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=Imperial China After the Han= 

A. The Qin Unification, 221–206 B.C.E.
As we noted, the **warring states period** in Chinese History began in roughly 551BCE as the **Zhou Dynasty** began to have serious problems with the Hsiung-nu, a nomadic herding group from the north steppe. By 256, the Zhou were no longer legitimately in charge of their empire, and the civil wars were at their zenith. In just this period, a young ruler appeared in a North Western province of the former Zhou empire who would lead his people to conquer the eastern part of the Asian continent and give it the name it has held since then: the land of the Qin (Ch'in) - China.

The Qin emperor began his long career at the age of 13, in 246 BCE, when he acceded to the throne of this backward frontier province. He proved to be the right man for the job, and his energy, intelligence, and willingness to listen to advice were unmatched. This man would eventually take the title **Qin Shihuangdi** (the First Emperor of the Qin) and create an empire that stretched from the steppes of Mongolia to the Red River and North Vietnam.

In 246 BCE, however, Qin Shihuangdi was just beginning on the military path that would carry him to the throne of China. His greatest assett was, very much like the Zhou in their earliest days, his location. Being nearly surrounded in the Northwest by the Hsiung-nu and other nomadic tribes, the Qin had become very good fighters. They had adopted the nomadic method of fighting, relying heavily on cavalry and mobile, unpredictable assaults, while most of the other states in China relied on armies of foot soldiers armed largely with hand-to-hand weapons. The nomadic method of warfare also relied on a kind of stand-off combat, in which compound bows were used to hit the enemy as far away as 1000 feet, where the foot soldiers were little better than targets for the Hsiung-nu bowmen. This method of warfare was successful against the Hsiung-nu themselves, preserving the Qin state, and proved to be devastating against the armies of Qin Shihuangdi's competitors for power in the central kingdom. By 221 BCE, he had defeated them all, and unified the various states into a single empire now known as China.

Where the dynasties we have discussed so far are clearly cultural and linguistic precedents of the Qin state, they really cannot be said to direct predecessors of the China we know today. By contrast, it was the Qin unification of the area that led directly to the institutions and assumptions that make it possible for us to identify China, throughout the ages, based on Qin principles continuously applied. This makes China one of the oldest continuous civilizations on the planet.

So what made the Qin empire so different from earlier empires, and so central to what is now China? Largely, it had to do with organization. While the earlier Xia, Shang, and Zhou empires had been built on feudal relationships, and relied on other great houses' loyalty in defense and their obeisance to the imperial house, the Qin created a **centralized state** in which there was only one unquestioned power (that of the emperor). That central power then created and maintained its own army, and used that army both for defense and for enforcement of its laws within the state of the Qin. The policies followed by the first Qin emperor were based on policies that had successfully unified his own territory prior to the conquering of the empire, and had proved their worth by making the Qin state both stable and powerful.

To a great extent, we can say that the Qin state was **Legalist** in its outlook. Its power and centralized structure were based on the idea of a strong emperor whose decrees were enforced by a strong army. The loyalty of the army and the government was to the emperor directly, and they enforced his laws and decrees with immediate and sever punishment for those who broke the law. The Qin state thus rejected both Taoist and Confucian ideas about how human relationships worked, and instead followed the principles of Li Si. Li Si, as we discussed in the last lecture, had said that morality, Mandate of Heaven, and ritual are less effective in creating a stable state than law, strictly laid down and severely enforced.

Once he had consolidated his hold on the states of the Yellow River basin - the "civilized" north of China, Qin Shihuangdi immediately set out on a series of wars of conquest. These wars brought under his power the area of the Yangtze River in the south - the rice basket of China - and the area north of what is now Vietnam, penetrating at one point all the way to the Red River. In a fantastic project, Shihuangdi had his people connect the walls that a number of Zhou states had built along their borders to protect against invasion by the Hsiung-nu and other nomadic steppe tribes. This, the first "**Great Wall of China**," eventually ran for 1400 miles. Its building was accomplished through a Qin innovation - the corvee, also known as the labor tax, by which each family in China owned the imperial government so many days of free labor each year. The building of this wall was an arduous, difficult process fraught with the danger of injury or death by construction accident, or death in a raid by the nomadic tribesmen it was meant to keep out. At tremendous cost, both human and financial (the building of the wall may have cost up to one million lives), the wall was completed before 206 BCE.

The Qin emperor also consolidated his power internally, by creating a powerful, centralized government that had control of all aspects of Chinese society. One of Qin's most important reforms, carried out by his advisor, legalist philosopher **Li Si**, was to bring all former aristocrats and territorial kings into the capital city, Xian. These kings and aristocrats forfeited their land to the emperor, and were given lavish palaces just across the Yellow River from the imperial palace, which was designed to be grand and tremendously large, to impress upon those who viewed it the phenomenal power of the emperor to command labor and capitol in China. Once the land was firmly in the emperor's hands, Li Si divided the empire into forty prefectures, each of which was subdivided into counties. The officials of the counties were responsible to the prefectural governors, who were in turn responsible to the ministries of the central government, and those ministries were, in their turn, responsible directly to the emperor himself. There was a clear devolution of power from the center to the periphery - all authority came directly from the emperor himself. This, of course, meant that the bureaucracy of the Chinese government was, since the time of the first Qin emperor, subject to laws as directed by the emperor himself. This meant that government organization was extremely efficient, minimally corrupt, and committed to serving the emperor. It also meant that every family in China, no matter how rich or poor, was subject to taxation, which provided a tremendous revenue stream, and thus allowed the accomplishment of many of the reforms to follow.

Further methods of centralizing the power and authority of the Qin emperor included creating a network of roads that centered on his capital in **Xian**. This sense of all transportation and communication in China subject to a single center point around which all revolved made Xian the geographical as well as political center of the Chinese world. This encouraged those within the empire to think of Xian in terms of a center and themselves as subjects of it.

Shihuangdi also decreed standard measurements for weight, distance, time, and money, so that trade could flourish (the richer the merchants, the richer the mercenary government that taxed them). He made all cart axles a certain width, and built roads according to the measurements of those carts.

In perhaps one of the most far-reaching reforms, Shihuangdi standardized the Chinese system of writing. He standardized Chinese characters, many of which had been written in very different styles, or with very different meanings depending on the local area. The standardization worked remarkably well. It created a unified literary language that most educated Chinese took as their written language, thus creating a unity in thought.

On the downside of all of this was the fact that, due to its Legalist leanings, the government of the Qin was intolerant of other ideas. Books on Confucianism, the Tao, and other ideas that had found their expression during the period of wars, were burned. Soldiers were lightly sent to search any ships with skilled men and women.

The burning of the books, combined with several other measures, including high taxation and severe punishment for even the lightest of crimes began to wear on public goodwill. By 210 BCE, when the first Qin emperor expired, there was a restive atmosphere to China. At the same time, the son of Qin Shuangdi was not the man his father had been. The empire began to fall apart under his rule. Unable to rule China like his father had, he had simply decided to set the stakes high. That, and the fact that tremendous numbers of people were being punished by the state - by death, or torture, made it impossible to avoid uprisings. In 206 BCE, the Qin dynasty collapsed under the weight of its own Legalism.

**Han Gaozu (Liu Bang) Consolidation and Legitimacy**
By 208 BCE, the son of Qin Shi huang di, first emperor of China, proved to be unable to maintain control of the empire. His generals and some administrators began to fight among themselves, and eventually overthrew the young second emperor, putting China back into a period of wars between strongmen, each able to field an army, and each attempting to gain the imperial throne and unify China once again under his own rule. These civil wars lasted from 208 BCE to 202 BCE, when a sly and very intelligent organizer, a very competent former mid-level administrator was able to out strategize, and outsmart, his way to the top of the heap. This bureaucrat, Liu Bang by name, eventually defeated most of the former princes and warlords and named himself first emperor of the Han dynasty - Han Gaozu. To those remaining nobles and warlords who submitted to his authority and pledged loyalty to him, he granted feudal rights, though the majority were defeated and destroyed, and their territory subsumed into the Han empire.



