Connections to the Outside World

    One of the earliest noted connections with the outside world for East Asia was the first maritime expedition of Zheng He who traveled with large numbers of ships and men across the sea in search for expansion. Although this seemed to be a major connection to the outside world at the time, the expedition of Zheng He was soon forgotten and didn't not make as big of a mark in history as did Columbus's travels. For a good time it was true that China felt that they were better than everyone else and could not learn anything new from other countries so they isolated themselves and made sure that no intermarriages occurred. This was relatively easy because of certain geographical features such as mountains or islands in the case of Japan. Therefore there was no mixing of different cultures. Under the rule of the Ming Dynasty there began a large amount of trading, which all began with the maritime expeditions. An example of a trading network would be the Silk Road, which spreads across the entire Asian continent. China used the Silk Road to trade everything from silk, spices, teas, and porcelain. Out of all of the countries included in East Asia, China would definitely be one of the more noted trading countries. Even to this day many things are made in China and then shipped over into the United States. Trading was the main source of outside connections to other countries because everyone else had something that someone else wanted.