A Short History of Asia Tai Lieu Chat Luong Second Edition Colin Mason A Short History of Asia Related titles from Palgrave Macmillan D G E Hall, A History of South-East Asia Kenneth G Henshall, A History of Japan, 2nd edition M C Ricklefs, A History of Modern Indonesia since c 1200, 3rd edition Peter Robb, A History of India J A G Roberts, A History of China Frank B Tipton, The Rise of Asia Barbara Watson Andaya and Leonard Y Andaya, A History of Malaysia, 2nd edition A Short History of Asia Second Edition Colin Mason © Colin Mason 2000, 2005 All rights reserved No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 First edition published 2000 Second edition published 2005 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries ISBN-13: ISBN 10: ISBN-13: ISBN 10: 978–1–4039–3611–0 1–4039–3611–0 978–1–4039–3612–7 1–4039–3612–9 hardback hardback paperback paperback This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mason, Colin, 1926– A short history of Asia / Colin Mason.—2nd ed p cm Includes bibliographical references (p ) and index ISBN 1–4039–3611–0—ISBN 1–4039–3612–9 (pbk.) Asia—History I Title DS33.M29 2005 950—dc22 2005050865 10 14 13 12 Printed in China 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 Contents List of Maps vii List of Figures viii Introduction Part I Before Imperialism Prehistory and the First Indian Civilizations The Development of Indian Culture: Hinduism and Buddhism Early South-east Asia: the Ships from India China: the Eternal Nation Early Japan and the Tang Dynasty in China The Awakening of Europe and the Challenge of Islam Flood Tide in China: the Song, Mongol and Ming Dynasties China: Ebb Tide 10 The Three Makers of Japan and the Tokugawa Period Part II 11 12 13 14 15 16 13 22 33 45 61 72 77 88 97 The ‘White Man’s Burden’ The Dominators and the Dominated South-east Asia: the European and Chinese Incursions and the Later History of the Mainland Peoples The Malay World: Majapahit and Malacca Indonesia: the Last Independent Kingdoms and the Extension of Dutch Rule India under Two Masters: the Grand Moguls and the East India Company Gandhi’s India: the Struggle for Liberty v 111 117 129 134 143 156 Contents vi Part III 17 The Modern Nations The Second World War and the End of Empire 167 18 The South Asian Nations: Freedom, Partition and Tragedy 19 Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan 20 China: Two Revolutions 173 183 192 21 22 23 Modern China: the Communist State Indonesia: Sukarno and After Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei 198 216 232 24 Japan: the Iron Triangle 244 25 26 Thailand: Two Hats – the Struggle for Democracy The Philippines: Trouble in Paradise 254 261 27 Korea: Divided Nation 270 28 29 Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia Burma: Rule by the Gun 281 293 30 Asia – Today and Tomorrow 301 Suggested Further Reading Index 308 313 List of Maps Asia China and Korea Japan South-east Asia Indonesia South Asia 14 46 98 118 135 144 vii List of Figures 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Traditional housing, common to many parts of the Indian plain 23 Thatched houses are much the same as those going back many thousands of years throughout tropical Asia 35 Borobadur temple, Indonesia 40 Handweaving silk 49 Detail from a Dutch fortress gate in Malaysia 75 The Golden Pavilion, near Kyoto, in Japan 103 Woodcarvers in Indonesia 122 Balinese temple dancing 137 Silver is an important source of wealth and art in Asia 140 Traditional markets, similar to those throughout Asia 160 Beijing, China 209 Coastal trader under construction, China 210 Balinese dancers 224 Rubber, one of the main labour-intensive crops during the colonial phase in Asia, is still a cash crop today 234 Houses, built out over the sea on stilts, common to many parts of south-east and south Asia 256 Duck herder with ducks 283 The author has taken and supplied all the photographs used in this book viii History is a mirror for the future Jiang Zemin 304 A Short History of Asia Part of the reason for acceptance of tyranny lies in the way children are educated and brought up, taught from their earliest years to be respectful to their elders and to established authority – a tradition of conservatism, a learned reluctance to question or interfere with established institutions As a Cambodian proverb has it: ‘Choose the path your ancestors have trod.’ In many parts of Asia at least a minority are better educated and less likely to accept such ideas and constraints But when this ‘middle class’ publicly seeks reforms, they encounter a powerful disincentive when they are shot down in the streets, as they have been in Burma, Thailand and Indonesia, by their own army or police The growth of industry in Asia has been associated with rapid and large rises in population, and the advent of mega-cities Greater Tokyo is the biggest with 28 million people, but Shanghai, Chongqing, Calcutta, Jakarta, Mumbai, Beijing, Seoul, Karachi, Manila and Dhaka all have over ten million Such large concentrations of humanity are a problem in themselves, but they are all the worse because of the nature of these cities Most include overpopulated fringe areas of slums and shanty towns, in which people lead seriously deprived and difficult lives Disease and shortened life spans are the norm They, and their environs, are also heavily polluting According to a World Health Organization report in 1998 seven of the world’s ten worst polluted cities are in China This is due to massive use of coal, which produces more than two-thirds of China’s energy A Tsinghua University report in 2002 noted serious acid rain pollution and photochemical smog in the cities Several researchers have warned that pollution levels could reduce crop yields by ten per cent or more and affect summer monsoon rains The independent Tata Energy Research Institute in India, quoted in New Scientist (23 August 1997), described as a ‘quiet crisis’ soil erosion and depletion now affecting 57 per cent of India’s productive land The report predicted drops in the yields of 11 major food crops in India by as much as 26 per cent The researchers said the area of critically eroded land had doubled over the previous 18 years, partly due to deforestation for fuel or to create new farmlands Intensive farming and high use of fertilizers was also resulting in rapid depletion of soil nutrients According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, 27 per cent of India’s soil is badly degraded, with barely a third unaffected at all But perhaps the most telling example of the pollutant effects of largely uncontrolled development is the huge forest fires of 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2004 in Sumatra and Kalimantan, which spread a pall of smoke over much of south-east Asia, inflicted respiratory illnesses on tens of thousands, and disrupted air and sea transport This seems a gloomy enough picture Is the future, then, inevitably one Asia – Today and Tomorrow 305 of an increasingly urbanized and impoverished mass of oppressed people in Asia, limited only by the ancient scourges of hunger and disease, visiting increasingly large volumes of pollution on the world? Not necessarily so A concerted and sincere world effort to end poverty and ignorance is the best and most obvious answer Beyond the merit of making people wealthier and better educated is another – the near certainty that they will eventually become more independent and able to govern themselves fairly The modern revolution in news and information exchange must also help, because it has made it next to impossible for tyrant regimes to persecute their own people without some exposure One example is the use of the Internet to expose the excesses of the Burmese military and to encourage trade boycotts against them, and to react against the heavy censorship of news in Malaysia Another was the massive world news coverage of the suppression of the democracy movement in China’s Tien An Men Square in 1989 The problem of pollution in the mega-cities of Asia may also provide its own solutions Already motor traffic has induced air pollution at dangerous