early civilizations in the east

Spread of civilizations in

east Asia500 AD – 1603 AD

Two golden ages of china

• Li Yuan had been the leading

general during the previous Sui

Dynasty and led a revolt against

the crumbling government.

• Li Yuan became the first

emperor of the Tang Dynasty,

later followed by his son Li

Shimin

• Li Shimin took the name Tang

Taizong and became the most

admired of all Chinese emperors

• In 618, the Tang Dynasty united China for the first

time in nearly 400 years


• The Tang conquered parts of central Asia and forced Vietnam, Korea, and Tibet to become tributary states

• Tributary states remain independent, but had to recognize China’s power and send tribute to the emperor

• Later Tang emperors redistributed land to peasants which weakened the power of wealthy land owners but increased government revenue, since peasants could now pay taxes.

• Rebuilt bureaucracy and developed civil service examinations to recruit officials trained in Confucianism


Decline:

• Tang eventually weakened and emperors lost

China’s north western territories to the Arabs

• Government corruption, crushing taxes, drought,

famine, and rebellions all contributed to their

downward spiral.


• In 960, the Song Dynasty came to power, founded by Zhao Kuangyin

• The Song period was a golden age for China

• The Chinese economy grew

• China dominated East Asia

• Merchants traded with Persia, India and the Middle East


Three levels of Chinese society:Gentry:

• Wealthy land owners who valued scholarships over physical

labor

• Supported the revival of Confucian thought

Peasants:

• Majority of Chinese were peasants who worked the land, living

on what they produce

• It was possible to move up in Chinese society through education

and government service

Merchants:

• Some acquired a vast amount of wealth

• According to Confucian tradition, merchants had an even lower

social status than peasants because their riches came from the

labor of others


• Women seemed to have had a higher status in Tang and

early Song Dynasties

• Within the home, women were often called upon to run family

affairs; managed family finances, discipline, and servants

• When a woman married she became a part of her husbands

family and could no longer keep her dowry and could never

remarry


Footbinding

• Women’s subordinate position was reinforced in late Song times

• Feet of young girls would be bound with long strips of cloth, producing a lily-shaped foot about one-half the size of a normal foot

• Tiny feet became a symbol of female nobility and beauty

• Intensely painful, yet the custom survived because parents feared that a daughter with large feet would be unable to find a good husband


Literature and Achievements in the Arts

• Poetry became the most respected form of literature

Li Bo

• Known as the greatest poet of the Tang

• dynasty

• Said to have written over 2,000 that

• celebrated harmony with nature


• Chinese landscape painting became

popular during the Song period

• Artist sought a balance and harmony

through simple strokes and lines


• During the Song dynasty the Chinese became

experts at making porcelain, a kind of pottery

• Chinese porcelain was the finest in the world


The Chinese

created the

pagoda, a

temple that the

roof curved up

at the corners


SongYang

Helped restore uniform government

Recruited Confucian scholars for civil service jobs

Developed new code of lawInstituted land reform, which helped to strengthen central government by weakening large landowners

Built a system of canals, which encouraged internal trade and transportation

Encouraged foreign trade

Expanded the Chinese

economy

Developed new strains of rice

and improved irrigation

methods

Produced food surpluses,

enabling more people to

pursue commerce, learning,

and the arts

Encouraged foreign trade

Transformed cities into centers

of trade

SongYang

The Mongol and ming

empires• In the 1200s, Genghiz Khan united Mongol tribes

and conquered a vast empire that stretched from the

Pacific Ocean to Eastern Europe.

• Genghiz Khan imposed strict military discipline

and demanded absolute loyalty. His highly trained

armies contained some of the most skilled horsemen

in the world.

• In their conquest of China, the Mongol armies

faced the problem of attacking walled cities. Mongol

and Chinese armies used missile weapons against

each other. The use of cannon warfare would soon

spread westward to Europe

• It took 150 years for the Mongols to complete their

conquest of China

The Mongol and ming

empires

The Mongol and ming

empires

• Once a conquest was complete, the Mongols were not oppressive rulers. They often allowed conquered peoples to live much as they had — as long as they paid tribute to the Mongols.

