spread Chinese high culture untouched, uncensored

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Imperial Dynastic ChinaAn Overview, Part Two
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The Sui Dynasty 580-618

• Birth
• 580s Gen. Sui Wen-ti reunifies China
• Return to Han-style centralized bureaucratic
  empire
• Capital in Chang-an (todays Xian City)

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The Sui Dynasty 580-618

• Public Works
• Build big palaces, rebuilds/fortifies Great Wall
• Build granaries to avoid famine

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The Sui Dynasty 580-618

• Bureaucracy efficient, centralized, standardized
• Three Departments admin, policies, imperial
  orders
• Check one another
• Six Ministries rites, military affairs,
  punishments, finance, public works, civil affairs
• Meritocracy cures corruption
• Civil-service exams used for next 1300 years

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The Sui Dynasty 580-618

• Economic Reform Land Equalization System
• Restores tax base
• Land distributed to all families on basis of in
  household
• Families can farm land but cant sell it
• Lower taxes on farmers and merchants
• Bigger harvests, more prosperity

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The Sui Dynasty 580-618

• International trade Silk Road
• Resume trade with W Asia
• Lay foundation for Tang prosperity

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The Sui Dynasty 580-618

• Religion Buddhism spreads
• Officially encouraged
• Unifies diverse population
• More tem ples, more monks
• China becomes center of Buddhist learning
• Confucianism also regains popularity

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The Sui Dynasty 580-618

• Collapse
• 604 Wen-ti dies unexpectedly
• son Yang takes throne
• Abuses power
• Excessive construction projects
• Lavish pleasure trips
• Costly, failed wars vs. Korea
• Rebellions ? civil war ? Yang murdered
• 618 Gen. Liyuan conquers Chang-an, names
  himself emperor
• Est. Tang Dynasty

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The Tang Dynasty 618-907

• Birth
• 618 Gen. Liyuan conquers Chang-an
• names himself emperor
• Relative of Sui empress
• Liyuan establishes order
• Good tax revenues
• Strong military
• Healthy Confucian scholarship
• Buddhist temples and monasteries
• Formal govt bureaucracy core of central govt
  until 20th cent.
• Council of State policies
• Military Affairs
• Censorate
• Six Ministries revenues, justice, public works,
  rites, etc.

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The Tang Dynasty 618-907
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The Tang Dynasty 618-907

• Tang Legal Code
• Earliest complete Chinese legal code that still
  exists
• Penalties scaled, based on crime and relationship
  b/t criminal, victim
• Degree of crime based on amount of time spent
  mourning victim
• 500 articles
• Influences future dynasties, codes of Japan,
  Korea, Vietnam

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The Tang Dynasty 618-907

• Equal Field System
• All land is emperors property but is
  redistributed to farmers
• All able-bodied adult males get equal life
  plots (women get less)
• Farmers work land to support selves, pay taxes in
  labor, grain
• Taxes based on number of family members, not on
  acreage
• Aristocrats get special exemptions, extra acreage
• Result better rice yields
• Better tools harrow, rice plough, chain with
  paddles transfers water among levels

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The Tang Dynasty 618-907

• Tang army Asias 1 power
• North aristocratic cavalry fight vs. nomads on
  horseback
• South peasant infantry man forts
• Huge border expansion W to Iran, NE to
  Manchuria, SE to Korea

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The Tang Dynasty 618-907

• 660 emperor suffers stroke, Wu begins to
  dominate court
• 683 emperor dies, Wu rules as regent for
  emperor-son
• 690 Wu deposes son, murders rivals, seizes full
  power
• 690-705 establishes Chou Dynasty, moves court
  to Loyang
• Powerful, aided by exam bureaucrats, powerful
  relatives
• Expands empire
• Buddhist clerics call her reincarnated savior
• Gets rich by taxing peasants, shares w/
  friends, monasteries
• 705 deposed

Empress Wu (626-ca. 706) young concubine of 2nd
emperor
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The Tang Dynasty 618-907

