Kamakura, Song, and Yuan

5.1 Kamakura Japan

• In the Kamakura shogunate, the shogun controlled both the practical civil and military laws of the country.

  • had ultimate authority in Japan, and the provinces were given over to daimyo ( local military governors ) who administered them from 1185 - 1333

  • capital was located in Kamakura , emperors stayed in Kyoto

  • established feudal system in Japan, title shogun was passed down from generations in the Minamoto family.

• Kamakura was not all about fighting and had great respect for the arts and Buddhism.

• Mongols seized control of Korea and demanded submission and tribute from Japan, but Japan refused

  • Kublai Khan launched two invasions in retaliation in 1274 and 1281

  • typhoons swept up from the south and smashed Mongols ships, these were known as Kamikaze (“Divine winds”

  • Mongols were unable to match the samurai in hand-to-hand combat even though they were used to cavalry quick-strike tactics

• Kamakura shogunate weakened after the Mogols’ attacks

• Civil wars broke out, and Ashikaga Takauji became the first Ashikaga shogun.

5.2 Song and Yuan China

• Fall of the Tang dynasty, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period lasted a little longer than half a century

• In 960 CE, China united under a new dynasty — Song (970 - 1279 CE)

  • known as the second “golden age” of China but without controversy

  • Song rivaled the Tang in artistic and cultural achievement at the expense of an effective foreign policy to deal with the northern and western tribes that have been traditional enemies of China

Northern Song

• 960 CE, general Zhao Kuangyin (927 - 976 CE), later Zhou dynasty, took over the throne and founded the Song dynasty.

  • would unify China and rule for nearly three centuries.

  • adopted the strategy of conquering the smaller, divided states in the south before challenging the stronger in the north, Zhao unified China

  • declared himself as Taizong emperor and worked on dismantling the military aristocracy which emerged during the later Tang dynasty

  • prevented the warlordism and internecine conflict that had undermined other governments in previous eras

• Song dynasty is divided into two periods:

  • Northern Song (960 - 1127 CE)

    • rulers owned much of the traditional territory controlled by the Qin dynasty

    • key components of this strategy was co-existence with the Khitan Liao dynasty in modern-day northeast and north China and the Tangut Western Xia empire in modern-day northwest China

      • both emerged during the end of the Tang dynasty and developed during the Five dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period

  • Southern Song (1127 - 1279 CE)

• Tanguts and Khitans were descendants of the Xiongnu, settled in China proper during the Han dynasty

  • Song attempted to take over these regions

  • Song failed to defeat either the Tanguts or the Khitans and were eventually forced to pay tribute to both

    • moreso, after the latter had threatened the Song capital in Kaifeng during a 1004 invasion

• the tributary system , policy of submission and concessions, wasn’t favored with the nationalistic Chinese historians as they felt that giving away land to who they considered “barbarians” led to loss of honor and Chinese pride.

  • territorial gifts provided China with relative peace

  • Song could also divert money to spend on armies and defense to domestic and cultural projects

• the New Policies movement led by Wang Anshi was known as an important movement

  • called for changes to the civil service exam, economic reform, and official surveys of land to more equitably assess taxes

    • considered all important and forward-thinking ideas to restore government efficiency

  • after Shenzong’s death, the program was stalled

• end of 1000s the Jurchen tribe from modern-day northeast China, adopted nomadic and settled lifestyles, began to oppose the Liao dynasty.

• 1115 CE, declared the Jin dynasty in open defiance of the Liao

  • backfired as the Jurchen turned on Song after conquering the Khitan empire

• Kaifeng fell in 1161 CE and the Song emperor, Qinzong, was captured

  • Gaozong was appointed new emperor and the imperial court retreated to the Yangtze River and reestablished the capital at Hangzhou

Southern Song

• Relocation of the Song capital to Hangzhou marked the end of the Northern Song and the beginning of the Southern Song period.

  • eventually made peace with Jin by paying tribute to the Jin rather than the Liao

• loss of northern China and traditional homelands of the Yellow River was a blow to China’s pride and created a new wave of:

  • proto-nationalist sentiment

  • wealth of Southern China

    • increased agricultural yields

    • riverine trade and maritime trades that largely offset the Song concessions

  • North China was ravaged by war and had only begun to recover while the Yangtze River and further south remained untouched.

• The new capital in Huangzhou became known for its beautiful scenery and architecture

  • multiple waterways ( incl. Yangtze River and Grand Canal )

  • flourished as a center for arts, culture, and trade

  • typified what the Southern Song dynasty had become and shifted Chinese civilization from north China along the Yellow River to the south and the Yangtze River delta

Focus: Yue Fei and Early Chinese Nationalism

• Yue Fei — prominent Song general who was dedicated to reclaiming north China

  • real historical figure who was heavily involved in the politics that surrounded the transition from the Northern to Southern Song periods.

