UNIT 3
REGIONAL &
TRANSREGIONAL
INTERACTIONS
20%
600ce
To
1450ce
Central and East Asia:
the Revival of China and
the Impact of the
Mongols
After the fall of the Han Empire
Beset by Non-Chinese nomadic invasions  fell in the 3 rd
century
Fragmented into regional kingdoms… so for 400 years large
landholders vied for power
Great Wall was poorly defended, incomplete
Buddhism gained popularity challenging Confucianism
Trade and city life declined (similar to Warring States
Period)
Then… Sui Dynasty is established by northern Chinese
noble family and reunited China
CHINA: SUI, TANG, SONG
SUI DYNAST Y (589-618)
Short-lived but ambitious dynasty (much like
the Qin)
Two major emperors:
 Sui Wendi (aka Yang Jian)
 Wendi removed private armies, lowered taxes
and redistributed land
 Sui Yangdi
 Yangdi completed the Grand Canal but was a
tyrant
 Linked the Yellow and Yangzi as key component
to internal trade
 Murdered by his son in 618 while returning
from a failed campaign in Korea
TANG DYNAST Y (618-907)
The Duke of Tang brought the former Sui land under
control
 Descended from the Turks who had small states in China
after the Han era
 Upheld Confucian values
One of the most brilliant epochs of China’s long
history
 World’s richest, most sophisticated nation at the time
 Booming trade along the Silk Road
 “Flying Money” – copper became scarce because it was traded
so much
 Massive statues of Buddha carved on cliff sides
 Tang artists and sculptors focused on horses and camels
along the silk road
TANG DYNAST Y (618-907)
Golden Age of Culture
Famous lyric poets
 Wang Wei (699-759)
 Li Bo (701-762)
 Du Fu (712-770)
 Han-Shan (9 th cent.)
Famous artists
 Yan Liben (600-673)
 Zhang Xuan(713-755)
If I hide out at Cold Mountain Living of f mountain
plants and berries –All my lifetime, why worry ? One
follows his karma through . Days and months slip by
like water, Time is like sparks knocked of f flint . Go
ahead and let the world change –I’m happy to sit
among these clif fs.
Han-Shan, Cold Mountain Poems
TANG DYNAST Y (618-907)
Dominated the region
 Called empire “The Middle Kingdom”; central to the world around them
 Strong military organization enabled this
 Established regional hegemony
 Defeated kingdoms on the Korean peninsula
 Tribute from Silla Kingdom
 Other countries (Japan) seek to imitate it
Power Shift
 Bureaucracy takes power away from aristocracy
 Elaborate bureaucracy needed for the expansion of the empire
 Elevated status of bureaucrats
 Bright commoners could enter the university (usually with sponsorship)
 Birth and family connections continued to be important
 Equal field system restricted inheritance of land checking the power of the
aristocrats and improving lot of average peasants
TANG DYNAST Y (618-907)
 Buddhism Falls
 Buddhism in  Buddhist monk Xuanzang brought
hundreds of Buddhist texts from India he used to help
people understand Buddhism in China
 Buddhism out  Mid 9 th century Confucian and Daoist
rivals attacked Buddhism
 Convinced Tang rulers that monasteries were
an economic challenge to the government
(also couldn’t be taxed)
 Under Emperor Wuzong thousands of
monasteries and shrines destroyed ; lands
divided among landlords and peasants
 Buddhists never again had as much political
influence and Confucianism emerged as the
central ideology of Chinese civilization
TANG DYNAST Y (618-907)
Important Emperors
 Li Yuan, the Duke of Tang (618-626)
 Founder of dynasty
 Took the imperial name of Gaozu and granted an amnesty to the Sui
imperial family
 His rule was considered a model of good governance
 Son and suc
 Tang Taizong, aka Li Shimin (626-649)
 In quest for power, killed his brothers, then forced his father to
abdicate in his favor
 Reformed government, put in place new law code
 Extended China’s boundaries north into Manchuria, south to Vietnam
 Under his rule, China reached the zenith of its power and influence
up until then
 Succeeded by Gaozung (649-683)
 Son, successor Li Shimin sullied his reputation
TANG DYNAST Y (618-907)
Important Emperors
 Empress Wu Zetian, aka Wu Zhao (690-705)
 Only Empress in Chinese history
 Renowned for her beauty, she first entered palace at age 13 as one of Emperor
Taizong’s concubines; childless, went into retirement in 649
 Then, in 655, became one of the principal concubines of Taizong’s son
and successor, Gaozong; rise to power was steeped in blood (e.g., she
killed two rivals for Gaozung’s affections) ; later she married Gaozung
 Ruled first through husband and two of her sons (655 -690)
 Then she started her own dynasty (Zhou) in 690 when she was 66 and
ruled on her own
 Launched military campaign to take Korea
 Favored Buddhism
 She helped build many monasteries and eventually made Buddhism the state
religion
 Reign was controversial; instituted a reign of terror in court circles (her
secret police targeted internal enemies)
 Overthrown in coup d’etat (705); died later that year
TANG DYNAST Y (618-907)
Important Emperors
 Xuanzong, aka the Profound Emperor (712756)
Empress Wu’s grandson
Took over via a palace revolt
Political and economic reform at first
Great patron of arts
Rebellion by An Lushan, general of nomadic
background, failed
 Decline sets in as a result of corruption, emperor’s
infatuation with mistress Yang Guifei





