Asian Literature

In the novel, In an Antique Land History in the Guise of a Travelers Tale by Amitav Ghosh, the author presents a brilliant and hybrid fiction based on biographical and historical events. The author depicts two stories first, the story of  Abraham Ben Yiju, the twelfth-century 12th century orthodox Tunisian Jew who is strongly aware of his distinctive religious identity. Secondly, the novel tells the story of Ghosh who stumbled upon Ben Yiju through the margins of letters that are written by his slave, Bomma.

    Combining historiography, ethnography and memoir, the author reveals that both Ben Yiju and Bomma lived in the antique lands as foreigners to their culture and surrounded by diversified groups of people. Using historical antidotes and fragments of letters encrypted in an Egyptian synagogue,  Ghosh reconstructed the lives of  Bomma, a name implying a sudden and unexpected turn and leads away from the Brahma of classical Hindu mythology and Ben Yiju, Bommas master whose membership to synagogue was probably more a matter of birth than personal preference. 

    The contrasting religious attributes of Jews and Egyptians give the book its tension.  Ben Yiju lived in a time where Egyptians were not just questioning religious cult and foreign cultural practices but also challenging them.  As viewed by the historical antidotes presented by the author, there is a great deal of contrast and contradiction between the principles of Jews and with the ideologies of Egypt, a nation who has historically struggled for the so-called Westernization and progress.

    Egypts people lived amid the historic structures and the blind belief that their nations culture has progressed. The tension between the surging Jewish fundamentalism and the rising secular intellectualism deeply influenced Ben Yiju to embrace  Egypts culture in which trade overpowers religion. The book describes the fellaheen or Egypt peasants or farmers as having no interest in religion or anything important.

    As Ben Yiju tries to  inculcate some of the practices of Egyptians and Indians who have different faiths, it is implied that the Jewish world is more affirmative of tolerant liberal secularism, admittedly one that does not disrespect the others beliefs and practices.  The author is able to portray the world of Jewish Ben Yiju as more open and hospitable towards differing cultures and is not encouraging the gesture meant for Jewish principles to be absorbed and assimilated with other cultures.  Ghoshs discourse on religion says that religions and cultures are intertwined in a network of differences and continues to be relevant to re-imagining Hindu-Muslim divisions within the nation-state and the partitioned subcontinent at large.

    The author of the novel is persuasive of the intertwine of all religions through several kinds of movements that aim to modify or restructure some parts of their faiths. With the conjoined discussion of the Hindu-Muslim divisions, the author is suggestive of the radical fundamental structure of both religions and conjures with the notion of Jewish faith as an officially tolerated religious minority. 

    In the aspect of the Islamic faith, radicalism is pointed towards a politico-cultural movement that postulates a qualitative contradiction between Western civilization and the religion of Islam. The radical movement of both religions is in contrast with the tolerance movement of the Jews.

    The religious tolerance of the Jews is defined as the willingness to abide the other, whether the otherness is physical, cultural, ethnic, or religious, is probably best thought of as essentially a personal and individual trait.  In the novel, Ben Yiju is a man of many accomplishments, a distinguished calligrapher, scholar and poet... having amasses great wealth in India Given this description, the religious tolerance of Ben Yiju is evident as he is completely absorbed by the secular trends and beliefs in trade of people with other faith.

    Coming from India that embraces the fundamentals of Hinduism and living with Egyptians who uphold the fundamentals of Islamic faith, it can be said that the Jewish world of Ben Yiju has embedded in his spirit the practices of other faiths which contribute greatly in his trade and business. Unlike the world of Indians and Egyptians who strongly recognize the differences in the fundamental principles of their religions, the practice of tolerance by Ben Yujis world considers the sameness of all religions above all else.

The May Fourth Movement was a movement for a new culture, and hence it is also known as the New Culture Movement the term is generally applied to the social and cultural changes that took place in China from 1915 to 1921. It is compared with European Renaissance as well as with the Age of Enlightenment or is sometimes seen as the Chinese equivalent of the October Revolution of Russia, though being more broad-based.

For millennia China was ruled by monarchic dynasties. The tradition of autocratic rule of kings came to an end during the Chinese revolution of 1911-1912. The emperor of the Qing dynasty was deposed, and China entered into the modern ages  or rather took the first crucial step toward being part of the modern times. The government that took over the control after 1911 was unstable and disorganized. The new President, Yuan Shikai, showed totalitarian tendencies, while people were expecting a fair and democratic form of government. When the president died in 1916, many of the regional warlords of China tried to seize the opportunity and rise to power by taking control of the government. China now had a weak and unstable government, torn by internal dissent. There was much chaos and uncertainty about the countrys future. Chinas reputation was declining on the international scene. These were times of crisis, but the Chinese intellectuals of the period realized that the way out of the crisis was not a quick and easy one. They saw that the causes of the turmoil of the present had very deep roots in the past. The problem was with the entire traditional Chinese culture and outlook toward life. Modernity could not spread and bring about progress just by a change of the political system, because the political system could not be changed effectively in the first place without getting rid of many of the burdens of the past. A great amount of groundwork had to be done first for the successful change of the polity, and much of this change had to take place at the grassroots level. The national character and the essential mold of the Chinese mind had to be transformed. The enlightened intellectuals of China banded together into an avant-garde force in order to lead the nation in new directions. The May Fourth Movement was an intellectual revolution, it was a call for a thoroughgoing social, political and cultural reform involving multifarious aspects of the Chinese society. A cohesive and capable national administration could be established, and China could move steadily toward modernization only if some fundamental social and cultural changes took place first.

The old was gone, but the new had not arrived yet. The May Fourth Movement is the name given to a transitional stage of great importance in the national history of China. It was a movement to achieve national independence and establish national sovereignty on the one hand, and at the same time rebuild the entire society and culture of China on the other. At the nexus of the outward political changes and the more inward social and cultural changes was the cause of the emancipation of the individual.

In 1915, an intellectual revolutionary by the name of Chen Duxiu started a monthly magazine called The Youth Magazine which was later renamed to New Youth. This magazine propagated iconoclastic ideals to do away with the past and its oppressing feudal traditions. Duxius writings inspired many young intellectuals to realize the nature of the situation and strive to change it.

Several years previously Chen Duxiu had founded a patriotic association, and thereafter actively participated in the Wuchang Uprising of 1911 which led to the collapse of the Qing Dynasty. But when Yuan Shikai took the reins of power, Duxiu decided to flee to Japan for a few years. During his stay in Japan, Duxiu began to write articles that conveyed a strong sense of patriotism and instigated people to fight for their freedom. Freedom was most needed China at that time was not under the direct rule of an imperial force, like, for example, its neighbor India was, but it was a weak nation very much vulnerable to imperialist influences and invasions. The defeats China had suffered in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) and during the Boxer Rebellion between 1898 and 1901 left it very much weakened politically and economically. The Boxer uprising was a response to imperialist expansion and missionary evangelism. When the uprising was crushed, China was made to pay tens of millions of pounds to Britain. Reeling as it was from the fines of the Boxer Rebellion, the Qing government was further weakened by the widespread corruption within its own bureaucracy. The revolutionary movement that toppled the Qing Dynasty was also a fight against the oppression of foreign imperialism. The emperor was gone now, but the powerful hands of imperialism  Britain on the one side and Japan on the other   continued their stranglehold on China. Duxiu was determined to arouse the nation and bring China back to standing on its feet. He became an influential activist over the years and by the time of the New Youth magazine, he had the attention of forward-thinking youngsters of the country. His writings urged people to think and discuss and come together with a cause. Young intellectuals of the nation began to burn with a revolutionary zeal to reform the Chinese society and strengthen its government and economy. These would-be leaders of the New Culture Movement intended to change China in all respects, to transform it into a prosperous and strong, democratic and liberal, state. Herein lay the origins of the May Fourth Movement.

The young revolutionaries desired to bring about a total new beginning for China. They exalted Western ideas and ideals and disparaged the traditional Chinese mores based on Confucianism. Science (scientific thinking) and democracy (a rational form of government) became the new gods on whose altar an increasing number of thinking people in China were willing to lay their lives. Science and democracy were becoming the watchwords for a whole new generation of people. In fact, the May Fourth Movement is sometimes known as the May Fourth Movement for Science and Democracy. Also of great interest were Western ideas of political philosophy such as liberalism, pragmatism, socialism, anarchism. In fact the kind of nationalism that was seething among many educated Chinese at that time can itself be considered as a Western concept.  

Many Chinese students returning from abroad brought back with them a wealth of knowledge regarding the Western political, economic and cultural ways of thinking. All kinds of writers and thinkers of China began to take a broad look at the world, trying to find Chinas place and role in the world of the twentieth century. They were predominantly preoccupied with the question of how to the transform the entire culture of the nation.
Nowhere was the struggle between traditional and modern more visible than in the field of culture. Beginning with the New Culture era, radical reformists criticized traditional culture as the symbol and instrument of feudal oppression that must be entirely eradicated before a new China could stand with dignity in the modern world.

While a number of Chinese thinkers were thus engaged in thinking and discussing about cultural aspects, the major powers of the Western world were engaged in the First World War. China too contributed to the War by supporting the Allied forces. In return for their help, China was hoping to reclaim the German-occupied territories in the Shandong peninsula.

