CHAPTER 8 THE ASIAN WORLD

CHAPTER 8

THE ASIAN WORLD

SECTION 1

The Sui Dynasty• For 300 yrs. Following the end of the Han

dynasty, chaos and civil war reigned.• 581-618• Able to reunify China.• Sui Yangdi completed Grand Canal linking

the Yellow (Huang He) & Yangtze (Chang Jiang) Rivers. Used forced labor to build canal. Easier to ship rice.

• Cruel ruler. Made people pay high taxes. Lived extravagantly. Military failures. Murdered.

The Tang Dynasty

• 618-907

• Reformers. Restored civil service examinations & gave land to peasants.

• Brought peace to NW China & extended control into Tibet.

• Set up trade & diplomatic relations with SE Asia.

• Struggles for control & government corruption.

• Uighurs, Turk-speaking warriors hired to fight but overthrew the Tang ruler in 907.

The Song Dynasty

• 960-1279

• China was prosperous, and there were many cultural achievements.

• Uighurs, forced the Song rulers to move the capital from Changan to Hangzhou. Lost control of Tibet.

• Formed an alliance with the Mongols.

• Mongols overthrew the Song dynasty.

Government and the Economy• Government was a monarchy with a large

bureaucracy. Divided into provinces, districts, and villages. Based on Confucian principles.

• Economy still based on farming. Put more land into peasants hands. Improved farming techniques led to an abundance of food.

• Steel used to make swords & sickles. Cotton used to make clothes. Gunpowder used to make explosives & a flamethrower (firelance).

• Trade revived. Silk Road renewed & trade between China & SW Asia thrived.

• Chinese exported: tea, silk, & porcelain.

• Chinese imported: exotic woods, precious stones, & various tropical goods.

Chinese Society• Rich had very enjoyable lifestyle: played cards &

chess.• Block printing invented allowing people to

communicate in new ways.• Scholar-gentry class emerged. Provided most of

the civil servants. Became the political elite in society.

• Females were considered less desirable than male children. During famines, female infants were often killed. Parents had to give a dowry when their daughter was married. Some sold daughters to wealthy villagers.

SECTION 2

The Mongol Empire• Nomads, who were organized in clans from

modern-day Mongolia.• Temujin unified them in 1206. Named

Genghis Khan “universal ruler”. Devoted to conquering other lands. Created largest empire in history. Died in 1227.

• Sons divided empire into khanates. • Defeated Persia, Abbasids, & the Song

dynasty.• Learned about gunpowder & fire-lance.

Developed into handgun & cannon.

The Mongol Dynasty in China

• In 1279, Kublai Khan, Genghis Khan’s grandson, conquered China. Created Yuan dynasty. Capital was named Khanbaliq (Beijing).

• Continued to expand empire. Tactics not effective in tropical & hilly regions.

• Mongols adopted Chinese political systems & used Chinese bureaucrats. Mongols held the highest positions. Chinese respected the stability & prosperity brought by the Mongols.

• Marco Polo lived in Khanbaliq during this time.

• Too much money spent on foreign conquests as well as internal instability & corruption led to an overthrow by a peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang. Set up the Ming dynasty.

Religion and Government• Buddhism was brought to China by merchants &

missionaries.• Buddhist & Daoists became advisors at court.• By the end of the Tang dynasty, Buddhism &

Doaism had lost support. Believed to be a foreign religion.

• Government now supported Confucianism. Taught that the world is real, not an illusion, and that fulfillment comes from participation in the world, not from withdrawal. A material & spiritual world. The goal of humans should be to move beyond the material world to reach union with the Supreme Ultimate.

A Golden Age in Literature & Art

• Printing made literature more available & popular.

• Tang dynasty known as the great age of poetry. Li Bo (nature) & Duo Fu (social injustice & plight of the poor) were 2 popular poets.

• Daoism influenced artists. Painted nature & people as insignificant in the midst of nature.

• Ceramics- perfected making porcelain.

SECTION 3

The Geography of Japan

• Japan is a chain of many islands.

• It is mountainous with only 20% of farmable land.

