The Sui and Tang Dynasties Flashcards
Sui Reunification
*Sui Dynasty founded by Yang Jian in 581
*Unifies north+south in 589
*Buddhist patronage
*Grand Canal
*Failed military campaigns against Korea
*General named Lu Yuan overthrows dynasty and founds Tang in 618
General under northern zhou dynasty (xianbei) = mid-late 6th
Daughter married
New emperor = deranged = order his wife to commit suicide
Ruler dies = yang = take power for himself = regent to a 5yo = another wife child = 581 = assassinated = took the throne
589 = armies = conquered south china and reunification in 3 centuries
Sui = diddnt last long = 2 emperors = important affect of china history = project by 2nd sui emperor = sui canal = 1500 km long canal = where? = connecting preexisting waterways = massive undertaking, connects north and south = conscripted to labor = why? South china area = most productive agri land = lots of goods to tax = capital at the north = canal and get goods (taxes in grains) = eaasier to transport taxes and commercial goods = most chinese capital will be in the north
Buddhism = consolidate gains during period of division = 1st emperor = lots of temples = capital in chang an = filled in 120 temples
One to supervise all monks and translate all texts
House relicts of the budd
The Tang Code
*First fully surviving Chinese legal code
*Highly influential across East Asia
*Specific penalties attached to specific acts
*Penalties depended on social status of offender, relative position of offender and victim
*Mix of Confucian and Legalist ideas
First main thing= issuing of a new legal code
First chinese legal code survived in large part = model for every pre-modern legal codes in china in east asia = survived in the present in complete code
Goal = ensure consistency = guide on howto decide punishment = what law applies and what appropriate sentence is applied
Severe or death = emperor decides them = centralized serious
Varies law = crimes and social status = 3 major categories = imperials = commoners = lesser (slaves- important part of tang dynasty (captured in war, close relatives, selling to pay dept), polluted work, hereditary servants) = more important exempt to punishments
Commoners = vary on relative position (small children or old people, women lighter sentences, disabled) punishment to kill father is more important
Son punished for hitting father
Father could hit sone
Same for husbands and wifes
Code = legalist thinking = set of rules to follow rigourisly = confu values (people superior have hierarchy reinforced in law) = end of imperia
Wu Zetian
*Began as low ranking concubine
*Gained control of court in 660
*Emperor 690-705
*Ousted in palace coup
Greater role of women = only dynasty with women as emperor title = managed to attarct attention of new emperor and got a son from the son = form of incest for chinese and influence of xianbei culture
Other name
Improves position in court = potential heir = emperor suffers a stroke = opportunity and take over the court
23 y later = emperor died = regent
Forced her son to formally ceise throne = establish own dynasty (zhou) = abolished 15 years later (wu zhou) = separate dynasty?
Replaced by her son
Emperor = take the name wu zetian = 30 years as empress + 15 emperor = own court and formers, secret police,substantial power in bureaucracy = gain control on the entire court
Wu Zetian and Buddhism
*Sponsorship of Buddhist art and institutions
*Bans on slaughter of animals
*Great Cloud Sutra justifies her taking power: “You shall reign over the territory of a country with the body of a woman…the people shall prosper; there will be no weaknesses, nor sorrows from illnesses, nor afflictions, nor fears nor calamities; all propitious events will be completely realized.”
Patronage of buddhism = greatest art in eastern capital? = produced finiancing from her court (image) = persueed buddhist
Ordered monastery in each province
Directing ideas into own advantage
A guy (affair) = munk = worked to create a 19m tall buddhist temple in luoyang
690 = writes a new commentary on great cloud suttra = female goddess that remains reincarnated in female form = 1000 years reincarnate = prophety = take power = used suttra to justify her accession to the throne (throne after 2 years) = monastery = munks lecture on those suttras = that it was appriopriate to rule
Daughter in law = political assisatnce from women = northern political tradition = very important role in tang dynasty = but not only in court with freedom
Legal disputes, petitions, interract with political inflent men = elevate posiiton = use of bride prices (dot) and arranged marriage = selling women? But compared to after (instead of dowries) = subsancial economic values = marketable asset = not a drain of the male line (what
Women in Tang Society
*Bride price elevates status of elite women
*Freedom visible in visual art
*Growing role of concubinage shows divide between elite and ordinary women
Visual art = freedom
Inner chambers after
Women riding horseback, shooting bows, playing games, elite womens = sedan chairs after
Art = low cut gowns = men clothing
Play music, games, polictial speech
Common = interdictions so writters had to emphasize it
Premarrital sex allowed for women
Not a feminist golden age = if not elite = degradation = courtisan industry in cities = only escape to be purchased as a comcubine = most elite households = littérature and funeral inscription = more men are getting to acquire concubines = legal code payed attention to concubines = inferior status = not married but purchases = one wife and as much concubines = obey wifes = sons need to take official wife as mother = wife has claims on household if widow = daughter of officials get reduced to concubines = misery and woe tales in littérature= not just one story in elite = princesses could lure into adultery = lower not so free, class of position affect what being a women
Woodblock Printing
*Invented by early 8th century
*Blocks of wood carved, dipped in ink, pressed on paper
*Dominant form of printing in East Asia until modern era – why?
*Initial use was primarily printing Buddhist sutras to accumulate merit
*Commercial printing begins taking off with calendars in late Tang - becomes massively more important in Five Dynasties/Song
Story of guterberg = not true = invented in east asia = song and mass produce books = very significant =
Take a slat of word, crave on it, ink, press, = removable type printing = small piece to rearrange = never actually replace woodlock = across east asia = korea use movable type a bit more = until late 19th century =lots of caracters = big investment = sheet by sheet in woodblock = include text and image = very important = calligraphic style importance in chinese ideas of books and printing (calligraphy, font is very important to production of books, vary that with woodblock, reusable
History european = movable type (ceramic in china, korea metal = gov print huge large quantities of buddhist pages)
Earliest kind of printed texts = buddhism = less tied into commercial motives = more religious to bring spiritual values = copy (image) = made for blessions to bring merits to his family
Earliest texts not religious = calendars = initial commercial use = emperor son of heaven = define and set calendar = issues
The Capital: Chang’an
Massive city, wall 35kms in length and 5m high = inside walls = devided in 100 small courters = registered to collect taxes, soldiers, specific gates and closed for curfews = way to say time = after a time curfew
Markets = 2 = north and western = foreigner = built buildings from their culture (christianity) = buddhist temples all over the city = various services, dunerals, baths, hospitals = diff social classes = examinations = ming = supplement to family backgroud = could still be appointed
Merchants = wealthy with roods = punish merchants, cehck weight, quality of money, who decided everyhting?
Sale from his office
Strict documents for foreigner
Lots of jobs = for money
Positive = festivals (lunar new year),
*Strict control of movement, gates, curfews
*Large and visible foreign population
*Markets subject to strict regulation
Recap
*The Sui reunified north and south China after centuries of separation and by building the Grand Canal, helped promote subsequent unification
*Life for women in Tang China was in many ways freer than that in subsequent periods, but many of the advantages available only to the elite
*The Tang state had ambitions to engage in substantial top-down control of daily life, which, at least in the early Tang, it was able to do with some success. No subsequent dynasty would attempt to be so interventionist
