If the OP had a clue he (she?) had a great source here to answer homework questions and probably learn something. A little effort at obscuring the homework question would have provided them a wealth of material for class.
I would have killed to have the SDMB as a resource when I was in school. I have no doubt I could pose questions here when I was 16 or older to get the grown-ups talking and help write my paper for me.
The ham handed approach the OP has taken to this and other threads makes me worry for our future. It would be simple to use the SDMB as a resource for getting answers to all this and more.
East Asian civilization is basically all the Chinese influenced countries in Asia (thus ruling out India and Indonesia). Their main handicap in falling behind the West were due to cultural reasons such as the lack of competition among the countries due to the domination of China in the region.
I might say that isolation, arrogance, corruption, and excessive cultural/governmental baggage put those civilizations, especially China, at a disadvantage.
Japan isn’t really behind, and neither is South Korea. Vietnam is practically China anyway, culturally and linguistically. Japan was behind, but I’d say their lesser isolation and cultural baggage helped them catch up more quickly than China.
China used to accomplish a lot, relatively speaking, but their government and culture became so structured, Byzantine, and unwieldy (I’d say through simple age and isolation) that they simply couldn’t change fast enough to complete. They’re catching up now, but it’s still very true than China and Japan can’t really innovate in any real way.
South Korea doesn’t have this problem. I think this is partially due to its rejection of Chinese culture and influence, and also partially its embracing of Western attitudes and culture. However, I could be totally wrong about the reasons for South Korea’s stunning track record re: innovations. The track record is there, either way.
Pretty much the only available historical explanation for the Yayoi is that they were horse-borne warriors who arrived in Japan from Korea, and ethnically they are the closest known relatives of modern-day Japanese, so there’s presumably some relationship.
If I might get serious for a moment, it’s a real bad idea to ask for homework help on this board. Not just because it makes some people hostile, as you’ve seen. But also because we’re not in a position to help you with your classroom assignments.
For example, you posted, “That which accounts for the unprecedented success of the Qing Dynasty also explains its demise.” Explain? Now a few of us offered some ideas but they were just guesses. We weren’t there in your class (and maybe you weren’t there in your class either). We don’t know your instructor and what he or she had to say on this subject. Anything you get from us is probably going to be completely off topic and will just show your instructor you didn’t learn anything in class.
My suggestion is that if you want to skate through your classes, you need to do a better job at it. Start borrowing notes from the other students rather than try to get help on a message board.
Or maybe you could just go to class, pay attention, and take notes.
I’d really like to know the format that the answer to this question is supposed to be in. Also, if any professor seriously asks for a definition of “East Asian Culture,” then it probably means they’re a Eurocentric ignoramus.
To be fair, the answer this asshole is probably looking for must be something like, “Confucian conservatism was holding them back until the fabulous white man made with the civilization!”
Especially toward the members who keep trying to give serious answers.
Y’see, Eastwest99 and any other students who might want help with homework, this board is made up of one half class clowns, one half smartest kids in the class, and one half dumb schlubs like you and me. The fractions don’t work because there’s an awful lot of people who were in both the first and second groups.
ETA: Unless you were never taught fractions, in which case they add up just fine.
You know, if the kid had bothered to work the questions into a conversation, or at the very least asked the questions in his own words we might have helped him out a bit. All the OP did, though, was copy the questions off the test verbatim without even a “Hi! My name is Eastwest 99!”
I realize you were probably aiming at the instructor, but let’s avoid calling people “asshole” in Great Debates when there is any possibiltiy that the target might be misconstrued as a poster.
Well I think the cultures you mention were heavily influenced by Confucius and had imperial exams to select government officials, this base of Confucian values and emphasis on academics as a method of (limited) social mobility informs the cultural values of the cultures you mention.
Theese factors are relatively minor in comparison to the fact that these are also the cultures that traditionally used chopsticks. This is the result of centuries of experience with preventing disease and this use of chopsticks was the main reason why East Asian cultures were able to avoid the plagues that wiped out so much of Europe during the middle ages.
The European plagues selected against warm gregarious friendly people who would easily transmit diseases to each other so anti-social tendencies became a survival trait among Europeans. These anti-social survival traits were common among sociopaths and psychopaths so when they encountered Chinese fireworks used to make pretty lights in the sky, they naturally figured out how you could kill lots of people with the gunpowder.
It was these sort of differences that largely explain the advantages that the western powers had over the East Asians.
Many of the cultural differences between the four cultures are easiest to see in the differences in chopstick etiquette. For example, it is taboo to leave your chopsticks stuck vertically in your rice in any of these cultures but Korea it is also taboo to rest them to the left of your spoon while in Vietnam you generally take pains to make sure they are resting parallel to each other and not in a V shape while the japnese will not leave chopsticks to rest on the table. These differences and similaarities expose deep insights about the similarities and differences between the cultures.
The reason for the different outcomes after contact with the western powers become apparent when you take these differences in chopstick etiquette into account. This is why Japan was quick to adopt western practices while Vietnam was able to repel these influences and China had to undergo much more painful adjustments.
They say that whenever China is invaded the invaders become Chinese. kind of like the greeks in that sense.
Its mostly the different approach to chopsticks.
um.. you can also fly to Japan so the horses didn’t need to know how to swim.
well, for one they all have amazing Chinese food lol! j/k
but their cultures and views towards religion & politics are far more diverse than Europe will ever be. You can not really look at the region as a whole (especially since they ironically hate each other).