Solving the Problem of Legitimacy
Han Gaozu had a problem, though. He was a peasant and a revolutionary, but not a descendant of any great noble or prince, and had no experience ruling an empire save his time working in the Qin bureaucracy. That experience was potentially a detriment as well, because it meant that to be perceived as a legitimate ruler in his own right, he had to deal with the legacy of the unpopular Qin Dynasty and their draconian methods of punishment and law based on Legalist principles.

To solve this problem, he turned back to the Zhou dynasty and made a claim to the Mandate of Heaven. This meant that he had won the civil wars not because of skill, but because Heaven had chosen him to care for China and its people. This claim, based on ancient ideas of why a ruler should be allowed to wield power, and on a long history that also tended to neatly explain civil wars and their end, meant that he had laid a claim to moral authority, not just the military power to rule.

Still, Han Gaozu retained the basic Qin government administrative and legal structures. The system of law was based on the strength of the ruler, and breaking law brought swift and sure punishment, often corporal or capitol in nature. Torture, public humiliation, and death were seen as effective means to curb tendencies of law-breakers and the public toward disregarding imperial law. But the need mentioned above to show himself as a moral ruler also required that he temper the Legalism of the empire with common sense, and with moral rules that overlay the law and both helped prevent problems before they happened, and cushioned the reputation of the government and the emperor when sever punishment was carried out.

In line with the Mandate of Heaven, Han Gaozu carefully organized his new empire. In a geopolitical context, he restructured China into a group of semi-autonomous counties, each governed by a magistrates who is an employee of the emperor, and personally loyal to him. This system of power distribution would last until the 1911 (CE) Republican revolution in China. Also in character for a dynasty claiming the Mandate of Heaven, and fitting well with his approach of softening the Legalism of the state, Han Gaozu reduced taxes from their Qin-era rates. This gave the impression that the emperor cared about the well-being of each Chinese, and was moving to help them. It also stimulated economic growth, and had the effect of making Chinese people more prosperous. For this, Gaozu became popular, and his government trusted.

In order to make certain that his magistrates and advisors were competent in governing, Han Gaozu encouraged education among Chinese. Though there was no specific pattern to this education in general (as there would be with Confucianism later in the dynasty) - it followed many different ideologies and curricular patterns - the effect was to help find competent bureaucrats for the government. As a by-product, it encouraged the re-writing of books destroyed by the Qin empire, and a new flowering of intellectual growth. 

**Beginnings of diplomacy in Asia**
Han Gaozu also faced the perennial problem of Chinese emperors in the form of the Xiongnu, one of the many horse-riding nomadic societies to the north and west of China who traded when times were good, and raided when times were bad. The Xiongnu had been China's nemesis since before the Zhou dynasty in 1037 BCE, and remained a potential problem for rulers for many centuries. Han Gaozu dealth with this problem primarily through diplomacy rather than warfare. He paid huge sums of money from his treasury to the Xiongnu to encourage them not to attack the northern part of the Han dynasty, and occassionally married a Han princess to a Xiongnu chief in an attempt to seal family bonds, and to create a loyal spy within the enemy camp. While neither of these methods were permanently successful, they did lead to increasing communication between China and the Xiongnu, and led to some episodes of good relations that were mutually satisfying enough to encourage such diplomatic efforts to continue in more difficult times as well.  =**Han Wudi and Confucianism**= 

**Centralization and Expansion, 141-87 BC.**
By the time of Emperor Han Wudi, beginning in 141 BCE, the memory of the brutality of the Qin had faded. There was less need to sugar-coat the Han Dynasty's legalism with Confucian morality and benevolence. Han Wudi saw this as a chance to consolidate Han rule and so began to recentralize imperial power. Among his first major acts were the reconquest of the feudal lands granted to the noble holdouts from the civil wars won by Han Gaozu. Those families were either forced to return their lands to the emperor and his central power, or submit to conquest by Wudi's army, which he often led himself with great success. By the time Wudi's reign ended, no semi-autonomous feudal regions remained on the outskirts of the Han Dynasty - though the remains of many of the estates from which those regions had been ruled did go to branches of Wudi's family. 

**A system of tight control**
Wudi also centralized his regime by a repeat and extension of the principles of standardization that the Qin dynasty had used under Qin Shi huang di. Wudi imposed new taxes on trade, farm production, and mining, for example. He also regulated trade, and created government monopolies on the production of salt and iron. One of his more potent, popular, and long-lasting policies was the "ever-normal granary system," by which a portion of the taxes collected by the state each year (taxes were collected in-kind, rather than in cash) were set aside in granaries - storage buildings - in every county and near every local city. These granaries were always, during Han Wudi's reign, kept full, and used to feed people when times were bad because of a poor economy, a natural disaster, or a famine. This was a direct response to the Mandate of Heaven, and also provided room for economic growth and the ending of social unrest in hard times. Han Wudi took direct central control of the state by ending all power of the nobility. Nobles under the Han Dynasty after 141 BCE became little more than great names. Their right to advise the emperor, even to attend him at court, their right to tax-free status, and their ability to behave as the social equals of the emperor or to govern any part of the Han empire because of their noble status was ended, and they became as subject to imperial control as any other person in Chinese society. While this act did reduce to a minimum the concern that a challenge to Han rule might come from the traditional nobility, it also made him dependent on educated officials for his bureaucracy. In order to find enough people to staff the government, Han Wudi would eventually have to swallow a bitter pill and hire people based on a specific set of tests that measured the ability to understand and manage people through the moral precepts of Confucius. Rather than simply look for bureaucrats by word-of-mouth as had happened in the past, the new government's needs were astounding, and so an examination system began. This was not the only, or even the major way into the government bureaucracy during the Han, but it was the beginning of the method that would be used for centuries beginning later in Chinese history. 

**Conquests - beginning in 111 BC**
Han Wudi was also known as the "Martial Emperor" because he was so good at directing his armies (often from the field) and because he spent so much treasure and life in the pursuit of his goal of expanind the empire. In 111 BCE, he began invading Northern Vietnam, a project that he would continue with through most of his reign. Although his fortunes in Northern Vietnam (Annam) were sometimes good, sometimes bad, his success in moving his armies there and pacifying much of China in the process is a testament to his organizational and leadership abilities. By 109 BCE, Wudi had also conquered Manchuria and Korea, and much of the territory to the west in Central Asia, opening the Silk Route to the west and making trading at an international level a major pursuit of Chinese business people. This trade could be taxed, and so it added to Wudi's revenue - and to his financial 'war chest', supplying his armies with food, clothing, and the weapons they needed to continue conquering.



=**Han Culture**=

4. Sima Qian stressed visiting historical sites, researching the artifacts, and questioning others about events. The culmination of his work was entitled, Records of the Grand Historian.
Because of the need for bureaucrats in his government, Han Wudi made Confucianism the official ideology of the Han State. Wudi apparently thought that the moral tenets, and the strong focus of activity toward caring for others and a family-like organization would support the establishment of a strong state with a minimum of crime and corruption. In the process of this, he came to supported the creation of a classic canon of Confucian texts which even until our own time remain the central teachings of the Confucian way of thinking. Still, the fact was that the need for bureaucracts led to the establishment of an education system that encouraged aspiring scholars to study. Those scholars did not study engineering, or law, or social science or history. They studied Confucian texts and ideas and attempted to apply them more clearly to the world around them. As they became more able to understand society, their skills in dealing with people, operating massive bureacratic systems, etc... became useful to Han Wudi as imperial bureaucrats. And so Wudi made large numbers of these scholars at the very top of the Confucian scale his best advisors and his county magistrates. Since the bureacrats of the empire were Confucians, and since these Confucians were attempting to adapt their principles to the real world, the Legalist code of behavior for the Han state came to be tempered by the Confucian moral certitude of the scholars who administered it. 

