Chinese Civilizations - Final

Treaty of Chanyuan

Century: 1004 CE Define: It took place in 1004 and was a turning point between the relationship between the Northern Song and the Liao Dynasty. Significance: The treaty was the first time that the Liao forced the Song, who considered themselves the natural heirs to the Central Kingdom (Zhong Yuan), to recognize them as peers. Led to the Song who to agree to the permanent loss of the northern territory between China and the Great Wall.

Ouyang Xiu

Century: 1007-1072 CE Define: Chinese statesman, historian, essayist, calligrapher and poet of the Song Dynasty. Aimed to reform Chinese political life through principles of classical Confucianism. Significance: He opposed the reforms of Wang Anshi especially providing a system of loans to farmers at a low interest rate, and he refused to carry them out in his districts. As a statesman, he worked to regenerate political life through classical Confucian principles; he criticized fearlessly, and he recommended the promotion of able men who eventually led opposing parties. Like Han Yu, Ouyang advocated a simpler, more direct prose to replace the mannered and excessively rhythmic style then popular, and his writings in the resultant guwen style established a model emulated thenceforth. He emancipated the fu prose poems from strict conventions and left superb examples of these as well as of the newerci (lyrics set to popular tunes) and other literary forms.

Sima Guang

Century: 1019-1086 CE Define: Chinese historian and high chancellor of the Song dynasty. Was the leader of the conservative faction that was against the reformist policies of Chancellor Wang Anshi. Significance: Argued that the cause of good government through moral leadership rather than assertive measures and wanted improved functioning of testing institutions rather than large drastic changes. Was able to repeal most of Wang's reforms. He wrote the Zi Shi Tong Jian, the comprehensive history of China. He was also a conservative interpreter of Confucius, called for government to lead by setting a moral exam. Saved drowning friend by breaking vase that his friend was drowning in.

Zhang Zai

Century: 1020-1077 CE Define: Zhang Zai was a northern Song Neo-Confucian literatus (philosopher and cosmologist); retroactively famous for his theories that relate evil and human beings to the cosmology of the universe. Partly in response to Buddhism with complicated metaphysics, Confucians in this era thought they required complicated metaphysics of their own. From the beginning, Confucians were not interested in cosmology; they didn't build systematic explanations for the world. Zhang Zai was a Mencian; Mencius said that heaven endowed us with 4 beginnings in our heart; we have the four beginnings but we aren't inherently good; we need to make use of it and we have the potential. Zhang Zai agrees that humans have the four beginnings, but our heart can also have some bad qi in it. Thus your nature as its manifested in reality, could be less perfect than the nature heaven endowed in you. Significance: Zhang Zai's theory was that 1) Qi is constantly cycling; there's a great void and the recycling center of qi is where qi comes from and where it goes to get recycled. We are made up of the same things, we're all headed the same place; so we are all brothers and sisters in a fundamentally ontological sense; we share the same substance, we all have the same explanation for where we came from and where we are going. This was a new cosmological reason for the old Confucian idea that we all belong to a large human family. 2) His theory of where bad conduct comes from: qi comes in different grades; relative purity of the qi varies. Although humans are at the top of qi purity, it's still not uniform; some people have clearer qi than others.

Wang Anshi

Century: 1021-1086 CE Define: A radical reformer (1021-1086), he was a Chinese economist and statements and poet during the Song dynasty and tried to instigate controversial and major socioeconomic reforms. Significance: These reforms were the concepts and motives of the reformists, while the Chancellor Sima Guang was the leader of the Conservative faction that was against these reforms. He believed that the state should have the responsibility of providing the people with a decent living wage and wanted to break the barrier between clerical and official careers and wanted less of an impact of connections being used for career gains. His downfall was due to opposition from school officials who opposed his reforms but preferred tradition.

Su Shi

Century: 1037-1101 CE Define: One of China's greatest poets and essayists (of the Song period). Was banished by Wang Anshi to Hangzhou because of his opposition of Wang's reforms. He was a master of all literary forms including shi, ci, fu and essays. Significance: He emphasized spontaneity and expressiveness and made effort to loosen poetic conventions on form and content and was the founder of the heroic abandon of the school of writing. His poems focus on his own experiences.

King Wu

Century: 1050 BC (Zhou Dynasty) Define: King Wu (The Martial King) was the son of King Wen. King Wen was the one who made alliances with other states with the intent of taking over the Shang, and King Wu was the one who actually launched the war and defeated the Shang, thus becoming the first king of the Zhou Dynasty beginning around around *1050 BC*. This was the first event in Chinese history where a regime was legitimately displaced by another. Significance: There were some similarities between the early Zhou (Western Zhou) and Shang Dynasty. Similarities included an emphasis on kinship, religion, and ritual focus for one's ancestors. New ideas under the Zhou include the concept of enfeoffments, the idea of the Mandate of Heaven, and the idea of staying loyal to the monarch. The concept of envisioning politics in ethical terms came about because King Wen, King Wu, and, later, the Duke of Zhou were all very kind and wise rulers, who were basically sage kings.

Green Sprouts Policy

Century: 1069-1076 CE Define: Reform of the Song dynasty instituted by Wang Anshi to loan grain to cultivators at no interest to escape the cycle that kept them in debt to the rich. Significance: However, officials charged high interest to bring revenue to government and soon poor families couldn't repay loans and lost money. Thus, wealthy moneylenders and big landlords dominated the countryside. The wealthy moneylenders and big landlords, who had been the most likely of those the program lent to to be able to pay loans back, continued to dominate the countryside as Green Sprouts collapsed and a new emperor retracted the policies in 1086. (Was an attempt to use the power of government to bring good to people?)

paper money

Century: 1120 CE Define: The use of paper money was first initiated by merchants. For centuries, unit of currency in China was the bronze of copper coin. Transactions were calculated in terms of strings of coins but they were heavy and cumbersome. Significance: As trade increased, demand for money grew so there were more coins. Paper money was first used so that traders didn't now need to carry long strings of coins and merchants also started trading receipts. In 1120, the government took over money system making it the world's first government issued paper money.

Jürchen

Century: 1127 CE Define: Group of people that came from the mountains of eastern Manchuria. Significance: In the early 12th century, the Wanyan clan formed alliances with the confederation of the Jurchen tribes. They tried to siege the Northern Song Kaifeng using Chinese war technology. In 1127 CE, they conquered Northern Song and gained control of most of China. They introduced more authoritarian way of government to the China region. They adopted Chinese government and culture.

King Wen

Century: 1156-1052 BC Define: King Wen (*1156-1052 BC*, King "Culture") is King Wu's father, ruling from the late Shang Dynasty and founding the Zhou dynasty. King Zhou of the Shang Dynasty supposedly imprisoned Wen because he feared Wen's growing power. When Wen was released, he initially planned to defeat the Shang through alliances with other states, he passed soon before the military attack. His son, King Wu, then takes the throne and continues to become the first king of the Zhou. Significance: King Wen and the Late Shang hold relevance because this time is the time in which we see true written records--oracle bones--showing evidence and the "official" beginnings of Ancient Chinese history. Pieces of tortoise shell and ox scapulae showed historians the importance of ritual and filial piety in the context of political decisions, as well as social hierarchy that came with literacy and an ability to communicate with ancestors/interpret texts.

Cinggis "Genghis" Khan

Century: 1162-1227 CE Define: Founder and Great Khan (Emperor) of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death. As Chinggis subdued various Mongol and Turkic tribes, he built up an army of loyal followers. The most prominent Mongol nobles named him their overlord (great khan). He fully militarized Mongol society, ignoring traditional tribal affiliations to form an army based on a decimal hierarchy. A new military nobility was thus created of commanders loyal to Chinggis. Chinggis also created an elite bodyguard of sons and brothers that served directly under him. To reduce internal disorder, he issued simple, draconian laws and ordered the Uighur script to be adopted for writing Mongol, seeing the utility of written records, even though he was illiterate. He subjugated nearby states; sent envoys to demand submission and threaten destruction. Those who submitted were treated as allies and left in power; those who put up a fight faced prospect of destruction. Chinggis' troops were capable of enduring great privation and crossing vast distances quickly. Significance: Before death, he had conquered Mongolia and Manchuria, brought Korea into submission, and driven the Jurchen south of the Yellow River. He ruled from Pacific Ocean on the east to the Caspian Sea on the west. His death created a crisis due to the Mongol tradition of succession by election. In the end, the empire was divided into 4 sections, each to be governed by one of the lines of his descendants. Under Temujin, the Mongols quickly unified, wiped out all rivals on the steppe, and entered settled empires. Developed a reputation for ferocity; were open to foreigners who could help them. Acquired technology by adopting expertise from those they captured.

Ögödei

Century: 1186-1241 CE Define: Ogodei, Chinggis' third son, got control of Mongolia. He crushed the Jin and became ruler of north China. He took most of the districts in Sichuan, previously held by the Song, and ordered slaughter of the residents in Chengdu. Even where people were not slaughtered, they were frequently seized as booty along with their grain stores and livestock. Ogodei's troops participated in the western campaigns as well. Representatives of all four lines and Mongol, Turkic, and Persian troops, campaigned into Europe, taking Moscow and Kiev and striking into Poland and Hungary. Although they looted cities in central Europe on these campaigns, the Mongols soon retreated to Russia, which they dominated for over a century. Significance: Ogodei's idea was to convert North China (old Jin empire) into pastureland. This was the beginning of the trend of coming up with new ideas of how to govern China. Steppe armies were dangerous and were very quick with horses: had high mobility; could dictate where the battle is fought and retreat quickly. More pastureland meant many fresh horses => more military power. What they didn't think about was the economic disaster that turning China into pastureland would result in.

Yelü Chucai

Century: 1190-1244 CE Define: Statesman of Khitan ethnicity with royal family lineage to the Liao Dynasty, who became a vigorous adviser and administrator of the early Mongol Empire in the Confucian tradition. He was the first of Genghis Khan's retainers to formulate policy during the Mongol conquests, and he also introduced many administrative reforms in North China during the reign of Genghis Khan and his successor Ögedei. Significance: Yelu Chucai was a Chinese literatus (a signified Khitan) that disagreed with Ogodei. He knew about taxation, commerce, surveying land, etc that officials were involved in. He convinced Ogodei that collecting taxes as opposed to turning land into pastureland will bring about more money; that greater wealth could be gained by taxing farmers. Ogodei followed this advice but this institutional arrangement didn't last long. Soon, Yelu's rivals convinced Ogodei that Yelu's method of direct taxation was less lucrative than their plan to let Central Asian Muslim merchants bid against each other for licenses to collect taxes. This led to tax farming: tax rate that was way too high. The Central Asian tax farmers quickly gained a reputation for rapaciousness and came to be hated by the conquered Chinese as the Mongol soldiers. In the short term, much wealth was extracted, but this was disastrous in the long term.

