Chapter 26

1. Chapter 26 The Qianlong Emperor (reigned 1735-1796) Tradition and Change in East Asia

2. The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) Hongwu Emperor Yongle Emperor, also known as Zhu Di Ming (“Brilliant”) dynasty comes to power after Mongol Yuan dynasty driven out Founded by Emperor Hongwu (r. 1368-1398) Used traveling officials called mandarins and large number of eunuchs to maintain control Emperor Yongle (r. 1403-1424) experiments with sea expeditions under Admiral Zheng He, moves capital north to Beijing to deter Mongol attacks

3. Ming China, 1368-1644

4. The Great Wall • Origins before fourth century B.C.E., with ruins from Qin dynasty in third century B.C.E. • The current wall dates from the Ming period, mostly rebuilt in the fifteenth to sixteenth century • 1,550 miles, and between 33 and 49 feet high • As many as 25,000 guard towers were constructed • Barracks for housing soldiers • Protected against Mongol raids, and later Manchu raids

5. The Great Wall of China

6. Eradicating the Mongol Past Ming emperors encourage abandonment of Mongol names, dress Support study of Confucian classics Restoration of old form of government bureaucracy with the renewal of the civil service examinations

7. Ming Decline • In the sixteenth century, maritime pirates harm coastal trade and hurt China economically • The Ming navy and government are unable to respond effectively • Emperors secluded in Forbidden City, the palace compound in Beijing, and increasingly lose touch with the outside • Hedonists: Many emperors begin top pursue their own pleasure rather than to state affairs • Emperor Wanli (r. 1572-1620): In the last twenty years of his rule, he abandons governance, leaving it to the imperial eunuchs. He ignores the increasing threat of Manchu raids from the north.

8. Ming Collapse Shunzhi Emperor, the first Qing emperor to reign over China (1644 – 1661) Famine, peasant rebellions become more frequent in the early seventeenth century Chinese peasant rebels take Beijing in 1644; the last Ming emperor, Chongzhen, commits suicide A Ming general fighting the rebels makes an alliance with Manchu fighters, who enter from the north and retake city Manchus refuse to allow reestablishment of Ming dynasty Establish Qing (“Pure”) Dynasty, installing Shunzhi as ruler of China

9. The Qing Empire, 1644-1911

10. The Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) • Manchus forbid intermarriage with Han Chinese and the study of Manchu language by non-Manchus; force Manchu hairstyles on Han men as sign of loyalty • Manchus originally pastoral nomads, north of Great Wall • Chieftain Nurhaci (r. 1616-1626) unifies tribes into state, develops laws, and strong military • Establishes control over Korea, Mongolia, China • War with remaining Ming loyalists last until 1680 • Support from many Chinese who were fed up with Ming corruption

11. Emperor Kangxi (r. 1661-1722) Consolidates Qing rule, defeating last Ming resistance Confucian scholar, poet Military Conquests: island of Taiwan, Tibet, skirmished with the Russian empire to establish western border, and crushed a Mongol revolt Persuaded Ming scholar-bureaucrats to support the Qing

12. Emperor Qianlong (r. 1736-1795) Young Qianlong at the beginning of his reign (1737) painted by the Italian Jesuit, Giuseppe Castiglione. • Grandson of Kangxi • Rule was the height of the power and prestige of the Qing dynasty • Great prosperity, tax collection cancelled on several occasions • Pacified the western frontier— Mongols, Uyghurs, Kazakhs, etc.—but failed to conquer Burma and Vietnam to the south, but made them “vassal states” • Stepped down from the throne in 1795 so as not to reign longer than his grandfather, Kangxi, out of filial respect

13. The “Son of Heaven” Ming, Qing emperors were considered quasi-divine, with the title “Son of Heaven” Hundreds of concubines and thousands of eunuch servants served within the “Forbidden City” in Beijing Clothing designs and name characters of the emperors were forbidden to rest of population The kowtow: three bows, nine head-knocks (British ambassador in 1793 refuses to perform)

