Zhongguo China Through the Ages

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Zhongguo?China Through the Ages

• Shang
• Zhou
• Qin unification
• Han
• Sui reunification
• Tang
• Song
• Mongol Yuan
• Ming
• Manchu Qing

The Middle Kingdom
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Zhou (sounds like Joe) Dynasty1027?-256 BCE

• Western Zhou 1027-771 BCE
• Eastern Zhou 770-256 BCE
• Warring States 403-221 BCE

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Zhou (sounds like Joe) Dynasty1027?-256 BCE

• Tian Ming Mandate of Heaven
• Feudal system ? strong centralized govt
• Commerce ? cultural homogeneity
• Civilization era of great philosophers
• Kongfuzi (Confucius) -- 551?-479? BCE
• Laozi (Lao-tzu) -- 570?-490? BCE
• by the way in India/Nepal Siddhartha Gautama
  (the Buddha) -- 563?-483? BCE

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Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE)

• Shihuangdi First Emperor
• Unified China by conquering Warring States
• Concept Son of Heaven should rule China
• Aggressive, cruel, megalomaniacal

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Qin Dynasty 6000 terracotta warriors protect
Shihuangdis tomb (210 BCE)
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Han Dynasty(206 BCE-221 CE)

• Approaches the borders of modern China
• Confucianism becomes state philosophical/
  religious system
• Large, efficient bureaucracy, organized by talent
• Very prosperous

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Sui Dynasty(581-618)

• Reunified China
• Revitalized economy
• First to actively support Buddhism
• Grand Canal construction
• connect Yangtze Valley with north, for trade
  communication
• Examination System

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Tang Dynasty(618-907)

• Prosperity, stability, and military expansion
• peace along the Silk Road
• foreigners welcomed
• Japan Korea benefit
• Golden Age of art literature
• War (rebellion) prompted population to move south

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Tang Art Literature (8th c.)

• Li Bai romantic poet
• Topics love, friendship, wine, the strange and
  awe-inspiring elements of nature
• Du Fu realist poet
• Topics worldly attachments, family, injustices
• Wang Wei painter/poet with Buddhist sensitivity
  to nature
• landscapes, monochromatic style

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Mongol Yuan Dynasty(1279-1368)

• Kublai Khan
• first non-Chinese peoples to conquer all of China
• East-West communication improved dramatically
• Marco Polo
• new foods and medicines
• Harsh on the Chinese

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Mongol Yuan Dynasty Culture Clash

• Social class rank traditional ? Yuan
• Scholars ? 1 Mongols
• Farmers ? 2 Foreigners
• Artisans ? 3 Northern Chinese
• Merchants ? 4 Southern Chinese
• Uneducated Mongols (and foreigners)? decreased
  emphasis on education? civil service exams
  temporarily abolished
• Chinese hated Mongols hunting, boozing,
  meat-eating clashed on womens rights

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Painting

• Painting and calligraphy always intertwined
• An ideal a painter may use ink alone, and yet
  all five colors may seem present in his painting
  
• a Tang-era critic
• Nature, daily life, animals
• Symbols, balance

Sources Metropolitan Museum of Art website,
Museum of Fine Arts (Boston) website
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Chinese Opera

• Emerged during Mongol Yuan Dynasty
• Music influences harmony of the universe
• Originally, stories of heroes supernatural now
  about history, Communist icons, etc.
• Great titles
• Five Mice Fighting in the Capital Hai Rui
  Dismissed from Office Yang Silang Visits His
  Mother The Emperor's Female Son-in-law Madame
  Big Feet Bai Lixi Reunites with His Wife

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Ming Dynasty(1368-1644)

• Isolationist
• uniformity
• introspective
• So centralized that it couldnt adapt easily
• General stagnation, but flourishing arts and
  prose literature

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Ming Dynasty built 1500 mile Great Wall near
northern border in 15th-16th c.
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Ming Architecture Altar of Heaven
Ming Pottery porcelain with blue glaze
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Manchu QingDynasty (1644-1911)

• Opium Wars open China
• Boxer Rebellion
• Ideas from West include progress, evolution
• gradual abandonment of cyclical sense of history,
  to be replaced by the sense that it advances in
  stages