AP World History POD 8

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AP World HistoryPOD 8 The Middle Kingdom

• Tang Song Empires

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Class Discussion Notes

• Bulliet et. al.
• The Sui and Tang Empires, 581-755
• pp. 284-290
• The Emergence of East Asia, to 1200
• pp. 291-297

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Sui Dynasty

• After the fall of the Han dynasty, China was
  fragmented for several centuries. It was
  reunified under the Sui (sway) dynasty, father
  and son rulers who held power from 581 until
  Turks from Inner Asia (the part of the Eurasian
  steppe east of the Pamir Mountains) defeated the
  son in 615. He was assassinated three years
  later and the Tang filled the political vacuum.
  (Bulliet, p. 284)
• Grand Canal built by the Sui, this 1100 mile
  canal was built to link together and facilitate
  trade between the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers
• Great Wall made improvements to the defensive
  structure
• The heavy burdens of military ambition and
  overreaching public works projects weakened the
  dynasty

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Tang Dynasty

• In 618 the powerful Li family took advantage of
  the Sui disorder to carve out an empire of
  similar scale and ambition. They adopted the
  dynastic name Tang. The brilliant emperor Li
  Shimin (lee shir-meen) extended his power
  primarily westward into Inner Asia. Though he
  and succeeding rulers of the Tang Empire retained
  many Sui governing practices, and avoided
  overcentralization by allowing local nobles,
  gentry officials, and religious establishments to
  exercise significant power. (Bulliet, pp.
  284-285)

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Tributary System

• A system in which, from time to time of the Han
  Empire, countries in East and Southeast Asia not
  under the direct control of empires based in
  China nevertheless enrolled as tributary states,
  acknowledging the superiority of the emperors in
  China in exchange for trading rights or strategic
  alliances. (Bulliet, p. 287)
• This system was also used by the Tang
• Each tributary sent regular embassies to the
  capital Changan to pay tribute
• Often times these embassies were more important
  than the payments because they signified access
  to the trading system.

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Buddhism in the Tang Empire

• Tang Emperors used the Buddhist idea that kings
  are spiritual agents as a means to consolidate
  and legitimize their control
• Buddhism spread along the trade routes of Asia.
  It was especially centered around the Tang
  capital of Changan the massive interaction of
  world merchants made this a cosmopolitan city
• Tang princes in their quest for greater political
  influence sought the support of monastic leaders
  who would pray for them, preach for them and
  counsel aristocrats to support them
• Monastic leaders contributed money to the war
  chests of these princes from the monastery
  treasury in exchange for tax exemptions, land
  privileges and gifts

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Mahayana Great Vehicle Buddhism

• Fostered faith in enlightened beings
  bodhisattvas who postpone nirvana in order to
  help others achieve nirvana
• Allowed for the introduction of local gods and
  goddesses into sainthood making conversion more
  attractive to the common man
• Encouraged the translation of Buddhist scripture
  into the vernacular (local languages)
• Accepted religious practices not based on
  religious texts
• Proved to be a very adaptable belief system for
  people of different societies and classes of
  people, invigorated travel, language, learning
  and cultural exchange

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Opposition to Buddhism

• Tang elites saw Buddhism as undermining the
  Confucianism ideal of the family as the mode for
  the state
• Buddhism was also criticized for the practice of
  allowing women in politics
• By 840 the government moved to crush the
  monasteries whose tax exemption had allowed them
  to accumulate land, serfs and precious objects
  often times as gifts (4,600 temples were
  destroyed / 150,000 workers were returned to the
  tax rolls)
• Wu Zhao a woman who married into the imperial
  family seized control of the government from 690
  to 705 and declared herself emperor claiming
  legitimacy due to her alleged status as a
  bohisattva and ruled in a way that favored
  Buddhism and Daoism over Confucianism

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A Historical Interpretation

• Serious historians dismiss the stories about Wu
  Zhao as stereotypical characterizations of evil
  rulers. Eunch (castrated palace servants)
  charged by historians with controlling Changan
  and the Tang court and publicly executing rival
  bureaucrats represent a similar stereotype. In
  fact Wu seems to have ruled effectively and was
  not deposed until 705, when extreme old age
  (eighty-plus) incapacitated her. Nevertheless,
  traditional Chinese historians commonly describe
  unorthodox rulers and all-powerful women as evil,
  and the truth about Wu will never be known.
  (Bulliet, p. 290)

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Tang Dynasty Collapse

• The campaigns of expansion in the 7th century had
  left the empire dependent on local military
  commanders and a complex tax collection system
• 755 - An Lushan, a Tang general on the northeast
  frontier, led about 200,000 soldiers in rebellion
• 879-881 Huang Chao (wang show), a disgruntled
  member of the gentry led the most devastating
  rebellion he was supported by poor farmers and
  tenants who could not protect themselves from
  local bosses
• A new hatred of barbarians led the rebels to
  slaughter thousands of foreign residents in
  Canton and Beijing
• Local warlords defeated the rebels, but Tang
  society never found peace refugees, migrant
  workers and homeless people roamed the land
• 907 Tang control of Changan was eliminated

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China after the Tang

• 3 states emerged in China after the fall of the
  Tang
• Liao (lee-OW) Empire of the Khitan pastoral
  nomads related to the Mongols living on the
  northeastern frontier ruled the north
• Minyak cousins of the Tibetans established a
  state called Tanggut (TAHNG-gut) on the Inner
  Asia frontier in northwestern China
• Song controlled central China starting in 960

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Song Industry

• The Southern Song came closer to initiating an
  industrial revolution than any other pre-modern
  state
• A great deal of technology came to China during
  the reign of the Tang Dynasty and Song officials,
  scholars, and businessmen had the vision to adapt
  these innovations to meet their military,
  agricultural, and administrative needs.

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Technology Innovation

• Fractions first employed in describing the
  phases of the moon
• Lunar observations allowed the creation of a
  precise calendar
• Compass design magnetic compass
• Junk main ocean going ship
• Iron and steel weapons fought northern rivals
  for control of mines production of coal and
  iron
• High temperature metallurgy driven by water
  wheels
• Mass produced body armor
• Experimented with gunpowder first launching
  clusters of flaming arrows and later exploding
  shells
• Moveable Type made printing cheaper and
  information more widely available and education
  a great equalizer

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Song Culture

• Despite their warrior ways, Song culture
  idealized civil pursuits
• Civilians outranked soldiers
• Private academies designed to train young men for
  the official civil service examination flourished
• Civil Service system helped improve the
  bureaucracy social class and rank no longer
  mattered in jobs and promotions

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Neo-Confucianism

• Neo-Confucianism new interpretations of
  Confucian teachings became influential
• Zhu Xi argued that human nature is moral,
  rational, and essentially good
• The ideal person was the sage, a person who could
  preserve mental stability and serenity while
  dealing conscientiously with troubling social
  problems

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Song Economics

• The empire experienced rapid population growth
• Credit was widely used throughout long distance
  trade routes
• Flying Money intercity or interregional
  credit depended on the acceptance of guarantees
  that the paper could be redeemed for coinage
• Paper money was created to help the state respond
  to increasing financial demands
• Tax farmers made a profit by collecting the
  maximum amount and sending and agreed upon
  smaller sum to the government leading to extreme
  rates for taxable services such as tolls and
  heavier tax burdens on the common people
• Fortune was open to all land was no longer the
  only source of wealth agricultural life was on
  the decline and urban life was on the rise