Cheng brothers

Century: 11th century CE Define: Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi were Zhang Zai's nephews. They spread his words and taught his teachings, but didn't exactly have identical opinions. Significance: Cheng yi also used the concept of qi and added li: principle. Li as a verb it means to organize, rationalize; as a noun, it means principle, pattern, rationale. Qi comes in different shapes and purposes and patterns; li explains why a tree goes through its cycle and to give full account of makeup of universe and the manner in which it moves, you need concept of qi and li. Li is the organization of things; qi is the makeup of things; li seems to vary as you observe them, but there's a grand li. Primary goal of any committed person according to Cheng brothers was to discover this grand li. Their canonical base for this idea: Great Learning. The Great Learning says that to illuminate your own virtue, you have to organize your own domain, you need to do investigation of things (ge wu) to bring morality to your domain whether that be your family or whatever. Observing the world around you so you can find li and bring morality to your family, your state and the world will flourish and this is ge wu. Cheng brothers believed that li is everywhere; we should observe things, observe changes, and observe cycles; li governing regular change is real and li governs historical pattern. Cheng brothers were regarded somewhat radical; during their life time, most people were talking about Green Sprouts policy - how do we use the power of government to bring good to people; Cheng brothers seemed out of place.

/gewu/

Century: 11th century CE Define: Observing the world so you can find li in the world is ge wu. Significance: The Great Learning says that to illuminate your own virtue, you have to organize your own domain and you need to investigate things (through ge wu) to bring morality to your domain.

/li/ (principle)

Century: 11th century CE Define: li (principle) is an idea that the Cheng brothers used. Li as a verb means to organize and rationalize. As a noun, it is principle, pattern, rationale. Qi is what makes up things (it is the matter); li is the organization of matter. Significance: This is how the Cheng brothers explain the world. There is a grand li and the primary goal of any committed person should be to discover the grand li of the world. The Great Learning says that to illuminate your own virtue, you have to organize your own domain and you need to investigate things (through ge wu) to bring morality to your domain. Observing the world so you can find li in the world is ge wu. Cheng brothers believed that li is everywhere and that people should observe the li (the changes, cycles, etc). Li governs regular change, cycles, and historical pattern.

Qubilai

Century: 1215-1294 CE Define: Qubilai was grandson of Chinggis. He grew up in a Chinese speaking court and learned to appreciate Chinese advisors. He had first-hand view of devastation of tax farming. When he came into power, he abolished tax farming and established a new dynasty: Yuan (meaning primal). Significance: He conquered south China. Before him, no one conquered south China because of the geographical conditions of the south that gave steppe armies a disadvantage. The last holdout was the Southern Song; after taking the Southern Song, Yuan empire became a big blob and it was the first time that any non-Chinese has ruled all of China. 1279: beginning of Yuan dynasty. Population figures were high during Yuan; land was big, but not many people were in charge of tax; there was much more activity at the local level by religious institutions and locally powerful families fulfilling services that the government used to provide; irrigation ditch, famine relief, etc à local. These institutions picked up the slack because the local population was desperate but the government was no longer providing these services. Populations were undernourished and moving. Qubilai set up a society divided into 4 classes: Mongols, semu ren (non Chinese, non Mongols, including allies that helped build warships, tax farmers, etc), Han people (not Han ethnicity; refers to former subject of Jin empire - North China people), Southerners (largest group; former subjects of Southern Song and predominantly Chinese in ethnicity). These 4 were used to set quotas in many aspects of government. The idea was to be balanced so that the huge disparity in population wouldn't be reflected in Govt. Qubulai abolished the exam system; otherwise, southern Chinese literati would dominate the government and the Mongols would be kicked out. Civil service exam was reinstituted later on, but on a quota system, meaning there had to be a disproportionately larger number of semu ren and Mongols passing the exam. Outcome: literati started taking up other occupations. So Yuan saw an increase in novels, playwrights, paintings, etc.

Lu Jiuyuan

Century: 12th century CE Define: Chinese scholar and philosopher who founded the school of the universal mind, the second most influential Neo-Confucian school. He was a contemporary and the main rival of Zhu Xi. Significance: Lu Jiuyan believed that Zhu Xi's model of the heart was wrong. Zhu Xi mandates too much reading - this was Lu's criticism. Lu thought that the heart is purely the four beginnings making up the entirety of your heart. He says that Zhu Xi, by emphasizing reading, is leading people in the indirect way to getting to the four directions. Just look inside your heart and you will know; don't read. People read and forget the fundamental reason for reading in the first place to improve ourselves.

Zhu Xi

Century: 12th century CE Define: Zhu Xi was a Song dynasty Confucian scholar who was the leading figure of the School of Principle and the most influential rationalist Neo-Confucian in China. He was a fervent follower of Cheng Yi's philosophy; he came from the same private academic background, was never famous as a civil servant. Significance: Zhu Xi elucidated Cheng Yi's philosophy: made it so much clearer by patching things up and making it seamless. He also explained that this cosmological theory of li and qi goes along with why human beings are bad: Zhang Zai's theory. The heart is made up of qi - it is a matter and that is why it's so problematic. The four beginnings that heaven gave you are part of your nature; your shame is a part of it and it is good. But as a physical organ, the heart has qi that can be obscured. Heart is li in qi; it is the union of li and qi in mass and that qi can be very obscuring. What causes the qi ripples in your heart? Using your mind inherently stimulates it and once you stimulate it, the qi gets active and moves around and an emotional response is a very powerful activator of qi. If you are way too emotional, you will be clouded by your emotions and won't be able to use your qi for moral behavior. Zhu Xi also opposed the Cheng brothers' idea that you could study li in anything. Theoretically, you can but you don't have a lot of time. Many years of your life are spent in qi ripples; you need to find efficient mode of ge wu - reading the classics because classics are written by sages who understand li.

Brocade Guard

Century: 1328-1398 CE Define: The Brocade Guard was a secret police force whose job was to protect and inform the Hongwu emperor (1328-1398) on the rest of the government, and who might be plotting a coup. Significance: They reflected the Hongwu Emperor's apprehensiveness, and even paranoia, about stabilizing his rule and establishing an empire free from the influence of the literati and other threats. Among the Brocade Guard's duties included spying on the subjects of the emperor, which in many cases led to their prosecution and execution. Zhu Yuanzhang was paranoid about possible rebellions and assassinations, and used this secret police as his protection against any potential threats.

Zhu Yuanzhang, Hongwu Emperor

Century: 1328-1398 CE Define: Zhu Yuanzhang, or the Hongwu Emperor, was born in 1328 and ruled from 1368 until his death thirty years later; he was the founder and first emperor of the Ming dynasty. He was born into poverty, had no formal schooling, and was never very highly literate. However, he learned military strategy and command through experience, and prioritized this during his reign. Significance: Basing his government on the Yuan model, Zhu Yuanzhang came from a class that considered the literati to be the oppressing group of society, marking the beginning of an anti-landlord sentiment; he wanted to be personally involved in state affairs to take away privilege from the literati class. Zhu Yuanzhang presided over a massive forestation initiative that prevented erosion, but more importantly provided wood for the production of a navy force. He also emphasized agriculture at the expense of commerce, with the mindset that peasants were easier to govern than merchants. Setting low quotas on international merchant activity, he failed to take into account the change of global trade. After his death in 1398, his grandson took the throne but was then ousted by his uncle.

Great Wall

Century: 1368-1644 CE (Ming Dynasty) Define: A series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China to protect the Chinese states and empires against the raids and invasions of the various nomadic groups of the Eurasian Steppe. Significance: The Great Wall was constructed in a series of fortifications over the course of various dynasties. The Qin (221-206 BC) made significant contributions and new additions to the Great Wall under Qin Shi Huang. During the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), the concept was revived and additions to the Great Wall were made when China recognized threats to national security, including the Tumu Incident in 1449, in which the emperor Zhengtong was captured by Mongol forces in a frontier conflict. When Esen Khan led a steppe power that defeated its rivals in the wake of the death of Yongle, he failed to gain any real power against China and the government narrowly avoided a potentially destructive danger. Thus, in order to protect against any future risks, China decided to build new additions to the Great Wall as a series of barricades for defensive purposes. The project of the Great Wall required an immense amount of labor and funding from the government, and the tremendous expenses effectively replaced the voyages supported by Yongle. However, the walls themselves were relatively ineffective as they had gaps and could be easily crossed. For example, in the 16th century Altan Khan understood where the wall could be penetrated and quickly gained access to China, but only wished to trade and China thus escaped disaster again.

Zheng He

Century: 1371-1433 CE Define: Zheng He was born in 1371 and was chosen as an admiral in the maritime expeditions of the Ming dynasty until his death in 1433. A Muslim eunuch, he rose in influence and power when emperor Yongle came to power. He was selected with the belief that it was easier to have an amicable reception if the local religion was understood. Significance: One of China's best-known explorers, Zheng He is believed to have traveled throughout the South Pacific, the Indian Ocean, and the Persian Gulf over the course of seven voyages, beginning at the start of the 15th century. He helped develop China's imperial control of trade routes on the Indian Ocean, expanding Sino-Arab trade. Zheng He's voyages largely stopped after the death of emperor Yongle.

Yongle Emperor

Century: 1402-1424 CE Define: The third emperor of the Ming dynasty. After the grandson of Zhu Yuanzhang succeeded the throne, his uncle Yongle then easily established himself as emperor in 1402 and ruled until 1424. He had a private power base in northeastern China and maintained allegiances with leftover Mongol forces on the steppe. He maintained the power balance in the steppe by supporting weaker groups, thus preventing the stronger powers from defeating their weaker rivals. Nevertheless, when his son took power he failed to understand this strategy and supported the power that eventually gained enough strength to defeat their rivals and unite. Significance: Following his replacement of Zhu Yuanzhang's grandson, Yongle sponsored huge maritime expeditions, claiming that his objective was to find the grandson who had "disappeared." However, his intentions were to patrol and rid the seas of pirates, in addition to linking with Chinese communities in other areas. These voyages included expeditions to East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, seeking trading opportunities.

Liu Che, Emperor Wu

Century: 141-87 BC Define: Emperor Wu was the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty (longest-ruling Han emperor). He was the key figure in strengthening the Han government. He is known for vast territorial expansion, development of a strong and centralized state resulting from his governmental re-organization, including his promotion of Confucian doctrines. Significance: Once Wudi came into power was set on trying to curb the power of other princes and lords. He used whatever pretext he could to strip them of their territory. Wudi decreed that the domains would have to divide among all of the lords' heirs, which eventually led to gradually smaller territories getting passed from one generation to the next. Wudi used Confucian values to foster a good, moral relationship with his subordinates in order to ensure they remained loyal to him. Wudi was not able to safeguard against the situation in which a weak willed/unqualified successor took the throne. Once he died, the empire was in a state of gradual decline and it collapsed in 9 AD.

Celestial Masters

Century: 142 CE Define: The Celestial Masters are an early Daoist sect with leader Zhang Daoling who received a revelation from the deified Laozi in 142 AD. This is different from older forms of Daoism revolving around a book for political domination that someone wrote. Significance: This is the first time that revelations from deities are introduced to Chinese religion. The revelation of the preexisting god who took the form of the book Laozi happens because the Eastern Han times have changed, so they need a new revelation. This revelation claims authority from its status as divine and the god reveals many new texts to Zhang Daoling. Politically, the Celestial Masters coexist with the government and receive recognition, so they coexist despite having similar beliefs to the Yellow Turbans. They believed in the rotation of the five phases and thought social change stems from cosmological change. They bring morality to the idea of cultivating qi. They set up communities to cure diseases, which are thought of as evil spirit infestations. Celestial Masters are the first to appeal to peasants because they claim to control the celestial bureaucracy and be able to exorcise spirits. They also fed the hungry at lodges and gathered a community of converts through such institutions. They eventually become a symbol of stability in an otherwise chaotic time.

