Transcript Ch_8 _B_ - China _ the World _ East Asian

500c.e. – 1300c.e.
A Third Wave of Civilizations
 1. Early Civs – Mesopotamia, Indus Valley, Nile Valley,
China along the Huang He
– 3500b.c.e. – 600b.c.e.
 2. Classical Era – Greece, Rome, Persia, Maya
-600b.c.e – 600c.e.
 3. Third Wave Civs– 500c.e. – 1300c.e.
China as a Major Player in the Third
Wave Civilizations
 China-centered “world order” encompassed most of
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eastern Asia
China’s borders reached far into Central Asia
It’s wealthy and cosmopolitan culture attracted visitors
from afar
All of China’s neighbors felt its gravitational pull
China’s economy and technological innovation had
effects throughout Eurasia
China Reunified
 Han dynasty collapsed in 220b.c.e.
 Chaos for 300 years after after Han Dynasty collapsed
 Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties emerge from 589-1279
 Sui Dynasty – Reunifies China
-extend canal system, large government projects
-ruthlessness and failure to conquer Korea discredited
the dynasty and exhausted state resources
Tang and Song Dynasties
 The “Golden Age” of Chinese Arts and Literature
-poetry, landscape painting, ceramics of high order
 Birth of Neo-Confucianism
-Confucian revival with added elements of Buddhism
and Daoism
 Politics
-exam system revived (printing press invented)
-many more universities opened
-large landowners still powerful despite state efforts to
redistribute land
Cheat Sheet Used on Chinese Civil
Service Exam
Economy Under Song
 Great Prosperity
 Population growth 50million – 100million under Song
-capital city Hangzhou had over 1million people
 Improvements in iron production, factories
 Best shipbuilding in the world
 3 famous inventions
-compass, gunpowder, printing press
Chinese “Junk Ship” and Colombus
Ships in comparison
A Growing Economy
 Cheap transportation allowed peasants to grow
specialized crops
 Government demanded payment of taxes in cash, not
in goods
 Growing use of paper money and financial
instruments
Women in the Song Dynasty
 Not a very “golden” age for women
 More restrictions on women
 Foot binding became popular in the 11th century
-beauty, women restricted to the house
 Wealthy elite class = concubines
 Women became educated to better raise their sons
Foot Binding
China and Northern Nomads
 Misconceptions
-China was “self contained”
-China was “unchanging”
 Nomads of the north
-nomads were in kinship groups
-occasional confederations and powerful states
-pastoral societies needed grain from China
-leaders wanted luxury goods from China
-nomads threatened by Chinese - attack/Great Wall
-China needed nomads – horses/access to silk roads
Northern Nomads
Tribute System
 China’s “middle kingdom – conceited
 Chinese believed that they could “civilize” the nomads
 Tribute system = extortion
-nomads didn’t want to rule China, they just wanted
their wealth
-unequal trades
-a way for making the relationship work
Korea and China
 China had a tribute system established with Korea
after colonization and invasions
-China provided legitimacy for Korean rulers
-Efforts to replicate Chinese court life and
administration
-Capital city Kumsong modeled on Chinese capital
Chang’an
 Acceptance of Chinese culture
-Confucianism ended “equality” for women
-Korea maintained much of its’ culture
Vietnam and China
 Parts of Vietnam were incorporated into China
 Serious effort to assimilate the Vietnamese
-provoked rebellion
-remained a tributary
 Vietnamese rulers adopted the Chinese approach to
government
-examination system helped undermine established
aristocrats
-elite remained deeply committed to Chinese culture
 Much of distinctive Vietnamese culture remained in place
-language, cockfighting, greater roles for women
Cockfighting
Japan and China
 Never invaded or conquered by China
 Voluntary borrowing of culture
-large envoys sent to China
 Elements of Chinese culture took root in Japan
-several schools of Chinese Buddhism
-art, architecture, education, medicine, religious views
-Chinese writing system
 Japanese borrowings were selective
-deliberate borrowings stopped after tenth century
Japan and China
 Japan doesn’t become centralized like China
-political power became decentralized
-local authorities developed (samurai)
 Japan kept it’s unique identity
-Buddhism never replaced shintoism (spirit and
ancestor worship)
 Women escaped Confucian bondage/oppression
-women wrote in the vernacular (everyday language)
China and Globalization
 Chinese Advances Spread to Europe
-salt production through solar evaporation
-papermaking
-printing (though resisted by the Islamic world)
-gunpowder invented ca. 1000, but used differently
after it reached Europe
-Chinese textile, metallurgical, and naval technologies
-Stimulated imitation and innovation (e.g., magnetic
compass)
Chinese Inventions
China as Economic Beneficiary
 Learned cotton and sugar cultivation and processing
from India
 Writing was stimulated by Buddhist texts
 China in Indian Ocean Trade
-foreign merchant settlements in southern Chinese
ports by Tang era
-sometimes brought violence, e.g., massive massacre
of foreigners in Canton in the 870s
-transformation of southern China to production for
export instead of subsistence
Making Chinese Buddhism
 Buddhism was India’s most important gift to China
 At first – Buddhism had little Appeal in China
-Buddhist monasticism seemed to dishonor Chinese
family values
-concern for individual salvation seemed selfish
 Collapse of the Han dynasty ca. 200 c.e. brought chaos
and discrediting of Confucianism
Buddhism Spreads
 Nomadic rulers in northern China favored Buddhism
 Monasteries provided increasing array of social
services
 Buddhists appeared to have access to magical powers
 Serious effort to present Buddhism in a form accessible
to the Chinese
-dharma was translated as dao
-“morality” was translated as filial submission
-it was Mahayana form of Buddhism that became
popular
Buddhism Becomes Discredited
 Direct action against Buddhism in China
-Buddhism challenges Confucianism, (celibacy of
monks)
-thousands of monasteries, temples, and shrines
confiscated or destroyed
-Buddhists forbidden to use precious metals or gems
for their images
 Buddhism did not vanish from China; it remained an
important element of popular religion