Chapter 11 Review- World History

What was the Tang Dynasty?

-A new dynasty, the Tang, soon emerged. - It would last for nearly three hundred years, from 618 until 907. -The early Tang rulers created a more stable economy by giving land to the peasants and breaking up the large estates to reduce the power of their owners. -They also restored the civil service examination to serve as the chief method of recruiting officials for civilian bureaucracy. -Young men prepared to take the civil service examination by memorizing all of the Confucian classics as they had little free time in doing so. -Even after many years of education, only about one in five students managed to pass the exam and receive a position in the civil service -Tang rulers worked hard to restore the power of China in East Asia. -They brought peace to northwestern China and expanded China's control into the area north of the Himalaya known as the Tibet. -China claimed to be the greatest power in East Asia. -Neighboring states, including Korea, offered tribute to China. -The Chinese imperial court also set up diplomatic relations with the states of Southeast Asia. -Like the Han, however, the Tang sowed the seeds of their own destruction. -Tang rulers were unable to prevent plotting and government corruption. -One emperor was especially unfortunate. -Emperor Tang Xuanzong is remembered for his devotion to a commoner's daughter, Yang Guifei. -To entertain her, he kept hundreds of dancers and musicians at court -Finally, the emperor;s favorite general led a blood revolt. -The army demanded that someone be held accountable for the war and strife in the country. -For this reason the emperor invited his true love to hang herself from a nearby tree. -During the eighth century, the Tang dynasty weakened and became prey to rebellions. -Tang rulers hired Uighurs, who was a northern tribal group of Turkish-speaking people, to fight for them. -Continued unrest, however led to the collapse of Tang rule in 907.

What is the Eastward Expansion of Islam?

In the early eighth century, Islam has became popular in the NW part of Indian subcontinent and had a major impact on Indian civilization. -This impact is still evident today in the division of the subcontinent in mostly Hindu India and two Islamic states, Bangladesh and Pakistan. -One reason for Islam's success was the state of political disunity in India when it arrived. -The Gupta Empire had collapsed, and no central authority had replaced it. -India was divided in about 70 states, which fought each other constantly -When Arab armies reached India in the early eighth century, they did little more than move into the frontier regions. -At the end of the tenth century, however, a new phase of Islamic expansion took place when a group of rebellious Turkish slaves founded a new Islamic state know as Ghazna (Ghanznï), located in what is now Afghanistan -When the founder of the new states died in 997, his son, Mahmud of Ghana, succeeded him. -Mahmüd an ambitious man, began to attack neighboring Hindu kingdoms to the southeast. -Before his death in 1030, he was able to extend his rule throughout the upper Indus Valley ad as far south as the Indian Ocean -Resistance against the advances of Mahmud and his successors into Northern India was led by the Rajputs, who were Hindu warriors. -They fought bravely, but their military tactics, based on infinity supported by elephants, were no match for the cavalry of the invaders. -Mahmud's cavalry was able to strike with great speed. Mahmud's sucessora continued their advances -By 1200, Muslim power had reached over the entire plain of northern India, creating a new Muslim state known as the sultanate of Delhi. -In the fourteenth century, this state extended its power into the Deccan Plateau. -During the latter half of the fourteenth century, the sultanate of Delhi began to decline. -Near the end of the century, a new military force crossed the Indus River from the Northwest. -The invaders raided the capital of Delhi, and then withdrew. -As many as 100,000 Hindu prisoners were massacred before the gates of the city. -It was India;s first meeting with Timur Lenk (Tamerlane) -Timur Lenk was the ruler of a Mongol state based in Samarkand, to the north of the Pamirs. Born sometime during the 1330s in Samarquad, Timur Lenk seized power into 1369 and immediately launched a program of conquest. -During the 1380s, he placed the entire region east of the Caspian Sea under his authority and then occupied Mesopotamia. -After his brief foray into northern India, he turned to the west. -He died in 1405 in the midst of a military campaign. -The death of Timur Lenk removed a major menace from the various states of the Indian subcontinent, but the calm did not last long. -By the early sixteenth century, two new challenges had appeared. -One came from the north in the form of the Moguls, a newly emerging nomadic power. -The other came from Europe, from Portuguese traders arriving by Sea in search of gold and spices

What are the three dynasties?

The Han dynasty is considered to have set the standard for the Chinese dynasties that followed. In fact, the Chinese word for someone who is Chinese means "a man of Han"

What is the government and economy like in China?

