Chapter 8 Flashcards
What did the collapse of the Han dynasty lead to
300 years of political fragmentation
Where did the Chinese migrate after the collapse of the Han
southward to the Yangzi river valley
Who extended the Chinese canal systems vastly and started the golden age
the Sui dynasty
What exhausted the Sui’s state resources
their ruthlessness and failure to conquer Korea
What two dynasties were built on Sui foundations
The Tang and Song
What did the Tang and Song create in their governments
six major ministries and a Censorate
What did the Censorate deal with
surveillance over the government to ensure order
What Tang and Song policy led to the proliferation of schools and colleges
the revision of the exam system
What happened in the Song dynasty that contributed to it’s prosperity and to the golden age
an economic revolution
What contributed to Song prosperity
rapid population growth, improvement in agricultural production, urbanization, great network of internal waterways, improvements in industrial production, inventions of gunpowder and printers, and superior shipbuilding and navigational tech
What was most production in China for
the market rather than local consumption
What type of money starting growing in China
paper money
Although it was the golden age what inequality was worse than before in the Song and Tang
gender hierarchy
Which women had more freedoms in the Tang
elite in the north
What were the purposes of foot binding
restriction of women and association with female beauty and eroticism
What were women’s traditional role in the industry before large scale production displaced them in the Tang and Song
textile production
What jobs did elite prosperity create demand for
concubines, entertainers,
courtesans, and prostitutes
In what ways were the position of women improved
property rights were expanded and women were more educated
With who was China’s more enduring interaction
the northern nomads
What did pastoral societies need from China
grain and other farm products
What did pastoral society leaders want from China
manufactured and luxury goods
What was a constant factor in Chinese history from the steppe people
intrusion and pressure
Why did the nomads feel threatened by the Chinese
Chinese military attacks on the steppes and the Great Wall
Why did the Chinese need the nomads
steppes provided horses and other goods and they controlled much of the silk road
What did the Chinese understand themselves as
the center of the world
What was established to manage relations with non-Chinese peoples
the tribute system
What did the tribute system require
non-Chinese authorities must acknowledge Chinese superiority (through a series of bows named kowtow) and present a tribute to the emperor
What did a non-Chinese person gain from the tribute system
he would receive trading privileges and
“bestowals” in return (often worth
more than the tribute)
What problems were presented with the tribute system
strong nomadic states would simply extort China
What states extorted China
Xiongnu confederacy (established
around 200 B.C.E.) and other Turkic empires of Mongolia
Although steppe nomads usually did not want to
conquer and rule China, where did several nomadic states invade
Northern China
Which nomads adopted Chinese ways
nomads who ruled parts of China
What did interaction between the nomads and Chinese take the form of
trade, military
conflict, negotiations, extortion, and some
cultural influence
Where in China did steppe culture influence
Northern China
What was special about the ethnicities of the founders of the Tang and Song
they were mixed Chinese and steppe nomad
What was a fad among elites in the Tang dynasty that came from outside influence
anything connected
to “western barbarians”
Other than the nomads what civilizations regions did China have tributary relationships with
Korea, Vietnam, and Japan
What kind of Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese societies did China have tributary relationships with
agricultural, sedentary societies
How did interaction between China and Korea start
With Han conquests of Northern Korea and some colonization
How were the relationships between the Korean states
they were rivals
What did the Korean states resist
Chinese political control
Which Korean kingdom allied with the Tang dynasty to create some political unity with China
The Silla Kingdom
Under what dynasties did Korea generally maintain political independence
Silla (688–900),
Koryo (918–1392), and Yi (1392–1910)
What did Korea try to replicate from the Chinese
court life and administration
What was the Korean capital city Kumsong modeled after
the Chinese capital Chang’an
What parts of Chinese culture did Korea accept
luxury goods, scholarship, and religious influence
What was Korea’s phonetic alphabet called
hangul
