Chapter 9

Outline
In addition to the great civilizations of Asia and North Africa forming during the postclassical
period, two related major civilizations formed in Europe. The Byzantine Empire, in western
Asia and southeastern Europe, expanded into eastern Europe. The other was defined by the
influence of Catholicism in western and central Europe. The Byzantine Empire, with territory
in the Balkans, the Middle East, and the eastern Mediterranean, maintained very high levels
of political, economic, and cultural life between 500 and 1450 C.E. The empire continued
many Roman patterns and spread its Orthodox Christian civilization through most of eastern
Europe, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. Catholic Christianity, without an imperial center,
spread in western Europe. Two separate civilizations emerged from the differing Christian
influences.
The Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine Empire, once part of the greater Roman Empire,
continued flourishing from an eastern Mediterranean base after Roman decline. Although it
inherited and continued some of Romes patterns, the eastern Mediterranean state
developed its own form of civilization.
The Origins of the Empire. Emperor Constantine in the fourth century C.E. established a
capital at Constantinople. Separate emperors ruled from it even before Rome fell. Although
Latin served for a time as the court language, Greek became the official tongue after the
sixth century. The empire benefited from the high level of civilization in the former
Hellenistic world and from the region's prosperous commerce. It held off barbarian invaders
and developed a trained civilian bureaucracy.
Justinian's Achievements. In the sixth century, Justinian, with a secure base in the east,
attempted to reconquer Western territory but without lasting success. The military efforts
weakened the empire as Slavs and Persians attacked frontiers, and they also created
serious financial pressures. Justinian rebuilt Constantinople in classical style; among the
architectural achievements was the huge church of Hagia Sophia. His codification of Roman
law reduced legal confusion in the empire. The code later spread Roman legal concepts
throughout Europe.
Arab Pressure and the Empire's Defenses. Justinian's successors concentrated on the
defense of their Eastern territories. The empire henceforth centered in the Balkans and
western and central Turkey, a location blending a rich Hellenistic culture with
Christianity. The revived empire withstood the seventh century advance of Arab Muslims,
although important regions were lost along the eastern Mediterranean and the northern
Middle Eastern heartland. The wars and the permanent Muslim threat had significant cultural
and commercial influences. The free rural population, the provider of military recruits and
taxes, was weakened. Aristocratic estates grew larger, and aristocratic generals became
stronger. The empire's fortunes fluctuated as it resisted pressures from the Arabs and Slavic
kingdoms. Bulgaria was a strong rival, but Basil II defeated and conquered it in the eleventh
century. At the close of the tenth century, the Byzantine emperor may have been the
strongest contemporary ruler.
Byzantine Society and Politics. Byzantine political patterns resembled the earlier Chinese
system. An emperor, ordained by god and surrounded by elaborate court ritual, headed both
church and state. Women occasionally held the throne. An elaborate bureaucracy supported
the imperial authority. The officials, trained in Hellenistic knowledge in a secular school
system, could be recruited from all social classes, although, as in China, aristocrats

predominated. Provincial governors were appointed from the center, and a spy system
helped to preserve loyalty. A careful military organization defended the empire. Troops were
recruited locally and given land in return for service. Outsiders, especially Slavs and
Armenians, accepted similar terms. Over time, hereditary military leaders developed
regional power and displaced aristocrats who were better educated. The empire socially and
economically depended on Constantinople's control of the countryside. The bureaucracy
regulated trade and food prices. Peasants supplied the food and provided most tax
revenues. The large urban class was kept satisfied by low food prices. A widespread
commercial network extended into Asia, Russia, Scandinavia, western Europe, and Africa.
Silk production techniques brought from China added a valuable product to the luxury items
exported. Despite the busy trade, the large merchant class never developed political power.
Cultural life centered on Hellenistic secular traditions and Orthodox Christianity. Little artistic
creativity resulted, except in art and architecture. Domed buildings, colored mosaics, and
painted icons expressed an art linked to religion.
The Split between East and West. Byzantine culture, political organization, and economic
orientation help to explain the rift between the eastern and western versions of Christianity.
Different rituals grew from Greek and Latin versions of the Bible. Emperors resisted papal
attempts to interfere in religious issues. Hostility greeted the effort of the Frankish king,
Charlemagne, to be recognized as Roman emperor. The final break between the two
churches occurred in 1054 over arguments about the type of bread used in the mass and
the celibacy of priests. Even though the two churches remained separate, they continued to
share a common classical heritage.
The Empire's Decline. A long period of decline began in the eleventh century. Muslim
Turkish invaders seized almost all of the empire's Asian provinces, removing the most
important sources of taxes and food. The empire never recovered from the loss of its army
at Manzikert in 1071. Independent Slavic states appeared in the Balkans. An appeal for
western European assistance did not help the Byzantines. Crusaders, led by Venetian
merchants, sacked Constantinople in 1204. Italian cities used their navies to secure special
trading privileges. A smaller empire struggled to survive for another two centuries against
western Europeans, Muslims, and Slavic kingdoms. In 1453, the Ottoman Turks conquered
Constantinople.
The Spread of Civilization in Eastern Europe. The Byzantine Empires influence spread
among the people of the Balkans and southern Russia through conquest, commerce, and
Christianity. In the ninth century, missionaries Cyril and Methodius devised a written script,
Cyrillic, for the Slavic language, providing a base for literacy in Eastern Europe. Unlike
Western Christians, the Byzantines allowed the use of local languages in church services.
The East Central Borderlands. Both eastern and western Christian missionaries competed
in eastern Europe. Roman Catholics, and their Latin alphabet, prevailed in Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, and Poland. The region became a long-standing site of competition between the
two influences. A series of regional monarchiesPoland, Bohemia, Lithuaniawith powerful
landowning aristocracies developed. Eastern Europe also received an influx of Jews from the
Middle East and western Europe. They were often barred from agriculture but participated in
local commerce. They maintained their own traditions and emphasized education for males.
The Emergence of Kievan Rus'. Slavic peoples from Asia migrated into Russia and
eastern Europe during the period of the Roman Empire. They mixed with and incorporated
earlier populations. They possessed iron and extended agriculture in Ukraine and western
Russia. Political organization centered in family tribes and villages. The Slavs followed an

