Topic 1:

Developments in
East Asia 1200-
1450
 Revival of Large Empires

Song dynasty of China was wealthiest & most

innovative
Regional trade led to growth in Sub-Saharan (SS)
Africa & SE Asia

CONTEXT
Unity in Central Asia

After a devastating conquest, the Mongols

brought unity and an unprecedented exchange of
goods, ideas, and diseases along the Silk Roads
Intro : Song Dynasty in a Nutshell

At the beginning of the 1200s China was rich in wealth,

culture, and the most innovative state in the world

* porcelain, the compass, and gunpowder were invented

* Hangzhou as the largest city in the world (over 2
million) 1.1 Dev. In E. Asia (pp. 3-11)
 GOV: Song China 960-1279

• Smaller than Tang before it, but government was wealthy, supported arts

• Bureaucracy: large hierarchy of workers – ran all levels of gov’t.

 Confucian Exam System rewarded talented nobles and gave
bureaucracy talented workers

 Meritocracy: Emperor Song Taizu encouraged promising poor men to

take exam, giving his gov’t highly motivated workers (earned it through
merit, not bribes) Confucian Buzzword!
Filial piety: children respecting their
parents/elders
ECON: agriculture, foreign trade, improved
roads/canals led to pop. growth and $$$
• Grand Canal: linked north and south; 30,000 miles long
Internal trade boomed, and Gov’t could store rice from south for times of
famine
• Gunpowder: invented earlier, the Song make the first guns

• Agricultural Productivity
• Champa rice imported from Vietnam– drought resistant and fast-ripening
• Improved plows, irrigation, fertilizer and water wheels increased food
•  population grew from 25% to 40% of all humans by 1279
Manufacturing & Trade
“Black earth” = coal led to mass-produced steel for goods, ships, and structure-
reinforcement (Pagodas)

• proto-industrialization: Song gov’t. hired home-based workers-- made

porcelain & silk
• These workers were called artisans skilled crafts-people

Invention of the compass & paper money helped China become world’s most
commercialized society
Taxes: paying $ replaced doing labor; led to econ growth
Tributes: neighboring countries forced to pay “tribute”, kowtow; Zheng He led
huge fleets into Indian Ocean collecting tribute
SOC: social structure
• New Social Class: nobles whose son passes exam, move ABOVE
“ scholar-gentry” educated gov’t bureaucracy

Power-Gap: well below the nobles were 3 groups: farmer

artisan/craftsman
merchant

Role of women: defer to men; have sons

Foot binding: noble wives were required (“social status”), but symbol of constraint
TEC: Intellectual and Cultural Developments
• Paper & Printing: block printing helped China pass along info on many subjects
EX. Farm efficiency, war tactics

* Wood-block printing: 100s of years ahead of the Guttenberg press

Reading & Poetry: Confucian classics and Li Bo poems in high demand by the
numerous literate upper classes.
Religious Diversity
Buddhism: already popular by 1200 (monk Xuanzang)

• All 3 forms of Buddhism believed in the Four Noble Truths (eliminating self-
centered desire leads to enlightenment)
• B. & Taoism: syncretic actions changed Buddhism to reflect Taoist beliefs (Chan
Buddhism) popular but disruptive to tradition
• B. & Neo Confucism: Emperor and scholar-gentry reacted against Buddhism
(Buddhist-Backlash)

• Filial-piety emphasized to reduce Buddhists equalitarian teachings

• Neo-Confucism: movement by traditionalists (patriarchy!) to push back against

foreign influence (women rulers?! Empress Wu ruled in earlier Tang dynasty)
College-word ALERT!!

•hegemony
• 1: preponderant influence or authority over others : DOMINATION
sentenceChina battled for hegemony in Asia
• 2 : the social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a
dominant group
 Comparing Japan, Korea, and Vietnam
Sinification: Chinese culture so strong that its neighbors were heavily
influenced
JAPAN
-selective borrower due to its Islands isolation
-Prince Shotoku Taishi promoted Bud. & Conf., and block printing

Heian Period: used Chinese styles in politics, art and lit., BUT added
 The Novel: Lady Murasaki wrote Tale of Genji, worlds FIRST novel.
• KOREA
• NEXT DOOR TO CHINA, HEAVILY INFLUENCED (Tribute State)
• Culturally SIMILAR- adopted Conf. & Bud. Elites loved Confucism; peasants embraced Buddhism (egalitarian)
• DIFFERENCE- landed nobles more powerful than emperor, so no merit-based system for entering bureaucracy

• VIETNAM
• Somewhat Sinified (less than Korea, more than Japan)
• SIMILAR- writing & architecture DIFFERENCE- violent class/rebellions politically

• Nuclear families: big cultural difference as Vietnam focused on mom/dad and children vs. Chinese multi-generational
model