Slide 2 Reading Material

Slide 3 Reading Material

Despite strict government regulations, foreign trade in China expanded during the late 18th century and
early 19th century. As trade grew, the West found themselves to have a large and rising trade deficit with
China. They were increasingly anxious to balance their trade. Yet the Chinese, having a self-sufficient
economy, showed little interest in Western products. Finally, in 1820, the West found a product which
China did not have, opium. Between 1829 and 1855, opium smuggling developed rapidly along China's
South Coast. In 1820, 9,708 chests of opium was smuggled in per year. 15 years later, the smuggled
opium rose to 35,445 chests, a growth of 400%.
In the 1830's, opium had became a vice in China. Virtually all men under 40 smoked opium. The entire
army was addicted. It affected all classes of people, from rich merchants to Taoists. The total number of
addicts in China in the 1830's was as high as 12 million. Due to the smuggle of opium, the trade deficit
Western countries had with China quickly turned into a trade surplus. China could not export enough tea
and silk to balance the trade. Instead the difference in trade was made up by the export of Chinese silver,
which was highly valued for its fine qualities. In the 1835-1836 fiscal year alone, China exported 4.5
million Spanish dollars worth of silver. In 1839, the Chinese opium smokers spent 100 million taels,
while the government's entire annual revenue was only 40 million taels. The drain of silver greatly
weakened the Chinese government. One government official wrote, "If we continue to allow this trade to
flourish, in a few dozen years, we will find ourselves not only with no soldiers to resist the enemy, but
also with no money to equip the army."2
Faced with this problem, the Chinese government opened a debate among Manchus and senior officials.
The debate lasted for two years, in the end, a minority group which favoured an uncompromising stand
prevailed. In 1839, the emperor issued 39 articles which imposed extremely severe punishments,
including death, for smoking and trading opium. Special Commissioner Lin Ze-xu was sent to Canton to
ensure the rules were carried out. Lin, while in Canton, made 1,600 arrests and confiscated 11,000 pounds
of opium in two months. h p://historyliterature.homestead.com
tt
 Slide 4 Reading Material
In addi on to illegal opium trade occurring throughout China, the Chinese empire faced other
problems. The army became corrupt and the tax farmers defrauded the people. The central
bureaucracy declined in e ciency, and the generally weak emperors were unable to meet the
challenges of the me. The balance of trade turned against the Chinese in the 1830s, and the
Bri sh decided to force the issue of increased trade rights. The point of con ict was the opium
trade. By the late 1830s more than 30,000 chests, each of which held about 150 pounds of the
extract, were being brought in annually by the various foreign powers. Some authori es assert
that the trade in opium alone reversed China's formerly favorable balance of trade. In the spring
of 1839 Chinese authori es at Canton con scated and burned the opium. In response, the
Bri sh occupied posi ons around Canton.
In the war that followed, the Chinese could not match the technological and tac cal superiority
of the Bri sh forces. In 1842 China agreed to the provisions of the Treaty of Nanking. Hong Kong
was ceded to Great Britain, and other ports, including Canton, were opened to Bri sh residence
and trade. It would be a mistake to view the con ict between the two countries simply as a
ma er of drug control; it was instead the ac ng out of deep cultural con icts between east and
west.
The French and Americans approached the Chinese a er the Nanking Treaty's provisions
became known, and in 1844 gained the same trading rights as the Bri sh. The advantages
granted the three na ons by the Chinese set a precedent that would dominate China's rela ons
with the world for the next century. The "most favored na on" treatment came to be extended
so far that China's right to rule in its own territory was limited. This began the period referred to
by the Chinese as the me of unequal trea es - a me of unprecedented degrada on for China.
The humilia on the Central Kingdom su ered is s ll remembered and strongly a ects important
aspects of its foreign policy. Meanwhile, the opium trade con nued to thrive.
The Bri sh and French again defeated China in a second opium war in 1856. By the terms of the
Treaty of Tientsin (1858) the Chinese opened new ports to trading and allowed foreigners with
passports to travel in the interior. Chris ans gained the right to spread their faith and hold
property, thus opening up another means of western penetra on. The United States and Russia
gained the same privileges in separate trea es.
h p://historyliterature.homestead.com/ les/extended.html#The%20Closed%20China
tt
ti
ti
tt
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ffi
fi
ti
ff
fi
ti
ti
ti
fl
ti
ti
ft
ti
ti
ti
ti
fl
fl
ti
ff
ti
ti
ti
ti
 Slide 5 Reading Material

