Inner & East Asia: Sui, Tang, Song 600-1200 CE
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Transcript of Inner & East Asia: Sui, Tang, Song 600-1200 CE
Inner & East Asia: Sui, Tang, Song600-1200 CE
Sui Dynasty: Reunification & Military Expansion
• Government based on Confucianism-heavily influenced by Buddhism
• Resources spent on infrastructure, military
• Capital at Chang’an• Grand canal-military,
communication & trade• Irrigation systems• Improved
Great Wall• Militarily ambitious
Tang Empire, 618 -755
• Territorial expansion• Avoided over-centralization• Combined Turkic influence w/ Chinese Confucian traditions• Influx of cosmopolitan culture,
Tang Military
Buddhism & Tang Empire
• Emperors used Buddhism to legitimized power
• kings promoted themselves as spiritual agents-provided access to Buddhist realm
• Monasteries allied w/ Emperors
• Received tax exemptions, land gifts
Mahayana Buddhism
• Followed trade routes to Chang’an– Cosmopolitan city
• Flexible– adaptable– Buddhist texts
translated into local languages
Chang’an
• Ambassadors-tributary system
• Over a million residents• Foreigners lived in
special compounds• walled gated quarters• Roads/canals (Grand
Canal)• Islamic & Jewish
merchants• Large commercial ships• Bubonic plague arrived Combined Central Asian
influences (Turkic) & Chinese culture
• Roads, rivers, & canals facilitated trade
• Exports exceeded imports
Foreign trade caravan
Power Rivals: Uighur & Tibetan Empires
Power Rivals: Uighur
• Mid-eighth century Turkic group
• Empire in Central Asia
• Merchants & scribes• Strong ties to Islam
& China• Own script• Lasted 50 years
Power Rivals: Tibet
• Large empire with access to SE Asia, China, & South & Central Asia
• Open to Indian, Chinese, Islamic, & even (via Iran) Greek culture
• In early Tang, relations were friendly
– Tibetan king received a Chinese princess
• Mahayana Buddhism brought to Tibet-combined w local religion
• By late 600’s military rivalry began
– Tibet allied w/ Tang rival
• 9th century, Tibetan king failed to eliminate Buddhism
• Tibet entered long period of monastic rule & isolation
Tang: Upheavals & Repression, 750–879• Conflict w/ Tibetans & Turkic
Uighurs-backlash against “foreigners”
• Confucian ideology reasserted• Buddhism undermined family
values- many became monks & nuns-deprived families of marriage alliances & descendants
• Buddhism eroded tax base & legitimized women’s participation in politics
• Wu Zhao-seized control w/Buddhist support
• Claimed to be bodhisattva• Favored Buddhists & Daoists• Confucian elites characterized
unorthodox rulers & powerful women as “evil”
• Buddhism associated w/ barbarians & social ills
End of Tang879-907
• Territory expanded-many internal rebellions
• 907- Tang state collapsed• Regional military governors established
own kingdoms• None able to integrate territory on same
scale• East Asia cut off from communication w/
Islamic world & Europe
New States Emerge in East Asia, to 1200:
• Liao, Jin, & Chinese Song
• Song cut off from Central Asia so it turned to sea– strengthened
contacts with Korea, Japan and SE Asia
Southern Song: 1127-1279
Song Innovation• Technological
innovations based on info brought from West Asia during Tang era– Mathematics– Astronomy – calendar making– Mechanical clock – Improved
compass– Sternpost rudder,
watertight bulkheads
Song Industries
• Standing army– professionally trained
– regularly paid
• Iron and coal – high–grade iron and
steel • weapons, armor,
defensive works
• Gunpowder weapons
Song Economy & Society
• Confucian-elite officials dominated
• Neo-Confucian philosophy developed
• Chan (Zen) Buddhism became popular
• Civil Service Exam matured
• Hereditary system broke down
• Meritocracy improved government efficiency & reliability
Song Economy & Society
• Moveable type = mass-produced government authorized exam prep materials
• New agricultural technology = increased agricultural productivity = increased population in South China
Song Economy and Society
• China’s population grew to 100 million
• Large crowed, well-managed cities like Hangzhou
• “Flying money”-interregional credit system
• Government issued paper money• Caused inflation and later
withdrawn• Difficulty controlling market
economy• Tax collection was privatized • Burgeoning new merchant elite
Song Economy & Society
• Women’s status declined• Totally subordinated to
men• Lost rights to own and
manage property• Remarriage forbidden• Bound feet became
mandatory status symbol for elite women
• Working-class women, and non-Han more independent
New Kingdoms in South Asia:
• Korea, Japan, Vietnam all rice economies
• labor needs fit well w/ Confucian concepts of hierarchy, obedience, & discipline
• all adopted aspects of Chinese culture but political ideologies remained different
New Kingdoms in South Asia: Korea
• Cultural bridge• Hereditary elite
absorbed Confucianism & Buddhism from China-passed to Japan
• Kingdoms first united by Silla in 668 then Koryo early 900’s
• Used woodblock printing as early as 700’s
• later invented moveable type- passed on to Song
New Kingdoms in South Asia: Japan
• Mountainous terrain created hundreds of small states - unified in about 4th-5th century
• Government established at Yamato on Honshu Island
• Mid-7th century political reforms established centralized government legal code, national histories, architecture, city planning based on Tang cities
• Modeled on China but adapted to their own needs
• Maintained emperorship• Shinto survived alongside
Buddhism
New Kingdoms in South Asia: Japan
• Women enjoyed a relatively strong position
• Aristocratic women became royal consorts-linked court w/ own kinsmen
• Siuko, became empress when her husband died in 592
• Prince Shotuku, her nephew & regent, developed Constitution based on Confucian & Buddhist approaches to statecraft
New Kingdoms in South Asia: Japan• Heian Period – 794-1185• Fujiwara dominated Japanese
government• Aesthetic refinement of
aristocracy• Elevated civil officials above
warriors• By late 1000’s, some warrior
clans became wealthy & powerful
• Kamakura Shoganate took control
• Established capital at Kamakura in eastern Honshu
New Kingdoms in South Asia: Vietnam
• Geographical proximity & similar wet-rice agriculture made it suitable for integration w/ south China
• Economic & cultural assimilation took place during Tang & Song periods
• Northern Vietnam elite (Annam) modeled their culture on Chinese
• When Tang fell, Annam established itself as an independent state under the name Dai Viet
New Kingdoms in South Asia: Vietnam
• Southern Vietnam, kingdom of Champa influenced by Malay and Indian as well as by China
• During Song, Champa cultivated and exported fast-maturing Champa rice to China
• Strong common Confucian interest in hierarchy
• Status of women varied• Foot-binding not common outside
China• Before Confucianism, women had
higher status in Annam than Chinese women
• Education of women was not valued or desirable anywhere