,-;Asian Transitions in an Ag'of Global Change

The Asian Trading World and the Coming of the Europeans

Ming China: A Global Mission Refused

VISUALIZING THE PAST: The Great Ships of the Ming

Expeditions that Crossed the lndian Ocean

DOCUMENT: Exam Ouestions as a Mirror of Chinese Values

^ fter savorinq the exhilaration that only those who have

A tt¿. , breithrough discovery can know' Vasco da Gama

/-\ano his Portuquese crews received a number of rude shocks

on the last legs of their epic voyage to lndia in 1498' Da Gama's

exploratory probes were conducted in sailing ships that were a

good deal smaller than the Portuguese merchant vessel depicted

ãrriving in Japan a century later in the wonderful silk screen

painting (Figure 22.8) on page 514' After nearly five months at

sea, hii tlny notitta of four ships made its way through the

treacherous waters off the Cape of Good Hope on the southern

tip of Africa and sailed into the lndian Ocean'

After rounding the cape, Da Gama's expedition followed the

African coastline northward in search of other Christians and a

port to take on fresh supplies (Map 22'1)'Io their chagrin' most

of the towns they encountered were controlled by Muslim

Arabs. Some of the Arabs, including those at Mombasa-the

largest commercial center on the coast-became hostile once

they realized that the Portuguese were Christians' Conversations

with the much friendlier sultan, traders, and townspeople far-

ther north at Malindi, however, left no doubtthat Da Gama's ex-

pedition had indeed discovered a sea route from Europe to the

fabled lndies.

Da Gama and his compatriots were' of course, delighted and

perhaps a bit awed by what they had achieved even before they

crossed to lndìa. Their very entry into the lndian Ocean meant

that they had won a momentous victory over Spain' They had

bested their lberian rivals in a contest to find a sea route to the

Eastlndiesthatbothnationshadpursuedatgreatexpensefordecades. And their triumph was all the more satisfying because

theyhadprovedcorrectthelong-standingconvictionofPor-tuguese navigators and mapmakers that the lndian Ocean could

Lea rning

sultan at Malindi genero

eral a pilot to gulde his s

of spices and gems. Near

at Calicut on lndia's Malabar coast

sp

the

the fine q

that were

tuguese w

interest in the P

cast-iron pots, coarse cloth, and gl

tle more than sneers from the merc

tu rni ng

Asia and begun to taP

cluded that theY had

silver bullion they had brought along

494

Asian treasures. r

THINKINGHISTORICALLY:MeansandMotivesforOverseasExpansion: Europe and China Compared

Fending Off the West: Japan's Reunification

and the First Challenge

GLOBAL coNNEcTloNS: An Age of Eurasian Protoglobalization

be reached by sailing around Africa' And that in turn confi

erto unknown to the Europeans, and of undetermined value'

that the goal of Da Gama's expedition was lndia,

usly offered the Portuguese captain

hips across the Arabian Sea to the

ly a month later, Da Gama's shiPs a

(Map 22.1). An ancient

the Portuguese claim that Christopher Columbus's much

voyage acioss the Atlantic had been a failure' Columbus

reacñed the lndies after all' He had made landfall at islan ds hith

ices, fìne textiles, and other Asian prod ucts that were a

main objectives of the voyages of exp loration. Del

uality and abundance of the products from all

available in the town's great marketplace'

ere startled to learn that the local'merchants

roducts they had brought to trade' ln

ass and coral beads e

hants theY aPP

Da Gama and his crew faced the humbling p

home to Lisbon with little proof that they

its legendarY wealth. Reluctan

little choice but to use the sma

for emergenctes'

that the Asian merchants were quite willing to take th

metal. But they also realized that their meage

would not go very far toward fillìng ihe holds

we22.1 VascoDaGama'sarrival inCalicutonlndia'sMalabarcoastasdepictedinal6th-centu ry European tapestry. As the pomp andcaptured in the scene convey, Da Gama's voyage was regarded by European contemporaries as a major turning point in world history.

of the enterprise that occupied the Europeans who went out to Asia in the l6th and lTth cen-which is one of the major themes of the chapter that follows, was devoted to working out the

of that first encounter in Calicut. The very fact of Da Gama's arrival demonstrated notthe seaworthiness of their caravel ships but also that the Europeans'needs ancl curiosity couldthem halfiaray around the world. Their stops at Calicut and ports on the eastern coast of Africa

confirmed reports oF earlier travelers that the Portuguese had arrived in east Africa and southAsia long after their Muslim rivals. This disconcerting, discovery promised resistancetrading and emPlre building in Asia. It also meant major obstacles to their plans for

the peoples ofthe area to Roman Catholicism. The Portuguese and the other Europeansafter them found that their Muslim adversaries greatly o'utnumbered them and had long-

and well entrenched political and economic connections from east Africa to the Philip-we shall see, they soon concluded that only the use of military force would allow them to

the vast Indian Ocean trading system.Da Gama's voyage marked a major turning point for western Europe, its impact

much less decisive. As was the case with the Mughal and Safavid empires (see Chapterthemes in the histo ry of Asian civilizations in the 16th and lTth centuries often

nothing to do with European expansion The development of Asian states and empireslong-term processes rooted in the inner workings of these ancient civilizations and

with neighboring states and nomadic peoples. Although the European Pres-tn each of the areas considered in this chapter, the impact of Europe's global expan-tmportance except in the islands of southeast Asia, which were especiallysea power. Most Asian rulers, merchants, and religious leaders refused to

caravels Slender, long-hulled vessels utilized byPortuguese; highly maneuverable and able to sajlagainst the wind; key to development of por-tuguese trade empire in Asia.

potential threat posed by what was, after all, a handful of strangers from across

495

496 part IV . The Early Modern Period, 1450-1750: The world shrinks

1500 c.e. 1550 c.E. 1600 c.E. 1650 c.E. 170O c.E.'1350 c.E.

1368 Ming dYnasty

comes to Power ln

China

1368-1398 Reign of

the Hongwu emperor

1390 Ming restric-

tions on overseas

commerce

1403-1424 Reign of

the Yungle emperor

in China'1405-1433 Zheng

He expeditions from

China to southeast

Asia, lndia, and east

Africa

t49B-1499 Vasco da

Gama opens the sea

route around Africa

to Asia

1507 Portuguese

defeat combined

Muslim war fleet near

Diu off western lndia

1510 Portuguese

conquest of Goa in

western lndia

tSll Portuguese

conquer Malacca on

the tip of Malayan

peninsu la

1540s Francis Xavier

makes mass converts

in lndia

1 573 End of the

Ashikaga shogunate

1573-1620 Reign ofthe Wanli emperor

1 5B0s Jesuits arrive

in China

1590 Hideyoshi

unifies Japan'1592 First JaPanese

invasion of Korea

1 597 Second JaPanese

invasion of Korea

1600s Dutch and

British assault on

Portuguese EmPire

in Asia;decline ofPortuguese power

1603 Tokugawa

shogunate established

1614 ChristianitY

banned in Japan

1619-1620 Dutch

East lndia CompanY

established at Batavia

on Java

1640s Japan moves

into self-imposed

isolation

1641 Dutch capture

Malacca from

Portuguese; Dutch

confined to Deshima

lsland off Nagasaki

1644 Nomadic

Manchus put an end

to Ming dynastY;

Manchu Oing dynastY

rules China

1662-1722 Reign ofthe Kangxi emPeror in

China

1755-1757 Dutch

become paramount

power on Java; Oing

conquest of Mongolia

t-\.@¡I centuries following Da Gama's

voyage, most European enterprise in the

lndian Ocean centered on efforts to find

the most profitable ways to carry Asian

products back to Europe. Some

Europeans went to Asia not for personal

gain but to convert others to

Christianity, and these missionaries, as

well as some traders, settled in coastal

enclaves.

The Asian Trading World and the Coming of the Europeans

As later voyages bY Portuguese fleets revealed, Calicut and the ports of east Africa, which

Gama had found on the initial foray into Asia, made uP onlY a small segment of. alarger

commercial exchange and cultural interaction. This trading system stretched thousands

from the Middle East and Africa along all the coasts of the massive Asian continent. Both the

ucts exchanged in this network and the main routes followed by those who sailed it had

lished for centuries-in many cases' millennia'

ffilTrade Routes

to Asia

In general, the Asian sea trading network can be broken down into three main

which was focused on major centers of handicraft manufacture (MaP 22.L). In the west was

zone anchored on the glass, carpets, and tapestries of the Islamic heartlands at the head of

Sea and the Persian Gulf. India, with its superb cotton textiles, dominåteá the central

system. China, which excelled in producing paper, porcelain' and silk textiles, formed

pole. In betlveen or on the fringes of the three great manufacturing centers were areas such

the mainland kingdoms and island states ofsoutheastAsia, and the port cities of east

mainly raw materials-Precious metals, foods, and forest products-into the trading

Of the raw materials circulating in the system, the broadest demand and highest

paid for spices, which came mainlY from Ceylon (Shri Lanka in the present day) and

the eastern end of what is today the Indonesian archipelago. Long-distance 1'rade

high-priced commodities such as spices, ivory from Africa, and precious stones'

ton textiles also were traded over long distances. Bulk items, such as rice, livestock,

normally were exchanged among the ports within more localized networks

trading zones.

