Medieval China, Korea, & Japan

China’s Tang Dynasty 618-907 AD Reunified China after period of anarchy Instituted land reform: broke up large farms held by wealthy nobles and redistributed the land to poor peasants to broaden the tax base Built the 1100 mile long Great Canal which connected the Huang He and Yangtze Rivers Dynasty failed due to rebellions over high taxes and government corruption

China’s Song Dynasty 960-1279 AD Replaced wheat with rice as the major crop of Chinese farmers farmers could harvest two crops of rice a year vs. only one of wheat Introduced the world’s first paper money Almost constantly at war with Mongols from the north Revived Confucian ideals regarding good government

Chinese Social Structure Gentry: wealthy land-owning class, often served as government officials Peasants: farmers (also owned land, just less than the gentry) Peasants could move up into the gentry class through education or by growing wealth Merchants: lower in status than peasants because their wealth came from others whereas peasants earned a living from their own hard work

Chinese Women Wives and mothers traditionally held great authority in the family, but this authority gradually diminished over time By the end of the Song dynasty, women’s place in society was considerably weaker

Foot binding Young girls’ feet were wrapped tightly to restrict growth; as a result, grown women had extremely limited mobility because their feet were much smaller than they would have been naturally Foot binding reinforced the subordinate role of women in Chinese society by forcing women to stay at home

The Mongols Nomadic tribes united by Ghengis Khan in early 1200s Conquered nearly all of central Asia, then turned attention to conquering China Although conquest was often violent, Mongols usually allowed the survivors to live in the same way they had before being conquered respected scholars, artists allowed many religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Zoroastrianism

The Silk Roads 1200s-1300s: The “Pax Mongolica” or Mongol Peace Trade along the Silk Roads flourished under Mongol protection Gunpowder introduced to Europe, new crops introduced into Asia

The Silk Roads

China’s Ming Dynasty In 1368, a Chinese peasant forged an army which pushed the Mongols out of China and set up the Ming Dynasty Returned China to a traditional Confucian style of government Revived Chinese art and literature Built a huge naval fleet which was sent out between 1405-1433 under the admiral Zheng He

Zheng He Led the Chinese fleet on seven expeditions of exploration and trade Known to have explored as far as the eastern coast of Africa, some evidence suggests he may have made it as far as the Eastern coast of North America! After Zheng He’s death, the Ming emperors disbanded the fleet and stopped exploration

Zheng He’s Voyages

Korea Geography On a peninsula next to China Very mountainous Long coastline with many harbors Positioned between China and Japan and has often been controlled by one or the other

Korea’s Shilla Dynasty 300-600 AD: Korea divided into three warring kingdoms 668-918 AD: Korea united under the Shilla Dynasty Korea existed as a tributary state to China adopted Confucian principles about government adopted Buddhism as a religion

Japan Geography All islands, 4 main islands; both protected and isolated Japan from China, Korea, and the Mongols. Very mountainous, hard to farm Long history of natural disasters: location on the “Ring of Fire” means volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis common

Early Japan Originally clan-based By 500 AD, Yamato Dynasty had been established, and the Japanese emperor today is still from the Yamato Dynasty Emperor did not control all of the clans, so wars between clans were common Emperor, until the end of WWII, was worshipped as a god and was isolated from the people

Japanese Feudalism Emperor at top, but clan chiefs held all of the real political power Each clan had its own army led by a “shogun”(general) Some Buddhist monasteries even had THEIR own armies!) Europeans also adopted the feudal system after the fall of the Roman Empire.

Japanese Feudalism Peasants, artisans, and merchants were at the bottom, but could occasionally move up in status to become samurai Feudal society survived in Japan until 1868 AD

Japanese Religion Early religion was Shinto, or the worship of nature spirits; Shinto would eventually be incorporated into Japanese Buddhism, which arrived around 500 AD Zen Buddhism – enlightenment through the precise performance of everyday tasks; highly ritualistic, very orderly

Japanese Arts Theater Haiku Painting “Noh”style plays performed as early as 1300s 1600s: development of “kabuki” style (lively depictions of family or historical events) “Bunraku”: puppet dramas with a narrator Haiku miniature poems each is only three lines long total only 17 syllables each Painting colorful with simple lines