History of East Asia

Vartika27

Pre-ModernEastAsiaACulturalSocialandPoliticalHistoryVolumeITo1800byPatriciaBuckleyEbreyAnneWalthallz-lib.org.pdf

Home >History homework help >History of East Asia

06512_fm_rev04.indd 8 9/11/12 11:05 AM

Chinese line of control;

Indian claim

I I

I I I I I

I I

I I I I

I I

Beijing

Pyeongyang

Seoul

Tokyo

Hanoi

Delhi

Kathmandu

Thimphu

Dhaka

Tashkent

Bishkek

Islamabad

Ulaanbaatar

Urumchi�

Lhasa

Xining

Lanzhou

Chengdu

Hankou

Xi'an

Zhengzhou

Tianjin

Taiyuan

Jinan

Shijiazhuang

Harbin

Changchun

Shenyang

ShanghaiSuzhou Nanjing

Chongqing

Guiyang

Kunming

Guangzhou Xianggang

Haikou

Fuzhou

Hangzhou

Hefei

Taipei

Nanchang

Nanning

Changsha

Yinchuan

Hohhot

Kashi

Hotan

Aksu

Yining

Patna

Miran

Korla

Guyuan

Datong

Vladivostok

Dunhuang

Hami

Pusan

Kyoto

Nagoya

Sendai

Osaka

Nagasaki

Qufu

Luoyang

Ningbo

Suizhou

Dali

Xiamen

Tarim

In du

Ch enab

Cham bal

G a nga

M aquan

Brahmaputra

C hi

wi n

Sa lw

ee n

D adu

M ekong

Jialing

Huai

H an

G an

Xiang

X ia

F uc

hu n

L ia

Wei

Ya ng

Yellow

Red

Ya lu

Tu m

Ganges

Yarlung Zangbo

Ir ra

w ad

Lancang

Y along

M in

Jin sh

F en

Selen ge

Konqi

Lake Balkhash

Lake Issyk-kül

Lop Nur

Lake Qinghai

Dongting Lake

Lake Tai

Poyang Lake

P A C I F I C

O C E A N

S e a o f

J a p a n

E a s t

C h i n a

S e a

B a y o f

B e n g a l

S o u t h

C h i

n a S

e a

Y e

l l o w

S e

Bay of Bohai

HEILONGJIANG

JILIN

LIAONING

NEI MENGGU

HEBEI

BEIJING

TIANJIN

SHANXI

SHAANXI

GANSU

QINGHAI

XINJIANG

XIZANG (TIBET)

N IN

G X

IA SHANDONG

HENAN

ANHUI

JIA N

G SU

ZHEJIANG

SHANGHAI

S I C H U A N HUBEI

GUIZHOU HUNAN

JIANGXI

FUJIAN

GUANGXI

GUANGDONG

T A

IW A

HAINAN

YUNNAN

HONG KONG

C H

O N

G QI

KYUSHU

SH IK

O KU

HOKKAIDO

H O

N S

H U

R Y

U K

Y U

�� IS

L A

N D

S �

VIETNAM

LAOS

THAILAND

MYANMAR

INDIA BHUTAN

NEPAL

PAKISTAN

KAZAKHSTAN

M O N G O L I A

KYRGYZSTAN

PHILIPPINES

TAJIKISTAN

BANGLADESH

C H I N A

NORTH KOREA

SOUTH KOREA

A P

A N

A L T A

Y � � � M O U N T A I N S �

H I M

A L

A Y

A N

� � � � M O

U N T A I N S �

T I A N � M O U N T A I N S �

K U N

L U N � � � M O U N T A I N S �

P A M I R �

T a r i m � B a s i n �

Q I N G � Z A N G P L A T E A U

Modern�Grand�Canal

Great�Wall

Province�boundaries�in�China

North�China�Plain

Area�of�major�loess�deposits

I I I

0 200�Mi.100

0 200�Km.100

06512_fm_rev04.indd 1 9/19/12 10:28 AM

Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).

Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

06512_fm_rev04.indd 2 9/11/12 11:05 AM

Pre-Modern East Asia

06512_fm_rev04.indd 3 9/11/12 11:05 AM

06512_fm_rev04.indd 4 9/11/12 11:05 AM

Pre-Modern East Asia: To 1800 A Cultural, Social, and Political History Third Edition

Patricia EbrEy University of Washington—Seattle

annE Walthall University of california—irvine

Australia • Brazil • Japan • Korea • Mexico • Singapore • Spain • United Kingdom • United States

06512_fm_rev04.indd 5 9/11/12 11:05 AM

06512_fm_rev04.indd 8 9/11/12 11:05 AM

This is an electronic version of the print textbook. Due to electronic rights restrictions, some third party content may be suppressed. Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. The publisher reserves the right to remove content from this title at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. For valuable information on pricing, previous editions, changes to current editions, and alternate formats, please visit www.cengage.com/highered to search by ISBN#, author, title, or keyword for materials in your areas of interest.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Web distribution, information networks, or information storage and retrieval systems, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012941790

ISBN-13: 978-1-133-60651-2

ISBN-10: 1-133-60651-2

Wadsworth

20 Channel Center Street

Boston, MA 02210

USA

Cengage Learning is a leading provider of customized learning solutions with office locations around the globe, including Singapore, the United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, Brazil and Japan. Locate your local office at international.cengage.com/region

Cengage Learning products are represented in Canada by Nelson Education, Ltd.

For your course and learning solutions, visit www.cengage.com.

Purchase any of our products at your local college store or at our preferred online store www.cengagebrain.com.

Instructors: Please visit login.cengage.com and log in to access instructor-specific resources.

Pre-Modern East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History To 1800, Third Edition Ebrey/Walthall

Editor-in-Chief: Lynn Uhl

Senior Publisher: Suzanne Jeans

Acquiring Sponsoring Editor: Brooke Barbier

Development Editor: Elisa Adams

Assistant Editor: Jamie Bushell

Editorial Assistant: Katie Coaster

Brand Manager: Melissa Larmon

Marketing Development Manager: Kyle Zimmerman

Senior Content Project Manager: Carol Newman

Senior Art Director: Cate Rickard Barr

Manufacturing Buyer: Sandee Milewski

Senior Rights Acquisition Specialist: Jennifer Meyer Dare

Text Designer: Theurer/Briggs Associates

Cover Designer: Sarah Bishins

Cover Image: Detail from Wang Xizhi Watching Geese, Qian Xuan (Chinese, ca. 1235–before 1307), Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), ca. 1295, China. Handscroll; ink, color, and gold on paper/© The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY

Production Service/Compositor: Cenveo Publisher Services

For product information and technology assistance, contact us at Cengage Learning Customer & Sales Support, 1-800-354-9706

For permission to use material from this text or product, submit all requests online at www.cengage.com/permissions.

Further permissions questions can be emailed to [email protected].

Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 16 15 14 13 12

06512_fm_rev04.indd 6 9/13/12 10:34 AM

Maps and Figures xv

Preface xvii

Conventions xxi

PART ONE the Foundations of East asian civilization in china 1

Chapter 1 china in the bronze age: the Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties (ca. 1500–771 b.c.e.) 8

Chapter 2 Philosophers and Warring States During the Eastern Zhou Period (770–256 b.c.e.) 20

Chapter 3 the Founding of the bureaucratic Empire: Qin-han china (256 b.c.e.–200 c.e.) 36

Chapter 4 Political Division in china and the Spread of buddhism (200–580) 61

Chapter 5 the cosmopolitan Empires of Sui and tang china (581–960) 75

PART TwO the Emergence of East asian civilization 97

Chapter 6 Early Korea to 935 98

Chapter 7 Early State and Society in Japan (to 794) 114

Chapter 8 china among Equals: Song, liao, Xia, and Jin 129

Chapter 9 heian Japan (794–ca. 1180) 148

Chapter 10 Goryeo Korea (935–1392) 169

Chapter 11 Kamakura Japan (1180–1333) 183

Chapter 12 china Under Mongol rule (1215–1368) 198

PART THREE Meeting new challenges (1300–1800) 211

Chapter 13 Japan’s Middle ages (1330–1600) 212

Chapter 14 the Ming Empire in china (1368–1644) 227

Chapter 15 Joseon Korea (1392–1800) 247

Chapter 16 the creation of the Manchu Empire (1600–1800) 270

Chapter 17 Edo Japan (1603–1800) 288 Index I-1

b R i E f C O N T E N T s

vii

06512_fm_rev04.indd 7 9/11/12 11:05 AM

06512_fm_rev04.indd 8 9/11/12 11:05 AM

Maps and Figures xv

Preface xvii

Conventions xxi

PART ONE the Foundations of East asian civilization in china 1

Connections: The Prehistory of East Asia 2

Chapter 1 china in the bronze age: the Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties (ca. 1500–771 b.c.e.) 8

The Geography of the Chinese Subcontinent 9

The Shang Dynasty (ca. 1500–1045 b.c.e.) 10

MATEriAl CulTurE: Rammed Earth 11 Writing 12 Metalworking 13

Developments Outside the Shang Core 14

The Western Zhou Dynasty (1045–771 b.c.e.) 15

DoCuMEnTs: The Book of Songs 16 The Mandate of Heaven 16 The Zhou Political Structure 17 Western Zhou Society and Culture 18

Chapter 2 Philosophers and Warring States During the Eastern Zhou Period (770–256 b.c.e.) 20

The Multistate System of the Eastern Zhou 21

BiogrAPhy: Guan Zhong 22

Warfare and Its Consequences 23

DoCuMEnTs: The King of Zhao Convinces His Uncle to Wear Barbarian Dress 25

The Hundred Schools of Thought 26 Confucius and the Analects 26 Mozi 27 Mencius 28 Xunzi 29 Daoism and the Laozi and Zhuangzi 30 Legalism 31 Yin and Yang 32 The Art of War 32 The World of Spirits 32

MATEriAl CulTurE: Lacquer 33

Warring States Literature and Art: The Case of Chu 33

Chapter 3 the Founding of the bureaucratic Empire: Qin-han china (256 b.c.e.–200 c.e.) 36

The Qin Unification (256–206 b.c.e.) 37 The First Emperor (r. 221–210 b.c.e.) 38 The First Emperor’s Tomb 39 Qin Law 41 The Xiongnu and the Great Wall 41

The Han Dynasty (206 b.c.e.–220 c.e.) 42 Official Support for Confucianism 44 Wang Mang 44 Palace Eunuchs 44

Intellectual, Literary, and Religious Currents 45

Han Confucianism 45

DoCuMEnTs: Lucky and Unlucky Days 46 Sima Qian and the Records of the

Grand Historian 47

BiogrAPhy: The Ban Family 49

Chinese Society in Han Times 49 Common Farmers 49 Elite Groups 50 The Family 51

C O N T E N T s

06512_fm_rev04.indd 9 9/11/12 11:05 AM

Central Asia and the Silk Road 52

MATEriAl CulTurE: Silk from the Silk Road 53

Borderlands 53 The Case of Vietnam 54

Maintaining the Empire 54

Connections: Buddhism in India and Its Spread Along the Silk Road 56

Chapter 4 Political Division in china and the Spread of buddhism (200–580) 61

The Three Kingdoms (220–265) and the Western Jin Dynasty (265–316) 62

Non-Chinese Dominance in the North 65 The Northern Wei and Hybrid

Xianbei-Chinese Culture 66 The Revolt of the Garrisons and the Division

of the North 67

The Southern Dynasties 67 Aristocratic Culture 68

BiogrAPhy: Yan Zhitui (531–591+) 69 Poetry, Calligraphy, and Painting as Arts

of Men of Letters 69

The Buddhist Conquest of China 70

MATEriAl CulTurE: Cave 285 at Dunhuang 71

Daoist Religion 72

DoCuMEnTs: The Monastery of Eternal Tranquility 73

Chapter 5 the cosmopolitan Empires of Sui and tang china (581–960) 75

The Northwest Military Aristocracy and the Sui Reunification of China 76

The Founding of the Tang Dynasty (618–907) 77

The Tang at Its Height 79

MATEriAl CulTurE: Tea 80 The Tang Elite 81

Empress Wu 82 Emperor Xuanzong 84

The Rebellion of An Lushan (755–763) and Its Aftermath 84

The Achievements of Tang Men of Letters 86

BiogrAPhy: Du Fu (712–777), Confucian Poet 87

DoCuMEnTs: Poking Fun 88

The Dunhuang Documents 90

The Tang Dynasty’s Final Decades and the Five Dynasties 91

Connections: Cultural Contact Across Eurasia (600–900) 93

PART TwO the Emergence of East asian civilization 97

Chapter 6 Early Korea to 935 98

Geographical Setting 98

The Early Historical Period (200 b.c.e.–313 c.e.) 100

The North: Joseon, Buyeo, Goguryeo, and the Chinese Commanderies 100

The South: The Three Han (Samhan [SAM-han]) 101

DoCuMEnTs: The Widow of King Gogukcheon 102

The Three Kingdoms: Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla (313–668) 103

Unification by Silla (581–668) 105

Unified Silla (668–892) 106

Society and Culture 107

BiogrAPhy: Gangsu, the Scribe 109

MATEriAl CulTurE: Seokguram Grotto 110

Balhae (698–926) 110

x Contents

06512_fm_rev04.indd 10 9/11/12 11:05 AM

Contents xi

Gender Roles and Family Life 141

BiogrAPhy: The Cai Family of Geomancers 142

DoCuMEnTs: Tales of Retribution 144 Religion in Song Life 144

MATEriAl CulTurE: Huang Sheng’s Clothing 146

Chapter 9 heian Japan (794–ca. 1180) 148

The Age of Kingly Rule (ca. 794–900) 148 Taira no Masakado’s Rebellion 149 Early Heian Culture 150 Transformations in Religious Practice 150

BiogrAPhy: Sugawara no Michizane 152

The Fujiwara Era (900–1050) 152 Marriage and Politics 153 The Heyday of Aristocratic Culture 154

MATEriAl CulTurE: Writing Japanese 155

DoCuMEnTs: Sanbōe (The Three Jewels) 156 Buddhism and the Fujiwara 157

Rule by Retired Monarchs (1086–1180) 158 The Estate System 160

Connections: The Mongols 162

Chapter 10 Goryeo Korea (935–1392) 169

Early Goryeo Government (935–1170) 169

The Changing International Context (943–1146) 171

Society and Culture in the Goryeo Period 172

MATEriAl CulTurE: Celadon 173 Family and Kinship 173

DoCuMEnTs: Popular Songs 174 Buddhism and Confucianism 174 History-Writing 176

Making Comparisons: Languages and Writing Systems 113

Chapter 7 Early State and Society in Japan (to 794) 114

The Geography of the Japanese Archipelago 115

Early Kingship in Late Yayoi (ca. 100–350) 115 The Korea Connection 117 Ancient Religion 117

The Formation of a Centered Polity (350–794) 118

The China Connection 118

MATEriAl CulTurE: Haniwa 119 Fixing the Capital at Nara 120 The Conquest of Emishi and Hayato 122 The Introduction of Buddhism 122

DoCuMEnTs: Poems from Man’yō shū and Nihon shoki 124 Elite Culture 125 A Stagnant Agricultural Base 126

Chapter 8 china among Equals: Song, liao, Xia, and Jin 129

The Founding of the Song Dynasty 130

Song’s Rivals: Liao and Xia 130

A New Era 132 The Medieval Chinese Economic

Revolution 132 International Trade 133 The Song Scholar-Official Class 134 Reformers and Anti-Reformers 136

The Fall of the Northern Song and the Establishment of the Jin Dynasty 138

Hangzhou and the Southern Song (1127–1276) 139

Song Culture and Society 140 The Revival of Confucianism and the Learning

of the Way 140

06512_fm_rev04.indd 11 9/11/12 11:05 AM

Military Rule and the Mongol Invasions (1170–1259) 176

Choe Family Dominance 177 The Mongols 177

Goryeo Under Mongol Domination (1260–1351) 178

BiogrAPhy: Lady Ki, Consort of the Mongol Emperor 180

Making Comparisons: Monarchical Institutions 182

Chapter 11 Kamakura Japan (1180–1333) 183

Rise of the Warrior 183

Prelude to Kamakura Rule (1156–1185) 186

Military Government at Kamakura (1180–1333) 186

Family Politics 187 Kamakura Shogunate 188 Toward Intensive Agriculture and Economic

Growth 189

DoCuMEnTs: The Estate Stewards in Legal Documents 190 Buddhism 192 Literature and Popular Arts 193

The Mongol Invasions (1271–1281) 194

MATEriAl CulTurE: Portrait Sculpture 195

BiogrAPhy: Nichiren 195

Fall of the Kamakura Regime (1293–1333) 196

Chapter 12 china Under Mongol rule (1215–1368) 198

The Mongol Conquest of the Jin and Xia Dynasties 198

The Mongol Conquest of the Southern Song 200 Khubilai 200 Crossing the Yangzi River 201

DoCuMEnTs: The Luoluo 202

Life in China Under the Mongols 202

BiogrAPhy: Hao Jing, Imprisoned Envoy 204

MATEriAl CulTurE: Blue-and-White Porcelain 205

The Chinese Educated Elite During the Mongol Era 206

Drama 208

Making Comparisons: Food Cultures 210

PART THREE Meeting new challenges (1300–1800) 211

Chapter 13 Japan’s Middle ages (1330–1600) 212

New Political Alignments (1338–1573) 212 How the Ashikaga Shoguns Governed

Japan 213 Changes in Roles for Women 214 Trade in Town and Country 214

BiogrAPhy: Hino Meishi 215 Life on the Margins 217 Changes in Religious Practice 217 Muromachi Culture 218

MATEriAl CulTurE: The Matchlock 219

Civil War (1467–1600) 219

DoCuMEnTs: The Journal of Sō chō 220 Local Leagues 221 Rise of Warlords 223 The Conquerors 223

Chapter 14 the Ming Empire in china (1368–1644) 227

The Founding of the Ming Dynasty 228 Ming Taizu, the Hongwu Emperor 228 Chengzu, the Yongle Emperor 229 Weaknesses of the Imperial Institution 230

xii Contents

06512_fm_rev04.indd 12 9/11/12 11:05 AM

Chapter 16 the creation of the Manchu Empire (1600–1800) 270

The Manchus 271

Ming Loyalism 272

The Qing at Its Height 273 Kangxi 274

BiogrAPhy: Jiang Chun, Salt Merchant 275 Qianlong 276 The Banner System 277

DoCuMEnTs: Fang Bao’s “Random Notes from Prison” 278

Contacts with Europe 280

Social and Cultural Crosscurrents 281 The Conservative Turn 281 The Dream of Red Mansions 281

MATEriAl CulTurE: Jin Nong’s Inscribed Portrait of a Buddhist Monk 282

The Less Advantaged and the Disaffected 283

Chapter 17 Edo Japan (1603–1800) 288

Tokugawa Settlement (Seventeenth Century) 288 Government 289 Agricultural Transformations and the

Commercial Revolution 291

MATEriAl CulTurE: Night Soil 294 Urban Life and Culture 294

DoCuMEnTs: Ihara Saikaku’s “Sensible Advice on Domestic Economy” 296 Intellectual Trends 296

BiogrAPhy: Tadano Makuzu, Daughter of the Samurai 299

Maturation and Decay (Eighteenth Century) 299 Popular Culture 300 Hard Times and Rural Uprisings 301

Making Comparisons: Neo-Confucianism 304 Index I-1

Diplomacy and Defense 231 Zheng He’s Voyages 232 The Mongols and the Great Wall 233 Trade and Piracy Along China’s Coasts 234

Social and Cultural Trends 234 The Educated Class and the Examination Life 234 Wang Yangming’s Challenge to Confucian

Orthodoxy 237

BiogrAPhy: Tan Yunxian, Woman Doctor 238

Local Society 240

MATEriAl CulTurE: Gardens of Suzhou 241 Urban Culture 241

DoCuMEnTs: Scene from The Peony Pavilion 242

Dynastic Decline 244

Chapter 15 Joseon Korea (1392–1800) 247

Yi Seonggye’s Rise to Power 247

Kings and Yangban Confucian Officials 249

Dynastic Decline and the Japanese Invasion 251

MATEriAl CulTurE: Yangban Children’s Board Games 252

BiogrAPhy: Interpreter Jeong Myeongsu 253

Relations with the Manchus 254

Internal Politics in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 255

Economic Growth and the Decline of Slavery 257

DoCuMEnTs: Lady Hyegyeong’s Memoirs 258

Cultural Developments 258 Literature 258 Northern Learning 260 Christianity and Western Learning 260

The Family and Women in the Confucian Age 261

Making Comparisons: Women’s Situations 264

Connections: Europe Enters the Scene 265

Contents xiii

06512_fm_rev04.indd 13 9/11/12 11:05 AM

06512_fm_rev04.indd 14 9/11/12 11:05 AM

Map C1.1 Neolithic Sites in East Asia 3

Map 1.1 Western Zhou China 9

Map 2.1 Zhou States in the Sixth Century b.c.e. 21

Map 3.1 The Han Empire at Its Maximum Extent, ca. 50 b.c.e. 37

Map C2.1 Expansion of Buddhism from 500 b.c.e. to 800 c.e. 59

Map 4.1 Rise and Fall of States During the Period of Division 63

Map 5.1 Tang China 81

Map C3.1 Map of Asian Trade and Communication Routes in the Sixth–Tenth Centuries 94

Map 6.1 Korea, 200 b.c.e.–100 b.c.e. 99

Map 6.2 Goguryeo at Its Largest Extent, Late Fifth Century c.e. 104

Map 6.3 Silla After Conquest of Han River Region in 552 c.e. 106

Map 7.1 Islands of Japan 116

Map 7.2 Kinai Area of Japan 121

Map 8.1 Northern Song, Liao, and Xia, ca. 1050 131

Map 8.2 Southern Song, Jin, and Xia, ca. 1200 139

Map C4.1 Map of Mongol Conquests 166

Map 10.1 Goryeo Dynasty After 1126 171

Map 11.1 Major Provinces, Regions, and Cities in Japan 184

Map 11.2 Site of the Mongol Invasions 196

Map 13.1 Kyoto in the Tenth–Eleventh Centuries and Its Transformation in the Sixteenth Century 222

Map 14.1 The Ming Empire 235

Map 15.1 Joseon Dynasty, 1392–1910 250

Map C5.1 Seaborne Trading Empires in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries 266

Map 16.1 The Manchu Empire at Its Height 272

Map 17.1 Tokugawa Japan, 1600–1868 292

M A P s A N d f i G U R E s

figure C1.1 Dolmens 6

figure 1.1 Mold for Bronze Casting 14

figure 3.1 Standardizing the Writing System 38

figure 5.1 Layout of Chang’an and One of the Cities Modeled on It Outside China 79

figure 15.1 Hangul Chart 248

06512_fm_rev04.indd 15 9/11/12 11:05 AM

06512_fm_rev04.indd 16 9/11/12 11:05 AM

there are many reasons to learn about East Asia. A fifth of the world’s population lives there. Every day newspapers carry articles on the rapid transformations of the world economy that make China, Japan, and Korea a growing presence in our lives. Globalization means not only that people are crossing the Pacific in ever-increasing numbers but also that U.S. popular culture is drawing from many sources in East Asia, from Korean martial arts to Japanese anime and Chinese films.

But why approach East Asia through its history rather than, say, its economy or contemporary cul- ture? Many reasons suggest themselves. We cannot gain an adequate understanding of modern phe- nomena without knowing the stages and processes that led up to them. Moreover, the peoples of East Asia are strongly historically minded. To a much greater extent than in the United States, they know and identify with people and events of a thousand or more years ago. In all three countries, readers still enjoy The Three Kingdoms, a novel written in fourteenth-century China about the leaders of three contending states in third-century China. Historical consciousness also underlies the strong sense of sep- arate identities among the people of China, Korea, and Japan. The fact that time and again Korea was able to protect its independence despite the attempts of both China and Japan to conquer it is a central part of Korean identity today. Yet another reason to learn about East Asia’s past is its comparative value. As a region that developed nearly independently of the West, East Asia sheds light on the variety of ways human beings have found meaning, formed communities, and governed themselves, expanding our understanding of the human condition.

What makes this East Asian history book distinc- tive? In it we cover all three countries from a broad range of perspectives, from the earliest signs of human civilization to the present, and we balance the big picture with specific cases. While availing our- selves of the framework provided by politics, we also focus on culture, social issues, and economic change.

What iS nEW in thE thirD EDitiOn

Our first goal in revising this book has been to bring it up to date—to cover the last few years and take account of new scholarship. But we have also put a lot of thought into how we can best serve our audience. Teachers and students who used the first and second editions of this book have told us how much they liked our coverage of social and cultural history, our mini-chapter “Connections,” and our boxed features—the Documents, Biogra- phies, Material Culture, and Making Comparisons features. With their encouragement, we continue to scrutinize our choices and in this edition offer sev- eral new ones, including new Material Culture fea- tures on Japanese portrait statues and matchlocks and China’s recent high-speed trains; new biogra- phies of a Korean interpreter, a Japanese radical samurai, and a Chinese geomancer; and new docu- ments from the Book of Songs for the Zhou period and “Wild Lilies,” for the twentieth century. We also have added an additional Making Compari- sons feature on languages.

Two more pervasive changes also deserve mention. On the advice of instructors who have used this book in class, we have added two ped- agogical aids. The first is pronunciation glosses aimed to give students the courage to pronounce foreign words in their heads while reading, and out loud in class. These glosses do not aim for linguistic precision; their sole purpose is to help U.S. students approximate the sounds of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean words.

The second addition we have made is to add criti- cal thinking questions at the end of all the documents and biographies. It is our hope that these questions will encourage students to pause and think about what they are reading. Teachers might also consider asking students to prepare answers to them.

The overall conception of this book remains the same as it was from the first edition. The following distinctive characteristics are worth underlining.

P R E f A C E

xvii

06512_fm_rev04.indd 17 9/11/12 11:05 AM

cOMParablE cOVEraGE OF KOrEa

Part of our original plan for this book was to cover Korea in comparable depth as China and Japan (we ended up giving China about 50 percent of the space, Japan 30 percent, and Korea 20 percent). We know that many teachers have been frustrated in their at- tempts to cover Korea in their East Asia courses for lack of suitable materials and hope that our efforts prove useful to both them and their students.

a brOaD FOcUS: CONNECTIONS chaPtErS

It is often difficult to keep the larger whole in mind as we tell the separate stories of China, Korea, and Japan. Our solution has been to periodically zoom out to look at the wider region from a global or world-historical perspective. Thus, after every few chapters we have inserted a mini-chapter on devel- opments that link the societies of East Asia both to each other and to the larger global context. We have labeled these mini-chapters “Connections” be- cause they emphasize the many ways each society was connected to outside events and people. For in- stance, the origins and spread of Buddhism are of great importance to all the societies of East Asia, but much of the story can be told as a common narra- tive that connects East Asia with the rest of Asia. Similarly, many books write about World War II in East Asia in entirely different ways in their China and Japan chapters. By stepping back and writing about the war from a more global perspective, we help students see the larger picture.

balancED cUltUral, SOcial, anD POlitical hiStOry

This book strives for balanced coverage of the differ- ent strands of history. A basic political narrative is essential to give students a firm sense of chronology and to let them think about issues of change. More- over, there is no denying that the creation of state structures has much to do with how people lived their lives. Even the fact that people think of them- selves as “Chinese,” “Korean,” or “Japanese” is largely a by-product of political history.

We also believe students should gain an under- standing of the philosophies and religions of East Asia. Confucianism and Buddhism have both been of great importance throughout the region, but in very diverse ways, as the historical context has con- tinually changed. Other elements of high culture also deserve coverage, such as the arts of poetry and calligraphy.

Yet we did not want to neglect topics in social, cultural, and economic history, where much of our own work has been concentrated. Even if the state is important to understanding how people lived, so were families, villages, and religious sects. We also wanted to bring in the results of scholarship on those who had been marginalized in the traditional histories, from laborers and minorities to women at all social levels.

MaKinG cOMPariSOnS

There are many similarities among the cultures of East Asia, often because of their direct influence on each other and the wide circulation of some core philosophical, religious, and literary texts. Yet dif- ferences are at least as significant and interesting. To help students take stock of what they have learned, from time to time we provide a brief, one-page dis- cussion placed between chapters that compares features of the three countries. The topics in the third edition are languages, food cultures, monarchical institutions, women’s situations, neo-Confucianism, slavery, and popular religion.

a SPEciFic FOcUS: biOGraPhiES, DOcUMEntS, anD MatErial cUltUrE

The potential danger of trying to cover so much is a high level of generalization. To keep our readers en- gaged and bring our story down to earth, we devote three or four pages per chapter to closer looks at specific people, documents, and material objects.

biographies

Most chapters have a one-page biography, often about someone who would not normally be mentioned

xviii Preface

06512_fm_rev04.indd 18 9/11/12 11:05 AM

in a history book. We thus highlight a diverse set of individuals, from the most accomplished (such as the eminent Chinese poet Du Fu) to those who are re- markably ordinary people (such as a woman whose job was to mind the neighborhood telephone). Three military men are portrayed; others were physicians, interpreters, entrepreneurs, and founders of religious sects. We also have included some agitators and revolutionaries, and even a winning volleyball coach.

Documents

In our chapters we frequently cite short passages from primary sources, but we believe students also benefit from texts long enough to give them a sense of the genre, the author’s point of view, and the cir- cumstances described. A few of those we have includ- ed are by famous writers, such as Fukuzawa Yūkichi and Lu Xun. Some are excerpted from well-known pieces of literature, such as the play The Peony Pavilion and ancient Japanese poetry collections. Others will be less familiar to teachers and students alike. We selected legal documents, for what they re- veal of ordinary people’s lives, and religious texts of several sorts to help students see religion and popular beliefs in action. Many authors are utterly serious, complaining bitterly of war or corruption, for in- stance; others have well-developed senses of humor. All the documents prompt active involvement and critical interpretation because through them students hear the concerns of people of the past.

Material culture

Texts are not our only sources for reconstructing the past; there is much to be discovered from material remains of many sorts. To give focus to this dimension of history, for each chapter we have selected one ele- ment of material culture to describe in some detail. These range from the most mundane—food, drink, clothing, houses, and means of transportation—to objects of art including specific paintings, sculptures, and performing arts. Many of the objects discussed have economic significance—for example, fertilizers and the Grand Canal. Most of the features for the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries bring out ways material culture has changed, along with so much

else in modern times—from the food people eat to their ways of amusing themselves to technological ad- vances such as the transistor that continue to have an impact not only in Asia but across the world.

thinKinG liKE a hiStOrian

The “Documents” and “Material Culture” features challenge students to draw inferences from primary materials much as historians do. Another way we have tried to help students learn to think like historians is to present history as a set of questions more than a set of answers. What historians are able to say about a period or topic depends not only on the sources avail- able but also on the questions asked. To help students see this, we begin each chapter with a brief discussion of some of the questions that motivate contemporary historians to do research on the time period. Few have easy answers; they are not questions students will be able to resolve simply by reading the chapter. Rather they are real questions, interesting enough to moti- vate historians to sift through recalcitrant evidence in their efforts to find answers. The earliest chapter on Korea, for instance, poses the question of how the three states on the Korean peninsula were able to survive in the face of Chinese power. The chapter on early nineteenth-century Japan points out that histo- rians have studied the period for clues to the causes of the Meiji Restoration, wanting to know the rela- tive weight to assign to foreign pressure and domestic unrest. For the chapter dealing with China under the Nationalists, we point out that the desire to explain the Communist victory in 1949 has motivated his- torians to ponder why May Fourth Liberalism lost its appeal and whether the economic politics of the Nationalists could have brought prosperity to China if Japan had not invaded. We hope that posing these questions will help readers see the significance of the topics and issues presented in each chapter.

USinG thiS tEXt in claSS

East Asian history is commonly taught either as a one-term or one-year course. To fit both schedules, this text is available as a single volume and as two divided chronologically. Since those who divide

Preface xix

06512_fm_rev04.indd 19 9/11/12 11:05 AM

chronologically might prefer to break at either 1600 or 1800, the period 1600–1800 appears in both the chronologically divided volumes.

inStrUctOr SUPPlEMEnt

eInstructor’s Resource Manual Prepared by Ethan Segal, Michigan State University. This manual has many features, including learning objectives, chapter outlines, discussion/essay questions, key terms, and activities for the classroom. Available on the instruc- tor’s companion website.

acKnOWlEDGMEntS

For the first edition of this book, the three authors divided the work primarily by country of special- ization, with Patricia Ebrey writing the parts on China, Anne Walthall those on Japan, and James Palais those on Korea. The Connections chapters we divided among ourselves chronologically, with Patricia Ebrey taking the early ones (on Prehis- tory, Buddhism, Cultural Contact Across Eurasia, and the Mongols), Anne Walthall taking the early modern and modern ones (on Europe Enters the Scene, Western Imperialism, and World War II), and James Palais doing the final one on East Asia in the Twenty-First Century. Our original co-author, James Palais, passed away shortly after the first edi- tion was printed in summer 2006. For the second and third editions, Patricia Ebrey revised James Palais’s chapters covering up to 1800 and Anne Walthall the remainder.

Many people have contributed to the shaping of this book. The authors have been teaching about the societies of East Asia for three decades, and the ways they approach their subjects owe much to ques- tions from their students, conversations with their colleagues, and the outpouring of scholarship in their fields. As we worked on this text, we received much advice from others, from early suggestions of possible collaborators to critiques of our original proposal and reviews of the drafts of our chapters. The reviewers’ reports prompted us to rethink some

generalizations, urged us not to weigh the book down with too much detail, and saved us from a number of embarrassing errors. We appreciate the time and attention the following reviewers gave to helping us produce a better book:

James Anderson, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; R. David Arkush, University of Iowa; Charles Armstrong, Columbia University; Richard Bohr, College of Saint Benedict & Saint John; Craig N. Canning, College of William and Mary; Henry Chan, Minnesota State University; Alan Christy, Univer- sity of California, SC; Sue Fawn Chung, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Parks Coble, University of Nebraska; Anthony DeBlasi, University of Albany; Ronald G. Dimberg, University of Virginia; Franklin M. Doeringer, Lawrence University; Alexis Dudden, Connecticut College; Gordon Dutter, Monroe Com- munity College; Susan Fernsebner, Mary Wash- ington College; Karl Friday, University of Georgia; James Gao, University of Maryland; Karl Gerth, Uni- versity of South Carolina; Andrew Goble, University of Oregon; John B. Henderson, Louisiana State Uni- versity; Robert Henry, Grossmont College; Jennifer Holt-Dilley, University of Texas at San Antonio; Jeff Hornibrook, SUNY Plattsburgh; William Johnston, Wesleyan University; Fujiya Kawashima, Bowling Green State University; Sun Joo Kim, Harvard Uni- versity; Ari Daniel Levine, University of Georgia; Huaiyin Li, University of Missouri- Columbia; Jeff Long, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania; Andrew McGreevy, Ohio University-Lancaster; Angelene Naw, Judson College; Steve Phillips, Towson University; Jonathan Porter, University of New Mexico; Wesley Sasaki-Uemura, University of Utah; Edward Slack, Eastern Washington University; S. A. Thornton, Arizona State University; Constan- tine Vaporis, University of Maryland, BC; Lu Yan, University of New Hampshire; Ka-che Yip, Univer- sity of Maryland, Baltimore County; Theodore Jun Yoo, University of Hawaii at Manoa.

We also are grateful for all the work put into this book by the editorial staff at Wadsworth, Cengage Learning: Brooke Barbier, Elisa Adams, Jamie Bushell, and Katie Coaster.

xx Preface

06512_fm_rev04.indd 20 9/11/12 11:05 AM

throughout this book names are given in East Asian order, with family name preceding personal name. Thus Mao Zedong was from the Mao family, Ashikaga Takauji from the Ashikaga family, and Yi Sŏnggye from the Yi family.

Both Japanese and Korean have phonetic scripts (Japanese a syllabary, Korean an alphabet), though Japanese additionally makes extensive use of Chinese characters. There are standard ways to tran- scribe these scripts into our alphabet. Here we have used the Hepburn system for transcribing Japanese. For Korean, we have used the revised romanization system of the Ministry of Culture in South Korea.

Chinese does not have a phonetic script. In this book the pinyin system of romanization has been adopted.

The basic vowels, a, e, i, o, and u in all three lan- guages are pronounced as in Italian, German, and Spanish.

a as in father e as in end i as the first e in eve (although in Chinese if it comes

after an s, ch, or z, it is pronounced as the e in the) o as in old (shorter in length and with less of the

ou sound of English) u as in rude (shorter in length than English)

The macron over the ō or ū in Japanese indicates that the vowel is “long,” taking twice as long to say, as though it were doubled. Macrons have been omit- ted from common place names well known without them, such as Tokyo and Kyoto.

ü in Chinese (used only after l or n) is like the German ü.

The three languages are not so similar when one vowel follows another. In the case of Japanese, each vowel is pronounced as a separate syllable (shō en, is two syllables, shō -en). In Chinese, they create a (one-syllable) diphthong (e.g., mei, which is pronounced like may, and xia, which sounds like shya). In Korean, two vowels in a row are used to

convey a distinct vowel sound; ae is like the a in at; eo is like the u in but; eu is like the oo in foot.

Consonants for Japanese and Korean romaniza- tion are close enough to English to give readers little difficulty. In the Chinese case, divergence between how an English speaker would guess a pronuncia- tion and how the word is actually pronounced is greater. The most confusing consonants are listed below:

c ts in tsar z dz in adze zh j in jack q ch in chin x sh

In the case of Chinese, the romanization system does not convey tones, which are also an important element in pronunciation.

We have offered simple pronunciation guides after many words that might give readers trouble. These do not aim at linguistic accuracy; they are at best approximations, based on common American pronunciations, and are provided so that students will feel more comfortable using the words in class. They can be ignored once the reader has gotten the hang of the romanization system.

For both Chinese and Korean, other ways of romanizing the language are also widely used. Through the last edition of this book we used the McCune-Reischauer system for Korean, which uses apostrophes and diacritical marks. Thus, the dynasty that was romanized as Chosŏn in the last edition is now romanized as Joseon. Comparisons of the two systems of romanization can be found at http://www .eki.ee/wgrs/rom2_ko.pdf.

In the case of Chinese, pinyin only became the standard system of romanization in recent decades. Some earlier spellings were based on dialects other than Mandarin (Peking, Canton, Sun Yat-sen). More often the Wade-Giles system of romanization was employed. From context, if nothing else, most readers

C O N v E N T i O N s

xxi

06512_fm_rev04.indd 21 9/11/12 11:05 AM

have inferred that Mao Zedong is the same person whose name used to be spelled Mao Tse-tung, or that Wang Anshi is the pinyin form of Wang An-shih. Two older spellings have been retained in this book because they are so widely known (Sun Yatsen and

Chiang Kaishek). Charts for converting pinyin to Wade-Giles and vice versa are widely available on the Internet, should anyone want verification of their guesses (see, for instance, http://www.loc.gov/ catdir/pinyin/romcover.html).

xxii Conventions

06512_fm_rev04.indd 22 9/11/12 11:05 AM

Pre-Modern East Asia

06512_fm_rev04.indd 23 9/11/12 11:05 AM

06512_fm_rev04.indd 24 9/11/12 11:05 AM

P A R T O N E

Connections The Prehistory of East Asia

Chapter 1 China in the Bronze Age: The Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties (ca. 1500–771 b.c.e.)

Chapter 2 Philosophers and Warring States During the Eastern Zhou Period (770–256 b.c.e.)

Chapter 3 The Founding of the Bureaucratic Empire: Qin-Han China (256 b.c.e.– 200 c.e.)

Connections Buddhism in India and Its Spread Along the Silk Road

Chapter 4 Political Division in China and the Spread of Buddhism (200–580)

Chapter 5 The Cosmopolitan Empires of Sui and Tang China (581–960)

Connections Cultural Contact Across Eurasia (600–900)

The Foundations of East Asian Civilization in China

06475_ch01_rev04.indd 1 9/8/12 3:45 PM

During this long period, humans began to speak, and so the affinities of modern languages offer a rough clue to the spread of peoples in early times. Language affinities suggest at least three migra- tory routes through East Asia: from North Asia into Mongolia, Manchuria, Korea, and Japan; from China into Tibet and Southeast Asia; and from south China to both Southeast Asia and the islands of the Philippines and Indonesia. Other evidence suggests additional routes—for instance, from Southeast Asia and Micronesia to Japan.

All through Eurasia, much greater advance came after the end of the last Ice Age around 10,000 b.c.e. (See Map C1.1.) Soon after this date, people in Japan began making pottery, some of the earliest in the world. Pottery is of great value for holding water and storing food. In China and Korea, the ear- liest pottery finds were somewhat later, but pottery was apparently in use by 6000 b.c.e. Throughout East Asia, early pottery was commonly imprinted on its surface to give it texture. In Japan, this period is referred to as Jōmon and dated from about 10,000 to 300 b.c.e. The comparable period in Korea is called Jeulmun and dated from about 8000 to 700 b.c.e. These cultures share many features. From shell mounds found in many places in both Korea and Japan, it is evident that sites were occupied for long periods, that shellfish were collected onshore, and that fish were caught from both rivers and the ocean. Other food sources were animals such as deer and wild boar, which were hunted. Dogs seem to have been domesticated and perhaps used as hunting animals.

China in the millennia after the last Ice Age fol- lowed more closely the pattern seen in western Eur- asia, which involved crop agriculture, domestication of animals for food and work, pottery, textiles, and villages. Agriculture is a crucial change because cul- tivating crops allows denser and more permanent settlements. Because tending crops, weaving, and

THINKING ABOUT THE WHOLE OF EAST Asia before the invention of writing helps to remind us that East Asia has always been a part of Eurasia and did not develop in isolation. During the Pleistocene geological era (the last great Ice Age), plants and animals spread across Eurasia as far as Japan, which was then connected to the mainland. In later times, peoples, crops, and inventions traveled in many directions.

Early human beings (Homo erectus) appeared in East Asia more than 1 million years ago, having gradually spread from Africa and West Asia dur- ing the Pleistocene. Peking Man, discovered in the 1920s, is one of the best-documented examples of H. erectus, with skeletal remains of some forty indi- viduals found in a single cave complex. Peking Man could stand erect, hunt, make fire, and use chipped stones as tools. In recent decades, even earlier exam- ples of H. erectus have been found in south China.

Modern human beings (Homo sapiens) appeared in East Asia perhaps fifty thousand years ago. The dominant theory in the West, supported by studies of the mitochondrial DNA of modern people, is that H. sapiens also spread out of Africa and displaced H. erectus in areas where it was not already extinct. Chinese archaeologists have given more credence to the theory that H. erectus evolved into H. sapiens independently in many parts of the world, making Peking Man the ancestor of modern Chinese. They can point to similarities between Peking Man and modern Chinese, such as the shape of certain teeth.

During the period from 50,000 to 10,000 b.c.e., East Asia was home to numerous groups of Paleo- lithic hunters, gatherers, and fishermen. Many of these people were on the move, following the wild animals they hunted or searching for new environ- ments to exploit. This was the period that saw the movement of people from northeast Asia to the Americas and also from south China and Southeast Asia to the Pacific and Australia.

C O N N E C T I O N S

The Prehistory of East Asia

06475_ch01_rev04.indd 2 9/8/12 3:45 PM

Connections: The Prehistory of East Asia 3

piles; wove baskets; and made hoes, spears, mallets, paddles, and other tools from wood. They decorated their pottery and lacquered bowls with incised geo- metrical designs or pictures of birds, fish, or trees.

Millet, a crop domesticated in China, became the foundation of agriculture in north China. Nanzhuangtou, the earliest site found so far, is in southern Hebei and dates to about 8000 b.c.e. At Cishan, a site in Hebei dating to about 5500 b.c.e., millet was cut with stone sickles and stored in cord- marked pottery bowls, jars, and tripods (three-legged pots). In addition to growing millet, the local people hunted deer and collected clams, snails, and turtles.

The east–west divide among Chinese Neolithic cultures in terms of expressive culture may well have had connections to less tangible elements of culture such as language and religion. In the west (Shaanxi and Gansu provinces especially), pottery deco- rated with painted geometrical designs was com- monly produced from about 5000 to 3000 b.c.e. In the fully developed Yangshao style, grain jars were

fashioning pots require different sorts of technical and social skills than do hunting and gathering, it is likely that skilled elders began to vie with hunters and warriors for leadership.

The dozen or more distinct Neolithic cultures that have been identified in China can be roughly divided by latitude into the southern rice zone and the northern millet zone and by longitude into the eastern jade zone and the western painted pottery zone. Dogs and pigs were found in both areas as early as 5000 b.c.e. By 3000 b.c.e. sheep and cattle had become important in the north and water buf- falo and cattle important in the south.

Whether rice was independently domesticated in China or spread there from Southeast Asia is not yet certain. The earliest finds in China date to about 8000 b.c.e. At Hemudu, a site south of Shanghai and dating to about 5000 b.c.e., Neolithic villagers grew rice in wet fields and supplemented their diet with fish and water plants such as lotus and water chestnut. Hemudu villagers built wooden houses on

Liao

Wei

Yangzi

Yellow

P A C I F I C

O C E A N

Yellow Sea

Sea of Japan

E a s t C h i n a

S e a

Hougang

Liangzhu

Hemudu

Pengdoushan

Zengpiyan

Banpo

Cishan

Qijia Yangshao-cun Erlitou

Dawenkou

Niuheliang

Nanzhuangtou Amsadong

Gungsanni

Gangsari

Dongsamdong

Nongbo

Ubuka Bog

Isarago

Togarilshi

Umataka

Fukui Cave

Hongshan

Shaguotun

Xiajiadian

0 300�Mi.150

0 300�Km.150

Neolithic�site

Map C1.1 Neolithic Sites in East Asia

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch01_rev04.indd 3 9/8/12 3:45 PM

4 Connections: The Prehistory of East Asia

probably of captives. The earliest examples, dat- ing to about 2000 b.c.e., involved human remains placed under the foundations of buildings. At about the same time, metal began to be used on a small scale for weapons. These trends in Neolithic sites on the north China plain link it closely to the early stages of the Bronze Age civilization there, discussed in Chapter 1.

For China, prehistory conventionally stops soon after 2000 b.c.e. It is true that in the Chinese subcontinent outside the core of Shang territories, subsistence technology continued in the Neolith- ic pattern for many more centuries. In Korea and J apan, the period before writing lasted longer, but during the first millennium b.c.e., technologies from China began to have an impact.

To understand the links between early China and its East Asian neighbors, we must briefly consider the wider Eurasian context, especially the northern steppe region. In terms of contemporary countries, the steppe extends from southern Russia past the Caspian and Aral seas, through the Central Asian republics, the northern reaches of China, and into Mongolia and farther east. Horses were domes- ticated on the southern Russian steppe by about 4000 b.c.e. but spread only slowly to other regions. Chariots spread first, then riding on horseback.

exuberantly painted in red and black with spirals, diamonds, and other geometrical patterns.

In the east, from Liaodong near Korea in the north to near Shanghai in the south, early pottery was rarely painted, but more elaborate forms ap- peared very early, with the finest wares formed on potters’ wheels. Some had exceptionally thin walls polished to an almost metallic appearance. Many forms were constructed by adding parts, such as legs, spouts, handles, or lids. The many ewers and goblets found in eastern sites were probably used for ritu- als of feasting or sacrifice. Eastern cultures were also marked by progressively more elaborate burials.

At Dawenkou in Shandong (ca. 5000–2500 b.c.e.), not only were wooden coffins used but even wooden burial chambers were occasionally con- structed. The richest burials had more than a hun- dred objects placed in them, including jade, stone, or pottery necklaces and bracelets. Some of the people buried there had their upper lateral incisors extract- ed, a practice Chinese authors in much later times considered “barbarian” and that is also seen in some Japanese sites.

Even more distinctive of the eastern Neolithic cultures is the use of jade. Because jade does not crack, shaping it requires slow grinding with abra- sive sand. The most spectacular discoveries of Neo- lithic jades have been made in Liaodong near Korea (Hongshan culture, ca. 3500 b.c.e.) and south of Shanghai (Liangzhu culture, ca. 2500 b.c.e.)— areas that literate Chinese in ca. 500 b.c.e. consid- ered barbarian. In the Hongshan culture area, jade was made into small sculptures of turtles, birds, and strange coiled “pig dragons.” In the Liangzhu area, jade was fashioned into objects with no obvi- ous utilitarian purpose and that are therefore con- sidered ritual objects. Most common are disks and notched columns.

In China, the late Neolithic period (ca. 3000– 2000 b.c.e.) was a time of increased contact and cultural borrowing between these regional cultures. Cooking tripods, for instance, spread west, while painted pottery spread east. This period must also have been one of increased conflict between com- munities because people began building defensive walls around settlements out of rammed earth, some as large as 20 feet high and 30 feet thick. Enclosing a settlement with such a wall required chiefs able to command men and resources on a large scale. Another sign of the increasing power of religious or military elites is human sacrifice,

Jade Plaque. This small plaque (6.2 by 8.3 cm, or 2.5 by 3.25 in) is incised to depict a human figure who merges into a monster mask. The lower part could be interpreted as his arms and legs, but at the same time resembles a monster mask with bulging eyes, prominent nostrils, and a large mouth.

