21 Continuity And Change in East Asia 1400–1800

> What fueled population and economic growth in East Asia between 1400 and 1800? Chapter 21 examines major developments in China and Japan from 1400 to 1800. Under the Ming (1368–1644), China saw agricultural reconstruction, commercial expansion, and the rise of a vibrant urban culture. In the early seventeenth century, after the Ming Dynasty fell into disorder, the non-Chinese Manchus founded the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) and added Taiwan, Mongolia, Tibet, and Xinjiang to their realm. In Japan the fifteenth century saw the start of a long period of civil war. At the end of the sixteenth century, Hideyoshi (HEE-deh-YOH-shee) became the supreme ruler. After his death, power was seized by Tokugawa Ieyasu (toh-koo-GAH-wuh ee-eh-YAH-soo). Under the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603–1867), Japan restricted contact with the outside world and social mobility among its own people. Yet Japan thrived, as agricultural productivity increased and a lively urban culture developed.