Chapter 13 – Spread of Chinese Civilization:

1. Chapter 13 – Spread of Chinese Civilization: Japan, Korea, and Vietnam

2. Japan, Vietnam, and Korea – each of these societies blended Chinese influence with local conditions, preferences and creativity producing distinctive civilized developments. • Buddhism played key roles in the transmission of Chinese civilization and culture • Chinese influence in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam emphasized links to China more than to the wider world

3. Japan: The Imperial Age In the Taika (645-710), Nara (710-784), and Heian (794-857) periods, Japanese borrowing from China peaked. Began promoting adoption of Chinese culture: • Confucianism • Language (characters) • Buddhist sects • Chinese art & architecture • Government structure “Great Kings” era

4. Taika Period • 646 – Taika reforms aimed at incorporating Chinese • characters • court etiquette • Buddhist monks cures and magic for illnesses • worshiping Buddhist deities meshed with ancient Japanese spirits • However, the Japanese aristocracy challenged Chinese influence. • Argued for a return of Japanese ways • Strengthening of Japanese traditions occurred Failure of Reforms – gradual change of power from Emperor/administration to aristocratic families to local lords in provinces

5. Taika reforms to remake the Japanese monarch into an absolutist Chinese style emperor, bureaucracy, and peasant army were resisted by the aristocratic families and Buddhist monastic orders who dominated the emperor and capital • The emperor established a new capital city at Heian, later called Kyoto • attempt to kill the influence of the monastic orders

6. The emperor abandoned all Taika reforms and restored the aristocratic families in an effort to break with Chinese influence • Aristocrats took control of central government positions and built up their own royal estates. • The emperor placed local army leaders to organize the military • helped erode control of the imperial household

7. Heian Era • During the Heian era Japanese emperor a world of luxury – an atmosphere of social status, affairs, and gossip. • It was a false life focused on beauty (fine gardens) and social interaction • Artificial world

8. Heian Period: 794-1156 • Growth of large landed estates • Arts & literature of China flourished • Elaborate court life [highly refined] • First novel • The Tale of Genji by Lady MurasakiShikibu • [1000 pgs.+] • Moving away from Chinese models in religion, arts, and government

9. Lady Murasaki Shikibu She contributed much to the Japanese script known as kana, while men wrote with Chinese characters, kanji.

10. Heian Period:Cultural Borrowing • Chinese writing • Chinese artistic styles • Buddhism [Zen] • BUT, not Chinese civil service system!

11. Decline of Imperial Power • Fujiwara, one of the aristocratic families of the 9th c. exercised exceptional influence over imperial affairs. • Packed upper administration with family • They used their wealth and influence to build up large estates that provided a stable financial base for their power. • The lands under their control expanded. • Aristocrats’ and monks’ power increased, but they failed to recognized the growing power of the local lords • Contributed to decline of Imperial rule

12. Rise of the Provincial Warrior Elite • Some of the provincial families had risen to power as land owners, estate managers, or local state officials, and came to control land and labor carving out little kingdoms – “mini-states” • Self-contained worlds • Denied resources to Imperial court • From them the warrior leaders, or bushi (local lords) controlled the law, public works, taxes and built up armies = effective military forces

13. Samurai (a warrior class emerges) • mounted troops • loyal to local lords • sometimes called in to protect the emperor and capital • The bushi (local lords) and samurai sharpened their martial skills using superbly forged, curved steel swords; represented heroic warfare

14. Code of Bushido

15. Warrior Code: • Family honor and death rather than retreat or defeat • Ritual suicide to restore their family’s honor • Seppuku – disembowelment now known in the West as hara-kiri, belly splitting (honorable way to die) Japan moving toward a feudal order similar to western Europe era

16. Rise of samurai frustrated hopes of creating a free peasantry • Peasants reduced to serfs • Separated from the warrior elite by ways of dressing • turn to popular Buddhism • Teachings understood and appealed to peasants and artisan classes

17. Era of Warrior Dominance • Power of provincial lords grew while imperial household and aristocracy declined (controlled by Fujiwara) • mid-12th century - Rivalry between the powerful families, the Taira and Minamoto (regional lords) • Minamoto commanders and their alliances proved superior to Taira • Five years, the Gempei War raged on the island Honshu. Taira were destroyed. • Caused great suffering to peasants • Minamoto established the bakufu, or military government (its capital was at Kamakura) • Although the emperor’s court was preserved, the real power was with the Minamoto and their samurai. • The feudal age in Japan had begun.