Since ancient times, monsoon winds and the nature

ments available to sailors had dictated the main trade routes

in each

Chapter 22 . Asran Transitions in an Age of Global Change 497

l.'i

GlusrvarcCarpctsTcxtilcsHoßes

Popci

Porcel¡inSilk tcxrilcs

CHINÄ

Cinlon

Hôngziou

JAPAN

Silver

ì

^t S¿¿Co(ton lcxtilcsGcmsElephMlsS.lrEGYPT

AFRICA

Sofall

Mccca

Ctt l.f

ARAB ZONE

t5m NtfLFl

CHINESE ZONE

PACI¡;]COCEAN

INDIA

INDIAN OCEAN

INDIAN ZONE

@ Major exports

EE Crucial choke points

El Major ports

fi Major maritinretrade routes

Euiror .-

ä=

t5m KtLoIlmR5

Sc¡lc îccúmlr for thr E(tualor

p 22.1 Routes and Major proclucts Exch anged ¡n the Asian Trading Network, c. I 500 By the early modern era the ânc¡ent tradingthat encompassed the lndian Ocean a nd neighboring seas from the Mediterranean to the North China sea had expanded greatly in

volume of shipping and goods traded from the Middle East to china as well as in the number of port c¡t¡es engaged in local andnental commerce

the coasting variety that is, sailing along the shoreline anå charting clistances and locationto towns and natural landmarks. The Arabs and Chinese, who had compasses and

well built ships, could, cross large expanses of open water such as the Arabian and SouthBut even they preferred established coastal routes rather than the largely uncharted. and

open seas. As the Portuguese quickly learned, there were several crucial polntsof the trade converged or where geography funneled it into narrow areas. The

the Red Sea and Persian Gulf were two of these points, as were the Straits of Malacca,

IvoryForcst products

AniDìol hidcsCold

S lûvqs

Forest prcducLs

SlovcsColdOlGswæ

t)

Itù) o.í

cinÌmon

SpiccsFoest producls

498 Part IV ' The Early Modern Period, 1450-1750: The World Shrinks

mercantilists Eco ressed

governmeuts'prom mPorts

from other nations s rn

order to improve tax revenues; popular during

the 17th md 18th centuries in Europe'

Trading EmPire: The Portuguese Response to the Encounter at Calicut

The Portuguese were not PrePared to abide bY the informal rules that had evolved over the centuries

for commercial and cultural exchanges in the great Asian trading complex. It was aPParent after the

trip to the market in Calicut that the Portuguese had little, other than gold and silver, to exchange

with Asian peoPles. In an age in which Prominent economic theorists' called mercantilists' taught

that a state's Power dePended heavily on the amount of precious metals a monarch had in his coffers,

a steady flow of bullion to Asia was unthinkable. It was particularlY objectionable because it would

enrich and thus strengthen merchants and rulers from rival kingdoms and religions, including the

Muslims, whose Position the Portuguese had set out to undermine through their overseas enterPrises

(Figure 22.2). Unwilling to forgo the Possibilities for profit that a sea route to Asia presented, the Por-

tuguese resolved to take bY force what theY could not get through fair trade.

The decision bY the Portuguese to use force to extract spices and other goods from Asia re-

sulted largely from their realization that they could offset their lack of numbers and trading goods

with their suPerior shiPs and weaponrY. Except for the huge war fleets of Chinese junks, no Asian

people could muster fleets able to withstand the firepower and maneuverabilitY of the Portuguese

squadrons. Their sudden aPPearance in Asian waters and their interjection of sea warfare into a

peaceful trading system gained the EuroPean intruders an element of surprise that kePt their

saries offbalance in the critical early Years of empire building. The Portuguese forces were small

numbers but united at least in the early years after 1498 in their drive for wealth and religious

verts. This allowed them to take advantage of the divisions that often separated their Asian

petitors and the Asians' inability to combine their forces effectivelY in battle. Thus, when Da

returned on a second expedition to Asian waters in 1502, he was able to force Ports on both

African and Indian coasts to submit to a Portuguese tribute regime. He also assaulted towns that

Figute 22.2 ln the 15th a nd 1 6th centuries, the port of Lisbon in tiny Portugal was one of the 9

of international commerce and European overseas exPloration' Although asPects of the earlY, strea

caravel design can be detected in the ships pictured here, additional square sails, higher fore and aft

PortugueseChurch in

Southern lndia H

numerous cannons Projecting from holes cut in the shiPs' sides exem plify a later stage of

Chapter 22 . Astan Transitions in an Age of Global Change 4gg

fused to cooPerate. When a combined Egyptian and Indian fleet was finally sent in repr-isal i¡ 1509,it was defeated off Diu on the western Inclian coast. The Portuguese woulcl not have to face so for-midable an alliance of Asian sea powers again.

The Portuguese soon found that sea patrols and raicls on coastal towns were not sufficient tocontrol the tracle in the items they wanted, especiaily spices. Thus, from 1507 onward they strove tocapture towns and build fortresses ¿ìt a number of strategic points on the Asian tradin! network(see Map 22.2).In that year they took Ormuz at the southen.r end of the persian Gulf; inlsto theycaptured Goa on the western Indian coast. Most critical of all, in the next year they successfullystormed Malacca on the tip of the Malayan peninsula. These ports served both as naval bases forPortuguese fleets patrolling Asian waters and as factories, or warehouses where spices and otherproducts.could be stored until they were shipped to Ë,urope or elsewhere in Asia. Ships, ports, andfactories became the key components of a Portuguese trading empire that was financed and ofû-cially directed by the kings of Portugal, but often actually controiled by portuguese in Asia and theirlocal allies.

The airn of the empire was to establish Portuguese monopoly control over key Asian prod-ucts, particularly spices such as nutmeg and cinnamon (Figure zi.z).tdeally,all the spices p.oå.r..dwere to be shipped in Portuguese vessels to Asian or European markets. There they would f e sold athigh prices, which the Portuguese coulcl dictate because they controlled the suppiy of these goods.

Ormuz Portuguese factory or fortifieJ tradctorvn locrtcd al soutl¡crn crri ol" l)ersi.rn Gulf; silefor forcible cntry into Asian sea trad€ network.

Goa Portuguese factory or fortifìerJ trrde low¡tloc.rtecl on rvestcrn ludia coast; sjte lor [orcibjeertry iDto Asian sea trade network

('-- \.1

JA,PAN

S¡lvcrCHINA

GtI

Câlcutta

INDIA

INDIAN OCEAN

PACIFICOCEAN

Equ¡tor

-

*)*F

I5M KILON{ETEßS

Imperial lraderoutes ln Asia

=.1 tsonuguese

$ Spanish

E Durch

- English

- Major routes

Imperial capitalsin Asia

f_- Portuguese

E Spanish

6 Dutch

t---l English

El Major portsScalc Âccurûtc forthc Equalor

lhe pattern of Early European Expansion in Asia The differing routes and choice of fortified outposts adopted byn nations as they sought to tap directly into the lndian Ocean tradin g network reflect the greater information regarding

ClassrvæCaqrcLrTqdlsHosc

AUSTRÂLIA

Colton tcxtilcsGcmsElcphantsSrlr Pape¡

Porccl¡inSilk tcxl¡ls

tj

Iì:'lltngtl

Cinno¡lon

EGYgT

AFRICA

\

that la te comers, such as the Dutch and English possessed, relati ve to the pioneering Portuguese.

500 Part IV ' The Early Modern Period, 1450-1750: The World Shrinks

The Portuguese also sought, with little success'-to irnpose a licensing syster¡

on all meichant ships that traclecl in the Inclian Ocean from Ormuz to

Malacca.Thecombinationofmonopolyanclthelicensingsystem'backedUy fo..", was intendecl to give the Portuguese control of a sizeable portion

of the Asian trading network'

Portuguese Vulnerability and the Rise of the Dutch

ancl English Trading EmPires

The plans for emP ire that the Portuguese drew up on paper never became

reality. They managecl for sorne decacles to control some of the flow of

spices, such as nutmeg and mace, which were grown in very limited areas.

But a rnonoPolY of the market in keY concliments, such as PePPer and

cloves, eluded them. At times the Portuguese resorted to severe Punish-

ments such as cutting off the hands of the rival traders and ships' crews

caught transPorting sPices in defiance of their monopoly. But they simply

clid not have the soldiers or the ships to sustain their monopolies, much less

the licensing system. The resistance of Asian rivals, poor military discipline,

ramPant corruPtlon among crown officials, and heavy Portuguese shipping

losses causecl bY overloading ancl poor clesign had taken a heary toll on the

emplre by the end ofthe 16th century'Portuguese trading empire proved noThe overextended ancl declining

match for the Dutch and English rivals, whose war fleets challenged it i'n

early lTthcentury. Of the two, the Dutch emerged, at least in the short

as the victors. TheY caPtured the critical Portuguese port and fortress

Malacca and built a new port of their own in 1620 aÍ Batavia on the

trt6of |ava. The latter location, which was much closer to the island sources

k"y spices (see MaP 22.2), reflected the improved EuroPean knowledge

Figure 22,3 Atthougtr today nutmeg is a minor condiment' in the early Asian geograPhY. It was also the consequence of the Dutch decision to

modern era it was a treasured and widely used spice' ln this manuscript centlate on the mo nopoly control of certain spices rather than on

i I I ustratio n from the 1 6th century, slices of an oversized nutmeg are beingt¡ade more generallY. The English, who fought I-rard but lost the struggle

weighed in preparation for sale on the international market'control of the SPice Islands, were forcecl to fall back to India.

Batavia Dutch fo¡t¡ess located after 1620 on the The Dutch trading emPire (Map 22.2) was made uP of the same basic comPonents as

island of Java Portuguese: fortified towns and facto ries, warshiPs on Patrol' and monoPolY control of a

Dutch trading enpire The Dutch system extend- number of Products. But the Dutch had more numerous and better armed shiPs and went

1n8 into Asia with fortihed towns and factories, the business of monoPoiY control in a much more sYstematic fashion. To regulate the

warships on patrol, and monopoly control of acloves, nutmeg, and mace, for example, they uprooted the plants that produced these sPlces

limited number of products.lands they did not control' TheY also forcibly removed and at times executed island

cultivated these spices without Dutch suPervision and dared to sell them to their trading

Although the profits from the sale of these sPices in EuroPe in the mid-17th centurY

sustain Holland's golden age' the Dutch found that the greatest profits in the long run

gained from peacefullY working themselves into the long-established Asian trading

mand for spices declined ancl their futile efforts to gain control over crops such as PePPer

grown in many places became more and more exPensive. In resPonse' the Dutch

mainly (as they had long done in EuroPe) on the fees theY charged for transPorttng

one area in Asia to another. TheY aiso dePended on profits gained from buYing Asian

as cloth, in one area and trading them in other areas for goods that could be sold in

flated prices. The English also adoPted these peaceful trading Patterns, although their

were concentrated along the coasts of India and on the cotton cloth trade (discussed in

rather than on the spices of southeast Asia'

GoingAshore: European Tribute Systems inAsia

Their ships and guns allowed the EuroPeans to force their waY into the Asian trading

16th and 17th centuries. But as they moved inland and awaY from the sea, their

and their abilitY to domina te the Asian PeoPles raPidlY disappeared. Because the

t

numbers of Asian armies offset the Europeans' advantage in weapons and organization for wagingwar on land, even small kingdoms such as those on lava and in mainland southeast Asia were åbleto resist European inroads into their domains. In the larger empires such as those in Ct i.,u,-t-.r¿iu,and Persia, and when confronted by martial cultures ,rr.h u, lapan's, the Europeans quickly í"u.rr.dtheir place' That they were often reduced to kowtowing or humbling themselves before the thronesof Asian Potentates as demonstrated by the instructions given by abutch envoy about the properbehavior for a visit to the Japanese court:

Our ministers have no other instruction to take there except to look to the wishes of that brave,superb, precise nation in order to please it in everything, and by no means to think on anythingwhich might cause greater antipathy to us. . . . That consequently the Company,s ministers frelquenting the scrupulous state each year must abc ve all go aimed in modest¡ humility, courtesy,and amit¡ always being the lesser.

