The Sui Dynasty (589-618)
• Regional kingdoms succeed collapse of Han
dynasty (220-589 Decentralized/Dark Age)
• Buddhist Emperor – Wendi Sui
• Wendi Sui consolidates control of China,
initiates Sui Dynasty
• Wendi won popular support by lowering taxes
and establishing a cheap food supply.
• Brought back scholar-gentry and imperial exam
Sui’s Fall
• Yangdi, Wendi’s son, succeeded his father to the
Throne.
• Attempted to conquer Korea (failed)
• Defeated by central Asian Nomads (Turkic)
• Massive building projects:
– Military labor
– Conscripted labor
-Grand Canal!!!
-Great Wall reconstruction
(6 million workers!)
The Grand Canal
• Intended to promote trade between north and
south China
– Most Chinese rivers flow west-east
• Linked network of earlier canals
– 1240 miles
– Roads on either bank
• Succeeded only by railroad traffic in 20th century
• Longest canal or artificial river in the world
today!
The Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE)
• Wide discontent over conscripted labor in
Sui dynasty
• Military failures in Korea prompt rebellion
• Emperor assassinated in 618
– Tang Dynasty initiated
The Sui and Tang dynasties, 589-907 CE
.
Tang Taizong
• Second emperor of Tang
dynasty (r. 627-649 CE)
• Murdered two brothers, thrust
father aside to take throne
• Strong ruler
– Built capital at Chang’an
– Law and order
– Taxes, prices low
– More effective implementation of
earlier Sui policies
Major Achievements of
Tang Dynasty
• Transportation and communications
– Extensive postal, courier services
• Became the golden age of literature in China
• Emperor Xuanzong’s splendor in Chang’an
• Welcoming of foreign faiths (not conversion)
• Equal-field System
– 20% of land hereditary ownership
– 80% redistributed according to formula
• Family size, land fertility
– Worked well until 8th century
• Corruption, loss of land to Buddhist monasteries, aristocratic
land accumulation
Bureaucracy of Merit
• Imperial civil service examinations
– Confucian educational curriculum
• Some bribery, nepotism
• But most advance through merit
– Built loyalty to the dynasty
– System remains strong until early 20th century
Tang Military Expansion and
Foreign Relations
• Manchuria, Korea, Vietnam,
Tibet
• One of the largest expansions
of China in its history
• Paid Central Asian Nomads to
defend boarder (repair G.Wall)
• Established tributary
relationships
– Gifts
• China as “Middle Kingdom”
– The kowtow ritual
Tang Decline
• Governmental neglect: Emperor obsessed with
music, favorite concubine
• Anti-Buddhist Backlash (by Conf. & Daoists)
• Loss of tax revenues and inability to feed people
in times of famine (Gov’t weakness)
• Nomadic Turkish Uighur (WEE-goor)
mercenaries invited to suppress rebellion,
sacked Chang’an and Luoyang as payment
• Nomadic raids and invasions continued
• Tang decline continues, rebellions in 9th century,
last emperor abdicates 907
The Song Dynasty, 960-1279 C.E.
Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE)
[Never matched Tang military or political strength]
• Emphasis on administration, industry,
education, the arts
• Military not emphasized
• Direction of first emperor, Song Taizu (r.
960-976 CE)
– Former military leader
– Made emperor by troops
– Instituted policy of imperial favor for civil
servants, expanded meritocracy
Song Strengths
• Population increase approached 100 mil.
• Rice production doubled due to opening new lands
to cultivation in the south (Grand Canal)
• Improved tool use and fertilizers; new rice strains
from Vietnam
• Tax relief for farmers and credit to open new farms
• Early song Emperors appoint bureaucrats based
on merit
• Excel at Manufacturing (gunpowder, bombs,
moveable type print, water-power mills, iron,
steel); more per capita manufacturing than anyone
else!
