In ancient times, China was the most notable civilization in the Far East, but the Chinese were far from the only people in the region; nor was China the only settled country. There were peoples and nations all around it, extending far into the Pacific Ocean to the east, and many of these would rise to much greater prominence in the medieval and modern eras.
To the east was the Korean peninsula, which since World War II (1939-1945) has been divided into two countries, but which was one nation for much of its history. A land that traces its origins to c. 3000 b. c, Korea in ancient times was called Choson (chow-SAHN). Linguists are not entirely certain where the Korean language came from, but it may be related to Mongolian, which would suggest that the Koreans and Mongolians are closely related. China conquered Korea in 108 B. C., but in the a. d. 600s Korea emerged as three independent kingdoms.
Still farther to the east is Japan. Though in modern times Japan has been by far the most dynamic force in East Asia, it was late in developing. The Japanese trace their history back to 660 b. c, when the Yamato (yah-MAH-toh) clan established its rule. The true history of Japan did not begin until about a. d. 500, however, when the Japanese adopted the art of writing from the Chinese. Buddhism arrived half a century later, but many of the Japanese held on to their old religion, Shinto (SHIN-toh), a belief system based on the idea that there are divine forces in all living things. Even today, Shinto is at least as prominent in Japanese life as Buddhism is.
Southeast Asia experienced the influence both of China to the north and India to the west. The influence of India can be seen today in the written languages of modern Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, which look much like Sanskrit; and in the religion of Buddhism. At one time, Hinduism was a powerful force in Southeast Asia as well, and it remains influential in some parts of the region. Evidence of Indian culture was particularly strong in Funan (foo-NAHN), a kingdom that controlled much of the area by about A. D. 100.
At the same time, China reasserted its claims over Southeast Asia, claims which dated back to the time of the Ch'in Dynasty. But Chinese interests only went so far: they placed two bronze
Dred flowers bloom,” he announced. “Let a hundred schools contend.” Many of these intellectuals took him at his word and began to criticize the government. There followed a series of arrests, imprisonments, and executions.
Pillars, somewhere in what is now northern Vietnam, to mark the southern edge of the civilized world. Meanwhile, the Romans far to the west did much the same thing with Hadrian's Wall in Britain. Beyond those markers, the Chinese said, lived demons and savages; in reality, beyond those markers was the coastal kingdom of Champa (CHAHM-puh), in what is now Vietnam.
Off the coast of Southeast Asia are Java, Bali, and other exotic islands that came to be known as the East Indies, or the modern nation of Indonesia. Indonesia is at the far eastern edge of the Indian Ocean, which became, in the first few centuries A. D., an important "pipeline" for trade between East Asia, India, Africa, and Europe. By about A. D. 400, boats were bringing people from the East Indies as far west as Madagascar (mad-uh-GAS-kahr), a large island off the eastern coast of Africa.
On the eastern side of Indonesia is the Pacific Ocean, which contains some
25,000 islands. South of Indonesia is the continent of Australia and surrounding islands, including those that make up the modern nation of New Zealand.
Sometimes these regions are lumped together under the name "Oceania" (OH-shuh-nuh), a fitting title since the area is mostly under water.
About 50,000 years ago, people migrated from Southeast Asia to Australia. These people are referred to as Aborigines (ab-uh-RIJ-uh-neez), meaning "natives," and they controlled the continent until Europeans began arriving in the a. d. 1600s. Though the Aborigines never had anything approaching an organized civilization—for instance, they had no written language—they possessed a highly developed culture. Their mythology was extensive and included tales of how the world was created by their ancestors in a long-gone age they called "the Dreamtime."
In about 1800 b. c., shipbuilders in Indonesia began constructing canoes big enough to cross wide stretches of ocean, and thereafter people began to arrive on the far-flung islands of the Pacific. By about A. D. 400, they had settled as far away as Easter Island, which is only a couple of thousand miles off the coast of South America.
During the 1960s, China broke away from the Soviet Union because Mao felt that its leaders were compromising the rigid principles of the Communist party. From then on, the Chinese Communists charted their own course. Mao's version
Four army tanks drive through Tianamen Square, as one protester stands his ground. In 1989, students in Beijing protested for democratic reforms resulting in a brutal, military suppression. Reuters/Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.
Of Communism was distinctly Chinese, identifying the Communist system with China and Mao with the ancient emperors. In 1966, he launched the Cultural Revolution, an attempt to root out anything that could be defined as anti-Communist or anti-China. A group of armed youths known as the “Red Guards” stormed into cities and towns, slaughtering millions of people and herding millions more into “reeducation camps,” where many died from starvation or overwork. Though the worst days of the Cultural Revolution were over in 1969, and it officially came to an end with Mao's death in 1976, few Chinese families were not affected in some way by this great disaster.
As was typical with ancient monarchs, the death of Mao brought about a power struggle. In 1977, an enemy of Mao named Deng Xiaoping (duhng show-PING; 1904-1997) emerged as leader. Deng too sought to make his country's economy competitive with those of other nations, but he did so more carefully. He encouraged trade with the West, a
Modern-day Hong Kong.
In 1997, after ninety-nine years of British rule, control of Hong Kong reverted back to the Chinese government. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.
Process already begun by Mao. After a long period of hostility toward the United States, in 1972 Mao invited U. S.
President Richard Nixon (1913-1994) for a visit, and relations between the two countries improved in the years following.
China increasingly came to compete with the United States and Soviet Union as a superpower. It tested its first nuclear weapon in 1964, and in 1970 China launched its first satellite.
With the end of Mao's rule and the improvements that Deng brought to the economy, it became apparent that by the twenty-first century, China would emerge as an economic superpower as well. Its government began to encourage free economic activity, particularly in cities along the southern coast. In the 1990s, China experienced a new and unaccustomed form of upheaval. Everywhere throughout the country, there were new buildings going up, factories and businesses opening, and Western companies investing.
But there was a dark side to the new China as well. In June 1989, a group of students in the capital, Beijing, led protests calling for democratic reforms. The students were brutally suppressed by the military, who killed hundreds and jailed hundreds more. In the United States during the 1990s, evidence began to surface regarding Chinese attempts to buy U. S. nuclear secrets and bribe top officials in the federal government. Many Americans criticized their country's increasingly friendly relations with the government of China, which remained Communist while claiming to have adopted a more free economic system.
When a ninety-nine-year treaty with Britain came to an end in 1997, thus returning Hong Kong to Chinese control, the world held its breath; but it soon appeared that China was willing to allow a relatively free political system in Hong Kong. How long it would allow such freedom, and whether the government of China itself would become more harsh or more open, remained unsettled questions. The country's long, long history offered plenty of answers—and no answers at all. At times China could be as stiffly ordered as any nation that ever existed; at other times it could dissolve into the kind of turmoil that few countries have ever survived. Perhaps, many people hoped, in the twenty-first century the “Middle Kingdom” could steer a middle course between the yin and the yang.
World History
