Transcript Ch 12 Empires in the East

Ch 12 Empires in the East
600-1350
Tang and Song China
Sec 1
What have we learned about
China so far?
Han and Sui Dynasty
• After the Han Dynasty collapsed in 220, no
emperor was strong enough to hold China
together for the next 350 years
• In 589, the Sui Dynasty began
• During the Sui Dynasty the Grand Canal
was completed and the Great Wall was
rebuilt
Tang Dynasty
• The Tang Dynasty ruled from 618-907
• The Tang Dynasty expanded the empire
and extended its influence over Korea
• Other achievements included expanding the
road and canal system and improving
agriculture and foreign trade
Decline of the Tang
• Crushing taxes brought hardship to the
people of the Tang Dynasty but could not
cover the cost of building projects
• In 907, Chinese rebels destroyed the Tang
capital after years of foreign defeats and
internal strife
Song Dynasty
• The Song Dynasty ruled from 960-1279
• In 960, a general name Taizu reunited
China and proclaimed himself to be the first
Song emperor
Achievements
• During the Tang and Song Dynasties,
China’s population nearly doubled to 100
million
• Among the most important technological
innovations were gunpowder and movable
type
• Other important inventions were porcelain,
the mechanical clock, paper money, and the
magnetic compass
More Achievements
• Grew better strains of rice
• Improved trade and foreign contact
• Golden Age of art and poetry
Confucian Ideas
• To manage the empire, Tang rulers restored
China’s vast bureaucracy
• Tough civil service examinations were
required for government work
• As the examination system grew talent and
education became more important than
noble birth in winning power
Levels of Society
• Gentry- large upper class of well educated
scholar officials
• Urban Middle Class- merchants,
shopkeepers, artisans, minor officials
• Urban laborers
• Peasants
Women
• Always subservient to
men
• Even more so during
the Song Dynasty
Mongol Conquests
Sec 2
Background
• As the Song Dynasty prospered the
Mongols to the far north were also gaining
strength.
• The Mongols prided themselves on their
skill on horseback, discipline, ruthlessness,
and their courage in battle
• They also wanted the wealth and glory that
came from conquering empires
Eurasian Steppe
• A vast belt of dry grassland, called the
steppe, stretches across the landmass of
Eurasia
• It served as a trade route between east and
west and was home to nomadic peoples who
frequently attacked their neighbors
Geography of the Steppe
• Very little rain, but the dry windswept plain
supports hardy grasses
• Temperature varies from -57 to 96 F
Nomadic Way of Life
• Nomadic peoples were pastoralists, they
herded domesticated animals
• They were constantly on the move
searching for pasture land to feed their
herds
• They did not wander randomly, but
followed a seasonal pattern and returned to
the same campsites
Steppe Nomads
• Differing ways of life often brought nomads
into conflict with settled peoples
• Throughout history, nomadic peoples have
ridden out of the steppe to invade border
towns
Rise of the Mongols
• Around 1200, a Mongol clan leader named
Temujin sought to unify the Mongol clans
• In 1206, Temujin took the title Genghis
Khan, “universal ruler”
• Over the next 21 years, he created the
largest empire the world has ever seen
Genghis Khan
• Genghis Khan was a brilliant military
organizer and strategist
• Khan effectively used terror as a military
strategy
• If a city refused to surrender to him he
might slaughter every person inside once he
conquered them
Mongol Empire
• Genghis Khan died from illness in 1227
• Genghis’ successors expanded the empire
from China to Poland to create the largest
empire the world has ever seen
The Khanates
• After Genghis’s death his sons and
grandsons continued his conquests
• In 1260, the empire was divided into 4
Khanates, each ruled by one of his
descendants
Rule of Mongols
• While ferocious in war the Mongols were
tolerant in peace
• They rarely imposed their beliefs on those
they conquered and even adopted customs
they liked
Pax Mongolia
• Pax Mongolia- Mongol Peace, period from
the mid 1200s to mid 1300s when the
Mongols imposed stability and law across
Eurasia
• Trade between Europe and Asia was never
more active and many ideas and inventions
were shared, such as gunpowder
Mongol Empire
Sec 3
Kublai Khan
• Kublai Khan- grandson of Genghis Khan
who conquered all of China
• Kublai Khan became the first foreigner to
rule all of China in 1279
• As China’s new emperor he established the