Chapter 22 , Asian Tiansitions in an Age of Global Change

Lurcn No¡thern islaird of pltilippines; conqueredby Spain during the 1560s; site ofmajo¡ Cathàlicmissionary effort.

Mindmao Southe¡n island of philippines; aMuslim kirgdom that was al¡le to successfully resistSpanish conquest.

50r

In certain situations, however, the Europeans were drawn inland. away from their forts, facto-ries, and war fleets in the early centuries of their expansion into Asia. The Portuguese, and theDutch after them, felt compelled to conquer the coastal areas of Ceylon to control the productionand sale of cinnamon, which grew in the forests of the southwest portions of that island. The Dutch

slowly inland from their base at Batavia into the highlands of western ]ava. They discoveredthis area was ideal for growing coffee, which was in great demand in Europe by the 17th cen-By the mid-l8th centur¡ the Dutch not only controlled the coffee-growing areas but were the

power on Java.The Spanish, taking advantage of the fact that the Philippine Islands lay in the half of thethe pope had given them to explore and settle in I 493,invaded the islands in the 1560s. The

of Luzon and the northern islands was facilitated by the fact that the animistic inhabitantsin small states the Spanish could subjugate one by one. The repeated failure of Spanish expedi-to conquer the southern island of Mindanao, which was ruled by a single kingdom whose

rulers were determined to resist Christian dominance, dramatically underscores the limitsEuropeans'ability to project their power on land in this era.In each area where the Europeans went ashore in the earþ centuries ofexpansion, they set up

regimes that closely resembled those the Spanish imposed on the Native American peoplesNew World (see Chaprer l9). The European overlords were content to let the indigenous

live in their traditional settlements, controlled largely by hereditary leaders drawn fromcommunities. In most areas, little attempt was made to interfere in the daily lives of thepeoples as long as their leaders met the tribute quotas set by the European conquerors.was paid in the form of agricultural products grown by the peasantry under forced

supervised by the peasants'own elites. In some cases, the indigenous peoples contin-crops they had produced for centuries, such as the bark of the cinnamon plant. In

new crops, such as coffee and sugar cane, were introduced. But in all cases, the demandstook into account the local peasants'need to raise the crops on which they subsisted.

the Faith: The MissionaryEnterprise in south and southeastAsia

setbacks, of all the Asian areas where European enclaves were established in theJesuits inlndia

expansion, India appeared to be one of the most promising fields for religious Æil

502 Part IV ' The Early Modern Period, 1450-1750: The World Shrinks

St Francis

Xavier, Jesuitin lndia

Xavier, Francis Spanish Jesuit missionary;

worked in India in 1540s among the outcaste

and lower caste groups; made little headway

amoug elites.

Nobili, Robert di (1577-1656) Italian Jesuit mis-

sionary: worked in lndia during the early I ó00s;

introduced strategy to convert elites firstl strategy

Iater widely adopiéd by Jesuits in various parts ofAsia; mission eventuallY failed.

considered ignorant.Despite some early successes, Di Nobili's strategy

Hindu converts to worshiP with low-caste grouPs and to give

and religious rituals. Rival missionary

nounced his aPProach. In assimilating to

not the Indians' were the ones who had

of di Nobili's high -caste converts to worshiP

tenets of ChristianitY: the equality of all believers

pope, and Di Nobili was forbidden to Preach in India'

knowledge of Indian waYs' the mission in south India

translate Indian texts and eventuaþ died in India.

Beyond sociallY stigmatized grouPs, such as

populace in Asia occurred only in isolated areas. PerhaPs

sions occurred in the northern islands

a world religion such as Islam or Buddhism.

Luzon and the smaller islands Lo the south, and

nental emPire, they were able to launch a major misslonary

brothers who went out to convert and govern

channel for transmitting European influences. The

leaders then directed their followers

and the New World, on town squares where

thers, and government offices were located. BeYond

their congregation, the friars served as government offìcials'

Like the Native Americans of Spains

verted to Catholicism. But also like the Native

sented a creative blend of their traditional beliefs

friars. Because keY tenets of the Christian faith were

corrupted if Put in the local languages' it is doubtfirl that

grasP of Christian beliefs. ManY adopted

leaders' conversion gave them little choice'

that the Christian God could protect them

that they would be equal to their Spanish

Almost all Filipinos clung to their traditional

Christian beliefs and Practices. The peoples of the islands

sionaries condemned as immodest'

commune with deceased members of their families'

recitations of the rosary. Thus, even in the Asian area

pressures for acculturation to European ways the greatest'

conversion. From the 1540s onward, Franciscan and Dominican missionaries' as well as the Iesuit

Francis Xaviet who were willing to minister to the poor' low-caste fishers and untouchables along

the southwest coast, converted tãns of thousands. Sut the missionaries soon found that they were

making little headway among high-caste groups. In fact' taboos against contact with untouchables

and other low-caste grorp, ,îu¿ã it .t.urly i-po.sible for the missionaries to approach prospective

upper-caste converts.

To overcome these obstacles, an Italian Jesuit named Robert di Nobili devised a different con-

version strategy i" th. ;".it looor. rr. learned several Indian languages' including sanskrit' which

allowed him to read the sacred texts of the Hindus' He donned the garments worn by Indian brah-

mans and adopted a vegetarian diet. Atl these measures were calculated to win over the upper-caste

Hindus in south India, ïhere he was based. Di Nobili reasoned that if he succeeded in Christianiz-

ing the high-caste Hindu¡ they would then bring the lower Hindu castes into the fold' But' he ar-

gued, because the ancient Éindu religion wa"s sophisticated and- deeply entrenched' Indian

brahmans and other trigh-.utt. grouPs irould listen ãnly to those who adopted their ways' Meat

eaters would be seen as äefiling; iho.. *t o were unfamiliar with the Hindus'sacred texts would be

approach to the world was maintained.

much of the Preconquest

was undone by the refusal of high-caste

up many of their traditional beliefs

orders, particularlY the Dominicans and Franciscans, de-

Hindu culture, theY claimed, Di Nobili and his

been converted. His rivals also pointed out that the

with untouchable Christians defied one of the

before God. His rivals finalþ won the ear of

Deprived of his energetic ParticiPationquickly collaPsed, though he

the untouchables, the conversion of the

the greatest successes of the Christian

of the Philippines, which had not previouslY been

Because the SPanish had conquered the island'

then governed them as part of their vast

effort. The friars, as the Priests

the rural poPulace were called, became the

friars fìrst converted Iocal FiliPino leaders'

to build new settlements that were centered, like those in

the local church, the residences of the

tending to the spiritual needs of the

New World emPire, most FiliPinds were

Americans, the FiliPinos' brand of

and customs and the religion

taught

Christianity because Spanish dominance and

Others embraced the new faith because

from illness or because they were taken with

overlords in heaven.

ways and in the Process seriouslY

continued Public bathing,

and refused to give uP ritual drinking. TheY also

often in sessions that were

where European control was

Ming China: A Global Mission Refused

ZhuYuanzhang, a military commander of peasant origins who founded the Ming dynast¡ had suf-fered a great deal under the Mongol yoke. Both his parents and two of his brothers had died in aplague in 1344, and he and a remaining brother were reduced to begging for the land in which tobury the rest of their family, Threatened with the prospect of starvation in one of the many faminesthat ravaged the countryside in the later, corruption-riddled reigns of Mongol emperors ; Zhu alter-nated between begging and living in a Buddhist monastery to survive. When the neighboring coun-tryside rose in rebellion in the late 1340s, Zhu left the monastery to join a rebel band. His .ou.ug.in combat and his natural capacify as a leader soon made him one of the more prominent of severalrebel warlords attempting to overthrow the Yuan dynasty. After protracteã military strugglesagainst rival rebel claimants to the throne and the Mongol rulers themselves, Zhu's ar-i.,

"à.r-quered most,of China. Zhu declared himself the Hongwu emperor in 1368. He reigned for 30 years.Immediately after he seized the throne, Zhu launched an effort to rid China of all traces of

the "barbarian" Mongols. Mongol dress was discarded, Mongol names were dropped by those whohad adopted them and were removed from buildings and court records, and Mongol palaces andadministrative buildings in some areas were raided and sacked. The nomads themselves fled or weredriven beyond the Great Wall, where Ming military expeditions pursued them on several occasions.

