CHAPTER 10
THE FLOWERING OF TRADITIONAL CHINA
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CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. China after the Han
A. Beginning in 200s C.E., China fell into division and civil war
1. Nomads from the north
2. Era of the “six dynasties”
B. Confucianism gave way to popular Daoism
1. “Seven sages of the bamboo grove”
C. Coming of Buddhism, in 100s or 200s over the Silk Road by merchants and missionaries
1. Foreign to Chinese in Indian concept of rebirth
2. Mahayana Buddhism became popular among ruling elites
II. China Reunified: the Sui, the Tang, and the Song
A. The Sui Dynasty (581-618), founded by Yian Jian (reign name Sui Wendi)
1. Captial was Chang’an
2. Buddhism and Daoism were the official doctrines
3. The Grand Canal, 1,400 miles long, linking the Yellow and Yangtze rivers
4. Second Sui emperor, Sui Yangdi, was a tyrant, and murdered in 618
B. The Tang Dynasty (618-907), founded by Li Yuan, a Sui general
1. Tang Taizong, second emperor
a. Territorial expansion to northwest (Xinjiang) and Tibet and influence over
much of East Asia, including Japan
2. Flowering of Chinese Culture
a. Buddhist monks advise the emperors
b. Chang’an possibly greatest city in world, with population of 2 million
3. Court intrigues and official corruption
a. Xuanzong (712-756), great emperor but
1) Dominated by favorite concubine, Yang Guifei
b. Rebellion failed, but Tang never recovered
4.Decline of the Tang
a. Aristocratic families increased their power
b. Frontier instability and threats from the nomadic Khitan
c. End of Tang in 907 and another period of chaos
C. The Song Dynasty (960-1279)
1. Weaker than the Tang
a. Tibet was lost and the northwest was under Khitan control
b. Capital of Kaifeng further east, later south to Hangzhou (Southern Song)
2. Was economic expansion and population was 40 million, slightly more than Europe
3. Northern challenge from the Jurchen from Manchuria
a. Song allied with Mongols against the Jurchen, a disastrous decision
4. Mongols defeat the Song, establishing the Yuan dynasty
D. Political Structures: The Triumph of Confucianism
1. Equal Opportunities in China: The Civil Service Examination
a. Grand Council was the apex of the government bureaucracy
b. Civil service examination was the primary route to an official career
c. Professional bureaucracy could even thwart whims of emperors
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d. By Song era, examination was based entirely upon Confucian classics
1) Memorize passages and define their moral lessons
e. “Scholar gentry”: most of candidates came from gentry rather than aristocracy
1) Poor had little chance to succeed
2. Local Government
a. Descend from district to county to village (the latter would rule itself)
E. Economy: primarily based upon agriculture, but urban becoming increasingly important
1. The Land Reform
a. Aristocracy controlled most of land
1) Reform: bring back the equal field system, but largely failed
b. New lands in Yangtze valley, the chain pump, and new strains of quickgrowing rice/two crops each year
2. The Urban Economy
a. Increase in trade and manufacturing in spite of prejudice against merchants
b. Blast furnace steel, cotton, gunpowder (reached the West via the Arabs)
3. The Silk Road(s) reached its zenith under the Tang
a. More private commerce than previously in international trade
b. Credit and paper money supplement strings of cash
4. The Maritime Route
a. Stimulated by invention of compass, sternpost rudder, and lug sail
b. The major port in south China was Canton
c. “Tribute system” also encouraged trade with “younger brothers”
F. Society in Traditional China became more complex
1. The Rise of the landed gentry as the most influential force in society
a. Replaced the aristocracy as the economic and political elite
b. More mobility up and down than the aristocracy
c. New products/entertainments: chess, paddle-wheel boat, stirrups, block
printing, tea, distilled spirits
2. Village China, where vast majority of Chinese lived
a. The family and the village were the basic units of society
b. Three generation families, with eldest male the autocrat
1) Ancestral rites and filial piety
3. The Role of Women
a. Tradition of male superiority continued, re-enforced by Neo-Confucianism
b. New customs
1) Bride’s family provides a dowry
2) Foot binding made women more attractive
a) Painful, reduced feet to half normal size
b) Represented ideal qualities of female submissiveness/selfdiscipline
c. Exceptions to female inferiority: Wu Zhao/Empress Wu (c. 625-c706)
1) Vilified by later male historians
III. Explosion in Central Asia: The Mongol Empire/Yuan dynasty
A. The Creation of the Mongol Empire
1. Genghis Khan (Temuchin) born in 1162
a. Elected “universal ruler”(Genghis Khan) in 1206
b. Mongol nomads subject to military conscription
2. Less than 2 million population, with army of 130,000 in 1227
3. Superb horsemen, using the compound bow
4. Raided and conquered from Mongolia to Eastern Europe to Persia
5. From nomads living in yurts Genghis Khan’s capital city of Karakorum
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a. Became more sedentary, seduced by “civilization”
6. After Genghis Khan’s death, empire divided up into several separate khanates
a. Grandson, Khubilai Khan , conquered Song and established Yuan dynasty
b. Chinese capital moved north to Khanbaliq (“city of the khan”)
1) Would later become Beijing (“the northern capital”)
