I wrote this article for everyone who knew that the events in Asia were important, but thought the current situation was too complicated and did not know where to start for historical context... or to help you pass your history of Asia final.
The Xia dynasty was formed 2070 BC, becoming the first of a series of dynasties that ruled China. During the third Zhou dynasty in 285 BCE, Confucius wrote heavily on a moral philosophy focusing on the five relationships. His writing still profoundly influences Chinese culture. In recent years, it has felt a resurgence in a subsection of his books focused on harmonious society, which requires the citizens not be dissident. During the Qin dynasty, the country entered a warring states period. This time is documented in the book the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. This title has profoundly affected the culture with its characters becoming larger than life heroes, and the book is believed to be filled with life lessons. One of the lessons of the work is that rulers need to be benevolent and generous and that subjects should follow their leaders without question. The book has been converted into several plays, manga, books, movies and video games. The Qing dynasty, being the last, significantly expanded the territory of China.
In 1557, Portugal established Macau as a permanent trading colony, which they rented by paying 41 pounds of silver every year. In the 1830s, Great Britain began trading tea with China. After the Chinese government had refused to sell in British pounds, the British began to export opium to China to avoid spending their gold and silver reserves. After China banned the import of opium and began seizing contraband coming into their territory, Britain began a series of naval conquests in what became the Opium Wars. After winning, the British were allowed to lease the area near Hong Kong which quickly grew into a western trade hub. Over later years, more and more territory was added covering all of the modern day Hong Kong.
In 1884, Japanese pro-reformers attempted a series of coups in Korea to try and open Korea to Japanese trade. War was temporarily stopped by a cease-fire between the two countries, but just ten years later, a war was declared between Japan and China starting the first Sino-Japanese war. Due to Japan’s recent rapid modernization the country was quickly able to win, gaining Manchuria and Taiwan, and forcing China to recognize the independence of Korea.
After losing territory from the Sino-Japanese war and the opium wars, the Qing dynasties lost much of its authority and counter movements began to rise. By 1913 it had turned to a revolt and control had turned over to local warlords. This began the warlord era. These regional groups slowly began to form alliances and the two largest groups were the communist revolutionaries to the north and the Kuomintang Nationalists (KMT) to the south. These factions stopped fighting each other only long enough to fight back the Japanese invasion during World War Two. The atrocities committed during this occupation led to much of the hostilities that still exist between these two countries.
After Japan surrendered to the US the regions of Manchuria and Taiwan were returned to China, while Korea was occupied to the north by the Soviets and to the south by the United States. The region of Indochina (the territory that would become modern-day Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia) would be returned to France. The return of Manchuria gave the Communist group access to large factories and military equipment, substantially changing the tide of the civil war. Even with support from the US, the nationalist KMT group was eventually defeated and pressed back to Taiwan. In 1949, Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Communist Party, proclaimed the civil war over and took control of Peoples Republic of China (PRC). The United States reduced its diplomatic ties with China and recognized KMT as the real government of China. China began to support the armed struggle of communist states along its borders.
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