ASIA 110: Introduction to Asia (China)
Instructor: Jennifer Lundin Ritchie
Unit 2 Study Guide
Important Things to Understand / Remember
Period of Disunity
Why is this period called ‘Period of Disunity’?
 How was the Period of Disunity like the Warring States Period?
 Why should we resist describing the struggles in this period as “Chinese” vs. “barbarians”?
 Which dynasty briefly unified China in the middle of this period? How did that dynasty fall?
 What is the importance of the 16 states and 6 dynasties? Would you recognize this period on a map?
 Which kingdoms of this period had a famous novel written about it? Which novel?
Buddhism in the Period of Disunity
 Who wrote the Buddhist scriptures? When? How does this affect if we can trust them 100%?
 How did Buddhism spread to China? Why did Buddhism appeal to the Chinese people in general?
Why did it get popular in this period in particular?
 What were some reasons why some Chinese people did not admire the Buddha/Buddhism?
 How did Buddhism become accepted so quickly (as a ‘Chinese religion’) by the Chinese people?
 Who was Kumarajiva? Where did he go and what did he do? Why? What was his opinion about
translation of religious texts? What issues did the Chinese people have in translating Buddhist
ideas/texts into Chinese? How did they solve these issues?
 What is the main difference between the types of Buddhism practiced in the North and in the South?
The Buddha
 Who was the Buddha and what country was he from?
 What was the prophecy about his life?
 What did his father want for him? How did his father try to control his son’s fate?
 What concept did the Prince understand while watching the farmer plough his field?
 What 4 shocking things did the Prince see? What big change did he make in his life as a result?
 What are The Four Noble Truths?
What other 4 philosophic/religious practices were popular at this time?
 Can you name these 4 practices and describe them (briefly)?
 What would Laozi and Zhuangzi thought of each of these 4 practices?
 What was the counterpart to Pure Talk (from the Han)? How did it differ from Pure Talk?
 How was the Xuan Xue approach to Daoism similar to the Han approach to philosophy in general?
 How did Xuan Xue feel about Daoism, Confucianism, Buddhism? Why did many people like this?
 Who were Wang Bi and Guo Xiang? Which of the 4 practices did they follow? Which philosophies
did they like? Why was this significant? What books did they comment on? What were their main
themes? What was the main thing Wang Bi and Guo Xiang argued about?
Religious Daoism in the Period of Disunity
 Why do we say ‘Daoism becomes a religion’ at this time? What was it before? What changed?
 How would Laozi and Zhuangzi have reacted to these changes?
 How did Daoism compete with Buddhism? What kinds of things did they do to compete?
 What are the Celestial Masters? Where were they located? How were they organized? What did
they offer to people? What philosopher would have supported their method of attracting people?
What were their beliefs? How did they treat/read the Daodejing? How is this different from how
Hanfeizi treated/read it in the Qin? How it is treated/read now?
 How can a person be Daoist, Confucian, & Buddhist, all at the same time? How and why did Daoists
encourage this? Can you distinguish the main goals of these 3 philosophies/religions?
ASIA 110: Introduction to Asia (China)
Instructor: Jennifer Lundin Ritchie
The Sui Dynasty
The Sui
 What did the Sui achieve? How is the Sui like the Qin? Unlike the Qin?
 Where was its capital? Could you recognize the borders of this dynasty on a map?
 Where and in which directions did the dynasty successfully expand?Which areas did it fail to annex?
 Which 2 rivers did the canal connect?
 What are some reasons why the Sui Dynasty fell? Which other dynasties fell for the same reason(s)?
Yang Jian/Emperor Wen/Wendi
 Who was he? What was unusual about Emperor Wen’s family? How did this influence his/their
politics? How did it unite the empire?
 What changes did Emperor Wen make to the system of government officials? Why did he make
these changes? What changes did Emperor Wen make to the system of laws?
 What religion did Emperor Wen’s family follow personally? Use in politics? Why?
