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UNIT I: The Global Tapestry (c. 1200 to c. 1450) – Vocabulary Flashcards

Developments in East Asia (c. 1200–1450)

  • Essential question: How did developments in China and the rest of East Asia between c. 1200 and c. 1450 reflect continuity, innovation, and diversity?
  • Context: Between 1200 and 1450, Afro-Eurasia saw the rise of powerful empires and intensified trade networks. The Song Dynasty in China was the leading example of wealth, stability, and innovation in the 13th century; regional powers in Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and the Islamic world expanded through trade. The Mongol Empire (Central Asia to the Pacific) unified large swaths of Eurasia, reshaping interactions and enabling easier exchange of ideas, goods, and technologies across the continent.

1) The Song Dynasty and East Asia (c. 960–1279)

  • The Song Dynasty replaced the Tang in 960 and ruled for over three centuries.
    • They lost northern lands to the Jin Empire (Manchuria), ruling over a smaller region but enjoying prosperity and cultural flowering.
  • Neo-Confucianism; Confucian and Buddhist ideas shaped government, social classes, and family life.
  • The Song era marked a peak in manufacturing capability and urbanization, with a lasting influence on regional culture and governance.

Government developments in the Song Dynasty

  • Imperial bureaucracy: A vast system where officials carried out state policies; continuity from the Qin to the Song, but the Song expanded the bureaucracy.
  • Meritocracy and the Civil Service Exam:
    • Emperor Song Taizu expanded educational opportunities for young men from lower economic classes.
    • Exams tested knowledge of Confucian texts; successful examinees gained bureaucratic positions, creating a merit-based system.
    • Although the system allowed upward mobility, the bureaucracy grew so large that it drained state wealth and contributed to later weaknesses of the Song state.
  • Upward mobility vs. representation: While more people could rise through exams, the lower classes remained underrepresented in practice due to exam access and other barriers.

Economic developments in postclassical China

  • Grand Canal: An expansive internal waterway system extending over 30{,}000 ext{ miles}, enabling efficient internal trade and integration of the economy.
  • Agricultural productivity:
    • Champa rice from present-day Vietnam expanded production and allowed two crops per year in favorable areas.
    • Innovations in farming included the use of manure, elaborate irrigation systems (ditches, water wheels, pumps, terraces), and heavy plows drawn by water buffalo or oxen.
    • Result: rapid population growth; Song China became the world’s most populous trading region.
  • Manufacturing and trade:
    • Proto-industrialization: Rural artisans produced more goods than could be sold, with production focused in dispersed facilities under imperial supervision.
    • Steel production from cast iron, powered by coal (“black earth”) discoveries; steel reinforced bridges, gates, ship anchors; used in religious artifacts and agricultural tools.
    • Porcelain, silk, and textiles were major exports; porcelain was prized for being lightweight, strong, and easily decorated.
    • Gunpowder: Invented earlier but refined during the Song; early guns developed and later spread along Silk Roads.
    • Printing and literacy: Woodblock printing enabled mass production of texts, including farming manuals and Buddhist scriptures; printing fostered literacy among the educated elite.
  • Maritime and navigational advances:
    • The compass improved maritime navigation; ships were redesigned to carry more cargo; paper navigation charts facilitated open-sea travel, reducing reliance on celestial navigation.

Taxation, tributes, and state finance

  • Tax policy: The state funded public works (roads, canals) by paying workers rather than forcing labor conscription, increasing monetary circulation and economic activity.
  • Tributary system: Neighboring states paid tribute or provided goods to the Chinese emperor, reinforcing China’s economic and political hegemony and promoting interregional trade.
    • The system originated in the Han Dynasty and was active across East Asia; governments expected kowtows (bowing rituals) from tributaries.
    • Zheng He’s fleets (Ming era reference) illustrate the use of large maritime expeditions to project power and collect tribute (described in Topic 2.3).
  • The tribute network integrated East Asia into a broader Sino-centric economic sphere, strengthening political ties and trade routes.

Social structures and urban life in Song China

  • Urbanization: Song China was highly urbanized, with several cities each housing >100,000 inhabitants and serving as cosmopolitan centers of commerce and culture (e.g., Chang’an, Hangzhou, Guangzhou).
  • Social hierarchy:
    • Scholar-gentry: The educated elite who became the most influential social class, educated in Confucian philosophy.
    • Below the scholar-gentry: Farmers, artisans, merchants.
    • Merchants had relatively low status in Confucian society, as they did not create value through production.
  • Rural-urban dynamics: The majority lived in rural areas, but urban life grew in prominence due to economic growth and cultural exchange.

