Transcript RESURGENCE OF EMPIRE IN EAST ASIA

RESURGENCE OF
EMPIRE IN EAST
ASIA
CHINA UNDER THE SUI,
TANG, AND SONG
ANARCHY IN CHINA
“Era of Division”
• Period Resembled Western European
history after the collapse of the
Romans
– Disunity and civil war between nomads
and Chinese warlords
• Rival states, dynasties, each
controlling a part of the old Han state
• Aristocrats, provincial nobles held land
and real influence
– Common Chinese subject to taxes,
warfare, drafting into army, frequent
invasions, bandits
East Asia
THE SONG ARTISTIC WORLD
DEMOGRAPHIC AND
ENVIRONMENTAL DEVELOPMENTS
• An agricultural revolution
– Twice flowering, fastripening rice increased food
supplies
– Population growth
• 45 to 115 million inhabitants,
between 600 and 1200 C.E.
• Urbanization: China most
urbanized country in
period
• Commercialized
agriculture
– Some regions depended on
other regions for food
• Extreme surplus of southern
rice allowed cities to flourish
NEO-CONFUCIANISM
• Early Confucianism focused on practical
issues
– Politics, Public Morality, Social
Relationships
• Confucians drew inspiration
– From Buddhism Spirituality
• Logical thought
• Argumentation of Buddhism
– From Taoism Cosmology
• Metaphysical issues: nature of soul
• Man's relation with cosmos
Renaissance in
Confucianism
• Confucian renaissance permitted the restoration of imperial
government, particularly the establishment of a centralized
bureaucracy that was necessary for…
– The maintenance of the examination and education system
– The development of public works
– The administration of all levels of local government
• But the development of neo-Confucianism occurred at the cost
of…
– An effective military; China became increasingly vulnerable to
outside attack.
– Increasing emphasis on traditional Chinese philosophy at the
expense of outside influence and innovation.
• The attack on Buddhism, for one, diminished Chinese willingness to
accept foreign ideas.
PATRIARCHAL SOCIETY
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Developments reinforced patriarchal
society
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Chinese reaction to foreign ideas
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Reaction to Buddhist’s gender equality
Results
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Tightening of patriarchal structure
Reinforcing of male domination
Foot binding gained popularity during the
Song
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Emphasized dependence of women on
men, home
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Wealthy, aristocrats could afford practice,
hire servants to do work
Male sense of beauty at women’s expense
Poor, peasant women not subject to footbinding
TECHNOLOGY & INDUSTRY
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Porcelain
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High quality porcelain since the Tang, known as chinaware
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Technology diffused to other societies, especially to Abbasid Arabia
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Exported vast quantities to southeast Asia, India, Persia, and Africa
Metallurgy
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Improvement: used coke instead of coal in furnaces to make iron, steel
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Iron production increased tenfold between the early 9th and 12th century
Gunpowder
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Discovered by Daoist alchemists during the Tang
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Bamboo "fire lances," a kind of flame thrower, and primitive bombs
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Gunpowder chemistry diffused throughout Eurasia
Printing
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Became common during the Tang
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From block-printing to movable type
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Books became widespread
Naval technology
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"South-pointing needle" - the magnetic compass
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Double hulled junks with rudder, water-tight compartments
SONG LIFE
A MARKET ECONOMY
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Merchants in Charge
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Only period in China where merchants socially superior to aristocrats
Merchants attempted to…
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Intermarry with aristocrats, become landowners
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Have sons admitted as Confucian bureaucrats
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Espouse Confucianism as way into traditional elites
Financial instruments
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Banking and credit institution
“Flying money " were letters of credit
Paper money backed by state, treasury
A cosmopolitan society
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Foreign merchants in large cities of China
Mostly Arab (Muslim), Indian, S.E. Asian
Chinese merchants journeyed throughout region
Conservative vs.
Innovative
• Conservative
– The Chinese followed tradition by restoring the emphasis on an
imperial centralized government that relied on a trained scholargentry class.
– Similarly, the restoration of Confucianism as the central ideology of
the state was accompanied by the persecution of Buddhism.
– There also was a heavy emphasis on a social structure of the
interlocking hierarchies associated with Confucianism.
• Among aspects stressed were…
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the role of the scholar-gentry
agricultural reform benefiting the peasantry
male-dominated households in which the position of women deteriorated
lack of status for merchants
the development of art forms heavily dependent on nature and Confucian
themes of harmony.
Conservative vs.
Innovative
• Innovative
– Showed in the integration of southern China with
northern regions due to the development of agricultural
productivity in the South
– The increasing sophistication in market organization
and commercial practices (paper money, credit)
– Technological sophistication (military use of
gunpowder, the compass, movable type, the abacus,
new engineering, and agricultural advances)
How is it that China holds
to conservative practices,
but at the same time is
very innovative?
• Use your notes and knowledge to help
answer this question.
Discuss the changes and
continuities over time in East
Asia from 402 BCE to 1279 CE.
• Write a thesis statement for the above
prompt. Don’t forget to identify the time
period, identify the place(s), answer the
prompt, and create your
groupings/themes.