The East Asia Region During The 1750-1900s Essay Example

The East Asia region faced many challenges during the 1750-1900s. The region's expanding Western colonial influence was one of the primary obstacles. 

Because the Americans and Europeans felt China profited from a massive trade imbalance, they sought to integrate China into their diplomatic system. British tried to persuade the Chinese in the summer of 1793 and 1816 but failed. Qianlong, the Chinese emperor, believed there was no point in adjusting the empire to the Western norms, as China's diplomacy revolved around trade with Confucian-based nearby states. It worked in the same way as European mercantilism, where money paid to Chinese merchants stayed in the "closed" economy of the Qing Empire. Since European merchants offered little that the Chinese wanted, they turned into the opium trade. 

A respected official named Lin Zexu's duties was to cut off the source of the opium trade and help addicts to recover. He blocked the port and removed all Chinese personnel from Western establishments, resulting in the traders surrendering 20,000 chests of opium. However, the dealers demanded the British government's settlement. The British government then sent a fleet of warships to Canton, forcing the Chinese to open more ports and establish diplomatic connections, which resulted in the First Opium War. 

The First Opium War ended in the Treaty of Nanjing. British claimed Hong Kong, charged the Chinese to pay the war's expenses, and forced China to open more ports. They also demanded that the Chinese can charge no more than a five percent tariff on British goods.

Hong Xiuquan established the Taiping Rebellion, which lasted from 1851 to 1864 and is considered the deadliest civil war in history. Xiuquan believed that he was Jesus' brother who was sent to Earth to overthrow the Manchu. He attracted followers from unemployed, anti-Manchu elements, religious dissidents, and fellow members of south China's Hakka minority. They made a community based on Protestant Christian theology and pre- Confucian Chinese traditions. The rebellion's goals were to rid of the Manchu rule, overthrow the Qing dynasty, and establish a new dynasty based on Christianity, equality, and shared property. 

In the 19th century, when the Qing was on the brink of destruction, the British aided the Qing. The British economy heavily relied on China market at the time, especially after the loss of the United States after the Civil War in 1861. They sent troops, gunships, and goods to China, helping defeat the Taiping Rebellion. 

During the Sino-Japanese War, China and Japan fought against each other for the control of  Korea. Japan won the war, and Li, the Chinese emperor, was forced to agree to Japan's conditions. Following the event, a race for concessions started. France insisted on economic and territorial ownership in south China, Britain in the Yangzi River valley, Russia and Japan in Manchuria, and Germany on the Shandong Peninsula. 

The movement of German missionaries on the Shandong Peninsula started an anti-foreign belief group, which the foreign community referred them as Boxers. The empress dowager, secretly involved with the Boxers, declared war on all foreign powers in China, resulting in civil war across northern China. 

The Meiji Era was significant in Japanese history because it was a time of political and social revolution. The Meiji emperor's reforms modernized and westernized Japan, paving the path for Japan to become an influential international power. During the Meiji era, Japan established a constitution and parliamentary system, implemented universal education, developed railways and telegraph lines, and built powerful military and navy forces, among other achievements. Japan transformed from a feudal society to a modern industrialized nation. 

During the Meiji era, The Ottoman and Russian Empires responded to challenges from the West in several ways.

Meiji's economic reforms sought to ensure that ownership remained in Japanese hands. Entrepreneurship received a huge boost from the cashing out of the samurai. Families with long-standing ties to money moved quickly to combine their businesses to obtain market share. The government's support and the collaboration of social networks among banking and industrial elites resulted in the creation of several cartels (zaibatsu). Zaibatsu controlled substantial parts of the Japanese economy from the Meiji period until after the WW2.