*In many ways, China is the heart of East Asia, as it has often controlled and always influenced the other nations around it.

*China's history and government have been defined by a series of dynasties that rose to power, ruled through a highly organised government, and eventually declined (as they lost the Mandate of Heaven), to be replaced by new governments.  In the turbulent years of the Zhou dynasty, two of China's most important philosophers created the basis of Chinese government and society, and one of the most important interpretations of Chinese traditional religions.

*Confucius lived between 551 and 479 BC, as the Zhou dynasty was beginning to decline.  He worried about the chaotic world he saw around him, and wrote about the importance of order, respect, learning, ceremony, ritual, and rewarding merit.  He especially believed that government jobs should be open to everyone, and that people should be rewarded based on their abilities and accomplishments, not their ancestry or social class.  This eventually led to the creation of a professional, examined civil service, upon which most of the rest of the world later based its civil services.

*About the same time, Lao-Tzu taught a new approach to traditional Chinese religion.  Taoism is one of many traditional forms of Chinese religion, which recognises a number of gods and has different ways to worship them.  It is also about finding a way for oneself in the world; unlike Confucianism, which is about order and belonging to society, Taoism is more about spontaneity and finding oneself.

*In 221 BC, China was united for the first time under one emperor in the Qin dynasty (from which China still takes its name).  During this time, construction of the Great Wall of China began.  Although the Qin dynasty itself only lasted until 207 BC, it laid the foundation for a Chinese empire that would last until 1912, despite civil wars and invasions.

*In 1206, Genghis Khan united the Mongol peoples of Central Asia under his leadership, creating the Mongol empire.  The Mongols were fierce and brutal warriors, but extremely effective, being able to shoot bows and arrows while riding their horses, making them mobile and deadly.  The conquered the largest contiguous empire the world has ever seen (the Victorian British Empire was larger, but not contiguous) reaching from China to Persia to Poland, (although they never quite conquered Europe, due mostly to the death of their general in the area).

*Although Genghis Khan died in 1227, his sons continued his conquests, and in 1271, Genghis Khan’s grandson, Kublai Khan founded the Yuan dynasty in China, holding the country under Mongol rule until 1368.  It was during this time that Marco Polo came to China along the Silk Road. 

*Although the Yuan adopted many customs of the Chinese (including their writing system, most aspects of their government, and their religion), some Chinese still resented rule by foreigners, especially when they forced thousands to work on dams and other projects along the Yellow River, and in 1368 the Mongols were pushed out of China by the a revolution that created the Ming dynasty.

*Under the Ming, China expanded, finished building the Great Wall, and developed an even more powerful central government.  However, in 1644, the Manchu of northeastern China invaded, and overthrew the Ming (the last Han dynasty in China), creating the Qing dynasty.  They also conquered Mongolia and made it part of China until 1921.  

*The Manchu were resented, because they tried to wipe out existing Chinese traditions, forcing the Chinese people to dress in Manchu clothing and to wear Manchu-style haircuts, and forbidding any criticism of the government. 

*There were numerous revolts against the Manchu dynasty, and during the 1800s its power began to decline, in part because of the increasing involvement of European powers in China.

*In the 1800s, trade with China was very valuable for Europeans, but they could not find much to sell to the Chinese—all they could do was buy things from them.  However, the East India Company found one thing India could produce that many Chinese people would buy:  opium.  However, the Chinese government outlawed the importation of opium, until Britain fought the First Opium War (1839-1842) to force the Chinese government to allow the sale of opium within its borders.  It also won control of Hong Kong for Great Britain, which it would keep until 1997.  A Second Opium War (1856-1860) consolidated British power in China.

*The Manchu armies were defeated easily by the British, and in future wars and diplomatic manoeuvres (which the Chinese called the 'Unequal Treaties'), China was slowly divided up into ‘spheres of influence’ where different European powers had special trading rights and a great deal of control.  Most of China was never colonised outright by Europe, but it ended up being dominated by it anyway.

*The Chinese people resented European interference (and American, although the US tried to support an open-door (free trade) policy, because the USA missed out on a real sphere of influence of its own (eventually the US got what they wanted)) as much as they had Manchu rule, and between 1899 and 1901 the Fists of Righteous Harmony rose up against foreign diplomats, merchants, and missionaries in what was known as the Boxer Rebellion. 

*Europe, Japan, and the United States put it down, in part because the Boxers believed that if they were pure of heart, bullets would not hurt them (they were wrong (or impure)).  This gave Europeans and America greater influence in China, particularly as Russia began occupying large parts of Manchuria.  The Qing government's failure to protect China from foreign interference caused further feelings of resentment and disappointment toward to Manchu.