• The trade flowing along the Silk Road, allowed people from different cultures to mix within the Mongol Empire

• The heirs of Genghiz Khan established peace and order within their domain.

Silk road

The Mongol and ming

empiresThe Yuan Dynasty

• Kublai , grandson of Genghiz Khan,

was able to topple the last Song emperor

in 1279

• From the capital at Cambulac, Kublai

Khan ruled all China, as well as Korea,

Tibet, and Vietnam.

• Only Mongols could serve in the military

or hold the highest government jobs.

• The Chinese despised their foreign

conquerors.

• A mix of Chinese and foreign customs

developed.

• Foreigners were welcomed into China

and a number of Chinese products, such

as gunpowder and porcelain, were

introduced in Europe

The Mongol and ming

empiresMarco Polo

• Italian merchant was one of the many visitors to china

during the Yuan dynasty

• Spend 17 years in Kublai’s service before returning to

Venice.

• In his book; A Description of the World, Marco Polo left a

vivid account of the wealth and splendor of china

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ53WqklIo8

The Mongol and ming

empires• The Ming Dynasty

• After the death of Kublai Khan most Chinese despised Mongol rulers

• Heavy taxes, corruption and natural disasters led to frequent uprisings

• Zhu Yanzhang, a peasant leader, led a rebel army that overthrew the Mongol and pushed them back behind the great wall

• 1368 Yanzhang founded the Ming dynasty

The Mongol and ming

empires

• Economic revival

• Restored the civil service system and made the exams more rigorous than ever

• Revived Confucian learning

• Repaired the canal system that linked regions and made trade easier

• Made Chinese cities home to many industries, including porcelain, paper, and tools

• Developed new technologies, which increased output in manufacturing

• Supported a revival of arts and literature

Voyages of Zheng He

The Mongol and ming

empires

• The most important result of Ming rule was the

Emperor’s decision to forbid the Chinese people

from having contact with the rest of the world

Korea and Its traditions

Seventy percent of Korea is mountainous. Because farming is difficult in the mountains, most Koreans live along the western coastal plain, Korea’s major farming area.

Korea has a 5,400 mile coastline with hundreds of good harbors. Since earliest times, Koreans have depended on seafood for protein in their diet.

Korea’s location on China’s doorstep has played a key role in its development.


• 300 – 600 BC Korea was 3 separate kingdoms

1. Koguryol

2. Peakche

3. Shilla

• Often warred with one another

• 668 BC Shillia, with the help of the Tang empress Wu Zhao, united the peninsula and ruled until 918


• The Korryo Dynasty 918 –

1392

• Capital at Kaesong

• Buddhism reached its greatest

influenceKorea came to see their relationship

with china in Confucian terms, as

that of a younger brother who owed

respect and loyalty to an older

brother


Adopted and modified Chinese ideas:

• Koreans used the Chinese civil service examination,

but adapted it to fit their own system of inherited ranks

• Koreans learned to make porcelain from China, but

then perfected techniques of making celadon—a

porcelain with an unusual blue-green glaze.

•Replaced Chinese writing system, adopted by

Emperor Sejong, this new alphabet used symbols to

represent the sounds of spoken Korean, known as

Hangul.


Buddhism

Confucian Ideas

Chinese System of Writing

Chinese Art Styles

Porcelain making

Printing

Chinese civilization has always influenced

Korea

China Korea

The emergence of japan

• Japan is located on an archipelago, or chain of islands, about 100 miles off the Asian mainland.

• Because four-fifths of Japan is mountainous, most people settled in narrow river valleys and along coastal plains.

• The surrounding seas have both protected and isolated Japan. Japan was close enough to the mainland to learn from Korea and China, but too far away for the Chinese to conquer.