levels, a situation which must become even worse if the number of internal combustion engines is allowed to increase The incentives therefore exist for the large-scale development of economical and low-polluting fuel-cell, compressed air and hybrid vehicles in Asia, which could be exported and compete effectively in Western markets It is not without significance that the first two mass-produced petrol-electric hybrids were developed and marketed in Japan Such promising but often fragile twigs of progress need encouragement and assistance from the Western world to grow However, foreign aid budgets are dwindling and many Asian countries are crippled by vast mountains of debt, usually incurred by unscrupulous dictators and military regimes Industry, driven by Western capital and Western ideas, mostly produces what Western consumers want, not what Asia needs The yawning gap between rich and poor will only be bridged when there is understanding that genuine progress in the Asian nations can come most easily and naturally upwards from the village structure, and that such developments, like the proliferation of solar cookers in India, are the most likely to be sustainable The simplest solutions, such as higher-bearing fruit trees, efficient fish-farms, safe water supplies made possible by impervious roofing on houses and rainwater tanks, local industries at least initially labour-intensive, simple farm and irrigation machinery, reliable grain seed, are necessary to encourage a modest overall growth in prosperity Appropriate and immediately useful small industry would grow naturally from that There is plenty of evidence that aid funds would 306 A Short History of Asia be better channelled by Western governments to non-government organizations, which are more experienced and have a far better track record in the field than governments None of the above is suggested on purely charitable or altruistic grounds The world economy can expect huge opportunities if and when the average income and security of the billions of Asian people can be steadily improved, if only slowly Conversely, with the Asian peoples becoming the greater part of world population, sheer lack of markets must increasingly cripple the world economy if a practical and major effort to remedy poverty is not made Imagination and innovation are needed in this cause For instance, there is potential for a vast industry in the countries with desert or semi-desert and abundant sunlight to provide the metropolitan powers with hydrogen made from dissociating water or ammonia through the use of solar power, or through the use of catalysts Research into this technology is well advanced in Israel and elsewhere Fuel cells run on hydrogen This example is quoted because it is of a nature that would provide the Asian countries with a permanently renewable, non-polluting source of industrial income Liquid hydrogen could be carried by existing tanker fleets or pipelines to the metropolitan powers World assistance to Asia will need to be based on a proper understanding and acceptance of Asian traditions Unpalatable though this conclusion may be, control of whole peoples by authoritarian regimes is likely to continue because, failing some potent new influence, the tradition favours them If they are progressive, as the Singapore government has been, ‘controlled’ democracies may have their values However, world indifference to plainly bad regimes – or worse, support for them for muddled political or unscrupulous economic reasons – ought not to continue On the other hand, the West, having taken the trouble to understand the Asian traditions, must also accept that it would be naïve, dangerous and inappropriate to promote Asian governments and economies which are clones of Western models New solutions, based on existing Asian social patterns, minimal pollution, the best possible use of resources and permanently renewable energy, are, then, not only desirable but essential Given encouragement and support in the right direction, these solutions may well be devised by the Asian peoples