.Another Scholar-Gentry Revival

the Hongwu emperor, like the founder of the earlier Han dynast¡ was from a peasant fam-and thus poorly educated, he viewed the scholar-gentry with some suspicion. But he also real-

that their cooperation was essential to the full revival of Chinese civilization. Scholars wellin the Confucian classics were again appointed to the very highest positions in the imperial

The generous state subsidies that had supported the imperial academies in the capitalthe regional colleges were fully restored. Most criticall¡ the civil service examination system,

the Mongols had discontinued, was reinstated and greatly expanded. In the Ming era and thethat followed, the examinations played a greater role in determining entry into the Chinese

than had been the case under any earlier dynasty.In the Ming era, the examination system was routinized and made more complex than before.

or county, exams were held in two out of three years. The exams were given in large com-like the one depicted in Figure 22.4, that were surrounded by walls and watchtowers from

the examiners could keep an eye on the thousands of candidates. Each candidate was assigned acubicle where he struggled to answer the questions, slept, and ate over the several days that it

complete the arduous exam. Those who passed and received the lowest degree were eligible tonext level of exams, which were given in the provincial capitals every three years. Only the

and ambitious went on because the process was fi.ercely competitive-in some years as4000 candidates competed for 150 degrees. Success at the provincial level brought a rise in

opened the way for appointments to positions in the middle levels of the imperial bureau-also permitted particularþ talented scholars to take the imperial examinations, which werethe capital every three years. Those who passed the imperial exams were eligible for the high-in the realm and were the most revered of all Chinese, except members of the royal family.

Hongwu's Efforts to Root OutAbuses in Courtpoliticsmindful of his dependence on a well educated and loyal scholar-gentry for the day-to-

of the empire. But he sought to put clear limits on their influence and to insti-that would check the abuses of other factions at court. Early in his reign, Hongwuposition of chief minister, which had formerly been the key link between the manythe central government. The powers that had been amassed by those who occupied

transferred to the emperor. Hongwu also tried to impress all ofÊcials with the hon-and discipline he expected from them by introducing the practice of public beatings

found guilty of corruption or incompetence. Offìcials charged with misdeeds were

Chapter 22 . Asían Transitions in an Age of Global Change 503

aà:-"@)il . restoration of ethnic Chinese

rule and the reunification of the countryunder the Ming dynasty (1 368-1 644),Chinese civilization enjoyed a new age

of splendor. Renewed agrarian andcommercial growth supported a

population that was the largest ofany center of civilization at the time,probably exceeding that of all westernEu rope.

eror in I368; originallyname Zhu yuanzhag;

e; restored position of

the assembled courtiers and beaten a specified number of times on their bare

504 Part IV ' The Early Modern Period, 1450-1750: The World Shrinks

Figu re 22.4 A 19th-century engraving sh ows the cubicles in which Chinese students and bureâucrats took

the im perial civil service examinations in the capital

days and completed their exams under the constant

food, slept in the cubicles, and were disqualified ifthey were found talking to others taking the exams or going

outside the compound where the exams were being given'

buttocks. ManY died of the wounds theY received in the ordeal' Those who survived never

from the humiliation. To a certain extent' the humiliation was shared by all the scholar-

virtue of the very fact that such degrading punishments could be meted out to any of them'

Hongwu also introduced measures to cut down on the court factionalism and never-

conspiracies that had eroded the Power of earlier dynasties. He decreed that the emPeror's

should come onlY from humble famiþ origins. This was intended to Put an end to the Power

ofthe consorts from high -ranking families, who built palace cliques that were centered on

fluential aristocratic relatives' He warned against allowing eunuchs to occuPy Positions

pendent power and sought to limit their numbers within the Forbidden CitY. To

against the ruler and fights over succession, Hongwu established the practice of exiling all

rivals to the throne to estates in the provinces, and he forbade them to become involved in

affairs. On the darker side, Hongwu condoned thought control' as when he hqd some

Mencius's writings that displeased him deleted forever from the writings included on

exams. Although many of these measures went far to keeP Peace at court under Hongwu

strong successor, the Yungle emPeror (r. 140 3 -l 424), theY were allowed to lapse under

pable, rulers, with devastating consequences for the Ming EmPire.

A Return to Scholar-Gentry Social Dominance

Perhaps because his lowlY origins and personal suffering made him sensitive to the

peasantry, Hongwu introduced measures that would imProve the lot of the common

most strong emperors, he Promoted public works projects, including dike building

sion of irrigation sYstems aimed at imProving the farmers'Yields To bring new lands

tion and encourage the growth of a peasant class that owned the lands it toiled so hard

production, Hongwu decreed that unoccuPied lands would become the tax

those who cleared and cultivated them. He lowered forced labor demands on the

the government and members of the gentrY class. Hongwu also Promoted silk and

at Beijing. Candidates were confined to the cubicles for

surveillance of official proctors. They brought their own

duction and other handicrafts that Provided supplemental income for Peasant

Exam Questions as a Mirrorof Chinese Values

The subjects and specific learning tested on the Chinese civil serviceexams give us insight into the behavior and attitudes expected ofthe literate, ruling classes of what was perhaps the best-educatedpreindustrial civilization. Sample questions from these exams cantell us a good deal about what sorts of knowledge were consideredimportant and what kinds of skills were necess ary for those who as-pired to successful careers in the most prestigious and potentiallythe most lucrative field open to Chinese youths: administrativeservice in the imperial bureaucracy. The very fact that such a tinyportion of the Chinese male population could take the exams andvery few of those successfully pass them says a lot about genderroles and elitism in Chinese society. In addition, the often decisiverole of a student's calligraphy-the skill with which he was able tobrush the Chinese characters-reflects the emphasis the Chineseelite placed on a refined sense ofaesthetics.

Question l: Provide the missing phrases and elaborate on the mean-ing of the following:

The Duke of She observed to Confucius: "Among us there was anupright man called Kung who was so upright that when his father ap-propriated a sheep, he bore witness against him." Confucius said. . .

[The missing phrases are, "The upright men among us are notlike that. A father will screen his son and a son his father . . . yet up_rightness is to be found in that."]

Question 2: Write an eight-legged essay [one consisting of eightsections] on the foilowing:

Scrupulous in his own conduct and lenient only in his dealingswith the people.

Question 3: First unscramble the following characters and thencomment on the significance of this quotation from one of the clas_sic texts:

Beginning, good, mutually, nature, basicall¡ practice, far, nea¡men's

[The correct answer is, "Men's beginning nature is basicallygood. Nature mutually near. Practice mutually far.,,]

QUESTIONS Looking at the content ofwe learn about Chinese society anddo the Chinese look for models toWhat kinds of knowledge arestress specialist skills or the sort ofbroad liberal arts education?

Although these measures led to some short-term improvement in the peasants' condition,were all but offset by the growing power of rural landlord families, buttressed by alliances with

in the imperial bureaucracy. Gentry households with members in government service werefrom land taxes and enjoyed special privileges, such as permission to be carried about in

chairs and to use fans and umbrellas. Many gentry families engaged in moneylending on thesome even ran lucrative gambling dens. Almost all added to their estates either by buying upheld by peasant landholders or by foreclosing on loans made to farmers in times of need in

for mortgages on their family plots. Peasants displaced in these ways had little choice buttenants of large landowners or landless laborers moving about in search of employment.land meant ever larger and more comfortable households for the gentry class. They jus-

growing gap between their wealth and the poverty ofthe peasantry by contrasting theirand industry with the lazy andwasteful ways of the ordinary farmers. The virtues of the

were celebrated in stories and popular illustrations. The latter showed members of gen-hard at work weaving and storing grain to see them through the cold weather, while

who neglected these tasks wandered during the winter, cold and hungr¡ past theand closed gates of gentry households.

levels of Chinese societ¡ the Ming period continued the subordination of youths towomen to men that had been steadily intensiS,ing in earlier periods. If an¡hing, Neo-

was even more influential than under the late song and Yuan dynasties. Someproposed draconian measures to suppress challenges to the increasingly rigid social

students were expected to venerate and follow the instructions of their teachers,muddle-headed or tipsy the latter might be. A terrifring lesson in proper decorum

an incident in which a student at the imperial academy dared to dispute the find-his instructors. The student was beheaded, and his severed head was hung on a pole

to the academy. Not surprisingl¡ this rather unsubtle solution to the problem ofclassroom merely drove student protest underground. Anonymous letters crit-

505

Ptepared teachers continued to circulate among the student body.

506 part IV . The Early Modern Period ,1450-1750: The world shrinks

Women were also driven to underground activities to ameliorate their subordination and, if

they dared, expand their career opportunities. At the court, they continued, despite Hongwu's

measures, to play strong roles behinâ the scenes' Even able rulers such as Hongwu were swayed by

the advice of favorite *i*, o, dowager mothers and aunts. On one occasion, Hongwu chided the

empress Ma for daring to inquire inio the condition of the common people' She replied that be-

cause he was the father of the people, she was the mother, and thus it was quite proper for her to be

concerned for the welfare of her children'

Even within the palace, the plight of most women was grim. Hundreds, sometimes thousands

ght to the court in the hope that they would catch the em-

ãncubines or perhaps even be elevated to the status of wife.

spent their lives in loneliness and inactivity, just waiting for

the emperor to glance their waY.

In society atlatge, women had to settle for whatever status and respect they could win within

the family. As before, their success in this regard hinged largely on bearing male children and' when

these children were married, moving from the status of daughter-in -law to mother-in-law. The

daughters of upPer-class families were often taught to read and write by their parents or brothers,

and many comPosed Poetry, painted, and played musical instruments (Figure 22.5)

For women from the nonelite classes, the main avenues for some degree of independence and

self-expression remained becoming courtesans or entertainers. The former should be clearly distin-

guished from prostitutes because theY served a very different clientele and were literate and

accomplished in painting, music, and PoetrY' Although courtesans often enjoYed lives of

even the most successful made their living

ited sex and convivial companionship.

by gratifying the needs of upper-class men for

An Age of Growth: Agriculture, Population, Commerce' and the Arts

The first decades of the Ming Period were an age of buoyant economic growth in China that both

fed by and resulted in unprecedented contacts with other civilizations overseas. The territories

trolled by the Ming emperors were trever as extensive as those ruled by the Tang dynasty. But in

Ming era, the great commercial boom and population increase that had begun in the late Song

neweð and accelerated' The peopling ofthe Yangzi region and the areas to the south was given a

boost by the importation, through Spanish and Portuguese merchant intermediaries, of new food

from the Americas, particularþ root crops from the Andes higtrlands' Three plants-maize (

sweet potatoes, and peanuts-were especiaþ important. Because these crops could be grown on

rior soils without irrigation, their cultivation spread quickly through the hilly and marginal

bordered on the irrigated rice lands of southern China. Theybecame vital supplements to the

or millet diet of the Chinese people, particularly those of the rapidly growing southern regions'

Because these plants were less susceptible to drought, they also became an

against famine. The introduction of these new crops was an important factor behind the

Figure 22.5 Thevaried diversions of the wives and concubines of Ming emperors are depicted in this scene of court life. ln addition to court intrigues

win the emperor's favor, women of the imperial household occupied themselves with dance, music, games, and polite conversation. With eunuchs, officia

guards watching them closely, the women of the

(c The Trustees of the Br¡tish Museum/Art Resure, NY.)

palace and imperial city spent most of their lives in confined yet well appointed spaces.