Zh ej

ia ng

P ro

vi nc

ia l I

ns tit

ut e

of A

rc ha

eo lo

gy /C

ul tu

ra l R

el ic

s Pr

es s

06475_ch01_rev04.indd 4 9/8/12 3:45 PM

Connections: The Prehistory of East Asia 5

During the next phase there was such a radical change in burial practices that archaeologists sus- pect that a different, and militarily superior, horse- riding group entered the area. This new group used both wooden and stone-cist coffins. A cist burial is one with a burial chamber built of stones to form a box, with a flagstone or similar large, flat stone to cover it. By the third century b.c.e., the cultures of the Northern Zone became increasingly homoge- neous in material culture and rituals, with similar warrior elites and ornamental art.

These societies came into contact with people settled farther south in the Korean peninsula. As mentioned previously, after the end of the last Ice Age, the Korean peninsula was home to the fishing and foraging Jeulmun (comb pattern pottery) peo- ples. By the middle of the first millennium b.c.e., a new culture, called Mumun (plain pottery), became established. Mumun sites, in contrast to the earlier Jeulmun seaside ones, were on hillsides or hilltops. Grain production became more important, and met- alworking was adopted. Bronze began to be used in Korea about 700 b.c.e. and iron by about 400 b.c.e. Mumun farmers grew barley, millet, sorghum, and short-grained rice, a mix of crops similar to that grown in north China. They heated their homes with flues under the floor, a practice that contin- ued into modern times. Another distinctive feature of this culture, the use of stone-cist burials, links it to the Northern Zone. A fifth-century b.c.e. site in west-central Korea has a stone-cist burial, twenty- one pit buildings, red burnished pottery, a pottery kiln, a stone mold for casting bronze implements, whetstones for sharpening blades, bronze daggers and swords, and a bronze dagger of the type found farther north in the Northern Zone. Soon, howev- er, Korea was producing its own distinctive metal- work, such as finely decorated mirrors. A new burial form also emerged: large aboveground stone vaults called dolmens.

The shift from Jeulmun to Mumun probably re- flects the same movement of people seen in south- ern Manchuria. Without textual evidence, how- ever, it is impossible to decide whether the local Jeulmun quickly adopted the superior technology of the Mumun people or whether the Mumun moved into the area in large numbers, gradually pushing out those who were already there. Some scholars speculate that the newcomers were the speakers of languages that were the ancestors of the Korean and Japanese languages.

A fourteenth-century b.c.e. Hittite text on horse- manship discusses the training of chariot horses; within a century or so, chariots appeared in Shang China. The Scythians appeared as mounted archers in the tenth or ninth century b.c.e. East of them, the Karasuk, with a similar culture, dominated the region from western Mongolia into south Siberia. The Scythians and the Karasuk lived in felt tents, traveled in covered carts, and had bronze technol- ogy, including the bronze bit that made possible horseback riding. By the seventh century b.c.e. in the Altai region of Mongolia, there were two dis- tinct groups of nomadic pastoralists: those who bur- ied the dead under mounds and those who buried the dead in stone boxes. Their bronze implements, however, were much the same.

South of these groups on the steppe, but in con- tact with them, were pastoral–agricultural cultures in China’s Northern Zone, stretching in terms of modern provinces from Gansu through northern Shaanxi, northern Shanxi, and northern Hebei, into Liaoning (southern Manchuria). During the late second millennium b.c.e., this zone was settled by a variety of cultures with distinct pottery and burial customs but bronze knives much like those of the steppe to the north. In the early first mil- lennium b.c.e., warrior elites emerged in many of these cultures, and animal raising became more central to their economies, perhaps in response to a climate that was becoming colder and drier. From 600 to 300 b.c.e., evidence of horses becomes more and more common, as does riding astride. Some of these cultures adopted nomadic pastoralism, mov- ing with their herds to new pastures. These cul- tures also adopted the art styles common on the steppe, such as bronze and gold animal plaques. They made increasing use of iron, which may have spread to them from the Central Asian steppe rather than from China, which was also beginning to use iron in this period. At the same time, these Northern Zone cultures were in contact with the Chinese states; early Chinese coins have been found at some sites.

The eastern end of this Northern Zone was di- rectly north of Korea. Archaeologists have identified a culture there that lasted eight centuries, from the eleventh to the fourth centuries b.c.e., called Upper Xiajiadian culture. Finds include an ancient mine, along with distinctive bronze knives, helmets, mir- rors, and horse fittings. The faces of the dead were covered with a cloth decorated with bronze buttons.

06475_ch01_rev04.indd 5 9/8/12 3:45 PM

6 Connections: The Prehistory of East Asia

It is likely that the shift to Yayoi-style pottery and associated technologies was the result of an influx of people from Korea. Archaeologists have identified two distinct skeleton types in Yayoi pe- riod sites in western Japan, which they interpret as the indigenous Jōmon people and the new immi- grants from Korea. The Jōmon type were shorter and more round-faced. The influx of the immi- grants seems to have been greatest in Kyushu and western Honshu. Some scholars speculate that the Ainu, who survived into modern times only on the northern island of Hokkaido, are of relatively pure Jōmon stock.

Another sign that the influx of Yayoi people was not so great in eastern Japan is that bronze imple- ments did not become important in the east, nor did easterners adopt the western Yayoi style of burying the whole body in a jar, coffin, or pit. Rather, in the east, reburial of the bones in a jar predominated.

Another important technology that made its way to Korea and Japan before writing was rice cultivation. Studies based on stone reaping knives suggest that rice spread north along the China seaboard, reaching Korea and Japan by about 300 b.c.e. In the case of Japan, rice seems to have been grown by the end of the Jōmon pe- riod but is more strongly associated with the next stage, called the Yayoi period. The Yayoi period is marked by distinctive pottery, found earliest in Kyushu, then spreading east through Honshu, though farther north more of the Jōmon style is retained in Yayoi pieces. Rice cultivation was more thoroughly adopted in western Japan, with the marine-based way of life retaining more of its hold in northern Japan. Iron tools such as hoes and shovels also spread through Japan during this period, as did silk and associated spinning and weaving technologies.

Figure C1.1 Dolmens. Burial structures capped with large stones, called dolmens, have been found in both the Korean peninsula and nearby parts of Japan. The two shown on the left were found in northern and southern Korea, respectively. The one on the right, which also shows the arrangement of the bones beneath the capstone, was found in Kyushu, across the Korean Strait. (© Cengage Learning)

06475_ch01_rev04.indd 6 9/8/12 3:45 PM

Connections: The Prehistory of East Asia 7

with horse riders and there was no chariot stage. Ge- ography has much to do with the fact that Korea’s direct neighbors frequently were not Chinese but no- madic pastoralists with distinctive cultures. Geogra- phy also dictates that passage from Korea to Japan was shorter and easier than crossing from China, giving Korea more direct influence on Japan than China had.

In Chapters 6 and 7, when we pick up the story of Korea and Japan again, it will be evident that as we move into the historical period, not only is the prehistoric period of continuing significance, but many of the same cultural processes continued to be at work.

Because contact between southern Korea and west- ern Japan continued through this period and because new technologies entered through this route, western Japan in this period was relatively more advanced than eastern Japan.

As we can see from this review of prehistory, con- tact among the societies of East Asia did not lead to identical developmental sequences. In China a mil- lennium passed between the introduction of bronze technology and that of iron, in Korea only three cen- turies, and in Japan they were acquired together. In China the horse was first used to pull chariots, and it took five hundred or more years before soldiers were riding horses. In Korea and Japan, horses came

06475_ch01_rev04.indd 7 9/8/12 3:45 PM

C H A P T E R O N E

China in the Bronze Age: The Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties (ca. 1500–771 b.c.e.)

The Geography of the Chinese Subcontinent

The Shang Dynasty (ca. 1500–1045 b.c.e.)

Material Culture: Rammed Earth

Developments Outside the Shang Core

The Western Zhou Dynasty (1045–771 b.c.e.)

Documents: The Book of Songs

China’s Bronze Age began soon after 2000 b.c.e., and by 1200 b.c.e. there were bronze-based civilizations in several regions of China. The best known of these was centered on Anyang (ahn-yahng) in north- central China, where the Shang (shahng) Dynasty developed a complex state with writing and large settlements. The inscribed oracle bones found at Anyang confirm traditions about Shang rulers passed down in early texts.

In 1045 b.c.e. the Shang Dynasty was overthrown by an erstwhile ally- vassal, the state of Zhou (joe). The early Zhou Dynasty is known not only from archaeological evidence but also from transmitted texts, which provide the Zhou version of their righteous victory over the decadent Shang. The Zhou rulers sent out vassals to establish settlements in distant regions, creating a feudal-like system.

The issues that engage archaeologists, paleographers, and historians of China’s Bronze Age remain the basic ones: Can we reconcile texts that talk of a sequence of dynasties with the archaeological evidence of distinct cultural centers? What were the consequences of the invention of writ- ing? What can be inferred about Shang society and culture from surviving material artifacts such as bronze vessels? Is there any way to tell whether cultures outside the core regions of the Shang and Zhou spoke the same language or considered themselves part of the same culture? How sig- nificant in political and cultural terms was the transition from Shang to Zhou? Was anything significant learned from other parts of Eurasia in this period, or were all advances locally generated?

06475_ch01_rev04.indd 8 9/8/12 3:45 PM

The Geography of the Chinese Subcontinent 9

within China, modern province names are used for convenience (see frontispiece map).

The geographical context in which Chinese civiliza- tion developed changed slowly over time: rivers and coastlines have shifted, forests have been cleared, and climates have warmed and cooled. The human ge- ography has undergone even more extensive changes as the area occupied by speakers of Chinese has ex- panded and they have faced different neighbors.

China proper, by the nineteenth century about a thousand miles north to south and east to west, occupies much of the temperate zone of East Asia. The northern part, drained by the Yellow River, is colder, flatter, and more arid than the south. Rain- fall in many northern areas is less than 20 inches a year, making it best suited to crops like wheat and millet. The dominant soil is loess—fine wind-driv- en earth that is fertile and easy to work even with primitive tools. Much of the loess soil ends up as silt in the Yellow River, causing the riverbed to rise

THE GEOGRAPHy OF THE CHINESE SuBCONTINENT The term China as it is used in this book does not re- fer to the same geographical entity at all points in his- tory. The historical China, also called China proper, was smaller than present-day China and changed in size over time. It can be thought of as the area settled by Chinese speakers or controlled by a Chinese state, or both. (To radically simplify complex issues of identity, references here to “the Chinese” can be tak- en to mean speakers of the Chinese language, a group that can also be referred to as the Han Chinese.) The contemporary People’s Republic of China includes territories like Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Turkestan, and Manchuria that were the traditional homes of other peoples and were not incorporated into Chinese states until relatively late in their histories. In this book, to indicate the location of historically significant places

BA-SHU

QIANG

VARIOUS RONG

NORTHERN RONG

RONG

HUAI

LAIYI

SHU

QIANG

SICHUAN BASIN

RONG IN MOUNTAINS

Zhengzhou Zheng

Jin

YuDu

Zhou

Bengwu

Song

Sui

Zeng

CaiShen

Lü

Chu

Yan

Wei

SAN ZE

DAN

YAN

BENGWU

GAO- LING

Y el

lo w

( H

ua ng

H e)

Hu ai

Ye llow

(H ua

ng H

Y el

lo w

(H ua

ng H

Wei

Qing

Yang zi

Y an

gz i

H an

0 100 200 Km.

0 100 200 Mi.

Locations in important bronze inscriptions

Royal capital

State capital

Ethnic group

The Western Zhou State SAN

RONG

Map 1.1 Western Zhou China

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch01_rev04.indd 9 9/8/12 3:45 PM

10 Chapter 1 China in the Bronze Age: The Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties (ca. 1500–771 b.c.e.)

According to tradition, Shang kings ruled from five successive cities. The best known is the last, Anyang, first excavated between 1928 and 1937. The Shang kings ruled there from approximately 1200 b.c.e. to 1045 b.c.e. At the center of Anyang were large pal- aces, temples, and altars that were constructed on rammed earth foundations (see Material Culture: Rammed Earth).

The Shang kings were military chieftains who regularly sent out armies of three thousand to five thousand men on campaigns; when not at war, they would go on hunts that lasted for months. Their armies fought rebellious vassals and foreign tribes, but the situation constantly changed as vassals be- came enemies and enemies accepted offers of alli- ance. War booty, especially the war captives who could be enslaved or sacrificed, was an important source of the king’s revenue.

Bronze technology gave Shang warriors superior weapons: bronze-tipped spears and dagger-axes, used for hacking and stabbing. Bronze was also used for the fittings of the spoke-wheeled chariots that came into use around 1200 b.c.e. There is no evi- dence of animal traction in China before the chariot or of the use of wheels, spoked or solid disk, leading to the conclusion that the chariot was introduced to China by diffusion across Asia. Shang chariots were pulled by two or four horses and provided com- manders with mobile stations from which they could supervise their troops; chariots also gave archers and soldiers armed with battle-axes increased mobility.

Shang power did not rest solely on military su- premacy. The oracle bone texts show that the Shang king also acted as the high priest, the person best qualified to offer sacrifices to the royal ancestors and the high god, Di (dee), who could command rain, thunder, and wind. The king also made offerings to an array of nature gods, such as the spirits of the sun and moon, the Yellow River, the winds of the four directions, and specific mountains.

Royal ancestors were viewed as able to intervene with the remote Di. They also could send curses, produce dreams, assist the king in battle, and more. The king addressed his ancestors in prayers and made offerings of millet, wine, cattle, sheep, grain, and human victims to them. He discerned his ances- tors’ wishes and responses by interpreting the cracks made on heated cattle or turtle bones. King Wu Ding (woo ding) (ca. 1200 b.c.e.) had his diviner ask the high god Di or his ancestors about rain, the harvest, military expeditions, dreams, floods, tribute pay- ments, sacrifices, and even a toothache.

over time. Once people began to dike the river, it be- came flood prone, since when the dikes break, huge floods result. Drought is another perennial problem for farmers in the north.

The Yangzi River is the dominant feature of the warmer, wetter, and more lush south, a region well suited to rice cultivation and to growing two crops a year. The Yangzi and many of its tributaries are navigable, so boats were traditionally the preferred means of transportation in the south.

Mountains, deserts, and grasslands separated China proper from the sites of other early civiliza- tions. Between China and India lay Tibet, with its vast mountain ranges and high plateaus. North of Tibet are great expanses of desert, where nothing grows except in rare oases; north of the desert, grasslands stretch from Ukraine to eastern Siberia. Until modern times, Chinese civilization did not spread into these Inner Asian regions because they were not suited to crop agriculture. The northern grasslands, where rais- ing animals is a more productive use of land than is planting crops, were the heartland of China’s tradi- tional enemies, such as the Xiongnu and the Mongols.

THE SHANG DyNASTy (ca. 1500–1045 b.c.e.) China’s Neolithic Age is discussed in Connections: The Prehistory of East Asia. China had agriculture from about 10,000 b.c.e.; by 4000 b.c.e. distinct regional cultures are evident; by 2500 b.c.e. settlements were sometimes walled, and burials give evidence of increas- ing social differentiation. It was from these roots that China’s first civilization emerged soon after 2000 b.c.e.

Early Chinese texts refer to the first dynasty as the Xia (shya) Dynasty and give the names of its kings. The earliest Bronze Age sites may have some con- nection to Xia, but they contain no texts to prove or disprove this supposition. The Shang Dynasty, however, is documented in both excavated and transmitted texts, and no one today doubts that it existed. The key excavated texts are the oracle bone inscriptions found in and near the Shang settlement at Anyang, in modern Henan province. Although these inscribed cattle bones and turtle shells had been unearthed from time to time, it was only after 1898 that scholars connected them to Shang kings. Since then, rubbings of some forty-eight thousand bone fragments have been published, giving paleog- raphers much to study.

06475_ch01_rev04.indd 10 9/8/12 3:45 PM

The Shang Dynasty (ca. 1500–1045 b.c.e.) 11

Ding. Although it was one of the smaller royal tombs (about 13 feet by 18 feet at the mouth and about 25 feet deep) and not in the main royal cemetery, it was nonetheless filled with an extraordinary array of valuable goods. The hundreds of bronze objects in the tomb weighed 1.6 metric tons. About 60 of the bronze vessels had Lady Hao’s name inscribed

Shang palaces were undoubtedly splendid, but they were constructed of perishable material like wood, and nothing remains of them today. What has survived are the lavish underground tombs built for Shang kings and their consorts. The one royal tomb not to have been robbed before it was excavated was for Lady Hao, one of the many wives of King Wu

M A T E R I A L C U L T U R E

From the late Neolithic period on, pounded or rammed earth was used in north China to build foundations and walls. In fact, in areas of loess soil, rammed earth is still used as a building material, pri- marily for the walls around houses and farmyards. The method used today begins with dumping loose soil into wooden frames, then pounding it into thin layers with wooden logs. At archaeological sites, the impressions of the pounders are often still visible on the top layer of the wall. Ancient rammed earth can be nearly as hard as concrete.

The most massive rammed earth structure from the Shang period excavated so far is the wall surrounding the city of Zhengzhou (juhng-joe) in Henan (huh-nahn) province. It is about 1,800 meters on each side and about 9 meters tall. The base of the wall was as much as 20 meters thick. Chinese archaeologists have estimated that it contained 870,000 cubic meters of rammed earth, which would have required a labor force of ten thousand men working for eight years to dig the soil, trans- port it to the site, and pound it into a wall.

Earthen Walls. Walls are still constructed of rammed earth today. A frame of logs is built, the earth is pounded into place, and after it is dry, the frame is removed.

Rammed Earth

Ro na

ld G

. K na

06475_ch01_rev04.indd 11 9/8/12 3:45 PM

12 Chapter 1 China in the Bronze Age: The Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties (ca. 1500–771 b.c.e.)

others in ritual vessels. Another important product was silk made from the cocoons of the silkworm, which fed on the leaves of mulberry trees. Silk from Shang China has recently been discovered in an Egyptian tomb, evidence that its importance as an item of east–west trade began very early.

At the level of technology, the life of Shang farm- ers was not very different from that of their Neolithic ancestors. They lived in small, compact villages, sur- rounded by fields that they worked with stone tools. Millet continued to be the basic grain, but some new crops became common in Shang times, most nota- bly wheat, which had spread from West Asia. Sheep, cattle, and pigs were all raised.

The primary difference between Shang farmers and their Neolithic predecessors is the huge gulf that separated them from the most powerful in their soci- ety. Shang rulers could command the labor of thou- sands of men for long periods of time. Huge work forces were mobilized to build the rammed earth city walls, dig the great tombs, open new lands, and fight in wars. Some scholars assume that those la- boring for the king were slaves, perhaps acquired through warfare. Others speculate that these labor- ers also included conscripts called up as needed from among the serf-like farmers. Whatever the status of the workers, coercion, backed by violence, was an essential element of the Shang state.

Writing

The inscribed oracle bones demonstrate that writing was already a major element in Chinese culture by 1200 b.c.e. Writing must have been invented ear- lier, but the early stages of its development cannot be traced, probably because it was done on perishable materials like wood, bamboo, or silk.

What impact did writing have? Literacy is an ally of political control, facilitating communication across an expanding realm. From the oracle bones, we know that Shang kept records of enemies slain, booty taken, animals bagged in hunts, and other information, using lunar months and ten-day and sixty-day cycles to record dates.

Although only about 40 percent of the five thou- sand or so characters used on Shang divination texts have been deciphered, there is no longer any doubt that the language and the writing system of the Shang are directly ancestral to both the language and the writing systems of later Chinese. This script was logographic, similar to ancient Egyptian and

on them. The 130 weapons found in this tomb show that Lady Hao took an interest in military affairs. There were also 755 jade objects, 63 stone ones, and 564 made of bone. From inscribed bones found elsewhere at Anyang, we know that Lady Hao led several military campaigns, once with thirteen thou- sand troops against the Qiang (chyahng) tribes to the west. Some of the objects in her tomb appear to be tributes sent to Anyang from distant places. These include both bronze vessels from the south and knives and mirrors from the Northern Zone (oc- cupied by non-Han peoples, discussed below).

In addition to objects of symbolic value or prac- tical use, the Shang interred human beings, some- times dozens of them, in royal tombs. Why did they do this? From oracle bone texts, it seems that cap- tives not needed as slaves often ended up as sacrifi- cial victims. Other people buried with the king had chosen their fate; that is, his spouses, retainers, or servants could decide to accompany him in death. Those who voluntarily followed their king to the grave generally had their own ornaments and might also have coffins and grave goods such as weapons. Early Shang graves rarely had more than three vic- tims or followers accompanying the main occupant, but the practice grew over time. A late Shang king’s tomb contained the remains of ninety followers plus seventy-four human sacrifices (not to mention the twelve horses and eleven dogs). Archaeologists often can identify sacrificial victims because they were de- capitated or cut in two at the waist.

Human sacrifice was not confined to burials. Div- ination texts refer to ceremonies where from three to four hundred captives were sacrificed. In 1976, twelve hundred victims were found in 191 pits near the royal tombs, apparently representing successive sacrifices of a few dozen victims each. Animals were also frequently offered in sacrifice. Divinations pro- posed the sacrifice of one hundred, two hundred, or three hundred cattle, sheep, pigs, or dogs.

What about those in Shang society who were not buried in well-furnished tombs? The Shang nobility lived in large houses built on platforms of rammed earth. Those lower down on the social scale often lived in homes built partly below ground level, prob- ably as a way to conserve heat.

In the urban centers, substantial numbers of crafts- men worked in stone, bone, bronze, and clay. Their workshops, concentrated in certain sections of the city, were often quite specialized. Some workshops specialized in hairpins, others in arrowheads, and

06475_ch01_rev04.indd 12 9/8/12 3:45 PM

The Shang Dynasty (ca. 1500–1045 b.c.e.) 13

longer than learning to read a phonetic script. Thus, because China retained its logographic writing sys- tem, it takes many years of study for a person to master reading and writing.

Why did China retain a logographic writing sys- tem even after encounters with phonetic systems? Although phonetic systems make learning to read easier, there are costs to abandoning a logographic system. Those who learned to read Chinese could communicate with a wider range of people than those who read scripts based on speech. Because Chinese characters remained recognizable after the passage of many centuries, despite phonological change, educated Chinese could read texts written centuries earlier without needing them to be trans- lated. Moreover, as the Chinese language developed mutually unintelligible regional variants, readers of Chinese could read books and letters by contempo- raries whose oral language they could not compre- hend. Thus, the Chinese script played a large role in holding China together and fostering a sense of con- nection with the past. For the history of East Asia, the Chinese script has a further significance. Korea, Japan, and Vietnam all began writing by adopting the Chinese script.

Metalworking

As in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and India, the develop- ment of more complex forms of social organiza- tion in Shang China coincided with the mastery of metalworking, specifically bronze. Beginning about 2000 b.c.e., people learned to prospect metals, re- move them from their ores, and fashion them into tools or ornaments. The next stage, reached by about 1500 b.c.e., involved large-scale production.

In Shang times, bronze was used more for ritual than for war. Most surviving Shang bronze objects are vessels such as cups, goblets, steamers, and caul- drons, which originally would have been used to hold food and wine offered to the ancestors or gods during sacrificial ceremonies. Both kings and nobles owned bronze vessels, but the kings had many more.

When compared to bronze objects made in other early societies, Chinese bronzes stand out for their quantity, their decoration, and the ways they were manufactured. Shang bronze-making required a large labor force to mine, refine, and transport cop- per, tin, and lead ores and to produce and transport charcoal. To achieve the high degree of precision and standardization evident from surviving bronze

Sumerian, meaning that each word was represented by a single graph (character). In the Chinese case, some of these graphs began as pictures, but other methods were adopted to represent the names of abstract concepts. Sometimes the graph for a dif- ferent word was borrowed because the two words were pronounced alike. As in later times, sometimes two different graphs were combined; for instance, to represent different types of trees, the graph for tree could be combined with the graph for another word that sounded like the name of a kind of tree. More than half of the characters found on oracle bones combine components in these ways.

In western Eurasia, logographic scripts were even- tually modified or replaced by phonetic scripts, but that never happened in China (though, because of changes in the spoken language, many words today are represented by two or three characters rather than a single one). Basic literacy requires knowing the characters for two or three thousand common words, and well-educated people learn a couple of thousand more. Because characters are composed of a few hundred components, this task is not as daunt- ing as it may seem at first, but it still takes much

Th e

G ra

ng er

C ol

le ct

io n

N ew

Y or

Oracle Bone. The thousands of inscribed bones that survive from Shang sites are our best source for early Chinese writing. The questions they record were usually addressed to the king’s ancestors.

06475_ch01_rev04.indd 13 9/8/12 3:46 PM

14 Chapter 1 China in the Bronze Age: The Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties (ca. 1500–771 b.c.e.)

in the sky. More problematic is the most common image, the stylized animal face called the taotie (tow- tyeh). To some it is a monster—a fearsome image that would scare away evil forces. Some hypothesize that it reflects masks used in rituals. Others associ- ate it with animal sacrifices, totemism, or shaman- ism. Still others see these images as hardly more than designs. Scholars’ inability to reach a consensus on something so basic as the meaning of the decoration on Shang bronzes reminds us of the huge gaps in our understanding of Shang culture.

DEVELOPMENTS OuTSIDE THE SHANG CORE The Shang were constantly at war with other groups, tribes, or states, and the area in which the Shang king could safely travel was confined to northern Henan and western Shandong provinces. Key elements of their culture, however, such as their bronze technol- ogy, spread well beyond the area they controlled. In the middle Yangzi region, many bronzes have been found that share Shang technology but differ in de- sign, some even using human faces in place of the tao- tie. Bells are particularly common in the Yangzi re- gion, and at one site they were buried in groups in the side of a mountain. The profusion of objects in some

vessels, there must have been considerable division of labor. Technically skilled artisans were needed to make clay models, construct ceramic piece molds, and assemble and finish each vessel. There also would have had to be managers overseeing the en- tire process. It has been estimated that two to three hundred craftsmen were needed to make the larg- est surviving Shang bronze vessel, which weighs 875 kilograms.

Scholars have not reached a consensus on the meaning of the decoration on Shang bronzes. In the art of ancient Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia, images of domesticated plants and animals match our un- derstanding of the importance of agriculture in those societies, much as depictions of social hierarchy (kings, priests, scribes, and slaves) match our under- standings of their social and political development. Why then did images of wild animals predominate in Shang China? The symbolic meaning of some ani- mals is easy to guess. Cicadas, which spend years underground before emerging, probably evoked re- birth in the realm of ancestral spirits. Birds similarly suggest the idea of messengers who can reach realms

Figure 1.1 Mold for Bronze Casting. Shang bronze vessels were made with ceramic molds. After the molten bronze hardened, the pieces of the mold could be removed. (© Cengage Learning)

Bronze Sacrificial Vessel. This small bronze ewer is shaped like an elephant, with an even smaller baby elephant on the lid. Dating to the eleventh century b.c.e., it reflects the style common in the middle Yangzi region.

Fr ee

r G al

le ry

o f A

rt , S

m ith

so ni

an In

st itu

tio n,

W as

hi ng

to n,

D .C

.: P

ur ch

as e,

F 19

36 .6

06475_ch01_rev04.indd 14 9/8/12 3:46 PM

The Western Zhou Dynasty (1045–771 b.c.e.) 15

there was no sign of human sacrifice. Some scholars speculate that the bronze figures of humans were being used to replace humans in a sacrificial ceremony. The heads most likely were originally attached to wood or clay statues and could have represented gods or an- cestors. Thus, it is also possible that the statues with the bronze heads represented gods and that the local people had for some reason decided that those gods or their representations had to be burned and buried.

Further archaeological exploration has revealed that the pits lay within a large walled city nearly 2 kilometers square. Foundations of fifty or so buildings have been found, most rectangular but some round. Five other pits have been found, but they contained no bronze artifacts, only jade and stone ones. Perhaps because of flooding, the city was abandoned around 1000 b.c.e. No sites for later stages of this culture have been found, and there are no nearby sites from succeeding centu- ries that give evidence of comparable wealth. Perhaps whatever led to the abandonment of Sanxingdui also led to the collapse of the civilization.

The existence of sites like Sanxingdui has forced archaeologists to reconsider the political landscape during the centuries when the Shang ruled at Any- ang. Shang rulers wished to see their own polity as the central one, but because we lack written records from sites of other cultures, there is no reason to as- sume that elites in other places had less self-centered notions of themselves.

THE WESTERN ZHOu DyNASTy (1045–771 b.c.e.) Outside the Shang domains were the domains of allied and rival polities. To the west were the fierce Qiang, who probably spoke an early form of Tibetan. Between the Shang capital and the Qiang was a frontier state called Zhou, which shared most of the material cul- ture of the Shang. In 1045 b.c.e., this state rose against the Shang and defeated it. The first part of the Zhou Dynasty is called the Western Zhou period (1045–771 b.c.e.) because its capital was in the west near modern Xi’an (shee-ahn) in Shaanxi (shahn-shee) province (to distinguish it from the Eastern Zhou, after the capi- tal was moved near modern Luoyang [law-yahng] in Henan [huh-nahn] province); see Map 1.1.

In early written traditions, three Zhou rulers are giv- en credit for the Zhou conquest of the Shang. They are King Wen (wuhn) (wen means “cultured” or “lettered”), who expanded the Zhou domain; his son King Wu

tombs in Jiangxi province shows that the elites of this region were able to amass wealth on a scale similar to that of Shang elites. Their bronze vessels often have tigers on their handles, a style distinctive to the region. Whether this region should be considered a provin- cial version of Shang civilization or a different culture that borrowed extensively from Shang technology is still not certain. Without written documents like the divination texts of Anyang, there is no way to know if Chinese was the language used in this region.

As discussed in Connections: The Prehistory of East Asia, a more independent bronze culture exist- ed north of the Shang core, where people grew millet and raised pigs, sheep, and cattle. Knives, axes, and mirrors are common finds there, but their bronze technology resembles that of Central Asia and Sibe- ria more than that of the Shang core. Their practice of oracle bone divination, however, links them to Shang civilization. These finds could be evidence of the people who brought chariots to the Shang.

Another strong case for a distinct culture can be made for the civilization discovered at Sanxingdui (sahn-shing-dway) in the western province of Sichuan. In 1986 two pits of Shang date were found, packed with objects never found in Shang sites, in- cluding elephant tusks and huge masks, some cov- ered in gold foil (see the table). Both pits were filled in layers, with small objects on the bottom, then the larger ones, then the elephant tusks, then rammed earth. (See Color Plate 1.)

Why were these objects placed in the pits? Many of those in pit 1 had been burned before being depos- ited, and others had been purposely broken. Thus, one possibility is that these objects are the remnants of a huge sacrifice. Unlike major Shang sacrifices, however,

Contents of the Pits at Sanxingdui, ca. 1200 b.c.e.

Pit 1 Pit 2 13 elephant tusks 67 elephant tusks 107 bronze rings 20 bronze masks 13 bronze heads 40 bronze heads 44 bronze dagger-axe blades bronze statue 4 gold items bronze trees 60 stone tools 4,600 cowrie shells 70 stone or jade blades almost 500 small beads or 40 pottery vessels tubes of jade, stone, or ivory burned animal bones burned animal bones

06475_ch01_rev04.indd 15 9/8/12 3:46 PM

16 Chapter 1 China in the Bronze Age: The Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties (ca. 1500–771 b.c.e.)

D O C U M E N T S

Poem 1

“Guan, guan” [cry] the ospreys on the isle in the river. The reclusive, modest girl is a good mate for the noble man.

Long and short is the duckweed To the left and to the right we look for it. The reclusive, modest girl— waking and sleeping he seeks her. He seeks her and does not obtain her. Waking and sleeping he pines and yearns

for her. Oh, anxious! Oh, anxious! He tosses and twists and turns onto

his side.

Long and short is the duckweed. To the left and to the right we gather it. The reclusive, modest girl— among lutes and citherns, he shows her

his friendship.

Long and short is the duckweed. To the left and to the right we pick it. The reclusive, modest girl— as a bell to a drum, he delights in her.

Poem 23

In the field there is a dead roe. With white grass we wrap it. There is a girl who longs for spring. A fine fellow seduces her.

In the forest there is the pusu tree. In the field there is a dead deer. With white grass we bind it. There is a girl like jade.

Oh, undress me slowly. Oh, do not upset my kerchief. Do not make the shaggy dog bark.

Poem 159

The fish in the nine-meshed net are rudd and bream.

The 305 poems preserved in the Book of Songs are the earliest surviving Chinese poetry. They offer glimpses of what life was like at various social levels in the Western Zhou period. Some are sacrificial hymns used in court ceremonies; others praise the rulers. Many began as folksongs. Tradition allowed for the allegorical reading of these poems, so that poems that seem on the surface to be complaints of neglected lovers could be read as the complaints of officials not properly appreciated by their lords. There are also poems with a critical edge, such as the last one below, in which the ancestors are rebuked for not providing aid to their descendants in distress.

The Book of Songs

(wu means “martial”), who conquered the Shang; and Wu’s brother, the duke of Zhou, who consolidated the conquest and served as regent for Wu’s heir.

These rulers and their age are portrayed in the ear- liest transmitted text, the Book of Documents. The speeches, pronouncements, and reports in this book depict the Zhou conquest as the victory of just and no- ble warriors, supported by Heaven, over the decadent Shang court led by an evil king. Bronze inscriptions provide another important source for the early Zhou period. Court scribes would prepare written docu- ments on bamboo or wooden strips to specify appoint- ments to offices or fiefs. Later, during a court ceremony, an official would read the document on behalf of the king. A copy of the document would be handed over

to the grantee, who later had it reproduced in bronze so that it could be passed down in his family.

The early Zhou period did not mark an abrupt break with Shang culture, but some Shang practices declined. Divining by heating oracle bones became less common, as did sacrifices of human victims. In- terring followers in tombs continued, though their numbers gradually declined.

The Mandate of Heaven

Like the Shang kings, the Zhou kings sacrificed to their ancestors, but they also sacrificed to the divine force called Sky or Heaven. The Book of Documents assumes a close relationship between Heaven and the king, who

06475_ch01_rev04.indd 16 9/8/12 3:46 PM

The Western Zhou Dynasty (1045–771 b.c.e.) 17

I see this young man in regal robes and embroidered

skirt.

The wild geese fly along the sandbar. When the Duke goes back, there will be

no place [for us]. I will stay with you one more time.

The wild geese fly along the hill. The Duke is going back and will

not return. I will lodge with you one more time.

Oh, here we had the regal robes. Oh, do not go back with our Duke. Oh, do not make my heart grieve.

Poem 189

A male child is born. He is made to sleep on a bed. He is made to wear a skirt. He is made to play with a scepter. His crying is loud. His red knee-covers are august. He is the hall and household’s

lord and king.

A female child is born. She is made to sleep on the floor. She is made to wear a wrap-cloth. She is made to play with pottery. She has no wrong and right.

Only wine and food are for her to talk about.

May she not send her father and mother any troubles.

Poem 258

The drought has become so severe That it cannot be stopped. Glowing and burning, We have no place. The great mandate is

about at an end, Nothing to look ahead to or back upon. The host of dukes and past rulers Does not help us. As for father and

mother and the ancestors, How can they bear to treat us so?

Questions for Analysis 1. Which of the poems probably began as love

songs? 2. Can you see more than one way to interpret any

of these songs?

Source: Paul Rakita Goldin, The Culture of Sex in Ancient China. Copyright © 2002 by the University of Hawaii Press. Reprinted with permission. Edward L. Shaughnessy, “Western Zhou History,” in M. Loewe and E. Shaughnessy, eds., The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 b.c. Copyright © 1999 by Cambridge University Press. Reprinted with the permission of Cambridge University Press.

was called the “Son of Heaven.” Heaven gives the king a mandate to rule only as long as he rules in the inter- ests of the people. Because the theory of the Mandate of Heaven does not seem to have had any place in Shang cosmology, some scholars think it was elaborated by the early Zhou rulers as propaganda to win over the conquered subjects of the Shang. It promoted the ideal of political unity for “all under Heaven” and legitimat- ed many subsequent changes of dynasty.

The Zhou Political Structure

At the center of the Western Zhou political struc- ture was the Zhou king, who was simultaneously ritual head of the royal lineage and supreme lord

of the nobility. Rather than attempting to rule all their territories directly, the early Zhou rulers sent out relatives and trusted subordinates to establish walled garrisons in the conquered territories, creat- ing a decentralized, quasi-feudal system. The king’s authority was maintained by rituals of ancestor wor- ship and court visits. For instance, in 806 b.c.e., a younger son of King You (yoe) was made a duke and sent east to establish the state of Zheng (juhng) in a swampy area that needed to be drained. This duke and his successors nevertheless spent much of their time at the Zhou court, serving as high ministers.

A Zhou vassal was generally able to pass his posi- tion on to a son, so that in time the domains became hereditary fiefs. By 800 b.c.e., there were about

06475_ch01_rev04.indd 17 9/8/12 3:46 PM

18 Chapter 1 China in the Bronze Age: The Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties (ca. 1500–771 b.c.e.)

Western Zhou Society and Culture

Western Zhou society was highly aristocratic. Inher- ited ranks placed people in a hierarchy ranging from the king, to the rulers of states with titles like duke and marquis, the hereditary great officials of these lords, and the lower ranks of the aristocracy called shi (shih), men who could serve in either military or civil capacities. At the bottom were ordinary sub- jects. Patrilineal family ties were very important throughout this society, and at the upper reaches, at least, sacrifices to ancestors were one of the key ritu- als used to forge social ties.

Land in this system was held on feudal tenures, and the economy was a manorial one. When the Zhou king bestowed land on a relative or subordi- nate, he generally also gave him people to work it. These farmers were treated as serfs, obliged to pro- vide food and labor for the lord, who was expected in turn to look after their welfare.

Glimpses of what life was like at various social levels in the early Zhou period can be found in the Book of Songs (see Documents: The Books of Songs). Many depict the farming life, which involved not

two hundred lords with domains large and small, of which only about twenty-five were large enough to matter much in interstate politics. Each lord ap- pointed officers to serve him in ritual, administra- tive, or military capacities. These posts and their as- sociated titles tended to become hereditary as well. Each domain thus came to have noble families with patrimonies in offices and associated lands.

Some Zhou bronzes record benefactions from the king and mention the services that had earned the king’s favor. One inscription, for instance, recorded the rewards given to Yu (yew) for obeying the king’s com- mand to repel attacks of the Southern Huai barbarians. After his successful return, the king brought Yu into the ancestral temple and conferred on him two bronze ritual vessels, fifty strands of cowrie shells, and one hundred fields as reward for bringing back one hun- dred heads and forty manacled prisoners. The inscrip- tion concludes, “Yu dares in response to extol the Son of Heaven’s beneficence, herewith making this offertory tureen; may Yu for 10,000 years have sons’ sons and grandsons’ grandsons eternally treasure and use it.”

As in Shang times, there continued to be groups viewed as alien living in the same general region as the Zhou states as well as beyond the borders. Vari- ous groups of Yi (“eastern barbarians”), for instance, lived interspersed throughout the east, as did different groups of Rong (“northern barbarians”) in the north and west. These groups spoke distinct languages, though they were not necessarily more primitive than the Zhou people in technology. Over the course of the nearly three centuries of Western Zhou rule, the Zhou kings drew many of these groups into the Zhou po- litical order by recognizing their chiefs as the lords of their domains. To participate in this order, they had to use the Chinese writing system for matters of state.

Ties of loyalty and kinship linking the Zhou vas- sals to the king weakened over time, and in 771 b.c.e. the Zhou king was killed by an alliance of Rong tribesmen and Zhou vassals. Zhou nobles fleeing this attack buried their bronze vessels, expecting to unearth them after they returned. One such hoard, discovered in 1976, contained 103 vessels belonging to Earl Xing of Wei and cast by several generations of his family. Instead of returning, however, the Zhou royal house and nobles moved east to the area of modern Luoyang, just south of the Yellow River in the heart of the central plains. Eastern Zhou never fully regained control over its vassals, and China en- tered a prolonged period without a strong central authority, which will be discussed in Chapter 2.

Chariot Burial. The type of chariot found in this Western Zhou burial pit, with large, many-spoked wheels, spread across Asia around 1100 b.c.e.

In st

itu te

o f A

rc ha

eo lo

gy , B

ei jin

g/ Cu

ltu ra

l R el

ic s

Pr es

06475_ch01_rev04.indd 18 9/8/12 3:46 PM

Summary 19

an aristocratic elite. In addition to archaeological finds, transmitted books enrich our understanding of the early Zhou period. The Book of Songs offers glimpses into what life was like for elites and ordi- nary people alike. The Book of Documents is an ex- cellent source for ideas about Heaven’s connections to the ruler, called the Son of Heaven. If a king did not rule in the interests of the people, Heaven could take away the king’s mandate and confer it on a worthier person (this is referred to as the Mandate of Heaven).

Although the major elements of ancient Chinese civilization originated in China, the civilization was not cut off entirely from advances elsewhere in Eurasia. During the Bronze Age, the domestica- tion of the horse, the use of horse-drawn chariots, and the cultivation of wheat all reached China from further west.

Archaeologists have found settlements outside the core regions of the Shang and Zhou states that used bronze technology. These regional cultures seem to have shared some of the material culture of the royal center, but differences in their religious practices and artistic styles suggest that their cultures were dis- tinct. It is certainly possible that the languages they spoke were different from the language of the center on which written Chinese was based.

How much did China change in the centuries between 1500 and 771 b.c.e.? Differences in tech- nology were pervasive. At the beginning of this pe- riod, China was just beginning to fashion objects of metal; by the end, bronze workers had centuries of experience in casting all sorts of objects, and bronze was used not only for ritual vessels but also for hel- mets, swords, knives, axes, and other tools. Horses had been domesticated and trained to pull chariots. Writing had become a central feature in the life of the political elite, and a substantial body of litera- ture was in circulation. Some elements of culture and organization had already undergone major transfor- mations. Divination by oracle bones had largely dis- appeared, as had the practice of making offerings of human victims, except at the burial of rulers, where it continued somewhat sporadically. Previously alien groups were incorporated into the Zhou political order, and more and more of them participated in the culture associated with the Chinese written lan- guage. Thus, in all likelihood there were more people we can call Chinese by the end of this period.

merely cultivating crops like millet, hemp (for cloth), beans, and vegetables, but also hunting small animals and collecting grasses and rushes to make rope and baskets. The seasons set the pace for rural life, and poems contain many references to seasonal changes such as the appearance of grasshoppers and crickets.

SuMMARy Chinese civilization emerged in the north China plain where the fertile loess soil was well suited to growing wheat and millet. This heartland of Chinese civiliza- tion was far from the centers of other early Eurasian civilizations. Consequently, most of the key elements of Chinese civilization originated in China and were not spread from elsewhere.

Archaeologists, paleographers, and historians have contributed to our understanding of China in the Bronze Age (ca. 1500–771 b.c.e.). The Shang Dynasty developed a complex state with writing, metalworking, and large settlements. Paleographers have deciphered more than two thousand words used on inscribed oracle bones found at the Shang capital, Anyang. These texts confirm the sequence of Shang rulers that had been listed in early texts. The oracle bone texts tell us much about Shang religious practice. The huge tombs of rulers and the human sacrifices and bronze vessels placed in them offer other important evidence of Shang society. Shang kings served as priests who made offerings to the god Di. They ruled over large settlements that con- tained palaces, temples, and altars built on rammed- earth foundations. These settlements were ringed by industrial areas where artisans and craftsmen lived. The invention of writing helped the Shang extend its political control—writing facilitates sending orders and keeping records. War booty, including slaves who were often sacrificed to the gods, provided the king with revenue. Large armies were routinely sent out on military campaigns. Their bronze-tipped weapons and chariots gave them technological supe- riority over their neighbors.

In 1045 b.c.e. the Shang Dynasty was overthrown by a state on its western border, the state of Zhou. Rather than try to rule the entire territory they ac- quired, the early Zhou kings parceled out territory to relatives and allies. This was the first stage in the creation of hereditary domains whose lords formed

06475_ch01_rev04.indd 19 9/8/12 3:46 PM

C H A P T E R T w o

Philosophers and Warring States During the Eastern Zhou Period (770–256 b.c.e.)

The Multistate System of the Eastern Zhou

Biography: Guan Zhong

warfare and Its Consequences

Documents: The King of Zhao Convinces His Uncle to wear Barbarian Dress

The Hundred Schools of Thought

Material Culture: Lacquer

warring States Literature and Art: The Case of Chu

The foundations of Chinese thought were established in the five cen-turies that followed the transfer of the Zhou court to Luoyang in 770 b.c.e. During this period, the old Zhou fiefs came to function more and more like independent states linked to one another in a multistate system. Gradually, warfare between the states intensified, and social, po- litical, and cultural change also quickened. By the third century b.c.e., only seven important states remained. Over the course of these centuries, hereditary ranks meant less and less, and rulers made more use of the shi (shih), the lower ranks of the old aristocratic order. As the shi competed to offer advice to rulers, they advanced the art of argument and set in mo- tion a tremendous intellectual flowering. China entered one of its most creative periods, when the ideas underlying the Confucian, Daoist, and Legalist traditions were developed.

Historians of ideas, warfare, and social and political change have all found the Eastern Zhou a fascinating period to study. Archaeological evi- dence remains fundamental to expanding our understanding of this period and has been particularly valuable for showing the richness of the culture of the south, the region of the state of Chu (choo). Few of the philosophi- cal texts of this period were written by a single known author, so scholars have devoted much of their energy to distinguishing the earlier and later layers of texts. Knowing the importance of the strong, centralized state in later periods of Chinese history, historians have also drawn attention to the advances in statecraft of this period and the connections between the ideas articulated in the period and the social and political situation. Would comparable ideas have emerged if China had not been politically divided? How significant was the emergence of the shi to the intellectual history of this period? Is it more than coincidental that China’s first intel- lectual flowering occurred in roughly the same centuries as that of ancient India, Greece, Persia, and Israel?

06475_ch02_rev02.indd 20 9/8/12 3:49 PM

The Multistate System of the Eastern Zhou 21

scheming for favor among the various sons and their mothers and the common perception that women were incapable of taking a disinterested view of the larger good. Sons who felt unfairly excluded often journeyed to other states in search of allies. Because rulers regularly took their wives from the ruling families of other states, a contender could try the state that his mother or grandmother had come from or the states his sisters or aunts had married into. The rulers of these states were often happy to see someone indebted to them on the throne of a neighboring state and would lend armies to help oust rivals.

There were, of course, other reasons for warfare. States tried to maintain a balance of power and prevent any one state from becoming too strong. States on the periphery had the advantage because they could expand outward. Thus, the four states to gain the most over the course of the Spring and Au- tumn period were Qin (chin) in the west, Jin in the north, Qi (chee) in the east, and Chu (choo) in the south. As Chu expanded from its base in the south, Qi organized other states to resist it. Sometimes the states in the middle, weary of being caught in the fighting between the larger powers, organized peace conferences.

THE MULTISTATE SySTEM of THE EASTERn ZHoU The Eastern Zhou Dynasty is conventionally di- vided into two periods named after books that re- corded events of the time: the Spring and Autumn period, to 479 b.c.e., and the Warring States period after it. The history of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty is better documented than the history of the West- ern Zhou because of advances in the art of politi- cal narrative. For the Spring and Autumn period, the most important chronicle is the Zuo zhuan (dzaw jwan), a narrative covering the years 722 to 463 b.c.e., traditionally treated as a commentary to the much briefer Spring and Autumn Annals. For the Warring States period, The Intrigues of the Warring States presents lengthy narratives, ar- ranged by state rather than chronologically. A third work, the Discourses of the States, also arranged by state, concentrates on speeches and covers both periods. The authorship and dating of all three of these works are uncertain, but at a minimum they contain Zhou material.

Although the Zhou kings were still considered the supreme monarchs, they no longer had the military might to force obedience. Sometimes supposed vas- sals would even attack the Zhou king. During this period, the ruler of one state would sometimes be recognized as the hegemon, the leader of the alliance of Zhou states (see Biography: Guan Zhong [gwan jung]). These hegemons periodically called meetings of the allied states where rulers or leading ministers would swear to uphold the Zhou feudal structure. At a meeting in 657 b.c.e., the states swore not to dam irrigation waters, withhold sales of grain, re- place heirs apparent, promote concubines to wives, or let women interfere in state affairs. The principal states of the early Warring States period are shown on Map 2.1.

Succession disputes were a common pretext for war between states. A ruler typically had concu- bines in addition to a wife and thus would have children by several women. In theory, succession went to the eldest son of the wife, then younger sons by her, and, only in their absence, sons of concubines. In actual practice, however, the ruler of a state or head of a powerful ministerial fam- ily could select a son of a concubine to be his heir if he wished. During his lifetime, this led to much

Yellow Sea

Yellow

Ye llo

Wei

Ya ng

CHU

QIN

ZHOU

JIN

YAN

YUE

SONG

0 300 Mi.150

0 300 Km.150

Principal Zhou states

Modern coastlines

Map 2.1 Zhou States in the Sixth Century b.c.e.

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch02_rev02.indd 21 9/8/12 3:49 PM

22 Chapter 2 Philosophers and Warring States During the Eastern Zhou Period (770–256 b.c.e.)

Guan ZhongB I O G R A P H Y By the time of Confucius the success of states was often credited more to the lord’s astute advisers than to the lords themselves. To Confucius, the most praiseworthy political adviser was Guan Zhong (ca. 720–645 b.c.e.), the genius behind the rise of the state of Qi in eastern China.

