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The ”Golden Age” of China

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Giant Wild Goose Pagoda (Xi’an, China) Built during the Tang Dynasty (652 CE) in the former capital of Chang’an

Leshan Giant Buddha (Sichuan province, China) The largest and tallest Buddha statue in the world. Built during the Tang Dynasty (713-803 CE). The largest statue in the world until completion of the Statue of Liberty in 1886 (about the same size)

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Battle of Talas (751 CE)

The Tang Chinese are defeated decisively by Arab Muslims, thus diminishing their cultural influence in Central Asia

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Iron Pagoda (Kaifeng, China) Built during the Song Dynasty in 1049

Dragon Pavilion (Kaifeng, China) What remains of the former Song Dynasty imperial palace (900s – 1100s) heavily damaged in many revolts throughout the 1800s and during the Chinese Civil War in the 1940s

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Fanjingshan and the Two Temples at the Gates of Heaven (Wuling Mountains, China) Initially built during the Tang and Song Dynasties (10th-12th Centuries)

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Lotus Shoe (approximately 4 inches)

The Status of Chinese Women

  • Women experienced some degree of freedom during the Tang
    • Rule of Wu Zhao (the only woman to ever rule China) improved their status slightly, but women were increasingly viewed as a ”commodity” afterwards
  • Song Dynasty and onwards, women saw their status decline significantly
    • Social norms for Han women until the 1900s included:
    • Widow chastity
    • Widow suicide
    • Foot-binding for Han elite

Empress Wu Zetian (officially ruled 690-705)

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Nomads in Central Asia

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Mongolian Steppes

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Typical Mongolian “Yurt”

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The MONGOLS

  • About 1200, Temujin aka Genghis Khan (“Universal Ruler”) unites the Mongols
    • Begins conquests of Central Asia
    • Brilliant military strategist
    • Uses brutality to intimidate enemies

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Mongol Invasions

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The MONGOLS

  • Genghis Khan’s Tax Laws:
    • If you do not pay homage, �we will take your prosperity.
    • If you do not have prosperity, �we will take your children.
    • If you do not have children, �we will take your wife.
    • If you do not have a wife, �we will take your head.
  • Used cruelty as a weapon 🡪 some areas never recovered from Mongol destruction!

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Mongol Warriors

Silk “underwear” typically worn by Mongolian warriors

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The Extent of the Mongol Empire

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Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis, becomes great Khan in 1260, conquers China by 1279, and creates the Yuan Dynasty

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Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty, 1279-1368 C.E.

Kublai Khan [1215-1294]

    • Pax Mongolica [“Mongol Peace”]
      • First non-Han to rule China… tolerated Han people but lived apart from them.
      • No Han Chinese in government posts.
      • Adopts some Chinese ways & moves capital to Beijing
    • Sends massive fleets against Japan.
    • 1281 🡪 150,000 warriors (largest invasion in the world until D-Day in 1944!)
    • Defeated by a kamikaze [“Winds of the Gods” in Japanese] possible typhoon/tsunami
  • Encouraged foreign trade & foreign merchants to live and work in China.
        • Marco Polo
        • Ibn Batutta

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Yuan Dynasty�Porcelains & Ceramics

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Marco Polo (1254-1324)

  • A Venetian merchant.�
  • Traveled through Yuan China: (1271-1295)

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    • “Black Stones” [coal]�
    • Gunpowder.�
    • Noodles [pasta].

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Ibn Battuta (1304-1369)

  • A Muslim Moroccan scholar.�
  • Travelled more than any other person before the invention of modern transportation
    • 73,000 miles vs Marco Polo’s 15,000 miles

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    • Published “The Rihla (The Journey): A Masterpiece to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling”

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    • The source of much of our knowledge about medieval Asia, Africa, and the Middle East

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The MONGOLS

  • The Black Plague was most likely spread by the Mongols in the mid-14th century across Asia and Europe.�
  • Gave the Japanese a sense of pride after their spectacular Kamikaze defeat of the Yuan in 1281
    • One of the first instances of gunpowder (hand thrown bombs and small cannons, in addition to arrows) in military history
  • Mongol rule collapses in the Middle East in 1330s; in Central Asia and China by 1370s; only remains in Russia until 1480s (the Golden Horde)

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Heian Japan (700s-1100s)

Byōdō-in, or The Phoenix Hall, completed in 1052 (Kyoto, Japan)

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The Mongol invasion of Japan in 1274 & 1281

Japanese samurai boarding a Yuan Dynasty Chinese/Mongol ship in 1281

”Mongols destroyed by a typhoon” (Kikuchi Yosai, ink and water on paper, 1847)

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Feudalism Across the World

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Matsumoto: Japanese 16th Century Castle

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Feudalism Across the World

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Bushido: “The Way of the Warrior” Samurai’s Code of Honor and Behavior

Seppuku / Harakiri

Ritual Suicide

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Angkor Wat temple complex (Siem Reap, Cambodia)

Built in the 12th century, originally as a Hindu temple (now Buddhist), the largest religious construction in history

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Borobudur temple complex (Java, Indonesia)

Built in the 9th century, the largest Buddhist Temple in the world (504 Buddha statues, 72 inside stupas)

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Where is this family name most common in East Asia?

  1. Wang/Wong or Li/Lee (8% each, 16% total)
  2. Chen (11%)
  3. Nguyen (31%)
  4. Sok (1.4%)
  5. no family name tradition
  6. De la Cruz or Garcia (1.5%)
  7. Sato or Suzuki (3%)
  8. Kim (22%)
  1. Japan
  2. Vietnam
  3. Philippines
  4. Indonesia (on the island of Java)
  5. Cambodia
  6. Korea
  7. China (mainly Han)
  8. Taiwan (also Han)

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