Captivating History - History of East Asia: A Captivating Guide to the History of China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan

It has long been said that history repeats itself. However, that is a convenient and hasty dismissal of the stark differences that characterize the histories of the Far Eastern countries: China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. Each of these countries is utterly unique. And each of these countries treasures its own past. Among the gleaming glassy skyscrapers are ancient shrines, which grow in well-manicured gardens where water trickles over small stones, dancing in dappled sunlight.

China

China is the largest out of the lot, and in a way, it was the father to the people who inhabit Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. China is known as the Land of the Red Dragon, who left his footprints in the soils that have been trodden by the many dynasties of his children. The dragon is considered to be a powerful but gentle and noble beast. According to the traditional creation myth, China was born from his union with the divine.

Mighty rivers flow over Chinas topography, namely the great Yangtse and Yellow Rivers. The Yellow River is not a misnomer; it is truly yellow due to the silt from rice paddies. China was also home to the Silk Road, which carried printed silken fabrics to an astonished Europe.

The Han Chinese remain the largest ethnic segment of China, and they have been since the early days of Chinese civilization. They were ethnically somewhat different from those Chinese who came from the north. The northern Chinese were (and still are) generally taller than the Han Chinese.

The Han gave birth to gifted mathematicians and were the very first to call mathematics an art. Herbal medicine found its origins in China, as did gunpowder and fireworks. It has been said that experiments with gunpowder even blew up the home labs of foolhardy alchemists. The Han also invented the hot air balloon and Chinese finger puzzles!

Chinese emperors carried the Mandate of Heaven, meaning they were granted the divine right to rule. However, the people eventually eliminated those whom they felt lost that sacred mandate. For instance, the Mandate of Heaven was forcibly taken from Zhao Bing, the last emperor of the great Song dynasty. It was also taken away by the notable Mongol Genghis Kahn in 1206 CE. In 1260 CE, his grandson, Kublai Kahn, feasted upon the laurels left to him by the Xia, the Shang, the Han, the Song, the Tang, the Jin, the Yan, and the Sui. Not to be outdone, Kublai Khan started his own dynastythe Yuan. This was followed by the great Ming dynasty, which yielded some of the worlds greatest artistic treasures.

Both the Ming dynasty and the Joseon dynasty of Korea shared knowledge of agricultural techniques. As a result of this partnership, the two countries developed new seed varieties that were resistant to drought, and they also conferred on scientific inventions as well.

The Manchu people were responsible for the creation of the Qing dynasty, which followed the Ming. They forced the Ming dynasty to vanish from history in 1644. The Qing was the last dynasty of China, and it became just another artifact of history by 1912 when the young Puyi, the last emperor of China, was forced to give up his crown.

Trade is the door that opens up most countries to ideas and culture from other nations, but it is fraught with problems. So, when people with strange-sounding names from strange places beyond the horizon trampled their shores, the Chinese shut down their ports. This was short-lived. The Dutch East India Company came with goods that the Chinese craved, and since China had goods Europeans wanted, the idea of trade became more appetizing to the Chinese. The British came with their grand sailing ships, as well as the Americans and Portuguese. As a result of this, pirates and smugglers reared their ugly heads, attempting to turn the trade with other nations to their advantage. In the 16 th century, the Chinese tried to stop the influx of ideas reaching their shores, but they had to be satisfied with limiting it.

In the beginning, China was fairly isolated, but despite this, it still had enemies to face. At first, wars werent fought between deities, as the myths say. Rather, they were fought between mortal men who thought of themselves as deities. Dynasties rose and fell throughout the many dusty years, with battle-hardened warriors stumbling upon the crumbled bloody stones that the dynasties built before them. Before long, more enemies from within sprung up, such as the Red Turbans, the Yellow Turbans, the Taipings, and the Boxers.

Like other nations, China had its fair share of wars. In 1894, the First Sino-Japanese War broke out between China and Japan, and it was later followed by yet another war between the two parties in 1937. China faced Western powers as well, such as the British and French in the First Opium War in 1839 and the Second Opium War in 1856.

Despite being a formidable power, China lost all these aforementioned wars except for the Second Sino-Japanese War. In 1895, after the conclusion of the First Sino-Japanese War, China was forced to surrender its interests in Korea and hand over Taiwan to the Japanese. China was sucked into World War I by Japanese interference in an internal affair, and China joined the Allies in World War II, which helped lead to their resounding victory in the Second Sino-Japanese War.