Song Weaknesses
• Lack of military might (“Fight with other means”)
• Size of bureaucracy heavy drain on economy
– Two peasant rebellions in 12th c.
– Internal inertia prevents reform of bureaucracy
• Civil service leadership of military
– Lacked military training
– Unable to contain nomadic attacks
– Jurchen (a Tungusic people (Siberian) who inhabited
the region of Manchuria) conquer, founding the Jin
Empire, forcing Song dynasty to Hangzhou, southern
China (Southern Song)
The Song Dynasty, 960-1279 C.E.
Agricultural Economies of the
Tang and Song Dynasties
• Developed Vietnamese fast-ripening rice,
2 crops per year
• Technology: iron plows, use of draft
animals (North - Oxen, South – Water
Buffaloes)
• Soil fertilization, improved irrigation
– Water wheels, canals
• Terrace farming
Population Growth
• Result of increased
agricultural production
• Effective food
distribution system
120
100
80
60
Millions
40
20
0
600
CE
1000
– Transportation
networks built under
Tang and Song
dynasties
Strict Social Hierarchy
Gentry: Wealthy landowners, focused on
Confucian ideals, focus on civil service
Peasants: Majority population
who were predominantly
farmers living in small villages
Merchants: Could acquire wealth
but always held low social status
due to their wealth coming from the
work of others. Could own land and
educate sons to enter the Gentry
Urbanization
• Chang’an (currently
Xi'an) world’s most
populous city: 2 million
residents
– Southern Song capital
Hangzhou: over 1
million
Patriarchal Social Structures
• Increased emphasis on ancestor worship
– Elaborate grave rituals
– Extended family gatherings in honor of
deceased ancestors
• Footbinding gains popularity
– Increased control by male family members
Footbinding
A typical junk ship from
Technology and Industry
the Song Dynasty
• Porcelain (“Chinaware”)
• Increase of iron production due to use of coke,
not coal, in furnaces
– Agricultural tools, weaponry
• Gunpowder invented
• Earlier printing techniques refined
– Moveable type by mid-11th century
– Yet complex Chinese ideographs make wood block
technique easier
• Naval technology
– compass
Emergence of a Market
Economy
• Letters of credit developed to deal with
copper coin shortages
– Promissory notes, checks also used
• Development of independently produced
paper money
– Not as stable, riots when not honored
• Government claims monopoly on money
production in 11th century
China and the Hemispheric
Economy
• Increasingly cosmopolitan nature of
Chinese cities
• Chinese silk opens up trade routes, but
increases local demands for imported
luxury goods
Cultural Change in Tang and
Song China
• Declining confidence in Confucianism after
collapse of Han dynasty
• Increasing popularity of Buddhism
• Christianity, Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism,
Islam also appear
• Clientele primarily foreign merchant class
Dunhuang
• Mahayana Buddhism especially popular at
Dunhuang in western China (Gansu
province), 600-1000 CE
– Cave temples
• Buddhist temples, libraries
• Economic success as converts donate
land holdings
• Increase popularity through donations of
agricultural produce to the poor
Conflicts with Chinese Culture
• Buddhism:
– Text-based
(Buddhist
teachings)
• Emphasis on
Metaphysics
• Ascetic ideal
– Celibacy
– Isolation
• Confucianism:
– Text-based
(Confucian
teachings)
– Daoism not textbased
• Emphasis on
ethics, politics
• Family-centered
– Procreation
– Filial piety
Chan (Zen) Buddhism
• Buddhists adapt ideology to Chinese
climate
– Dharma translated as dao
– Nirvana translated as wuwei
• Accommodated family lifestyle
– “one son in monastery for ten generations of
salvation”
• Limited emphasis on textual study,
meditation instead
Persecution of Buddhists
• Daoist/Confucian persecution supported in
late Tang dynasty
• 840s begins systematic closure of
Buddhist temples, expulsions
– Zoroastrians, Christians, Manicheans as well
• Economic motive: seizure of large
monastic landholdings
• Limits growth but does not eradicate faiths
Neo-Confucianism
• Song dynasty refrains from persecuting
Buddhists, but favors Confucians
• Neo-Confucians influenced by Buddhist
thought
– Syncretic blend of both faiths
China and Korea
• Silla Dynasty: Tang armies
withdraw, Korea
recognizes Tang as
emperor
• Technically a vassal
statue, but highly
independent
• Chinese influence on
Korean culture pervasive
China and Vietnam
• Vietnamese adaptation to Chinese culture,
technology
• But ongoing resentment at political
domination
• Assert independence when Tang dynasty
falls in 10th century
China and Early Japan
• Chinese armies never invade Japan
• Yet Chinese culture pervasive
• Imitation of Tang administration
– Establishment of new capital at Nara, hence
“Nara Japan” (710-794 CE)
• Adoption of Confucian, Buddhist teachings
• Yet retention of Shinto religion
Global Tectonic Plates
Japan -- On the “Fire Rim
of the Pacific”
Terrace Rice Farming
Yamato Period: 300-710
Began promoting the adoption of
Chinese culture:





Confucianism.
