East+Asia

**East Asia**
East Asia includes: People’s Republic of China Japan South Korea North Korea Republic of China (Taiwan)

__Introduction: Trade / Economy / Government__ From the core of 1400s, China had become the most dominant power in the region of East Asia under the Ming Dynasty. In recognition of China’s power, other countries gave regular tribute, a payment to one nation for the acknowledgement of their power. China expected other European countries to do the same, like Korea, but it was useless. Other European countries were not satisfied of China’s trade policy, which restricted their privilege to trade goods with China. China had isolated themselves and refused to adapt the Western technology. They were stubborn enough to keep their traditional ways. Likewise, China’s government minimized the contact with foreigners by not allowing them to step on their land. China thought that the foreigners were factors that would ruin their peace and prosperity. Other countries in East Asia, especially Korea, followed the same policy, and blocked themselves from having any sort of communication with foreign countries from the West. This is the reason why China had not become highly industrialized. Their economic policy mostly favored agriculture, which took the majority amount of incomes China has. They were slow in following the pace of new technology. Even so, soon in the 18th century, China still kept the spot of being one of the most powerful nations. They contained largest empire in the whole world, having at least 3 million people as their citizens. Instead of developing their countries in industrial ways, they had advanced their agriculture more than any other Western countries. It became the basis of China’s wealth. Under the Qing Dynasty, the empire was stable and secure. China had extensive mining and manufacturing industries, using their land most productive as ever. They were able to produce rich salt, tin, silver in large quantities, and also had the technology to create fine silk with high quality cottons. This made the European countries desired to trade with them more than ever. Despite of their wish to keep their traditional ways, China had also reached the top of having valued techniques in art. Their art had its own unique creativity, especially pottery, and no one could master their traditional artistic ways. China had conquered the name so called “The Middle of Asia”.

__Art__ During the 18th century, South Asia was especially famous for its art. Artwork in South Asia varied from country to country and was treasured by many people.



__Paintings__ Korea, one of the South Asian countries, had what was known as “genre” paintings, pictures of people doing everyday tasks. These paintings were famous for their candid and down to earth expressions of the Chóson society. They were also considered the most Korean of all Korean art. Some well-known artists at the time included Kim Hong Ho, Kang Se Hwang, and Sin Yun Book. One of the artists, Kim Hong Ho, was a middle class court painter. He was favored among many kings during this time. Kim painted humorous and lively pictures of landscapes, Buddhist and Daoist themes, as well as flowers and animals. Also, in the 18th century, porcelain became very popular in Korea.

__Operas__ Another country, China, was popular in making operas. Chinese opera, which is very similar to theater, ruled the musical entertainment for the Chinese for centuries. Court opera included scripted music, which is played slowly and formally. Folk opera was categorized by regional and local dialect presented by touring troupes. Such music usually took place during religious festivals and was mostly improvised. In the late 1700s, the Beijing Opera started to become famous. The presentation is divided between love stories and adventure stories involving soldiers or brigands. Such performances include lots of stock characters and few stage props.

__Music__ China also had a variety of unique songs during the 18th century. One example is the “extended tale” which is a lengthy historical narrative or legendary saga. These stories took up to three months for completion in one- or two-hour episodes. Another example is Ballads, also known as drum songs, which were shorter, consisting of a singer who accompanies himself with clapper and drum. Main instruments that they used to create such music were the erhu, pipa, and the guzheng.

__Calligraphy__ Chinese calligraphy was considered as a type of art. It is said that a well-written piece could conjure up images of strength, beauty, or grace. Calligraphers wrote poems, couplets, or proverbs. Embroidery was also another example of Chinese art. Women who wanted to wear something more than plain cloth refined embroidery to an art form. They made it so important that a girl’s embroidery skill would show whether she would make a good wife or not. Chinese people also painted and usually drew human figures, landscapes, flowers, birds, and animals, and fish and insects. Silk or absorbent paper made of bamboo pulp were used for these paintings

__Literature__ Literature quickly developed in Japan after a writing system was instituted. Japanese writing included the haiku poetry form and poetic travel accounts of Basho, bunraku puppet-theater author Chikamatsu Monzaemon, and the witty fiction of Ihara Saikaku. Haikus took the first 17 syllables of the renga form and created a new verse form, becoming one of the most popular Japanese literary forms. After the 18th century, Japanese fiction writing was dominated by authors of the yornihon genre, literally, “books for reading.” In this genre, the illustrations were assisting the text and were included only to highlight the climaxes of the stories. The city of Edo (now Tokyo) became the center of yornihon writing in the 19th century. Critics believed that Edo literature was written purely for monetary gain.

__Closing__ During the 18th century, East Asia had become the most powerful region in the world. It had the ability to be strong, especially by their artistic skills that no other nations can copy. The arts they created were the sign of power, which showed the unique traditional skills the nation had. No other country had the ability to follow their strength. With all those evidences, East Asia was the most powerful country than any other nations.

__Bibliography__

"Asian music." World History: The Modern Era. 2008. ABC-CLIO. 28 Aug. 2008 .

Sauers, Richard A. "Asian literature." World Geography. 2008. ABC-CLIO. 28 Aug. 2008 .

Sauers, Richard A. "Asian literature." World Geography. 2008. ABC-CLIO. 28 Aug. 2008 .

"An Age of Exploration and Isolation, 1400-1800." Modern World History: Patterns of Interaction.

Behnke, Alison. Japan in Pictures. Visual Geography Series. Minneapolis: Learner Publications Company, 2003.

Ferroa, Peggy Grace, and Elaine Chan. China. Cultures of the World. New York: Benchmark Books, n.d.

Goh, Sui Noi. China. Countries of the World. Milwaukee: n.p., n.d.

World History. Dept. home page. ABC-CLIO. 28 Aug. 2008 .