• They developed many unique qualities.

• Believed that they had a destiny separate from the peoples on the mainland.

The Rise of the Japanese State• The early Japanese settled along the

Yamato Plain, near Osaka & Kyoto. • Society made up of clans. Small class of

aristocratic class (rulers) & large class of rice farmers, artisans, & household servants.

• Yamato clan became ruler of Japan. Other families still competed for power.

• Shotoku Taishi united the clans to resist a Chinese invasion. Learned how the Chinese organized their government. He created a centralized government that limited the powers of aristocrats & increased the ruler’s.

• Ruler portrayed as a divine figure & the symbol of the Japanese nation.

• Divided into administrative districts. Tax system set up & paid to the government. Farmland belonged to the state.

• Taishi died in 622.

• Fujiwara clan took control. Capital now at Nara. Emperor used the title “son of Heaven”. Aristocrats took money for themselves.

• 794, moved capital to Heian (Kyoto). Power resided with Fujiwara clan. Government became decentralized. Aristocrats hired warriors, samauri’s (“those who serve”) to protect their security & property. Lived by the Bushido (“way of the warrior”).

• Minamoto Yoritomo set up his power in present day Tokyo. Centralized government under a shogun (general), who had the real power. Called shogunate. Defeated the Mongols. Overthrown by Ashikaga family.

• 14th & 15th century had the aristocrats gaining power. Daimyo (“great names”) controlled vast landed estates. Relied on samurai for protection.

• Onin War (1467-1477). Kyoto virtually destroyed. Central authority disappeared. Aristocrats ruled as independent lords and were at constant warfare.

Life in Early Japan

• Economy based on farming. Grew wet rice. Traded China & Korea raw materials, paintings, swords, other manufactured items for silk, porcelain, books, & copper coins.

• Women- right to inherit property; could divorce & remarried if abandoned; certain level of inequality. Artistic & literary talents.

• Men- divorce women if they didn’t produce a male child, committed adultery, talked too much, was jealous, or had serious illness.

• Early Japanese worshipped spirits, kami. Lived in trees, mountains, & rivers. Ancestors. Became a state religion known as Shinto, “the Sacred Way”. Believed in the divinity of the emperor & sacredness of the Japanese nation.

• 6th century, Buddhism was brought from China. Zen Buddhism believed that there were different ways to achieve enlightenment.

• Women were the most productive writers. • Japanese art, architecture, & landscape was

an important means of expression.

The Emergence of Korea

• Korea is relatively mountainous. Influenced by China & Japan. Came under control of Chinese.

• Separate kingdoms emerged: Koguryo, Paekche, & Silla. Rivals. Silla gained control and then the king was assassinated. Civil war followed.

• 10th century, Koryo dynasty lasted 400 yrs. Adopted Chinese political institutions.

• 13th century, Mongols seized northern part of Korea. Forced them to make ships for Kublai Khan.

• 1392, Yi Song-gye, a military commander, seized power and founded the Yi dynasty.

SECTION 4

The Decline of Buddhism

• Buddhism remained popular among Indian people. People began to interpret his teachings in different ways. Resulted in a split.

• Theravada (“teachings of the elders”)

Following the original teachings of Buddha. It was a way of life, not religion. Believed that nirvana was a release from the “wheel of life” and could be achieved through an understanding of one’s self.

• Mahayana was a religion, not a philosophy.

Believed Buddha was divine, not just a wise man. Nirvana was not just a release from the “wheel of life”, but a true heaven. You could achieve it through devotion to Buddha.

• Buddhism declined & Hinduism and Islam became more popular.

• Buddhism became popular in China, Korea, SE Asia, and Japan

The Eastward Expansion of Islam

• Islam becomes popular in NW India. India is mostly Hindu, but Pakistan & Bangladesh is Islamic.

• Arabs reached India in the 8th century. Expansion began again in 10th century and founded Ghazni (Afghanistan). Rajputs (Hindu warriors) resisted but were not match.

• By 1200, Muslims conquered the entire plain of northern India and created a new Muslim state known as Sultanate of Delhi.

