Lecture 1: An

International
History of East
Asia 1839-1945

Mahon Murphy
murphy@law.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Office: Law Main Building East Wing 404
Le Petit Journal, supplément illustré, 1898 Yoshida Main Campus
 Today’s Menu

• Introduce the course

• Get to know each other
• Brief outline of major events
• How to get grades

The Situation in the Far East by Tse Tsan-tai, 1900

Course Content

• Discuss the International History of East Asia from the First

Opium War in 1839 to the end of the Second World War in
1945.
• Understand how imperialism affected the development of
the history of East Asia.
• Focus on the transfer of ideas within East Asia and also the
wider world.
 Course Goals

1. Gain a basic background in the history of modern East Asia.

2. Understand how East Asia interacted with nineteenth

century ideologies such as Nationalism, Imperialism and
Communism.

3. Read and analyze primary source documents and academic

articles written in English.
How to achieve our Goals

1. Prepare for class: Weekly reading assignments

2. Share in Class: In Class discussion

3. Think Critically: What do we already know? How will this

course change our thinking?
 International History East Asia

• By the end of the 18th Century

European Empires Expanding
• 1793 British Macartney Mission to
China
• After the Napoleonic Wars (1815)
Nationalism on the rise
• Qing China’s Tributary System of
international relations not accepted
by Western Powers Lord Macartney tries to open China to
British trade
 Class topics:
Imperialism in East Asia
2. The First Opium War and Unequal Treaties
3. The Meiji Restoration/Revolution/Reformation?
4. Chinese Self-Strengthening and the Boxer Rebellion
5. Korea and Japanese Imperialism, 1868-1910

Discourse on East Asia

6. ‘The Yellow Peril’ in Public Discourse
7. Pan-Asianism after the Russo-Japanese War

War and Revolution

8. From the 1911 Revolution to the First World War
9. The Guomindang and the Chinese Communist Party
10.The League of Nations and East Asia

Empire and War

11. The Path to Global War: Japan and the Tripartite Pact
12. The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
13. End of Empire in East Asia
Discussion
European Imperial Rivalry in East
Asia
• Great Powers need colonies
• British wars against Burma 1824-26
• Burma gives Britain an indemnity
• Bengal supplies Opium to the British East
India Company
• British merchants unhappy with China’s
trading conditions

Germany trying to cut off a piece of China

First Imperial Clashes in East Asia: Opium War 1840

• Commissioner Lin Zexu dumped

British opium in 1839
• Britain responded with violence
• Indemnity: Britain takes control of
Hong Kong
• Canton trading system abolished
• Britain gains most favoured Nation
status
• USA gains extraterritoriality
French Criticism of British trade
 Gunboat Diplomacy

• 1848 USA takes California from Mexico

• USA expands into East Asian territory
• Japan useful as a coaling station
• 1860 Second Opium War, France,
Britain, Russia and USA gain more
access to China
• France annexes Vietnam, Cambodia
and Laos
An American interpretation of British trade
East Asia in a Globalizing World

• Increased Migration into and out of Asia

• Japan begins to copy the Imperial Powers
• Japan tries to force Unequal treaties on
China 1871
• Japan annexes Ryukyu Islands in 1879
renaming them Okinawa

Image showing Japan trying to

take the Ryukyus from China
 A scramble for China
• 1882 USA signs a treaty with
Korea
• Sino-Japanese War 1894-95
• Japan wants influence in Korea
• 1895 Triple Intervention: Russia,
France and Germany deny
Japan’s gains
• USA tries to introduce Open China was often drawn as a cake to be divided
Door policy
 Primary Source Analysis

• Who is represented in this image?

• What does the image tell us?
• What year and where is the image
from? Is this important?
• Who is the audience for this image?
• Why are primary sources important?

Le Petit Journal, supplément illustré, 1898

 The Boxer Rebellion: 1899-1901

• 1898 Anti-Foreign movement

began in Shandong
• ‘Boxers’ attack Christian
converts and European
Missionaries
• Qing Court declared war
against foreigners Troops from the 8 Nation Alliance
• 8 Nation alliance defeats the Can you identify each country?

Qing
Japan as an Imperial Power

• Japan looking for Great Power

Status
• 1902 Anglo-Japanese Alliance
• 1904/05 War with Russia for
control of Korea
• 1910 Japan annexed Korea

Russian Cartoon Criticising Japan’s

treatment of China and Korea
 Japan and China after the First World War
• 1915 Japan issued 21 Demands to
China
• China begins to embrace
international Communism
• Bolsheviks try to influence the
nationalist Guomindang
• Japan a Great Power in 1919
• However, Japan’s imperial ambitions
lead to a Second World War Mikhail Borodin (Comintern) in Wuhan 1927
Conclusion

• Imperialism in Asia different than the rest of the world

• Unequal treaties the main tool
• Practice is guided by concept of Social Darwinism
• Our course focuses on Imperial struggle and tracing the long term
origins of the Second World War
Getting Grades
Active Participation in Class 20%

Assignments 40%

End of Term Paper 40%

Active Participation 20%
• Questions to prepare for each class
• Uploaded to PandA every week
• Readings for each week are available in Resources
• Each Class will feature a discussion of a primary source

• You must attend class

Weekly Assignments 40%
• Weekly Assignments mainly questions on our readings.

• Uploaded to PandA every week

• Readings for each week are available in Resources

• You must hand in at least 4 assignments to pass!

End of Term Paper 40%
• Literature Review
• Write a Review of 3 texts
• 500 words x 3 = 1500 words

• One text you choose from our library

• Two texts from our weekly readings
CONTACT ME:
• Mahon Murphy
• murphy@law.kyoto-u.ac.jp

Please visit my Office at:

Yoshida Main Campus Law Main Building East Wing No. 404
Next lesson: The Opium Wars
• Primary Source Document:
The Treaty of Nanjing 1842

• Secondary reading:
Richard Horowitz, The Opium Wars of 1839-1860, in Haggard
and Kang (eds) East Asia in the World: Twelve Events that
Shaped the International Order (2020).

All sources are available on PandA