The earliest historical sources that re- count Guan Zhong’s accomplishments are the commentaries compiled in the

warring States period to elaborate on the dry chron- icle known as the Spring and Autumn Annals. The Zuo zhuan, for instance, tells us that in 660 b.c.e., Guan Zhong advised Duke Huan (hwan) to aid the small state of Xing (shing), then under attack by the non-Chinese Rong (rung) tribes: “The Rong and the Di are wolves who cannot be satiated. The Xia [Chinese] states are kin who should not be aban- doned.” In 652, it tells us, Guan Zhong urged the duke to maintain the respect of the other states by refusing the request for an alliance by a ruler’s son who wished to depose his father. Because the duke regularly listened to Guan Zhong’s sound advice, Qi brought the other states under its sway, and the duke came to be recognized as the first hegemon, or leader of the alliance of states.

Guan Zhong was also credited with strengthening the duke’s internal administration. He encouraged the employment of officials on the basis of their moral character and ability rather than their birth. He introduced a system of drafting commoners for military service. In the history of China written by Sima Qian (se-ma chyen) in about 100 b.c.e., Guan Zhong is also given credit for enriching Qi by pro- moting trade, issuing coins, and standardizing mer- chants’ scales. He was credited with the statement that “when the granaries are full, the people will understand ritual and moderation. when they have

enough food and clothing, they will understand honor and disgrace.”

Sima Qian’s biography of Guan Zhong empha- sized his early poverty and the key role played by a friend, Bao Shuya, who recognized his worth. As young men, both Bao and Guan Zhong served broth- ers of the duke of Qi. when this duke was killed and a messy succession struggle followed, Bao’s patron won out and became the next duke, while Guan Zhong’s patron had to flee and in the end was killed. Bao, however, recommended Guan Zhong to the new duke, Duke Huan, and Guan Zhong took up a post under him.

In the Analects, one of Confucius’s disciples thought this lack of loyalty to his first lord made Guan Zhong a man unworthy of respect: “when Duke Huan killed his brother Jiu (jyou), Guan Zhong was unable to die with Jiu but rather became chancellor to Duke Huan.” Confucius disagreed: “Guan Zhong became chancellor to Duke Huan and made him hegemon among the lords, uniting and reforming all under heaven. The people, down to the present, continued to receive benefits from this. were it not for Guan Zhong our hair would hang unbound and we would fold our robes on the left [that is, live as barbarians]” (Analects 14.18).

A book of the teachings associated with Guan Zhong, the Guanzi, was in circulation by the late warring States period. Although today it is not thought to reflect the teachings of the historical Guan Zhong, the fact that later statecraft thinkers would borrow his name is an indication of his fame as a great statesman.

Questions for Analysis 1. How did Guan Zhong help the rulers whom he served? 2. What did Confucius see as Guan Zhong’s most important

accomplishment?

Another common reason for the hegemon to bring troops to the aid of a state was to help it fend off at- tack by various forces from beyond the Zhou world. But those labeled with the non-Chinese ethnic terms Di, Rong, or Yi were not always in a position of enmity to the Chinese states. For instance, Jin often enlisted Rong or Di polities to join it in fighting Qin. Moreover, some Rong and Di leaders were versed

in Chinese literature. There was also intermarriage between the ruling class of Zhou states and the Rong and Di elites. Duke Wen of Jin’s mother was a Rong, his wife a Di. The only written language in this world, however, was Chinese, which worked toward making Chinese the common language. In the south, the states of Wu and Yue emerged from outside the Zhou sphere but adopted Zhou cultural

06475_ch02_rev02.indd 22 9/8/12 3:49 PM

Warfare and Its Consequences 23

the duke of the small state of Song felt compelled to fight a much stronger state. Because his forces were greatly outnumbered, his minister of war urged him to attack the enemy while the enemy’s forces were fording a river, but the duke refused. The Zuo zhuan reports that he explained his behavior this way: “The gentleman does not inflict a second wound, nor does he capture those with gray hair. On campaigns the ancients did not obstruct those in a narrow pass. Even though I am but the remnant of a destroyed state, I will not drum an attack when the other side has not yet drawn up its ranks.”* When combat was hedged with these ceremonial restrictions, war was less deadly—a wound ended the victim’s combat sta- tus but not necessarily his life.

By the Warring States period, such niceties were being abandoned as advances in military technology changed the nature of warfare. Large, well-drilled infan- try armies were becoming a potent military force, able to withstand and defeat chariot-led forces. By the late Warring States period, military obligations were nearly universal for men. By 300 b.c.e., states were sending out armies of a couple hundred thousand drafted foot soldiers, usually accompanied by horsemen. Qin’s cam- paign against Zhao (jow) in 260 b.c.e. mobilized all men over age fifteen. Conscripts with a year or two of training would not have the martial skills of aristocratic warriors who trained for years and tested their skills in hunts. But infantry armies won out through standard- ization, organization, discipline, and sheer size.

Adding to the effectiveness of armies of drafted foot soldiers was the crossbow, invented in the southern state of Chu. The trigger of a crossbow is an intri- cate bronze mechanism that allowed a foot soldier to shoot farther than a horseman carrying a light bow. One text of the period claimed that a skilled soldier with a powerful crossbow and a sharp sword was the match for a hundred ordinary men. To defend against crossbows, soldiers began wearing armor and helmets. Most of the armor was made of leather strips tied with cords. Helmets were sometimes made of iron.

Although most soldiers were drafted peasants, it became common to select and train elite corps of crack troops. The elite troops in the state of Wei had to wear heavy armor and helmets, shoulder a crossbow and fifty arrows, strap a spear to their backs and a sword by their waists, carry three days’ supply of food, and march about 50 kilometers in a

*Duke Xi, 22nd year. Translations cited by the traditional sections are by the author.

patterns; Yue, in fact, claimed to be descended from the Xia Dynasty, making it more ancient than the Zhou Dynasty.

Archaeological evidence confirms steady cultural exchange between Zhou and non-Zhou elements during this period. The rulers of the state of Zhong- shan in the northeast were recognized as descended from White Di, who had been driven by other tribes from Shaanxi into Hebei in the sixth century. With help from the state of Wei, they established their own city there. Although Zhongshan was a very mi- nor state, its rulers decided to call themselves kings when other states’ rulers did. The tomb of King Cuo (tsaw) of Zhongshan (jung-shahn), who died around 308 b.c.e., included inscribed bronzes that record historical events in typically Confucian language, full of stock phrases from the classics.

Rulers continued to be buried with followers dur- ing this period. Duke Mu (moo) of Qin had 177 people accompany him in death after he died in 621 b.c.e., and nearly a century later, in 537 b.c.e., Duke Jin was buried with 166 people. By this pe- riod, there were people who disapproved of the practice. In the state of Qin, the practice was out- lawed in 383 b.c.e. Moreover, the sacrificing of war captives in ceremonies unrelated to burials no lon- ger seems to have been practiced. Remnants of this practice could still be seen in the use of the blood of captives to consecrate newly cast war drums and the ritual of presenting captives at the ancestral temple or other altar.

wARfARE AnD ITS ConSEQUEnCES The purpose and conduct of war changed dramati- cally in the Eastern Zhou period. In the Spring and Autumn period, a large army would have up to ten thousand soldiers, the chariot remained central to warfare, and states were ranked by how many hun- dreds of chariots they could deploy. A code of chiv- alrous conduct regulated warfare between the states. The two sides would agree on the time and place for a battle, and each would perform divination and sacrifices before initiating hostilities. One state would not attack another while it was in mourning for its ruler. Ruling houses were not wiped out so a successor could continue to sacrifice to their an- cestors. Battle narratives in the Zuo zhuan give the impression that commanders cared as much about proving their honor as about winning. In 638 b.c.e.,

06475_ch02_rev02.indd 23 9/8/12 3:49 PM

24 Chapter 2 Philosophers and Warring States During the Eastern Zhou Period (770–256 b.c.e.)

and on a much larger scale than ever before. Where- as Spring and Autumn period campaigns had lasted no longer than a season and battles no longer than a day or two, some campaigns in the Warring States period lasted for years, with separate armies operat- ing independently on several fronts. Qin’s defeat of Zhao in 260 b.c.e. came after a campaign that lasted three years and involved hundreds of thousands of soldiers on each side deadlocked across a front that stretched more than a hundred miles.

Because these developments in the art of war made commoners and craftsmen crucial, rulers of the war- ring states tried to find ways to increase their popula- tions. To increase agricultural output, they brought new land into cultivation, drained marshes, and dug irrigation channels. By the sixth century b.c.e., some rulers were surveying their land and beginning to try to levy taxes on farmers. They wanted to undermine the power of lords over their serfs in order to get direct access to peasants’ labor power. Serfdom thus gradually declined. Registering populations led to the extension of family names to commoners at an earlier date than anywhere else in the world.

The development of iron technology in the Zhou period also promoted economic expansion. Iron was cast from the beginning, unlike in the West, where iron was wrought long before it was cast. By the fifth century b.c.e., iron was being widely used for both farm tools and weapons. By the third century b.c.e., the largest smelters employed two hundred or more workmen.

The economic growth of the late Zhou period is ev- ident in the appearance of cities all over north China. In addition to the thick earthen walls built around the palaces and ancestral temples of the ruler and other aristocrats, outer walls were added to protect the ar- tisans, merchants, and farmers living in the surround- ing area. Another sign of economic growth was the emergence of a new powerful group in society: rich people who had acquired their wealth through trade or industry rather than inheritance or political favor. Late Zhou texts frequently mention cross-regional trade in objects such as furs, copper, dyes, hemp, salt, and horses. To promote trade, rulers began casting coins, at first in the shape of miniature spades.

In the fourth century b.c.e., rulers of states started calling themselves kings, a step that amounted to an- nouncing their intent to conquer all the other states. Rulers strengthened their control by dispatching their own officials rather than delegating authority to hereditary lesser lords. Rulers controlled these

single day. Those meeting this standard earned their household exemption from all taxes and labor ser- vice obligations.

The development of infantry armies created the need for a new type of general because rulers became less willing to let men lead troops merely because of aristocratic birth. Treatises on the art of war described the ideal general as a master of maneuver, illusion, and deception, ruthless in searching for the advantage that would lead to victory. He also had to be an organizer, able to integrate the efforts of the units under him.

Because cities were walled, attacks on them result- ed in prolonged sieges, and generals were eager to try new ways to attack and defend walls. Portable ladders were brought to scale the walls. When attackers dug tunnels under the walls, defenders would use large bellows of the sort common in smelting iron to pump smoke into the tunnels and suffocate the attackers.

City walls were not the only defensive structure important to warfare of the period. States began building chains of watch stations and forts, often connecting them with long defensive walls. Perma- nent garrisons were left at strategic points to prevent the passage of armies. Barriers also allowed states to check those who entered or left their territories and to collect transit taxes from merchants.

The introduction of cavalry struck another blow at the chariot-riding aristocracy. Shooting bows and arrows from horseback was first perfected by non- Chinese peoples to the north of China proper, who at that time were making the transition to a nomadic pastoral economy. As the northern states expanded northward, absorbing non-Chinese communities of mixed shepherds and farmers, they came into di- rect contact with the horse riders of the steppe. In 307 b.c.e., the king of the northern state of Jin ordered his troops to adopt the nomads’ trousers and practice mounted archery (see Documents: The King of Zhao Convinces His Uncle to Wear Barbarian Dress). Soon Zhao was using cavalry against other Chinese states, which then had to master the new technology to de- fend themselves. Larger infantry armies of one hun- dred thousand or two hundred thousand men would be supported by a few hundred mounted warriors. Cavalry were considered especially valuable for re- connaissance, pursuing fleeing soldiers, cutting supply lines, and pillaging the countryside. From this time on, acquiring and pasturing horses was a key component of Chinese military preparedness (see Color Plate 2).

As a result of all these developments in the art of war, conflicts came to be waged with greater intensity

06475_ch02_rev02.indd 24 9/8/12 3:49 PM

Warfare and Its Consequences 25

D O C U M E N T S

[The uncle] Gongzi Cheng bowed twice: “I had, of course, heard of the king’s Hu cloth- ing but having been ill abed I had not yet gone to him to present my opinions. Since the king now sends me these orders, I must now make my clumsy gesture of loyalty.

“I have heard the Middle Kingdoms de- scribed as the home of all wisdom and learn- ing, the place where all things needful of life are found, where saints and sages taught, where humanity and justice prevail, where the Book of Poetry and Book of Documents and Canons of Ritual and Music are used; a coun- try where extraordinary skills and uncommon intelligence are given hearing, a land looked up to from afar, and a model of behavior for the barbarian. But now the king would discard all this and wear the habit of foreign regions. Let him think carefully, for he is changing the teachings of our ancients, turning from the ways of former times, going counter to the desires of his people, offending scholars, and ceasing to be part of the Middle Kingdoms.”

when [the messenger] wangsun Xie (wahngsun shyeh) had reported, the king said merely, “I knew, of course, that he had been ill.” Then, going in person to the home of Gongzi Cheng, the king urged his support: “Clothes exist to be useful and manners re- spond to conditions. Therefore the sage was guided by what was right and proper for each locality and encouraged behavior related to its conditions: always they sought to profit the people and strengthen their states,” said the king. “To crop the hair, decorate the body, rub pigment into arms and fasten gar- ments on the left side are the ways of the Ba

and yue [southern barbarians]. In the country of Daiwu the habit is to blacken teeth, scar cheeks, and wear caps of sheepskin stitched crudely with an awl. Their costumes and customs differ but each derives benefit from his own. . . .

“from Changshan to Dai and Shangdang, we border yan and the Eastern Hu in the east, and Loufan, Qin, and Han in the west. Along this line we have not a single mounted archer. . . . I change our garments and mount archers to guard our borders with yan, the Eastern Hu, Loufan, Qin, and Han. . . . with my men dressed as mounted archers I can today prepare for Shangdang nearby and exact vengeance upon Zhongshan at a distance.”

Gongzi Cheng made deepest obeisance twice: “Such has been my stupidity that I had not even conceived of these arguments, your majesty. I had instead the temerity to mouth platitudes. But now that I too wish to carry out the hopes of Kings Jian and Xiang, the ambitions of our ancestral rulers, what choice have I but to make obeisance and obey your order?”

He was given the Hu garments.

Questions for Analysis 1. What meaning do garments carry in this passage? 2. How does the king convince his uncle to wear the

new clothes?

Source: J. I. Crump, trans., Chan-kuo Ts’e, rev. ed. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies, 1996), pp. 288–292, modified.

The Intrigues of the Warring States is a collection of late Zhou historical anecdotes and fables about the political ploys adopted by the various competing states. The book, full of speeches by kings and court advisers, has been appreciated as a work of literature, even by those who were dismayed by its morality. In this passage, the king of Zhao has decided to adopt the trousers of the northern nomads, the Hu (hoo; also called Xiongnu [shyung-noo]), but he worried that others would make fun of him. He sent a messenger to ask his uncle, Gongzi Cheng (gung-dse chuhng), to join him in changing his dress. We begin here with the uncle’s response.

The King of Zhao Convinces His Uncle to wear Barbarian Dress

06475_ch02_rev02.indd 25 9/8/12 3:49 PM

26 Chapter 2 Philosophers and Warring States During the Eastern Zhou Period (770–256 b.c.e.)

As a young man, Confucius served in the court of his home state of Lu (Loo) without gaining much influence. After leaving Lu, he wandered through neighboring states with a small group of students, searching for a ruler who would follow his advice.

Confucius’s ideas are known to us primarily through the sayings recorded by his disciples in the Analects. The thrust of his thought was ethical rath- er than theoretical or metaphysical. He talked re- peatedly of an ideal age in the early Zhou, which he conceived of as a perfect society in which all people devoted themselves to fulfilling their roles: superi- ors looked after those dependent on them, inferiors devoted themselves to the service of their superiors, and parents and children, husbands and wives all wholeheartedly did what was expected of them.

Confucius saw much of value in family ties. He extolled filial piety, which to him encompassed rev- erent obedience of children toward their parents and performance of the expected rituals, such as mourn- ing them when they died and making sacrifices to them afterward. If one’s parents were about to make a major mistake, the filial child should try to dis- suade them as tactfully as possible but should try not to anger them. The relationship between father and son was one of the five cardinal relations stressed by Confucius. The others were between ruler and sub- ject, between husband and wife, between elder and younger brother, and between friends. Mutual obli- gations of a hierarchal sort underlay the first four of these relationships: the senior leads and protects, the junior supports and obeys. The exception was the relationship between friends, which was conceived in terms of mutual obligations between equals.

Confucius urged his followers to aspire to become true gentlemen (junzi [jewn-dze], literally “son of a lord”), a term that he redefined to mean men of moral cultivation rather than men of noble birth. He

officials from a distance through the transmission of documents and could dismiss them if they proved unsatisfactory. For the shi (lower-level aristocrats), serving a ruler in this way offered new opportuni- ties for advancement. There were plenty of shi eager for these opportunities because every time a state was destroyed, its old nobility sunk in status to shi. Although many shi did not have military skills by this period, they retained knightly values such as a sense of honor and an ideal of loyal service.

THE HUnDRED SCHooLS of THoUGHT The late Zhou was a period when all sorts of ideas were proposed, debated, written down, and put to use, leading Chinese to refer to it as a period “when a hundred schools of thought bloomed.” The politi- cal rivalry and constant warfare of the period helped rather than hindered intellectual creativity. Rulers turned to men of ideas for both solutions to the dis- order around them and the prestige of attracting to their court wise and able men from across the land. Political strategists would travel from state to state, urging rulers to form alliances. Lively debate often resulted as strategists proposed policies and chal- lengers critiqued them. Successful men of ideas at- tracted followers who took to recording their teach- ers’ ideas on rolls of silk and tied together strips of wood or bamboo that functioned as books.

Historians of later periods, beginning with Sima Qian in about 100 b.c.e., grouped these thinkers into schools, using labels that have survived until to- day, such as Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism, which may give the mistaken impression that people of the time thought in those terms. Even the books we have today are not identical to the books that first circulated; the works of an author were added to, subtracted from, and rearranged after his death, usually by his followers. Scholars today try to dis- tinguish the different layers of texts to analyze the development of ideas and emphasize the extensive interchange of ideas among diverse teachers and thinkers.

Confucius and the Analects

Confucius (whom early historians dated to 551–479 b.c.e.) was the first and most important of the men of ideas seeking to influence the rulers of the day.

Confucian Virtues ren humanity, benevolence xiao filial piety yi integrity, righteousness zhong loyalty, constancy xin honesty jing reverence, respect li propriety, ritual decorum

06475_ch02_rev02.indd 26 9/8/12 3:49 PM

The Hundred Schools of Thought 27

The Master said, “I once spent a whole day without eating and a whole night without sleeping in order to think. It was of no use. It is better to study.” (15.30)

Confucius talked mostly about the social and po- litical realms rather than the world of gods, ghosts, or ancestral spirits. Moreover, although he is por- trayed as deeply committed to ritual, he was said to have performed sacrifices as though the spirits were present, leaving open the possibility that he was not convinced that ancestors or other spirits were actu- ally aided by the offerings people made to them.

Mozi

Not long after Confucius died, his ideas were chal- lenged by Mozi (Maw-dze, ca. 480–390 b.c.e.), a man who came not from the aristocracy but from among the master craftsmen. He was, however, well read and, like Confucius, quoted from the Book of Documents and the Book of Poetry. Unlike Confu- cius, however, he did not talk of the distinction be- tween gentlemen and vulgar “petty men” but rather of “concern for everyone,” sometimes translated as “universal love.” He put forward the idea that conflict could be eliminated if everyone gave other people’s families and other people’s states the same concern he gave his own. Mozi contended that all people recognize the validity of this idea because if they have to leave their family in someone else’s care, they choose someone who accepts this ideal. To counter the argument that impartiality is not easy to achieve, Mozi said the sage kings of old had practiced it, proving its feasibility. Mozi also argued strongly for the merit principle, asserting that rul- ers should choose their advisers on the basis of their ability, not their birth.

The book ascribed to Mozi (called Mozi) proposes that every idea be evaluated on the basis of its utility: does it benefit the people and the state? Using this standard, Mozi rejected many of the rituals empha- sized by Confucius’s followers, especially mourning parents for three years, which Mozi noted interrupts work, injures health, and thus impoverishes the peo- ple and weakens the state. Music, too, Mozi saw as a wasteful extravagance of no utility.

Mozi made a similar case against aggressive war, seeing no glory in expansion for its own sake. He pointed to the huge losses in weapons, horses, and human lives it causes. The capture of a city, he ar- gued, is not worth the loss of thousands of men. But Mozi was for strong government and obedience

contrasted gentlemen of integrity with petty men seek- ing personal gain. The gentleman, he said, “feels bad when his capabilities fall short of the task. He does not feel bad when people fail to recognize him” (15.18).

The Confucian gentleman should advise his ruler on the best way to govern. Much of the Analects consequently concerns how to govern well:

The Master said, “Lead the people by means of gov- ernment policies and regulate them through punish- ments, and they will be evasive and have no sense of shame. Lead them by means of virtue and regulate them through rituals and they will have a sense of shame and moreover have standards.” (2.3)

To Confucius, the ultimate virtue was ren (run), a term that has been translated as humanity, perfect goodness, benevolence, human-heartedness, and no- bility. A person of humanity cares about others and acts accordingly:

Zhonggong asked about humanity. The Master said, “When you go out, treat everyone as if you were welcoming a great guest. Employ people as though you were conducting a great sacrifice. Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you. Then neither in your country nor in your family will there be complaints against you.” (12.2)

Treating people as though they were guests and employing them as though participating in a great sacrifice were other ways of saying they should be treated according to li (lee; ritual, manners, propri- ety, good form). In other passages as well, Confucius stressed the importance of disciplining one’s behav- ior through adherence to ritual: “Respect without ritual is tiresome; caution without ritual is timidity; boldness without ritual is insubordination; straight- forwardness without ritual is rudeness” (8.2). But ritual must not be empty form: “Ritual performed without reverence and mourning performed without grief are things I cannot bear” (3.26).

In the Confucian tradition, studying texts came to be valued over speculation, meditation, and mystical identification with deities. Confucius encouraged the men who came to study with him to master the po- etry, rituals, and historical traditions that we know today as the Confucian classics. Many passages in the Analects reveal Confucius’s confidence in the power of study:

The Master said, “I am not someone who was born wise. I am someone who loves the ancients and tries to learn from them.” (7.19)

06475_ch02_rev02.indd 27 9/8/12 3:49 PM

28 Chapter 2 Philosophers and Warring States During the Eastern Zhou Period (770–256 b.c.e.)

bears his name, which Mencius may have writ- ten in large part himself. Mencius came from the small and unimportant state of Zou (dzoe), next to Confucius’s home state of Lu. He was born too late to have studied with Confucius himself, but he quotes Confucius approvingly and was said to have studied Confucian teachings with a student of Confucius’s grandson.

The first two of the seven parts of the Mencius record conversations that took place from 320 to 314 b.c.e. between Mencius and a king of Qi and two successive kings of Wei. The opening passage in the Mencius records one such encounter:

Mencius had an audience with King Hui (hway) of Liang [Wei]. The king said, “Sir, you did not con- sider a thousand li too far to come. You must have some ideas about how to benefit my state.”

Mencius replied, “Why must Your Majesty use the word ‘benefit’? All I am concerned with are the be- nevolent and the right. If Your Majesty says, ‘How can I benefit my state?’ your officials will say, ‘How can I benefit my family,’ and officers and common people will say, ‘How can I benefit myself.’ Once superiors and inferiors are competing for benefit, the state will be in danger.” (1A.1)

Like Confucius, Mencius traveled around offering advice to rulers of various states. He tried repeat- edly to convert them to the view that the ruler able to win over the people through benevolent govern- ment would succeed in unifying “all under Heaven.” Mencius proposed concrete political and financial measures for easing tax burdens and otherwise

toward superiors. He argued that disorder could be eliminated if everyone conformed his beliefs to those of his superior, the king conforming to Heaven.

Mozi had many followers over the next couple of centuries, and they organized themselves into tight groups. Because they saw offensive warfare as evil, these Mohists, as they are called, considered it their duty to come to the aid of cities under attack. They became experts in defending against sieges, teach- ing, for instance, that each soldier on the city walls should be held responsible for the two soldiers on his immediate left and right, a form of group responsi- bility later picked up by the Legalists.

After a few centuries, however, Mozi’s school de- clined and eventually lost its distinct identity. Cer- tain ideas, such as support for the merit principle and criticism of extravagance, were absorbed into Confucian thought in later centuries. Mencius, who lived a century after Mozi, borrowed his arguments against military aggression and, like him, would of- ten try to persuade rulers that they had not correctly identified where their advantage lay. Confucians, however, never accepted Mohist ideas about treat- ing everyone equally, which they saw as unnatural, or of applying rigidly utilitarian tests to ritual and music, whose value they saw in very different terms.

Mencius

Among the followers of Confucius eager to defend his teachings against Mozi’s attacks, Mencius stands out. We know of Mencius (or Mengzi, muhng-dze, ca. 370–ca. 300 b.c.e.) largely from the book that

Bells of the Marquis of Yi. The tomb of a minor ruler who died in 433 b.c.e. contained 124 musical instruments, including drums, flutes, mouth organs, pan pipes, zithers, a set of 32 chime stones, and this 64-piece bell set. Five men using poles and mallets, and standing on either side of the set of bells, would have played the bells by hitting them from outside.

Cu ltu

ra l R

el ic

s Pr

es s

06475_ch02_rev02.indd 28 9/8/12 3:49 PM

The Hundred Schools of Thought 29

Xunzi

The Xunzi was written in large part by Xunzi (shyewn-dze, ca. 310–ca. 215 b.c.e.), who lived a half-century after Mencius and was Mencius’s rival as an interpreter of Confucius’s legacy. Xunzi explicitly opposed Mencius’s view of human nature, arguing that people are born selfish and that it is only through education and ritual that they learn to put moral prin- ciple above their own interest. Much of what is desir- able is not inborn, he said, but must be taught:

When a son yields to his father, or a younger brother yields to his elder brother, or when a son takes on the work for his father or a younger brother for his elder brother, their actions go against their natures and run counter to their feelings. And yet these are the way of the filial son and the principles of ritual and morality. (13)

Neither Confucius nor Mencius had much actual political or administrative experience. By contrast, Xunzi worked for many years in the governments of several of the states. Not surprisingly, he showed more consideration than either Confucius or Men- cius for the difficulties a ruler might face in trying to rule through ritual and virtue. He strongly sup- ported the view, earlier articulated by Mozi, that the worthy should be promoted even if they were descendants of commoners. In response to a ques- tion on how to govern, Xunzi said the ruler should promote the worthy and capable, dismiss the incom- petent, and punish the evil without bothering to try to reform them. Xunzi, like Mencius, supported the basic message of the Mandate of Heaven: “The ruler is the boat, the common people are the water. It is the water that bears up the boat but also the water that capsizes it” (9).

Xunzi was a more rigorous thinker than his prede- cessors and developed the philosophical foundations of many ideas that Confucius or Mencius had merely outlined. Confucius, for instance, had declined to discuss gods, portents, and anomalies and had spo- ken of sacrificing as if the spirits were present. Xunzi went further and explicitly argued that Heaven does not intervene in human affairs. Praying to Heaven or to gods, he asserted, does not induce them to act. “Why does it rain after a prayer for rain? In my opinion, for no reason. It is the same as raining when you had not prayed” (17).

Although he did not think praying could bring rain or other benefits from Heaven, Xunzi did not

improving the people’s lot. He also tried to get rulers to give up seeking military victories. To seek military domination will backfire, he argued, for it will turn the world against you, whereas those who are be- nevolent will have no enemies.

Men willing to serve an unworthy ruler earned Mencius’s contempt, especially when they worked hard to fill his coffers or expand his territory. He pointed out that Confucius broke off his relationship with his disciple Ran Qiu when Ran Qiu doubled the tax collection but did not do anything to reform the ruler’s character.

Although the bulk of the Mencius concerns issues of governing, Mencius also discussed moral philoso- phy. He argued strongly, for instance, that human nature was fundamentally good because everyone is born with the capacity to recognize what is right. He gave the example of the person who automatically grabs a baby about to fall into a well: “It would not be because he wanted to improve his relations with the child’s parents, nor because he wanted a good reputation among his friends and neighbors, nor because he disliked hearing the child cry” (2A.6). Rather it was due to his inborn feelings of commis- eration and sense of right and wrong.

Mencius quotes some conversations with a con- temporary philosopher who disagreed with his inter- pretation of human nature:

Gaozi (Gow-dze) said, “Human nature is like whirl- ing water. When an outlet is opened to the east, it flows east; when an outlet is opened to the west, it flows west. Human nature is no more inclined to good or bad than water is inclined to east or west.”

Mencius responded, “Water, it is true, is not in- clined to either east or west, but does it have no preference for high or low? Goodness is to human nature like flowing downward is to water. There are no people who are not good and no water that does not flow down. Still, water, if splashed, can go high- er than your head; if forced, it can be brought up a hill. This isn’t the nature of water; it is the specific circumstances. Although people can be made to be bad, their natures are not changed.” (6A.2)

Sometimes Mencius related men’s moral nature to Heaven. Heaven wants men to be moral and oper- ates in history through men’s choices. Heaven vali- dates a ruler’s authority through the people’s accep- tance of him. But Mencius did not think all rulers had been validated by Heaven; true kings tended to appear only about every five hundred years.

06475_ch02_rev02.indd 29 9/8/12 3:49 PM

30 Chapter 2 Philosophers and Warring States During the Eastern Zhou Period (770–256 b.c.e.)

and human actions the center of concern, they fo- cused on the larger scheme of things, the whole natu- ral order identified as the Way or Dao (dow).

Both the Laozi and the Zhuangzi are literary mas- terpieces that date to the third century b.c.e. Master Lao, the putative author of the Laozi, may not be a his- torical figure, but the text ascribed to him has been of enduring importance. A recurrent theme in this brief, aphoristic text is the mystical superiority of yielding over assertion and silence over words. “The Way that can be discussed is not the constant Way” (1). The highest good is like water: “Water benefits all creatures but does not compete. It occupies the places people disdain and thus comes near to the Way” (8).

Because purposeful action is counterproductive, the ruler should let people return to a natural state of ignorance and contentment:

Do not honor the worthy,

And the people will not compete.

Do not value rare treasures,

And the people will not steal.

Do not display what others want,

And the people will not have their hearts confused.

A sage governs this way:

He empties people’s minds and fills their bellies.

He weakens their wills and strengthens their bones.

Keep the people always without knowledge and without desires,

For then the clever will not dare act.

Engage in no action and order will prevail. (3)

In the philosophy of the Laozi, the people would be better off if they knew less, gave up tools, re- nounced writing, stopped envying their neighbors, and lost their desire to travel or wage war.

Zhuangzi (369–286 b.c.e.), the author of the book of the same name, was a historical figure who shared many of the central ideas of the Laozi, such as the use- fulness of the useless and the relativity of ordinary dis- tinctions. He was proud of his disinterest in politics. In one of his many anecdotes, he reported that the king of Chu once sent an envoy to invite him to take over the government of his realm. In response, Zhuangzi asked the envoy whether a tortoise that had been held as sacred for three thousand years would prefer to be dead with its bones venerated or alive with its tail dragging in the mud. When the envoy agreed that life was preferable, Zhuangzi told the envoy to leave be- cause he would rather drag his tail in the mud.

propose abandoning traditional rituals. In contrast to Daoists and Mohists, who saw rituals as unnatu- ral or extravagant, Xunzi saw in ritual an efficient way to attain order in society. Rulers and educated men should continue traditional ritual practices such as complex funeral protocols because the rites them- selves have positive effects on performers and ob- servers. Not only do they let people express feelings and satisfy desires in an orderly way, but by specify- ing graduated ways to perform the rites according to social rank, ritual traditions sustain the social hi- erarchy. Xunzi compared and contrasted ritual and music: music shapes people’s emotions and creates feelings of solidarity, while ritual shapes people’s sense of duty and creates social differentiation.

Daoism and the Laozi and Zhuangzi

Confucius and his followers believed in moral and political effort. They thought men of virtue should devote themselves to making the government work to the benefit of the people. Those who later came to be labeled Daoists disagreed. The authors of the Laozi (low-dze) and Zhuangzi (jwang-dze) thought striving to make things better generally makes them worse. They defended private life and wanted the rulers to leave the people alone. They sought to go beyond everyday concerns and let their minds wander freely. Rather than making human beings

Silver Inlaid Wine Flask. The sinuous curves of the geometrical decoration on this flask were popular in the late Warring States period.

Fr ee

r A rt

G al

le ry

, S m

ith so

ni an

In st

itu tio

n, G

ift o

f C ha

rle s

La ng

F re

er F

19 15

.1 03

a- b

06475_ch02_rev02.indd 30 9/8/12 3:49 PM

The Hundred Schools of Thought 31

Legalism

Over the course of the fourth and third centuries b.c.e., as one small state after another was destroyed, rulers, fearful that their state might be next, were ready to listen to political theorists who claimed ex- pertise in the accumulation of power. These theo- rists, labeled Legalists because of their emphasis on the need for rigorous laws, argued that strong gov- ernment depended not on the moral qualities of the ruler and his officials, as Confucians claimed, but on establishing effective laws and procedures.

In the fourth century b.c.e., the state of Qin, under the leadership of its chancellor, Lord Shang (d. 338 b.c.e.), adopted many Legalist policies. Instead of an aristocracy with inherited titles, social distinctions were based on military ranks determined by the objective cri- terion of the number of enemy heads cut off in battle. In place of the old fiefs, Qin divided the country into counties and appointed officials to administer them ac- cording to the laws decreed at court. To increase the population, migrants were recruited from other states with offers of land. To encourage farmers to work hard and improve their land, they were allowed to buy and sell it. Ordinary farmers were thus freed from serf-like obligations to the local nobility. Nevertheless, direct control by the state could be even more onerous be- cause taxes and labor service obligations were heavy.

In the third century b.c.e., Legalism found its greatest exponent in Han Feizi (hahn fay-dze, d. 233 b.c.e.), who had studied with the Confucian master Xunzi but had little interest in Confucian virtues. Alarmed at the weakness of his own state of Han, Han Feizi wrote to warn rulers of the political pit- falls awaiting them. They had to be careful where they placed their trust, for “when the ruler trusts someone, he falls under that person’s control” (17). This was true even of wives and concubines, who think of the interests of their sons. Given subordi- nates’ propensities to pursue their own selfish in- terests, the ruler should keep them ignorant of his intentions and control them by manipulating com- petition among them. Warmth, affection, or candor should have no place in his relationships with others.

Han Feizi saw the Confucian notion that govern- ment could be based on virtue as naive. Even parents calculate their long-term advantage in favoring sons over daughters. One cannot expect rulers to be more selfless than parents. If rulers would make the laws and prohibitions clear and the rewards and punish- ments automatic, then the officials and common people would be easy to govern. Uniform laws get

The Zhuangzi is filled with parables, flights of fancy, and fictional encounters between historical fig- ures, including Confucius and his disciples. Yet the book also deals with serious issues, including death. Zhuangzi questioned whether we can be sure life is better than death. People fear what they do not know, the same way a captive girl will be terrified when she learns she is to become the king’s concubine. Perhaps people will discover that death has as many delights as life in the palace. When a friend expressed shock that Zhuangzi was not weeping at his wife’s death, Zhuangzi explained that he had at first, but then be- gan thinking back to before she had life or form or vi- tal energy. “In this confused amorphous realm, some- thing changed and vital energy appeared; when the vital energy was changed, form appeared; with chang- es in form, life began. Now there is another change bringing death. This is like the progression of the four seasons of spring and fall, winter and summer” (18). Once he had realized this, he stopped sobbing.

Zhuangzi was similarly iconoclastic in his political ideas. In one parable, a wheelwright insolently tells a duke that books are useless because all they contain are the dregs of men long dead. The duke, insulted, threatened to execute him if he could not give an ad- equate explanation of his remark. The wheelwright then explained that he could feel in his hand how to chisel but could not describe it in words. “I cannot teach it to my son, and my son cannot learn it from me. So I have gone on for seventy years, growing old chiseling wheels. The men of old died in possession of what they could not transmit. So it follows that what you are reading are their dregs” (13). Zhuangzi here questions the validity of verbal reasoning and the sorts of knowledge conveyed in books.

The ideas of the Laozi and Zhuangzi can be seen as a response to Confucianism, a rejection of many of its basic premises. Nevertheless, over the course of Chinese history, many people felt the pull of both Confucian and Daoist ideas and studied the writings of both schools. Even Confucian scholars who de- voted much of their life to public service might find that the teachings of Laozi or Zhuangzi helped them put their frustrations in perspective. Whereas Con- fucianism often seems sternly masculine, Daoism was more accepting of feminine principles (yin of the yin-yang pair) and even celebrated passivity and yielding. Those drawn to the arts were also often drawn to Daoism, with its validation of spontaneity and freedom. Rulers, too, saw merit in the Daoist notion of the ruler who can have great power simply by being himself without instituting anything.

06475_ch02_rev02.indd 31 9/8/12 3:49 PM

32 Chapter 2 Philosophers and Warring States During the Eastern Zhou Period (770–256 b.c.e.)

loss of life and property, it is better to win with- out expending resources. “One hundred victories in one hundred battles is not skillful; what is skillful is subjugating the opponent’s army without battle” (Chap. 3). Great generals are not those who charge up hills against overwhelming odds but those who advance only after they know they can win. Hero- ism is a useless virtue that leads to needless deaths. Discipline, however, is essential, and Sunzi insisted that the entire army had to be trained to follow the orders of its commanders without questioning them. Spying on and manipulating the enemy are tactics worth learning, as is doing things the enemy will not anticipate. Often phrases in the Art of War echo the Laozi: “The form of the military is like water. Water in its movements avoids the high and hastens to the low. The military in its victory avoids the solid and strikes the empty. Thus water deter- mines its movement in accordance with the earth. The military determines victory in accordance with the enemy.”*

The world of Spirits

The development of rationalistic and naturalis- tic ways of thinking does not mean that people no longer took an interest in the world of spirits. The records of divination found in the tomb of an of- ficial who died in 316 b.c.e. show that illness was seen as the result of unsatisfied spirits or malevolent demons, best dealt with through exorcisms or sac- rifices to the astral deity Taiyi (ty-ee, Grand One). Some texts give incantations that could be used to exorcise offending demons. There were also ceremo- nies that could offer protection from evil spirits. To escape trouble on a trip, travelers were encouraged to perform a ceremony at the threshold of the gate to the city. They would call on the sage-king Yu to clear the road for them, draw five lines on the ground, then pick up some of the soil by the lines and put it in the folds of their robe by their bosom. Texts on these occult and magico-religious subjects that have been found in excavation of late Warring States tombs have shown that traditions in these fields were transmitted in writing much as those of the philosophers were.

*From Sources of Chinese Tradition, rev. ed., by Wm. Theodore

University Press. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.

people to do things they would not otherwise be inclined to do, such as work hard and fight wars, which were essential to the goal of establishing hege- mony over all the other states.

The laws of the Legalists were designed as much to constrain officials as to regulate the common people. The third-century b.c.e. tomb of a Qin official has yielded statutes detailing the rules for keeping accounts, supervising subordinates, managing penal labor, con- ducting investigations, and many other responsibilities. Those who violated these statutes were fined.

Legalism saw no value in intellectual debate or private opinion. The ruler should not allow others to undermine his laws by questioning them. Rulers of several states adopted some Legalist ideas, but only the state of Qin systematically followed them. The extraordinary but brief success Qin had with these policies is discussed in Chapter 3.

yin and yang

The thinkers and books discussed here had the greatest long-term impact on Chinese civilization, but the late Zhou “Hundred Schools of Thought” also included much else. There were logicians, hedonists, utopians, hermits, and agriculturalists who argued that no one should eat who does not farm. There were natural philosophers who drew lessons from their study of such fields as astronomy, medicine, music, and calen- drical calculations. The concepts of yin and yang were particularly important to natural philosophy. Yin is the feminine, dark, receptive, yielding, negative, and weak; yang is the masculine, bright, assertive, cre- ative, positive, and strong. Yin and yang are comple- mentary poles rather than distinct entities or oppos- ing forces. The movement of yin and yang accounts for the transition from day to night and from summer to winter. They are also involved in health and ill- ness. The Zuo zhuan quotes Physician He on the six qi (chee, vapors, forms of energy), which he defines as yin and yang, wind and rain, dark and bright. These six qi divide to make the four seasons, radiate to make the five colors and five sounds, and, when they go to excess, produce the six illnesses.

The Art of war

Another important strand of thought of this period concerns military strategy. Sunzi’s (sun-dze) Art of War, dating probably to the third century b.c.e., warns against bravado. Because warfare causes

06475_ch02_rev02.indd 32 9/8/12 3:49 PM

Warring States Literature and Art: The Case of Chu 33

duties. Chu also was the first to form counties (xian) out of newly annexed land and to dispatch officials to administer them (instead of conferring the land on he- reditary lords). In 334 b.c.e. Chu conquered the state of Yue, gaining control of the Lower Yangzi region. By the third century, Chu was a full participant in the al- liances designed to maintain a balance of power. This does not mean that those in the central regions no longer put it down as a primitive or barbarian region. Mencius chastised a man for following a teacher who came from Chu, saying, “I have heard of men using Chinese ways to transform the barbarians but not of being transformed by the barbarians” (Mencius 3A.4).

It has been estimated that 70 percent of known Eastern Zhou tombs are in the Chu area. Much more in the way of lacquer and silk survives from tombs in this region than elsewhere in China for this period—a function of the high water tables in many places—giving us a remarkably full picture of the material life of the elite of Chu. Flowing, curvi- linear lines, sometimes incorporating birds, dragons, snakes, and other creatures, are found on embroi- dered silks, inlaid bronzes, and painted lacquer (see Material Culture: Lacquer).

wARRInG STATES LITERATURE AnD ART: THE CASE of CHU All through the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, despite po- litical division, peoples on the periphery of the Zhou world were drawn into it. This does not mean, how- ever, that all cultural differences were eliminated. As discussed in Chapter 1, the bronzes found south of the Yangzi River during the Shang Dynasty employed the same technology used at Anyang yet often featured highly distinctive decoration. For the Zhou period, because of the much greater survival of texts and an abundance of archaeological finds, it is possible to trace how the south steadily became a more integral part of the Zhou world and yet maintained a distinc- tive style.

The dominant state in the south was Chu. From Western Zhou times on, Chu gradually expanded, absorbing fifty or more small states as it pushed its borders northward and eastward. During the Eastern Zhou period, Chu became one of the strongest and most innovative states. In 548 b.c.e. it conducted a survey of its population to assess tax and military

M A T E R I A L C U L T U R E

Lacquer is made from the sap of a tree native to south and central China. when it is heated and pu- rified, the sap makes a light, strong, smooth, and waterproof material that is highly resistant to de- cay. By Eastern Zhou times, craftsmen were using lacquer on furniture, coffins, bowls, cups, musical instruments, and sculpture. In most cases, many layers of lacquer were applied over a wooden core. Lacquer objects could be decorated with pictures or designs, using lacquer colored with pigments such as cinnabar for red and carbon for black. See also Color Plate 3.

Lacquer

Ji ng

zh ou

P re

fe ct

ur e

M us

eu m

, H ub

ei P

ro vi

nc e/

Cu ltu

ra l R

el ic

s Pr

es s

Lacquer Cup. This six-inch-long cup was found in Tomb 1 at Mashan, Jiangling, Hubei province, and dates to the early third century b.c.e. It is decorated with images of two large birds in red, black, and yellow colors. (Jingzhou Prefecture Museum, Hubei Province/Cultural Relics Press)

06475_ch02_rev02.indd 33 9/8/12 3:49 PM

34 Chapter 2 Philosophers and Warring States During the Eastern Zhou Period (770–256 b.c.e.)

You clasp your hands, journeying eastward;

you go with the Fairest to the southern shores

where the swell of the waves is coming to meet us,

and the schools of fishes, will send off my bride.*

SUMMARy After the Zhou court was transferred east to Luoyang in 770 b.c.e., the ties between the Zhou king and his lords gradually weakened, and over time the domains came to act like independent states. From 500 to 256 b.c.e., China is best thought of as a multistate realm. This was a time when so- cial change quickened. Hereditary ranks came to matter less, and rulers made more use of the shi, the lower ranks of the old aristocratic order. Cities were built across China, iron technology promoted economic expansion, and money came into circula- tion. Advances in military technology contributed to the pace of change. Warfare was no longer hemmed in by notions of chivalry, and with the introduc- tion of cavalry, infantry armies, and the crossbow, warfare became much more deadly. The stakes rose as the independent states destroyed one another in a battle for supremacy. By the middle of the third century b.c.e., only seven important states remained.

This violent age turned out to be the golden age of Chinese philosophy. As the shi competed to offer advice to rulers, they advanced the art of argument and set in motion a tremendous intellectual flower- ing. The ideas underlying the Confucian, Daoist, and Legalist traditions were first articulated in this era and are known to us through texts that have often grown over time. From the Analects, which contains sayings by Confucius recorded by disciples and later follow- ers, we know Confucius believed that the use of force was not as effective as moral example. He advised rulers and followers alike to cultivate the key virtues of sincerity, loyalty, benevolence, propriety, and filial piety. After his death, Confucius’s message was elabo- rated by important followers, including Mencius, who urged rulers to rule through goodness and argued that human nature is good, and Xunzi, who stressed the

*From An Anthology Of Chinese Literature: Beginnings To 1911, edited and translated by Stephen Owen. Copyright © 1996 by Stephen Owen and The Council for Cultural Planning and Development of the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China. Used by permission of W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

One of the most interesting of the Chu tombs, ex- cavated in 1986–1987 in Baoshan, Hubei province, was for an official who died in 316 b.c.e. The tomb had four chambers filled with ritual vessels, furni- ture, and other objects of daily life such as fans, mir- rors, boxes, weapons and chariot fittings, and books. The books include reports by the local government, texts on divination, and an inventory of the tomb’s contents. Although the calligraphy of the books is elegant, many of the characters are in obsolete forms that have not yet been deciphered.

The distinctiveness of Chu culture can also be seen in the masterpiece of Chu literature, the Songs of Chu (Chu ci, choo tse). The fantastic poems in this work are worlds apart from the poems in the Book of Poetry. The principal poem in the collection, titled Encountering Sorrows, is the lament of Qu Yuan (chyu ywan, ca. 340–278 b.c.e.), an anti-Qin minis- ter who lost the favor of the Chu kings and was sent into exile. Distraught that his loyalty to his ruler was not appreciated, he finally threw himself into a river. In the poem, Qu Yuan describes his misfortunes, de- clares his virtue, maligns those who have defamed him, and goes on a cosmic quest for a lord worthy of his devotion. On that venture, he imagines him- self wandering on the clouds and looking down on the earth. The structure of the almost four hundred lines of this lengthy poem corresponds to shamanic spirit quests in which the shaman declares his worth and goes to heaven to seek the god or goddess who spurned him. Several of the shorter poems in the Songs of Chu fall into this tradition as well. The one that follows is titled the “Lord of the Yellow River”:

With you I will roam to the river’s nine channels,

when blasts of wind rise driving waves across stream,

we will ride my coach of waters, its canopy, lotus,

hitched to paired dragons, by basilisks flanked.

I climbed Mount Kun-lun, I gazed all around,

the heart flew aloft, it went sweeping off free.

Soon the sun was to set, I, transfixed, forgot going,

and then to the far shore I looked back with care.

My roofs are of fish scales, halls of the dragon,

turrets of purple cowries, palaces of carmine—

why is the holy one here, down in the water?

We will ride on white turtles, goldfish attend us,

with you I will roam by the river’s isles,

where the current is rushing, there we’ll go down.

06475_ch02_rev02.indd 34 9/8/12 3:49 PM

Summary 35

of the Eastern Zhou period. However, archaeologi- cal discoveries are also of great value, especially for showing the richness of the culture of the south, the region of the state of Chu.

How much did China change during the five centuries of the Eastern Zhou period? The Chinese world had grown by absorbing previously periph- eral areas like Chu in the south and Zhongshan in the north. The economy had changed from one that was essentially manorial to one in which coin- age was in use, trade was much more extensive, and iron was widely used for tools. The social structure had similarly been transformed from one in which membership in the elite depended almost entirely on birth to one in which there was considerable oppor- tunity for advancement for talented shi. City-states had become territorial states, with rulers making use of officials to draw on the resources of their entire population. Conscription was nearly universal. In- tellectual discourse was much richer, with a great many texts in circulation that sought to persuade through argument and example. Distinct schools of thought had emerged. The writing of history had advanced, with much more in the way of extended narratives.

power of ritual and argued that human nature is self- ish and must be curbed through education.

