Inner & East Asia: Sui, Tang, Song600-1200 CE

Sui Dynasty: Reunification & Military Expansion

• Government based on Confucianism-heavily influenced by Buddhism

• Resources spent on infrastructure, military

• Capital at Chang’an• Grand canal-military,

communication & trade• Irrigation systems• Improved

Great Wall• Militarily ambitious

Tang Empire, 618 -755

• Territorial expansion• Avoided over-centralization• Combined Turkic influence w/ Chinese Confucian traditions• Influx of cosmopolitan culture,

Tang Military

Buddhism & Tang Empire

• Emperors used Buddhism to legitimized power

• kings promoted themselves as spiritual agents-provided access to Buddhist realm

• Monasteries allied w/ Emperors

• Received tax exemptions, land gifts

Mahayana Buddhism

• Followed trade routes to Chang’an– Cosmopolitan city

• Flexible– adaptable– Buddhist texts

translated into local languages

Chang’an

• Ambassadors-tributary system

• Over a million residents• Foreigners lived in

special compounds• walled gated quarters• Roads/canals (Grand

Canal)• Islamic & Jewish

merchants• Large commercial ships• Bubonic plague arrived Combined Central Asian

influences (Turkic) & Chinese culture

• Roads, rivers, & canals facilitated trade

• Exports exceeded imports

Foreign trade caravan 

Power Rivals: Uighur & Tibetan Empires

Power Rivals: Uighur

• Mid-eighth century Turkic group

• Empire in Central Asia

• Merchants & scribes• Strong ties to Islam

& China• Own script• Lasted 50 years

Power Rivals: Tibet

• Large empire with access to SE Asia, China, & South & Central Asia

• Open to Indian, Chinese, Islamic, & even (via Iran) Greek culture

• In early Tang, relations were friendly

– Tibetan king received a Chinese princess

• Mahayana Buddhism brought to Tibet-combined w local religion

• By late 600’s military rivalry began

– Tibet allied w/ Tang rival

• 9th century, Tibetan king failed to eliminate Buddhism

• Tibet entered long period of monastic rule & isolation

Tang: Upheavals & Repression, 750–879• Conflict w/ Tibetans & Turkic

Uighurs-backlash against “foreigners”

• Confucian ideology reasserted• Buddhism undermined family

values- many became monks & nuns-deprived families of marriage alliances & descendants

• Buddhism eroded tax base & legitimized women’s participation in politics

• Wu Zhao-seized control w/Buddhist support

• Claimed to be bodhisattva• Favored Buddhists & Daoists• Confucian elites characterized

unorthodox rulers & powerful women as “evil”

• Buddhism associated w/ barbarians & social ills

End of Tang879-907

• Territory expanded-many internal rebellions

• 907- Tang state collapsed• Regional military governors established

own kingdoms• None able to integrate territory on same

scale• East Asia cut off from communication w/

Islamic world & Europe

New States Emerge in East Asia, to 1200:

• Liao, Jin, & Chinese Song

• Song cut off from Central Asia so it turned to sea– strengthened

contacts with Korea, Japan and SE Asia

Southern Song: 1127-1279

Song Innovation• Technological

innovations based on info brought from West Asia during Tang era– Mathematics– Astronomy – calendar making– Mechanical clock – Improved

compass– Sternpost rudder,

watertight bulkheads

Song Industries

• Standing army– professionally trained

– regularly paid

• Iron and coal – high–grade iron and

steel • weapons, armor,

defensive works

• Gunpowder weapons

Song Economy & Society

• Confucian-elite officials dominated

• Neo-Confucian philosophy developed

• Chan (Zen) Buddhism became popular

• Civil Service Exam matured

• Hereditary system broke down

• Meritocracy improved government efficiency & reliability

Song Economy & Society

• Moveable type = mass-produced government authorized exam prep materials

• New agricultural technology = increased agricultural productivity = increased population in South China

Song Economy and Society

• China’s population grew to 100 million

• Large crowed, well-managed cities like Hangzhou

• “Flying money”-interregional credit system

• Government issued paper money• Caused inflation and later

withdrawn• Difficulty controlling market

economy• Tax collection was privatized • Burgeoning new merchant elite

Song Economy & Society

• Women’s status declined• Totally subordinated to

men• Lost rights to own and

manage property• Remarriage forbidden• Bound feet became

mandatory status symbol for elite women

• Working-class women, and non-Han more independent

New Kingdoms in South Asia:

• Korea, Japan, Vietnam all rice economies

• labor needs fit well w/ Confucian concepts of hierarchy, obedience, & discipline

• all adopted aspects of Chinese culture but political ideologies remained different

New Kingdoms in South Asia: Korea

• Cultural bridge• Hereditary elite

absorbed Confucianism & Buddhism from China-passed to Japan

• Kingdoms first united by Silla in 668 then Koryo early 900’s

• Used woodblock printing as early as 700’s

• later invented moveable type- passed on to Song

New Kingdoms in South Asia: Japan

• Mountainous terrain created hundreds of small states - unified in about 4th-5th century

• Government established at Yamato on Honshu Island

• Mid-7th century political reforms established centralized government legal code, national histories, architecture, city planning based on Tang cities

• Modeled on China but adapted to their own needs

• Maintained emperorship• Shinto survived alongside

Buddhism

New Kingdoms in South Asia: Japan

• Women enjoyed a relatively strong position

• Aristocratic women became royal consorts-linked court w/ own kinsmen

• Siuko, became empress when her husband died in 592

• Prince Shotuku, her nephew & regent, developed Constitution based on Confucian & Buddhist approaches to statecraft

New Kingdoms in South Asia: Japan• Heian Period – 794-1185• Fujiwara dominated Japanese

government• Aesthetic refinement of

aristocracy• Elevated civil officials above

warriors• By late 1000’s, some warrior

clans became wealthy & powerful

• Kamakura Shoganate took control

• Established capital at Kamakura in eastern Honshu

New Kingdoms in South Asia: Vietnam

• Geographical proximity & similar wet-rice agriculture made it suitable for integration w/ south China

• Economic & cultural assimilation took place during Tang & Song periods

• Northern Vietnam elite (Annam) modeled their culture on Chinese

• When Tang fell, Annam established itself as an independent state under the name Dai Viet

New Kingdoms in South Asia: Vietnam

• Southern Vietnam, kingdom of Champa influenced by Malay and Indian as well as by China

• During Song, Champa cultivated and exported fast-maturing Champa rice to China

• Strong common Confucian interest in hierarchy

• Status of women varied• Foot-binding not common outside

China• Before Confucianism, women had

higher status in Annam than Chinese women

• Education of women was not valued or desirable anywhere