**The Taxue**
In 136 BC, Han Wudi established the first official state school for confucianism, known as the Taxue, or great school. This institution was headed by famed confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu. Dong's primary contribution to Chinese thought in general was to confucianize cosmological correspondences. That is, Dong claimed that Heaven expressed judgment of a ruler by sending portents - to give a ruler time to change his policy. The basis for this belief was that Dong thought that Heaven is benevolent, in a kind of corrolary to the basic Confucian tenet after Mengxu (Mencius) that people are basically good. Going beyond this basic idea of the goodness of heaven, Dong made the reading of heavenly signs into a kind of science. Blending confucian ideas with Taoism, Dong attempted to make confucianism conform more to the cosmological order people expected. One especially important argument had to do with Yin/Yang & opposition of the 5 agents. Dong was interested in the moral, not the magical, aspect of these beliefs - the idea that natural forces worked in a way that responded to human moral (or immoral) acts. In any case, the Taxue had faculty positions for five accomplished confucian scholars, and concentrated on the five basic confucian texts: The //Book of History//, which was thought to provide models for rulers and administrators in their daily activities and moral decisions; the //Book of Songs//, a collection of Zhou dynasty era poems to help determine the mood of the times; the //Book of Changes//, which was a divination manual with philosophical interpretations; the //Spring & Autumn Annals//, which was a historical chronology of the period between 722 and 481 BC; and finally the //Ritual Texts: "//Zhou Li": an idealised description of bureaucratic rituals of the Zhou; the "I-Li": a collection of elite rituals, including weddings, funerals, etc.; and the "Li-Ji" - a broad general text of rituals. Also as a part of his educational work, and to be sure that the best scholars, including the graduates of the Taxue, worked in his administration, Han Wudi reluctantly established the Confucian examination system, which tested scholars at various levels, and provided government employment opportunities for the best of them. Along with Confucianism, this examination system came to define literate and upper class culture in China until 1905. As noted above, the rise of confucian scholars in the bureaucracy led to a combination of Confucian scholars administering a legalist system, which caused significant evolution of law and administrative practice over the years and centuries.

 =The Silk Road=

D. Inner Asia and the Silk Road
===1. Early Chinese history documented the contacts with northern nomads who raised sheep, goats, and other domesticated animals. Chinese farmers and Inner Asian herders had little respect for each other.===

5. The Han Dynasty developed a tributary system to regulate contact with foreign traders. States and tribes outside of China’s borders sent envoys for trading.
As the Han dynasty got started in 206 BCE, there is also evidence that there was significant trade occurring throughout Asia, particularly between China, India, and Persia, in the south, and Russia in the North. The policies of Han Gaozu, and later Han Wudi, encouraged trade in and outside of China. Wudi expanded the Han dynasty deep into central Asia, where the Jiyayuguan, or Jade Gate, the last outpost of the Chinese army at the edge of the Gobi Desert in what is now Xinjiang Province, guarded the road that led from the capitol at Xian into central Asia on its way toward Persia and Russia. China sponsored the building of much of the road, and benefitted in both economic and intellectual terms from its use. During the period from 206 BCE until well into the 20th Century CE, the Silk Road was the longest road in the world. It was also the central trade route. Goods of immense value travelled from China into the Asian center and often to Persia, the Arab world, and even Europe beyond. China had little that it needed from the West, but it sold a tremendous amount, and all connected with the silk road trade benefitted from increased knowledge about other parts of Eurasia.

=Chinese family and social structure=

2. Government patronage maintained the quality of craftsmanship in the cities.
===3. Chinese metalworking was extensive. Iron replaced bronze in tool production, but the bronze was still used in numerous products. Jewelry, mirrors, and dishes were made of bronze. The Chinese were able to pour liquefied iron into molds.===

Chinese society was based on the family structure. According to tradition, and set down on paper by Confucius, Chinese families were headed by males, and males maintained the dominant roles. Wives and mothers were required to accept the superiority of husbands, brothers and sons. Men functioned outside the family in the public realm, in work, politics, and war. Women functioned inside the family in houselhold, economic, and management pursuits. While both were necessary for smooth functioning, it was men who were most dominant, and most prized. Chinese families saw boy children as a blessing that would bring honor and wealth to the family. Girl children, who would only get married and become part of the adult productive structure of a different family, were seen as another mouth to feed.

This family structure became the basis of Confucius' idealized social structure. The Emperor was seen as the father figure for the entire society. He was expected to set an example of hard work and careful saving for the rest of the people, to act as a benevolent ruler whose first interest was the welfare of his people. In exchange, the people of China were expected to repay the emperor's kindness by being good subjects, hard-working, economical, providing the wealth by which the emperor could provide peace, security, and even greater economic opportunity: "[he] who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it." (Confucius - //The Analects//)

2. With China cut into thirds and the Han Dynasty removed from power, the era was known as the Age of Division.
===3. The regions in the south established a hereditary aristocracy with families that intermarried with other families of the same pedigree. They believed they were maintaining the high culture of the Han Dynasty.===

5. The northern regions established dynasties. They adopted Chinese traditional clothing and made Chinese their official language. Their capital was located in the city of Luoyang.
=II. The Spread of Buddhism Out of India=

1. The Buddhist monastic system played a role in social and economic life. The system rapidly spread throughout China.
===2. Women found Buddhism appealing because they were encouraged to pursue salvation on terms nearly equal to men. Dedicating their lives to the religion, the nunnery provided an out for poor women within the civilian community.===

3. Buddhism was visually attractive with decorative temples and statues.
===4. Others found Buddhism to be immoral and a threat to the state. Monastery land was not taxed, and monks were not expected to perform labor services. Yet, no attempt was made to suppress the religion.=== =III. The Chinese Empire Re-created: Sui (581– 618) and Tang (618–907)=

2. During the Tang Dynasty, two women rose to political power. Empress Wu was the consort of Emperor Gaozong. She took charge when the emperor suffered a stroke.
===3. Empress Wu’s grandson, Emperor Xuanzong, fell in love with his consort, Yang Guifei. Issues pertaining to the government were now a bother; therefore, the emperor allowed Yang to place friends and relatives in government positions.===

1. The Tang Dynasty was known as the great age of poetry. Poetry-writing skills were incorporated into the civil service exam.
===2. Buddhist monasteries ran schools for children, provided lodging for travelers in remote areas, and held money and merchandise for traders. The monasteries somewhat became banks and warehouses at the same time.===

4. Chan Buddhism was popular among the educated elite. Chan focused on the superiority of the mind to mind transmission of Buddhist truths.
=IV. The East Asian Cultural Sphere=

1. Chinese-Korean relations expanded during the Warring States Period. It was overthrown by the Han Dynasty, which then began to govern Korea.
===2. The Han commanderies coexisted with the native Korean kingdom of Koguryŏ. Later, the Chinese were overthrown, and Koguryŏ and two other colonies to the south entered the era known as the Three Kingdoms Period.===

