Questions in Asian History - Essay Example

Despite enjoying all these earthly pleasures, the merchants and samurai who enjoyed the floating world felt that their lives were meaningless. The floating world came about due to the emphasis on formal education, literature, and philosophy. The participants of the floating world culture included sumo wrestlers, theater actors, prostitutes, geisha the samurai, and wealthy merchants. The more people were knowledgeable after going through formal education, their social lives mainly revolved around the floating world.

Tokugawa Leyasu assumed power after he was able to defeat the Hideyori (the son of Hideyoshi) loyalist and some of his other western rivals in the battle of Sekigahara in 1600 (Bentley & Ziegler, 2011). This is after Hideyoshi died in 1598. In 1603, Tokugawa Leyasu was appointed shogun by the then emperor. In 1615, Tokugawa Leyasu captured the Osaka castle. Capturing the Osaka castle meant that he had no more rivals.

 Immediately after assuming power in 1600, Tokugawa Leyasu distributed gained land to the daimyo. Leyasu put in place a law that required the daimyo to spend every second year in Edo. Through these strategies, the shoguns were able to control the daimyo as this made sure that the daimyo was not financially stable.

Tokugawa Leyasu promoted foreign trade with the English and the Dutch. However, Leyasu forbade the locals from traveling and abroad. This isolated japan from the rest of the world. During this time domestic trade and agriculture greatly improved. Another factor that led to the economic and population growth during the shoguns period was peace. Tokugawa was able to take control of the warring states. Political stability also led to economic and population growth.

The Qing dynasty ruled the Chinese empire from 1964 to 1912 (Bentley & Ziegler, 2011). The Qing dynasty rose to power after the fall of the Ming dynasty. With the help of General Wu Sangui (a general in the Ming dynasty, who was convinced by the Manchu to switch sides), the Manchu were able to enter Beijing and fought with the Li Zichengs army and won.

The Manchus were not Chinese and most of the Chinese people did not like their rule. They were therefore forced to adapt to the Chinese culture to be able to continue ruling the Chinese people. After assuming power, the Manchus did not change the civil service system. They even went on and used the same leadership styles used by the Chinese. They, however, forced the Chinese to take up some of their cultural practices. E.g. Style of dressing. They were also afraid to lose their own culture and forbid intermarriages, they also forbid the Manchu people from going into trade and doing manual labor. The Chinese were also not allowed to go into the Manchu homeland.