• Tang Restoration Golden Age 713-756
• Worlds strongest empire wealth, prosperity
• Govt monopolies bring tea, salt, alcohol
• Profits from exports of paper, silk, spices
• Buddhism flourishes, is Sinicized
• Block printing invented written word more widely
  available
• Silk Road grows more contact w/ India, Middle
  East

• Nobles replace exam bureaucrats in high govt
  posts

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The Tang Dynasty 618-907

• Chang-an imperial center, administrative city
• Restored as capital
• 30 square miles, 1 million residents worlds
  largest city
• Powerful, majestic
• Confucian layout palace in North, faces South
• Huge avenue, many govt offices, NSEW city grid,
  walls
• Huge trade center links w/ Silk Road

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The Tang Dynasty 618-907

• Meritocracy!
• Civil-service exams based on Confucianism last
  until 1911
• Career officials lack territorial power base
  dynasty more secure
• prestige
• Exams in 2 sections
• Changju Confucian classics, literature
• Zhiju no fixed subjects (emperor presides), more
  rigorous and selective
• Anyone can take, pass exams more commoners enter
  govt

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The Tang Dynasty 618-907

• Meritocracy?
• Pass prestigious exams to get govt job, BUT
• Only nobles, sons of officials can afford years
  of study to master the classics and pass exams
• Nobles, sons of officials end up getting high
  posts via family, friends, connections
• Only nobles, sons of officials can enroll in
  govt schools

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The Tang Dynasty 618-907

• Tang poetry Li Bai (right), Tu Fu, Li Bai, Du
  Fu, Bai Juyi
• Poems sung, strung together in series, accompany
  theater productions early form of opera
• Poems often heard in tea houses
• Li Bai (aka Li Po, 701-762) big, muscular
  swordsman/carouser
• Unusual for poet not a civil servant
• 2000 poems Bring on the Wine, Drinking Alone
  in the Moonlight
• Powerful, passionate poetry life is short, enjoy
  it
• Ill wrap this Mighty Mudball of a world all up
  in a bag/And be wild and free like Chaos itself!
• Drowns while drunk, embracing moons reflection
  in lake

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The Tang Dynasty 618-907

• Great Wall border defenses controlled by
  provincial commanders
• Diplomacy enlist neighbors as tributaries incl.
  Japan, Korea, Vietnam
• Conquests military successes costly, short-lived
• Nomads quickly regroup, reinvade
• Divide, conquer nomads allied w/ Uighur Turks

• Imperial Expansion
• Threats Tibetans (W), Turks (NW, N), Khitan
  Mongols (Manchuria)

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The Tang Dynasty 618-907

• Decline Fall
• Mid-8th cent. borders shrink, neighbors threaten
• 751 Arabs take Samarkand, end Chinese trade w/
  West for 500 yrs
• 755 troop rebellion in North
• Military commanders resist emperors
• Peasant uprisings fixed taxes replaced Equal
  Field System

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Post-Tang The Five Dynasties
880s warlords carve China into independent
kingdoms The Five Dynasties
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The Sung Dynasty 960-1279

• Absolute Monarchy and Agricultural Revolution
• 960 Sung reunifies China after chaos
• Capital at Kaifeng, on Yellow River
• Autocracy emperors rule with scholar-bureaucrats
  (meritocracy)
• Nobles lose influence estates divided among
  heirs
• Nobles move to capital rural ? urban
• District magistrates gain local power
• Collect taxes, keep order
• Bigger harvests tea, cotton, rice
• New strain of early-ripening rice ? double crops
• Big water-control projects, new fertilizers
• More taxes paid in , not crops
• Right Kao-Tsung, founder of the S. Song

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The Sung Dynasty 960-1279
Northern Sung 960-1127
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The Sung Dynasty 960-1279
Southern Sung 1127-1279
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The Sung Dynasty 960-1279