themselves, with the potential to offer new models to the world This presents a remarkable opportunity, a third millennium challenge well worth meeting The West ought also to recognize the rejection in Asia of the Western political style in favour of new forms consciously based on past traditions This is evident in the growth of Hindu nationalism in India, the recent adaptations of Chinese Communism, the resurgence of Shinto in Japanese Asia – Today and Tomorrow 307 political rhetoric, the persistence of autocratic governments in south-east Asia, and a turning towards traditional Islam in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan Why are these things happening? Where will they lead? Can an informed Western interest influence these institutions for good or ill? This gives further, and not the least, importance to an intelligent general knowledge of the Asian traditions If this book has assisted the reader towards a beginning of that process it will have served its purpose Suggested Further Reading The following are books the reader or student might look at if they wish to go further into areas this book has touched on This is not intended as a bibliography, but rather as readily approachable and readable material that will advance the interested reader’s knowledge of the region The Cambridge Histories and Encyclopedias of South-east Asia, South Asia, China and Japan, all issued over the last decade or so, offer useful and reliable sources, and should be available in most public libraries However, they are organized to approach the subject from many differing angles and by many authors, and so are suggested as references rather than reading in toto by all but the most enthusiastic J Keegan’s The Second World War (1997) is one book providing more detail of the Pacific war China See J A G Roberts, A History of China (2000); C Dietrich, People’s China (1994); and C P Fitzgerald, China: A Short Cultural History (1986) For those who want more detailed studies: J Gernet’s A History of Chinese Civilisation (1972) is a readable classic account, which could profitably be followed by Jonathan D Spence’s The Search for Modern China (1990), an excellent background from the beginning of the Ming Dynasty on, and a thorough and detailed account of the growth of Chinese nationalism and the modern Communist state D S Goodman and G Segal’s China without Deng (1995) offers interesting insights into recent Chinese history, as also J Myrdal’s Return to a Chinese Village (1984) and P Hessler, River Town (2001) Tremble and Obey by T Watson (1990) is an eyewitness account of the clashes between students and the government in Beijing in 1989 Dragon Bone Hill by N T Boaz and R L Ciochon (2004) is a modern view of Chinese prehistory See also A Waley, The Opium War through Chinese Eyes (1958) and C Martin, The Boxer Rebellion (1968) Iris Chang’s The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War Two (1998) gives a graphic and horrifying account of Japanese atrocities in Nanking (Nanjing), although some Japanese 308 Suggested Further Reading 309 claim it is overstated Chris Patten’s East and West (1998) comments broadly on modern China, and has interesting chapters on Asian values and the ‘tiger’ economies Treasures of China by Michael Ridley (1973) is a manageable, well-illustrated paperback that deals mainly with Chinese art of all periods, but also has some good historical sections which help to bring the two fields into focus See also M Loewe, Everyday Life in Early Imperial China (1973); G W Skinner, The City in Late Imperial China (1977); and V Purcell, The Chinese in South-east Asia (1951) See the following books on Tibet: D Snellgrove and H Richardson, A Cultural History of Tibet (1995); P Levy, Tibet (1996); and P French, Tibet, Tibet (2003) Japan There are numerous books dealing with Japanese history Among them see: D McCargo, Contemporary Japan (2004), M Hane, Japan: A Short History (2000); W G Beasley, The Japanese Experience (1999); R Buckley, Japan Today (1998); G Allinson, Japan’s Post-war History (1997); K