From Buddhism to

Neo-

Confucian Synthesis in China

India and China, 600 – 1600 II

Chinese Dynasties

• Qin 221–206 BCE• Han 206 BCE – 220 CE• Three Kingdoms 220 – 280 • Jin 280 – 420 • Southern and Northern Dynasties 420–589• Sui 581–618 • Tang 618–907

Tang Dynasty• Began with Li Shimin in 618.

– Continued to expand China’s reach into Central Asia, Korea, and Vietnam.– Cultural influence will spread to Japan as well.– China encounters the West when the Arab Empire reached Southwest

Asia.• Sasanian Persians fled the Arab expansion, settling in Chang’an.

– Major Chinese cities had neighborhoods for foreign traders.• Jews• Nestorian Christians• Zoroastrians• Hindus• Jains• Muslims

• Chang’an the largest city in world the seventh century -- 2,000,000 people

長安Chang’an

Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, 652

Tang Dynasty

Bureaucratic reform included the introduction of the examination system.

– Men had to pass three levels of exams on Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist texts.

– Open to all men except merchants, artisans, and criminals.

Tang China prosperous, but . . .

• Northern China was agriculturally less productive than the south and thus less financially viable.

• Chang’an too large and isolated from the rest of China.• Tang lost power on the Silk Road to encroaching Arabs.• Rebellions broke out in:

– Manchuria– Korea– Yunnan– Tang China itself.

• Because of expenses imperial government seized Buddhist lands in 845.

• Tang China one of the most cosmopolitan of empires and had a diverse commerce.– Tea – Silk

• Tea known in China since 900 BCE• Common drink under the Qin• Becomes widely popular under the Tang

• Second most widely consumed beverage in the world after water.

Han Dynasty, c. 100 BCE

Tang Dynastyc. 1000

Song DynastyInk and color on silk, c. 950 CE

Robe fragment, c. 1550

17th Century rug Sold for $7000

Tabriz Medallion Carpet, North West Persia, 16th Century 21 ft. 8 in. x 11 ft. 9 in.

Sold by Christies London July 8, 1999: $2.4 million

• Tang women experienced both greater restrictions and more opportunities.

• Empress Wu Zetain, r. 684–705, ruled as empress dowager for her son.– Declared Buddhism the state religion.– Created a new Zhou dynasty and proclaimed herself the

Buddhist “Divine Empress who Rules the World.”

• Backlash against her rule and Buddhism meant she was the last woman to rule China until the nineteenth century.

“They have in China a very fine clay with which they make vases which are as transparent as glass; water is seen through them. The vases are made of clay.”

Arab merchant, 851

Cooking pot, c. 4000 BCE

Qin vase, 221-206 BCE

Han jars, 206 BCE – 220 CE

Three Kingdoms Period(burial object), 222-280

Jin Dynasty teapot, 317 – 420

Sui Dynasty, late 500’s

Tang Dynasty(618–907)

Song Dynasty(960 – 1269) Yuan Dynasty

(1271–1368)

Ming Dynasty(1368–1644)

Du Fu (712–770)

“To My Retired Friend Wei”

“It is almost as hard for friends to meetAs for the morning and evening stars.Tonight then is a rare event,Joining, in the candlelight,Two men who were young not long agoBut now are turning grey at the temples.To find that half our friends are deadShocks us, burns our hearts with grief. . . .”

Li Bao (Li Bai)

“Drinking Alone by Moonlight”

“A pot of wine, under the flowering trees;I drink alone, for no friend is nearraising my cup I beckon the bright moon,for her, together with my shadow, will make three people. . . .”

Wang Wei (699-759)

“One-Hearted”

“When those red beans come in springtime, Flushing on your southland branches, Take home an armful, for my sake, As a symbol of our love.”

Song Dynasty (960 – 1279) • Continued Tang emphasis on a merit-based central

government.– Bureaucracy became too unwieldy.– Had to be supported by onerous taxes.