Spheres of Influence
Throughout the nineteenth century, China's emperors had watched as foreigners encroached
further and further upon their land. Time and again, foreigners forced China to make humiliating
concessions. Foreign regiments, armed with modern weapons, consistently defeated entire
imperial armies. Now, as a new century was about to begin, Tsu Hsi, empress dowager of the
Ch'ing Dynasty, searched for a way to rid her empire of foreign parasites. Austria, France,
Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, and Russia all claimed exclusive trading rights to certain
parts of China. They were dividing China into "spheres of influence." Some even claimed to own
the territory within their spheres. By acquiring the Philippines, the United States became an
Asian power too. Now, with a strong base of operations just 400 miles from China, American
businesses hoped to take advantage of China's vast resources. The foreign spheres of influence,
however, threatened their ambitions. So while the empress was hoping to close China to
foreigners, Americans were looking for a way in. John Hay, now Secretary of State, had an idea.
Since public opinion, strained by the Philippines war, would never support the use of force, he
decided to negotiate. He sent letters to all the foreign powers and suggested an "Open Door"
policy in China. This policy would guarantee equal trading rights for all and prevent one nation
from discriminating against another within its sphere. The nations replied that they liked the
concept of the Open Door, but that they could not support or enforce it. Hay's plan had been
politely rejected. Nevertheless Hay announced that since all of the powers had accepted the Open
Door in principle, the United States considered their agreement "final and definitive."
Text Copyright © 2000 J. Buschini. Small Planet Communications, Inc
 Slide 6 Reading Material
Korea in Isola on
Western ideas, including Chris anity, reached Korea through China in the seventeenth century.
By 1785, however, the government had become incensed over the rejec on of ancestor worship
by Roman Catholic missionaries, and it banned all forms of Western learning. Western ships
began to approach Korean shores a er 1801, seeking trade and other contacts, but the
government rejected all overtures from abroad. When news of the Opium War in China
(1839-42) reached Korea, the dynasty had all the more reason to shut the doors ghtly against
Western "barbarians." In the mean me, the Choson Dynasty su ered from a series of natural
calami es including oods, famines, and epidemics, as well as large-scale revolts of the masses
in the northwest (1811-12) and southwest (1862 and 1894-95).
The expansion of Western powers in East Asia in the nineteenth century signi cantly altered the
established order, in which Korea had been dominated by China. China under the Qing Dynasty
(1644-1911) was in decline; its power waned rapidly under the concerted a acks of such
Western na ons as France, Britain, and Russia. S mulated by these events, Japan proceeded to
modernize a er having been forced to open its ports by Commodore Ma hew C. Perry of the
United States Navy in 1853-54. Korea, however, remained dormant, having closed itself to all
outside contacts in the early eighteenth century.
U.S. Library of Congress h p://countrystudies.us/south-korea/5.htm

From 1832 merchant ships and

warships occasionally entered Korean
waters, probed for trade relations, or
simply scouted the coast. But it wasn't
until 1866 that there were any serious
contacts with the West. Russia
requested diplomatic relations, and an
independent German entrepreneur
asked for permission to trade with the
country; both were denied. Later that
year, an American gunboat sailed up the Taedong River to the doorstep of P'yongyang to demand
trade relations. Although this approach had succeeded in opening the door to Japan a few years
earlier, the ship ran aground on a sandbar in the middle of the river and the Koreans burned it,
killing all on board. In response to the execution of French missionaries in a separate incident in
1866, the French navy invaded and held Kanghwa-do for a few weeks in 1869. Denied
ti
ti
ft
ti
fl
tt
ti
ti
ft
ti
ff
ti
tt
tt
fi
ti
 permission to address the king about their grievances, they left unsatisfied. Two years later the
Americans showed up on Kanghwa-do, once again trying to force open the country for trade.
After limited military skirmishes, they retreated. The Japanese came in 1875 to test the Koreans'
defenses, and engaged in minor military encounters on Kanghwa-do. Returning the next year in
force, they compelled Korea to sign the unequal Kanghwa Treaty, its first modern trade
agreement with a foreign nation, opening the ports of Inch'on, Pusan, and Wonsan.

