32.6 The far east: a.d. 1701 to 1800  (Page 3/4)

It was not until this century, long after Vesalius had done human body dissection in Europe, that direct anatomical studies were done in China, since Confucius' doctrines had forbidden violation of the body. (Ref. 125 ) Because of government pressure, by 1800 maize and sweet potatoes, transplanted from America, made up a substantial part of China's total food and were staples of the poor. (Ref. 101 )

Japan

The feudal age of the Shogunates continued throughout this era and we pause here to briefly outline more of the nature of this political organization. Theoretically at the head of the nation was the divine emperor, and the apparent ruling house, the hereditary Shogunate, allowed the emperor and his court a certain monetary allowance each year, while the Shogun himself luxuriated in the growing wealth of Japan. The Shogun had a large personal retinue and was advised by a cabinet of 12 members. A Board of Censors supervised all administrative offices and kept watch on the feudal lords (Daimye). The latter formally acknowledged allegiance only to the emperor and some of them successfully limited the Shogun's powers. Below the lords were the baronets and then the squires. Serving the lords were a million or more samurai, sword-bearing guardsmen. Every soldier was a gentleman and every gentleman a soldier and they scorned mere learning. They were exempt from taxation, received pay from the baron they served and performed no labor except occasionally to die in battle. The samurai could keep his sword sharp by splitting a peasant here and there at will. With them the practice of Hari-Kari developed, as the code of the samurai demanded great courage, asceticism and self-control. With decrease of warfare, however, the purely military character of the caste changed and while the samurai remained a pensioned and privileged aristocracy, they then began to perform administrative and judicial functions. Eventually powerful economic political and intellectual forces began to undermine the delicately poised political system of the Shoguns. The dominant samurai class became economically dependent upon the despised merchants and moneylenders. Some samurai manned the learned professions of medicine, teaching and scholarship. But both lords and peasants suffered from the radical fluctuation in agricultural prices entailed by the penetration of a money economy into the countryside. The samurai with the government tried debasement of the currency, price controls, moral exhortations and outright confiscation of merchant fortunes, all of no permanent help. Some lords had to promote new agriculture and mines and industrial enterprises, including a boost in silk output, while others adopted sons of merchants, thus improving the family finances and securing for the merchants the prestige of samurai rank. Through this, class distinctions began to lose part of their sharpness. Osaka, with 500,000 people by 1783, was the meeting place of Japanese merchants and the capital Yedo (Tokyo) was already twice as large as Paris. (Ref. 260 ) Powerful craft guilds, officially recognized as early as 1721, extended their networks and monopolies and in some instances began to resemble western, privileged trading companies. (Ref. 292 )