The era from the beginning of the Sui dynasty to the end of the Song dynasty lasted nearly 700 years. -During that period, a mature political system based on principals first put into practice during the Qin and Han dynasties gradually emerged in China. -As in the Han era, China was a monarchy that employed a relatively large bureaucracy to maintain a orderly government. -The Tang and Song dynasties restored that merit-based selection of civil servants begun in the Qin dynasty. -The civil service examination gave China a government staffed by a literate bureaucracy. -Beyond the capital, government was based on provinces, districts, and villages. -Confucian ideals were still the cement that held the system together -During the long period between the Sui and Song dynasties, the Chinese economy grew in size and complexity. -Agriculture flourished, and manufacturing and trade grew dramatically -China sea still primarily a farming society. -In the long period of civil war, aristocratic families had taken control of most of the land, and the majority of peasants had become serfs or slaves -The Song government, however worked to weaken the power of the large landholders and help poor peasants obtain their own land. -These reform efforts and improved farming techniques led to an abundance of food. -In Chinese cities, technological developments assed new products and simulated trade -During the Tang dynasty, the Chinese began to make steel for swords by mixing cast iron and wrought iron into a blast furnace. -The introduction of cotton made it possible to make new kinds of clothes. -Another important Chinese invention, gunpowder, was created during the Tang dynasty. -It was used to make explosives and a primitive flame-thrower called a fire-lance. -The fire-lance could spit out a mixture of flame and projectiles that could travel up to 40 yds. -The Chinese also made important advancements in mathematics. -Early Chinese developed a sophisticated number system. -The highpoint of Chinese mathematics, however, occurred in the 1200s with the emergence of a system of algebra. -The nature of trade also changed. -State officials had controlled most long-distance trade. -By the time of the Song, private merchants were active in commerce and trade. -Guilds began to appear, along with a new money economy, which is an economic system based on money rather than barter. -The use of paper money began in the 700s and 800s. -Merchants found that strings of copper coins were too heavy to carry for their business deals, so they used paper money. -With the increased flow of paper money, banking began to develop. -Long distance trade by land and by sea expanded. -Trade had declined between the 300s and the 500s as a result of the collapse of the Han dynasty and the Roman Empire. -Trade began to revive under the Tang dynasty and the unification of much of Southwest Asia under the Arabs. -The Silk Road was renewed and thrived as caravans carried goods between China and Southwest Asia and South Asia. -The Silk Road was more than a trading route, however. It was also a conduit of ideas. -Three religions: Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam spread along the Silk Road. -Technical knowledge from China including the secrets of printing, drilling wells, and making iron, gunpowder, paper, and silk reached the West along the Silk Road -Trade with regions near China, such as Japan and Korea, also increased during the Tang and Song dynasties. -The Chinese exported tea, silk, and porcelain to the countries beyond the South China Sea. -In return, they revived exotic woods, precious stones, and various tropical goods -As a result of trade, Changan, with a population of about two million, became the wealthiest city in the world. -Changan was filled with temples and palaces, and its markets were filled with goods from all over Europe, Africa, and Asia.

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What were some of the problems that led to the Mongol downfall?

too much spending on foreign conquests corruption at court growing internal instability -In 1368 Zhu Yuanzhang, the son of a peasant, put together an army, ended the Mongol dynasty, and set up the Ming dynasty

Who are the mongols?

-Due largely to their military prowess, the Mongols rose to power in Asia with stunning speed. -The Mongols were a pastoral people from the region of modern-day Mongolia who were organized loosely into clans. -Temüjin, born during the 1160's gradually unified the Mongols. -In 1206, he was elected Genghis Khan (strong ruler) at a massive meeting somewhere in the Gobi. -From that time on, he devoted himself to conquest. -The army that Genghis Kahan unleashed on the world was not unusually large; it totaled less than 130,000 in 1227. -It was the Mongols military tactics, which were devastatingly effective, that set them apart from their enemies -The Mongols brought much of the Eurasian landmass under a single rule, creating the largest land empire in history. -To rule the new Mongol empire, Genghis Khan set up a capital city at Karakoram. -Mongol armies traveled both to the west and to the east. Some went as far as central Europe -After the death of Genghis Khan in 1227, the empire began to change. -Following Mongol custom, upon the death of the ruling khan, his heirs divided the territory. -The once united empire of Genghis Khan was split into several separate territories called khanates, each under the rule of one of his sons. -It may be that only the death of Genghis Kahn kept the Mongols from attacking western Europe. -In 1231 the Mongols attacked Persia and defeated the Abbasids at Baghdad in 1258. Mongol forces attacked the Song dynasty in the 1260s -In their attack on the Chinese, the Mongols encountered the use of gunpowder and the fire-lance. -These inventors came to late save China from the Mongols, however, by the early fourteenth century, foreigners employed by the Mongol rulers of China had introduced the use of gunpowder and firearms into Europe. -In 1279 one of Genghis Khan's grandsons, named Kublai Khan, completed the conquest of the Song and set up a new Chinese dynasty, the Yuan. -Kublai Khan, who ruled China until his death in 1294, established his capital at Khanbalik (the city of Khan) later known by the Chinese name Beijing -Under the leadership of the talented Kublai Khan, the Yuan, or Mongol dynasty continued to expand the empire. -Mongol armies advanced into Vietnam, and Mongol fleets were launched against Java and Sumatra and twice against the islands of Japan. -Only parts of Vietnam were conquered, however, and then only for a while. -The other campaigns failed. -On one occasion, a massive storm destroyed the Mongol fleet that had attacked Japan, killing thousands. -Mongol tactics, such as cavalry charges and siege warfare, were not very effective in tropical and hilly regions. -The mongols had more success in ruling China. -Mongol rulers adapted to the Chinese political system and made use of Chinese Bureaucrats. -Culturally, the Mongols were quite different from the Chinese and became a separate class with their own laws. -The highest positions in the bureaucracy were usually staffed by Mongols. -Over time, the Mongol dynasty won the support of many Chinese people. -Some came to respect the stability and prosperity that the Mongols brought. -By bringing the entire Eurasian landmass under a single rule, the Mongols increased trade, especially along the Silk Road. -The capital at Khanbalik was a magnificent city and foreign visitors were impressed by its splendor. -One visitor was Marco Polo, who lived in Khanbalik during the reign of Kublai Khan.