3. The Japanese capital was Nara, which was founded on the concept of the Tang capital city of Chang’an.
===4. Being an island nation, the Japanese had never been introduced to a variety of diseases. As a result of increased contact with populations on the mainland, Japan began to have plagues of smallpox or bouts with measles.=== East Asia and the Spread of Buddhism 221 B.C.E.–800 C.E. CHAPTER LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading and studying this chapter, students should be able to: 1. Describe the social, cultural, and political consequences of the unification of China under the strong centralized governments of the Qin and Han empires. 2. Explain how Buddhism found its way into East Asia, and describe its appeal and impact. 3. Identify the lasting accomplishments of the Sui and Tang Dynasties. 4. Identify the elements of Chinese culture that were adopted by Koreans, Vietnamese, and Japanese, and explain how these elements were adapted to each culture’s circumstances. ANNOTATED CHAPTER OUTLINE I. The Age of Empire in China: The Qin and Han Dynasties A. The Qin Unification, 221–206 B.C.E. 1. Under the Qin Dynasty, China was unified for the first time in centuries. The emperor took the title of Shihuangdi, meaning First Emperor. 2. The emperor ordered the nobles to move to the city and leave their lands. He dispatched officials to the territories where he could then control the officials. 3. He began to count and organize the human resources available. He planned on beginning large public works projects and needed to use the labor force. 4. One of the achievements was the Great Wall. Labor was drafted to build the structure that would create a border along the northern realm of the Qin Empire. 5. An extravagant tomb was built to protect the emperor’s remains. He had survived three assassination attempts and was concerned about assassins in the afterlife. The tomb was filled with terra-cotta figures of soldiers. B. The Han Dynasty, 206 B.C.E.–220 C.E. 1. Under the Han Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu maintained the centralized government of the Qin but removed some of the harsh aspects of the old dynasty. 2. The Han Dynasty minted coins and sold offices and titles. He also increased taxes CHAPTER 7 • EAST ASIA AND THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM 83 on private business. There were many types of economic blows that were aimed at supporting the military. C. Han Intellectual and Cultural Life 1. Confucian scholars were given privileged positions in society. The scholars did not always please the emperor because they felt it was their duty to criticize. 2. The Confucian classics were revered as wisdom of the past. The classics were used as a moral guidance by writing commentaries on them. 3. Han art and literature revolved around omens, portents, spirits, immortals, and other occult forces. The emperor attempted to make contact with the gods through offerings of food and wine. 4. Sima Qian stressed visiting historical sites, researching the artifacts, and questioning others about events. The culmination of his work was entitled, Records of the Grand Historian. D. Inner Asia and the Silk Road 1. Early Chinese history documented the contacts with northern nomads who raised sheep, goats, and other domesticated animals. Chinese farmers and Inner Asian herders had little respect for each other. 2. The Xiongnu formed the confederation of nomadic tribes. These were the groups that the Chinese feared enough to build the Great Wall for security. Eventually the Xiongnu raided deep into China. 3. Efforts to push back the nomadic tribes were costly. The emperor went to Central Asia to find allies and horses. Emperor Wu found the region to be impressive. 4. Trade routes soon developed. These routes made up what is known as the Silk Road. Chinese items, of which silk was the most sought after commodity, were shipped on these routes. 5. The Han Dynasty developed a tributary system to regulate contact with foreign traders. States and tribes outside of China’s borders sent envoys for trading. E. Life in Han China 1. According to Confucian thought, agriculture and crafts were honorable because they produced something. Trade was less respectful because merchants took advantage of shortages to make profits. 2. Government patronage maintained the quality of craftsmanship in the cities. 3. Chinese metalworking was extensive. Iron replaced bronze in tool production, but the bronze was still used in numerous products. Jewelry, mirrors, and dishes were made of bronze. The Chinese were able to pour liquefied iron into molds. 4. To fight poverty, the Han Dynasty kept taxes low, provided relief during famines, and promoted new agricultural techniques. F. China and Rome 1. Rome was more diverse than China. Rome had a multitude of languages while China continued with one. 2. Rome had more rivalries than China, making the Chinese system of politics stronger. G. The Fall of the Han and the Age of Division 1. The Han Dynasty fell into the hands of military control. The empire was divided into thirds located in the north, the southeast, and the southwest. 2. With China cut into thirds and the Han Dynasty removed from power, the era was known as the Age of Division. 3. The regions in the south established a hereditary aristocracy with families that intermarried with other families of the same pedigree. They believed they were maintaining the high culture of the Han Dynasty. 4. The southern people established their capital at Nanjing. 5. The northern regions established dynasties. They adopted Chinese traditional clothing and made Chinese their official language. Their capital was located in the city of Luoyang. 84 CHAPTER 7 • EAST ASIA AND THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM II. The Spread of Buddhism Out of India A. Buddhism’s Path Through Central Asia 1. Under Ashoka in India, Buddhism spread into the central parts of Asia. These regions still had a strong flavor of Greek art, and the artists began to depict Buddha in human form. 2. Central Asian Buddhism was a form called Mahayana. The religion was influenced by regional religions and Buddhism became more devotional. B. The Appeal and Impact of Buddhism in China 1. The Buddhist monastic system played a role in social and economic life. The system rapidly spread throughout China. 2. Women found Buddhism appealing because they were encouraged to pursue salvation on terms nearly equal to men. Dedicating their lives to the religion, the nunnery provided an out for poor women within the civilian community. 3. Buddhism was visually attractive with decorative temples and statues. 4. Others found Buddhism to be immoral and a threat to the state. Monastery land was not taxed, and monks were not expected to perform labor services. Yet, no attempt was made to suppress the religion. III. The Chinese Empire Re-created: Sui (581– 618) and Tang (618–907) A. The Sui Dynasty, 581–618 1. The Sui Dynasty reunited the Chinese. They took control of northern Vietnam and confronted both the Koreans and the Turkish people in the steppes. 2. The Grand Canal was completed and connected the Yellow and Yangzi River regions. The canal improved shipping and influenced economic and political life. 3. The Sui Dynasty lasted only a few years. The building of the canal led to discontent. A war with the northern aristocrat, Li Yuan, finally forced the Sui out of power. B. The Tang Dynasty, 618–907 1. Tang rulers used auxiliary troops from non-Chinese sources. Turks, Tanguts, and others invaded Korea, Vietnam, and central Asia. 2. During the Tang Dynasty, two women rose to political power. Empress Wu was the consort of Emperor Gaozong. She took charge when the emperor suffered a stroke. 3. Empress Wu’s grandson, Emperor Xuanzong, fell in love with his consort, Yang Guifei. Issues pertaining to the government were now a bother; therefore, the emperor allowed Yang to place friends and relatives in government positions. 4. Yang placed General An Lushan in a government position. He rebelled and Xuanzong had to flee after the military executed Yang Guifei. C. Tang Culture 1. The Tang Dynasty was known as the great age of poetry. Poetry-writing skills were incorporated into the civil service exam. 2. Buddhist monasteries ran schools for children, provided lodging for travelers in remote areas, and held money and merchandise for traders. The monasteries somewhat became banks and warehouses at the same time. 3. A school of Buddhist thought was Pure Land. This appealed to laypeople because it meant the possibility of rebirth in paradise, the Pure Land. 4. Chan Buddhism was popular among the educated elite. Chan focused on the superiority of the mind to mind transmission of Buddhist truths. IV. The East Asian Cultural Sphere A. Vietnam 1. Trieu Da, a former general under the Qin Dynasty, founded the kingdom of Nam Viet. He killed all officials loyal to the Chinese emperor and made himself the ruler of a vast state. CHAPTER 7 • EAST ASIA AND THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM 85 2. The Han Dynasty conquered Vietnam where they built roads and other forms of infrastructure. 3. An attempt to overthrow the Chinese power was led by the Trung sisters. After they were defeated by the Han Dynasty, the sisters committed suicide. B. Korea 1. Chinese-Korean relations expanded during the Warring States Period. It was overthrown by the Han Dynasty, which then began to govern Korea. 2. The Han commanderies coexisted with the native Korean kingdom of Koguryŏ. Later, the Chinese were overthrown, and Koguryŏ and two other colonies to the south entered the era known as the Three Kingdoms Period. 3. When the Sui Dynasty tried to retake Korea, the three kingdoms were much stronger and were able to deflect China’s advances. C. Japan 1. Japan’s development was closely tied to Korea’s. The people of Japan can trace their start to a variety of people either from mainland Asia or the numerous Pacific populations. 2. The native religion was Shinto, which was established by the Yamato rulers. 