Role of women

  • Confucian-influenced patriarchy shaped gender roles; women expected to defer to men.
  • Foot binding (a sign of social status) became common among aristocratic families during the Song; tight binding restricted movement and public participation and symbolized status.
  • Foot binding was banned in 1912, long after the Song era.

Intellectual and cultural developments

  • Education and literacy:
    • Printing and paper increased literacy among the elite; Confucian scholars produced and consumed substantial literature.
    • The Song dynasty produced a cohort of well-rounded scholar-bureaucrats; the period’s emphasis on schooling produced many literate elites, akin to the Renaissance idea of “Renaissance men.”
  • Religion and philosophy:
    • Buddhism continued to expand, integrating with Daoist ideas to form syncretic Chan Buddhism (Zen) in China.
    • Neo-Confucianism emerged as a syncretic system (770–840) combining rational thought with Daoist and Buddhist influences, emphasizing ethics over metaphysical questions.
    • Printing disseminated Buddhist scriptures and Confucian texts, reinforcing intellectual and religious life.
  • Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism interactions:
    • Monasteries proliferated, especially under Tang rule; Buddhist ideas sometimes clashed with state power, leading to closures/land seizures but Chan Buddhism remained popular.
    • Buddhist ideas were adapted by Confucian scholars; Buddhist concepts like dharma were translated into Chinese terms (e.g., dao).
  • Neo-Confucianism and its influence:
    • Emerged as a dominant intellectual and ethical framework in China and influenced neighboring regions (Japan, Korea, Vietnam).

Comparing China with its neighbors: Japan, Korea, and Vietnam

  • Sinification: The expansion of Chinese political, cultural, religious, and technological influences affected nearby states, who adapted Chinese models while retaining distinctive identities.
Japan
  • Japan’s seaborous separation allowed selective assimilation:
    • Prince Shōtoku Taishi (574–622) promoted Buddhism and Confucianism alongside Shinto.
    • Woodblock printing came from China; the Heian period (794–1185) emulated Chinese politics, culture, and literature.
    • The Tale of Genji (11th century) is considered the world's first novel.
  • Feudalism: Long-standing feudal structure with landowning aristocrats (daimyo) battling for land, peasants (serfs) depending on lords.
  • Governance: Japan lacked centralized authority for long periods; the Minamoto clan established a shogunate in 1192, with the emperor largely ceremonial and real power in the hands of military rulers; full unification did not occur until the 17th century.
  • Code of conduct: Bushido—loyalty, martial skill, and honor unto death—defined the samurai ethos; chivalry in Europe contrasted with bushido in Japan.
Korea
  • Direct relationship with China: Tributary status maintained, with strong cultural and political influence.
  • Centralized governance modeled after China; Confucian and Buddhist beliefs popular among elites and commoners.
  • Writing systems: Koreans adopted the Chinese writing system but developed their own script later in the 15th century.
  • Aristocracy and reform: The Korean landed aristocracy held significant power and could resist certain Chinese reforms; a peasants’ access to an official examination system was limited, preventing a fully merit-based bureaucracy.
Vietnam
  • Cultural exchange and resistance: Vietnam adopted Chinese writing and architectural styles but maintained a distinct culture and political resistance to Chinese dominance.
  • Gender and social structure: Vietnamese women enjoyed relatively greater independence in marriage than Chinese women; nuclear families were favored; villages operated with less centralized control.
  • Bureaucracy and governance: Vietnamese officials were educated and formed a merit-based bureaucracy, yet their loyalty tended to the village rather than the emperor; revolts against oppressive governance occurred.
  • Sinification occurred in the long run, but Vietnam preserved strong cultural autonomy and local governance traditions.

2) Key Terms by Theme (selected highlights)

  • ECONOMICS: Champa rice; proto-industrialization; artisans;
  • SOCIETY: scholar-gentry; filial piety;
  • ENVIRONMENT: Grand Canal;
  • GOVERNMENT: Song Dynasty; imperial bureaucracy; meritocracy;
  • TECHNOLOGY: woodblock printing;
  • CULTURE: foot binding; Buddhism; Theravada Buddhism; Mahayana Buddhism; Tibetan Buddhism; syncretic Chan (Zen) Buddhism; Neo-Confucianism;
  • GOVERNMENT (Japan): Heian period;
  • CULTURE (Vietnam): nuclear families; polygyny;
  • DEVELOPMENT IN EAST ASIA: (contextualization)

3) Think as a Historian: Contextualizing developments

  • Contextualizing helps identify patterns and causal links among laws, institutions, culture, events, and people.
  • Example: Song Dynasty’s success (960–1279) can be viewed through political continuity (imperial bureaucracy) and change (merit-based access for lower classes, contributing to the dynasty’s strengths and later weaknesses).
  • Context also aids comparison across cultures and time periods; for instance, the spread of Buddhism, Neo-Confucian ethics, and centralized bureaucratic models across East Asia demonstrates both diffusion and local adaptation.
  • Illustrative context: In 629–630, Xuanzang’s pilgrimage to India, study at Nalanda, and return with Buddhist texts fostered Chinese Buddhist scholarship and contributed to the cross-cultural exchange that underpinned East Asian religious life.