19. The Declining Influence of China • Imperial government weakens, aristocratic power grows = Chinese culture in Japan diminishes • Mandate of Heaven • Centralized power • Scholar-gentry class • Confucianism • Buddhism • Transformed into a distinctively Japanese religion • Decline of Tang – Chinese model less relevant to Japanese

20. Breakdown of Bakufu Dominance and the Age of the Warlords • Yoritomo, leader of the Minamoto and founder of the Kamakura Shogunate • Weakened the regime because of his fear of overthrow. • Fear of spies bred paranoia under the first of the Kamakura shoguns, or the military leaders of the bakufu. • Upon Yoritomo’s death, bushi lords focused on building up their power • Hojo warrior family (ally to Minamoto) would dominate the Kamakura regime

21. Early 14th century - The Ashikaga Takuaji, leader of a Minamoto family, overthrew the Kamakura regime and established the Ashikaga Shogunate (1336-1573) • Both the emperor’s and shogunate’s authority were weakened due to the strife between the two • Power of the bushi warlords grew

22. During the fighting, bushi vassals seized the lands of peasantry, the old aristocracy, and competing warlords resulting in bushi warlords power surge. • The lands the warlords acquired were given out to their samurai warriors • Pledged their loyalty and military support to their lord (feudalism) • Provincial lords amassed power. • Japan divided into 300 little kingdoms, whose warlord rulers were called daimyos

23. Similarities Both rose due to weak central governments. Both were based on mutual obligations and military needs Differences In Japan, family and social bonds were very strong Religious/belief systems art Comparing Japanese and European Feudalism

24. Feudalism A political, economic, and social system based on loyalty, the holding of land, and military service. Japan: Shogun Land - Shoen Loyalty Land - Shoen Daimyo Daimyo Loyalty Samurai Samurai Samurai Food Protection Peasant Peasant Peasant Peasant

25. Feudalism A political, economic, and social system based on loyalty, the holding of land, and military service. Europe King Land - Fief Loyalty Land - Fief Lord Lord Loyalty Knight Knight Knight Food Protection Peasant Peasant Peasant Peasant

26. Toward Barbarism? Military Division and Social Change • 15th – 16th century - Bushi era deteriorated • Spying, sneak attacks, ruses, and betrayals became the order of the day • Peasants became a critical component of daimyo armies • Peasant forces became a misery of the common people • Engaged in hopeless revolts • looted and pillaged; were brutal and destructive. • Japan was reverting from civilized life to barbarism.

27. Despite the chaos, there was economic and cultural growth. • Actions by the daimyos helped stabilized village life • Regular tax collection, construction of irrigation systems and other public works, building strong rural communities • New tools, use of draft animals, new crops (soybeans) • Peasants encouraged to produce highly marketable items giving potential sources of increased income • A new and wealthy commercial class emerged • Guild organizations grew strong helping to provide social solidarity and protection.

28. Women in merchant and artisan families had some degree of independence and could participate in guild organizations • However, women in the warrior elites faced loss of inheritance through the trend of daimyo families toward primogeniture, or limiting inheritance to the eldest son. • Japanese women of all classes lost roles in religious ceremonies and were replaced in Japanese theatrical performances by men specially trained to impersonate women.

29. Artistic Solace for a Troubled Age • Zen Buddhism- stressed simplicity and discipline has a special appeal to the warrior elite • Japanese version of Buddhism • Came from India through China • Zen monasteries provided trade contacts with China – revival of Chinese influence in Japan on the cultural level • Reinforced bushido values of mental and self-discipline

30. Korea: Between China and Japan • Koreans descended from peoples of eastern Siberia and Manchuria. • Choson – earliest Korean kingdom – conquered by the Han Chinese, so parts of Korea were colonized by Chinese settlers. • Chinese influenced the Korean culture through those colonies. • Later the Koguryo tribe of Korea established an independent state in the northern half of the peninsula. Went to war with two southern rivals, the Silla and Paekche

31. Contacts with splinter kingdoms of China resulted in a wave of Sinification – extensive adoption of Chinese culture in Korea. • Buddhism was a link between Korea and the successors of the Han dynasty • Chinese writing was introduced – not a good fit for Korea • The Koguryo monarch used the unified law code patterned after that of Han China

32. Tang Alliances and the Conq;uest of Korea • Tang dynasty included Korea in its territories • Tang struck an alliance with the rulers of the Silla kingdom to the southeast of Korea and destroyed the Packche kingdom and then defeated Koguryo • Because the Silla agreed to make tribute payments, the Chinese withdrew their armies in 688 leaving the Silla the independent rulers of a united Korea up to the early 20th c.

33. Sinification: The Tributary Link • Silla rulers established a miniature of the Tang Empire. • Submission and tribute guaranteed continuing peace with the Chinese and provided access to Chinese learning, art, and manufactured goods. • The tribute system became the major channel of trade and inter-cultural exchange between China and its neighbors.

