China

China in the River Valley Era

The Hwang He agricultural civilization New Technology Art & Music

Writing

Progressed from reading scratch marks on bones to ideographic symbols ancestor worship

Oracle shell Oracle bone

The Shang Dynasty- 1523-1029 B.C.E

Constructed tombs and palaces Chinese world view one of harmony between man and nature Life is cyclical

Shang DynastyThe era around 1200 B.C.E. saw the decline or collapse of most civilizations in Western Asia, Egypt, the eastern Mediterranean, and the Indus Valley who were dependant on the same trade routes.The only area that did not see significant decline was China, where the Shang Dynasty continued to rule. China was not as dependent on Western Asia trade.

Silk Routes

Classical Era The Zhou (Chou) 1027 to 256 B.C.E. The Era of Warring States 402-201 B.C.E.The Qin 221 B.C.E. - 202 B.C.E.The Han 202 B.C.E – 220 C.E.

Classical ChinaA difference between river-valley civilizations and classical civilizations and was that in classical civilizations political organizations were more elaborateA difference between river-valley civilizations and classical is that religious sacrifice was suppressed in the classical civilizations

Zhou (Chou) Dynasty 1029-256 B.C.E.

This dynasty flourished until about 700 B.C.E when it was beset by decline in its infrastructure and frequent invasions by nomadic peoples from border regions.

Zhou (Chou) Dynasty 1029-256 B.C.E.

•The Zhou extended the territory of China from the Hwang Ho River Valley by taking over the Yang-tze River Valley and this became known as “Middle Kingdom”.

Wheat was grown in the North; rice in the SouthThis agriculture diversity promoted population growth.

Zhou Dynasty

Promoted linguistic unity: Mandarin Chinese Increasing cultural unity helps explain why, when the Zhou empire did began to fail, scholars were able to use philosophical ideas to lesson the impact of growing political confusion.

Zhou Dynasty

Political concept known as the “mandate from heaven.” The dynasty members were known as “Sons of Heaven.”

The Era of Warring States 402-201 B.C.E.

Confucianism, Daoism, Legalism originated as responses to societal problems during the time of disruption

Daoism

Lao-tzu

the way of nature

Legalism

Legalist disdained Confucian virtues in favor of authoritarian state that was ruled by force. For legalists, human nature was evil and required restraint and discipline- the army would control and the people labor- in the perfect state.

K’ung Fu-tse

ConfuciusK’ung Fu-tse or Confucius, c. 551 to 478 B.C.E., lived during the Era of Warring States Period between the Zhou and Han Dynasties, a time of political chaos.Confucianism is a system of ethics and was recorded in a book called AnalectsHierarchical vision for society; some had authority, some obeyed their superiorsHarmony within relationships, particular those in the family

The Chinese government accepted Daoism because

Daoist did not have great political ambition Daoist came to acknowledge the Son of HeavenDaoism provided spiritual insights for many in the upper class belief in balance & harmony

ConfucianismEstablished a hierarchy and insisted upon reciprocal duties between people In official Chinese hierarchy, merchants ranked below students, peasants, artisans, & soldiers. The lowest people were the “mean people”Educated bureaucratic elite, peasants, artisans,soldiers, merchants, mean-pople

CultureCeremony became an important part of upper-class Chinese life because the Chinese believed that people should restrain crude impulses.

Key Features of Chinese Family Life

Ancestor Worship for the upper class that emphasized tight family values and structuresGender hierarchyParent-child hierarchy Discipline

Qin Dynasty China

Qin Dynasty.

Qin Shih Huangdi, First EmperorQin conferred the name China to the regionHe realized that China’s problem lay in the regional power of the aristocrats, like many later centralizers in world history, i.e. Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV

Qin Shih Huangdi Provided a single law code for the whole empire and established a uniform tax system Delegated special areas and decisions to the emperors ministers thus further promoting effective centralized government. Some dealt with finance, others with justice Followed up on centralization by extending Chinese territory to the south, reaching present-day Hong Kong on the South China Sea and influencing northern Vietnam.

