Chapter 8

Did You Know? The Tang was the only dynasty
that allowed a female to become "emperor."
Empress Wu, a woman who had clawed her
way out of her position as a concubine by
murdering her own daughter and then
framing the childless empress for the crime,
was known as a harsh ruler. She also lowered
taxes, supported the arts, and put civil service
examination graduates in the highest
government positions, however.
The Sui Dynasty and The Tang
Dynasty (pages 247-249)
China
fell into chaos after
the Han dynasty ended in
220. In 581, the Sui dynasty
was set up. It was shortlived, but the Sui dynasty
did unify China under the
emperor's authority.
 Emperor
Sui Yangdi built the Grand
Canal that linked the Huang He
(Yellow River) and the Chang Jiang
(Yangtze River), making it easier to
ship rice north to south. He used
forced labor to build the canal. This
practice, extravagant living, high
taxes, and military failures caused a
rebellion and the dynasty ended.
 The
Tang dynasty lasted from 618
to 907. Tang rulers began by
instituting reforms, restoring the
civil service examination for
recruiting civilian bureaucrats,
and trying to stabilize the
economy by giving land to
peasants and breaking up the
power of large landowners.
They
extended their control to
the borders of Tibet, an area
north of the Himalaya.
Neighboring states like Korea
offered tribute to powerful
China, and China's court had
diplomatic relations with the
states of Southeast Asia.
 Like
the Han, the Tang dynasty
brought about its own destruction.
Tang rulers were not able to
prevent plotting and government
corruption. Tang Xuanzang was a
particularly unfortunate emperor.
He was in love with a commoner's
daughter.
•
When a general rebelled and
demanded someone pay for
the war and strife in his country,
the emperor invited his beloved
to hang herself, which she did. It
is said that for the rest of his life,
the emperor "washed his face
every day with a fountain of
tears."
During
the eighth century, the
Tang dynasty weakened. Tang
rulers hired Uighurs, a northern
tribal group of Turkic-speaking
people, to fight for the
dynasty. Continued unrest led
to the collapse of Tang rule in
907.
The Song Dynasty (pages 249250)
 The
Song ruled from 960 to 1279,
during a period of economic and
cultural achievement. China's
northern neighbors were a
problem, however. Their threat
caused Song rulers to move the
imperial court farther South to
Hangzhou.
During
the 1200s, the
Mongols—a nomadic people
from the Gobi—built a vast
empire. Within 70 years, the
Mongols overthrew the Song
dynasty and created a
Mongol dynasty in China.
 Using
the civil service exam to pick
civil servants by merit undermined
the power of the aristocrats and
created a new class of scholargentry. Passing the exam was
crucial for a government career.
Preparation for it began at a young
age.
For
years, students memorized
many Confucian classics. A
text's meaning was explained
only after it was completely
memorized. Manual labor
was forbidden to these
students. The Song introduced
the practice of "name
covering." Test graders did not
Government and the Economy
(pages 250-251)
 It
was seven hundred years from
the beginning of the Sui to the
end of the Song dynasties. China
was a monarchy that had a large
bureaucracy. Outside the capital,
government had a structure of
provinces, districts, and villages.
 Agriculture,
manufacturing, and trade
grew dramatically during these seven
hundred years.
 China was still primarily a farming
society. The majority of the peasants
had become serfs or slaves for
wealthy, large landowners. The Song
tried to weaken their power and help
the poor peasants get their own land.
 These
reform efforts and advances in
farming techniques created an
abundance of food.
 Technological advances added
products and stimulated trade. The
Chinese began to make steel, which
was used to make swords and sickles.
The introduction of cotton made new
kinds of clothes.
Gunpowder
was invented
during the Tang dynasty. It
was used to make
explosives and a weapon
called a fire-lance, which
shot out flame and
projectiles up to 40 yards.
•
Woodblock printing was
developed during the Tang
dynasty. Books could be mass
produced. The first complete
book to be printed was a
Buddhist work, printed in 868. In
the eleventh century, the
Chinese invented movable
type.

Long-distance trade revived with the Tang's
unification of much of Southwest Asia. The
Silk Road was renewed and thrived, and
caravans carried goods back and forth
from China to the countries of South Asia
and Southwest Asia. This and domestic
trade made Changan, estimated
population of two million, the richest city in
the world during the Tang period.
Chinese Society (age 252)
In
the thirteenth century,
Marco Polo described the
Song capital of Hangzhou,
saying that "So many pleasures
may be found that one fancies
himself to be in Paradise." Life
was good for the wealthy in
these cities.

