History Accounts

Send us Fan Mail Continuation of the discussion of the Edo Era.  I will focus on the period of time beginning in the 19th century. The class hierarchy system continues to erode and invert.  The arrival of American Commodore Perry will end Japan's isolationism, and set into motion her modernization and westernization efforts. From the American expeditions to Japan, two treaties were signed.  T...

Send us Fan Mail Any discussion of the Meiji Restoration in Japan would be incomplete without a discussion of the Era that preceded it. The Edo Era (or Tokugawa Shogunate) began after the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600.  The first half of the Shogunate was a prosperous and peaceful time in Japan.  It was ruled by a Shogun (the Emperor was only a nominal political leader) and locally by Samurais.  It...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the second season of my podcast.  This season I want to delve into and answer the question that I have long wondered.  Why did Japan respond and fare better than China to relentless, aggressive assaults in the 19th century from foreign (particularly Western) nations? To get there I talk about the Japanese Meiji Restoration including the Era that preceded it and greatly...

Send us Fan Mail The new, young (and the last) Emperor took the Qing Dynasty throne.  He is most famously known by his Western name, Henry Puyi.  He would be Emperor for less than three and a half years. What started out as a benign issue over the ownership and control of some railways in Central China metastasized into the Xinhai Revolution.  The Manchus badly managed both the railway issue and t...

Send us Fan Mail Talk grew of removing the Manchus from power.  The revolutionary leader, Sun Yat Sen, emerged as a leader of a new revolutionary alliance.  Their goal was to replace the Qing Dynasty with a republican form of government. The Manchus managed some reforms in the early 20th century.  They were too little and too late. Russia and Japan went to war with each over their interests in Man...

Send us Fan Mail Beginning in the mid-70s Japan expanded its influence in Korea.  China tried to support Korea but this led to political and military conflict with Japan.  In the mid-80s a treaty was completed between the Manchu Dynasty and Japan. Both nations agreed to stay out of Korea.  A religious rebellion in Korea forced the Korean King to request assistance from the Qing Emperor.  Japan obj...

Send us Fan Mail Emperor Guangxu succeeded the deceased Emperor Tongzhi.  Tongzhi died without issue.  Guangxu was the three-year old cousin to the deceased Emperor.  The Empress Dowager was the new, young Emperor's principal Regent. Late in his reign, he tried to implement sweeping, radical political and cultural reforms to China.  The Empress Dowager prevented that.  Instead she had him arr...

Send us Fan Mail After relative peace had finally arrived in China, the Manchus began a set of modernizing reforms. The reforms are commonly known as the self-strengthening phase or also known as the Tongzhi Restoration (named for the current Emperor). Successful implementation of the right reforms might steer China into a better direction and help ensure its prosperity.  The reforms were both int...

Send us Fan Mail By the 1860s the Qing Dynasty had started to threaten the Taiping rebels’ stronghold at Nanjing.  The Western powers inside China, grew weary and distrustful of the Taipings.  They intervened militarily against the Taiping and helped to defeat them and end the rebellion. The Nian rebellion ended as well. The Emperor Xian Feng died in 1861.  Before he died he named his five-year ol...

Send us Fan Mail The incident beginning the Second Opium War is shrouded in contested facts and mystery.  It was alleged that in 1856, Chinese officials boarded a ship called the Arrow. The officials arrested and removed several Chinese that were alleged to be involved in the opium trade. The French claimed at that same time that they were offended by the murder of a French missionary in 1856.  As...

Send us Fan Mail The terms of the Treaty of Nanjing were: Hong Kong ceded to the English, and pay the English an indemnity.  They also agreed to four additional seaports for trade. A year later, a supplemental treaty was agreed by the same parties, Treaty of the Bogue. This gave English citizens the rights to extra-territoriality. The Americans signed their own treaty with the Qing Dynasty. It is...

Send us Fan Mail The new Emperor's name was Daoguang.  His reign began the onslaught into China of Western imperialism and colonialism.  This period begins the era of unequal treaties. From 1810 to 1838, opium imports into China went from 4,500 chests each year to 40,000 chests. The Emperor appointed an opium commissioner.  He was to eradicate opium from China, and prosecute anyone involved i...

Send us Fan Mail It is high noon for the Qing Dynasty.  China was in pitiful condition on many fronts. Emperor Jiaqing had to deal with a rebellion spread out over three provinces.  It was known as the White Lotus Rebellion. It lasted ten years from 1794 to 1804. Another unrelated rebellion was with the Miao people in the rugged mountain areas of Hunan and Guizhou provinces. It took the Manchu gov...

