Colonialism and Spheres of Influence (2)

For Wednesday's class, please read chapter 15 from page 325 to the end, and be prepared to answer the following questions:

• Where did the French, Dutch, and Americans have colonies in Asia, and how did they treat their colonial subjects?
• Why was Siam (Thailand) able to maintain its independence?
• Why were Chinese immigrants to Southeast Asia resented and discriminated against, and where did they assimilate?
• If Westerners tend to overemphasize their role in the downfall of the Manchu dynasty, who or what really was responsible?
• Who was Cixi, and how did she handle China's problems?
• What was the goal of the new Meiji government of Japan?
• What advantages did Japan have that made it able to meet that goal?
• How was Japan able to defeat Russia in 1904-1905 and what was the result of that victory?
• Why did Japan join the Allies in World War I?
• What was Japanese policy in Taiwan, Manchuria, and Korea?
• What did American missionaries do in Asia?
• What were the attitudes and policies of the U.S. towards Asian immigrants, and how did the Chinese react to them?
• What was the most important long-term effect of imperialism in Asia?

Colonialism and Spheres of Influence (1)

For Monday's class, please read chapter 15 to page 326, and be prepared to answer the following questions:

• How did the new imperialism of the 19th century differ from the per-1800 mercantilist economies?
• What are some of the explanations for the causes of imperialism?
• What gave Westerners "a new sense of overwhelming self-confidence in the superiority of their civilization"?
• What raw materials and markets were they after?
• Why does Murphey describe Imperialism as a disease?
• How did Indians respond to British control? To Queen Victoria?
• Who mainly ran colonial India with its population of 350 million people?
• Why did the British Raj move its capital from Calcutta to Delhi?
• Who wanted independence for India and why? What delayed it?
• Why did civil disobedience movements spread after World War I, and what were the consequences? 
• Why did the British take over Singapore and Burma?
• What effect did British colonialism have on the population of Malaya?
• Describe "The White Man's Burden."

Tokugawa Japan

For Wednesday's class, please ready chapter 13, pp. 272-284, and be prepared the answer the following questions:

• What led to civil war at the end of the Ashikaga shogunate?
• How did the Tokugawa clan unify Japan, and how did they control it?
• What was the Sankin Kotai, "alternate residence" system, and what effects did it have?
• How were merchants viewed and treated by the Tokugawa shogunate?
• Why did the Tokugawas expel foreigners and suppress Christianity and foreign trade?
• What changed the fortunes of samurai and merchants?
• Why did Shinto see a revival?
• What made Edo such a populace city?
• What endangered Japanese forests, and what was done about it?
• How did Japanese art come to Europe, and what influence did it have there?
• Who forced Japan to normalize trade?
• What is the Meiji restoration?
• What made it possible for Japan to modernize so rapidly?

Manchu China

For Monday's class, please read chapter 13 through p. 272, and be prepared to answer the following questions:

• What was the Manchu approach to ruling China?
• What elements of Manchu culture did the Qing retain?
• What advantages do historians studying the Qing period have?
• How did Europeans view China in the early Qing period? What was going on in Europe at the same time?
• What improvements did the Manchu's make, and what were the consequences?
• What were the Asian and European views of corruption and nepotism?
• What internal crisis did the Qing dynasty face and why? What was the White Lotus?
• Why didn't the Chinese have commercial and industrial revolutions like Europe's?
• Who used opium; how did they use; and why did they use it?
• Why did opium provide the occasion for the first military confrontation between China and Britain? 
• What was the outcome of the Opium War?

The West Arrives in Asia

For Wednesday's class, please read chapter 12, and be prepared to answer the following questions:

• Who held monopolies on trade between Asia and Europe (list the two) before Vasco de Gama's breakthrough?
• What were Portugal's early advantages? What were their motives?
• What was the European strategy for trade with Asia? Why?
• Where in Asia were Catholic missionaries most successful and why?
• What is the significance of Goa?
• How did the Protestant Reformation and the Counter-Reformation impact Asia? Was it a significant impact?
• How did Russia's approach to Asia differ from that of the rest of Europe?
• Why did Japan initially welcome Christianity and then reject it?
• Why were the Dutch able to break the Portuguese monopoly?
• Where did the Dutch concentrate their efforts and how did they operate?
• Where did the English focus their efforts? Why?
• Make a rough outline of the chronology (who was ruling) and geographical range of European trade in Asia by country.

