Morris Bian HIST 1010 Final Exam

Qin Dynasty

Unified China and created the first centralized bureaucratic system of government, setting China on the path of administrative centralization.

Shihuangdi

First emperor of the Qin Dynasty who unified China and established the initial centralized bureaucratic empire; brought about administrative centralization by creating commanderies and counties.

Terracotta Army

Stationed in Xian; massive collection of life-sized clay soldier sculptures buried with Shihuangdi to guard him in the afterlife; symbolizes the power and scale of the Qin state.

Han Dynasty

Long-lasting Chinese dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) that consolidated centralized bureaucratic rule and made Confucianism the dominant state ideology and religion.

Han Wudi

"Imperial Expansion"; under whom administrative centralization reached its peak and Confucianism was institutionalized; oversaw 13 bureaus and administration.

Administrative Centralization

China's primary political tradition: concentration of power in a centralized bureaucratic empire, begun under the Qin and expanded under the Han.

Xiongnu

Nomadic confederation to the north that threatened Han China; eventually expelled from Han territories but part of a long pattern of nomadic invasions.

Confucianization

The process by which Confucianism became officially recognized imperial ideology/religion as well as the core curriculum of education.

Five Classics

Five ancient Chinese books associated with Confucius; compiled during the Han Dynasty and invoked as authorities on Chinese society; became core curriculum of the Civil Service Exam.

Characteristics of Ancient India

Lack of centralized empires and dominance of regional kingdoms; defined by a well-defined but extremely inflexible social hierarchy known as the caste system.

Siddhartha Gautama

Historical Buddha (563-483 BC), born a prince in a small tribal state in the Himalayan foothills; attained enlightenment at age 35 and founded Buddhism; taught the Four Noble Truths.

Brahmins

Priestly class at the top of the Indian caste system who performed ritual sacrifices and mechanical rituals believed to win favor from the gods.

Ascetic

A person who renounces material comforts and lives a life of austere self-discipline, self-denial, and self-torture as an act of religious devotion.

Great Renunciation

Siddhartha's decision at age 29 to give up his princely life, wife, and son to become a wandering ascetic in search of the cause of human suffering.

Four Noble Truths

Core Buddhist insights: (1) life is suffering, (2) suffering is caused by desire, (3) ending desire ends suffering, (4) desire is ended by following the Middle Path.

Enlightenment

In Buddhism, a blessed state in which the individual transcends both desire and suffering and attains nirvana.

Nirvana

The ultimate goal or condition: a blissful spiritual condition beyond existence and without form, in which passion, hatred, and delusion are extinguished.

Theravada

Traditional form of Buddhism; closer to the teachings of the historical Buddha; renounces the material world and emphasizes monastic life; limited routes to salvation; spread to Southeast Asia.

Mahayana

Form of Buddhism emphasizing faith, personal devotion, and universal opportunity for salvation; the Buddha himself was a supernatural god; spread to China, Korea, and Japan.

Bodhisattva

In Mahayana Buddhism, an enlightened being who delays entering nirvana out of compassion in order to help others achieve salvation.

Silk Road

Interlinking trade routes across the Eurasian landmass that connected Asia with the European world.

Dream of Emperor Ming

Dream in which Han Emperor Ming saw a flying golden deity, later identified as the Buddha; the first recorded event in the introduction of Buddhism into China.

Period of Disunion

Long era of Chinese political fragmentation (220-581 AD) marked by nomadic invasions and alien dynasties in the north; the time when Buddhism became China's dominant religion.

Appeal of Buddhism

To northern rulers, it attracted the allegiance of the Buddhist population and legitimized their rule; to southern Chinese, it offered spiritual comfort amid widespread war, suffering, and dislocation.

Liang Wudi

"Martial Emperor" of the native Chinese Liang Dynasty in southern China who, despite his title, was a devout Buddhist; banned meat and wine, funded monasteries, and took titles like "Emperor Bodhisattva"; demonstrates the strong appeal of Buddhism to native Chinese rulers.

Sinicization

Process by which Buddhism (and later the Manchus) became increasingly Chinese in character, modified by Chinese cultural influence in art, sculpture, and practice.

Sui Dynasty

Dynasty that reunified China after the Period of Disunion, built the Grand Canal, restored administrative centralization, and formally established the civil service examination system.

Grand Canal

1,000-mile canal built by the Sui Dynasty linking northern and southern China; facilitated trade (especially rice from the south) and helped integrate China's economy until the railroads.

Tang Dynasty

Long-lasting dynasty (618-906) often called a golden age of Chinese civilization; expanded the Equal-Field System; early rulers patronized Buddhism, but later the state turned against it.

Persecution of Buddhism

Late Tang suppression of Buddhism that proved a crippling blow to the religion; large monastic landholdings were seen as a threat to the state; paved the way for China's intellectual and religious re-centralization and the revival of Confucianism.

