Definition of Terms

1. Macao

Macao or Macau is a special administrative region in China (Britannica, 2020). It is located on the Southern coast of China. It is also a self-governing state. However, China takes care of its foreign policy and defense. The population is majorly ethnic Chinese with Portuguese and Chinese being the official languages.

2. Cohong

According to Britannica (2008), a Cohong was a guild of Chinese merchants that the government permitted to trade with Western traders at Canton before the onset of the first opium war lasting between 1839 and 1842. People referred the Chinese traders as hangshang and foreign traders as yanghang (Britannica, 2008).

3. The floating world

The Japanese word for floating world, Ukiyo could mean two concepts. It could mean ‘floating world’ or ‘sorrowful world’ (Szczepanski, 2019a). According to Szczepanski (2019a), in the Tokugawa Period, the phrase described the life of vanity and hedonism popular in cities like Tokyo and Osaka. Members of the Ukiyo culture such as Geishas and Samurai met to entertain each other and delve into intellectual conversations.

4. Treaty of Nanjing

The treaty of Nanjing was a formal agreement between China and Britain that saw the end of the first Opium war (Britannica, 2018). Trade of opium was illegal in China. China had attempted to interfere with Britain’s trade of opium in China and had thus reiterated. Britain won and that forced China into the Treaty of Nanjing.

5. Townshend Harris

Townshend Harris was an American merchant and politician who became the first consul in Japan (Britannica, 2021). When Harris first arrives in Japan, Japan did not accept or acknowledge him. However, due to his sincerity and persuasion, Japanese authorities listened. That led to the making of the Harris treaty.

6. Satsuma and Chōshū

Satsuma and Chōshū were powerful territories in the Edo period. Though they were once enemies, they performed a powerful alliance to protect Japan from being a colony of foreign military (Atsushi, 2018).

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