmarried daughters, and care of the
elderly
● All family members were expected to sacrifice their individual needs to
benefit the family as a whole
● The ideal family unit was the extended family living under the same roof
● Chinese society holds elderly in high regard
● Beyond the extended family was the clan- which consisted of dozens, or
hundreds, of related family members
Chinese Culture Women
● Women were considered inferior to men in Chinese society
● Only males could have a formal education and pursue a career in government
● Women could not divorce or own property. The husband could divorce his
wife if she did not produce a son
● Men could also get remarried, and they were expected to take care of their
wives and children
Chinese Culture - Foot Binding
● A feature of Chinese society that restricted the mobility of women was the
practice of food binding
● Which was started in the 1279
● It started among the wealthy and eventually adopted among all classes
● Woman with bound feet were more marriageable
● An estimated ½ to ⅔ of the women in China bound their feet
Foot Binding Process
● The process began in childhood - 3-5 years old
● Process- Keep breaking the foot whenever it grew too large
● The feet would be bound for the rest of the girl’s life
● Very painful, woman’s feet would look like hooves
● Women (who had their feet bound) couldn’t walk; they were carried (if you
were wealthy)
● Foot Binding was banned- 1912
One Child Policy (1970s- 2015)
● One Child Policy was an official program inhibited in the late 1970s by the
Central Government of China
● The purpose was to limit the majority Chinese family units to one child each
in order to control population
● The Chinese government kept this policy strict using fear as a method by
burning down homes, issuing large fines, or forced sterilization to women
who were caught having more that an child
● Eventually this process led to consequences to the population in China
● It drastically skewed the se ratio in China to a male dominated population
● Why was it male dominated: Chinese culture Males were more in demand as
they would contribute more and inherit family names and property.
With the demand of women being low in Chinese society and the fact that
they could only have one child this led to many Chinese women aborting or
killing female infants to preserve their one child status.
