Transcript From Yao to Mao: A Thematic Overview of Chinese History

Han culture and society
• Elaborate tomb
architecture
• Development of
Confucian political
and ethical thought
• Refinement of
examination system
& civil bureaucracy
• Introduction of
Buddhism
After Han, age of disunity
• Invasions of
nomadic groups
from northern
steppes
• Diverse cultures and
political structures
• Rise of Buddhism as
significant moral
and cultural
influence
Patterns have emerged…
• Empire-building facilitated by military
conquest, political alliances, cultural
assimilation
• Most invaders come from inland empires &
steppes
• Patchwork empire; significant local diversity
• Confucian traditions develop alongside
competing ethical and religious systems
• Rulers emphasize popular welfare as the
definition of good government, but expect
obedient population
Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE)
• Tang rulers linked to
nomadic groups
• Population reached
some 50 million people
• Creation of unified
legal code;
resurrection of Han
institutions
• Buddhist & Daoist
institutions at the
height of their power
and wealth
Tang culture and society
Increased trade led to greater
variety of foodstuffs, like the
“golden peaches of
Samarkand”…
Control and danger
• How to defend and police
such a large population,
such diffuse borders
• Problem of rebellion,
particularly in
borderlands: An Lushan
and the Tibetans
• Attacks on the
Buddhism: in 846,
seizure of temples and
other property
Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE)
• Introduction of fastgrowing rice led to
dramatic population
growth
• Development of
specialized agriculture
and more sophisticated
urban markets
• Rise of NeoConfucianism as state
orthodoxy
Why no industrial revolution?
• Did language
impede innovation?
• Was there an
“equilibrium trap”
between population
and need for laborsaving devices?
• Defensive posture
impedes trade and
cultural exchange?
Song falls to northern invaders
• Song conquered
first by Jin, then by
Yuan (Mongols)
• Mongols
discriminate against
Han Chinese, but
eventually revive
many aspects of
Song imperial
system
As we leave the middle period…
• How Chinese historians explained dynastic
cycle:
• Dynasties founded by virtuous rulers; corrupt
heirs lose Mandate of Heaven; conquered by
foreign invaders or peasant rebels
• Recent explanations: periods of extreme
technological development, population
growth, and economic & cultural change lead
to political instability
• When conquerors were non-Han (often
steppe people), were they fully assimilated? If
not, how did foreign ideas make an impact?
China in the Modern Period
(1308-2011)
Tactics in studying Chinese
history…
• Appreciating the extraordinary degree of
geographical, cultural, linguistic, and ethnic
diversity
• Countering the myth of “eternal China” by
defining historical units and themes that
acknowledge growth, change, influences by
outside world
• Looking for historical themes that enrich our
understanding of contemporary problems,
without reducing them to stereotypes
Ming Dynasty (1308-1644)
The Yongle
emperor, son of
Ming founder
• Ming established by
peasant rebellion
against the Mongols
• Establishes vast
imperial bureaucracy,
sophisticated
taxation system
• Examination system
feeds gentry
ambitions; NeoConfucian texts
orthodox
Zheng He’s voyages (1405-1444)
• 7 voyages for
diplomacy and
trade; flaunted
power and wealth
• “treasure ships”
carried porcelain,
silk, lacquer for
export
• Carried back ivory,
rhinoceros horn,
rare woods and
incense, medicine
• Voyages ceased as
domestic trade &
politics stabilized
The legacy of the voyages?
• “At the heart of the matter is China’s view of itself and its
position in the world, which has changed little to the
present day. Today there is still the same ambiguity
toward foreigners and foreign influence. The opening and
closing of doors. The sullen refuge in isolation.”
• Shen Zhou’s Night Vigil (1492): “My outward form is slave
to external things, and my mind takes its direction from
them. Hearing is obscured by the sounds of bell and
drum; seeing is obscured by patterns and beauty. This is
why material things benefit people seldom, harm them
often. Sometimes it happens, though, as with tonight’s
sounds and colors, that while they do not differ from
those of other times, yet they strike the ear and eye all at
once, lucidly, wonderfully becoming a part of me. That
they are bell and drum sounds, patterns and beauty, now
cannot help but be an aid to the advancement of my selfcultivation. In this way, things cannot serve to enslave
man.”
Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)
• China once again
ruled by foreign
invaders, this time
Manchu
• Almost fifty years
required to subdue
rebellion;
pacification due to
Han gentry
cooperation