History: China, Korea and Japan from Ming to the Qing

Both the cultural and political relationships between Korea, China and Japan are long intertwined. We can see this in the movements of political thought and religious practice, and specifically with the embrace of Confucianism across the region. China was always the dominant power in the region and during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) it ascended to what was popularly viewed as the pinnacle of power and cultural refinement. Defining who was within, and without, the ‘civilised’ world. Through much of this period, warring clans in Japan fought for precedence causing political chaos, thus firmly putting the country, in the Ming view, as outside of ‘civilisation’. Japan began to unify under Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and ultimately Ieyasu Tokugawa whilst in China, the Ming fell from power, ousted by Manchus who created the Qing dynasty. In this course, we will look at how material culture and thought moved across the region, how it was interpreted differently across China, Korea and Japan and how shifting power dynamics impacted on allegiances.