South East Asia



South East Asia

How did India and China influence the nations of Southeast Asia?

Thesis: Both nations had an enormous influence. India’s influence arrived less directly, through trade and cultural diffusion (slow spread of ideas from people to people) between SEA and India, while China’s influence spread as a result of direct conquest and the resulting tributary relationships that followed. Indian Buddhism influenced all levels of society through the region, while the Confucian moral and political code provided the forms for the governing elite.

Geography plays a huge role in this. A map of the region shows why:

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When you have two of the oldest and most dominant world civilizations on your doorstep, you will be influenced by them. The nations of SEA were in much the same position relative to these world powers that Central America is to us today.

Here is the history of each of our SEA nations relationship with these two powers:

Thailand:

The Thai originally emigrated from China to what is now Thailand and maintained the connection. Throughout Thai history, Chinese invaded and traded and stayed and many blended with Thai people. Chinese culture became synonymous with the ruling elite since they copied Confucian ways. The Chinese were exempt from corvee labor (the policy of forcing every lower-class person to work a certain number of days per year or season on palaces or public works projects), which led to resentment on the part of Thais in the 19th and 20th centuries.

India had a more pervasive influence on Thailand through the arrival of Theravada Buddhism from India by the way of traders and monks. Every level of Thai society was affected by this BUT India never even tried to exert political influence over Thailand or to extract tribute payments, as China did.

Vietnam:

Aristocracy was Confucian but commoners were Buddhist. Vietnamese national mythology says that they are descended from Chinese nobility around 2800 BC. The Entire economic infrastructure of VN was built by Chinese settlers and conquerors. Whenever there was turmoil in China, there was peace in VN as the Chinese were distracted from exploiting VN’s resources then. Much of VN’s history is the process of the Sinicization (becoming Chinese) of VN. In 600’s the VN aristocracy began to educate their sons on the Confucian mode. From the 900’s on the bureaucracy became a copy of the Chinese model. In 1800’s under Nguyen Anh, the traditional VN laws were thrown out and replaced with Chinese laws which demanded more order and were harder on women and the poor. As China was becoming weaker in face of the West, VN adopted traditional Chinese forms, which is an odd choice.

India’s main influence came in the form of Theravada Buddhism.

Cambodia:

Cambodia shared no border with China and so was more influenced by the Confucian governments of her neighbors like Vietnam and Thailand. Chinese influence was indirect here.

Cambodia was Indianized by the 5th century AD and Buddhism was the dominant religion. The most famous example of this is in the former capital and Buddhist temple complex of Angkor Wat

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Indonesia:

China’s influence is not significant here until the arrival of European colonialists who use the Chinese to be their middle men. Ming explorer Zheng He explored the region in the 1400’s but Ming shut down trade and travel outside China by 1600’s.

Indian Buddhism and Hinduism made it here and have had a lasting impact. Indonesian local leaders adopted Indian religion as a way to boost their own prestige. The religion settled down to lower classes as well, but it really mixed with local traditions. Indonesia Hinduism and Buddhism are VERY syncretic (a huge blend). Islam arrived later and won over a majority of Indonesians, but the foundation of the region ws local and Indian.

Buddhists in Java built the Borobodur temple complex that is considered one of the world’s great buildings.

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How did climate and topography influence the nations of SEA?

Most areas so fertile that hunting and gathering existed long after less fertile regions had converted to farming.

Tropical climate (warm and wet) was a natural fro rice cultivation which produces a large surplus when more than one crop per year can be grown (which can be done throughout the region). But it requires a fairly complex drainage and irrigation system which in turn, requires communal organizations and central government. The building and protecting of these systems becomes the major job of government. Governments that do this well become seen as legitimate and those who don’t get kicked out. This is probably the reason that the region had fairly centralized and urbanized government from a very early date.

SEA is located at the cross-roads of the Indians world and the Chinese world. In addition, it has navigable rivers and coastal trade routes that allow the people of the region to travel far and wide without ocean-going navigational tools or ships. Small boats can travel the region easily.