B. Mongol Rule in China
1.Adopted Chinese political system, although highest officials were Mongols
2.Generally the Mongols remained apart as a separate class with own laws
3.Increase in prosperity due to “Pax Mongolica” across Asia and the extension of the
Grand Canal from the Yellow River to Khanbaliq
C. From the Yuan to the Ming
1. Decline of the Yuan
a. Excessive military spending, inadequate taxes, court factionalism and
corruption, and famine
2. Zhu Yuanzhang, peasant became a bandit, defeated rivals, and established the Ming
(“Bright”) dynasty
IV. The Ming Dynasty (1369-1644)
A. New era of greatness
1. Extended its rule into Mongolia, Central Asia, Vietnam again briefly, and established a
tribute relationship with Korea’s Yi dynasty
2. Emperor Yongle (1402-1424) strengthened the Great Wall
3. Traditional Confucian institutions adopted
a. Vast hierarchy of officials, much different from agrarian society of the Han
B. The Voyages of Zhenghe
1. 1405 voyage: 28,000 sailors and sixty-two ships
C. An Inward Turn
1. Voyages abandoned after Yongle’s death (1424)
2. A turning point, away from commerce toward traditional agriculture
3. Capital moved from Nanjing in central China to Beijing in the north
V. In Search of the Way
A. The Rise and Decline of Buddhism and Daoism
1. The Sinification of Buddhism
a. Several sects, including Chan (mind training) and the White Lotus (looking for
a savior Buddha to reform the world)
b. Buddhism popular under Sui and early Tang
c. But Buddhist monasteries gained great wealth and were exempt from taxes
1) Later Tang: Buddhist monasteries and temples destroyed and 100,000
monks were returned to secular life
2. Buddhism Under Threat
a. Buddhism seemed to contradict Confucian values of filial piety
b. Buddhist monks undermining the traditional family unit and the work ethic
c. Also threats to Buddhism from Christian Manichaeanism and Islam
B. Neo-Confucianism: The Investigation of Things
1. Revived Confucianism, influenced by Buddhism and Daoism
a. More metaphysical than traditional Confucianism
b. Neo-Confucianism
1) World is real and not illusory
2) Fulfillment comes through participation and not withdrawal
c. Philosopher Zhu Xi accepted division of the world into material and
transcendent (Supreme Ultimate), with humans serving as the link between them
1) Goal is to transcend the material by self-cultivation (“the investigation
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of things”) to achieve an identify with the Supreme Ultimate
2. The School of Mind
a. Wang Yangming opposed Zhu Xi, claiming mind and universe a single unit
1) Knowledge was intuitive rather than empirical
2) Knowledge was obtained through internal self-searching rather than
through the investigation of the outside world (“things”)
b. Never won official acceptance in that it was too similar to Buddhism in
denying the importance of participation in society
3. Neo-Confucianism remained the official doctrine until the 20th century
a. No scientific or Industrial Revolutions because the emphasis was on moral
principles instead of quest for scientific theories and knowledge?
b. Scholar-gentry viewed scientific or economic changes as a threat
1) Thus commercial middle class lacked influence
VI. The Apogee of Chinese Culture between the Tang and the Ming
A. Literature
1. Impact of invention of paper (Han) and woodblock printing (Tang)
a. Buddhist text the earliest printed book, published in 868 C.E.
b. Among the educated elite rather than peasant majority
2. The Importance of Poetry
a. Literary talents best expressed in poetry
1) Compressed, generally four-line and eight-line poems
b. Li Bo, a free spirit, a carefree Daoist
c. Du Fu, a sober Confucian
3. Popular Culture
a. Population was 60 million by Song era
b. Food and entertainment in the cities, even at night under the Song
c. Comedians, musicians, wrestlers, acrobats, puppets, shadow plays, storytellers
4. The Chinese Novel
a. Romance of the Three Kingdoms told orally for centuries, printed in 1321,
China’s counterpart to the Mahabharata
b. Tale of the Marshes described ordinary Chinese in their own language
B. Art
1. Painting reached its apogee under the Song and Yuan
a. Inspiration from Buddhist and Daoist sources, e.g. Dunhuang wall paintings
2. Daoism had the greatest influence on Chinese painting
a. Landscape painting, with the idea of “mountain” with empty spaces
b. Human figures become insignificant in larger landscape
c. Long silk or paper scrolls, and in black and white by 900s
3. Literati artists were scholars and administrators who focused upon expression rather
than representation
4. Ceramics, notably porcelains such as celadon
VII. Conclusion
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THOUGHT/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR THE PRIMARY SOURCES
(BOXED DOCUMENTS)
1.“A Daoist Critique of Confucianism”—What particular criticisms is the writer making about followers
of Confucianism? Are his comments accurate or just? Why or why not? What does the excerpt reveal
about Daoism? What are the major differences between Confucianism and Daoism? Does the passage
reflect a particular time in Chinese history (after the collapse of the Han)? If so, how? (page 269)
2. “The Good Life in the High Tang”—What does the poem reveal about “the good life in the high
Tang”? Does the poet seem to accurately relate what he has “seen” or “experienced”? Why or why not?
