ASIA
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China Reunified
The Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties restored peace to China in
between periods of chaos and disorder
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In 581 the Sui dynasty was established
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It is known for unifying China under one emperor
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Sui Yangdi was the second ruler of the dynasty
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He was a cruel ruler, and used forced labor to
build the Grand Canal, connecting the Huang He
(Yellow River) and Chang Jiang (Yangtze River)
Sui Yangdi’s oppressive policies led to a rebellion
that ended the empire
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The Tang dynasty came to power in 618
o Tang rulers restored civil service exams for
government positions
o The Tang dynasty extended the borders of the empire
to Tibet in the southwest
o Emperor Tang Xuanzang and other Tang rulers were
unable to prevent plotting and corruption in the
government
• Tang rulers hired Uighurs to put down rebellions
but continued unrest led to the fall of the dynasty
in 907
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In 960 the Song dynasty came to power
o The Song ruled during a period of economic prosperity
and cultural achievement
o Because of threats from nomadic warriors to the
north, the Song moved their capital farther south to
Hangzhou
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Chinese Government and Economy
For 700 years, the Chinese economy grew in size and
sophistication
 During the rule of the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties,
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the Chinese government and economy grew in size and
complexity
The Song government weakened the power of large
landholders and helped poor peasants get their own
land
o which led to an abundance of food
The economy was still based on agriculture, but
technological advances led to development of steel and
gunpowder
International and domestic trade also increased and the
Silk Road was renewed
Changan became the wealthiest city in the world during
the Tang era
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Chinese Society
The political stability established by the
three dynasties allowed Chinese
society to grow in complexity
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In the late 1200s, the Italian
merchant Marco Polo described
Hangzhou as one of the largest
and most beautiful cities in the
world
The Liuhe Pagoda of
Hangzhou, built in 1165
during the Song Dynasty
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Chinese society developed into a complex mixture of
landowners, free peasants, sharecroppers, and landless
laborers
Most significant was the rise of the landed gentry
o called the scholar-gentry
o became the political and economic elite of Chinese
society
Few women had any power
o An exception was Wu Zhao, known as Empress Wu,
who ruled for half a century
When a woman was married, her family was expected to
give a dowry to the husband
o Poor families sold their daughters
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The Mongols and China
The Mongols created the world’s largest land empire by
conquering all of China
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The Mongols under Genghis Khan created the largest
land empire ever
o Mongols were a pastoral people from the Gobi in what
is present-day Mongolia
In 1206 Genghis Khan was elected the ruler of the
Mongols
o He immediately devoted his life to conquest
o Upon Genghis Khan’s death in 1227, the empire was
divided into khanates
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In 1279, Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan,
conquered the Song dynasty and established the Yuan
dynasty in China
o Kublai Khan established his capital at Khanbalik, in
what is present-day Beijing
While the Mongols were successful in ruling China, they
were unsuccessful in attacking Southwest Asia
The Mongols were finally unseated by internal
instability, political corruption, and excessive military
spending
o In 1368 an uprising by Zhu Yuanzhang led to the
Ming dynasty
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Religion and Government
Between the Han and Yuan dynasties, religion’s role in Chinese
government changed
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Buddhism and Daoism became increasingly popular
during the Tang dynasty
Buddhist monasteries acquired thousands of acres of
lands and serfs
o Buddhists taught that everything in the material
world is an illusion
• This was contrary to Confucian teachings of
devotion to family and work
Beginning in the Song dynasty, government officials
supported neo-Confucianism
o the world is real and satisfaction comes from
participation
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A Golden Age in Literature and Art
With the invention of printing, a golden age of literature and art
emerged in China
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The golden age of Chinese literature occurred during
the Tang and Ming dynasties
The invention of the printing press helped to make
literature more available to people
Poetry, as expressed by Tang-era poets
Li Bo and Du Fu, was especially important to Chinese
literature
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Painting was an important art form during imperial
China
o Influenced by the Daoist vision, landscape painting
reached its height
Tang artisans perfected the making of porcelain
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Early Japan
Japan’s history has been marked by power struggles between
rulers and independent families
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Early Japanese society was made up of a small ruling
class of aristocrats and a large population of farmers
The people lived in clans in the Yamato Plain near what
are now the cities of Ōsaka and Kyōto
Prince Shōtoku Taishi tried to unify the clans of Japan
o He emulated the Chinese system of government and
established centralized power
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In the Nara Period, the emperor began to call himself
the “Son of Heaven.”