animist religion and had rich traditions of music and oral legends. Scandinavian traders
during the sixth and seventh centuries moved into the region along its great rivers and
established a rich trade between their homeland and Constantinople. Some traders won
political control. A monarchy emerged at Kiev around 855 under the legendary Danish
merchant, Rurik. The loosely organized state flourished until the twelfth century. Kiev
became a prosperous commercial center. Contacts with the Byzantines resulted in the
conversion of Vladimir I (980-1015) to Orthodox Christianity. The ruler, on the Byzantine
pattern, controlled church appointments. Kiev's rulers issued a formal law code. They ruled
the largest single European state.
Institutions and Culture in Kievan Rus'. Kiev borrowed much from Byzantium, but it
was unable to duplicate its bureaucracy or education system. Cultural, social, and economic
patterns developed differently from the western European experience. Rulers favored
Byzantine ceremonials and the concept of a strong central ruler. Orthodox Christian
practices entered Russian culturedevotion to God's power and to saints, ornate churches,
icons, and monasticism. Polygamy yielded to Christian monogamy. Almsgiving emphasized
the obligation of the wealthy toward the poor. Literature focused on religious and royal
events, while art was dominated by icon painting and illuminated religious manuscripts.
Church architecture adapted Byzantine themes to local conditions. Peasants were free
farmers, and aristocratic landlords (boyars) had less political power than similar Westerners.
Kievan Decline. Kievan decline began in the twelfth century. Rival princes established
competing governments while the royal family quarreled over the succession. Asian invaders
seized territory as trade diminished because of Byzantine decay. The Mongol invasions of the
thirteenth century incorporated Russian lands into their territories. Mongol (Tatar)
dominance further separated Russia from western European developments. Commercial
contacts lapsed. Russian Orthodox Christianity survived because the tolerant Mongols did
not interfere with Russian religious beliefs or daily life as long as tribute was paid. Thus
when Mongol control ended in the fifteenth century, a Russian cultural and political tradition
incorporating the Byzantine inheritance reemerged. The Russians claimed to be the
successors to the Roman and Byzantine states, the "third Rome."
In Depth: Eastern and Western Europe: The Problem of Boundaries. Determining
where individual civilizations begin and end is a difficult exercise. The presence of many rival
units and internal cultural differences complicates the question. If mainstream culture is
used for definition, Orthodox and Roman Catholic religion, each with its own alphabet, offers
a logical answer. Political organization is more complicated because of loosely organized
regional kingdoms. Commercial patterns and Mongol and Russian expansion also influenced
cultural identities.
The End of an Era in Eastern Europe. With the Mongol invasions, the decline of Russia,
and the collapse of Byzantium, eastern Europe entered into a difficult period. Border
territories, such as Poland, fell under Western influence, while the Balkans fell to the Islamic
world of the Turks. Western and eastern Europe evolved separately, with the former pushing
ahead in power and cross-cultural sophistication.
Global Connections: Eastern Europe and the World. The Byzantine Empire was active
in interregional trade; Constantinople was one of the worlds great trading cities, and the
empire served as a link between northern Europe and the Mediterranean. When Byzantium
declined and the Mongols conquered Russia, a period of isolation began. By the fifteenth
century, Russia began to regain independence and faced decisions about how to re-engage
with the West.

Chapter 10
Outline
The postclassical period in western Europe, known as the Middle Ages, stretches between
the fall of the Roman Empire and the fifteenth century. Typical postclassical themes
prevailed. Civilization spread gradually beyond the Mediterranean zone. Christian
missionaries converted Europeans from polytheistic faiths. Medieval Europe participated in
the emerging international community. New tools and crops expanded agricultural output;
advanced technologies improved manufacturing. Mathematics, science, and philosophy were
stimulated by new concepts.
Two Images. Although western European society was not as commercially or culturally
developed as the great world civilizations, it had its own distinctive characteristics. Western
political structures had many similarities with those of the other more recent civilizations of
Japan, Russia, and sub-Saharan Africa. Europeans long lived under threat of incursions from
the stronger Islamic world. There were many indications of a developing, vital society:
population growth, economic productivity, increased political complexity, technological
innovation, and artistic and intellectual complexity. Major contributions to the development
of Western civilization occurred in politics and social structure; in intellectual life medieval
striving produced the university and Gothic architectural forms.
Stages of Postclassical Development. From the middle of the sixth century C.E. until
about 900, disorder prevailed in western Europe. Rome's fall left Italy in economic, political,
and intellectual decline. The Catholic Church remained strong. Muslim-controlled Spain
maintained a vibrant intellectual and economic life but only later influenced European
development. The center of the postclassical West was in France, the Low Countries, and
southern and western Germany. England later joined the core. Continual raids by
Scandinavian Vikings hindered political and economic development. Intellectual activity
sharply diminished; most literate individuals were Catholic monks and priests.
The Manorial System: Obligations and Allegiances. Until the tenth century, most
political organization was local. Manorialism was a system of reciprocal economic and
political obligations between landlords and peasants. Most individuals were serfs living on
self-sufficient agricultural estates (manors). In return for protection, they gave lords part of
their crops and provided labor services. Inferior technology limited agricultural output until
the ninth century introduction of the moldboard plow and the three-field cultivation system
increased yields. Serfs bore many burdens, but they were not slaves. They had heritable
ownership of houses and land as long as they met obligations. Peasant villages provided
community life and limited self-government.
The Church: Political and Spiritual Power. The Catholic Church in the first centuries
after 500 was the single example of firm organization. The popes headed a hierarchy based
on the Roman imperial model; they appointed some bishops, regulated doctrine, and
sponsored missionary activity. The conversion of Germanic kings, such as Clovis of the
Franks, around 496, demonstrated the spiritual and political power of the church. It also
developed the monastic movement. In Italy, Benedict of Nursia created the most important
set of monastic rules in the sixth century. Monasteries had both spiritual and secular
functions. They promoted Christian unity, served as examples of holy life, improved
cultivation techniques, stressed productive work, and preserved the heritage of GrecoRoman culture.

Charlemagne and His Successors. The Carolingian dynasty of the Franks ruling in
France, Belgium, and Germany grew stronger during the eighth century. Charles Martel
defeated Muslim invaders at Tours in 732. Charlemagne built a substantial empire by 800.
He helped to restore church-based education and revived traditions of Roman imperial
government. The empire did not survive Charlemagne's death in 814. His sons divided the
territory and later rulers lacked talent. Subsequent political history was marked by regional
monarchies existing within a civilization with strong cultural unity initially centered on
Catholic Christianity. French, German, English, and other separate languages emerged,
providing a beginning for national identity. The rulers reigning in Germany and northern
Italy initially were the strongest; they called themselves holy Roman emperors, but they
failed to create a solid monarchy. Local lords and city-states went their own way.
New Economic and Urban Vigor. During the ninth and tenth centuries, new agricultural
techniquesthe moldboard plow, the three-field systemsignificantly increased production.
Horse collars, also useful for agriculture, and stirrups confirmed lordly dominance. Viking
incursions diminished as the raiders seized territorial control or regional governments
became stronger. Both factors allowed population growth and encouraged economic
innovation. Expanding towns emerged as regional trade centers with a merchant class and
craft production. The need for more food led to colonization to develop new agricultural
land. The demand for labor resulted in less harsh conditions for serfs. The growing urban
centers increased the spread of literacy, revitalized popular culture, and stimulated religious
life. By the eleventh century, cathedral schools evolved into universities. Students studied
medicine and law; later theology and philosophy became important disciplines. Art and
architecture reached new peaks.
Feudal Monarchies and Political Advances. From the sixth century, feudalism, a system
of political and military relationships, evolved in western Europe. Military elites of the
landlord class could afford horses and iron weapons. The greater lords provided protection
to lesser lords (vassals) who in return supplied military and other service. Feudal
relationships first served local needs, but they later were extended to cover larger regions.
Charlemagne acted in that fashion. Later rulers, notably the Capetian kings of France from
the tenth century, used feudalism to evolve from regional lords to rulers controlling a larger
territory. In their feudal monarchy, they began bureaucratic administration and
specialization of official functions. William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066 and
merged feudal techniques with a more centralized government. Royal officials, sheriffs,
supervised local justice. The growth of feudal monarchies independently duplicated
measures followed in other centralizing societies.
Limited Government. Western Europe remained politically divided. The Holy Roman
Empires territories in Germany and Italy were controlled by local lords and city-states. The
pope ruled in central Italy. Regional units prevailed in the Low Countries. In strong feudal
monarchies, power was limited by the church, aristocratic military strength, and developing
urban centers. King John of England in 1215 was forced to recognize feudal rights in the
Magna Carta.Parliaments, bodies representing privileged groups, emerged in Catalonia in
1000. In England a parliament, operating from 1265, gained the right to rule on taxation
and related policy matters. Most members of societies were not represented, but the
creation of representative bodies was the beginning of a distinctive political process not
present in other civilizations. Despite the checks, European rulers made limited progress in
advancing central authority. Their weakness was demonstrated by local wars turning into
larger conflicts, such as the Hundred Years War of the fourteenth century between the
French and English.