In the north, to guard against barbarian invasion, Shih Huangdi built a Great Wall, extending over 3000 miles, wide enough for chariots to move along its crest.

Qin innovations in Chinese politics and culture National census Standardization of coins, weights and measures; even the length of the axles on cart led to standardized road building Agricultural innovation: irrigation projects Promoted manufacture, especially silk cloth Uniform written script, completing the process of creating a single basic language for all educated Chinese

Demise of Qin Shih Huangdi His construction projects and high taxes made him unpopular as did theBanning and burning the classical text constripting peasants and excessive labor projects aristocrats lost land Daoist prists opposed him On Shih Huangdi’s death in 210 C.E., popular revolts by the peasants led to one peasant leader establishing himself and his family as the new dynasty of China

The Qin dynasty differed from the Zhou

It was more centralized

Han Dynasty 202 B.C.E.-220C.E

Reduced the brutal repression of the Qin.

Han DynastyInstituted a system of examination to prepare professional civil servants promoted scientific researchLarge construction projects Instituted a system of punishment of criminals Promoted Confucian beliefs Census taking Exerted military & legal power

Han DynastyThe Han emperors revived ConfucianismConfucian built the links among many levels of authority that came to characterize Chine politics at their best.

Han DynastyTrade was particularly important during the Han period and was produced by skilled artisans in the cities. Silk, jewelry, leather goods, and furniture. Food was also traded. Copper coins began to circulate.Classical China reached far higher levels of technical expertise than Europe or western Asia in the same period, a lead they would long maintain.

Calligraphy

Civil Service Examinations

Han Dynasty Expanded Chinese territory into Korea, Indochina,

and central Asia Contact with India and with the Parthian empire in the Middle East through trade with the Roman Empire around the Mediterranean Repaired the Great Wall to keep out the Huns

Wu Ti, 140-87 B.C.E

Enforced peace throughout most of the continent of Asia Supported Confucianism and established shrines to promote worship of the ancient philosopher as a god.

Key Elements of Han Bureaucracy

Training Specialization Confucian-based ethic

Demise of the Han Dynasty

The Huns, a nomadic people from central Asia overturned the Hun dynasty and occupied China from 220 C.E. until 531 C.E. Between 220 and 589 China was in a state of chaos. By the time stability restored the classical and formative period of Chinese civilization had ended.

Era of DivisionsThe demise of the Han Dynasty and occupation of China by the Huns resulted in a chaotic time known as the Era of Divisions that lasted from 220 C.E. until 531 C.E.

Demise of the Han Dynasty

With the collapse of the Han dynasty, Daoism (which would join with Buddhist influence from India during the chaos that followed in the years of the Hun occupation) guaranteed that the Chinese people would not be united by a single religious or philosophical system. In time Daoism became a formal religion

Key Elements of the Classical Era

In literature, a set of five classics, written during the early part of the Zhou dynasty and then edited during the Confucian period, provided important literary tradition. They were used, among other things, as a basis for civil service exams. The five classics contain many things: historical treatises, speeches, and other political material, a discussion on etiquette, and ceremonies, 300 poems dealing with love, politics, joy, family life.From the classical period forward, the ability to learn and recite poetry became the mark of the educated Chinese.

Key Elements of the Classical Era

Chinese art during the classical period was largely decorative, stressing detail and craftsmanship. Calligraphy became important art form. Chinese artists worked in bronze, pottery, carved jade, and ivory, and wove silk screen. Classical China did not produce monumental building because of the absence of a single religion

Key Elements of the Classical Era

In science practical work was encouraged rather than Imaginative theorizingChinese astronomers developed an accurate calendar by 444 B.C.E based on a year of 365.5 daysAstronomers calculated the movement of the planets Saturn and JupiterAstronomers observed sunspots more than 1500 years before comparable knowledge developed in Europe

Key Elements of the Classical Era

Medical research- precise anatomical knowledge, studied hygene to promote a longer life

Major Technological Innovations of Classical China

Paper wheelbarrow advances in metalwork

Economic Strength of Classical China

A key element of economic strength was the high level of technological innovation

The government was active in the economy.