14. The Forbidden City Hall of Heavenly Purity, which served as the emperor’s quarters and then the audience hall during the Qing Dynasty Forbidden City as viewed from a hill to the north

15. The Forbidden City Map of the inner Beijing city walls, including the Forbidden City

16. The Scholar-Bureaucrats • Ran government on a day-to-day basis • Graduates from intense civil service examinations • Open only to men • Curriculum: Confucian classics, calligraphy, poetry, essay writing • Also: history, literature

17. The Civil Service Examinations • First used in the Sui dynasty in 605 C.E., used in a limited way in the Tang (618-907), and used on a broader scale during the Song (960-1269) • District, provincial, and metropolitan levels • Only 300 allowed to pass at highest level • Multiple attempts common • Students expected to bring bedding, chamber pots for three-day uninterrupted examinations • Students searched for printed materials before entering private cells

18. Examination System and Society • Ferocious competition • Qing dynasty: One million degree holders compete for 20,000 government positions • Remainder turn to teaching, tutoring positions • Some corruption, cheating • Advantage for wealthy classes: hiring private tutors, etc. • But open to all males, tremendous opportunity for social mobility

19. The Patriarchal Family Filial piety understood as duty of child to parent on the familial level, and then the individual to emperor on the societal and political level Eldest son favored; birth order accords status in families Clan-based authority groups augment government services

20. Gender Relations • Males receive preferential status • Economic factor: girls join husband’s family • Infanticide of girls common • Widows strongly encouraged not to remarry • Chaste widows honored with ceremonial arches celebrating their devotion to dead husbands • Men control divorce • Grounds: from infidelity to talking too much

21. Foot Binding • Origins in Song dynasty (960-1279 CE) • Linen strips bind and deform female child’s feet • Perceived aesthetic value • Statement of social status and/or expectations • Commoners might bind feet of especially pretty girls to enhance marriage prospects

22. Binding Feet

23. Population Growth and Economic Development • Only 11 percent of China arable • Intense, garden-style agriculture necessary • American food crops introduced in seventeenth century • Maize, sweet potatoes, peanuts • Rebellion and war reduce population in seventeenth century • Deaths offset by nutrition from American crops

24. Chinese Population Growth

25. Foreign Trade • Silk, porcelain, tea, lacquerware • Chinese in turn import relatively little • Spices, animal skins, woolen textiles, and silver • European traders pay for Chinese goods with silver bullion from Americas • After Emperor Yongle’s early maritime expeditions (1405-1433), Ming dynasty abandons large-scale maritime trade plans

26. Trade in Southeast Asia Chinese merchants continue to be active in southeast Asia, especially Manila Extensive dealings with Dutch VOC with the silk trade until the wars between Ming and Manchus disrupt it Chinese warlord and Ming loyalist, Koxinga, destroys VOC trading station on Formosa (now Taiwan) in 1662, and hopes to use Formosa as a base to restore the Ming (also tries to conquer the Philippines)

27. Government and Technology • During Tang and Song dynasties (seventh to thirteenth century), China is a world leader in technology • Stagnates during Ming and Qing dynasties • European cannons purchased, based on early Chinese invention of gunpowder • Government suppressed technological advancement, fearing social instability would result • Mass labor over productivity

28. Classes in Chinese Society • Privileged classes • Scholar-bureaucrats, gentry • Distinctive clothing with ranks • Immunity from some legal proceedings, taxes, labor service • Working classes • Peasants, artisans/workers, merchants • Confucian doctrine gives greatest status to peasants • Merchant activity not actively supported • Lower classes • Military, beggars, slaves

29. Neo-Confucianism • Version of Confucian thought promoted by Zhu Xi (1130-1200 C.E.) • Confucian morality with Buddhist logic • Education at various levels promoted • Hanlin Academy in Beijing dictates official interpretation of the Confucian classics, and thus sets standards of evaluation of imperial exams • Provincial schools • Compilation of massive Yongle Encyclopedia during early Ming (1403-1408) • Development of popular novels as well: Dream of the Red Chamber (published 1791) a hugely popular romance