*Finally tired of both their corrupt and inept government and foreign interference, the Chinese people rose up in 1911-1912 in the Wuchang Uprising, which created the Republic of China in 1912.  The Republican or Nationalist government was led by Sun Yat-Sen, and later by Chiang Kai-Shek. 

*In the 1920s they worked with, and then later turned against, the Communist Party of China, which eventually came under the leadership of Mao Tse-tung during the Long March, a period in 1934 in which they retreated to the desolate mountains of the northwest.  The Nationalists and the Communists would fight each other until 1949.

Korea

*Although Korea has a distinct ethnic, linguistic, and cultural heritage, it has often been dominated by China.  Korea is mostly Buddhist, and its government system has traditionally been Confucian.  Korea was unified under one government in 688 AD, and it maintained one government of its own (for the most part) until being conquered by the Manchu Qing dynasty in 1636.

Japan

*Prehistorically, Japan was home to the Ainu people, who still exist as a minority group in Japan.  Modern Japanese people may have arrived in Japan about 400 BC from Korea, or possibly earlier or from elsewhere.  According the legend, the first Emperor was Jimmu, who founded Japan in 660 BC, but this date is not necessarily historically accurate.

*About 405 AD the Japanese adopted the Chinese system of writing and some began to practise Buddhism, although Shinto also remained an important religion in Japan. 

*The Japanese emperor was traditionally both a political and a religious leader, a Shinto high priest or even a semi-divine figure himself.  For centuries the Emperor was a fairly powerful figure (although after the introduction of Buddhism he often had to compete with the Buddhist hierarchy for power).  However, in the 12th century the power of the emperor began to decline. 

*Between 1185 and 1868, the Emperor remained a figurehead and a religious leader, but usually had little real political power.  Instead, Japan was ruled by feudal warlords, typically under the ultimate rule of a major warlord of general called a Shogun.

*There were a series of Shogunates (like dynasties) during this period.  The Shoguns fought off the Mongols, with the help of the kamikaze (divine wind), a typhoon that destroyed much of the Mongol fleet in 1281.  The Shoguns used this threat (and their successful reaction to it) as a reason to stay in power and keep the Emperor on the sidelines.

*In 1542, a Portuguese ship blown off course by a storm landed in Japan and began some trade with the Japanese, including in firearms.  The Dutch later joined the Portuguese, and the East India Company established a trading post in 1613.  Along with traders came missionaries.

*In the 1600s, the Shoguns feared that the European merchants and missionaries were spies, preparing the way for a European invasion.  They also did not like what guns did to warfare, or how European goods and customs were changing society.  Therefore, they outlawed most foreign trade and travel.  Between 1641 and 1853 it was illegal for Japanese people to leave Japan or for foreigners to enter, on pain of death.  The exception was a single Dutch trading post in Nagasaki.  Japan retained a feudal political and economic system throughout this period.

*In 1853, the United States sent Commodore Matthew Perry to Japan to attempt to open trade.  He did so, threatening Japan with four modern warships.  In 1854 he returned, and Japan agreed to US demands, and within a few years was trading with most of the world.

*In the 1860s, the Emperor of Japan, and many other Japanese, were weary of the current Shogun, and they united against him, restoring the Emperor to real power in 1868 (the Meiji Restoration).  Seeing the power of Europe and the United States, the Meiji Emperor embarked on a plan of forced modernisation for Japan, abolishing the feudal system (which involved a civil war as some samurai rose up against the new government and were crushed by the Imperial Army), developing a constitutional monarchy with an partially elected Diet (although in practise the Emperor's advisers largely ran the country—the Constitution was based on the British, Prussian, and US Constitutions), and creating a modern industrial economy by the end of the century, basically taking Japan from a mediaeval way of life to a modern one in 30 years.

*Proud of their new power, and eager to demonstrate it to the world (and gain a few colonies of their own in an era of colonialism), Japan went to war with China in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05, ended in part by Theodore Roosevelt, who got the Nobel Peace Prize).  Japan also took part in putting down the Boxer Rebellion. 

*As part of its wars, especially with China, Japan gained control of Korea, Taiwan, and part of Manchuria.  Japan also built the world's sixth-largest navy, whereas 2/3 of Russian's navy was destroyed, a large portion of its army kept busy preventing a Polish uprising, the country was plunged deep into debt, and an already unhappy population lost even more confidence in their government. 

*Imperial Japan was the first modern non-European empire, and it had even beaten a European power!