• Song economic burden increased by of loss of northern lands and Silk Road.

• Song China more southern and urban than previous dynasties.• Internal trade helped by:

– Creation of paper money– More coins– Less usury– Well maintained roads and canals.

Song Dynasty Currency

1 – 1.5 oz. of silver

Temujin - Genghis Khan(c. 1162 – 1267)

• Created the Mongol Empire by uniting Mongol tribes.– Superior horsemen– Archers

• Kublai Khan completed the conquest of the Song.– Created the Yuan Dynasty– Linked China to larger Mongol world.

• In China Mongols assimilated to Chinese culture.

• Mongol conquests spread Chinese technology throughout Eurasia.

• Yuan Dynasty ended in 1368:– Bubonic plague– Internal rebellions– Breakdown of Mongol hegemony in Eurasia

Ming Dynasty (1368–1644)

• Founded by Zhu Yuanzhang, a soldier and Buddhist monk,

• Became Emperor Hongwu.

• Hongwu– Reinstated Confucian bureaucracy and – Traditional Chinese culture.– Created the Grand Secretariat in 1382, as advisors

to the emperor.

• Moved capital to Beijing to protect it from invaders.

• Population rebounded in China with the arrival of food crops from America.– Potatoes– Corn– Peanuts

• Population grew to 150 million by 1600.

The Expedition of Zheng He

• Emperor Yongle (1360-1424) ordered the expedition• 1405 to 1433.• Zheng He

– eunuch– was a friend and confidant of the emperor.– in the emperor’s inner circle.

• Largest fleet in world history until the twentieth century.– Approximately 30,000 men– Sought to establish trade contacts throughout the Indian

Ocean, Persian Gulf, East Africa, and Southeast Asia.

• 62 “treasure ships”• 190 smaller ships

• Debate about why China didn’t continue.

Wang Anshi (1021 – 1086)

"The state should take the entire management of commerce, industry, and agriculture into its own hands, with a view to succoring the working classes and preventing them from being ground into the dust by the rich."

The baojia System.

• Village families grouped in 10’s.

• One family selected as the group leader.

• Leadership of this bao rotated.

• Ten responsible families were gathered, and a member chosen to be responsible for 100 households, and so on.

• Worked with the magistrate to prevent rebellions.

Groups of 10 Families

Leader of 100 Families

Imperial Civil Service

• Palace Examinations• National Examinations• Provincial Examinations• County Examinations

NineGrades

Imperial ExaminationsFirst Form

• Scholastic arts– Music– Arithmetic– Writing– Knowledge of the rituals and ceremonies

• public • Private

• Military arts– Archery – Horsemanship

Imperial ExaminationsSui Dynasty additions (600’s)

• "Five Studies“– Military strategy– Civil law– Revenue and taxation– Agriculture and geography– The Confucian classics

• Imperial bureaucracy takes its full form in the Tang Dynasty.

Village Leadership

• “Scholar-gentry class.”• Had to obtain at least the shengyuan• Open to all classes.• Most scholar-gentries came from the wealthy.• Expected to present a model of moral

behavior.

District Magistrate

• Lowest level of bureaucratic office.• Training ground for higher levels of service.• Managed local government – collecting taxes– public order– presiding over ceremonies– conducting exams– setting a moral example.

• To prevent abuses, he had to write reports and was monitored.

c. 1492

c. 1880

Guangxu Emperor and court officials, 1901

Women’s lives largely unchanged,

except for custom of foot binding.

Initially represented a

woman’s freedom from manual labor

Xi’an 1986

Tang Dynasty perfects porcelain.Not duplicated in Europe until early 1700’s

Neo-Confucian synthesis . . .

• . . . retained core of Confucian ethical teachings with Buddhist and Daoist speculative philosophy.

• Zhu Xi (1130 – 1200) encouraged full exploration of the physical world as necessary to understand one’s place in the Supreme Ultimate.

• The basis of the Chinese world view until the 20th Century.