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...
[ View Full Essay]