When it was known, however, that the Shandong Province would go to Japan, this became a blow to the self-respect of the Chinese people. By 1919, the New Culture Movement had been in existence for a couple of years, but in a rather diffuse form. Some crucial events after the World War would gave a shape and focus to this movement. The weak dissent-torn Chinese government at that time was virtually in the hands of warlords it made a pact with Japan to yield the Shandong Province expecting financial support in return. The Allies too supported Japanese claims on Chinese territories. By April of 1919, it became clear to many Chinese people that the Treaty of Versailles would not heed the point of view of the Chinese people.

On May 4, 1919, 3,000 to 5,000 students of Peking University and other educational institutions in Beijing held a demonstration in Tiananmen square, protesting the Treaty of Versailles. They felt that the warlord-controlled Beiyang government of China was an effete and ineffective government and expressed their anguish at being betrayed both by the Allied forces and their own government. This relatively small student demonstration soon triggered student agitations nationwide. Within a short time thereafter the student rallies garnered support from various groups representing different sections of the society. Merchants, the lower classes, the people from the press  all joined the movement bringing to it their own social and economic grievances. Although the agitations of the May Fourth Movement began on the issue of ceding Chinese territories to Japan, over the span of the next few months the scope of this movement expanded dramatically and incorporated into itself the goals and ideals of the New Culture Movement that had been going on since the mid 1910s. The terms May Fourth Movement and the New Culture Movement are often used synonymously, and hence the May Fourth Movement is itself associated with the years before 1919. This movement went much beyond its original political agenda and sought for a cultural awakening of the nation, a modernization of the Chinese society in every possible way.

It was widely realized and acknowledged that China lagged greatly behind the West. The major reasons for the weakness and the lack of progress in the Chinese society were also clearly identified the traditional ways of thinking and lifestyle underpinned by a Confucian code of ethics. In effect, China was sick from age-old illnesses that had penetrated deep into its marrow  yet this disease was curable. The focus was not on any person or persons though, but on ideals the doctors who could heal China were going to be Doctor Science and Doctor Democracy. The Shandong Province would only be secured in 1922, but in the meantime a great many changes that were underway were orienting China to modern ways of thinking and living.

The most fundamental problem was perceived to be one of education of the masses. At that time, reading and thinking was mostly limited to the elite circles, and this state of affairs had to be changed first. A major hurdle to achieve this was the then existing traditional, unwieldy system of written language called wenyan. The leaders of the New Culture Movement sought to replace it with baihua, a more easily accessible vernacular form of the Chinese language. This was perceived as a good starting point to initiate the changes. In fact, going beyond just the system of writing, a whole new literature was needed to generate the interest of masses in books and ideas.

Along with Chen Duxiu, who was now a professor of Chinese literature at the Peking University, the philosopher Hu Shi, the historian Gu Jiegang, the Buddhist scholar Liang Shuming, and many more thinkers and scholars were at the forefront of the New Culture Movement. They mainly operated from the Peking University, under the aegis of its chancellor Cai Yuanpei. All of them realized the importance of the literary dimension of the new movement. Hu Shi declared wenyan to be a dead language however, what was needed was a living literature. Fortunately many new writers who would later become famous, such as Lu Xun, Mao Dun and Lao She, rose up to the occasion and contributed to the enormous literary output of the period. These authors propagated the ideals of the new movement in their stories, novels and other writings. Hu Shi, for example, championed the philosophical outlook of pragmatism that had just taken birth in America in the writings of William James and was being developed and advocated by John Dewey. Lu Xun, and Mao Dun, on the other hand, were heavily influenced by Nietzsche and sought to reflect his iconoclastic spirit in their writings. Furthermore, the original works of these Western philosophers, thinkers and novelists were copiously translated into Chinese and gained considerable popularity with the Chinese audiences.

Like Chen Duxius writings of years ago, though usually not as apparently, the new literature was marked by characteristics such as an intense criticism of the inefficiencies and corruption associated with the prevailing political structure and an antagonistic stance to the conservative traditional culture, which included the clan systems, the patriarchic family, arranged marriages, a stultified system of education and so on. Literary societies were started. Periodicals were published in the vernacular baihua discussing and debating issues related to the ideology of the New Culture Movement. Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao started the magazine called The Weekly Review in order to propagate the ideals of democracy, science and new literature. Like the great thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment in Europe in the eighteenth century, these twentieth century Chinese philosophers advocated reason above all. Of course, it is very difficult or impossible for common people to follow the path of reason in their lives but a significant percentage of the Chinese population began to develop a new awareness, becoming increasingly exposed as they were to books, magazines and newspapers. 

In thousands of years of long history of China, women had been vehemently suppressed. This was one of the particularly dark aspects of the Chinese culture. Therefore, understandably, a primary focus of the New Culture Movement was the emancipation of women. This liberation of women had to be brought on the economic front as well as on the social front in regard to such issues as education and marriage. An idea of the New Woman was promulgated Hu Shis translation of Henrik Ibsens A Dolls House was instrumental in this.

The silly and abominable practice of foot-binding women had been a Chinese custom for nearly a thousand years although it was officially banned in 1912, the new official policy did not have much effect. As part of the womens emancipation movement, efforts were undertaken to bring this custom to an end. Like their feet, womens minds had also suffered from stunted growth owing to systematic cultural suppression. It would be next to impossible to change this sad state of affairs in a span of a few years, still efforts were made in this direction. An increasing number of independent-minded women joined the New Culture Movement and did their bit to help liberate other suffering women.

Aspirations for womens liberation were only a part, albeit a very important part, of the fight to achieve individual freedom, equality, and a fair social structure. The democracy that needed to be achieved was not just a political one, but a social and economic one. Economic democracy of course means economic equality. This issue, however, began to create major problems. People doubted if it was ever possible to achieve economic equality in a free market democratic system. Till then the Chinese thinkers paid scant attention to the revolutionary changes happening in Russia. But when the New Culture Movement gathered definite momentum in 1919, in the months after the May fourth episode, people increasingly began to be attracted to Soviet-style socialism and communism. At some point in 1919, the New Youth magazine which was still a major voice in the New Culture Movement, began to shift its loyalty from American-style democracy to Soviet-style communism. The perception that America was not doing enough in supporting the Chinese anti-imperialist stance may also have played a role in effecting the shift from democracy to communism.

In the subsequent decades of the twentieth century Chinese history when the country became a bastion of communism, the May Fourth Movement was hailed for a being a catalyst in spreading about Marxist thought into China, and the founding of the Chinese Communist Party.  Many of the writers and thinkers who were part of the New Culture Movement were zealous advocates of freedom of the mind (science) and freedom of the individual (democracy), they would have loathed the notion of communism. But ironically, the May Fourth Movement is perhaps even today most noted for paving the path to communism. And it is difficult to say whether Mao Zedongs communist revolution fulfilled the promise of the May Fourth Movement or betrayed it, since the turning from democracy to communism happened very much at the height of the movement itself.

Paper son which is an illegal practice was established by the Chinese after the   first law on Chinese exclusion was passed by congress in 1882.The main aim of the law was to limit the number of the Chinese who were gaining entry into the United States (Madeline Hsu 45).  The law was however, unfair because exclusion based on peoples race, language and color shows the segregation and mistreatment that a certain people is entitled to incase the law is bridged. Such an act is not fair and it can pose a country to be jeopardized in various ways. The country is bound to face resistance from the people being excluded for instance when the Chinese worked towards offsetting the exclusion act, by capitalized on the loophole in the legal system to migrate in to the US thus resulting to the development of the paper son system. The loophole was created during the framing of the Chinese exclusion law and subsequent supplementary acts which came in the subsequent years. Any person who has been banned from going to any country and wishes to go to the same country that has banned him, will work tirelessly to identify a means through which he can use to get to that country irrespective of whether he is putting his life at risk or not. That is why the Chinese capitalized on the loophole created during the passing of the 14th amendment by congress to come up with an illegal practice to help them migrate to US. The ambiguity identified was the fact that the 14th amendment was designed to allow for citizenship for people of African origin who were born in the US. Congress  also failed to put in mind the fact that the 14th amendment also allowed citizenship to anyone born in US, in spite of their being white, Mongolian African American or Chinese (Madeline Hsu 47).The ambiguities in the 14th amendment were good enough  to reinforce the paper son system. The Chinese needed only to work out on how to proof that they were either born in US or had relatives who were born in the US.  Thus the Chinese who provided enough evidence of having been born in the US were allowed to enter the United States. These Chinese were also eligible for the citizenship on the children who were foreign born. Congress thought that by providing strict limitation and   defining the various groups of Chinese who were eligible to enter the US, they could stop the Chinese laborers from entering US because this was the most feared group of people (Madeline Hsu 48). Immigration service hoped that by insisting on concrete evidence on the identity and status from the people of China, they could curb against the dangerous laborers and ineligible Chinese form entering US under falsehood. This however proofed both immigration bureau and the congress to be wrong. The Chinese went a head migrating in large numbers to US using the paper son system.

The Chinese have kept on migrating to US in enormous numbers through the illegal system which was initiated as a result of the direct transfer of citizenship rights along the family lineage. The system was so effective and sophisticated that it barred the efficiency of the exclusion laws from stopping Chinese immigration to US. The system also guaranteed that those who were able to migrate were organized and entirely depended on their Chinese counter parts.  The Chinese exclusion laws forced them to work in close associations so that they could escape through the loophole identified in the legal structure (Madeline Hsu 27).The Chinese managed to overcome the thorough scrutiny of the authorities in the immigration department in that the immigrants produced   paper slots or identities of those eligible to travel to US in addition to the supporting documents of evidence. This was convincing enough to the immigration service that it allowed the Chinese to enter the US based on the evidence produced which off cause was false evidence. 