The West's Expansionist Impulse. The ongoing political and economic changes spurred
European expansion beyond initial postclassical borders. From the eleventh century,
Germanic knights and agricultural settlers changed the population and environmental
balance in Eastern Germany and Poland. In Spain and Portugal, small Christian states in the
tenth century began the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from Muslims. Viking voyagers
crossed the Atlantic to Iceland, Greenland, and Canada. The most dramatic expansion
occurred during the Crusades against Muslims in the Holy Land. Pope Urban II called the
first in 1095. Christian warriors seeking salvation and spoils established kingdoms in the
Holy Land enduring into the thirteenth century. Their presence helped to expose Europeans
to cultural and economic influences from Byzantium and Islam.
Religious Reform and Evolution. The Catholic Church went through several periods of
decline and renewal. The churchs wealth and power often led its officials to become
preoccupied with secular matters. Monastic orders and popes from the eleventh century
worked to reform the church. Leaders, such as St. Francis and St. Clare, both from Assisi,
purified monastic orders and gave new spiritual vigor to the church. Pope Gregory VII
attempted to free the church from secular interference by stipulating that priests remain
unmarried and that bishops not be appointed by the state. Independent church courts
developed to rule on religious concerns.
The High Middle Ages. Postclassical Western civilization reached its high point during the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Creative tensions among feudal political forms, emerging
monarchies, and the authority of the church produced major changes in political, religious,
intellectual, social, and economic life.
In Depth: Western Civilization. Western civilization is hard to define, since the classical
Mediterraneans did not directly identify what Western was and because of the lack of
political unity in western Europe in the postclassical era. However, western Europeans
certainly would have recognized Christianity as a common element. The rapid spread of
universities and trade patterns increasingly joined much of western Europe. Furthermore,
defining Western civilization is complicated because Europe borrowed so much from Asian
civilizations.
Western Culture in the Postclassical Era. Christianity was the clearest unifying cultural
element in western Europe, even though it changed as European society matured.
Theology: Assimilating Faith and Reason. Before 1000 C.E., a few church members had
attempted to preserve and interpret the ideas of earlier thinkers, especially Aristotle and
Augustine. The efforts gradually produced a fuller understanding of the past, particularly in
philosophy, rhetoric, and logic. After 1000, the process went to new levels. Absolute faith in
God's word was stressed, but it was held that human reason contributed to the
understanding of religion and the natural order. Peter Abelard in twelfth-century Paris used
logic to demonstrate contradictions in doctrine. Many church leaders opposed such
endeavors and emphasized the role of faith for understanding religious mysteries. St.
Bernard of Clairvaux successfully challenged Abelard and stressed the importance of
mystical union with God. The debates matched similar tensions within Islam concerning
philosophical and scientific traditions. In Europe, there were increasing efforts to bridge this
gap. By the twelfth century, the debate flourished in universities, opening intellectual
avenues not present in other civilizations. In China, for example, a single path was followed.
The European universities produced men for clerical and state bureaucracies, but they also
motivated a thirst for knowledge from other past and present civilizations. By the thirteenth
century, Western thinkers had created a synthesis of medieval learning. St. Thomas Aquinas

of Paris in his Summas held that faith came first but that human reason allowed a greater
understanding of natural order, moral law, and the nature of God. Although scholasticism
deteriorated after Thomas, it had opened new paths for human understanding. Medieval
philosophy did not encourage scientific endeavor, but a few scholars, such as Roger Bacon,
did important experimental work in optics and other fields.
Popular Religion. Although we do not know much about popular beliefs, Christian devotion
ran deep within individuals. The rise of cities encouraged the formation of lay groups. The
cults of the Virgin Mary and sundry saints demonstrated a need for intermediaries between
people and God. Pagan practices endured and blended into Christianity.
Religious Themes in Art and Literature. Christian art and architecture reflected both
popular and formal themes. Religious ideas dominated painting, with the early stiff and
stylized figures changing by the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries to more realistic
portrayals that included secular scenes. Architecture followed Roman models. A
Romanesque style had rectangular buildings surmounted by domes. During the eleventh
century, the Gothic style appeared, producing soaring spires and arched windows requiring
great technical skills. Literature and music equally reflected religious interest. Latin writings
dealt with philosophy, law, and politics. Vernacular literature developed, incorporating
themes from the past, such as the English Beowulf and the French Song of
Roland.Contemporary secular themes were represented in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
Courtly poets (troubadours) in fourteenth-century southern France portrayed courtly love.
Changing Economic and Social Forms in the Postclassical Centuries. Apart from the
cultural cement formed by the Catholic Church, Western society had other common features
in economic activity and social structure. The postclassical West demonstrated great powers
of innovation. When trade revived in the tenth century, the West became a kind of common
commercial zone as merchants moved commodities from one region to another.
New Strains in Rural Life. Agricultural improvements after 800 C.E. allowed some
peasants to shake off the most severe manorial constraints. Noble landlords continued their
military functions but used trade to improve their living styles. The more complex economy
increased landlord-peasant tensions. From then until the nineteenth century, there were
recurring struggles between the two groups. Peasants wanted more freedom and control of
land, while landlords wanted higher revenues. In general, peasant conditions improved and
landlord controls weakened. Although agriculture remained technologically backward when
compared with that in other societies, it had surpassed previous levels.
Growth of Trade and Banking. Urban growth promoted more specialized manufacturing
and commerce. Banking was introduced by Italian businessmen. The use of money spread
rapidly. Large trading and banking operations clearly were capitalistic. Europeans traded
with other world regions, particularly via Italian Mediterranean merchants, for luxury goods
and spices. Within Europe, raw materials and manufactured items were exchanged. Cities in
northern Germany and southern Scandinavia formed the Hanseatic League to encourage
commerce. European traders, although entering into many economic pursuits, as
demonstrated in the fifteenth century career of Jacques Coeur, still generally remained less
venturesome and wealthy than their Islamic counterparts. The weakness of Western
governments allowed merchants a freer hand than in many civilizations. Cities were ruled by
commercial leagues, and rulers allied with them against the aristocracy. Apart from taxation
and borrowing, governments left merchants alone, allowing them to gain an independent
role in society. Most peasants and landlords were not enmeshed in a market system. In
cities, the characteristic institution was the merchant or artisan guild. Guilds grouped people