34. Sinification of Korean Elite Culture • Silla rulers rebuilt their capital at Kimsong to look like its Tang counterpart. • Aristocratic families dominated imperial government • Some aristocrats submitted to Confucian examinations • Korean elite continued to favor Buddhism over Confucianism. • Korean artwork and monastic design outdid the Chinese

35. Korean celadon porcelains and black stoneware are considered some of the finest pottery ever made.

36. Civilization for the Few • The Korean elite monopolized the Chinese imports of the day. • Korean Society: • Aristocrats • Those who served the aristocrats (government functionaries) • Commoners – peasants • Near-slaves known as the “low born” (miners, artisans, servants and entertainers)

37. Koryo Collapse, Dynastic Renewal • Revolts by the common and low born people weakened the Silla and Koryo in combination with quarrels between aristocratic households and outside invasions. • Yi dynasty was established in 1392 – restored the aristocratic dominance and links to China

38. Between China and SE Asia: The Making of Vietnam • Vietnamese were a distinct people and did not want to be controlled by China -- feared losing their identity • The Chinese first called them Nam Viet, “people in the south” • Trade between the Chinese and Vietnamese consisted of Chinese silk which was traded for Viets’ ivory, tortoise shells, pearls and other exotics.

39. Later the Viet rulers defeated the feudal lords ending their control of the Red River valley and brought their lands under the control of the Viet kingdom. • Vietnamese customs and cultures differed from Chinese. • Vietnamese became a distinct ethnic group through intermarrying with the Mon-Khmer(today’s Cambodians) and Tai-speaking peoples. • They practiced village autonomy and preferred the nuclear family to the Chinese extended family custom.

40. Vietnamese women had greater freedom and more influence within the family and in society than did Chinese counterparts. Where Chinese women wore black pants, the Vietnamese women preferred long skirts • The Vietnamese preserved most of these features even through previous times of control by the Chinese. • Buddhism was the preferred religion of the Vietnamese.

41. Conquest and Sinification • By 111 B.C.E. the Han pushed to conquer the feisty Viets. These Chinese encouraged Viet local lords to adopt Chinese culture. Other cultural changes were attempted. • Vietnamese elites were drawn to the bureaucratic ways of the Han, attended Chinese-style schools, and took exams to qualify for high posts • Chinese cropping techniques and irrigation technology were introduced making Vietnamese agriculture the most productive in SE Asia. • Result: High Vietnamese population density

42. Eventually the Chinese realized the Viets were, for the most part, not assimilating into the Chinese culture. • Vietnamese resisted Chinese dominance • Vietnamese aristocracy led revolts against them • Vietnamese peasantry was disappointed with Chinese imports and rose up time and again to drive off the alien rulers • The Trung sisters began the 39CE uprising against the Chinese by reminding Vienamese women of the undesireable Confucian norms and male dominance of the Chinese

43. Winning Independence • Barriers the Chinese faced: • Long distances and mountain barriers prevented ease in supplying military expeditions to the far south • Vietnamese took advantage of 1) the political turmoil of the fall of the Tang dynasty and 2) the nomadic incursions in northern China to assert their independence • Vietnamese massively rebelled against the Chinese • 939 the Vietnamese won political independence from the Chinese and held on to it until the conquests by the French in the 19th c.

44. Continuing Chinese Impact • The Le dynasty was Vietnam’s first ( 9810-1009) • Ruled through a Chinese-like bureaucracy • Used civil service exams • An administrative elite - Confucian in nature • Vietnamese equivalent of the Chinese scholar-gentry was weak because Vietnamese officials identified more with the peasantry rather than bureaucratic administrators • Scholar bureaucrats were considered less influential than well-educated Buddhist monks who were more closely linked with the peasantry • The high esteem in which women were held in Buddhist teachings enhanced the popularity of the monks in Vietnam. • Result: Most Vietnamese dynasties enjoyed less authority than those of their Chinese counterparts.

45. Vietnamese Drive to the South • Though watered down, the Chinese legacy of influence gave the Vietnamese big advantages in struggles within Indochina. • Their main enemies were the Chams and Khmers to the south. • 11th to 18th c. Vietnamese fought: • a series of successful wars against the Chams, an Indianized people who were eventually driven out • And later, the Khmers of the Mekong delta who were pushed out when the Vietnamese used their advantage of superior weapons and forces to combat them.

46. Expansion and Division • The Hanoi-based dynasties had trouble controlling their commanders and peasants fighting. • Intermarriage between and custom sharing of the Chams and Khmers created problematic differences • Control of the Hanoi-based dynasties weakened over the southern region • Problem: less attention to orders and tax collection caused tension

47. By the 16th c. a rival, the Nguyen, emerged to challenge the claims of legitimacy of the Trinh family that ruled the north. • For the next two centuries, these rival houses fought for the right to rule Vietnam. The hope was to eventually reunite all of Vietnam. • Because so much attention was paid to this problem, the Vietnamese people failed to see the external threat to their homeland: • France and the conversion-minded Roman Catholic church!