4) Timeline of Key Events (selected) [contextual anchors from the period]

  • 1215: King John of England signs the Magna Carta.
  • 1206: The Delhi Sultanate takes power in India.
  • 1258: The Mongols conquer the Abbasid Empire.
  • 1321: Dante, a leader in the European Renaissance, dies.
  • 1324: Mansa Musa of Mali makes his pilgrimage to Mecca.
  • 1325: Aztecs found Tenochtitlán.
  • 1330s–1400s: Various East Asian and Islamic state dynamics continue to evolve as trade networks expand.
  • 1368–1644: Ming Prohibition Ordinance period (contextual note; not all ports of trade were prohibited, but governing regulations restricted certain practices at times).
  • 1324: Zheng He voyages (noted in Topic 2.3) to demonstrate imperial power and collect tribute.
  • 1400s: Maritime and land routes further integrate Afro-Eurasia, enabling sustained cross-cultural exchange.

5) Connecting to broader themes and real-world relevance

  • Trade networks enabled wealth, urbanization, and cultural exchange across continents from c. 1200 to 1450, foreshadowing the global connections of the Columbian era.
  • The rise of large multiethnic empires (Song economy, Mongol empire) shows how administrative systems, military power, and economic policies can enable rapid growth and also generate structural vulnerabilities.
  • The tension between centralized authority and local power (emperor vs. shogun, Chinese bureaucracy vs. Korean aristocracy, local Vietnamese governance) shaped political stability and social norms for centuries.

6) Core connections to earlier and later periods

  • Continuity: Imperial bureaucracy, Confucian ethics, and the tradition of civil service exams trace back to earlier dynasties (e.g., Qin, Han) and reappear in later East Asian governance models.
  • Innovation: Gunpowder, printing, compass, and agricultural innovations that emerged or accelerated in Song China influenced later Eurasian technological and economic developments.
  • Global context: The Song era’s economic and maritime developments foreshadow the later global maritime networks that characterize the early modern world.

7) Ethical, philosophical, and practical implications

  • The merit-based civil service system expanded social mobility but also entrenched elites and created new pressures on state finances when bureaucrats grew too numerous.
  • The spread of Buddhism and subsequent Neo-Confucian reforms illustrate how religious and philosophical ideas can be integrated into governance and ethics, shaping laws, education, and family life.
  • The tributary system and kowtow ritual reflect power dynamics and diplomacy norms that governed East Asian international relations for centuries.

8) Numerical references, formulas, and key data (LaTeX)

  • Song Dynasty duration: 960-1279
  • Grand Canal length: 30{,}000\text{ miles}
  • Population share shift: from 25 ext{ extordmasculine} othe world population to 40 ext{ extpercent} during the Song era
  • Champa rice impact: enabled two crops per year in favorable areas: 2\text{ crops/year}
  • Major demographic and urban centers: cities exceeded 100{,}000 inhabitants in the Song period

9) Contextualized takeaways for exam prep

  • Understand how the Song Dynasty’s economic innovations, bureaucratic expansion, and social structure contributed to both prosperity and vulnerabilities.
  • Recognize the role of trade (Grand Canal, maritime networks) in driving urbanization and cultural exchange.
  • Be able to discuss how Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, and Neo-Confucianism interacted to shape governance, education, and daily life.
  • Compare China’s experience with Japan, Korea, and Vietnam in terms of sinification, political structures, and social norms, highlighting both convergence and unique trajectories.
  • Use Xuanzang as a contextual anchor for Buddhist scholarship and cross-cultural exchange.

10) Quick reference: key terms by theme from the unit

  • ECONOMICS: Champa rice; proto-industrialization; artisans
  • SOCIETY: scholar-gentry; filial piety
  • ENVIRONMENT: Grand Canal
  • GOVERNMENT: Song Dynasty; imperial bureaucracy; meritocracy
  • TECHNOLOGY: woodblock printing
  • CULTURE: foot binding; Buddhism (Theravada, Mahayana, Tibetan); Chan (Zen) Buddhism; Neo-Confucianism
  • GOVERNMENT (Japan): Heian period
  • CULTURE (Vietnam): nuclear families; polygyny
  • DEVELOPMENTS IN EAST ASIA: contextualization and cross-cultural influence