o The aristocrats kept tax revenues for themselves
o the centralized national government lost power and
influence
During the Heian Period there was little centralized
power
o The aristocratic families sought the protection of
samurai
• The samurai lived by a warrior code known as
Bushido
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Minamoto Yoritomo defeated the rival clans and set up
a centralized government under the control of a shogun
Fighting the Mongols put a strain on the political
system and the shogunate was overthrown
The collapse of central rule coincided with the rise of
daimyo
o Noble lords
o The noble families constantly warred with each other
• by 1500 Japan was in chaos
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Life in Early Japan
Japan’s small size and relative isolation have had a major effect
on the development of its economy, religion, and culture
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Farming provided the basis of the Japanese economy
o although only about 11% of the land was tillable
Trade between regions began to increase
o Japan traded raw materials and manufactured items
in return for silk, porcelain, books, and copper coins
Women were subordinate to men
o Aristocratic women were active in society and the arts
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Japanese religion was centered around the worship of
spirits and became known as Shinto
Among aristocrats, a sect of Buddhism known as Zen
became popular
 Zen would be adopted by the samurai as well
In early Japan, it was considered beneath men to write
fiction
 Thus, women such as Mursaki Shikibu rose to
prominence
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The Emergence of Korea
The early history of Korea was marked by the presence of
dominating neighbors
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Korea is a mountainous peninsula
Its proximity to China and Japan has greatly influenced
Korean history
The Koryo dynasty emulated Chinese political systems
o The Koryo accepted Mongol rule in the thirteenth
century
• This led to the fall of the dynasty
In 1392 Yi Sŏng-gye seized power and founded the Yi
dynasty
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India after the Guptas
Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam all influenced the development
of India
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The people of India retained a widespread acceptance of
Buddhism for centuries
People did not always agree on the teachings of Buddha
and a split occurred
o The followers who believed Buddhism was a life
philosophy became known as the school of Theravada
o The followers who believed Buddhism was a religion
became known as the school of Mahayana
Buddhism eventually lost influence in India although it
was transported abroad with much success
Early in the eighth century Arab armies brought
Islam to northwest India
 In the tenth century rebellious Turkish slaves
founded the Islamic state of Ghazna (Ghaznī)
 In 997, Mahmūd of Ghazna attacked Hindu
kingdoms to the southeast
o Mahmūd’s forces defeated the Rajputs and extended
Muslim power to the new state of the sultanate of
Delhi
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Mahmud of Ghanzi
at court
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Timur Lenk (Tamerlane) ruled a Mongol state called
Samarqand
o He attacked the capital of Delhi in 1398
• He massacred as many as 100,000 Hindu prisoners
at the gates of the city
o His death in 1405 rid India and Asia of a tyrannical
ruler
• This allowed the Moguls and Portuguese to gain
influence in the region
Timur Lenk
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Indian Society and Culture
The ruling class of India was made up of Muslims, but some
members of the Hindu population also prospered. The rich
culture of India was reflected in its art, literature,
architecture, and technological advances
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Muslim rulers in India maintained strict separation
between Muslims and Hindus
o This relationship led to suspicion and distrust
between the two groups
India’s location and traditional trade routes made it a
center for trade between Southwest and East Asia
Between 500 and 1500, religious architecture in India
developed from caves to magnificent structures such
as Hindu temples and towers
 The use of prose in fiction was established in India by
the sixth and seventh centuries
o much earlier than most civilizations
o One of the greatest authors of Sanskrit prose was
Dandin, who penned The Adventures of Ten Princes
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The Peruvudaiyar
Koyil Temple, the
world's first complete
granite temple, one of
India's most prized
architectural sites
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The Formation of States
The geography of Southeast Asia led to the development of
distinct cultures throughout the region
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Between 500 and 1500, a number of organized states
developed throughout Southeast Asia
o These states were influenced by the unique geography
of Southeast Asia
The region is dominated by a mainland that extends
from China to the Malay Peninsula, and an archipelago
which includes Indonesia and the Philippines
The area contains a vast array of races, cultures, and
religions
The geographical barriers of the region encouraged the
development of separate cultures
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Vietnam was one of the first states to develop its own
identity
o Vietnam was heavily influenced by China
• Vietnam warred with its neighbor and eventually
copied its system of government
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Jayavarman II united the Khmer people and created the
kingdom of Angkor (present-day Cambodia) in the ninth
century
o The proximity to enemies, such as the Burmese
kingdom of Pagan and the arrival of the Thai people
in 1300, signaled the end of the Angkor Kingdom
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The Thai people established their empire on the Chao
Phraya River
o They were influenced by a combination of Hindu and
Buddhist beliefs which became the modern culture of
Thailand
The inhabitants of Burma were a pastoral people who
grew wealthy and influential from trade in the region
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The Malay region was divided between the mainland
peninsula and the islands of Indonesia
o This kingdom was never unified because of
geographical barriers
o The people of the Malay kingdom grew wealthy from
controlling trade passing through the Strait of
Malacca
o The Muslim city of Melaka became an important
trading post on the peninsula
• It was also influential in the spread of Islam in the
region
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Life in Southeast Asia
The growth of the states of Southeast Asia depended largely on
trade and agriculture
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The states of Southeast Asia can be categorized into two
groups:
o agricultural societies and trading societies
Economic and political power in Southeast Asia was
held by hereditary aristocrats
o Farmers, fishermen, artisans, and merchants
comprised the rest of the society
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Women in Southeast Asia received
more rights than in proximate
regions
Hinduism and Buddhism were both
popular in Southeast Asia
o Theravada Buddhism eventually
became the religion of the masses
Standing
Buddha