1. The Resurgence of Empire in East Asia
Chapter 14

2. I: Imperial Restoration: the Sui Dynasty
Post-Han: regional kingdoms
Late 500s: one kingdom reunified through military campaigns -> Sui dynasty ( CE)
High demands on citizens: construction projects (Grand Canal – facilitated trade between north and south), military, taxes
-> hostility and rebellion, assassination
of emperor

3. I: Tang Dynasty
Rebel leader seized Chang’an -> Tang Dynasty ( CE)
Stability and prosperity: less banditry, lower prices, lower taxes
3 policies:
Maintenance of transportation
and communication networks:
canal, roads (horses and human
runners, inns, postal stations,
stables – 8 days)

4. I: Tang Dynasty 3 policies (cont.)
Equal-field system: to avoid land accumulation by rich, land allotments based on needs;
worked for 100 years, and then problems (pop. Strain, hoarding, Buddhists)
Merit-based bureaucracy: Confucian education and civil service exams (equal opportunities)

5. I: Tang Dynasty
Military Expansion: north (Manchuria and Korea), south (Vietnam), west (Tibet, Aral Sea)
Foreign Relations: tributary overlords, required gifts and kowtow, and gave gifts and authority in return; but, not real rule

6. I: Tang Dynasty Decline: Mid-700s: casual, careless leaders
755: Chang’an conquered by rebellious military leader
763: recovered, but weakened
Failed equal-field system + insufficient
tax revenue to support gov’t + invasion
of Uighur Turks + rebellion + regional
military leaders gained power = collapse

7. I: Song Dynasty
Post-Tang: ruled by warlords until reunification -> Song Dynasty ( )
Not very powerful, emphasis on civil administration, industry, education, and the arts
Paid bureaucrats and officials very well
Expansion of merit-based bureaucracy

8. I: Song Dynasty 2 problems:
financial: lots of money required to pay high salaries -> high taxes -> rebellions
Military: scholar-bureaucrats didn’t know how to command military -> nomadic societies on borders flourished, pushing boundaries further south (Southern Song)

9. II: Economic Development of Tang and Song
China becomes an economic powerhouse through agricultural, technological, industrial, and commercial developments

10. II: Agricultural Developments
Fast-ripening rice (from Vietnam): 2 crops/year = more food
Technology: heavy iron plows, draft animals (oxen, water buffalo), fertilizer, irrigation systems with pumps (-> more land)
Results: population growth, urbanization (esp. Chang’an), commercial agricultural economy (regional specialization)

11. II: Agricultural Developments
Results: increasing wealth -> increased patriarchy (ancestor veneration, footbinding)
But, Empress Wu Zhao: factions formed against her because she was un-Confucian -> secret police and brutal punishments, strengthened civil service, legitimized by Buddhists, organized military campaigns

12. II: Technological and Industrial Developments
More food -> more craftsmen
Porcelain: “fine China,” long-distance trade item
Metallurgy: iron and steel -> stronger and more useful (weapons, tools, construction)
Gunpowder: accidental; military leaders made flamethrowers and bombs

13. II: Technological and Industrial Developments
Other inventions/innovations:
Printing:block printing->moveable type->more texts
Naval technology: increased LD trade (esp. for spices); better ships (iron nails, bulkheads, canvas/bamboo sails, rudders, magnetic compass)
Many of these inventions diffused to other areas

14. II: The Emergence of a Market Economy
Economic growth + regional specialization => goods for sale on the open market
Economic developments: letters of credit, paper money (at first by merchants, latter gov’t)
Trade: revival of silk roads (+ porcelain and lacquerware), merchant communities in port cities, demand for foreign goods
increased

15. III: Cultural Change in Tang and Song China
Foreign interactions -> change
Buddhism: Confucianism lost credibility after fall of Han -> foreign religions established communities in China
Mahayana Buddhism spread via silk roads
from central Asia
Attraction: moral standards, intellectual sophistication, promise of salvation

16. III: Buddhism in China
Plus, monasteries provided food, lent money, maintained schools
Very different from Chinese traditions: focus on text, metaphysics, ascetic ideal (celibacy)
So, tailored Buddhism to Chinese: used Daoist terms (dao, wuwei), validated family life
Schools of Buddhism: Chan/Zen
(less texts), Pure Land
(personal salvation)

17. III: Buddhism in China Hostility to Buddhism:
Confucianists: anti-celibacy, foreignness, wasteful monasteries
Daoists: lost adherents
Persecution: Late Tang, closed monasteries, expelled Buddhists, seized property

18. III: Neo-Confucianism
Song emperors supported native traditions
Buddhism had influence on Confucianism -> Neo-Confucianism (metaphysical)
Still emphasized proper behavior, social harmony, ritual
Influenced future of East Asian
thought (phil., pol., moral)
and spread to other areas

19. IV: Chinese Influence in East Asia
Influenced neighbors politically and culturally through military invasion, economic ties
Korea: Tang invasion, Silla Kingdom fought back: compromise –> Tang vassal state, owing tribute and kowtow in exchange for gifts and trade
Political influence: court, bureaucracy, capital city, scholars to China, but, not merit-based

20. IV: Chinese Influence in Vietnam
Conquered in Tang invasion
Tributary relationship, but resentment -> revolts and independence
Influences: agricultural methods, Confucian schools, administrative techniques (bureaucracy), Buddhism
But, retained religion, not as
patriarchal

21. IV: Early Japan 35,000 ya: settled by NE Asian nomads
Migrants from Koreas brought rice, bronze and iron, and horses
Politically: small states ruled by aristocrats
Nara Japan ( ): tried to centralize (Chinese influence), court with bureaucracy, equal-field system, Buddhism (but, Shinto, too),
capital = Nara

22. IV: Early Japan
Heian Japan ( ): ceremonial emperor (symbolic, not powerful) – Fujiwara family really held power
Chinese language became important: literature (e.g., The Tale of Genji), records, even in Japanese writing
Decline: equal-field system fell apart, aristocrats accumulated lots of land in estates
Minimoto: powerful clan, whose leader
-> shogun (but did not overthrow the
emperor)

23. IV: Early Japan Medieval Japan: between Nara/Heian
and modern times (c. 1500)
Decentralized with provincial lords (daimyo) ruling local regions through control of land and economy -> less Chinese influence
Daimyo divided land among lesser samurai who gave land to peasants
Value of military talent and discipline ->
importance of the samurai (served
provincial lords; followed Code of Bushido)