• The seas also served as trade routes for Japan.


• The first period of deliberate cultural borrowing and adaptation.

• The Japanese studied and borrowed from Chinese culture, introduced to them by the Koreans.

• Among the cultural imports were Buddhism, Confucianism social and political values, and the Chinese written and spoken languages.

• In time, enthusiasm for everything Chinese died down. The Japanese kept some Chinese ways but discarded or modified others. This process is known as selectiveborrowing.

Example: Japan never accepted the Chinese civil service exam to choose officials based on merit. Instead, they maintained their tradition of inherited status through family

The Emergence of japan

Shinto

• Buddhism co-existed alongside the native Japanese religion, Shinto.

• Shinto is a religion based on the worship of deities called Kami, who are considered benign and helpful to humans.

• Shinto recognizes many sacred places: mountains, lakes, springs, etc.

• 84% of modern Japanese practice both Shinto and Buddhism


• Japan’s Classical (Heian) Period ca 550-1185

• Japan adopted a Confucius style government, with an

Emperor and an examination system for the bureaucracy in

the Capital, Hei-an (modern Kyoto).

• Japanese literature, particularly poetry, flourished in this

period.


• Women made many literary contributions during the classical period.

The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, ca 996 written by Sei Shonagon was a lady of the court of the Japanese imperial family.

• This book was filled with personal observations, vivid details of court manner, décor, and dress

The Tale of Genji, by the Lady MurasakiShikibu ca 973-1025

• Often called the first novel, the story is centered on the life and adventures of Hikaru Genji, born to a Heian Emperor

Japan’s feudal age

• As the emperor presided over the splendid courts of Heian, rival clans battled for control of the countryside. Local warlords formed armed bands loyal to them rather than to the emperor. In this way, Japan evolved a feudal system.

• In theory, the emperor stood at the head of Japanese feudal society. In fact, he was powerless. Real power lay in the hands of the shogun, or supreme military commander.

• The shogun distributed land to vassal lords who agreed to protect them. These great warrior lords were called daimyo. They, in turn, granted land to lesser warriors called samurai.


Emperor

Shogun

Daimyo

Samurai

Pheasants

Artisans

Merchants


• Feudalism: A political, economic, and social system

based on loyalty, the holding of land and military

service

Shogun

Daimyo

Land

Land

Samurai Samurai

Peasant PeasantPeasantPeasant

Samurai

Daimyo

SamuraiSamurai

Food

Loyalty

Loyalty

Protection

Feudalism SImulation


Bushido

• Samurai developed their own code of values known as

bushido, or the way of the warrior.

• Code emphasized honor, bravery, and absolute loyalty to

one’s lord

• A samurai who betrayed the code of bushido was expected

to commit seppuku, or ritual suicide, rather than live without

honor


Tokugawa Shogunate 1603 - 1868

• Imposed central government control on all Japan

• Created a unified, orderly society

• Required the daimyo to live in the shogun’s capital every other year

• Created new laws that fixed the social order rigidly in place and upheld a strict moral code

• Imposed restrictions on women

• Oversaw economic growth, the flourishing of trade, and the emergence of a middle class


Zen Buddhism

• Zen emphasizes meditation and

devotion to duty

• Zen Buddhism teaches that all human

beings have the Buddha-nature, or the

potential to attain enlightenment

• Stressed compassion for all and

harmony with nature and respect for all

living things

• Influenced the development of fine

landscape paintings


Changing artistic traditions

Theater:

• 1600’s gave rise to a new form of

drama, Kabuki. Kabuki is known for

the stylization of its drama and for the

elaborate make-up worn by some of its

performers

Literature:

• The Japanese adapted Chinese poetry

models, creating miniature poems,

called Haiku

early civilizations in the east

Education

golden ages of chinaduring

golden ages of chinaliterature

golden ages of chinadecline

golden ages of chinain

golden ages of chinali

song dynasty

chinese emperors

tang taizong