Chapter 8

China

China Reunified

• In the Tang (TONG) and Song Eras, the scholar-gentry as the political and economic elite of Chinese society, replaced the old landed aristocracy.

• Emperor Tang Xuanzang (Wan-dzong) is remembered for his devotion to a commoner’s daughter.

• Technological developments during the Tang dynasty included gunpowder, steel, and cotton cloth.

• The Silk Road was renewed and as a result of trade, the city of Changan became the wealthiest city in the world.

Fire lance

• Also, during this time the scholar-gentry replaced the old aristocracy as the political and economic elite of China.

• Li Bo his poem “Quiet Night Thoughts” has been memorized by schoolchildren for centuries

Quiet Night Thoughts

• Before my bedthere is bright moonlight,So that it seemslike frost on the ground.

• Lifting my headI watch the bright moon,Lowering my headI dream that I`m home.

Mongols and China

• In 1206, Temujin was renamed Genghis Khan, after which he devoted himself to conquest, eventually establishing the Mongol Empire.

• The Mongols, led by Genghis Khan, brought much of the Eurasian landmass under a single rule, creating the largest land empire in history.

• Confucianism was at the heart of the Chinese state government from the Song dynasty to the end of the dynastic system in the twentieth century.

• Between the Tang and Ming dynasties, Chinese literature flourished because printing was invented.

• The two factors that contributed to the failure of Kublai Khan’s invasion of Japan in 1281 were the Kamakura shogunate and a massive typhoon that destroyed most of the invading fleet

Early Japan and Korea

• samurai means “those who serve”

• The samurai of Japan were a new class of military servants whose purpose was to protect the security and property of their employers.

• The samurai lived by a strict code known as Bushido, which was based on loyalty to the samurai’s lord.

• Gi – Rectitude

• Yū – Courage

• Jin – Benevolence

• Rei – Respect

• Makoto or Shin– Honesty

• Meiyo – Honor, Glory

• Chūgi – Loyalty

• Although Korean society was strongly influenced by the Chinese model of society, it was also influenced by Japan.

• During much of the history of early Japan, aristocratic men believed that prose fiction was “vulgar gossip” and was thus beneath them.

• Consequently, from the ninth to the twelfth centuries, women were the most productive writers of prose fiction in Japanese.

• Females learned to read and write at home, and they wrote diaries, stories, and novels to pass the time.

• From this tradition appeared one of the world’s great novels, The Tale of Genji, which was written by Murasaki Shikibu around the year 1000.

India After the Guptas

• Followers of Mahayana saw Buddhism as a religion, not a philosophy, with Buddha as a divine figure.

• Muslim rulers in India were tolerant of Hindus because they realized there were simply too many Hindus to convert them all.

Muslims in front of the Taj Mahal

• Theravada Buddhism became the religion of the masses in Southeast Asia partly because it tolerated local gods and posed no threat to established faiths.

Wat Phra Buddha Baat,Theravada Buddhist templein Thailand.

• The Rajputs were Hindu warriors who resisted the advance of Mahmud of Ghazni & the Muslim rule he brought with him.

Rajputs

Southeast Asia

• Followers of Theravada see Buddhism as a way of life.

• Timur Lenk was the ruler of a Mongol state based in Samarkand.

Samarkand: In modern day Uzbekistan

• The trading societies of Southeast Asia included Srivijaya and the Sultanate of Melaka.

• The two major parts of Southeast Asia include the mainland down to the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula and the archipelago of present-day Indonesia and the Philippines.

Part 1:Malaya Peninsula

Part 2:Indonesia &Philippines

• The temple of Angkor Wat combines Indian architectural techniques with native inspiration.

Angkor Wat

• Most societies in Southeast Asia gave greater rights to women than did those of China and India.

• Women worked alongside men in the fields.

• They also played an active role in trading activities.