Another escape root identified by the Chinese was the fact that the immigration and congress found it difficult to correlate the legislating borders to law enforcement. This posed a major problem to the immigration service because the Chinese refused to recognize the terms and conditions of exclusion laws and insisted on going to the US. This was aided by lack of documentary evidence to confirm practices such as marriages and births. Immigration service demanded that students, diplomats and merchants obtain documents showing their status from Hong Kong or Guangzhou, or from the schools in which they intended to attend or the Chinese government. (Madeline Hsu 48). The paper evidences were not easily located and this forced the immigration service to base on the testimonials of the supporting witness who were off cause the Chinese. The Chinese were able to provide the evidence needed by the immigration service thus proofing the authenticity of their testimonials and beating the immigration service at their own game by playing by the regulations set by the bureau itself (Madeline Hsu 53). This is the fault on the US side because relying on verbal testimony can be very misleading. Any body can be hired to give a testimony however false it is. 

The Chinese exclusion had a great effect on the Chinese immigration to the US. First of all it led to the freezing of the Chinese society which was in place by 1882 thus inhibiting it from growing. The society was forcefully assimilated in to US community like the European immigrant communities did. Secondly, after the earthquake that destroyed the city hall records and the city hall at large most of the immigrants who were paper sons asserted to be related to the Chinese American residents (Madeline Hsu 54). Thirdly, this act also gave rise to commercial smuggling of human beings. This activity spread later on to other ethnic groups and nations. Fourthly, the 1924 immigration act led to restriction of all groups of the Chinese immigrants and also other Immigrants from Asian groups. This caused the Chinese to live a very hard life and came up with a society in which they hurstled out their way of living. The Chinese immigrants were also grouped with other people like the Indians, blacks and the Negro and were therefore not permitted to testify on the whites in a court of law (Madeline Hsu 140). On the other hand, the act did not cater for the issues facing the whites. The Japanese came in eagerly to replace the Chinese. These Japanese were able to get to society rungs by establishing businesses and truck farming. The Japanese later on were however targeted in the 1924 act of the National Origins. This resulted to a total ban of the entire East Asia. (Madeline Hsu 21)
Paper son practice is an illegal practice and if it is not stopped then it will result into so many other evils both in the immigration service and among those aspiring to migrate. For instance, the Gam Saan Jong used to ask applicants for black money from their sponsors to aid in processing visas (Madeline Hsu 25). Also the Chinese who found themselves on the Angel Island were mostly criminals and the used crime to find their way to US. (Madeline Hsu 31). Through such practices persons who have been banned from getting to the US due to security reasons can also find their entry to the United States.

1. Records of the Grand Historian Qin dynasty
Record of the Grand Historian is arguably one of the most comprehensive collections of information on Chinese history and also the oldest recorded in terms of the period it covers. In that sense it is of an extreme historical significance, since it is able to give readers records from the time of the first ruler (The Yellow Emperor) right up to the period in which the author lived. These records thus span a period from 109 BC to 91 BC. The author Sima Qian came from a family of historians which was how he was able to collect such detailed information, and it is also believed that he traveled extensively, and met and spoke to various people to plug possible gaps in this elaborate account.
This was especially important, since the level of detail present is truly commendable.

What also makes Records of the Grand Historian Qin dynasty stand out from later work done in the field of Chinese history and culture was the fact that is managed to stay fairly neutral on its subject matter, and did not proclaim the absolute superiority of the rulers during any of the periods it covered. Instead it provided fairly accurate and insightful information on the various dynasties, and the matters of governance and administration during their time.

2. The concept of Mencius, Xunzi, and Laozi along with Confucius
The Confucian school of thought essentially talks of humanity and the importance of being good. It emphasizes on inclusion and preaches good values like respect for elders and importance of family. Both Mencius and Xunzi are famed Confucian philosophers in their own right, and were highly acclaimed for their teachings. But their was a significant difference in their interpretation of what Confucius said. While Mencius believed in the general goodness that exists in all of man, Xunzi believed that man was innately born evil, and had a tendency to do wrong. So Mencius stressed on how it was the influence of society that made men do wrong, and how education was they way men could tap and progress their innate goodness. He also was a strong believer in destiny and felt that one got what one deserved ultimately. Xunzi on the other hand believed that man was born with qualities like desire and greed, and he needed guidance, and a good teacher to set him on the right path. This was what led to the development of rituals, since they acted as a means of control and ensured that man did not stray. With the evolution of time, these rituals are the defining pillars on which society rests. Most followers regarded Xunzi to have a more liberal approach while Mencius was regarded as an orthodox philosopher.

Laozi on the other hand is regarded as the father of Taoism, and hence preached the Tao concepts of peace and harmony, and the importance of oneness with nature. In that sense Taoism differs from the Confucian school since the former talks of the self and its liberation through personal discovery, the latter talks of community over self, and the need to get salvation through interactions with others.
 
3. Chuang Tzu Basic Writings 
Chuang Tzu was a Chinese philosopher regarded as one of the great thinkers of the Eastern world. His writings are said to have a great influence in the development of Taoism and Chinese Buddhism and believed to have pre-dated the other basic text Laozi. His highly conversational style of writing used little stories and anecdotes to serve up bite sized portions of teachings which were simple yet very profound. Some of the most remarkable thoughts covered in his basic writings are the concept of relativity in defining things around us and the concept of transformation that the world is undergoing continuously. Chuang Tzu also believes that for man to survive the world around him, he too has to change and adapt with time. If he continues to nurse his prejudices and stick to a singular form of thinking he is bound to get frustrated and also stunt his growth. Also, what might be right for you might be wrong for another person, and vice-versa, hence the need to be open and adaptable. This is a sense was a major essence of what the writings talk about. One of the most famous stories that has almost become his signature and stands for his philosophy on life is The Butterfly dream. In this, Chuang Tzu dreams he has become a butterfly, but when he awakens he is himself. So does the dream that he has become a butterfly, or is it the butterfly that dreams it has become him This makes us think of the power of transformation, and ties back to the concept of adaptability. The butterfly is also a perfect analogy for how he wants us all to be, free spirited, joyous, and in oneness with nature, not fighting it with all our might.


4. Seven Taoist Masters
The Seven Taoist Masters is an engrossing and engaging read that use the art of storytelling to give us real gems from the ocean of Taoist philosophy. The book talks about how six men and one woman go on a journey of self discovery and the difficulties they encounter, and how their experiences hone them and take them on to enlightenment. The absorbing style of writing encourages us to drop down our guards and read and engage without any prejudice. The book essentially gives us valuable insights through two sources, firstly through the instructions of the teacher of these individuals (Wang) and secondly through the life changing experiences that each of the characters has to go through. This is where the real wisdom of the book lies. Each of our heroes has to overcome an obstacle that is in some way intertwined with their mind, and ego. From pride and rigidity to impatience and desire, amongst others, the book deals with various evils that are as relevant to mankind today as they were several centuries ago. And each individual needs to make some personal sacrifice in order to achieve the higher goal and fight his or her demons. The book also emphasizes the important link with the body and the mind and reminds us that performance of the body is determined by control of the mind, and it is mental mastery which holds the key to a better living. It is this Taoist way of life that we learn and imbibe through this book, and which remains with us long after we put it down.


5.  The Bhagavad Gita
Regarded by most as the greatest of all Hindu scriptures, the Bhagavad Gita is set against the backdrop of the historic defining battle at Kurukshetra. The setting is one where two sets of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas are fighting for supremacy and one of the Pandavas, Arjun has questions on how to wage wars against his own kith and kin. He seeks help from his charioteer, Lord Krishna (who is a manifestation of God himself) and the discourse he gets forms the basis of this epic. The universal teachings of this book stress on the importance of duty, and the need to look at the larger good, and it is hence regarded as an insightful read into understanding self and spirituality.

6. The Ramayana
One of the most revered of all ancient Hindu scriptures, The Ramayana is a Sanskrit poem that stands out for its continued relevance even in modern times and its timeless teachings. It is the story of a man Rama, and the various trials and tribulations he goes through before he can understand the deeper meaning of life and his existence. This magnum opus stresses on the concept of duty and its manifestations in ordinary mortals. The Ramayana has captured public imagination since it the time it was first recited, and has had implications in Hindu art, culture and ritual. Rama himself is seen as form of God, and is looked at for wisdom and spiritual guidance.

While Palaiss essay addresses the political, religious, and social upheavals of Korean history during the Choson dynasty of the 14th century, the dominance of the yangban during this period to the late 18th century is the primary focus. A group defined by their Confucian valuereligious system, landedmaster status in  agriculture, as well as their integral involvement in the politics helped to shape the future of Korea. Not only were they involved in the chief aspect of business in the country, namely agriculture, but their influence spread to the capital itself. As Palais notes, Korean officials were ale to exercise considerable influence and limit the degree of monarchial power because of the influence of their families at both the national and local levels ... called yangban, and their existence posed a serious obstacle to the creation of the kind of dominant imperial power (391).

Of great importance in discussing the yang ban is this political control that saw many kings deposed (Palais 398) it is no mere accident that the yangban were able to gain such strong political control but the weakness of the monarchy itself that allowed the yangban to flourish. Aside from their role in centralizing the government, as I noted, they also attempted to change the religious and political landscape of the area through the imposition of Confucian thought in place of traditional modes of worship and Buddhism (398) as well as the rules that governed inheritance, taxes and the military as the society became almost exclusively based upon Confucian thought.