3. The Japanese capital was Nara, which was founded on the concept of the Tang capital city of Chang’an. 4. Being an island nation, the Japanese had never been introduced to a variety of diseases. As a result of increased contact with populations on the mainland, Japan began to have plagues of smallpox or bouts with measles. CHAPTER QUESTIONS Following are answer guidelines for the Review Questions that appear in the textbook chapter and answer guidelines for the chapter’s Mapping the Past, Picturing the Past, Individuals in Society, Listening to the Past, and Viewpoints questions located in the Online Study Guide at bedfordstmartins.com/mckayworld. For your convenience, the questions and answer guidelines are also available in the Computerized Test Bank. Review Questions 1. What were the social, cultural, and political consequences of the unification of China under the strong centralized governments of the Qin and Han empires? • After unifying China in 221 B.C.E., the Qin Dynasty created a strongly centralized government that abolished noble privilege and kept ordinary people in place though strictly enforced laws. The First Emperor of Qin standardized script, coinage, weights, and measures. Building roads for the army facilitated trade and helped establish China as a world power. During the four centuries of the subsequent Han Dynasty, the harsher laws and taxes of the Qin were lifted, though a strong centralized government was retained. The government sent huge armies against the nomadic Xiongnu, who regularly raided settlements in the north, but the Xiongnu remained a potent foe. The Han government promoted internal peace by providing relief in cases of floods, droughts, and famines and by keeping land taxes low for the peasantry. As a result, the population grew, reaching 58 million. Han armies expanded Chinese territory both to the south and into Central Asia, which helped trade along the Silk Road. Confucian teachers attracted many students, and popular religion flourished as people spread stories of gods and immortals and their paradises. The invention of paper reduced the cost of keeping records and aided the circulation of books. 2. How did Buddhism find its way into East Asia, and what was its appeal and impact? • In the final years of the Han Dynasty, Buddhism reached China from Central Asia. Conquest had little to do with the spread of Buddhism in East Asia (in contrast to the spread of Christianity and Islam, which often followed a change of rulers). Rather it was merchants and missionaries who brought Buddhism, especially Mahayana Buddhism, across the Silk Road. Buddhism brought much that was new to China: a huge body of scriptures, celibate monks and nuns, traditions of depicting Buddhas and bodhisattvas in 86 CHAPTER 7 • EAST ASIA AND THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM statues and paintings, and a strong proselytizing tradition. Buddhism was intellectually appealing to the educated, and rulers welcomed it as a tool to unite Chinese and non-Chinese citizens. It posed no threat to the social order, and people from all classes were drawn to its emphasis on kindness and charity. Buddhism offered new opportunities to women as nuns and let them pursue enlightenment on terms almost equal to men. 3. What were the lasting accomplishments of the Sui and Tang Dynasties? • After centuries of division, China was reunified in 589 C.E. by the Sui Dynasty. The Sui strengthened the central control of government by limiting the power of local officials to appoint their own subordinates. The competitive written exams that the Sui instituted for the selection of officials would dominate China and other parts of East Asia in the centuries to come. The building of the Grand Canal strengthened China internally and connected the north to the maritime trade with Southeast Asia and India. The Tang built upon Sui accomplishments, establishing government schools to prepare men for service as officials. China regained overlordship along the Silk Road into Central Asia and once again had to deal with powerful northern neighbors, this time the Turks and Uighurs. In the wake of a huge internal rebellion, eunuchs gained power at court, and military governors treated their provinces as hereditary kingdoms. The Tang period was one of cultural flowering, especially in music and poetry. The introduction of new instruments and music from India, Iran, and Central Asia transformed Chinese music. 4. What elements of Chinese culture were adopted by Koreans, Vietnamese, and Japanese, and how did they adapt them to their own circumstances? • From 200 B.C.E. to 800 C.E., China’s neighbors, especially Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, began to adopt elements of China’s material, political, and religious culture, including the Chinese writing system. Force of arms helped bring Chinese culture to both Korea and Vietnam, but military might was not the primary means by which culture spread in this period. Particularly in Korea and Japan, ambitious rulers sought Chinese expertise and Chinese products—such as, sericulture, bronze swords, crossbows, iron plows, and Chinese-style centralized governments—believing the adoption of the most advanced ideas and technologies to be to their advantage. In more isolated Japan, Koreans played a large role in the spread of Chinese culture. Korea, Vietnam, and Japan all retained many features of their earlier cultures even as they adopted Chinese practices, in the process developing distinctive national styles. For example, in Korea the government was modeled on the Tang, but was modified to accommodate Korea’s aristocratic social structure. Mapping the Past Map 7.3: The Spread of Buddhism, ca. 500 B.C.E.–800 C.E. Analyzing the Map: Trace the routes of the spread of Buddhism by time period. How fast did Buddhism spread? • Remarkable Expansion: Buddhism originated in India in the region south of the Himalaya Mountains. It spread throughout the rest of India from the fifth to second century B.C.E. and extended to Ferghana to the northwest and to Sri Lanka to the south. The greatest period of growth, however, came about in the five centuries between the second century B.C.E. and third century C.E., particularly in much of Asia, where Buddhism spread east to all of China and southward to Vietnam, the Malay Peninsula, and Sumatra as well by both land and sea. By the third century C.E. much of the map's territory had been penetrated by Buddhism. Within the next 500 years, the area surrounding Tibet experienced Buddhism's impact as did Korea, Japan, and Java. Given the vast geography that it managed to cover and serious setbacks, Buddhism's expansion was certainly remarkable in its overall pace. Connections: Why do you think Buddhism spread more to the east of India than to the west? • Merchants and Missionaries: Buddhism owed its eastern expansion to the efforts of merchants and missionaries that first reached areas like China via the Silk Road. Because it could serve Chinese rulers by uniting disparate peoples and posing no threat to the established order, the innovation of Mahayana Buddhism appealed strongly to China. As China's influence grew in subsequent centuries, Buddhism only continued to spread into areas controlled by Chinese rulers. CHAPTER 7 • EAST ASIA AND THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM 87 Picturing the Past Hōryūji Temple Analyzing the Image: How are the buildings arranged? How large is the compound? Do you see anything interesting about the roofs? • An Enclosed Compound: The buildings that make-up the complex at the Hōryūji Temple are neatly arranged within an enclosed compound with the smaller and shorter buildings located away from the center of the complex itself. At the center of the walled enclosure is the pagoda, which stands high above the other buildings and can be seen from a great distance. The compound itself appears from the image to be quite large. Perhaps most interesting is the great detail of the pitched, tiled roofs of the temple buildings. Their unique style is featured quite prominently in the image and is easily visible even at some distance. Connections: Do you think this temple was laid out primarily for the convenience of monks who resided there or more for lay believers coming to worship? How would their needs differ? • Diverse Needs: The temple's layout is perhaps a reflection of its diverse needs. Its large size would have adequately housed a large monk population, but it was arguably more suited to accommodate a large crowd of lay believers for worship. Spatial requirements naturally differed for both groups. Because of their rather larger and fluctuating numbers, lay believers required a large space in which to gather and participate in the religious community. A large lecture hall would have held significant numbers of worshippers and the central position of the pagoda could have easily served as a beacon for the masses as well. Individuals in Society The Ban Family 1. What inferences can you draw from the fact that a leading general had a brother who was a literary man? • An Invaluable Source: While completing his late father’s project entitled History of the Western Former Han Dynasty, historian Ban Gu likely benefitted from having a leading general for a brother. As Gu added significant amounts of information to the manuscript, particularly of the classified sort, one could infer that he probably used General Ban Chao as an invaluable source of sensitive material. 