Political Institution- became one of the hallmarks of classical Chinese culture

Strong local units never disappeared China relieved heavily on patriarchal families. Whether within the family or the central state, most Chinese believed in the importance of respect for those in powerThe central government had little effect on the everyday life of the people.Chinese proverb: “heaven is high and the emperor is far away.”

The central government had little effect on the everyday life of the people.Chinese proverb: “heaven is high and the emperor is far away.”

Hallmarks of Classical China

Classical China reached far higher levels of technical expertise than Europe or western Asia in the same period, a lead they would long maintain. Chinese classical society evolved with little outside influence

Post Classical China220-589 Era of Division

581-618 Sui Dynasty618-907 Tang Dynasty

960-1279 Song Dynasty

Era of Division

The period of political disorder and chaotic warfare that followed the Qin-Han era is referred to as the Era of DivisionBuddhism eclipsed Confucian teachings

The Era of Division

dominated by political division among many small warring states who were often ruled by nomadic invaders

period of Buddhist dominance

growth of monastic movement

loss of imperial centralization

loss of dominance of scholar-gentry in favor of militarized aristocracy

The Sui Dynasty

Wendi YangdiThe emergence of the Sui dynasty at the end of the 6th century C. E. (580s), after nearly four centuries of discord, signaled a return to strong dynastic control.The short-lived Sui dynasty reestablished a centralized empire

Sui Calligraphy

Wendi secured his power base

Won support of the neighboring nomadic military commandersHe reconfirmed their titles at the expense of the Confucian scholar-gentry classWith the support of the nomadic military commanders he spread his empire across northern China

Wendi won support

Lowered taxesEstablished granaries to ensure a reserve of foodLarge landowners and peasants alike were taxed a portion of their crop to keep the granaries filledSurplus grain was brought to market in times of food shortage to hold down the price of the people’s staple food

Yangdi

Established a milder legal codeUpgraded Confucian education; restored the examination system for regulating entry into the bureaucracyBroad policy of promoting the scholar-gentry in the imperial administration

Yangdi’s policies led to widespread revolt

He forcibly conscripted hundreds of thousands of peasants to build a new capital city at LoyangHe had a series of canals built

The Great Wall

Unsuccessful campaigns in Korea and central Asia against the Turks.

Provincial governors declared independenceBandit gangs raided at willNomadic peoples seized sections of the north China plain

Tang Dynasty Map

The Golden Age of the Tang

Li YuanTang Taizong

Tang strategyContain the Turkic tribesRepair the Great WallCreate frontier armiesHeavenly khan

Tang strategyThe empire was also extended to parts of Tibet in the west, the Red River valley homeland of the Vietnamese in the south and Manchuria in the north

Emperor Kaozong

In 668, Chinese armies overran KoreaSilla, the Korean vassal kingdom, was established at it remained loyal to the TangIn a matter of decades the Tang built an empire far larger than the Han and one whose boundaries extended far beyond the borders of present-day China

Tang DynastyThe Tang supported the reinstitution of the Confucian scholar-gentryJinshi

Zen BuddhismEarly Tang rulers continued to patronize Buddhism while trying to promote education in Confucian classics.

Tang DynastyEmpress Wu, the only female emperor, 690-705 supported Buddhism

Anti-Buddhist BacklashDaoist rivals began stressing their own magical and predictive powersConfucian-scholar-administrators launched the most damaging campaigns against Buddhism

Emperor Wuzong, 841-847

Openly persecuted the BuddhistThousands of Buddhist monasteries and shrines were destroyedHundreds of thousands of monks and nuns were forced to abandon their monastic orders and return to civilian life and again subject to taxation

Legacy of Chinese Buddhism

Buddhism left its mark on the arts, the Chinese language, and Chinese thinking about such things as heaven, charity, and lawBuddhism ceased to be a dominate force in ChinaIn contrast to its impact on the civilizations of southeast Asia, Tibet, and parts of central Asia.