Despite many of the changes, for six centuries, until the nationalist movement swept the country in the early 20th century, the yangban were the most powerful social group in Korea. Theyd done everything in their political power to maintain the status quo. Even when threatened, as they were in the case of King Yongjos reforms to curb corruption and favoritism when in the end a coalition of the different yangban tribes were made into a coalition (402). Despite their best efforts to remain in control, the loss of the centralized bureaucracy of the monarchy and a move away from agriculture spelled the end for yangban class and ushered in the new era.

The Meiji Restoration refers to an era in Japanese history that spanned the years 1868 to 1912 and during which Japanese society was characterized by a very remarkable revolution. From the time Emperor Mutsuhito ascended the throne on January 3, 1868 through a non-violent coup until his death, Japan had been transformed from the old feudalistic island state that it had been around the year 1850 and by the year 1912, it had become a very powerful and modernized colonial power (Huffman 1). The young and vibrant Meiji leaders realized that Japan could not actively compete with Western nations as long as it was still tied to the old decentralized feudal system of government and the traditional class system. According to Theodore, Gluck  Tiedemann, and The Restoration leaders were fully conscious of the need to create a newly centralized nation-state that could compete with the Western powers (10). These young, talented and ambitious leaders had very few ties with the traditional past and were determined to pursue every effort towards new directions for the Japanese society and one of these was the elimination of the class structure that had for a long time defined Japanese society (Theodore, Gluck  Tiedemann 10-13). The Meiji period also marked the transition period between the Tokugawa systems of government to the restoration of imperial rule in Japan. As Sorensen states, The beginning of the Meiji period (1868-1912) marks the change from the Bakufu government of the Tokugawa period to imperial rule.. (47).

    From 1600 to the year1868 when the Meiji came to power, Japan had existed as a feudal state which had been founded by the warrior ruler Tokugawa Ieyasu. The Tokugawa ruled over 200 domains or sometimes more, which he maintained through military autonomy and an authoritarian form of government based in Edo. Even European intrusion was strictly checked during this era and most Europeans had been barred from Japan except the Dutch who enjoyed limited trading relation with the Island of Nagasaki located approximately 1,000 miles from the capital centre Edo (Huffman  2). Yet, the Tokugawa political system has been hailed for its efficiency in bringing together over 30 million people under one ruler as well as encouraging its subjects to adopt an active national life. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect about the Tokugawa regime was the Sankin Kotai, a system through which majority of the 250 domain lords were required to alternately serve the Shogun in Edo. Such a system of government did not only encourage a high level of national consciousness but also led to extensive physical and economic development as roads to the capital had to be well laid out for the frequent travelling of the lords and their followers towns were established where these lords and their entourages would lodge and cultural diffusion and trade flourished (Tipton 2). Education also flourished in Japan during the Tokugawa as literacy levels for both males and females improved making Japan one of the most literate societies in the world. Culture grew alongside trade and industry and as early as the 1800s, Japans development covered nearly every sphere of society. The Tokugawa regime enjoyed exemplary educational and political elegance and though critics have often described it as inefficient and highly inflexible, its stability can be credited for the peaceful transition of Japanese society that took place after the Restoration (Huffman  4). Yet, in the midst of all these developments, many Japanese nationals were displeased with the state of affairs because the class system gave privileges to some people over others and worse still, it was hereditary. The heredity factor meant that once born in a certain class, no amount of improvement would raise the social status of a person. Rulers remained rulers peasants as peasants and commoners were always commoners (Norman  Woods 13-28). To compete with other nations, some young leaders realized that the system had to change and opportunity given to every able bodied Japanese national to advance in life (Theodore, Gluck  Tiedemann 10). This created a lot of opposition towards the Tokugawa leadership and such opposition culminated in the January 3, 1868 Meiji Coup which ushered to power some young and visionary leaders from the regional domains. They disbanded the traditional feudal system and also did away with the status and class systems that had been characteristic of Japanese society for a long time (Huffman  6).

    Prior to the Meiji Restoration, Japanese society existed under certain class restrictions namely the warriors or samurai, the farmers, craftsmen, merchants as well as the commoners or underclass (Robertson 104). Peasant uprisings had become very common during the Tokugawa regime and by 1866, these disturbances numbered 106 in total reflecting widespread dissatisfaction with the system of government. Contrary to popular belief that these were mere peasant uprisings, most of the participants were the small landholders or independent cultivators who were out to defend their status in society. These are said to have made the most contribution towards the downfall of Tokugawa (Tipton 31). But it was the lower samurai who are said to have ushered in the Meiji Restoration. By the beginning of the Restoration, the Samurai made up 5-6 percent of the total Japanese population or roughly 2 million of the 30 million people living in Japan at that time. The samurai however differed in rank and so did their stipends, a factor that created inequality within the same social class. This created a lot of dissatisfaction among the lower Samurai and they are said to have actually started the uprising that brought the Meiji leadership into power. Lower Samurai consisted of a diverse population including clerks, messengers, foot -soldiers, rural Samurai or goshi and rear escorts of senior families. Although social mobility within this social class was possible, moving up the rank was difficult. As a result, the hereditary rank system became quite unpopular with many middle level samurai and they sought to push for change (Tipton 16-17). Through the Meiji Restoration, these class distinctions were gradually dropped and Japanese society was transformed from the old class system into a new system where a modern education system created room for social mobility to those who were able to fully utilize it. Education became a universal provision for all Japanese nationals offered on equal basis and it replaced the class structure as a tool for defining the various roles that different people played in this society (Robertson 60).

    The change in class system went alongside a change in government. In place of the old feudal units, the new Meiji government also established modern as well as highly centralized administrative institutions. The emperor became the central ruler and directly administered the rest of the country through a social centralized and unified bureaucracy (Sorensen 47).  A new constitution was drawn in 1889 under the Meiji system of government in which the emperor was established not as an authoritarian ruler but as the head of government whose work was to legalize what his ministers had decided (Reischauer  Jansen 88). National status of all Japanese citizens was equalized through national enlistment abolition of the former class system and the establishment of uniform rights (Sorensen 47). The new government was highly centralized. Individual domains that had encouraged the class system no longer had any control over each other and each acquired a high degree of independence that had their influence concentrated at the local level. Local governments created under the Meiji regime became arms of the central government at local level while domains were replaced by prefectures. Government functions at the local level were limited and most essential government functions were controlled by the imperial government. Any functions assigned to local governments were administered through established laws (Sorensen 53-56). But the process of change was not easy and as Reischauer  Jansen state, The new leaders, however, faced a herculean task in attempting to replace the old feudal system with a more effective centralized rule .. (81). Although wiping out the special privileges enjoyed by the samurai and daimyo as well as dissolving the various class divisions proved a bit difficult, the feudal domains gradually disappeared and the samurai also lost their hereditary position as a bureaucratic class. In 1873, the Meiji government replaced the traditional class based military service with a new universal military conscription. Three years, the new government banned the wearing of traditional swords by the samurai which had been their distinction badge for a long time. This kind of centralization of the government greatly reduced the powers of the former class system and gave a completely new direction to Japanese society (Reischauer  Jansen 81-82).

    Various land reforms were also established under the Meiji Restoration. In 1871 for example, restrictions on the type of crops that a certain class could grow were lifted and in 1872, the government issued land certificates. Also extinguished were the former feudal bans on land purchase and sale. A new tax system was put in place based on the new land certificates rather than the old class system of land ownership. According to Sorensen, In 1873, the Land Tax Act was passed which eliminated the old rice taxes and replaced them with a 3 per cent tax on the assessed value of land, payable by the holder of the land certificates (57). Revenues that previously went to the feudal non-farming class were now collected by the Meiji state. As a result of these developments, the daimyo and samurai classes lost their former taxation rights. Land titles were given to the taxpayers as a result a new class of small-scale owner-farmers was established (Sorensen 57). Land became a sellable and purchasable commodity for all and peasants therefore enjoyed a new kind of freedom in that they were no longer confined to land but were free to sell it out and shift to other ways of earning their livelihood (Sorensen 58). The old Samurai class was abolished by the government as a way of reducing operational costs. This class had been barred from land ownership and for personal maintenance every member of the Samurai was entitled to annual stipend from the government (Huffman  11). The daimyo on the other hand lost their lands and castles to the central government which used them for various functions such as the establishment of military barracks, local government offices and other facilities dedicated to public use (Sorensen 59).

    Under the new Meiji government, the old class system that defined Japanese leadership structure was abolished and all citizens were guaranteed the freedom of residence, religion as well as occupation (Sorensen 47). New ideas and practices were embraced by every sector of Japanese society and through the Meiji Restoration Japanese Society adopted various values, attitudes and beliefs from outside. Former Samurai neglected Buddhist practices and started eating meat public schools and language institutes were established modern postal networks hospitals and fire-resistant buildings were constructed railroads spread and cities became highly modernized. The new class of young leaders highly feared that any form of weakness in the new government would invite external invasion. As a result, they engaged in a zealous cross-cultural program with Westerners (Huffman  14). Many young people were sponsored to study in American and European education facilities and a program referred to as the yatoi, was developed through which westerners would be invited to Japan every year to develop the educational system, teach English and science, construct buildings and railroads as well as write newspapers for foreign markets (Huffman  8).  All these developments gave Japanese society a new direction and a craze for western style of life developed making city life very attractive to many Japanese people. A desire towards international recognition and respect transformed many Japanese cities although the countryside would take several more decades to catch up with this developmental trend. Japanese arts and literature also changed whereby people adopted Western painting styles, and fiction and novels became very popular with the masses. Newspapers became a favorite for literate Japanese people (Huffman  14).  On the political arena, former Samurai and the commoners initiated the jiyu minke undo, a movement that pressed for freedom and rights and also made demands for a constitution, national assembly as well as better representation in the government (Huffman  15).

