The Resurgence of Empire in East Asia

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The Resurgence of Empire in East Asia

• Sui-Tang-Song China

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Chinese Regionalism

• 220-589 (Post Han-Sui)
• A time of political division, economic turmoil,
  and social conflict.
• Regional Kingdoms

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Era of Division 220-589 C.E.

• Nomadic Invasions
• Endless wars amongst rival kingdoms
• Re-emergence of rule by aristocrats
• Decline of Bureaucracy
• Decline of Confucianism
• Rise of Buddhism
• Economic decline
• Great Wall divided
• Technological stagnation
• it was bad.

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Chinas turbulent 4th century

• Conquest and rule my non-Chinese peoples
  (Barbarians) shocked the Chinese.
• Huns and Xiongnu eroded the frontier defenses.

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Confucianism in the Regional Era

• Confucianism stressed ideas and practices that
  promoted social etiquette, family values, and
  political stability.
• These ideas were criticized for their failure and
  their value during the regional era.
• Regional monarchs began to re-embrace the value
  system, while scholars often condemned its
  shortcomings.

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Re-emergence of Empire Sui Dynasty

• Founded by Yang Jian
• Valued Chin style leadership with tight political
  control.
• General who consolidated his position and usurped
  power.
• Used propaganda!
• Conquered southern China in a Naval War

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Yang Jian

• Devoted to building a powerful government
• Consolidated rule in China
• Excellent judge of talented people
• Empire builder
• Extraordinary temper
• Paranoia
• Built an elaborate bureaucracy
• thrifty
• Devout Buddhist, supported Confucianism as a
  political ideology

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Return to Chin ways

• Harsh, codified laws
• Standardized everything
• Written test for office holders
• Beginnings of civil service exam
• Refusal to serve in areas of birth
• eyes and ears of the ruler
• Elaborate building projects such as the capital
  Changan

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Changan during the Sui
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Emperor Yangdi and the Grand Canal

• political intrigue
• Great achievement the Grand Canal
• Purpose

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The Tang Dynasty

• Founded by Li Yuan
• Chinas Greatest Dynasty? Golden Age?
• Qin-Han, Sui-Tang

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Tang Taizong

• Ambitious, Ruthless, arguably Chinas greatest
  emperor.
• Believed in a Confucian, Chin, yet benevolent
  state.
• Stable, peaceful, prosperous

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Reasons for Tang Success?

• 1. Well articulated roads and communication
  networks. (Canals)
• 2. Equal field distribution system of land
  sharing
• 3. Reliance on a very highly skilled bureaucracy
  governed by a civil service exam.

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Civil Service Exam
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Tang Conquest

• Brought Manchuria, the Silla Kingdom of Korea,
  Vietnam, and as far west as the Aral Sea (Russia)
  under their control.

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Tang Decline

• Incapable emperors
• Dynastic wars (Du Fu)
• An Lushan Rebellion
• Talas River Battle of 751
• Loss of Silk Roads
• Transfer of Power to Islam
• Buddhist Crisis of the mid 9th Century.

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Transition

• The Late Tang period saw individual armies loyal
  to their warlords dominating Chinese life.
• Period between the Tang and Song Age saw a return
  to regionalism. With non-Chinese peoples ruling
  North China.
• 907-960 China was dominated by Political
  Fragmentation and Rivalry.

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The Song Dynasty

• Song contradiction
• Early political stability 960-1127
• Effective monarchs
• Civil Bureaucracy
• Founded by Zhao Guangyin
• Drunken generals story

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Song Shortcomings and Decline

• Military weakness
• Economic costs of Bureaucracy
• Taxation issues
• Peasant woes
• Rise of nomads-The Khitan, Jurchen, and the
  Mongols

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Song split
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Song Demise

• 1215 lost control to Jin Dynasty
• Reverted to control Southern China
• 1279 Southern Song crushed by Mongols.

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Tang/Song Culture

• Neo-Confucianism
• Wang Anshi political and economic innovations
• Metaphysical (being) school of Zu Xi
• Good v. Evil Confucian study and Buddhist
  meditation can treat evil.
• His work will be studied and admired for a
  millenium.

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Tang/Song Economics

• Champa Rice
• Porcelain
• Metallurgy
• Paper production
• Flying Cash
• Urbanization

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Japanese Characteristics

• Geography?
• Comparison with Greece?
• Warrior Aristorcarcy
• Rigid society
• 5 of the population was slave
• Hundreds of early political units
• Clan based society governed by warrior chieftans
• Early socieity Yamato Clan
• Religious beliefs Shinto-the Way of the Gods

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Japan

• Early Buddhism
• Deficits of Shinto faith
• Diffusion of things Chinese
• Seventeen Article Constitution-Buddhist and
  Confucian document
• Taika Reforms-attempt to recreate a Confucian
  style system in Japan (Exam, Bureaucracy)

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Nara Japan (710-794 C.E.)

• The earliest inhabitants of Japan were nomadic
  peoples from northeast Asia
• Ruled by several dozen states by the middle of
  the first millennium C.E.
• Inspired by the Tang example, one clan claimed
  imperial authority over others
• Built a new capital (Nara) in 710 C.E., modeled
  on Chang'an
• Adopted Confucianism and Buddhism, but maintained
  their Shinto rites

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Heian Japan

• Heian Japan (794-1185 C.E.)
• Moved to new capital, Heian (modern Kyoto), in
  794
• Japanese emperors as ceremonial figureheads and
  symbols of authority
• Effective power in the hands of the Fujiwara
  family
• Emperor did not rule, which explains the
  longevity of the imperial house
• Chinese learning dominated Japanese education and
  political thought
• Buddhism exploded during this time, despite a
  strong reaction against it.

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Heian Decline

• Feuds amongst the great families
• Local ambitions and political division
• War between the Taira and Minamoto clans
• Rise of Samurai class
• Rise of Yorimotoa Minamoto as Shogun (Kamakura
  Shogunate)

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Japanese Cultural Achievements

• Began to make their mark in literature.
• Murasaki Shikibu-a female courtess during the
  Heian Age wrote the Tale of Genji.
• A story of court life and personality of Japanese
  during the age.
• First novel in human history

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Decline of Heian Japan

• The equal-field system began to fail
• Aristocratic clans accumulated most land
• Taira and Minamoto, the two most powerful clans,
  engaged in wars
• Clan leader of Minamoto claimed title shogun,
  military governor ruled in Kamakura