in similar occupations, regulated apprenticeships, maintained good workmanship, and

discouraged innovations. They played an important political and social role in cities.
Manufacturing and commercial methods in Europe improved, but they did not attain Asian
levels in iron making and textile production. Only in a few areas, such as clock making, did
they take the lead. By the late Middle Ages, the Western medieval economy contained
contradictory elements. Commercial and capitalistic trends jostled the slower rural economy
and guild protectionism.
Limited Sphere for Women. As elsewhere, increasing complexity of social and economic
life limited women's roles. Women's work remained vital to families. Christian emphasis on
spiritual equality remained important, while female monastic groups offered a limited
alternative to marriage. Veneration of the Virgin Mary and other female religious figures
provided positive role models for women. Still, even though women were less restricted
than those within Islam, they lost ground. They were increasingly hemmed in by maledominated organizations. By the close of the Middle Ages, patriarchal structures were firmly
established.
The Decline of the Medieval Synthesis. After 1300, postclassical Western civilization
declined. A major war embroiled France and England during the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries. The sporadic fighting spread economic distress and demonstrated the weaknesses
of the feudal order. At the same time, key sources of Western vitality degenerated.
Agriculture could not keep up with population growth. Famines followed. Further losses
came from the Black Death in 1348 and succeeding plagues. Tensions between landlord and
peasants, and artisans and their employees, intensified.
Signs of Strain. There were increasing challenges to medieval institutions. The landowning
aristocracy, the ruling class, lost its military role as professional armies and new weapons
transformed warfare. Aristocrats retreated into a ceremonial style of life emphasizing
chivalry. The balance of power between church and state shifted in favor of the state. As the
church leaders struggled to retain secular authority, they lost touch with individual believers
who turned to popular religious currents emphasizing direct experience of God. Intellectual
and artistic synthesis also declined. Church officials became less tolerant of intellectual
boldness and retreated from Aquinas' blend of rationalism and religion. In art, styles
became more realistic.
The Postclassical West and Its Heritage. The Middle Ages has been regarded as a
backward period between the era of Greece and Rome and the vigorous new civilization of
the fifteenth century. This view neglects the extent of medieval creativity. Much of Europe
had not previously been incorporated into a major civilization. Europeans, for the first time,
were building appropriate institutions and culture. Medieval thinkers linked classical
rationalism within a strong Christian framework. Classical styles were preserved but were
surpassed by new expressive forms. Medieval economics and politics established firm
foundations for the future. Western European civilization shared many attributes with other
emerging regions; among its distinctive aspects was an aggressive interest in the wider
world.
Global Connections: Medieval Europe and the World. Western Europe in the Middle
Ages had a love-hate relationship with the world around it. Early on, Europe seemed
threatened by Vikings, Asian nomads, and Islam. At the same time, Europeans actively
copied many features from Islam and traded with Asians. Through selective acceptance of
benefits from the world around them, this civilization developed a global awareness.

Chapter 12
Outline
Basic themes of Chinese civilization underwent vital consolidation during the postclassical
period. Less fundamental innovation occurred than in the Americas and Europe. Important
developments took place in technology. Political turmoil followed the fall of the Han during
the Period of the Six Dynasties (220-589 C.E.), and the empire's bureaucratic apparatus
collapsed. The scholar-gentry class lost ground to landed families. Non-Chinese nomads
ruled much of China, and a foreign religion, Buddhism, replaced Confucianism as a primary
force in cultural life. There were economic, technological, intellectual, and urban decline.
New dynasties, the Sui and Tang, from the end of the sixth century brought a restoration of
Chinese civilization. Political unity returned as nomads and nobility were brought under state
control and the bureaucracy was rebuilt. Major changes occurred in economic and social life
as the focus of a revived civilization shifted from the north to the Yangtze valley and
southern and eastern coastal areas. The Song dynasty continued the revival; their era saw
the restoration of the scholar-gentry and the Confucian order. It was a time of artistic,
literary, and technological flourishing. Male dominance reached new heights.
Rebuilding the Imperial Edifice in the Sui-Tang Eras. A noble, Wendi, with the support
of nomadic military leaders, won control of northern China. In 589, he defeated the Chen
kingdom, which ruled much of the south, and established the Sui dynasty as ruler of the
traditional Chinese core. Wendi won popularity by lowering taxes and establishing granaries
to ensure a stable, cheap food supply.
Sui Excesses and Collapse. Wendi's son Yangdi continued strengthening the state by
further conquests and victories over nomads. He reformed the legal code and the Confucian
educational system. The scholar-gentry were brought back into the imperial administration.
Yangdi undertook extensive and expensive construction projects at a new capital, Loyang,
and for a series of canals to link the empire. He attempted unsuccessfully to conquer Korea,
and was defeated by Turkic nomads in central Asia in 615. Widespread revolts followed.
Imperial rule crumbled and Yangdi was assassinated in 618.
The Emergence of the Tang and the Restoration of the Empire. Imperial unity was
saved when Li Yuan, Duke of Tang and a former supporter of the Sui, won control of China
and began the Tang dynasty. Tang armies extended the empire's reach to the borders of
Afghanistan and thus dominated the nomads of the frontier borderlands. The Tang used
Turkic nomads in their military and tried to assimilate them into Chinese culture. The Great
Wall was repaired. The extensive Tang Empire stretched into Tibet, Vietnam, Manchuria, and
Korea.
Rebuilding the Bureaucracy. A restored scholar-gentry elite and reworked Confucian
ideology helped the Tang to maintain imperial unity. The power of the aristocracy was
reduced. Political authority henceforth was shared by imperial families and scholar-gentry
bureaucrats. The bureaucracy, subject to strict controls, reached from the imperial court to
district levels of administration. A Bureau of Censors watched all officials.
The Growing Importance of the Examination System. Under the Tang and Song, the
numbers of scholar-gentry rose far above Han levels. They greatly extended the
examination system, and civil service advancement patterns were regularized. Specialized
exams were administered by the Ministry of Public Rites. The highest offices went only to
individuals able to pass exams based on the Confucian classics and Chinese literature.
Additional exams determined their ranking in the pool eligible for office and awarded special

