Chapter 13 Introduction

China’s neighbors naturally emulated their great neighbor

Japan borrowed heavily from China when it began to form its own civilization (5th and 6th centuries)

Tibet and the people north and west of China were also influenced

Vietnam and Korea were part of the Chinese sphere by the last centuries BCE, and they blended Chinese influence with their indigenous cultures to produce distinctive patterns of development

Buddhism was a key factor in transmitting Chinese culture

I) Japan: The Imperial Age

Although Shinto views on the natural and supernatural remained central, from the 7th to 9th century during the Taika, Nara and Heian periods, Japanese borrowing from China peaked

Intellectuals and aristocrats absorbed Chinese influences during the Taika reforms (646) aimed at revamping the administration

The common people looked to Buddhist monks for both spiritual and secular assistance, and meshed traditional religions with Buddhist beliefs

The Taika reforms failed and the emperor lost power to aristocrats and returned to Japanese tradition

a) Crisis at Nara and the Shift to Heian (Kyoto)

Resistance from aristocratic families frustrated the Taika reform effort to remake Japanese rulers into Chinese style absolute monarchs

Buddhists grew so powerful that one monk attempted to marry Empress Koken and claim the throne. The emperor fled and established a new capital at Heian (Kyoto), abandoning the Taika reforms

Japanese determined aristocratic rank at birth, thus blocking social mobility

The emperor gave up plans to create a peasant conscript army and ordered local leaders to form rural militias.

b) Ultracivilized: Court Life in the Heian Era

- Court culture flourished at Heian, where the basis of life was the pursuit of asthetic enjoyment and avoidance of common, distasteful elements of life in a complex of palaces and gardens

- Japanese simplified the script taken from the Chinese, and an outpouring of distinctly Japanese poetry and literary works followed

- At court women were expected to be as cultured as men, and they were involved in palace intrigues and power struggles

- Lady Murasaki’s The Tale of Genji, the 1st novel in any language, vividly depicts courtly life

c) The Decline of Imperial power

By the 9th century, the Fujiwara dominated the administration and married into the imperial family

Together with Buddhists, estate owners reduced imperial power, and large number of peasants fell under their control

Cooperation between aristocrats and Buddhists was helped by secret taxes and ceremonies of esoteric Buddhism, with techniques to gain salvation through prayer and meditations

d) The Rise of the Provincial Warrior Elite

The warrior leaders (bushi) governed and taxed for themselves, not the court. The created their own mounted and armed forces (samurai)

By the 12th and 13th centuries disorder was so great that imperial control kept declining, and a warrior class emerged

. The bushi and samurai devoted their lives to martial activity and developed a code (bushido) that stressed family honor and death rather than defeat. Disgraced warriors committed suicide (seppuku or hari-kari)

Artisans lived at court but despite their skills, possessed little social status

II) The Era of Warrior Dominance

Provincial families dominated the declining imperial court, the most powerful families, the Taira and Minamoto, fought for dominance during the Gempei wars (1180-1185).

By 1185 the Minamoto were victorious and established a military government (bakufu) centered at Kamakura

Japanese feudalism was under way with all power resting with the Minamota and their samurai

a) In depth: Comparing Feudalism

Fully developed feudal systems developed during the post classical age in Japan and Western Europe

The Feudal system in Japan and Western Europe included the concept of mutual ties and obligation and embraced elite militaristic values

Western Europe stressed contractual ideas, while Japan relied on group and individual bonds

b) Declining Influence of China

Chinese influenced waned along with imperial powerScholar-gentry bureaucracy had little place in a system where

local military leaders predominatedChinese Buddhism turned into a distinctly Japanese religionThe Japanese court (838) discontinued its embassies to the Tang.For 5 years the Gempei Wars(1180) raged in the heartland of the

main island of Honshu, which brought great suffering to the peasants whose farmland was ravaged.

By 1185 the Taira house faction had been destroyed and the Minamoto established the bakufu or military government.

The emperor and his court were preserved, but the real power rested with the Minamoto and their samurai, the feudal age in Japan had begun.

c) The Breakup of Bakufu Dominance and the age of the Warlords

- Yoritomo, the leader of the Minamoto, weakened his regime by assassinating or exiling suspected relatives he feared were planning his overthrow. Fear of spies lent an element of paranoia to elite life under the first of the shoguns, or military leaders of the bakufu.

- After Yoritomo’s death the Hojo family soon dominated, leaving the Minamoto leader and emperor at Kyoto powerless

- Ashikaga Takuaji overthrew the Kamakura regime (1336) and established the Ashikagan Shogunate

- The emperor refused to recognize the new regime and the ensuing struggle for power left Japan divided into regional territories governed by competing warlords (daimyo)

d) Toward Barbarism? Military Division and Social Change

- By the 15th century the chivalrous qualities of the bushi era deteriorated as warfare became more scientific and large numbers of armed peasants in daimyo armies added to the misery of the common people

- Despite suffering there was economic and cultural growth as the daimyos tried to administer to their domains

- Daimyos competed to attract merchants to their castle towns, and incentives were offered to settle unoccupied areas

- A new and wealthy merchant class emerged- Women found some opportunities in commerce, but

women of the warrior class lost status, ritual roles in religion and replaced in theater by men

e) Artistic Solace for a Troubling Age

- Zen Buddhism, which stressed simplicity and discipline, had special appeal to the Japanese warrior elite

- Zen Buddhism had a key role in maintaining the arts among the elite

- Zen monasteries were key locations of renewed contacts with China

- Notable achievements were made in painting, architecture, gardens, and tea ceremony

III) Korea: Between China and Japan

- Korea, because of its proximity to China, was more profoundly influenced over a longer period than any other state, although it did manage to develop its own separate political identity

- Koreans descended from the hunting and gathering people of Siberia and Manchuria, but by the 4th century were acquiring farming and metal working techniques from China

- The earliest Korean kingdom, Choson, was conquered by the Han (109 BCE). Despite conquest and colonization under the Han, the tribal people of the peninsula, particularly the Koguryo in the north, resisted Chinese rule. As Chinese control weakened, the Koguryo established an independent state in the northern half of the penisula that was soon at war with two southern rivals, Silla and Packche.