Chapter 22 . Lsian Tiansitions in an Age of Global Change 507

in population growth that was under way by the end of the Ming era. By 1600 the population ofChina had risen to as many as 150 million from 80 to 90 million in the t¿ih century. i*ò centurieslater, in 1800, it had more than doubled and surpassed 300 million.

Agrarian expansion and population increase were paralleled in early Ming times by a renewalof commercial growth. The market sector of the domestic economy became ever more pervasive,and overseas trading links multiplied. Because China's advanced handicraft industries pioduced awide variety of goods, from silk textiles and tea to fine ceramics and lacquerware, whìch were inhigh demand throughout Asia and in Europe, the terms of trade ran very much in China's favor.This is why China received more American silver (brought by European merchants) than any othersingle society in the world economy of the early modern period. In addition to the Arab

"nà Ariun

traders, Europeans arrived in increasing numbers at the only two places-Macao and, somewhatlater and more sporadicall¡ Canton-where they were officially allowed to do business in MingChina. Despite state-imposed restrictions on contacts with foreigners, China contributed signifi-cantly to the process of protoglobalization that was intensiSring cioss-cultural contacts world-widein the early modern era.

Not surprisingly, the merchant classes, particularly those engaged in long-distance trade,reaped the biggest profits from the economic l¡oom. But a good portion ãf th.i. gain-s was transferredto the state in the form of taxes and to the scholar-gentry in the form of bribes for official favors.Much of the merchants'wealth was invested in land rather than plowed back into trade or manufac-turing, because land owning' not commerce, remained the surest route to social status in China.

Ming prosperity was reflected in the fine arts, which found generous patrons both at court andthe scholar-gentry class more generally. Although the monochromatic simplicity of the work

earlier dynasties was sustained by the ink brush paintings of artists such as Xu Wei, much of theoutput was busier and more colorful. portraits and scenes of court, city, or country life wereprominent. Nonetheless, the Chinese continued to delight in depicting individual scholars or

contemplating the beauty of mountains, lakes, and marshes that dwarf the human observers.Whereas the painters of the Ming era concentrated mainly on developing established tech-and genres, major innovation was occur-

in literature. Most notable in this regardthe full development of the Chinese novel,

had had its beginnings in the writings of@Yuan era. The novel form was glven great

by the spread of literacy among theclasses in the Ming era. This was facili-

Macao One oftwo ports in which Europeansrere permitted ro trade in China during the Mingdynasty.

Canton One oftwo port cities in which Euro_peans rere permitted to trade in China during theMing dynasty.

by the growing availability of books thatfrom the spread of woodblock

from the lOth century onward. Mingsuch as The Water Margin, Monkey, and

Lotus werc recognized as classics intime and continue to set the standard

prose literature today.

and Retreat,ofthe Europeans

boundless energy of the Chineseof Ming rule drove them far be-

areas of expansion in cen-the reglons south of the Yangzi. Inthe rhird Ming emperor, Yungle,

a series of expeditions that hadur Chinese history. Between 1405

Zheng He, one of yungle's

led seven major ex-(See Map 223 and Chaprer

AFRICA

E Areas covered byZhenghe 14O5-1433

PERS'A

INDIAN OCEAN

ASIA

INDIA

tmKtLoÀrm

ARÀI'IA

Jidda

0

&Qt

ç

sö'

.J

otm MILS

Map 22.3 Ming china and the Zheng He Expeditions, l405-1433 The composite view ofthe Zheng He expeditions shown on this map indicate the great distances traveled as well as thefact that most of the voyages hugged the familiar coastlines of southern Asia and East Africarather than risking navigation large expanses of open sea.

Boy ofBen g øl

of motives, including a desire

50E Part IV . The Early Modern Period, |450-1750: The World Shrinks

Ricci, Matteo IrEnr chEE] (I552-1610) Along

with Adam Sctrall, Iesuit schola¡ in court oIMingemperors; skilled scientist; won few converts to

Christianit¡

Schall, Adam (159I-1666) Along with Matteo

Ricci, fesuit scholat in court of Ming emperors;

skilled scientist; won feiv converts to Christianity'

A Ming Naval

Expedition

to explore other lands and proclaim the glory of the Ming Empire to the wider world' prompted the

voyages.The early expeditions were confined largely to southeast Asia¡

1e1 and.kingdoms Thelast

three reached as far as persia, southern Arabia, and the east coast of Africa-distances comparable

to those that would be covered by the Portuguese in their early voyages around Ærica' The hun-

dreds of great ships (see the illustrations in Visualizing the Past) deployed on these expeditions ex-

emplified" the teJhnological sophistication, wealth, and power of China in the fi'rst centuries of

Ming rule.Nonetheless, in the decades after the last of the ZhengHe expeditions in 1433' China's rulers

purposely abandoned the drive to extend Ming power and presti^ge- overseas' and increasingly

sought to limit and control contacts with the outiiãe world. The shift from an emphasis on build-

i.rgîn. impressive fleets of the Zheng He voyages to repairing and joining the northern defense

works to form the Great Wall as we know it today reflected these key changes in policy and deci-Malteo Ricci's

Journals sions about geopolitical orientation'In the centuries that followed the suspensio

declined dramaticallY inlimits were placed on the

seagoing ship might be fìtted.

of defending against nomadic

Indian Ocean world as a whole,

ever farther across the glo

legendary of all overseas civilizations,

in additio

court, where theY hoPed to curry

religious orders such as the Franciscans

converts among the common PeoPle

could be counted in the tens of thousands,

down strategy that Di Nobiti had pursued

China, howevet, a single person, the Ming em

caste, sat at the top of the social hierarch¡

rulers and their chief advisors became the p

mlssron.Some

and Western thinkingmade their waY to Beijing clearlY

knowledge and technical skills were the

at the Ming court and eventually interesting

tianity, Beginningsuch as Matteo Ricciimperial cit¡ correcting

clocks imported from EuroPe,

gentry with the accrlracy of therr

dict eclipses.

court officials were suspicious of these

6o/'"' with large noses and hairy faces, and they

with the imperial familY.

offìcials who were humiliated bY

calendars, were oPenlY

ment, however, the later Mingnated by these verY learned and

LC

Figure 22.6 Jesuits in Chinese dress at the emperor's court' The Jesuits

believedthatthebestwaytoconvertagreatcivilizâtionsuchasChinawastoadopt the dress, customs, language, and manners of its elite' They reasoned

that once the scholar-gentry elite had been converted, they would bring the

rest of China's vast population into the Christian fold'

IL ,4i:iø.[¿<<at ! f.': "1'/".',1,i ;, -42,,," ,¡'i"'ii"

handful to remain.

able visitors that

n of overseas expeclitions' the Ming war fleet

the number and quality of its ships, and strict

size and number of masts with which a

This return to the longstanding priorityinvasions eventually left China, and the

vulnerable to European rncursions

by sea.

While the Chinese closed themselves in, the Europeans pro

be and were irresistibly drawn to the

the Middle Kingdom of

n to the trading contacts noted earlier, Christian

ies infiltrated Chinese coastal areas and tried to gain access to

favor with the Ming emPerors.

and Dominicans toiled to

ancl made modest Progressthe Jesuits adoPted the

in India (Figure 22'6)

peror, instead of a

and for that reason

rime targets of the J

Chinese scholars showed interest in Christian

more generallY. But the Jesuit missionaries

recognized that theirkeys to måintaining a

the Chinese elite

in the 1580s, a succession of brilliant Jesuit

and Adam Schall, spent most of their

faulty calendars, forgingand astounding the Chinese

instruments and their

They won a few converts among the elite.

strange-lookingtried to limit

Some at the court, especiallY

the foreigners'

hostile to the Jesuits. Despite

emperors remained

The Great Ships of the Ming Expeditionsthat Crossed the Indian Ocean

In the early modern era Chinese ships for canal, river and ocean trans-portation improved significantly and their numbers multiplied manytimes. By the fust decades of the Ming dynast¡ some of them had also

increased dramatically in size (see the image below). This trend was

given great impetus by the impressive series of expeditions that wereled by the eunuch Zheng He through island Southeast Asia and on tocoastal India and east Africa beginning in 1405. Some of the dragonships of Zheng Het fleet exceeded four hundred feet in length, thusdwarfing the caravel Niña, one of the ships of Columbus's first voyage

to the Americas (see the image below). Chinese junks in this and ear-lier centuries were equipped with magnetic compasses, water-tightcompartments, and stern post rudders that would have allowed themto navigate the open seas rather than simply following the coastlines ofthe lands from which Zheng He and his crews sought to commandnibute and establish direct commercial relations.

Over the course of the seven expeditions led by Zheng iHe,of these great treasure vessels accommodated tens of thou-of sailors, merchants and soldiers. As the illustration below

clearly indicates, the largest Chinese junks were far larger than thecaravels, naos and other vessels that the portuguese, Spanish, andrival Europeans deployed in their voyages of exploration and dis-covery from the 15th through the lTth century. They also dwarfedthe ubiquitous and swift Arab dhows that plied the waters of the In-dian Ocean and adjoining seas. With such vessels the Chinese be-came for much of the fifteenth century a dominant force in Asianseas east of the Malayan peninsula. The stout-walled chinese shipsalso proved the only vessels in Asia that could stand up to the can_non carried by the first waves of portuguese ships that sought todominate the Indian Ocean trading network.

ships of this size carry? Doequipped with the navalcrossed the Pacifìc Ocean to theto Europe? If not, why"discover" and

and the Chinese Predicament1500s, the Ming retreat from overseas involvement had become just one facet of a fa-

of dynastic decline. The highly centralized, absolutist political structure, whichestablished by Hongwu and had been run well by able successors such as Yungle, be-

liability under the mediocre or incompetent men who occupied the throneof the last two centuries of Ming rule. Decades of rampant official corruption, ex-

growlng isolation of weak rulers by the thousands of eunuchs who graduallywithin the Forbidden Cit¡ eventually eroded the foundations on which the

works proj ects, including the critical dike works on the Yellow Rive¡ fell into disre-drought, and famine soon ravaged the land. Peasants in afflicted districts were re-the bark from trees or the excrement of wild geese. Some peasants sold their

to keep them from starving, and peasants in some areas resorted to cannibalism.