 Who was his son and what did he do: personally, politically? How was he later described?
The Tang Dynasty
The Tang
 Where was its capital? Could you recognize the borders of this dynasty on a map?
 Which “foreign” groups helped the Tang? fought the Tang? Could you label these on a map?
 Where and in which directions did the dynasty successfully expand?Which areas did it fail to annex?
Taizong
 Why was his father important? What philosophy did his father believe? Use in politics?
 Who was Taizong? How did he gain the throne? How was he described: what kind of person?
 What religion/philosophy did Taizong believe in personally? Use in politics? Why?
 How did he legitimize his rule? (what did he claim?)
 Who was his most famous Confucian minister &what kinds of problems was he supposed to solve?
 Who did he send to India? Why? What famous novel was based on these journeys?
 What changes in government did he make? Why are these important?
The Tang Philosophical Debates
 Which two philosophies/religions were most often pitted against each other in the debates?
 What were the 2 main purposes of the debates? How could these purposes affect the debates?
 Who ‘won’? What happened to the winners? losers? How could this affect the debates? religions?
 Why should we doubt the official records claiming that the Buddhists suddenly improved
dramatically at debating compared to the Daoists?
Gaozong
 Who was he? How did he gain the throne? How was he described? What kind of person was he?
 Why were Taizong’s sons not considered worthy to gain the throne?
 What king of philosophy/religion did he follow? What are three two results of this?
 What kind of rule did Gaozong have? What happened to Gaozong?
Empress Wu
 Who was she? Why is this important? How did she gain the throne?
 What religion did she follow? How did she treat other religions? What are two results of this?
 How did she legitimize her rule? (what did she claim?)
 What changed in the examination system under her rule? What stayed the same?
ASIA 110: Introduction to Asia (China)
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Instructor: Jennifer Lundin Ritchie
What kinds of evidence do we have of a change in the status of women in the Tang?
How was she described: what kind of person? What kind of rule Empress Wu have overall?
Chang’an
 Why was this city important? How was it arranged? Could you recognize a map of the city?
 What kinds of evidence do we have that Central Asians lived in Chang’an in the Tang?
 Which foreign peoples were most numerous? What were three results of having so many foreigners?
 What happened to Chang’an near the end of the Tang?
Tang High Culture
 What kinds of arts and culture flourished at this time?
 What is distinctive about Tang dance? Tang writing style?
 Who are Li Bai, Du Fu, Han Yu, and Bo/Bai Juyi? How are they similar? Different? Could you
recognize them by their poetry style and themes?
 Which two innovations allowed for the printing of paper books? How did the types of materials
affect the script/images that were printed? What was one major result of the rise of book publishing?
Buddhism and Daoism in the Tang
 What are five Buddhist sects that appeared at this time? Can you name them and describe their main
themes and practices? Which religious sect did Empress Wu like the best? Why?
 What are mantras, mudras, mandalas, scriptures, koans (gong’an)?
 Which religion did the Late Tang Emperors (Dezong, Xianzong, Wuzong) follow? How did they
treat other religions? Which two Buddhist sects survived Emperor Wuzong? Why?
The Fall of the Tang
 Who was An Lushan? Where did he attack? What did he proclaim? What happened to him?
 What weaknesses in the Tang dynasty government did the An Lushan Rebellion reveal?
 Which “foreigners” finally ended the An Lushan Rebellion?
 Who was Yang Guifei? Why was she blamed for the fall of the Tang? What happened to her?
 What was the significance of the Huang Chao Rebellion? What things did they do?
 Why did the Huang Chao Rebellion fail? Who are the Shatuo Turks? Why are they significant?
 Why did the Tang ultimately fall? Which other dynasties fell for the same reason(s)?
The 5 Dynasties and 10 Kingdoms
 Why is this period called ‘The 5 Dynasties and 10 Kingdoms’? Could you recognize it on a map?
 What is significant about the second (Later Tang) and fifth (Later Zhou) of the Five Dynasties?
