Chapter 18: Civilizations of Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia

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

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