WHA Annual Meeting: Korea 2026

Participants will learn about the complexities of foreign relations in early modern East Asia. World History textbooks and classes often erase the many voices in East Asia by implying that all regional powers sent tribute to China and simply accepted their hegemony. This presentation highlights the extensive interactions and negotiations that actually took place between China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam in the 14th to 18th centuries. East Asia was a deeply integrated region, where all powers had independent agency and interests they pursued. Participants will also work through and discuss classroom-ready lessons for middle and high school world history students. The lessons were developed by teachers, in collaboration with scholars, and have been classroom-tested. The lessons highlight the foreign policy perspectives and tactics used by China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam in the early modern period. Students, and participants in the workshop, work through primary sources to develop a more complex understanding of Early Modern East Asia.