The economic challenge to the imperial order

Monastic lands not taxed; Tang regime lost huge revenues as a result of imperial grants to Buddhist monasteriesThe wills of ordinary Chinese people that turned family property over to Buddhist monasteriesThe state was denied labor because it could not tax or conscript peasants who worked on monastic estates.

Tang DeclineInternal rebellionNomadic incursionsYang GuifeiAn Lushan

The Song DynastyThe last Tang was forced to resign in 907Zhao KuangyinEmperor TaizuThe Northern Liao Dynasty, nomadic Khitan people of Manchia.

Song Dynasty Map

The Song dynasty

Zhao Kuangyin was the founder of the Song dynasty

The Song era

The ascendancy of the scholar-gentry over its aristocratic and Buddhist rivals was fully secured in the Song era.Zhu Xi was the most prominent of the Neo-Confucians during the Song era

Impact of Neo-Confucianism

Neo-Confucians also became familiar with Buddhist beliefs

Li- a concept that defined a spiritual presence similar to the universal spirit of both Hinduism and BuddhismNew form of ConfucianismReconciled Confucianism and BuddhismIt influenced philosophical thought in China, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan in all subsequent eras.

Constructionism

Wang Anshi

Weakness of the SongThe Song paid “tribute” to the KhatanDistain for military and too much emphasis on Confucian elite.

The flight of the Song dynasty from their capital in northern China

Jurchens

Economic development during the period of commercial expansion during the Tang and Song dynasties

The Silk Road connected Chang’an (Xi’an) with Antioch, Asia Minor

Urbanization in China during the Tang-Song era

Hangzhou

The capital of the southern Song dynasty

The agricultural policies of the Sui and Tang emperors

Numbers of free peasantry increased Fortunes of the old aristocratic families declinedLands were distributed more equitably to the free peasant households of the empire The gentry side of the scholar-gentry came to dominate the bureaucracy

Society in Tang- Song China

Age at time of marriage was the primary difference between marriages of the upper and lower classes The status of women Footbinding

Chinese landscape painting

Members of the ruling political elite in China produced many of the paintings in the SongShanshui, the art of drawing with brush and ink

PoetryLi Bo

The independence of Chinese women

Technological innovation of the Tang-Song Era

Coal used for fuelGunpowderComplex bridgesAbacusMoveable type

Confucian

intellectual schools were responsible for the production of most literary and artistic works during the Tang-Song era

The decline of Buddhism in the later Tang and Song dynasties

Confucians attacked Buddhism as a foreign innovation in ChinaConfucians convinced emperors that monastic control of land represented an economic threatPersecution of Buddhists introduced in 840s.

Demise of the southern Song Dynasty in 1279

Mongols

Comparison & Contrast of the the empire under the Tang and the Song dynastiesSimilarities

continued intellectual and political dominance of Confucian scholar- gentrygrowth of bureaucracy essential to imperial administration

Differences:smaller in sizeunable to control nomadic dynasties of the northpayment of tribute to nomadic statesmilitary decline with subjection of aristocracy to scholar-gentryfailure of Wang Anshi's reforms led to military defeat

The elements of Tang-Song economic prosperity

Ways the Tang-Song era departed from previous developments in Chinese civilization

Full incorporation of southern China into economydominance of south as food- producing region & center of population and political capital of southern Songdecline of influence of Buddhismincreasing trend toward intellectual and technological isolationextraordinary level of urbanization--up to 10 percent of population extraordinary level of technology

China’s HegemonyHegemony occurs when a civilization extends its political, economy, social, and cultural influence over others. 600-1450 China was the richest and most powerful of all, and extended its reach over most of Asia.