18.1: Korea: History and Culture

Location of Korea

GQ: Why is Korea described as a bridge between China and Japan

• Mountainous peninsula in East Asia

• Bridge between China and Japan

  • Both countries greatly affected Korea’s development

  • Traditions = unique civilizations

Early Koreans

• Tangun legend: son of a bear and a god founded first Korean kingdom

• Historians believe first Koreans were nomads

• Scattered and no central government

• Grew rice, made tools and weapons out of bronze, used iron to make items

• Shamanism: belief in gods and spirits

  • Shamans: certain people could communicate with these spirits

  • Carried out rituals to convince spirits to help people

The Three Kingdoms

• 2333 BC: Earliest kingdom in Korea founded

• 109 BC: Chinese took over northern part of Korean Peninsula

• AD 200s: Koreans drove the Chinese out

• Divided into three kingdoms: AD 300 - AD 700 (Three Kingdoms Period)

  • Koguryo Kingdom - in the north

    • AD 300s: Artists created cave art paintings

  • Paekche Kingdom - in the southwest

  • Silla Kingdom - in the southeast

    • AD 300s: Queen built astronomical observatory, still stands today

    • Considered oldest observatory in Asia

• Used Chinese writing system

• Adopted Buddhism and Confucianism

• Modeled government off of Chinese government

The Silla Kingdom

• Kingdoms hostile to one another

• AD 500s and 600s: Fought wars for control of the Korean Peninsula

• AD 660s: Conflict

  • Tang dynasty sided with Silla Kingdom and conquered Paekche and Koguryo

• Brought time of peace → Silla tried to create ideal Buddhist kingdom

• Nobles on top, farmers below

• Government help

  • Gave land to farmers

  • Build irrigation systems for rice fields

    • More food produced, trade increased, economy prospered

• Support of cultural advances

  • Employ educated people by using examination system

  • Encouraged the art: especially building Buddhist temples

GQ: How did the outside influences affect early Korea?

Korean Civilization

GQ: How did Korea build a civilization?

• Silla kingdom collapses

• Nobles fought for power

• AD 935: General Wang Kon won and became first Korean ruler to unite entire Korean Peninsula

  • Founded new dynasty: Koryo

The Koryo Kingdom

• Followed Chinese government model that Silla used

• Remained in power for 400 years

• Code of laws

• Civil service system based on examinations

• Buddhism continues to grow and spread throughout peninsula

• Artisans developed moveable metal type, produce world’s oldest book printed with this method

• Celadon Pottery: Know for green color and elegant shapes, perfected by the Koreans

• Mongols: Main outside danger

  • AD 1231: Mongols invade northern part of Korea

  • Forces Koryo king and royal family to flee to nearby island

  • Royal family surrenders after 25 years

  • Agreed to Mongol rule

• Brought much suffering to Korean people

  • Forced thousands of peasants and artisans to build ships for Kublai Khan’s attempted Japan invasion

• Mongol power declines and so did rule of Koryo

• 1392: Korean general Yi Song-gye overthrows Koryo and founded new dynasty

The Yi Dynasty

• Lasted for over 500 years

• Capital: Hanseong (site of Seoul)

• Strengthened rule of Korea

  • Chinese ideas and practices

  • Neo-Confucianism

  • Schools to teach Chinese classics to civil service candidates

• Refused to support Buddhism

• Sejong: One of the greatest Yi king

  • 1394 - 1450

  • Used bronze to invent first instruments for measuring rain

    • World’s oldest record of rainfall

  • Made water clocks, sundials, and globes (showed position and motion of planets in the solar system)

• Hangul: Korean alphabet

  • Based on symbols that represent sounds

  • One letter for each sound

War and Technology

• 1592: Japan attacks Korea

• Goal: Cross Korean Peninsula and conquer China

• Chinese allies → Koreans stop Japanese attack

• Turtle ships

  • Plates covered ship that looked like a turtle shell

  • Cannons on all sides

  • Rows to spikes to keep attackers from boarding

  • Strong firepower

• Defeat the Japanese fleet

Korean Struggles

• Fighting with the Japanese destroyed Korean farms, villages, and towns

• Japanese had killed or kidnapped many Korean farmers/workers

• Early 1600s: Koreans attacked by the Chinese/Manchus

  • Forced to surrender

  • Paid tribute to the Manchu rulers

GQ: How did the building of turtle ships help the Koreans?

