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History of East Asia > The Nineteenth Century 1840-1894 > Flashcards

The Nineteenth Century 1840-1894 Flashcards

1
Q

What were the two great ruptures in modern East Asian history?

A
  • The arrival of Western imperialism (Mid 19th century)
  • WWII and its aftermath (Mid 20th century)
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2
Q

East Asia before 1840

A
  • Sinocentric regional order (Japan isolated)
  • Stable political regimes
  • Relatively prosperous
  • All this will change completely in the 19th century
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3
Q

China: Qing Dynasty 1644-1911

A
  • Empire under Manchu rule
  • Centralised bureaucracy (scholar-officials)
  • Steady population growth
  • Important trade relations with Korea, Vietnam, and indirectly Japan
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4
Q

Japan: Tokugawa Shogunate 1600-1868

A
  • Feudal military government
  • Emperor in Kyoto as symbolic figurehead
  • Centralised bureaucracy (samurai)
  • Sakoku: relatively isolationist foreign policy
  • Trade relations with Korea, the Dutch, and indirectly China
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5
Q

Korea: Joseon Dynasty 1392-1910

A
  • Rule by Joseon kings
  • Centralised bureaucracy (yangban/scholar-officials)
  • Confucianism as state ideology
  • Tribute state to China, but fiercely independent
  • Trade relations with China and Japan
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6
Q

The Tributary System

A
  • Vassal states paid tribute to Chinese Empire in exchange for protection and recognition
  • Centered on the Chinese Emperor
  • Tribute = trade + diplomatic purposes
  • Joseon kings legitimised through Chinese recognition
  • Japanese rulers do not recognise Sinocentric hierarchy
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7
Q

The Challenge of the 19th Century: How to react to new global order

A
  • Collapse of Sinocentric regional order
  • New “modern” global order based on capitalist economic system and Westphalian inter-state system
  • Especially from 1860’s onward, “Period of Restorations”
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8
Q

Two challenges for Qing China in the 19th Century

A

Foreign threats (flashcards 9-16):
- Opium wars
- Imperialism

Domestic unrest (flashcards 18-19):
- Rebellions leading to decentralisation

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9
Q

Qing China and the West pre-1840: The Canton System

A
  • Rules of interaction determined by Qing China
  • Foreign trade through one city: Canton/Guangzhou
  • Trade conducted through Chinese middlemen (cohong)
  • Foreign merchants were not allowed to trade directly with producers, leave the ports, or learn Chinese
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10
Q

Challenging the Canton System

A
  • Worsening trade imbalance between Britain and Qing China:
    – Increase in British demand for Chinese goods (tea, silk, porcelain)
    – Decrease in Chinese demand for British goods (cotton textiles)
  • Result: British shortage of silver
  • No interest in requests for freer trade and embassy (Macartney mission)
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11
Q

Challenging the Canton System: Solution?

A
  • Western merchants need a product that China needs, to balance trade
  • Solution: Opium
  • Illegal export of small doses until 1834
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12
Q

1834-1838: Massive increase Chinese opium imports

A
  • Now trade imbalance between Britain and Qing China in favour of Britain
  • Sudden economic and societal crisis for Qing Dynasty
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13
Q

1839 Daoguang Emperor: “Enough is enough”

A
  • Viceroy/Governor General Lin Zexu sent to Canton/Guangzhou
  • Leads massive crackdown on opium trade
  • Targets Chinese traffickers and Western suppliers
  • 1840: British fleet arrives
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14
Q

First Opium War 1839-1842

A
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15
Q

Treaty of Nanjing 1842

A

British gains:
- 5 treaty ports for trade
- No more middlemen (cohong)
- Reparations: 21 million silver dollars
- Island of Hong Kong
- Extraterritoriality for British in China
- Freed British prisoners
- Language of equality

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16
Q

Second Opium War 1856-1860

A
  • Further demands by Western powers for entry to Chinese market
  • Qing Chinese conflicts with British and later French escalated into military confrontation
  • Ended after British and French forces sacked Beijing in 1860: Summer Palace destroyed
  • Emperor flees and then dies, succeeded by 5 year old Tongzhi Emperor
17
Q

“The Century of Humiliation” 1840’s-1940’s

A
18
Q

Domestic unrest: Taiping Rebellion 1851-1864

A
  • Christian uprising
  • Leader: Hong Xiuquan
  • Son of God and brother of Jesus
  • Economic program included land redistribution
  • Goal: to establish Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace
  • Largest Civil War in world history (20-30 million dead)
19
Q

Taiping Rebellion 1851-1864

A
  • Taiping capital at Nanjing
  • Massive effort by Qing forces to defeat them: almost led to end of dynasty
  • One of many mid-19th century rebellions

Historical legacy:
- Central role regional armies in defeating Taiping
- Leads to decentralisation

20
Q

Effects of foreign threats and domestic uprisings in Qing China in the 19th Century

A

Leads to:
- Legitimacy and statecraft of existing elites under assault
- Existential crisis for existing elites

Most important international developments:
- China-centered regional order challenged by Western powers
- China forced into Westphalian system of international affairs

21
Q

Tongzhi Restoration 1862-1874

A
  • China attempts to formulate a response to foreign and domestic challenges
  • This response is not entirely unsuccessful
  • Goal: to stop dynastic decline of the Qing