    Every avenue of change is bound to experience certain kinds of challenges and the Meiji Restoration was no exception. To supporters and critics alike, the Meiji Restoration has been viewed as Japans departure point to modernism. The early Restoration leaders were however uncertain about the direction they wanted the new nation to take and a lot of class influence was exerted in defining the new direction that Japanese society would take (Tipton 38).  As a result, the first years of Meiji rule were shaky largely due to the lack of an established system of governance and for some time, the style of leadership operated under a trial and error basis. Widespread opposition to the government emanated from dissatisfied samurai all over the nation the peasants regional domains established imperialist nations as well as the lack of an established structure of governance as was required by the modern era. Consequently, government leadership underwent frequent reorganization in the first Meiji years and the leadership kept changing. Government policies also underwent constant revision although all efforts were directed towards a solid, centralized and international type of society (Huffman  7).

    The abolition of government stipends to the samurai class resulted in a civil rebellion that started at Saigo in the southwest. A very expensive war was fought to control the rebellion and Saigo was drastically defeated leaving the country more unified than it had ever been since the Meiji Restoration began. Another rebellion at Satsuma in 1877 was quelled using a commoner army and this displeased the samurai even more (Huffman  11).   Besides the samurai, vast numbers of the common Japanese populace also experienced some devastating effects. Those who worked hardest such as miners, construction workers, fishermen, prostitutes and rickshaw pullers also received the lowest income and they still felt bound by the class system. The restoration especially placed the cost of government modernization and expansion on the 28 million farmers who were highly oppressed through land taxes. Farmers were either taxed directly by the government or paid rent to various landlords (Huffman  13). Peasants were unhappy with the new regimes inability to lessen their tax burdens and renewed the old revolts which climaxed in 1873 but decreased towards 1877-8. Between 1868 and 1878, over 190 peasant revolts took place during the Meiji era. All these and other forms of dissatisfaction among the populace led to a lot of resistance against the Meiji Restoration which to many had not done much to alleviate the kind of oppression they had been going through under the class system (Reischauer  Jansen 84).

    Although the class system was abolished, most of the new Meiji leaders descended from the warrior samurai class and they went ahead to establish the ie, a system that required every Japanese citizen to register as a member of an ie. The ie bore resemblance to the old feudal system because it was headed by a patriarchal leader who also held legal authority over other members belonging to his social unit (Robertson 204). Long years of political stability had changed the warrior samurai class into administrators and bureaucrats a role they continued to impose on the new government.  According to Norman  Woods, Just as in the case of clan reforms, the Meiji Restoration was carried out from above by a body of keen-witted samurai who as an enlightened bureaucracy carried through these changes largely on the material foundation of the land tax.(77). The civil code also instituted a system of inheritance through which the eldest son in a family acted as the successor. While the girls married, the brothers to the family successor had to seek employment in the fast growing cities and towns leaving the management of family property to their elder brother. In one way or the other, the new Meiji leaders exercised tremendous influence over the general life of the public by imposing their own conventions and ideals (Robertson 204).

    Ever since the Meiji Restoration, Japanese society has continued to enjoy a high degree of social mobility similar to that of the U.S.A or Western European countries (Reischauer  Jansen 153). The Japanese system of government has also experienced tremendous improvements and the country has since established foreign relations with other nations of the world based upon international law. Japanese people have been educated about the meaning of independence and such restrictions as horse riding and use of family names that were previously forbidden to the commoners have been removed (Theodore, Gluck  Tiedemann 93-94). The modern Japanese state has embraced the principle of social equality for all and hereditary class rank no longer holds for Japanese people. Social rank is now assessed on the basis of individual accomplishments, talents and virtues and as stated by Theodore, Gluck  Tiedemann, It can be said that the state is now grounded on the principle that all people are socially equal (94).

Editors Note This article was originally written for Japan Societys previous site for educators, Journey through Japan, in 2003. Change was the currency of the Meiji era (18681912). From the day the teen-aged Mutsuhito claimed power on January 3, 1868 in a relatively tranquil coup called the Meiji Restoration (after his reign name) until his death forty-five years later, Japan experienced an evolution so rapid that one Tokyo expatriate said he felt as if he had been alive for 400 years. An isolated, feudalistic island state in 1850, Japan had become a powerful colonial power with the most modern of institutions when Meijis son, the Taisho emperor, took the throne in 1912. Both the sources of these changes and the way in which they made Japan modern provide the material for one of human historys more dramatic stories. They also laid the groundwork for the turbulence of Japans twentieth century.

Sources of the Meiji Restoration
To understand the dynamism of the Meiji years, one must begin with the factors in the Tokugawa era (16001868) that made Japan a unique and sophisticated nation. The first thing about which historians often comment is the periods stability. Founded by the warrior Tokugawa Ieyasu at the conclusion of centuries of samurai warfare, the Tokugawa bakufu (tent or military government) ruled for more than 250 years in the city of Edo (todays Tokyo), during which time the most serious fighting consisted of localized peasant riots. The Tokugawa created a centralized feudal system in which more than 200 domains or han maintained fiscal and military autonomy, while their lords served an authoritarian government in Edo. Even the Europeans, who had participated in some of the sixteenth century conflicts, were tightly controlled in these years, with most of them excluded from Japan altogether and the Dutch alone allowed to maintain a limited trading presence at Nagasaki, nearly 1,000 miles away from the capital. It is hardly surprising that observers refer to this period as the pax Tokugawa.Undergirding this political stability were unusually high levels of political and educational sophistication that would make rapid, peaceful change possible in the decades after the Restoration. Though critics talk about the inflexibility and inefficiency of the Tokugawa government, the political system nonetheless ranked among the worlds most effective in tying more than 30 million people together and stimulating an energetic national life. Perhaps the most effective feature of that government was the alternate attendance (sankin kotai) system that required most of the 250 domain lords to spend every other year in Edo, serving the shogun, and thus stimulated not only national consciousness but an extensive system of roads (for the travel of the lords large retinues), towns (for their lodging), trade, and cultural diffusion.The system also encouraged the growth of important national institutions. Thousands of schools tied to temples, government offices, and private scholars gave Japan a literacy rate of perhaps 40 percent for boys and 10 percent for girls in the early 1800s, ranking it near the top of the world. They also provided a leadership class committed to the Confucian ideal of public service. Industry and trade flourished, even as the samurai class and the Tokugawa government languished economically, giving Japan high levels of capital accumulation. And the culture of the cities was among the most innovative in the world, producing a combination of woodblock prints, kabuki theater, novels, haiku poetry, fashion fads, and lending librariesmuch of it tied to the geisha or female entertainers who presided over each citys entertainment quarters. Scholars have noted that Japan in the early 1800s ranked near the worlds forefront in almost every quantifiable level of development.At the same time, a set of specific developments (historians would call them contingencies) made late-Tokugawa Japan ripe for change. Many of the countrys leaders grew quite interested in the ways of the West, as they began learning about the industrial revolution and the imperialist adventures that were bringing countries from China to the Philippines under the European sway. At the same time, American and European seaman began visiting Japans ports after the early 1800s, seeking an end to the countrys isolation policy. And perhaps most important, the balance between Tokugawa and domain governments began shifting, with large and distant domains such as Satsuma (in southern Kyushu) and Choshu (on western Honshu) experiencing political and economic growth even as the shogunate sunk ever more deeply into a kind of inflexibility caused in part by old age. Thus, while many regions of the country were full of energy and increasing self-confidence in 1850, the Edo government was in decline, staffed by cautious bureaucrats described by one young official as wooden monkeys.In this mix, the Tokugawa decision to open Japan to foreigners in 1854, in compliance with American demands, touched off one of Japans most tumultuous periods. With newly arrived Westerners demanding trade, showing off new customs (including the scandalous tendency of women to accompany men to public events), practicing the forbidden Christian religion, and taking sides in Japans political disputes, the countrys political life changed irrevocably. Opposition to the Tokugawa arose from several quarters. At one level, lower-ranked samurai called shishi or men of spirit began agitating for the ouster of the Westerners almost as soon as Matthew Perry and his followers had been admitted. They were too much on the outside to topple the government, but their terrorist acts disrupted the tranquility of political centers in ways that had not been seen for centuries. More directly threatening to the Tokugawa were the growing challenges after the late 1850s from establishment scholars and political leaders of major domains. The shogunate reacted as aggressively as any regime-under-attack might be expected to, but by the mid-1860s, Choshu was in the hands of an anti-Tokugawa administration, and by late 1868, Shogun Tokugawa Keiki concluded that the best way to preserve order was to resign as shogun and create a system in which he likely would share power as the chief among a council of leaders. His scheme failed, however, and on January 3, 1868, a coup dtat in Meijis name brought to power a group of young, visionary samurai from the regional domains.