18.3: Medieval Japan

Samurai and Shoguns

GQ: Why did military leaders rise to power in Japan?

• AD 794: Japanese Emperor moves capital from Nara to Hein-kyo

Nobles Rise to Power

• AD 800s: emperor power weakened

  • Period of weak emperors

• Court officials ruled for emperors to young/sick to govern

• Emperors studied Buddhism and wrote poetry in their palace

• Nobles take control of outlying provinces

  • Government gave nobles land in return for support

  • Allowed them to sop paying taxes

• Nobles increased taxes on farmers to pay for local government

The Samurai and Their Code

• Nobles gave land to warriors that agreed to fight for them (Samurai)

• Fought on horseback with swords, daggers, and bows and arrows

• Armor made of leather or steel scales and helmets with horns or crest

• Few Japanese women warriors

  • Tomoe: AD 1100s

• Code of Bushido

  • The way of the warrior

  • Samurai loyal to his master

  • Brave and honorable

  • Not to be concerned about riches

  • viewed merchants as lacking in honor

• Would rather die in battle than betray master

• Fought to the death

Shoguns Assume Power

• Early 1100s: Noble families of Japan used samurai armies to fight one another → Civil War between families Taira and Minamoto

• Sea battle of 1185: Taira defeated

• Emperor rewarded Yoritomo (Minamoto general) to keep him loyal by giving him the shogun title

• Shogun: Commander of the military forces

• 2 governments

  • Emperor remains in palace at Heian-kyo with advisors

    • Empire’s official leader

  • Shogunate

    • Small government in Kamakura

Mongol Attacks

• Late 1200s: Mongols invade Japan twice

  • Violent typhoons destroyed many ships

  • Mongols defeated

GQ: What is Bushido, and why was it important to the samurai?

A Divided Japan

GQ: Why did Japan experience disunity from the 1300s to the 1500s?

• Kamakura shogunate ruled Japan until 1333

• General Ashikaga resisted emperor and made himself shogun

  • New government: Ashikaga shogunate

• Weak leaders

• Divided into small territories

  • Headed by powerful military lords called daimyo

• Daimyo

  • Pledged to obey emperor and shogun

  • Used samurai warriors to defend their land

• Vassals

  • Samurai that served daimyo

• Feudalism: system of service between lord and vassals who have sworn loyalty to the lord

• Fell apart

GQ: Why did feudalism develop in Japan?

Society Under the Shoguns

GQ: How were the Japanese affected by their country’s growing wealth?

• Produced more goods and grew richer

• Farmers remained poor

Farmers, Artisans, and Trade

• Most wealth came from labor of the farmers

• Rice, wheat, millet, and barley

• Irrigation

• Artisans made armor, weapons, tools, pottery, paper textiles, and lacquered ware

• Heian-kyo became known as Kyoto

  • Developed into major center of production

  • Trade with Korea, China, and Southeast Asia

• Traded wooden goods, sword blades, and copper for silk, dyes, pepper, books, and porcelain

• Guilds: Protect jobs and increase earnings

Women in Shogun Japan

• Man: head of family

• Women could own property and remarry

• Upper class women lost freedom when Japan became a warrior society

• Worked a lot in farming families

GQ: Why did Japan’s wealth increase under the rule of the shoguns?

Religions and the Arts

GQ: How did religion and the arts relate to each other under the shoguns?

• Japanese monks, artists, scribes, and traders visited China → Borrowing of ideas and practices

• Affected government, philosophy, art, literature, science, and religion

The Religions of Japan

• Shinto

  • Concerned with daily life

  • Linked Japanese homeland to nature and their homeland

  • Religious ideas inspired many Japanese to write plays and produce paintings

• Buddhism

  • Promised spiritual rewards to the goods

  • Prepared people for life to come

  • Mahayana Buddhism: Teaches that Buddha is a god spread from India to China to Korea

  • Sect in Japan: Zen

    • Inner peace through self control and simple way of life

    • Martial arts

    • Practiced meditation

Writing and Literature

• AD 500s: Japanese adopts China’s writing system

  • Use Chinese picture characters to represent whole words

• AD 800s: Added symbols that stood for sounds

• Admired calligraphy

  • Handwriting showcased social standing and education

• Wrote poems, stories, and plays

• Poem Type: Haiku

  • 3 lines of words with 17 syllables (5-7-5)