509

Means and Motives for Overseas

Expansion: Europe and China Compared

In the early decades of the 14th centur¡ Chi-nese mariners dramatically demonstrated their

capacity to mount large expeditions for over-

seas exploration and expansion. Because theirfailure to sustain these initiatives left Asian wa-

ters from the Persian Gulf to the China seas

open to armed European interventions a cen-

tury later, the reasons for the Chinese failure to

follow up on their remarkable naval achieve-

ments merits serious examination. The expla-

nations for the Chinese refusal to commit tooverseas expansion can be best understood ifthey are contrasted with the forces that drove

the Europeans with increasing determination

into the outside world. In broad terms, such a

tition on the part of the Europeans than the Chinese rulers could

even imagine. China's armies were far larger than those of any ofthe European kingdoms, but European soldiers were on the whole

better led, armed, and disciplined. Chinese wet rice agriculture was

more productive than European farming, and

the Chinese rulers had a far larget populatio¡

to cultivate their fìelds, build their dikes and

bridges, work their mines, and make tools,

clothing, and weapons. But on the whole' the

technological innovations of the medieval pe-

riod had given the Europeans an advantage

over the Chinese in the animal and machine

power they could generate-a capacity that did

much to make up for their deficiencies inhuman power.

Despite their differences, both civiliza-

tions had the means for sustained exploration

and expansion overseas, although the Chinese

were ready to undertake such enterprises a few

centuries earlier than the Europeans. As the

and was

comparison underscores the fact that although

boththe Europeans and the Chinese had the means to expand on a

global scale, only the Europeans had strong motives for doing so'

The social and economic transformations that occurred in

European civilization during the late Middle Ages and the early Re-

naissànce had brought it to a level of development that compared

favorably with China in many areas (see Chapters 10 and 12)' A1-

though the Chinese empire was far larger and more populous than

tiny nation-states such as Portugal, Spain, and Holland, the Euro-

pean kingdoms had grown more efficient at mobilizing their more

limited resources. Rivalries between the states of a fragmented Eu-

rope had also fostered agreafer aggressiveness and sense ofcompe-

voyages of Da Gama, Columbus, andZhengHe demonstrated' both

civilizations had the shipbuilding and navigational skills and tech:

nology needed to tackle such ambitious undertakings.'vVh¡

were the impressive ZhengHe expeditions a dead end' whereas

more modest probes of Columbus and Da Gama were the

ning of half a millennium of European overseas expanslon

global dominance?The full answer to this question is as complex as the

it asks us to compare. But we can learn a good deal by looking at

grouPs pushing for expansion within each civilization and

needs that drove them into the outside world. There was

Rupacious local landlords built huge estates by taking advantage of the increasinglY

peasant population. As in earlier phases of dynastic decline' farmers who had been turned

land and tortured for taxes, or had lost most of the crops they had grown' turned to

ditr¡ and finally open rebellion to confiscate food and avenge their exploitation by

lords and corrupt officials.Tiue to the pattern of dynastic rise and fall, internal disorder

the walls of the Forbidden City. After watching his wife withdraw

cide, and after bungling an attempt to kill his young daughter, the

the imperial gardens and hanged himself rather than face capture'

rçsulted inbéyond the Great Wall'

Chongzhen [chohng-jehn] Lastof the Mingem-perors; committed suicide i¡ 1644 in the face of a

|urchen capture ofthe Forbidden City at Beijing.

by foreign threats and renewed assaults by nomadic peoples from

the earþ signs of the seriousness of imperial deterioration was the inability of Chinese

and military forces to put an end to the epidemic of fapanese (and ethnic Chinese)

that ravaged the southern coast in the mid-16th century. Despite an official

Mongols early in the Ming era and with the Manchus to the northeast of the Great

times, the dynasty was finally toppled in 7644, not by nomads but by rebels from

time, the administrative apparatus had become so feeble that the last Ming emperor'

(chohng-jehn), did not realize how serious the rebel advance was until enemy soldiers

to her chambers to

510

ill-fated Chongzhen

spread support for exploration and overseas expansion in seafaringEuropean nations such as Portugal, Spain, Holland, and Englànd.European rulers financed expeditions they hoped would bringhome precious metals and trade goods that could be sold at greatprofits. Both treasure and profits coulcl l¡e translated into warshipsand armies that would strengthen these rulers in their incessantwars with European rivals and, in the case of the Iberian kingdoms,with their Muslim adversaries.

European traders looked for much the same beuefits fromoverseas expansion. Rulers and merchants also hoped that explorerswould find new lands whose climates and soils were suitable forgrowing crops such as sugar that were in high demand and thuswould bring big profits. Leaders of rival branches of the Christianfaith believed that overseas expansion would give their missionariesaccess to unlimited numbers of heathens to be convertecl or wouldput them in touch with the legendary lost king, Prester lohn, whowould ally with them in their struggle with the infìdel Muslims.

By contrast, the Chinese Zheng He expeditions were verymuch the project of a single emperor and a favored eunuch, whoseMuslim family origins may go a long way toward accounting for hiswanderlust. Yungle appears to have been driven by little more thancuriosity and the vain desire to impress his greatness and that of hisempire on peoples whom he considered inferior. Although someChinese merchants went along for the ride, most felt little need for

hated eunuchs, who vied with the scholar-gentry for the emperor'sfavor ancl the high posts that went with it. In addition, the scholar-gentry saw the voyages as a foolish waste of resources that the ern-pire could not afford. They believed it would be better to clirect rhewealth and talents of the empire to building armies and fortifica-tions to keep out the hated Mongols and other nomads. After all,the memory of foreign rule was quite fresh.

As had happened so often before in their histor¡ the Chinesewere drawn inward, fixated on internal struggles and the continuingthreat from central Asia. Scholar-gentry hostility and the lack of en-thusiasm for overseas voyages displayed byyungle's successors afterhis death in I424led to their abandonment after 1430. As the Chi-nese retreated, the Europeans surged outward. It is difficult to exag-gerate the magnitude of the consequences for both civilizations andall humankind.

voyages. They already traded on favorable terms for all theAsia, and in some cases Europe and Africa, could offer.

merchants had the option of waiting for other peoples to comethem, or, if they were a bit more ambitious, of going out in their

ships to southeast Asia.The scholar-gentry were actively hostile to the Zheng He ex-

The voyages strengthened the position of the much-

QUESTIONS How might history have been changed if the Chi-nese had mounted a serious and sustained effort to project theirpower overseas in the decades before Da Gama rounded the Capeof Good Hope? Why did the Chinese fail to foresee the threat thatEuropean expansion would pose for the rest of Asia and finally forChina itselß Did other civilizations have.the capacityfor global ex-pansion in this era? What prevented them from,launching expedi-tions similar to those of the Chinese and Europeans? In terms ofmotivation for overseas expansion, were peoples such as the Mus-lims, Indians, and Native Americans more like the Europeans orthe Chinese?

g Off the West: fapan's Reunifìcationthe First Challenge

16th century the daimyo stalemate and the pattern of recurring civil war were so entrenchedsociety that a succession of three remarkable military leaders was needed to restore

internal peace. oda Nobunaga, the fìrst of these leaders, was from a minor warriorBut his skills as a military leader soon vaulted him into prominence in the ongoing

for power among the daimyo lords. As a leader, Nobunaga combined daring, a willingnessand ruthless determination-some would say cruelty. He was not afraid to launch a

attack against an enemy that outnumbered him ten to one, and he was one of the first ofto make extensive use of the firearms that the Japanese had begun to acquire from thein the 1540s.

Nobunaga deposed the last of the Ashikaga shoguns, who had long ruled in namehe had unified much of central Honshu under his command (Map 22.\. As his

agarnst

Nobuaga, Oda (1534-1582) Japanese dairnyo;first to make extensive use of firearms; in 1573 de-posed last ofAshikaga shoguns; unifìed much ofcent¡al Honshu unde¡ his command.

.z1i:\:f/a,\\rlgÞè mid-16th century the Japanese\-/

found leaders who had the military and

diplomatic skills and ruthlessness needed

to restore unity under a new Shogunate,

the Tokugawa. By the early 1600s, with

the potential threat from the Europeans

looming ever larger, the Tokugawa

shoguns succeeded in enveloping the

islands in a state of isolation that lasted

nearly two and a half centuries.the powerful western daimyo in l582,Nobunaga was caught off guard by oneand was killed when the Kyoto temple where he had taken refuge was burned

generals

5ll

512 parr IV . The Early Modern Period, 1450-1750: The World Shrinks

Seo of .lupan

0

oA

ø

- Unified by Nobunaga, 1582

EB HideYoshi's camPaigns

"flMap 22.4 Japan During the Rise of the Tokugawa Shogunate As th is map ind icates, the main centers of popu lation and political

power in early modern Japan were readily accessible to the sea, which was the arena which the Europeans could best project their milita

prowess and exercise their commercial prerogatives.

At first it appeared that Nobunaga

Hideyoshi, Toyotomi General under Nobunaga;

succeeded as leading military power in cent¡al

Japan; continued efforts to break power ofdaimyos; constructed a series of allimces thatmadehim nilitarymasler of )apan in 1590; died

in 1598.