People found new ways to communicate
with the invention of block printing in the
eighth century. The vast majority of Chinese
lived off the land in villages. Most hardly left
their villages during their lifetimes. The gulf
between rich and poor was reduced a bit,
however, and a more complex mixture of
landowners, free peasants, sharecroppers,
and landless laborers emerged.
 The
most significant change was
the rise of the landed gentry. They
controlled much land and
produced much of the civil
service candidates. These
scholar-gentry replaced the
landed aristocracy as the political
and economic elite of Chinese
society.

The status of women in Chinese society was
low. As elsewhere in the world, female
children were considered less desirable
than male children. Female infants might
even be killed if there was not enough food
for all. Wives became part of their
husbands' families. Her parents provided a
dowry (money or goods) to her husband
when the woman married. Poor families
often sold their daughters to wealthy
villagers.
 What
was an effect of the invention of
block printing?
 (One effect was that images or writing
could be more easily reproduced and
more people had access to them.)
 End
of 8 section 1
 Quiz Tomorrow!
Chapter 8 section 2
 Did
You Know? Genghis Khan used
homing pigeons as messengers for military
and political instructions. As he expanded
his territory, he set up pigeon relay posts
across Asia and much of Eastern Europe;
the pigeons transmitted instructions to his
capital for the governing of his distant
dominions.
The Mongol Empire (pages
253-254)
 The
Mongols came from present-day
Mongolia. They were organized loosely
into clans. Temujin gradually unified the
Mongols. In 1206 he was elected
Genghis Khan ("strong ruler") at a
massive meeting in the Gobi. He
devoted himself to conquest.
 The
Mongols created the largest land
empire in history comprising much of
the Eurasian landmass. Its capital was at
Karakorum.
 Genghis
Khan died in 1227. Following
Mongol custom, the empire was
divided among his sons into several
khanates. Mongol forces soon attacked
the Persians, Abbasids (see Chapter 6),
and the Song.
 In
attacking the Song, the Mongols first
experienced gunpowder and the firelance. The latter evolved into more
effective handguns and cannons. By
the early fourteenth century foreigners
in the employ of Mongol rulers brought
gunpowder and firearms to Europe.
The Mongol Dynasty in China
(pages 254-255)
 In
1279 Kublai Khan completed
conquering the Song. He established
the Yuan dynasty in China. He
established the capital at Khanbaliq
("the city of the Khan"), now known as
Beijing.
 Under
Kublai Khan, Mongol forces
advanced against Vietnam, Java,
Sumatra, and Japan. Mongol military
tactics, such as cavalry charges and
siege warfare, were not effective in
these largely tropical, hilly regions. These
Mongol campaigns failed.
 The
Mongols were successful at ruling
China. The adapted to the Chinese
political system and used Chinese
bureaucrats. The Mongols formed their
own class, however, staffing the highest
positions in the bureaucracy.
 Over
time, the Mongol dynasty won the
support of the Chinese people, in part
due to the economic prosperity and
social stability the Mongols brought.