Sima Qian

Century: 145-85 BC Define: Sima Qian was a Chinese historian of the Han Dynasty, responsible for writing the Historical Records (Shiji) a 130 chapter text that incorporates a chronological narrative of China's political events, key institutions and biographies of important people. The political narrative begins with the Yellow Emperor (Huang Di) and continues through Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties. All aspects of the government including state rituals, finances, public projects and calendars were recorded in the narrative. Not only important government officials, but also individuals not affiliated with the government such as philosophers, merchants, poets, magicians, rebels and assassins were recorded. Before Sima Qian was able to complete the Shiji he made the mistake of defending a general who had surrendered to the Xiongnu, so he was castrated. Significance: The Shiji serves as the official template of written histories and subsequent historical records (like the History of the Han) use the Shiji as a model. The composite style with political narrative, treatises and biographies were utilized in historical texts written in subsequent dynasties. Sima Qian acknowledged that history could not only be written from the perspective of the ruler, but also had to incorporate the history of institutional practices, individuals, state rituals as well. His work has also shaped our understanding of the individual during the time.

/liangzhi/

Century: 1472-1529 CE Define: Liangzhi, literally translated as good knowledge or inherent knowledge, was a concept of philosophy introduced by Mencius and taught by Wang Yangming (1472-1529). It included the belief of the four beginnings (humanity, righteousness, ritual, and wisdom) that were innate to all humans. Liangzhi was seen as one of the characteristics that separated humans from animals. Significance: Liangzhi was thought to be an innate trait shared by every human; people knew what was morally correct regardless of their education. It was considered an intuitive knowledge that one could not simply lose; rather, it can be cultivated. This reflected the Mencian idea that human nature was good and could be developed.

Wang Yangming

Century: 1472-1529 CE Define: Wang Yangming, also called Wang Shouren, lived from 1472 to 1529 and was considered one of the most famous philosophers of the Ming dynasty. He lived in an era in which many literati were less and less willing to accept the teachings of the philosopher Zhu Xi, because his texts were taught seemingly religiously in essentially every medium in education. Many of his followers became much more radical than Wang Yangming himself. Significance: Wang Yangming was interested in the idea that one must study principle and li, or the explanation of the organization of the universe (a concept introduced by Cheng Yi in the 11th century). Contrary to the idea of gewu, or observing the outside world to find li, Wang Yangming believed that all the answers to moral anxieties and dilemmas could be found inside oneself. He also believed that one did not truly know or understand something until one actually experienced it, such as filial piety and virtue. He built on the Mencian idea of liangzhi, and also advocated a rebellion against the idea of external standards and the habit of using others' accounts to create one's own opinions, including concepts of heaven and earth.

Cao Cao

Century: 155-220 CE Define: The Eastern Han government was too weak to put down the Yellow Turban Rebellion, so warlords from wealth families rose as leaders of private armies which were more powerful than the national army. Cao Cao was the most powerful of these warlords who lived in the late Han Dynasty, dying in 220 AD. He was from an old military family who became a talented general, putting together a force of non-Chinese and Chinese infantry and cavalry. His cavalry was especially important in northern China. Significance: His son founds the Wei kingdom, which is one of the Three Kingdoms, instead of preserving the Eastern Han. His family later had to install measures to prevent the Sima clan from monopolizing the Wei bureaucracy. The non-Chinese soldiers that Cao Cao brings in later have descendants which form military rebellions and this leads to the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

single-whip method

Century: 1581 CE Define: Through the introduction of the single-whip method of taxation in 1581, Chinese citizens were required to pay their taxes in silver. In previous times, people paid their taxes with inconsistent types of money, burdening the Chinese government from an accounting standpoint. The transition to silver was made with the idea that it would be easier to rationalize and compare tax revenues. Significance: However, the price of silver at the time was quickly collapsing due to the discovery of the New World, and with it the introduction of silver mines. China failed to engage and respond to the reality of international trade, and also failed to recognize the problem it would create with peasants. Very few peasants had silver, and their only method of obtaining silver was to trade with moneylenders for copper. However, the value of copper as well was crashing even faster than that of silver, and many peasants later became economically crippled. The Ming did not immediately feel the consequences of the single-whip method of taxation but it created long-lasting effects, and in the 17th century the Mexican dollar entered into circulation and became the primary currency of China.

Shang

Century: 1600-1046 BC Define: Shang is the second dynasty of China, following the mystical Xia, from which there are no actual records, and before the Zhou. There is no proof that the Xia dynasty existed, only that it is mentioned in a later found texts. Significance: The Shang dynasty is the earliest dynasty of traditional Chinese history supported by archaeological evidence; Shang is the first dynasty from which we have written records in the form of oracle bone and bronze vessel inscriptions. We have uncovered eleven major royal tombs and the foundations of palaces and ritual sites, containing weapons of war and remains from both animal and human sacrifices. Tens of thousands of bronze, jade, stone, bone, and ceramic artifacts have been found. It has yielded the earliest known body of Chinese writing, mostly divinations inscribed on oracle bones - turtle shells, ox scapulae, or other bones.

Anyang

Century: 1600-1046 BC (Shang period) Define: Northern-most city in Heyan province in China. Significance: The Anyang site has yielded the earliest known body of Chinese writing, mostly divinations inscribed on oracle bones - turtle shells, ox scapulae, or other bones; it is the modern-day place where oracle bones have been found. It is thought to be the last capital of the Shang. There are pits of oracle bones, purposefully buried by the people of the time.

Gu Yanwu

Century: 1613-1682 CE Define: Gu Yanwu, who lived from 1613 to 1682, was a Chinese philologist and geographer in the post-Ming period (though he never served the Qing). He represented intellectual resistance to the philosophy of Zhu Xi. He believed that the problem of Zhu Xi's philosophy lied in the idea that the specific language he taught had not changed, from its inception to the 17th century. In other words, the classics were systematically misrepresented and were based on anachronism. Significance: He established a new method of reading Confucian classics, and believed that if one read the classics carefully one would realize that the language used is no longer equivalent. When the sages wrote them, they evidently rhymed, but the odes no longer had the same literary merit they once did. Gu Yanwu divided the rhymes of ancient Chinese into different groups, and gave birth to the studies of ancient Chinese linguistics.

/wokou/

Century: 16th century Define: Literally translated as Japanese pirates or dwarf pirates, were pirates who raided the coastlines of China, Japan and Korea. Significance: When the great maritime expeditions initiated by Yongle waned in the mid-fifteenth century, naval security was weakened. This allowed the wokou to return and obtain an increase in strength. Coming from a variety of ethnicities from both Japan and regions of Southeast Asia, these bandits quickly gained wealth as global trade was increasing exponentially. After the shift in focus of government funding from protecting the seas against the wokou to the production of the Great Wall, the pirates became increasingly powerful. The Ming government was very slow in its response to this issue and failed to patrol the seas effectively for many years. These pirates raided merchant vessels and the coasts of China, Japan, and Korea.

/kaozheng/

Century: 17th century CE Define: Kaozheng, or "evidentiary learning," is considered to be the origin of modern Chinese studies. Established by Gu Yanwu (1613-1682), kaozheng incorporates the concept that one must figure out the meanings of words based on how they previously rhymed with other words. Significance: It integrated critical thinking with thorough study of texts, and gained prominence during Ming rule and into the Qing dynasty. It was considered a development of learning and was associated with both scholarly and scientific topics. This approach avoided broad speculations and focused on specific aspects of texts. Kaozheng was a methodology used to explore details of the Confucian past.

Treaty of Nerchinsk

Century: 17th century CE Define: The Treaty of Nerchinsk was signed during Emperor Kangxi's rule in the 17th century with Russia; it was the first treaty between China and Europe. Significance: In hopes to consolidate China under one rule, Emperor Kangxi invaded northwards into Mongol territory, quickly nearing Russian territory. Knowing that they could not defend Amur against the newly invigorated Qing military, the Russians signed the Treaty of Nerchinsk, with two main ramifications. First, Mongolia as an independent territory disappeared. Mongols no longer posed a huge threat to China due to trade moving to maritime and water routes, away from Mongol control, and this quickly sapped its resources and diminished their power. Second, it peacefully settled border issues with Russia along the Argun River in the north. Overall, this treaty demonstrated Kangxi's geo-political acumen.

Wu Sangui

Century: 17th century CE Define: Wu Sangui was a Chinese military general in the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century. He was responsible for guarding at the empire at the Great Wall against foreign invaders. Significance: Because he thought the Ming was collapsing, Wu Sangui preferred Manchu rule over the Ming. Subsequently, he covertly let the Qing dynasty through the Great Wall, betraying Ming, thereby playing a crucial part in the success of Manchus and their successful coup. Under the Qing Dynasty, Wu Sangui became a feudatory lord. This, however, was not his ultimate goal; in late 17th century, he declared himself the Emperor of China and ruler of the "Greater Zhou" and led the Rebellion of the Three Feudatories, which was defeated by Emperor Kangxi.

Kangxi

Century: 17th-18th century CE Define: Kangxi was the fourth Manchu emperor of the Qing Dynasty from the 17th to early 18th dynasty, and is considered by many historians to be one of the greatest emperors in Chinese history. At the beginning of his reign, many Chinese were still suspicious of Manchu rule and many rebels remained loyal to the Ming Dynasty; this, however, quickly changed, as Kangxi taught Manchu generals to treat the Chinese as subjects, not slaves. He successfully quenched the Revolt of the Feudatories, including Wu Sangui. Significance: Three major accomplished defined Kangxi's vision-driven rule: (1) he saw China as part of geographical Eurasia, extending Manchu's military positions along the border of Russia and signing the Treaty of Nerchinsk, eliminating Mongolia as a threat; (2) he intentionally encouraged and incorporated Chinese literati into his government and authorized the creation of the Kangxi Dictionary, employing many literati who liked his idea, and all the while putting most of governmental control in the hands of his bannermen; (3) he established a stable society by lowering the tax and instead taxing a much wider population to garner revenue for the government.

Empress Dowager Cixi

Century: 1835-1908 CE Define: Was a low-ranking concubine of King Xianfeng who bore his only son. Since the king was so weak and fragile, she held most of the power in the Qing dynasty. Significance: She started the 100 days of reform to pass many legislations to modernize China. However, she banished the architects of the 100 days because she feared that she was losing power. She spent a lot of money on the Stone Boat to retire in the Summer Palace instead of strengthening China's navy. She returned to the throne after conservative officials instituted a coup collected around Cixi. She supported the anti-foreign Boxer rebels, which caused foreign powers to capture Beijing. She was forced to accept humiliating peace terms and appoint reform-minded officials.