social status. Birth and family connections remained important for gaining high office.
Intelligent commoners might rise to high positions, but the central administration was
dominated by a small number of prominent families.
State and Religion in the Tang-Song Era. The Confucian revival threatened Buddhisms
place in Chinese life. Many previous rulers had been strong Buddhist supporters. Chinese
monks gave the foreign religion Chinese qualities. Salvationist Mahayana Buddhism won
wide mass acceptance during the era of war and turmoil. Elite Chinese accepted Chan
Buddhism, or Zen, which stressed meditation and appreciation of natural and artistic beauty.
Early Tang rulers continued to patronize Buddhism, especially Empress Wu (690-705). She
endowed monasteries, commissioned colossal statues of Buddha, and sought to make
Buddhism the state religion. There were about 50,000 monasteries by the middle of the
ninth century.
The Anti-Buddhist Backlash. Confucians and Daoists opposed Buddhist growth,
castigating it as an alien faith. Daoists stressed their magical and predictive powers.
Confucian scholar-administrators worked to convince the Tang that untaxed Buddhist
monasteries posed an economic threat to the empire. Measures to limit land and resources
going to Buddhists gave way to open persecution under Emperor Wuzong (841-847).
Thousands of monasteries and shrines were destroyed; hundreds of thousands of monks
and nuns had to return to secular life. Buddhist lands were taxed or redistributed to
taxpaying nobles and peasants. Buddhism survived the persecutions, but in a much reduced
condition. Confucianism emerged as the enduring central ideology of Chinese civilization.
Tang Decline and the Rise of the Song. The reign of Emperor Xuanzong (713-756)
marked the zenith of Tang power. He initially advanced political and economic reform; later
he turned to patronizing the arts and the pleasures of the imperial city. Xuanzong became
infatuated with an imperial harem woman, Yang Guifei. She filled upper levels of
government with her relatives and gained authority in court politics. Rival cliques stimulated
unrest, while lack of royal direction caused economic distress and military weakness. A
serious revolt occurred in 755. The rebels were defeated, and Yang Guifei was killed, but
Xuanzong and succeeding rulers provided weak leadership for the dynasty. Nomadic frontier
peoples and regional governors used the disorder to gain virtual independence. Worsening
economic conditions in the ninth century caused many revolts, some of them popular
movements led by peasants.
The Founding of the Song Dynasty. The last Tang emperor resigned in 907, but, after a
period of turmoil, a military commander, Zhao Kuangyin, renamed Taizu, in 960 reunited
China under one dynasty, the Song. His failure to defeat the Liao dynasty of Manchuria,
founded by Khitan nomads in 907, established a lasting precedent for weakness in dealing
with northern nomadic peoples. Ensuing military victories by the Khitans led to the paying of
heavy tribute to the Liao, who became very much influenced by Chinese culture.
Song Politics: Settling for Partial Restoration. The Song never matched the Tang in
political or military strength. To prevent a return of the conditions ending Tang rule, the
military was subordinated to scholar-gentry civilians. Song rulers strongly promoted the
interests of the Confucian scholar-gentry class over aristocratic and Buddhist rivals. Salaries
were increased, civil service exams were made routine, and successful candidates had a
better chance for employment.
The Revival of Confucian Thought. Confucian ideas and values dominated intellectual
life. Long-neglected texts were recovered; new academies for the study of the classics and

impressive libraries were founded. Many thinkers labored to produce differing interpretations
of Confucian and Daoist thought and to prove the superiority of indigenous thought. The
most prominent neo-Confucianist, Zhu Xi, emphasized the importance of applying
philosophical principles to everyday life. Neo-Confucians believed that the cultivation of
personal morality was the highest human goal. Confucian learning, they argued, produced
superior men to govern and teach others. Neo-Confucian thinking had a lasting effect on
intellectual life. Hostility to foreign thought prevented the entry of innovations from other
societies, while the stress on tradition stifled critical thinking within China. Neo-Confucian
emphasis on rank, obligation, deference, and performance of rituals reinforced class,
gender, and age distinctions. The authority of the patriarchal family head was strengthened.
Social harmony and prosperity, claimed neo-Confucianists, was maintained when men and
women performed the tasks appropriate to their status.
Roots of Decline: Attempts at Reform. Song weakness before the Khitan encouraged
other nomads to carve out kingdoms on the northern borders. The Tangut from Tibet
established the kingdom of Xi Xia southwest of Liao. The Song paid them and other peoples
tribute and maintained a large army to protect against invasion, thus draining state
resources and burdening the peasantry. Song emphasis on scholar-gentry concerns
contributed to military decline. Confucian scholar and chief minister Wang Anshi attempted
sweeping reforms in the late eleventh century. He used legalist principles and encouraged
agricultural expansion through cheap loans and government-assisted irrigation projects. The
landlord and scholar-gentry were taxed, and the revenues went for military reform. Wang
Anshi even attempted to revitalize the educational system by giving preference to analytical
skills.
Reaction and Disaster: The Flight to the South. When the emperor supporting Wang
Anshi died in 1085, his successor favored conservatives opposing reform. Neo-Confucianists
gained power and reversed Wang's policies. Economic conditions deteriorated, and the
military was unable to defend the northern borders. The nomadic Jurchens, after
overthrowing Liao, in 1115 established the Qin kingdom. They invaded China and annexed
most of the Yellow River basin. The Song fled south and established a capital at Huangzhou
in the Yangtze River basin. The small southern Song dynasty ruled from 1127 to 1279.
Tang and Song Prosperity: The Basis of a Golden Age. The Sui and Tang had built
canals because of a major shift in Chinese population balance. Yangdi's Grand Canal,
eventually more than 1,200 miles long, linked the original civilization centers of the north
with the Yangtze River basin. The rice-growing regions of the south became the major food
producers of the empire. By early Song times, the south was the leader in crop production
and population. The canal system made government of the south by northern capitals
possible. Food from the south could be distributed in the north, while the south was opened
to migration and commercial development.
A New Phase of Commercial Expansion. Tang conquests and the canal system promoted
commercial expansion. Expansion into central Asia reopened the silk routes to the West and
intensified international contacts with the Buddhist and Islamic worlds. China exported
manufactured goods in return for luxury items. By late Tang and Song times, Chinese
merchants went directly to foreign ports; Chinese junks were among the best ships in the
world and allowed the Chinese to be the dominant force in the seas east of the Malayan
peninsula. The increased role of commerce and a money economy showed in the numerous
and enlarged market quarters in Chinese urban centers. The expansion accompanied
growing sophistication in commercial organization and forms of credit. Deposit shops, an

