Editing History of Asia (section)

====Foreign interests====
[[File:Fort St. George, Chennai.jpg|thumb|A view of the [[Fort St George]] in 18th-century [[Madras]].]]
In the interest of national glory, the Chinese began sending impressive [[Junk (ship)|junk]] ships across the [[South China Sea]] and the [[Indian Ocean]]. From 1403 to 1433, the [[Yongle Emperor]] commissioned [[Treasure voyages|expeditions]] led by the admiral [[Zheng He]], a Muslim [[eunuch]] from China. Chinese junks carrying hundreds of soldiers, goods, and animals for zoos, traveled to Southeast Asia, Persia, southern Arabia, and east Africa to show off Chinese power. Their prowess exceeded that of current Europeans at the time, and had these expeditions not ended, the world economy may be different from today.{{sfn|Stearns|2011|loc=Chapter 15}}{{rp|p. 339|quote=There is no question that the course of world history might have been changed dramatically had the Chinese thrust continued, for the tiny European expeditions that began to creep down the western coast of Africa at about the same time would have been no match for this combination of merchant and military organization.}} In 1433, the Chinese government decided that the cost of a navy was an unnecessary expense. The Chinese navy was slowly dismantled and focus on interior reform and military defense began. It was China's longstanding priority that they protect themselves from nomads and they have accordingly returned to it. The growing limits on the Chinese navy would leave them vulnerable to foreign invasion by sea later on.

[[File:Schall-von-bell.jpg|thumb|Here a Jesuit, Adam Schall von Bell (1592–1666), is dressed as an official of the Chinese Department of Astronomy.]]

As was inevitable, Westerners arrived on the Chinese east coast, primarily [[Jesuit]] missionaries which reached the mainland in 1582. They attempted to [[Jesuit China missions|convert the Chinese people to Christianity]] by first converting the top of the social hierarchy and allowing the lower classes to subsequently convert. To further gain support, many Jesuits adopted Chinese dress, customs, and language.{{sfn|Stearns|2011|loc=Chapter 22}}{{rp|p. 508|quote=The Jesuits believed that the best way to convert a great civilization such as China was to adopt the dress, customs, language and manners of its elite.}} Some Chinese scholars were interested in certain Western teachings and especially in Western technology. By the 1580s, Jesuit scholars like [[Matteo Ricci]] and [[Adam Schall]] amazed the Chinese elite with technological advances such as European clocks, improved calendars and cannons, and the accurate prediction of eclipses.{{sfn|Stearns|2011|loc=Chapter 22}}{{rp|p. 508|quote=Beginning in the 1580s, a succession of brilliant Jesuit scholars ... spent most of their time in the imperial city, correcting faulty calendars, forging cannons, fixing clocks imported from Europe, and astounding the Chinese scholar-gentry with the accuracy of their instruments and their ability to predict eclipses.}} Although some the scholar-gentry converted, many were suspicious of the Westerners whom they called "barbarians" and even resented them for the embarrassment they received at the hand of Western correction. Nevertheless, a small group of Jesuit scholars remained at the court to impress the emperor and his advisors.