Developments in East Asia from c. 1200 to c. 1450

Question 1

What systems and beliefs during the Song Dynasty contributed to China’s strength?

Answer 1

China’s bureaucracy, the organization in which officials carried out the empire’s policies, and/or meritocracy, the system that favored the demonstration of merit (knowledge) rather than nobility, contributed to China’s strength.

Both of which were implemented in the civil service exam, an exam that allowed lower-class individuals to obtain a highly desired job in the Chinese government by showing their knowledge of Confucian ideas.

The philosophy or religion of Confucianism that was founded in China had a believed system of roles that contributed to China’s bureaucracy.

Question 2

A. What advancements took place in ancient China?

B. How did they contribute to China’s prosperity?

Answer 2

a) movable type: lowered the cost of books and allowed lower class citizens to purchase books and hence increase the literacy rate across China, leading to even more applicants in the civil service exam
b) the application of gun power in weapons: strengthened the military and spread to other countries boosting the commercialization in China
c) the highest production rate in iron: the applications of iron were used to make military/commercial goods for China and for foreign trade
d) Champa rice: the introduction of this fast-ripening more useful type of rice rose increased food supplies and doubled the population in China
e) magnet compass: guided merchant ships to boost foreign trade
* These advancements boosted bureaucracy/meritocracy, spread foreign trade (bringing in commercialization in China), and increased the population in East Asia.*

Question 3

1) What led to the beginning of Neo-Confucianism?
2) What is filial piety and what did it do to the social structures in ancient China?
3) How did social structures in ancient China lead to foot binding?

Answer 3

1) The spread of Buddhism and its forms in China were absorbed by Confucianists to form Neo-Confucianism that had the principles of Confucianism while possessing the abstract ideas of Buddhism.
2) Filial piety is the Confucianist principle of the roles of the family (wife and children) under the male who was also subordinate to his leader. And its emphasis on respect to elders helped maintain the rule of the Song dynasty.
3) The subordinate role of women and how they were viewed as sex objects by Confucianist ideas justified the use of foot binding.

Question 4

What two paths boosted the Chinese economy?

Answer 4

The Silk Road: allowed travellers between Europe and China to exchange their goods, cultures, and beliefs to one another

The Grand Canal: a waterway system that allowed merchant ships from inner-China to go out for foreign trade in the rest of East Asia (Japan, Korea, Cambodia)

Question 5

A. What did Japan adopt from China before the 13th century?

B. How do Japan and China differ from one another?

Answer 5

1. Japan adopted China’s religious beliefs/traditions (Confucianism and Buddhism), their technologies (woodblock printing), and some parts of their culture. It was difficult for Japan to maintain its distinctive identity as to not be swallowed by prosperous ancient China.
2. Japan was a feudalistic country and had powerful nobility families while China held a centralized bureaucratic empire.