 How did the Later Zhou dynasty manage to hold power and found the Song Dynasty?
The Song Dynasty
 What 2 periods is the Song divided into? Where were each of their capitals? Why did capital move?
 Could you recognize the borders of this dynasty on a map?
 Which river divided the Jin and the Southern Song? Why would the border be there in particular?
 Which groups of “foreign” peoples were around the Song borders? Could you label them on a map?
 Which philosophy/religion did Song emperors follow? What were the results of this?
The Northern Song
 Who were the three main groups of foreigners who tried to attack the Northern Song? Where was
each group located? Could you label them on a map?
 Which problem came first, second, last? Who dealt with each problem? How was each group of
foreigners dealt with? Why was that strategy chosen? Was the strategy successful? Why/why not?
 How did late Northern Song Emperors Zhezong and Huizong each legitimize their rules?
ASIA 110: Introduction to Asia (China)
Instructor: Jennifer Lundin Ritchie
Song Economy
 What innovation changed book-printing in the Song? How is it different than wood-block printing?
 What changed in ceramics/pottery? What are some main characteristics of Song pottery? Liao/Jin
pottery? Could you recognize them from a picture?
 What are some examples of Song Dynasty developments in Industry? Agriculture? Commerce?
 How are iron chains and bridges related? How are new bridge designs and new ship designs related?
 What groups formed for merchants and tradesmen? How did these changes affect trade, and even
the shape of the city? How did Kaifeng of the Song compare to Chang’an of the Tang?
Wang Anshi and Sima Guang
 Who was Wang Anshi? Who hired him? Why? What was his philosophy? When did it start?
 What was his belief about the role of government? Which philosopher held a similar view?
 Who supported him? Who opposed him? Why? Where did he succeed? Where did he fail? Why?
 Who was Sima Guang? Who hired him? What was he critical of?
 What book did he write? What did he write about? What was his philosophy?
 How could Emperor Shenzong have supported both Wang Anshi and Sima Guang at the same time?
Daoism and Buddhism in the Song
 Which older Daoist sects were still popular? Which new Daoist deities/rituals grew? Why?
 Who founded the Celestial Realization sect? How did this sect treat Confucianism and Buddhism?
 Which Song/Jin rulers used Daoism to legitimize their rule? How did they do so?
 What was new/different about the growth of Buddhism in general at this time?
 Which was the most popular Buddhist sect at this time? Why? What strange new development
occurred in this sect at this time? Why is it strange? What would Zhuangzi have thought?
 What qualities or ideals of Chan influenced art at this time? Could you recognize this style of art?
 Which Buddhist sect made a comeback in popularity at this time? How did it affect culture and art?
The Southern Song
 Who was its first Emperor? How did he become Emperor? How did he deal with the Jin? Why did
he choose this strategy? Was it successful? How could the S.Song defend against Jin takeover?
 Was the S.Song economy weak or strong? Why? Can you name 5 types of merchandise that were
traded through the Song ports? What Song innovations were ‘firsts’ in China? In the world?
The Jin Dynasty
 What people ruled the Jin Dynasty? What happened to the people in the Northern part of the Song?
 What did the Jin rulers do to adjust to Song culture? Why did they do it? What did they not change?
 What two policies resulted in promoting Jin people to be officials above Song people?
 How is Jin script similar/different from Song script?
Zhu Xi
 Who is he? What main philosophy did he claim to follow? Which ones did he claim to hate?
 What did he change from the old Confucian ways?
 What is Pattern/Principle (Li)? What is Vital Energetic Substance (Qi)? How are these two related?
Which philosophy do these ideas resemble? What is The Investigation of Things (gewu)?
 Which book did he write (with Lu Zuqian)? What was it about? Why did they write it?
 Was Zhu Xi successful in his own time? Later? How so?
Women in the Song
 What advantages/disadvantages did women experience in the Song? How might they be related?
 What is footbinding? Which group of women started this practice? Why do it?