 Emperor had to agree to execution of Yang Guifeiand
her greedy relatives, then had to abdicate
TANG DYNASTY (618-907)

In the 8 th century
1.

The neglectful emperor inspired a rebellion
Troubles began along the northern borders; Uighurs sacked
Chang’an and Luoyang
 In the 9 th century
1. Equal-land system breaks down (aristocracy regains power)
2. Neglect of infrastructure (e.g., the lack of attention paid to the
upkeep on canal and irrigation systems)
3. Some emperors (e.g., Wuzong, r.841-847) openly persecute
Buddhists
4. Series of military defeats at at the hands of the Kirghiz, cause
the dynasty’s demise
 Tang emperors gave more and more power to regional military commanders and gradually lost
control of the empire by 907
 China again fell into chaos with warlords competing for regional power (i.e. recall the Warring
States Period)
 Three states competed to replace the Tang
SONG DYNAST Y (960-1279)
Overview
The Song ruled China during a
time of political and military
upheaval
 Although they had a vibrant
economy, the military was not
very strong
 Bureaucracy was large and put a
strain on the economy; this angered
some Chinese
Many innovations in science
and technology during this
period
SONG DYNAST Y (960-1279)
 Emperor Taizu (960-976)
 The first of five very capable Song
emperors
 Came from an aristocratic Northern
family
 Military officers had persuaded him to
become emperor
 Humane and tolerant ruler; interested
in painting, calligraphy, and philosophy
 Reorganized the government and
ushered in a period of peace and
prosperity
SONG DYNAST Y (960-1279)
 Wang Anshi (1021-1086)
 Song minister and perhaps “one of
the most original minds in Chinese
history”
 Able but abrasive reformer
 Brought about reforms in
education, agriculture, taxes, and
military conscription to deal with
mounting unemployment, border
threats from the Western Xia
 These reforms, generally meant to
aid the peasantry and small
merchants, were controversial and
encountered strong opposition from
landowners and wealthy merchants
 Eventually he was dismissed from
office by the emperor Zhezong
(1086-1101)
SONG DYNAST Y (960-1279)
Innovations/inventions: gunpowder  multi-stage
rockets (fireworks), mechanical clock, compass,
porcelain, use of paper money, moveable -type printing
SONG DYNAST Y (960-1279)
 Porcelain (600)
 Bone-hard white ceramic made of a special clay and a mineral only
found in China  valuable export
 Mechanical Clock (725)
 Clock in which machinery, driven by water, regulated the
movements  clocks had longer life, spread to Europe
 Block Printing (735)
 One block in which whole page was cut  spread literacy, ideas
 Gunpowder (900)
 Explosive powder (saltpeter, sulfur, charcoal)  used for fireworks,
weapons (spread west by 1200)
 Paper Money (960)
 Official tender replaced coinage  large scale commercial economy
 Magnetic Compass (1100)
 Pointed north-south  China becomes early sea power
SONG DYNASTY (960-1279)
Agricultural production rises, especially in the
south of China


Why?  New strains of rice; Fertilizers; Improved farm tools;
Advanced water control
Contrast to coal and iron industries in the north
SONG DYNASTY (960-1279)
Chinese people were appealed
by Buddhism and its teachings,
but as it was eradicated at the
end of the Tang Dynasty, they
went to something else… led to
Neo-Confucianism
 The universe can be understood
through rational thought, and so it
is up to humanity to create a
harmonious relationship between
the universe and the individual
 Remember, Buddhism/Taoism
believed in mysticism and rejected
the reality of this world
SONG DYNASTY (960-1279)
Equal Rights?