What is India after the Guptas?

-For hundreds of years, Buddhism retained widespread acceptance among the Indian people -The teachings of the Buddha came to be interpreted in many different ways, however people did not always agree on the meaning of Buddha's teachings, resulting in a split among the Buddhists in India -One group believed that they were following the original teachings of the Buddha. -They called themselves the school of Theravada, "the teachings of the elders." -Followers of Theravada see Buddhism as a way of life. -They insist that a an understanding of oneself is the chief way to gain nirvana, or release from the "wheel of life" -Theravada stressed transforming oneself through moral conduct and meditation -Another view of Buddhist doctrine was emerging in NW India. -This school, known as Mahayana Buddhism, believed that Theravada teachings were too strict for ordinary people. -To Mahayana Buddhists, the Buddha is not just a wise man, but also a divine figure. -Nirvana is not just a release from the wheel of life, but a true heaven. -Through devotion to the Buddha, people can achieve salvation in this heaven after death -In the end, neither the Mahayana nor the Theravada sect of Buddhism remained popular in Indian society. -By the 600s. Theravada had declined rapidly. -Mahayana was absorbed by a revived Hinduism and later by a new arrival, Islam. -Despite their decline in India, though, both schools of Buddhism found success abroad. -Carried by monks to China, Korea, SE Asia, and Japan, and the practice of Buddhism has remained active in all four areas to the present.

What is the Heian Period?

-In 794 the emperor moved the capital from Nara to nearby Henan-Kyo, on the site of present day Kyoto. -The emperor continued to rule in name, but actual power remained in the hands of the Fujiwara clan. -In fact, the government was returning to the decentralized system that had existed before the time of Shotoku Taishi. -Powerful families whose wealth was based on the ownership of tax-exempt farmland dominated the rural areas. -With the decline of central power, local aristocrats took justice into their own hands. -They turned to military force, and a new class of military servants emerged whose purpose was to protect the security and prosperity of their employers. -Called the samurai ("those who serve"), these warriors fought on horseback, clad in helmet and armor, and carried a sword and a bow. -Like knights in Europe, the samurai were supposed to live by a strict warrior code, known in Japan as Bushido ("the way of the warrior")

What does poetry have to deal with a golden age in literature and art?

-It was in poetry, above all, that the Chinese of this time best expressed their literary talents -The Tang dynasty is viewed as the great age of poetry in China -At least 48,000 poems were written by some 2,200 authors. -Poetry was expected to encourage high moral ideals and served as a means of self-expression. -Chinese poems celebrated the beauty of nature, the changes of the seasons, and the joys of friendship. -They expressed sadness at the shortness of life and the necessity of parting. -Li Bo and Du Fu were two of the most popular poets during the Tang era. -Li Bo was a free spirit whose writing often was centered on nature. -He wrote probably the best-known poem in China, "Quiet Night Thoughts," which had been memorized by schoolchildren for centuries. -Where Li Bo was care free, Du Fu was a serious Confucian. In "Spring Prophet", the poet has returned to his home in the capital after a rebellion has left the city in ruins.

What is Vietnam all about?