Some of the countries had some unique geographical features

Cambodia – isolated from the sea for most of its history due to Vietnamese and Thai imperialism

Vietnam – river deltas provided extremely fertile soil for rice cultivation

Indonesia – most diverse nation in world, 18,000 islands.

Describe the economic effects of imperialism on the nations of Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand.

Thesis: The region has been imperialized for most of its history – by the Chinese, by other SEA nations, and finally be the Europeans and Japanese. Thailand was best able to manipulate the imperialists and potential imperialists for her own gain, while Cambodia, Vietnam, and Indonesia suffered a great deal under their various imperialist rulers. While Chinese imperialism in the early days created the economy in Vietnam, French and Dutch imperialism in the region lead to monoculture and economic abuse. Japanese imperialism generally did not last long enough (and came after most of the damage was done) to have a lasing effect on the region. The land alienation that was a feature of imperialism in the 19t and 20th centuries in all of the nations was a direct cause of the appeal of communist and nationalist groups in the region in the mid-20th century.

Vietnam:

Chinese built VN’s economic infrastructure in 200’s BC which dramatically improved the economic output of the area. But by 200’s AD, Chinese administrators cam to VN to make a quick buck and go home – less investment in economy and more corruption in tax collection. By the 1600’s the Portuguese had arrived in the area and the Nguyen dynasty had purchased Portuguese guns and cannons to fight local rivals. This is the first incidence of using the Europeans to try to gain power over other SEA rivals. Nguyen had no idea what they were messing with when they started this practice, as it legitimized the role that Europeans felt in interfering with internal politics in the region. In 1783, the Nguyen invited France in to help end the destructive Tay Son Rebellion which was being fought by the peasants against the royal family. The elite supported French involvement in this at first, but grew to fear it. Three years later, another king invited the Chinese in to help calm the rebellion. Governments that cannot defend themselves and have to call on outside help risk two things: losing legitimacy AND losing their independence if the “helper” nations decide to stay (which France did).

By 1862, the Nguyen had given up a lot of territory to the French under the Treaty of Saigon and had surrendered access to the Mekong River, which gave France access to Cambodia (who had normally been imperialized by Vietnam). In the 1880’s France began to export rice from Vietnam (sending their food supply overseas) and raised taxes ten-fold. French colonial policy was based on what is called “land alienation” in which land is taken from peasants who cannot make their outrageously high tax payments and is transferred to wealthy landowners who are often exempt from taxes due to their social class. By 1930, 80% of VN’s land was owned by 25% of the population and 57% of peasants were landless. France had limited manufacturing to force VN to buy French-produced goods and almost all of VN’s coal was being exported instead of being used to fuel VN itself.

Thailand:

The Khmer people of Cambodia destroyed their Thai neighbors, the Funan, by the 900’s AD by the use of forced labor to build their temple complex at Angkor Wat. So much labor was diverted from agriculture that the region was plunged into famine. This local imperialism was followed by Chinese invasion in the following centuries. The Chinese controlled Thai trade for several hundred years. In 1511 and 1592, the Thai began to trade with the Dutch and Portuguese. From the 1600’s on, the Tha played the English, French, and Dutch off each other and in doing so, managed to remain independent. Thai learned from Westerners and began industries in their major cities (small factories by European standards, but more than neighbors had, for sure). Only loss of control came in 1800’s to the US and Great Britain in the form of trade concessions. In 1890 and 1900, the Thai lost the territories they had conquered from Vietnam.

Cambodia

Cambodia was imperialized by both Thailand and Vietnam but not by China. In the 1600’s, VN military action cut Cambodia off from the sea, which impacted her ability to trade outside her own borders (since she didn’t control the full length of any of the navigable rivers, either). This inability to trade cut Cambodia off from economic development. This essentially made Cambodia a subject state of Vietnam and Thailand. Cambodia became largely French territory once France controlled VN in the 1800’s. Under French rule, Cambodia did not develop economically (since France so no advantage to starting local industries and Cambodia remains economically behind neighboring nations today.

