Transcript China from Tang to Yuan

History 381: Asian
Experience
From the Tang to the Mongols:
The Flowering of Traditional
China

China after the Han (220-581)
– Division and civil war
 Nomads from the Gobi Desert
 Decline of Confucian principles
– Buddhism
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China Reunified: The Sui, the Tang, and
the Song
 The Sui (581-618)
– Yang Jian (Yang Chien)
– Daoism and Buddhism
– Sui Yangdi (Sui Yang Ti)
 Collapse of the Sui
 1400 mile long Grand Canal
 Connects Yellow and Yangtze Rivers
Chang’an under the Sui and the Tang
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Grand canal at Wuxi
©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.
China under the Tang
©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.
 The Tang (618-907)
– Li Yuan established a new dynasty after the murder of
the last Sui
– Tang Taizong (T’ang T’ai-tsung), 626-649
 Expansion
 Cultural growth – poetry and sculpture
 Buddhism
– Empress Wu, 683-705
– Xuan Zong (Husan Tsung), 712-756
 Yang Guifei (Yang Kuei-fei)
– Uighers
 The Song (960-1279)
– Song Taizu (Sung T’ai-tsu)
– Collapse
– Mongols, 1279
Statues of traitors to Song dynasty in Hangzhou
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
Political Structures: Triumph of Confucianism
– Equal Opportunity in China: The Civil Service
Examination
– Grand Council
 Department of State Affairs
 Army
 Bureaucracy
– Civil Service Exam
 Confucianism
– Song examination system – based only on Confucianism
 Three levels
 Qualifying exams – accept teaching level positions
 Second exam – given every three years; apply for official
positions
 Final exam – given every three years at the imperial palace;
eligible for high positions
– Only males given exams and poor generally excluded
– Censorate
 Local Government
– District governed by a magistrate
– Village governed by council of elders
 Economy and Society
– Tang reduced power of the nobility
 Equal field system
– Land manipulation and opening new lands
– Significant increase in trade and manufacturing
 Ocean Trade and the Silk Road
– Guilds
– “Flying money”
– Long distance trade overland and by sea
– Silk Road – hazardous
 Development of sea trade
 Chang’an
 Canton (Guang zhou)
 Daily Life in Traditional China
– Mixture in the countryside of landed gentry, free
farmers, sharecroppers, and landless laborers
 Rise of the landed gentry
– Forms of entertainment
– Transportation
– New Foods
– Peasants
 Village
 Family
 Male superiority
 Children expected to obey parents
– Women
 Dowry–bride’s parents pay the groom’s family
 Bound feet
– Wu Zhao (625?-705), Empress Wu
Asia under the Mongols
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
Explosion in Central Asia: The Mongol
Empire
– Mongols succeeded the Song as rulers in 1279
– Genghis Khan (Temuchin), Universal Ruler
 Fire lance
 Karakorum
 Separate khnates
– Kubilai Khan (1260-1294)
 Khanbaliq (Beijing)
 Mongol Rule in China
–
–
–
–
Yuan dynasty
Used Chinese political system and the bureaucracy
Prosperity
Weaknesses
 Excessive spending, inadequate tax revenues,
factionalism and corruption at court
 Zhu Yuan zhang (Chu Yuan-chang)
Models of traditional Chinese single-mast sailing vessels
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
In Search of the Way
– Rise and Decline of Buddhism and Daoism
 Common people and the ruling class
 New sects in Buddhism
– Chan (Zen in Japan)
 Mind training and strict discipline
– Pure Land
– White Lotus
 Equating dharma (law) with Dao (the Way)
 Corruption
– Temples and monasteries destroyed
 Denial of Confucian teachings
 Competition from Manicheanism and Islam
– Neo Confucianism: The Investigation of Things
 Revival following decline of Buddhism and Daoism
 Alteration
 Unite Buddhism and Daoism with Confucianism
– Zhu Xi (Chu Hsi)
– Social ethics
– Wang Yang Ming

The Apogee of Chinese Culture
– Literature
 Paper and moveable type
 Ink rubbings and woodblock
 Poetry, drama and prose fiction
– Art
 Buddhism and Daoist painting and sculpture
 Ceramics
 Painting
China at its Apex




From the Ming to the Qing (Ching)
– Peasant rebellion of Zhu Yuanzhang, 1368
 Ming (Bright) Dynasty
– Territorial expansion
 Emperor Yongle, 1402-1424, strengthened the
Great Wall
 Korea
Confucian institutions for rule
– Six ministries
– Civil service examinations
– Division of the empire into provinces
City and manufacturing growth
Ocean trade
The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644

Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
– Founded by Zhu Yuanzhang who overthrew Mongols
– Inaugurated new era of greatness in china
– Extended rule over Mongolia and Central Asia
– Strengthened Great Wall
– Korea made tributary
– Returned to traditional Confucian institutions
 Six ministries at top
 Civil service exams
 Divide empire into provinces, districts, counties
– Population had doubled
China at its Apex
– Zhenghe
 Chinese admiral.
 In 1405 led fleet of ships into
Indian Ocean.
 Large fleet with 28,000 sailors.
 Sent to find information as well
as goods.
 Brought increase in knowledge
of outside world.
 Brought massive profits.
 Voyages ended with death of
Emperor Yongle (1402-1424)
who had sent them.
 Marks turning inward of China
and focus on agriculture.