Imperial China and the spread of Buddhism.

Which land will be conquered over and over again?

This unit is very hard to grasp.

1. It highlights scattered parts of 15 centuries in China.

2. It isn’t clear and cohesive.(Coherence: the state of cohering or sticking together. )

3. Yet, 11 of the 20 questions on the assessment are from this unit!!!!

4. Unfortunately, we are going to have to memorize parts in order to pass the test.

5. Lets start by analyzing the timeline .

500 400 300 200 100 * 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400

* Buddha In India *Confucius in China

Raise your hand and take your best shot! What was going on (politically) in China during the Middle Ages?

( Hint: The red lines are the pieces of history we have to know for the test.)

Don’t get scared! We Will take this one step at a time.

• The timeline just helps us to put things in perspective.

The land was split up between warlords

500 400 300 200 100 * 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 Buddhism Spreads Quickly Buddha In India Confucius in China

Han Dynasty SUI North and South Dynasty ( Re-unified) United into an Empire Tang Sung The Mongols

Im-per-i-al China Dynasty Dynasty Attack THE GOLDEN AGE

Your turn!Play connect the dots and fill in the details.

• Let’s do things one step at a time.

1. First use a pencil.2. Make sure you have it right.3. Then add color.4. Then add the words.

Terms in RED are on the assessment. Please use RED if you have it.

China was ruled by a series of emperors from different dynasties. A dynasty is a royal family.

Father

Relative

Relative

Relative

Some dynasties went on for many generations and some lasted a short time.

(You don’t have to write down their names. )

The Sui Dynasty• Emperor Wen of Sui • Emperor Yang of Sui

The Southern Sung Dynasty

• Emperor Taizu Emperor Taizong Emperor

Zhenzong Emperor Renzong Emperor Yingzong Emperor

Shenzong

This Unit is different because we don’t really look at how the whole culture

changed over a 1500 year period.LAUSD just wants us to focus on:

1. How they were organized (Their political system).

2. How smart they were.3. Their different belief systems and the merging

of Buddhism and Confucianism into something called Neo- Confucianism.

We are going to use a graphic organizer to help us with our notes.

What kind of info is on it?

Glue it in like Mr. Saisho tells you.

Medieval Dynasties

Golden AgeHan Civil War Sui Tang Sung Yuan Invasion Re-unification AKA Song Mongol Rule206BCE- 220CE- 589 CE- 618- 960CE- 1279CE-220CE 581CE 618 CE 907CE 1279CE 1368CE426 years 360 years 29 years 289 Years 319 years 89 Years

The Han Empire was large, reaching all the way down to Vietnam in the south and Korea to the north.(Find the Great Wall of China.)

Things the Han are remembered for:

1. During the Han Dynasty, China officially became a Confucian state. (Governed by the ideas of Confucius.)

These things were important in their culture:• Hard work• Loyalty• Respect

Han Officials

2. The Han extended the Great Wall of China towards the west to protect the Silk Road.

The pink line indicates how far the Han expanded the Great Wall.

Can you see how it follows the Silk Road?

The Han Dynasty basically rose and began to disintegrate about the same time as Rome did.

• Wars of conquest and the cost of maintaining large armies to secure its borders put an enormous burden on the economy.

Peasants

• The land became overpopulated, and thousands were forced into stealing or even selling their children as slaves.

• The people eventually rebelled.

This split up the empire into separate sections with differing leaders.

The Empire was no longer “Unified”.

There was a 360 year period that was filled with:

• Chaos• Invasions from foreigners• People battling for positions of power (Civil

War)• Buddhism became appealing in this hostile

environment.

People who had endured the sufferings of war were longing for the unification of their land.

• Unify: not split apart• Unification: Leadership comes from one

central location.

The Sui Dynasty (Sway)

• This Dynasty did not last long but it is famous for “Re-uniting” the Southern Part with the Northern Part. (The control of both mayor river systems and the good farm land.)

They created a central government once again.

• Central Government= running things from one point of view. That is the opposite of confusion and chaos.

• It may not be perfect but at least you know what to expect.

Emperor Wen

These guys set out to build a massive transportation system between the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers.

This was a massive undertaking.1100 miles of Canals to dig and manage.

It allowed grain and soldiers to be transported around the empire.

It Improved Communication.( Information traveled faster by water than by foot.)

They had to figure out a way to lift the boats from one level of the river to another.

• (Like climbing stairs on water.)

ReviewDiscussion questions:

• What 2 important changes happened during the Han Dynasty?

• What 2 things is the Sui Dynasty known for?

• What do historians mean when they use the term “the re-unification of China”?

The Tang Dynasty

This was a peaceful and prosperous time for China.

They had extra $$ so they could spend time :

• Inventing• Painting• Writing• Studying• Sculpting• This will be the beginning of their Golden

Age.

During this period, they invented 2 significant items:

Block Printing

• Gun Powder

1. Block printing is like working with a page-size stamp. Stamps

Images and print were carved into a page size block of wood. This was an easier (and cheaper) to way to make books.

The second emperor during the Tang Dynasty was Emperor Taizong.

He sent representatives to India to collectBuddhist texts (writings).These Sutras (BuddhistScriptures were Translated into ChineseAnd printed so thatGreater numbers ofPeople learned aboutBuddhism.

A Medieval Buddhist Sutra:

2. Gunpowder was also invented during the Tang Dynasty.

• In Chinese, gunpowder is called huo yao, meaning flaming medicine.

• Unlike the inventions of paper and printing, the birth of gunpowder was quite accidental. It was first invented by chemists that were attempting to make a flaming “elixir of immorality”.

Fire had always been used as a weapon that was delivered into enemy camps in China.

Oxen with flaming straw on their tails.

A fire wagon.

But gun powder was more efficient.

A flame thrower An hand cannon

This is what their earliest bombs looked like.These bombs could help to break through a

wall.

• A flower bomb A ball Bomb

• Theoretically, any male adult in China, regardless of his wealth or social status, could become a high-ranking government official by passing the imperial examination