Marco Polo wrote glowingly of Khan Baliq.
His stories of the glories of China seemed
unbelievable to Europeans.
The Mongol dynasty finally fell apart due to
problems that affected the other dynasties:
too much spending on foreign conquests,
corruption at court, growing internal
instability. In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang, the son
of a peasant, formed an army, ended the
Mongol dynasty, and established the Ming
dynasty.
Religion and Government
(pages 255-256)
 By
the time of the Sui and Tang
dynasties, Buddhism and Daoism had
emerged to rival Confucianism.
Confucianism reemerged during the
Song dynasty, and held its dominance
until the early twentieth century.
 Buddhism
came to China in the first
century A.D. Indian merchants and
missionaries brought it. Because of the
instability after the collapse of the Han
dynasty, both Buddhism and Daoism
attracted many people, especially the
ruling classes, intellectuals, and the
wealthy.
 Early
Tang rulers supported monasteries,
and Buddhists became advisers at the
imperial court. Ultimately, however,
Buddhism was criticized and attacked.
 Buddhism was attacked for being a
foreign religion. Also, the Buddhist
monasteries held lands and serfs, and
with these holdings came corruption.
 During
the late Tang period, the
government destroyed many Buddhist
temples and forced more than 260,000
monks and nuns to return to secular life.
Buddhism no longer enjoyed state
support.
 Official
support went to a revived
Confucianism, Neo-Confucianism. It
differs from the original Confucianism. It
teaches that the world is real, not
illusory, and that fulfillment comes from
participation in the world.
 Neo-Confucianist’s
divide the world into
material and spiritual worlds. Humans
link the two. We live in the material
world but are linked with the Supreme
Ultimate. The goal of humans is to unify
with the Supreme Ultimate, through a
careful examination of the moral
principles that rule the universe.
A Golden Age in Literature
and Art (pages 256-257)
 The
invention of printing during the Tang
dynasty helped make literature
available and popular. The period
between the Tang and Ming dynasties
was a great age of Chinese literature.
Art also flourished.
 Poetry
was the highest literary art of the
time. Some 2,200 authors wrote at least
48,000 poems. They celebrated the
beauty of nature, the changes of
seasons, and the joys of friendship. The
expressed the sadness of parting and
life's brevity.
 Li
Bo and Duo Fu were two of the time's
most popular poets. One of Li Bo's
poems has been memorized by
Chinese schoolchildren for centuries. He
was a free spirit known for his nature
poetry. Duo Fu was a serious Confucian
concerned with social justice and the
plight of the poor.
 Landscape
painting reached its height
during the Song and Mongol dynasties.
Painters went into the mountains to
paint and find the Dao, or Way, in
nature. The word for landscape in
Chinese means "mountain-water" and
reflects the Daoist search for balance
between Earth and water.
 Chinese
artists tried to depict the idea
of the landscape, not how it appeared
realistically. Empty spaces were left in
the paintings because Daoists believe
one cannot know the whole truth.
Daoist influence also caused the
people to be quite small in these
landscapes, not dominating but living
within nature.
 Ceramics,
and especially Tang-period
porcelain, a ceramic made of fine clay
baked at very high temperatures,
flourished. The technique for making
porcelain did not reach Europe until the
eighteenth century.
Chapter 8 section 3
 Did
You Know? The Zen Buddhist tea
ceremony consists of the host bringing tea
utensils into the room, offering the guests
sweets, and then preparing and serving
the guests tea made of pulverized tea
leaf in hot water. The prepared tea is
usually thin and frothy with a mildly
astringent flavor. A light meal may
precede the serving of sweets and tea.
The Geography of Japan
(pages 263-264)


Chinese and Japanese societies have
always been very different. One reason is
the differing geographies.
Japan is a chain of many islands. The
population is concentrated on Hokkaido,
the main island of Honshu, Kyushu, and
Shikoku. Japan's total land size is about
equal to the state of Montana.


Much of Japan is mountainous. About 11
percent of the land can be farmed. Japan
is prone to earthquakes. An earthquake
almost destroyed Tokyo in 1923.
Because of being geographically isolated,
the Japanese developed a number of
unique qualities, which contributed to the
Japanese belief that they had a destiny
separate from other peoples.
The Rise of the Japanese State
(pages 264-265)
 Japanese
first settled in the Yamato
plain near present-day Osaka and
Kyoto. Society was comprised of clans,
and the people were divided into a
small aristocratic class and a large
group of farmers, artisans, and servants.
Local rulers protected the population in
return for a share of the harvest.
 One
Yamato clan gained supremacy
and, in effect, ruled Japan. Other
families continued to compete for
power, however.

Shotoku Taishi (early seventh century) tried
to unify the clans to resist Chinese invasion.
To do this, he imitated to a degree the
Chinese structure of government. He
wanted a supreme ruler over a centralized
government to limit the aristocrats' power
and enhance his own. The ruler was
portrayed as a divine figure and the symbol
of Japan.
 His
successors continued to emulate the
Chinese model. They formed
administrative districts. The rural village
was the basic governmental unit. A new
tax system was set up so taxes went
directly to the government, not local
aristocrats, and all farmland technically
belonged to the state.
 After
Shotoku Taishi's death (622), the
Fujiwara clan gained power. In 710 the
ruler moved the capital to Nara, and
began to use the title "son of Heaven."
The central government declined
because the noble families were able
to keep taxes from the lands for
themselves.
 In
794 the emperor moved the
capital to nearby Heian, present-day
Kyoto. The government was
returning to the decentralized system
that existed before Shotoku Taishi.
More and more peasants gave their
lands to the aristocrats to avoid
paying high taxes to them,
becoming tenant farmers.
 Landed
aristocrats increasingly turned
to military power to pursue their
interests. This led to the creation of the
samurai ("those who serve") class. They
were like knights and had their own
code, called Bushido ("the way of the
warrior"). Above all the samurai were
loyal to their lord and employer.

