AMSCO APWHM Chapter 10 Vocabulary

All key terms and their definitions are listed. This is the list from the 2018 version.

Sui Dynasty

(581-618 CE) People suffered from reduced trade and political turmoil. Led by a harsh and dictatorial leader, Yangdi. He unified China through violence. Expand China into Korea and Central Asia. Built the Grand Canal and reinforced the Long Wall. Yangdi was assassinated.

Grand Canal

Built in 7th century during reign of Yangdi during Sui dynasty; designed to link the original centers of Chinese civilization on the north China plain with the Yangtze river basin to the south; strengthened China's internal cohesion and economic development

Hangzhou

A city that expanded during the Sui Dynasty thanks to its placement on the Grand Canal. A defensive wall was also built around the city. 3rd city of the Song Dynasty. 400 miles south of Kaifeng. Trade center

Tang Dynasty

(618-907 CE). China enjoyed prosperity and stability during this influential dynasty. Rulers extended territory west, north, and south. Developed more roads, canals, postal and messenger services. Implement the Civil Service Exam to expand the bureaucracy. Agriculture redistribution. Trade porcelain and silk on the Silk Road.

Middle Kingdom

China's belief that they were the society the world revolved around.

Silla Kingdom

This kingdom in Korea had to pay large tributaries to the Chinese emperor.

Tributary System

system in which other states had to pay money or goods to honor the emperor. Created economic and political power for China, but also created stable trade for everyone.

Song Dynasty

(960-1279 CE) The Chinese dynasty that placed much more emphasis on civil administration, industry, education, and arts other than military.

Southern Song Dynasty

This portion of the Song survived until 1279 when the Mongol Empire invaded. Mongols destroyed the gov't and created the Yuan Dynasty. Song dynasty paid tribute before.

Tang Taizong

He was the second emperor of the Tang Dynasty (627-649 CE), who further developed roads, canals, the messenger system, defense against bandits, and expanded the bureaucracy under the civil service exam.

Song Taizu

A Song Emperor who sought to create more bureaucratic positions and increase their salaries, which began to drain China’s wealth surplus. He also delegated military affairs to officials apart from the scholar gentry, weakening their army.

Chang’an

(modern city of Xian) Original city of the Song dynasty. Moved because of threats from nomads.

Kaifeng

530 miles east from Chang'an. This was the 2nd city of the Song Dynasty. Moved again because of the continuous pressure from nomads.

Yuan Dynasty

This dynasty was established by the Mongols after they destroyed the Song Dynasty.

Ming Dynasty

After the Yuan Dynasty.

Minamoto clan

This group took control after the Heian court. Installed a shogun and emphasized military power and control.

Shogun

military leader who reigned supreme over emperor. Minamoto clan.

Samurai

professional warriors who worked for noble families under the Minamoto clan rule. They protected lands and received basic needs in return. In absence of an army or political force, they played a central role after the Heian fell.

Kumsong

Guerilla warfare

Practiced by Vietnam when they drove the Chinese army out as the Tang crumbled due to their knowledge of the land.

Nuclear family

Vietnamese preferred this family form where a wife, husband, and children lived together opposed to the extended family. Villages operated independently. No political centralization.

Sinification

assimilation of Chinese traditions and practices. This was not welcomed in Vietnam.

Polygyny

practice of having more than one spouse. A Confucian practice that the Vietnamese women resented.

Xuanzang

Chinese Buddhist monk who went on a pilgrimage to India. He studied Buddhism in India and brought back many texts which he translated. They helped spread Buddhist scholarship in China.

Hsuan Tsung

(712-756 CE) A Tang Emperor who was not devoted to administering the affairs of government and became distracted by a concubine. He later was overthrown in the rebellion initiated by An Lushan.

An Lushan

A military leader who orchestrated a rebellion against the Tang Empire and overthrew Hsuan Tsung (755). They were later defeated by an army of Uighurs, but caused significant damage to population numbers, food storage, and saw much disease.

Scholar gentry

This social class were officials who studied Confucius and classics. They were outnumbered by the aristocracy and became highly influential. The Tang emperor asked them to lead the military which made the army vulnerable.

Daimyo

landowning aristocrats that battled for power over the land. The Japanese counterpart to nobles in Europe. They were sometimes more powerful than the emperor or shogun b/c they ruled vast stretches of land.

Kowtow

ritual under the Tang tributary system in which representatives from states must bow head to the floor to honor the emperor.

Uighurs

ethnic group living in Chinese land in Central Asia. Fought against An Lushan to maintain the Tang dynasty.

Foot binding

Practice that began in the Song Dynasty. At a young age, girls of aristocratic families' feet were bound so their bones couldn't grow. It was painful, but a symbol of social status. Restricted women physically and in the political sphere.

Li Bo

One of the most accomplished poets in the Tang era. His poetry was positive and uplifting, describing nature, attending parties, and other ways people enjoy life with friends.

Du Fu

The Tang “poet-historian” of China’s Postclassical Era. He wrote about the hardships of daily life.

Chan (Zen) Buddhism

Syncretic faith mixing Buddhism and Taoism. Emphasizes direct experience and meditation as opposed to formal learning.

Neo-Confucianism

syncretic faith mixing Buddhism and Confucianism. A social and ethical philosophy, not religious. Combines rational thought with metaphysics.

Shotoku Taishi

Prince of the Yamato region in Japan. He implemented Chinese practices in Japan like

Taika Reforms

New laws to increase efficiency and take power away from aristocracy. Land was under gov't control which increased taxes and took power from feudal lords. Closer to centralized gov't

Fujiwara clan

The clan that took control of the Japanese government in 710, changing the capital city and continuing the tradition of Shotoku by modeling itself after Tang China.

Nara

The city that the Fujiwara clan determined to be the new Japanese capital in 710.

Heian

The capital moved back to this city under the Fujiwara family. The power of the aristocracy was too strong. Japan slipped back to a decentralized gov't. Changes didn't hold.

Murasaki Shikibu

A Japanese noblewoman who wrote The Tale of Genji.

The Tale of Genji

Arguably the world's 1st novel. About the imperial prince. Melancholy story of love and life in aristocratic Japan.

Bushido

Japanese counterpart to a knight's code of chivalry. Stressed

Equal-field system

This reform implemented by the Tang attempted to ensure that all Chinese had land to cultivate. Wanted to take power away from the aristocracy, but they eventually got it back. Created rural wealth and growth for 100 years.

Fast-ripening (Champa) rice

Native to northern Vietnam. This grain allowed peasants to grow 2 crops a year. Land redistribution and food surpluses helped spread Chinese prosperity.

Proto-industrialization

phase that precedes and enables full industrialization later, earlier than Europe.

Flying cash

system of credit where merchants deposit money at one location and withdrawal at another.

Paper money

Currency in paper form. (800 CE) This was deposited and withdrawn as flying cash. Production was reserved to the gov't.

Magnetic compass

Chinese scientists develop this navigation tool that helped advance sea trade.

Rudder

Chinese scientists improved these ship control devices that helped advance sea trade on junks.

Junk

This boat developed during the Han had multiple sails and the hull was divided into multiple compartments to make sinking less likely.

Wood-block printing

method in which an artist carves a block of wood to create a negative which is printed using ink. Buddhist scripture from the 7th century is 1st woodblock print work.