CHINA, KOREA AND JAPAN IN THE 19TH CENTURY



I. The central kingdom

A. the tributary system

Korea: mostly voluntary tributary

Japan: non-tributary

Qing attitudes toward resistance

border states v. non-border states

the kow-tow

II. Qing China

A. the Confucian state

the Son of Heaven

the Mandate of Heaven

the scholar-gentry

examination system

landlord families

Han/Manchu quotas

the harem

the Dowager Empress

eunuch power

B. the Confucian class system: theory and reality

scholar-gentry

peasants

artisans

merchants

non-persons

C. Religion

Confucianism and Taoism

folk religion

Buddhism

Judaism, and Islam

minority groups

D. Family life

regional diversity

patrilocal marriages

mothers and mothers-in-law

guest children

arranged marriage and polygamy

chastity and widow suicides

concubinage

courtesans and prostitution

single men

II. Yi [Choson] Korea

A. the modified Confucian state

the monarchy

the yang-ban

restricted examination system

landlord families



the harem

the Queen of Korea

court ladies

B. the class system

yangban: scholar-gentry

yangmin: good people

landlords and rich peasants

merchants and artisans

children of yangban and concubines

emancipated ch'onmin

ch'onmin: slaves

children of slaves

entertainers, butchers and shamans

C. Religion

state controlled Buddhism

Singyo

mudang, mansin [shaman]

kut [exorcism]

D. Family life

recent changes [1650s]

end of matrilocal marriages

end of pol./mil. careers for women

end of female inheritance

end of divorce initiated by women

seclusion and the cult of chastity

one wife, many concubines

kisaeng and prostitution

III. Tokugawa [Edo] Japan

A. Centralized feudalism

Emperor

Shogun

Daimyo and samurai

sankin-kotai [alternate attendance]

B. Class [caste?] system

kuge [aristocrats]

samurai [bushi]

peasants

chonin [townpeople]

hinin [non-persons] and burakumin

C. Religion

Buddhism as a means of state control

registries

terakoya [temple schools]

Shinto

D. Family life

samurai and other marriages

samurai wives and money

female inheritance

divorce and child custody

career women

geisha and prostitution