Edo Tokugawa capital city; modern-day Tokyo;

center of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Ieyasu, Tokugawa ltoh-kuh-GAH-wâh ee-YAH-

sool Vassal ofToyotomi Hideyoshi; succeeded himas nost powerful military figure in Japan; Srmtedtitle of shogun in I603 and established Tokugawa

Shogunate; established political unity in Iapan.

mighi be undone. But his ablest general, Toyotomi Hideyoshi

ish thosewho had not yet submitted to him. Though the son of a peasant,

military prowess

ries over the last

of rulingened, among others, the SPanish

vision of empire building on a grand

1597,eachof which involved nearly 150,000

Although Hideyoshihe had appointed fo carryof these Yassals, Tokugawa IeYasu

minor daimyo house. But as an ally of Hideyo

main on the heavily populated Kanto plain. Ieyasu

warfare that resulted from Hideyoshi's death. Rather

overseas expansion, Ieyasu concentrated on consolidating power

Tokugawa shogunate.Under leyasu's direction, the remaining daimyo were

tral Honshu were either controlled directly by the Tokugawa

the cityAlthough

Datê

Mikawa Provincehome ofTokugawa

Owari P¡ovincchome of Nobunaga

and Hideyoshi

trolled and were required to pledge their personal allegiance to the shogun' It was

<.r

þ

?M MILð

t---l-

's campaigns to restore central authority to the

(Figure 22.7),moved quicklY to

who had betrayed Nobunaga and to renew the drive to break the power of the

Hideyoshi matched his

but was far more skillful at diplomacy. A system of alliances and a string of

of the resisting daimyo made Hideyoshi the military master of JaPan bY 1590.

The ambitious overlord had much more grandiose schemes of conquest in mind. He

China and even India, although he knew little about either place' Hideyoshi also

in the Philippines. Apparently as the first step toward

scale, Hideyoshi launched two attacks on Korea in

soldiers. After initial successes, both campaigns

The first ended in defeat; the second was still in progress when Hideyoshi died in 1598

had tried to ensure that he would be succeeded by his son,

out his wishes tried to seize Power for thdmselves after his

(toh-kuh- GAH-wah ee-YAH-soo ), had originallyshi, he had been able to build uP a

soon emerged triumphant fromthan continue HideYoshi's

at home. In 1603 he

the title of shogun by the emperor, an act that formally inaugurated centuries of

reorganized. Most of the

family, who now ruled

of Edo (later Tokyo), or were held by daimyo who were closely allied with

many of the outlying or vassal daimyo retained their domains, theY were

Chapter 22 , AsianTiansitions in an Age of Global Change 513

the Tokugawas' victory had put an end to the civil wars and brought asemblance of political unity to the islands.

Dealing with the European Challenge

All through the decades when the three unifierò were struggling to bringthe feisty daimyo under control, they also had to contend with a new force

merchants, Christian missionaries (Figure 22.g) arand set to work converting the fapanese to Roman

ffearms, which the ]apanese could themselves manufacture within yearsand were improving in design within a generation, revolutionized fapanesewarfare and contributed much to the victories of the unifiers. Commercial

with the Europeans also encouraged the Japanese to venture over-to trade in nearby Formosa and Korea and in places as distant as the

and Siam.

Soon after thein the islands

Beginning in the outlying'domains, the missionaries workedway toward the political center that was beginning to coalesce around

and his followers by the 1570s. Seeing Christianity as a counter-to the militant Buddhist orders that were resisting his rise to power,

took the missionaries under his protection and encouragedto preach their faith to his people. The lesuits, adopting the same top-strategy of conversion that they had followed in India and China, Figure 22.7 ln this late 16th-century portrait, Hideyoshi (1536-1S98)many of the daimyo and their samurai retainers. Some of the Je- grasps the sword that catapulted him to power and exudes the disciplinewere also convinced that they were on the verge of winning over and self-confidence that made possible his campaigns to unify Japan.who delighted in wearing Western clothes, encouraged his Although warrior skills were vital in his rise to power, he and otherto copy Western paintings of the Virgin Mary and scenes from the members of the samurai class were expected to be l¡terâte, well manneredChrist, and permitted the missionaries to build churches i4 towns by the conventions of the day, and attuned to the complex and refined

the islands. The missionaries were persuaded that Nobunagat aesthetics of rock gardens and tea ceremonies.would bring rhe whole of the Japanese people into the Christian

without it, they reported converts in the hundreds of thousands by the early 1580s.the late 1580s, quite suddenl¡ the missionaries saw their carefully mounted conversion A Japanese

was murdered, and his successor, Hideyoshi, though not yet openly

from the fact that thethe missionary enterprise. In part, the missionaries' fall from favorresistance of the Buddhist sects had been crushed. More criticall¡

and his followers were alarmed by reports of converts refusing to obey their overlords'when they believed them to be in conflict with their newly adopted Christian beliefs.threat that the new religion posed for the established social order was groung more ap-threat was compounded by signs that the Europeans might follow up their commercial

overtures with military expeditions aimed at conquering the islands. The fapaneseimpressed with the firearms and pugnacity of the Europeans, and they did notrnvasion lightly.

Isolationabout European intentions, and fears that both merchants and missionaries might

social order, led to official measures to restrict foreign activities in Japan, begin-

H V¡ew ofEuropeanMissionaries

1580s. First, Hideyoshi ordered the Christian missionaries to leave the islands-an

514 Part IV . The Early Modern Period, 1450-1750: The world Shrinks

re 22.8 A number of the nrajor forms of interaction between expan sive European peoples and those of Asia are vividly illustrated in this panoramic Japanese

silkscre en painting from the early 1 600s. The strong ìmpressiotr made by the size and powe r of the Portuguese ship that has just arrived in harbor is evident in the artist's

exaggeratìon of the height of its fore and aft castles. The trade goods being unloaded' main ly chinese silks, which are also being sold in the marketplace at the right of thc

painting, but also exotic products such as peacocks and tiger skins, demonstrate the ways in whichthePortuguesehadbecomecarriersbetweendifferentareasinAsia,

including Japa n. The cluster of black-robeci missionaries waiting to greet the arriving Portuguese sea captain (under the umbrella in the center) suggests that efforts to

convert the JaPanese to Christianity were in fult swing, at least in this area of the kingdom'

"Closed

Country Edict

of 1635" and"Exclusion

of thePortuguese,

1 639" by

Tokugawaleyasu

Deshima Island in Nagasaki Bay; only port open

to non-Japanese after clostlre of thc islands in the

1640s; only Chinese and Dutch ships rverc permit-

ted to enter,

school ofNational Learning New ideology that

laid emphasis on lapan's unique historical experi-

ence anà the revival of indigenous culture at the

expense of Chinese imports such as Confucianism;

typical ofJapan in lSth centur¡

order that was not rigorously enforced, at least at the outset' By the mid-1590s, Hideyoshi was ac-

tively persecuting Chiistian missionaries and converts. His successor, Ieyasu, continued this perse-

cution ancl then officially banned the faith in 1614. European missionaries were driven out of the

islands; those who remuined underground were hunted down and killed or expelled' |apanese con-

verts were compellecl to renollnce their faith; those who refused were imprisoned, tortured' lq t*-

ecuted. ny the ìO:Os, the persecutions, even against Christians who tried to practice their faith in

secret, hacl become so intense that tirousands of converts in the western regions joinecl in hard-

fought but hopeless rebellions against the local daimyo and the forces of the shogun' With the.sup-

pression of these uprisings, Christianity in fapan was reduced to an underground faith of isolated

communities.Under Ieyasu and his successors, the persecution of the Christians grew into a broader

paign to isolate faPan from outside influences. In 1616 foreign traders were confined to a handful

cities; in the 1630s all faPanese ships were forbidden to trade or even sail overseas. One after

other, different EuroPean nations were either officially excluded from fapan ( the Spanish) or

cided that trading there was no longer worth the risk (the English). By the 1640s

number of Dutch and Chinese ships were allowed to carry on commerce on the

Deshima in Nagasaki Bay' The export of silver and copper was greatly restricted, and

books were banned to prevent Christian ideas from reentering the courtrY. Foreigners were

led to live and travel only in very limited areas

into almost total isolation was complete' MuchBy the mid-17th century, fapan's retreat

next centurv was spent in consolidating the internal control of the Tokugawa shogunate

rng bureaucratic administration into the vassal daimyo domains throughout the islands' In the

century, a revival of Neo-Confucian philosoph¡ which had marked the Period of the

rise to power, increasingly gave way to the influence of thinkers who chamPioned the School

tional Learning. As its name implies, the new ideology laid great emphasis on J

torical experience and the revival of indigenous culture at the expense of Chinese inPorts

Confucianism. In the centuries that followed, through contacts with the small Dutch

Deshima, members of the JaPanese elite also followecl developments in the West. Their

in European achievements contrasted sharply with the indifference

this period to the doings of the "hairy barbarians" from Europe'

of the Chinese

Global Connectionsfur Age of Eurasian Protoglobalization

In 1700, after two centuries of European involvement in south andsoutheast Asia, most of the peoples of the area had been little af-fected by efforts to build trading empires and win Christian con-verts. European sailors had added several new routes to the AsianÍading network. The most important of these were the linkaround the Cape of Good Hope between Europe and the IndianOcean and the connection between the Philippine Islands andMexico in the Americas. The Europeans'need for safe harbors andstorage areas led to the establishment and rapid growth of tradingcenters such as Goa, Calicut, and Batavia. It also resulted in thegradual decline of existing indigenous commercial centers, espe-cially the Muslim cities on the east coast of Africa and somewhatlater the fortress town of Malacca. The Europeans introduced theprinciple of sea warfare into what had been a peaceful commercialworld. But the Asian trading system as a whole survived the initialshock ofthis innovation, and the Europeans eventually concluded

they were better off adapting to the existing commercialrather than dismantling them.

Chapter 22 . Asian Transitions in an Age of Global Change 515

Promising missionary inroads in the l6th century were stifled byhostile Tokugawa shoguns in the early lTth century. They werealso carefully contained by the Ming emperors and the nomadicQing dynasty {lom the mid-l apaneserulers limited trading contacts ans andconfined European merchants Cantonin China, Deshima in fapan-that were remote from their respec-tive capitals. In its early decades, the Ming dynasty also pursued apolicy of overseas expansion that had no precedent in Chinesehistory. But when China again turned inward in the last centuriesof the dynast¡ a potentially formidable obstacle to the rise of Eu-ropean dominance in maritime Asia was removed. China's strongposition in global trade continued, in marked contrast to fapan,sgreater isolation. But even China failed to keep pace with changesin European technology and merchant activit¡ with results thatwould show more clearly in the next stage of more intense globalinteraction.

