Strayer: Chapter 9Lecture Notes

CHINA & THE WORLD: EAST ASIAN CONNECTIONS500 – 1300

How did China interact with the world during the Late Classical era?• China was a major player among the third-wave civilizations.• A China-centered “world order” encompassed most of

Eastern Asia• China’s borders reached far into Central Asia• Wealthy & cosmopolitan culture• Economy & technological innovation had effects throughout

Eurasia

• China was also changed by its interactions with non-Chinese peoples• Nomadic military

border-peoples• International trade

Why is China during this period different than Classical Era China?• The Han dynasty collapsed about 220 C.E.• Led to 300 years of political fragmentations• Nomadic incursions from the north• Conditions discredited Confucianism in many eyes• Chinese migration southward to Yangzi River valley began

How did China reunify and again emerged as a world power?• The Sui dynasty (589 – 618) reunified China• Sui rulers vastly extended the canal system• Made internal trade,

population, & economic growth much easier

• Their ruthlessness & failure to conquer Korea alienated people, exhausted resources• Mandate of Heaven lost,

dynasty was overthrown, but the state didn’t disintegrate

How did China reunify & again emerge as a world power?•Tang (618 – 907) & Song (960 – 1279) dynasties built on Sui foundations•Regarded as a “golden age” of arts & literature• Poetry, landscape painting, ceramics of high order• Birth of Neo-Confucianism (Confucian revival with added elements of Buddhism & Daoism)

Divided government

functions between six ministries:

state revenue,

public works, defense, justice,

personnel, and religious

affairs

Reorganized local

administration

Expanded civil service system

started by the Hans

Founded a university to

prepare students for civil service

exams

Implemented flexible new law

code and restructured judicial

system to include courts of appeal

Expanded Chinese territory by

conquering Tibet—thereby opening

door for trade with the West

Built new capital city at Chang’an

and engaged in many public

works projects

What was government like during the Tang dynasty?

Why did the Tang Dynasty fall?•After Taizong’s death in 649, a long line of good emperors extended his work• But after 760, the Tang Dynasty

would produce no more great rulers

• Chinese power steadily declined as a result• Last Tang ruler and his family were killed during a civil war and Chang’an was burnt to the ground• 907 AD

CHANG’AN•Planned city• 30 miles square

• Held population of nearly one million people

•Another two million lived in suburbs• Largest city in the world

•Crowded with markets and temples• But was a government center

before all else

•Government buildings and emperor’s palace complex occupied several square miles on the northern side of the city

TANG BUREAUCRACY•Bureaucracy was huge but performed its job honestly and efficiently•Why?• Board of Censors

• Spied on bureaucrats to make sure everyone did their job correctly•Acted as court of appeals for anyone who felt they had not been treated fairly

• Educational system

• Promotion based exclusively on merit•Weeded out the weak and mediocre•Only the best and brightest made it into the bureaucracy•And only the best and brightest of them were promoted

Tang bureaucrat

RESPONSIBLITY•Power of government was immense• Every urban neighborhood had its

gates locked at midnight

•National urban curfew designed to reduce crime

• Peasants organized into “collective guarantee groups”

•Members had to police themselves and make sure their neighbors behaved themselves•Or else whole group would be punished

•Responsibility, not freedom, was keynote of Tang government

What was government like during the Song dynasty?

Song Dynasty founded in 960 by

Zhao KuangyinWould last until

1279

Did not accomplish anything

noteworthy in the area of politics

and military achievements

What was the “economic revolution” like during the Song Dynasty?• Time of great prosperity• Great improvement in agricultural production• Rapid population growth (50 – 60 million during Tang over 120

during Song)• Most urbanized region in the world• Dozens of cities with populations 100,000+• Hangzhou – capital – over a million people

• Network of internal waterways (canals, rivers, lakes) = cheap transportation• Great improvements in industrial production – iron• Inventions – printing press, shipbuilding, navigation, gunpowder• Production for market rather than local consumption• Cheap transportation• Taxes in cash• Paper money

SONG SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS

•During Song Dynasty the Chinese invented• The compass•Revolutionized navigation• The printing press•Used block printing•Not movable type•Gunpowder•Used primarily for entertainment purposes• Fireworks

•Chinese doctors took the pulse of patients to aid them in their diagnosis and inoculated patients against smallpox

ACUPUNCTUREChinese doctors developed acupuncture

It is the practice of inserting needles in precise locations of the body to anesthetize patients for surgery

Western doctors are still not sure how it works

it might block transmission of pain signals to the brain

it might also cause body to manufacture its own anesthesia

PROBLEMS

•Growing population• Over 120 million under the Songs

• Combined with increased taxes resulted in the impoverishment of peasantry

• Inflation• Provoked by deficit spending by

Songs

• Military budget gobbled up 80% of all revenue every year

• Forcing government to borrow to pay for other things•Used to support one million man standing army

DECLINE IN THE STATUS OF WOMEN I

• Growth of concubinage among upper class

•When married man’s mistresses live under same roof as his legal wife•And their children have the same rights as his legitimate children

DECLINE IN THE STATUS OF WOMEN

• Footbinding• Feet of young girls are tightly wrapped

in linen strips

•Remained bound in this manner for ten years•Result is the “lily foot”

• Men liked this

• It showed off the fact that they were so wealthy that their wives did have to work• They also saw the walk produced by this mutilation as sexually exciting

•Women were mutilated to satisfy the egos and desires of men

How did China relate to its Northern Nomadic neighbors?• Northern nomads lived in small kinship-based groups• Occasional creation of powerful states or confederations• Pastoral societies needed grain, farm products, & luxury goods from China• Pressure from northern/western frontier was a constant factor in Chinese history• Nomads often felt threatened by the Chinese – military often attacked on the steppes• Great Wall