Midterm Questions!

Thanks for your posts (four of you).  Here is what I've come up with. Please feel free to comment...

Midterm Exam for Friday:

• Where did Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Islam originate; where and how did they expand; and how were they adapted by the cultures that adopted them?
• What is the significance of the monsoon for the region we are studying? (socially, culturally, commercially, historically, politically, agriculturally, etc.)
• Map test

Midterm Review

Wednesday's class will be a review session for the Midterm Exam. The exam will focus on Murphey, chapters 1-11 and will be held in class on Friday, 10/11.

Carmen has requested reading questions for the first few readings that aren't already on the blog. Here they are:

Reading 1 (Murphey, pp. 1-16):

• --------------- intro
• What are the modern countries of monsoon Asia (include name changes).
• What are monsoons and how do they impact Asian society and culture?
• How do south Indian and especially Southeast Asian civilizations differ from the rest of monsoon Asia?
• What do monsoon Asian civilizations have in common?
• --------------- ch. 1
• What were the effects of the agricultural revolution?
• Where did the Malay people come from and where did they settle?
• What possible migrations of people were there between Southeast Asia and China?

Reading 2 (Murphey, pp. 17-31):

• --------------- ch. 1
• What is the significance of pottery in prehistoric China?
• What plants and animals were important in China, and where did they come from?
• What are oracle bones?
• Where did the ancestors of the Korean people come from? What's the evidence?
• Who were the Jomon people and how do they relate to the ancestors of the Japanese?
• --------------- ch. 2
• What are the world's oldest texts still used in worship and what, chronologically, is the last of them?
• Define dharma, karma, samsara, and moksha.
• Why do most devout Hindus consider themselves monotheists?
• What are the fundamental differences between Hinduism and Buddhism? Between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism?

Reading 3 (Murphey, pp. 31-49):

• --------------- ch. 2
• Who was Confucius and when did he live?
• What are the basic tenets of Confucianism?
• What is Daoism, and how does it relate to Confucianism?
• What is the demographic importance of Islam in Asia? (i.e. what is the largest Muslim country in the world?)
• How did Islam spread though Asia?
• Why was Sufism so popular in India?
• What is the nature of Shinto and where is it practiced?
• --------------- ch. 3
• What region of Asia stressed equality rather than hierarchy?
• What benefits did the caste system provide for Indians?
• Define jatis, varnas, and dalits.
• What was the social structure of Chinese empires?
• What roles did women play in Southeast Asia?

Reading 4 (Murphey, pp. 49-65):

• Why are sons so important in India, China, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan?
• What is credited for limiting crime in much of Asia?
• What's the downside of the family hierarchy?
• How does footbinding relate to Confucian ideals?
• How did Asians compare to Europeans life expectancy and material well-being until the mid-nineteenth century?

Reading 5 (Murphey, ch. 4):

• What was the relationship between the Indus Valley civilization and Mesopotamian civilization?
• What is surprising and impressive about the cities of the Indus Valley civilization?
• Who were the Aryans and how do we know that they were not the cause of the collapse of the Indus Valley civilization?
• What was the secret of Ashoka's success? How did he influence cultures beyond India?
• Why is the Gupta era considered a "golden/classical age"? 

Ming Era China

For Monday's class, please read Murphey, Chapter 11, and be prepared to answer the following questions:

• What weakened the Yuan (Mongol) dynasty?
• Describe Hongwu's background and his feelings about eunuchs and intellectuals.
• How does the Ming dynasty fit the pattern of the dynastic cycle?
• What was so impressive about the Ming maritime expeditions under Emperor Yongle and his admiral Zheng He? Why were they stopped?
• How did the government promote agriculture?
• What came to China from the Spanish colonies?
• How did commercialization of the economy expand? What was the impact on taxes?
• Describe the difference between elite culture and popular culture.
• What prompted Yongle to restore the Grand Canal?
• What evidence is there for Ming conservatism?
• What were huge imperial expenses at the end of the Ming dynasty?
• Who took over and how did they manage it?