The Great Wall of China is expanded between 1403 to 1424 by the Ming emperor Yung-Lo. He also moved the imperial capital to Beijing. While parts of the wall had existed since ancient China, it was only now built into the one continuous fortified wall we know today. The wall is 2450 km long, 16 metres wide and 8 metres high. However, it cannot be seen from the moon as is commonly claimed.

In 1516, the Portuguese establish the first European trading base in China at Canton. The Chinese, distrustful of all foreigners, eventually limit trade to just one port, Macao, under Portuguese control.

The 16th century saw China's coast plagued by Japanese pirates. Floods and famines also weakened the prestige of the Ming dynasty. In 1563, the Japanese pirates were mostly wiped out. But in spite of the Great Wall, raids by the Tungus people from Siberia reach Beijing.

In 1644, the Ming dynasty is overthrown and the Chinese again come under foreign rule, this time by the Manchu. Ming resistance continued in south China for many years, but by the late 1600s, had been crushed. The "triad" gangs of China today had their origins in the Ming resistance movements against the Manchu. The Manchu also greatly expand Chinese borders, more or less to what they are in modern times. Under the regent Dorgun, the Manchu establish the Qing dynasty. Like the Romanov dynasty in Russia which also came to power at this time, the Qing would last until 1911.

Toward the end of the 16th century, Japan was torn by civil wars as provincial lords, the samurai, battled for supremacy. It was during this period that many of Japan's most famous castles were built. Much like medieval Europe, the local warlords based their power on an easily defended castle. Muskets started to become more common, but cannons were not much used, so castles could still only be taken with much difficulty. Order was finally restored by the great general Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1590.

His work of pacifying and uniting Japan was consolidated by Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. In 1639, the shogun closed all ports to foreigners. Japan would be cut off from the rest of the world for 200 years, except for one point of access, the port of Deshima, built on a man-made island and open only to Dutch merchants.

The Korean navy was probably the first in the world to use armoured battleships, galleys encased in sheets of iron.

Daily life in China