  • was recalled back to the court as he advanced on the old capital at Kaifeng

  • Gaozong’s advisors feared his success might lead to the release of Qinzong

• presence of two emperors would destabilize Gaozong’s rule and threaten the new elite of the Southern Song dynasty

• Yue was imprisoned on trumped-up charges and later executed upon the order of Chancellor Qin Hui

• Gaozong’s successor ordered that the statues of Qin and his collaborators in a kneeling pose be placed in front of Yue’s tomb

• story reemerged during the Qing dynasty and he became a parable for loyalty in Chinese folk tales

• became the symbol of Chinese nationalism and as a rallying point to expel the foreign rule and western imperialists

Life in the Song Dynasty

• Song was effectively organized and the imperial system was functioning

  • this made improvements in printing technology and education, which meant that more people were literate which raised the standard of living

• built massive ships which linked with the trading empires of Khmer, the Sri Vijaya, and the Champa

  • economy drove the international market, no other country at that time was as rich or powerful

• Song had the largest cities, ships, facilities for iron works, textiles, and paper money, and a monopoly on silk and porcelain

• Buddhism continued to flourish and Confucianism was revived during this dynasty ( lost popularity during the Tang where Buddhism and Taoism was at its peak )

  • scholars such as Zhu Xi reformed Confucianism

    • inserted religious and spiritual elements into what had been a humanist philosophy

    • now known as Neo-Confucianism which was popular during the Song and later Ming and Qing dynasties

    • tremendous impact on Korea and Japan though Confucians sought differently for its “pollution” with religious elements

• role of women changed, they became more literate and the era produced the noted poetess Li Qingzhao

  • Neo-Confucianism preached about chastity and the loyalty of a wife to a husband even in death

Song Defeat

• Song dynasty refined Chinese culture in may ways other dynasties could not

• in late 1200s the Song hoped to use the newly emergent Mongols to weaken the Jin and Western Xia dynasties

  • the Mongols thirst for conquest did not end with the Western Xia or the Jin

• the Song would be defeated until it was relegated to the tiny island of Lantau, near modern-day Hong Kong.

• At the Battle of Yamen the Mongols crushed the last Song resistence

• After the Song was defeated, China was now ruled for the first time by a the Mongol Yuan dynasty

5.3 The Yuan Dynasty

• Mongols and their nomadic allies from time to time caused trouble in border regions in the north

  • due to the Chinese constructing walls along the northern border to designate where civilization ended and the “barbarian” land began

  • Qin, the Han, and the Tang dynasties made it a point to keep the “barbarians” at bay either through warfare, divide and conquer polices, strong defenses, or buffer zones

  • divided, the Mongols were not a threat but once unified by Temujin, or Genghis Khan, the Mongol armies became a conquering force

• under Genghis Khan, the Mongols conquered the Western Xia and Jin in China, and the Khwarazmian Empire in Persia

  • after his death in 1227 CE, successors continued his work, completing the conquest of north China in 1234 CE and Korea in 1258 CE

• The Southern Song surrendered in 1279 and Mongol control of China was complete

  • last heir to the Song throne drowned off the coast of Lantau Island

• Mongol’s success depended greatly on forced labor and collaboration from their conquered population

  • ex. Korean sailors and shipbuilders played a key role in the Mongols’ failed invasions of Japan in 1270 and 1280

  • Chinese engineers and sailors played a similar role in the Mongol conquest of the Southern Song

Mongol Rule Under Kublai Khan

• the initial Mongol vision for ruling northern China was to tear down all of the cities and make it one large grazing area for Mongol horses and sheep herds ( legend )

• the Mongols did not carry out a radical destruction of Chinese civilization in north China

  • established the Yuan dynasty — highly-Sinified government

• Kublai Khan — Genghis Khan grandson and successor, rose to power at a time when both the Mongol empire and its system of succession were starting to fall apart

  • nomadic life offered succession to those who were most capable ( unlike China where the eldest son was next in line )

  • forced to return to the Mongol homelands from his campaigns in order to answer the rival claims of his younger brother

  • emerged from the Great Council as the undisputed Great Khan in 1260

Focus: Primogeniture

• Primogeniture — right of succession belonging solely to the firstborn child

  • idea was a hallmark of agrarian society and stood in high contrast to the steppes ( winner takes all style of conflict )

• nomadic life required great personal charisma and intelligence from its leaders in order to survive

• agrarian societies developed ritual to handle the repetitive nature of growing crops from season to season

  • also produced goods and believed in land ownership, which meant that possession and status would be passed to the next generation

Kublai’s Return to China

• Kublai built his captial in what is now Beijing, positioning it in an area where he could keep watch over China and stay close to Mongol lands

  • saw China as his main base and the conquests in modern-day Russia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and India eventually broke off to become separate regimes

  • declared the found of the Yuan dynasty and became emperor in 1271

• Kublai Chinese administrative techniques and enlisted large numbers of their conquered subjects to fill the bureaucracy and the military

  • Yuan government was no different from the Song, except for the ethnicity of people who ruled

  • allowed some non-Chinese to serve in government posts, including Marco Polo ( debatable ) who served as an unofficial advisor to the Great Khan

  • had moderate success in keeping the Chinese empire together but failed to conquer the known world

  • failed twice in attempts to conquer Japan and was also rebuffed by the Sri Vijaya in Java and the Champa in Vietnam

Decline of the Yuan Dynasty

• after Kublai Khan’s death, the new emperor favored the ways of Chinese

  • early fourteenth century, Emperor Renzong had taken up Confucianism and Chinese Buddhism and revived the examination system allowing Chinese to gain promotions with the military

• peasants and religious groups led uprisings

  • the Red Turban Rebellion - instigated by a secretive religious sect that strove to challenge Yuan authority

  • outrage was compounded by natural disasters like famines and the deadly flood of both the Yellow and the Yangtze rivers which “proved” that the Mongols did not have a Mandate from Heaven

  • Mongols weren’t prepared to govern a large country when natural disasters and other problems occurred

• Yuan failed to keep irrigation channels open, inflation happened, and military didnt effectively react to threats to government stability

• Rebellions grew and Zhu Yuanzhang rose to prominence with his own army

  • in 1368, he led his troops to a series of victories and eventually changed out the Mongols

• Yuan dynasty lasted 97 years and Zhu reestablished Chinese control over their territory and named his new dynasty the Ming