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Chinese Isolationism Analysis

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The Ming and Qing era of Chinese history from 1450-1800 is historically seen as the period of Chinese isolationism and refusal to interact with the outside world, especially Europe, in any major manner outside of minor trading contracts. An era where the largest empire in the modern world stopped expanding and instead focused on the overall stability of the realm. It can be argued that the Ming and Qing dynasties distanced themselves so far from the rest of the world that it ultimately led to their decline in influence over world affairs while European superpowers such as Portugal and the Netherlands continued to expand their colonial presence. Although this is what is perceived about the time, there are some instances where China “opened its’ …show more content…

As Matthew Ricci journeyed to China he wrote at the beginning of his journal, “It is, therefore, by keeping such records that I hope to rescue from oblivion the story of the entrance of our Society into the vast dominion of China, whose borders have been closed for so many ages, and likewise of the first fruits of Christianity gathered by this noble race”. It is here that Ricci proclaims his intention of the vertical conversion of China or the idea that in able to convert the whole of China, he must first get close to the Chinese nobility and convert them. A few passages later he described his mission to China in …show more content…

Despite the fact that Ricci’s success in conversion was limited, high-level bureaucrats in China noticed the fact that he was successful in understanding the complicated and self-proclaimed “superior” language culture of the Chinese, and in doing so Ricci successfully managed to survey the Chinese Empire’s interior and the noble culture to gain a better understanding of Chinese society as a whole. For example, Ricci wrote extensively in his journal on how “No one is permitted to carry arms within city limits, not even soldiers or officers…, Fighting and violence among the people are practically unheard of…[and] When the King dies, in order to prevent the rise of factions...no son or male relative of the King, other than the legitimate heir of the King, is permitted to remain in the royal city”(Ricci 58-59) None of these concepts could have possibly been verified without first gaining access to inland of China, and Ricci completed this

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China took the very opposite approach. Most of the Chinese population was against any foreign presence or westernization and saw no benefit from it. China’s reaction to the situation was to completely ignore it and refuse to modernize or westernize. This reaction harmed China in many ways and as a result opened

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However, outside nations colonized and took parts away from the Qing Dynasty. Another way European nations display a terrible impact

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The main sources that the author relies on are the merchant manuals, for they were likeminded and resembled Confucius philosophy. The author uses these manuals, which “were imbued to some extent with the desire to teach Confucian morality,” to support his main argument. The foremost purpose of these merchant manuals in late imperial China was “to help people achieve success and attain wealth through commerce.”

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A beneficial act on China’s part was that because of their desire for luxury goods, it caused them to start a trade with other lands and allowed them to grow economically (Doc. 7). The corruption of Spanish officials and suffering of Indians gave a good example of the effect from selfishness and want for more goods. The Spanish would abuse the labor and earnings of the Indians, take the money for themselves, and give little back to the Indians for the work that they provided (Doc. 6). As the trade of luxury went on, priests began to realize and do their best efforts to encourage officials about how wrong it is to take advantage and grow needy for materialistic things, and how the government should distribute the goods fairly between their people who had a hard time in debt (Doc. 3). The a better description of how the priests encouraged the officials to act fairly upon the goods along with add a point of view of the people suffering would’ve gave a better understanding of the

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China's role in trade between 600 to 1750 was in part due to different conquests and re-establishments of power which perfected previous Chinese advancements. China's cultural identity help it become a large empire with borders that extended across most of Asia. Tributes systems played out in supporting the Chinese government which in turn formed alliances and enemies as well. These alliance stretched into large trading networks, strengthening Chinas' power in trade, goods, and ideas. From 600 to the 1750's China's self-sufficiency, exchanges of power and mostly secluded location occasionally stagnated and changed its role as a primary trading power, however China's different dynasties improved previous concepts such as those of technology,agricultural

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557 Words | 3 Pages

They relied on old traditions a lot and took in other people's traditions as they expanded. Ming was the an empire and ruled for three centuries but eventually became corrupt and the chinese looked at this as weakness. From this they lost the traditional right to govern. In 1644 the Manchus came and the Chinese viewed them as barbarians.