Yuan Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
• The Yuan Dynasty last from 1279 – 1368
• While the Dynasty lasted less than 100
years it was important
Achievements
• Kublai Khan united China for the first time
in 300 hundred years
• China was opened to foreign trade and
contacts
Failure to Conquer Japan
• Kublai Khan tried twice to conquer Japan
but failed both times
• The second fleet was destroyed by a
monsoon that the Japanese referred to as the
kamikaze or divine wind
Mongol Rule in China
• The Mongols and Chinese had little in
common
• In order to rule over the Chinese people
Mongol rulers retained as many Chinese
officials as possible
• The highest government posts went to
Mongols or foreigners because they had no
local loyalties
Marco Polo (not just a pool game)
• Marco Polo- Venetian trader who traveled
by the Silk Road to visit China
• Polo worked for Kublai Khan for 17 years
traveling to various cities on government
mission
• The Travels of Marco Polo- book
describing Polo’s account of his travels
• Marco Polo’s travels increased interest in
Asia and led to more trade
End of Mongol Rule
• Military defeats and expensive public
works projects began to wear in the empire
• After the death of Kublai Khan the empire
continued to decline until 1368 when
Chinese rebels overthrew the Mongols and
created the Ming Dynasty
Feudal Powers in Japan
Sec 4
Growth of Japanese Civilization
• Japan’s island location shaped the growth
of its civilization
• The Japanese were close enough to be
influenced by China but far enough to
avoid invasion
Geography of Japan
• About 4000 islands make up the Japanese
archipelago, island group
• Traditionally most people have lived on the
4 largest islands: Hokkaido, Honshu,
Shikoku, and Kyushu
Geography
• Only 12% of the land is arable, able to be
farmed, because the islands are so
mountainous
• Natural resources such as coal, iron, and
oil are in short supply
• During the summer typhoons are a threat
• Earthquakes and tidal waves also pose a
threat to Japan
Early Japan
• Shinto- “way of the gods”, Japan’s earliest
religion
• Shinto was based on respect for the forces
of nature and on the worship of ancestors
• Worshippers believed in kami, divine
spirits that dwelled in nature
Japanese Culture
• Buddhism was brought to Japan during the
400s by Korean travelers
• In the mid-700s, the Japanese imperial court
officially accepted Buddhism in Japan
• Buddhism in Japan came to be mixed with
Shinto
Zen Buddhism
• Achieving enlightenment through
meditation
• “If you understand, things are just as they
are; if you do not understand, things are just
as they are.”
• “Teachers open the door... You enter by
yourself.”
• “Before Enlightenment: chop wood, carry
water, after Enlightenment: chop wood,
carry water.”
• “It takes a wise man to learn from his
mistakes, but an even wiser man to learn
from others.”
• “Knock on the sky and Listen to the sound.”
• “How can the drops of water know
themselves to be a river?”
• “Say one word with your mouth shut”
Cultural Borrowing from China
• The Japanese adapted Chinese ways to suit
their needs
• The Chinese system of writing, artistic
style, cooking, gardening, and drinking tea
were adopted by Japanese culture
Feudalism
• Feudalism- political system in which
nobles, or lords, are granted the use of lands
that legally belong to the king. In return the
lords owe loyalty and military service to the
king
• By the 11th century the central government
began to weaken as lords in the countryside
built private armies
Feudal Society
• Emperor- rules like a king, legally owns all
land
• Daimyo- lords that are loyal to the king
• Samurai- warriors that are the personal
bodyguards of the daimyo
• Peasants,and Artisansthe majority of the
people who live under the daimyo’s
protection
• Merchants- lowest level of society
Samurai
• Since wars between lords was common,
they surrounded themselves with a
bodyguard of loyal warriors called
samurai- “one who serves”
Bushido
• Samurai lived according to a demanding
code of behavior called bushido, “way of
the warrior”
• A samurai was expected to show reckless
courage, reverence for the gods, fairness,
and generosity toward those weaker than
himself
• Dying an honorable death was considered
more important than living a long life
• Samurai Seppuku
Kamakura Shogunate
• Shogun- “supreme general of the emperor’s
army”, military dictator
• Around 1200, the Kamakura Shogunate
ruled the government through puppet
emperors
• This pattern of government would rule
Japan until 1868