Overview
The purpose of this chapter is to provide a general background for the major historical events and cultural patterns in the development of Pacific Asia prior to the nineteenth century. For reasons of space, much has been omitted. An additional treatment of the economic development of China, for example, may be useful in order to emphasize the technological and commercial success enjoyed by China prior to the advent of political and economic pressures from the West.
The popular misconception of the ancient, unchanging "East" should be dispelled in this overview of the region, as should the notion that Pacific Asia constituted a geographically isolated group of cultures with little interaction with the rest of the world prior to the European discoveries. Emphasis should be given to the fact that an "Age of Commerce" in Southeast Asia predated (and for a time successfully challenged) the early entry of the Portuguese.
Cultural patterns that influenced the responses of different cultures to the changes in the "modern" era should also be stressed. The Introduction notes the changes and contrasts in the perspectives of cultures over the centuries. The first television segment (Module Two) points out that one of the most fundamental shifts of perspective was China's: it went from an obsession with threats from Inner Asia to a concern with maritime challenges to its sovereignty. The contrasting images here are that of the horse and rider versus those of the ship and sailor.