Further Readings

The account of Da Gama's epic voyage that opens the chapter isbased heavily on I. H. Parry's superb The Discovery of the Seø(1981). C. c. F. Simkins, The Traditional Trade of Asia (1968),and Anthony Reid, Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce,1450-1680 (1988), provide overviews of the Asian trading net-work from ancient times until about the lSth century. Muchmore detailed accounts of specific segments of the system, as

well as the impact upon it of the Dutch and Portuguese, can befound in the works of I. C. van Leur, M. A. P. Meilink-Roelofsz,K. N. Chaudhuri, Ashin Das Gupta, Sanjay Subrahmanyam, andMichael Pearson. C. R. Boxer's The Portuguese Seaborne Empire(1969) and The Dutch Seøborne Empire (1965) are still essentialreading, although the latter has little on the Europeans in Asia.Boxer's Race Relations in the Portuguese Coloniøl Empire,1415-1852 (1963) provides a stimulating, if contentious, intro-duction to the history of European social interaction with over-seas peoples in the early centuries of expansion. Importantcorrectives to Boxer's work can be found in the more recent con-tributions of George Winius.

Louise Levathes, When Chinø Ruled the Seøs: The TreøsureFleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-33 (1994), is the most thoroughaccount in English of China's global reach. G. B. Sansom, TheWesternWorld and lapan (1968),includes a wealth of informationon the interaction between Europeans and, despite its title, peo-ples throughout Asia, and it has good sections on the missionaryinitiatives in both China and fapan.

The period of the Ming dynasty has been the focus ofbroader and more detailed studies than the dynasties that pre-ceded it. An important early work is Charles O. Hucker, The Cen-sorial System of Ming China (1966). Two essential and more recent

Because exchanges had been taking place between EuropeAsia for millennia, few new inventions or diseases were spread

the early centuries of expansion. This low level of major ex-was particularly strfüng compared with the catastrophic

between Europe and the Americas. But, as in Africa,discoveries in the long-isolated Western Hemisphere

result in the introduction of important new food plants intoChina, fava, the Philippines, and other areas from the 1600s

These new foods led to substantial increases in the popu-the areas affected. The import of silver was also an addi-ln

to wealth and adornment in China. Otherwise, Europeansof diseases that they contracted in Asia, such as new

of malaria and dysentery. They spread diseases only to theisolated parts of Asia, such as the Philippines, where the

of the Spanish was accompanied by a devastating small-The impact of European ideas, inventions, and

of social organization was also very limited during the firstof expansion. Key European devices, such as clocks, wereas toys by Asian rulers to whom they were given as pres-

the ritual-minded Chinese emperors took these suDertorvery seriousl¡ thereby providing the Jesuit missionar-

them to China with access to the court and rulerpowerful empire in an increasingly interconnected

for clocks and guns, during the early modern periodthe West's surge in exploration and commercial

touched most of Asia only peripherally. This was par-of east Asia, where the political cohesion and mili-of the vast Chinese empire and the fapanese

states blocked all hope of European advance.

5f 6 Part IV . The Early Modern Period, 1450-1750: The World Shrinks

works are Albert Chan's The Glory and Fall of the Ming Dynasty(1982) and Edward Dreyer's more traditional political histor¡Early Ming China, 1355-1435 (1982). See also F. Mote and D.

Twitchett, eds., The Cambridge History of China: The Ming Dy-nasty 1j68-1644, vols. 6 andT (1988, 1998).

There are also wonderful insights into daily life at variouslevels of Chinese society in Ray Huang's very readable 1587: AYear of No Significønce: The Ming Dynasty in Decline ( 198 I ), andinto the interaction between the Chinese and the Iesuits inJonathan Spence's The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci (1984).

Frederic Wakeman lr., The Great Enterprise, 2 voIs. (1985), is es-

sential to an understanding of the transition from Ming toManchu rule. The early chapters of Spence's The Seørch for Mod-ern China (1990) also provicle an illuminating overview of that

Process.Perhaps the best introductions to the situation in Japan in

the early phase of European expansion are provided by G. B. San-

som's surve¡ A History of løpan, 1615-1867 (1963) and ConradTotman's Politics in the Tokugawø Bakufu, 1600-1843 (1967).

Numerous studies on the Europeans in Japan include those byDonald Keene, Grant Goodman, Noel Perrin, and C. R. Boxer, In-tellectual trends in Japan in this era are most fully treated in H. D.

Harootunian's Toward Restorøtion: The Growth of Political Con-sciousness in Tokugawa løpan (1970).

On the Web

The achievement of the Ming and later Qing dynasties are on viewat virtual tours of their versions of the Great Wall and ForbiddenCity offered at http://wwrv.chinar.ista.com/beijing/gugong/map.htrnland http ://wm.^,r walkthelvall. com/. A view of the Great Wall providedby satellite imagery is offered at http://www.jpl.nasa.govhada¡lsìrc.xsar/sc-gwall.gif. An interactive 360 degree panoramic view ofthe Forbidden City can be found at http://www.thebeijingguicle. com/forbidden_citylforbidden_city_virtual_tour.html.

Perhaps the fìnest of all virtual tour sites on the Web is thatwhich provides a glimpse into the rich cultural life of the Toku-gawa capital of Edo at http://www.us-japan.orgledomatsu/. This

shogunate was established after a civil war that followed the reigns

of Nobunaga Oda (http://ox.compsoc.net/-gerlini/simons/historyweb/oda-nobunaga.htn-rl) and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, devel-

oper of the grand Osaka Castle (http://www.osakacastle.net/castle__

en/rnainmenu.htm, or http://wwwosakacastle.net/english/, andhttp ://ngm.natìonirlgeo graphic. corn/ngrn/03 1 2/tèatur:e5/zoomit_1./

main.html).Hideyoshi's death may or may not have been hastened by

the great losses lapan sustained as a result of his two failed inva-sions of Korea (for a Korean view of these events, known as the

Imjin Wars, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imjin-War, http://en.wikipeclia.org/wiki/Yi_Sunsin, and http://www.umich.eciu/

- urecord/ 9 8 9 9 I F eb22 _99 I imjin. htm). Howeve6 his passing hastened

the ascension of Tokugawa Ieyasu (http://www.samurai-a¡chives.com/ieyasu.html and http://www.japan-guicle.corn/e/e2 1 28.htrnl),

whose shogunate paved the way for the construction of modern

lapan.The era of the rise and development of the Tokugawa also

saw significant exchange between Asians and Christian missionar-

ies elsewhere in Asia. An exceptional online study of these ex-

changes and the lives of Mateo Ricci, Adam Schall, and Robert diNobili can be found ar http : I I acc6. its.bro old;'n. cuny. edu/ - phtexts/r'ic-jour.html, http ://ww-iv.nelvadvent.org/cathen/ I 3

http ://r,rwwthefi eelibrary. com/Preaching+Wisdom+to +the'f+Three+'lteatises-a077205106, and http://rvww.fordharn,

halsali/eastasia/eastasiasbook.h

These exchanges were made possible by earlierments in seagoing transportation, trade, and exploration, such

the travels of Zheng He (or Chengho) (http://chichengho.htrrl) and the development of Portuguese andtrading empires (http:/irvlvw.colonialvoyage.com).

Web pages devoted to the activities of the DutchIndia Company (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/l)Co rnp any, ht tp ://wlvu'.tanap. net/-res o ut'ces/inr ages/ cl

.jpg, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deshima, and

worlclhistoryconnectecl.press. uiuc. edr-r/3. 3/ giibert.html)luminous virtual tours of both Batavia anddemonstrate the still peripheral role of Euroqeans in Asia

time.

Test Prep

When the Portuguese arrived in India in 149g, they(A) found they hacl little to offer in trade, but could get rich

by forcing themselves into the existing trade network.(B)

_quicldy integrated themselves on peaceful terms into

the Asian trade system.

(C) exchangecl valuable European goods for Asian luxuryitems.

(D) established cordial relations with Muslim merchants.

2. Which of the following characterized the Asian trading sys_tem as the first Europeans encountered it?(A) The Indian Ocean trade was monopolized by Hindu

merchants.

(B) The Indian Ocean trade was dominated by Muslimmerchants.

(C) The trade in slaves was the principal cargo traversingthe Indian Ocean.

(D) The Indian Ocean trade was highly m ilitartzed.

What circumstances prevented the portuguese from estab_lishing a monopoly over the Asian spice tade?(A) The Mughal and Ottoman navles were too strong.(B) French traders offered too much competition.(C) Portugal was a small nation and lacked the ships and

manpower needed to overcome its Asian and Èuropeancompetition.

(D) Access to the most profitable spices was controlled bythe Chinese.

Chapter 22 . Asian Transitions in an Age of Global Change 5t7

5, The raw material with the broadest demand and highest pricewas

(A)

(B)

(c)

(D)

silk from China to the Middle East.

cottons from India to the Middle East.

bulk items, usually foodstuffs, exchanged among eachof the main zones.

spices from the East Indies.

6. Following the defeat and expulsion of the Mongols fromChina,

(A) Chinese manufacturing expanded further.(B) peasants were granted equality with the scholar_gentry

and noble classes.

(C) China converted to Buddhism.(D) the civil service exam system of the Mongols was

ended.

7. In the 17th centur¡ the /apanese dealt with the startling ar_rival of the Europeans to East Asia by(A) allying with the portuguese against the other

Europeans.

(B) permitting the /esuits to convert the Japanese toChristianity.

(C) permitting the Europeans to establish controj over|apan's foreign trade.

(D) self-imposed isolation and forbidding most contactwith Europeans.

Asian society witnessed the largest percentage of itsconverted to Christianitv?

China

India

the Philippines

Iapan

Questioneffects on

the periocl IEast Asia of the intensification of European450-1750.