-The Vietnamese were one of the first peoples in Southeast Asia to develop their own state and their own culture. -After the Chinese finally conquered Vietnam in 111 B.C., they tried for centuries to make Vietnam part of China. -However, Chinese officials were often frustrated by the Vietnamese. -The Vietnamese clung to their own identity . -In the tenth century, they finally overthrew Chinese rule. -Chinese influence still remained, however , Vietnamese rulers realized the advantages of taking over the Chinese model of centralized government -The new Vietnamese state, which called itself Dai Viet, adopted State Confucianism. -Following the Chinese model , the rulers called themselves emperors and adopted Chinese court rituals. -They also introduced the civil service examination as a means of recruiting government officials on the basis of merit instead of heredity -The state of Dai Viet became a dynamic force on the Southeast Asian mainland. -As its population grew, it expanded southward. -Several centuries of bitter warfare with its southern neighbor, Champa, ended in Vietnamese victory by 1500.

Who were the mongols?

-When news of the Mongol conquests in Asia reached Europe, emissaries traveled to Mongol territories to learn about them. -The historian Matthew Paris, relying on a mixture of facts and embellishments, painted an alarming picture. -Marco Polo, writing about his travels, offered a different perspective

What is the Song Dynasty?

-In 960 a new dynasty known as the Song rose to power. -The Song ruled during a period of prosperity and cultural achievement, from 960 to 1279. -From the start, the Song also experienced problems, especially from northern neighbors. -These groups crossed into northern China and occupied large parts of Chinese territory. -Because of this threat, Song rulers were forced to move the imperial court south the Hangzhou. -The Song also lost control over Tibet. -The Song dynasty could never overcome the challenge from the North. -During the 1200's, the Mongols- nomadic people from the Gobi-carried out wars of conquest and built a vast empire. -Within 70 years they controlled all of China. -As we shall see, the Mongols overthrew the Song and created a new Mongol dynasty in China.

What is the collapse of central rule?

-The power of the local aristocrats grew during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. -Heads of noble families, now called daimyo, or "great names", controlled vast landed estates that owed no taxes to the government -As family rivalries continued, the daimyo relied on the samurai for protection, and political power came into the hands of a loose coalition of noble families -By 1500, Japan was close to chaos! -A disastrous civil war known as the Onin War led to the virtual destruction of the capital city of Kyoto. -Central authority disappeared. -Powerful aristocrats in rural areas seized control over large territories, which they ruled as independent lords. -Their rivalries caused almost constant warfare

What was the Nara period?

After, Shotoku Taishi's death in 622, political power fell into the hands of the Fujiwara clan. -A Yamato ruler was still emperor -He was, however, strongly influenced by the Fujiwara family. -In 710 a new capital was established at Nara. -The emperor now used the title "Son of Heaven" -Though the reforms begun by Prince Shotoku continued during this period, Japan's central government could not overcome the power of the aristocrats. -These powerful families were able to keep the taxes from the lands for themselves. -Unable to gain tax revenues, the central government steadily lost power and influence

What is Indian society and Culture like?

-The imposition of Islamic rule by Mahmūd of Ghazna and his successors created a level of general tension in Indian society. -The life of the typical Indian, however, remained about the same as it had been fr the past several hundred years -The Muslim rulers in India viewed themselves as foreign conquers. -They tried to maintain a strict separation between the Muslim ruling classes and the Hindu population -Like rulers elsewhere at this time, many Muslim rulers in India were intolerant of other faiths. -However, they generally used peaceful means to encourage people to convert to Islam. -Still, some could be fierce when their religious zeal was aroused. -Said one, "I forbade the infliction of any severe punishment on the Hindus in general, but I destroyed their idol temples and raised mosques in their place." -Most Muslim rulers realized that there were simply too many Hindus to convert them all. -They reluctantly accepted the need to tolerate other religious differences. -Nevertheless, Muslim rulers did impose many Islamic customs on Hindu society. -Overall, the relationship between Muslims and Hindus was that of conqueror and conquered, a relationship marked by dislike rather than understanding. -Between 500 and 1500, most Indians lived on the land and farmed their own tiny plots. -These peasants paid a share of their harvest each year to a landlord, who in turn sent part of the payment to the local ruler. In effect, the landlord worked as a tax collector for the king, who in theory owned all of the land in his state. -Although the vast majority of indians were peasants, reports by foreign visitors between 500 and 1500 indicate that many people lived in the cities. -It was here where the landed estates and rich merchants lived, often in conditions of considerable wealth. -Rulers naturally had to most wealth. -One maharaja (great king) of a small state in southern India, for example, had more than 100,000 soldiers in his pay, along with 900 elephants and 20,000 horses. -Another ruler kept a thousand high-caste women to sweep his palace. -Each carried a broom and a brass basin holding a mixture of cow dung and water. -Agriculture was not the only source of wealth in India -Since ancient times, India's location has made it a center for trade between Southwest Asia and East Asia. -It was also a source for other goods shipped throughout the world -Internal trade within India probably declined during this period primary because of the fighting among the many states of India. -However, the level of foreign trade remained high, especially in the south and along the NW coast. -Both areas were located along the traditional trade routes to SW Asia and the Mediterranean Sea region. -Between 500 and 1500, Indian artists and writers built on the achievements of their predecessors while making innovations in all fields of creative endeavor, both secular and religious. -Here, we examine two such fields: architecture and prose literature -During this period, religious architecture in India developed from caves to new, magnificent structures. -From the eighth century on, Indian architects built monumental Hindu temples. -Each temple consisted of a central shrine surrounded by a tower, a hall for worshippers, an entryway, and a porch, all set in a rectangular courtyard. -Probably the greatest examples of Hindu temple art of this period are found at Khajuraho. -Of the 80 temples originally built there in the tenth century. 20 remain standing today. All of the towers on these temples are buttressed (supported by stone walls) at various levels at the sides -This gives the whole temple a sense of unity -The use of prose in fiction was well established in India by the sixth/seventh centuries. -This is truly astonishing in light of the fact that the novel did not appear in Japan until the tenth of eleventh century and in Europe until the seventeenth century. -One of the greatest masters of Sanskrit prose was Dandin, a seventh century author. -In the Adventures of the Ten Princes, he created a fantastic world, fusing history and fictions. -His powers of observation, details of everyday life, and humor give his writing much vitality

