1. Medieval China, Korea, & Japan

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. The Silk Roads

10. 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 under the admiral Zheng He

11. 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

12. Zheng He’s Voyages

13. 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

14. Korea’s Shilla Dynasty
AD: Korea divided into three warring kingdoms
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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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.

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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