Unit 10: China

Question 1

Tang Taizong

Answer 1

• emperor of the Tang Dynasty from 626-649

- his army reconquered the northern and western lands in China

Question 2

Wendi

Answer 2

• emperor (after Han Dynasty collapsed)
• 589 = united northern and southern China
• restored a strong central government
• first emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Question 3

Sui Dynasty

Answer 3

• (581-618)
• 2 emperors = completed the Grand Canal (waterway that connected the Huang He and the Chang Jiang)
• it provided a vital route for trade between the northern cities and the southern rice-producing region of the Chang Delta
• took 5 yrs to dig (1,000 miles); half of the workers died (peasant men and women)—> more died while building the Great Wall
• ppl revolted because they were overworked and overtaxed
• the Sui Dynasty built a strong foundation for the great achievements for the next dynasty (the Tang Dynasty)

Question 4

Tang Dynasty

Answer 4

• ruled for 300 yrs (618-907)
• larger than Song
• poetry
• art = colorful
• inventions = porcelain, mechanical clock, block printing, gunpowder
• 668= China extended over Korea
• rulers = strengthened central gov.; expanded the network of road and canals begun by Sui; promoted foreign trade and improvements in agriculture
• they revived and expanded the civil service examination system begun by Han (restore bureaucracy)
• TAXES = brought hardship; failed to cover the costs of military expansion and new building programs
• 907 = Chinese rebels sacked and burned Ch’ang-an (Tang capital) and murdered the last Tang emperor, a child

Question 5

Wu Zhao

Answer 5

• empress
• ruler during the campaign in Korea
• only woman to assume the title of empress for herself

Question 6

civil service examination

Answer 6

• exams were open to men (even commoners) but only wealthy could afford an education
• men w/ political connections could obtain high positions without taking the exams
• the system created an intelligent and capable governing class in China

Question 7

Taizu

Answer 7

• reunited China

- proclaimed himself first Song emperor

Question 8

Song Dynasty

Answer 8

• lasted 300 yrs (960-1276)
• inventions = movable type, paper money, magnetic compass
• more advanced agriculture (rice)
• art = black and white
• it was a small empire but China remained stable, powerful, and prosperous
• did not regain lands
• rulers tried to buy peace w/ northern enemies (paid in silver, sill, tea) but this failed to stop the threat from the north
• 1127 = emperors only ruled southern China (Southern Song = 1127-1279); rapid economic growth—> trade
• new capital = Hangzhou (coastal city south of Chang Jiang)

Question 9

Battle of Talas

Answer 9

• 751 = Muslims defeat the Chinese

- example of too much expansion and less governing

Question 10

Jurchen

Answer 10

• Manchurian ppl
• conquered northern China and established the Jin Empire
• they forced the Song to retreat south across the Huang He

Question 11

movable type

Answer 11

-blocks of metal or wood, each with a single character, that can be arranged to make up a page for printing

Question 12

inventions

Answer 12

• movable type
• gunpowder
• the development of gunpowder led to the creation of explosives (bombs, grenades, small rockets, cannons)
• porcelain
• the mechanical clock
• paper money
• use of the magnetic compass for sailing
• advances in arithmetic and algebra
• LOOK ON PG 328-329

Question 13

Agriculture

Answer 13

• 1000 = China imported anew variety of fast-ripening rice from Vietnam
• this allowed formers or harvest 2 crops of rice a year rather than 1
• more food = fed rapidly expanding population in the cities

Question 14

Trade and Foreign Contacts

Answer 14

• the Silk Roads
• china eventually lost control over these routes during the long Tang decline
• after this, they relied on ocean trade—>expanded due to the advances in sailing tech (magnetic compass)
• international trade

Question 15

Li Bo

Answer 15

• poet

- wrote about life’s pleasure

Question 16

Tu Fu

Answer 16

• poet
• praised orderliness and Confucian virtues
• wrote about war and the hardships of soldiers
• captured by rebels and taken to Ch’ang-an (capital city)
• he sent his family to the village of Fuzhou for safety
• “Moonlight Night” = describes their separation

Question 17

gentry

Answer 17

-powerful, well-to-do people

Question 18

levels of society in China

Answer 18

1. gentry
2. urban middle class (merchants, shopkeepers, artisans, low ranking officials)
3. laborers, soldiers, and servants
   - peasants = lived in countryside; largest class; worked for wealthy landsowner

Question 19

Status of women in Chinese Society

Answer 19

• lost status
• wealthy/upper class women had their feet bound (“lily or lotus feet”)
• peasant women = worked ```in the fields

Question 20

steppe

Answer 20

• vast belt of dry grassland
• little rain
• temp = -57° F (winter) - 96° F (summer)
• original home to Hittites
• eastern steppe (modern day Mongolia) = first home to the Huns, Turks and Mongols

