Transcript first ten slides

Medieval China
Essential Questions
1. Why has China seen a constant cycle of unifying dynasties separated by
times of civil war and chaos?
2. How did problems related to land ownership and the tax burden on the
peasantry influence both the rise and the fall of China’s medieval dynasties?
3. To what extent did China’s imperial exam system bring about the selection
of officials based on merit, and how did that exam system help China’s
rulers promote a more centralized and unified state?
4. Why was Confucianism such a dominant way of thinking among China’s
educated ruling elites in these centuries?
5. What has been the appeal of Buddhism to many Chinese, and why was it
regarded with suspicion at times by some of China’s rulers?
6. In what ways was China’s “medieval” period a time of dynamic
technological and economic change and development?
Before the Medieval Period
• Han Dynasty
(202 BCE–220 CE):
growth and expansion
• Mandate of Heaven
• Medieval China’s
three dynasties:
• Sui (580–618)
• Tang (618–906)
• Song (960–1127)
• Recovery and a time of great
glory and development
Zhang Qian, explorer during the
Han dynasty, travels west
The Collapse of the Han Dynasty
• The Han Dynasty
ended in 220 CE
• Strong regional states
replaced the
Han Dynasty
• “Period of the
Three Kingdoms”
Map of the Three Kingdoms
Power Struggles Between the
Han and the Sui
• People longed for centralized
government
• Taoism
• Political instability did not
result in a loss of culture
Taoist and alchemist Tao Hengjing
Discussion Questions
1. Explain the concept of the “Mandate of Heaven.”
What sorts of things do you think would have to
happen for people to speak of a Chinese dynasty as
having lost the Mandate of Heaven?
2. The Han Dynasty is often compared with the Roman
Empire, which existed at the same time. In what ways
were the fall of these two great empires similar? How
did they differ with regard to what followed?
The Sui Dynasty
• After the fall of the Han,
warlords ruled China
• In 581, Yang Jian seized
power and changed name to
Emperor Wendi
• Reunited north and south to
restore the empire
• Reestablished Confucianism
Emperor Wendi
Emperor Wendi’s Reforms
• Land reforms improved
position of the peasants
• Higher status for the militia
• Improved currency system
• Unification facilitated trade
• Strengthened governmental
centralization
Portrait of Emperor Wendi
Yang Di’s Construction Projects
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Repair projects
The Grand Canal
Large labor force
Costs: financial and
in human lives
The Collapse of the Sui
• Peasant rebellions
• Failed military
campaigns
• Financial problems
Yang Di, the last major Sui emperor