Pyle, The Making of Modern Japan (1996); M Kennedy, A History of Japan (1963); R Storry, A History of Modern Japan (1960); and G B Sansom, Japan: A Short Cultural History (1931) Rather broader but illuminating, and concerned with trends in modern Japan, are R Harvey, The Undefeated (1994); G McCormack, The Emptiness of Japanese Affluence (1996); David Suzuki and Keibo Oiwa, The Japan We Never Knew (1998); L.D Hayes, Introduction to Japanese Politics (2005); D T Suzuki, An Introduction to Zen Buddhism (1949); H Conroy, The Japanese Seizure of Korea (1960); W G Beasley, The Meiji Restoration (1972); C R Boxer, The Christian Century in Japan (1967); and J Stanley-Baker, Japanese Art (2000) S Murasaki’s The Tale of Genji should be read for its own merits – I found the 1933 translation by Arthur Waley very readable H Kahn and T Pepper’s The Japanese Challenge: The Success and Failure of Economic Success (1979) deals mainly with postwar economic matters but relates these well with other aspects of Japanese society; it is an interesting harbinger of later Japanese economic problems D Keene (ed.), Anthology of Japanese Literature (1955) is an early anthology, a UNESCO production and claiming to be the first such anthology in English, is still a good start to the area Fosco Maraini’s Meeting with Japan (1959), by a respected observer and beautifully written and illustrated, is still worth a look Pico Iyer’s The Lady and the Monk: Four Seasons in Kyoto (1992) is a sensitive and illuminating picture of contact with modern Japanese on a one-to-one basis; not a history, more a wide-ranging personal view, which nevertheless makes points not to be found elsewhere 310 A Short History of Asia John Hersey, Hiroshima (1946), first published in the New Yorker, is still the outstanding report of the atomic bombing Korea See: R T Oliver, A History of the Korean People in Modern Times (1993), W E Henthorn, A History of Korea (1971), M Breen, Kim Jong-il (2004), C Osgood, The Koreans and Their Culture (1951) and E McCune, The Arts of Korea (1961) Korea’s Place in the Sun, by B Cumings (1997), is penetrating and interesting South Asia There are two short histories covering the whole area: H Tinker, South Asia: A Short History (1989), and B H Farmer, An Introduction to South Asia (1993) Shorter histories of India include: P Robb, A History of India (2002); J Keay, India (2000); S Wolpert, India (1991); J M Brown, Modern India (1993); S Khilnani, The Idea of India (1998); Z Masani and M Tully, India: Forty Years of Independence (1988); B Chandler et al., India’s Struggle for Independence (1988); F Watson, A Concise History of India (1974); T G P Spear, India: A Modern History (1961); D P Singhal, A History of the Indian People (1983); and L James, Raj – The Making and Unmaking of British India (1997) S Brata’s India: Labyrinths in the Lotus Land (1985) gives a personal insight by an expatriate Indian into the complexities and problems of the modern society Autobiography of an Unknown Indian, by N C Chaudhuri (1951), does much the same for the independence struggle C Hibbert’s The Great Mutiny (1978) gives a readable account of the ‘Indian Mutiny’, researched from contemporary documents John Masters’s The Ravi Lancers (1981) is a novel that gives a vivid picture of the effects of the First World War on Indian society See also: V A Smith, Akbar: The Great Mogul (1928); S M Ikram, Muslim Civilisation in India (1964); and R Whitehouse, The First Cities (1973), a brief clear account of the Harappa, but now somewhat dated – there are several good Internet sites outlining the most recent research Other books include: A L Basham, The Wonder That Was India (1954); J Auboyer, Daily Life in Ancient India (1965); and J M Brown, Modern India: The Origins of an Asian Democracy (1994) Other books on specific areas include: • V McClure, Bangladesh (1989); C Baxter, Bangladesh (1984); and A Mascarenhas, Bangladesh: A Legacy of Blood (1986) • R Zimmerman, Sri Lanka (1992); and S Arasaratnam, Ceylon (1964) Suggested Further Reading 311 • J Yusufali, Pakistan (1990) • G Arney, Afghanistan (1989); and P Marsden, The Taliban: War and Religion in Afghanistan (2002) South-east Asia Introductory histories of South-east Asia include: D R Sardesai, South-east Asia, Past and Present (1989); D G E Hall, A History of South-east Asia (1981); B Harrison, South-east Asia (1963); G Coedes, The Making of South-east Asia (1966); N A Tarling, A Concise History of South-east Asia (1966) Wide ranging, interesting and not too massive is the Cambridge History of South-east Asia (1992) Indonesia See M C Ricklefs, A History of Modern Indonesia (2001); A Schwarz, Indonesia: A Nation in Waiting (1999); G Forrester (ed.), Post-Suharto Indonesia (1999); M Maher, Indonesia: An Eye-witness Account (2000); R E Elson, Suharto (2002); B Grant, Indonesia (1964); and J D Legge, Indonesia (1964) are all good general histories up to that date B H M Vlekke, Nusantara: A History of Indonesia (1959) gives a detailed account from the earliest times and considerable treatment to the colonial phase E Douwes Dekker’s, Max Havelaar was the first exposé and protest at the excesses of Dutch colonialism My edition, the first in English, is dated 1868 Of more specialized interest are: D Wehl, The Birth of Indonesia (1948); L H Palmier, Dutch Java (1960); J Ramos-Horta, Funu: The Unfinished Saga of East Timor (1987); D Ball and H McDonald, Death at Balibo (2000); J Martinkus, A Dirty Little War (2001); and T Vittachi, The Fall of Sukarno (1967) Burma See: S M Yin, Burma (1990); Aung San Su-kyi, Freedom from Fear (1995); D G E Hall, Burma (1960); D Woodman, The Making of Burma (1962); A Selth, Burma’s Armed Forces (2002); and A Marshall, The Trouser People (2002) Thailand See: C Baker and P Phongpaichit, Thailand: Economy and Politics (2002); J Girling, Thailand: Society and Politics (2002); D Bowden, Thailand: Society and Politics (1997); D K Wyatt, Thailand: A Short History (2003); W Blanchard (ed.), Thailand (1958); and G Young, The Hill Tribes of Northern Thailand (1962) 312 A Short History of Asia Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos See: S Karnow, Vietnam (1991); P J Griffiths, Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam (2003); M F Herz, A Short History of Cambodia (1968); D P Chandler, A History of Cambodia (1992); M Osborne, Sihanouk (1994); G Coedes, Angkor: An Introduction (1963); Malcolm MacDonald, Angkor (1960) (illustrated by Loke Wan Tho); Chou Ta Kuan (ed.), J G Paul, The Customs of Cambodia (1997); G Evans (ed.), Laos (2000); Rene de Berval, Kingdom of Laos (1956), written with the collaboration of the Laotian Royal family; and O Meeker, The Little World of Laos (1995) Malaysia and Singapore See: B W and L Y Andaya, A History of Malaysia (2001); V M Hooker, A Short History of Malaysia (2003); J Baker, Crossroads: A Popular History of Malaysia and Singapore (1999); J Kennedy, A History of Malaya (1962); and R Vasil, Governing Singapore (2000) Index Babur, 145 Bangladesh, 186: arsenic poisoning, 187 Bali, 117 Banda, 136 Bandula, General, 124 barangays, 262 Batavia Chinese population, 121 establishment, 134 batik, 34 Bayon, 41 Belo, Carlos, Bishop, 226 Bengal famine (1943), 175–6 Bhopal disaster, 180 Bhutto, Benazir, 184 Bhutto, Zulfikar Ali, 184 Biak killings, 228 Black Hole of Calcutta, 150 Borobadur, 34, 39 Brooke, James, 239 Brunei, 239–40 Buddhism in China, 59–60 in India, 145 in Thailand, 260 origins, 25 Zen, 70 Bugis, 36 Burmese Wars, 124–5 Abdul Rahman, Tengku, 236 Abdullah Badawi, 242 Aceh (Atjeh), 218, 229 Afghanistan, 187–91 agricultural subsidies, Aguinaldo, General, 264 Agung, Sultan, 136 Akbar, 146 Alaungpaya, 123 Alexander the Great, 26 Amangkurat, Sultan, 140 Ambon, 136 amuk, 138 Angkor Thom, 40 Angkor Wat, 42 animism, 38 Annam, 43 Anuradhapura, 29 Anwar, Ibrahim, 242 Anyang, 50 appropriate technology, 305 Aquino, Benigno, 267 Aquino, Corazon, 267 ‘Arabic’ numbers, 28 Arakan, 124 Arjuna, 24 Aryans, 19–20 Ashoka, 27 Asian super highway, Asian values, 3, 48, 238 Assam, 124 Association of South-east Asian States, Attlee, Clement, 176 Aung San, 295 Aung