Chapter 9 Study Guide (Opening Vignette,The Reemergence Of A Unified China,China And The Northern Nomads: A Chinese World In The Making)

Chapter 9 Study Guide

I. Opening Vignette

A. How was China a major player among the third-wave civilizations?

B. How was China changed by its interactions?

II. The Reemergence of a Unified China

A. What were the results of the collapse of the Han Dynasty in 220 CE?

B. A Golden Age of Chinese Achievements

1. What were the successes and failures of the Sui Dynasty?

2. How did the Tang and Song Dynasties build on Sui Foundations?

3. What did the political structure of the Tang and Song Dynasties look like? 4. What were the results of the economic revolution under the Song Dynasty?

5. How did production in China change under the Song Dynasty?

C. What was life like for the women of the Song and Tang Dynasties?

III. China and the Northern Nomads: A Chinese World in the Making

A. What are the two misconceptions about Chinese history?

B. What was China’s relationship with the nomadic steppes peoples like? C. What was the “theory” behind the tribute system?

D. What challenges did the tribute system face in China?

E. Cultural influence

1. What was the impact of China on the Steppe nomads?

2. What was the impact of the Steppe nomads on China (esp northern China)

IV. Coping with China: Comparing Korea, Vietnam, and Japan

A. Describe the emerging societies of Korea, Japan, and Vietnam and their relationship to China?

B. Korea and China

1. What began Korea’s interaction with China and what were the results? 2. Describe the Korean states period from the 4th to 7th centuries

3. What was the Korean relationship with China during the Silla, Koryo, and Yi Dynasties?

4. What Chinese cultural elements were adopted by Korean society?

5. How did Korean maintain its own culture separate from China?

C. Vietnam and China

1. Similar to the Korean experience

2. What was the result of Chinese claims on the Red River Valley in Vietnam?

3. What aspects of Chinese culture did Vietnam embrace?

4. How did Vietnam maintain a distinctive culture from China?

D. Japan and China

1. What was the difference between Japan’s experience with China as opposed to Korea and Vietnam? 2. What were the results of the “cultural borrowing” that occurred in Japan during the 7th to 9th centuries?

3. Which elements of Chinese culture took root in Japan?

4. What was the political system of Japan like during this period?

5. How did Japan keep its religious distinctiveness?

6. What literary and artistic elements were distinctive in japan from China?

7. What about Japanese women?

V. China and the Eurasian World Economy

A. Spillovers: China’s Impact on Eurasia

1. What were some of the technological innovations from China that spread beyond its borders? 2. What was the result of Chinese prosperity all over Eurasia?

B. One the Receiving End: China as an economic beneficiary

1. What did China get from India and Vietnam?

2. What was the effect of Indian Ocean Trade on China?

VI. China and Buddhism

A. Why is Buddhism called “India’s most important gift” to China? What happened to Buddhism after it reached China?

B. Making Buddhism Chinese

1. How did Buddhism get to China? How was it received? Why?

2. How did Buddhism take root in China from 300 – 800 CE?

3. How did the Sui and Tang Dynasties affect Chinese Buddhism?

C. Losing State Support: The Crisis of Chinese Buddhism

1. Why did the growth of Buddhism provoke resistance and criticism? 2. What was the affect of the An Lushan rebellion?

3. How did the Chinese State begin to take direct action against foreign religions from 841 – 845 CE? What was the effect?

VII. Reflections: Why do things change?

A. How are change and transformation explained in human history?

B. Why is China an illustration of the range of factors that drive change?

VIII. Key Terms / Places People

An Lushan bushido Chinese Buddhism Chu nom foot binding hangul Hangzhou Heian Jurchen Kami Khitan Koryo Kumsong Muasaki Shikibu Nara Neo-Confucianism pure Land Buddhism samurai Shotoku Taishi Silla Dynasty Song Dyn. economic revolution Sui Dynasty Tang Dynasty tanka Tribute system Trung sisters Uighurs Wendi, Emperor Xiongnu Yi

IX. Guiding Questions

A. in what ways did Tang and Song Dynasties resemble the classical Han Dynasty Period, and in what ways had China changed?

B. Based on this Chapter, how would you respond to the idea that China was a self- contained or isolated civilization?

C. In what different ways did nearby peoples experience their giant Chinese Neighbor, and how did they respond to it?

D. How can you explain the changing fortunes of Buddhism in China?

E. how did China influence the world beyond East Asia and how was China transformed by its encounters with a wider world? F. Why are the centuries of the Tang and Song dynasties in China sometimes referred to as a “golden age”?

G. in what ways did women’s lives change during the Tang and Song dynasties?

H. How did they Chinese and their nomadic neighbors to the north view each other?

I. What assumptions underlay the tribute system?

J. How did the tribute system in practice differ from the ideal Chinese understanding of its operation?

K. In what ways did China and the nomads influence each other?

L. In what different ways di Korea, Vietnam, and Japan experience and respond to Chinese influence?

M. In what ways did Japanese and Korean women experience the pressures of Confucian orthodoxy?

N. In what ways did China participate in the world of Eurasian commerce and exchange, and with what outcomes?

O. What facilitated the rooting of Buddhism in China?

P. What were the major sources of opposition to Buddhism in China?