Week Ten

The Crisis Within:

• Robust economy and American food crops lead to population growth
• Unemployment, impoverishment, misery, and starvation took place
• Unable to preform tax collection, flood control, social welfare & public safety
• Massive civil war disrupted and weakened Chinas economy & 20-30 million died

Western Pressures:

• Illegal opium smuggled into China
• Lost most of its silver to purchase the opium
• Treaty of Nanjing ended war in 1842 on British terms, opened 5 ports to European trade
• To the Chinese it was the first of many unequal treaties, it eroded their Independence
• Foreign goods and investments flooded the country

The Failure of Conservative Modernization:

• Support for landlords and the repair of irrigation helped restore rural social and economic order
• New industries remained largely dependent on foreigners for machinery, materials & expertise
• Qing Dynasty was foreign and ineffective in protecting China

The Sick Man of Europe:

• Ottoman Empire no longer to deal with Europe from a position of equality 
• Their own domains shrank at the hands of Russian, British, Austrian & French aggression
• When the French left, a basically independent Egypt pursued a modernizing and empire-building program that topped the Ottoman Empire
• Competition from cheap European manufactured goods hit Ottoman artisans hard and led to urban riots protesting foreign imports
• Like China, the Ottoman Empire had failed into a position of considerable dependency on Europe

Reform and Its Opponents:

• Long established Ottoman leadership was Turkic and Muslim which were culturally similar to its core population
• Chinas Qing dynasty rulers were widely regarded as foreigners from Manchuria
• Western-style laws, courts, elementary and secondary schools began a long process of modernization and westernization in the Ottoman Empire
• Non-Muslims were given equal rights Tanzimat-era reforms didn't directly address gender issues but they did stimulate modest educational openings for women
• Favored women as a means of strengthening the state

The Japanese Difference: The Rise of a New East Asian Power

• Japan confronted the aggressive power of the West in the 19th century 
• Japan joined the club of imperialist countries by creating its own East Asian empire

American Intrusion and the Meiji Restoration:

• Japan limited contact with the West to one port where only the Dutch could trade
• Aware of what happened to China by resisting European demands, Japan agreed to a series of unequal treaties with various Western powers
• Japan was of less interest to Western powers than either China, with its huge potential market and reputation for riches, or the Ottoman Empire, with its strategic location at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe

Modernization Japanese Style:

• Japanese modernization efforts were defensive, based on fears that Japanese independence was in danger
• The samurai revived their ancient role as the country's warrior class, so they carried swords
• Widespread of eager fascination with almost everything Western
• People of both genders argued that the oppression of women was an obstacle to the country's modernization and that family reform was essential to gaining the respect of the West
• Japanese government included girl in the plan for university education though it was a gender-specific curriculum in schools segregated by sex
• Many peasant families slid into poverty because they were heavily taxed

Japan and the World:

• Treaty of 1902 acknowledged Japan as an equal player among the Great Powers of the world
• In the 20th century, China and Southeast Asia suffered under Japanese imperial aggression