Question 21

pastoralists

Answer 21

• nomadic ppls
• herded domesticated animals
• had battles with other nomadic groups
• animals = food, clothing and housing
• sometimes traded with settled societies (horses for tea, grain, metal, and cloth)

Question 22

yurts

Answer 22

-portable felt tents

Question 23

clans

Answer 23

• kinship groups
• the members of each clan claimed to be descended on from a common ancestor
• clans come together when they needed a large force to attack a common enemy or raid their settled neighbors

Question 24

Genghis Khan

Answer 24

• “universal ruler”
• real name = Temujin
• wanted to unify the Mongols and possibly wanted to seek revenge on the Tartars, who poisoned his father
• goal #1 = conquer China
• destroyed Utrar, Samarkand, and Bukhara (Muslim cites) because Muslim killed Mongol traders and an ambassador
• 1225 = Central Asia was under Mongol control
• he was a successful conqueror (brilliant organizer)= army of 10,000 warriors w/ 1,000 man brigades, 100 man companies, and 10 man squads
• gifted strategist = used tricks to confuse his enemy (pg 332)
• used cruelty as a weapon (if a city refused to open it’s gates to him, he might kill the entire population when he finally captured the place)
• died in 1227
• successors = continued to expand the empire (50 yrs = Mongols conquered territories from China to Poland

Question 25

khanates

Answer 25

• 1260 = mongols divided the empire into 4 regions
• a descendent of Genghis Khan ruled each region
  1. The Khanate of the Great Khan (Mongolia and China)
  2. The Khanate of Chagtai (Central Asia)
  3. The Ilkhanate (Persia)
  4. The Khanate of the Golden Horde (Russia)
• the Ilkhanate and the Khanate of the Golden Horde became Muslim

Question 26

Mongols as rulers

Answer 26

• they destroyed ancient irrigation system (like the Tigris and Euphrates valleys)—-> the land couldn’t support resettlement
• tolerant to peace
• rarely imposed their beliefs or way of life on those they conquered
• some adopted aspects of culture of the people the ruled

Question 27

Pax Mongolica

Answer 27

• Mongol Peace
• mid-1200a - mid-1300s
• Mongols imposed stability and law and order across a lot of Eurasia
• they guaranteed safe passage for trade caravans, travelers, and missionaries form one empire to another
• trade was never more active
• ideas/inventions traveled with the trade goods (like gunpowder)
• 1300s = bubonic plague (first spread by Mongols)

Question 28

Kublai Khan

Answer 28

-grandson fo Genghis Khan
-abandoned Mongolian steppes for China
-1260= assumed title of the Great Khan
-1279= attack China–> became China’s new emperor
-founded Yuan Dynasty
-he united China for the first time in 300 yrs
-tolerated Chinese culture; made few changes to gov
-his control imposed opened China to greater
contacts and trade
-he and his successors tolerated Chinese culture and made few changes to the system of government
-built new square-walled capital at modern day Beijing
-1274-1281= tried to conquer Japan but failed
-he believed that foreigners were more trustworthy since they had no local loyalties (didn’t let Chinese have high gov offices but the kept Chinese as officials to serve at a local level
-he restored the Grand Canal and extended it 135 miles north to Beijing (banks= paved highway than ran 1,100 miles from Hangzhou to Beijing)—> brought grain and other goods from southern heartland
-encouraged trade (invited forwign merchants to china)—> increase trade (Silk Roads)
-kamikaze= “divide wind” that saved Japan (typoon)
-died 1294

Question 29

Yuan Dynasty

Answer 29

• lasted less than a century until 1368, when it was overthrown
• kublai khan united china for the first time in 300 years

Question 30

Marco Polo

Answer 30

• Venetian trader
• traveled the Silk Roads with uncle and father (1275= arrived at Geat Khans court)
• served Kublai for 17 yrs
• 1292= left China to go back to Venice
• captured and imprisoned during a war between Venice and Genoa
• told stories of his adventures in China while in prison
• thought China was the greatest civilization in the world
• may believed he did not actually go to China (thought his stories were tall tales)

Question 31

Yuan Dynasty after Kublai Khan’s death

Answer 31

• before= Kublai’s army suffered humiliating defeats and he spent lots of money on wars, public works, equiptment
• after death= familiy members argued over who should rule (8 yrs= 4 different khans)
• rebellions fueled by yrs of famine, flood, and disease
• rebel leader founded Ming Dynasty
• collapse of Yuan Dyansty= Mongol Empire was disintegrated (all 4 Khanates fell apart except the Khanate of the Golden Horde, which ruled Russia for 250 yrs untill Ivan III led Russia to indenpendence from Mongol rule in1480 )