China's internal and external expansion

600 C.E.–1450

1. China's internal and external expansion
   1. The importance of the Tang and Song economic revolutions and the initiatives of the early Ming dynasty
      1. Sui kingdom
         1. Brief – 581-618
            1. Ended civil war era
            2. Buddhism aggressively patronized by rulers
               1. Building of pagodas, temples, artwork Buddhist influence
            3. Natural disasters led to famine, unrest - rebellion
      2. Political Changes
         1. 618-907 – Tang
            1. Expanded territory to Tibet, part of Korea
         2. 960-1279 – Song
            1. Always at conflict/on the defensive with Northern neighbors
         3. 1279-1368 – Mongols
         4. 1368 – Ming
         5. Tang/Song - Relatively peaceful
            1. Stable bureaucratic system based on civil service exam (started in Han)
               1. Focused on Confucian principles
               2. Large core of educated, talented, loyal government workers
               3. Stable regardless of who was in charge
                  1. even Mongols kept bureaucrats
               4. meritocracy not aristocracy
               5. Similar to America today – leaders change, bureaucrats remain
               6. scholar-gentry
            2. Built extensive infrastructure
               1. Transportation/communication networks
                  1. Tang – network of roads, inns, postal stations
               2. Canals
         6. Constant military threat from the North
         7. Tributary system – neighboring regions sent delegations
            1. Show deference to Chinese emperor – kowtow
            2. Chinese perception as superior to foreigners
      3. Economic Changes
         1. Tang/Song new business practices
            1. Paper money
            2. Letters of credit – flying money
         2. New Technologies
            1. Gunpowder for military
            2. Boats – junks
               1. best of their time
               2. magnetic compass
               3. watertight bulkheads
               4. sternpost rudders
            3. Practical inventions for navigation/economy
               1. Astronomy, compass, water-powered clock
               2. Abacus
               3. block printing
         3. Trade
         4. increasingly involved with elaborate commercial network Pacific Coast/Southeast Asia
         5. Port of Canton – became one of world’s busiest trading centers
         6. Goods, merchants, ideas, and money from all over China
         7. Large trading vessels – junks – cruised Eastern seas – silk/manufactured
         8. Extensive network of roads to bind empire together
         9. Network of inns/postal stations for communication
         10. Iron production
         11. Increased tenfold
         12. Rivaled British production during Industrial Revolution
         13. Agriculture
         14. Champa rice from Vietnam – fast ripening rice
         15. New agricultural techniques
         16. Population increases from 45>115 million
         17. Large estates broken up/land redistributed
         18. Threat of power from regional lords
         19. High taxation often leads to peasant revolts – downfall of dynasty
         20. population growth – ten cities with more than a million people – South faster than North
         21. new strains of rice
         22. opening of new land to agriculture – draining swamps/terracing hillsides
         23. end of government-controlled markets/ started privately owned shops
         24. currency based economy
         25. iron manufacturing
         26. development of oceangoing vessels
         27. protected trade on Silk Road
         28. Social Changes
         29. Accomplished in all categories
         30. art, science, philosophy, porcelain making, silk weaving, transportation systems
         31. Tang – poetry most significant
         32. Song – printing process – expanded literacy
         33. Women
         34. Wu Zhao – first empress of China
         35. Ruthless to adversaries
         36. Compassionate to peasants
         37. Majority stayed inferior
         38. Like European Middle Ages, women’s beauty and femininity key
         39. Song – foot binding
         40. Bound since birth – wouldn’t grow with body
         41. Large feet considered manly/ugly
         42. Painful, crippling
         43. Accepted by wealthy first, poor later – practicality
         44. Marriages set up to benefit groom
         45. Women of lower classes freer from strictures
         46. Had inheritance and property rights, retained dowry after divorce/death
         47. Religion
         48. Following Han – many religions influenced
         49. Nestorians, Manicheans, Zoroastrians, Islam
         50. Buddhism greatest influence – state-sponsored during Sui
         51. Mahayana
         52. Emphasis on peaceful, quiet existence
         53. Life apart from worldy values
         54. Chan/Zen Buddhism
         55. Educated classes – worked with Confucianism
         56. Meditation/appreciation of beauty
         57. Confucian/Daoist reaction
         58. Seen as drain on treasury/labor pool
         59. Buddhism dismissed importance of wealth
         60. Imperial tax exemptions/private gifts of property
         61. Daoists saw as thrat
         62. Mid-800s – Emperor Wuzong persecutions
         63. Destroyed thousands of monasteries
         64. Art
         65. Stylized and symbolic landscape painting
         66. Philosophy
         67. Neo-confucian thought
         68. Looked at ancient text
         69. Codified traditional Chinese philosophy
         70. Blended Confucianism with Daoism
         71. Attractive to leaders – apply rules to all elements of life
         72. Chinese elite classes withdraw from contact with other people
         73. Reinforced gender/class distinctions
         74. Growth of cities
         75. urbanization – some cities exceeded one billion people
         76. Chinese influence on surrounding areas and its limits
         77. Overall
         78. Neighboring peoples became tributary states
         79. Forced to kow-tow – prostrate self
         80. Intensified Chinese perception as superior to all foreigners
         81. Rural populations attracted to China’s system
         82. Japan
         83. Geography
         84. Four main islands