What happened to Korea’s attempt to replicate the Chinese examination system
it didn’t gain prominence
Did Korea maintain its culture
yes
What other region had a similar experience to Korea between them and China
Vietnam
Where was Vietnam’s cultural heartland
the Red River valley
Who controlled the Red River valley from 111 BCE to 939 CE
China
What did Vietnam try to replicate from the Chinese
The Chinese approach to government
How did the examination system help Vietnam
it helped undermine
established aristocrats
Which class in Vietnam remained deeply committed to Chinese culture
elite
What distinctive parts of Vietnamese culture remained in place
cockfighting, betel nuts, greater roles for women, kept nature goddesses and a female Buddha in popular belief, and developed a variation of Chinese writing (chu nom/southern script)
Where did people voluntarily borrow Chinese culture since they were never invaded or conquered
Japan
When was the main period of cultural borrowing in Japan
7th–9th centuries C.E., when first
unified Japanese state began to emerge
What was the creation of a Japanese bureaucratic state modeled on
China
What region had large-scale missions to China to learn
Japan
Both of these Japanese capitals were modeled after the Chinese capital Chang’an
Nara and Heian
What elements of Chinese culture took root in Japan
art, architecture, education, medicine, religious views, and the Chinese writing system
How were the Japanese with their borrowing
they were selective
Who never created an effective centralized and bureaucratic state
Japan
What were the local military forces called
samurai
What was the way of the kami (sacred spirits)
Shinto
What was Japans writing system mixed with
Chinese characters with phonetic symbols
What is tanka (Japan)
highly stylized poetry
In Japan which class of women escaped Confucian oppression
elite
Did Chinese inventions reach beyond its borders
yes
Which region’s prosperity stimulated commercial life all over Eurasia
China
Which Chinese innovation was resisted by the Islamic world
printing
Which Chinese innovations spread beyond its borders
salt, paper, printing, gunpowder, and textile, metallurgical, and naval technologies
What did China learn from India
cotton and sugar cultivation and processing
What Vietnamese product transformed China
new rice strains
What was southern China transformed to instead of subsistence
production for export
What was India’s most important gift to China which spread through the Silk Road
Buddhism
What was China’s only large scale cultural borrowing before Marxism
Buddhism
To where did Buddhism spread to through China
Korea and Japan
What flourished because of the discrediting of Confucianism after the collapse of the Han and was considered comforting
Mahayana Buddhism
Who appeared to have access to magical powers
Buddhists
What form of Buddhism because popular in China
Mahayana
What did the growth of Chinese Buddhism provoke, especially since it was foreign
resistance and criticism
How did xenophobia in China possibly start
The An Lushan rebellion (755–763), led by a foreign general
After China began direct action against foreign religions in 841–845 how many nuns and monks were forced into secular life
260,000
What action did China take against foreign religions
thousands of monasteries, temples, and shrines confiscated or destroyed and Buddhists forbidden to use precious metals or gems for their images
What happened to Buddhism after actions were taken against it
It did not vanish from China
China’s history has often been viewed in the West s impressive but largely static and isolated. What evidence in this chapter might support a counterargument to such claims?
Technological advancements such as paper making and printing and nomadic extortion are examples of how China’s history was not static and interaction with non-Chinese through the tribute system as well as the spread of technology along trade routes shows that China was not isolated
Why are the centuries of the Tang and Song dynasties in China sometimes referred to as a “golden age”?
renewed unity, canal network which brought economic prosperity, economic revolution, rapid population growth, most urbanized, technological superiority in navigation and shipbuilding, improved agriculture and industrial production, and inventions (such as gunpowder)
In what ways did Korea, Vietnam, and Japan develop cultural traditions that differed from Chinese culture?
All had independent languages, Korea didn’t win prominence with the examination system, and Chinese culture had little effect on the large slave population, Vietnam had kept language, cockfighting, betel nuts, greater roles for women, and kept nature goddesses and a female Buddha in popular belief, and Japan kept Shinto, kept a decentralized and non-bureaucratic state, and had distinctive literary and art culture
