East Asia Exam 2

Three motifs in 19th-century China

The three motifs are domestic rebellion (such as the Taiping and Boxer uprisings), foreign invasion (often made against the Qing’s will), and the ruling elite’s proactive efforts to reform

Zongli Yamen

Established by Prince Gong in 1861, the Zongli Yamen served as a modern government bureau for foreign affairs and international diplomacy. It was responsible for training modern diplomats, teaching world politics, and translating Western books, specifically those on international law. This office allowed the Qing leadership to begin viewing global relations through the lens of European public law alongside the traditional Chinese world order

The New Culture Movement

This intellectual and cultural movement in the 1910s–20s criticized traditional Chinese practices, the old intellectual system, and Confucianism. It promoted democratic and egalitarian ideals, science, women’s liberation, and the use of vernacular literature (baihua) over the classical writing system. Key figures included editors of the New Youth magazine such as Chen Duxiu, Hu Shih, and Lu Xun.

The May Fourth Movement

Provoked by the 1919 Versailles decision to leave German concessions in Shandong in Japanese hands, this movement began as a student demonstration and grew into a nationwide mass protest imperialism. It marked the birth of full-fledged, genuine Chinese nationalism where, for the first time, politics was led by "the people" in civil society rather than a small ruling class. The movement also catalyzed the growth of civil society organizations, leading to the re-establishment of the KMT and the founding of the CCP.

The First United Front

The First United Front was an alliance formed in 1924 between the KMT and the CCP with the primary goal of defeating warlords and reunifying China. Sun Yat-Sen initiated this "bloc within" strategy because he desperately needed financial aid for reunification, which the Soviet Union would only provide if the KMT allied with the communists. The front collapsed in 1927 following the Shanghai massacre, a violent purge of the CCP by KMT forces that ended their cooperation in the middle of the Northern Expedition

Baku-han system

The Baku-ban system was the dual-polity structure of the Tokugawa regime (1603–1867) consisting of the "Bakufu" (central shogunate in Edo) and "Han" (regional domains controlled by daimyo) . Under this system of "centralized feudalism," roughly 250 daimyo maintained political autonomy within their domains while remaining dependent on shogunal favor . This structure prevented a fully unified state but was eventually integrated economically through travel and residence requirements.

Neo-Confucianism

During the peaceful Tokugawa period, samurai transformed from warriors into a military ruling elite of intellectuals who intensively studied Neo-Confucianism . The crux of this ideology was a theory of political centralization that promoted a unitary organization over decentralized feudality. Because this central teaching posed a direct threat to the decentralized Tokugawa regime, it became a revolutionary idea for ambitious lower-ranking samurai who sought to overthrow the existing power structure .

The 228 Massacre

Triggered by an incident in Taipei on February 28, 1947, this was a violent suppression by the KMT government against local Taiwanese protestors who were frustrated with corruption and economic hardship. The ensuing "White Terror" period involved the execution or disappearance of thousands of Taiwanese elites and intellectuals, leaving a deep scar on the island's political identity. It remains a pivotal event in the history of Taiwan's democratization and the "imagined community" of Taiwanese nationalism.

The Yalta Conference

Held in February 1945, this meeting between the "Big Three" (Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill) determined the postwar reorganization of Europe and Asia. A secret agreement was reached for the Soviet Union to enter the war against Japan within three months of Germany’s surrender in exchange for territorial concessions in East Asia. This conference set the stage for the Soviet invasion of Manchuria and the eventual division of the Korean Peninsula between U.S. and Soviet spheres of influence

The East Asian Thirty Years’ War

This term describes the continuous period of conflict from 1914 to 1945, suggesting that World War I, the rise of Japanese imperialism, and World War II were part of a single, interconnected struggle for dominance in Asia. It highlights how local conflicts, like the 1931 invasion of Manchuria and the 1937 Sino-Japanese War, were inseparable from the global breakdown of the international order. The "war" only truly ended with the total defeat of the Japanese Empire and the beginning of the Cold War era