In the contentious spirit of the age, Confucian principles were open to debate. Mozi argued against favoring one’s own relatives or neighbors and ad- vocated instead showing equal concern for all. He decried the wastefulness of the rituals advocated by Confucians, such as stopping work for three years to mourn one’s parents. Daoists looked beyond the human realm to the entire cosmos and spoke of the relativity of concepts such as good and bad and life and death. In contrast to the Confucian emphasis on moral effort, Daoists believed that striving to make something better could in fact make it worse. For their part, Legalists heaped ridicule on the Confucian idea that a ruler could get his people to be good by be- ing good himself and proposed instead a strong gov- ernment and rigorous laws enforced through strict rewards and punishments. There were also natural philosophers who explored issues that Confucius had neglected, such as the yin and yang forces that bring about the changes in the seasons, the transition from day to night, and cycles of health and illness.

The writings of these philosophical schools greatly enrich our understanding of the culture and society

06475_ch02_rev02.indd 35 9/8/12 3:49 PM

C H A P T E R T H R E E

The Founding of the Bureaucratic Empire: Qin-Han China (256 b.c.e.–200 c.e.)

The Qin Unification (256–206 b.c.e.)

The Han Dynasty (206 b.c.e.–220 c.e.)

Intellectual, Literary, and Religious Currents

Documents: Lucky and Unlucky Days

Biography: The Ban Family

Chinese Society in Han Times

Central Asia and the Silk Road

Material Culture: Silk from the Silk Road

Borderlands

Maintaining the Empire

Qin’s battle-hardened armies destroyed the Zhou royal domain in 256 b.c.e. and the last of the independent states in 221 b.c.e., thus unifying the Chinese realm. Although Qin rule did not last long, the suc- ceeding Han Dynasty retained its centralized bureaucratic monarchy. Both Qin and Han mobilized huge armies to confront the emergence of a powerful enemy to the north, the Xiongnu tribal confederation. In part to deal with the Xiongnu threat, the Han government extended its territories to the east, west, and south.

In contrast to the Qin government, which favored Legalism, the Han government preferred that its officials be learned in the Confucian classics. With these officials, the Han government proved remarkably successful in coordinating administrative control of a population of about 59 million people. Still, the imperial institution proved vulnerable to manipulation by the families of empresses and by palace eunuchs.

The Han Dynasty is the first of the five major dynasties that lasted more than two and a half centuries (Han, Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing), and scholars often look at the Han with these later dynasties in mind. The structure and operation of the government have been major concerns: What enabled Han to succeed where Qin had failed? What was the impact of the centralized state on ordinary people’s lives? What were the conse- quences of the support the government gave to Confucianism? What type of Confucianism did the government support? Later dynasties had dif- ficulties on their northern borders reminiscent of the Han-Xiongnu con- frontation, drawing scholars’ attention to this initial stage. Was conflict between China and its northern neighbors inevitable given the differences in the economies of the two regions, or could different policies have led to different outcomes? Did the Han Dynasty’s great territorial expansion aid it in any way, or was it costly overextension?

06475_ch03_rev02.indd 36 9/8/12 6:25 PM

The Qin Unification (256–206 b.c.e.) 37

have decided that gaining control of a state offered more opportunities to grow rich than commerce did, and he came up with a scheme to accomplish this by favoring a potential heir to the throne, and then help- ing the heir succeed to it. Once Lü’s protégé became king, Lü became chancellor. There followed a string of stunning victories over other states, allowing Qin to increase its territories steadily. This king died af- ter only three years on the throne; in 247, thirteen- year-old King Cheng came to the throne, with Lü as regent. One of the orders he issued was that com- mon people who had amassed riches through their own enterprise be granted noble ranks. Those so honored included a man who traded silk for animals with the Rong barbarians and a widow who man- aged the family cinnabar mines.

Lü recruited scholars to come to Qin, where he put them to work on a book that would present a uni- fied philosophy for the unified realm he envisioned. The resulting book, The Annals of Mr. Lü, combines

THE QIn UnIFICATIon (256–206 b.c.e.) The year 221 b.c.e., one of the most important dates in Chinese history, marks the beginning of the Chinese empire. That year, the state of Qin succeeded in de- feating the last of its rivals, thus creating a unified China. (See Map 3.1.) As discussed in Chapter 2, Qin had adopted Legalist principles. Following the counsel of Legalist advisers, Qin had restructured itself in the fourth century b.c.e. The power of the old nobility and the patriarchal family were curtailed to create instead a direct relationship between the ruler and his subjects based on uniformly enforced laws and punishments, administered by officials appointed by the king.

One of the most influential men in Qin in the decades before the conquest was a rich merchant, Lü Buwei (lew boo-way). That a merchant could use his wealth to gain political favor is evidence of the high social mobility of the age. Lü was said to

B a y o f B e n g a l S o u t h C h i n a

S e a

S e a o f J a p a n

Y e l l o w S e a

E a s t C h i n a

S e a Ya

M ekon

Wei

Ye ll

S a

lw ee

Chang’an Luoyang

H I M A L A Y A M T S .

Takla Makan Desert

G O B I D

E S E R

TIBETAN PLATEAU

M O N G O L I A N P L A T E A U

M A

N C

H U

R IA

P LA

TIA N MTS.

F U J I A N

X I N J I A N G

GUANGDONG

SHANDONG

INDIA

JAPAN

(ANNAM) VIETNAMBURMA

KOREA X I O N G N U

Qin homeland

Han Dynasty Major cities of the Han Dynasty

Great Wall

Silk Road

0 300 600 Km.

0 300 600 Mi.

Map 3.1 The Han Empire at Its Maximum Extent, ca. 50 b.c.e.

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch03_rev02.indd 37 9/8/12 6:25 PM

38 Chapter 3 The Founding of the Bureaucratic Empire: Qin-Han China (256 b.c.e.–200 c.e.)

The First Emperor (r. 221–210 b.c.e.)

Once Qin ruled all of China, King Cheng decided that the title “king” was not grand enough and in- vented the title “emperor” (literarily, “august theo- crat,” huangdi), using words that linked him to the sage rulers of the mythical past. He called himself the First Emperor in anticipation of a long line of successors.

The First Emperor initiated a sweeping program of centralization that touched the lives of nearly ev- eryone in China. To cripple the nobility of the de- funct states, the First Emperor ordered nobles to leave their lands and move to the capital, Xianyang (shyen-yahng, near modern Xi’an). To administer the territory that had been seized, he dispatched officials whom he controlled through a mass of regulations, reporting requirements, and penalties for inadequate performance. These officials owed their power and positions entirely to the favor of the emperor and

cosmological correlative thinking with political phi- losophy from all the major schools. The ruler should be tranquil and unassertive, as Laozi had advised, but select wise ministers and trust their advice, an essentially Confucian attitude. The state should aid farmers, keep taxes low, and encourage merchants. Filial piety is extolled, as is learning.

After King Cheng began to rule on his own, he sent Lü Buwei away. Lü, seeing that he was losing favor, committed suicide. King Cheng’s next chan- cellor was Li Si (lee se), a fully committed Legalist who, like Han Feizi, had studied under the Confu- cian scholar Xunzi. With Li Si’s astute advice, Qin was able to reorganize each territory as it took it over. By 230 the tide of war had shifted in Qin’s fa- vor, and the final six states—Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, and Qi—were defeated in rapid succession. All of a sudden Qin had to rule millions of people who had until then been desperately battling to avoid such a fate.

Character

Translation peace horse positive level city

Chu

Yan

Han

Zhao

Wei

Qin

Figure 3.1 Standardizing the Writing System

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch03_rev02.indd 38 9/8/12 6:25 PM

a pit where more than a hundred human skeletons have been found; according to inscribed shards, these were conscript and penal laborers who died on the job.

By far the most spectacular of the pits discovered in the vicinity of the First Emperor’s tomb are the three that contain the terra-cotta army. Historians had no knowledge of this army, so its discovery was a complete surprise. Pit 1 has more than six thou- sand figures of warriors arrayed in columns, most of them infantry, but with some chariots near the front. Pit 2 has cavalry plus more infantry and chari- ots and may represent a guard unit. Pit 3 seems to be the command post, with fewer soldiers. The floor of these pits had been made of rammed earth covered by ceramic tiles (some 256,000 for pit 1). Wooden supports held up roof beams strong enough to keep the roofs from caving in from the weight of the earth above.

The soldiers were made of simple clay formed with molds. Although viewers often described the soldiers as individualized, in reality they were made of interchangeable parts. For instance, there were two basic forms for hands, with fingers straight or curved, but they could appear quite different de- pending on how they were attached to the sleeves and the angle at which the thumb was attached. Hand finishing—for instance, of the hair—could make figures seem more distinct as well. After the soldiers were molded, they were painted with lac- quer, which both preserved them and made them seem more lifelike. These figures carried real weap- ons, such as spears, halberds, swords, and bows and arrows. The weapons were of high quality (some of the blades are still razor sharp) and were mass-pro- duced in state factories. To ensure quality control, each weapon was inscribed with the name of the worker who made it and the person who supervised him. Each also had a serial number.

Why did the First Emperor want so many replicas of soldiers buried near him? For several centuries, there had been a trend in Chinese burial practice to bury representations rather than real objects in graves. To some extent, this could have been a cost- saving measure: if replicas were just as good as the real thing in the afterlife, why take so much wealth out of circulation by placing it underground? But possibly replicas were considered in some way su- perior because they caught the unchanging univer- sal aspect of the thing, not one particular manifes- tation. It is perhaps hard to believe that a ceramic

had no hereditary rights to their offices. To make it easier to administer all regions uniformly, writing systems were standardized, as were weights, mea- sures, coinage, and even the axle lengths of carts. Private possession of arms was outlawed in order to make it more difficult for subjects to rebel. Thou- sands of miles of roads were built to enable Qin armies to move rapidly. Transportation was also im- proved by expanding canals linking rivers, making it possible to travel long distances by boat. Most of the labor on these projects came from farmers who performed required labor service or convicts who worked off their sentences.

The First Emperor shared the Legalist suspicion of intellectual diversity. In 213 b.c.e., after Li Si com- plained that scholars used records of the past to den- igrate the emperor’s achievements and undermine popular support, the emperor ordered the collection and burning of all useless writings. The only works excepted were manuals on topics such as agriculture, medicine, and divination. As a result of this massive book burning, many ancient texts were lost.

The First Emperor’s Tomb

The First Emperor started work on his tomb soon after he came to the throne. In 231 b.c.e., the area around the tomb was made a separate administra- tive district, and the people of the district were made responsible for the construction and maintenance of the imperial tomb. Twenty years later, thirty thou- sand families were resettled to the district, and sever- al hundred thousand forced laborers were sent there as temporary workers.

In 1974, about a kilometer from the tomb, a pit was discovered filled with life-sized terra-cotta fig- ures of soldiers. Since then, as archaeologists have probed the region around the First Emperor’s tomb, they have found more and more pits filled with buri- al goods of one sort or another. Sometimes actual objects were used, in other cases, replicas. One pit had two finely made half-size bronze chariots, each drawn by four bronze horses. In another pit were thirty-one rare birds and animals that had been buried alive in clay coffins laid in rows. Although these were real birds and animals (probably from the huge imperial hunting park), they were guarded by a terra-cotta warden. Actual horses were buried in other pits. In many cases, a small pit had a single horse and a terra-cotta groom. In one pit, however, were bones of three hundred horses. There is also

The Qin Unification (256–206 b.c.e.) 39

06475_ch03_rev02.indd 39 9/8/12 6:25 PM

40 Chapter 3 The Founding of the Bureaucratic Empire: Qin-Han China (256 b.c.e.–200 c.e.)

buried there as well. According to Sima Qian, writ- ing in about 100 b.c.e.:

The Second Emperor said, “Of the women in the ha- rem of the former ruler, it would be unfitting to have those who bore no sons sent elsewhere.” All were ac- cordingly ordered to accompany the dead man, which resulted in the death of many women. After the inter- ment had been completed, someone pointed out that the artisans and craftsmen who had built the tomb knew what was buried there, and if they should leak word of the treasures, it would be a serious affair. Therefore, after the articles had been placed in the tomb, the inner gate was closed off and the outer gate lowered, so that all the artisans and craftsmen were shut in the tomb and were unable to get out.*

*Burton Watson, trans., Records of the Grand Historian: Qin Dynasty (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993), p. 65.

representation of a bronze ritual vessel could be as useful in the afterlife as a real bronze one, but one can imagine that a ceramic guard, which will never decay, could be preferable to a mortal one.

The First Emperor’s personal fears and beliefs undoubtedly also contributed to his decision to con- struct such an elaborate underground world. Three times assassins tried to kill him and, perhaps as a consequence, he became obsessed with finding ways to avoid death. He sent a group of young men and women to search for Penglai, the famed isles of im- mortality in the Eastern Sea. He listened to seers and magicians who claimed to know other techniques for achieving immortality. Was his huge tomb a fall- back plan—a way to reduce the sting of death if he couldn’t escape it altogether?

Although the First Emperor filled the pits near his tomb with terra-cotta replicas of his minions, his successor saw to it that some human beings were

The First Emperor’s Army. The thousands of life-sized terra-cotta soldiers placed in pits near the First Emperor’s tomb were originally painted in bright colors, and they held real bronze weapons. They testify both to the emperor’s concern with the afterlife and the ability of his government to organize production on a large scale.

La ur

en t L

ec at

/ ak

g- im

ag es

06475_ch03_rev02.indd 40 9/8/12 6:25 PM

years to redeem his mother or sister but not his fa- ther or brother.

Government officials had to take similar respon- sibility for the performance of their departments. Every year in the tenth month, officials had to send in detailed reports to be used for the evaluation of their performance. If they did more or less than ex- pected, they were punished by fines calculated in sets of armor and shields.

The Xiongnu and the Great Wall

As far back as written records allow us to see, the Chinese had shared the Chinese subcontinent with other ethnic groups. To the north were groups that the Shang and Zhou called Rong (rung) and Di. At that time, the economy of these northerners was similar to that of the Chinese settlements, with millet agriculture, animal husbandry, and hunting. Many of these groups were eventually incorporat- ed into the northern Zhou states, which gradually expanded north. Over time, those not incorporated into China seem to have come to depend more and more on animal husbandry, perhaps because the climate grew colder or drier. They took to riding horses before the Chinese did, and by the seventh century b.c.e., many of these groups were making the move to nomadic pastoralism. Families lived in tents that could be taken down and moved north in summer and south in winter as they moved in search of fresh pasture. Herds were tended on horseback, and everyone learned to ride at a young age. Especially awesome from the Chinese perspec- tive was the ability of nomad horsemen to shoot arrows while riding horseback. Their social orga- nization was tribal, with family and clan units held together through loyalty to chiefs selected for their military prowess. At the end of the Zhou period, there were three main groups of nomads in the Northern Zone: the Eastern Hu in the east (north- ern Hebei-Liaoning region), the Xiongnu in the Ordos (northern Shaanxi-Shanxi), and the Yuezhi (yweh-jih) to the west.

In 215 b.c.e., one of Qin’s most successful gen- erals, Meng Tian (muhng tyen), led a huge army (said variously to be one hundred thousand or three hundred thousand strong) to attack the Xiongnu and drive them out of the Ordos region. Once he succeeded, he built forty-four roads to the region and fortified towns, projects that required tens of

Presumably when the archaeologists excavate the tomb itself, they will find the bones not only of the First Emperor but also of those who accompanied him in death.

Some twentieth-century Chinese historians have glorified the First Emperor as a bold conqueror who let no obstacle impede him, but the tradition- al evaluation of him was almost entirely negative. For centuries, Chinese historians castigated him as a monster: cruel, arbitrary, impetuous, suspicious, and superstitious.

Qin Law

The Qin was always thought to have had a particu- larly harsh legal system. However, little was known about its exact provisions until 1975 when 625 bam- boo strips inscribed with Qin laws and legal texts were found in a tomb in Hubei province. The tomb was for a man who served the Qin government as a prefectural official. Some of the texts reconstructed from the strips contain statutes related to manage- ment of government granaries and labor service. One book explains legal terminology in question- and-answer format.

The penalties imposed by Qin law were hard la- bor, physical mutilation, banishment, slavery, or death. Labor could last from one to six years. Muti- lation included shaving the beard, shaving the head, branding the forehead, cutting off the nose or left foot, or castration. Death also came in several forms, the most severe of which was being torn apart by horse-drawn chariots. To make sure that criminals were caught and offenses reported, Qin set up mu- tual-responsibility units of five households, whose members were required to inform on each other or suffer the same penalty as the criminal. For particu- larly heinous crimes, even distant relatives could be enslaved.

Penal labor was a common punishment. Those guilty of theft or homicide were sentenced to long terms. But even those sentenced to pay fines often had to work off their sentence with labor, credited at the rate of eight coins a day (six if one received food rations). Those who owned slaves, oxen, or horses could receive credit for the work they did or they could hire others to work in their place. Men and women were treated differently. Men had heavier work assignments but received larger rations. A man could volunteer for service on the frontier for five

The Qin Unification (256–206 b.c.e.) 41

06475_ch03_rev02.indd 41 9/8/12 6:25 PM

42 Chapter 3 The Founding of the Bureaucratic Empire: Qin-Han China (256 b.c.e.–200 c.e.)

THE HAn DynASTy (206 b.c.e.–220 c.e.) The First Emperor died in 210 b.c.e. while traveling. He had trusted no one, and at this juncture no one proved trustworthy. The chief eunuch plotted with a younger son to send orders to the heir apparent and General Meng Tian to commit suicide. The younger son became the Second Emperor and had several of his brothers executed. The chief eunuch was elevated to chancellor after he got the Second Emperor to ex- ecute Li Si. By this time, the Qin state was unravel- ing. The Legalist institutions designed to concentrate power in the hands of the ruler made the stability of the government dependent on the strength and char- acter of a single person.

In the ensuing uprisings, many of the rebels called for the restoration of the old states, but this was not what happened. The eventual victor was Liu Bang (lyoo bahng, known in history as Emperor Gao [gow], r. 202–195 b.c.e.). The First Emperor of Qin was from the old Zhou aristocracy. Liu Bang, by contrast, was from a modest family of commoners, so his elevation to emperor is evidence of how thor- oughly the Qin Dynasty had destroyed the old order.

Emperor Gao did not disband the centralized gov- ernment created by Qin but he did remove its most unpopular features. He set up his capital at Chang’an, not far from the old Qin capital. He eliminated some laws, cut taxes, and otherwise lessened the burdens on the people. After a century of almost constant war and huge labor mobilizations, China was given sev- eral decades to recover. Responding to the desire to restore the old order, Emperor Gao gave out large and nearly autonomous fiefs to his relatives and chief generals. Very soon he recognized that giving fol- lowers independent resources was a mistake, and he spent much of his reign eliminating the fief holders who were not relatives. After his death, the fiefs of imperial relatives were also gradually reduced in size.

Even before Emperor Gao had completed the con- solidation of the empire, he came to realize the threat posed by the Xiongnu. In 200 b.c.e. the Xiongnu un- der Maodun attacked one of the recently appointed kings, who decided to go over to the Xiongnu. With his help, the Xiongnu then attacked the major city of Taiyuan. Emperor Gao personally led an army to retake the region, but his army suffered terribly from the cold. Maodun led a huge army of horsemen to surround the Han army. Given little choice, Emperor Gao agreed to make yearly gifts of silk, grain, and

thousands of laborers. People sentenced to guard the borders were moved to settle the new fortified towns.

Another way Meng Tian helped secure the area was by deploying a reported three hundred thousand conscripted peasants and convict laborers to build the Great Wall. The Zhou states in the north had all built walls in particularly vulnerable places, and Meng Tian used these walls when possible, connecting them together. The histories do not offer many details on this project, other than saying that the resulting wall was “more than ten thousand li long,” but “ten thou- sand” is not meant to be an exact number. It must have been an enormous job, however, because much of it was built using labor-intensive rammed-earth techniques. Moreover, the region was sparsely settled, and food for the workers had to be transported long distances to supply them. Much of the wall crossed mountains, adding to the difficulty of the construc- tion. The Qin Great Wall was farther north than the Great Wall that can be seen today, which was built much later during the Ming Dynasty and was made of brick and stone rather than rammed earth.

The Great Wall did not prove an impassable barrier to the Xiongnu. During Qin times, the chief of the Xiongnu was Touman. The Xiong- nu’s failure to defend its territory against the Qin armies naturally weakened his authority because Xiongnu chiefs were above all military leaders. Touman’s own son Maodun (mow-dun) soon chal- lenged him. Maodun first trained his bodyguards to kill on command, executing anyone who failed to instantly obey his commands that they shoot his favorite horse and favorite concubine. When he was satisfied that they would do what he said, he ordered them to shoot his father and declared himself the Xiongnu chief.

During the next few years, Maodun led the Xiongnu to defeat both the Eastern Hu and the Yuezhi. Some of the Yuezhi simply moved west, but the Eastern Hu were incorporated into the Xiongnu tribal confederation. Maodun also cam- paigned north of the Gobi, uniting the tribes in modern Mongolia. His quick military victories made him a charismatic leader whom others want- ed to follow. Some of the tribes he defeated were incorporated as tribute-paying vassals and others as slaves. By this time, the Qin Dynasty was falling apart, and Maodun was able to reclaim the Ordos region that Qin had taken from the Xiongnu only a few years earlier.

06475_ch03_rev02.indd 42 9/8/12 6:25 PM

The Han Dynasty (206 b.c.e.–220 c.e.) 43

Emperor Wu expanded the empire through military means. To push the Xiongnu back, he sent several armies of one hundred thousand to three hundred thou- sand troops deep into Xiongnu territory. These costly campaigns were of limited value because the Xiongnu were a moving target: fighting nomads was not like at- tacking walled cities. If the Xiongnu did not want to fight the Chinese troops, they simply decamped. More- over, it was very difficult for Chinese troops to carry enough food to stay long in Xiongnu territory. What they could do was consolidate the land the Xiongnu had vacated by the same methods Qin had used: build- ing forts, appointing officials, and dispatching settlers.

To pay for his military campaigns, Emperor Wu took over the minting of coins, confiscated the land of nobles, sold offices and titles, and increased taxes on private businesses. A widespread suspi- cion of commerce—from both moral and political perspectives—made it easy to levy especially heavy assessments on merchants. Boats, carts, shops, and other facilities were made subject to property tax- es. The worst blow to merchants, however, was the government’s decision to enter into market competi- tion with them by selling the commodities that had been collected as taxes. In 119 b.c.e., government monopolies were established on the production of iron, salt, and liquor, enterprises that previously had been sources of great profit for private entrepreneurs. Large-scale grain dealing also had been a profitable business, which the government now took over under the guise of stabilizing prices. Grain was to be bought where it was plentiful and its price low; then it would either be stored in granaries until prices rose or trans- ported to areas of scarcity. This policy was supposed to eliminate speculation in grain, provide more con- stant prices, and bring profit to the government.

other foodstuffs to the Xiongnu. The Xiongnu con- sidered this tribute, but the Han naturally preferred to consider it an expression of friendship.

After Emperor Gao’s debacle, the early Han emper- ors concentrated on pacifying the Xiongnu, supply- ing them not only with material goods but also with princesses as brides (which they hoped in time would lead to rulers with Chinese mothers). These policies were controversial because critics thought they merely strengthened the enemy. Moreover, as they pointed out, no matter how much wealth the Han sent to the Xiongnu, they kept raiding the borders.

In theory, the Han emperor was all-powerful, but in actuality depended on his chancellor and other high officials for information and advice. Nine min- istries were established to handle matters ranging from state ritual to public works. Officials, graded by rank and salary, were appointed by the central government for their merit, not their birth, and were subject to dismissal, demotion, or transfer, much in the way Qin officials had been. Local officials— magistrates and grand administrators—had broad responsibilities: they collected taxes, judged lawsuits, commanded troops to suppress uprisings, undertook public works such as flood control, chose their own subordinates, and recommended local men to the central government for appointments. The main tax was a poll tax of 120 cash (coins) on adults (less for children). Adults also owed a month of labor service each year. Land tax, largely retained by the county and commandery governments, was set at the low rate of one-thirtieth of the harvest.

When Emperor Gao died, his heir was a child, and the empress dowager (the widow of the former em- peror) took control until her death, fifteen years later. This Empress Lü is described in the histories as a vi- cious, spiteful person, and after her fall, her entire fam- ily was wiped out. For centuries to come, she would provide an example of the dangers of letting a woman take power, even if she was the mother of the emperor.

The Han emperor who had the greatest impact on Chinese culture and society was Emperor Wu, who came to the throne as a teenager in 141 b.c.e. and reigned for fifty-four years. Unafraid of innovation, Emperor Wu initiated many of the most significant developments in Han culture and government. He took an interest in the arts and patronized both music and poetry. Like many other men of his age, Emperor Wu was fascinated with omens, portents, spirits, immortals, and occult forces, yet he wanted his officials to study Confucian texts.

Xiongnu Bronze Belt Plaque. Xiongnu art shows connections to the animal art produced by other nomadic groups along the Eurasian steppe. (Image Copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art Image: Art Resource, NY)

06475_ch03_rev02.indd 43 9/8/12 6:25 PM

44 Chapter 3 The Founding of the Bureaucratic Empire: Qin-Han China (256 b.c.e.–200 c.e.)

Wang Mang

The Han practice of hereditary succession to the throne from father to son meant that the heir might be a young child. During the last decades of the first century b.c.e., several boys succeeded to the throne. Adult men of the imperial lineage did not serve as regents; they were regularly sent out of the capital to keep them from interfering in court politics. That left the mothers and grandmothers of the new rul- ers, along with the women’s male relatives, as the main contenders for power during regencies. Wang Mang (wahng mahng) came to power as a relative of Empress Wang (d. 13 c.e.), who for forty years had been influential at court as the widow of one emperor, mother of a second, and grandmother of a third. After serving as regent for two infant emper- ors, Wang Mang deposed the second and declared himself emperor of the Xin (shin, “New”) Dynasty (9 c.e.–23 c.e.).

Although he was condemned as a usurper, Wang Mang was a learned Confucian scholar who wished to implement policies described in the classics. He asserted state ownership of for- ests and swamps, built ritual halls, revived public granaries, outlawed slavery, limited private land- holdings, and cut court expenses. Some of his poli- cies, such as issuing new coins and nationalizing gold, led to economic turmoil. Matters were made worse when the Yellow River broke through its dikes and shifted course from north to south, driv- ing millions of farmers from their homes as huge regions were flooded. Rebellion broke out, and in the ensuing warfare, a Han imperial clansman succeeded in reestablishing the Han Dynasty. The capital was moved from Chang’an to Luoyang. As a consequence, the first half of the Han is called the Western or Former Han and the second half is called the Eastern or Later Han (reminiscent of the Western and Eastern Zhou).

Palace Eunuchs

During the second century c.e., Han court politics deteriorated as the eunuchs (castrated men) who served as palace servants vied with relatives of the empresses for control of the court. For centuries, eunuchs had been a part of palace life, charged with managing the women’s quarters. Eunuchs were in essence slaves; a common source seems to have been boys captured from the “southern

The relative success of the Han form of govern- ment validated the imperial system, which drew from both Confucian rhetoric and Legalist bureau- cratic methods. To put this another way, the Zhou notion of All-Under-Heaven ruled by the paramount Son of Heaven, an idea fully supported by Confucian thinkers, now had attached to it the structures of the centralized bureaucratic empire, indebted though these were to Legalist ideas.

official Support for Confucianism

Emperor Wu was the first Han emperor to privi- lege Confucian scholars within the government. He listened to the Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu, who gave him advice much like Li Si’s to the First Emperor. “Because the various schools of thought differ,” he said, “the people do not know what to honor,” and he advised that “anything not encom- passed by the Six Disciplines and the arts of Con- fucius be suppressed and not allowed to continue further, and evil and vain theories be stamped out.”* Emperor Wu soon decreed that officials should be selected on the basis of Confucian virtues, and he established a national university to train officials in the Confucian classics.

The Han government’s decision to recruit men trained in the Confucian classics marks the begin- ning of the Confucian scholar-official system, one of the most distinctive features of imperial China. Because one of the highest duties of the Confucian scholar was to admonish the ruler against mis- guided policies, officials whose educations imbued them with Confucian values did not comply auto- matically with the emperor’s wishes. Still, emperors found employing Confucian scholars as officials efficient; because of their ingrained sense of duty, they did not have to be supervised as closely as the Legalist model required. That did not mean that emperors took all aspects of the Confucian model of governing to heart themselves or always treated their Confucian officials with respect. Emperor Wu was so averse to criticism that he once had an of- ficial executed on the charge that a wry twist of his lips showed that he disapproved in his heart, and the emperor’s temper led him to put five of his last seven chancellors to death.

06475_ch03_rev02.indd 44 9/8/12 6:25 PM

Intellectual, Literary, and Religious Currents 45

the Earth Queen in 114 b.c.e. and Grand Unity in 113. In 110 he traveled to Mount Tai to perform a sacrifice to heaven at the peak and a sacrifice to earth at the base. Although claims were made that these sacrifices were of ancient origin, in fact they were designed for him by court ritualists steeped in Huang-Lao ideas. Religious practices among ordi- nary people were influenced by Huang-Lao ideas but also by a great variety of other ideas about spiritual beings and the forces of the cosmos (see Documents: Lucky and Unlucky Days).

Han Confucianism

Confucianism made a comeback during the Han Dynasty, but in a new form. Although Confucian texts had fed the First Emperor’s bonfires, some ded- icated scholars had hidden their books and others could recite entire books from memory. The ancient books recovered in these ways came to be regarded as classics containing the wisdom of the past. Han scholars studied them with piety and attempted to make them more useful as sources of moral guidance by writing commentaries to them that explained ar- chaic words and obscure passages. A Han Confucian scholar often specialized in a single classic and passed on to his disciples his understanding of each sentence in the work.

barbarians.” Court officials looked on palace eu- nuchs with contempt. Emperors who had grown up with them, however, often saw them as more reliable than officials because they had no outside base of power.

During the Eastern Han period, eunuchs were able to build a base of power within the palace, with the result that weak emperors became their captives rather than their masters. In 124 c.e., a group of eunuchs placed on the throne a child they could manipulate. They gained even more power after 159, when an emperor turned to them to help him oust a consort family faction. In 166 and 169, officials staged protests against eunuch power, but the eunuchs retaliated. In the purges that followed, the protestors were put in jail and banned from office. More than a hundred are said to have died in prison.

InTELLECTUAL, LITERARy, AnD RELIGIoUS CURREnTS Perhaps stimulated by the Qin destruction of books, learning and literature of all sorts flour- ished in Han times. At the end of the Western Han period, the imperial library had some 596 titles, divided into six categories: classics, philosophy, poetry, military treatises, mathematics and natu- ral science (including astronomy, the calendar, and divination), and medicine. Also important to the history of books in China is the development of paper. Over the course of the Han, various plant fibers were tested, and by the end of the period, paper that had a good, absorbent writing surface was produced. Books were much less cumbersome when written on rolls of paper than on strips of wood or bamboo.

Early in the Han period, a form of Daoism called Huang-Lao Daoism became particularly influen- tial. Huang (yellow) refers to the Yellow Emperor and Lao to Laozi; both were treated as deities of vast powers. Emperor Wu was attracted to these teachings and tried to make contact with the world of gods and immortals through elaborate sacrific- es. He marveled at stories of the paradise of the Queen Mother of the West and the exploits of the Yellow Emperor, who had taken his entire court with him when he ascended to the realm of the im- mortals. Emperor Wu inaugurated state cults to

The Five Classics Book of Changes Book of Documents Book of Poetry Spring and Autumn Annals Book of Rites

Perhaps inspired by the political unification of the realm, some Han Confucians attempted to develop comprehensive understandings of all phenomena. Their cosmological theories explained phenomena in terms of cyclical flows of yin and yang and the five phases (fire, water, earth, metal, and wood). They saw the cosmos as fundamentally moral: natural di- sasters such as floods and earthquakes were portents indicating that the emperor had failed in his respon- sibility to maintain the proper balance in heaven and earth.

06475_ch03_rev02.indd 45 9/8/12 6:25 PM

46 Chapter 3 The Founding of the Bureaucratic Empire: Qin-Han China (256 b.c.e.–200 c.e.)

D O C U M E N T S

People today commonly believe in evil influences. They think that when people fall ill or die (or there are repeated calamities, execu- tions, or humiliations), some offense has been committed. If inauspicious days and months are not avoided when starting a project, mov- ing, sacrificing, burying, taking up office, or marrying, then the demons and spirits that one encounters at these ill-fated times will work their harm. Thus illness, disaster, legal penalties, death, even the extermination of a family are all thought to be brought about by not taking care to avoid ill-fated times. In truth, however, this is wild talk. . . .

Rulers anxious about their office and com- moners concerned about their bodies believe in this theory and do not raise doubts. Thus when a ruler is about to embark on an en- terprise, diviners throng his halls, and when ordinary people have work to be done, they inquire into the best time. As a consequence, deceptive books and false texts have appeared in large numbers. . . .

Rare are the diseases not caused by wind, moisture, or food and drink. After people have gone out in the wind or slept in a damp place, they spend money to find out which noxious influence [has attacked them]. When they overeat, they should practice abstinence, but if their illness does not improve, they say the noxious force has not been identified. If the person dies, they say the diviner was not careful. Among ordinary people, such talk is considered wisdom.

Among the 360 animals, man ranks first. Man is a living creature, but among the ten thousand creatures, man is the most intelligent. But he obtains his lifespan from Heaven and his qi from the origin in the same way as the other creatures. . . . It makes no sense that the misfortune caused

by demons and spirits would fall on man alone, and not on other creatures. In man the minds of Heaven and Earth reach their highest development. Why do heavenly di- sasters strike the noblest creature and not the mean ones? . . .

If I commit a crime and am arrested by the magistrate and sentenced to punishment, no one says I did something wrong. Instead they say that someone in my family was negligent. If I have not been careful where I lodge or go overboard in food or drink, they do not say I have been immoderate, but that I have disregarded an unlucky time. When people die one after the other and dozens of coffins await burial, they do not say the air is con- taminated but that the day of a burial was inauspicious. . . .

The city of Liyang one night was flooded and became a lake. Its residents cannot all have violated taboos on years and months. When Emperor Gao rose, Feng and Pei were recovered, but surely its residents had not all been careful in their choice of hours and days. When Xiang yu attacked Xiangan, no one sur- vived, but surely its residents had not all failed to pray. The army of Zhao was buried alive by Qin at Changping; 400,000 men died to- gether at the same time. It is hardly likely that when they left home not one of them divined for a propitious time.

Questions for Analysis 1. What are Wang Chong’s strongest arguments

against lucky and unlucky days? 2. What did Wang Chong think causes illness?

Source: Wang Chong, Lunheng jiaoshi, ed. Huang Hui (Taibei: Commercial Press, 1964), 24.1004–12. Translated by Patricia Ebrey.

Some of our best evidence of common beliefs in Han China is found in the writings of critics such as Wang Chong (wahng chung, 27–ca. 100 c.e.). Wang’s lengthy Balanced Discourses includes refutations of a wide range of beliefs and practices, from the idea that people could become immortals and fly high above the earth to the notion that ghosts could come back to harm people. In the passage here, he attempts to refute the idea that taking action on an unlucky day can cause people harm.

Lucky and Unlucky Days

06475_ch03_rev02.indd 46 9/8/12 6:25 PM

Intellectual, Literary, and Religious Currents 47

chyen, 145–ca. 85 b.c.e.) carried on his work and brought it to completion.

Before Sima Qian was able to complete his history, he angered Emperor Wu by defending a general who had surrendered to the Xiongnu. As a consequence, he was sentenced to castration and service as a palace eunuch. This punishment was so humiliating that he was expected to choose the honorable alternative of suicide. Sima Qian explained in a letter to a friend why he decided to accept his humiliating sentence: he could not bear the thought that the history would not be completed. “I have compiled neglected knowledge of former times from all over the world; I have exam- ined these for veracity and have given an account of the principles behind success and defeat, rise and fall.” His ambitions were large: “I also wanted to fully ex- plore the interaction between Heaven and Man, and to show the continuity of transformations of past and present.”† Only by finishing the work could he make up for the dishonor he had suffered.

Like the Greek historians Herodotus and Thucy- dides, Sima Qian believed fervently in examining artifacts and documents, visiting the sites where his- tory was made, and questioning people about events. He was also interested in China’s geographical varia- tions, local customs, and local history. As an official of the emperor, he had access to important people and documents and to the imperial library. He quot- ed documents when they were available, and in their absence, he invented dialogues to bring events to life. The result of his efforts, ten years in the making, was a massive work of literary and historical genius, the 130-chapter Records of the Grand Historian.

The Records presents several perspectives on the past. A political narrative begins with the Yellow

†Stephen Owen, An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911 (New York: Norton, 1996), p. 141.

The emperor was of unique importance in this cos- mology because he alone had the capacity to link the realms of heaven, earth, and man. The leading Han Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu (dung jung-shoo, 195?–105 b.c.e.) wanted a ruler who would serve as high priest and fount of wisdom, who would be all-powerful but also deferential to learned scholars. Dong drew on ideas from earlier Confucian, Daoist, and Legalist texts to describe the ruler as the “pivot of all living things,” who is “quiet and nonactive” yet “deliberates with his numerous worthies” and knows how to tell if they are loyal or treacherous.*

Sima Qian and the Records of the Grand Historian

History writing began early in China. In the early Zhou period, court chroniclers kept track of astro- nomical matters and advised rulers on the lessons of the past. Two of the Five Classics, the Book of Documents and the Spring and Autumn Annals, are historical works, the former a collection of docu- ments and the latter a chronicle. By the Warring States period, not only did each of the states compile historical records, but citing examples from the past had become a common way to support an argument.

The art of history-writing took a major step for- ward in the Han period. During Emperor Wu’s reign, two historians, father and son, undertook to write a comprehensive history of the entire past. Sima Tan (se-ma tahn, d. 110 b.c.e.) served as the court astronomer under Emperor Wu and had access to the government archives. His son Sima Qian (se-ma

Correspondences of the Five Phases wood fire earth metal water seasons spring summer autumn winter directions east south center west north weather wind heat thunder cold rain colors green red yellow white black emotions anger joy desire sorrow fear organs eyes tongue mouth nose ears

06475_ch03_rev02.indd 47 9/8/12 6:25 PM

48 Chapter 3 The Founding of the Bureaucratic Empire: Qin-Han China (256 b.c.e.–200 c.e.)

comments. Sima Qian’s experiences with Emperor Wu did not incline him to flatter rulers. Not only did he give ample evidence of Emperor Wu’s ar- bitrariness and policy errors, but he also found many ways to draw attention to those whose merit went unrecognized in their day.

By writing so well, Sima Qian had a profound impact on Chinese conceptions of history and per- sonal achievement. In the centuries that followed, the Records of the Grand Historian was read as much for the pleasure of the narrative as for historical data. The composite style, with political narratives supplement- ed by treatises and biographies, became standard for government-sponsored histories. Subsequent histories, however, usually covered only a single dynasty. The first of these, History of the Former Han Dynasty, was the work of three members of the Ban (bahn) family in the first century c.e. (see Biography: The Ban Family).

Emperor and continues through the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, down to Sima Qian’s own day. It is supplemented by chronological charts with genealogical data and information on the organization of governments. Key institutions are given their own histories in topical chapters on state ritual, court music, the calendar, water- works, finance, and other matters of concern to the government. Thirty chapters give the separate histories of the main ruling houses of the states of the Zhou period. Biographies of individuals take up more than half the book. Although many of those portrayed played important political or military roles, Sima Qian also singled out other notable men, including philosophers, poets, mer- chants, magicians, rebels, assassins, and foreign groups like the Xiongnu. At the end of each chap- ter of biographies, Sima Qian offered his own

Reeling and Weaving. Many Han tombs had scenes of daily life depicted on their walls. In this example, seated below a finely drawn tile roof are three women reeling, twisting, and weaving silk. The weaver is using a treadle-operated loom.

at io

na l M

us eu

m o

f C hi

na /C

ul tu

ra l R

el ic

s Pr

es s

06475_ch03_rev02.indd 48 9/8/12 6:25 PM

Chinese Society in Han Times 49

population. These people shared status as subjects of the Han, but their daily lives varied enormously, de- pending on their social status and where they lived.

Common Farmers

The bulk of the population in Han times (and even into the twentieth century) was made up of farmers

CHInESE SoCIETy In HAn TIMES During the Western Han period, with the establish- ment of peace and the extension of the empire’s frontiers, the Chinese population grew rapidly. The census of 2 c.e. recorded a population of 59 million, the earliest indication of the large size of China’s

The Ban FamilyB I O G R A P H Y Ban Biao (bahn byow, 3–54 c.e.), a successful official from a family with an envied library, had three highly accom- plished children: his twin sons, the gen- eral Ban Chao (chow, 32–102) and the historian Ban Gu (goo, 32–92), and his daughter Ban Zhao (jow, ca. 45–120).

After distinguishing himself as a ju- nior officer in campaigns against the Xiongnu, Ban Chao was sent in 73 c.e. to the Western Regions to see about

the possibility of restoring Chinese overlordship there, lost since Wang Mang’s time. Ban Chao spent most of the next three decades in Central Asia. Through patient diplomacy and a show of force, he reestablished Chinese control over the oasis cities of Central Asia, and in 92 he was appointed protector general of the area.

Ban Gu was one of the most accomplished writers of his age, excelling in a distinctive literary form known as the rhapsody (fu). His “Rhapsody on the Two Cap- itals” is in the form of a dialogue between a guest from Chang’an and his host in Luoyang. It describes the palaces, spectacles, scenic spots, local products, and customs of the two great cities. Emperor Zhang (jahng, r. 76–88) was fond of literature and often had Ban Gu accompany him on hunts or travels. He also had him edit a record of the court debates he held on issues concerning the Confucian classics.

The father, Ban Biao, had been working on a history of the Western Han Dynasty when he died in 54. Ban Gu took over this project, modeling it on Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian. He added treatises on law, geography, and bibliogra- phy, the last a classified list of books in the imperial library.

Because of his connection to a general out of fa- vor, Ban Gu was placed in prison in 92, where he

soon died. At that time the History of the Former Han Dynasty was still incomplete. The emperor called on Ban Gu’s widowed sister, Ban Zhao, to fin- ish it. She came to the palace, where she not only worked on the history but also became a teacher of the women of the palace. According to the History of the Later Han, she taught them the classics, his- tory, astronomy, and mathematics. In 106 an infant succeeded to the throne, and Empress Deng became regent. The empress frequently turned to Ban Zhao for advice on government policies.

Ban Zhao credited her own education to her learned father and cultured mother and be- came an advocate of the education of girls. In her Admonitions for Women, Ban Zhao objected that many families taught their sons to read but not their daughters. She did not claim daughters should have the same education; after all, “just as yin and yang differ, men and women have different characteris- tics.” Women, she wrote, will do well if they culti- vate the womanly virtues such as humility. “Humility means yielding and acting respectful, putting others first and oneself last, never mentioning one’s own good deeds or denying one’s own faults, enduring insults and bearing with mistreatment, all with due trepidation.”* In subsequent centuries, Ban Zhao’s Admonitions became one of the most commonly used texts for the education of girls.

Questions for Analysis 1. Is it just coincidence that several eminent people came

from the same family? 2. What can we infer about women’s situations from cases

like Ban Zhao?

*Patricia Buckley Ebrey, ed., Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook, rev. ed. (New York: Free Press, 1993), p. 75.

06475_ch03_rev02.indd 49 9/8/12 6:25 PM

50 Chapter 3 The Founding of the Bureaucratic Empire: Qin-Han China (256 b.c.e.–200 c.e.)

relatives of eunuchs could similarly take advan- tage of their positions to accumulate wealth and power.

Other groups whose great wealth outraged observ- ers were merchants and manufacturers. Zhao Cuo (jow tsaw) in 178 b.c.e. complained that merchants suffered none of the hardships of farmers, got the best food and clothing, associated with the nobility, and had more power than officials. Sima Qian spoke of how great merchants commanded the services of the poor. If a merchant’s wealth was ten times their own, they would behave humbly toward him. If it was a hundred times their own, they would fear him. If it was a thousand times their own, they would work for him. And if it was ten thousand times their own, they would become his servants. Even those with noble titles, he added, depended on these rich merchants for loans.

Government officials had high standing in Han times, though rarely did they have the great wealth of the richest merchants or imperial relatives. In the Western Han, some men rose to high office from modest backgrounds. Kuang Heng (kwahng huhng), for instance, came from a farming family and hired himself out to get the money to study; he eventu- ally became a respected classical scholar and high government official. Yet most of the time, those who could afford to get the education needed to become officials came from families of means, most often landholders.

Access to office was largely through recommen- dations. At the local level, the county magistrate or commandery grand administrators appointed their own subordinates from among the local educated elite. The grand administrators also made recom- mendations to the central government of men who were “filial and incorrupt,” who then became eli- gible for higher office. Another route to office was to study with a well-known teacher. Patron–client ties were very important in linking members of the elite, especially in the Eastern Han, when former subordi- nates and students could be counted on to come to one’s assistance in political conflicts.

At the local level, better-off families were ex- pected to act as the leaders of their communities and offer assistance to their neighbors and rela- tives in need. In the second century c.e., leading families in communities often erected stones in- scribed with accounts of their good works, such as building or repairing bridges or shrines. Tombs and funerary monuments of the Eastern Han offer

living in villages of a few dozen to a few hundred households. (See Color Plate 4.) Farmers owed labor service to the government of a month per year. Men were also subject to two years of mili- tary service, one year near home for training and one year elsewhere for active service.

At the technical level, agriculture continued to make advances. The new and more effective plow introduced during the Han period was fitted with two plowshares, guided by a pair of handles, and was typically pulled by a pair of oxen. Farmers used fans to blow the chaff from kernels of grain, and they used either mortars and pestles or hand mills to grind grain into flour. Irrigation of farm- land was aided by brick-faced wells and pumping devices that ranged from a simple pole with an at- tached bucket and counterweight to a sophisticated machine worked by foot pedals. Because the Han Empire depended on free farmers to pay taxes and provide labor services, the government tried to keep farmers independent and productive. To fight peas- ant poverty, the government kept land taxes low, provided relief during famines, aided migration to areas where there was vacant land to be opened, and promoted agricultural advancements, such as planting two crops in alternate rows and planting a succession of carefully timed crops. Still, many farmers fell into debt and had to sell their land. Those who did not migrate in search of new op- portunities usually became tenant farmers, often accepting quasi-servile status as the dependent of a magnate. Poverty also contributed to the sup- ply of slaves because men could sell their wives or children into slavery to pay debts.

Elite Groups

The old nobility of Zhou times did not survive Qin’s destruction of the Zhou states and its de- terminedly anti-aristocratic policies. Still, Han historical sources are full of references to people who outranked ordinary farmers in wealth and power. Some of these gained power through prox- imity to the throne. Liang Ji (lyahng jee), whose power derived from his position as father of the empress, was said to have had huge properties and mansions, to have forced commoners to become his slaves, to have used commoners doing labor service to work on his own properties, to have let his retainers extort property and favors, and so on. Members of the imperial clan and the adopted

06475_ch03_rev02.indd 50 9/8/12 6:25 PM

Chinese Society in Han Times 51

such as land was divided among all sons. Daughters did not get shares of the family property, though well-to-do families might provide a daughter with substantial goods as her dowry when she married. Because the family farm had to be divided every generation (at least when there was more than one son), a family with several sons risked rapid down- ward social mobility.

Marriages were arranged by family heads, gener- ally with the bride joining the husband’s family. Men could divorce their wives on any of seven grounds, which included barrenness, jealousy, and talkative- ness, but could do so only if there was a family for her to return to. There were no grounds on which a woman could divorce her husband, but divorce by mutual agreement was possible.

The legal underpinnings of the family were closely connected to Confucian teachings. It was one of the Confucian ritual texts that first defined the seven grounds for divorce. Confucian ritual texts com- piled in Han times also give elaborate descriptions of the proper deference that sons and daughters-in- law should show to parents. The Book of Rites, for instance, told daughters-in-law to rise at the cock’s crow, wash and dress, and then call on their par- ents-in-law: “Getting to where they [the parents-in- law] are, with bated breath and gentle voice, they [the daughters-in-law] should ask if their clothes are too warm or too cold, whether they are ill or pained, or uncomfortable in any part; and if they be so, they should proceed reverently to stroke and scratch the place.”* Male–female differentiation was much stressed in this book. For instance, in explain- ing why the man goes to fetch his bride in person, it says, “This is the same principle by which Heaven takes precedence over earth and rulers over their subjects.”†

In Han times filial piety was extolled in both texts and art. Pictures of famous filial sons were used to decorate not only the walls of tombs but even ev- eryday objects like boxes. The brief Classic of Filial Piety argued that at each level of society, sincere filial devotion leads people to perform their social duties conscientiously and prudently, creating peace and harmony. Stories circulated of exceptional sons who willingly sacrificed their own comfort to amuse their unreasonable parents.

*James Legge, trans., Li Ki: Book of Rites (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1885), 1:450, modified. †Ibid., p. 440.

further evidence of the self-perception of such families. By decorating funerary architecture with pictures of famous filial sons, dutiful women, and loyal ministers, they were portraying their families as steeped in Confucian traditions. Not all those with power at the local level were Confucian schol- ars, however. Han sources are full of complaints of the “great families” or “powerful men” of lo- cal communities who intimidated their neighbors and built up their property by taking advantage of families in debt.