http://koreanhistory.info/ChosonDynasty.htm

The Catholic faith came to Korea at the end of the 18th century, by the reading of some Catholic
books written in Chinese. The strong and dynamic Catholic communities were led almost
entirely by lay people until the arrival of the first French missionaries in 1836.
The Catholic community suffered major persecutions in the years 1839, 1846 and 1866, chiefly
for the religion's refusal to carry out the traditional worship of ancestors, which it perceived to be
a form of false idolatry, but which the State prescribed as a cornerstone of culture. Christianity
was forbidden and for two years they worked in complete secrecy, rising at 2.30 a.m. and
ministering at unusual times in conditions of extreme poverty. The growing numbers of
Christians (estimated at 9, 000) could not for ever remain hidden. Violent persecution followed
and the three French priests allowed themselves to be taken, to avert massacre and apostasy.
They were beheaded at Seoul on 21 September 1839. Between 1846 and 1867 more
missionaries and their converts died for their Christian faith. In all 103 martyrs, including ten
French missionaries and 93 Koreans (priests, nuns, and lay people), were beatified in 1925 and
canonized at Seoul by Pope John Paul II in 1984. Feast: 20 September.

Politically, the persecutions should be seen in the context of Colonialism and the increasing
penetration of European powers into East Asian affairs. Catholicism — a proselytizing European
faith seen as rendering its adherents constituent to a dominant hierarchical structure, at the apex
of which a pope held sway from the distant Vatican — was oft perceived as a potential spearhead
for European penetration into Korea. Moreover, ancestral worship was an important aspect of
Confucianism, from which the Korean nobility drew much of its inviolable legitimacy;
relinquishing such customs could thus be seen as subverting the nobility's own cultural
foundation.
h p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Martyrs
tt
 Slide 7 Reading Material
Meiji Restoration
Overthrow of Japan's Tokugawa shogunate (see Tokugawa period) and restoration of direct imperial rule (through
the Meiji emperor) in 1868. In the 19th century the shogunate's policy of isolation was challenged by Russia,
England, and the U.S., making Japanese feudal leaders aware of Japan's vulnerability to superior Western firepower.
After the visit of Commodore Matthew Perry, the country was forced to sign a series of unequal treaties, which, as in
China, gave Western nations special privileges in Japan. In response, young samurai from feudal domains
historically hostile to the Tokugawa regime took up arms against the government. In January 1868 they announced
the restoration of the emperor to power, and in May 1869 the last Tokugawa forces surrendered. The revolutionaries
had the emperor issue the Charter Oath, which promised a break with the feudal class restrictions of the past and a
search for knowledge that could transform Japan into a “rich country with a strong military.” The restoration ushered
in the Meiji period, a time of rapid modernization and Westernization.

The Meiji government moved quickly to discard the

feudal system and launch a series of reforms that
profoundly changed Japanese society. These reform
programs—administrative, economic, social, legal,
educational, and military—were carried out under the
slogan "fukoku Kyohei" (enrich the country and
strengthen the military). The government adopted
many policies designed to create a modern economy
and society. Students were sent to Europe and the
United States to study modern science and technology,
while foreign experts were hired to help establish
factories and educational institutions. In 1889 the
Meiji Constitution was adopted. In the late Meiji years,
Japan won the Sino–Japanese war in 1895, defeated
Russia in 1905, abolished the treaties with the West,
and became a world power.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia® Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. Licensed from
Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/

Japan Answers the Challenge of the Western World

When the Meiji emperor was restored as head of Japan in 1868, the nation was a militarily weak country,
was primarily agricultural, and had little technological development. It was controlled by hundreds of
semi-independent feudal lords. The Western powers - Europe and the United States - had forced Japan to
sign treaties that limited its control over its own foreign trade and required that crimes concerning
foreigners in Japan be tried not in Japanese but in Western courts.

