Asia Past and Present

A Brief History

Peter P. Wan, Thomas D. Reins

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781118955185
• eBook ISBN: 9781118955215
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Asian History
• Index: History

A wide-ranging introduction to the multi-faceted history of Asia—from early origins to the present

Asia Past and Present is an expansive survey of the social, political, and economic history of the continent from the Paleolithic era to the early 21^st century. As there is no physically discrete continent, rather an arbitrary division of the Eurasian landmass, this book focuses on terrain that encompasses India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Central Asia, China, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, the Russian Far East, and Southeast Asia—the area which most modern scholars identify as Asia.

Offering broad chronological and topical coverage of Asia, this book examines subjects including written languages, religions and philosophies, concepts of monarchy, militarism, independence and nation building, and more. Particular focus is placed on the varying levels of influence the core cultures of India and China have had on the continent in a multitude of socio-political areas. Historical dialogues of how colonies, later emerging nations, blended traditional Asian culture and Western political and economic models of modernization complement contemporary discussions of globalization, nuclear tensions, and growing demands for greater individual freedom. Written in an engaging, accessible style, this book:

• Covers of a wide range of topics, perspectives, geographic regions, and time periods
• Highlights India and China as the pre 19^th century cultural cores of Asia
• Presents a relatable political-cultural narrative framework
• Discusses contemporary themes including gender, sexual orientation, the environment, and Western and Islamic influence on Asian culture
• Includes coverage of commonly underrepresented regions such as the Himalayan nations, Maldives, and New Guinea

Asia Past and Present: A Brief History is a valuable resource for undergraduate courses where Asian cultures are introduced, and in courses on Asian politics, diplomacy, environmental issues, and socio-economics.

Part 1
Asian and Non–Asian Cultures Interact to circa 1850 CE

Introduction to Part 1
Asian and Non-Asian Cultures Interact to circa 1850 CE

Human development on the Asian continent passed through four distinct stages of historical and cultural development by the mid‐nineteenth century of the Common Era (CE): Paleolithic, Neolithic, Pastoral Nomadic, and Civilized. Paleolithic humans departed their African origins for other parts of the world, arriving in Asia as early as 60,000 years ago. They brought with them ways of doing things, and those ways we collectively refer to as culture—people speaking, earning a living, making war, explaining the world, organizing the group, and so forth. As Paleolithic peoples spread across Asia, different kinds of culture appeared, reflecting diverse territories, distinctive climates, and language variations, circumstances that undoubtedly influenced group customs and values. Thus, as the Neolithic culture began to appear roughly 10,000 years ago, Asia boasted a wide range of cultural practices, though these peoples remained chiefly hunters and gatherers. The transition from Paleolithic existence to Neolithic farming occurred gradually and unevenly in Asia. Neolithic farmers experienced a much more abundant existence than their Paleolithic hunting and gathering predecessors. But as farm populations grew as a result of better diets and as the farmland lost its fertility due to soil exhaustion, villages had to move to virgin territory, and over the course of millennia eventually growers wore out the supply of arable land in Asia. These movements of farmers eventually led to the emergence of both Pastoral Nomadic and Civilized ways of life.

Pastoral Nomadic life likely evolved as the territory Paleolithic hunters and gatherers once depended on for livelihood steadily became cropland and villages for farmers. Not only did much of the plant and animal life get displaced as farmers cleared woodland for fields, but these cultivators also staked exclusive claim to surrounding terrain. Thus denied a means of livelihood, Paleolithic people were pushed to increasingly marginal territory. They became pastoral nomads by taking their hunting and gathering skills, as well as their awareness of land cultivation and animal domestication, to begin a new livelihood in what became known as the Eurasian steppe. This chiefly involved the herding of animals, though some agriculture frequently supplemented the skin, meat, and milk products of the herds. These pastoral nomads lived in tribes, which frequently came into conflict with one another, and once civilized life emerged, these tribes traded and warred with civilizations south of the steppe. Known by many names in different languages, the city dwellers typically called these pastoral nomads “barbarians.”