San Suu Kyi, 297 Aurangzeb, 147 Ayub Khan, 184 Cambodia, 128, 289–92 caste systems Indian, 22 Japanese, 253 Korean, 274 Champa, 43 313 314 chandals, 23 Chandragupta, 26 Chavalit, Yungchaiyudh, 257 Chettiars, 294 Chiang Kai-shek see Jiang Jieshi China afforestation, 199 alchemy, 55 ancestor worship, 48 astronomy, 78–9 Boxer revolt, 95 commercial towers, communes, 202 Confucianism, 58–9 contacts with Rome, 57 cultural revolution, 203 entombed warriors, 55 eunuchs, 87 great leap forward, 202 Han Dynasty, 56–9 Harbin, bubonic plague, 196 ‘hundred flowers’, 202 invention of paper, 58 invention of printing, 66 Kuomintang (Nationalist) Party, 192–3 long march, 194 Manchu (Ching) Dynasty, 88 mandarinate, 58, 65 mandate of Heaven, 52 Mao Zedong, 193, 204 maritime expeditions, 85 Ming Dynasty, 83–7 Mongol Dynasty, 77, 81–3 Nanjing, Treaty of, 92 northern expedition, 193 opium wars, 91 prehistory, 48 Qin Dynasty, 53–6 Sanxingdui society, 49–50 Shang Dynasty, 50–1 shipping, 80 Sui Dynasty, 64 Song Dynasty, 77–80 Taiping rebellion, 94 Taiwan, 213–15 Tang Dynasty, 65–7 Three Gorges Dam, 210 Tianjin Treaty of, 93 Index Tien An Men Square incident, 205–6 Yellow Emperor, 50 Yellow Turbans revolt, 59 Yanan commune, 194 Zhou Dynasty, 50 Zhou Enlai, 198, 204 Chin Peng, 236 Chola empire, 30, 32, 39 Choshu clan, 244 Chuan Leekpai, 257 Chulalongkorn, 254 Cixi, Dowager Empress, 93 clipper ships, 92 Clive, Robert, 150 Coen, Jan, 134 comfort women, 276 Confucius, 52–3 consensus politics, 37 ‘controlled’ democracy, Cripps, Sir Stafford, 174 Curzon, Lord, 159 Dalhousie, Lord, 125 Daoism, 64 Darius the Third, 26 Deng Xiaoping, 207 Diaz, Bartholomew, 74 Dien Bien Phu, 284 Diponegoro, 142 ‘dog’ shogun, 105 Dong-son drums, 34 Du Fu, 65 Dutch East India Company, 75 Dyer, Reginald, General, 160 earthquake, Chinese (1556), 86 East Asian Community proposal, East India Company, British, 75, 150, 152 East Timor see Timor Leste Edo, 102 emergency, the, Malaya, 235–6 Estrada, Joseph, 268 Faxian, 28 Fa Ngum, 287 Index Fretilin, 226 Funan, 38 G22 Group, Gandhi, Indira, 180 Gandhi, Mohandas, 159–60, 162, 177 Gandhi, Rajiv, 180 Gandhi, Sonia, 181 Gautama (Buddha), 25 geography of Asia, 8–9 Gladstone, William, 92 Gordon, Charles, 93 Great Wall, 54 Guangzhou, 66 Habibie B J., 227 Hall, Tony, Congressman, 279 Harappa civilisation, 17–19 Hart, Sir Robert, 94 Hastings, Warren, 152 Hawkins, Will, 147 Henry the Navigator, 74 Heshen, 90 Hidetada, 103 Hideyoshi, 99 Hinduism, origins, 22 Ho Chi Minh, 282 hominid development, 13 homo sapiens, 16 Hong Kong, 207 Hongwu, 83 Humayun, 146 Hun Sen, 291 Hu Yaobang, 207 hybrid cars, 305 hydrogen power, 306 ice ages, 13 Ieyasu, 101 Ifugao, 36–7 imperialism, effect on national boundaries, 112 India Amritsar incident, 161 Arya Samaj, 157 Bengal famine (1769–70), 151 Bengal famine (1943), 175 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 180 Chauri Chaura incident, 161 communal violence, 179 Congress, 158, 174 Indian ‘mutiny’, 154 Manmohan Singh, 182 Mogul Dynasty, 145–50 princely states, 163 regionalism, 25 Rowlatt Acts, 160 salt tax, 162 suttee, 153 Tagore, Rabindranath, 161 universities established, 156 Indo-China Nguyen Dynasty, 128 Tayson revolt, 128 Trinh Dynasty, 128 Indonesia Darul Islam movement, 218 declaration of independence, 217 Dili massacre, 226 1965 killings, 222 Pertimina Oil Corporation, 223 Republic of South Moluccas, 218 West Irian transfer, 221 Irrawaddy River, 293 Islam origins, 72–3 in Pakistan, 183 Sufism, 130 Ivan the Fourth, 86 Japan Ainu, 61 Ashikaga shoguns, 71 daimyo, 97 Fujiwara clan, 69 geisha, 102 Hara Castle, siege of, 104 ‘iron triangle’, 250 Ise shrine, 63 kabuki theatre, 102 Kamakura period, 70 migrations from Korea, 62 nuclear bombings, 248 Onin wars, 97 ‘Pride, the Fatal Moment’, 252 samurai, 70, 245 Sekigahara, battle of, 101 Shinto, 62 315 316 Japan (cont.) Taika reforms, 68 Tale of Genji, 69 ukiyo, the ‘floating world’, 102 Yamato culture, 62 Jains, 26 Java War, 142 Jayavarman II, 41 Jehengir, 147 Jesuits in China, 86 in Japan, 100 Jiang Jieshi, 193 Jinnah, Mohammed Ali, 174, 176 