Yellow Turbans

Century: 184-205 CE Define: A Chinese secret society best known for the Yellow Turban rebellion, which started in 184 A.D. during the Eastern Han dynasty. The yellow turbans first appear during the period in between the Han and Tang dynasties. The leaders of the yellow turbans were associated with a Daoist sect (the Way of Supreme Peace). They were able to amass a massive power base because there was famine/lack of agricultural productivity and a weak centralized imperial government. In order to put down the rebellion, the government sends out three very accomplished generals and these generals wind up becoming stronger than the central government and this leads to the eventual collapse of the Eastern Han dynasty and it ushers in the three kingdoms period. Significance: The rebellion is significant because it embodies the cycle of dynastic downfall in ancient Chinese history. When the government becomes unstable and natural disasters begin to take form, such as famine and flood, the peasants begin to revolt and then the dynasty sends generals to put down the rebellion and these generals amass more power than the dynasty and all of these factors then attribute to the fall of the dynasty.

Sun Yat-sen

Century: 1866-1925 CE Define: A revolutionary who influenced the fall of the Qing dynasty and became China's first president of the Republic of China. He was also the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang). He founded a political alliance to bring democracy to China. Significance: This was an unprecedented idea at the time, but had no military power to make the idea practical. He received a great boost in his career when the British Foreign Office released him from the Chinese legislation in London after detaining him for 13 days. All of the revolts Sun and other leaders organized failed and due to pressures from the Qing, foreign governments gradually shunned Sun. Sun Yat-sen heard of the Wuhan revolution and returned to Shanghai where he was elected provisional president by delegates in Nanjing. He founded a political alliance to bring democracy to China.

Tianjin Massacre

Century: 1870 CE Define: A violent outbreak that almost started a war between China and France. This outbreak was due to the prejudice that the Chinese had against French catholic churches that were rumored to be kidnapping and trafficking children. The Chinese believed that missionaries removed the eyes of Chinese children to make medicine. The fact that some Chinese kidnappers were arrested and publicly confessed to selling off Chinese children for money required Chinese officials to meet with the French who were responsible for the Catholic missions in China. A mob gathered outside of the Cathedral and when French Consul, Henri-Victor Fontanier, shot a Chinese assistant he and his assistant M. Simon were murdered. Significance: The riot ended after many Catholic and foreign buildings were burned down with a death toll of 60. This riot signaled the end of the "cooperative policy" between Western Treaty powers and China. Foreign warships were sent to China to restore order, but China had to execute the ringleaders of the massacre and give dispatch a mission to France to give a formal apology to stop further damage.

Sino-Japanese War

Century: 1894-1895 CE Define: A war based on the control of Korea. Japan wanted to invade Korea, but China wanted Korea to only trade with China. The Japanese adopted Western technology to force Korea into foreign trade as independent from China. The Qing did not have generals willing to fight the Japanese because they were saving their forces and not fighting unnecessary battles until the the Qing Dynasty falls. Japanese had much better military force and materials as well as better naval strength and command. China's industrialization was lacking very much, so they did not have enough military power to win against the Japanese. Significance: Observing countries thought that China's massive military force would easily defeat Japan. However, after China was overwhelmed, Western countries demand more from China. China was forced to give Japan trading privileges on Chinese land. The war caused revolutionary activity to oppose the Qing dynasty.

Boxer Rebellion

Century: 1898-1900 CE Define: An uprising that attempted to drive foreigners out of China. The rebels were Boxers who practiced certain boxing and calisthenic rituals in the belief that this made them invulnerable. They were not happy with the modernization of China and believed that the spirits were being violated by this industrialization. Significance: The initial purpose of the rebellion was to destroy the Qing dynasty and Westerners with privileged positions in China. However, when Cixi and the other Qing officials supported them, their only objective was to eradicate the west from China. Boxers identified the West as aggressive and exploitive and their strategy was to attack Western powers, kidnap and murder their citizens. Eight powerful Western nations united to put down the Boxer rebellion. China was held responsible for the destruction and had to accept a treaty that required China to pay money they could not afford. That's when China had to begin taxing imports as well as transportation to pay this debt off. This is when the Qing was expected to fall.

Qianlong

Century: 18th century CE Define: Qianlong was Kangxi's grandson, and sixth emperor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the 18th century. He benefited from his forefathers' fiscal, bureaucratic, and foreign policies; to follow in their footsteps, he sought to establish himself as a sage emperor, educated in both the Chinese and Manchu ideals. Significance: He was staunchly against anti-Manchu thought, and this was reflected in his construction of the Siku quanshu. It was a grand imperial projected that employed literati, and consisted of a collection of authorized literature intended to unite thoughts and ideas circulating in society through censorship. Qianlong also set up the pivotal cohong trading system in order to retain control foreign trade. He authorized Western trade in the Guangzhou ports through the hong merchants. This irritated Britain, and prompted the failed McCartney Mission and Qianlong's letter to King George III. His letter rejected Britain's appeal for open ports, and expressed China's complete self-sufficiency. Finally, Qianlong abdicated his throne in order to not over-rule grandfather Kangxi.

/Siku quanshu/

Century: 18th century CE Define: Siku quanshu, also known as the Complete Library in Four Sections, commissioned by King Qianlong during the Qing Dynasty in the 18th century, is the largest collection of books in Chinese history. An editorial board collected over 10,000 volumes of books and destroyed a portion of those that expressed anti-Manchu sentiments. It gave the literati control over what should and should not be documented and recorded into written history, intentionally leaving out anti-Manchu documents. Significance: Qianlong had a two-fold goal in this project: (1) he intended to unite thoughts and ideas circulating in society and regulate opinions through censorship and the systematic demolition of outside, past thought that were considered incongruent to that of the Qing; and (2) he wanted to show off the power of his administration, and directly contest Ming Dynasty's Yongle Encyclopedia.

cohong

Century: 18th century CE Define: The 'cohong,' also known as the Canton System, was a guild of Chinese merchants who operated the import-export monopoly in Canton. This guild was utilized by the Qing government to regulate trade with the West, specifically in King Qianlong's official edict that limited all international trade to the konghang, which was located in Guangzhou. The hong merchants were the only merchants in Guangzhou who were permitted to sell tea and silk to the Westerners. Western powers were expected to make an appointment with a merchant within the guild in order to gain access to trading ports. It also initiated McCartney's visit to King Qianlong. Significance: The Canton System frustrated Western powers who desired to trade more extensively with the Qing Dynasty and viewed the imbalanced silver outflux as problematic. The British devised a way to counter this Canton System through the illegal trade of Opium that finally escalated into the strategically planned Opium War that concluded with the epochal Treaty of Nanjing that ended the Canton System once and for all.

Treaty of Nanjing

Century: 18th century CE Define: The Treaty of Nanjing marked the end of the First Opium War between the United Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty in 1842. This was the first of the many unequal treaties the British forced the Chinese to sign. At the time, neither the Chinese nor the British truly appreciated the full extent of the negative consequences caused by the treaty's obligations: it would later cripple China's attempts to industrialize. The fundamental purpose of this treaty was to alter the framework of the Canton system and to open new treaty ports in China. Significance: This treaty included six major clauses - an indemnity of 21 million silver dollars, the cessation of Hong Kong, low fixed tariffs, extraterritoriality, and the most favored nation clause. First, the British demanded an indemnity of 21 million silver dollars from China to cover the costs of the confiscated opium by Lin Zexu, the opium that he and his army destroyed, and to satisfy the age-old tradition of the loser paying fees to the victor. Second, the British identified Hong Kong as a desirable port and claimed Hong Kong as an overseas territory, along with four other treaty ports in major cities. Third, low fixed tariffs meant that the Chinese could no longer protect its fledgling industries from low priced British goods. Fourth, extraterritoriality meant that British citizens were protected and subject to their own law, and exempt of Chinese law. Finally, the favorite nation clause enforced that any concession made to another country was also extended to the British.

Self-Strengthening

Century: 19th century CE Define: An industrial movement with thoughts about diplomatic education sections and ending civil service exams. Significance: This was the start of intense questioning and doubt about these exams. There were previous attempts reform the exam. There was a need for people who knew math and engineering to modernize and communicate with foreign countries. China needed diplomats who could be trained for foreign affairs so language exams were needed in place of history exams. European diplomats were already multilingual. China developed its first newspapers in the 19th century. Catching up to other developed countries in terms of progress difficult especially under the tariffs and restrictions of foreign countries.

Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

Century: 19th century CE Define: It was an oppositional state in China from 1851 to 1864, supporting the overthrow of the Qing dynasty by Hong Xiuquan and his followers. Hong Xiuqian, a convert to Christianity, believed he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ, and established the oppositional state in south China, the region that suffered the most from the Opium War, in of the Qing Dynasty from in the early mid-nineteenth century. In the beginning, indigenous people ("Hakka") and disgruntled unemployed workers joined the movement in support of the Taiping's anti-Qing sentiments; the movement garnered up to 20,000 followers. Significance: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom issued utopian calls for society including equality for men and women, equalization of land holdings, and revamped civil service examinations that were open to both men and women, and based upon Hong's teachings and the Chinese translated Bible. They took Nanjing in mid-19th century and held onto the city for a decade, but the kingdom was finally toppled by Chinese scholar-official Zeng Guofan, who was offended by the Taiping's disrespect for Confucian ideals, and his organized private army.

Opium War

Century: 19th century CE Define: The First Opium War was fought between the British and the Qing Dynasty in the early 19th century. Prior to the onset of the opium trade, the Chinese-European trade was largely imbalanced as the British had a high demand for Chinese goods - tea and porcelain - while King Qianlong restricted Chinese trade to the Canton system, rejected McCartney's advances to engage in trade. The British East India Company (E.I.C.) had a monopoly of British trade, and began to auction opium grown on its plantations in India to independent foreign traders in exchange for silver. The opium was then transported to the China coast and sold to Chinese middlemen who retailed the drug inside China. This reverse flow of silver and the increasing numbers of opium addicts alarmed Chinese officials. Significance: In 1839, King Qianlong rejecting proposals to legalize and tax opium, appointed Lin Zexu to solve the problem by abolishing the trade. Lin confiscated around 20,000 chests of opium without offering compensation, blockaded trade, and confined foreign merchants to their quarters. The British government, although not officially denying China's right to control imports of the drug, objected and used its naval power to inflict quick and decisive defeat. Consequences of Opium War was much more significant than the war itself: the Qing sued for peace, and the conclusion was a very important treaty - one of the most important treaties in human history: Treaty of Nanjing.

/Yantie lun/

Century: 1st century BC Define: Known as the Discourses of Salt and Iron, it was a political debate that occurred during the 1st Century B.C.E. Salt is a necessity in preparing/preserving foods and metal is needed in for national security/defense. The debate revolved around the political turmoil of the late Han dynasty. Significance: The literati were divided between two groups: the reformist and the modernists. The reformists opposed the emperor's monopolies of salt, iron and liquor and the modernists supported the sentiment that the government should monopolize salt, iron and liquor. The reformist believed that through ending these monopolies, the people would be appeased and agriculture would continue to prosper. The reformists used Confucian ideology within the discourses to encourage public officials to abolish the monopolies in order to increase the morale of citizens and decrease public disapproval of the central government. The reformists believed that these state-enacted monopolies did not accord with the responsibilities of the government defined by a Confucian value system. The modernists' main argument for keeping the monopolies is for the sake of funding military expeditions to the frontier (during this period the Han was encountering issues with the Xiongnu).