Civilized life likely began in Asia along the Indus River in what is today Pakistan sometime between 3000 and 2500 BCE. Several centuries later, approximately 2000 BCE, city life in China commenced near the Yellow River in today’s Henan Province. In both cases, dry climates probably pushed Neolithic farmers to the edge of subsistence, requiring them either to go the way of pastoral nomads or to find a means of adapting farming to hostile geography. The introduction of irrigation allowed farmers to settle along rivers. In normal times rivers provided water for fields, and when flooding occurred it resulted in the depositing of new topsoil on croplands. This in turn minimized the need for villagers to relocate in search of fertile land, as flooding constantly re‐fertilized the farmers’ fields. Reliable supplies of water and productive soil generated such large food surpluses that non‐farming occupations could be supported. Instead of just one basic occupation found in Paleolithic times—hunting and gathering; just one occupation in Neolithic times—farming; and just one occupation in Pastoral Nomadic settings—herding, Civilized societies could boast a wide variety of specialized livelihoods.

In a Civilized culture, the city directs the activities in urban and surrounding rural areas, both of whose efforts by and large merge to serve a common purpose. Initially, at least, farmers realized the need for city services. These ranged from irrigation construction and maintenance to community security to market arrangements to artisan manufacturing as well as less tangible things such as religious advice. For these and other goods and services, farmers paid taxes to a governing administration. So too did most city inhabitants for the same fundamental reasons. Government promised to maintain essential services and to oversee the interaction of people performing different, often complementary, but frequently conflicting occupations. Farmers provided the necessary food for the city, which supplied the water. Over time, however, some occupations brought greater economic, psychic, and political rewards than others. City residents such as rulers (eventually usually monarchs), bureaucrats, priests, and merchants along with a rural elite (successful farmers, eventually usually a nobility) came to dominate the vast majority of the Civilized community, namely, the average farmer. Some of these cultivators continued to own their land or perhaps own some acreage and rent some; others only rented land; while still others lost their land and became day laborers or, worse, serfs or slaves.

Civilization in India and China produced three key accomplishments for Asia by approximately 1200 CE. First, both produced enduring, adaptable patterns of government practice and social custom, different as those patterns might have been. Politically, India ordinarily experienced regional governments while native central rule remained elusive, whereas China typically created effective central dynastic government, though periods of barbarian invasions and/or regionalism regularly occurred. What India lacked in political unity it made up for with religious cohesion, as Hinduism emerged in conjunction with the caste system to provide meaning and order for the ordinary person. In China, secular Confucianism and Legalism together with indigenous popular religions and Buddhism from India combined to make available understandable guides to daily behavior. Second, by the beginning of the Common Era, both Hinduism and Confucianism succeeded in the longer run by synthesizing competing systems of thought. Thus in Hinduism can be found strands of Buddhism and Jainism, while in Confucianism can be seen elements of Legalism, Daoism, and Buddhism. Third, Indian and Chinese civilizations provided political and cultural models for most of the rest of Asia.

India supplied Southeast Asia, except Vietnam and the Philippines, with a prototype of monarchy, written scripts, religions, economic practices, and other cultural traditions from which the region could pick and choose. Then these chosen Indian ideas and institutions underwent changes as they were adapted to local cultures and customs. The same process of cultural transmission transpired in Central Asia, although by the eighth century CE Islamic expansion, first Arab and eventually Turkish and Persian, began to eclipse Indian influence there. China had the same kind of cultural influence in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Chinese ideas and institutions—monarchy, writing, philosophy, religion, and assorted social practices—made their way to Confucian East Asia to be adopted and adapted.

Between roughly 1200 and 1850, Asia witnessed the dawning of three major jolts: the arrival of Islamic, Mongol, and Western military and cultural challenges. India began to be ruled by various peoples of Islamic background after 1206; the Mongols launched their assault on Eurasia in the thirteenth century; and by the early sixteenth century, the Europeans began to arrive. While the Mongol impact tended to be transitory, the Muslims and Europeans produced more lasting consequences in Asia. Today’s Central Asia, Pakistan, Bangladesh,...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• About the Authors
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part 1: Asian and Non–Asian Cultures Interact to circa 1850 CE
• Introduction to Part 1
• Part 2: The Age of Transformations: Nationalism and Modernization in the Era of Global Wars and the Search for New Social Arrangements, circa 1800 to Present
• Introduction to Part 2
• Index
• End User License Agreement