The Transition to Meiji
The government that came into being in 1868 had three overriding characteristics its leaders were young its policies were pragmatic and its hold on power was tenuous. The emperor in whose name the new governors ruled was just seventeen years old the major samurai power-holders from Satsuma and Choshu domains ranged in age from the upper 20s to the senior  HYPERLINK httpaboutjapan.japansociety.orgcontent.cfmsaigo_takamori_statue Saigo Takamori, who was just 41 and Iwakura Tomomi, the most important nobleman in the leadership clique, was 43. By Japanese leadership standards, these men were mere juvenilesunbound by the networks and mores of traditional leadership. This, perhaps, is what made them so pragmatic they developed policies without the restraints of ideology or customor of any overriding vision of where Japan should go. Confucian tradition discouraged commerce, but they moved Japan as forcefully and quickly as possible into the world of international commerce. Whereas they once had supported the idea of national seclusion, sometimes fanatically so, now they made the West their model and pursued internationalization with a vengeance. Samurai and nobles all, they abolished the class and status systems and disbanded the feudal domains. One of their central slogans, kuni no tame (for the sake of the country) said it all their overriding commitment was simply to national strength, regardless of what customs or ideologies had to be violated in the pursuit of that goal.The tenuousness of their power was illustrated by the Boshin War, a violent conflict between the new regime and the Tokugawa followers, which raged for a year and a half after the Restoration. Though the coup often has been called bloodless, and though the carnage was indeed lessened by Keikis surrender in February 1868, thousands of his supporters resisted in a civil war that left more than 8,000 dead by the time the fighting ended in Hokkaido in June 1869. It was little wonder that journalists predicted the imminent collapse of the Meiji government well into the 1870s.All of this meant that the first Meiji years were characterized by a seat-of-the-pants, try-this-try-that style of governing. A charter oath, issued in April 1868 promised to unify the classes and seek knowledge from around the world in order to strengthen the emperors rule. No one seemed, however, to know just what that meant initially, as the government grappled with inadequate revenues, challenges from imperialist nations, threats from the regional domains, conspiracies by disgruntled samurai across the nation, and a complete lack of precedents for the organizational structures the modern era demanded. One result was that the government structure was reorganized repeatedly in the first years. Another was that membership in the leadership faction kept shifting. Still a third was that policies were revised often. At the same time there was a single, clear direction toward centralization, solidarity, and involvement in the broader world. And always there was a commitment to making Japan a modern nation, accepted as an equal by the world powers.Internationalization showed up in two ways. First, the new leaders studied Western models with a zeal born of deep fear that weakness might invite invasion. They sent missions to the West, including a 50-member group headed by head of state Iwakura Tomomi in 18711873, to negotiate and to study institutions such as banking, schools, political systems, and treaty structures. They also dispatched young people to study in European and American educational institutions. And they brought hundreds of Westerners, called yatoi (or, in some scholars telling, live machines) to Japan every year until the late 1870s, to teach English, build railroads and buildings, create an educational system, edit newspapers (for foreign consumption), and teach science. The result was an urban craze for things Westerneverything from mens haircuts to drinking milk, from the solar calendar to ballroom dancingthat made city life heady.Second, the movement onto the international scene made treaty revision one of the governments central goals. The treaties of the 1850s had limited the tariffs Japan could charge on imports to an average of about five percent and had required that foreigners who committed crimes in Japan be tried in the courts of the foreign consulates (a system called extraterritoriality). Beside being humiliating, the restrictions deprived Japan of both sovereignty and tariff revenues, money desperately needed for modernization programs. As a result the government sought endlessly to secure fairer treaties during the 1870s. The British consistently blocked reform, however, and extraterritoriality was not ended until 1894, tariff limits until 1911. The treaties thus served as a constant reminder of just how important modernity and power were to Japans success in the international arena. Without being regarded as modern, Japan would not be taken seriously by Britain and the other imperialist powers without strength, it could not challenge the foreign gunboats.The movement toward centralization was illustrated partly by a raft of new regulations the 1871 decision to replace the semi-feudal domains with modern prefectures, the issuance in 18721873 of laws to create a military draft and to require three years of school for all boys and girls, and the standardization of a land tax. It was illustrated more dramatically by two major crises, both centering on the role of the old samurai class. In the first, the Crisis of 1873, the leadership faction was rent asunder by a bitter foreign policy dispute. After Japanese diplomats in Korea had been spoken to rudely by Korean officials, the state council decided to send Saigo Takamori as an emissary to demand an apology, realizing fully that such a mission could precipitate war. When progressive officials, who had been abroad with Iwakura, heard about the plans, they were aghastnot so much at the idea of war as at the potential cost. They managed through intensive maneuvering to get the decision reversed, and the popular Saigo quit office in a rage, taking a number of followers with him. The result was a leaner government, and a less popular one.The second crisis, the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877, was even more serious. After the government had abolished the samurai class in order to save the huge cost of paying annual stipends to every member of the class, a civil rebellion broke out in the southwestheaded by Saigo. The results were devastating, on every level. Word that Saigo was leading the rebellion sent shudders through the country. Former samurai everywhere questioned the governments policy of using a commoner army to fight the rebels. And the cost was staggering eight months of bloody fighting, millions of yen, 10,000 men injured, more than 6,000 deaths, and a powerful sense of national loss. Historically, however, the Satsuma Rebellion marked a positive watershed for the Meiji government. With Saigos defeat, the country was unified as it had not been since the Restoration the governments legitimacy was established the transitional decade was over.

Creating a Modern System
Few would have considered the Restoration era complete, however, until a new political system was in place, a system approved as modern by the international powers. Only after creating the new structures noted above and defeating the recalcitrant samurai could the rulers focus their energies in that direction.Before looking at that process, however, a word must be said about the impact of the many changes on the countrys broader populace. If the new system was hard on the traditional samurai class, it was devastating for vast numbers of people the fishermen, the rickshaw pullers, the construction workers, miners, prostitutes, and newspaper sellers who made the rapid changes possible by doing the hardest work and receiving the least remuneration. The largest such group lived in more than 60,000 villages, where some 28 million farmers (out of a population of 35 million in the late 1870s) provided the country not only with its food but with the bulk of its taxes. The cost of modernizing and expanding the government was placed overwhelmingly on land taxes, which meant that farmers had to bear the brunt, either through direct taxation or in the rents they paid to landlords. When the governments fiscal retrenchment led to depression in the early 1880s, rice and silk prices plummeted, and bankruptcies soared, pushing many into destitution and thousands into local uprisings against the system. Another group hurt by modernizing policies were Japans factory workers, particularly the tens of thousands of girls and women who were forced by poverty into working in the expanding silk and cotton factories. Their willingness to work under inhuman conditions for pittance pay helped Japan compete on the world market it also produced surprising amounts of resistance, with workers absconding, engaging in work stoppages, and even striking.A more positive result for the general populace was the diffusion of new ideas and practices into every nook of society. The 1870s saw former samurai in the northeast offend the Buddhist spirits by beginning to eat meat they saw the rise of barbering and dairy-farming in the Tokyo region they saw the spread of railroads, modern postal networks, fire-resistant brick buildings, a banking system, public schools, language institutes, modern hospitalsin short, every modern institution known in the worlds most progressive cities. The arts also changed, as Western style painting took root. Novels and fiction became increasingly popular, though complex characterization would have to wait until late in the century to become the norm. And literate Japanese by the tens of thousands began reading newspapers. While it would take several more decades for modernity to penetrate the countryside, cities were literally transformed by the drive toward international respect and domestic centralization in this first Meiji decade.The driving force in all of this lay with the government during the early Meiji years, but one of that forces most exceptional features was the role of private, popular groups in shaping the political evolution. Indeed the drive toward creating a constitutional systemwhich everyone agreed was the essential characteristic of a modern statewas fueled by a constant, fierce struggle between popular and official forces. In the mid-1870s, for example, a vigorous movement for freedom and rights (jiyu minken undo), led by both former samurai and commoners, stirred the national political life mightily with rallies and petition drives demanding a national assembly, a constitution, and broader participation in the government. When a financial scandal prompted massive protests against the government in 1881, the officials responded in part by promising that a constitution would be granted within a decade. And when Japans first political parties were created in response to that promise, the government seriously set about the task of drafting that constitution.The political intensity quieted in the mid-1880s, but not the drive toward constitutional government. Ito Hirobumi, one of the youngest Restoration leaders and now a dominating force in official circles, led a group to Europe to study political systems, then headed a task force that created several new institutions (including a peerage, so there would be a pool for selecting a House of Lords) and drafted Asias first national constitution. His models and chief advisors were German statists, and when the constitution was promulgated on February 11, 1889, it placed sovereignty solely in the emperor and gave Japan a relatively weak legislature and a strong, transcendent cabinet, with the prime minister appointed by the emperor. But the impact of the freedom and rights forces was apparent in the constitution too, because it also assured limited freedom of speech, religion, and assembly, gave the legislature veto power over the budget, and created an independent judiciary. It was, in short, a middle-of-the-road document that placed Japan in the mainstream of the world powers politically. Papers from London to Shanghai hailed the arrival of constitutional government in Asia, while commoners across the nation celebrated with fireworks and speeches this evidence that the Meiji Restorations promise had been fulfilled.