During the course of the Han, the educated elite (called the shi, the same term used in Zhou times for the lower level of the aristocracy) came to see themselves as participants, even if indirectly, in na- tional literary, scholarly, and political affairs. The agitation against the eunuchs and consort families in the second century c.e. helped strengthen these feel- ings. The persecution of the leaders of the movement protesting eunuch power, which took place between 166 and 184, created a large group of articulate, en- ergetic, concerned men excluded from office. Their prestige showed that social honor was something the elite conferred on itself rather than something the government controlled through its appointment of men to office.

The Family

During Han times, both the administrative structure of the centralized state and the success of Confucianism helped shape the Chinese family system. Since Shang times, at least at the highest social levels, patrilineal ancestors had been a central feature of the family. By the time of the registration of the population in Qin and Han times, everyone had patrilineal family names. Han laws supported the authority of family heads over the other members of their families. The state preferred to deal only with the family head and recognized this person’s right to represent the family. The family head was generally the senior male, but if a man died before his sons were grown, his widow would serve as family head until they were of age. Family members were also held responsible for each other; for serious crimes, relatives of a criminal were made slaves.

During the Zhou period, inheritance had favored the eldest son, who succeeded to both aristocratic titles and the responsibility to maintain ancestral rites. By Han times, primogeniture in ordinary fami- lies applied only to ancestral rites. Family property

06475_ch03_rev02.indd 51 9/8/12 6:25 PM

52 Chapter 3 The Founding of the Bureaucratic Empire: Qin-Han China (256 b.c.e.–200 c.e.)

had no interest in returning to help out the Han. In 115 b.c.e., Zhang was sent again, this time to look for another group, which proved just as un- willing to return. Zhang’s travels, however, were not totally in vain. From his reports of these two trips, the Chinese learned firsthand of the coun- tries of Central Asia and heard about the trade in silk with other countries farther out, such as Rome. In 104 and 102 b.c.e., a Han general led Chinese armies across the Pamir Mountains to subdue Ferghana. Recognition of Chinese over- lordship followed, giving China control over the trade routes across Central Asia, commonly called the Silk Road. (See Map 3.1.) The city-states along this route did not resist the Chinese presence be- cause they could carry out the trade on which they depended more conveniently with Chinese garri- sons to protect them. (See Material Culture: Silk from the Silk Road.)

Much of the trade was in the hands of Sogdian, Parthian, and Indian merchants who carried silk and other goods by caravans all the way to Rome. There was a market for both skeins of silk thread and for silk cloth woven in Chinese or Syrian work- shops. Caravans returning to China carried gold, horses, and occasionally handicrafts of West Asian origin, such as glass beads and cups. Through the trade along the Silk Road, the Chinese learned of new foodstuffs, including walnuts, pomegran- ates, sesame, and coriander, all of which came to be grown in China. This trade was largely carried by the two-humped Bactrian camel. With a heavy coat of hair to withstand the bitter cold of winter, each camel could carry about 500 pounds of cargo.

Other Han texts addressed the virtues women should cultivate. The Biographies of Exemplary Women, compiled by Liu Xiang, told the sto- ries of women from China’s past who had given their husbands good advice, sacrificed themselves when forced to choose between their fathers and husbands, or performed other heroic deeds. It also contained cautionary tales about scheming, jealous, and manipulative women who brought destruction to all around them. Another notable text on wom- en’s education was written by the scholar Ban Zhao. Her Admonitions for Women urged girls to master the seven virtues appropriate to women: humility, resignation, subservience, self-abasement, obedi- ence, cleanliness, and industry (see Biography: The Ban Family).

CEnTRAL ASIA AnD THE SILK RoAD It was during the Han period that the Chinese first learned that theirs was not the only civilization with cities and writing and also that these distant civiliza- tions had been obtaining silk from China from mer- chants who traveled across Eurasia.

This discovery was made when Emperor Wu decided to send Zhang Qian (jahng chyen) as an envoy to look for the Yuezhi, a group that had moved west after defeat by the Xiongnu several decades earlier and which Emperor Wu hoped would return to fight the Xiongnu for him. De- spite being captured by the Xiongnu and delayed several years, Zhang eventually reached Bactria, Parthia, and Ferghana (in the region of modern Afghanistan). However, the Yuezhi, once found,

Ancient Worthies and Paragons of Virtue. A large basket found in a tomb in the Han colony of Lelang (North Korea) is decorated with ninety-four paintings of famous figures from the past, many labeled with their names. (Central Historical Museum, P’yongyang, North Korea/Werner Forman/Art Resource, NY)

06475_ch03_rev02.indd 52 9/8/12 6:25 PM

Borderlands 53

merchants, and adventurers. Once enough settlers had arrived, the government created counties and sent officials to administer them and collect taxes. Often officials sent to the frontier counties tried to encourage the assimilation of the local population by setting up schools to train local young men in Chi- nese texts. The products of Chinese industry—iron tools, lacquerware, silks, and so on—were in demand and helped make Chinese merchants welcome.

Nevertheless, Chinese expansion often ran into active resistance. In the region of modern Yunnan, the Dian state was dominated by horse-riding aristo- crats who made captured enemies into slaves. They drew wealth from trade conducted in both Chinese coins and cowrie shells. Although the Dian did not have a written language, they were skilled metal- workers whose bronze drums often were decorated with images of people and animals. In 109 b.c.e., Emperor Wu sent an army that conquered Dian (dyen) and made it a tributary state. Although the

BoRDERLAnDS During the Qin and Han periods, the Chinese empire was extended by both armies and by migrants. Emper- or Wu sent armies not only into Central Asia but also into northern Korea, where military districts were es- tablished to flank the Xiongnu on their eastern border (see Chapter 6). Armies were also sent south, extend- ing the frontiers into what is now northern Vietnam.

In the south, migrants in search of land to till of- ten were the first to penetrate an area. They moved south along the rivers, displacing the indigenous populations, who retreated farther south or up into marginal hillsides. A comparison of the censuses of 2 and 140 c.e. shows that between those dates, be- tween 5 and 10 million people left the north China plain for the Yangzi Valley or places farther south.

The government fostered migration by build- ing garrisons on the frontiers to protect settlers,

M A T E R I A L C U L T U R E

Silk from the Silk Road

Xi jia

n In

st itu

te o

f A rc

ha eo

lo gy

/C ul

tu ra

l R el

ic s

Pr es

The Chinese product most in demand outside China was silk. The silkworm had been domesti- cated in China by the Shang period, and the ex- cellence of Chinese silk technology in Zhou times is well documented through excavations of tombs. Silk is very strong and amazingly fine. A single silk- worm can spin a filament 1,000 meters long but a minuscule 0.25 millimeters thick. Several of these filaments have to be twisted together to make the yarns used for weaving. Besides basic flat weaves and light gauzes, Chinese weavers also made pat- terned weaves, including multicolored ones that re- quired the use of a draw loom to separate the warp threads.

Many fragments of Han period textiles have sur- vived in the arid climate of Chinese Central Asia, at sites along the Silk Road. The piece illustrated here was excavated from tomb 8 at niya, along the southern arm of the Silk Road. The weave is excep- tionally fine, with 220 warp threads per centimeter. The five-color woven design shows clouds, birds, a single-horned beast, and a tiger along with Chinese characters. The inscription, which is the command of a Han emperor to a general leading troops to

bring order to the northwest frontier, reads: “The Five Planets appear in the east. This is very auspi- cious for China. The barbarians will be defeated.”

Silk Arm Cover. Excavated at Niya along the Silk Road, this small piece (12.5 by 18.5 cm) is finely woven in five colors: blue, green, red, yellow, and white (the colors of the five planets).

06475_ch03_rev02.indd 53 9/8/12 6:25 PM

54 Chapter 3 The Founding of the Bureaucratic Empire: Qin-Han China (256 b.c.e.–200 c.e.)

imposed, and Confucianism became the official ideol- ogy. The Chinese language was introduced as the me- dium of official and literary expression. The Chinese built roads, waterways, and harbors to facilitate com- munication within the region and to ensure that they maintained administrative and military control over it. Over time, Chinese art, architecture, and music had a powerful impact on their Vietnamese counterparts.

Chinese innovations that were beneficial to the Vietnamese were readily integrated into the indig- enous culture, but the local elite were not reconciled to Chinese political domination. The most famous early revolt took place in 39 c.e., when two wid- ows of local aristocrats, the Trung sisters, led an up- rising against foreign rule. They gathered together the tribal chiefs and their armed followers, attacked and overwhelmed the Chinese strongholds, and had themselves proclaimed queens of an independent Vietnamese kingdom. Three years later, a powerful Chinese army reestablished Chinese rule.

China retained at least nominal control over north- ern Vietnam until the tenth century, and there were no real borders between China proper and Vietnam dur- ing this time. Many Chinese settled in the area, and the local elite became culturally dual, serving as brokers between the Chinese governors and the native people.

MAInTAInInG THE EMPIRE Maintaining the Han Empire’s extended borders required a huge military investment. To man the northern defense stations along the Great Wall took about ten thousand men. Another fifty to sixty thou- sand soldier-farmers were moved to the frontiers to reduce the cost of transporting provisions to distant outposts. Drafted farmers from the interior did not make good cavalry troops, and as a consequence, a de facto professional army emerged on the frontiers, composed of Chinese from the northern reaches of the empire hired as mercenaries, reprieved convicts, and surrendered Xiongnu. In 31 c.e. the Han abol- ished universal military service, which it had inherited from the Warring States.

In the middle of the first century c.e., a succession struggle among the Xiongnu brought one of the rival claimants and his followers to the Chinese border seeking protection. These “Southern Xiongnu” were permitted to live in Chinese territory, primarily in the Ordos region in the great bend of the Yellow River. In 90 c.e., Chinese officials counted 237,300

Dian repeatedly rebelled, the Han government was able to reestablish its overlordship each time.

The Case of Vietnam

To the north and west of China proper, there were natural boundaries to the Chinese way of life be- cause crop agriculture was not suited to the deserts, grasslands, and high mountains in those regions. The southern boundaries of China proper were not so clear and took centuries to become established. Crops that could be grown in modern Guangdong province could also be grown farther south, espe- cially along the coast in what is today Vietnam. The rivers that are central to this region—both the Red River, which empties into the ocean near modern Hanoi, and the Mekong River, which empties near modern Saigon—start in the highlands of southwest China, and migrants following these rivers would end up in what is today Vietnam. Travel along the coast was also easy, even in early times.

Vietnam is today classed with the countries to its west as part of Southeast Asia, but its ties are at least as strong to China. The Vietnamese appear in Chi- nese sources as a people of south China called the Yue (ywe) who gradually migrated farther south as the Chinese state expanded. In the Red River valley in northern Vietnam, they mixed with local people who had bronze technology, could kill elephants with poisoned bronze arrowheads, and knew how to irrigate their rice fields by using the tides that backed up the rivers.

The collapse of the Qin Dynasty in 206 b.c.e. had an impact on this area because a former Qin gen- eral, Zhao Tuo (jow taw, Trieu Da in Vietnamese), finding himself in modern Guangdong province, set up his own kingdom of Nam Viet (Nan Yue in Chi- nese) that extended as far south as modern-day Da Nang. Trieu Da/Zhao Tuo called himself the Great Chief of the Southern Barbarians, incorporated local warriors into his army, encouraged the adoption of Chinese material culture, and supported intermar- riage between Chinese settlers and the local popula- tion. Through these measures, he gained the support of the local people and was able to rule to the age of ninety-three, all the while resisting Han efforts to make him accept vassal status.

After almost a hundred years of diplomatic and mil- itary duels between the Han Dynasty and Nam Viet, Emperor Wu sent armies that conquered it in 111 b.c.e. As in Korea, Chinese political institutions were

06475_ch03_rev02.indd 54 9/8/12 6:25 PM

Summary 55

Xiongnu living in China, of whom 50,170 were adult males able to serve in the army, and substan- tial numbers of other non-Han groups were also settled in Chinese territory. With the collapse of the Xiongnu confederation, a group from Manchuria, the Xianbei (shyen-bay), rose to prominence and ab- sorbed many Xiongnu into their tribal structure. The expeditionary armies of the Eastern Han included soldiers from all of these groups; in some campaigns, Han Chinese formed a tiny minority of the soldiers.

During the Han period, China developed a system of diplomacy to regulate contact with foreign pow- ers. States and tribes beyond its borders sent envoys bearing gifts, which the Han emperor responded to with even more lavish gifts for them to bring back. Over the course of the dynasty, the Han govern- ment’s outlay on these gifts was huge, perhaps as much as 10 percent of state revenue. In 25 b.c.e., for instance, the government gave tributary states twenty thousand rolls of silk cloth and about twen- ty thousand pounds of silk floss. But although the diplomacy system was a financial burden to the Chinese, it reduced the cost of defense and offered the Han imperial court confirmation that it was the center of the civilized world.

SUMMARy After unifying China in 221 b.c.e., the Qin Dynasty created a strongly centralized government that abol- ished noble privilege and kept ordinary people in place through strictly enforced laws. The First Em- peror of Qin standardized script, coinage, weights, and measures and had many books destroyed. Build- ing roads for the army facilitated trade and helped establish China as a world power. During the four centuries of the subsequent Han Dynasty, the harsh- er laws and taxes of the Qin were lifted, though a strong centralized government was retained.

The Qin-Han period was one of great territorial expansion. Expansion to the south was generally initiated by migrants in search of land or trading opportunities. Expansion to the northeast and north- west was connected more to defense. The government mobilized huge armies against the nomadic Xiongnu,

who regularly raided settlements in the north, but the Xiongnu remained a potent foe. In part to gain allies against the Xiongnu, Han expanded into the Korean peninsula and more spectacularly into Central Asia, which facilitated trade along the Silk Road.

In contrast to the Qin government, which favored Legalism, the Han rulers came to see the advantages of Confucianism. Officials came to be selected from among men schooled in Confucian learning. Confu- cian education flourished, with teachers attracting numerous students. The effects of the destruction of books by Qin was largely overcome, and certain books were singled out as classics, works of great in- tellectual and moral importance. The comprehensive history written in about 100 b.c.e. by Sima Qian was also an intellectual milestone.

The Confucian education of its officials undoubt- edly contributed to the Han government’s success in coordinating administrative control of a vast territo- ry. The Han government promoted internal peace by keeping land taxes low for the peasantry; by provid- ing relief in cases of floods, droughts, and famines; and by encouraging migration to the south where land was plentiful. As a result, the population grew, reaching about 58 million. Not all political challeng- es were solved, of course. Of particular concern was the way consort families and eunuchs were able to gain control of the government.

All considered, how different was China after the end of the four centuries of Qin and Han rule? The area that could be called China was greatly expand- ed. Confucianism had become much more closely identified with the state and with the social elite. A canon of classics had been established. Paper was coming into wider use. By 200 c.e., Chinese officials were much more knowledgeable about the military threats of China’s northern neighbors and had much more experience with all sorts of stratagems for deal- ing with them, such as setting up military colonies and recruiting auxiliary forces. China had knowl- edge of countries far to its west and knew that trade with them could be advantageous. Perhaps, above all, by the end of the Han period, the centralized bureaucratic monarchy had proved that it could work well; it could maintain peace and stability and allow the population to grow and thrive.

06475_ch03_rev02.indd 55 9/8/12 6:25 PM

EAST ASIAN CIVILIZATION WAS NEVER com- pletely isolated from the rest of Eurasia. Wheat and the chariot arrived in China from west Asia in Shang times. Animal art spread across the steppe in late Zhou times. Nevertheless, ancient China had less contact with other early centers of civilization, such as Mesopotamia, India, Egypt, and Greece, than they had with each other. India was geographically the closest of those civilizations, and therefore it is not surprising that it was the first to have a major impact on East Asia. The vehicle of its impact was one of its religions, Buddhism.

Early India differed from early China in a great many ways. Much farther south, most areas of the Indian subcontinent were warm all year. In the re- gion of the Indus River, there had been an ancient literate civilization that was already in decline by 1800 b.c.e. The Aryans, in India by 1000 b.c.e. if not earlier, were Indo-European–speaking people who became the dominant group in north India. The cul- ture of the early Aryans is known from the Rigveda, a collection of hymns, ritual texts, and philosophical texts composed between 1500 b.c.e. and 500 b.c.e. but transmitted orally for centuries. The Rigveda portrays the Aryans as warrior tribes who glorified military skill and heroism; loved to drink, hunt, race, and dance; and counted their wealth in cattle. It pres- ents the struggle between the Aryans and indigenous peoples in religious terms: their chiefs were godlike heroes; their opponents, irreligious savages.

Early Aryan society had distinguished among the warrior elite, the priests, ordinary tribesmen, and conquered subjects. These distinctions gradually evolved into the caste system with its four hierarchi- cal strata that did not eat with each other or marry each other: priests (Brahmin), warriors or officials, merchants and landowners, and workers. The Upanishads, composed between 750 and 500 b.c.e., record speculations about the mystical meaning of sacrificial rites and about cosmological questions of

humanity’s relationship to the universe. They docu- ment a gradual shift from the mythical worldview of the early Vedic age to a deeply philosophical one. Associated with this shift was a movement toward asceticism. In search of a richer and more mystical faith, some men retreated to the forests.

Ancient Indian cosmology imagined endlessly repeating cycles. Central concepts were samsara, the transmigration of souls by a continual process of rebirth, and karma, the tally of good and bad deeds that determined the status of an individual’s next life. Good deeds lead to better future lives, evil deeds to worse future lives—even to reincarnation as an animal. The wheel of life included human be- ings, animals, and gods. Reward and punishment worked automatically; there was no all-knowing god who judged people and could be petitioned to forgive a sin, and each individual was responsible for his or her own destiny in a just and impartial world. The optimistic interpretation of samsara was that people could improve their lot in the next life by living righteously. The pessimistic view was that life is a treadmill, a relentless cycle of birth and death. Brahmanic mystics sought release from the wheel of life through realization that life in the world was actually an illusion.

The founder of Buddhism was Siddhartha Gautama (fl. ca. 500 b.c.e.), also called Shakyamuni (“sage of the Shakya tribe”) but best known as the Buddha (“enlightened one”). Our knowledge of his life is filtered through later Buddhist texts, which tell us that he was born the son of a ruler of one of the small states in the Himalayan foothills in what is now Nepal. Within the Indian caste system, he was in the warrior, not the priest (Brahmin), caste. At age twenty-nine, unsatisfied with his life of com- fort and troubled by the suffering he saw around him, he left home to become a wandering ascetic. He traveled south to the kingdom of Magadha, where he studied with yoga masters. Later he took

Buddhism in India and Its Spread Along the Silk Road

C O N N E C T I O N S

06475_Connection_2_rev02.indd 56 9/8/12 6:27 PM

Connections: Buddhism in India and Its Spread Along the Silk Road 57

a raft, needed to get across a river but useless once on the far shore. Thus, there was no harm in honor- ing local gods or observing traditional ceremonies, as long as one kept in mind the ultimate goal of enlightenment.

In his lifetime, the Buddha formed a circle of dis- ciples, primarily men but including some women as well. The Buddha’s followers transmitted his teach- ings orally for several centuries until they were writ- ten down in the second or first century b.c.e. The form of monasticism that developed among the Buddhists was less strict than that of some other contemporary groups in India, such as the Jains. Buddhist monks moved about for eight months of the year (staying inside only during the rainy season) and consumed only one meal a day obtained by beg- ging. Within a few centuries, Buddhist monks began to overlook the rule that they should travel. They set up permanent monasteries, generally on land donat- ed by kings or other patrons. Orders of nuns also ap- peared, giving women the opportunity to seek truth in ways men had traditionally done. The main ritual that monks and nuns performed in their monastic establishments was the communal recitation of the sutras. Lay Buddhists could aid the spread of the Buddhist teachings by providing food for monks and support for their monasteries, and they could pursue their own spiritual progress by adopting practices such as abstaining from meat and alcohol.

Within India, the spread of Buddhism was greatly aided in the third century b.c.e. by King Ashoka. As a young prince, Ashoka served as governor of two prosperous provinces where Buddhism flour- ished. At the death of his father about 274 b.c.e., Ashoka rebelled against his older brother, the right- ful king, and, after four years of fighting, succeeded in his bloody bid for the throne. In 261 b.c.e., early in his reign, Ashoka conquered Kalinga, on the east coast of India. Instead of exulting like a conqueror, however, Ashoka was consumed with remorse for all the deaths inflicted. In this mood, he embraced Buddhism.

Ashoka used the machinery of his empire to spread Buddhist teachings throughout India. He banned an- imal sacrifices and, in place of hunting expeditions, he took pilgrimages. Two years after his conversion, he undertook a 256-day pilgrimage to all the holy sites of Buddhism, and on his return, he began send- ing missionaries to all known countries. Buddhist tradition also credits him with erecting throughout India 84,000 stupas (Buddhist reliquary mounds),

up extreme asceticism. According to tradition, he reached enlightenment while meditating under a bo tree at Bodh Gaya. After several weeks of medita- tion, he preached his first sermon, urging a “middle way” between asceticism and worldly life. For the next forty-five years, the Buddha traveled through the Ganges Valley propounding his ideas, refuting his adversaries, making converts, and attracting followers.

In his first sermon, the Buddha outlined his main message, summed up in the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. The truths are as follows: (1) pain and suffering, frustration and anxiety are ugly but inescapable parts of human life; (2) suffering and anxiety are caused by human desires and attach- ments; (3) people can understand these weaknesses and triumph over them; and (4) this triumph is made possible by following a simple code of conduct, the Eightfold Path. The basic insight of Buddhism is thus psychological. The deepest human longings can never be satisfied, and even those things that seem to give pleasure cause anxiety because we are afraid of losing them. Attachment to people and things leads to sorrow at their loss.

The Buddha offered an optimistic message, how- ever, because people can all set out on the Eightfold Path toward liberation. All they have to do is take steps such as recognizing the universality of suffer- ing, deciding to free themselves from it, and choosing “right conduct,” “right speech,” “right livelihood,” and “right endeavor.” For instance, they should ab- stain from taking life and thus follow a vegetarian diet. The seventh step is “right awareness,” constant contemplation of one’s deeds and words, giving full thought to their importance and whether they lead to enlightenment. “Right contemplation,” the last step, entails meditation on the impermanence of ev- erything in the world. Those who achieve liberation are freed from the cycle of birth and death and enter the blissful state called nirvana.

The success of Buddhism was aided by the Bud- dha’s teaching that everyone, noble and peasant, educated and ignorant, male and female, could fol- low the Eightfold Path. Within India this marked a challenge to the caste system, central to early Brah- manism and later Hinduism. Moreover, the Buddha was extraordinarily undogmatic. Convinced that each person must achieve enlightenment on his or her own, he emphasized that the path was important only because it led the traveler to enlightenment, not for its own sake. He compared religious practices to

06475_Connection_2_rev02.indd 57 9/8/12 6:27 PM

58 Connections: Buddhism in India and Its Spread Along the Silk Road

Bamiyan, northwest of Kabul, to Kucha, Khotan, Loulan, Turfan, and Dunhuang. The first transla- tors of Buddhist texts into Chinese were not Indi- ans but Parthians, Sogdians, and Kushans from Central Asia.

Central Asia in the centuries in which Buddhism was spreading east was ethnically and linguisti- cally diverse, though various Indian and Persian languages were commonly used for administrative purposes. The economy of these city-states was de- pendent on the East–West trade. In Han times, the Chinese had become the overlords in the area, want- ing both access to the fabled horses of Ferghana and to keep the area out of the hands of its foes, such as the Xiongnu. After the fall of the Han, most of these cities became independent and trade continued unabated. Buddhism thus reached China first as a religion of foreign merchants. Missionaries soon fol- lowed, however, and the hugely complex process of translating Buddhist sutras from Sanskrit or other

among which the ashes of the Buddha were distrib- uted, beginning the association of Buddhism with monumental art and architecture. Also according to Buddhist tradition, Ashoka convened a great council of Buddhist monks at which the earliest canon of Buddhist texts was codified.

Under Ashoka, Buddhism began to spread to Central Asia. This continued under the Kushan empire (ca. 50–250 c.e.), especially under their great- est king, Kanishka I (ca. 100 c.e.). In this region, where the influence of Greek art was strong, artists began to depict the Buddha in human form. By this period, Buddhist communities were developing di- vergent traditions and came to stress different sutras. One of the most important of these, associated with the monk-philosopher Nagarjuna (ca. 150–250 c.e.), is called Mahayana, or “Great Vehicle,” because it is a more inclusive form of the religion. It drew on a set of discourses allegedly preached by the Buddha and kept hidden by his followers for centuries. One branch of Mahayana taught that reality is “empty” (that is, nothing exists independently of itself). Emptiness was seen as an absolute, underlying all phenomena which are themselves transient and illusory. Another branch held that ultimate reality is consciousness, that every- thing is produced by the mind.

Just as important as the metaphysical literature of Mahayana Buddhism was its devotional side, influenced by the Iranian religions then prevalent in Central Asia. The Buddha became deified and was placed at the head of an expanding pantheon of other Buddhas and bodhisattvas (Buddhas-to-be who had stayed in the world to help others on the path to salvation). These Buddhas and bodhisattvas became objects of veneration, especially the Bud- dha Amitabha and the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Guanyin in Chinese, Kannon in Japanese, Gwane- um in Korean). With the growth of Mahayana, Bud- dhism became as much a religion for laypeople as for monks and nuns.

Buddhism remained an important religion in India until about 1200 c.e. Thereafter it declined, and the number of Buddhists in India today is small. Long be- fore it declined in India, however, it spread to much of the rest of Asia. One route was east to Sri Lanka and most of Southeast Asia, including Indonesia. Another was northeast to Nepal and Tibet. More important for the history of East Asia, however, was the route northwest through Central Asia. During the first few centuries c.e., most of the city-states of Central Asia became centers of Buddhism, from

Ghandaran Sculpture of the Bodhisattva Maitreya, ca. 100 c.e. In northwestern India and Afghanistan, Greek sculptural traditions influenced the portrayal of buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Ca lc

ut ta

(K ol

ka ta

) M us

eu m

P ho

to : P

at ric

ia E

br ey

06475_Connection_2_rev02.indd 58 9/8/12 6:27 PM

Connections: Buddhism in India and Its Spread Along the Silk Road 59

Kucha reportedly had a population of one hundred thousand, of whom ten thousand were monks. Al- ready in this period, spectacular cave temples were being constructed in the nearby small town of Kizil. At home, Kumarajiva spoke Tokharian, an Indo- European language. He may also have learned some Chinese from merchants who came regularly to Kucha. From age seven, he studied Buddhist texts in Sanskrit as part of his Buddhist training. By age

Indian languages into classical Chinese was accom- plished through the collaboration of Central Asian and Chinese monks.

Kumarajiva (350–413 c.e.) was one of the most important of these translators. His father, from a high-ranking family in India, had moved to the Silk Road oasis city of Kucha, attracted by the quality of the Buddhist scholarship there, and he married the younger sister of the king of Kucha. At this time,

Ya ng

zi Ganges

Ye ll ow

Arabian Sea Bay of

Bengal

South China Sea

East China Sea

Sea of Japan

Yellow Sea

INDIAN OCEAN

Dunhuang

Heian

Sarnath

Taxila

Ajanta

Angkor

Borobudur

Chang'an

Nara

Yungang

Chengdu

Turfan

Lhasa

Kucha

Longmen Luoyang

Nanjing

Khotan

H I M A L A Y A S

G O B I

D E S E

R T

ALTAI MTNS.

TAKLIMAKAN DESERT

TIAN SHA

PAM IRS

INDIA

BURMA

MONGOLIA SOGDIANA

TIBET

JAPAN

CHINA

KOREA

V IE

N AM (ANN

A M

)

0 500 1000 Km.

0 500 1000 Mi.

Spread of Buddhism

Area of origin, 5th century B.C.E.

5th to 2d century B.C.E.

2d century B.C.E. to 3d century C.E..

3d to 8th century C.E..

Expansion of Buddhism

Map C2.1 Expansion of Buddhism from 500 b.c.e. to 800 c.e.

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_Connection_2_rev02.indd 59 9/8/12 6:27 PM

60 Connections: Buddhism in India and Its Spread Along the Silk Road

sutras were translated, including some of the most famous and popular, such as the Lotus Sutra and the Vimalakirti Sutra. An exponent of Mahayana, Kumarajiva also translated treatises by Nagarjuna and lectured on their content.

The translation of Buddhist texts into Chinese helped Buddhism spread throughout East Asia. Not only did these texts come to circulate throughout China (discussed in Chapters 4 and 5) but they also became the basis for Korean and Japanese schools of Buddhism (discussed in Chapters 6 and 7). The Bud- dhism that reached Japan, for instance, was filtered through Central Asian, Chinese, and Korean lenses.

twenty, he had established himself as a brilliant Buddhist scholar, and the ruler of a small state in the modern Chinese province of Gansu sent a general to abduct him. He stayed in Gansu seventeen years, becoming fluent in Chinese. In 401, he was able to move to Chang’an, where another ruler gave finan- cial support to his plan to translate Buddhist sutras into Chinese. Kumarajiva recruited a large group of learned monks and set up a systematic procedure for checking draft translations. Rather than borrowing terms from Daoism, which often proved misleading, Sanskrit terms were retained, represented by Chinese words borrowed for their sound. About thirty-five

Yungang Cave Temples. Beginning about 460 c.e. the Northern Wei rulers constructed a series of caves at Yungang, not far from their capital. The Buddha on the left, shown here in a lotus meditation posture, is the largest at the site, 45 feet (13.7 meters) tall. The buddha in the next cave to the right is seated on a chair. Originally, each would have been protected from the elements by wooden structures, making each cave a separate chapel.

Ph ot

o: P

at ric

ia E

br ey

06475_Connection_2_rev02.indd 60 9/8/12 6:27 PM

C H A P T E R f o u R

Political Division in China and the Spread of Buddhism (200–580)

The Three Kingdoms (220–265) and the Western Jin Dynasty (265–316)

Non-Chinese Dominance in the North

The Southern Dynasties

Biography: Yan Zhitui (531–591+)

The Buddhist Conquest of China

Material Culture: Cave 285 at Dunhuang

Daoist Religion

Documents: The Monastery of Eternal Tranquility

China’s four centuries of unification under the Han Dynasty were followed by four centuries when division prevailed. This Period of Division began with a stalemate among the rivals to succeed the Han, resulting in the Three Kingdoms. In 280, China was reunited by the (Western) Jin Dynasty, but peace was short-lived. After 300, Jin degenerated into civil war. For the next two and a half centuries, north China was ruled by non-Chinese dynasties (the Northern Dynasties), while the south was ruled by a sequence of four short-lived Chinese dynasties, all of which were centered in the area of the present-day city of Nanjing (the Southern Dynasties). Although Buddhism gained a remarkable hold in both north and south, the two regions developed in different directions in other ways. In the north, despite frequent ethnic conflict, a hybrid culture emerged that drew from Chinese traditions of gov- ernment administration and the military traditions of the non-Chinese rulers. In the south, although military men repeatedly seized the throne, high culture, especially the literary and visual arts, thrived among the émigré aristocrats.

The Northern Dynasties mark the first period in Chinese history when a large part of China proper was ruled by non-Chinese. Thus, scholars of this period have been particularly interested in issues of ethnicity and sinification (the process of absorbing Chinese culture). In what contexts did the Xian- bei (shyen-bay) rulers promote or discourage adoption of Chinese ways? How was conflict between Chinese and Xianbei handled? How did these experiences shape Chinese notions of cultural and ethnic identity? One by- product of warfare during this period was enormous movements of peoples, voluntary and involuntary. What was the impact of these movements on Chinese civilization? Did they promote cultural integration, countering the effects of political division? In both north and south, birth meant more dur- ing this period than it had during the Han. Did the decline in the power of the central government foster growth in hereditary status? Another central issue in the understanding of this period is the success of Buddhism. If ear- lier philosophies laid the foundation for Chinese government and society, what was the effect of the spread of fundamentally different ideas?

06475_ch04_rev02.indd 61 9/8/12 4:10 PM

62 Chapter 4 Political Division in China and the Spread of Buddhism (200–580)

the last Han emperor to abdicate and proclaimed the Wei (way) Dynasty. The old Han capital of Luoyang was retained as the Wei capital.

Cao Cao and Cao Pei wanted to reconstruct an em- pire comparable to the Han but never gained control over all the territory the Han had once held. In the central and lower Yangzi valley and farther south, the brothers Sun Ce (sun tsuh) and Sun Quan (sun chwan) established the state of Wu. A third kingdom, Shu (shoo), was established in the west, in Sichuan prov- ince, by a distant member of the Han imperial clan named Liu Bei (lyoo bay). (See Map 4.1.) Although Liu Bei’s resources could not compare with those con- trolled by Cao Pei in the north, he was aided by one of China’s most famous military strategists, Zhuge Liang (joo-ge leeahng). The competition between these rival rulers is glorified in one of the best-known stories in China, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a work of historical fiction written many centuries later.

Wei was the largest and strongest of these three kingdoms, and several of the institutional measures Wei adopted remained important for the next several centuries. Wei made the status of soldier hereditary: when a commander or a soldier was killed or unable to fight any longer, a son or brother would take his place. Soldiers’ families were classified as “military households” and treated as a group separate from or- dinary commoners. Their families were assigned land to farm, and their children were required to marry

THE THREE KiNgDoMS (220–265) AND THE WESTERN JiN DYNASTY (265–316) The Han Dynasty began to fall apart in 184 c.e. when the followers of a Daoist religious cult called the Way of Great Peace staged a major insurrection. In their efforts to seize power, hundreds of thousands of fol- lowers across the country simultaneously attacked local government offices. Although the original up- rising was suppressed within a year, other groups preaching similar doctrines rose up elsewhere in the country. To respond to these uprisings, the Han court gave generals and local officials considerable autonomy to raise their own armies. In these unset- tled conditions, they found no shortage of willing re- cruits from among refugees and the destitute. Larger armies were formed by absorbing smaller armies and their leaders. The top generals, once they no longer had rebels to suppress, turned to fighting each other, ushering in several decades of civil war. In 189, the warlord who gained control of the capital slaugh- tered more than two thousand eunuchs and took the emperor prisoner. Luoyang was sacked and burned, destroying the government libraries and archives.

By 205, Cao Cao (tsow tsow) had made himself the dominant figure in north China, even though he retained the Han emperor as a puppet. After Cao Cao’s death in 220, his son Cao Pei (tsow pay) forced

Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. Several tombs near the Eastern Jin capital at modern Nanjing have pictures of the eccentric “seven sages” depicted in the brick walls. In the example shown here, each of the figures is labeled and shown drinking, writing, or playing a musical instrument.

N an

jin g

M us

eu m

/C ul

tu ra

l R el

ic s

Pr es

06475_ch04_rev02.indd 62 9/8/12 4:10 PM

The Three Kingdoms (220–265) and the Western Jin Dynasty (265–316) 63

Wei also introduced a new system of civil service recruitment known as the Nine Rank System. Al- though intended to select men with local reputations for talent and character, this system rapidly degener- ated into a means for leading families to secure the best posts. Men whose families were ranked high did not have to start at the bottom of the bureaucratic ladder, making it considerably more likely that they would eventually rise to the highest posts.

Because Wei had more than twice the population of Shu or Wu (woo), it was able to field a much larger army and eventually prevailed. The Wei general Sima Zhao (Se-ma jow) defeated Shu in 263. Two years

into other military households. These farmers-turned- professional soldiers made good infantrymen, but Wei also needed cavalry. For that purpose, like the Han before them, they recruited Xiongnu (shyung- noo) in large numbers and settled them in southern Shanxi. To raise revenues to supply his armies, Cao Cao carved out huge state farms from land laid waste by war. He settled defeated rebels and landless poor as tenants on these farms and had them pay their rent directly to state coffers. In other words, rather than trying to raise revenues by increasing tax collection on local magnates who had many ways to resist tax col- lection, he made the state itself an enormous landlord.

QIANGQIANG

Yellow Sea

South China Sea

WUHUAN

XIANBEI DI

QIANG

WEI

SHU

Bo Hai

Luoyang Chang'an

Chengdu

Jiankang

SOUTHERNSOUTHERN

Yellow Sea

South China Sea

WESTERN TURKS

Bo Hai

Luoyang

Lungcheng

Pingcheng Zhangye

Wuwei

Dunhuang

EASTERN JIN

SOUTHERN

WESTERN

NORTHERN

SOUTHERN YAN

NORTHERN YANLIANG

WEI

XIA

Chang'an

Chengdu

Jiankang Guangu

NORTHERN WEINORTHERN WEI

Yellow Sea

South China Sea

WESTERN TURKS

RUANRUAN

Bo Hai

Luoyang

SOUTHERN QI

NORTHERN WEI

Jiankang

Yellow Sea

South China Sea

WESTERN TURKS

NORTHERN TURKS

Bo Hai

CHEN

N O R T H E R N

Z H O U

NORTHERN QI

to Chen after 573

Chang'an Jiankang

0 500 Mi.250

0 500 Km.250

0 500 Mi.250

0 500 Km.250

0 500 Mi.250

0 500 Km.250

0 500 Mi.250

0 500 Km.250

The Three Kingdoms, 250 C.E.

The Sixteen Kingdoms and Eastern Jin, 400 C.E.

Northern Wei and Southern Qi, 500 C.E.

Northern Zhou, Northern Qi and Chen, 560 C.E.

Map 4.1 Rise and Fall of States During the Period of Division

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch04_rev02.indd 63 9/8/12 4:10 PM

64 Chapter 4 Political Division in China and the Spread of Buddhism (200–580)

such topics as the meaning of “being” and its rela- tion to “nonbeing,” subjects they discussed in new commentaries on the Book of Changes, Laozi, or Zhuangzi. Witty repartee, especially apt characteriza- tions of prominent individuals, was much admired. Sophisticated aesthetes espoused “naturalness” and “spontaneity” and expressed disdain for mastery of established forms. In this environment, poetry flour- ished. Cao Cao and his two sons, Cao Pei and Cao Zhi (tsow jih), were all gifted poets. Another group of po- ets, known as the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, gained fame for shocking their contemporaries. When someone rebuked Ruan Ji (rwan jee) for talking to his sister-in-law, he replied, “Surely you do not mean to suggest that the rules of propriety apply to me?”

later, however, the general’s son Sima Yan (se-ma yen) forced the Wei emperor to abdicate in his favor, and he established the Jin Dynasty. This was the first of many dynastic transitions during this period that began with a military coup. In 279, the Jin govern- ment sent a fleet of ships down the Yangzi River from Sichuan to overwhelm Wu forces and reunify China.

Hope that Jin would be able to restore the glories of the Han Dynasty did not last long. Although Jin held almost all the territory Han had, it did not have the Han government’s administrative reach. The cen- sus of 280 recorded only 16 million people, evidence that many of those who had fled war, famine, or poverty had not been registered where they settled.

In Luoyang, the Jin Dynasty suffered from strife among the families of empresses. The powerful Jia family was suspected of arranging the assassination of an empress and more than one potential heir to the throne. Another threat came from princes of the Sima family. The Jin founder, wanting to make sure that no general could overthrow his dynasty the way he had overthrown Wei, parceled out the armies and enor- mous tracts of land to his own relatives. By the time he died in 290, more than half the regional armies were controlled by eight princes. Before long, their bloody struggles for dominance degenerated into gen- eral civil war. In 300, one prince marched his army to Luoyang, deposed the emperor, and took his place. One prince after another controlled the capital, but only as long as his army was able to withstand the armies of his opponents. By the end of 304, governors leading locally raised militia forces had been drawn into the fray. By this point, the princes with fiefs in the north were incorporating more and more non- Chinese into their armies. When an army of Xianbei warriors took Chang’an in 306, they pillaged the city, reportedly slaughtering twenty thousand residents. By 307, only one of the original princes still survived, and little was left of the state. With the collapse of control from the center, people everywhere began building fortifications, taking up arms to defend themselves, or fleeing in search of safer places to live. With banditry endemic, both disease and famine spread.

These decades of warfare shaped the intellectual out- look of the educated elite. The late Han had marked a high point in political activism, when many risked their lives and careers to oppose the domination of the court by eunuchs or consort families. When politics took a turn for the worse after 184, many educated men gave up the effort to participate in government.

The philosophically inclined turned to the Daoist- inspired “Study of the Mysterious,” which concerned

The Art of Calligraphy. Wang Xizhi, from one of the most eminent aristocratic families of the eastern Jin dynasty, came to be considered the greatest of Chinese calligraphers. His writing was admired for its grace, forcefulness, and subtle modulations.

Th e

M us

eu m

o f t

he Im

pe ria

l C ol

le ct

io ns

, J ap

06475_ch04_rev02.indd 64 9/8/12 4:10 PM

Non-Chinese Dominance in the North 65

plundering as they went, moved south through Shanxi to the gates of Luoyang in 308–309.

Another important non-Chinese leader during this period was a much less sinified Jie tribesman named Shi Le (shih luh). Shi Le had been sold into slavery by a Jin official. After gaining his freedom, he led a group of mounted brigands made up of escaped slaves and others on the margins of society, some of whom were Chinese. Early in these wars, Shi Le al- lied with Liu Yuan, and it was Shi Le’s troops who captured and plundered Luoyang in 311. In 319, Shi Le broke with the Liu family and proclaimed himself king of Zhao. Within a decade, he had destroyed the Liu forces.

The regimes set up in the fourth century by vari- ous non-Chinese contenders did not have the institu- tional infrastructure to administer large territories. When they defeated a Chinese fortress, they normal- ly gave the local strongman the title of governor and claimed him as part of their government. This was a fragile system because the recently incorporated gov- ernor could easily change sides again.

The regimes established by Liu Yuan and Shi Le drew sharp distinctions between Chinese and non- Chinese. In essence, the non-Chinese were the rulers and the soldiers, while the Chinese were the subjects, who were expected to grow grain, pay taxes, and pro- vide labor service. Enemy generals who surrendered were incorporated into the tribally organized mili- tary structure, still leading their old troops. Chinese soldiers were often incorporated into these armies, but usually as porters or infantry, not cavalry. Be- cause much of north China had been depopulated, securing labor was more important than gaining land. Many campaigns were essentially slave raids, with those captured sent back to the victor’s capital. Not surprising, most of the Chinese population saw none of these regimes as legitimate. Ethnic conflict flared from time to time. Different groups of refu- gees on the roads often robbed and murdered each other. When an adopted son succeeded to the Shi line in 350, he reverted to his Chinese identity and called for the slaughter of non-Chinese, which his Chinese subjects carried out with a vengeance.

During these decades, Chinese in the north faced a leadership crisis. Some scholars estimate that 60 percent of the elite of government officials and landowners fled south between 311 and 325, most of them taking relatives, retainers, and neighbors with them. Those who did not move south often took their followers to nearby hilltops, which they fortified in order to defend against marauders.

NoN-CHiNESE DoMiNANCE iN THE NoRTH After the breakdown of Jin, non-Chinese seized power in north China. Why did this happen? One answer is military technology. The invention of the stirrup in about 300 c.e. made cavalry more crucial in warfare. The stirrup gave heavily armored rid- ers greater stability and freedom of motion. From this time on, horses and their riders began wearing heavy armor, giving them more striking power and the ability to engage in shock combat. By the fourth century, sources mention the capture of thousands of armored horses in a single battle.

Another reason is that Xiongnu and other north- ern auxiliary troops had been settled within China proper ever since Han times. Most of these groups retained their tribal social structures and pastoral way of life but settled into specific territories. After Cao Cao defeated the Wuhuan (woo-hwahn) in 207, he moved many of them to interior counties and in- corporated many of their men into his armies. Jin followed similar policies, in 284–285, moving about 130,000 surrendered Xiongnu to the interior. The non-Chinese soldiers were often dissatisfied with their conditions, and ethnic friction was not uncom- mon. In some areas of north China, the non-Chinese came to outnumber the Han Chinese. One Chinese writer claimed that in the region around Chang’an, the Chinese had become the minority.

Although many of these ethnic groups had been part of the Xiongnu confederation, they reasserted their distinct identities (such as Wuhuan, Xian- bei, and Di) after it collapsed. But these identities continued to be flexible. Xiongnu who settled among the Xianbei, for instance, would in time call themselves Xianbei. As disorder worsened in the first years of the fourth century, uprisings of Xiongnu, Di (dee), and Qiang (chyahng) occurred in scattered sites. The most threatening of these was the upris- ing of the Xiongnu chieftain Liu Yuan in 304. Liu Yuan was literate in Chinese and had spent part of his youth at the court in Luoyang. His familiarity with Chinese culture only made him resent Chinese policies toward the Xiongnu more strongly. When a prince sought his help in the civil war, Liu declared himself king of Han and made a bid for the throne as an heir to the Han Dynasty (from which his an- cestors had received the Han imperial surname). On his campaigns, he incorporated bands of bandits, in- cluding both Chinese and non-Chinese. His armies,

06475_ch04_rev02.indd 65 9/8/12 4:10 PM

66 Chapter 4 Political Division in China and the Spread of Buddhism (200–580)

and announced the plan to build his capital there. By 495, about 150,000 Xianbei and other northern warriors had been moved south to fill the ranks of the imperial guards in Luoyang. Xiaowen also wel- comed refugees or defectors from the south, such as Wang Su of the aristocratic Langye (lahng-yeh) Wang family, who was put to work on the reorgani- zation of the bureaucracy. To make southerners feel at home at the palace, they were served tea, newly popular in the south, rather than the yogurt-like drinks consumed in the north. Behind what appear to be pro-Chinese measures may well have been a new ambition to conquer the south and unite China.

Within twenty-five years, Luoyang became a mag- nificent city again, with a half-million residents, vast palaces, elegant mansions, and more than a thousand Buddhist temples. It had a district where foreign trad- ers lived and another occupied by rich merchants and craftsmen. Many members of the Xianbei nobility became culturally dual, fully proficient in Chinese cultural traditions and comfortable interacting with the leading Chinese families while still consuming

The Northern Wei and Hybrid Xianbei-Chinese Culture

By 400, the rising power in the north was the North- ern Wei state founded by the Tuoba (taw-bah) clan of the Xianbei. From its base in northern Shanxi, Northern Wei established dominance on the steppe to the north, which gave it the advantage of access to the horses and horsemen of the steppe. Gradually Wei defeated the other states set up by other Xianbei clans and, in 439, reunified north China after more than a century of constant conflict.

Like their rivals, the Xianbei sent raiding parties to seize captives, horses, cattle, and sheep from other tribes or from Chinese settlements. Wei forced the relo- cation of thousands of Chinese to populate their capi- tal and bring deserted land into cultivation. To avoid being overwhelmed by the numerically dominant Chi- nese, the early Wei rulers kept their capital at Pingcheng in north Shanxi. Xianbei warriors were settled nearby and made their living as herdsmen rather than as farm- ers. The army remained a north Asian preserve, with Chinese usually playing only support roles.

As the fifth century progressed, the Xianbei learned how to draw wealth from Chinese farmers. To collect taxes, the Xianbei rulers turned to educat- ed Chinese, whom they employed as officials. They put into place the institutions these Chinese advisers proposed based on Chinese experience. In the late fifth century, the Northern Wei rulers adopted an “equal-field” system to distribute land to farmers and increase production. The state claimed exclusive right to distribute land. Allotments were made to families based primarily on their labor power, with extra for officials and nobles based on rank.

The policy of keeping Chinese and Xianbei separate was abandoned by Emperor Xiaowen (shyow-won) (r. 471–499). Born to a Chinese mother, Xiaowen wanted to unite the Chinese and Xianbei elites, and beginning in 493, he initiated a radical program of sinification. He banned the wearing of Xianbei clothes at court, re- quired all Xianbei officials below the age of thirty to speak Chinese at court, and encouraged intermarriage between the highest-ranking families of the Chinese and Xianbei elites. He gave Xianbei new single-charac- ter surnames, which made them sound less foreign. The imperial house itself took the name Yuan (“primal”).

The court itself was moved three hundred miles south to the site of the Han and Jin capital of Luoyang. This transfer was accomplished by sub- terfuge. Emperor Xiaowen mobilized his army for an invasion of the south, but he halted at Luoyang

Mounted Warrior. The Hulü family, who were Xianbei, produced several notable generals and were given noble rank. This ceramic figurine of a warrior was placed in the tomb of Hulü Che (562–595) near Taiyuan.

Sh an

xi In

st itu

te o

f A rc

ha eo

lo gy

/C ul

tu ra

l R el

ic s

Pr es

06475_ch04_rev02.indd 66 9/8/12 4:10 PM

The Southern Dynasties 67

declared a new dynasty, known as the Northern Qi (551–577). The Yuwen regime kept a Wei prince a little longer (Western Wei, 535–556), but eventually declared itself the founders of a new dynasty, called the Northern Zhou (557–580).

Gao Huan tried to convince both Chinese and Xianbei that it made sense for the Xianbei to do the fighting and the Chinese the farming. To the Xianbei he would say, “The Han are your slaves. The men till for you; the women weave for you. They provide you with grain and silk so that you are warm and well fed. For what reason do you bully them?” To Han Chinese he would say, “The Xianbei are your retain- ers. For a single measure of your grain and a single length of your silk they attack the bandits so that you are safe. For what reason do you regard them as a scourge?”* Ethnic strife continued, however, and there were several bloody purges of Chinese officials.

In the west, the Xianbei were not so numerous, and Yuwen Tai had to find ways to incorporate Chinese into his armies and his government. He encouraged intermarriage and bestowed Xianbei surnames on his leading Chinese officials, making them honorary Xianbei. The Chinese who joined him were mostly men of action who loved to hunt and take the lead in military ventures.