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Trade between China and European began to be affected. Any Europeans who wanted to trade had to go to the city of Canton, where they created a canton system. However, country such as Great Britain and France needed supplies such as “tea, ceramics, and silks” (Patterns, p. 604) from China. Great Britain refused to trade with the Europeans due to China voyages of exploration in the Indian Ocean around the 15th century and also the expansion in the 18th century. China wasn’t interesting in European goods anymore; hence led to tension between the both of them.

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1043 Words | 5 Pages

The textbook “World History, Patterns of Interaction” talks about the Ming dynasty’s relations with foreign countries. “China’s official trade policies in the 1500s reflected its isolation. To keep the influence of outsiders to a minimum, only the government was to conduct foreign trade, and only through coastal ports” (Document 4). Trading between two empires or more was against China’s Confucian beliefs, which made China avoid trading with other empires. China did not want the influence of other empires to enter China, so they controlled trade with the West.

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Michael Szonyi’s book, Practicing Kinship: Lineage and Descent in the Late Imperial China, was hardly critiqued when knowledgeable Asian historians James L. Watson and Pamela Kyle Crossley reviewed his work. Both Watson and Crossley believe that Szonyi’s has a modern perspective and he presented an abundance of information to the reader. However, the reviewers analyzed and reported on different aspects of the book. Ultimately, Crossey’s review proved most insightful, while she provided a plethora of evidence to support her argument, while Watson veered off subject and praised the field of Asian studies more than Szonyi’s book.

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For the Americans, imperializing China was a way to keep European countries from colonizing it and gaining too much power. For the Europeans, it was a great economic investment. But from the Chinese point of view, the foreigners were evil and out to destroy their ancient culture. European imperialism has had a long standing impact on Chinese society today, being both good and bad. Before imperialism, life in China was simple and self-sufficient.

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Isolationism was a policy that restricted the United States of America from involving in the affairs of other nations in Europe but instead concentrate in its own development and internal issues that were of great importance. This isolationist policy gained a greater influence especially from the conservatives during the beginning of the cold war (Brands, 2011). This was because of several policies and feelings of the conservatives that defined the importance of this isolationist policy. The reasons or feelings that made majority of the conservatives in the United States of America to support the policy include; influence by leaders, the hint of anti-elitism and the ideological differences between the conservatives and the liberals. The conservatives were influenced and convinced by some prominent and influential leaders like Joseph Maccarthy who was a republican politician and the senator of Wisconsin state in the United States of America.

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Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta had individual experiences in China

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In Rowe’s monograph, he explores and challenges the existing approaches to the Qing empire, from the orthodox interpretation fuelled by John K. Fairbanks to the three revisionist turns that emerged, and, in doing so, successfully achieves a balance between historiography and history. Rowe’s work is markedly revisionist, exploring the continuity and challenges behind the changes; socially, economically and politically, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, as opposed to the orthodox view of seeing China as a

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Marco Polo became Europe’s primary source of information about China until the 19th century, and even since then people did not completely believe his stories as he did not write it himself, they are of no value as sources of what he observed on his travels. Many doubt Polo going to China as his stories do not mention for example the Great Wall, and many other advances during his time there and even before he reached there. Although Polo’s credit of being in China is believed to have been due to one of the things he had brought back such as printing and explosive

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As the Tongzhi Restoration was largely focused on developing a nation with strong Confucian values, there was a refusal to change the intellectual mindset of the climate. Even though the scholar officials were willing to adapt Western technology and methods, they were still convinced of the superiority of Chinese values. Hence, they failed to fully understand the sources of Western power, failing to assimilate their institutions and culture. Moreover, the Imperial Court was divided into the conservatives and reformers both pushing for different goals. For instance, the reforming efforts were undermined when Prince Gong, who had been willing to cooperate with the Westerners and recognised the need for change, was replaced with the incompetent and conservative Prince Chun.

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