The feudal lords and the samurai class were offered a yearly stipend, which was later changed to a one-
time payment in government bonds. The samurai lost their class privileges, when the government
declared all classes to be equal. By 1876 the government banned the wearing of the samurai's swords; the
former samurai cut off their top knots in favor of Western-style haircuts and took up jobs in business and
the professions.
The armies of each domain were disbanded, and a national army based on universal conscription was
created in 1872, requiring three years' military service from all men, samurai and commoner alike. A
national land tax system was established that required payment in money instead of rice, which allowed
the government to stabilize the national budget. This gave the government money to spend to build up the
strength of the nation.

Although these changes were made in the name of the emperor and national defense, the loss of privileges
brought some resentment and rebellion. When the top leadership left to travel in Europe and the United
States to study Western ways in 1872, conservative groups argued that Japan should reply to Korean's
refusal to revise a centuries old treaty with an invasion. This would help patriotic samurai to regain their
importance. But the new leaders quickly returned from Europe and reestablished their control, arguing
that Japan should concentrate on its own modernization and not engage in such foreign adventures.
For the next twenty years, in the 1870s and 1880s, the top priority remained domestic reform aimed at
changing Japan's social and economic institutions along the lines of the model provided by the powerful
Western nations. The final blow to conservative samurai came in the 1877 Satsuma rebellion, when the
government's newly drafted army, trained in European infantry techniques and armed with modern
Western guns, defeated the last resistance of the traditional samurai warriors. With the exception of these
few samurai outbreaks, Japan's domestic transformation proceeded with remarkable speed, energy, and
the cooperation of the people. This phenomenon is one of the major characteristics of Japan's modern
history.
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/index.html

Meiji Brings Social and Economic Changes

The abolition of feudalism made possible tremendous social and political changes. Millions of people were suddenly
free to choose their occupation and move about without restrictions. By providing a new environment of political
and financial security, the government made possible investment in new industries and technologies.

The government also introduced a national educational system and a constitution, creating an elected parliament
called the Diet. They did this to provide a good environment for national growth, win the respect of the Westerners,
and build support for the modern state. In the Tokugawa period, popular education had spread rapidly, and in 1872
the government established a national system to educate the entire population. By the end of the Meiji period, almost
everyone attended the free public schools for at least six years. The government closely controlled the schools,
making sure that in addition to skills like mathematics and reading, all students studied "moral training," which
stressed the importance of their duty to the emperor, the country and their families.
The 1889 constitution was "given" to the people by the emperor, and only he (or his advisers) could change it. A
parliament was elected beginning in 1890, but only the wealthiest 1 percent of the population could vote in
elections. In 1925 this was changed to allow all men (but not yet women) to vote.