By the late twelfth century Japanese
wealthy families were embroiled in almost
constant civil war. Finally, the nobleman
Minamoto Yoritomo defeated several rivals
and set up his power near modern Tokyo.
He created a more centralized
government, called the shogunate, under a
military ruler, or shogun. He, not the
emperor, had the real power.
 Yoritomo's
Kamakura shogunate lasted
from 1192 to 1333. This system came just
in time. In 1281 Kublai Kahn invaded
Japan with vastly superior forces. A
typhoon, however, destroyed almost
the entire Mongol fleet. Japan would
not have foreign invaders again until
1945.
 The
power of local aristocrats grew during
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Heads of noble families, called daimyo
("great names"), controlled vast landed
estates that were tax exempt. The daimyo
relied on the samurai, and a loose
coalition of noble families came into
power
 By
1500 central power had
disappeared. The disastrous Onin War, a
civil war, almost destroyed Kyoto. The
rivalries of powerful lords plunged
Japan into virtual chaos.
Life in Early Japan (page 266)
 Early
Japan was largely a farming
society. Due to abundant rainfall, many
farmers grew wet rice, or rice grown in
flooded fields.
 Trade
and manufacturing began to
develop during the Kamakura period.
Industries such as paper, iron casting,
and porcelain emerged. Foreign trade
with Korea and China emerged in the
eleventh century.
 Women
may have had a certain level
of equality with men in early Japan. An
eighth century law guaranteed
inheritance rights for women.
Abandoned wives could divorce and
remarry.
 Even
so, women were considered
subordinate to men. A husband could
divorce on the grounds of the wife
talking too much, having a serious
illness, or being unable to produce a
male child.
 Women
played an active role in various
levels of society. Some were prominent
at court, and some were known for
artistic and literary talents. Women often
appear in the paintings of the time as
farm workers, salespersons, and
entertainers.
 Early
Japanese worshipped spirits called
kami they believed resided in nature.
They also believed their own ancestors
were in the air around them. These
beliefs evolved into a kind of state
religion called Shinto ("the Sacred Way"
or "the Way of the Gods"), still practiced
today.
 Shinto
evolved into a state doctrine
connected to a belief in the divinity of
the emperor and the sacredness of the
Japanese nation. According to legend,
the first emperor was descended from
the sun goddess, Amaterasu.
 Some
Japanese turned to Buddhism,
brought from China during the sixth
century. The sect called Zen became
the most popular. Zen beliefs became
part of the samurai warrior's code.
 According
to Zen, there are different
ways to achieve enlightenment, a state
of pure being. Some say it can come
suddenly, others that it can be
achieved only through strong selfdiscipline, especially meditation.
 From
the ninth to the twelfth centuries,
women were the most productive
writers of prose in Japan. Men in early
Japan believed prose fiction was
merely "vulgar gossip." Women wrote
diaries, stories, and novels to pass the
time.
 This
tradition produced one of the
world's great novels, The Tale of Genji,
written by Murasaki Shikibu around the
year 1000. The novel traces the life of
the noble Genji as he moves from
youthful adventure to a life of sadness
and compassion in his later years.
Throughout, he tries to remain in favor
with the powerful in Japan.
 Landscape
served as the means of
expression in Japanese art and
architecture. The landscape around the
fourteenth-century Golden Pavilion in
Kyoto shows a harmony of garden,
water, and architecture. It is one of the
world's treasures.
The Emergence of Korea
(page 267)
 The
Korean Peninsula is only slightly
larger than Minnesota. It is mountainous.
No society in East Asia was more
influenced by the Chinese model than
Korea.
 In
109 B.C., the northern part of the
peninsula came under Chinese control.
The Koreans drove them out in the third
century A.D. Three kingdoms emerged:
Koguryo in the north, Paekche in the
southwest, and Silla in the southeast.
They were bitter rivals from the fourth to
the seventh centuries.
 Silla
gained control. Korea sank into civil
war after the king of Silla was
assassinated. In the tenth century, the
Koryo (root of the word Korea) dynasty
arose in the north. To unify the country,
it adopted Chinese political institutions
and stayed in power for four hundred
years.
 Mongols
seized the northern part of
Korea in the thirteenth century. The
Koryo dynasty stayed in power. Mongol
rule was harsh, however, especially for
the thousands of people forced to
make ships for Kublai Khan's invasion of
Japan.
 In
1392, Yi Song-gye seized power and
founded the Yi dynasty in Korea.
Chapter 8 section 4
 Did
You Know? In India, as in many other
Asian countries, the elephant is the work
animal for such projects as clearing land.
Cows generally are not put to work in
India because Hindus believe they are
sacred, a belief that has given us our
expression sacred cow. According to
legend, the Hindu hero Prithu changed
himself into a cow to encourage his
countrymen to be vegetarians.