The history of East Asia generally encompasses the histories of China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, and Taiwan from prehistoric times to the present. Each of its countries has a different national history, but East Asian studies scholars maintain that the region is also characterized by a distinct pattern of historical development. This is evident in the relationships among traditional East Asian civilizations, which not only involve the sum total of historical patterns but also a specific set of patterns that has affected all or most of traditional East Asia in successive layers.
Background Field of study and scope The study of East Asian history is a part of the rise of East Asian studies as an academic field in the Western world. The teaching and studying of East Asian history began in the West during the late 19th century. In the United States, Asian Americans around the time of the Vietnam War believed that most history courses were Eurocentric and advocated for an Asian-based curriculum. At present, East Asian history remains a central field within Asian Studies. In the region, nationalist historians often emphasize the distinctiveness of their country’s traditions, culture, and history to support territorial claims and reduce internal conflicts. There is also the case of individual authors influenced by different concepts of society and development, which lead to conflicting accounts. These, among other factors, led some scholars to stress the need for broader regional and historical frameworks. There have been issues with defining exact parameters for what constitutes East Asian history which as an academic study has focused on East Asia's interactions with other regions of the world. Scholars such as Andrew Abalahin have argued that East Asia and its neighboring region of Southeast Asia form a single ethno-cultural area, sharing common roots and history with each other, while being distinct from other world regions. Historian Charles Holcombe states that East Asia as a unified cultural region can be defined by adherence to Confucianism, influences from Buddhism and a usage of chopsticks. Nomadic Peoples to China's north including Turkic, Manchu and Mongolian tribes were sinicized over time, this assimilation often occurred as a result of nomadic conquest of China rather than Chinese conquest of the steppe.
Summary of history
Recorded civilization dates to approximately 2000 BC in China's Shang dynasty along the Yellow River Valley, though the historically disputed Xia dynasty is said to have existed even earlier. Civilization expanded to other areas in East Asia gradually. In Korea Gojoseon became the first organized state around approximately 195 BC. Japan emerged as a unitary state with the creation of its first constitution in 604 AD. The introduction of Buddhism and the Silk Road were instrumental in building East Asia's culture and economy.
Chinese dynasties such as the Sui, Tang and Song interacted with and influenced the characters of early Japan and Korea. At the turn of the first millennium AD, China was the most advanced civilization in East Asia and was responsible for the Four Great Inventions. China's GDP was likely the largest in the world at times as well.
The rise of the nomadic Mongol Empire disrupted East Asia, and under the leadership of leaders such as Genghis Khan, Subutai, and Kublai Khan, the majority of East Asia was brought under the rule of a single state, with the exception of Japan and Taiwan. The Yuan dynasty attempted and failed to conquer Japan in two separate maritime invasions. The Mongol era in East Asia was short-lived due to natural disasters and poor administrative management. In the aftermath of the Yuan dynasty's collapse, new regimes such as the Ming dynasty and Joseon dynasty embraced Neo-Confucianism as the official state ideology. Japan at this time fell into feudal civil war known as the Sengoku Jidai which persisted for over a century and a half. At the turn of the 16th century European merchants and missionaries traveled to East Asia by sea for the first time. The Portuguese established a colony in Macau, China and attempted to Christianize Japan. In the last years of the Sengoku period, Japan attempted to create a larger empire by invading Korea only being defeated by the combined forces of Korea and China in the late 16th century.
From the 17th century onward, East Asian nations such as China, Japan, and Korea chose a policy of isolationism in response to European contact. The 17th and 18th centuries saw great economic and cultural growth. Qing China dominated the region but Edo Japan remained completely independent. At this time limited interactions with European merchants and intellectuals led to the rise of Great Britain's East India Company and the beginning of Japan's Dutch studies. However, 1800s saw the rise of European imperialism in the region. Qing China was unable to defend itself from various colonial expeditions from Great Britain, France, and Russia during the Opium Wars. Japan meanwhile choose the path of westernization under the Meiji period and attempted to modernize by following the political and economic models of Europe and the Western World. The rising Japanese Empire forcibly annexed Korea in 1910. After years of civil war and decline, China's last emperor Puyi abdicated in 1912 ending China's imperial history which had persisted for over two millennia from the Qin to Qing.
In the midst of the Republic of China's attempts to build a modern state, Japanese expansionism pressed onward in the first half of the twentieth century, culminating in the brutal Second Sino-Japanese War where over twenty million people died during Japan's invasion of China. Japan's wars in Asia became a part of WWII after Japan's attack of the United States' Pearl Harbor. Japan's defeat in Asia by the hand of the allies contributed to the creation of a new world order under American and Soviet influence across the world. Afterwards, East Asia was caught in the cross hairs of the Cold War. The People's Republic of China initially fell under the sphere of the Soviet camp but Japan under American occupation was solidly tied to Western nations. Japan's recovery became known as the post-war economic miracle. Soviet and Western competition led to the Korean War, which created two separate states that exist in present times.
