Transcript Lecture Outline 17

Chinese Selfperception
during the Tang
How did the Chinese feel after the An
Lushan Rebellion, when China was no
longer as powerful as it used to be?
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Did the trade, economy,
greatest cities,
advanced
manufacturing
techniques, cultural and
intellectual complexity
and pluralism… make
China the sole locus of
civilization?
Intellectuals’ Pleas for Reforms
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Rethinking the primacy
and centrality of the
emperor
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Should the imperial
institution, ritual, and
power be the only
concerns?
What made a government
effective and the state
prosper and stable?
Advocates of reforms
Du You (732-812)
 Han Yu (768-824)
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Han Yu
Two Views on Reforms
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Du You’s view: economic and progressive
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Economic policy should take people’s livelihood into
consideration
Government should learn from the past and change
with the times; not pattern itself on ancient institutions
and feudal systems
Han Yu’s view: cultural
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Reaffirmation of Confucian classics and literature,
including the classical style of writing
Rejuvenation of Confucianism would bolster the state
Chinese civilization began with the sages, who saved
people from perils, showed them how to secure
food….Leaders should grasp the “Way of the Sages”
Daoist Temple, Geling, Hangzhou
Han Yu Shrine, Changli County,
Hobei Province, 1928
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The turning point: PostRebellion late Tang
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Tang emperors lost their
political and economic
controls; powerful
autonomous regional
governments rose
Agricultural and technological
advances facilitated economic
growth in the south
Increasing migration made
the south, particularly the
Yangzi River valley, develop
further
Rebellions and turmoil
weakened Chang’an as a
cosmopolitan city
The Fall of the Tang/Chang’an
Despite the temporary “restoration” during
Xianzong’s reign (r. 805-820), the Tang
began to fall apart again.
 Autonomous military governors, eunuchs,
large scale rebellions, banditry in
countryside… further weakened the Tang.
 Anti-Buddhist and anti-foreign sentiment
heated up because foreigners and monks
drained gov’t tax revenue.
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Incompetent emperors lost people’s trust
 The
natural calamity signaled that the last few
emperors of the T’ang had lost the “Mandate
of Heaven” (天命 tiān mìng )
Chang’an was ransacked and burnt several
times, as a result of peasant’s rebellion,
warlord’s and foreign armies’ attacks.
 Poets wrote poems when witnessing the
demolition of Chang’an
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Lament
of the
Lday
Qin
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…
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In house after house blood flows like boiling
fountains;
In place after place victims scream: their screams
shake the earth.
Dancers and singing girls all have disappeared,
Babies and young girls are abandoned alive…
…
My neighbor in the west had a daughter, lovely
as a goddess;
Her lustrous eyes flashed from side to side
cutting waters like an inch of sword blade.
Her toilet completed, all she did was gaze at the
reflection of spring in her mirror,
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by Wei
Zhuang
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Lament
of the
Lday
Qin
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So young she didn’t know what
happened outside her doors.
Some thug leaps up her golden
staircase,
Rips the dress to bare half her
shoulder, about to shame her,
But dragged by the clothes she refuses
to go through the vermilion gate,
So with rouge powder and perfumed
cream on her face
she’s stabbed down till she’s
dead.
…
 Chang’an lies in silence: what’s
there now?
 In ruined markets and desolate
streets, ears of wheat sprout…
 The Hanyuan Hall is the haunt of
foxes and hares…
 Along the Avenue of Heaven one
walks on the bones of high officials.
 ….
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Lament
of the
Lday Qin
The fall of the Tang and the destruction of
Chang’an anticipated the selection of a
new capital site near the major section of
the Grand Canal
 The Five Dynasties succeeded the Tang
with the Later Liang founded by the
military governor/warlord Zhu Wen, who
made his military stronghold, Kaifeng, the
capital of his dynasty.
