Imperial China

Lesson 1: China Reunites

China Rebuilds Its Empire

GQ: How did China rebuild its empire after years of war?

• People of Korea decided to free themselves for China’s rule

The Sui

• AD 581: Chinese General Wendi
  • Declared himself emperor and set up new dynasty
  • Son Yandi became emperor after
  • Wanted to expand territory → Defeated badly by the Koreans
  • Repaired great wall
  • The Grand Canal
  • Connected the Huang He and Chang Jiang
  • Made it easier to ship rice and other products between Northern and Southern China
• Farmers had to pay higher taxes and help build wall → also paid for luxurious life
  • Farmers revolted and Yandi was killed (End of the Sui dynasty)

The Tang Dynasty

• AD 618: one of Yandi’s generals took over China
  • Made himself emperor and created new dynasty
• AD 618 - AD 907
• Worked to restore strong central government
  • Reforms
• Taizhong Emperor
  • Civil service examinations
  • Gave land to farmers and brought peace
• Late AD 600s: Empress Wu ruled
  • Only woman in Chinese history to rule the country on her own
  • Powerful leader

Growth and Trade

• Expanded rule westward to Tibet
• Increased trade with other parts of Asia and forced neighboring states to pay tribute
  • China cities became wealthy
• Chandan: Tang capital became world’s largest city
• Large market squares
• Merchants sold goods across all of Asia
• Mid-AD 700s: Growing challenges in their rule
  • Turkish nomads drove Tang armies out of central Asia, won control over the Silk Road
  • Trade and economy suffered
• Farmer revolts weakened the Tang
• Tang rulers hired Uighurs
  • Turkish speaking people in northwest to fight the farmers
• Tang rule fell in AD 907

The Song Dynasty

• After the fall of Tang, military leaders ruled China
• AD 960: General became emperor and founded the Song
• AD 960 - AD 1279
• Challenges:
  • Not enough military forces to protect entire empire
  • Moved government south to the city of Hangzhou

GQ: How did the Grand Canal help China’s economy

Buddhism in China

GQ: Why did Buddhism become popular in Tang China?

• AD 100s: Traders/missionaries from India bring Buddhism to China
• War from decline of Han dynasty
  • Buddhism ended suffering by teaching people
  • Many Chinese sought peace and comfort

How Did Tang Rulers View Buddhism?

• Early Tang rulers: did no practice Buddhism, did not interfere with those who followed
  • Approved of building new Buddhist temples/shrines
• Monasteries: Areas of life, work, and worship
  • Men: Monks
  • Women: Nuns
  • Helped local people run schools and provide food shelters
• Large part of population opposed the religion
  • Believed temples/monasteries had grown too wealthy from the donations
  • Monks/nuns weakened respect for family life, they weren’t allowed to marry
• Tang officials: feared growing influence
  • Enemy to China’s Confucian traditions
• AD 845: Tang government destroyed monasteries/temples
  • Never recovered in China

Buddhism in Korea

• AD 220 (Fall of Han Dynasty): Korea breaks free from Chinese rule
• Divides into 3 distinct kingdoms
• AD 300s: Chinese Buddhists bring religion to Korea
• AD 660: Korea unites into one country
• Spread to nearby islands of Japan
• AD 552: Korean king sent missionaries to emperor of Japan to spread religion

GQ: How did Buddhist monks and nuns help the Chinese?

Revival of Confucian Ideas

GQ: How did Confucian ideas shape China’s government?

• Civil service exams
• Fall of Han dynasty: civil service exams no longer in place, Confucianism went into decline
• Tang and Song rulers revived Confucianism

Neo-Confucianism

• Tang and Song dynasty
• Used to combat the growing influence of Buddhism
• Teachings:
  • People should be concerned about the world as well as afterlife
• Included Buddhist and Daoist beliefs

The Civil Service

• Tang and Song rulers saw Neo-Confucianism and civil service exams as a way to strengthen government
  • Run by educated people = less likely to become corrupt/weak
• Only men allowed to take texts; exams favor the rich (tutor paying)
• Boys ages of 4 began learning to write Chinese language to prepare
• Only 1/5 boys passed the tests
• Did not pass: found jobs in teaching/helping government workers (not given government jobs)

GQ: How did the civil service examinations affect Chinese society?