Establishments:
- Foreign affairs agency
- Military modernization
- Western-style shipyards
- College of Foreign languages
- Study of math and science

22
Q

Self-Strengthening Movement 1861-1895

A
23
Q

Meanwhile in Japan…

A
24
Q

Tokugawa Shogunate in the 19th Century: Foreign threat exposes domestic weakness

A
  • Shogun’s authority (opposed to emperor’s) based on military strength
  • Inability to deter foreigners therefore creates massive crisis of legitimacy for Shogunate
  • Central question: how to balance western learning with Japanese political structures?
25
Q

Commodore Perry’s Arrival in 1853/54

A
  • Unequal Treaty System
  • Foreign threat and influence;
  • Leads to domestic tensions: resistance is pointless but accommodation makes Shogunate look weak
  • Japan also forced into new global order of inter-state relations and economic system
26
Q

Sonnō jōi “Revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians”

A

First reaction to arrival foreigners in 1850’s:
- Tokugawa Shogunate is failing its first duty: protecting the nation and therefore the emperor
- If Shogunate cannot protect us/emperor, other forces will have to take the lead
- But, anti-foreign sentiment slowly fades and focus becomes using foreign knowledge to settle domestic disputes

27
Q

Fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate 1867

A
  • Death of Shogun in 1866
  • The Shogunate crumbles quickly
  • Civil war between pro-Emperor and pro-Tokugawa factions
  • Defeat of pro-shogunate faction in four days
  • Last Shogun abdicates in 1867
  • Pro-Emperor faction proclaimed restoration of Emperor as ruler of Japan
  • Emperor moves to Tokyo, the new capital of Japan
28
Q

Meiji Restoration 1868

A
  • Objective new Meiji government: to transform Japan into strong, modern, centralised nation-state
  • Carol Gluck: “Defensive Modernization”
  • The Meiji reforms are necessary to counter threat of colonisation by the West
29
Q

Genro

A
  • Founding fathers of modern Japan
  • The real new powerful elite
  • Informal institution
  • Right to select and recommend Prime Minister to Emperor
  • Focused on rapid industrialisation
30
Q

Constitution of the Empire of Japan 1889

A
  • Meiji Constitution
  • Meiji elite very proactive in establishing state:
    – Some representative government but firm central imperial control (Prussian model)
    – Presented as gift from emperor to people –> to prevent more liberal initiatives
31
Q

Similarities and differences of 1889 constitution to European constitutions

A
  • Similarities:
    – Bicameral Diet
    – (Some) Popular representation: 1%
    – Independent judiciary
  • Differences:
    – Emperor’s centrality in political organisation
    – Emperor’s sacredness because he descended from “Our Ancestors”
32
Q

Fukoku kyohei “Enrich the country, strengthen the military”

A

Key reforms:
- Centralized taxation system
- New constitutional order with bicameral Diet
- National conscript army
- Compulsory public education
- State investment in industrialisation
- Important: Centralisation is key

33
Q

Japan in the 19th Century: Foreign threat exposes domestic weakness

A
  • Foreign threat leads to dissolution of Tokugawa rule and to a certain extent the old elite
  • New oligarchs central to Meiji Restoration focused on developing modern nation state
  • Relatively coherent answer to the question of how to balance western learning with Japanese political structures
34
Q

Joseon Korea in the 19th Century: From fierce independence to subjugation

A
  • Since 1392
  • Stratified society: King and royal family > Yangban scholar-officials > Commoners
  • Increased marketisation of economy
  • Growing social unrest
  • Regular tributary visits to Qing China; but largely autonomous
  • Traded and envoy visits with Tokugawa Japan on Tsushima Island and Busan
35
Q

First Reaction to the Challenges of the mid-1900s: “Hermit Kingdom” (1863-1876)

A
  • “Daewongun Regency”: seclusion policy from 1863, refuse contact with westerners
  • Persecution of Christianity
  • Reforms (Restoration?): anti-corruption, tackling bureaucratic inefficiency
  • Successfully repulsed external challenges from France, UK, and US
  • Limit external contact to Qing Imperial government
36
Q

1876 Treaty of Ganghwa

A
  • Quickly modernising Japan forces Korea into unequal treaties the way the west had done with Japan
  • Korea enters modern nation state system: western style treaty, recognition of independence, and treaty ports for Japan
  • Paradox: to counter Japanese influence, the Joseon court relied more on Qing Chinese advisors
  • Beginning of competition on Korean peninsula that will lead to Sino-Japanese war
37
Q

1880-1884: King Gojong’s Reforms

A

King Gojong introduced self-strengthening reforms modeled on Qing China:
- Study of Western military technology and foreign languages
- New military unit
- Rejected decentering Confucian values and Qing Emperor
- Favoured continuation with seclusion

1884 Gapsin Coup by Pro-Japanese Korean officers who favoured Meiji-style reforms:
- Coup failed, weakening Japanese influence

Outcome: direct Qing interference from 1884-1895

38
Q

The Challenge of the 19th Century: How to react to new global order

A
  • “Restorations” China/Korea/Japan see different levels of success in different sectors
  • By 1880’s the effects of foreign encroachment are still rather unclear

New question arises:
- In new global order, how do the three East Asian nations interact with each other?

History of East Asia (6 decks)

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