Language (kanji characters).
Buddhist sects.
Chinese art & architecture.
Government structure.
“Great Kings” era
Heian Japan (794-1185 CE)
• Japanese emperor moves court to Heian
(Kyoto)
• Yet emperor figurehead, real power in
hands of Fujiwara clan
– Pattern in Japanese history: weak emperor,
power behind the throne
– Helps explain longevity of the institution
Heian Period: Cultural Borrowing
1.Chinese writing.
2.Chinese artistic styles.
3.Zen Buddhism
4.BUT, not the Chinese civil
service system!
Japanese Literature
• Influence of Chinese kanji characters
– Classic curriculum dominated by Chinese
• The Tale of Genji
– One of rare Japanese language works of
fiction written by a woman.
Institution of the Shogun
• Civil war between Taira and Minamoto
clans in 12th century
• Minamoto leader named shogun, 1185 CE
• Ruled from Kamakura, allowed imperial
throne to continue in Kyoto
Medieval Japan
• Kamakura (1185-1333 CE) and
Muromachi (1336-1573 CE) periods
• Decentralized power in hands of warlords
• Military authority in hands of samurai
• Professional warriors
The emperor
reigned, but did
not always rule!
Feudal
Society
Feudalism
A political, economic, and social system
based on loyalty, the holding of land, and
military service.
Japan:
Shogun
Land
Daimyo
Land
Protection
Samurai
Peasant
Loyalty
Daimyo
Samurai
Peasant
Loyalty
Samurai
Peasant
Food
Peasant
Code of Bushido
* Fidelity
* Politeness
* Virility
* Simplicity
Seppuku:
Ritual Suicide
It is honorable to
die in this way.
Kaishaku – his
“seconds”
Full Samurai Attire
Samurai Sword
Medieval Warriors
vs.
European Knight
Samurai Warrior
Medieval Warriors
vs.
Knight’s Armor
Samurai Armor
Zen Buddhism
 A Japanese
variation of the
Mahayana form of
Buddhism, which
came from India
through China.
 It reinforced
the Bushido values
of mental and selfdiscipline.
Osaka Castle
Caernorfon Castle,
Wales
Polytheism
Shinto
Minimize
sin &
guilt
Torii Gate, Miyajima Island
Torii Gate in Winter
A Tunnel of Torii Gates
Inari Mt., Kyoto
Kabuki Theater
An interior of a Kabuki theater.
Chanoyu : Tea Ceremony
Origami : The Art of
Japanese Paper Folding
Calligraphy
Haiku : 17-syllable poem
Spring departs.
Birds cry
Fishes' eyes are
filled with tears.
Matsuo Basho, Master of Haiku
Japanese Garden for
Meditation
Japanese Zen Garden
Japanese Sand Garden