Asia in Transition

Bonds of Commerce: The Asian Sea Trading Network, c.1500 Asian sea trading network broken out into 3 zones: Arab zone anchored on the glass, carpet, and tapestry making Islamic heartlands India with cotton textiles dominated the central portions of the system China- paper, porcelain, silk – formed the eastern pole Raw materials- highest prices paid for spices from Indonesia (Ceylon)

2 characteristics that made European domination possible: No central command of the system Military force was usually absent from commercial exchanges within it

Trading Empire: The Portuguese Response to the Encounter at Calicut Portuguese had little to trade with the Asians, so they had to resort to take by force what they couldn’t get by trade Europeans had superior weaponry and ships to do this 1502 da Gama returned to Asian waters and forced ports on the African and Indian coasts (Egyptian-Indian attack was defeated) and turned them into tribute ports to a Portuguese regime 1507 Europeans strove to capture towns and build fortresses at a number of strategic ports: Ormuz, Goa, Malacca Ships and naval stations became key components of the empire Portuguese monopoly and licensing system was intended to give Portugal sizable control of the network

Portuguese Vulnerability and the Rise of the Dutch and English Trading Empires By the end of the 16 th century they were losing their foothold Dutch war fleet superior and in early 17 th century captured critical Portuguese port at Malacca and built new port in 1620 at Batavia (on Java) Dutch strategy was to control key spices, like cinnamon and pepper, and not the whole network as the Portuguese had tried to do English tried to get this but didn’t and were forced to concentrate on India Dutch trading empire similar to Portuguese (fortified towns and factories, monopoly of products). They also uprooted competition Ultimately, they found it more successful to peacefully integrate into the system, so they adopted more peaceful trading patterns British would copy this model in India

Going Ashore: European Tribute Systems in Asia European ships and guns superior and allowed them to dominate the seas but once inland they couldn’t defeat the native forces and often reduced to kowtowing or humbling themselves in front of more powerful leaders Spanish failure at Mindanao demonstrates the limits of European power Tribute systems they did set up were similar to the Spanish systems in New world- European overlords let indigenous people live in their own settlements and they didn’t interfere as long as their leaders met the tribute quota

Spreading the Faith: The Missionary Enterprise in South and Southeast Asia Missionary zeal of Roman Catholicism of the Spanish and Portuguese (not the Protestant Dutch and English) Missionaries surprised at Hinduism, Islam’s strength From 1540s missionaries in India successful – Francis Xavier- ministered to the poor and untouchables and was able to win converts Robert di Nobili tried to convert the upper-caste Hindus but was unsuccessful Christianity relatively successful in the Philippines (but the Philippines didn’t have the Muslim and Buddhist exposure). Many converted because they had no choice- not because they understood Christianity Much of pre-conquest life in Asia was maintained

Ming China: A Global Mission Refused Zhu Yuanzhang- founder of Ming dynasty declares himself Hongwu (emperor). He had very humble beginnings His goal was to rid China of any traces of Mongol influence

Another Scholar-Gentry Revival Zhu suspicious of scholar-gentry but knew he needed their cooperation, so he reinstated the examination system and scholars were appointed to high government posts During Ming era examination system routinized and made more complex

Reform: Hongwu’s Efforts to Root Out Abuses in Court Politics Got rid of position of chief minister and transferred those powers to himself in order to put a check on scholar-gentry’s power Public beatings for corruption and misdeeds Emperor’s wives must come from humble family origins Got rid of Mencius’s writings

A Return to Scholar-Gentry Social Dominance Introduced measures to improve the lot of common people Growing power of rural landlord families Continued subordination of youths to elders and women to men- women and youth forced underground Plight of women still grim- spent lives trying to be part of the court

An Age of Growth: Agriculture, Population, Commerce, and the Arts First decades- buoyant economic growth, population boom, contacts with other civilizations (maize, sweet potatoes, peanuts from Spanish and Portuguese in New World) Renewal of commercial growth. China had goods everyone wanted and they ended up with a lot of silver. Macao and Canton- only ports officially allowed to trade- merchants, of course, reaped largest benefits Fine art Literature- full development of the Chinese novel The Water Margin, Monkey and The Golden Lotus

An Age of Expansion: The Zhenghe Expeditions Under Yonglo (3 rd Ming emperor) series of expeditions admiral Zhenghe led seven major expeditions

Chinese Retreat and the Arrival of the Europeans 1390 first imperial edict limiting Chinese overseas commerce Ming war fleet declined Christian missionaries meanwhile infiltrated Chinese coastal areas Need to impress Chinese with scientific knowledge- educated Jesuit scholars like Matteo Ricci and Adam Schall were sent to spend time in Beijing

Ming Decline and the Chinese Predicament By late 1500s Ming retreat from overseas expeditions Incompetent rulers in last two centuries Desperate peasant population, which was taken advantage of Foreign threats by nomadic peoples from beyond the Great Wall Japanese pirate attacks in 16 th century 1644 dynasty toppled by rebels within it

Fending off the West: Japan’s Reunification and the First Challenge By 16 th century daimyo stalemate and recurring civil war so entrenched that it too three military leaders to restore unity Nobunaga- 1 st leader- first daimyo to use extensive use of firearms that the Japanese had begun to acquire from the Portuguese in 1540s When Nobunaga died, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, his ablest general, took over By 1590 he was the military master of Japan but had grander visions of taking over other parts of Asia and invaded Korea twice in 1592 and 1597 but to no avail Tokugawa Ieyasu came to power and began the Tokugawa Shogunate Capital at Edo

Why does a caged bird not sing? “I’ll make it sing.”- Oda Nobunaga “I’ll kill it if it doesn’t sing.”- Toyotomi Hideyoshi “I’ll wait until it sings.”- Tokugawa Ieyasu

Dealing with the European Challenge From 1543 onward had to deal with Europeans Missionary success (partly because Nobunaga saw Buddhist orders as threat to his own power, so he protected them) Initial curiousity about firearms By early 1580s many converts but new religion threatened social order

Japan’s self-imposed Isolation Late 1580s restriction on foreign activities Christians kicked out, people told to convert, faith was banned in foreign traders confined to handful of cities and in 1630s all Japanese ships forbidden to sail overseas Deshima- island in Nagasaki Bay where trade was still allowed By mid-17 th century isolation complete School of National Learning – laid emphasis on Japan’s unique historical experience