Jia Yi

Century: 200 - 169 BC Define: Jia Yi, a poet of the Han Dynasty, is known for, among his work in poetry, a text called the "Transgressions of Qin," in which he writes about the Qin Dynasty and why it failed. He believed in Confucian ideals and reforms. He also held some of the beliefs of Mencius, like the desires of the people being the mandate of heaven. Significance: In the "Transgressions of Qin" Jia Yi writes that cruel states can never succeed. The Qin emperor was an untrusting cruel man who burned books and made the law harsher. The Qin failed to read or learn from history and made the same mistakes people made in the past. Jia Yi placed importance on teachers stating that they were needed to educate a regime on past mistakes so they are not repeated.

/qingtan/

Century: 220 CE Define: Qingtan was a Daoist sect called Pure Conversation that was happening in the state of Wei starting in 220 AD. This sect focuses on maintaining purity of thought and conversation with only people who are the same as the practitioners. Practitioners have some sort of family legacy where they transcend layman topics like politics and income. They famously involved witty conversations about metaphysics and philosophy. The Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove may have also engaged in qingtan. Significance: The metaphysics they talked about are called Xuanxue, or the Dark Learning. They believed there was a difference between the phenomenal world and the truly real world underneath. The phenomenal world is the world as it is perceived, while reality can be flexibly perceived. This is summarized in the Neodaoism movement of the time. Since all the sects rely on revelations, they are unable to disprove each other.

/xian/

Century: 220 CE Define: Xian are transcendent immortal beings. This is a trend in Daoist sects during the Three Kingdoms period which happens around 220 AD. The Shangqing, or Utmost Purity, sect revelations came from a goddess to a member of a very wealthy family. The revelations supposedly told him how to attain a higher state of being and visit the higher gods in their palaces through meditation. These palaces are the stars. The major gods are supposedly already in the bodies of practitioners, so a spirit journey allows people to get closer to the gods and travel to stars where the gods live. Significance: The richer classes wanted a belief system like this which allowed them to attain a higher state of understanding. Alchemists also wanted to achieve immortality by using chemicals to make an elixir of immortality. Ge Hong wrote a text called Baopuzi, or The Master Embracing Simplicity, outlining these beliefs. People built laboratories and used chemical furnaces to try and make elixirs of immortality from gold, cinnabar, diamond, silver and other poisonous metals. The idea was that because these metals were long-lasting, the person who drinks the elixir will become immortal. People who died from overdose were thought to have transcended their human bodies and succeeded. Some practitioners meditated inside their body instead of using laboratory chemicals, calling it inner alchemy. This created an elixir within them and they would report transcendent experiences in becoming xian.

Three Kingdoms

Century: 220-280 CE Define: The Three Kingdoms period follows the fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Cao Pi, the son of Cao Cao, is Emperor Wen who inherits his father's kingdom and establishes the Wei state in 220 AD. When he does this, another warlord named Liu Bei also establishes the Shu kingdom in the Southwest. Another warlord named Sun Quan also establishes the Wu kingdom in the Southeast. This period of history later becomes famous because of the Ming novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Significance: The Three Kingdoms period is one of the bloodiest in Chinese history. Technology advanced significantly during this period. It is a short, but romanticized period in Chinese history. During this time, the Sima clan rises through the Wei bureaucracy. Although the Cao family rules Wei, they try to prevent the rise of the Sima clan taking over power by using the civil service exams as a political instrument. The population centers in the Yellow River delta, Yangtze River delta, and Szechuan basin become important because of transportation and agricultural technology in this time.

First Emperor of Qin

Century: 247-221 BC Define: King Zheng came to the throne in 247 B.C. when he was nine years old, and was the illegitimate son of Lu Buwei. He defeated the other warring states and politically unified what is known as China in 221 B.C., and took the title of First Emperor for himself. Although he was a very thorough and organized ruler, he was also very cruel and superstitious. He not only wanted to unite China, but also wanted to impose uniformity on it and control knowledge. Education was provided only by officials to train future officials, all books (other than books on agriculture, medicine, or divination) were burned (although this has been speculated to be an exaggeration), and scholars were suppressed. Reporting crime was rewarded and criminals faced execution or harsh punishments. Even ordinary people suffered harsh treatment and were subject to labor services, like for the construction of the Great Wall. Significance: The First Emperor managed every detail of the government himself, setting quotas for the amount of paperwork he had to do for a day and not resting until he was finished. He made several tours of the country to inspect his land and awe his subjects. Later, he survived three assassination attempts and then became obsessed with avoiding death and devoted his energy to discovering the secrets of immortality. He invested vast sums and huge labor on the construction of his tomb and we can see excavated life-size terracotta figures of armed soldiers and horses lined up to protect him.

Liu Bang, Emperor Gao

Century: 256-195 BC Define: Also known as King of the Han, was a man of a modest background who served during the Qin as a minor local functionary (he was in charge of a postal relay station). In 206 BC he took the title of King of Han and in 202 BC he defeated his main rival the aristocratic general Xiang Yu. Gaozu moved the capital to Chang'an. In order to appear not as despotic as the Qin leaders, Gaozu rewards many of his old comrades with large vassal states, which would soon lead to a power struggle. The main issue for the early Han government was to develop a centralized power system that could ensure dynastic stability without becoming a complete dictatorship. Significance: Liu Bang is the founder of the Western Han dynasty. He tried to establish a dynasty that combined both (wu) military strength, and (wen) morally centered civil arts.

Wang Chong

Century: 27-100 CE Define: Chinese philosopher of the Han period, who wrote a collection of essays titled The Scales of Discourse. The essays were written in a very common sense like tone and he criticizes many of the popular metaphysical theories of that time. He basically debunks them and explains how they have no connection to one's everyday life. He says that people are born of qi, but they do not necessarily have any sort of goal that Heaven has created them to fulfill. He was also critical of people that believed in superstition or practiced occult techniques in order to obtain immortality. He compares life to a candle and when the candle goes out we die. Significance: The collection of essays are important because they reveal to us the popular theories of that time period and it also shows us the perspective of an "uninhibited" ancient philosopher who freely challenged the standard value system.

Li Si

Century: 280-208 BC Define: Li Si was another one of the First Emperor's prime ministers and a student of Xunzi. It is said that he was the one who told the First Emperor that the Qin should burn all books and bury scholars. He was a contemporary of Han Fei and another advocate of legalism. He also placed emphasis on the law and supported the centralization of state control. Significance: A powerful minister, he was central to the state's policies, including those on military conquest, draconian centralization of state control, standardization of weights, measures and the written script, and persecution of Confucianism and opponents of Legalism. However later studies have theorized that the burning of books was an exaggeration created by the Han Dynasty to make the Qin Dynasty look bad. What probably happened was that books were confiscated from people who could try to challenge the government. People were free to spread knowledge as they pleased as long as that knowledge did not challenge or contradict the government in anyway.

Han Fei

Century: 280-233 BC Define: The other Legalist exposition was written by Han Fei, a student of the Confucian master Xunzi. He and other Legalists had a highly authoritarian vision of order. He stated than when a ruler trusts someone, he falls under that person's control. Because of this he believed that rulers should keep everyone ignorant of their intentions and control people by manipulating competition among them. Hierarchical relations had to be based on the power to reward and punish because affection or example were not adequate. Significance: Han Fei urged rulers to be firm but consistent and to make the laws and prohibitions clear and the rewards and punishments automatic. He said citizens were like infants who did not know what was best for them, and so the style of ruling he advocated would bring benefit to all. The opinions of anyone who was not the ruler had no place in the system anymore than ancient privileges or traditional customs did.

Lü Buwei

Century: 291-235 BC Define: Lu Buwei was a merchant who had a vast amount of private wealth, and made a deal with Prince Zichu that he would give the Prince the money to ascend the throne in exchange for the position of prime minister. Significance: Lu Buwei impregnated a concubine (Lady Zhao who would later become the Queen Dowager) who Prince Zichu chose to marry (not knowing of the pregnancy). The concubine gave birth to a son who would become King Zheng, and Lu Buwei later became the prime minister for his illegitimate son. Later on, Lu Buwei was involved in a scandal of a rebellion against the king. The Queen Dowager had fallen in love with a man named Lao Ai and had given birth to two sons with him. Lu Buwei planned to overthrow King Zheng and have one of the Queen Dowager's son take over. When the king found out, Lu Buwei was stripped from his position as prime minister. He was banished to the land of Shu, a remote area located south of the Qin. Fearing he would eventually be executed, Lu Buwei chose to commit suicide by drinking poison.

/Huainanzi/

Century: 2nd century BC Define: Was a text written by scholars commissioned by Liu An. The text consists of 21 chapters and it was written for his cousin Emperor Wu of Han. Significance: Apart from discussing a broad spectrum of topics ranging from metaphysics to science, the text also provided instructions on how to structure the government. This text incorporates many classical pre-Han dynasty schools of thought, and it lays out the foundation for the five phrases principle.

Mahayana

Century: 2nd century CE Define: Meaning "greater vehicle," it is one of two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice. The goal is to become a bodhisattva. Significance: Says that arhat (the goal of Hinayana Buddhism) is selfish (that to reach enlightenment, you go off and watch the rest fall and burn). Mahayana says you should willingly stay in the world to help others attain enlightenment as well. It preaches enlightenment for all sentient beings; focus on saving everyone - help others reach enlightenment once you do. Mahayana Buddhism spread to China as they traded using trade routes from northern India through the Buddhist kingdoms of Central Asia.

Five Phases

Century: 2nd or 1st century BC Define: This is the idea that all substances in the world are composed of qi. Qi is not always found in the same form so the five phases exist to allow us to conceptualize the five different aspects of qi. Qi passes through a cyclic sequence of: metal, wood, water, fire and earth. The five phases were associated with various seasons and a year was conceptualized as a single cycle of qi. Wood (Spring) Fire (Summer) Metal (Autumn) Water (Winter) these aspects were also associated with the four cardinal directions. Significance: A wise ruler would use this cosmological information to understand which actions were appropriate at different parts of the year. They felt that adhering to the cycle of qi equates to following the cosmological order of things and negative consequences would arise if they went against the cosmological order. The five phases are used in Chinese medical theory for centuries to follow.

Xunzi

Century: 300-230 BC Define: Xunzi (300-230) was a follower of Confucius who totally disagreed with Mencius, because he didn't believe human nature was innately good, but that humanity's inborn tendencies were evil and that ethical norms had been invented to rectify people (needed Li in order to cultivate REN and to channel QI in the correct way). Significance: But like most Confucians, he believed that people could be refined through education and ritual. He wrote a book known as the Xunzi, an influential collection of essays which were consulted in the formation of official state doctrines during the Han dynasty.

Kumarajiva

Century: 344-414 CE Define: Buddhist monk, scholar, and translator from the Kingdom of Kucha. He is mostly remembered for the prolific translation of Buddhist texts written in Sanskrit to Chinese he carried out during his later life. Significance: At Chang'an, Kumārajīva was immediately introduced to the emperor Yao Xing, the court, and the Buddhist leaders. He was hailed as a great master from the Western regions, and immediately took up a very high position in Chinese Buddhist circles of the time, being given the title of National Teacher. Yao Xing looked upon him as his own teacher, and many young and old Chinese Buddhists flocked to him, learning both from his direct teachings and through his translation bureau activities. Kumārajīva appeared to have a major influence on Emperor Yao Xing's actions later on, as he avoided actions that may lead to many deaths, while trying to act gently toward his enemies. At his request, Kumārajīva translated many sutras into Chinese. Yao Xing also built many towers and temples. Because of the influence of Kumārajīva and Yao Xing, it was described that 90% of the population became Buddhists.

