I: Imperial Restoration: the Sui Dynasty• Post-Han: regional kingdoms• Late 500s: one kingdom reunified through military
campaigns -> Sui dynasty (589-618 CE)• High demands on citizens: construction projects
(Grand Canal – facilitated trade between north and south), military, taxes
• -> hostility and rebellion, assassination of emperor
I: Tang Dynasty• Rebel leader seized Chang’an -> Tang Dynasty
(618-907 CE)• Stability and prosperity: less banditry, lower prices,
lower taxes• 3 policies: – Maintenance of transportation and communication networks: canal, roads (horses and human runners, inns, postal stations, stables – 8 days)
I: Tang Dynasty• 3 policies (cont.)– Equal-field system: to avoid land accumulation by rich,
land allotments based on needs; • worked for 100 years, and then problems (pop. Strain,
hoarding, Buddhists)
– Merit-based bureaucracy: Confucian education and civil service exams (equal opportunities)
I: Tang Dynasty• Military Expansion: north (Manchuria and Korea),
south (Vietnam), west (Tibet, Aral Sea)• Foreign Relations: tributary overlords, required
gifts and kowtow, and gave gifts and authority in return; but, not real rule
I: Tang Dynasty• Decline: –Mid-700s: casual, careless leaders– 755: Chang’an conquered by rebellious military
leader– 763: recovered, but weakened– Failed equal-field system + insufficient tax revenue to support gov’t + invasion of Uighur Turks + rebellion + regional military leaders gained power = collapse
I: Song Dynasty• Post-Tang: ruled by warlords until reunification ->
Song Dynasty (960-1279)• Not very powerful, emphasis on civil
administration, industry, education, and the arts• Paid bureaucrats and officials very well• Expansion of merit-based bureaucracy
I: Song Dynasty• 2 problems: – financial: lots of money required to pay high salaries ->
high taxes -> rebellions– Military: scholar-bureaucrats didn’t know how to
command military -> nomadic societies on borders flourished, pushing boundaries further south (Southern Song)
II: Economic Development of Tang and Song
• China becomes an economic powerhouse through agricultural, technological, industrial, and commercial developments
II: Agricultural Developments• Fast-ripening rice (from Vietnam): 2 crops/year =
more food• Technology: heavy iron plows, draft animals (oxen,
water buffalo), fertilizer, irrigation systems with pumps (-> more land)
• Results: population growth, urbanization (esp. Chang’an), commercial agricultural economy (regional specialization)
II: Agricultural Developments• Results: increasing wealth -> increased patriarchy
(ancestor veneration, footbinding)• But, Empress Wu Zhao: factions formed against
her because she was un-Confucian -> secret police and brutal punishments, strengthened civil service, legitimized by Buddhists, organized military campaigns
II: Technological and Industrial Developments
• More food -> more craftsmen• Porcelain: “fine China,” long-distance trade item• Metallurgy: iron and steel -> stronger and more
useful (weapons, tools, construction)• Gunpowder: accidental; military leaders made
flamethrowers and bombs
II: Technological and Industrial Developments
• Other inventions/innovations: • Printing:block printing->moveable type->more texts • Naval technology: increased LD trade (esp. for
spices); better ships (iron nails, bulkheads, canvas/bamboo sails, rudders, magnetic compass)
• Many of these inventions diffused to other areas
II: The Emergence of a Market Economy
• Economic growth + regional specialization => goods for sale on the open market
• Economic developments: letters of credit, paper money (at first by merchants, latter gov’t)
• Trade: revival of silk roads (+ porcelain and lacquerware), merchant communities in port cities, demand for foreign goods
increased
III: Cultural Change in Tang and Song China
• Foreign interactions -> change• Buddhism: Confucianism lost credibility after fall
of Han -> foreign religions established communities in China
• Mahayana Buddhism spread via silk roads from central Asia
• Attraction: moral standards, intellectual sophistication, promise of salvation
III: Buddhism in China• Plus, monasteries provided food, lent money,
maintained schools• Very different from Chinese traditions: focus on
text, metaphysics, ascetic ideal (celibacy)• So, tailored Buddhism to Chinese: used Daoist
terms (dao, wuwei), validated family life• Schools of Buddhism: Chan/Zen
(less texts), Pure Land (personal salvation)
III: Buddhism in China• Hostility to Buddhism: – Confucianists: anti-celibacy, foreignness, wasteful
monasteries– Daoists: lost adherents
• Persecution: Late Tang, closed monasteries, expelled Buddhists, seized property
III: Neo-Confucianism• Song emperors supported native traditions• Buddhism had influence on Confucianism -> Neo-
Confucianism (metaphysical)• Still emphasized proper behavior, social harmony,
ritual• Influenced future of East Asian
thought (phil., pol., moral) and spread to other areas
IV: Chinese Influence in East Asia• Influenced neighbors politically and culturally
through military invasion, economic ties• Korea: Tang invasion, Silla Kingdom fought back:
compromise –> Tang vassal state, owing tribute and kowtow in exchange for gifts and trade– Political influence: court, bureaucracy, capital city,
scholars to China, but, not merit-based
IV: Chinese Influence in Vietnam• Conquered in Tang invasion• Tributary relationship, but resentment -> revolts
and independence • Influences: agricultural methods, Confucian
schools, administrative techniques (bureaucracy), Buddhism
• But, retained religion, not as patriarchal
IV: Early Japan• 35,000 ya: settled by NE Asian nomads• Migrants from Koreas brought rice, bronze and
iron, and horses• Politically: small states ruled by aristocrats• Nara Japan (710-794): tried to centralize (Chinese
influence), court with bureaucracy, equal-field system, Buddhism (but, Shinto, too),
capital = Nara
IV: Early Japan• Heian Japan (794-1185): ceremonial emperor
(symbolic, not powerful) – Fujiwara family really held power
• Chinese language became important: literature (e.g., The Tale of Genji), records, even in Japanese writing
• Decline: equal-field system fell apart, aristocrats accumulated lots of land in estates– Minimoto: powerful clan, whose leader -> shogun (but did not overthrow the emperor)
IV: Early Japan• Medieval Japan: between Nara/Heian
and modern times (c. 1500)• Decentralized with provincial lords (daimyo) ruling
local regions through control of land and economy -> less Chinese influence– Daimyo divided land among lesser samurai who gave
land to peasants – Value of military talent and discipline -> importance of the samurai (served provincial lords; followed Code of Bushido)