Buddhism teachings?

Buddhists taught that the material world was not real, but an illusion.

What is Chinese Society like?

Economic changes such as increased trade had an impact on Chinese society. -For wealthier city dwellers, the Tang and Song eras were an age of prosperity. -There was probably no better example than the Song capital of Hangzhou. -In the late thirteenth century, the Italian merchant Marco Polo described the city to European readers as one of the largest and wealthiest cities on Earth. -"So many pleasures may be found", he said, "that one fancies himself to be in Paradise." -For rich Chinese during this period, life offered many pleasures. -There were new forms of entertainment, such as playing cards and chess, which was brought from India. -The paddlewheel boat and horseback riding, which was made possible by the introductions of the stirrup, made travel easier. -The invention of block printing in the eighth century provided new ways to communicate. -The vast majority of the Chinese people still lived off of the land in villages. -Changes were taking place in the countryside, however. -Before, there had been a great gulf between wealthy landowners and poor peasants. -A more complex mixture of landowners, free peasants, sharecroppers, and lands laborers now emerged -Most significant was the rise of the landed gentry. -This group controlled much of the land and at the same time produced most of the candidates for the civil service . -The scholar-gentry, as this class was known, replaced the old landed aristocracy as the political and economic elite of Chinese society -Few Chinese women had any power. -An exception was Wu Zhau, known as Empress Wu. -The concubine of the second Tang emperor, she then became empress of China and ruler for half a century -As in other parts of the world, female children were considered less desirable than male children. -When a girl married, she became part of her husband's family. -In addition, a girl's parents were expected to provide a dowry which is money, goods, or property to her husband when she married. -Poor families often sold their daughters to wealthy villagers.

Confucianism teachings?

the need for devotion to family and hard work.

What was the role of women in early japan?

In early Japan, women may have had a certain level of equality with men. -An eighth-century law code, for example, guaranteed the inherence rights of women. -In addition, wives who were abandoned could divorce and remarry -Later practices, however show that women were considered to be subordinate to men. -A husband could divorce his wife if she did not produce a son or if she had committed adultery, talked too much, was jealous, or had a serious illness -Although women did not possess the full legal and social rights of men, they played an active role at various levels of society. -Aristocratic women were prominent at court -Some became known for their artistic or literary talents -Women often appear in the paintings of the period along with the men -The women are doing the spring planting, threshing and hulling rice, and acting as salespersons and entertainers

What happened with Buddhism and Daoism?

