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1800
The Qing dynasty of the Manchus was at the height of its power. A little over a century later, however, humiliated and harassed by the Western powers, the Qing dynasty collapsed. -
1910
Japan annexed Korea outright. Mutual suspicion between the two countries was growing, however. The Japanese resented U.S. efforts to restrict immigration. Moreover, some Americans began to fear the rise of Japanese power in East Asia. In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt made a “gentlemen’s agreement” with Japan that essentially stopped Japanese immigration to the United States. -
1853
an American fleet of four warships under Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Edo Bay (now Tokyo Bay). They sought, as Perry said, “to bring a singular and isolated people into the family of civilized nations.” Perry brought with him a letter from Pres- ident Millard Fillmore. -
1863
the Sat-Cho alliance (from Satsuma-Choshu) forced the shogun to promise to end relations with the West. The symbol of the new era was the young emperor Mut- suhito. He called his reign the Meiji (MAY•jee), or “Enlight- ened Rule.” This period has thus become known as the Meiji Restoration. -
1868
their armies attacked the shogun’s palace in Kyoto and proclaimed that the authority of the emperor had been restored. After a few weeks, the sho- gun’s forces collapsed, ending the shogunate system. -
1858
the Chinese agreed to legalize the opium trade and open new ports to foreign trade. They also surren- dered the Kowloon Peninsula to Great Britain. When the Chinese resisted parts of the treaty, the British seized Beijing in 1860. -
1905
at a convention in Tokyo, Sun united radical groups from across China and formed the Revolutionary Alliance, which eventually became the Nationalist Party. The new organization advo- cated Sun’s Three People’s Principles, which pro- moted nationalism, democracy, and the right for people to pursue their own livelihoods. -
1904
Ba Jin was well attuned to the rigors and expected obedience of Chi- nese family life. In his trilogy, Family, Spring, and Autumn, he describes the distintegration of tradi- tional Confucian ways as the younger members of a large family attempt to break away from their elders -
1907
President Theodore Roosevelt made a “gentlemen’s agreement” with Japan that essentially stopped Japanese immigration to the United States. -
1889
During the next 20 years, the Meiji government undertook a careful study of Western political systems. A commission under Ito Hirobumi traveled to Great Britain, France, Germany, and the United States to study their governments.