Traditional Chinese Civilization

The period roughly from 960 to 1860, defined by six characteristics: absolute monarchy, centralized bureaucracy, a governing elite of scholar-officials, the civil service examination system, the dominance of Neo-Confucianism, and the tribute system.

Song Dynasty

Dynasty (960-1279) that marked the beginning of traditional Chinese civilization; founded after the Mutiny at Chen Bridge; under it the examination system, scholar-official elite, and Neo-Confucianism took their final form.

Mutiny at Chen Bridge

Event in 960 when soldiers placed a yellow robe on their commander and proclaimed him emperor, founding the Song Dynasty.

Civil Service Examination System

System of official recruitment through competitive exams based on Confucian classics; a hallmark of traditional Chinese civilization that allowed upward mobility and staffed the bureaucracy until 1905.

Song Taizu

Founding emperor of the Song Dynasty; came to power via the Mutiny at Chen Bridge and regularized/expanded the civil service examination system.

Nine-Rank System

System of recommendation during the Period of Disunion in which local aristocrats classified candidates into nine ranks based on family background; replaced examinations and tied office to noble birth.

Xiucai

"Cultivated talent"; B.A. equivalent; qualified holders to serve as teachers.

Juren

"Elevated man"; M.A. equivalent; qualified holders for lower bureaucratic positions.

Jinshi

"Presented scholar"; Ph.D. equivalent; qualified holders for the highest bureaucratic positions.

County Magistrate

Entry-level position for a jinshi degree holder; combined legislative, judicial, and executive power in one person over a county.

Shidafu

Scholar-officials; the governing elite of traditional China whose status came from examination success rather than hereditary noble birth.

Mandarin

Western name for Chinese scholar-officials, derived from the dialect of Chinese they spoke; also refers to that dialect itself.

Neo-Confucianism

Revived and transformed Confucianism that emerged under the Song Dynasty; strengthened classical Confucian ideas by incorporating cosmological frameworks from Buddhism and Daoism.

Zhu Xi

Greatest synthesizer of Neo-Confucianism (1130-1200); developed the theory of li and qi and wrote commentaries on the Four Books that became required reading for exam candidates after 1313; proposed two spheres: the larger universe and the smaller sphere of human society.

Li

In Neo-Confucianism, universal principle; in human society, moral principle and potentially good human nature.

Qi

In Neo-Confucianism, material force; in human society, the organization of society, human relations, and the Confucian classics.

"Investigation of Things"

Zhu Xi's key method for comprehending universal and moral principle: studying natural phenomena, social organization, human relations, and the Confucian classics.

Four Books

Four ancient Confucian texts with Zhu Xi's commentaries; starting in 1313 they became required reading for all civil service exam candidates alongside the Five Classics.

Zhu Xi & Thomas Aquinas

Parallel scholars who responded to challenges by incorporating ideas from rival systems—Aquinas synthesized reason and faith; Zhu Xi synthesized Confucianism with Buddhist/Daoist cosmology. Both were condemned in life but had their commentaries made required reading after death.

Ming Taizu

Founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty; a former peasant and Buddhist monk turned rebel general who drove the Mongols out of China in 1368.

Ming Dynasty

Native Chinese dynasty (1368-1644) that restored Chinese rule after Mongol conquest and recreated the core features of traditional Chinese civilization.

Great Wall of China

Fortifications stretching about 1,500 miles along China's northern frontier; fundamentally a Ming Dynasty project designed to prevent new invasions by the Mongols and other nomadic peoples.

Zheng He

Son of a Chinese Muslim who made pilgrimages to Mecca; eunuch admiral of the Ming Dynasty who commanded seven massive maritime voyages (1405-1433) across the Indian Ocean to East Africa.

Seven Voyages of Zheng He

Official expeditions (not voyages like Columbus); followed established Arab/Chinese trade routes; political and diplomatic in nature; demonstrated China's capabilities of maritime dominance; represent a deviation from self-sufficient agricultural civilization.

Jesuits

Members of the Society of Jesus, a Catholic religious order founded in response to the Protestant Reformation; the most prominent Christian missionaries in Ming China.

Matteo Ricci

Italian Jesuit who arrived in China in 1582; mastered Chinese language and Confucian classics, impressed Chinese elites with European science, but failed to convert most Chinese due to the "exclusivity of Christianity."

Manchus

Nomadic people from Manchuria who invaded and conquered Ming China, establishing the Qing Dynasty in 1644; eventually became thoroughly assimilated into dominant Chinese culture and institutions.

Manchuria

Homeland of the Manchus, located northeast of China proper; Chinese migration into it was prohibited by the Qing until 1860.

Qing Dynasty

The second alien dynasty in Chinese history (1636/1644-1912), established by the Manchus; preserved the core institutions of traditional Chinese civilization and lasted until the 20th century.

Tribute System

Framework of principles and regulations governing China's foreign relations; established a suzerain-vassal hierarchy with China at the center, accepted by virtually all East and Southeast Asian states (and even European missions) until the end of the 18th century.