-Buddhism was brought to China in the first century A.D. by merchants and missionaries from India -At first, only merchants and intellectuals were intrigued by the new ideas. -However, as result of the insecurity that prevailed after the collapse of the Han dynasty, both Buddhism and Daoism became more attractive to many people -Both beliefs gained support among the ruling classes. -Daoism was a rival system of ideas to Confucianism. -The growing popularity of Buddhism continued into the early Tang dynasty. -Early Tang rulers lent their support to Buddhist monasteries that were set up throughout the country. -Buddhists even became advisers at the imperial court. -Ultimately, though, Buddhism lost favor at court -Buddhism was critiqued for being a foreign religion. -Like Christian monasteries in Europe in the Middle Ages, Buddhist monasteries had acquired thousands of acres of land and serfs. -With land came corruption. -The government reacted strongly. -During the later Tang period, it destroyed countless Buddhist temples and monasteries and forced more than 260,000 monks and nuns to return to secular life. -Buddhists taught that the material world was not real, but an illusion. -By teaching this, Buddhism was denying the very essence of Confucian teachings which was the need for devotion to family and hard work. -These were virtues that the Chinese state that the Chinese state had reason to support.

What is the Kamakura Shogunate?

-By the end of the twelfth century, rivalries among Japanese aristocratic families had led to almost constant civil war. -Finally, a powerful noble named Minamoto Yoritomo defeated several rivals and set up his power near the modern city of Tokyo. -To strengthen the state, he created a more centralized government under a military leader known as the shogun (general). -In this new system called the shogunate the emperor remained ruler in name only, and the shogun exercised the actual power. -The Kamakura Shogunate, founded by Yoritomo, lasted from 1192 to 1333. -Although the shogunate was a military government, it was unprepared when Mongol ruler Kublai Khan sent 23,000 troops to invade Japan in 1274. -The Mongols were winning until a storm sank their fleet. -In 1281, Kublai Khan sent nearly 150,000 troops. -Fighting from behind stone walls they had built, the Japanese forced the Mongols to retreat. -A typhoon (violent storm) then devastated the Mongol fleet. -The wars strained the political system. -In 1333, several powerful families overthrew the Kamakura shogunate

What is the religion and Government like for the new dynastys that were popping up like the Sui and Tang dynasty?

-Confucian principles became the basis for Chinese government during the Han dynasty. -By the time of the Sui and Tang dynasty, Buddhism and Daoism rivaled the influence of Confucianism

What did painting and ceramics have to deal with the Mongols?

-During the Song and Mongol dynasties, landscape painting reached its high point. -Influenced by Daoism, artists went into the mountains to find the Dao, or Way, in nature -Chinese artists tried to reveal the hidden forms of the landscape -Rather than depicting the realistic shape of a specific mountain, for example, they tried to portray the idea of a "mountain." -Empty species were left in the paintings because in the Daoist vision, one cannot know the whole truth. -Daoism also influenced the portrayal of humans as insignificant in the midst of nature. -Chinese artists painted people as tiny figures fishing in small boats or wandering up a hillside trail, living in but not dominating nature -Tang artists perfected the art of making porcelain which is a ceramic made of fine clay baked at very high temperatures. -Porcelain-making techniques did not reach Europe until the eighteenth century.

What is life in Early Japan like?

-Early Japan was mostly a farming society -Its people took advantage of the limited amount of farmland and abundant rainfall to grow wet rice. -Trade in Japan was slow to develop -Barter was used until the twelfth century -Manufacturing began to develop during the Kamakura Period. -Markets appeared in large towns, and industries such as the making of paper and porcelain emerged -Trade between regions also grew. -Goods were carried in carts, on boats, or on human backs. -Foreign trade, mainly with Korea and China began in the eleventh century. -Japan shipped raw materials, paintings, swords, and other manufactured items in return for silk, porcelain, books, and copper coins

What is early japan religion and culture like?

-Early Japanese people worshipped sprits, called kami, whom they believed resided in trees, rivers, and mountains -The Japanese also believed that the spirits of their ancestors were present in the air around them. -In Japan, these beliefs evolved into a religion called Shinto ("the sacred way" or the "the way of the gods"), which is still practiced today. -Over time, Shinto became a state doctrine linked to a belief in the divinity of the emperor and the sacredness of the Japanese nation. -Shinto, however, did not satisfy the spiritual needs of all the Japanese people. -Some people turned to Buddhism, which Buddhist monks from China brought to Japan during the A.D 500's. -Among the aristocrats in Japan, one sect, known as Zen, became the most popular. -Zen beliefs about self-discipline became part of the samurai warrior's code -The two main schools of Zen teach that nirvana either comes from by instantaneous enlightenment or through a long process of mediation. -During much of the history of early Japan, aristocratic men believed that prose fiction was merely "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 -From this tradition appeared one of the world's greatest novels "The Tale of Gengi", written by court author Murasaki Shikibu. -Her novel traces the life of nobleman Gengi as he moves from youthful adventures to a life of compassion in his later years. -An aristocratic women, Sei Shonagon, also wrote The Pillow Book, which told her of her activities as a court lady -In Japanese art and architecture, landscape serves as an important means of expression -The landscape surrounding the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto displays a harmony of garden, water, and architecture

What is net-confucianism?