It was in this environment that the multiethnic mi- litia system, called the divisional militia (fubing), was created. The households of the soldiers enrolled in it were removed from the regular tax registers and put on the army registers. Such registration carried hon- orable status. Soldiers of these armies served in rota- tion as guards at the imperial palace, helping them identify with the dynasty.

With this army, Northern Zhou began expanding, taking Sichuan away from the south in 553 and parts of the middle Yangzi about the same time. In 577, this army defeated Northern Qi, reunifying the north.

THE SouTHERN DYNASTiES Among those who fled the confusion that followed the sacking of Luoyang in 311 and Chang’an in 316 were members of the Jin royal house and its high officials. At Nanjing (then called Jiankang, jyen- kahng), these refugees created a government in ex- ile after putting a Jin prince on the throne. Because

*From Sima Guang’s Zizhi tongjian, cited in David A. Graff, Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300–900 (London: Routledge, 2002), p. 107.

dairy products and enjoying hunting as recreation. So many southerners had been welcomed at Luoyang that there was a district known as Wu quarter, where more than three thousand families lived, complete with their own fish and turtle market.

The Revolt of the garrisons and the Division of the North

This period of prosperity was cut short in 523, only a generation after the relocation, when the Xianbei who remained in the north rebelled. In the wars that ensued, hostility based on ethnicity repeatedly add- ed to the violence. With the transfer of the Xianbei elite to Luoyang, the garrison forces saw their status plummet to hardly better than that of hereditary mili- tary households. When a shortage of food at the gar- risons sparked rebellion, the government moved two hundred thousand surrendered garrison rebels to He- bei (huh-bay), where food supplies were more plenti- ful. This course of action proved to be a colossal mis- take. In 526–527, a former garrison officer organized the displaced rebels into a much more potent force.

The Wei court then turned to one of its generals to deal with the new uprising, but he soon turned on the court. The thousand-plus officials who came out of the city to tender their submission were slaughtered by this general, who had the empress dowager and her new child emperor thrown in the Yellow River. He then installed his own puppet Wei emperor.

Struggles of this sort continued for years. In the east, power was seized by Gao Huan (gow hwan). Gao’s grandfather was a Han Chinese official who had been exiled to the northern garrisons, and Gao had grown up in poverty, not even owning a horse until he married into a Xianbei family. He was one of the two hundred thousand frontiersmen relocated to Hebei because of the famine, and he took charge of this group in 531. Because of his dual background, he could appeal to both Chinese and Xianbei.

Luoyang soon fell to Gao Huan, but the region of Chang’an was in the hands of rival forces. The central figure there was Yuwen Tai (yew-won ty), not yet thirty years old. Yuwen Tai too came from the garrisons, but his father had organized a loyal- ist militia to resist the rebels. The struggle between Gao Huan and Yuwen Tai and their successors last- ed forty years: neither could dislodge the other, even though they set off with armies of one hundred thou- sand or more troops. The Gao regime maintained a Tuoba prince on the throne until 550 (thus leading to the dynastic name Eastern Wei, 534–550), then

06475_ch04_rev02.indd 67 9/8/12 4:10 PM

68 Chapter 4 Political Division in China and the Spread of Buddhism (200–580)

themselves as maintaining the high culture of the Han but judged themselves and others on the basis of their ancestors. They married only with families of equivalent pedigree and compiled lists and gene- alogies of the most eminent families. At court they often looked down on the emperors of the succes- sive dynasties as military upstarts. They dominated the Nine Rank System and used it to appoint men from their families to government service. One of the sharpest critics of the southern aristocrats was Yan Zhitui (see Biography: Yan Zhitui). As he saw it, be- cause life was easy for the southern aristocrats, they saw no need to study. When important affairs were discussed, “they sit with foolish looks and widely- opened mouths as if sitting in a cloud or fog.” When conversation turned to history or they were asked to compose poems, “they silently hang their heads, yawning and stretching, unable to say anything.”* Members of the Liang royal family were even worse, he charged, perfuming their garments, shaving their faces, using powder and rouge, sitting on cushions and leaning on soft silk bolsters, and getting others to compose their poems for them. Once their dynasty fell, they had no skills to fall back on.

The most outstanding emperor in the south was Emperor Wu (woo) of Liang (r. 502–549). He was not only a major patron of Buddhism but also a patron of literature and the arts. A prolific poet him- self, he summoned learned men to court and would order his courtiers to compose and recite poems, rewarding the most successful with gifts of gold or silk. His sons were also ardent patrons, several estab- lishing literary salons of their own. The eldest son, Xiao Tong (shyow tung), was an avid book collec- tor with 30,000 scrolls of books, which he drew on when he compiled an anthology of 761 great writ- ings organized by genre, the Selections of Literature (Wen xuan).

Not long after Emperor Wu’s death, the south- ern court was hard hit by the rebellion of Hou Jing (hoe jing), a would-be warlord from the north who had gathered a huge army and set siege to Nanjing. The siege lasted four months, by which time many members of the great families had starved to death in their mansions. A general declared a new dynasty, Chen, but he could do little more than confirm local strongmen as his governors.

*Ssu-yu Teng, trans., Family Instructions of the Yen Clan (Leiden: Brill, 1968), pp. 52–53.

Nanjing is east of Luoyang, the second phase of the Jin Dynasty is called the Eastern Jin (317–420), reminiscent of the Western and Eastern Zhou and the Western and Eastern Han. It was followed by four short dynasties that ruled from Nanjing (the Song [sung], Qi [Chee], Liang, and Chen, collective- ly termed the Southern Dynasties, 420–589). The Yangzi River was the great battlefield of the south, with flotillas of ships sailing from the middle Yangzi to attack forces holding Nanjing, or vice versa. None of the successive Southern Dynasties was fully able to keep its military commanders under control, even when they were imperial relatives. One dynasty after another was founded when a general seized the capital and installed himself as emperor. These gen- erals were strong enough to hold their governments together during their lifetimes but were not able to concentrate power in ways that would ensure successful transfers of power to their heirs. If they had several sons, those sons often ended up killing each other.

Maintaining an adequate supply of soldiers was a constant challenge for the Southern Dynasties. The Jin tried to continue its earlier practice of designating certain households as military households, but the status of military households fell precipitously until they were looked on as little better than state slaves, making desertion a constant problem. Generals sometimes resorted to campaigns against the south- ern non-Chinese to capture men and make them into soldiers (analogous to the slave raids of the north, this time with the Chinese as the raiders).

Aristocratic Culture

The south experienced considerable economic de- velopment during the Southern Dynasties, as new lands were opened and trade networks extended. Trade with countries in the South Seas expanded, especially Funan and Champa (in today’s Cambodia and Vietnam), where Chinese came into contact with merchants from India and even farther west.

Social cleavages were pronounced in the south, with deep divisions between the northern émigrés and the local elite; between the aristocrats, who pre- ferred to stay at court, and the generals given the task of defending against the north and maintaining the peace; and between Han Chinese, living in the river valleys, and various indigenous peoples, who largely retreated to upland areas. The aristocracy dominated the upper ranks of officialdom. These families saw

06475_ch04_rev02.indd 68 9/8/12 4:10 PM

The Southern Dynasties 69

came to play a distinctive cultural role as exemplars of the complex individual, moved by conflicting but pow- erful emotions. Cao Cao’s son Cao Zhi (192–232) was one of the first poets to create such a persona. Chaf- ing at the restrictions his brother the emperor placed on him, he poured out his feelings into his verse.

Poetry, Calligraphy, and Painting as Arts of Men of Letters

During the Period of Division, men of letters developed poetry, calligraphy, and painting into arts through which they could express their thoughts and feelings. Poets

Yan Zhitui (531–591+)B I O G R A P H Y Many people were dislocated during the Period of Division, but few were dislocated as many times as Yan Zhitui (yen jih-tway). The Yan family was one of the émigré families that had left north China in 317, and thereafter it continu- ously supplied officials for the Southern Dynasties. Yan’s grandfather, out of loy- alty to the Qi Dynasty, starved himself to death when Emperor Wu of Liang usurped the throne in 502. Yan’s father,

however, served at Emperor Wu’s court. When his fa- ther died, Yan Zhitui was only nine, so his elder brother was responsible for much of his education. in his teens Yan himself became a court attendant of one of the Liang princes. When Yan was eighteen years old, the rebel Hou Jing captured him and the prince he served, and they narrowly escaped execution.

in 552, Yan went with this prince to Jiangling in Hubei (hoo-bay), where the prince set up a rival court. in 554, however, the northern state of Western Wei captured Jiangling, and Yan, at age twenty-four, was one of the one hundred thousand people enslaved and brought north to Chang’an. Two years later, he and his family managed to escape and make their way east, hoping to return to Liang. By this time, however, Liang had been overthrown. unwilling to serve the successor state of Chen, Yan Zhitui stayed in the northeast, where the Northern Qi rulers gave him court appointments for the next two decades. in 577, Northern Qi was defeated by the Northern Zhou, and Yan, now forty-six years old, was again forced to move, this time back to Chang’an. He ap- parently did not serve at court for the next couple of years and seems to have faced poverty during this period. After the Sui Dynasty was founded in 581, Yan was given scholarly posts, working on a new dictionary and related projects.

in the twenty-chapter book of advice Yan wrote for his sons, he frequently commented on his experiences. He said his elder brother had not been

strict enough with him, letting him develop bad habits that took years to overcome. He stressed to his sons the importance of a solid literary educa- tion; it was because he had skills that he had gained court posts under the Northern Qi. Less literate men who had faced the same dislocations had ended up working on farms or tending horses, even though their ancestors had been officials for centuries.

Yan Zhitui also recommended mastering calligra- phy, painting, and lute playing, though he warned that those who became too good might be hu- miliated by being forced by those of higher rank to produce on demand. He said he had spent many hours copying model pieces of calligraphy, including the ten scrolls in his family’s collection done by the fourth-century masters Wang Xizhi (wahng shee-jih) and his son Wang Xianzhi (wahng shyen-jih).

Although Yan Zhitui’s advice to his sons shows him committed to the study of the Confucian clas- sics and the Confucian ideal of service to the ruler, he also had strong faith in Buddhism and included a chapter defending Buddhism against its critics. He wanted Buddhist services after his death and told his sons to omit meat from the traditional ances- tral offerings. Because he expected his sons to marry and have children, he did not urge them to become monks, but he did encourage them to “attend to the chanting and reading of the sacred books and thereby provide for passage to your future state of existence. incarnation as a human is difficult to at- tain. Do not pass through yours in vain!”*

Questions for Analysis 1. How many times did Yan move? How many of those

moves were involuntary? 2. Why would the Northern Qi and Sui courts offer court

posts to a southerner who had been brought north as a slave?

*Ssu-yu Teng, trans., Family Instructions of the Yen Clan (Leiden: Brill, 1968), p. 148.

06475_ch04_rev02.indd 69 9/8/12 4:10 PM

70 Chapter 4 Political Division in China and the Spread of Buddhism (200–580)

was also during this period that works that criti- cized and ranked individual poets, calligraphers, and painters began to appear.

THE BuDDHiST CoNQuEST of CHiNA Why did Buddhism find so many adherents in China during the three centuries after the fall of the Han Dynasty in 220? There were no forced conversions. China’s initial contact with Central Asia in Western Han times did not lead to significant spread of ear- lier religions of the region such as Zoroastrianism. Moreover, several basic Buddhist teachings ran up against long-established Chinese customs. In par- ticular, becoming a monk involved giving up one’s surname and the chance to have descendants, thus cutting oneself off from the ancestral cult.

On the positive side, Buddhism benefited from the dedication of missionaries who traveled east from Central Asia along the Silk Road (see Connections: Buddhism in India and Its Spread Along the Silk Road). The miracles these missionaries could work also found them followers. Fotudeng, a missionary from Central Asia who arrived in China in 310, con- verted the violence-prone non-Chinese ruler Shi Le by performing magic; once he filled a prayer bowl with water, then made a blue lotus flower emerge from it. Still, Buddhism’s message also attracted people. In a rough and tumultuous age, Buddhism offered an ap- pealing emphasis on kindness, charity, the preserva- tion of life, and the prospect of salvation.

The monastic establishment grew rapidly after 300, with generous patronage by rulers, their relatives, and other members of the elite. By 477 there were said to be 6,478 Buddhist temples and 77,258 monks and nuns in the north. Some decades later, south China had 2,846 temples and 82,700 clerics. Those not ready to become monks or nuns could pursue Buddhist goals as pious laypeople by performing devotional acts and making contributions toward the construction or beautification of temples. Devotional groups were often organized around particular scriptures, such as the Lotus Sutra, the Pure Land Sutra, or the Holy Teachings of Vimalakirti. New sutras were written in China, “apocryphal” ones that masked their Chinese authorship by purporting to be translations of Indian works. Some of these texts were incorporated into the Buddhist canon; others were suppressed by the state or the Buddhist establishment as subversive.

In China, women turned to Buddhism as readily as men did. Although incarnation as a female was

Another poet whose persona is as important as his poems is Tao Qian (tow chyen) (or Tao Yuanming, 365–427). At times Tao expressed high ambitions, at other times the desire to be left alone. Once when hold- ing a minor post, he quit rather than entertain a visit- ing inspector, explaining, “How could I bend my waist to this village buffoon for five pecks of rice!” Many of Tao’s poems express Daoist sentiments such as “exces- sive thinking harms life” or “propriety and conventions, what folly to follow them too earnestly.” By the age of forty, Tao gave up office altogether and supported himself by farming. He was not a hermit, however, and continued to enjoy friends and family. His poems often express his enjoyment of wine, books, and music:

I try a cup and all my concerns become remote.

Another cup and suddenly I forget even Heaven.

But is Heaven really far from this state?

Nothing is better than to trust your true self.*

In the somewhat rarefied atmosphere of the ar- istocracy in Nanjing, calligraphy came to be recog- nized as an art almost on a par with poetry. Because calligraphy was believed to reflect the writer’s char- acter and mood, the calligraphy of men of refinement and education was assumed to be superior to that of technically proficient clerks. Calligraphy was writ- ten with a highly pliable hairbrush, and the strength, balance, and flow of the strokes were believed to convey the writer’s inner self. To attain a good hand took discipline because one had to copy works by established masters for years before even thinking of developing a distinctive style. Pieces of calligra- phy by former masters thus came to be treasured as works of art. With collecting also came forgeries and debates about authenticity. Works by Wang Xizhi (307–365) were highly prized even in his own day. Admirers would borrow pieces of his calligraphy to make tracing copies; before long, copies were much more numerous than original products of his hand.

Once calligraphy came to be considered an appro- priate art for the educated class, painting gained a similar status. Paintings came to be associated with known, named painters whose talents were com- pared and ranked. The most famous of these painters was Gu Kaizhi (goo ky-jih) (344–406), who painted portraits of many of the notable men of his day. It

06475_ch04_rev02.indd 70 9/8/12 4:10 PM

The Buddhist Conquest of China 71

her father that the illness was probably caused by deeds done in a former life, making medicine useless. They should instead single-mindedly turn to the bod- hisattva Guanyin. After seven days of devotions, she had a vision of a golden image and then recovered.

Buddhism had an enormous impact on the visual arts in China, especially sculpture and painting. Ear- lier Chinese had rarely depicted gods in human form, but now Buddhist temples were furnished with a pro- fusion of images. The great cave temples at Yungang (yun-gahng), sponsored by the Northern Wei rulers in the fifth century, contain huge Buddha figures in stone, the tallest a standing Buddha about seventy feet high. Further west, in Dunhuang, the original painted plaster of Buddhist caves has often survived, giving testimony to the great accomplishment of art- ists (see Material Culture: Cave 285 at Dunhuang).

None of the great Buddhist temples in the capi- tals survive, but texts describe them as large and lav- ishly decorated (see Documents: The Monastery of Eternal Tranquility). These temples became sites of

considered lower than incarnation as a male, it was also viewed as temporary, and women were encour- aged to pursue salvation on terms nearly equal to men. Joining a nunnery became an alternative for women who did not want to marry or did not want to stay with their husband’s families in widowhood. In 516, the first set of biographies of Buddhist nuns was compiled. Most of the nuns described in it came from upper-class families, but they entered the con- vent for varied reasons. Huiyao (hway-yow), who entered the convent as a child, had herself immolated as an offering to the Three Treasures (the Buddha; the sanga, or body of monks and nuns; and the teachings). Miaoxiang (myow-shyahng), with her father’s approv- al, left her unfilial husband to enter a convent. Tanhui, after study with a foreign meditation master beginning at age eleven, threatened suicide if forced to marry her fiancé. After her fiancé tried to abduct her, the foreign meditation master solicited funds to compensate him. The nun Xuanzao (shwan-tsow) entered the convent after a miraculous cure at age ten. A monk had told

M A T E R I A L C U L T U R E

Cave 285 at Dunhuang

D un

hu an

g A

ca de

m y/

Cu ltu

ra l R

el ic

s Pr

es s

in 523, Prince Dongyang, a member of the Northern Wei royal house, was sent to Dun- huang to serve as its governor. During his fifteen-year tenure, he and a group of wealthy local families commissioned a new cave to be dug and decorated at the temple complex out- side town, where the Buddhist faithful had been constructing and decorating caves along a cliff face for a century.

The cave the prince sponsored, cave 285, has as its central figure a statue of the historical Buddha seated (see Color Plate 5). He is flanked by figures of crossed-legged meditating monks who wear traditional monks’ robes made of patchwork, symbolizing their indifference to ma- terial goods. other monks are depicted on the walls. Temple guardians fill the lower reaches of the walls, heavenly beings the upper reaches.

Meditating Monk. On either side of the main image is a side niche with a statue of a cross-legged monk.

06475_ch04_rev02.indd 71 9/8/12 4:10 PM

72 Chapter 4 Political Division in China and the Spread of Buddhism (200–580)

dazzling ceremonies. For the Great Blessing ceremo- ny held in Luoyang on the seventh day of the fourth month, all the Buddhist statues in the city, more than a thousand altogether, were brought to the largest monastery, where music and incense filled the air and entertainers performed to amuse the crowds.

Buddhism also provided the Chinese with a new reason to travel. Chinese monks made pilgrimages to India to see the holy places of Buddhism and seek out learned teachers. The first pilgrim to leave a record of his journey is Faxian (fah-shyen), who left Chang’an in 399, when he was already over sixty years old. His trip west was overland, through Kucha, Khotan, and Kashgar, into the Indus Valley and then the cities of the Ganges Valley. On his return, he took ship in the Bay of Bengal and stopped in Sri Lanka and then in Sumatra, reaching Guangzhou in 412. By 414 he was back in Nanjing, where he set to work translating the sutras he had carried back with him.

One of the greatest royal patrons of Buddhism dur- ing this period was Emperor Wu of Liang (r. 502–549). Although he had studied Daoism as a young man, in 504 he urged his family and officials to give it up. Out of Buddhist faith he banished meat and wine from pal- ace banquets. He also found a new way to divert court funds to Buddhism: in 527 he entered a monastery and refused to return to the throne until his officials paid a large “ransom” to the monastery. Two years later, Emperor Wu repeated this pious act, hoping that it would help save his people from a deadly plague that was spreading at that time.

In contrast to medieval Europe, where the church asserted that secular governments had no authority to interfere in religious matters, in China the governments successfully claimed the authority to regulate Buddhist clergy and monastic establishments. In response to crit- ics who charged that Buddhism threatened the state because monastery land was not taxed and monks per- formed neither labor service nor military duty, rulers in the north twice ordered the closing of monasteries and the return of monks and nuns to lay life. Neither of these suppressions lasted long, however, and there were no attempts to suppress Buddhist belief.

DAoiST RELigioN At the same time that Buddhism was gaining con- verts, the Daoist religion was undergoing extraordi- nary growth. This religion had many roots: popular religious movements; the elite pursuit of immortality;

and, after the third century, the model of Buddhism with its sacred scriptures and celibate clergy. Al- though some Daoist masters became influential at court, most governments maintained a cautious re- serve toward the Daoist religion, aware of the con- nection between Daoism and uprisings at the end of the Han. Daoism thus was never the recipient of gov- ernment patronage on the lavish scale of Buddhism.

The Daoism of elite devotees was generally an indi- vidual practice aimed at bodily immortality in a kind of indestructible “astral body.” One strove for this through dietary control, gymnastics, good deeds, mys- tic self-identification with the all-embracing Dao, and visualization of the innumerable gods and spirits that dwelled inside the microcosm of the body. Many of the most famous men of letters of the period were devoted to such practices. Ge Hong (guh hung) (283–343), for instance, tried to convince his readers that immortality could be achieved and wrote on alchemy, breathing and meditation exercises, exorcism, sexual hygiene, herbalism, and talismanic charms. Ge gave a recipe for an elixir called gold cinnabar and described methods for walking on water and raising the dead.

The fall of Luoyang and the retreat of so many members of the northern elite to the south had a major impact on the development of Daoism. Priests from the north came into contact with local tradi- tions of esoteric learning in the south. A series of rev- elations led to the writing down of a large number of scriptures. These texts formed the core first of the Supreme Purity sect and later of the rival Numinous Treasure sect. By the end of the Period of Division, Daoism had its own canons of scriptures, much influenced by Buddhist models but constituting an independent religious tradition.

At the local level, popular collective forms of Daoism continued to thrive. Local masters would or- ganize communal ceremonies for their parishioners. Incantations, music, fasting, and the display of penance and remorse would bring about the collec- tive elimination of sins, which were seen as the main cause of sickness and premature death. According to the indignant reports of their Buddhist adversaries, Daoist ceremonies lasted days and nights and were ecstatic, sometimes even orgiastic. The participation of both men and women may explain the common allegation of sexual excesses at these ceremonies.

In the early centuries, Daoist priests usually mar- ried, and the office of Daoist master was hereditary. With the great success of Buddhism, some Daoist leaders introduced celibacy and monastic life in the

06475_ch04_rev02.indd 72 9/8/12 4:10 PM

Daoist Religion 73

D O C U M E N T S

The Monastery of Eternal Tranquility was built by Empress Dowager Hu (hoo) in 516. . . . Within its walls was a nine-story wooden pagoda 900 feet tall; with the metal spire above it, its top was 1,000 feet above the ground. The pagoda could be seen from 100 li away. When the foundations were dug, thirty metal statues were found, which the Empress Dowager took as a response to her faith in Buddhism and used as a reason to build the monastery on such an immoderate scale.

on the top of the spire was a jewel-studded metal jar, large enough to hold twenty-five bushels. under it were thirty metal plates for catching dew, which had metal bells hang- ing from them. iron chains stretched from the pole to the four corners of the pagoda. Metal bells as big as bushel measures hung from the chains. Bells also hung from the cor- ners of each of the nine stories, adding up to 120 bells in all.

The pagoda was square, with three doors and six windows on each side. The doors were painted red and embellished with five rows of metal studs on each of the twelve doors’ twenty-four leaves, for a total of 5,400 studs. There were also metal rings as knockers. The quality of the construction, the skill of the de- sign, and the marvels of the Buddhist art were all beyond comprehension. The painted pillars and metal knockers captivated the viewer. At night when the wind was strong, the music of the bells could be heard more than ten li away.

North of the pagoda was the Buddha Hall, similar in design to the palace’s Hall of the great ultimate. in it was an 18-foot tall metal statue, ten life-sized metal statues, three stat- ues embellished with pearls, five made of wire,

and two of jade, all exceptionally finely made, the best of the age. The other buildings, in- cluding the monks’ quarters, came to more than a thousand room-units. They were deco- rated with carved beams and painted walls; their doors and windows were painted blue; it was beautiful beyond description. Touching the eaves were junipers, cypresses, pine, and cedar trees; near the steps were fragrant herbs. . . .

When the decoration of the monastery was completed, Emperor Ming and the Em- press Dowager ascended the pagoda. They looked down at the palace, which seemed small enough to fit in their palms. The whole capital seemed no bigger than a courtyard. People were prohibited from climbing the pa- goda because from it one could see into the palace. . . .

in 528, [the general] Erzhu Rong (er-joo rung) quartered his troops and horses in the monastery. . . . in 530, the rebel Er- zhu Zhao (er-joo jow) imprisoned Emperor Zhuang (jwahng) in the monastery. . . . in the second month of 534, the pagoda was destroyed by fire. . . . Everyone, monks and lay people, came out to watch the blaze, their sobs shaking the city. Three monks threw themselves into the fire and died. it took more than three months for the fire to burn out. Translated from Yang Xuan- zhi, Luoyang qielan ji jiaozhu (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1958), 1–12, by Patricia Ebrey.

Questions for Analysis 1. What features of the monastery did the author

think especially notable? 2. Is it significant that a woman arranged for the

construction of this monastery?

After the Northern Wei moved their capital to Luoyang in 493, the city grew rapidly. Within twenty years, about a half million people had moved there and some one thousand Buddhist temples had been built. Luoyang was no longer after 534, leading to a rapid decline of the city. In 547, Yang Xuanzhi (yahng shwan-jih), on a visit to Luoyang, was so moved by his memories of its former glories that he wrote a five-chapter book on the city and its famous monasteries. He began his account with the Monastery of Eternal Tranquility, just south of the palace.

The Monastery of Eternal Tranquility

06475_ch04_rev02.indd 73 9/8/12 4:10 PM

74 Chapter 4 Political Division in China and the Spread of Buddhism (200–580)

four short dynasties founded by generals who were generally not strong enough to set up institutions that would ensure the survival of the dynasty much after their deaths. Nevertheless, the Southern Dynasties were an era of cultural and economic advance. Agri- culture and trade both expanded as people found bet- ter ways to exploit the natural resources of the south. Several rulers became major patrons of learning and literature. The capacity of poetry, calligraphy, and painting to express personal feelings was expanded by a series of highly creative masters. In both north and south, Buddhism rapidly gained adherents. Mon- asteries and convents were built in large numbers in both regions, often with royal patronage. Buddhism was intellectually appealing to the educated, and rul- ers welcomed it as a tool to unite Chinese and non- Chinese citizens. Laymen not only contributed to the support of temples and their clergy but also could join devotional groups, some centering on particu- lar sutras such as the Lotus Sutra. Buddhism offered new opportunities to women as nuns and let them pursue enlightenment on terms almost equal to men. Central Asian traditions of depicting Buddhas, Bod- hisattvas, and monks in wall paintings and sculpture had an enormous impact on the visual arts in China. The great success of Buddhism also stimulated the development of Daoism, which during this period ac- quired a large set of revealed scriptures. Buddhist and Daoist clergy often competed for political favor and engaged in bitter polemics against the other.

How much did China change over the course of the Period of Division? China in the late sixth cen- tury was not more populous or larger, but it had changed in other fundamental ways. Buddhism had gained wide acceptance among people of all social levels and was transforming the landscape with its temples and monuments. Because of the popular- ity of Buddhism, Chinese civilization became much more closely tied to other parts of Asia. Daoism responded to Buddhism’s challenge and acquired a large body of texts and monastic institutions. The great migrations from north to south also meant that more and more land in the south was cultivated by Han Chinese farmers, putting pressure on non- Han indigenous peoples to withdraw or assimilate. The north absorbed a huge influx of non-Chinese peoples, leading to both sporadic ethnic conflict and more complicated notions of Chinese identity. Non- Chinese rule did not dim the memory of the great- ness of the Han Dynasty but it showed that non- Chinese rulers could build strong states.

sixth century. Daoist monasteries, however, never acquired the economic power of Buddhist ones.

Daoist borrowings from Buddhism did not lead to reconciliation of the two religions. To the contrary, each engaged in bitter polemics against the other throughout this period. Moreover, Daoist masters helped instigate some of the anti-Buddhist persecu- tions. As an answer to Buddhist claims of superiori- ty, Daoist masters asserted that the Buddha had been merely a manifestation of Laozi, who had preached to the Indians a debased form of Daoism, which nat- urally China did not need to reimport.

SuMMARY After the fall of the Han Dynasty, political division prevailed in China for most of the next four cen- turies. It was not that the elite lost the belief that a unified China was desirable, but rather that no single military man was able to put together an army that could defeat all of his rivals. During the first phase of the Three Kingdoms and Western Jin, Luoyang remained the intellectual center, though many members of the elite living there had lost interest in serving in government. The Western Jin provided a brief period of unification that ended with civil war among Jin princes and uprisings of non-Chinese. There followed a lengthy period when north and south developed in different directions.

In the north, non-Chinese groups were dominant, and slave raids were an unpleasant fact of life. After decades in which many different groups contended for power, the Xianbei were able to create a state (the Northern Wei) that united most of the north. They built their first capital in northern Shanxi, close to where their armies were located. Gradually the Xian- bei rulers made greater use of Chinese government practices as well as Chinese personnel. In the 490s, a ruler with a Chinese mother decided to pursue much more radical sinification. He moved the capital to Luoyang, ordered everyone at court to wear Chinese clothes and speak Chinese, and encouraged intermar- riage between elite Xianbei and Chinese lineages. He probably went too far because three decades later the Xianbei armies left behind in the north rebelled, lead- ing to several decades of fragmentation and warfare.

In the south, meanwhile, the elite families that had fled the collapse of the Western Jin government set up an émigré government at modern Nanjing, which was known as the Eastern Jin Dynasty. It was followed by

06475_ch04_rev02.indd 74 9/8/12 4:10 PM

C H A P T E R F i v E

The Cosmopolitan Empires of Sui and Tang China (581–960)

The Northwest Military Aristocracy and the Sui Reunification of China

The Founding of the Tang Dynasty (618–907)

The Tang at its Height

Material Culture: Tea

The Rebellion of An Lushan (755–763) and its Aftermath

The Achievements of Tang Men of Letters

Biography: Du Fu (712–777), Confucian Poet

Documents: Poking Fun

The Dunhuang Documents

The Tang Dynasty’s Final Decades and the Five Dynasties

North and south China were politically reunited in 589 when the Sui (sway) Dynasty (581–618) defeated the last of the Southern Dynasties. After only two generations, the Sui was itself replaced by the Tang (tahng) Dynasty (618–907), but progress toward cultural, economic, and political reunification continued, especially under three forceful rulers: Taizong, Empress Wu, and Xuanzong (shwan-dzung). The capital cities of Chang’an and Luoyang attracted people not only from all parts of China but also from all parts of Asia. The arts and, above all, poetry thrived in this environment. After the massive rebellion of General An Lushan wracked China in the mid-eighth century, many of the centralizing fea- tures of the government were abandoned, and power fell more and more to regional military governors. Yet late Tang should not be viewed simply in terms of dynastic decline because art and culture continued to flourish.

Historians of the Sui-Tang period have devoted much of their energy to understanding the processes of unification and the military, political, and cultural strength of the early Tang. How did the Tang solve the prob- lems that had kept dynasties short for the preceding four centuries? Did the strength of the early Tang government owe anything to the mixed ethnic background of its founders? What happened to the aristocracies of the north and south? To understand the late Tang period, scholars have addressed other questions: Why did trade thrive as the government withdrew from active involvement in managing the economy? What were the connections between China’s changing military posture and cultural trends? Were late Tang trends in literature, Buddhism, Confucian learn- ing, and other fields of culture linked to each other?

06475_ch05_rev02.indd 75 9/10/12 10:20 AM

76 Chapter 5 The Cosmopolitan Empires of Sui and Tang China (581–960)

stimulated fascination with things southern on the part of the old Northwest aristocracy.

Wendi and his empress were both pious Buddhists and drew on Buddhism to legitimate the Sui Dynasty. Wendi presented himself as a Cakravartin king, a Buddhist monarch who uses military force to defend the Buddhist faith. In 601, in imitation of the Indian king Ashoka, he had relics of the Buddha distributed to temples throughout the country and issued an edict expressing his goal that “all the people within the four seas may, without exception, develop enlightenment and together cultivate fortunate karma, bringing it to pass that present existences will lead to happy future lives, that the sustained creation of good causation will carry us one and all up to wondrous enlightenment.”*

Both Wendi and his successor, Yangdi (r. 604–617), had grand ambitions to rebuild an empire compara- ble to the Han. The Sui tried to strengthen central control of the government by denying local officials the power to appoint their own subordinates. They abolished the system of recruitment used during the Age of Division, the Nine Rank System, and returned to the Han practice of each prefecture’s nominating a few men for office based on their character and tal- ents. Once in the capital, these nominees were given written examinations, an important step in the devel- opment of the civil service examination system.

The Sui helped tie north and south China together by a major feat of construction: the Grand Canal. Built by conscripted laborers, the canal linked the Yellow and Yangzi rivers. (In later dynasties, the ca- nal was extended to the northeast as far as modern Beijing and to the south as far as Hangzhou.) The Sui canal was 130 feet wide and had a road running alongside it, with occasional relay posts and grana- ries. Water transport made it much easier to ship tax grain from the south to the centers of political and military power in north China.

Both Sui emperors viewed their empire-building as incomplete because they had not recovered the parts of modern Korea and Vietnam that the Han Dynasty had held. The Hanoi area was easily recovered from the local ruler in 602, and a few years later the Sui army pushed farther south. When the army was at- tacked by troops on war elephants from Champa (in southern Vietnam), Sui feigned retreat and dug pits to trap the elephants. The Sui army lured the

*Arthur F. Wright, “The Sui Dynasty (581–617),” in The Cambridge History of China vol. 3, ed. Denis Twitchett (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), p. 77.

THE NoRTHwEST MiLiTARy ARiSToCRACy AND THE Sui REuNiFiCATioN oF CHiNA That reunification came about from the north is not surprising because, by the fifth century, the south had largely abandoned hope of reconquering the north. Reunification was delayed, however, by the civil war in the north after 523. Then in 577, when the Northern Zhou (joe) Dynasty defeated the Northern Qi (chee), its battle-hardened armies were freed up to take on the south.

The rulers of the Northern Zhou were non-Chi- nese, like the rulers of the Northern Wei before them, though during this period ethnicity was fluid and intermarriage among ethnic groups common. Gen- erally ethnicity was considered to be passed down with family names on the father’s side, but family names could be changed. Yang Jian (yahng jyen), the founder of the Sui Dynasty, offers a good ex- ample. He claimed descent from Han Chinese, but because Yang was one of the names given to Xianbei (shyen-bay) in the late fifth century, his ancestors may well have been Xianbei. His wife had the non- Chinese surname Dugu, but her mother was Chinese. Yang Jian’s daughter married into the non-Chinese Yuwen family, the Northern Zhou royal house.

Yang Jian usurped the throne from his daughter’s young son and proclaimed himself emperor of the Sui Dynasty. He quickly eliminated the possibility of Zhou Dynasty loyalists ousting him in return by killing fifty-nine princes of the Zhou royal house. Nevertheless, he is known as Wendi, the “Cultured Emperor” (r. 581–604).

Wendi presided over the reunification of China. He built thousands of boats to compete for control of the Yangzi River. The largest of these had five decks, could hold eight hundred men, and was outfitted with six 50-foot-long booms that could be swung to damage an enemy vessel or pin it down. Some of these ships were manned by aborigines from southeastern Sichuan, which had recently been conquered by the Sui. By late 588, Sui had 518,000 troops deployed along the north bank of the Yangzi River from Sichuan to the ocean. Within three months, Sui had captured Nanjing, and the rest of the south soon submitted.

After capturing Nanjing, the Sui commanders had it razed and forced the nobles and officials resident there to move to the new Sui capital at Chang’an. This influx of southerners into the northern capital

06475_ch05_rev02.indd 76 9/10/12 10:20 AM

The Founding of the Tang Dynasty (618–907) 77

the Korean campaigns himself, was personally hu- miliated by their failures. The imperial dreams of the Sui emperors had resulted in exhaustion and unrest.

THE FouNDiNg oF THE TANg DyNASTy (618–907) With the Sui government unraveling, power was seized at the local level by several kinds of actors: bandit leaders, local officials trying to defend against them, and local elites trying to organize de- fense on their own. The contenders who eventually founded the Tang Dynasty were Li Yuan, the Sui governor of Taiyuan, and his general son, Li Shimin, known respectively as Gaozu (r. 618–626) and Taizong (r. 626–649). Their family belonged to the same northwest military aristocracy as the Sui emperors (Yangdi’s and Taizong’s mothers were in fact sisters, making them first cousins). Li (lee) was a Chinese name, and the Tang imperial family pre- sented themselves as Chinese by descent, much as the Sui imperial family had.

Taizong was commanding troops from the age of eighteen and proved a highly talented general. Skilled with bow, sword, and lance, he enjoyed the rough- and-tumble of combat and placed himself at the head of crucial cavalry charges. He later claimed to have killed more than a thousand men by his own hand. Taizong was also an astute strategist, able to outma- neuver his opponents. As he defeated one opponent after another from 618 to 621, he began to look like the probable winner, which led local leaders to join him in order to end up on the winning side.

In 626, Taizong ambushed two of his brothers, one of whom was the heir apparent. (He later had the histories record that he was forced to take this step because they were plotting against him.) Taizong then saw to the execution of all ten of their sons and demanded that his father abdicate in his favor. Despite these violent beginnings, Taizong proved a capable monarch who selected wise advisers and lis- tened to their advice. He had the government-issue new standard editions of the Confucian classics and compile the histories of all the dynasties of the past three centuries. He had a new legal code issued and ordered it to be regularly revised. This code, the ear- liest to survive, had great influence on the codes ad- opted not only by later Chinese dynasties but also by neighboring countries, including Vietnam, Korea, and Japan.

Champan troops to attack, then used crossbows against the elephants, causing them to turn around and trample their own army. Although Sui troops were victorious, many succumbed to disease because northern soldiers did not have immunity to tropical diseases such as malaria.

Recovering northern Korea proved an elusive goal. The Korean state of Goguryeo had its capi- tal near modern Pyeongyang and also held southern Manchuria as far as the Liao River. When in 598 Goguryeo troops joined a raid into Sui territory, Wendi ordered three hundred thousand troops to retaliate. (See Chapter 6 and Map 6.3.) However, the Sui army had to turn back when food supplies ran short. Sui then sent a fleet from Shandong, but it lost many of its vessels in storms and accomplished nothing. Another attempt was made in 611. Three hundred seagoing ships were built in Shandong, manned by ten thousand sailors and carrying thirty thousand crossbowmen and thirty thousand jav- elin men. Yangdi himself traveled to the region of modern Beijing to oversee preparations. Fifty thou- sand carts were built to carry clothing, armor, and tents. Reportedly, six hundred thousand men were conscripted to transport supplies in wheelbarrows. The History of the Sui Dynasty gives the undoubt- edly inflated figure of 1,133,800 combat troops summoned for the expedition. Some went overland, weighed down with shields, armor, clothing, tents, and one hundred days’ supply of grain. Because the ships failed to resupply them, they had to turn back, hungry and exhausted. The vast majority of the sol- diers sent across the Yalu River did not make it back to China.

The cost to the Sui Dynasty of this military debacle was enormous. When floods, droughts, and epidem- ics reached areas that had been hard pressed by mo- bilization for war, bandits were joined by deserters. Nevertheless, Yangdi was determined to try a third time to take Korea. The 613 expedition crossed the Liao River and set siege to Goguryeo strongholds, but the campaign was cut short when word reached the emperor of a major rebellion in central China. Still, in 614, Yangdi ordered the Korea campaign continued. This time the naval force made enough progress that the Goguryeo king sued for peace and Yangdi could claim victory. When the Goguryeo king failed to appear at the Sui court as he had been commanded, Yangdi began mobilizing for a fourth campaign in 615. Unrest was growing so serious, however, that nothing came of it. Yangdi, by leading

06475_ch05_rev02.indd 77 9/10/12 10:20 AM

78 Chapter 5 The Cosmopolitan Empires of Sui and Tang China (581–960)

instigated conflict between different ethnic groups, and recruited non-Chinese into their armies. In 630, the Tang wrested northern Shaanxi and southern Mongolia from the Turks, winning for Taizong the title of Great Khan of the Turks. For the next half- century, Tang China dominated the steppe. Turks were settled in the Ordos region (as the Xiongnu had been in Han times), and several thousand families of Turks came to live in Chang’an. Joint Chinese– Turkish campaigns into the cities of Central Asia in the 640s and 650s resulted in China’s regaining overlordship in the region much as it had during the Han Dynasty. (See Map 5.1.)

The early Tang rulers also embraced Sui ambi- tions with respect to Goguryeo. In 644, Taizong began preparations for an invasion. A fleet of five hundred ships was built to transport forty thousand soldiers to the Korean coast, while an army of sixty thousand prepared to march. Despite impressive early victories, this army also had to retreat, and the retreat again proved an ordeal. It would not be until 668, when China allied itself with the south- ern Korean state of Silla, that Goguryeo was finally subjugated (see Chapter 6). Eight years later, how- ever, it was Silla, not Tang China, that controlled the area, and China had little to show for the ef- fort put in over the course of eight decades to regain the borders staked out by the Han Dynasty so many centuries earlier.

In the early Tang period, the Xianbei presence rapidly faded as Xianbei assimilated and their lan- guage fell out of use. Many men of Xianbei descent used the Chinese surnames that had been given to them at the end of the fifth century and served as civil rather than military officials.

Although the Sui and Tang founders evoked the memory of the Han Dynasty, they relied on the groundwork laid by the Northern Dynas- ties. The Sui and Tang governments retained the Northern Zhou divisional militia (fubing). Its vol- unteer farmer–soldiers served in rotation in armies at the capital or on the frontier in return for their allocations of farmland. Both Sui and Tang also retained modified forms of the equal-field system introduced by the Northern Wei and regularly re- distributed land. They set the taxes in grain and cloth on each household relatively low, making it easier to enroll households on the tax registers. In the census of 609, the registered population reached about 9 million households (for a total popula- tion of about 46 million people). Even if consider- able numbers of people escaped tax registration, it seems that the population of China had not grown since Han times (when the high point in 2 c.e. was about 59 million).

Both Sui and Tang turned away from the military culture of the Northern Dynasties and sought of- ficials steeped in Confucian learning. Government schools were founded to prepare the sons of officials and other young men for service in the government. Recruitment through examinations grew in impor- tance. In the mature Tang system, there were two principal examinations. One tested knowledge of the Confucian classics (the mingjing, or illuminating the classics examination). The other (the jinshi, or pre- sented scholar examination) required less memoriza- tion of the classics but more literary skill. It tested the ability to compose formal styles of poetry as well as essays on political questions. Preparation for the jinshi examination was more demanding, but pass- ing it brought more prestige. Even sons of officials who could have entered the government by grace of their father’s rank often would attempt the jinshi examinations.

During the sixth century, a new ethnic group, the Turks, emerged as the dominant group on the Inner Asian frontier. To keep them in check, Sui and Tang governments used all the old diplomatic and mili- tary strategies. They repaired fortifications, received trade and tribute missions, sent princesses as brides,

Soldier and Horse. Taizong, a successful military commander, had his tomb decorated with bas-reliefs of soldiers and horses. Notice the elaborate saddle and the stirrups, which made it easier for soldiers to rise in the saddle to shoot arrows or attack with lances.

Co ur

te sy

o f t

he P

en n

M us

eu m

, I m

ag e

#5 01

71 , C

39 5

06475_ch05_rev02.indd 78 9/10/12 10:20 AM

The Tang at Its Height 79

merchants, and pilgrims from Central Asia, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Tibet, among other places. (See Connections: Cultural Contact Across Eurasia (600–900) and Material Culture: Tea.) Because of the presence of foreign merchants, many religions were practiced, including Nestorian Christianity, Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Islam, although none of them spread into the Chinese pop- ulation the way Buddhism had a few centuries ear- lier. Foreign fashions in hair and clothing were often copied, however, and foreign amusements such as polo found followings among the well-to-do. The in- troduction of new instruments and tunes from India, Iran, and Central Asia brought about a major trans- formation in Chinese music. (See Color Plate 6.)

In Tang times, Buddhism fully penetrated Chinese daily life. In 628, Taizong held a Buddhist memorial service for all of those who had died in the wars, and the next year he had monasteries built at the site of major battles so that monks could pray for the fallen of both sides. Buddhist monasteries ran schools for children, provided lodging for travelers, and offered scholars and officials places to gather for social occa- sions such as going-away parties. The wealthy often donated money or land to monasteries, and many monasteries became large landlords. Merchants en- trusted their money and wares to monasteries for safekeeping, in effect transforming the monasteries into banks and warehouses. The government had each prefecture establish a Buddhist temple to recite sutras and pray for the protection of the state.

THE TANg AT iTS HEigHT The Tang empire was the first since the Han to ex- tend into Central Asia, and it also regained territory the Han Dynasty had held in Vietnam (though not Korea). To facilitate sending messages across its vast territory, the government set up 1,639 post stations on the main roads where one courier could hand over a mail pouch to the next.

The Tang capital, Chang’an, was built by the Sui Dynasty near the site of the Han capital of the same name. It was the largest capital yet seen, nearly six miles east–west and more than five miles north–south. In the center against the north wall was the walled palace city, with the residence halls to the north and administrative offices to the south. From the south gate of the palace city stretched a wide avenue leading to the main south gate of the city wall. The rest of the city was divided by eleven north–south streets and fourteen east–west ones, making 108 rectangular walled wards, each with four gates. Two of the wards were government- supervised markets. Prime space was also reserved for temples.

Tang retained this city as its capital and made Luoyang a secondary capital. Both cities became great metropolises, with Chang’an and its suburbs growing to more than 2 million inhabitants. At these cosmopolitan cities, knowledge of the outside world was stimulated by the presence of envoys,

NORTH Winter (Black)

SOUTH Summer

Gate

Great South Gate

WEST Autumn (White)

EAST Spring (Blue)

Imperial City

Imperial Palace

Great Palace EnclosureAdministrative

City

Chentian Gate

Imperial Park

Park

Daming Palace

East Market

Chunming Gate

Yanxing Gate

1st Ave. (Chijo)

2nd Ave. (Nijo)

3rd Ave. (Sanjo)

4th Ave. (Sanjo)

5th Ave. (Gojo)

Serpentine Lake

K a m

o R

iv e r

Hibiscus Gardens

West Market

Jinguang Gate

Yanping Gate

Mingde Gate

Imperial Park

6th Ave. (Rokujo)

7th Ave. (Shichijo)

8th Ave. (Hachijo)

9th Ave. (Kujo)

E. T

oi n

K yo

go ku

S uz

ak u

O m

iy a

W . T

oi n

Suzaku Gate

CHANG’AN HEIAN (KYOTO)

Figure 5.1 Layout of Chang’an and One of the Cities Modeled on It Outside China

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch05_rev02.indd 79 9/10/12 10:20 AM

80 Chapter 5 The Cosmopolitan Empires of Sui and Tang China (581–960)

M A T E R I A L C U L T U R E

Tea

Th e

To ku

ga w

a A

rt M

us eu

m /

D N

Pa rt

co m

Tea is made from the young leaves and leaf buds of Camellia sinensis, a plant native to the hills of southwest China. By Han times, tea was already being grown and drunk in the southwest, and for the next several centuries it was looked on as a lo- cal product with useful pharmacological properties, such as countering the effects of wine and prevent- ing drowsiness.

Tea was common enough in Tang life that poets often mentioned it in their poems. Perhaps the most famous tea poem was by the eighth-century author of a treatise on the art of drinking tea, Lu yu (loo yew). written to express his thanks for a gift of freshly picked tea, it reads in part:

To honour the tea, i shut my brushwood gate, Lest common folk intrude, And donned my gauze cap To brew and taste it on my own. The first bowl sleekly moistened throat and lips; The second banished all my loneliness; The third expelled the dullness from my mind, Sharpening inspiration gained from all the

books i’ve read. The fourth brought forth light perspiration, Dispersing a lifetime’s troubles through my

pores. The fifth bowl cleansed ev’ry atom of my

being. The sixth has made me kin to the immortals; This seventh is the utmost i can drink— A light breeze issues from my armpits.*

By Tang times, tea had become a major com- mercial crop, especially in the southeast. The most intensive time for tea production was the harvest season because young leaves were of much more value than mature ones.

women, mobilized for about a month each year, would come out to help pick tea. Not only were tea

merchants among the wealthiest merchants, but also from the late eighth century on, taxes on tea became a major item of government revenue.

Tea reached Korea and Japan as a part of Buddhist culture, as a drink appreciated by Buddhist monks, because it helped them stay awake during long hours of recitation or meditation. The Japanese priest Saich ō, patriarch of Tendai Buddhism, visited China in 802–803 and reportedly brought back tea seeds.

*John Blofeld, The Chinese Art of Tea (Boston: Shambhala, 1985), p. 12.

Tea Jar. The spread of tea drinking served as a stimulus to the ceramic industry, as tea aficionados carefully selected the containers for storing tea leaves and mixing, steeping, or drinking tea. This tea jar, made in south China in the fourteenth century, was exported to Japan, where it came to be treasured as an art object, eventually coming into the possession of the Tokugawa shoguns.

In the Tang period, stories of Buddhist origin were spread by monks who would show pictures and tell stories to illiterate audiences. One of the best loved of these stories concerned a man named Mulian (moo- lyen) who journeyed to the netherworld to save his mother from her suffering there. The popularity of

this story gave rise to the ghost festival on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. On that day, Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike would put out food to feed hungry ghosts suffering in purgatory. Popular elaborations of the Mulian story emphasized the centrality of filial de- votion and reinforced the Buddhists’ message that the

06475_ch05_rev02.indd 80 9/10/12 10:20 AM

The Tang at Its Height 81

meditation and monastic discipline. The “southern” tradition was even more iconoclastic, holding that enlightenment could be achieved suddenly through a flash of insight, even without prolonged meditation.