The Restoration Legacy
Though dramatically changed, Japan would not have been called modern yet in 1889 by most observers. The two post-Restoration decades had, however, planted all of those seeds that would mature into full-fledged modernity and imperialistic vigor at the beginning of the twentieth century. At least three legacies of the Restoration decades merit discussion.The first is nationalism. The rise of nationalismoften called the most important feature of the late 1880s and early 1890sshowed up in many ways in the widely-heralded pride over the constitution, in the issuance in 1890 of the Imperial Rescript on Education, a stirring document in which school students regularly recited their loyalty to country and emperor, in the increasing public discussions by young writers of Japans greatness. One of the most articulate vehicles for the new nationalism was a journal named simply Nihon (Japan), launched the day the constitution was promulgated, for the express purpose of reviving the unique spirit of the Japanese people. The seeds of the new national pride lay in the early-Meiji soil, when the government had worked so hard to make the entire populace aware of their Japaneseness, creating national holidays, making the emperor both sovereign and high priest, sending Tokyo newspapers to every part of the country, instituting compulsory education and military service. By the twentieth century, the nationalism would become worrisome, as it propelled Japan into aggressive actions abroad. At the end of the Restoration period, however, people saw it merely as an effective means of getting people to support the states drive to modernity and power.The second departure of the 1890s was the rising importance of military affairs in national life. In 1894, Japan launched its first major foreign war since the 1500s (and its second foreign war ever), thrashing China in the Sino-Japanese War and beginning its experience with empire by securing Taiwan as a colony. A decade after that, it defeated Russia, one of the European powers, setting the stage for colonies in Korea and Manchuria. And with those wars, the army and navy became central actors in nearly every national decision, major factors in the countrys political and economic life. Again, the early Meiji years had set the stage. One of the earliest slogans of the Restoration era was fukoku kyohei (rich country, strong army) in 1872 Japan had begun drafting men into the army and in 1874, it had sent 3,000 troops to Taiwan, for a short, victorious engagement with aboriginal groups who had killed some 54 shipwrecked Okinawans. The nation also had begun the acquisition of territory in these years, taking over the Ryukyu Islands to the south in 1879, three years after negotiating with Russia to gain control of the Kuril Islands to the north. All of these were relatively minor episodes, but they confirmed a fundamental approach. Convinced that military strength alone would assure respect and security in an imperialist world, the early-Meiji leaders had set the nation on a course toward military might, a course that would make war and empire central facets of national policy by the turn of the century.The third legacy of the Restoration years was the march to modernity. Most students agree that the period between the Sino- and Russo-Japanese Wars saw a genuine mass society emerge in Japans cities. These were the years that gave Japan its first major industrial takeoff, the period that produced mass-circulation newspapers, department stores, publicly treated water systems, social and class divisions, moving pictures, wristwatches, safety razors, increasingly popular public intellectual debates, and beer hallsall the trappings of modern, urban society. And they were the years in which commoners, called minshu, began to take an active part in the nations public and political life. To say that this development represented a mere speed-up of the early Meiji programs is to state the obvious. When the Charter Oath promised in 1868 to seek knowledge from around the world, it set Japan on a course of studying, emulating, adaptingand finally surpassingpeoples everywhere, a path that would bring the Restoration era to fulfillment, even as it launched Japan into the more troubling arena of colonialism and empire.

Chinese history is dotted with successive dynasties that have taken turns in uniting and ruling the people within the region referred to today as China. Among the most successful of these dynasties are the Qing and Ming dynasties. The two dynasties conducted their domestic and foreign affairs in a manner that many agree to be successful. Even though each dynasty had its unique problem and issues to deal with-most of which were inherited from their predecessors- there are particular attributes that they held in common.

The Ming dynasty came as a result of discontent among the Chinese. The dynasty lasted for about three centuries, being in place from 1368-1644. The opposition of the Chinese to the Yuan dynasty coupled with the weakness of the Yuan Empire resulted in their deposition. The leader of the rebellion established himself as the new emperor. 

There were various changes that were instituted during the Ming dynasty. All dimensions of society were brought under state control. Even though there was no remarkable improvement on the life of the Chinese people, the Ming dynasty is among the most important with regard to the resurgence of the Chinese. There is much evidence to suggest that the Ming period witnessed an unprecedented growth in Chinese civilization and the maturity of the traditional Chinese civilization in the final phase of what can be seen as its relatively intramural isolation and splendor (Ebrey et al., 2008). During this dynasty, there was a steady population increase, an increase in the level of literacy reinforced by growing sub-elite and elite cultural forms. The period also witnessed the filling out of the system of urban networks mirroring the expansion of productivity and exchange. The epochs expansiveness is also seen in the absorption of the inland southern and southwestern provinces.

    The Qing dynasty was similar to the Ming dynasty in several respects. The emperor implemented a form of government that was similar to that implemented during the Ming dynasty. The epoch also witnessed the expansion of the Chinese territory and growth in population.  China during the Qing dynasty mirrored the dynamics that were also common to the Ming dynasty. During the Qing dynasty, China continued to struggle with the problems of economic reconstruction, modernization and the resistance of foreign military and encroachment. The problems and their solutions were ingrained in the challenges that characterized the two dynasties.

The two dynasties appear to have been characterized by powerful governance. The strength, assertiveness and the high centralization of the regimes can be attributed to their founders. However, it may be argued that the desire and will of the early Ming emperors to centralize and to assert the supremacy of their will over acts of governance was in fact not as effectively institutionalized as they had intended and it could be that the rulers deceived themselves into believing that it actually was (Adler  Pouwels, 2007). The preference of the Chinese to solve all social problems ethically rather than technically established limitations in the manner in which both the governments operated which had the result of  deflecting the exercise of power. Even though this argument has some weight, the atmosphere of great power cannot be dismissed. The evidence of this can be found in the enhanced position of China in East Asia during the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasties.

The political history of both the Ming and Qing dynasties despite their strong beginnings is far from being a consistent achievement. There is wide consensus that the dynasties represented great achievements in Chinese civilization. However, it has also been conceived as representing ineradicable flaws of forms against actualities, as systems that were in constant need of patching up but never fictile to thoroughgoing rational correction. It must also be said that the governing of the Ming China was a mammoth undertaking, fantastic in its assumptions, majestic in its professional ideals and widely complicated in the interplay of ideal and actual patterns that characterized its daily existence. The same applies to the Qing dynasty.

Despite these similarities, the Ming and Qing dynasties were different in various remarkable ways. The Ming dynasty, having been a consequence of rebellion against perceived foreign leaders, was mainly seen as a Chinese dynasty. The Qing dynasty on the other hand was seen as an outside dynasty. During the Qing dynasty, the highest positions were held by the Manchu while the lower positions were held by the Chinese. The fact that Qing dynasty was a non-Chinese dynasty had various implications. The most important relates with how the emperor related with the subjects and how the Chinese viewed their rulers and themselves.

Both the two dynasties struggled with rebellion. Even though Qianlong struggled to display Chinese virtues, he was not entirely confident that his rule was supported by the Chinese. He did not hesitate to act on those he considered to espouse anti-Manchu sentiments. Apart from this, the two dynasties also struggled with massive corruption among the officials. For instance, an official whom the Qianlong emperor favored to various posts reserved for experienced officials was openly corrupt and the emperor did not take any action to stop him (Ebrey at al., 2008).

Being a non-Chinese dynasty, the Qianlong emperor understood that he could only hold the empire together by talking in political and religious idioms of his subjects. In this regard, he was a patron of Confucianism apart from being patron of other religions within China.

In conclusion, there are various similarities and differences that existed between the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty. Like their predecessors, they were characterized by massive corruption and discontent. They were also threatened by both internal rebellion and external threats. However, the nature of the two dynasties was different. The Ming dynasty was mainly seen as a Chinese dynasty while the Qing dynasty was considered an outside dynasty. The two dynasties struggled to maintain their hold on their subjects despite the rebellions that were mainly a characteristic feature.  The structure of the two dynasties did not however differ except for the fact that the Chinese held minor positions during the Qing dynasty.

In order to trace the growth of various tendencies in China, it is important to make a comparison between the various dynasties. The dynasties rose and fell based on various circumstances that are anything but predictable and inevitable. Both the Ming and Qing empires were among the great land based empires during the middle and early modern periods. With the fall of the dynasties, there is much that can be learned with regard to patterns of revolution and nationalism which is characteristic of the collapse of other empires in general. There is much that can be drawn from the two dynasties with regard to imperial legacy to develop clear ideas of distinct languages, aristocratic traditions, religions and homelands.

The crisis in Afghanistan and the question of international involvement.
 
Security crisis in Afghanistan
Afghanistan has suffered horror and anguish in the last decade. The nation is characterized by high percentage of illiteracy, less than 25 million people, homelessness and hunger.  Many of the Afghanistans population have been displaced as a result of continued civil war. Studies show that about a quarter of the afghan population live in refugee camps outside the border. The vicious anti-communist bating in the 1980s caused Afghanistan become United States foreign policys cynical tool. Afghanistan was on the front line in the United States war against the Soviet Union. The nation received many war machineries which were being purchased by the CIA. Fighters and royalists were brought together by combination of Islamic opportunities and virulent anti-communism. These royalists and fighters came from Islamic and Arabian nations under the leadership of Pakistans military, secret service, and the CIA operatives.

The soviet troops were later withdrawn and the Union disintegrated, but the civil war in Afghanistan continued to be plugged. As the CIA competed with the US pentagon for supremacy, many different Islamic factions entered the nation.  The industries and infrastructures that were built in the years when collaboration with the Soviet existed were destroyed. As the ideological contradiction developed, the Islamic fighters and anti-communism collapsed. (USAID, 2003).

