01:506:201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Sui Dynasty, Mahayana, Emperor Yang Of Sui
17 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Chapter 12
Reunification and Renaissance: The Era of the Tang and Song Dynasties
1. I. Introduction
1. A. Vital consolidation – changes less fundamental than elsewhere
2. B. Though isolated, created “orbit of influence”
3. C. After Han – nomadic invasions
1. 1. Regional kingdoms
2. 2. Landed families with aristocratic backgrounds dominated
rulers
3. 3. Decline
1. a. Foreign religion – Buddhism
2. b. non-Chinese nomads ruled
3. c. Great Wall divided between kingdoms
4. d. trade/city life declined
5. e. technology stagnated
6. f. thought looked for magical cures/immortality
4. D. Rapid return to height under Tang because of
1. 1. Preservation of Confucian institutions
2. II. Rebuilding the Imperial Edifice in the Sui-Tang Eras
1. A. Introduction
1. 1. Summary
1. a. Sui recentralized control
2. b. Under Tang – bureaucracy restored, improved,
expanded
3. c. Confucian revival
2. 2, Sui Dynasty – 580 – return to strong dynastic control
1. a. Wendi – northern elite family
2. b. Secured power through
1. 1. marriage
2. 2. support of neighboring nomadi leaders
1. a. Reconfirmed titles
2. b. Showed no preference for scholar
gentry
3. c. Won support
1. 1. lowering taxes
2. 2. creation of food granaries
2. B. Sui Excesses and Collapse
1. 1. Son Yangdi
1. a. murdered father
2. b. extended father’s conquests
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
3. c. drove back nomads
4. d. established milder legal code
5. e. restore examination system
2. 2. Downfall
1. a. Programs hurt aristocratic families and nomadic
leaders
2. b. Built palaces
3. c. Build canal links
4. d. extensive game park – imported trees
5. e. failed in attempt to take Korea
3. C. The Emergence of the Tang and the Restoration of the Empire
1. 1. Li Yuan – Duke of Tang took over
1. a. Former nomadic leaders forced to submit
2. b. Created frontier armies
1. 1. Sons of tribal leaders sent to capital as
hostages – eventually assimilated
3. c. Korea overrun by Chinese armies
1. 1. Kingdom of Silla created as tributary state
4. D. Rebuilding the Bureaucracy
1. 1. To survive, must rebuild and expand imperial
bureaucracy
1. a. need for loyal/well-educated officials
2. b. offset power of aristocracy
3. c. power to ruling families + bureaucrats
4. d. created ministries
1. 1. secretariat – drafted decrees
2. 2. secretariat monitored officials
3. 3. executive ran ministries – day to day life
5. E. Growing Importance of the Examination System
1. 1. Numbers of bureaucrats grew far past Han
2. 2. Ministry of Rites – several kinds of examinations
3. 3. Honor to those who passed
1. a. Jinshi title
2. b. transformed into dignitaries
3. c. special social status
1. 1. certain clothing
2. 2. exempt from corporal punishment
3. 3. access to material comfort/pleasures
4. 4. Birth and family connections could still help
you get into universities, assist
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
1. a. Bureaucracy still overwhelmingly run
by established familes
5. 5. Merit and ambition important, but birth and
family influence count for more
6. F. State and Religion the Tang-Song Era
1. 1. State support of Confucian ideas
1. a. Threatened Buddhist monastic orders
2. b. Threatened old aristocratic families
2. 2. Previous nomadic rulers – mostly Buddhist
1. a. Masses believed in Mahayana Buddhism –
salvation
2. b. Chan/Zen Buddhism for elite
1. 1. Stress on meditation
2. 2. appreciation of natural/artistic bueaty
3. 3. Empress Wu – 690-705
1. a. Tried to make Buddhism state religion
2. b. Commissioned Buddhist
painting/sculpture
3. c. Statues of Buddha carved
4. d. Large pagodas built
5. e. 50,000 monasteries
4. 4. Reached Height in beginning of Tang empire
7. G. The Anti-Buddhist Backlash
1. 1. Daoists competed by stressing heir own
magical/predictive powers
2. 2. Economic challenge of Buddhists
1. 1. not taxed
2. 2. denied labor pool – can’t tax/conscript peasants on
monasteries
3. 3. Emperor Wuzong
1. 1. Thousands of shrines destroyed
2. 2. monks/nuns forced to abandon monastic life
3. 3. Lands divided among taxpaying landlords/peasants
4. 4. But…Buddhism already left mark in law, arts, language,
heaven, charity
3. IIII. Tang Decline and the Rise of the Song
1. A. Fall of Tang
1. 1. Empress Wei attempts to take throne for son by poison
2. 2. Another prince Xuanzong takes over
1. a. Initially wanted political/economic reforms
2. b. Eventually devoted self to arts, pleasures music
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Reunification and renaissance: the era of the tang and song dynasties. Vital consolidation changes less fundamental than elsewhere: b. Though isolated, created orbit of influence : c. after han nomadic invasions, 1. Landed families with aristocratic backgrounds dominated rulers: 3. Foreign religion buddhism: b. non-chinese nomads ruled, c. great wall divided between kingdoms, d. trade/city life declined, e. technology stagnated, f. thought looked for magical cures/immortality, d. rapid return to height under tang because of, 1. Rebuilding the imperial edifice in the sui-tang eras: a. Under tang bureaucracy restored, improved, expanded: c. confucian revival, 2, sui dynasty 580 return to strong dynastic control, a. wendi northern elite family, b. Secured power through: 1. marriage, 2. support of neighboring nomadi leaders, a. reconfirmed titles, b. Showed no preference for scholar gentry: c. won support, 1. lowering taxes, 2. creation of food granaries, b. sui excesses and collapse, 1.