/Zhuangzi/

Century: 369-286 BC (4th century BC) Define: Zhuangzi was a philosopher who wrote the other key text of Doaist called The Zhuangzi. He shared a lot of the same philosophies as The Laozi and was uninterested in politics, celebrating spiritual freedom instead. The Zhuangzi also rejects Confucian beliefs and places emphasis on non-action and moving towards the natural state of things. It contains stories and anecdotes that exemplify the carefree nature of the ideal Daoist sage. Significance: The Zhuangzi is regarded as one of the greatest literary works in all of Chinese history. As a writer, Zhuangzi used parables to illustrate his teachings. He used fictional characters to ridicule Confucius and his followers. While Laozi was concerned with protecting each person's life, Zhuangzi searched for a way for human beings to change their feelings about death, stating that we cannot be sure that life is better than death and that although we may fear what we do not know, we may learn to love what terrified us.

Mencius

Century: 372-289 BC Define: Mencius was a philosopher who deemed himself a Confucian. Like Confucius, his teachings were compiled by his disciples. Many people thought that Mencius was Confucius's grandson, but this is not true. However, he is known for being compatible with Confucius's grandson's roles and thoughts. Mencius was the one who came up with the concept of the /siduan/, and also believed that he was defending Confucian from modern challengers. Significance: Mencius also defined the difference between a king and a hegemon, saying that kings, as sons of heaven, were followed due to their moral righteousness, whereas hegemons ruled by force. This was Mencius's way of saying that either he (or one of his disciples) should be the next king, which did not turn out in his favor.

/siduan/ (Four Beginnings)

Century: 372-289 BC (Mencius) Define: This is a concept that stems from Mencius. The four beginnings represent the four virtues planted in ones heart by Heaven. These virtues are: Humanity, righteousness, ritual, and wisdom. They are further attained by developing one's self. Many people consider the difference between humans and animals is the development of the siduan in human hearts. This is because animals are incapable of moral reasoning, and because human nature was deemed inherently good (regardless of development of the siduan). Significance: The concept of siduan is argued by Xunzi and Mencius, who both had different takes on the idea. Mencius believed that humans were naturally given the abilities detailed in the siduan, while Xunzi believed that it was important to look at what the sages did to develop the siduan and what each of the beginnings meant.

Northern Wei

Century: 386-535 CE Define: The Tabyac clan founds the Northern Wei in 386 AD on the plundered and abandoned north. They establish a hybrid government where land is given to people who want to cultivate it. The traditional Chinese are good at administration, so they are in charge of taxes, land administration, and land surveying. The Tabyac are strong in military skills, so they ally with nomadic, Xiongnu-like groups to build the military force. The economy and population are revived under this system. The non-Chinese rulers use Buddhism to bring together support in their multi-ethnic empire. Significance: The land becomes settled under this administration and the army becomes complex and powerful. They also need to protect against nomadic tribes at the borders. This is what allows Northern Wei to reunify China later on with a solid economy because of the tax revenue established in this period. The capital is moved to Luoyang and rebuilt, which is done to prepare for an invasion of the south. The Northern Wei eventually collapses for internal reasons, and they began to act more Chinese which alienates them from their former nomadic allies.

Gongsun Yang, Lord Shang

Century: 390-338 BC Define: The chief minister of the state of Qin, he is credited for one of two lengthy Legalist treatises that survived. Legalists placed their emphasis on law, uninterested in cosmology and personal ethics, and concentrated on proposing political solutions to disorder along with techniques for the accumulation of power. Significance: In the book ascribed to him, Lord Shang scorns respect for tradition and urges the ruler not to hesitate to make changes that would strengthen the state. To Lord Shang, the law was the sovereign's will that were carefully organized and impartially applied. The monarch regulates those under him through rules but remains above the law himself. He also believed that it was the state's business to regulate the people and the market and that the circulation of literature was bad. He was militaristic and believed in a system of rewards and punishments to motivate the people to do as a ruler wished. Economically, he did not want a high disparity of wealth and advocated an increase in the value of grain and a tax on profits to suppress trade and stop mercantile practices. He wanted farmers to profit more from their labor so that the state would be enriched through farming.

Xiongnu

Century: 3rd century BC - 1st century CE Define: The term translates into "savage slave." The Xiongnu were the major security threat of the Han dynasty and they were located in what we would now call Inner Mongolia. They are pastoral farmers that were accustomed to living in very inland, harsh, extreme environments. The Xiongnu excelled at warfare and they were known for being able to shoot an arrow while riding a horse. Significance: A confederation of nomadic tribes was formed in Inner Asia by the Xiongnu in the late 3rd Century BC. The 1st emperor of the Qin sent out a large force to defend against the Xiongnu in 213 BC, and since then successive emperors tried to appease the Xiongnu through extravagant gifts and conciliatory policies. Emperor Wudi sent out a massive force into Xiongnu territory in 133 BC and he was able to extend the empire both north and west of the capital. In 55 BC the Xiongnu confederation broke up into 5 contending groups. In the Shiji, Sima Qian basically categorizes the Xiongnu as the polar opposites of the Chinese in that they were uncivilized.

Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove

Century: 3rd century CE Define: The Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove were a group of literati during the Wei Dynasty starting in 220 AD who were linked to schools of Daoism. Significance: When the Sima clan came to power in the Jin Dynasty, they became eccentrics who avoided control by the Confucian government. They took a drug that made them sensitive to touch, therefore they were often naked and often under the influence of drugs. This seems odd to outsiders, who related interesting stories about them as a result. One story involves one of them making a joke at the expense of an emissary of the courts. He claims that the authority of the court does not extend into his home. This is characteristic of the provocative political statements that the Seven Worthies had the audacity to make. This is also a reason why they become popular among the people who want to criticize the government but cannot because of fear.

/li/ (ritual)

Century: 400 BC (between Confucius and Xunzi?) Define: Li embodies the entire spectrum of interaction with humans, nature, and even material objects. Significance: Li consists of the norms of proper social behavior as taught to others by fathers, village elders and government officials. The teachings of li promoted ideals such as filial piety, brotherliness, righteousness, good faith and loyalty. The influence of li guided public expectations, such as the loyalty to superiors and respect for elders in the community.

Northern and Southern Dynasties

Century: 420-589 CE Define: There are six dynasties in the south and more than sixteen kingdoms in the north, starting in 420 AD. There is general disarray and disorganization, with the major unifying force being "delivering loot" from plundering the northern cities. Though an age of civil war and political chaos, it was also a time of flourishing arts and culture, advancement in technology, and the spread of Mahayana Buddhism and Daoism. Significance: The best way to understand the period is to look at it as a geographical divide (consider the topographic differences in the North and the South). The North was dry, low, flat, and did not have many rivers. This meant they had to travel great distances, but not much to stop the people (i.e. attackers have advantage, supplies will just be stolen, what's the point?). Not much left, it's exhausting because attackers attack, they take over, then they become the sitting ducks and get attacked. In the South, it was wet, high, hilly, and had many rivers. Horses could not move much more quickly than humans because they got stuck in marshes/how to get over river. Cities were on hills/near rivers, had ship supplies. Here, defenders have the advantage.

Warring States

Century: 475-221 BC Define: A period of time (475-221 BC) from the end of the Springs and Autumns until the victory of the Qin. The number of states in China decreases. The major remaining states during time are: Qin, the Three Jins (Han, Wei, Zhao), Qi, Chu, and Yan. One of the most notable characteristics of this period of time would be the difference in military style. As opposed to the Springs and Autumns period, military campaigns are much longer and complex. The leaders fighting each other in various states are aristocrats, most of whom are bound by marriage or other familial connections. However, warfare didn't last much longer than a day, and commanders often did not take advantage of the enemy's misfortunes. Significance: The results of many Warring States battles were permanent; often, the losing state would lose their culture, family, and history. Winning states would then annex the losing state's land into their territory, and so many military campaigns were based on the acquisition of good territory. The weapon of choice was a crossbow, due to the fact that the military often needed to draft large groups of unskilled people. Usage of the crossbow was fast, and required less training. This was an indicator of a shift towards logistical warfare: He who has the largest army and feeds them the best wins. Eventually, the Qin state emerges victorious.

Ban Zhao

Century: 48-116 CE Define: The first known female Chinese historian, she had a very traditionalist outlook and had a very conservative view regarding human behavior. She wrote a text called The Admonitions for Women in which she outlines the responsibilities of a housewife and promotes mindless obedience and very traditional practices. People thought that Sima Qian's histories were too subjective and that he incorporated too much of his own person feelings so Ban Zhao's father Ban Biao started to create his own histories called The History of the Han and then her brother Ban Gu took over once their father passed, but he also died. The History of the Han has a very similar structure to that of the Shiji. Ban Zhao took over and finished writing the histories with a clear intellectual agenda. She was of a classicist's upbringing and she frequently was a tutor to the imperial royalty. Significance: Ban Zhao's The Admonitions for Women is very perplexing to historians because she was one of the most prominent/prolific female writers of her time (arguably in all of Chinese history) and she is basically advocating for women to confine themselves to the domestic sphere. Her text remained a very popular piece of literature even after her death and it provided a guide for woman's conduct for centuries to follow.

Mo Di

Century: 480-390 BC Define: Mo Di (480-390 BC) was a philosopher who came from a lower social level and came a little later than Confucius. Not much is known about him, and Mohists texts were probably written by his followers and not by Mo Di himself. Mohists were not popular with the monarchy because they equated military expansion with theft and tried to get various rulers to stop attacking each other. Significance: Mo Di calculated utility based on the entire population instead of just the rich. He judged practices based on whether or not they worked, they were beneficial to people, etc. He argued against war and advocated *universal love* (jian'ai), stating that the reason why violence was so rampant was because people treated others with less care and concern than they treated themselves. If everyone treated everyone the way they treated themselves there would be no war or violence. While Confucianists stated that family should be treated best, then your friends, etc, Mohists stated that this was wrong this showed favoritism when everyone should be treated equally.

Ge Hong

Century: 4th century CE Define: Ge Hong was a gentleman with a large family library who was interested in arcane (mysterious) practices of how to become an immortal, transcendent person. He lived during the Jin Dynasty and published his works after retiring in 331 AD. There was a trend at the time from the Shangqing sect where wealthy landowners would attain a higher state of understanding by making spirit journeys. Ge Hong believes that drinking a substance could bring immortality within a person. He thought the elixir of immortality would eventually arise over time, but decided to speed up the process by using a chemical furnace. He wrote a text called Baopuzi, or The Master Embracing Simplicity. This led to the widespread building of libraries for alchemy. Significance: The elixirs have poisonous metallic minerals like cinnabar, gold, silver, and diamonds. The idea was that these substances are themselves long-lasting so they could make the person ingesting them immortal as well. When alchemists died from poisoning or overdose, people would think that person became immortal and transcended their human body. There are notably both moral and magical components to these elixirs; if the elixir does not work, the practitioner does not have goodness in their heart or follow the protocol closely enough. Some others also meditated in order to become immortal in the same way.