jukongs, 35 Kalidasa, 28 Kalinga, 27 Kama Sutra, 28 Kandy, 30 Kangxi, 89 Kang Youwei, 95 Katipunan, 264 keiretsu, 303 Kerala, 178–9 Khmer empire, 40–2 Khmer Rouge, 291 Khyber Pass, Kim Dae Jung, 278 Kim Il Sung, 280 Kim Jong Il, 280 Kipling, Rudyard, 161 Koguryo, 271 Kohinoor diamond, 146 Korea, North, 279 Korean War, 199 Kuala Lumpur, 232, 234 Kublai Khan, 81 Kyoto, 69, 102 Lambert, Commodore, 124 Lane Xang, 288 Laos, 287–9 Lee Kuan Yew, 237–8 Lee Tenghui, 213 Leonowens, Anna, 127 Linnaeus, Carolus, 76 Lin Zexu, 91 Li Peng, 5, 206 Index Li Bo, 65 Li Si, 53 Little Ice Age, 87 Li Zicheng, 88 loess (soil), 48 Lon Nol, 291 MacArthur, Douglas, 248 Macaulay, Thomas, 153 Magellan, Ferdinand, 74 Magsaysay, Ramon, 267 Mahabharata, 24 Mahathir, Mohammad, 241 Mahinda, Prince, 29 Majapahit, 129–30 Malacca, 131–3 malaria in Luzon, 36 in Malaya, 232 in Sri Lanka, 30 Malolos Republic, 265 Manchukuo, 194 Marcos, Ferdinand, 267 Mataram, 139 Mauryan Empire, 26–7 megacities, 304 Megasthenes, 26 Megawati, Sukarno, 228 Mehrgarh site, 18 Menander, 28 Mengzi, 52 mercantilism, 76 Minamoto Yoritomo, 70 Minangkabauer, 73 Mindanao, 268 Ming tombs, 45 Mongolian racial type, 16 monsoons, 33 Moslem League, 158 Musharraf, Pervez, General, 185 My Lai massacre, 285 Nagasaki, 105 Nalanda University, 28 Nanjing massacre, 247 Nanzhao, 123 Nara, 68 Nasution, General, 219 Nehru, Jawaharlal, 161 Index Nehru, Motilal, 161 Neil, James, Colonel, 154 neo-Confucianism, 80 Ne Win, 296 Ngo Dinh Diem, 284 Nizam of Hyderabad, 148 Nobunaga, Oda, 99 Nurhacu, 88 Occidentalism, opium production in Afghanistan,190 in Burma, 297 monopolies, 113 opium wars in China, 92–3 oracle bones, 50 Ottoman Turks, 73 overseas Chinese, 121–3 Pagan, 123 Pakistan, 183–6 Palmerston, Lord, 92 Paripatra, Prince, 255 Pathet Lao, 288 Pearl Harbor, 168, 247 Penang, 232 Perahera tooth ceremony, 29 Perry, Commodore, 107 Phnom Penh, 42 Pibul Songgram, 256 Ping Fang biological weapons centre, 196 Plain of the Jars, 288 Polo, Marco, 77 Pol Pot, 291 Prambanan, 39 Prester John, 72 printing in China, 66 in Korea, 273 Puyi, 96, 194 Pyongyang, 271 Qin Dynasty, 53–5 Quezon, Manuel, 266 Quinlong, Emperor, 89 Raffles, Thomas S., 133 railways, 114 317 Rajputs, 146 Ramayana, 24 Ramos, Fidel, 268 Ramoz-Horta, Jose, 226 Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), 181 rice culture, 36–7 Rigveda, 20 Rizal, Jose, 263–4 Roe, Sir Thomas, 147 Roh Moo-hyun, 278 Roxas, Manuel, 266 Roy, Rammohun, 156 Sabah, 239 Sado, Prince, 275 Sakuntala, 28 Sarawak, 239 Sarit Thanarat, 256 Seleucus Nicator, 26 Seoul (Hanyang), 272 Seyed Ahmad Khan, 158 Shah Jahan, 147 Sheik Mujid Rahman, 186 Shi Huangdi (first emperor), 54 Shimonoseki, Treaty of, 95 Shivaji, 148 Shomu, Emperor, 68 Shotoku, Prince, 68 Shrivijaya, 39 Singh, Manmohan, Dr, 182 Sihanouk, Norodom, 40, 290 silk road, 66 Silla, 271 Singapore, 9, 237–9 slave trade, 76 SLORC, 297 South-east Asia autocratic governments, 305 forest fires, 304 prehistory, 33–4 17th-century urbanisation, 120 shipping, 34 village societies, 37 Spanish–American War, 264 Spanish galleon trade, 262 Sri Lanka, 29–31 Suez Canal, 75, 232 Suharto, 222 Sukarno, 217–21 318 Sukhothai, 123 Sunda, 37 Sun Yat-sen (Sun Zhongshan), 192 Su Dongpo, 79 Taiwan, 197, 213–15 Taj Mahal, 147 Tamils Jaffna state, 30 migrations to Sri Lanka, 29 civil war, 31 Tangun myth, 270 Taruc, Luis, 266 Thailand Bangkok, foundation of, 126 north-east Thailand, 259 Rama IV (King Mongkut), 127 thakins, 294 Thaksin, Shinawatra, 3, 257–8 Thebaw, King, 125 Tibet, 89, 200 Timor Leste, 225–6 Tjokroaminoto, 217 Tonghak cult, 275 tsunami (2004), 2, 31, 231 turtle ship, 273 U Nu, 296 U Saw, 295 Index Vajpayee, Atal Behari, 181 Venice, 72, 74 Vietminh, 282–3 Vietnam, 281 Le Dynasty, 44 Nguyen Dynasty, 44 Tran Dynasty, 44 Trinh Dynasty, 44 Vietnam War, 285 Vinh massacre, 281 White Lotus Society, 91 Xanadu, 81 Xunsi, 53 Yi Dynasty, 274 Yi Sunsin, Admiral, 273 Yongle, 84 Yuan Shikai, 192 zaibatsu, 248 Zhangan (Xian), 66 Zhang Heng, 59 Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga), 215 Zhou Dakuan, 41 Zia ul-Haq, 184