Chapter 8
China Reunified
Ø In the Tang (TONG) and Song Eras, the scholar-gentry as the political and economic elite of Chinese society, replaced the old landed aristocracy.
Ø Emperor Tang Xuanzang (Wan-dzong) is remembered for his devotion to a commoner’s daughter.
Ø Technological developments during the Tang dynasty included gunpowder, steel, and cotton cloth.
Ø The Silk Road was renewed and as a result of trade, the city of Changan became the wealthiest city in the world.
Ø Also, during this time the scholar-gentry replaced the old aristocracy as the political and economic elite of China.
Ø Li Bo his poem “Quiet Night Thoughts” has been memorized by schoolchildren for centuries
Section 2
Mongols and China
Ø The Mongols, led by Genghis Khan, brought much of the Eurasian landmass under a single rule, creating the largest land empire in history.
Ø Confucianism was at the heart of the Chinese state government from the Song dynasty to the end of the dynastic system in the twentieth century.
Ø Between the Tang and Ming dynasties, Chinese literature flourished because printing was invented.
Ø In 1206, Temujin was elected Genghis Khan, after which he devoted himself to conquest, eventually establishing the Mongol Empire.
Ø The two factors that contributed to the failure of Kublai Khan’s invasion of Japan in 1281 were the Kamakura shogunate and a massive typhoon that destroyed most of the invading fleet
Section 3
Early Japan and Korea
Ø The samurai of Japan were a new class of military servants whose purpose was to protect the security and property of their employers.
Ø The samurai lived by a strict code known as Bushido, which was based on loyalty to the samurai’s lord.
Ø Korean society was strongly influenced by the Chinese model of society.
Ø “those who serve” means samurai
Ø During much of the history of early Japan, aristocratic men believed that prose fiction was “vulgar gossip” and was thus beneath them.
Ø Consequently, from the ninth to the twelfth centuries, women were the most productive writers of prose fiction in Japanese.
Ø Females learned to read and write at home, and they wrote diaries, stories, and novels to pass the time.
Ø From this tradition appeared one of the world’s great novels, The Tale of Genji, which was written by Murasaki Shikibu around the year 1000.
Section 4
India After the Guptas
Ø Followers of Mahayana saw Buddhism as a religion, not a philosophy, with Buddha as a divine figure.
Ø Muslim rulers in India were tolerant of Hindus because they realized there were simply too many Hindus to convert them all.
Ø Theravada Buddhism became the religion of the masses in Southeast Asia partly because it tolerated local gods and posed no threat to established faiths.
Ø Rajputs were Hindu warriors who resisted the advance of Ghazni.
Section 5
Southeast Asia
Ø Followers of Theravada see Buddhism as a way of life.
Ø Timur Lenk was the ruler of a Mongol state based in Samarkand.
Ø The trading societies of Southeast Asia included Srivijaya and the Sultanate of Melaka.
Ø The two major parts of Southeast Asia include the mainland down to the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula and the archipelago of present-day Indonesia and the Philippines.
Ø The temple of Angkor Wat combines Indian architectural techniques with native inspiration.
Ø Most societies in Southeast Asia gave greater rights to women than did those of China and India. Women worked alongside men in the fields.
Ø They also played an active role in trading activities.