    The Pakistan secret service, military and Islamic clerical elite aided the rise of Taliban. These supporters looked forward to emergence of a faction that would consider the interests of Pakistans Gulf Arabs and Saudi. Afghanistan was consistent to the Talibans society vision, a factor that enslaved children and women. Mean that empowered women to survive without depending on men were limited. They were stopped from working, going to school, leaving homes without a male companion, and were forced to cover the entire body. This ensured that women depended on men for survival. It was hard to survive for women who had lost their male family members whose survival option was prostitution.

    Taliban became a political threat in the region in its efforts to spread Islamic Jehad into neighboring republics such as India Russia and Soviet Central Asia. Neighbors such as Iran was not happy with the mistreatment the Afghanistan population faced, thus viewed Afghanistan with suspicion and great fear. Taliban intended to ascend northwards but the Afghans occupying the northern part resisted, increasing civil war.  (Robert  Amin, 2008). The Afghanistan could not escape Islamic fundamentalism and war terror because the Pakistan could not give shelter to more refugees. After the Soviet withdrew in defeat, the fight continued as many Afghan factions wanted to control the country. The Taliban emerged and controlled Afghanistan. The international community was not happy with the Taliban who allowed al-Qaeda members such as Osama Bin Laden to live there. After the 2001 US attack, the Taliban refused to hand over Osama Bin Laden thus the US-led war.  A bombing campaign against the Taliban was launched by the United States in collaboration with its allies in October 2001. This launch marked a start of the Americas war on terror. The local fighters together with troops led by US drove the Taliban from power, forcing them from Kabul. Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban leader escaped and it is believed that they survived the offensive. Their escape has made foreign troops including thousands of US troops to continue staying in Afghanistan as they hunt Taliban supporters.

In December 2001, the Afghan Diasporas and opposition leaders met in Germany where they drew plans for political transition. Provisional government structure started the transition with Hamid Karzai as the Afghan Interim Authoritys (AIA) chairman.  In June 2002, AIA held a national wide grand assembly in which Karzai was elected as a president of Islamic Transitional State of Afghanistan (ITSA). In December 2003, a second national wide grand assembly was held by the Transitional Authority. The Assembly debated on a draft constitution which was adopted later in January 2004. In October the first direct presidential elections were held following threats of violence, boycott and fraud claims. In September 2005, provincial and parliamentary elections were held the electoral process did not include political parties and this was feared to compromise the legislatures strength. In august 2009, President Hamid Karzai elected. This was followed by widespread fraud making the provincial and presidential polls to be repeated, and the governments legitimacy to get a critical blow. However he was re-elected in November 2009. The public confidence in the electoral process and in commitment of the international community to Afghanistans democratic institutions has been eroded by the flawed polls. The Afghanistans governance has been broken by the power concentrated on the executive while excluding the judiciary and legislature.  Security in the polls has been deteriorating steadily, raising the violence level. Since 2001 invasion, 2009 polls have recorded the worst violence levels in Afghanistan. Despite the Taliban violence prior to the poll date, the United States and Afghan government declared the presidential and provincial elections held in august 2009 successful.  Many campaign workers and provincial candidates were killed and on the day of election, at least 30 people were killed. Female candidates withdrew from the contest due to intimidation. Insecurity Afghanistan lowered the turnout f the presidential elections of 2009 compared to the 2004 turnout. This decrease in turn out was due to absence of female observers, agents and electoral staff due to insecurity. There were reports of intimidation, ghost polling stations and interference by the IEC staff. Even after the polling date, security cases continued to increase. According to the UN figures, between January and July 2009, about a thousand and thirteen Afghan civilians were killed.

The preliminary results of the election released in September 2009 indicated 54.6 of Karzai votes and 27.7 of Abdullahs votes. When the independent Electoral Complaints Commission carried out a protracted investigation on the results, about 4 of the Karzais votes were fraud. Abdullah announced that he would not stand again as he claimed fair vote was impossible with existence of biased heads of IEC who Karzai had refused to sack. These elections caused doubts about the presidencys legitimacy. This has moved along way. Currently Karzai has a critical test of how willing he is to end cronyism and corruption. The probability of him failing the test are high because it his difficult for him to accommodate demands from factional leaders, tribal strongmen, his allies, regional power breakers, and powerful businessmen. (Frank, 2003).

International involvement to the crisis in Afghanistan

  These many years of continued a fight in Afghanistan has left the country in great ruin. According to the global ranking, Afghanistan is among the poorest countries in the world. They have relied on international donors who have continuously poured billions of dollars for many years. (WHW, 2003).
Since 1950s throughout 1970s, there was active involvement of United States in Afghanistan. It was until the assassination of the Adolph Dubs the US ambassador and the invasion of the Soviet in 1979, when the US presence ended. Involvement of the United States was indirect as it provided military aid to afghan who resisted the Soviet especially in 1980s. After the 2001 terrorist attack in the United States the US congress passed a resolution to the US president consider military response against the attack. The Taliban government resisted to expel Osama Bin Laden. This made the United States to launch a bombing campaign toward the Taliban political and military installation. (Taylor-Ide,  Taylor, 2002).

According to the international community, stability can be restored through strengthening institutions, constitutional reforms, formation of impartial commission of inquiry into the flawed election and the restructuring of the UN mission in Afghanistan in order to restore credibility. Failure to build adequate capacity of government institutions influenced electoral fraud. The afghan government and the international community failed to strengthen legal framework, build IE, and to provide sustainable registration of voters after the successful elections in 2004. Increase in popular dissolution has been influenced by the failure to strengthen wider institutions such as police and judicial reforms, and disarmament programs. The consequences of these failures should be used to enhance more strengthened process for the district election and National Assembly planned to be held in 2010. The countrys future stability is uncertain due to booming trade on drug, presence of warlords and Islamic militants. (ICG, 2003)

    The international community must put intense pressure for anti-corruption measures. Due to the international communitys intense pressure to Karzai, in his inauguration speech he made on 19th November 2009 promised to concentrate on curbing corruption. He also announced creation of anti-graft body of a high level. According to the international communitys perception, Afghans are active participants of a flawed electoral process. According to the United States report, the Afghanistans political system needs serious reform. Currently, the system is greatly based in patronage and centralized. This has move policies to the end leaving the fore for personalities. Continuous growth of impunity culture is facilitated by President Karzia who holds great powers as the states head. A focus on ways of making the political system more representative and functional is required. A broad agreement on power balance is important. Power should be balanced among the states branches for better relationship.    

According to the international community, although Taliban has greatly influenced insecurity in the past two year, a lot is also stemmed on the failure of Kabul to engage competent soldiers and police in sufficient number. After the elections there was a notable increase of foreign troops into Afghanistan. Before the elections, the United States committed twenty one thousands extra military personnel, and after the elections. NATO gave out five thousands more. These military troops were deployed in the east and south of Afghanistan. In December 2009, the United States President Obama deployed more thirty thousands US troops as new Afghanistans strategy. He also announced a July 2011s tentative exit plan. (ICG, 2010).

The UN has played a role in Afghanistan by introducing an election operation. The Afghan authorities are working with the election operation to organize election, and to register voters for 2009 and 2010 elections. The international communities a re restlessly involved in ensuring that Afghanistan has good governance, competent police and rule of law. However drug production, violence, warlordism, and the intense suspicion to foreigners in Afghanistan continue to drawback the efforts of the international communities. It is feared that unless Afghanistan gets stable Afghan-supported peace the efforts of the international community to have prospect of progress and effective electoral system might fail.

The western governments have provided a number of rationales for global war against terrorism, corruption, inefficient public administration, and poor governance. President Obama has shown his support for multilateralism especially in foreign affairs since he was elected. He has created greater space for chief organizations and international community to engage in regional dialogue about Afghanistan.  The international community including the western countries, NATO, Gulf States and other countries in the region have given considerable financial contributions to Afghanistan particularly the security sector as away of sharing the burden.

The international community is making proposals on creating regional contact group. The group is intended to include Afghanistans neighbors in conducting multi-party diplomatic efforts. The regional contact group will isolate strategic regional issues relating to Afghanistan. A wide contact group would involve all states threatened by the Al-Qaeda and Taliban such as Russia, China, Japan and Saudi Arabia. Although creation of the contact group will have a  number of  positively influences, its major role is to address the Pakistan security concerns as a way of encouraging cooperation with the military in controlling the areas along the western border. The international community expected the regional dialogue to give rise to a more flexible and creative approach. Considering the alternatives that have been failed in the past eight year, they argue that the dialogue e had to be attempted. The contact group was to be kept small and the discussions would take place in private to avoid the public scrutiny. (Robert  Fionnuala, 2009).  

In 2002, the United States moved into Afghanistan to restore economic, military and political ties. This was initiated by reopening of the US Embassy in Kabul, and Afghan embassy in Washington DC. There was increase in the US military troops in Afghanistan, which rebuilt the Soviets airbase at Begram.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) led the United States reconstruction efforts which aimed at reconstructing the Afghanistans damaged infrastructure, and to deal with immediate needs such as provision of shelter and food to the displaced, returning widows and refugees, rebuilding the education system, transportation system in interurban highways as well as restoring the agricultural reproductively.  The United States involvement in the Afghanistans reconstruction was marked by the Kabul-Kandahah road.  (USAID, 2003).

It is unfortunate that Afghanistan has suffered as a result of fight between other countries. Some countries have been fighting indirectly using Afghanistan as the centre for their fight. The challenges present in the region were not developed entirely in Afghanistan, and solutions to the challenges need to involve all the countries that might have contributed. It is only in this way a longterm solution to the issues and problems in Afghanistan can be sort. Issues between countries in the region and with the western countries must be addressed in order to get a long-term solution.