Imperial China (589-1368 AD)

The Sui Dynasty (519-618 AD)

• Sui Wen-ti (dies 605 AD): Founder, Chinese-Turkic General

• Yang-ti (605-618 AD)– Restores Confucianism– Loses Nomad Support– Defeat by Nomads and Korea– Peasants and Generals Rise

Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD)

Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD)

• Centralized Government: Military Affairs, Censorate, Council of State

• Centralized Land: Emperor owns all land; land users owe labor and grain taxes. Nobles embezzle land

• Confucian system but Noble dominance

Wu Zhao (626-ca 706 AD)

Wu Zhao (626-ca 706 AD)

• Originally a concubine to Emperor Taizong• Then marries his heir, Emperor Gaozong

(649-683 AD)• He has a stroke (660 AD); she takes over• Emperor Ruizong (683-90)--Her Son, she

Rules Over Him• Founds own ‘Zhou’ dynasty after she tires of

him, rules in own name (690-705 AD)

Emperor Xuan Zong (713-756 AD)

• Census + Canal

• Rules from Chang’an– 30 square miles– over 1 million people– Largest city on Earth in 8th century

Tang Imperialism

• War on Nomads

• Nomad vs. Nomad

• Defensive Fortifications

• Tributary States– Absorbed Chinese Culture

• Country collapses in last decades due to warlords

Tang Culture

• Secular vs. Buddhists

• Golden Age of Buddhism / Tiantai Sect– Maitreya Devotion--Buddha of Future– Pure Land Buddhism– Zen Buddhism

• Secular Confucian Scholars– Li Bo (701-762 AD): BEER!!!!!– Du Fu (712-770 AD): Life = PAIN

The Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD)

Song Dynasty

• Agricultural Revolution– Aristocrats in Decline– New Methods and Crops

• Better Rice

• Fertilizers

• Tea and Cotton

– Rise of District Magistrates– Rise of Scholar Gentry

Commercial Revolution of the Song

• Emergence of the Yangzi Basin

• New Technologies:– Coal and Iron-Smelting– Printing with Carved Blocks and Seals– Abacus– Gunpowder– Textiles– Porcelains

Commercial Revolution of the Song

• Rise of Money (copper and Silver)

• Rising Trade

• Vastly Growing Cities

• Trade is Regional, some international

Aristocracy to Autocracy

• Growing Central Power

• Triple Tang Revenues

• Aristocracy Fading

• Rising Examination System– Rising Scholar Gentry

Song Culture

• Philosophy:– Zhu Xi (1130-1200 AD) and Neo-Confucianism

• Poetry– Su Dungpo (1037-1101): Poet and Official

• 2700 Poems, 800 Letters

• Tang and Lyric styles

• Painting and Calligraphy; No Room For Error

The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368 AD)

The Mongol World Empire (13th-14th Century AD)

• Mongols = 3.5 million Horse Nomad Polytheists

• Temujin -- Genghis Khan (1167-1227 AD)– Unites Mongol Tribes– Organizes by 10 / 100 / 1000– Recruits Specialists From Conquests– Religiously Tolerant

The Khanates

• Empire of the Great Khan - Ögedei Khan

• Mongol homeland (present day Mongolia, including Karakorum) - Tolui Khan

• Chagatai Khanate - Chagatai Khan, (Central Asia and northern Iran)

• Khanate of the Golden Horde (Russian Steppes)

Mongol Rule in China

• Beijing -- 1227 AD

• 1241--North all taken

• Kublai Khan (1260-1294 AD)– 1271--Yuan Dynasty Proclaimed

• Bureaucracy or Horse Pasture?

• 400,000 Mongols in China– Mongols form upper ruling class

Foreign Contacts and China

• Mongols are Cosmopolitan

• Marco Polo?: Il Milione / The Travels of Marco Polo

• Religious Contacts

• Conservatism of the Chinese

• Yuan Era Opera and Drama

Fall of the Yuan

• Regencies, Child Emperors and Weak Emperors

• 10 Emperors in 1294-1368

• Ukhaatu Khan Flees: 1368 AD