early form of banks, opened, and the first paper money appeared. Credit vouchers, called
flying money, assisted transactions in distant markets.
The World's Most Splendid Cities. Urban growth surged during the Tang and Song eras.
The 2,000,000 inhabitants of the Tang capital of Changan made it the world's largest city.
Other cities similarly grew; many had more than 100,000 inhabitants. Most preindustrial
civilizations had few or no large urban centers, and China's estimated urban population
10% of the total populationsurpassed all others. The late Song capital of Huangzhou
exceeded all others in beauty, size, and sophistication. Its location near the Yangtze and the
seacoast allowed traders and artisans to prosper. Its population of more than 1,500,000
enjoyed well-stocked marketplaces, parks, restaurants, teahouses, and popular
entertainment.
Expanding Agrarian Production and Life in the Country. Tang and Song rulers pushed
agricultural expansion. Peasants were encouraged to migrate to new areas where the state
supported military garrisons and provided irrigation and embankment systems. The canals
enabled their produce to move through the empire. New crops and technology increased
yields. Sui and Tang rulers adopted policies designed to break up aristocratic estates for
more equitable distribution among free peasants, the class Confucian scholars held to be
essential for a stable and prosperous social order. The scholar-gentry gradually supplanted
the aristocracy in rural society.
Family and Society in the Tang-Song Era. Family organization resembled that of earlier
eras. The status of women was improving under the Tang and early Song but steadily
declined during the late Song. Extended-family households were preferred, although only
the upper classes could afford them. The Confucianist male-dominated hierarchy was
common in all classes. An elaborate process of making marriage alliances was handled by
professional female go-betweens. Partners were of the same age; marriage ceremonies did
not take place until puberty. Urban classes consummated marriage later than peasants.
Upper class women had increased opportunities for personal expression and career
possibilities under the Tang and early Song. The empresses Wu and Wei, and royal
concubine Yang Guifei, exercised considerable power. The legal code had provisions
supporting women's rights in divorce arrangements. The practice of wealthy urban women
having lovers is an example of female independence.
The Neo-Confucian Assertion of Male Dominance. The independence and legal rights of
elite minority of women worsened under the influence of neo-Confucian thinkers. They
stressed the roles of homemaker and mother; advocated physical confinement of women;
and emphasized the importance of bridal virginity, wifely fidelity, and widow chastity. Men
were permitted free sexual behavior and remarriage. The decline of the opportunities once
open in Buddhism also contributed to the deteriorated status of women. New laws favored
men in inheritance and divorce, and women were excluded from the educational system.
The painful, mobility-restricting practice of foot binding exemplifies the lowly position
imposed on women in late Song times.
A Glorious Age: Invention and Artistic Creativity. The Tang and Song periods are most
remembered for their accomplishments in science, technology, literature, and the fine arts.
Technological and scientific discoveriesnew tools, production methods, weaponspassed
to other civilizations and altered the course of human development. The arts and literature
passed to neighboring regionscentral Asia, Japan, and Vietnam. Engineering feats, such as
the Grand Canal, dikes and dams, irrigation systems, and bridges, were especially
noteworthy. New agricultural implements and innovationssuch as banks and paper money

stimulated prosperity. Explosive powder was invented under the Tang; it was used for
fireworks until the Song adapted it to military use. Song armies and navies also used
naphtha flamethrowers, poisonous gasses, and rocket launchers. On the domestic side,
chairs, tea drinking, the use of coal for fuel, and kites were introduced. Compasses were
applied to ocean navigation, and the abacus helped numerical figuring. In the eleventh
century, the artisan Bi Sheng devised printing with movable type. Combined with the
Chinese invention of paper, printing allowed a literacy level higher than that in any other
preindustrial civilization.
Scholarly Refinement and Artistic Accomplishment. The reinvigorated scholar-gentry
class was responsible for art and literary creativity. Well-educated men were supposed to be
generalists capable of both official and artistic achievement. As the scholar-gentry replaced
Buddhists as major art and literature producers, they turned to portraying daily life and the
delights of nature. Literature focused on the doings and beliefs of common people. Poets,
such as Li Bo,celebrated the natural world. Under the Song, interest in nature reached
artistic fruition in symbolic landscape paintings, many accompanied by poems, that sought
to teach moral lessons or explore philosophical ideas.
In Depth: Artistic Expression and Social Values. Examining artistic creativity is an
effective approach for studying the values of a civilization. In preliterate societies, art and
architecture provide evidence otherwise lacking. When civilizations have written records, we
still can learn about social structure by discovering who produced art, for whom it was
created, the technologies and materials used, and the messages it was meant to convey. In
Indian and European societies, artistic creations were the work of skilled craftsmen, a role
played in China by the scholar-gentry class. Indian, Muslim, and European artisans made
anonymous creations for a mass audience. In China, identifiable individuals produced art for
the pleasures of the elite.
Global Connections: Chinas World Role. The Song dynasty fell to the Mongol invasions
inaugurated by Chinggis Khan. Kubilai Khan completed the conquest and founded the Yuan
dynasty. The Tang and Song dynasties had a great effect on both Chinese and world history.
Centralized administration and the bureaucratic apparatus were restored and strengthened.
The scholar-gentry elite triumphed over Buddhist, aristocratic, and nomadic rivals. They
defined Chinese civilization for the next six and a half centuries. The area subject to Chinese
civilization expanded dramatically, as the south was integrated with the north. The Chinese
economy, until the eighteenth century, was a world leader in market orientation, overseas
trade volume, productivity per acre, sophistication of tools, and techniques of craft
production. Chinese inventions altered development all over the world. China, as a
civilization, retained many traditional patterns, but it also changed dramatically in the
balance between regions, in commercial and urban development, and in technology. Outside
influences, such as Buddhism, were incorporated into existing patterns.