Indonesia

Indonesia was never directly colonized by India or any of the Islamic empires, but their religious influence was so powerful that Indonesia can almost be considered part of these two major civilizations. Niether brought any real economic consequences, however. True imperialism begins with the Portuguese and Dutch and their attempts to control the spice trade in the 1500’s. A map is needed to understand the difficulty of ruling Indonesia.

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The differing spices grew on differing islands and controlling production of spices (as opposed to controlling the trade of them) would be hard. Additionally, a Muslim empire controlled access to the Straits of Malacca (in upper left of map) that provided stiff competition for controlling the trade. That Muslim empire was the eastern end of the Silk Road and part of a trade network that was more organized than the Dutch for quite a while.

After years of trying to outbid the Silk Road traders for spices, the Dutch began to get more advanced intheir methods. They worked with local aristocrats to purchase the spices collected by their subjects. They basically bought local nobility and turned them into feudal lords. The local nobles would keep the peace in exchange for a very nice profit. This made local nobles and the Ditch East India Company hugely wealthy and turned the peasants desperately poor. The cycle was to raise taxes, which meant that peasants had to grow more export crops like coffee and spices, which left less time for food production, which lead to famine which lead to decreased tax revenues, which lead to increased tax rates. A very bad cycle that both crippled the local economy and created what is called a monoculture, which is when an are grows only one kind of crop, leaving it vulnerable to economic changes and environmental problems.

Describe the cultural effects of imperialism on the nations of Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand.

Thesis: No part of the work has been imperialized culturally by more other parts of the world. Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Confucianism all arrived here from other places and created the cultural stew that is SEA. Since this imperialism forms what we see before European imperialism, it seems very harmless. The cultural effects of both local imperialism and European imperialism are much more harsh. They include the creation of the fragmented nation of Indonesia and her lasting religious strife, the drop in literacy in VN, and the forced loss of much Cambodian culture.

Indonesia:

In a way, one could argue that Indonesia benefited culturally from European imperialism because they wouldn’t be a nation without imperialism. I believe this is a poor analysis, however. Indonesia is a blend of Muslim, Buddhist, and Christian today. Each island tends to have one religion as the majority religion. In Sumatra, it is Islam, in Timor, it is Christianity, in Java it is a blend of Islam and Buddhism. Bali is Buddhist. The Dutch forced this diverse group of islands into a nation because it made sense for their spice trade. Culturally it made no sense. It is very similar to the creation of Iraq, which made sense to the British since it suited their resource and foreign policy needs. We have seen how divided Iraq is –Indonesia just gets fewer headlines until discos in Bali are bombed or the government tries to force Muslims in Aceh to support their policies. It’s very divided.

Imperialism contributed to this in two basic ways: first, by creating this patchwork quilt of a nation and second, by playing the various groups off one another to keep order in the region. The majority group in one region could be given special privileges in exchange for keeping another group down and age-old grudges could be used by the Dutch to get one side to fight another (using Dutch weapons to guarantee their victory, of course) so that Dutch military involvement could be kept at a minimum.

Thailand:

Thailand had the best experience under western imperialism. The Thais were able to remain independent by adopting the same attitude toward the west that Japan had used – adopt the good ideas of the west and fight them on their own terms. The Thais did this by educating their elite in Western ideas in Japan, the US, and Europe. By the 1920’s, western political ideas has so taken root in Thailand that they abolished the absolute monarchy and created a democratic system.

Vietnam:

Vietnamese aristocracy had actually invited Chinese imperialism in the 1400’s by asking their help to squash a peasant rebellion. The result was 20 years of forced labor for China on the part of the peasant class. The Vietnamese puppet government the banning of Vietnamese-style Buddhism with official attempts to replace it with Confucianism (not very successful) and outlawing traditional styles of VN clothing and restricting the rights of women. In 1802, Vietnam was called Nam Viet and the Chinese changed their name to Viet Nam just to show who was in charge.