What elements of sarcasm or criticism are reveled in Du Fu’s poem? Is there anything uniquely Chinese
in the poem or are his comments and observations more universal? How? (p. 273)
3. “The Saintly Miss Wu”—What aspects of Hung Mai’s story would make Miss Wu a paradigm for
Chinese society? Are there elements of Confucianism in the story? Of Daoism? If so, what? Is the
“lesson” of this story uniquely Chinese, or could it, or a similar story, have been told in other societies?
Why or why not? (p. 279)
4. “A Letter to the Pope”—Why does Kuyuk Khan believe the Magyars were presumptuous toward him?
How do his ideas about the legitimacy of power differ from those of Innocent IV? What does the passage
suggest about the religious beliefs of Kuyuk Khan? How might his Heaven differ from the God of Pope
Innocent? Was this exchange of notes a “dialogue of the deaf”? Why? (p. 282)
5. “The Way of the Great Buddha”—What are the key words or phrases that Shen Hui uses in elucidating
the “way” of the Great Buddha? Are those words, or any words, sufficient to describe Buddhism? Why or
why not? What are the similarities between Daoism and Buddhism? What are the differences? What are
the differences between Buddhism and Confucianism? Why did Buddhism appeal to so many Chinese?
(p. 286)
6. “A Confucian Wedding Ceremony”—What is “Confucian” in this Confucian wedding ceremony? Be
specific. Why did Zhu Xi believe it necessary to set down such rules or guidelines for important
ceremonies and events such as weddings? How important is ritual in the modern world? Do we need more
of it or less? Why? (p. 288)
7. “A Passion for Books”—What does the passage reveal about the importance of books and other aspects
of culture to Li Qingzhao and her husband? Is she a typical Chinese woman? A typical Chinese? Why or
why not? Does her attitudes and her concern for her books reflect something uniquely Chinese, with its
Confucius heritage? Or might the same commitment and concern be found in other cultures at other
times? Explain. (p. 290)
8. “Two Tang Poets”—Do these excepts reflect anything uniquely Chinese or are they universal in their
emotions and reflections? What elements in these three poems might explain or justify why Li Bo and Du
Fu are considered to be among China’s greatest poets? Are there any differences between them? If so,
what? (p. 291)
STUDENT RESEARCH AND PROJECT TOPICS
1. Have students probe the causes of the fall of the Han Dynasty and how, and to what degree, the Sui and
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early Tang dynasties reversed or otherwise dealt with those causes.
2. Invite students to explore the meaning of the text’s statement that the Chinese historians’ view that
there was an underlying continuity in Chinese history was wrong and that, by the 500s, “Chinese
society…bore scant resemblance to the kingdom that had been founded by the house of Zhou more than
twenty centuries earlier.”
3. Ask students to examine the impact of major governmental and economic changes on various social
strata in China and also, where applicable, on gender relations. They might “role play” as representatives
of different groups, exchanging views or providing information for official entities (or, “unhistorically”
but sometimes, usefully, for “media” reporters).
4. Have students examine the role of Mongol expansion into China in the thirteenth century, both in terms
of what energized the Mongols and what had weakened the Chinese. They might study the reasons for the
relatively brief duration of Mongol power and compare it with the length and recuperative dimensions of
Chinese civilization.
5. Assign students to probe the changing ideas, followings, and circumstances of Buddhism, Daoism and
Confucianism (traditional and Neo-) between the sixth and twelfth centuries, with different students
possibly selecting one of them for discussion or debate purposes.
6. Invite students to examine and, where possible, explain the nature of major artistic and cultural
developments during the “Apogee of Chinese Culture.” They might wish also to see if they can find links
to the era’s major trends in economics, technology and/or philosophy/religion.
7. Using slides, videos, texts, and other materials, suggest that students do a presentation of representative
examples of the art and literature of the Tang and Song dynasties.
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