How Did Japan, China, and Russia Differ in the Ways They Reacted to Western European Commercial and Cultural Contacts?
How Did Japan, China, and Russia Differ in the Ways They Reacted to Western European Commercial and Cultural Contacts?
First I will start with Japan and how they reacted to this new contact. Japan before these contacts really didnt had a totally different type of military technology. They use firearms but they were nothing compare to what they were introduce to. As far a trades went Japan was very open to trade, but they did monitor it very closely. One thing that did happen to come on the merchant ships that Japan didnt expect was missionaries. Even with Japan having very mixed feeling on this they allowed it for a long time. Many Japanese really like the new religions and it quick spread through the country. Soon enough Japan had enough with the new religion; they blame these for many problems and wanted it out of the country. Even with Japan wanting the missionaries out and most of them leaving some decided to go under ground and stay. With this movement to get rid of the new religion Japan also ordered the end to European trade. They did keep little trade with the Dutch but it was held to a minimum.
Chinas reaction to contact was the same as Japan in many ways but also very different in others. As far as trading went for China, it did most of it trading with the Spanish and Dutch. It did have a problem at first with the Portuguese but through time it work its self out. One major difference was that China accepted the religions that were brought a lot better than Japan. In fact China allowed the new religion and sought out to adapt the new Catholic Christianity to Chinese cultural traditions while introducing the newest science and technology from Europe. In the end this new way ended up issuing the official calendar.
As for Russias reaction to this contact it was more like Chinas far more than like Japans. With Peter the Great it seemed to accept this contact with open arms. Peter himself went around to these different countries and learned how they did thing then turn around and use them in Russia. Peter use all of this knowledge to his advantage and it showed by how Russia grew military wise and political wise. Religion also played a big part in Russia, just like it did in China, by being very open to large different types. This did cause problems here and there in china but never enough