Inner and East Asia 600-1200

Early Tang Empire 618-755• Built by the Sui, Grand Canal

links Yellow and Yangzi rivers.• Li Shimin (Tang) expands

westward = Turkic cultural, religious and military influence

• Inner Asian horses, camels and clothing from the Silk Road

• Horsemanship combined with armored infantry & crossbow.

• Mahayana Buddhism and emphasis on bodhisattva & combining of local gods.

Uighur and Tibetan Empires 600-907

• Turkic-speaking Uighurs and Tibetans built large rival states along the Silk Road (map 10.1).

• Religious art from N. India and mixture of East Asian and Islamic dress.

• Tibetans adopt architectural and artistic styles from India.

• Buddhist pilgrims connect India and China

Fall of the Tang Empire 879-907• Fear of ‘barbarians’ =

attacks on foreign residents.• Oppressive landlords &

dependence on warlords leads to rebellions.

• Destroyed Buddhism as a ‘foreign evil’

• Belief that women in politics = danger to Confucianism

• Neo-Confucianism = new ‘religion’

Neo-Confucian Influence• Challenge to Buddhism• Scholarly and cosmic

emphasis on‘sagehood’.• Civil Service examinations

• Govt ‘Meritocracy’• Evidence in Korea, Japan

and Vietnam.• Role of Women

The Song Empire 960-1279Song achievements:

– Su Song’s Celestial Clock– Gunpowder in explosive

shells– First seafaring compass.– Junks (stern rudder &

watertight bulkheads).– Produced steel of

unprecedented strength by using waterwheel-driven bellows to superheat iron.

– Modern urban planning (waste removal, water diversion, fire prevention, leisure activities).

– Moveable type and the resulting spread of knowledge

– Pioneered paper money and credit (flying money).

Song weaknesses:– They feared foreigners and

barbarians, though most of achievements in technology, observation, math, astronomy & economics came from India & West Asia during the Tang.

– Cut off from Inner & West Asia they relied on sea trade.

– Needed an army four times as large (though they occupied half the area) as the Tang.

– Treatment of women worsened as the loss of Buddhism was replaced by neo-Confucianism.

Trade and Exchange• Chang’an = metropolitan

‘Mecca’ due to tributary system and roads/canals

• Exports (silk & ‘china’) for precious metals and luxury items.

• Sea trade connects China with Red Sea and Persian Gulf.

• Cosmopolitan empire due to ‘breadth and diversity’