• Chinese needed the nomads• Horses & other goods• Nomads controlled parts of Silk Roads

What was the solution to managing unfriendly frontier peoples?• The Tribute System in THEORY…• Chinese understood themselves as the center of the world –

“middle kingdom” – far superior to “barbarian” outsiders• Believed that barbarians could become civilized Chinese

• Tang/Song dynasties established the “tribute system” to manage relations with non-Chinese peoples

1. Non-Chinese authorities must acknowledge Chinese superiority

2. Present tribute to emperor

3. Would receive trading privileges and “bestowals” in return (often worth more than the tribute

4. System worked for centuries

What was the solution to managing unfriendly frontier peoples?• The Tribute System in PRACTICE…• System disguised contradictory realities• Some nomadic empires could deal with China on at least

equal terms• Xiongnu confederacy (est. 200 B.C.E.)• Han Chinese emperor had to recognized political equality of Xiongnu &

pay Xiongnu what amounted to tribute

• Turkic Empires of Mongolia

were similar• Steppe nomads usually did not want to conquer & rule China – preferred extortion• Nomads moved in when

Chinese state broke down in order to save beneficial relationship

• Several steppe/nomadic states took over parts of northern China

How did nomadic interactions affect both cultures?• Nomads who ruled parts of China often adopted Chinese ways• Chinese culture did not have great impact on steppe nomadic peoples as a whole – pastoral societies retained their cultures because most lived where Chinese-style ag was impossible• Interaction = trade, military conflict, negotiations, extortion, & some cultural influence• Steppe culture influence the parts of northern China that were ruled frequently by nomads• Founders of Sui & Tang dynasties were of mixed

blood• Tang dynasty: fad among N. Chinese elites for

anything connected to “western barbarians”

How did China effect other East/SE Asian societies?• Korea, Vietnam, & Japan also had tributary relationships with China

How did China affect Korean society?• Interaction with China started with

temporary Chinese conquest of northern Korea during Han dynasty• Korean states emerged in 4th – 7th

centuries C.E.• States were rivals – Korea resisting

Chinese control• 7th century – Korean Silla kingdom allied

with Tang dynasty to bring political unity• Korean ruler’s relationships with China

provided legitimacy to their rule• Acceptance of much Chinese culture –

Confucianism, end of “free-choice” marriages, no more plural marriage for men (some wives reduced to rank of concubine)

• Korea maintained its Korean culture• Buddhism moved beyond Korean elite

How did China effect Vietnamese society?• Very similar experience to that of Korea,

but Vietnam’s cultural heartland in the Red River Valley was officially part of the Chinese state from 111 BCE – 939 CE• Real effort at cultural assimilation of elite• Provoked rebellions – rebellion in early 10th

century CE established Vietnam as a separate state, remained tributary to China

• Vietnamese rulers adopted Chinese approach to gov’t• Examination system, established “emperor”

who claimed Mandate of Heaven

• Much of distinctive Vietnamese culture remained in place• Language, greater roles for women, kept nature

goddesses & “female Buddha,” independent writing

How did China effect Japanese society?• Different than Korea & Vietnam. Japan

was never invaded, conquered, or even threatened by China – borrowing Chinese culture was voluntary• Main period of borrowing from 7th – 9th

centuries CE when 1st unified Japanese state began to emerge• Japanese bureaucratic state modeled on

China• Large-scale missions to China to learn• 17 Article Constitution resulted – Japanese ruler

as Chinese-style emperor, encourage Buddhism & Confucianism, identified moral rulers as foundation for social harmony

• 2 capital cities (Nara & Heian) were founded – modeled on Chinese capital of Chang’an

• Elements of Chinese culture took root in Japan – schools of Chinese Buddhism, art, architecture, education, medicine, religious views

How did China effect Japan?• Japanese never created an effective

centralized & bureaucratic state• Political power became decentralized• Local authorities (Daimyo – aka lords)

developed their own military values• Bushido – samurai set of values

• Japanese society is much more celebratory towards military values than China

• Religious distinctiveness – Buddhism never replaced native belief system based on sacred spirits – Shintoism

• Maintained distinctive literary & artistic culture• Unique writing system mixed Chinese

characters with Japanese symbols

• Elite women escaped more of Confucian oppression• Only began to lose status in 12th century with

rise of warrior culture

EconomicWhat effects did China have on the late-classical world’s economies?

• Technological innovations spread beyond its borders• Salt production through solar

evaporation• Papermaking• Printing (resisted by Islamic world)• Gunpowder – invented circa 1000

CE; used differently in Europe• Textile, metallurgical, & naval

technologies – magnetic compass

• Riches available in China stimulated commercial life all over Eurasia

How did world economies effect China?

• China learned cotton & sugar cultivation & processing from India• Population boom around 1000

assisted by intro of new rice strains from Vietnam• Some tech creativity was

motivated by cross-cultural contact• Printing by Buddhism

• Growing participation in Indian Ocean Trade• S. China begins exporting products• Sometimes brought violence

How did Buddhism & China affect each other?•Buddhism was India’s most important gift to China•China’s only large-scale cultural borrowing until Marxism•China was the base for Buddhism’s spread to Korea & Japan

Why did China ultimately turn on Buddhism?• IMPORTANT: All across history we continue to see China display

immense pride in itself and a general belief that they are the superior society. This often results in isolationist policies and a distrust of all thing foreign. This is an important theme in Chinese history! Remember it!• Deepening resentment of the Buddhist establishment’s wealth• It was foreign, thus offensive• Withdrawal from society of monks undermined the Confucian-based

family system• Government xenophobia (hatred of outsiders)• Note that Buddhism did not vanish from China – it’s still an important

religious element