30. Christianity in China Matteo Ricci • Nestorian and Roman Catholic Christians had presence in China • Disappeared with plague and social chaos of fourteenth century • Jesuits return under Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), attempt to convert Ming Emperor Wanli • Mastered Chinese before first visit in 1601 • Brought western mechanical technology • Prisms, harpsichords, clocks

31. Confucianism and Christianity • Argued that Christianity was consistent with Confucianism • Differences due to neo-Confucian distortions • Yet few converts in China • Approximately 200,000 mid-eighteenth century, about 0.08 percent of population • Christian absolutism difficult for Chinese to accept • Franciscans and Dominicans convince pope that Jesuits compromising Christianity with Chinese traditions (e.g. ancestor worship) • Emperor Kangxi bans Christian preaching in China

32. The Unification of Japan Tokugawa Ieyasu • Shoguns rule Japan, twelfth to sixteenth century • Large landholders with private armies • Emperor merely a figurehead • Constant civil war: sixteenth century sengoku, “country at war” • Tokugawa Ieyasu (r. 1600-1616) establishes military government • Bakufu: “tent government” • Establishes Tokugawa dynasty (1600-1867)

33. Tokugawa Japan, 1600-1867

34. Control of Daimyo (“Great Names”) • Approximately 260 powerful territorial lords • Independent militaries, judiciaries, schools, foreign relations, etc. • From capital Edo (Tokyo), shogun requires “alternate attendance”: daimyo forced to spend every other year at court • Controlled marriage, socializing of daimyo families • Beginning 1630s, shoguns restrict foreign relations • Travel, import of books forbidden • Policy strictly maintained for 200 years

35. Economic Growth in Japan • End of civil conflict contributes to prosperity • New crop strains and irrigation systems improve agricultural production • Yet population growth moderate, unlike many other places in the world • Contraception, late marriage, abortion • Infanticide: “thinning out the rice shoots”; typical method was to smother a baby’s mouth and nose with wet paper

36. Population Growth

37. Social Change End of civil disturbances create massive unemployment of daimyo, samurai warriors Encouraged to join bureaucracy, scholarship Many declined to poverty, creating a source of social instability Wealthy urban merchant classes develop from trade activity; they become dominant in society

38. Neo-Confucianism in Japan • Chinese cultural influence extends through Tokugawa period • Chinese language essential to curriculum • Zhu Xi and neo-Confucianism remains popular • “Native learning” also popular in eighteenth century • Folk traditions • Shintoism: worship of spirits, called kami

39. Floating Worlds (ukiyo) • New merchant class develops a new urban culture expressed in entertainment and pleasure industries • Ihara Saikaku (1642-1693), The Life of a Man Who Lived for Love: novel that describes the mores of the new urban merchant class; about a member of this new class’s sexual adventures from age 8 to 61. • Marked contrast to solemn bakufu leadership • Kabuki theatre, men playing women’s roles • Bunraku puppet theatre • Geisha districts

40. Floating Worlds (ukiyo) Kabuki actor dressed as a samurai character Traditional Geisha make-up and hairstyle Bunraku puppet

41. Christianity in Japan • Jesuit Francis Xavier in Japan, 1549 • Remarkable success among daimyo • Daimyo also hoping to establish trade relations with Europeans • Government backlash • Fear of foreign intrusion • Confucians, Buddhists resent Christian absolutism • Anti-Christian campaign 1587-1639 restricts Christianity, executes staunch Christians • Sometimes by crucifixion

42. Persecution of Catholics Twenty-six Christians crucified in Nagasaki in 1597 during the shogun’s crackdown

43. Dutch Learning Dutch ship approaching the Dutch island trading post on the artificial island of Dejima in Nagasaki harbor Dutch presence at Nagasaki principal route for Japanese understanding of the world Before ban on foreign books lifted (1720), Japanese scholars study Dutch to approach European science, medicine, and art