• Noh: Type of play

  • Created during 1300s

  • Developed out of religious dances to teach Buddhist ideas

Architecture and Art

• Adopted building and artistic ideas from China and Korea

• Simplicity and beauty

• Shinto shrines: Japanese style (simple wooden building, one room and rice straw roof)

• Buddhist temples: Chinese style (massive tiled roofs held up by thick, wooden pillars, richly decorated and had many altars, paintings, and statues)

• Gardens: built to create feeling of peace and calmness

Creative Artisans

• Wooden statues, furniture, and household items

• Shiny black or red coating called lacquer used on many decorative and functional objects

• Landscape painting

• Origami

• Tea

GQ: How did meditation play a part in Buddhism?

18.4: Southeast Asia: History and Culture

Early Civilization

GQ: How did geography affect settlement and early ways of life in Southeast Asia?

• Influenced by India, China, and Islam

The Geography of Southeast Asia

• Mainland Area (long, winding peninsulas)

  • Mountain ranges run from North to South

  • Narrow river valleys

  • Broad coastal deltas

    • Rich in fertile soil

• Large archipelago

  • Mountainous islands

  • Active volcanoes: provide rich soil for farming

  • Tsunamis

• Sea trade and inland mountain barriers made many ethnic groups, languages, and religions

  • Made into an area of separate territories

Early Years

• Grew rice, raised cattle and pigs, made metal goods

• Animism: idea that spirits exist in living and nonliving things

• Batik: cloth of detailed patterns

• Dan bau: instrument similair to xylophone

• Dan day: type of guitar

• Rammana: type of drum

• Shadow puppets

Outside Contacts

• AD 100s: Hindu traders from India reached coastal areas of Southeast Asia

• Trading network used to exchange goods and ideas all throughout Asia

  • Cultures spread

GQ: Why did outside influences have a powerful effect on early Southeast Asia?

Kingdoms and Empires

GQ: Why did powerful kingdoms and empires develop in Southeast Asia?

• AD 500 - 1500: many kingdoms and empires thrived in Southeast Asia

• Ships and fertile lands

Vietnam

• Indochinese Peninsula

• One of the first people in Southeast Asia to develop own state and culture

• 200s BC: ruled most of Indochinese Peninsula

• AD 900s: Viet rebelled against Tang dynasty

• AD 938: Viet defeats fleet of Chinese warships in Battle of the Bach Dang Rive

  • Finally won independence

• Government modeled after Chinese

  • Dai Viet

• Official religion: Confucianism

• Officials selected through civil service examinations

The Khmer Empire

• Present day Cambodia

• AD 1100s: became wealthy from growing rice

• Based rule on Hindu and Buddhist ideas from India

• Increased power by presenting themselves as god-kings to people

• New style of buildings, based on Indian and local designs

  • Angkor Wat: Religious temple, royal tomb, and astronomical observatory

• 1440s: building costs, high taxes, and internal revolts weakened Khmer empire

• AD 1432: Thai captured capital city of Angkor

• Brought an end to the Khmer empire

The Thai

• AD 700 - 1100: Thai groups move south

• Set of kingdom at Sukhothai (north central Thailand)

• Develop writing system

• Made kingdom center of learning and the arts

• Artisans from China taught making of porcelain

• Buddhist monks from India converted many Thai to Buddhism

• AD 1350: New Thai kingdom known as Ayutthaya

  • Lasted for 400 years

Burma

• AD 849: Set up capital city Pagan

• Next 200 years: Pagan is major influence in western part of Southeast Asia

• Center of Buddhist culture and learning

• Attacked by Mongols in late 1200s weakened Pagan

• Escaped Mongol rule and moved Burma people south

• Built fortified towns along river

• Kingdom did not come back again until 1500s

The Malay States

• Malay Peninsula and islands of Indonesia

• Independent states

• Traded porcelain, textiles, silk, spices, and wood

• AD 700s: Malay state came on islands of Java and Sumatra

Islam in Southeast Asia

• Muslim Arab traders and missionaries: settled in coastal areas of Southeast Asia during AD 800s

• First major islamic center: mealaka

• Spread to Indonesian islands