Transcript Inner and East Asia, 600 – 1200

Inner and East Asia,
600 – 1200
Thinking Skill: Gather and
organize information and data
I. The Early Tang Empire, 618 - 715
A. Tang Origins
 Sui Dynasty (581 – 618)
 Emperor Li Shimin
 Extension of autonomy
 Allowed local nobles, gentry, officials, and
religious establishments to exercise
significant power
 Turkic Inner Asian-Tang Emp. And nobility
descended from Turkic elites
 Appreciated Pastoral nomadic culture of
Inner Asia and Chinese traditions
 Culture/military
B. Buddhism
and the Tang Empire
 Followed Inner Asian precedents in political
use of Buddhism
 Presence of Buddhism, responsibility of
king
 Mahayana Buddhism dominant – facilitated
cultural exchange
 Early Tang dependence on Buddhist
monasteries
 Cosmopolitan - diversity, contacts with
Inner Asia
C. To Chang’an by Land and
Sea
 Roads, Grand Canal
 Tributary system
 Compass design, ocean
vessels
D. Trade and Cultural
Exchange
 Cultural impact from Inner
Asia/Islam
 Clothing
 Stringed instruments, food
and wine
 1000 CE exports exceeded
imports – balance of trade
 Silks, porcelain
 Increased trade– traders use
credit/finance networks
B. Upheavals and Repression, 750 –
879
 New fears of Buddhism undermining
Confucianism, Han Yu
 Emperor Wu Zhao – favored
Buddhism/Daoism, reviled by
Confucian writers
 Buddhists severed ties to this world
 840 – Tang destroyed thousands of
monasteries, government gained
new sources of revenue
 Fall of Buddhism in Tang China
C. The End of the Tang Empire, 879 –
907
 Empire dependent on local military
rulers/complex tax system
 755 – Rebellion led by General An
Lushan -> rise of military governors
 Prosperity but political disintegration
and cultural decay
 879 – 881 – Huang Chao (gentry)
led greatest uprising Hatred of
foreigners
 Warlords wiped out rebels
 Mass migrations to the south
Discuss the absorption and also repression
of Buddhism in China. What was the impact
of these two trends in Asian history?
 Tang
adopted many Buddhist ideas, and
many of the Tang regions had Budd.
Populations. Bud. played an important
political function, giving emperors the
spiritual function of creating a harmonious
Bud. society. Bud. Monks counseled and
prayed for leaders and contributed money

As the Tang political and military decline became
reality, however, there was strong backlash
against Bud. Tang elites blamed Bud. for
undermining Confucian ideas of the family as
the model for the state. Han Yu’s “Memorial on
the Bone of Buddha” in 819 was a strong
statement criticizing Bud. In 840 the gov.t
moved to crush the monasteries; 4,600 temples
were destroyed and 26,500 monks and nuns
were converted to workers. This was a huge
loss to China’s cultural heritage.
III. The Emergence of East Asia to 1200
Three new states: origins, beliefs
A. The Liao and Jin Challenge
 Liao Empire of Khitan (916 – 1121) – Siberia to Central Asia
 Pastoral traditions, importance of Buddhism to emperor
 Siege machines, horsemen
 1005 – Song tribute to the Liao
 Alliance with Jurchens of northeast Asia
 Destruction of Liao capital in 1115
 “Southern Song” (1127 – 1279) – Song make payments to Jin to
avoid warfare
B. Song Industries
 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION???
 Indian/West Asian mathematicians/astronomers –
fractions/calendars
 1088 – Su Song and giant celestial clock
 Advances in magnetic compass
 Junk ships – rudder, watertight bulkheads…copied in Persian
Gulf
 HUGE ARMY (1.25 million men) – half the territory of the Tang
 Use of steel/iron – sources in the north
 Government monopoly by 11th c. – producing as much cast iron
as 18th c. Great Britain
 Mass production
 1100s - Gunpowder - impact
C. Economy and Society in Song China
 Neo – Confucianism, Zhu Xi, ideal human – the sage
 Chan Buddhism (Zen in Japan) – mental discipline
 Rigorous examinations for bureaucratic offices
 Social implications of scoring well/poorly on exams
 Printing – woodblock to moveable type
 Mass printing of books, exam materials, instructions on
cultivation
 Agriculture south of the Yangzi River, plow/rakes, control of
malaria
 Migration to the south, displacement of native people
 1100 – population in Chinese territories over 100 million
 Large cities
 Problems in cities – waste management, water supply, etc.
 City of Hangzhou
 Credit – “flying money”
 Government issued paper money - inflation
 Cost of military expenditures
 Sold rights to collect taxes
 New social hierarchy based on new sources of wealth –
MODERN – growth of middle class and private capitalism seen
in 18th c. Europe
 Women’s rights/education
 Development of footbinding – status symbol
IV. New Kingdoms in East Asia
 Expanding
Confucian world
view targeted the
south
 Cultivation of rice
needed structured
society
 Korea, Japan and
Vietnam all
centralized power
during the Tang
period – saw
Buddhism and
Confucianism as
compatible
A. Korea
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Mountains, little agricultural land
Early 500s - kingdom of Silla (south); power of
landowners, Koguryo kingdom in north, after 688 Silla
ruled but needed support of Tang
After early 900s (fall of Tang) house of Koryo (Korea)
united peninsula – alliance with the Song
Koryo kings supported Buddhism – woodblock printing
from 700s
Process of woodblock printing, later advances
Koryo Founded 918, destroyed by a Mongol invasion
1259
B. Japan
 Geography
 Mid 600s Yamato followed Tang
government
 Wooden Architecture, Buddhism
 No walls, No Mandate of Heaven
 Unchanging Tenno dynasty, role
of prime minister and Shinto
 Kyoto
 Fujiwara family – cultural
development, Confucianism
 Power of warriors, civil war
 Education of women – The Tale of
Genji
 Kamakura Shogunate –
Buddhism, rise of samurai
C. Vietnam
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Red River and Mekong, irrigation systems
“Annam” – Confucian bureaucratic training,
Mahayana Buddhism
936 – Dai Viet – good relations with Song
Rivalry with Champa (south) – foreign influences
Champa and voluntary tribute – Champa rice
Confucian hierarchy – differences in treatment of
women