Easternization not Westernization: Modernity is a Global Formation – Teaching Guide

Outline of Presentation – with [Timecode] & Slide #

We talk about “Westernization” and “modernization” as if they are the same thing, but [00:26]

• Afro-Eur-Asia or “Eurasia” has been one continent for over 20,000 #1–3
• Exchanges of enormous variety and invention have traveled across Eurasian for thousands of years #4–9
• Before “modernization” began, there was a synthesis of technological developments across Eurasia
• Why, then, do we equate “modernization” with “Westernization”? Why do we not see it as “Globalization”?
• Throughout much of early history Asia was richer than Europe. This is due partly to agriculture
• Many inventions or new ideas came from Asia, and in particular, China.
• Marco Polo describes what he sees in China in and the Europeans dismiss it as “absurd” or “impossible,” such as [02:34]
  • Burning coal for heat
  • Well laid out cities [03:23]
  • Paper #11
• Europeans intrigued by Chinese porcelain and experiment for decades to produce similar products [03:50] #12–15
• Quote on how E and W combined, in a powerful combination, long before the moment of “modernization” #16

Calling new developments “Westernization” is a 19^th c invention [06:00]

• Trajectory of Exchanges throughout history; many examples of “vectors” of exchange:
• Modern politics6:30
• State support of commerce; “laissez-faire”
• Francois de Quesnay (1694–1774) #18–19
• a French economist
• part of the “physiocrat” school #21–22
• admired the Chinese system of government
• Civil service exam #24
• France’s unified/centralized school system called “le system chinois” when introduced [09:12] #25
• “Report on Qing China” #27
• Catholic Jesuits in China sent back many reports on what they observed in China; Matteo Ricci (1582–1610) in particular #28
• Voltaire (1694-1778), an influential French philosopher, admired the Chinese system because of its toleration of different religions within its empire (vs the power of the Church in France) #30
• “Reason vs. Revelation” #31
• Enlightenment period in Europe: “Age of Enlightenment” or “Age of Reason” in the 17th and 18th c in Europe [09:50]
• Slow (as in gradual) growth of democracy; merit-based system of government as opposed to aristocrats automatically filling government positions (Chinese civil service model)

Why was Europe poorer than Asia prior to the Industrial Revolution? #36 [15:00]

• Surplus in an agricultural society comes from land and labor
• China invented many agricultural tools and methods that helped them produce more surplus than Europe
• Agricultural surplus is important for supporting the growth of cities and commerce
• Many examples of these innovations and inventions
• Surplus in agriculture creates capital to use in industrialization #37
• Elements of industrialization #37–60
• Chart of Chinese inventions giving date invented and date appeared in Europe [21:50] #61

Europe develops machines further in the 19^th c. leading to the Industrial Revolution

• Given the trajectory of inventions across Eurasia for centuries before who gets the credit? #64
• Then why is it only Europe “the West” that gets credit? [24:45]
• Why is “modernization” only credited to Europeans, “the West”?

BUT, history is not a competition!

As historians, all we have to do is to tell the truth about how things happened.

Mineral Energy

• Examples of use of energy and efficient production techniques used in China, prior to “industrialization”:
• Coal mined in Xinjiang in early times #74
• Natural gas extraction #77
• Cast iron #79
• Production techniques go far back in Chinese history: [28:14]
  • Standardization of product (see Han dynasty tomb figures)
  • Division of labor among workers #80
  • Standards of labor set #82
• Reference to a specific handbook for producing porcelain, issued under Louis XIV – demonstrates that people at that time knew exactly what inventions had come across Eurasia [31:00] #86–91
• Josiah Wedgwood, founder of the famous Wedgwood china, credits China in the founding of his factory in 1743
• What Europe learned from China#86
• Industrial Revolution took place in England in the mid-1800s but it was a global achievement #91
• Efficient machines
• Mineral energy
• Huge factories

Why then? Why England? – 2 books recommended #92

• Robert Marks, The Origins of the Modern World
• John Hobson, The Eastern Origins of Western Civilization