Hist 420 Midterm 1

Confucianism

(500 BC) Custom in charge. Main teaching is that society can reach harmony off people focus on observing traditional social customs → must observe customs of the station that the person is in → if one person fulfills their role, others will be encouraged to follow theirs

Qianlong

(18th century, 1730s-90s) China reached it’s greatest size under this emperor. Built Beijing to be the capital of China

Shinto

(1-Present) “Way of the gods” → The native religion of Japan, catch all term for Japanese folk religion. Emphasizes respect for the spirits of nature and on spiritutal cleansing

Daimyos

Class under the Shogun. Roughly around 250 daimyos, and each daimyo has their own domain

Alternate Attendance System

Each daimyo has to spend every other year in the capital city, Edo. The daimyo has to keep their fault in Edo at all times. Outcome of this system: unified national market

Joseon Dynasty

(1392-1910) Thrived under King Sejong, who set the Korean border at the Yalu River and appointed a committee to create the Hangul Script. Later years weakened by court factionalism, lack of economic development and isolation.

Yangban

A composite aristocracy for government officials that became the supreme ruling class. Every third generation needed to establish credibility by taking a test.

Opium War

(1839-42) Between the British and Chinese over right to trade opium, and other things. British wins.

Treaty of Nanjing

(1842) China has to give the island of Hong Kong to Britain forever, China has to pay Britain large indemnity, and China has to open cities for trade, like Shanghai. The British also receive extraterritoriality. Also as a result, China was now obligated to extend concessions to every exterior nation.

Taiping Rebellion

(1851-1864) Started by a scholar from South China, who formed a society of God worshippers (no opium, and calls for the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty). Western nations supports Qing Dynasty because of their weird version of Christianity and opposition to opium. They take Nankin, but looses momentum in following years. Was destructive → over 20 million killed

Commodore Perry

(1853) Led four U.S warships into Edo Bay. Task was to demand the Japanese government for supplies for American vessels and opportunities for trade. After rejection, Perry comes back the next year with double the ships (which he does). The shogun agrees to a treaty, allowing trade.

Meiji Restoration

(1868) Led by the Satsuma and Chosu domains, a series of battles are fought to “restore” the emperor into favor (they want to rule Japan in the name of the emperor). Creates a new system with the emperor as symbolic center → abolition of domains, adoption of western customs, creation of single conscript army, and elimination of S.P.A.M

Satsuma Uprising

(1877) Dissatisfied army led by Saigo to form a rebellion. Government takes 6 months to quell rebellion, but now the government is in debt, so they start printing money. So now the money collected through taxes is worthless.

Zaibatsu

(1880-1945) Huge businesses with a hand in multiple industries → drivers to Japan’s industrialization

Imperial Rescript of Education

(1890) Document that emphasizes loyalty to the emperor and held that the nation was a single family under the emperor. Becomes a cornerstone for Japanese education (until 1945 when something happens)

Lead up to the Sino-Japanese War

(1894-95) Japan forces treaty with Korea → wanted Korea for resources but also concerned that if someone else controlled Korea, it can serve as a launchpad for an attack on Japan. Donghak movement (movement against Catholicism and eastern ideals) arrises again, and the Korean government asks China for help. China and Japan send troops to suppress movement, but after that, they begin to fight each other. Japan wins, to the surprise of westerners.

Treaty of Shimonoseki

(1895) Gave Japan control of Taiwan, Japan gets an indemnity, and gives Japanese citizens extraterritoriality in Chinese treaty ports

Anglo-Japanese Alliance

(1902) Between England and Japan. If either side is attacked by two foreign contras, then the other country must help

Battle of Tsushima

(1905) Japan attacked Russian forces in the strait of Tsushima. Japan wins by a large margin. Now Russia is open to peace talks.

Treaty of Portsmouth

(1905) Russia surrenders interest in the Liodong Peninsula to Japan, including the South Manchurian railway. Russia agrees to respect Japan’s dominant interest in Korea. Russia have Japan the southern half of Sakhalin island.

Taiping Legacies

Big cultural borrowings (social revolution, not opposed from the outside.) First steps towards fragmentation (Qing government had to depend on ethnic Chinese generals, and created regional armies. Those armies began to act independently from central control.)

Harris Treaty

(1858) Granted extraterritoriality for Americans in Yokohama and limited import tariffs by Japan. A daimyo influenced emperor refuses treaty, embarrassing the shogun (if they sign, they go against the emperor. If they don’t, they risk signing a worse treaty with the British). The shogun sign.

The Loyalist Movement

Samurais loyal to the emperor and want the shogunate and foreigners out. Foreigners get mad because they’re assassinating foreigners, and they began to attack loyalist strongholds. Loyalist change strategies, learning from the foreigners. They strengthen themselves by favoring modernization.

Fire-sale

(1880s) To regain money after the satsuma uprising, the government begins to sell its industries to investors. Now the government and these businesses (zaibatsu) have connections → spoils these businesses but holds them to a high