East Asia Chapter Outline

The Meadows School Ancient World History

CHAPTER 11 East Asia, ca 800–1400

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES After reading and analyzing this chapter, you should be able to discuss the development of distinctive cultures of China, Korea and Japan, and be able to identify the factors that allowed China to lead economically and intellectually in this period. You should be able to explain the emergence of unique elite cultures in the three countries, and be able to place developments in each of these countries in their larger global context.

CHAPTER OUTLINE I. China (800–ca 1400) A. The Song Dynasty (960–1279) 1. The Song Dynasty was founded by Taizu (r. 960–976) in 960. 2. Military expenses accounted for more than half of Song revenues. These expenses included huge payments to the Khitans to avoid open war. 3. In the early twelfth century the Song attempted to solve the Khitan problem by allying with the Jurchen. However, after the Khitan were defeated, the Jurchen turned on the Chinese. B. The Scholar-Officials and Neo-Confucianism 1. During the Song period the use of civil service examinations reached maturity. a. Printing played an important role in this development. More people had access to the texts that served as the basis of the exams. Cheaper books also meant that scholars could create their own libraries. b. The number of people attempting the exam rose from less than 30,000 in the early eleventh century to 400,000 by the time the Song Dynasty ended. c. The leading figures of the scholar-elite were men of diverse intellectual talents and interests. 2. This intellectual climate made possible a revitalization of Confucianism. 3. Zhu Xi was responsible for the full development of Neo-Confucianism. C. The Medieval Chinese Economic Revolution (800–1100) 1. Between 800 and 1100, the population of China doubled from 50 million to 100 million. 2. This was made possible by a massive increase in the food supply. 3. Agricultural prosperity and denser settlement patterns lead to increased commercialization. 4. Commercialization lead to the creation of paper money. 5. Interregional trade created the need for more advanced and efficient business organizations. 6. Domestic wealth made increased foreign trade possible. 7. Both traditional and new industries grew at an enormous rate. 8. All of these factors contributed to growth of Chinese cities. 9. The economic center of China shifted south to the Yangzi River drainage area. 10. Ordinary people benefited from the economic revolution.

D. Women’s Lives 1. Families that could afford to keep their wives and daughters at home did so. 2. Most women married between age sixteen and twenty. Most men married women who were a couple of years younger than they were. 3. The wedding ceremony signified the transfer of the bride from her parent’s family to her husband's family. 4. Women were under intense pressure to produce sons. 5. Men were allowed concubines. 6. Neo-Confucianism is sometimes blamed for a decline in women’s status during the Song period. II. Korea (780–1392) A. The Koryo Dynasty (935–1392) 1. The decline of the Silla Dynasty after 780 created the conditions for the rise of the Koryo Dynasty. 2. Korea moved away from Chinese models in this period. 3. Korean government remained aristocratic, resisting the Chinese scholar-official system. 4. The size of the serf/slave class seems to have increased during this period. 5. Buddhism remained strong in Korea. 6. After 1170, the Koryo Dynasty was controlled from behind the scenes by the Ch’oe family. 7. Conquest by the Mongols brought great hardships to Korea. 8. When Mongol rule began to decline in China in the fourteenth century, it declined in Korea as well. III. Japan in the Heian and Kamakura Eras (794–1333) A. The Heian Period (794–1185) and Aristocratic Culture 1. At the end of the eighth century, the Japanese imperial court abandoned Nara and moved the capital to Heian. 2. When the Tang Dynasty declined in the ninth century, Japan began to move away from Chinese political models. 3. Authority was officially vested in the emperor, but aristocratic clans such as the Fujiwara had the real power. 4. The Fujiwaras reached the high point of their power under Fujiwara Michinaga (966–1027). 5. A brilliant aristocratic culture developed in the Heian period. 6. A new script was developed for writing Japanese phonetically. 7. The literary masterpiece of the era, The Tale of Genji was written by Lady Murasaki. 8. There were a number of women writers in this period. 9. Buddhism remained strong during the Heian period. B. The Samurai and Japanese Feudalism 1. Fujiwara power came to an end with the civil war of 1156. By 1192 the Minamoto had succeeded in establishing the Kamakura Shogunate with their leader, Yoritomo, as shogun. 2. The use of samurai was critical to Minamoto success. 3. The samurai emerged after the development of private landholdings. 4. Samurai were skilled warriors who were granted land or income in exchange for loyalty to their lord. Samurai were supposed to live by the code of Bushido, or the “Way of the Warrior.”

C. The Kamakura Shogunate (1185–1333) 1. Under the Kamakura Shogunate, the emperor was a figurehead, with the shogun, or military commander, holding real power. 2. In 1219 the Hōjō family took this pattern to another level, reducing the shogun to a figurehead and shifting power to themselves in their role as regents. 3. After the invasion of the Mongols, the Hōjō were unable to reward their vassals satisfactorily leading to discontent. By the fourteenth century Hōjō rule was eroding. 4. Civil war erupted again in 1331, ultimately ending with the establishment of the Ashikaga Shogunate (1338–1573). 5. It was during this period that Zen (Chan) flourished in Japan. 6. Buddhism played a central role in the visual arts. 7. Literary masterpieces of the period include the Tale of Heike. D. Japanese Society 1. There was some narrowing of the gap between elites and commoners over the course of the Heian and Kamakura periods. 2. Agricultural production increased during the Kamakura period. 3. In both the Heian and Kamakura periods women played important roles at all levels of society.