The Impact of Timur Lenk

• Late 14th century, Sultanate of Delhi declined.

• Timur Lenk (Tamerlane) raided the capital of Delhi and killed 100,000 Hindu prisoners.

• During the 1380s, he conquered the entire region east of the Caspian Sea and then occupied Mesopotamia.

• Died in 1405 during a military campaign.

Islam and Indian Society

• Muslims kept a strict separation between themselves and the Hindu population.

• Realized that they couldn’t convert them all, so they tolerated the Hindu’s religion.

• They did impose many Islamic customs on Hindu society.

• Their relationship was marked by suspicion and dislike.

Economy and Daily Life

• Between 500-1500, most Indians lived on the land & farmed their own tiny plots.

• They paid a share of their harvest to the landlord, who sent part of it to the ruler.

• Wealthy lived in the city. Agriculture was a source of wealth.

• Fighting among states caused trade within India to decline.

• Foreign trade remained high because of India’s location.

The Wonder of Indian Culture

• Between 500-1500, architecture & literature flourished.

• 8th century on- built monumental Hindu temples. Of the 80 built, 20 are still standing today.

• Prose literature developed in 6th & 7th centuries. Dandin wrote “The Ten Princes”. He created a fantastic world, combining history & fiction.

SECTION 5

The Land and People of Southeast Asia

• SE Asia is the region between China & India. Composed of 2 parts: 1. mainland region, Chinese border to the tip of the Malay Peninsula. 2. Archipelago, or a chain of islands. Present-day Indonesia & the Philippines.

• SE Asia is a melting pot of peoples.

• Several mountain ranges posed geological barriers that separated the people.

The Formation of States

• Between 500-1500 several states developed.

• Vietnam- 10th century, overthrew the Chinese. Vietnamese adopted Chinese model of centralized government, Confucianism, court rituals, & civil service exams. Called itself Dai Viet (Great Viet). 1600, had expanded to Gulf of Siam.

• Cambodia- (Angkor/Khmer Empire) Jayavarman united the Khmer people & crowned god-king. He set up the capital at Angkor Thom. Thai destroyed the capital and they set up a new capital near Phnom Penh.

• Beginning in the 11th & 12th century, Thai came into conflict with Angkor. Set up capital in Ayutthaya. Major force in the region for 400 yrs. Converted to Buddhism & borrowed Indian political practices. Created unique culture that became Thailand’s culture.

• Burmans migrated from the highland of Tibet to the valleys of Salween & Irrawaddy River. Nomads who adopted farming. Created kingdom of Pagan. Converted to Buddhism & borrowed Indian political institutions and culture. Active in sea trade. Mongol attacks caused their decline.

• Malay Peninsula & Indonesian Archipelago were never united as a single state. 8th century, Srivijaya dominated the trade route and Sailendra was based on farming. Both were influenced by Indian culture.

• Majapahit was the greatest empire the region had ever seen. Most of the archipelago & perhaps parts of the mainland were united under 1 ruler.

• Melaka, an Islamic state, became a major trading port in the region and chief rival of Majapahit.

• Nearly all the people of the region were converted to Islam and became part of the Sultanate of Melaka.

Economic Forces

• SE Asia states divided into 2 groups: agricultural & trading societies.

• Vietnam, Angkor, Pagan, & Sailendra depended on farming.

• Srivijaya & Sultanate of Melaka depended on trade.

• Demand for spices added to amount of trade in the region.

Social Structures

• Hereditary aristocrats were top of the social ladder. Held both political power and economic wealth. Lived in major cities.

• Rest of population consisted of farmers, fishers, artisans, & merchants.

• Women had more rights than they did in China & India. Worked along side of men in the fields.

Culture and Religion

• Chinese culture influenced Vietnam.

• Indian culture influenced other areas of SE Asia. Architecture influenced the temple of Angkor Wat.

• Hinduism & Buddhism was introduced but did not replace existing beliefs. They blended with new faiths.

• Theravada Buddhism spread rapidly because it taught people could seek nirvana on their own, without the need for priests/rulers. Also tolerated local gods.