THE
CHINESE
MODEL
Definition of the Chinese Model
Political, social, economic,
religious, and cultural
aspects of Chinese
civilization spread to Korea,
Japan, and Vietnam during
the Tang Dynasty (618 –
907 C.E.) and Song
Dynasty (960 – 1279 C.E.)
Tang Dynasty 618 -907 C.E.
Chinese model
political structure
-- imperial
bureaucracy
-- expansion of
civil service
system based
on tests of
Confucian
knowledge
Chinese model social structure
emperor and his family
scholar-officials;
military elite
peasants
craftspeople
merchants
prostitutes, actors,
other itinerant
entertainers
Chinese model gender structure
patriarchy but
elite women
educated
women’s status
fell during Song
– foot binding
More
opportunities for
men in the civil
service
Chinese model technology
new printing techniques
new hydropower for iron
production
assembly line manufacturing of
porcelain
increased production of silk -household labor and organization
Buddhist books printed
Silk production industrialized
Song Daoists invented
south-pointing compass;
also used on Chinese
ships
Chinese model demography
increased production of foods,
especially double crops of rice
led to growth in population
and then deforestation
Chinese model for Interaction
--Trade on the Silk Road(s)
-- War (Battle of Talas River, 751)
Talas
River
Chinese model cultural and
intellectual developments
Tang Dynasty supported
expansion of Buddhism with
imperial patronage
Endowed monasteries
Hosted Buddhist ceremonies at
court
Gave tax-exempt status to
Buddhist monasteries
Encouraged Buddhist
monasteries to act as banks for
merchants on the Silk Roads
Chinese poetry reached its height
during the Tang Dynasty
Wang Wei, Buddhist poet
Bai Juyi, Confucian poet
Li Bai, Daoist poet
Empress Wu Zetian
Tang Dynasty (684-705 CE)
made Mahayana
Buddhism state
religion→powerful monks
and monasteries
commissioned Buddhas
in Luoyang caves
identified herself with
Buddha of the Future,
Maitreya, and a
Boddhisatva
Han Yu, leading Confucian scholar and
official at the Tang imperial court, -“Memorial on Buddhism,” 819 C.E.
“Your servant begs leave to
say that Buddhism is no
more than a cult of
barbarian peoples spread
to China. It did not exist
here in ancient times.”
Han Yu’s Memorial to the Emperor, continued
“Now I hear that Your Majesty has ordered
the community of monks to go to greet
the finger bone of the Buddha, and that
Your Majesty will ascend a tower to
watch the procession as this relic is
brought into the palace. If these
practices are not stopped, and this relic
of the Buddha is allowed to be carried
from one temple to another, there will be
those in the crowd who will cut off their
arms and mutilate their flesh in offering
to the Buddha.”
Han Yu’s Memorial to the Emperor
“Confucius said: ‘Respect ghosts
and spirits, but keep them at a
distance!’”
“Your servant is deeply ashamed
and begs that this bone from the
Buddha be given to the proper
authorities to be cast into fire and
water, that this evil be rooted out,
and later generations spared this
delusion.”
Tang Emperor Wu, “Edict on
Buddhism,” 845 C.E.
“At present there are an inestimable
number of monks and nuns in the
empire, all of them waiting for the
farmers to feed them and the
silkworms to clothe them while the
Buddhist public temples and private
chapels have reached boundless
numbers, sufficient to outshine the
imperial palace itself.”
Tang Emperor Wu, “Edict on
Buddhism,” 845 C.E., continued
“Having thoroughly examined all
earlier reports and consulted
public opinion on all sides,
there no longer remains the
slightest doubt in Our mind that
this evil should be eradicated.”
Song Dynasty, 960 – 1279 C.E.
Patronage of Confucianism
Sent Confucian teachers
through country
Social conservatism and
Confucian stress on social
hierarchy
Limited role of women –
Song believed Buddhism
encouraged women to
meddle in politics.
Encouraged foot-binding
for elite women
Neo-Confucianism used Daoism
and Buddhism to explain evil and
misfortune
imbalance of Qi
(spiritual energy)
could be corrected
with Ren
(humaneness).
Ren achieved through
li (ritual, the Confucian
rules for behavior)
How did the Chinese model
spread in East Asia? through
trade and Tang imperial
expansion (tribute system)
arts, e.g. official portraits
technology including writing and
printing systems
plans of capital cities
bureaucracies and examination
systems
Korean
Confucians
The temple
of Literature
is dedicated
to Confucius.
It was built in
1070.
by the
Emperor of
Vietnam.
City plan
of
Changan,
Chinese
capital
City plan of Nara, Japanese
capital
Spread of
Buddhist
art
Emaciated
Shakyamuni
Buddha,
Pakistan,
3rd c. C.E.
Gandharan
style Buddha
(syncretism of
Indian and
Hellenistic art,
2nd century
C.E.)
Seated
Buddha,
Dunhuang
Caves,
China,
Northern
Wei,
3rd- 6th c.
C.E.
Buddha,
Tang
Dynasty,
7th c. C.E.
Longmen
Caves
KOREAN
BUDDHA
SOKKURAM
(751)
Seated
Shakyamuni
Buddha,
Sokkuram
Grotto, Korea,
Unified Silla,
c. 751 C.E.
Great
Buddha,
Nara,
Japan,
Heian
period,
c. 752
C.E.
Amitabha
Buddha,
Japan,
Heian
Period,
11th-12th
c. C.E.
What are examples of resistance to
the Chinese model?
bureaucracies and
examination systems
limited to military elite in
Korea and Japan
no foot binding outside of
China – elite Korean,
Japanese and Vietnamese
women kept higher status
Japanese
military
leader:
MINAMOTO
YORITOMO
(1147-1199
CE).
Japanese Hierarchy
Emperor (mostly symbolic)
Shogun (military ruler)
Daimyos (feudal lords)
Samurai (feudal warriors)
Peasants/Craftspeople/Merchants
Outcasts/Eta (workers who deal
w/dead bodies, animals, sewage,
leather)
Korean Hierarchy
King
Nobility
Confucian scholar-bureaucrats
Peasants
Craftspeople
Merchants
Korean
shamans
often
were
women
AMATERASU
OMIKAMI
Japanese
Goddess,
founder of the
Japanese
people
SHINTO
PRIESTESSES
Vietnamese Trung Sisters Defeated
the Han Army and Ruled as
Queens
To what extent did the Chinese
model spread to East Asia?