RESURGENCE OF EMPIRE IN EAST ASIA

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RESURGENCE OF EMPIRE IN EAST ASIA

• CHINA UNDER THE SUI, TANG, AND SONG

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ANARCHY IN CHINAEra of Division

• Period Resembled Western European history after
  the collapse of the Romans
• Disunity and civil war between nomads and Chinese
  warlords
• Rival states, dynasties, each controlling a part
  of the old Han state
• Aristocrats, provincial nobles held land and real
  influence
• Common Chinese subject to taxes, warfare,
  drafting into army, frequent invasions, bandits

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East Asia
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THE SONG ARTISTIC WORLD
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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEVELOPMENTS

• An agricultural revolution
• Twice flowering, fast-ripening rice increased
  food supplies
• Population growth
• 45 to 115 million inhabitants, between 600 and
  1200 C.E.
• Urbanization China most urbanized country in
  period
• Commercialized agriculture
• Some regions depended on other regions for food
• Extreme surplus of southern rice allowed cities
  to flourish

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NEO-CONFUCIANISM

• Early Confucianism focused on practical issues
• Politics, Public Morality, Social Relationships
• Confucians drew inspiration
• From Buddhism Spirituality
• Logical thought
• Argumentation of Buddhism
• From Taoism Cosmology
• Metaphysical issues nature of soul
• Man's relation with cosmos

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Renaissance in Confucianism

• Confucian renaissance permitted the restoration
  of imperial government, particularly the
  establishment of a centralized bureaucracy that
  was necessary for
• The maintenance of the examination and education
  system
• The development of public works
• The administration of all levels of local
  government
• But the development of neo-Confucianism occurred
  at the cost of
• An effective military China became increasingly
  vulnerable to outside attack.
• Increasing emphasis on traditional Chinese
  philosophy at the expense of outside influence
  and innovation.
• The attack on Buddhism, for one, diminished
  Chinese willingness to accept foreign ideas.

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PATRIARCHAL SOCIETY

• Developments reinforced patriarchal society
• Chinese reaction to foreign ideas
• Reaction to Buddhists gender equality
• Results
• Tightening of patriarchal structure
• Reinforcing of male domination
• Foot binding gained popularity during the Song
• Emphasized dependence of women on men, home
• Wealthy, aristocrats could afford practice, hire
  servants to do work
• Male sense of beauty at womens expense
• Poor, peasant women not subject to foot-binding

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TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY

• Porcelain
• High quality porcelain since the Tang, known as
  chinaware
• Technology diffused to other societies,
  especially to Abbasid Arabia
• Exported vast quantities to southeast Asia,
  India, Persia, and Africa
• Metallurgy
• Improvement used coke instead of coal in
  furnaces to make iron, steel
• Iron production increased tenfold between the
  early 9th and 12th century
• Gunpowder
• Discovered by Daoist alchemists during the Tang
• Bamboo "fire lances," a kind of flame thrower,
  and primitive bombs
• Gunpowder chemistry diffused throughout Eurasia
• Printing
• Became common during the Tang
• From block-printing to movable type
• Books became widespread
• Naval technology
• "South-pointing needle" - the magnetic compass
• Double hulled junks with rudder, water-tight
  compartments

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SONG LIFE
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A MARKET ECONOMY

• Merchants in Charge
• Only period in China where merchants socially
  superior to aristocrats
• Merchants attempted to
• Intermarry with aristocrats, become landowners
• Have sons admitted as Confucian bureaucrats
• Espouse Confucianism as way into traditional
  elites
• Financial instruments
• Banking and credit institution
• Flying money " were letters of credit
• Paper money backed by state, treasury
• A cosmopolitan society
• Foreign merchants in large cities of China
• Mostly Arab (Muslim), Indian, S.E. Asian
• Chinese merchants journeyed throughout region

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Conservative vs. Innovative

• Conservative
• The Chinese followed tradition by restoring the
  emphasis on an imperial centralized government
  that relied on a trained scholar-gentry class.
• Similarly, the restoration of Confucianism as the
  central ideology of the state was accompanied by
  the persecution of Buddhism.
• There also was a heavy emphasis on a social
  structure of the interlocking hierarchies
  associated with Confucianism.
• Among aspects stressed were
• the role of the scholar-gentry
• agricultural reform benefiting the peasantry
• male-dominated households in which the position
  of women deteriorated
• lack of status for merchants
• the development of art forms heavily dependent on
  nature and Confucian themes of harmony.

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Conservative vs. Innovative

• Innovative
• Showed in the integration of southern China with
  northern regions due to the development of
  agricultural productivity in the South
• The increasing sophistication in market
  organization and commercial practices (paper
  money, credit)
• Technological sophistication (military use of
  gunpowder, the compass, movable type, the abacus,
  new engineering, and agricultural advances)

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How is it that China holds to conservative
practices, but at the same time is very
innovative?

• Use your notes and knowledge to help answer this
  question.

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Discuss the changes and continuities over time in
East Asia from 402 BCE to 1279 CE.

• Write a thesis statement for the above prompt.
  Dont forget to identify the time period,
  identify the place(s), answer the prompt, and
  create your groupings/themes.