Send us Fan Mail I want to discuss a little about the Manchu influence, women, gender issues, families, culture and fashion, trade, and population. The Ming or Han Chinese encouraged foot binding in females. For Manchu females it was never practiced and was forbidden.   A smartly appearing Ming (Han) Chinese male would wear his hair in a top knot. But for a Qing (Manchu) male he would shave his fo...

Send us Fan Mail Qianlong referred to himself as “old man of the ten completed great campaigns”.  He was referring to his military exploits. Some of the great campaigns he was referring were disasters for China and him. He was everywhere, North, South, East, and West.  Some of these military expeditions exceeded geographical distances accomplished by Napoleon's famous march on Russia. Heshen...

Send us Fan Mail Qianlong was and remains an enigmatic man and Emperor.  To many he is one of China's greatest Emperors. To others, he is a scapegoat for many of the woes the Qing Dynasty would incur in the next century.  Qianlong’s reign occurred during some of the momentous events in modern world history: The Seven-Years’ War (or the French and Indian War), the American Revolution, and the...

Send us Fan Mail This forgotten Emperor is sandwiched between his father and his son. Both of which had very long reigns of sixty years or more. The three of them together account for nearly fifty percent of the Qing Dynasty.   His official emperor name was Emperor Yong Zheng.  He is easily forgotten because he reigned only a short time, and was bookended by the long reigns held by his father and...

Send us Fan Mail There were issues along the border with Russia.  After a couple of impressive Manchu military campaigns to the fort at Albazin, both sides in 1689, met at Nerchinsk, a Siberian outpost.  The Treaty of Nerchinsk settled the border between China and Russia.   It was the first treaty between a Far East Asian State and a European State. While the Emperor was tolerant, there were limit...

Send us Fan Mail Emperor Kangxi has been compared to the Renaissance King, the Sun King, Louis XIV of France. Kangxi had the longest reign of all the Qing Dynasty Emperors. He ascended the throne in 1661.  He took over his Dynasty from the regents appointed by his father.  Nearly immediately, the War of the Three Feudatories began. One of the feudatories rebelled in September 1673.  The other two...

Send us Fan Mail The young Emperor Fulin disliked the Manchu influence. He wanted to move away from that and wanted more outside input into his reign.  In 1651, he issued an anti-corruption edict. He tried to root out corrupt practices and officials.  He ordered more Han Chinese into the royal household.  He brought back eunuchs. Eunuchs had been disfavored in the Qing Dynasty. He had deep religio...

Send us Fan Mail Emperor Huang Taiji had died.  At that time, decisions on succession were made by a deliberative council. One brother stood out, Dorgon. Two candidates were being considered.  One was Dorgon. The other was Haoge. He was one of Huang Taiji’s sons.  The council chose Dorgon.  Haoge, however, had the best qualification because he was Huang Taiji’s oldest male heir.  But there is one...

Send us Fan Mail Part of Nurhaci's legacy are the sons that he left behind. Collectively and individually they were powerful, competent, strong, and experienced military leaders. The surviving sons chose a successor and it would be Nurhaci’s 8th son by the name of Huang Taiji. Huang Taiji invaded Ming Dynasty China. It did not go well for the Manchus. Huang Taiji attacked again.  This time vi...

Send us Fan Mail Who were the Qing? The traditional mandarin written character for Qing means clear, pure, distinct.  China has 56 ethnic groups, or 56 minorities. The Han Chinese are the majority. The Qing were Manchus, one of the other 55 minorities or ethnic groups in China. Their founding father is Nurhaci. The region he was born was, at that time, outside of China bordering its Northeast bord...

Send us Fan Mail The Ming Dynasty would rule China for nearly 300 years.  Firmly ensconced in the Chinese pathos is the concept of the Mandate of Heaven. This is similar to the European concept of the Divine Right of Kings. Both the Divine Right of Kings and the Mandate of Heaven are given by heaven.  Beyond that they are different. For many decades the Ming had been fighting along their long bord...

Send us Fan Mail When I started my research for this podcast, I did not know that prior to present day China that there was such a thing as a national anthem during the Qing dynasty or any other dynasty prior to that.  It was never officially adopted until October 4th 1911, when the Qing Government made it official. Although they never made it public or never gave it an official debut. I have seve...