- After the fall of the Han an extensive adoption of Chinese culture (sinification) occurred. Buddhism was a key element in the transfer, and Chinese writing was adopted

a) Tang Alliances and the Conquest of Korea

- The Tang, through alliance with the Silla, were able to defeat Packche and Koguryo because of continuing political disunity

- Silla became a vassal state in 668, the Chinese received tribute and left Silla to govern Korea

- The Koreans maintained independence until the early 20th century

b) Sinification: The Tributary Link

- Under the Silla and Koryo dynasties (918-1392) Chinese influence peaked and Korean culture achieved its first full flowering

- The Silla copied the Tang ways and through frequent missions, brought Chinese learning, art and manufactured items to Korea

- The Chinese were content with tribute and allowed Koreans to run their own affairs

c) The Sinification of the Korean Elite Culture

- The Silla capital Kumsong was constructed on the model of Tang cities

- The aristocracy build residences around the imperial palace, and there were lakes, parks, markets.

- Most government positions were determined by birth and family connections, although some Koreans studied in Chinese schools for Confucian exams

- The elite favored Buddhism over Confucianism, and Korean cultural creativity decorated many Buddhist monasteries and temples

- Koreans refined techniques of porcelain manufacturing from the Chinese and produced masterworks

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d) Civilization for the Few

- Chinese influences were monopolized by a tiny Korean elite, who dominated political, social and economic life

- Aristocrats controlled commerce and trade with China and Japan was intended to serve their desires

- Government officials, commoners (peasants), and the low born all served the aristocracy

e) Koryo Collapse, Dynasty Renewal

- The burdens imposed by the aristocracy on the commoners and low born caused periodic revolts

- Although most local affairs were easily suppressed, they helped weaken the Silla and Koryo regimes

- More than a century of conflict followed the Mongol invasion (1231) until the Yi dynasty was established (1392)

- The Yi restored tributary links to China aristocratic dominance until the dynasty ended (1910)

IV) Between China and Southeast Asia: The Making of Vietnam

- The Chinese move southward brought them to fertile rice growing region of the Red River valley

- The indigenous Viets did not suffer the same fate as the “southern barbarians They were prepared to receive the benefits of Chinese civilization, but not to lose their identity.

- The Viets were willing to intermarry with other ethnic groups, such as the Khmers (Cambodians) and never developed the clan networks that were a prominent feature of southern Chinese society.

- The Viets were part of Southeast Asian culture, their spoken language was not related to Chinese.

- They had strong village autonomy and favored the nuclear family.

- Women had more freedom and influence than the Chinese did and in general customs were very different than those of China

a) Conquest and Sinification

- At first the Han Empire secured tribute from Vietnam, later they governed directly (111 BCE)

- Viets attended Chinese schools, where they learned Chinese script and studied Confucian classics. They took exams for administrative posts

- Vietnamese agriculture was the most productive in Southeast Asia due to Chinese techniques, and led to higher population density

- The Viets also had a decisive advantage using Chinese political and military organization over the Indianized peoples to the east and west

b) Roots of Resistance

- The Chinese failure to win the Vietnamese peasantry and sporadic aristocratic revolts frustrated Chinese expectations for absorption

- Viet women participated in the revolts against the Chinese, as the rising led by the Trung sisters in 39 CE shows the differing position of women compared to Chinese

- Viet women were hostile to the male-dominated Confucian codes and family system

c) Winning Independence and Continuing Chinese Influences

- When political weakness occurred in China, the Viet took advantage of their great distance from China became independent by 939 until the 19th century

- Le (980-1009) began a succession of dynasties, ruling through a bureaucracy modeled on the Chinese system

- The scholar-gentry never gained the power held in China, local officials identified with village rulers and the peasantry instead of the ruling dynasty

- Buddhist monks also held stronger links with the common people, especially women, than did the Confucian bureaucrats

d) The Vietnamese Drive to the South

- The Chinese legacy helped the Viets in their struggles with local rivals

- Their main adversaries were the Indianized Khmer and Chams people of the southern lowlands

- A series of successful wars from the 11th to 18th centuries extended Viet territory into the Mekong delta region

e) Expansion and Division

- The dynasties centered at the northern capital of Hanoi were unable to control distant frontier areas, and differences in culture developed as the invaders intermarried with the Chams and Khmers

- Regional military commanders sought independence, and by the 16th century a rival dynasty, the Nguyen, with a capital at Hue, challenged the northern ruling Trinh family

- These two dynasties fought for control of Vietnam for the next two centuries

f) Global Connections: In the Orbit of China: The east Asian Corner of the

Global System- Chinese civilization influenced the formation of 3 distinct

satellite civilizations in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam- Common elements, writing, government organization, religion,

and art were passed on- China’s nearness to Korea forced symbolic political submission

and long term cultural dependence- In Vietnam, Chinese conquest and control stretched over 1000

years - The Japanese escaped direct Chinese rule, but Chinese culture

was first cultivated by the ruling elite of the imperial court- The preoccupation with East Asia sphere left the region’s

inhabitants with limited awareness of larger world current

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