Yangshao Culture

Century: 5000-3000 BC Define: It is a New Stone Age (Neolithic) culture that existed extensively along the Yellow River in China. The culture is named after Yangshao, the first excavated representative village of this culture. Much of their meat came from hunting and fishing. Their stone tools were polished and highly specialized. Significance: They were the first Chinese people that clearly had a culture; it is one of the earliest settled cultures in China. The kiln was used for the creation of pottery, and it is this pottern that has truly impressed archaeologists. The Yangshao were capable of making a significant variety of pottery shapes, including urns, basins, tripod containers, bottles of various shapes, and jars, many of which came with decorative covers or accessories shaped like animals. They were even capable of making complex, purely ornamental designs, like boat shapes. Yangshao pottery was also often painted with intricate designs, often in earth tones. Unlike more recent pottery cultures, it appears the Yangshao never developed pottery wheels.

Confucius

Century: 551 BC Define: Confucius was from the state of Lu and serviced as a consultant to various feudal lords. Although any material he wrote did not survive, we do have a collection of his sayings that his disciples wrote down in texts such as The Analects and The Records of the Historian. He was born approximately 551 BC, and there are several myths about his birth and childhood. Significance: He believed in virtue such as junzi, ren, and shu. To him, family was always above the law and he supported the concept of filial piety. He believed that instead of leading through laws and punishments, a ruler should lead people by personal virtue. The Analects include a large collection of brief aphorisms attributed to him and dialogue between him and his followers. In it contain several of his philosophies, like the concept of filial piety and other virtues.

/zheng/ (rectify/govern)

Century: 551 BC (Confucius) Define: The concept of zheng usually means that the knowledge and usage of things in their proper manner leads to the creation of meaning and social harmony, two key pillars of society. Confucius was of the belief that social disorder came from a failure to perceive and understand reality, so the fact that one could do a good job of exhibiting zheng indicated that they were aware of the world around them and the respective titles and tasks of one in such a place. Significance: Confucius believed that government must have a moral component in order to function properly. The goal of government is to get people to strive to become better, reflect on moral reasoning, sincere thinking, and giving genuine efforts. When the duke Zheng Ming asked Confucius on his thoughts on government, Confucius/his disciples responded with "the lord acts like a lord, the minister acts like a minister, the father acts like a father, and the son acts like a son," meaning that one must rectify themselves to act in the appropriate way to fit their title.

/shu/

Century: 551 BC (Confucius) Define: This Confucian concept is often translated to mean "reciprocity". It is detailed in the Analects that the concepts of shu and chung are what consist of the Master's (Confucius's) teachings. In English, the concept of shu is best defined as the Golden Rule: "do unto others as you would have done unto you". Confucius has also related the concepts of shu and ren as "shu is the method of ren" as a method of exhibiting the virtue of ren, but shu is still a virtue in and of itself. Significance: The application of shu (and thus ren) is relevant to Confucius's way of judging moral behaviors and moral environments that are crucial to the government development. Furthermore, the concept of shu represents an understanding of and a loyalty to the five relationships key to ren and the correct moral path.

/ren/

Century: 551 BC (Confucius) Define: This word literally translates to "humaneness," "kindness," "compassion," or "humanity." It is a Confucian virtue that a person is said to experience after doing a good deed. According to Confucius, this is an innate virtue that we must cultivate ourselves. We must strive for moral perfection by cultivating and upholding the ren. Significance: Confucius states that if a ruler lacked this virtue, he may lose the Mandate of Heaven. This virtue also applied to tasks such as carrying out a ritual properly. Order and ritual are the key to this virtue. We also see this virtue between proper relationships. The relationship between a father and son, for example, should parallel the relationship between a ruler and his people. This idea is seen again later in Neo-Confucianism, where Han Yu emphasizes this concept and criticizes Daoist and Buddhist teachings.

/Laozi/

Century: 604-531 BC Define: Laozi is the founder of the Daode-Jing (The Laozi) and is the founder of Daoism (although Daoists did not classify themselves as anything at that time), and rejected Confucian and Mencian beliefs. Those who would come to be labelled as Daoists did not think the government was beneficial and defended private life and the idea of rulers leaving the people alone (unlike Confucians who felt like they needed to work to improve the government). Significance: The Laozi rejects the idea of a government and states that people should be left alone in their natural state. Daoists felt that people had lost the "Dao" or the "way," (source of all existence that cannot be seen, but is very powerful) meaning people were acting unnaturally because of people's desires and free will. They felt that people had to work towards having harmony with the Dao. The Laozi talks about achieving this through wuwei or "non-action," meaning by not doing anything, people can find the balance of the world. It states that people should be ignorant and content, because if they knew less they would lose their desire to travel or engage in war and would be satisfied with their own lives.

/wuwei/

Century: 604-531 BC (Laozi) Define: Wuwei translates to "non-action." This idea is seen heavily in Daoism, although it is sometimes seen in Confucianism as well. It is a paradoxical concept that states that one will achieve goals by not acting on or grasping for it. Laozi applied this concept as a solution to problems of government. An action by a ruler is counterproductive, and so the ruler should simply allow a return to a normal state where people are ignorant and content. Significance: According to Doaists, human suffering existed because humans tried to teach each other from right and wrong. Humans behave badly because they are always told to be good. The idea of wuwei involves avoiding distinctions between the bad and the good and simply letting things happen naturally. The idea also involves the concepts of nonbeing, nonspace, and emptiness being useful. Laozi states that the usefulness of a vessel is in its nothingness.

Grand Canal

Century: 605-609 CE Define: Dug between 605 and 609 by means of enormous levies of conscripted labor, the Grand Canal was an engineering feat during the Tang Dynasty. Significance: Although transport canals existed since Qin times, none affected the economic and political integration of the empire the way the Grand Canal did. The first stage of the Canal linked the eastern capital of Luoyang to the Yangzi valley at modern Yangzhou. The Canal also extended south to Hangzhou and north to the Beijing area. An imperial road was built alongside the canal and relay post stations were provided. In total, the canal extended almost 1200 miles. Its large scale allowed the government to draw on the growing wealth of Yangzi valley and the military garrisons along the northeastern frontier. The Grand Canal also started to obviate the need for the army to be self-serving, as supplies could be brought from the south to the north.

Chang'an

Century: 618-907 CE (7th-8th century CE) Define: Chang'an was laid out on a square grid in the early years of the Sui and developed in Tang times into a great city that was much bigger than any previous capital; during the late-eighth and early-ninth-century, Chang'an was considered the largest and most prosperous metropolis in the world. Significance: Unique aspects of the city were that it was divided into walled wards (outer walls were made of pounded earth and extended over five miles north to south and nearly six miles east to west), the gates to which were closed at night, and buying and selling was restricted to special market quarters, which were only open at specified hours of the day. Religious establishments were still found throughout the city. Initially, officials and nobles were offered incentives to build residences and temples in Chang'an, but eventually people didn't need incentives to move to the enthusiastically cosmopolitan city. The markets that housed all of the trade helped various aspects of foreign culture, such as polo, clothing and hair fashion, textiles, horses, jewels, religion, and poetry, become popular in Chang'an, and eventually other parts of China.

Dunhuáng

Century: 618-907 CE (Tang dynasty) Define: City located in NW China (on the Silk Road). Significance: Located here are a system of caves carved into the side of a mountain where when you go in, there is tons of Buddhist murals, sculpture work, etc. In one of the caves, there was a huge cache of manuscripts discovered (on Medicine, Buddhism, etc.). It has some of the only sources for vernacular from period of Tang dynasty. Not only Chinese in the manuscripts. Also, there are Chinese texts written in phonetic script, some transcriptions of Chinese scripts into phonetic scripts.

Wu Zetian

Century: 624-705 CE Define: The only woman in Chinese history to rule as emperor. Although her path to the throne was ruthless (as a concubine, she eliminated the emperor's wife and then became the emperor's wife. After the Emperor suffered a stroke, she took over administrative duties of the court, a position equal to the emperor, moved her youngest son into power, created a secret police force, and challenged Confucians' beliefs against rule by women by forcing scholars to write biographies about famous women and raising the position of her mother's clan), her rule was fairly benign. Significance: Most scholars agree she ruled during one of China's more peaceful and culturally diverse periods. Under Wu Zetian, the Chinese empire experienced a major expansion, which extended its borders deep into Central Asia, the completion of the conquest of the upper Korean Peninsula, and a time of relative freedom for women.

Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong

Century: 626-649 CE Define: Emperor Taizong's personal name was Li Shimin. Convinced his dadto become emperor because it's a once in a lifetime opportunity - people will welcome you as a liberator (facing a pretty weak Sui). Then, tells his dad he needs to abdicate because he's not doing much, so built a palace for him so he would leave. He then becomes emperor, one of the most successful/important conquerers (in history). He just became emperor by killing his rivals and forcing his father to abdicate, so has a bit of a legitimization issue, but gets the favor of the literati through huge acts. He ruled three times as long as his father. Part of this was because, from his youth, Taizong was a man of action. In addition to fighting campaigns that put his father on the throne and leading armies against the Turks, he eventually killed his brother, the heir apparent, and forced his father to abdicate in his favor. Significance: Emperor Taizong was not full Chinese, and considered himself equally Chinese as non-Chinese (Turk). While in power, his ability to select good advisors and actually listen to them, even when they criticized him, helped him rationalize the administrative structure and devise policies suited to his expanding state. During his reign, Tang China flourished economically and militarily and was one of the largest and strongest nations in the world.

/Lotus Sutra/

Century: 6th century CE Define: It is one of the most popular and influential Mahayana sutras. For many East Asian Buddhists, the Lotus Sūtra contains the ultimate and complete teaching of the Buddha and the recitation of the text is understood to bring auspicious fortune and eradicate ones accumulated negative karma. Significance: Tao Sheng, a fifth-century Chinese Buddhist monk wrote the earliest commentary on the Lotus sutra. Tao Sheng was known for promoting the concept of Buddha nature and the idea that even deluded people will attain enlightenment. Zhiyi, the generally credited founder of the Tiantai school of Buddhism, was the student of Nanyue Huisi who was the leading authority of his time on the Lotus Sūtra. Zhiyi's philosophical synthesis saw the Lotus sutra as the final teaching of the Buddha and the highest teaching of Buddhism. He wrote two commentaries on the sutra: Profound meanings of the Lotus sutra and Words and phrases of the Lotus sutra. Zhiyi also linked the teachings of the Lotus sutra with the Buddha nature teachings of the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra and made a distinction between the "Eternal Buddha" Vairocana and the manifestations. In Tiantai, Vairocana (the primeval Buddha) is seen as the 'Bliss body' - Sambhogakāya - of the historical Gautama Buddha.

Chán

Century: 6th century CE Define: Known in Japan as Zen, it is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism combined with Taoism. It developed in China from the 6th century CE onwards, becoming dominant during the Tang and Song dynasties. After the Yuan, Chan more or less fused with Pure Land Buddhism. Significance: Chan teachings rejected the authority of the sutras and claimed the superiority of mind-to-mind transmission of Buddhist truth through a series of patriarchs.