During Tang and early Song women had more
rights
 Empress Wu Zhao only woman to rule in her own
name in Chinese history
 Turned to Buddhism for legitimacy (of the right
to rule)
 Over time Confucian writings expressed contempt
for powerful women
 Created laws that favored men

Late Song  the practice of foot binding
 Ensured that women would not venture far from
home
 Lives managed by husbands or male guardians
SONG DYNAST Y (960-1279)
Internal Problems…
 Large bureaucracy strained treasury;
peasants rebelled when emperors tried to
raise taxes
 Increased need for military action and increased
the debt
 Scholar bureaucrats lead the armies with little
military education; vulnerable to defeat
External Problems…
 Constant pressure from northern and western
empires
 Paid tribute to Liao Empire
 Jurchens (northern people) destroyed Liao and
exacted tribute from Song
 Invasion of Jurchens marks division of Northern
Song and Southern Song
EAST ASIA: JAPAN, KOREA, VIETNAM
 All agricultural societies; all
to some degree influenced
by China
 (Tang) China ruled Vietnam
for thousands of yrs
 Korea (tributary state of
China)
 Japan retained political
and cultural uniqueness
KOREA
 Buddhism became chief religion
 Silla Kingdom took control of the peninsula
 Tributary state to Tang Dynasty
 Studied Confucianism; prefer Buddhism
 Political control in hands of royal family and aristocracy
 Aristocratic elite filled the bureaucracy (different from China with
examination system)
 Artisans seen as servants to elite
 No distinct social class for merchants/traders
 Replaced by the Koryo Dynasty
 Chinese influence peaked
 Create pale green glazed bowls and vases: celadon
 Superb woodblocks
 Experimented with movable type
VIETNAM
 Resistance and resentment to Chinese conquerors
 Absorbed Chinese culture
 Agriculture and irrigation
 Confucian texts
 Some tributary relationships
 Buddhism came from China
 More devout here, though
 Dif ferent than China…
 Language not related to Chinese
 Women had greater influence and freedom than Chinese
 Chinese considered these differences ‘barbaric’
 Vietnamese win independence 939 CE
JAPAN
 Developed in isolation
 Mountainous; small states
developed dominated by
aristocratic clans
 Isolation meant language and
belief system developed unrelated
to China
 Religion Shintoism
 Animistic; nature and spirits
 Yamato clan centralized power
and established a court
modeled on the Tang Dynasty
Fujiwara Rule
By mid 8 th C Confucianism and
Buddhism well established;
◦ Shintoism remained
Centralized government at Nara and Kyoto
◦ Fujiwara family controlled power and protected the empire
◦ Ruling dynasty didn’t change much; didn’t wield much
power
Heian Era saw Fujiwara family as the power behind
the throne
◦ Elegant lifestyle
Tale of the Genji
◦ Female author Murasaki Shibuku
◦ View of lives of nobility
Struggles for power ensue
◦ Two powerful families; Taira and Minamoto struggle
◦ Minamoto installed as shogun and dominated political life
for the next 4 centuries
JAPANESE FEUDALISM
 Feudal order developed
 Military talent valued
 Samurai support lords
 Bushido
 Seppuku
 Era characterized by infighting
 Rival lords clashed over and
shogun’s power challenged
(even floors had devices to warn
of intruders)
 Loyalty emphasized
JAPANESE FEUDALISM
 Western:
 More emphasis on written
contracts
 European knights received
land and became lords
themselves
 Japanese:
 ideals of honor, not contracts
 Samurai granted land rights,
didn’t own land; kept the
social division clear
 Both had intricate loyalty
relationships with Europe’s
being the most baffling