         85. Relatively isolated
         86. Rate of exchange limited
         87. Only in recent centuries has it allowed Western influence
         88. Political
         89. Yamato clan – first, only dynasty to rule
         90. Current emperor descendant of original
         91. 7th Century – Prince Shotoku
         92. Borrowed bureaucratic legal reforms from China
         93. Called Taika Reforms – enacted after death – borrowed from China
         94. Chinese characters in written language
         95. but…did not work with Japanese language
         96. Buddhism
         97. Court etiquette from the Tang dynasty
         98. Chinese architecture
         99. Confucian literary classics
         100. Organization of government into departments/ministries
         101. law codes
         102. tax system
         103. calendar
         104. art, literature, music
         105. Modeled new capital after Tang capital
         106. *** adopted Chinese beliefs, but rejected
         107. Confucianism
         108. civil service examination
         109. In Japan, education not nearly as important as birth
         110. Nobility hereditary, not earned
         111. Buddhism threatened provincial leaders
         112. After 794 – capital moved – power of aristocratic families increased
         113. Emperor became figurehead, power with Fujiwara family
         114. Unlike Mandate of Heaven – emperor can’t be overthrown
         115. Eventually power spread, fighting over control of small territories
         116. Heian Period – “city of peace”
         117. Further isolation of emperor – kept in seclusion
         118. Regional clansmen vie for kwampaku = ruler for emperoro
         119. Rise of powerful clans/families with private armies
         120. 1192 – power goes to Shogun – chief general
         121. After Gempei Wars – peasants vs. Samurai
         122. Military state established
         123. Daimyo – huge landowner – samurai – part warrior/part nobility
         124. Divided land to lesser vassals/samurai
         125. Construction of fortresses - protection
         126. Economic
         127. Peasants/artistans exist to serve the samurai
         128. Gradually became serfs– bound to the land
         129. Hierarchy based on a land for loyalty exchange
         130. Social
         131. Early on – Shinto religion
         132. “way of the gods”
         133. kami – nature and all the forces of nature
         134. goal – become part of kami by following rituals/customs
         135. encourages obedience/proper behavior
         136. Yamato claimed descendant from sun goddess
         137. Buddhist Missionaries – brought Chinese culture
         138. Most adopted Buddhism – kept Shinto
         139. Under Fujiwara had Golden Age
         140. Men started to write poetry, women more toward prose
         141. Development of more unique Japanese culture
         142. Lady Murasaki – Tale of Genji – epic about love/court life
         143. Women
         144. Noblewomen literary prolific compared to others
         145. Written in the Japanese kana - syllabary
         146. But…adored in Europe, lost all freedom in Japan
         147. Code of Bushido – chivalry “Way of the Warrior”
         148. Loyalty, courage, honor
         149. Expected to commit suicide if he fails to uphold code
         150. Seppuku – hari kari - disembowlment
         151. Four Cardinal Virtues
         152. Fidelity
         153. Virility – fearlessness
         154. Truthfulness/sincerity
         155. Simplicity
         156. Samurai dress, hairstyles, swords distinctive
         157. Samurai at times called to protect emperor
         158. Art under shogunate
         159. sketches done with ink
         160. tea ceremony
         161. tranquility, ritual
         162. decorative gardens
         163. Related to philosophical/religious principles
         164. cultivation of bonsai trees
         165. Arrangement of rock garde
         166. Haiku verses – triple lines – 17 syllables
         167. simplicity, peacefulness, emphasis on insight/enlightenment
         168. Noh drama
         169. Korea
         170. Geography
         171. Political
         172. Tang forces withdrew in exchange for tributary arrangement
         173. Silla kingdom vassal of China
         174. Willingly performed kowtow
         175. Economic
         176. Tribute allowed Korea to participate in trading network/education systems
         177. Social
         178. Writing adapted and made suitable to Korean
         179. Confucian classics read by Korean scholars
         180. Art
         181. Porcelain manufacture
         182. Celadon bowls – characteristic pale green color
         183. Vietnam/Southeast Asia
         184. Geography
         185. Successful rice paddy method
         186. Wet method better than dry method
         187. Political
         188. Highly valued independence, not willing to become tributaries
         189. Fierce desire to distinguish themselves as unique
         190. Smaller kingdoms – Khmer domain strongest – Cambodia today
         191. Built some of most extensive temple complexes – Angkor Wat
         192. Dedicated to Hindu God – Vishnu
         193. Empire extended to Thailand, Laos, Vietnam – declined in 1400 CE
         194. Vietnam periodically absorbed into dynastic China
         195. Invaded by Tang Dynasty
         196. 939 established independent kingdom
         197. Succumbed to Ming power in 1408
         198. 1428 pushed out for last time
         199. Economic
         200. Before Qin, already carrying on trade
         201. Song China and Malaya
         202. Social
         203. Differences with China, had cultural identity
         204. Unique spoken language
         205. Lived in villages, not urban areas
         206. Society based on nuclear family, not extended family
         207. Women enjoyed more privileges
         208. Eventually accepted Chinese traditions of
         209. agricultural/irrigation techniques
         210. Confucian veneration for ancestors
         211. extended family structure
         212. Women more autonomy than other Asian cultures
         213. Famous Trung sisters – helped defend land against Chinese iinvasion
         214. National heroines
         215. Active in local commerce, proved able merchants