The end of the Cold War and the rise of globalization have brought South Korea, and the People's Republic of China into the world economy. Since 1980, the economies and living standards of South Korea and China have increased exponentially. In contemporary times, East Asia is a pivotal world region with a major influence on world events. In 2010, East Asia's population made up approximately 24% of the world's population.
Prehistory
Homo erectus ("upright man") is believed to have lived in East Asia from 1.8 million to 40,000 years ago. In China specifically, fossils representing 40 Homo erectus individuals, known as Peking Man, were found near Beijing at Zhoukoudian that date to about 400,000 years ago. The species was believed to have lived for at least several hundred thousand years in China,Peking Man . The History of Human Evolution. American Museum of Natural History. April 23, 2014. and possibly until 200,000 years ago in Indonesia. They may have been the first to use fire and cook food.Homo erectus. London: Natural History Museum. Retrieved April 23, 2014. Homo sapiens migrated into inland Asia, likely by following herds of bison and mammoth and arrived in southern Siberia by about 43,000 years ago and some people moved south or east from there.By Land and Sea. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved April 23, 2014.Steppes into Asia. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved April 23, 2014. The earliest sites of Neolithic culture include Nanzhuangtou culture around 9500 BC to 9000 BC, Pengtoushan culture around 7500 BC to 6100 BC, Peiligang culture around 7000 BC to 5000 BC. China's first villages appeared on the landscape at this time.
In Korea the Jeulmun pottery period is sometimes labeled the "Korean Neolithic", but since intensive agriculture and evidence of European-style 'Neolithic' lifestyle is sparse at best, such terminology is misleading. The Jeulmun was a period of hunting, gathering, and small-scale cultivation of plants from 20,000 BC to 8000 BC. Archaeologists sometimes refer to this life-style pattern as 'broad-spectrum hunting-and-gathering'.
The Jōmon period occurred in Japan from circa 14,000 BC to 300BC, with some characteristics of both Neolithic and Mesolithic culture.
Ancient East Asia (4,000 BC– 1,000 AD)
Ancient Chinese dynasties
The Xia dynasty of China (from c. 2100 to c. 1600 BC) is the first dynasty to be described in ancient historical records such as Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian and Bamboo Annals.
Following this was the Shang dynasty, which ruled in the Yellow River valley. The classic account of the Shang comes from texts such as the Book of Documents, Bamboo Annals and Records of the Grand Historian. According to the traditional chronology, the Shang ruled from 1766 BC to 1122 BC, but according to the chronology based upon the "current text" of Bamboo Annals, they ruled from 1556 BC to 1046 BC.
The Zhou dynasty of –256 BC lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history. However, the actual political and military control of China by the dynasty, surnamed Ji (), lasted only until 771 BC, a period known as the Western Zhou. This period of Chinese history produced what many consider the zenith of Chinese bronze-ware making. The dynasty also spans the period in which the written script evolved into its modern form with the use of an archaic clerical script that emerged during the late Warring States period.
Nomads on the Mongolian Steppe The territories of modern-day Mongolia and Inner Mongolia in ancient times was inhabited by nomadic tribes. The cultures and languages in these areas were fluid and changed frequently. The use of horses to herd and move started during the Iron Age. A large area of Mongolia was under the influence of Turkic peoples, while the southwestern part of Mongolia was mostly under the influence of Indo-European peoples such as the Tocharians and Scythian tribes. In antiquity, the eastern portions of both Mongolia and Inner Mongolia were inhabited by Mongolic peoples descended from the Donghu people and numerous other tribes These were Tengriist horse-riding pastoralist kingdoms that had close contact with the agrarian Chinese. As a nomadic confederation composed of various clans the Donghu were prosperous in the 4th century BC, forcing surrounding tribes to pay tribute and constantly harassing the Chinese State of Zhao (325 BC, during the early years of the reign of Wuling). To appease the nomads local Chinese rulers often gave important hostages and arranged marriages. In 208 BC Xiongnu emperor Modu Chanyu, in his first major military campaign, defeated the Donghu, who split into the new tribes Xianbei and Wuhuan. The Xiongnu were the largest nomadic enemies of the Han dynasty fighting wars for over three centuries with the Han dynasty before dissolving. Afterwards the Xianbei returned to rule the Steppe north of the Great Wall. The titles of Khangan and Khan originated from the Xianbei.
Gojoseon and Goguryeo
Gojoseon (고조선, 古朝鮮) is traditionally regarded as the first Korean kingdom, founded in 2333 BCE by Dangun according to Korean mythology. Archaeological evidence shows that Bronze Age culture developed independently in the Korean Peninsula and Liaoning region, supporting the existence of an early polity distinct from Chinese states.