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China in the
Northern Song
and Its New
Neighbors
China in the Southern Song
and Its New Neighbors
The Khitan Empire (The Great Liao Dynasty)
– Lived in today’s southeastern Inner Mongolia
– Adopted traditional nomadic life style but allowed
the Han Chinese to live Chinese style of life
– Adopted Chinese imperial system
– Called itself the Liao Dynasty
– Ruled by the Yelü clan in “dual administrative
system” or “dual system of government”
Emperors and nobles continued their nomadic practice
Created its own ideographic script based on Chinese
characters
Became powerful during China’s Five
Dynasties period
– Occupied the northeastern Ordos region, where
the Tuyuhun and Tangut tribes had settled
– Conquered the wealthy Bohai kingdoms in
eastern Manchuria
– Forced the Later Jin Dynasty to cede sixteen
bordering prefectures in present Beijing, Hebei,
and Shanxi—including the prefectures of
Youzhou (Beijing) and Yunzhou (Datong)—to
Liao
– invaded the Later Jin capital Kaifeng, pillaged
the palace and the residences, and took the
emperor prisoner.
– Song needed to negotiate peace with the Khitan
by paying annual subsidies in silk and silver
The Tangut (Xi Xia) Kingdom
– Linguistically related to the Tibetans
– Settled in Xia prefecture in Tang times and
adopted the Tang dynastic family name Li
– Helped the struggling Tang dynasty in the 870s
and 880s, especially against Huang Chao
(Rebellion).
– Song emperors recognized its autonomy
– Internal political dispute over its relationship
with the Song led to tribal unrest that provoked
the Song force along the border
Dispute between two camps led by Li Jipeng and Li
Jiqian separately
– Began in 982 the Sino-Tangut war that lasted
until 1004
– Amid its vacillating war-and-peace relations or
dual relations with the Liao and the Song, it
expanded its territory to the west and north,
into the Gansu corridor and neighboring Inner
Mongolia.
– Enjoyed an autonomous status and political
independence as Tang’s vessel state.
– Song needed to pay annual subsidies in silk
and silver
The Song Dynasty
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Established in 906 after the
53 years of division during
which China was ruled by
warlords—the period of “Five
Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms”
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Five dynasties were in the
north; nine of ten kingdoms
were in the south
All except one of the rulers of
the Five Dynasties had their
capital set up in Kaifeng
Emperor Taizu, Zhao
Kuangyin, (r. 960-976)
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The founder of the Song
built his capital in Kaifeng,
where he began a new
dynasty—the Song ruled
by the Zhao family.
 Kaifeng
was referred to as
Eastern Capital (東京dōng
jīng ) or Bian jing （汴京
biàn jīng)
 Luoyang was now Western
Capital (西京 xī jīng)
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A new ruling philosophy that stressed the
priority of civil principle (文 wén ) over the
military principle (武 wŭ) also started.
A
new dynasty that might come close to what
we call “Confucian state” emerged
 Emperors ruled and performed rituals according
Confucian rules, but remained devoted to
Daoism and Buddhism
 The first Song emperor Taizu began ruling by
the civil principle, which was followed by his
successors Taizong, Zhenzong, ….
 Ruling by the civil principle became the creed of
the Song dynasty
Song Culture:
Choice between Wen and Wu
Early Song policy:
– Elevating the civil principle (Wen), downplaying the military
principle (Wu)
– Strengthening the trunk (center) and weakening the
branches (regional governments)
Taizu is known for “dissolving military power over a cup of
wine” when holding a drinking party with his senior
commanders
Powers were concentrated in the hands of civil
bureaucracy, whereas military officials were kept in check
Powerful generals and strong military men were
forced to retire
Emperors had members of imperial family marry to
sons and daughters of military officials’ families
Despite the wen policy, Taizu still planned to unify
China by using military force to annex southern
kingdoms
– Unable to realize his plan because of his sudden death
– People speculated that he was murdered by his brother
in a plot known as “the sound of the axe in the shadow
of the flickering candle”
– The brother succeeded him, fulfilled his promise and
reunified China. He was known as Taizong.
The image of Taizu, who laid down this
policy of wen
– A protector of the people
– A ruler who aspired to live by the humanitarian
and benevolent standards of Confucian
teachings
– A modest man who detested luxury and
splendid residences, wanting to live a life of
frugality
– Concerned himself with commoners and their
economic well-being