2. What does Ban Zhao’s life tell us about women in her society? How do you reconcile her personal accomplishments with the advice she gave for women’s education? • Learned Humility: In Chinese society elder males maintained authority. Women in the Han period were expected to be loyal, devoted mothers, wives, and daughters. In the case of Ban Zhao, her own background as a member of a largely literary family meant that she was exposed to an education that most females of the period were not. After the deaths of her husband and father, she was called upon to complete the project left unfinished by Ban Biao and later by Ban Gu. In Admonitions for Women, Zhao called for education for women, but it appears to have been of a different type than she received from her father. While Zhao’s education seems to have been more like that typically given only to men, her own work urged women to be literate, though with a learned emphasis on humility and, one might argue, submission. It does appear to be somewhat difficult to reconcile Zhao’s atypical position with the advice given in her Admonitions. Listening to the Past Sixth-Century Biographies of Buddhist Nuns 1. Why were the lives of these three particular nuns considered worth recording? What was admirable or inspiring about their examples? • Testaments of Perseverance: The lives of Kang Minggan, Daoqiong, and Doazong are interesting portraits of influential female religious figures during a period of immense growth in Buddhism. Their stories are testaments of perseverance in faith. All three commanded tremendous respect from society at large, even in royal circles. The stories of Minggan and Daozong were the most memorable. Minggan's own story is one of survival in the face of incredible odds and a testament to her devotion to Buddhism. But few stories could compete with the conclusion of Daozong's life. Although shocking and macabre, Daozong's suicide by fire while reciting Buddhist 88 CHAPTER 7 • EAST ASIA AND THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM scriptures is perhaps the ultimate portrait of devotion to one's faith. 2. What do the nuns’ spiritual journeys reveal about the virtues associated with Buddhist monastic life? • Paths to Enlightenment: Each of the nuns' lives reflects the need for restraint and humility. They speak to the intense dedication and perseverance required to maintain a moral spiritual path that will ultimately lead to enlightenment. As their histories demonstrate, such a life is tremendously difficult and ridden with innumerable obstacles and setbacks along the way. 3. Do you see a gender element in these accounts? Were the traits that made a nun admirable also appropriate for monks? • The Limits of Gender: A gender element is seen most prominently in the story of Kang Minggan. Her path to becoming a Buddhist nun was premised on the great suffering that she experienced. As a woman she had few privileges and freedoms. Abducted twice and held in bondage for years, Minggan eventually become a nun. The conclusion of her story features the realization of the first convent in the Eastern Chin dynasty, which in her telling seems to mark a high point for Buddhism in the region. Challenges faced by nuns and monks were remarkably similar. Although variation certainly could and did exist depending on time and location, qualities praised in nuns were equally appropriate for monks as well. As the idea was to remain committed to a moral path to enlightenment, attributes such as restraint and humility were not gender specific. Viewpoints Chinese and Japanese Principles of Good Government, ca. 650 1. What similarities do you see in these two documents? In what sense can both be considered Confucian? • Deliberate Model: In both documents good government is based on ensuring humaneness, harmony, and adherence to what is just. Although these principles appeared in China and later in Japan, they can both be considered Confucian because of the significant cultural borrowing that occurred between both entities. Prince Shōtoku, for instance, deliberately modeled much of his state reforms in part on Chinese Confucian teachings and encouraged an open dialogue between Japan and China. 2. What differences in these documents can you attribute to the differences between China and Japan in the seventh century? • Liberal Borrowing: During the seventh century Japanese state reforms instituted under Prince Shōtoku, inspiration came from different sources. Shōtoku drew from his own adherence to Buddhist principles to compose his Seventeen Article Edict. Particularly noteworthy is his concern for morality and emphasis on avoiding excess and greed, which are Buddhist precepts. Increased contact between Japan and China during the period meant that leaders like Shōtoku borrowed liberally from the mainland in order to rule more effectively while promoting a solid social order. LECTURE STRATEGIES Lecture 1: “From Qin to Han: Making an Empire that Could Last” The topic of this lecture is Legalism—great for making an empire, but not very good for making one last. It should encourage your students to think more generally about how governments are organized, and what is unique about ancient China. In 221 B.C.E. Qin Shihuangdi, the First Emperor, unified China. Review the Legalist philosophy that had pushed Qin to the top, and go on from there to discuss the First Emperor’s effort to build a Legalist empire. Some points to note are the abolition of fiefs, the division of China into administrative districts, and the massive imperial effort to standardize just about everything in Chinese society. Two ominous points are especially worth developing. First, the emperor made five- and ten-family units mutually accountable for each other, creating a surveillance system that chillingly foreshadowed that of communist China. Second, Qin Shihuangdi burned books, especially in a great book-burning of 213 B.C.E. that attempted to destroy all books that discredited the present in favor of the past. Such a policy especially targeted Confucian works and Confucian scholars, four hundred sixty of whom were burned alive in Xianyang. It would be unjust to regard the short-lived Qin dynasty as completely bad. Certainly, the First CHAPTER 7 • EAST ASIA AND THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM 89 Emperor could muster awesome resources. He was responsible for the first version of the Great Wall, a new capital, and an enormous tomb complex at Mt. Li. Yet revolts began soon after the First Emperor died, and a new dynasty, the Han, was founded in 206 B.C.E. For the second half of the lecture, consider why the first imperial dynasty lasted fifteen years, while the second lasted for over four hundred. The answer is of course that the Han were much more moderate in their rule, turning from Legalism to a Confucian bureaucracy. Yet the Han rulers did an enormous amount to shape China; it is very instructive to compare their rule with that of the Roman emperors. They tried to control trade and went to enormous effort to limit the ambitions of rich families. These initiatives had limited success; the Han were more successful in guiding the economy, for example controlling production of both iron and salt. It took massive flooding and famine to move the people to rebel against the Han and bring their dynasty down. Sources: Arthur Cotterell, The First Emperor of China (1981); Hing Ming Hung, The Road to the Throne: How Liu Bang Founded China’s Han Dynasty (2011). Lecture 2: “The Pastoral World” This is a good point in the term to examine society on the steppe of central Asia, drawing in other pastoral groups for comparison. As the textbook has pointed out, the Xiongnu nomads were a constant thorn in the side of ancient China. Yet many students have little notion of what a pastoralist is or how they lived, often confusing them with pre-Neolithic foraging societies. Start with the steppe, the vast grassland of central Asia (a map would be useful). Very little of this territory will support agriculture (although Stalin made a spirited and expensive attempt to make the Russian steppe yield crops), but humans had not just domesticated plants in the Neolithic era, they had also domesticated animals. Of various species, the horse proved to be particularly well-adapted to the open grasslands. Horses were central to nomadic life on the steppe; the Xiongnu and other peoples rode horses to hunt, clothed themselves with horseskin, ate horse, even drank horse (both drinking their blood and making kumiss from fermented mares’ milk). It was a precarious existence, and the population on the steppe was thinly spread, but there was an awful lot of steppe, and when a leader drew the tribes together they were a formidable foe to sedentary peoples. Nomads throughout history have despised their sedentary neighbors but at the same time enjoyed the products of civilized society (the Scythians, for example, were particularly fond of Greek wine). They either traded or raided, depending on opportunity. The nomads were particularly hard to counter because of their mobility and their reliance on surprise attack. Discussion of the Xiongnu in the context of this chapter can help prepare the way for the role of the Huns (as they were called in Europe) in the fall of the Western Roman Empire. It can also prepare the way for later discussion of the Mongols and Turks. Source: David C. Wright, Peoples of the Steppe: Historical Sources on the Pastoral Nomads of Eurasia (1998). Lecture 3: “The Creation of Japan” Japan’s situation in world history is unique. Consisting as it does of over a thousand islands, Japan has rarely had to deal with the issue of foreign invasion and has expressed little interest in foreign conquest. Nonetheless, Japan is close enough to China and Korea for the exchange of cultural influence. Japan’s development into a unified state was late, but when it came, Chinese influence helped create a fascinating hybrid. The Japanese foundation myth tells that the sun goddess Amaterasu sent her grandson to rule the earth—he started in Kyushu, but his great-grandson conquered the rest of Japan, becoming the first emperor on the first day of spring in 660 B.C.E. The only problem with the story is that it places the creation of Japan about a thousand years too early; clearly, Japanese intellectuals wanted to claim an ancient foundation. It was only in the course of the fifth century C.E. that several clans competed for power, each with its guardian god. The current imperial dynasty—and its special ancestress—won. Most