In the late Tang period, opposition to Buddhism resurfaced, in large part because its tax-exempt sta- tus aggravated the state’s fiscal problems. In 845, a Tang emperor ordered more than 4,600 monasteries and 40,000 temples and shrines closed and more than 260,000 Buddhist monks and nuns returned to secu- lar life. Although this ban was lifted after a few years, the monastic establishment never fully recovered. Buddhism retained a strong hold among laypeople, and basic Buddhist ideas like karma and reincarna- tion had become ingrained, but Buddhism was never again as central to Chinese life as it was in Tang times.

The Tang Elite

The aristocracies of the Northern and Southern Dynasties suffered several blows with the reunifi- cation of China. The Sui abolished the Nine Rank

truly filial draw on Buddhism to aid their deceased par- ents. During the Tang period, a new sacred geography for East Asia developed, with a network of pilgrimage sites in China. The manifestation of the bodhisattva Manjusri on Mount Wutai became so renowned that it attracted pilgrims from India. The Japanese Buddhist monk Ennin, who spent the years 838 to 847 in China, set his sights on a visit to Mount Wutai.

At the intellectual level, Buddhism was develop- ing in distinctly Chinese directions. Among the edu- cated elite the Chan school (known in Japan as Zen) gained popularity. Chan teachings reject the authority of the sutras and extol mind-to-mind transmission of Buddhist truths. Chan claimed as its First Patriarch the Indian monk Bodhidharma, said to have come to China in the early sixth century c.e. The Sixth Patri- arch, Huineng (hway-nuhng), was just as important to Chan traditions. The illiteracy of Huineng at the time of his enlightenment was taken as proof that enlighten- ment could be achieved suddenly through insight into one’s own Buddha nature and did not require study of sutras. The “northern” tradition of Chan emphasized

Kashgar

Khotan

Kucha

Dunhuang

Chang’an

Taiyuan

Guangzhou

Quanzhou (Zayton)

Yangzhou

Chengdu

JA P

A N

SILLA

BALHAE

PARHAE

KHITAN

E M

P I

R E

T A N G

T U F A N ( T I B E T )

N A N Z H A O

Ye llo

Yan gzi

South China Sea

E a s t C h i n a

S e a

Y e l l o w S e a

S e a o f J a p a n

P A C I F I C O C E A N

Kingdoms and states

Tribes

U I G H U R S

K H I TA N

0 200 400 Km.

0 200 400 Mi.

Map 5.1 Tang China

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch05_rev02.indd 81 9/10/12 10:20 AM

82 Chapter 5 The Cosmopolitan Empires of Sui and Tang China (581–960)

careers. By the eighth century, they were justifying their marital exclusiveness not by reference to the glory of their ancestors, but to their superiority in education, manners, and family morality. By bring- ing attention to characteristics that were largely a product of upbringing, it was easy for the old families to exclude outsiders and retain a common identity. Even if the examinations were becoming an avenue for people from modest backgrounds to rise, a sur- prising proportion of those who passed in Tang times came from eminent families. Moreover, when it was time for assignments to be made, candidates were judged on their deportment, appearance, speech, and calligraphy, all of which were subjective criteria, making it easy for the responsible officials to favor young men from families like their own. Certainly the elite became broader during the Tang, but at no time did the presence of new families pose much of a threat to the continued eminence of the old ones.

If the Tang elite is compared to the elite of the Han period, several differences stand out. Members of the Tang elite spent more time in the capitals than their Han counterparts did. Much more than in Han times, they took pride in their ancestry and discussed the ancestry of their peers and marriage prospects. At the same time, the Tang elite was, if anything, bet- ter educated than the Han elite, and its members did not disdain competing in the examinations.

Empress wu

The mid-Tang Dynasty saw several women rise to po- sitions of great political power through their hold on rulers, the first of whom, Empress Wu (woo) (ca. 625– 705), went so far as to take the throne herself. How could a woman become ruler? Historians of the time, who viewed her as an evil seductress and usurper, at- tributed her success to her lack of scruples and her skill at manipulation. A brief review of her career shows that luck and political acumen also played a role.

Although Wu entered Gaozong’s (gow-dzung) pal- ace in 651 as a lesser consort, within a few years she convinced him to demote his empress and promote her. The histories record a chilling story of how Wu accomplished this. One day after the empress had been playing with Wu’s baby girl, Wu came in and smoth- ered the baby. When Gaozong later found the baby dead, Wu became hysterical, saying the empress must have killed her. Gaozong’s top officials could not calm his rage or keep him from deposing the empress. Wu was made empress and her son heir apparent.

System for recruiting men for office, ending nearly au- tomatic access to office and its benefits for men from aristocratic families. Moreover, many of the highest- ranking families in the south were devastated by the wars of the sixth century, especially the rebellion of Hou Jing, which resulted in the death of thousands of members of elite families living in Nanjing. Neverthe- less, throughout the Tang period, men from the thirty or so most famous families held an amazingly large share of the most prominent positions in the govern- ment. Moreover, the Tang elite remained avidly inter- ested in questions of birth and relative family ranking.

Why did old families remain so prominent? One reason seems to be that their pretensions annoyed the early Tang rulers. In the early Tang, the new rul- ing house and its closest allies (largely from the north- west military aristocracy) resented continued admira- tion for old families from the east and south whose scions often held only midlevel positions in the Tang government and who, even in earlier eras, had never been associated with a dynasty as glorious as the Tang. The aristocratic families further annoyed the court by preferring to marry within their own circle, scorning proposals from the imperial house and its close allies. Taizong retaliated in 632 by ordering a thorough in- vestigation of the genealogies of leading families and the compilation of a new genealogical compendium. When the work was completed, Taizong found that his own researchers supported the claims to eminence of the aristocratic families, and he demanded a revision to give more weight to official position under the Tang. Twenty years later Gaozong ordered yet another gene- alogical compendium, again wanting more emphasis on current offices. When it was completed, Gaozong went so far as to prohibit intermarriage by members of the seven old families whose pretensions rankled him most. The effect of this ban was to greatly add to the prestige of the seven named family lines, who from then on knew exactly whom they should marry.

At the same time, an unplanned accommodation was being worked out between the old families and the Tang court. Members of aristocratic families used their many resources to prepare carefully for office, and the government allowed them to occupy a disproportion- ate share of ministerial posts. With the greatness of the Tang established, the court stopped worrying about whether people also admired the old aristocratic fami- lies, who, after all, posed no military threat.

During the Tang, many of the old aristocratic fam- ilies moved permanently to the region of Luoyang or Chang’an, the better to concentrate on political

06475_ch05_rev02.indd 82 9/10/12 10:20 AM

The Tang at Its Height 83

and within two months had suppressed the rebellion. Wu now was even more confident of her position and moved rapidly to rid herself of opponents. On the advice of new favorites, she undertook another Con- fucian ritual project based on the classics, the con- struction of a Bright Hall for the performance of key rituals. Her Bright Hall was huge—about 300 feet square and 300 feet tall. It had three stories, the bot- tom two square and the top one round. When the Tang princes outside the capital refused to attend cer- emonies marking the hall’s completion, Wu used it as a pretext to eliminate much of the Tang imperial clan.

Until 690, Empress Wu had been content to be the power behind the throne. That year, however, when she was about sixty-five years old, she accept- ed her son’s abdication and declared herself emperor of a new dynasty, the Zhou Dynasty. She became China’s first and only female emperor.

Although Empress Wu employed Confucian lan- guage and diligently performed Confucian state rituals, she was personally deeply drawn to Bud- dhism. She was the major patron for the great cave temples carved at Longmen outside Luoyang. She found support for her political position in the Great Cloud Sutra, which prophesied that the Maitreya Buddha would be reincarnated as a female monarch and bring about an age free of illness, worry, and disaster. One of Wu’s followers wrote a commen- tary to the sutra in 689 pointing out that the female monarch must be Empress Wu. When Empress Wu

Four years later, Gaozong suffered a stroke, and Empress Wu began to make decisions in his place. She followed the customary propriety of “ruling from behind a screen,” and the councilors could not see her when they talked to her. Wu nevertheless proved a hard-working ruler. In 665, she and Gaozong trav- eled with a large entourage of princes and high offi- cials to Mount Tai (ty) in Shandong province to per- form the sacred feng and shan sacrifices to heaven and earth, not performed since Western Han times. She created a role for herself in the ritual by citing the complementarity of yin and yang. Just as it was appropriate for the emperor to perform the sacrifice to heaven at the top of the mountain, since it was a yang sacrifice, she and her palace ladies should perform the sacrifice to earth at the bottom of the mountain, since it was a yin sacrifice.

By the 670s, Empress Wu’s oldest son, the heir ap- parent, was beginning to take stands on issues, some- times even opposing his mother’s ideas. When he died in 675, many suspected that she had poisoned him. The next heir, not surprisingly, kept a lower profile. How- ever, in 680, Wu accused him of plotting a rebellion; he was banished and later forced to commit suicide.

One of the ways Empress Wu was able to keep the government operating smoothly despite her ques- tionable standing was by bringing new people to court through the civil service examinations. Many of those who had felt left out during the early Tang, when the court was dominated by the northwest aristocracy, were happy to take advantage of new opportunities to become officials.

After more than twenty years as an invalid, Gaozong finally died in 683. The seventeen-year- old heir apparent, posthumously known as Zhong- zong (jung-dzung), took the throne. After six weeks, Empress Wu had him deposed because he tried to ap- point his wife’s father as chancellor. Another one of her sons, known as Ruizong, was then placed on the throne, but he was kept in a separate palace and rare- ly consulted. Now nearly sixty years old, Empress Wu no longer concealed herself behind a screen, and she began using the Chinese term for the royal “we.” She even ordered the construction of imperial-style ancestral temples for her own Wu ancestors.

In 684, a group of Tang princes and their allies staged a rebellion against Empress Wu. They cap- tured the major city of Yangzhou (yahng-joe) and issued a proclamation detailing her crimes, ranging from killing her own children to favoring sycophants. The army remained loyal to Empress Wu, however,

Fine Metalwork Box. This gold and silver box was discovered in 1987 under a pagoda. It was part of a cache of more than a hundred precious objects donated by Tang rulers to the temple and sealed up in 874.

Fa m

en T

em pl

e/ M

us eu

m , S

ha an

xi P

ro vi

nc e/

Cu ltu

ra l R

el ic

06475_ch05_rev02.indd 83 9/10/12 10:20 AM

84 Chapter 5 The Cosmopolitan Empires of Sui and Tang China (581–960)

Their armies were professional ones, manned by costly long-service veterans rather than inexpensive part-time farmer–soldiers like the divisional militia.

Xuanzong appreciated poetry, painting, and music and presided over a brilliant court. The great horse painter Han Gan (hahn gahn) served at his court, as did the poet Li Bai (lee by). Although many of his leading officials had been selected for office through the examination system, family pedigree was still a great asset. He commissioned a two-hundred-chapter genealogical work that provided him with up-to-date assessments of the relative ranking of the elite families of his realm. After 736, Xuanzong allowed Li Linfu (lee lin-foo) (d. 752), an aristocrat proud of his family background, to run the government as his chancellor.

Xuanzong took an interest in both Daoism and Bud- dhism and invited clerics of both religions to his court. Laozi, as the putative ancestor of the Tang imperial fam- ily (both had the family name Li), was granted grand titles. Xuanzong wrote a commentary on the Laozi and set up a special school to prepare candidates for a new examination on Daoist scriptures. Among Buddhist teachings, he was especially attracted to the newly intro- duced Tantric school, which made much use of magical spells and incantations. In 726, Xuanzong called on the Javanese monk Vajrabodhi to perform Tantric rites to avert drought. In 742, he held the incense burner while the Ceylonese Amoghavajra recited mystical incanta- tions to secure the victory of Tang forces.

Some have blamed Xuanzong’s growing interest in Daoism and Tantric Buddhism for his declining inter- est in administrative matters. He was also growing older and wearier. By 742, he was fifty-seven and had spent thirty years on the throne. He spent more and more of his time with his beloved consort Yang Guifei (yahng gway-fay), a full-figured beauty in an age that admired rounded proportions. To keep her happy, Xuanzong allowed her to place friends and relatives in important positions in the government. One of her favorites was the able general An Lushan (ahn loo- shahn), who spent more and more time at court. Even- tually An got into a quarrel with Yang’s cousin over control of the government, which led to open warfare.

THE REBELLioN oF AN LuSHAN (755–763) AND iTS AFTERMATH An Lushan had commanded the frontier army in northern Hebei since 744. Half Sogdian (Central Asian) and half Turk, he was a professional soldier

declared her own dynasty the next year, she had this sutra circulated throughout the country and ordered every prefecture to establish a Great Cloud temple.

When Wu made herself emperor, she did not des- ignate an heir, apparently unsure whether she should let one of her own sons succeed her or have succes- sion go to a member of her natal Wu family. In 697, when she was over seventy, she had her eldest sur- viving son, Zhongzong, brought back from exile and made heir apparent. Still, all through her seventies she retained power. It was not until 705, when she was about eighty and too ill to get out of bed, that the high officials successfully pressured her to abdicate.

Emperor Xuanzong

The removal of Empress Wu did not end the influence of women at court. Zhongzong was dominated by his wife, Empress Wei (way), who wanted their daughter to be made heir apparent. Her main rival was Zhong- zong’s sister, the Taiping (ty-ping) Princess. After Em- press Wei poisoned her husband, Zhongzong, in 710, she put his last remaining son, a boy of fifteen, on the throne. Two weeks later, probably with the encour- agement of the Taiping Princess, another grandson of Empress Wu, the future emperor Xuanzong (r. 713– 756), entered the palace with a few followers and slew Empress Wei and her daughter as well as other mem- bers of their faction. He installed his father, Ruizong (rway-dzung), as emperor, but the Taiping Princess acted as the power behind the throne.

It was over the protests of the Taiping Princess that in 712, Ruizong abdicated in favor of Xuan- zong. The princess’s attempted coup failed, and she was permitted to commit suicide, ending more than a half-century of women dominating court politics.

Xuanzong, still in his twenties, began his reign as an activist. He curbed the power of monaster- ies, which had gained strength under Empress Wu. He ordered a new census to shore up the equal-field system. As a result of population growth, individual allotment holders in many areas received only a frac- tion of the land they were due but still had to pay the standard per household tax. Their only recourse was to flee, which reduced government revenue fur- ther. To deal with the threats of the Turks, Uighurs (hwee-gurs), and Tibetans, Xuanzong set up a ring of military provinces along the frontier from Man- churia to Sichuan. The military governors, often non-Chinese, were given great authority to deal with crises without waiting for central authorization.

06475_ch05_rev02.indd 84 9/10/12 10:20 AM

The Rebellion of An Lushan (755–763) and Its Aftermath 85

system, the system was finally abandoned, and people were once more allowed to buy and sell land. In place of a one-tax-fits-all system, taxes were based on ac- tual landholding and paid in semiannual installments. Each region was assigned a quota of taxes to submit to the central government and given leeway on how to fill it. With the return of free buying and selling of land, the poor who fell into debt sold their land to the rich, leading to the proliferation of great estates.

In addition to reforming land taxes, the late Tang central government learned how to raise revenue through control of the production and distribution of salt, returning to a policy of the Han government. By adding a surcharge to the salt it sold to licensed salt merchants, the government was able to collect taxes indirectly, even from regions where it had min- imal authority. By 779, over half the central gov- ernment revenue came from the salt monopoly. The Salt Commission became a powerful agency run by officials who specialized in finance.

Although control of salt production and distribution could be seen as a major intervention into the econ- omy, on balance the post-rebellion government was withdrawing from attempts to control the economy. Not only did it give up control of land, it gave up su- pervision of urban markets and the prices charged for goods. This retreat from government management of the economy had the unintended effect of stimulating trade. Markets were opened in more and more towns, and the provincial capitals became new centers of trade. By the ninth century, a new economic hierarchy of mar- kets, towns, and cities had begun to emerge parallel to the government’s administrative hierarchy of counties and prefectures. Merchants, no longer as burdened by government regulation, found ways to solve the peren- nial problem of shortages of copper coins by circulat- ing silver bullion and notes of exchange, allowing trade to proceed without the use of coins.

The economic advances of the late eighth and ninth centuries were particularly evident in the south. During the rebellion, refugees from hard-hit areas sought safety and new opportunities in the south, much as they had in the fourth century. The late Tang was a time of prosperity for the cities of the Jiangnan region, such as Yangzhou, Suzhou (soo-joe), and Hangzhou (hahng-joe), and many of those who came to these cities on official assignments or business decided to stay permanently.

Post-rebellion officials and emperors did not give up the goal of strong central control. They created a palace army to counter the power of the regional commanders.

from a family of soldiers, with experience fighting the Khitans, the dominant group in northern Manchuria at the time. When An rebelled, he had an army of more than a hundred thousand veteran troops. They struck southward, headed toward Luoyang. The court, on getting news of the advance, began raising an army, but the newly recruited troops were no match for the veterans. With the fall of the capital imminent, the heir apparent left to raise troops in western Shaanxi (Shahn-shee), and Xuanzong fled west toward Sichuan. The troops accompanying Xuanzong muti- nied and would not continue until Yang Guifei and her relatives had been killed. The heir apparent, in the meantime, was convinced by his followers to enthrone himself, which Xuanzong did not contest.

How did the Tang Dynasty manage to recover from this disaster? The rulers had to make many compromises. To recover the capital, the Tang called on the Uighurs, a Turkish people allied with the Tang. After the Uighurs took Chang’an from the rebels, they looted it and would not leave until they were paid off with huge quantities of silk. Thereafter, to keep the Uighurs from raiding, the Tang had to trade them silk for horses at extortionate rates.

To get rebel leaders to submit, the Tang offered pardons and even appointed many as military gov- ernors of the regions they held. In key areas, mili- tary governors acted like warlords, paying no taxes to the central government and appointing their own subordinates. They even passed down their positions to their heirs. Posts that once had been held by civil officials were increasingly filled with military men, often non-Chinese or semi-sinified.

The Uighurs were only one of China’s troublesome neighbors during this period. Antagonistic states were consolidating themselves all along Tang’s bor- ders, from Balhae on the northeast (see Chapter 6), to Tibet on the west, and Nanzhao on the southwest (Yunnan area). When Tang had to withdraw troops from the western frontier to fight An Lushan’s forces, the Tibetans took advantage of the opportunity to claim overlordship of the Silk Road cities themselves. Although the Tibetan empire collapsed in 842 and the Uighur empire broke up soon after, the Tang court no longer had the ambition to dominate Central Asia. Tang did respond when Nanzhao attacked the Tang prefectures in northern Vietnam, and though Tang sent an army to reassert control, the Vietnam- ese declared their independence in the tenth century.

Because the central government no longer had the local infrastructure needed to enforce the equal-field

06475_ch05_rev02.indd 85 9/10/12 10:20 AM

86 Chapter 5 The Cosmopolitan Empires of Sui and Tang China (581–960)

Buddhism, is known especially for his poetic evoca- tions of nature. His “Villa on Zhongnan Mountain” uses simple, natural language:

In my middle years I came to love the Way.

And late made my home by South Mountain’s edge.

When the mood comes upon me, I go off alone,

And have glorious moments to myself.

I walk to the point where a stream ends,

Then sit and watch when the clouds rise.

By chance I meet old men in the woods.

We laugh and chat, no fixed time to turn home.*

Wang Wei’s contemporary Li Bai (lee by) (701– 762) had a brief but brilliant career at the court of Emperor Xuanzong. One of his most famous poems describes an evening of drinking with only the moon and his shadow for company:

Beneath the blossoms with a pot of wine,

No friends at hand, so I poured alone;

I raised my cup to invite the moon,

Turned to my shadow, and we become three.

Now the moon has never learned about my drinking,

And my shadow had merely followed my form,

But I quickly made friends with the moon and my shadow;

To find pleasure in life, make the most of the spring.

Whenever I sang, the moon swayed with me;

Whenever I danced, my shadow went wild.

Drinking, we shared our enjoyment together;

Drunk, then each went off on his own.

But forever agreed on dispassionate revels,

We promised to meet in the far Milky Way.†

The forms of poetry favored in the Tang were eight-line stanzas of five or seven characters per line. This form, called regulated verse, had fixed pat- terns of tones and required that the second and third couplets be antithetical. The strict antithesis is often lost in translation but can be seen when lines are

*From An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911, edited and translated by Stephen Owen. Copyright © 1996 by Stephen Owen and The Council for Cultural Planning and Development of the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China. Used by permission of W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. †From The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature by Victor Mair, ed. Copyright © 1994 Columbia University Press. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.

Unfortunately, the palace eunuchs placed in charge of this army soon became as troublesome as the regional commanders. In the early ninth century, eunuchs domi- nated court affairs, much as they had in late Han times. High officials had to ally with one faction of eunuchs or another to have any hope of influencing policy. Af- ter 820, factions of officials and eunuchs plotted and counterplotted to enthrone, manipulate, or murder one emperor after another. In 835, the emperor plot- ted with a group of officials to purge the eunuchs, but when their plan was discovered, the eunuchs ordered the slaughter of more than a thousand officials. Three chancellors and their families were publicly executed in Chang’an’s western marketplace.

THE ACHiEvEMENTS oF TANg MEN oF LETTERS The Tang Dynasty was the great age of Chinese poetry—the Complete Tang Poems includes more than forty-eight thousand poems by some twenty-two hundred poets. Men who wanted to be recognized as members of the educated elite had to be able to recog- nize lines quoted from earlier poets’ works and write technically proficient poems at social occasions. Skill in composing poetry was so highly respected that it was tested in the civil service examinations. The great- ness of Tang poetry, however, lies not in its ubiquity but in the achievements of a handful of great poets who brought the art of poetry to new heights.

In Tang poems, the pain of parting, the joys of na- ture, and the pleasures of wine and friendship were all common topics. Subtlety, ambiguity, and allusion were used to good effect. Wang Wei (wahng way) (701–761), a successful official strongly drawn to

Prolific Tang Poets Number of Poems Bai Juyi 2,972 Du Fu 1,500 Li Bo 1,120 Liu Yuxi 884 Yuan Zhen 856 Li Shangyin 628 Meng Jiao 559 Wang Wei 426

06475_ch05_rev02.indd 86 9/10/12 10:20 AM

The Achievements of Tang Men of Letters 87

Du Fu (712–777), Confucian PoetB I O G R A P H Y Although the civil service examinations in Tang times tested candidates on their abil- ity to write poetry, the man widely con- sidered the greatest of all Chinese poets repeatedly failed the examinations. Du Fu wanted to follow in the path of his grand- father, who had passed the jinshi exami- nation in 670 and held prestigious posts in the capital. instead, he spent much of his adult life wandering through China, returning from time to time to the capital

to try once more for a political career. in 751 he even tried presenting some of his literary works to the em- peror directly. Emperor Xuanzong had a special exami- nation set for him, and he was passed. Still, he spent the next two years waiting for an appointment. Just when it seemed Du Fu would get his chance, one catastrophe after another befell him. in 754 Du Fu had to move his family because of a famine brought on by floods, and not long afterward he had to move them again during the disorder caused by the An Lushan rebellion.

Nearly fifteen hundred of Du Fu’s poems, some quite long, have come down to us. Du Fu’s greatness as a poet lies in his poetic inventiveness and creation of the voice of the moral man protesting injustice. in a long poem written in 755, Du Fu began by making fun of his grand ambitions, none of them fulfilled, then described the sights he saw on his journey from the capital. As he approached the place where his family was staying, he heard wailing, which he soon learned was in response to the death of his youngest child. Rather than dwell on his own family’s sorrows, however, he turned his thoughts to others:

All my life i’ve been exempt from taxes, And my name is not registered for conscription. Brooding on what i have lived through, if even

i know such suffering, The common man must surely be rattled by

the winds; Then thoughts silently turn to those who have

lost all livelihood And to the troops in far garrisons.

Sorrow’s source is as huge as South Mountain, A formless, whirling chaos that the hand

cannot grasp.*

After the rebellion, Du Fu gave up hopes of an offi- cial career and devoted himself entirely to his poetry. in 760 he arrived in Chengdu (Sichuan) and for the next few years lived happily in a thatched hut outside the city. As Du Fu grew older, his poetry became richer and more complex. His eight “Autumn Meditation” po- ems, considered among the masterpieces of Chinese poetry, ponder the forces of order and disorder in both the natural and human worlds. one reads:

i have been told that Chang’an looks like a chessboard.

A hundred years, a lifetime’s troubles, grief beyond enduring.

Mansions of counts and princes all have new masters,

The civil and army uniforms differ from olden times.

Straight north past the fortified mountains kettledrums are thundering

From wagon and horse on the western campaign winged dispatches rush.

Fish and dragons grow silent now, autumn rivers grow cold.

The life i used to have at home is the longing in my heart.†

Questions for Analysis 1. What made Du Fu an appealing figure? 2. What can account for Du Fu’s failure in the civil service

examinations?

*Stephen Owen, The Great Age of Chinese Poetry: The High T’ang Copyright © 1981 by Yale University Press. Reprinted with permission. †From An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911, edited and translated by Stephen Owen. Copyright © 1996 by Stephen Owen and The Council for Cultural Planning and Development of the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China. Used by permission of W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

translated word for word. For instance, in the first stanza of Li Bai’s poem in the previous paragraph, the antithetical couplets read word for word: “Lift cup, invite bright moon/Face shadow, become three men,” and “Moon since not understand drinking/ Shadow only follow my body.”

Du Fu (doo foo), a younger contemporary of Li Bai, is often paired with him, the two representing the two sides of Tang poetry: its more light-hearted side and its more solemn side (see Biography: Du Fu [712–770], Confucian Poet). In the next genera- tion, Bai Juyi (by jew-ee) (772–846) encompassed

06475_ch05_rev02.indd 87 9/10/12 10:20 AM

88 Chapter 5 The Cosmopolitan Empires of Sui and Tang China (581–960)

both sides. When sent out to regional posts, he took his responsibilities seriously and sympathized with the people whom he governed. At times he worried about whether he was doing his job justly and well:

From my high castle I look at the town below

Where the natives of Ba cluster like a swarm of flies.

How can I govern these people and lead them aright?

I cannot even understand what they say.

But at least I am glad, now that the taxes are in,

To learn that in my province there is no discontent.*

*Arthur Waley, trans., More Translations from the Chinese (New York: Knopf, 1919), p. 71.

In addition to producing a huge volume of poetry, Tang writers wrote in many other genres, some humorous (see Documents: Poking Fun). They great- ly advanced the art of fiction. Tang tales were short and written in the classical language (in contrast to the longer vernacular-language fiction and drama that became important in later periods). Bai Juyi’s brother Bai Xingjian (by shing-jyen) (775–826) wrote a story about an examination candidate who on arrival in Chang’an fell instantly in love with the beautiful prostitute Li Wa (lee wah). Over the course of the next year, Li Wa and her owner gradually squeezed him of all his money and then disappeared. Bewildered and desperate, the young man was re- duced to supporting himself as a funeral singer. When his father discovered this, he beat him nearly

D O C U M E N T S

Incongruities 1. A poor Persian. 2. A sick physician. 3. A (Buddhist) disciple not addicted to

drink. 4. Keepers of granaries coming to blows. 5. A great fat bride. 6. An illiterate teacher. 7. A pork-butcher reciting sutras. 8. A village elder riding in an open

chair. 9. A grandfather visiting courtesans.

Reluctant 1. A new wife to see strangers. 2. A poor devil to contribute to

a feast. 3. A poor family to make marriages. 4. To visit retired officials. 5. A pregnant woman to go afoot.

Vexations 1. Happening upon a tasty dish when

one’s liver is out of order. 2. Making a night of it and the drinks

giving out. 3. For one’s back to itch when calling

upon a superior. 4. For the lights to fail just when

the luck begins to favor one at cards.

5. inability to get rid of a worthless poor relation.

6. A man cleaning out a well who has to go to the toilet in a hurry.

Ambiguity 1. only of a poor gift does one say, “Can

it be repaid?” 2. only of an ugly bride does one say,

“She is my fate.”

Among the texts surviving from the Tang is a set of four hundred sayings grouped under forty-two headings, a small part of which is given below. By making fun of situations and types of people, these witty sayings provide an amusing glimpse of Tang social life. They have traditionally been attributed to the late Tang poet Li Shangyin (ca. 813–858), but they are not included in his collected works and may well have been written by someone else.

Poking Fun

06475_ch05_rev02.indd 88 9/10/12 10:20 AM

The Achievements of Tang Men of Letters 89

to death. Reduced further to begging, he was in the end saved by Li Wa, who took pity on him, nursed him back to health, and convinced him to resume his studies. When he passed the examinations and obtained an official post, his father accepted Li Wa as his daughter-in-law.

Popular stories like these circulated widely and sometimes became the basis for later dramas. The most successful story in terms of its later incarna- tions was The Story of Yingying by the eminent man of letters Yuan Zhen (ywan juhn) (779–831). In this case, the examination candidate, surnamed Zhang, fell in love with a woman of his own class, a dis- tant cousin named Cui Yingying (tsway ying-ying). She is first introduced to him by her mother, who wishes to thank him for coming to their aid during a

bandit attack. Yingying is reluctant to greet him and refuses to be drawn into conversation. Zhang, how- ever, is overwhelmed by her beauty and attracted by her shyness. He turns to Yingying’s maid for advice, and she suggests that he propose marriage. He coun- ters that the pain of separation from her is so great that he could not wait for a proper engagement. The maid then tells him to try to win her over by send- ing her poems. Although Yingying at first rebukes Zhang for making advances, eventually she decides to go to his room one night. Although taking the ini- tiative, she still appears weak, leaning on her maid’s arm. The ensuing affair is interrupted when Zhang has to go to the capital to take the examinations. When Zhang does not return, Yingying writes him a long letter protesting his faithlessness. Unlike most

3. only of a nobody does one say, “Tai gong met King wen at eighty.”*

4. only of a poor appointment does one say, “it’s a place to make a living.”

5. only to be rude to a guest does one say, “Make yourself at home.”

6. only of a poor dwelling does one say, “it’s quite all right to live in.”

7. only those incapable of making a living for themselves rail at their ancestors.

Bad Form 1. To wrangle with one’s fellow guests. 2. To fall from one’s polo pony. 3. To smoke in the presence of superiors. 4. Priests and nuns lately returned to

ordinary life. 5. To shout orders at a banquet. 6. To cut into the conversation. 7. To fall asleep in somebody’s bed with

one’s boots on. 8. To preface remarks with a giggle. 9. To kick over the table when a guest is

present. 10. To sing love songs in the presence of

one’s father- or mother-in-law. 11. To reject distasteful food and put it

back on the dish. 12. To lay chopsticks across a soup-bowl.

Lapses 1. Talking to people with one’s hat off. 2. Scolding another’s servants. 3. Boring a hole in the wall to spy upon

neighbors. 4. Entering a house without knocking. 5. Being careless about dripping snot or

spitting on the mat. 6. going into the room and sitting down

uninvited. 7. opening other people’s boxes and

letters. 8. Lifting chopsticks before the host’s signal. 9. Laying down chopsticks before all have

finished eating. 10. Stretching across the table to reach things.

Questions for Analysis 1. Which sayings do you find particularly clever? 2. What can you infer about the etiquette of the time

from these sayings?

*It was not until he was eighty years old that King Wen invited Tai Gong to be his chief adviser.

06475_ch05_rev02.indd 89 9/10/12 10:20 AM

90 Chapter 5 The Cosmopolitan Empires of Sui and Tang China (581–960)

THE DuNHuANg DoCuMENTS The historical sources historians can use to recon- struct what life was like in the Tang period are richer than for earlier periods. There are fuller sources on the workings of the government, including the first surviving legal code, the first surviving court ritual code, and several compendiums of government doc- uments. Much more survives from writers’ collected works by way of personal letters, epitaphs for friends and relatives, prefaces to poems, and the like, from which historians can reconstruct social circles, trace marriage patterns, and infer attitudes toward mar- riage, children, friendship, and other nonpolitical subjects. There is also a substantial body of short fic- tion, which provides scenes of life in the cities among merchants, beggars, and shop owners in addition to the elite.

An even greater boon to recovering everyday social and economic relations was the discov- ery of thousands of original documents sealed in a Buddhist cave temple at Dunhuang, at the far northwestern corner of China proper, about 700 miles from Chang’an. The cave was sealed up soon after 1000 c.e., when the region was threatened by invasion, and was not discovered again until 1900, when a Daoist monk living there investigated a gap in the plaster. In 1907 and 1908, he sold the bulk of the 13,500 paper scrolls to the British explorer Aurel Stein (1862–1943) and the French sinolo- gist Paul Pelliot (1878–1945). The majority of the scrolls were Buddhist sutras, including numerous copies of the same texts, but there were also every- day documents such as bills of sale and contracts for services; calendars; primers for beginning stu- dents; sample forms for arranging divorce, adop- tion, and family division; circulars for lay religious societies; lists of eminent families; and government documents of all sorts.

From these documents, we can see that through the early eighth century, local officials kept the de- tailed registers of each household needed for the equal-field system. Although there was not enough land available to give everyone his or her full quota, the government did make reassignments every three years, as required by the law. Tenancy was also very common. Some people who found it inconvenient to work the land allotted to them by the govern- ment rented it to tenants while working as tenants themselves on other people’s land. Monasteries were

other love stories, this one does not end happily in a marriage. Zhang decides that beautiful women spell disaster for men and lets his parents arrange a mar- riage for him to someone else. Yingying, too, in the end marries someone chosen by her mother.

Tang men of letters kept Confucian learning alive in an age when the pull of Buddhism and Daoism was strong. Confucian scholars worked out the rit- ual programs of the early Tang emperors, served as teachers in the state schools, and wrote commentar- ies to the classics. State support for Confucian ac- tivities coexisted with state patronage of Buddhism and Daoism and with private commitment to either religion on the part of many Confucian officials. Neither the state nor the scholarly community felt compelled to sustain exclusive positions.

With the restructuring of the Tang state after the rebellion of An Lushan, the state agencies that had provided the focus for Confucian scholarly activi- ties deteriorated, forcing the scholarly community to reappraise its political and cultural responsibilities. A small group of scholars turned away from an em- phasis on preserving inherited traditions in favor of looking directly to the classics to find the “Way of the Sages.”

Han Yu (hahn yew) (768–824) was perhaps the most important of these politically engaged writers and thinkers. Even though he passed the jinshi ex- aminations (on his fourth try), Han Yu found po- litical advancement frustratingly difficult. He was a strong supporter of efforts to strengthen the central government’s control over the provinces, and he de- plored the political and cultural fragmentation that had been tolerated in order to hold together the Tang state. He offended the emperor when he wrote “On the Buddha Bone,” a memorial intimating that the emperor was risking his own life by letting some- thing so inauspicious as the bone of a dead person into the palace. As a writer, Han Yu advocated the use of a plainer prose style, labeled “ancient style” because it aimed for the ancient virtues of clarity and concision. This style, he contended, offered the best way to convey the truths of the Confucian tra- dition. In an essay on the origin of the Confucian Way, Han Yu argued that the Confucian tradition had been passed down in a single line of transmis- sion from the duke of Zhou to Confucius and Men- cius, but that the transmission had afterward been disrupted. He proposed that to revive the Way of the Sages, scholars had to go back to the Analects and Mencius.

06475_ch05_rev02.indd 90 9/10/12 10:20 AM

Summary 91

no longer worked to maintain order. Bandit gangs, some as large as small armies, roamed the coun- tryside and set siege to walled cities. These gangs smuggled illicit salt, ambushed merchants and tax convoys, and went on wild rampages through the countryside. Huang Chao (hwang chow), the leader of the most successful of these bands, was a failed examination candidate who had become a salt merchant. His army crossed the country sev- eral times. In 879, it took Guangzhou and slaugh- tered thousands of foreign merchants. Just two years later, his army captured Chang’an and set up a government. When someone posted a poem that ridiculed the new regime on a government build- ing, the order was given to kill all those able to compose poems. Three thousand people are said to have died as a result.

During the century from 860 to 960 (when the Song Dynasty was founded), political and mili- tary power devolved to the local level. Any local strongman able to organize defense against rebels and bandits could declare himself king or even emperor. Many of these local rulers rose from very humble origins; one had started as a merchant’s slave. In the south, no self-proclaimed king ever consolidated much more than the equivalent of one or two modern provinces (a situation labeled the Ten Kingdoms). Political fragmentation did not impair the economy of the south. In fact, in their eagerness to expand their tax bases, rulers of the southern kingdoms did their best to promote trade and tax it.

In the north, the effects of political fragmentation were less benign. Many of the regional warlords were not Chinese, but Turks from the old garrison armies. Both Chang’an and Luoyang had been devastated by the fighting of the late Tang period, and Kaifeng, lo- cated in Henan province at the mouth of the Grand Canal, became the leading city in north China. None of the Five Dynasties that in succession held Kaifeng was able to build a stable government before being ousted by rivals.

SuMMARy After centuries of division, China was reunified in 589 c.e. by the Sui Dynasty, which defeated the last of the Southern Dynasties in naval battles. The founder of this dynasty, Yang Jian, claimed to be Chinese, but he was from the northwestern military

among the largest landowners, and monastery ten- ants had serf-like status, not free to move elsewhere or marry outside their group. They could, however, hire others to help them work their land, as well as purchase their own land.

Among the more interesting documents found at Dunhuang were fifty or so charters for lay associa- tions. Usually a literate Buddhist monk helped the group organize Buddhist devotional activities, such as meals for monks or offerings for ceremonies. Wealthier groups might sponsor the construction or decoration of a new cave. Other groups were more concerned with sudden large expenses, such as fu- nerals, with each member making small monthly contributions to what was, in effect, an insurance pool. One association was limited to women, who promised to contribute oil, wine, and flour for a monthly meal.

Many of those who belonged to these associa- tions were illiterate and drew marks beside their names instead of signing their names. Temples did their best to reduce illiteracy by offering elementary education. Numerous primers have survived, as well as multiplication tables, vocabu- lary lists, and etiquette books with rules on the language to use when addressing superiors, peers, and inferiors and the steps to follow for weddings and funerals.

Some of China’s earliest printed works were found among the Dunhuang documents, including a calen- dar for the year 877 and a copy of the Diamond Sutra dated 868, widely considered the world’s old- est printed book. It is not surprising that the Chinese discovered how to print so early because China had a long history of mass production by use of molds. Moreover, people were familiar with ways to repro- duce words on paper through the use of seals or rubbings taken from inscribed bronze or stone. The method of printing developed in Tang times involved craftsmen carving words and pictures into wooden blocks, inking them, and then pressing paper onto the blocks. Each block had an entire page of text carved on it.

THE TANg DyNASTy’S FiNAL DECADES AND THE FivE DyNASTiES After the rebellion of An Lushan, the Tang central government shared political and military power with the military governors. After 860, this system

06475_ch05_rev02.indd 91 9/10/12 10:20 AM

92 Chapter 5 The Cosmopolitan Empires of Sui and Tang China (581–960)

own dynasty. It was not until she was over 80 that she was deposed and one of her sons returned to the throne. Another important ruler in Tang times was her grandson, Xuanzong, a patron of poetry, painting, and music as well as both Buddhism and Daoism. His reign came to an end with the massive rebellion of a frontier general, An Lushan.

After years of civil war, the Tang rulers had to call on Uighur troops to help retake the capital and also had to tolerate military governors who treated their provinces as hereditary kingdoms. The central gov- ernment also had to devise new ways to raise rev- enues, the most successful of which was the salt mo- nopoly. By the ninth century the political situation was deteriorating at court, where eunuchs gained power. Still, the late Tang was a culturally and eco- nomically vibrant period, when trade flourished and intellectuals and poets explored new territory. After 860, however, banditry and uprisings led to power devolving to the local level, and it was a century be- fore another strong dynasty was established.

How did China change over the course of the three centuries of Sui and Tang rule? The late Tang did not dominate East Asia the way the early Tang had because all along its borders powerful states had established themselves. Nor was the late Tang as eager to adopt music, craft, and art styles from distant lands. Although military men held much of the power in both periods, China had not returned to the hybrid Xianbei-Chinese military culture of the Northern Dynasties. The late Tang official elite was oriented toward the civil arts, and more and more welcomed into its midst men of literary talent from undistinguished families. During Tang times, the Chinese economy grew much larger, first stim- ulated by the reunification of north and south and later by the abandonment of the equal-field system. The government found new ways to raise revenue, notably through control of salt production and dis- tribution. In both the sixth and the ninth centuries, Buddhism was a major force within China, but much had changed about China’s engagement with Bud- dhism. By late Tang, foreign monks were much less of a presence and Chan and Tantric monks much more of one. Confucianism was stronger at the end of the Tang, thanks to the intellectual flowering of the ninth century.

elite where intermarriage between Chinese and non-Chinese was very common. The Sui strength- ened the central control of the government by lim- iting the power of local officials to appoint their own subordinates. Sui also promoted the economic integration of the newly unified country by con- structing the Grand Canal, which connected the rice-producing regions of the south with the region of the capitals. Another accomplishment was con- struction of a large new capital built where the Han Dynasty had had their first capital; like it, the new capital was also named Chang’an.

Sui was overthrown in 618 after its incessant military campaigns provoked uprisings. The man to found a new dynasty, the Tang, was from the same northwestern military aristocracy as the Sui found- er, and the Tang built upon Sui accomplishments. The second Tang emperor Taizong not only won victories over the Turks, then the dominant ethnic group north of China, but also promoted the civil arts, sponsoring the compilation of the histories of the previous dynasties and a new legal code and establishing government schools to prepare men for service as officials. Although Taizong’s campaigns against Goguryeo were unsuccessful, under his suc- cessor an alliance with Silla led to victory and a unified Korea.

The capital, Chang’an, built on a grid, was a cos- mopolitan city that welcomed merchants, pilgrims, and students from elsewhere in Asia. The Tang elite were attracted to the amenities of city life and of- ten moved from their original family homes to the capital, the better to pursue their political careers. Buddhism received state support and continued to penetrate deeply into Chinese culture. Surviving doc- uments from Dunhuang in the northwest are among the best sources for ordinary people’s involvement with Buddhism. Nevertheless, in the ninth century a Tang emperor issued a ban on foreign religions that closed thousands of monasteries and forced clergy to return to lay life.

One of the most intriguing phases of Tang history was the period when Empress Wu was in control. She rose from secondary consort to em- press. After her sons succeeded to the throne, she deposed them one after the other, eventually taking the title “emperor” for herself, thereby starting her

06475_ch05_rev02.indd 92 9/10/12 10:20 AM

IN 735, WHEN TAJIHINO MABITO HIrONArI returned to Japan after completing his mission to the Tang court at Chang’an, he was accompanied by a Chinese Buddhist monk, an Indian Brahman, a Per- sian musician, and another musician from Champa (southern Vietnam). This was an era when Korea and Japan turned to China as a model for everything from architecture to ceramics, music, and medicine. But the China they turned to was a cosmopolitan one that had absorbed much from the rest of Asia. (See Map C3.1.)

During the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, the major countries of Asia exchanged ideas, music, technology, art, and commodities. The Chinese avid- ly adopted Persian musical instruments and the game of polo. The Abbasid caliphs were connoisseurs of Chinese silk and ceramics. Persian seamen carried goods on ships that stopped at India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and China. Buddhist monks from India and Java performed ceremonies at the Chinese court. Chang’an hosted as many as twenty-five thousand foreigners, the majority of whom had arrived by the overland route through Central Asia. In Guangzhou there were even more foreigners active in the sea- borne trade. In the eighth century, a monk described the port as full of “uncountable” Indians, Persians, and Malays who brought aromatics, drugs, precious stones, and other goods. A century later, in 878, the Persian Abu Zayd was willing to put a number on the foreign community of Muslims, Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians in the city, but his number—120,000— is too high to be believable.

Although many more merchants than monks trav- eled the trade routes of Asia, most surviving records of journeys were written by monks. The monk Xuanzang, who left Chang’an in 629, took the northern arm of the Silk road. His account testifies to the strictness of Chinese checkpoints, where travel permits were exam- ined, and to the hardship of crossing the deserts. He stopped at the oasis towns of Turfan and Kucha. Next he had to climb the Tianshan Mountains where, he

wrote, glaciers “rise mingling with the clouds.” One- third of those in his party died crossing these passes. At Tolmak he was entertained by a Turkish khan, and from there he went to Samarkand, which he described as a rich entrepôt. He stopped at Balk and Bamiyan before turning south toward India. On his return trip fifteen years later, after Samarkand, Xuanzang took the southern route through the city-state of Khotan. He had to pass the Taklamakan desert, where drifting sands obscured the path, and travelers were advised to look for bones of those who had not survived to find their way. More than once on his trip, his group was attacked by bandits.

The stories of those who crossed the deserts and mountains of Central Asia by foot and camel are full of romance and adventure. More goods and more people, however, went by the easier sea route. Ships regularly sailed from the Persian Gulf to India and from India to Southeast Asia and China, follow- ing the monsoons. A round trip of the entire route would take about a year and a half. Traders would leave Persia or Mesopotamia in September to catch the northeast monsoon that would take them to the southern tip of India. After trading there, they would sail in December with the southwest mon- soon across the Bay of Bengal, through the Straits of Malacca, reaching Guangzhou in south China by April or May. They would spend several months there, buying Chinese goods, before beginning the return trip in the fall. Among the objects that traders transported across Asia were glass cups, bowls, and beads made in Syria or Persia. Imported glass has been found in tombs in China, Korea, and Japan.

During these centuries, China, Japan, and Korea were part of a larger world that encompassed all of Asia from Persia to the east. These were the regions of Asia where Buddhism had spread. These parts of the world were undergoing major changes during this pe- riod and looked quite different in 900 than they had in 600. In 600, Turks were dominant on the Inner

Cultural Contact Across Eurasia (600–900)

C O N N E C T I O N S

06475_Connection_3_rev02.indd 93 9/10/12 10:22 AM

94 Connections: Cultural Contact Across Eurasia (600–900)

G an

g es

Cas pian Sea

A ra

l S ea

S tr

a it

s o f

H o rm

u z

B la

ck S

A n

ti o

B u

kh a ra

D u

n h

u a n

G u

a n

g zh

o u

S a m

a rk

a n

K a sh

g a r

C h

a n

g 'a

nL u

o y a n

g M

e rv

K h

o ta

D a m

a sc

u s

B a b

y lo

A ks

u m

D u

ra -E

u ro

p o

s P

A R

T H

IA N

H IM

A L

A Y

A S

G O

B I

D E

S E

R T

M a la

y P

e n

in su

A LT

A I M

T S

TA R

IM B

A S

C H

IN A

M O

N G

O L

S T

U R

K IC

N O

M A

D S

X IN

JI A

N G

S C

Y T

H IA

N S A

R A

B IA

BA HR

AI N

O M

A N

IN D

T IB

E T

JA P

A N

IR A

N (P

E R

S IA

)

K U

S H

A N

E M

P IR

E B

A C

T R

IAF E

R G

H A

N A

A R

M E

N IA

A F

G H

A N

IS T

A N

S R

IV IJ

A Y

E T

H IO

P IA

S ri

L an

S um

at ra

B or

ne o

Ja va

E up

hra tes

Tigris

Nile

Ya ng

Yell ow

In du

s B

ra h m

a p u tr

A ra

b ia

n S ea

S o u th

C h in

a S ea

IN D

IA N

C E

A N

P A

C IF

IC O

C E

A N

B a y

o f

B en

g a l

0 5

0 0

10 0

0 K

m .

0 5

0 0

10 0

0 M

S ilk

R o u te

In d ia

n O

ce an

t ra

d e r

o u te

M a p

C 3 .1

ap o

f A

si an

T ra

d e

an d C

o m

m u n ic

at io

n R

o u te

s in

t h e

Si x th

–T en

th C

en tu

ri es

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_Connection_3_rev02.indd 94 9/10/12 10:23 AM

Connections: Cultural Contact Across Eurasia (600–900) 95

Turkestan, and the Sogdian Manicheans often moved east to the lands dominated by the Uighurs or farther east to China. Quite a few Manichean texts survived at Dunhuang. The influx of Nestorian Christians into Tang China began before Islam came to Central Asia but probably was stimulated by it. Zoroastrians, by contrast, mostly moved to India, where they were able to maintain their traditions into modern times.

India during these centuries was a land of petty kingdoms where regional cultures flourished. By this point, Hinduism was in the ascendancy and had more adherents than Buddhism, but there were still many major Buddhist monasteries. Tantric Bud- dhism was particularly popular and was spreading to Tibet. In these centuries, India came into contact with Islam. The northwest part of India, the Sind, was conquered in 711 by the Ummayad governor of Iraq, who sent a force with six thousand horses and six thousand camels, but Islam did not spread much beyond this foothold until several centuries later.