-From the Song dynasty to the end of the dynastic system in the twentieth century, official support went to a revived Confucianism, which became the heart of the state government. -This new doctrine, called net-confucianism served as a Confucian response to Buddhism and Daoism. -It teaches that the world is real, not an illusion, and that fulfillment comes from participation in the world. -Neo-Confucianists divide the world into a material world and a spiritual world. -Humans live in the material world but are also linked with the Supreme Ultimat. -The goal is to move beyond the material world to reach union with the Supreme Ultimate. -Humans do this through careful study of the moral principles that rule the universe

What is the Malay World? (finish )

-In the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian archipelago, a different pattern emerged. -For centuries, this area had been tied to the trade that passed from East Asia into the Indian Ocean. -The area had never been united under a single state -The vast majority of people were of Malay background, but the peoples were divided into many separate communities -It was not until the last 1200s that a strong state, the new kingdom of Majapahit, emerged in the region -In the mid-fourteenth century, Majapalhit incorporated most of the archipelago and perhaps even parts of the main land under a single rule. -Majapahit did not have long to enjoy its status, however by the 1400's, a new state was beginning to emerge in the region -After the Muslimm conquest of Northern India, Muslim merchants -either Arab or Indian converts- settled in port cites in the region and began to convert the local population -Around 1400, an Islamic state began to form in Malkak, a small town

What is Angkor, Thai, and Burma?

-In the ninth century, the kingdom of Angkor arose in the region that is present day Cambodia -The kingdoms was formed when a powerful figure named Jayvarman united the Khmer people and established a capital at Angkor Thom. -In 802, Jayvaraman was crowned as a god-king of his people. -For several hundred years, Angkor or Khmer empire was the most powerful state in mainland SE Asia. -Angkor faced enemies on all sides. -To the east were the Vietnamese and the kingdom of Champa, -To the west was the Burmese Kingdom of Pagan -In 432, the Thai from the north destroyed the Angkor capital. -The Angkor ruling class fled to the Southeast, where they set up a new capital near Phnom Penh, the capital of present-day Cambodia. -The Thai had first appeared in the 500s as a frontier people in China. -BEginning in the eleventh or twelfth century, Thai groups began moving southward. -This process was encouraged by the mongol invasion of China in the mid-1200's. -After destroying the Angkor capital, the Thai set up their capital at Ayutthaya, where they remained as a major force in the region for the next 400 years. -Although, they converted to Buddhism and borrowed Indian political practices, they created a unique blend that evolved into the modern-say culture of Thailand -The Thai were also threatened from the west by the Burmese peoples who had their society formed along the Salween and Irrawaddy Rivers. -The Burmese were pastoral peoples, but they adopted farming soon after their first arrival in SE Asia -In the eleventh century, they founded = the first great Burmese state, the kingdom of Pagan. -Like the Thai, the converted to Buddhism and adopted Indian political instruments and culture. -During the next two centuries, Pgan became a major force in the western part of Southeast Asia. -It played an active role in regional sea trade. -Attacks by the Mongols in the late 1200's helped cause its decline

What is early Japan like?

-Japan's history has been marked by power struggles between rulers and independent families. -Geography has also played an important role in the development of Japanese history. -Chinese and Japanese societies have historically been very different -One of the main reasons for these differences is geography. -Whereas China is located on a vast continent. Japan is a mountainous archipelago, or chain of many islands. -The population is concentrated on four main islands: Hokkaidō, the main island of Honshū, and two smaller islands of Kyū Shū and Shikoku -Japan's total land area is approximately 146,000 square miles (378,000) about the size of Montana -Like China, much of Japan is mountainous. -Only about 11 percent of the total land area can be farmed. -The mountains are volcanic in origin. -Volcanic soils are very fertile, which has helped Japanese farming. -The area, however, is prone to earthquakes. -In 1923 an earthquake nearly destroyed the entire city of Tokyo. -The fact that Japan is an island nation has also affected its history. -Because of their geographical isolation, the Japanese developed a number of unique qualities -These qualities contributed to the Japanese belief that they had a destiny separate from that of the peoples on the continent. -The ancestors of present-day Japanese settles in the Yamato Plain near the location of the modern cities of Osaka and kyoto in the first centuries A.D. -Their society was made up of clans. -The people were divided between a small aristocratic class (the rulers) and a large population of rice farmers, artisans, and household servant. -The local ruler of each clan protected the people in return for a share of the annual harvest. -Eventually, one ruler of the Yamato clan (named for the Yamato Plain) achieved supremacy over the others and became, in effect, the ruler of Japan -In the early seventh century, Shōtoku Taishi, a Yamato prince, tried to unify the various clans so that the Japanese do this, Prince Shook sent representatives to the Tang capital of China to learn how the Chinese organized their government. -He then began to create a centralized system of government under a supreme ruler -His objective was to limit the powers of the aristocrats and enhance the Yamato ruler's (his own) authority -Thus, the ruler was portrayed as a divine figure and the symbol of the Japanese nation -Shotoku Taishi's successors continued to make reforms based on the districts, and senior official of each district was selected from among the local nobles. -As in China, the rural village was the basic unit of government. -A new tax system was set up. -Now all farmland technically belonged to the state -All taxes were to be paid directly to the central government rather than to local aristocrats

