Lecture for SS2 Asian Studies, prepared by Martin Benedict Perez, PSHS Main Campus

I. Preface: From Bones to Philosophers

II. The First Empires A. The Qin: The idea of China B. The Han: The empire expands

III. Analysis: Patterns in Chinese History

IV. The Golden Age

A. The Tang: The cultural powerhouse B. The Song: The commercial powerhouse

V. The Asian Superpower

A. From the Yuan to the Ming B. Influence on East Asia

Shang 1750 – 1100 BCE

Tang 618 – 907

Zhou (Chou) 1100 – 256 BCE

Song 960 – 1279

Qin (Chin) 221 – 206 BCE

Yuan (Mongol) 1279 – 1368

Han 206 BCE – 220 CE

Ming 1368 – 1644

Sui 589 – 618

Qing (Ching, Manchu) 1644 – 1912

1000BCE 0

AXIAL AGE (800 – 200BCE)

Eastern Zhou (770 – 221BCE) Western Zhou (1027 – 771BCE)

Confucius (551 – 479BCE)

Lao Zi

Mencius (370 – 290BCE)

Xun Zi (300 – 237BCE)

Zuang Zi (370 – 301BCE) Sun Tzu

Born during the chaotic Eastern Zhou period, Chinese philosophy was primarily preoccupied with restoring social order and harmony.

Qin Han

Qin Shi Huang Di and the Legalists

Shang

Buddhism enters

The Qin and the Han

Under the guidance of Li Si, The First Emperor utilized Legalism. He centralized all power to himself by placing only giving power to those loyal to him. At his command was a powerful army. He also established a network or roads and canals, and built frontier walls for protection. Furthermore he unified currency, system of writing, and even philosophical thought (through book burning) throughout the empire.

Qin Shih Huang Di “The First August God of the Qin”

Coins from the Qin dynasty (left) and Qing dynasty (right)

Location of the Great Wall (NASA)

In 138BCE, Zhang Qian was sent on a diplomatic mission to form an alliance with the Yuezhi against the Xiongnu. After many adventures and misadventures, he would return to the capital in 125BCE with new knowledge of grand civilizations to the west.

Silk Routes, over-land and over-sea

China silk, clothing, lacquerware, spices

Indo-China spices, ivory, timber, pearls

North India precious stones, ivory, tortoise shell, incense, spices, cloth, timber

South India ivory, tortoiseshell, spices, precious stones, cloth, timber

Arabia spices, slaves, precious stones

East Africa gold, ivory, exotic animals, slaves, incense

Trans-Sahara ivory, gold, slaves

North Africa grain

South Europe olive oil, wine, glassware, coinage

West Europe silver, tin

North Europe slaves, amber

Asia Minor silver, precious stones, timber, wine

Roman Empire (27BCE to 476CE)

Parthian Empire (247BCE to 224)

Society during the Han Confucianism became the state philosophy. “Men of wisdom and virtue” were put in place through the civil service examinations. Scholar-officials were expected to be junzi. Women, however, were not allowed to take the exam.

Science and technology Innovation during the Han would be unmatched until the Song. It was the highest civilization of its age. It exemplified the insight of the Arab philosophers who said that the purpose of science is “to put up a city”.

Seismograph invented by Zhang Feng in the year 132.

PATTERN 1

TERRITORIAL PRESSURE

Incursions from China's north by nomadic groups, are from those attracted by the wealth of the settled, agricultural civilization of China. The most illustrative examples are those of the Mongols, who conquer China and establish the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368 CE), and of the Manchus, who again conquer China and establish the last dynasty, the Qing, that rules for 300 years (1644-1911 CE). Each of these invaders rules through the Chinese bureaucracy, leading to the expression that China "sinicizes its conquerors."

PATTERN 2

CULTURAL CONTINUITY

Dynasties rise and fall but Confucian values keep China intact. This is seen manifested in several ways: 1. the evolution of the bureaucratic structure — the civil service

examination system, the scholar-gentry who sit for exams and staff the civil administration;

2. the refinement of the Confucian classics as the basis of education and elite selection;

Thus there emerged a tendency in China towards political unification and reunification. A factor that also facilitated this was increasing population density.

PATTERN 3

STRENGTHENING OF THE IMPERIAL CENTER

Beginning with the legalistic approach of the First Emperor of the Qin, the emperors of China continued a trend of concentrating power towards the center. Instruments of government were strengthened as they moved authority further towards the emperor. The irony however is that it is during moments when power is too concentrated at the center at the expense of the rest of Chinese society that a dynasty becomes more vulnerable to rebellion. The height of imperial concentration can be seen in the Ming dynasty.

The Tang and the Song

The Tang (618-907), along with the Song dynasty (960-1279 CE) that follows, is often referred to as China's "Golden Age“. Poetry, calligraphy, landscape painting, philosophy, political thought, historical writing, scientific advances in astronomy, chemistry, and medicine, and the production of fine silks, porcelain, and teas all flourish, particularly in the period from the 7th to the 12th centuries.

“The ruler depends on the state, and the state depends on its people. Oppressing the people to make them serve the ruler is like someone cutting off his own flesh to fill the stomach. The stomach is filled, but the body is injured; the ruler is wealthy but the state is destroyed.”

Chang’an was an imperial city, an administrative center designed to show off the power of the emperor and the majesty of his court.

Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, 652

Leshan Giant Buddha, 713

Li Bai (Li Bo / Li Po)

Drinking Alone by Midnight A pot of wine, under the flowering trees; I drink alone, for no friend is near. Raising my cup I beckon the bright moon, For her, with my shadow, will make three people. The moon, alas, is no drinker of wine; Listless, my shadow creeps about at my side. Yet with the moon as friend and the shadow as slave I must make merry before the Spring is spent. To the songs I sing the moon flickers her beams; In the dance I weave my shadow tangles and breaks. While we were sober, three shared the fun; Now we are drunk, each goes their way. May we long share our eternal friendship, And meet at last on the paradise.

Du Fu

What Du Fu says of Liu Bai – A hundred poems Liu Bai wrote after a cask of wine. He was asleep at a tavern in Xian When the Emperor called; he would not board the imperial barge, But said, ‘Your humble servant is a god of wine.’

Liu Bai answers back – I met Du Fu on a mountaintop in August when the sun was hot. Under the shade of his big straw hat his face was sad– in the years since we last parted, he’d grown wane, exhausted. Poor old Du Fu, I thought then, he must be agonizing over poetry again.

Northern Song (960 – 1127) Southern Song (1127 – 1279)

Song China was a period of great change. 1. The traditional aristocracy weakened even further after the Tang. Two reasons: Shift to large cities and the abolition of the “equal field system” in favor of a money tax. 2. Economic base began to expand to, and somewhat shifted to, the south. Food production improved immensely and led to a spike in population growth. Cities also grew immensely dense. 3. The government became even more autocratic. The central government was better funded, and more government officials came from the commoner class.

Zhu Xi (1130-1200) Neo-Confucianism Introduced a philosophy that synthesized Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Compiled The Four Books (The Analects, The Mencius, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Great Learning) which then became the standard for Confucian learning. Advocated the selection of officials through schools, not just examinations.

While Buddhism and Daoism ushered in a creative age in China, Confucianism further deepened as the social ethic of China. Chinese society has two main classes: the gentry (scholarly elite) and the peasants. Third would be the merchants. Women had an important role to play in the family, but their subordinate role was reinforced towards the latter Song dynasty.

© Martin Benedict Perez 2011