Li Bai

Century: 701-762 CE Define: Li Bai (701 - 762) is one of the Tang Dynasty's great poets. The Tang Dynasty was a time of flourishing arts and culture. There was revival of ancient arts in areas such as music and dance. The government endorsed the development of the arts in all fields including poems, paintings and music. Significance: During his reign, Emperor Xuanzong created an academy for poets. Li Bai served in this academy for many years, writing poems that celebrated the beauty of imperial infrastructures. He frequently travelled throughout the empire to gain inspiration. For a short period, he served in the Imperial Court, but he was bored by this lifestyle and was eventually exiled. However, soon after he earned amnesty and returned to Eastern China.

An Lushan

Century: 703-757 CE Define: General who rose to prominence defending the northeastern border from the Khitan and other northern threats. The Chief minister rewards him with territories, thinking that because he was non-Chinese, he probably wouldn't have that much power of his own - half Salgdian, half Persian. But he actually started building up his own power, and when it was time to appoint a new minister, he thought it should be him. This led to a bloody civil war and bloody stalemate that was put down by Uighurs. Significance: Initially, An Lushan rose to prominence by defending the northeastern border from the Khitan and other threats. Due to his military victories, An Lushan was invited to Chang'an several times and managed to amuse Emperor Xuanzong's favorite consort, Yang Guifei. The doting Xuanzong showered An Lushan with favours and allowed him to amass 160, 000 troops along the northern and northeastern frontiers. In 755, however, An Lushan exploited that special treatment and rebelled and marched on Luoyang and Chang'an. An Lushan's troops staged a mutiny and forced Xuanzong to strangle Yang Guifei and abdicate to his son before Xuanzong fled west.

Du Fu

Century: 712-770 CE Define: Du Fu (712 - 770) is a Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty who is acclaimed by many to be the greatest of all time. The Tang Dynasty was a time of flourishing arts and culture. There was revival of ancient arts in areas such as music and dance. The government endorsed the development of the arts in all fields including poems, paintings and music. Significance: Du Fu is particularly known for his deep understanding of classicism. Du Fu was born into a scholarly family and received traditional Confucian education, but failed the imperial examinations. He spent his time travelling throughout China after failing the exam, and during this earned repute for his poems. He eventually earned a nominal position in the court, but experienced many difficulties during An Lushan's rebellion.

Springs and Autumns

Century: 722-453 BC Define: During this time (722-453 BC), China was in a period of political disunity and was divided among many states. There were many social, technological, and economic advances from this time, including iron casting, infantry armies, private ownership of land, and social mobility. Although there were hundreds of the states, some of the important ones include the Jin, Yan, Qi, Lu, Chu, and Qin, which were all located approximately in the center of eastern China. Significance: The Jin, Yan, Qi, and Lu were enfeoffment states. The Lu was ruled by the Duke of Zhou and was the birthplace of Confucius. The Chu and Qin grew independently and it was the the eventual unification of the Qin that led to the end of this time of disunity. There were hegemony lords who were rulers who held large amounts of power through alliances with other states and through conquering smaller states.

Han Yu

Century: 768-824 CE Define: Han Yu (768 - 824) was a leading writer and scholar during the Tang dynasty who helped develop Neo-Confucianism. The Tang Dynasty was a time of flourishing arts and culture. There was revival of ancient arts in areas such as music and dance. The government endorsed the development of the arts in all fields including poems, paintings and music. Significance: Han Yu played a significant role in rethinking basic issues concerning the Chinese state and culture by reviving Confucian thinking. Han Yu believed in using Confucian classics as the basis of education. Han Yu was a firm believer in following traditional ways and adhering to the "Way of the Sages." He expressed his disapproval of Buddhism, as he believed that it was preventing people from pursuing proper social obligations. He suggested returning to previous ways such as Confucian beliefs and traditions to help strengthen the state.

Bai Juyi

Century: 772-846 CE Define: Bai Juyi (772 - 846) is a Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty who is known for his simple verse that he used to criticize social evils of his day. The Tang Dynasty was a time of flourishing arts and culture. There was revival of ancient arts in areas such as music and dance. The government endorsed the development of the arts in all fields including poems, paintings and music. Significance: Bai Juyi started off at a low position in the court because he took the official examinations at a very late age due to difficult family circumstances. He became good friends with a poet named Yuan Zhen and the two worked together to develop literary and political reform.

/Wujing zhengyi/

Century: 7th century CE Define: The name of the text means "Correct Meanings of the Five Classics." During the Tang Dynasty, the government focused on creating an image of a "civilian government" so it focused on standardizing Confucian texts to serve as a foundation to the dynasty. Emperor Taizong ordered a group of scholars to create a compilation of Confucian classics and their relevant commentaries. Kong Yingda, a renowned Confucian scholar, was in charge of compiling this text. Significance: In addition to compiling Confucian classics, he included commentaries from the Han and Wei period that he regarded as most reliable. Kong Yingda added to the commentaries when he believed that revision was needed. Kong resolved many disputes that were presented regarding different interpretations of the classics. This text is still regarded as one of the most important commented version of Confucian Classics.

Uighurs

Century: 8th century CE Define: The Uighurs were a burdensome ally to the Tang Dynasty. They were basically the group that succeeded the Turks, occupying the same geopolitical niche, and saw great opportunity to prop up the Tang, get lots of trade benefits from being their protectors. Significance: Although the Uighurs helped the Tang put down the An Lushan rebellion, in order to stop them from plundering Luoyang after they helped retake it, they had to be paid off with huge quantities of silk. After that initial payment, to keep them from raiding, the Uighurs had to be allowed to trade horses for silk at extortionate terms. This ended once the Tibetan empire fell, which was becoming stronger and more capable of attacking Luoyang, and the Uighur empire fell soon after, which meant the Tang no longer had to pay a foreign empire to not attack them.

Wang Mang

Century: 9-23 CE Define: Wang Mang came to power as a relative of Empress Wang, a very powerful figure in the Han imperial court. In 9 AD after serving as the regent to two child emperors, he then decided to create his own dynasty and named it the Xin (新). Wang Mang was an educated Confucian scholar who sought to implement policies/practices that aligned with the Classics. His fiscal policies were his downfall. He outlawed land ownership and created a system of land distribution (angering landowners). He also outlawed the previous currency used during the Han, which everyone already had faith in. In addition to failed economic practices, the Yellow River changed course in 11 AD causing massive floods in the Shandong peninsula. The flooding left many peasants homeless. The Confucian scholars also felt that he had usurped the throne and all of this contributed to the end of the new dynasty. After the fall of the Xin, the Eastern Han dynasty arises. Significance: The Xin dynasty is significant because it acts as a point of separation between the Western Han and the Eastern Han dynasties. It is another example of a dynasty that collapsed due to poor government structure. Wang Mang is also an example of what happens when too much power is given to the nobility and the emperor does not have enough.

Khitan

Century: 907-1125 CE Define: Khitan is an ethnic group of nomadic people in Eastern Inner Mongolia who established the Liao dynasty (Khitan empire). Significance: They were the first in successfully taking control of China in the civil war. They were Buddhists and many believed that they were descended from the Xiaobei. During the Liao dynasty, they dominated the area north and parts of China. However, after the fall of the Liao dynasty, they moved further west and were able to establish the Kara-Khitan Khanate which was destroyed by the Mongol Empire in 1218.

Zhao Kuangyin, Emperor Taizu of Song

Century: 927-976 Define: Was the founder and first Song emperor and was a general who was able to bring together military unification. He controlled most of the war lords by the time that he died in the south. He reunified most of China proper and effectively ended the tumultuous Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. To strengthen his control, he lessened the power of military generals and relied on civilian officials in administration. Significance: He centralized the best army units under his single command. His government operated close to the Confucian beliefs however it suffered from both factionalism and bureaucratic. This was because there were too many inefficient laws made due to the availability of printing and there was no way to end political conflicts that were taking place. They started to use paper currency due to the demand of money, increased interregional trade and expanded maritime trade. The examination system was also established which led to more qualified leaders as opposed to military dominance.

/Shiji/

Century: 94 BC Define: The Records of the Grand Historian, it is a 130 chapter text that incorporates a chronological narrative of China's political events, key institutions and biographies of important people. The political narrative begins with the Yellow Emperor (Huang Di) and continues through Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties. All aspects of the government including state rituals, finances, public projects and calendars were recorded in the narrative. Not only important government officials, but also individuals not affiliated with the government such as philosophers, merchants, poets, magicians, rebels and assassins were recorded. Significance: The Shiji serves as the official template of written histories and subsequent historical records (like the History of the Han) use the Shiji as a model. The composite style with political narrative, treatises and biographies were utilized in historical texts written in subsequent dynasties. Sima Qian acknowledged that history could not only be written from the perspective of the ruler, but also had to incorporate the history of institutional practices, individuals, state rituals as well. His work has also shaped our understanding of the individual during the time.

Kaifeng

Century: 960-1279 CE Define: This was the capital of the Northern song and later the Jin dynasty. Also, they had the oldest long-standing Jewish community that was present since the north song. Significance: The significance was that they were the symbol of the Chinese heartland that the southern since wished to get back from the Jurchen.

Fan Zhongyan

Century: 989-1052 CE Define: Chinese scholar-reformer who was a minister of the Song emperor and anticipated many of the reforms of Wang Anshi. Significance: In his ten point program in 1043, he tried to abolish nepotism and corruption, reclaim unused land, equalize landholdings, create a strong local militia system, reduce the labor services required of the people, and reform the civil service examination system. He objected to the nature of the examination, which tested stylistic elegance rather than economic or administrative ability. He proposed that the examination stress problems of history and politics. To train men to understand these areas, he proposed the establishment of a national school system. .

/tian/

Century: Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BC) Define: This words means "heaven" and was introduced during the Zhou Dynasty. It was the physical location where ancestors resided. The ideas of tian ming (Mandate of Heaven) and tian zi (Son of Heaven) came from this. The Mandate of Heaven and the Son of Heaven were the ideas that ancestors and divine beings from Heaven gave the rulers the rightful power to be king. The word for Mandate of Heaven literally translates to "command of sky." Significance: The Zhou used this concept to overthrow the Shang around 1050BC, claiming that the Shang ruler was unjust and tyrannical. Because the Shang ruler had been ruling without virtue, he was no longer fit to rule the dynasty and therefore had lost the Mandate of Heaven. Heaven then gave the right to rule to the Zhou.

oracle-bone inscriptions

Century: late Shang period (1600-1046 BC) Define: Oracle bones were inscriptions made on turtle shells and scapula (shoulder bones) of bovines for divinations in ancient China. They would take the bone, flip it over and apply heat to the holes, creating cracks on the other side (the side with the writing). The cracks were read by the "prognosticator" to predict the future. Some evidence shows that members of the royal family and normal people would read them in their homes as well. Many of them would have an "A response" and a "not A response" (positive and negative). Then apply heat so that cracks would form → this would decide what was true Significance: It has yielded the earliest known body of Chinese writing. The inscriptions provide critical insight into many topics from the politics, economy, and religious practices to the art and medicine of this early stage of Chinese civilization.