Lesson 2: Chinese Society

Economic Growth

• Fall of the Han dynasty cripple economy of China
  • Poor harvest and fewer products
  • Economy recovered after the Tang dynasty

Farming Improvements

• Gave more land to farmers
• Improved irrigation methods → Increased growth of crops
• Tea = popular drink
• More food = increased population

Why did China’s Trade Grow

• Built roads and waterways
• Silk road reopened and thrived
• Silk fabric
  • One of the goods traded. In high demand in areas west of China
• Traded tea, steel, paper, and porcelain
• Other countries sent gold, silver, precious stones, and fine woods to China
• Opened new seaports along China’s coast to increase trade

Technological Advances

Coal and Steel

• Use of fuel and metal
• Developed coal-mining industry
• Used coal to heat furnaces
  • Iron produced in furnaces could be mixed with carbon to create steel
  • Ld to different products such as nails and sewing needles

The Invention of Printing

• Paper
• Method for printing books
• Buddhist monks began woodblock printing in AD 600s
• More efficient
• Earliest known printed book: Diamond Sutra AD 868
• AD 1000s: Pi Sheng invents movable type
  • Pieces can be arranged over and over → solved the problem of not being able to make changes to a page
• Paper currency
  • Money needed for traders to carry out business
  • Could not make enough copper coins to support the empire
• AD 1024: (Song dynasty)
  • Chinese began to print world’s first paper money

Gunpowder and Ships

• Created during the Tang dynasty
• Used in explosives and weapons
• Helped make China’s army a powerful fighting force
• Gunpowder also to make fireworks
• Ships:
  • Helped to increase long-distance trade
  • AD 1150: magnetic compass used to help Chinese sailors navigate their ships and sail farther
  • Able to sail to southeast asia, india
• Inventions had effect on Europe
• Printing: made possible to publish books in larger quantities
• Gunpowder: changed how wars were fought
• Magnetic compass: allowed Europeans to explore the world

Literature and the Arts

GQ: Why were the Tang and Song dynasties a golden age of literature and the arts

• Invention of woodblock printing → literature more available
• Art: landscape paintings

An Age of Poetry

• Tang dynasty: great age of poetry in China
• Daoist appreciation expressed
  • Nature and Life
• Li Bo
  • Wrote poems about nature
  • Chinese poet
• Du Fu
  • Poor civil servant
  • Civil war, scarce food
  • Wrote of issues of the poor and unfairness

Landscape Painting

• Song dynasty: many artist painted landscapes
• Portrayed “idea” of mountains, lakes, etc.
  • Reflects Daoist belief: person cannot know the whole truth about something
  • Humans: shown as very small figures compared to nature → idea that humans can not control nature
• Calligraphy

Porcelain

• Ceramic made of fine clay baked at very high temperatures
• Sometimes called “china”
  • Came from China to the West
• Can be made into figurines, vases, cups, and plates
• Methods spread for making porcelain to other parts of the world
• Reached Europe in the AD 1700s

Lesson 3: The Mongols in China

Mongol Expansion

• Enemies from the north
• First non-chinese people to rule all of China

Who Were the Mongols?

• Came from Mongolia
• Lived in yurts (moveable tents)
• Raised horses, sheep, and yaks
• Made up of clans loosely joined together
• Nomadic living
• Horseback riders
  • Developed fighting skills. Accurately shoot from a distance

Genghis Khan

• AD 1206: Elected Temujin (Genghis Khan) as ruler of the Mongols
• Set out to unify
• 100,000 trained warriors (units)
• Steppes: wide, grassy plains that stretch from the Black Sea to northern China
• First conquered other people of the steppes
• Brought money to the Mongol treasury
• AD 1211: Mongols on horseback invaded China
• Invaded kingdoms west and controlled parts of the Silk Road
• Cruel fighting and terror
  • Violent acts meant to cause fear
  • Attacked, looted, and burned cities
  • People surrendered without even fighting

Empire Builders

• AD 1227: Genghis Khan dies
  • Each area ruled by one of his sons
• AD 1258: captured Muslim city (Baghdad)
• Muslim leaders in Egypt stopped Mongol advance in AD 1260
• Rule stretched from the Pacific Ocean to eastern Europe and Siberia to Himalayas
• Grew wealthy because they taxed products traded on the roads
• Stability between Europe and Asia
• Adopted belief and customs form conquered cultures
  • Arab, Persian, and Turkish ways
• Learned from the Chinese
  • Gunpowder →  how to use as an explosive
  • Adopted it to bring more terror

GQ: How were the Mongols influenced by their opponents?