• Commercial Revolution
• Cities, commerce grow
• Imports horses (from Tibetans, Mongols), raw
  materials
• Exports silks, tea, finished goods, porcelains
• Industry coal, iron-smelting ? carbonized-steel
  tools, weapons
• Govt profits from salt, wine, tea monopolies
• Currency silk ? copper coins, silver coins,
  paper money, credit
• Tech movable type, abacus, gunpowder, porcelain,
  compass, better ships (rudders, watertight
  compartments)

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The Sung Dynasty 960-1279

• Peak of Traditional Chinese Culture
• Education, literacy, printing
• Pottery, porcelains via kilns, high-firing
  techniques, glazes
• Su Tung-po (1037-1101) poet/painter/calligrapher
  /engineer
• Chu Hsi (1130-1200) philosopher blends
  Confucianism, Buddhism
• Con Bu ? standard interpretation used in civil
  service exams until 20th cent. This is Chu Hsi?
• Ssu-ma Kuang historian uses primary documents
• A Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government
• Calligraphy
• Depict nature, important people, landscapes
• Diffuse light no single light source or shadow
• Mistakes cant be corrected

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The Sung Dynasty 960-1279
Calligraphy
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The Sung Dynasty 960-1279

• Decline Fall
• 1227 Genghis Khan, Mongols conquer Beijing
• Also begin conquest of Russia, Persia, Mongolia,
  Central Asia
• Heirs begin conquering rest of Sung China
• 1279 last Sung holdouts overthrown

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The Yuan Dynasty 1279-1368
The Overall Mongol Conquest
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The Yuan Dynasty Mongols Rule China 1279-1368
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The Yuan Dynasty 1279-1368

• The Mongols Take Over China Ruled by Foreigners!
• Mongols rule from Black Sea to Pacific
• Nomads from grasslands North of China horses,
  sheep, yurts
• Strong, mobile army
• sophisticated organization/tactics
• powerful/accurate compound bow
• siege weaponry
• terrorize enemies
• 1227 Genghis Khan (top) conquers Beijing, dies
  kingdom divided in 4
• 1260 Grandson Kublai Khan (bottom) takes over as
  Great Khan

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Mongols Compound Bow For Hunting, Warfare
?
?
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3
2

• Range 350 yards (English longbow 250)
• Frame birchwood layered with horn and bone, deer
  sinew
• Fish glue (from freshwater fish bladders)
  attaches bow layers
• String horsehide (stretched and twisted, with
  all fat removed)
• Arrow(head) types armor-piercing steel,
  incendiary, normal min. 60
• Birchwood body, crane feathers
• Whistling arrowheads (channels in bone) make game
  stop, listen
• Horseback archers fire when all hooves off ground
• Draw weight 100-160 lbs. (usu. 60-70 for big,
  muscular adult male)

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Time Lapse of Mongol Conquest
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The Empire Fragments after Genghis Khans Death
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The Yuan Dynasty 1279-1368

• Mongol Rule under Kublai Khan and His Successors
• Absolutism hereditary succession
• Centralized civil administration
• Moves capital from Karakorum (Mongolia) to
  Beijing
• Rebuilds Beijing as Chinese-style walled city
• Extends Grand Canal to link Beijing to
  population/econ centers
• Military control garrisons throughout China

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The Yuan Dynasty 1279-1368

• Mongol-Chinese Gap
• 400,000 Mongols control millions of Chinese
• Ethnic Chinese cant serve in govt or military
• Ethnic Turks, Arabs, Europeans, Persians get
  jobs, but
• Mongols get top civil, military posts
• Different dress, customs, languages
• Chinese see Mongols as smelly barbarians w/ bad
  table manners
• Chinese are better-educated
• Refuse to teach in govt schools
• Establish private academies

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The Yuan Dynasty 1279-1368

• Economics China Becomes Impoverished
• Invasion pillage ? heavy taxation
• Excessive spending on failed invasions (e.g.,
  Japan)
• Trade hampered Chinese forbidden to travel,
  learn other languages
• Foreign merchants get privileges, get rich money
  flows abroad

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The Yuan Dynasty 1279-1368

• Religious, Cultural Tolerance
• Chinese Buddhist priests, monks get tax
  exemptions
• Christianity, Islam tolerated, spread
• Chinese high culture untouched, uncensored
• Theater/opera traveling drama troupes
• In vernacular Chinese
• Few props rely on makeup, costumes, pantomime
• Typical plot hero passes civil-service exams to
  get the girl!

