Japanese, Chinese and Russian Empires From 1500-1800. Essay

Japanese, Chinese and Russian empires from 1500-1800. We will look briefly at the kind of structures/bureaucratic arrangements that used to keep order and control and to manage their populations . We also will compare and contrast these empires and see that the major thing that paved the way for the eclipse of China and Japan by 1800 was an inward focus while Russia's westward glance gave it the ability to forge a viable Eurasian empire.

Ming and Qing China

In Ming China, the structure of government was built around a series of professional bureaucrats schooled in their designated skills areas and Neo-Confucianism with its ideas of individual morality and responsibility (this also influenced the Japanese and Chosun Korea). The bureaucrats were the glue that held the Ming Chinese empire together. This made the period until 1644 when the dynasty was overthrown a golden age where arts, culture and the economy flourished and a strong navy not only protected, but also made China an exploring empire.The Qing dynasty that took over was inward looking, despite conquests in Central Asia, reacting by kicking out groups like the Jesuits that the Ming had welcomed. The Confucian bureaucracy continued to hold the country together (Bullet 2009 503-511).

Edo Japan

While the Japanese had an emperor and his military leader (the shogun) during this period, these people were largely figureheads with the real power in the hands of feudal warlords (daimyo) who ruled small fiefdoms and the Japanese population. The daimyo frequently warred amongst themselves. This culminated in civil war. Out of this confusion, Hideyoshi unified Japan in 1590. He invaded Korea twice. In the wake of defeats in Korea China and Hideyoshi's death, and Japan sued for peace. Ieyasu became shogun in 1603 and established the Tokugawa shogunate at modern day Tokyo (Edo). He knitted Japan together by a code of conduct to control the warlords and such policies led to the closure of the country by 1639. The country.....