China and Japan
Walter McDevitt
China
The Ming Dynasty ruled China from 1368-1644. The most important emporers where Hongwu who drove out the Mongols and became the first Ming emporer and Yonglo who moved the capital to Beijing and created the Forbidden City which helped to show his power and might. The Qing Dynasty became the new rulers of China in 1644 after the Manchurians invaded and ruled until 1904. They expanded the empire to include Taiwan, Mongolia, and Tibet. Zheng he was a Chinese explorer who was sent on many voyages tot show China's wealth. They had strong restrictions on trading with foreigners. Most of the Europeans did not folow the rules, the only ones they traded with were the Dutch.
Japan
From 1467 to 1568 the Japanese were under the rule of strong fuedalist rulers. Tokugawa united Japan and became the sole ruler over Japan, or shogun. They Japanese did not like foreign trade because the Europeans interfeared with their way of life as they tried to convert everyone to Christianity. This caused the Japanese to start a closed country policy which kept them isolated from the rest of the world except for a few places where they traded with a select few countries.