rulers in premodern history had an important religious role, but that role was perhaps nowhere as important as in Japan. Chinese sources tell that many early Japanese rulers (before unification) were women, regarded as powerful shamans. In fact government was secondary; the early word for government—matsuri— is best translated as “the business of worship.” Rulers throughout Japanese history have had an enormous ceremonial function, dedicated to bringing humans into harmony with the spiritual world, the world of the kami. By about 600 C.E. the Japanese state was coalescing. Prince Shōtoku, who served as regent for an empress (women could do the ritual but not the 90 CHAPTER 7 • EAST ASIA AND THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM ruling part of government), first proclaimed the principle of a single, centralized state under the emperor/empress in 604. This document, variously called the “Seventeen Principles” or the “Seventeenarticle Constitution,” shows both Confucian and Buddhist ideas, but also presents the ruler as a heavenly power, a kami. Shōtoku’s success was limited, but provided the incentive for the Taika (“great change”) reform, which effectively built a centralized state. It can be seen as culminating in the establishment of a permanent capital at Nara in 710 (a half-size model of the Tang capital). The bureaucracy that was created was very Chinese in style, but with a very distinctive Japanese flavor. Sources: J. W. Hall, et al., The Cambridge History of Japan (1988); Charles Higham, Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations (2004). Lecture 4: “China and the Foreigners” The tale of how China embraced, then turned against foreign influence is a fascinating story. It is particularly useful because it is counterintuitive: everyone who knows anything about the history of China knows that for almost all its history China has been proud of its culture and resentful of foreign intrusion—just look at the Opium Wars. But in the Tang dynasty the Chinese had a brief honeymoon with foreigners, one that probably shaped the rest of Chinese history. A first important point is that China was hard to get to from most directions, protected by desert, mountain ranges, and a shallow and unfavorable sea that did not encourage naval development. Thus, early China was relatively free of outside cultural influences. China did the influencing of Korea, Vietnam, and the gradually conquered western territories, not the other way around. And yet the foreigners came. The first large outside influence was Buddhism, which spread into China in the first and second centuries C.E. thanks to some very tenacious Indian monks. The new religion only really caught on in the fifth century, though, a period of extended crisis of the sort that encourages people to search for new religious options. Consider with your class the likely impact that such a very different moral and religious system would have had on China. Some points to emphasize are that the Buddhist clergy began to claim independence from the state, and that many believed Buddhism damaged traditional morality, especially by breaking family ties. A new sort of foreign influence arrived with the Tang dynasty. This was a period of great military expansion, and the Chinese government looked to an aristocratic military elite that was largely drawn from the steppe. Generals and soldiers alike were increasingly “barbarians” from beyond the imperial borders. And they were heroes. The years 626–683 saw one of the greatest military expansions in Chinese history, as Chinese armies defeated the Turks and spread into central Asia, besides establishing overlordship over much of southeast Asia. In the first half of the Tang period, “barbarian” was fashionable, whether the influence was Indian, Iranian, or from the steppe. Not only was it easy for barbarians to rise to positions of authority, but foreign dancing, music, games, cooking, clothes, houses, the military, and religion were all eagerly adopted. A particular event provoked a strong reaction to all this foreign influence. A military governor named An Lushan, a man of mixed Iranian and Turkish descent, tried to seize the throne in a military rebellion that raged from 755 to 763. The empire was seriously weakened in the process, not least by the shock that a military man could do such a thing. After the great rebellion, the government was widely blamed for indulging army leaders of foreign descent. Part of the population advocated a return to the ancient sources of Chinese tradition, arguing that foreigners had made the country decadent. The result was repression with the full power of the state behind it. An 836 decree forbade the Chinese to have any relations with “people of color” (foreigners). The decree was succeeded in 842–845 by a great proscription of foreign religions. The vibrant Christian, Mazdaist, and Manichaean communities of China were destroyed. Buddhism survived, but was crippled, as two hundred sixty thousand Buddhist monks and nuns were forcibly secularized and four thousand, six hundred monasteries were knocked down or put to public use. The great Chinese flirtation with foreigners was at an end. Sources: S.A.M. Adshead, T’ang China: The Rise of the East in World History (2004); Charles Benn, China’s Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty (2002). CHAPTER 7 • EAST ASIA AND THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM 91 IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES Using Film and Television in the Classroom China’s Imperial Age has been exceptionally well treated in modern cinema. A spate of movies from the past couple of decades should manage to capture even the attention of students whose interest in Chinese film does not extend much beyond Kung Fu epics. Three productions set near the end of the Warring States Period, The Emperor’s Shadow (1996), The Emperor and the Assassin (1998), and Hero (2002), focus upon Ying Zheng, the king of Qin and the future Shihuangdi, First Emperor of China. The earliest of the three has been criticized for its historical inaccuracies, but the latter two rely upon Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian (completed about 91 B.C.E.) to tell the story of an attempted assassination of Ying Zheng in 227 B.C.E. Alternately, or as a complement to these, you might show the excellent documentary on Shihuangdi, The First Emperor of China (1990), with narration by Christopher Plummer. The end of the short-lived Qin dynasty and the founding of the Han dynasty provide the backdrop to The Great Conqueror’s Concubine (1994), about a scorned woman determined to get her revenge. John Woo’s Red Cliff (2009) is based on the fourteenth-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms (which in turn draws upon the thirdcentury history Records of Three Kingdoms) and tells the story of the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 C.E., close to the end of the Han dynasty. For films set during the Tang dynasty you might consider Warriors of Heaven and Earth (2003), House of Flying Daggers (2004), or Curse of the Golden Flower (2007), all visually sumptuous action/romance stories. Class Discussion Starters 1. What were the benefits of unification and empire in China during the Qin and Han dynasties? What were some of the problems? Did the former outweigh the latter? The answers to the first question of this discussion should be relatively straightforward. Unification under the Qin meant, among other things, the standardization of Chinese script, coinage, weights and measures, improved transportation and communications, and promotion of the rule of law. The Han government developed important industries such as iron working, promoted Confucianism, engaged in westward expansion, brought China into contact with other states, asserted Chinese control over much of the Silk Road, and fostered the development of long-distance trade. The second question may prove a bit more challenging for students, so you might try focusing their attention on matters such as the consequences of concentrating so much power in the hands of one individual—what happens when the emperor is incompetent? Or a child? (Here you might draw a useful contrast to Rome where a weaker dynastic principle created different sorts of succession problems that often included civil war.) How did the Han dynasty maintain its expanding empire, and at what cost? It will be worth pointing out that the Yellow Turban Rebellion of 184 was in great measure fueled by the economic distress of overtaxed peasant farmers. The third and final question is, of course, subjective but will encourage students to think qualitatively about these matters. 2. How did Buddhism become the most pervasive religious tradition of East Asia? To get things started, have students trace the route that Buddhism took from India to China and beyond and identify the agents of transmission. While missionaries and merchants traveling the Silk Road were certainly essential to the process, the role of political figures should not be overlooked. To illustrate, you might ask for specific comments regarding the influence of Ashoka, Kanishka I, Empress Wu, and Prince Shōtoku, among other possibilities. Also significant were the contributions of translators and pilgrims such as Kumarajiva and Fa-hsien, a Chinese monk who traveled to India in the early fifth century in search of Buddhist texts. Discussion of the reasons why Buddhism spread so rapidly after the fall of the Han Dynasty and why it was attractive to people across the social spectrum (and among both genders) would also be appropriate. Lastly, you might invite comparison to the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Both Buddhism and Christianity have strong proselytizing traditions. That aside, do any of the above points also help explain the proliferation of the latter? 