In 1627, the French began missionary work in VN. By 1841, there were estimated to be 450,000 Christians in the country. This gave France a cultural excuse for interfering in VN politics. Every time the Christians were persecuted, they could go in to “protect” them and take an ever bigger chunk of VN territory. The French were in a desperate bid to keep up with the imperializing activities of the British, so they were eager for a justification to take VN land. The most serious cultural consequence of French imperialism was the closing of VN and Chinese schools which actually reduced the literacy rate in the country. Those seeking an education had to go to France, Japan, or China which meant that the best minds in the country weren’t in the country to help organize resistance.

Cambodia:

Cambodia suffered the loss of its culture at the hands of the Vietnamese and the French. When the Cambodians were conquered by VN, they were forced to adopt Vietnamese dress and ritual. The French subjected the Cambodians to the same reduced literacy as they did the Vietnamese.

What were the primary causes of nationalism in SEA?

Thesis: SEA nationalism is a direct reaction to imperialism, be it by the Chinese or the Europeans.

Thailand:

Since the Thai weren’t controlled by any of the European powers or the US, they reacted to the privileged position that Chinese held in their society. Chinese had arrived throughout Thai history and most had assimilated. In the 1800’s on, the Chinese arrivals had not assimilated and had maintained a separate identity. They had filled the economic niche of money-lenders, tax collectors, and opium traders which did nothing to endear them to the Thai people. In addition, they were exempt from corvee labor which drew Thai people away from their fields much of the year. As the Qing Dynasty collapsed in the 1910’s, immigration from China increased and the resentment of the Thai increased. Thai nationalism was formed around this “Thailand for Thais” feeling.

Indonesia:

Indonesia’s nationalism is an entirely 20th century creation. Since the nation was created in one move-when the Dutch granted them independence in the 1940’s, the impetus for nationalism was survival. The Dutch plan was to made the new nation so divided that they couldn’t function and would continue to rely on Dutch support and indirect rule. Sukarno (most Indonesians have only one name) and a few other nationalists tried to create the idea of a nation in opposition to imperialism. In essence their creed was “we are a nation because we speak related languages, have some economic ties, and we need to be together to survive. What we have in common is that we are not Dutch.” It’s not exactly the Declaration of Independence but it was the best they could do at the time. The nationalism that Sukarno constructed is crumbling in the face of religion division (Islam v. Buddhism, Islam v. Christianity, secular Islam v. militant Islam) and the differing economies of the different islands.

Vietnam:

The Confucian scholar officials had generally refused to cooperate with the French during the entire occupation, but they were unable to organize resistance since they never reached out to the peasants. They though that the peasants were so loyal to the scholar officials that they would fall right in line with a nationalist movement led by the elites in the cities. Not so, but anger toward the French grew as VN tax money went to pay for French involvement in WWI. In addition, Japan’s victory over Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 showed that and Asian power could defeat a European power. OK, so it’s hardly right call Russia a “power” in 1905. Another source of resentment came from the fact that, since the VN scholar officials wouldn’t cooperate with the French, the French simply hired Chinese scholars to run VN. This created further resentment of the Chinese minority in VN and of the French for allowing non-VN into positions of power over VN.

The first effective VN nationalist movement was lead by Ho Chi Minh after WWII. After WWII, the French tried to return to control VN. We backed the French out of fear of communist infiltration from USSR and China. Ho Chi Minh was backed by the Comintern and China. Managed to push the French out in 1950’s and the US out in 1970’s. Success intensifies nationalism so the victory over the French gave Ho’s Viet Cong more legitimacy in the eyes of many VN than the government that we were supporting.

Cambodia:

Cambodian nationalism was more centered on anti-VN feeling than anti-European feeling. When Japan invaded during WIIW, they encouraged the Khmer people to rise up against VN imperialism. After WWII, Cambodian King Sihanouk negotiated with France to rid Cambodia of VN influence. This attempt to create an independent Cambodia that was free of VN influence or interference led to the 1977 slaughter of Vietnamese in Cambodia which lead to the invasion of Cambodia by VN in 1978.

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