Chapter 13
Outline
The people on China's borders naturally emulated their great neighbor. Japan borrowed
heavily from China during the fifth and sixth centuries when it began forming its own
civilization. To the north and west of China, nomadic people and Tibet were also influenced.
Vietnam and Korea were part of the Chinese sphere by the last centuries B.C.E. The
agrarian societies of Japan, Korea, and Vietnam blended Chinese influences with their
indigenous cultures to produce distinctive patterns of civilized development. In all three
regions, Buddhism was a key force in transmitting Chinese civilization.
Japan: The Imperial Age. During the Taika, Nara, and Heian periods, from the seventh to
the ninth centuries, Japanese borrowing from China peaked, although Shinto views on the
natural and supernatural world remained central. The Taika reforms of 646 aimed at
revamping the administration along Chinese lines. Intellectuals and aristocrats absorbed
Chinese influences. The common people looked to Buddhist monks for spiritual and secular
assistance and meshed Buddhist beliefs with traditional religion. The Taika reforms failed.
The aristocracy returned to Japanese traditions; the peasantry reworked Buddhism into a
Japanese creed. The emperor lost power to aristocrats and provincial lords.
Crisis at Nara and the Shift to Heian (Kyoto). The Taika effort to remake the Japanese
ruler into a Chinese-style absolutist monarch was frustrated by resistance from aristocratic
families and Buddhist monks. During the next century, the Buddhists grew so powerful at
court that one monk attempted to marry Empress Koken and claim the throne. The emperor
fled and established a new capital at Heian (Kyoto). He abandoned the Taika reforms and
restored the power of aristocratic families. Despite following Chinese patterns, the Japanese
determined aristocratic rank by birth, thus blocking social mobility. The aristocrats
dominated the central government and restored their position as landholders. The emperor
gave up plans for creating a peasant conscript army and ordered local leaders to form rural
militias.
Ultracivilized: Court Life in the Heian era. Although the imperial court had lost power,
court culture flourished at Heian. Aristocratic men and women lived according to strict
behavioral codes. They lived in a complex of palaces and gardens; the basis of life was the
pursuit of esthetic enjoyment and the avoidance of common, distasteful elements of life.
Poetry was a valued art form, and the Japanese simplified the script taken from the Chinese
to facilitate expression. An outpouring of distinctively Japanese poetic and literary works
followed. At the court, women were expected to be as cultured as men; they were involved
in palace intrigues and power struggles. Lady Murasaki's The Tale of Genji, the first novel in
any language, vividly depicts courtly life.
The Decline of Imperial Power. The pleasure-loving emperor lost control of policy to
aristocratic court families. By the ninth century, the Fujiwara dominated the administration
and married into the imperial family. Aristocratic families used their wealth and influence to
buy large estates. Together with Buddhist monasteries, also estate owners, they whittled
down imperial authority. Large numbers of peasants and artisans fell under their control.
Cooperation between aristocrats and Buddhists was helped by secret texts and ceremonies
of esoteric Buddhism, techniques to gain salvation through prayer and meditation. Both
groups failed to reckon with the rising power of local lords.
The Rise of the Provincial Warrior Elite. The provincial aristocracy had also gained
estates. Some carved out regional states ruled from small fortresses housing the lord and

his retainers. The warrior leaders (bushi) governed and taxed for themselves, not the court.
The bushi created their own mounted and armed forces (samurai). Imperial control kept
declining; by the eleventh and twelfth centuries, violence was so prevalent that
monasteries, the court, and high officials all hired samurai for protection. The disorder
resulted in the emergence of a warrior class. The bushi and samurai, supported by peasant
dependents, devoted their lives to martial activity. Their combat became man-to-man duels
between champions. The warriors developed a code that stressed family honor and death
rather than defeat. Disgraced warriors committed ritual suicide (seppuku or hari-kari). The
rise of the samurai blocked the development of a free peasantry; they became serfs bound
to the land and were treated as the lord's property. Rigid class barriers separated them from
the warrior elite. To counter their degradation, the peasantry turned to the Pure Lands
Salvationist Buddhism. Artisans lived at the court and with some of the bushi; they also,
despite their skills, possessed little social status.
The Era of Warrior Dominance. By the eleventh and twelfth centuries, provincial families
dominated the declining imperial court. The most powerful families, the Taira and Minamoto,
fought for dominance during the 1180s in the Gumpei wars. The peasantry suffered serious
losses. The Minamoto were victorious in 1185 and established a military government
(bakufu) centered at Kamakura. The emperor and court were preserved, but all power
rested with the Minamoto and their samurai. Japanese feudalism was under way.
In Depth: Comparing Feudalisms. Fully developed feudal systems developed during the
postclassical age in Japan and Western Europe. They did so when it was not possible to
sustain more centralized political forms. Many other societies had similar problems, but they
did not develop feudalism. The Japanese and western European feudal systems were set in
political values that joined together most of the systems participants. They included the
concept of mutual ties and obligations and embraced elite militaristic values. There were
differences between the two approaches to feudalism. Western Europe stressed contractual
ideas, while the Japanese relied on group and individual bonds. The shared feudal past may
have assisted their successful industrial development and shaped their capacity for running
capitalist economies. It may also have contributed to their tendencies for imperialist
expansion, frequent resort to war, and the rise of militarist regimes.
The Declining Influence of China. Chinese influence waned along with imperial power.
Principles of centralized government and a scholar-gentry bureaucracy had little place in a
system where local military leaders predominated. Chinese Buddhism was also transformed
into a distinctly Japanese religion. The political uncertainty accompanying the decline of the
Tang made the Chinese model even less relevant. By 838, the Japanese court discontinued
its embassies to the Tang.
The Breakup of Bakufu Dominance and the Age of the Warlords. The leader of the
Minamoto, Yoritomo, because of fears of being overthrown by family members, weakened
his regime by assassinating or exiling suspected relatives. His death was followed by a
struggle among bushi lords for regional power. The Hojo family soon dominated the
Kamakura regime. The Minamoto and the emperor at Kyoto remained as powerless formal
rulers. In the fourteenth century, a Minamoto leader, Ashikaga Takuaji, overthrew the
Kamakura regime and established the Ashikaga shogunate. When the emperor refused to
recognize the new regime, he was driven from Kyoto; with the support of warlords, he and
his heirs fought against the Ashikaga and their puppet emperors. The Ashikaga finally won
the struggle, but the contest had undermined imperial and shogunate authority. Japan was
divided into regional territories governed by competing warlords. From 1467 to 1477, a civil

war between Ashikaga factions contributed to the collapse of central authority. Japan
became divided into 300 small states ruled by warlords (daimyo).
Toward Barbarism? Military Division and Social Change. The chivalrous qualities of the
bushi era deteriorated during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Warfare became more
scientific, while the presence of large numbers of armed peasants in daimyo armies added
to the misery of the common people. Despite the suffering of the warlord period, there was
economic and cultural growth. Daimyos attempted to administer their domains through
regular tax collection and support for public works. Incentives were offered to settle
unoccupied areas, and new crops, tools, and techniques contributed to local well-being.
Daimyos competed to attract merchants to their castle towns. A new and wealthy
commercial class emerged, and guilds were formed by artisans and merchants. A minority
of women found opportunities in commerce and handicraft industries, but the women of the
warrior class lost status as primogeniture blocked them from receiving inheritances. Women
became appendages of warrior fathers and husbands. As part of this general trend, women
lost ritual roles in religion and were replaced in theaters by men.
Artistic Solace for a Troubled Age. Zen Buddhism had a key role in maintaining the arts
among the elite. Zen monasteries were key locations for renewed contacts with China.
Notable achievements were made in painting, architecture, gardens, and the tea ceremony.
Korea: Between China and Japan. Korea, because of its proximity to China, was more
profoundly influenced over a longer period than any other state. But, despite its powerful
neighbor, Korea developed its own separate cultural and political identity. Koreans
descended from hunting and gathering peoples of Siberia and Manchuria. By the fourth
century B.C.E., they were acquiring sedentary farming and metalworking techniques from
China. In 109 B.C.E., the earliest Korean kingdom, Choson, was conquered by the Han, and
parts of the peninsula were colonized by Chinese. Korean resistance to the Chinese led to
the founding in the north of an independent state by the Koguryo people; it soon battled the
southern states of Silla and Paekche. After the fall of the Han, an extensive adoption of
Chinese cultureSinificationoccurred. Buddhism was a key element in the transfer.
Chinese writing was adopted, but the Koguryo ruler failed to form a Chinese-style state.
Tang Alliances and the Conquest of Korea. Continuing political disunity in Korea allowed
the Tang, through alliance with Silla, to defeat Paekche and Koguryo. Silla became a vassal
state in 668; the Chinese received tribute and left Silla to govern Korea. The Koreans
maintained independence until the early twentieth century.
Sinification: The Tributary Link. Under the Silla and Koryo (918-1392) dynasties,
Chinese influences peaked and Korean culture achieved its first full flowering. The Silla
copied Tang ways, and through frequent missions, brought Chinese learning, art, and
manufactured items to Korea. The Chinese were content with receiving tribute and allowed
Koreans to run their own affairs.
The Sinification of Korean Elite Culture. The Silla constructed their capital, Kumsong, on
the model of Tang cities. There were markets, parks, lakes, and a separate district for the
imperial family. The aristocracy built residences around the imperial palace. Some of them
studied in Chinese schools and sat for Confucian exams introduced by the rulers. Most
government positions, however, were determined by birth and family connections. The elite
favored Buddhism, in Chinese forms, over Confucianism. Korean cultural creativity went into
the decoration of the many Buddhist monasteries and temples. Koreans refined techniques
of porcelain manufacture, first learned from the Chinese, to produce masterworks.