92 CHAPTER 7 • EAST ASIA AND THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM 3. Compare the impact of Chinese culture on Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. What is the connection between centralization in China and the emergence of unified independent states in the other three countries? Chinese influence was undeniably profound in all three locations, so an easy place to begin might be to have students list as many ways as they can think of that China influenced the development of Vietnam, Korea, and Japan alike. This can include the use of Chinese writing; reliance upon Chinese models in the production of fine art, to include painting, architecture, and ceramics; the adoption of Chinese products and thought, such as Confucianism; and, not least, the embrace of Buddhism, which spread to each of these locations by way of China. In other respects, however, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan did not experience the same degree of sinicization; here you might have students consider the significance of the Chinese conquest of the two former locations in contrast to the continued independence of Japan. Conclude with a look at the development of unified states in all three locations. Under what circumstances did unification occur and what was the role of the Chinese (specifically the Sui and Tang dynasties) in that process? Historical Debates 1. Merchants: Good or Evil? In 81 B.C.E. there was a debate at the Chinese court on the question of whether merchants are a worthwhile part of society. We know that the Confucians argued that no, they’re not. Reenact this debate, assigning students to represent the anti-trade Confucians, a consortium of wealthy traders, and a group of government officials who believe that trade should be regulated, but not abolished. It is hard to keep students from working with the assumptions of our trade-saturated modern world, but encourage them to do the necessary research to imagine themselves in China in the first century B.C.E. 2. Assimilation or War? The year is 39 C.E.; the place is Vietnam. Vietnam has been subjected to China, but the Trung sisters are urging rebellion to a council of nobles. The Trung sisters are ardent in their demands that the Vietnamese throw off the shackles of foreign domination, but their opponents are adamant that (1) if the Vietnamese rebel, they will be crushed and (2) Chinese influence on Vietnam is actually a good thing that should be encouraged. Either stage a debate such as might have occurred under these circumstances, or ask students to choose a side in the debate and research and write a short paper arguing their point of view. 3. Heqin. One of Han China’s most fascinating diplomatic tools was heqin, a marriage alliance; barbarian rulers, often Xiongnu, were pacified by offering them a princess to wed (although this princess was often a minor concubine, rather than a daughter of the ruling emperor). This arrangement was first made in 200 B.C.E. It must have seemed a shocking innovation— after all, a well-born Chinese woman was being given to a savage. The policy must have been intensely debated at court before being put into effect. What would the pro and con arguments probably have been? It is unlikely that the “princess” was consulted in the matter, but what is she likely to have thought about the whole business? Using Primary Sources 1. Choose an excerpt from Sunzi (Sun Tzu)’s Art of War. The section on “laying plans” works well. Your students may well have heard of the Art of War; it is popular today among both the military and business executives. Discuss your chosen selection with your students, working to identify the main characteristics (such as the notion that a commander should not just be courageous and strict, but sincere and benevolent). Then draw your students on to consider how much of Sunzi’s classic is specific to the time it was written and how much is still applicable today. 2. Find a poem by the great Tang dynasty poet Li Bo (also transliterated Li Bai and Li Po)—there is a good selection in English available at http://www.blackcatpoems.com/b/li_bai.html. Pick one, perhaps “The Imperial Concubine,” which gives an interesting vignette of life at the imperial court. Engage your students in a closereading exercise with the poem, encouraging them to examine the way the author (mediated through a translator) has painted word images with great economy. Use the poem to discuss your students’ impressions of the Chinese court. CHAPTER 7 • EAST ASIA AND THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM 93 3. Have your students read Shōtoku’s “Seventeen Principles” (more easily found on the internet under the name “Seventeen-Article Constitution,” for example at http://public .wsu.edu/~dee/ANCJAPAN/ CONST.HTM. Ask them to go over this short text with highlighter pens, marking points they regard as native Japanese in green, Confucian influences in yellow, and Buddhist influences in blue. Then divide the class into small groups and have them compare their handiwork. Can the groups reach a general consensus about the source of the various cultural influences? Bring the class back together for a discussion of what further information they need (e.g., about what is involved in Shinto) to answer the question better. Web Resources 1. Fordham University’s Internet East Asian History Sourcebook: http://www.fordham.edu/ halsall/eastasia/eastasiasbook.html 2. Princeton University’s Classical Historiography for Chinese History: http://www.princeton .edu/~classbib/ 3. Ulrich Theobald’s ChinaKnowledge site: http://www.chinaknowledge.de 4. University of Washington’s Visual Sourcebook of Chinese Civilization: http://depts .washington.edu/chinaciv/ 5. Washington State University’s Ancient China site: http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ANCCHINA/ ANCCHINA.HTM 6. Women in World History Web site on Empress Wu: http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/ heroine6.html 7. Ah Xiang’s Republican China Web site on Sui and Tang China: http://www.republicanchina .org/tang.html 8. Buddha Dharma Education Association’s Buddhism in China Timeline: http://www .buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/chin _timeline.htm 9. Mark Schumacher’s A-Z Photo Dictionary of Japanese Buddhism on Prince Shotoku: http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/shoto ku-taishi.html 10. Sacred-Texts Web site on Shinto faith: http://www.sacred-texts.com/shi/index.htm 11. Bill Caraway’s Korean History Project on China’s influence on Korea: http://www .koreanhistoryproject.org/Ket/C02/E0201.htm Suggested Readings 1. Adshead, S.A.M. T’ang China: The Rise of the East in World History. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. 2. Benn, Charles. China’s Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. 3. Cotterell, Arthur. The First Emperor of China. New York: Penguin, 1981. 4. De Bary, W. T., ed. The Buddhist Tradition in India, China, and Japan. New York: 1972. 5. Hall, J. W., et al. The Cambridge History of Japan. Cambridge: 1988. 6. Imamura, Kenji. Prehistoric Japan: New Perspectives on Insular Japan. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press, 1996. 7. Lee, Ki-baik. A New History of Korea. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984. 8. Loewe, Michael. Everyday Life in Early Imperial China: During the Han Period 202 B.C–A.D. 200. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett, 2005. 9. Nelson, Sarah M. The Archaeology of Korea. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. 10. Pearson, Richard J., ed. Windows on the Japanese Past: Studies in Archaeology and Prehistory. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1986. 11. Pirazzoli-T’Serstevens, Michele. The Han Dynasty. New York: Rizzoli, 1982. 12. Taylor, Keith W. The Birth of Vietnam. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1983. 13. Whitfield, Susan. Life Along the Silk Road. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. 14. Wright, Arthur. The Sui Dynasty: The Unification of China, A.D. 581–617. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978. 15. Zhong-shu Wang, and Kwang-chih Chang. Han Civilization. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1982. 94 CHAPTER 7 • EAST ASIA AND THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM Additional Bedford/St. Martin’s Resources for Chapter 7 PowerPoint Maps, Images, Lecture Outlines, and i>clicker Content These presentation materials are downloadable from the Media and Supplements tab at bedfordstmartins .com/mckayworld/catalog, and they are available on an Instructor’s Resource CD-ROM. They include ready-made and fully customizable PowerPoint multimedia presentations built around lecture outlines that are embedded with maps, figures, and selected images from the textbook and are supplemented by more detailed instructor notes on key points. Also available are maps and selected images in JPEG and PowerPoint format; content for i>clicker, a classroom response system, in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint formats; the Instructor’s Resource Manual in Microsoft Word format; and outline maps in PDF format for quizzing or handouts. All files are suitable for copying onto transparency acetates. Sources of World Societies, Second Edition The following documents are available in Chapter 7 of the companion reader. • Sima Qian, From the Records of the Historian: On the Ziongnu, ca. 109–86 B.C.E. • Ban Zhao, From Admonitions for Women, ca. 80 C.E. • Fa-hsien, From A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms, ca. 399–414 C.E. • Prince Toneri, From Chronicles of Japan: Emperor Jinmu, ca. 720 • Viewpoints: Buddhism in China • Buddha Preaching, ca. 501–580 C.E. • From Lives of the Eminent Monks: Zhu Seng Du, ca. 550 C.E. • Emperor Wuzong, Edict on the Suppression of Buddhism, 845 C.E. Online Study Guide at bedfordstmartins.com/ mckayworld The Online Study Guide helps students review material from the textbook as well as practice historical skills. Each chapter contains assessment quizzes, chapter outlines, and interactive activities accompanied by section references to encourage further study.