To win the recognition of the Western powers and convince them to change the unequal treaties the Japanese had
been forced to sign in the 1850s, Japan changed its entire legal system, adopting a new criminal and civil code
modeled after those of France and Germany. The Western nations finally agreed to revise the treaties in 1894,
acknowledging Japan as an equal in principle, although not in international power. http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/
index.html
Slide 8 Reading Material
“Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere”
The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was a concept, created and promulgated during
the Shōwa era by the government and military of the Empire of Japan, to
represent the desire to create a self-sufficient "bloc of Asian nations led by
the Japanese and free of Western powers". The Sphere was initiated by
Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe, in an attempt to create a Great East
Asia, comprising Japan that would, according to imperial propaganda,
establish a new international order seeking ‘co prosperity’ for Asian
countries which would share prosperity and peace, free from Western
colonialism and domination. Military goals of this expansion included
naval operations in the Indian Ocean and the isolation of Australia
During World War II, many countries occupied by Japan were run by
puppet governments that manipulated local populations and economies for
the benefit of Imperial Japan, backed by this conception of a united Asia absent of, or opposed
to, European influence. The idea of the Co-Prosperity Sphere was formally announced by
Foreign Minister, Matsuoka Yosuke on August 1, 1940, in a press interview, but had already
existed in various forms for many years. Leaders in Japan had long been interested in the idea, in
reality to extend Japanese power and acquire an empire based on European models, though
ostensibly to free Asia from imperialism.
As part of its war drive, Japanese propaganda included phrases like "Asia for the Asians!"
and talked about the perceived need to liberate Asian countries from imperialist powers. In some
cases they were welcomed when they invaded neighboring countries, driving out British, French,
and other governments and military forces. In general, however, the subsequent brutality and
racism of the Japanese led to them being regarded as equal to, or, more often, much worse than
Western imperialists.
From the Japanese point of view, the main reason behind forming the Greater East Asia
Co-Prosperity Sphere, was the same reason Japan initiated war with the United States: Chinese
markets. Japan wanted their "paramount relations", in relation to Chinese markets, acknowledged
by the U.S. government. The U.S., however, saw the abundance of wealth that could be found in
these markets, and thus refused to let the Japanese have an advantage in distributing to these
markets. Therefore, in an attempt to give Japan a formal advantage over the Chinese markets, the
Imperial regime invaded China and launched the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.
Although Japan succeeded in stimulating anti-Westernism in Asia, the sphere never materialized
into a unified Asia.

http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/72-38/72-38.htm
Japans Colonialism and Expansion
The most important feature of the Meiji period was Japan's struggle for recognition of its considerable achievement
and for equality with Western nations. Japan was highly successful in organizing an industrial, capitalist state on
Western models. But when Japan also began to apply the lessons it learned from European imperialism, the West
reacted negatively. In a sense Japan's chief handicap was that it entered into the Western dominated world order at a
late stage. Colonialism and the racist ideology that accompanied it, were too entrenched in Western countries to
allow an "upstart," nonwhite nation to enter the race for natural resources and markets as an equal. Many of the
misunderstandings between the West and Japan stemmed from Japan's sense of alienation from the West, which
seemed to use a different standard in dealing with European nations than it did with a rising Asian power like Japan.

In 1894 Japan fought a war against China over its interest in Korea, which China claimed as a vassal state. The
Korean peninsula is the closest part of Asia to Japan, less than 100 miles by sea, and the Japanese were worried that
the Russians might gain control of that weak nation. Japan won the war and gained control over Korea and gained
Taiwan as a colony. Japan's sudden, decisive victory over China surprised the world and worried some European
powers.

At this time the European nations were beginning to claim special rights in China - the French, with their colony in
Indochina (today's Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia), were involved in South China; the British also claimed special
rights in South China, near Hong Kong, and later the whole Yangtze valley; and the Russians, who were building a
railway through Siberia and Manchuria, were interested in North China. After Japan's victory over China, Japan
signed a treaty with China which gave Japan special rights on China's Liaotung peninsula, in addition to the control
of Taiwan.

By 1904, when the Russians were again threatening to establish control over Korea, Japan was much stronger. It
declared war on Russia and, using all its strength, won victory in 1905 (beginning with a surprise naval attack on
Port Arthur, which gained for Japan the control of the China Sea). Japan thus achieved dominance over Korea and
established itself a colonial power in

East Asia.http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/

Scarred by history: The Rape of Nanjing

Between December 1937 and March 1938 one of the worst massacres in modern
times took place. Japanese troops captured the Chinese city of Nanjing and
embarked on a campaign of murder, rape and looting.
Based on estimates made by historians and charity organisations in the city at the time,
between 250,000 and 300,000 people were killed, many of them women and children.
The number of women raped was said by Westerners who
were there to be 20,000, and there were widespread
accounts of civilians being hacked to death.
Yet many Japanese officials and historians deny there was
a massacre on such a scale.
They admit that deaths and rapes did occur, but say they
were on a much smaller scale than reported. And in any
case, they argue, these things happen in times of war.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/
Thousands of bodies were buried in
ditches