Civilization for the Few. Apart from Buddhist sects that appealed to the common people,
Chinese influences were monopolized by a tiny elite, the aristocratic families who dominated
Korea's political, economic, and social life. Trade with China and Japan was intended to
serve their desires. Aristocrats controlled manufacturing and commerce, thus hampering the
development of artisan and trader classes. All groups beneath the aristocracy in the social
scale served them. They included government officials, commoners (mainly peasants), and
the low born, who worked as virtual slaves in a wide range of occupations.
Koryo Collapse, Dynastic Renewal. The burdens imposed by the aristocracy upon
commoners and the low born caused periodic revolts. Most were local affairs and easily
suppressed, but, along with aristocratic quarrels and foreign invasions, they helped weaken
the Silla and Koryo regimes. More than a century of conflict followed the Mongol invasion of
1231 until the Yi dynasty was established in 1392. The Yi restored aristocratic dominance
and tributary links to China. The dynasty lasted until 1910.
Between China and Southeast Asia: The Making of Vietnam. The Chinese move
southward brought them to the fertile, rice-growing region of the Red River valley. But the
indigenous Viets did not suffer the same fate as other, to the Chinese, "southern
barbarians." Their homeland was far from the main Chinese centers, and the Viets had
already formed their own distinct culture. They were prepared to receive the benefits of
Chinese civilization but not to lose their identity. The Qin raided Vietnam in the 220s B.C.E.
The contact stimulated an already existing commerce. The Viet rulers during this era
conquered the Red River feudal lords. They incorporated the territory into their kingdom,
and Viets intermarried with the Mon-Khmer and Tai-speaking inhabitants to form a distinct
ethnic group. The Viets were part of Southeast Asian culture. Their spoken language was
not related to Chinese. They had strong village autonomy and favored the nuclear family.
Vietnamese women had more freedom and influence than Chinese women did. General
customs and cultural forms were very different from those of China.
Conquest and Sinification. The expanding Han Empire first secured tribute from Vietnam;
later, after 111 B.C.E., the Han conquered and governed directly. Chinese administrators
presided over the introduction of Chinese culture. Viets attended Chinese schools, where
they learned Chinese script and studied the Confucian classics. They took exams for
administrative posts. The incorporation of Chinese techniques made Vietnamese agriculture
the most productive in Southeast Asia and led to higher population density. The use of
Chinese political and military organization gave the Viets a decisive advantage over the
Indianized peoples to the west and south.
Roots of Resistance. Chinese expectations for absorption of the Viets were frustrated by
sporadic aristocratic revolts and the failure of Chinese culture to win the peasantry.
Vietnamese women participated in the revolts against the Chinese. The rising led by the
Trung sisters in 39 C.E. demonstrates the differing position of Viet and Chinese women. The
former were hostile to the male-dominated Confucian codes and family system.
Winning Independence and Continuing Chinese Influences. The continuing
revolutions were aided by Vietnam's great distance from China. When political weakness
occurred in China, the Viet took advantage of the limited Chinese presence. By 939,
Vietnam was independent; it remained so until the nineteenth century. A succession of
dynasties, beginning with the Le (980-1009), ruled Vietnam through a bureaucracy modeled
on the Chinese system, but the local scholar-gentry never gained the power that class held
in China. Local Viet officials identified with village rulers and the peasantry instead of the

ruling dynasty. Buddhist monks also had stronger links with common people, especially
women, than did the Confucian bureaucrats.
The Vietnamese Drive to the South. The Chinese legacy helped the Viets in their
struggles with local rivals. Their main adversaries were the Indianized Khmer and Chams
peoples of the southern lowlands. A series of successful wars with them from the eleventh
to the eighteenth centuries extended Viet territory into the Mekong delta region.
Expansion and Division. The dynasties centered at the northern capital city of Hanoi were
unable to control distant frontier areas. Differences in culture developed as the invaders
intermarried with the Chams and Khmers. Regional military commanders sought
independence. By the end of the sixteenth century, a rival dynasty, the Nguyen, with a
capital at Hue, challenged the northern ruling Trinh family. The dynasties fought for control
of Vietnam for the next two centuries.
Global Connections: In the Orbit of China: The East Asian Corner of the Global
System. During the first millennium C.E., Chinese civilization influenced the formation of
three distinct satellite civilizations in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Unlike China's nomadic
neighbors, each contained areas suitable for sedentary agriculturewet rice cultivationand
the development of civilization. Common elements of Chinese culturewriting, bureaucratic
organization, religion, artpassed to each new civilization. All the imports, except
Buddhism, were monopolized by courts and elites. The civilizations differed because of
variations in the process of mixing Chinese and indigenous patterns. China's nearness to
Korea forced symbolic political submission and long-term cultural dependence. In Vietnam,
Chinese conquest and control stretched over a thousand years. Although the Viets
eventually obtained independence, Chinese culture helped form their civilization and allowed
the Viets to counterbalance Indian influences among their Southeast Asian rivals. The
Japanese escaped direct Chinese rule; Chinese culture was first cultivated by the elite of the
imperial court, but rival provincial, militaristic clans opposed Chinese influences. Japanese
political patterns became very different from the centralized system of China. The
preoccupation with interaction within the East Asian sphere left the region's inhabitants with
limited awareness of larger world currents when compared with global awareness in other
major civilizations.