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The Yuan Dynasty 1279-1368

• Mongol Rule Collapses
• Emperors after Kublai Khan lack his talent,
  wisdom
• Wasteful, corrupt
• Court infighting, assassinations
• Khanates separated by religion, geography,
  culture dont cooperate
• Succession disputes dont help
• Military gets fat and lazy
• Mongol soldiers ? farmers, use slaves
• Failed farmers ? vagrants
• Fighting skills get rusty
• Failed, needless invasions of Japan
• Natural disasters plague, floods
• Mongol princes, Chinese peasants revolt

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The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644

• Peasant Revolt Ousts Mongols/Yuan
• Ethnic Chinese resent restrictions, obligations
• Huge taxes, forced labor
• Barred from govt jobs
• Forbidden to learn other languages or travel
• See foreign merchants enjoy big privileges no
  taxes! Free travel!
• Peasant General Zhu Yuanzhang leads peasant
  revolt
• 1387 Zhu liberates all of China
• Ends 400 years of foreign occupation
• takes title Hong-wu (Vast Military)
• Moves capital to Nanjing

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The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644
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The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644

• Ming Politics centralized govt, efficient
  bureaucracy
• Hong-wu consolidates power
• Eliminates independent offices PM, Secretariat
• Nobles must live at imperial court
• Holds court 3X per day busy!
• Bureaucrats, administrators beaten, executed for
  corruption
• Relies on eunuchs for administration
• Wise makes 3 big rules
• Build strong city walls
• Store as much grain as possible
• Be slow to assume titles
• Readopts local, imperial civil-service exams
• Important classics, good writing

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The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644

• Ming Legal System
• Ta-Ming lu Hong-wu writes famous law code from
  scratch
• Lu unchanging laws
• Li separate laws
• supplement lu
• meet changing conditions
• Problem future emperors abuse li to advance own
  interests, public loses confidence in laws

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The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644

• Ming Foreign Relations
• Pre-1433 exploration to Japan, Java, India,
  Africa, P-Gulf, Red Sea
• Worlds 1 navy 317 huge ships, large crews
• 1405-33 Zheng He (eunuch) naval diplomacy to
  Africa
• Post-1433 Neo-Confucian Isolationism
• Be self-reliant!
• Merchants parasites
• Trip records destroyed
• Ship sizes restricted
• Pirates threaten
• Agriculture gt trade

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Zheng He and the Giraffe(ca. 1414)
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The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644

• Ming Military Flexes Its Muscles
• Commanders ? new nobility
• New hereditary caste of soldiers
• New strategic garrisons built
• Investments in army to prevent Mongol resurgence

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The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644

• Ming Economic Recovery
• Agriculture revived after Mongol destruction
• Crop rotation, irrigation pumps
• Begin stock rice paddies w/ fish ? fish fertilize
  rice ? more to eat!
• New cash crops maize, cotton, sweet potatoes,
  indigo
• Cities, commerce grow
• More small businesses paper, silk, cotton,
  porcelain
• More trade w/ Portuguese, Dutch, Japanese, USA
• Import silver, firearms, sugar, potatoes, tobacco
• Export silk, porcelain, cotton, textiles
• Public works rebuild dikes, canals, reservoirs
  reforestation

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The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644

• Ming Collapse Manchus overthrow Ming
• High taxes ? rebellions ? higher taxes ? more
  rebellions!
• Manchus attack from North, sack Beijing (1644)
• Powerful emperors ? corrupt, wasteful,
  self-indulgent
• Powerful emperors ? too much power for one person
• Loss of PM position ? no check vs. incompetent
  emperor
• Eunuchs, officials struggle for power while
  emperors bask in luxury
• Abuse of li