East+Asia+and+the+Pacific+Rim

812 - 823 Outline Notes **East Asia in the Postwar Settlements** **New Divisions and the End of Empires** Main Idea: After World War II, nations were gaining their independence and starting their own governments. Details: - After WWII, Korea was divided between a Russian zone, **Taiwan** was restored to China, US regained the Philippines, European powers regained Vietnam, Malaya, and Indonesia, while Japan was occupied by American forces. - South Korea wanted independence after the war, allied with the US. - Japan began to rebuild a new political structure. **Japanese Recovery** Main Idea: The United States were reforming Japan's political structure into a democracy. Details: - Japan was left in ruins but the US was eager to start reforms. - General Douglas MacArthur destroyed Japan's wartime political structure. - US wanted Japan to democratize. including abolishing Shintoism as the state religion. - Civil liberities were guranteed in the new constitution. - The emperor no longer had military. political power. - Two moderate parties merged in 1955 into the new Liberal Democratic party, which monopoloized Japan's government into the 1990s. - Women were granted the right to vote. **Korea: Intervention and War** Main Idea: North Korea and South Korea broke out in war because they were communist and democratic, respectively. Details: - Soviets occupied the northern part of Korea. - The US sponsored a **Republic of Korea** in the southern state, while the Soviets matched that with a **People's Democratic Republic of Korea** in the north. - North Korea drew on an earlier Korean Communist party founded in exile in the 1990s, which consequently led North Korea to be a communist state. - In June 1950, North Korea invaded south Korea hoping to unify the two, called the **Korean War**. - Allied forces were able to help south Korea push north Korea back. **Emerging Stability in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore** Main Idea: Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore all proved to their motherland nations that they could survive on their own. Details: - US gave economic aid to Taiwan. - Hong Kong remained a British colony after WWII. - Hong Kong gained increasing autonomy from direct British rule. - Singapore held onto a large British naval base until 1971. **Japan, Incorporated** **Japan's Distrinctive Political and Cultural Style** Main Idea: Political structure and cultural styles remained relatively the same. Details: - The Liberal Democratic party held the reins of government from 1955 onward. - Japan experienced no shifts until 1993. - The government promoted birth control and abortion. - Customary styles such as poetrym paintin, tea ceremonies, and flower arragements continued. - Fused Western styles with old traditional Japanese styles. **The Economic Surge** Main Idea: When the Liberal Democrats were in power, Japan was one of the top two or three economic powers in the world, but when they were overthrown, their economic success was taken with them. Details: - Japan was doing great finacially speaking. Japan became one of the top two or three economic powers in the world. - High quality goods were being exported. - The active government helped with the economic performance, as well as educational expansion, foreign policy, and productive technology. - Japanese workers promoted loyalty to their corporations. - Leisure life remained meager by Western standards, and many Japanese were reluctant to take regular vacations. - Women shared fewer leisure activities with their husbands, concentrating on domestic duties and intesive child-rearing. - The country had few lawyers. - The government discovered that the majority of Japanese children did not use chopsticks, therefore invested money to promote chopsticks training in the schools. - That demonstrated the tensions of change. - In the 1990s the Liberal Democrats were replaced by shaky coalition governments. - Led to the decline in economic growth and rise in unemployment. **The Pacific Rim: New Japans?** **The Korean Miracle** Main Idea: Like Japan, South Korean economy was prospering as well as their population. Details: - South Korean government placed its primary emphasis on economic growth. - They were becoming industrialized, producing steel and beat out Japan. - Huge industrial groups such as Daewoo and **Hyundai** resembled the great Japanese holding companies before and after WWII. - Hyundai created 135,000 people and had 42 overseas offices throughout the world by the 1980s. - The population increased. Lots of overcrowding, which is why many Koreans emigrated. - Encouraged couples to limit their birth rates. **Advances in Taiwan and the City-States** Main Idea: Like Japan, economies were rising in Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Details: - Taiwan experienced a high rate of economic development. - It reached such high levels due through allowing latitude for private business. - Literacy rates rose. - US had diplomatic ties to Taiwan in 1978. - **Chiang Ching-kuo** succeeded his father in 1978. He promoted personal authority less than his father had, but did not encourage poltical diveristy. - In Singapore, Prime Minister **Lee Kuan Yew** took office in 1965, when it first gained independence. - Singapore experienced a high GPA and high educational levels and health conditions. - Hong Kong remained a major world port. - Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997. **Common Themes and New Problems** Main Idea: Surrounding nations were experiencing some of the wealth that Japan, Taiwan and Singapore saw. Details: - The Pacific Rim states also shared reliance on government planning and direction amid limitations on dissent and instablility. - Surrounding nations such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand experienced rapid economic growth. - However, in the 20th century unemployment rose and currencies from South Korea and Indonesia took a drastic hit.