Mongol Conquest of China

GQ: How did the Mongols rule the Chinese?

• AD 1260: Kublai (Grandson of Genghis Khan) continued conquest of China
• AD 1264: made Khanbaliq new capital

Mongols and Chinese

• Finished conquering southern china in AD 1279
  • End of Song dynasty and declared himself emperor
• Start Yuan dynasty
  • 100 years (kublai only ruled for 30 of them
• Culture: practiced Buddhism (encouraged other religions)
• Reached height of Chinese power under Mongol rule
  • Foreigners drawn to capital city
• Won support of many Chinese
• Learned from the Chinese
  • Gunpowder →  how to use as an explosive
  • Adopted it to bring more terror

GQ: How were the Mongols influenced by their opponents?

• Reached height of Chinese power under Mongol rule
  • Foreigners drawn to capital city
• Won support of many Chinese
• Did not use civil service exams
  • Government jobs open to non-chinese people

Marco Polo

• One of the most famous European travelers to reach China
• Came from Venice, Italy
• Lived in Khanbaliq during Kublai Khan reign
• Wrote books of his adventures
• Privileged resident of China

Trade and Empire

• Built ships to expand sea trade
• Traded tea, silk, and porcelain in exchange for silver, carpets, cotton, and spices
• Mongols advanced into Vietnam and northern Korea
  • Korea remained in power because they agreed to Mongol control
• Mongols forced Koreans to build warships → used to invade Japan
  • Fails: storms destroyed fleet

Lesson 4: The Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty

• Mongol power in China began to decline due to weak emperors 

The Rise of the Ming

• AD 1368: Zhu Yuanzhang (military officer) 

  • Reunited country 
  • Set up capital at Nanjing

• Hong Wu “military emperor”

• Harsh leader

  • Trusted few people

• Yong Le (son) became emperor after Hong Wu died

• Imperial City: center of area

  • Forbidden City
  • Only top government allowed to enter this area
  • Beautiful gardens

• Home of the Chinese Emperor

How Did the Ming Change China?

• Brought back civil service examinations to carry out decisions of the emperor
• Census: Count of people in China
  • Responsibility to the officials
  • Helped identify the people who owed taxes
• Chinese economy began to grow
  • Canals, farms, roads, forests
  • Agriculture thrived
• Repaired and expanded The Grand Canal
  • Allowed merchants to ship rice, etc.
  • Introduced new types of rice to southeast Asia that grew faster
• Silk industry: Farmers encouraged to grow cotton and weaving cloth, most Chinese wore this material

Arts and Literature

• Arts flourished
  • Wealthy merchants; printed books and trips to the theater
• Novels: The Romance of the Three Kingdoms
• Tried to make their stories more storytellers like
• Chinese dramas returned to the stage

Chinese Exploration

• Emperors wanted to know more about the world outside of China
• Set out on the sea to trade with other kingdoms and expand Chinese power
• Leader of travel: Zheng He
  • Impressive voyages with lots of ships and warriors

The Travels of Zheng He

• First fleet to Southeast Asia
• Continued to Africa
• Brought distant animals and artifacts back to China that fascinated the emperor
• Complains that the trips cost too much
• Merchant: unworthy and selfish occupation
• After Zheng He dies: Confucian officials stopped voyages

Arrival of the Europeans

• AD 1514: ships from Portugal arrived in southern China and was first direct contact with China and Europe after Marco Polo

• Portuguese wanted to trade with China and convert China to Christianity

• Chinese thought of the Portuguese as uncivilized people

• Local officials refused to trade with the Portuguese

  • Hoped they would go away

• AD 1600: Portuguese built trading post at Macao (southern China)

  • Carried goods between China and Japan

• Did not convince many Chinese to accept Christianity

The Fall of the Ming

• Ming dynasty begins to weaken
  • Dishonest offices
  • Heavy taxes on farmers
  • Began to revolt
• Manchus (people from the north): Prepared to invade China
  • Captured Beijing
  • AD 1644: Set up new dynasty known as the Qin

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