What is the Sui dynasty?

-The Han dynasty ended in 220, and China fell into chaos. -For the next three hundred years, the Chinese suffered through disorder and civil war. -Then, in 581, a new empire was set up under a dynasty known as the Sui (SWAY). -The Sui dynasty (581-618) did not last long, but it unified China once again under the authority of the emperor -Sui Yangdi, the second emperor of the dynasty, completed the Grand Canal, built to link the two great rivers of China, the Huang He (Yellow River) and the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River). -The new canal linked north and south, making it easier to ship rice from the south to the north. -Sui Yangdi was a cruel ruler. -He used forced labor to build the Grand Canal, which he used to keep an eye on his empire. -This practice, together with high taxes, his extravagant and luxurious lifestyle, and military failures, caused a rebellion. -The emperor was murdered, and his dynasty came to an end.

What is the emergence of Korea?

-The Korean Peninsula, only slightly larger than the state of Minnesota, is relatively mountainous. -It's closeness to both China and Japan has greatly affected its history. -Indeed, no society in East Asia was more strongly influenced by the Chinese model than Korea. -In 109 B.C. the northern part of the Korean Peninsula came under Chinese control. -The Koreans, however, drove them out in the A.D. 200's. -Eventually three separate kingdoms emerged: Koguryo in the north, Paekche in the southwest, and Silla in the southeast. -Each of the kingdoms was governed by the combination of a hereditary monarch and powerful aristocratic families, -From the fourth to the seventh centuries, the three kingdoms were bitter rivals. -In this period Buddhism was introduced to Korea -It quickly became the state religion of each kingdom -AFter 527, Silla Kings adopted the building of many Buddhist temples. -As the Silla Kingdoms became more allied with the Chinese, the monarchy turned to Confucian ideals to run the country -Gradually, with the support of the Tang dynasty of China, the kingdom of Silla gained control of the peninsula. -After the king of Silla was assassinated, Korea sank into civil war. -Finally, in the early tenth century, a new dynasty called Koryo (the root of the modern word Korea) arose in the north. -This kingdom adopted Chinese political institutions in order to unify its terriorty and remained in power for four hundred years -In the thirteenth century, the Mongols seized the northern part of Korea. -By accepting Mongol authority, the Koryo dynasty managed to remain in power. -Mongol rule led to much suffering for the Korean people, especially the thousands of peasants and artisans who were forced to build ships for Kublai Khan's invasion of Japan. -AFter the collapse of the Mongol dynasty in China, the Koryo dynasty broke down.

What is a golden age in Literature in Art for the dynasties?

-The period between the Tang and Ming dynasties was in many ways the great age of Chinese literature. -The invention of printing during the Tang dynasty helped to make literature more readily available and more popular among the educated elite. -Most Chinese, however, were illiterate until modern times. -Art, especially landscape painting and ceramics, flourished during this period.

What is the formation of states in Southeast Asia?

Between 500 and 1500, a number of organized states developed throughout Southeast Asia. -When the peoples of the region began to form states, they used models from China and India. -At the same time, they adapted these models to their own needs and created their own unique states. -Between China and India lies the region that today is called SW Asia. -It has two major parts. -One is the mainland region, extending south-ward from the Chinese border down to the tip of the Malay Peninsula. -The other is an extensive archipelago, or chain of islands, most of which is part of present-day Indonesia and the Philippines. -Ancient mariners called the area the "golden region" or "golden islands". -Located between India and China, Southeast Asia contains a mixture of races, culture, and religions. -Mainland Southeast Asia consists of several north-south mountain ranges. -Between these ranges are the fertile river valleys that run in a southernly or southeasterly direction. -The mountains are densely forested and often infested with malaria-bearing mosquitoes. -Thus, the people living in the river valleys were often cut off from one another and had only had limited contact with the people living in the mountains. -These geographical barriers might help explain why SE Asia is one of the few regions in Asia that was never unified under a single government. -The geographical barriers encouraged the development of separate, distinctive cultures within SE Asia.