Tang China maintained sway in northern Vietnam, but elsewhere in Southeast Asia, traders from India were establishing a significant presence. Traders established many coastal settlements. Local rulers often adopted Indian customs and values, embraced Hinduism and Buddhism, and learned Sanskrit, which became the lingua franca of the region, much like Chinese in East Asia. The most important main- land Southeast Asian state was the Khmer Empire of Cambodia, founded in 802. Indian influence was per- vasive; the impressive temple complex at Angkor Wat was dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu. Just as im- pressive was the maritime empire of Srivijaya, which from the sixth century on held the important Strait of Malacca, through which most of the sea traffic be- tween China and India passed. Based on the island of Sumatra, the Srivijayan navy ruled the waters around Sumatra, Borneo, and Java and controlled the south- ern part of the Malay Peninsula as well. Sanskrit was used for government documents, and Indians were often employed as priests, scribes, and administra- tors. Indian mythology took hold, as did Indian ar- chitecture and sculpture. Kings and their courts, the first to embrace Indian culture, consciously spread it to their subjects. The Chinese Buddhist monk Yix- ing stopped at Srivijaya for six months in 671 on his way to India and for four years on his return journey. He found a thousand Buddhist monks there, some of whom helped him translate Sanskrit texts. Boro- budur, a stone monument depicting the ten tiers of Buddhist cosmology, was begun around 780.

Asian steppe. The major oasis cities, such as Kotan, Kucha, and Turfan, were largely autonomous and devotedly Buddhist. Sogdians dominated the region of Samarkand and Bukhara, and in Persia the Sassai- nian dynasty ruled. In Persia Zoroastrianism was the state-supported religion, but Manichaeism also had a substantial following, as it did in Sogdia as well. Christianity was to be found in both these regions, but it was Nestorian Christianity, an offshoot originating with the teachings of Nestorius, the fifth-century pa- triarch of Constantinople, who argued that Jesus had two distinct natures, human and divine.

By far the most momentous development in Persia and Sogdia during the Tang period was the coming of Islam. By the time Muhammad died in 632, his fol- lowers had formed a highly disciplined community in Arabia, and within a generation not only had they conquered the Arabian peninsula and Mesopotamia but they had also taken over the Sassanian empire in Persia. By the early eighth century, they had added Bukara and Samarkand in Central Asia. Although populations were not forced to convert, political and economic incentives steadily led to more and more conversions. Zoroastrians, Manicheans, and Nestori- ans who did not want to convert often chose to move, creating substantial diasporas, especially in India and China. Even before the arrival of Islam, Manicheanism had been spreading to the Uighur Turks of Chinese

Sassainian Glass Bowl. This 3.5-inch-wide glass bowl was made in Persia in about 500 and buried in a grave in southeast China (Jiangsu province). Similar glass bowls have been found elsewhere in China and one was among the objects placed in the Shōsōin in Nara, Japan.

Ju ro

ng M

us eu

m , J

ia ng

su P

ro vi

nc e/

Cu ltu

ra l R

el ic

s Pr

es s

06475_Connection_3_rev02.indd 95 9/10/12 10:23 AM

96 Connections: Cultural Contact Across Eurasia (600–900)

illustrated in Buddhist paintings of celestial orches- tras. These instruments were adopted by orchestras not only in China but also in Korea and Japan.

Imported musical instruments were among the treasures the Japanese Empress Kōmyō placed in the Shōsōin repository at the Buddhist temple Tōdaiji in Nara in 756. These instruments included both four- and five-string pipa/biwa of Chinese manufacture. There also was a harp (konghou/kugo), another in- strument that originated in West Asia. These instru- ments were greatly outnumbered by the 171 masks for use in dance performances. Masked dances were very popular in the Central Asian city of Kucha, and Kuchan dancers probably helped them gain popu- larity in China, Korea, and Japan. One mask is for a comic drama, Drunken Persians, about a Persian king and his attendant. “As the languid dance, punc- tuated with slow leaps, picked up tempo, the actors shed their inhibitions and behaved in a thoroughly uproarious manner, probably drawing enthusiastic cheers from the delighted spectators.”* Central Asia thus provided not only some of the material trap- pings of this performance but also its content.

*ryoichi Hayashi, The Silk Road and the Shoso-in, trans. robert ricketts (New York: Weatherhill, 1975), p. 102.

Music and dance offer one of the most interest- ing cases of East Asia’s adopting elements of culture from other parts of Asia. In Tang times, no tavern in Chang’an could compete without a troop of for- eign musicians and a Western dancing or singing girl. Popular tunes included “South India,” “The Three Platforms of the Turks,” and “Watching the Moon in Brahman Land.” One set of dancing girls from Sogdia who won the favor of Emperor Xuanzong (r. 712–756) were known as the Western Twirl- ing Girls. They wore crimson robes with brocaded sleeves, green pants, and red deerskin boots, and they skipped and twirled on top of balls rolling around the dance floor. The poet Bai Juyi wrote about the dances of girls from modern Tashkent who began their act by emerging from artificial lotuses and ended it by pulling down their blouses to show their shoulders. Countries throughout Asia sent musi- cians as part of their tribute to Xuanzong’s court. Court music was categorized into ten regional styles, including those of Samarkand, Bukhara, Kashgar, Kucha, India, and Korea. Among the instruments that entered the Chinese repertoire during this period is the pear-shaped plucked lute, originally of West Asian origins. From Kucha came oboes and flutes and a small lacquered drum. Percussion instruments from India, including gongs and cymbals, are often

Five-Stringed Pipa/Biwa. This musical instrument, decorated with fine wooden marquetry, was probably presented by the Tang court to a Japanese envoy. It was among the objects placed in the Shōsōin.

Ky od

o N

ew In

te rn

at io

na l

06475_Connection_3_rev02.indd 96 9/10/12 10:23 AM

P A R T T w o

Chapter 6 Early Korea to 935

Making Comparisons Languages and writing Systems

Chapter 7 Early State and Society in Japan (to 794)

Chapter 8 China Among Equals: Song, Liao, Xia, and Jin (907–1279)

Chapter 9 Heian Japan (794–ca. 1180)

Connections The Mongols

Chapter 10 Goryeo Korea (935–1392)

Making Comparisons Monarchical Institutions

Chapter 11 Kamakura Japan (1180–1333)

Chapter 12 China Under Mongol Rule (1215–1368)

Making Comparisons Food Cultures

The Emergence of East Asian Civilization

06475_ch06_rev04.indd 97 9/10/12 10:59 AM

C H A P T E R S I X

Early Korea to 935

Geographical Setting

The Early Historical Period (200 b.c.e.–313 c.e.)

Documents: The widow of King Gogukcheon

The Three Kingdoms (Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla) (313–668)

Unified Silla (668–892)

Society and Culture

Biography: Gangsu the Scribe

Material Culture: Seokguram Grotto

Balhae (698–926)

Making Comparisons: Languages and writing Systems

over the course of the millennium that stretched from the Han through the Tang Dynasties in China, the earliest Korean states appeared. These states, in the Korean peninsula and adjacent parts of Manchuria, were in frequent contact with the peoples and polities in Inner Asia, China, and Japan. In 108 b.c.e. the Chinese Han Dynasty expanded to incorporate the northwestern part of the peninsula, which led to increasing contact with Chinese culture and technology. After the Chinese outpost fell in the early fourth century, three main states emerged in the Korean region. Competition among these Three Kingdoms to ex- pand their territories culminated in Silla’s (SHIL-la) unification of much of the peninsula in 668. During these centuries, Korean elites successfully resisted determined efforts by the Sui and Tang governments to subjugate them, but they did not reject all things Chinese. They readily adopted ideas and practices from outside, including Buddhism, the Chinese writing system, and Confucian ideas about government.

Scholars who study early Korea have been particularly interested in questions of Korea’s ethnic and cultural origins and connections to other parts of Asia. How do we reconstruct Korea’s early history when most of the written sources are Chinese? Was there a distinct Korean culture before the spread of Buddhism and facets of Chinese culture? What en- abled Silla to unify the Korean peninsula in the seventh century? What features of Chinese statecraft and learning did Silla’s elites adopt from Tang China?

GEoGRAPHICAL SET TInG Korea is about 600 miles long and about 150 miles across at its widest point. Its area, about 85,000 square miles, is much smaller than China’s (about one-fiftieth based on current borders) but is more than half the size of Japan and just slightly smaller than Great Britain. Most of the land is hilly, with major mountains in the north that cut off the peninsula from

06475_ch06_rev04.indd 98 9/10/12 10:59 AM

Geographical Setting 99

in the north because of cold continental air flow- ing south from Siberia. In summer it is hot and humid with monsoon winds depositing torrential rains in July and August. Large plains are scarce. Most of the best arable land is located in the south, where wet field rice is grown and double cropping possible. Hill land can be terraced for rice culti- vation, but most upland areas were traditionally cultivated in dry crops like barley, millet, ramie, and later cotton.

Manchuria. The Daedong (DAY-dong) River in the north and the Han River in the center were the most important rivers, but they did not play the central role of the Yellow and Yangzi rivers in China. The Yalu River (Amnok [AHM-nok] in Korean) and the Duman (DO-mahn) River, the current boundary be- tween North Korea and China, did not function as a state boundary until the fifteenth century.

The climate of Korea is shaped by its location. In winter the weather is cold, with heavy snowfall

Y e l l o w S e a

E a s t S e a

( S e a o f J a p a n )

Great Wall

J O S E O N

B U Y E O

E A S T E R N Y E

O K C H E O

G O G U R Y E O

MAHAN

JINHAN

LELANG COMMANDERY

(108 B.C.E.–313 C.E.)

X U A N T U C O M M A N D E RY

BYEONHAN

Ya lu

Am ur

Sungari

Li ao

Ta ed

on g

C h

on gc

h’o n

’

Dum an

LIA DO

PE NI

NS UL

Mt. Paektu

(Harbin)

Baekje (Seoul)

Pyeongyang

0 200 Km.100

0 200 Mi.100

Map 6.1 Korea, 200 b.c.e.–100 b.c.e.

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch06_rev04.indd 99 9/10/12 10:59 AM

100 Chapter 6 Early Korea to 935

earliest extant source written in Korea is an inscrip- tion dated 414 c.e. The earliest surviving histories written in Korea were compiled much later, in 1145 and 1279, respectively. They are commonly used as sources for much earlier periods on the assumption that they made use of earlier records now lost, but naturally they were written from the perspectives of the victors in the successive struggles for supremacy, not the losers.

From these written sources, we know that during the Han Dynasty, the Korean peninsula was home to many different tribes, tribal confederations, and other types of small polities whose cultures seem to have differed in significant ways. During this period, there was no sharp break between lands dominated by the Xiongnu and Korea, and after the Xiongnu confederation broke down, the number of groups identifying themselves as distinct peoples only in- creased. Ethnicity was fluid as tribes vanquished each other, incorporating those subjugated as mem- bers of the tribe or as its slaves.

The north: Joseon, Buyeo, Goguryeo, and the Chinese Commanderies

Sima Qian’s Historical Records, written around 100 b.c.e., records that in 195 b.c.e., when the king of the Han Dynasty state of Yan (in the region of modern Beijing) rebelled, one of his lieutenants named Weiman (Wiman in Korean) fled east to Joseon (JOE-son) with a thousand followers. The Joseon king put him in charge of guarding the fron- tier, but Weiman seized control of the country and set himself up as king. His descendants ruled until 108 b.c.e., much the way Chao Tuo/Trieu Da did in south China and Vietnam (see Chapter 3).

In 108 b.c.e., Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in his efforts to outflank the Xiongnu, invaded Joseon and incorporated its territory from the Liao River in southwestern Manchuria almost to present-day Seoul. This territory was divided into four commanderies and was administered like other commanderies by officials assigned from the Chinese capital. Lelang commandery, with its seat in modern Pyeongyang (PYOUNG-yang), was the most important of the four. This part of Korea re- mained under Chinese control until 313 c.e., lead- ing to increased trade and cultural contact between societies on the Korean peninsula and Han China. Excavations of Lelang have revealed brick-paved

Human habitation in the Korean peninsula began about thirty thousand years ago. (See Connections: The Prehistory of East Asia.) From about 6000 b.c.e., a distinctive type of “comb-marked” earthenware was made. By about 1300 b.c.e., bronze artifacts such as knives were in use, but their use did not lead to such Bronze Age developments as cities, writing, or complex states as they did in Shang China. Rath- er, the distinctive narrow and broad swords, knives, and tools found in Korea belong to the Northern Zone culture found across the steppe from Scythia to Siberia.

Although today there are no significant ethnic minorities in Korea, in early times many differ- ent groups lived on the peninsula. The main flow of migration into the Korean peninsula came from Inner Asia, Mongolia, and Siberia through Manchuria, and migration also continued across the Tsushima Strait to the islands of Japan. The Korean language is thought to belong to a larger group of Altaic languages spoken in Manchuria and Siberia (see Making Comparisons: Languages and Writing Systems).

A story in the early Zhou Dynasty Book of Documents tells of a Chinese nobleman and sage, Gija (GI-jah) (Qizi in Chinese), who advised King Wen of the Zhou Dynasty (ca. 1000 b.c.e.) and was rewarded by the grant of a fief called Joseon (Chaoxian in Chinese), a term used in the Han Dynasty to refer to southern Manchuria and northern Korea. Koreans in later times pointed to this tale to claim that Gija brought the “Korean people” up to the advanced level of early Zhou civilization, but archaeological evidence provides no support for such early involvement with the Chinese heartland.

THE EARLy HISToRICAL PERIod (200 b.c.e.–313 c.e.) In addition to archaeological evidence, several sorts of written records help us reconstruct early Korean history. The early Chinese histories have passages about the various small polities in what later became Manchuria and Korea. Naturally, Chinese historians wrote from a Chinese perspective, reporting raids on Chinese territory or other military conflicts, the ar- rival of envoys, and what Chinese envoys, traders, or migrants reported back after their own travels. The

06475_ch06_rev04.indd 100 9/10/12 10:59 AM

The Early Historical Period (200 b.c.e.–313 c.e.) 101

(GO-goo-ryeo) seized Lelang and Daifang. Despite four hundred years of Chinese presence in those commanderies, the area quickly declined in impor- tance. Buyeo (BOO-yo) also declined as Goguryeo encroached on it, fully absorbing it in 494.

The South: The Three Han (Samhan [SAM-han])

In the southern half of the Korean peninsula, never under Chinese administration, early Chinese sources mention much smaller polities organized into three confederations of the Han (this “Han” is written with a different Han character than is the one for the Han Dynasty in China; in time this Han became an ethnic term for Korean). Mahan (MAH-han) was in the southwest, Jinhan (JIN-han) in the southeast, and Byeonhan (BYON-han) between the other two on the southern coast. (See Map 6.1.) According to Chinese sources, these three together had seventy- odd polities and nearly a million people. All three were stratified societies with aristocratic elites that selected their chiefs and lorded it over not only com- moners but also “low” households and slaves. The climate of the south favored growing rice and other grains, which were supplemented by hunting, gath- ering, fishing, sericulture, and the weaving of ramie cloth. In Jinhan, iron was produced.

Chinese sources paid less attention to these southern societies because they were not contigu- ous with Chinese territories and posed no military threat. They reported that dwellings in the south had thatched roofs and earthen floors and that the people did not understand the value of precious met- als like gold and silver or appreciate fine silks. Some of the men tattooed their bodies, and the men living on the islands of offshore Mahan wore their hair like the Xianbei and ran about half-naked. None of their towns were surrounded by walls, as in China. In Jinhan and Byeonhan, the people flattened the heads of their babies and tattooed their bodies like the Wa people in Japan. Warriors fought on foot because there were no horses.

Early Chinese accounts claimed that the Wa (usually interpreted as a name for the Japanese) also lived along the southern coast. Other sources, too, suggest that groups crossed frequently between Korea and Japan in these early centuries, with eth- nic and linguistic distinctions between them evolving only slowly.

lanes, covered drainage culverts, and rows of foundation stones for pillared buildings thought to be government buildings because of finds of Han coins and government seals. Nearly fifteen hundred mounded tombs in the area show that Han officials assigned to Lelang brought Chinese burial practices and art styles with them. Luxu- ry goods from all over the Chinese empire were transported to this distant outpost, including a famous lacquerware basket with images of Con- fucian worthies painted around the sides, thought to have been brought all the way from Sichuan in western China (see page 52).

From Chinese sources, it seems that the rest of Korea in this era was controlled by tribal chieftains or petty kings. The general picture that emerges is of mounted warriors claiming aristocratic origins who would lead a few hundred warrior followers to prom- ising locations where they could extract resources by dominating the local farming and fishing families. Chinese population estimates of these polities ranged from several hundred to fifty thousand. Often coun- cils of chiefs advised and limited the power of pet- ty kings. Society was organized hierarchically with an elite class of what Chinese sources called “great families,” who dominated “lower households,” which probably included slaves. In these regards, the chiefdoms were much like other tribal societies in Manchuria, such as the Xianbei, who played impor- tant roles in China in the Period of Division. War- fare was conducted with bows and arrows, swords, and halberds, and each family had to supply its own weapons. Punishment included execution and reduc- tion to slavery of the family members of criminals. Like the Xiongnu, some of these societies prac- ticed the levirate (marriage to a brother’s widow). (See Documents: The Widow of King Gogukcheon.)

Chinese sources are fullest on the military con- flicts that occurred with regularity. One of the main tasks of the Han commanderies was to attempt to suppress raids by Goguryeo warriors, and they would often ask Buyeo to help them fight their com- mon enemy. In 244 during the Three Kingdoms period in China, the Chinese state of Wei captured the Goguryeo capital but did not hold it for long. In 286, after Wei was replaced by the Jin Dynasty, the Murong branch of the Xianbei people attacked Buyeo and took thousands of captives. Early in the fourth century, when north China fell into the hands of Xianbei and other non-Chinese rulers, Goguryeo

06475_ch06_rev04.indd 101 9/10/12 10:59 AM

102 Chapter 6 Early Korea to 935

D O C U M E N T S

Upon the death of King Gogukcheon (Go- gook-chon), his queen, formerly named U (ooH), kept his death secret and at night went to the house of Balgi (PAR-ki), the king’s younger brother, and said, “The king has no heir; you should succeed him.” not know- ing of the king’s death, Balgi said, “Heaven dispenses its favors as it will. Moreover it is indecorous for a lady to travel about at night.”

Ashamed, the queen went to yeonu (yo-nu), Balgi’s younger brother. yeonu rose, put on his cap and gown, received the queen at the gate, and gave a banquet in her honor. The queen said, “now that the king is dead and there is no heir, Balgi should succeed him; but instead he insolently accuses me of treason. That is why I have come.”

Thereupon yeonu showed more respect and cut his finger while carving the meat. The queen undid her belt and wrapped his injured finger. Before returning to the palace, she said, “The night is dark, and I am fear- ful. Please take me home.” yeonu complied. The queen then took yeonu’s hand and drew him into the palace. The following morning at dawn, the queen lied to the officials and convinced them that the late king had wished yeonu to succeed him.

Balgi was furious when he heard the news. He surrounded the palace with soldiers and shouted, “It is not proper for a younger brother to succeed an elder brother. you have upset the proper order and usurped the throne. This is a grave crime. Come out at once. If not, your wife and children will be put to death.”

yeonu closed the palace gate for three days, and none of the people followed Balgi. Anticipating a disaster, Balgi, together with

his wife and children, took refuge in Liaodong and reported to the Governor Gongsun du, “I am the brother of nammu (nAM-moo), king of Goguryeo. nammu died leaving no heir, but my younger brother yeonu has plot- ted with his sister-in-law and ascended the throne. This is a transgression of the eternal ways of man. In my anger I have come to you. I beg you to give me a troop of thirty thousand to attack and suppress the rebel.” Gongsun du complied.

yeonu had his younger brother Gyesu (GAy-sue) lead the defending army, and Gyesu routed the Chinese troops. when Gyesu personally led the van and pursued the fleeing enemy, Balgi asked, “Are you trying to kill your older brother?”

Gyesu was not so heartless as to kill his brother. He said, “It is not just for yeonu to have accepted the throne, but are you trying to destroy your own state in a fit of temper? How can you face your own father in the underworld?” Ashamed and remorseful, Balgi fled to Baecheon (BAE-chon), where he cut his own throat. Gyesu wept bitterly, gave the corpse a hasty burial, and returned.

Questions for Analysis 1. How many brothers enter into this story? 2. Why would one of the claimants turn to a

Chinese governor for assistance? Why would the governor be willing to send troops?

3. What gave the widow a say in succession to the throne?

Source: From Sources of Korean Tradition Vol. 1: From Early Times through the Sixteenth Century by Peter H. Lee and Wm. Theodore de Bary, ed. Copyright © 1997 by Columbia University Press. Reprinted with permission from the publisher.

Like the Xiongnu, Mongols, and other Inner Asian peoples, early Korean ruling groups practiced the levirate. That is, a younger brother would marry the widow of his elder brother. According to the Korean History of the Three Kingdoms, written in 1145 but based on earlier records, when the Goguryeo king died in 197, the choice of his successor largely fell to his widow, who picked which of his younger brothers she wished to marry.

The widow of King Gogukcheon

06475_ch06_rev04.indd 102 9/10/12 10:59 AM

The Three Kingdoms: Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla (313–668) 103

of uncountable numbers of cattle, sheep, and horses, clearly showing that this region should be considered part of Inner Asia during this period. From this time to about 450, Goguryeo culture also had an increased influence on Japan (see Chapter 7).

Some of the best evidence of material culture in the Three Kingdoms period is found in murals in royal and aristocratic Goguryeo tombs (see Color Plates 8 and 9). These murals are reminiscent of Han China’s tomb murals in their depictions of the earthly life of the tomb occupant along with depictions of danc- ers and other entertainers, seemingly there to amuse the tomb occupant. Some tomb murals depict royal palaces with elaborate multicolored decorations on beams and rafters, the women living there garbed in elaborate and colorful clothing and served by slaves and servants. Some depict kings leading col- orful processions of mounted guards and chariots with military banners waving in the breeze. Other murals show mounted warriors out hunting, shoot- ing arrows while at full gallop. Entertainers depicted on tomb walls include men wrestling and women dancing, wearing robes with elongated sleeves that they waved in circles in the air. The upper parts of the tombs were often decorated with images of the Heavens, including magnificent examples of phoe- nixes and intertwined snakes and turtles that were symbolic of the four points of the compass associated with the Five Phases theory of Chinese cosmology.

It was not until the late fourth century that Baekje and Silla were mentioned in Chinese records, suggest- ing that they did not become important powers until that time. Like the Goguryeo rulers, Baekje’s rulers claimed descent from a Buyeo prince. Baekje began with a base just west of the Liao River in southwest Manchuria. In 369, Baekje attacked and defeated its erstwhile Mahan overlord and soon absorbed much of the rest of Mahan territory, thus giving it control of the southwestern part of the peninsula.

To strengthen royal control, Baekje kings estab- lished the post of chief minister and set up a system of sixteen official ranks. They promoted Confucian ideas and ordered the compilation of historical records. In this era, Baekje was a maritime power conduct- ing trade with both China and Japan. It transmitted Chinese culture and Buddhism to Japan and sought weapons and military support from Japan.

As Baekje expanded, it came into conflict with Goguryeo and Silla. After defeat by Goguryeo in 475, Baekje withdrew south of the Han River. In 493 Baekje forged an alliance with Silla against

THE THREE KInGdoMS: GoGURyEo, BAEKJE, And SILLA (313–668) During the fourth century, the welter of peoples, polities, and Chinese garrisons began to evolve into three distinct territorial states—Goguryeo, Baekje (BECK-jay), and Silla—all still very much ruled by warrior elites. Both the decline in Chinese power and a diaspora of Chinese fleeing turmoil contributed to the state-building process, which involved borrow- ing Chinese political practices as ways to strength- en the king’s control. The kings were still military leaders, however, and regularly led their armies into battle. In archaeological terms, the Three Kingdoms period was the era of large, mounded tombs found throughout the area and into western Japan. They provide strong evidence that elites now controlled extensive resources and labor power. The scores of mountain fortresses built during the period similarly offer evidence of the military conflicts of the period.

The northernmost of these states, Goguryeo, had slowly gained strength for centuries. It was centered in southern Manchuria, and its rulers claimed to be a branch of the Buyeo ruling house. In the fourth century, Goguryeo got caught up in the wars among the dif- ferent Xianbei (shyenbay) tribes in north China and southern Manchuria. Despite some serious setbacks, Goguryeo was expanding by the late fourth century. During this period, the Goguryeo king Gwanggaeto (GWANG-gay-toe) (“the king who expands the terri- tory,” r. 391–413) was making advances against the Khitan tribes in Manchuria and other tribes in the present-day Russian Maritime Province to the east, and by 410 controlled large territories in both places. (See Map 6.2.) He also began pushing southward down the Korean peninsula, in part because of pressure from the Xianbei states to the west. In 399 he sent an expe- ditionary force to help Silla drive out invading Baekje and Wa forces. He then enrolled the king of Silla as his vassal. In 406 he ended his long campaign against the Later Yan state (whose rulers were the Murong branch of the Xianbei). The peace agreement required him to provide military aid against the powerful North- ern Wei state in north China, which was ruled by the Tuoba clan of the Xianbei. In 414, the year after he died, his successor erected a stone slab inscribed with a record of all his exploits, the earliest extant Korean document (written, though, in Chinese). It described his first victory in 395 as a defeat of three tribes of six hundred to seven hundred tents and the capture

06475_ch06_rev04.indd 103 9/10/12 10:59 AM

104 Chapter 6 Early Korea to 935

confederation. The first chiefs came from the Bak family, and after that line died out, from the Seok and Kim families. They were assisted by a shaman or spiritual chief. Like the rulers of Baekje and Gogu- ryeo, Silla’s kings took steps to institutionalize their governments. They set up a ministry of war, issued a Chinese-style law code, made Buddhism a state- sponsored religion, and collected taxes on agricul- ture. Through military conquests, Silla gained access to the Yellow Sea and direct maritime contact with China, laying the groundwork for a decisive alli- ance with China a century later. By the 570s, Silla was replacing military lords with commissioners dispatched from the capital.

Goguryeo, which protected both states for over half a century through a balance of power.

In the sixth century, Baekje worked to strengthen central control by increasing the number of local magistrates assigned from the capital and register- ing commoners for labor service and tax collection. Baekje’s effort to expand eastward was stymied when Silla took over the Gaya (GAH-ya) confederation in 562. By the time of its final defeat in 660–663, Baekje boasted two hundred cities and 760,000 households.

The third of the Three Kingdoms, Silla, started as the weakest but emerged victorious in the end. Silla began as a confederation of six tribes controlled by a council of tribal leaders, under the larger Jinhan

KAYA

S I L L A Nak

to ng

Y e l l o w S e a

E a s t S e a

( S e a o f J a p a n )

GREAT WALL

G O G U R Y E O

GAYA

S I L L A

J A P A N

A E

K J

Am no

k (Y

al u)

Am ur

Sung ari

Lia o

Han

Na kt

o n

Tu m

TAMNA (JEJU ISLAND)

USAN (ULLEUNG

ISLAND)

TSUSHIMA IS.

Mt Baekdu

KUNGNAESONG (CHIBAN)

SABI (BUYEO) GYEONGJU

(HARBIN)

WIRYESEONG (SEOUL)

PYEONGYANG

(SHENYANG)

(CHANGCHUN) (JILIN)

UNGJIN (KONGJU)

0 200 Km.100

0 200 Mi.100

Map 6.2 Goguryeo at Its Largest Extent, Late Fifth Century c.e.

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch06_rev04.indd 104 9/10/12 10:59 AM

The Three Kingdoms: Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla (313–668) 105

the Salsu (SAL-su) River. Three more unsuccessful invasions followed in 613, 614, and 617. Uprisings soon toppled the Sui Dynasty, its loss of support in no small part the result of the enormous toll of its repeated attempts to regain ground in Korea.

The next Chinese dynasty, Tang, also aspired to match the Han Dynasty at its height, so it had its eyes on Goguryeo from the start. For its first thirty years, its armies were busy reducing the Turks in the north and west and opening China to trade and contact with Central Asia. In 642 the powerful Goguryeo aristocrat Yeon Gaesomun (YON GAY-sow-moon) seized pow- er, creating a virtual dictatorship that allowed him to prepare the kingdom for the coming crisis with China.

Baekje and Silla understood the principle that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Sometimes they allied with each other against Goguryeo; some- times they tried to line up outsiders, including Tang China, to help them. Each of the Three Kingdoms sent envoys to China, hoping to secure Chinese military help against their rivals. Queen Seondeok (SUN-duck) of Silla (r. 632–647) asked the Tang emperor Taizong to pressure Goguryeo to cease its attacks on Silla. Taizong responded by launching a campaign against Goguryeo in 644. It, too, failed, as did two subsequent campaigns.

Failing to defeat Goguryeo by direct attack, Tang decided to try attacking from the south in alliance with Silla. One hundred Silla ships were said to have ferried Tang troops to the Korean peninsula. First they attacked and destroyed Baekje, despite the help

Besides the three main rival kingdoms was a loose confederation on the southern coast known col- lectively as Gaya, noted for its production of iron and trade ties with Japan. Excavation of the royal Gaya tombs shows a prosperous society and rul- ers who could command considerable labor and resources. Too small to resist the expansion of its neighbors, Gaya fell bit by bit, the last part absorbed by Silla in 562.

Unification by Silla (581–668)

In 589 the Sui Dynasty reunified China after centu- ries of division, changing the political and military balance in northeast Asia. The main foreign threat to Sui was the Turks, but Goguryeo, because it sought an alliance with the Turks, was also a source of worry. In 598, Goguryeo attacked Sui territory, and Sui responded by invading Goguryeo by land and sea. The Sui campaign failed, but the Sui rul- ers did not abandon their ambitions. Another inva- sion in 612 was foiled by a brilliant naval victory at

Silver Belt with Pendants. Finely-crafted metalwork is often found in tombs of the Three Kingdoms. As a personal ornament, this belt, with its jangling pendants, would have been quite flashy.

Co ur

te sy

, D ae

gu N

at io

na l M

us eu

m Pottery Figure of a Silla Mounted Warrior, Fifth–Sixth Century c.e. (Courtesy, National Museum of Korea)

06475_ch06_rev04.indd 105 9/20/12 12:51 PM

106 Chapter 6 Early Korea to 935

Chinese practice, creating nine prefectures that were subdivided into two hundred superior districts and more than three hundred ordinary districts. Magistrates selected from among the aristocrats were dispatched from the capital to govern the districts. By 680 the government had established five small capitals in addition to the main one at Gyeongju (GYONG-jew) and sent members of the aristocracy to live at them and spread Silla culture throughout the conquered territories. The small capitals, howev- er, did not flourish because the Silla elite all wanted to live at Gyeongju.

Beginning around 760, political stability steadily spiraled downward. Aristocrats known as the True Bones led four successive rebellions marked by mur- ders and attempted usurpations. Finally the chair- man of the Council of Notables took over the throne himself in defiance of the will of the council. The throne had become a football for any aristocrat with the will and fortitude to grab it.

it got from Japan. This was the first Chinese victory in Korea since Han times. With victory, Tang set up five military commands to administer Baekje territo- ry rather than turning the area over to Silla, an insult Silla swallowed toward the greater goal of eliminat- ing Goguryeo. One of the Goguryeo princes defected to Tang and contributed to the fall of Goguryeo in 668 to the invading Tang and Silla forces.

Why was Silla victorious? Goguryeo was the larg- est and most militant of the Three Kingdoms. Yet in the mid-seventh century, Silla’s diplomacy trumped Goguryeo’s militancy as the way for a small country to survive in the face of a huge and powerful neigh- bor. After the destruction of Goguryeo, however, Silla was ready to turn on Tang. The Silla king or- ganized a coalition of forces, including soldiers from the defeated armies from Baekje and Goguryeo, to help drive the Chinese from the peninsula by 676.

Silla unified more of the Korean peninsula than had any earlier state, even though it did not gain control over all of former Goguryeo territory (Tang held the Liaodong peninsula, and Balhae [PAR-hay] gained most of the land north of the Daedong River). (See Map 6.3.) Relations with Tang were severed until the beginning of the eighth century, but after that time Silla and Tang established very strong rela- tions. By that point, Tang’s strategic interests had shifted, and it allied with Silla against their common foe, Balhae (see below). Silla, protected from foreign invasion by the Tang Empire, was able to reduce its military expenditures.

UnIFIEd SILLA (668–892) After Silla drove out Tang forces in 676, the government concentrated on consolidating its control and overcoming resistance. To win over aristocrats, privileges were granted to war heroes and impor- tant civil and military officials. Borrowing from the Tang bureaucratic model, post stations were set up, complete with horses, to speed the movement of offi- cials and government documents. The newly created board of academicians had specialists in medicine, law, mathematics, astronomy, and water clocks. An- other agency was put in charge of Buddhist temples and monasteries.

The Silla capital at Gyeongju was laid out in check- erboard fashion like the Tang capital at Chang’an. In 685, King Sinmun (SHIN-moon) divided the country into administrative units modeled on

Paektusan

S I L L A

G O G U R Y E O

BAEKJE

KUNGNAESONG

SABI (BUYEO)

GEUMSEONG (GYEONGJU)

˘ ˘

TSUSHIMA ISLAND

Y e l l o w

S e a

E a s t S e a ( S e a o f J a p a n )

Nadong

S. H an

N . H

Kum ˘

Am no

(Y alu

)

D ae

don g

Duma n

HANSAN (SEOUL)

UNGJIN

Hansulla (Gangneung)

KWANSANSONG (OKCH'ON)

PYEONGYANG

0 100 Km.50

0 100 Mi.50

JEJU

T'AMNA

Map 6.3 Silla After Conquest of Han River Region in 552 c.e.

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch06_rev04.indd 106 9/10/12 10:59 AM

Society and Culture 107

the non-Chinese rulers in North China dispatched two monks to bring Buddhism to Goguryeo. A monk from the Chinese Eastern Jin state came by sea to Baekje to introduce Buddhism. In the late fourth century, Baekje in turn sent Buddhist monks and two specialists in Confucian learning to Japan with the Analects and the Thousand Character Classic. It took another 150 years before Buddhism spread to Silla.

Even though Goguryeo and Baekje kings spon- sored Buddhism to gain a political edge over the dominant aristocratic families, Buddhism quick- ly became much more than a political weapon. Learned monks could read and write Chinese and helped spread Chinese learning and Confucian eth- ics. Buddhist temples and monasteries located in the mountains provided refuge from strife. The art and architecture of Buddhist temples were a source of in- spiration open to all.

Despite the strong influence of Tang culture, Silla society was fundamentally different from China’s. The main reason why kings adopted elements of Chinese statecraft was to strengthen their own positions vis-à-vis the deeply entrenched nobility. The True Bone aristocrats who traced their ancestry to earlier kings did not think the king outranked them. As early as the third century, Silla had a council of chieftains that exerted a check on the development of royal pow- er, which seems to have been the origin of the Council of Notables. The chairman of the Council of Notables was selected by the aristocrats in the council, and he held his position for the life of the king.

Although Tang China is considered a particularly aristocratic period in Chinese history, Silla was much more aristocratic than Tang. In China the examina- tion system that tested knowledge of the Chinese classics had been established in the Sui Dynasty and was carried over into Tang times to provide an im- personal method of recruiting officials that allowed occasional “new men” to rise in office. Although Silla introduced examinations based on the Confu- cian classics in 788, it allowed only aristocrats to take them.

With Silla’s victory over its rivals, its system of aristocratic ranks was applied to the entire society, but the highest rank was reserved for Silla’s own no- bility. In the Silla bone rank system, the descendants of its three royal clans were referred to as the True Bones, and they married only members of other True Bone families. No member of the True Bones could drop to commoner status, except as punishment

The security Tang had provided Silla declined along with Tang power after its own crises from 756 on. In 819, Silla’s relations with its northern neighbor were disrupted when it joined an unsuccessful Tang cam- paign against Balhae. In 826, after that expedition failed, Silla decided to build a long wall along the border in the northeast. In 828 the court appointed the commoner merchant prince Jang Pogo (JANG- pogo) to suppress piracy from a new naval garrison on Wando (WAN-doe) (Wan Island). Jang became the virtual commander of the seas, dominating the trade and transportation routes among Japan, Korea, and China. He incensed the capital aristocrats in 845 by proposing a marriage between his daughter and the king and was killed in the subsequent violence. Once his base at Wando was destroyed in 851, Silla lost its maritime predominance.

In the late ninth century, when the Tang Dynasty was brought to collapse by the Huang Chao rebel- lion, Silla, too, fell into disorder as warlords com- peted for power. The period from 889 to 935, the interregnum between Silla and the next long dynasty, Goryeo (GO-riyo), is referred to as the Later Three Kingdoms because warlords claimed to be reviving and continuing the old rival kingdoms.

SoCIETy And CULTURE Our knowledge of culture in Korea before Buddhism is fragmentary. The early migrating hunters and gatherers who lived in Manchuria and Korea be- lieved in the spirits of mountains and large trees, and they probably used shamans to communicate with spirits of the dead in order to avert harm to the living, traditions that remain alive today. In wartime, the Buyeo held a sacrifice to Heaven and then examined the hooves of a sacrificial ox to divine the outcome of upcoming battles. The Mahan conducted plant- ing and harvest rituals in the fifth and tenth lunar months, and each chiefdom had a religious specialist called the Lord of Heaven who offered sacrifices to the spirit of Heaven. The Mahan also had a special holy place that functioned as a safe refuge for people fleeing punishment.

These earlier traditions came to be obscured by the great influence of Buddhism, which spread to Korea during the Three Kingdoms period (see Connections: Buddhism in India and Its Spread Along the Silk Road). Buddhism was introduced to Goguryeo and Baekje in the 360s and 370s. One of

06475_ch06_rev04.indd 107 9/10/12 10:59 AM

108 Chapter 6 Early Korea to 935

Ennin encountered Silla boats not only traversing the Yellow Sea but also carrying cargoes of charcoal with- in China. Even members of the Silla royal family went to China to study. Some of these visitors spent many years in China. The monk Jajang (JAH-jang) spent the years 636–643 in China studying Buddhism, and on his return persuaded the Silla court to adopt the Tang calendar. Another example is Choe Chiwon (CHAE Gee-won), who was sent to China by his father at age twelve to study, passed the guest tribute exami- nation for foreigners at eighteen, and was assigned to a county-level office. He gradually rose in office for thirteen years before he announced that he wanted to return to Korea. Yet when Choe and others like him returned home, they found it difficult to crack the up- per ranks of the Silla government, dominated by True Bones aristocrats.

Buddhist monks who went to China brought back up-to-date Buddhist teachings. Among them the most popular was the Hwaeom (HWA-uhm) (Huayan in Chinese) sect based on the Flower Garland Sutra, brought back by the monk Uisang (WI-sang) (625– 702). Uisang had studied in China and in 661 wrote an influential exposition of the creed. Hwaeom’s main doctrine was that all noumena (dharmas, or ideas in the mind) and all phenomena (objects of sense experi- ence) were mutually interrelated and yet transitory and unreal. If one could only realize this, it would be pos- sible to free oneself from the desire for wealth, power, and sex that kept one bound to the world of suffering.

Uisang’s contemporary, the monk Wonhyo (WON-hyo, 617–686), founded the Dharma-nature sect. He traveled to Tang in 650 and had an influence on the development of the Chinese Flower Garland sect. Back in Korea, he struggled to bring all sects to- gether in ecumenical unity to avoid the divisiveness that had developed in China. Wonhyo spread the Buddhist message to the people of the lowest status to alleviate their suffering. Even if they did not have the means to pursue esoteric knowledge and meditation, they could appeal to the panoply of Buddhist images for solace and support against the hardships of life.

Some Silla monks journeyed beyond China. Hyecho (HAE-cho, ca. 700–ca. 780) wrote an ac- count of his pilgrimage to India. He began his jour- ney by sea from south China in 723, crossed India from east to west, visiting major Buddhist pilgrimage sites, then traveled north through Kashmir to return to China via Central Asian cities such as Kucha. After he reached Chang’an in early 727, he studied with the Indian missionary and Tantric master Vajrabodhi.

for a crime, and most members lived in the capital, Gyeongju. The True Bones monopolized the top five of the nine grades of offices. This bone rank system of inherited status resembles the kabane of early Japan (see Chapter 7), both of which had similar roots in Inner Asian social organization.

Young men in the True Bones families partici- pated in age groups called “flower youth” groups. These groups of aristocrat-warriors just coming of age practiced military skills together and later also engaged in such cultural activities as poetry- writing. The leaders of the Silla armies often had strong bonds to each other that originated in these age groups. Lower reaches of society included both commoners and slaves. Some of the True Bone aris- tocrats in the capital at Gyeongju possessed several thousand slaves thanks to prisoners of war captured in Silla’s victories over rivals. Nevertheless, the few extant village registers indicate that slaves made up only about 5 percent of the village population (their numbers would grow during the next dynasty).

Marriage was central to Silla kingship. The first eight kings came from the Pak (PARK) lineage and all queens from the Kim lineage; the next eight kings to 356 c.e. came from the Seok family, with queens supplied mostly by the Kim family but some from the Pak. From 356 to 654, all kings were members of the Kim lineage and all the queens came from the Pak family. This marriage practice has been labeled the double-descent system (and is similar to the mar- riage practices of the Khitan Liao dynasty in China, discussed in Chapter 8). Daughters of kings could succeed to the throne when they had no brothers.

During the Three Kingdoms period, the use of the Chinese writing system had spread to Korea. Those excluded from the highest office because of their fami- ly rank could learn Chinese in order to serve as scribes and clerks (see Biography: Gangsu, the Scribe).

The alliance between Tang and Silla facilitated travel between the two countries. Silla sent annual embassies to the Tang capitals and received many in return. Two or three hundred people might be part of these embas- sies. Much as China was open to art forms and other influence from Persia and India in Tang times, Korea in the same period was open to what China had to of- fer. Silla monks studied in China, Silla military officers enrolled in Tang armies, and Silla scholars competed successfully in the Tang examination system and were appointed to civil office in China. Several Tang cities had “Silla wards” where merchants and students from Silla lived. In the ninth century, the Japanese pilgrim

06475_ch06_rev04.indd 108 9/10/12 10:59 AM

Society and Culture 109

found in Xianbei sites in north China). (See Color Plate 10.)

Poetry was a favorite pastime of the Silla elite from early times. Two early poems were addressed to a turtle, perhaps a spirit or totem, warning it to remain hidden. In other surviving poems, an author laments the neglect of his master, a cuckolded husband is shocked when he returns home to find two pairs of legs in his bed, and a monk prays to the Amida Buddha that he might be reborn in the Pure Land. In the poem below, the poet laments the end of autumn (written ca. 763 c.e.):

We know not where we go,

Leaves blown, scattered,

Though fallen from the same tree,

By the first winds of autumn.*

The Seon (SUN), or meditation, sect of Buddhism (Chan in Chinese, Zen in Japanese) is said to have been introduced by the monk Beomnang (BUM-nang) af- ter his return from China in the mid-seventh century. The sect downplayed textual or scriptural learning and stressed gaining insight through meditation. By the ninth century, nine mountain sects of Seon had been es- tablished. The Silla Seon sect followed the gradual en- lightenment approach of the Chinese Northern school until the monk Doui (DOE-e) introduced the sudden enlightenment doctrine of the Chinese Southern school. Despite the division into competing schools, Buddhism was a unifying force in Korean culture.

Buddhist teachings also inspired much of the painting and sculpture of this period. (See Material Culture: Seokguram Grotto.) Other evidence of the wealth and luxury of the Silla elite is provided by the gold objects found in many tombs. The dazzling gold crowns of Silla kings were one sign of the splendor of the capital (and remarkably similar to objects

Gangsu, the ScribeB I O G R A P H Y In the seventh century, True Bone aristo- crats were more likely to be warriors than scholars, and knowledge of the Chinese classics was still a rare and valuable skill, in strong demand by the government for both interstate relations and inter- nal administration. Men like Gangsu (GAHnG-sue, d. 692) responded to this need and acquired facility in Chinese. Gangsu was born into a family of low- er aristocratic rank (that is, below True

Bones). According to his biography, once he learned to read, his father asked him whether he would study the way of the Buddha or that of Confucius. Gangsu replied, “I have heard that Buddhism is a teaching that does not concern this world. Since I am a man of this world, how could I study Buddhism’s path? I wish to study the way of Confucius.”

Gangsu took seriously the Confucian principles he read about. when he was twenty and his parents wanted to marry him to the daughter of a respected local family, he refused on the grounds that he was already married, having had a child by a woman from a local metalworking family. His father was shocked at the idea of marrying someone of such

low birth, but Gangsu cited Confucian principles of fidelity and indifference to wealth and rank. (He did not seem to worry, however, about Confucian teachings not to marry without parental approval or the services of a go-between.)

Gangsu’s abilities to read and write Chinese helped him secure employment at court as a scribe. when an envoy from Tang China arrived with an edict that had passages no one else could explicate, the king called on Gangsu to try, and he was able to explain it on the spot. His performance was so im- pressive that the king also had him write the reply. The next king gave him credit for preserving friendly relations with neighboring states through the cor- respondence he wrote. when Gangsu died, the king paid his funeral expenses. His widow refused offers of government assistance, we are told, and returned to her native place.

Questions for Analysis 1. What made the ability to read and write in Chinese a

valuable skill in seventh-century Korea? 2. What connection was there between Confucianism and

literary skills?

06475_ch06_rev04.indd 109 9/10/12 10:59 AM

110 Chapter 6 Early Korea to 935

lived along with several other ethnic groups. After he defeated pursuing Tang forces and moved his people eastward to near the modern Russian Mari- time Province in Siberia, Dae established a state with about four hundred thousand people. Balhae terri- tory extended south of the Sungari (SOON-ga-ri) River and included the present Maritime Province in Siberia and about the northern third of the Korean peninsula. The southernmost of its five capitals was in the territory of modern Korea.

Balhae (698–926) Unified Silla’s neighbor to the north and main rival was the state of Balhae (Bohai in Chinese), which proudly proclaimed itself heir to the Goguryeo state. After the fall of Goguryeo, one of its generals, Dae Joyeong (DAY-joe-young), described as a Malgal (MAL-gal), led a group of Malgal back to a thinly inhabited area in central Manchuria where they

M A T E R I A L C U L T U R E

Seokguram Grotto

The rock-cut temple of Seokguram (SUCK-goo-rahm) near Gyeongju is one of the greatest monuments of Buddhist art in east asia. It was built in the late eighth century on a hilltop overlooking the east Sea (Sea of Japan). One of its purposes was to protect the area from marauding pirates.

although inspired by the cave temples of Central asia and China, this temple was not carved from a rock face but rather constructed much like a stone- lined tomb. One enters through a corridor leading into

a circular main hall. In the center is a seated Sakyamuni Buddha carved from a solid block of granite. On the surrounding walls are larger-than-life bas-reliefs of ar- hats (disciples of the Buddha) and bodhisattvas. above them in niches are seated Buddhas. all the carvings are refined examples of the sculptor’s art.

This spatial organization with a freestanding central figure was connected to Buddhist ritual practice. The Buddhist devotee would walk around the statue of Sakyamuni from left to right as part of his devotion.

Diagram of the Layout of the Seokguram Buddhist Temple. (Bukkokuji to Sekkutsuan, issued by Chosen Sotokufu [Japanese Colonial Government], 1938. © Cengage Learning 2014)

Central Image. The buddha seated on a lotus pedestal, carved from a single block of granite, is about eleven feet tall.

St oc

k Co

nn ec

tio n/

Fo to

se ar

06475_ch06_rev04.indd 110 9/20/12 12:51 PM

Balhae (698–926) 111

region had long been fluid as tribes defeated each other, made alliances, or forced others into slavery. Many of Goguryeo’s subjects scattered with its fall, some south to Baekje or Silla, others west to Tang territory. Moreover, there is no reason to think that Goguryeo’s subjects were all of a single ethnic group (and that group indisputably “Korean”). Still, Balhae is part of Korean history in two distinct ways: it was the main enemy of Silla, which was indisputably Korean, and it ruled over land that today is part of Korea. Treating it as part of Korean history is much like treating the Xiongnu and Mongols as part of Chinese history.

About half the 211 Balhae leaders known to his- tory were members of the Dae family, and most of the rest were from the Go (GO) (Gao in Chinese) family, which meant they could have been relatives of the Goguryeo royal house, Chinese, or another ethnic group such as Xianbei. Other ethnic groups in the population were Wuji, Khitan, and Turks. Balhae’s culture owed much to both Goguryeo and Tang, not to mention Inner Asian traditions. Its capital in northern Manchuria (modern Heilongji- ang province), like that of Silla (and Nara and Heian in Japan), was laid out in a grid on the model of Tang Chang’an. The structure of its government was also indebted to Tang models. The cultural ar- tifacts and wall paintings of Balhae tombs indicate a continuation of Goguryeo styles in some regards, but most pictures of formal dress appear closer to Tang styles.

Although the Tang court adopted a conciliatory policy toward Balhae in 705 to prevent it from ally- ing with the Turks, the court did not want Balhae to become so strong that it threatened Tang. Balhae re- lations with Tang turned sour in 719 when it aban- doned the Tang calendar. When Emperor Xuanzong of Tang challenged Balhae in 726 by granting a title to the chief of the Amur River Malgal, a tribe that resisted Balhae rule, the Balhae king concluded a defensive alliance with Japan and in 732 attacked Tang territory on the Shandong peninsula. Silla as- sisted the Chinese by attacking Balhae territory in northeast Korea in 733, but that expedition failed miserably and fouled Silla’s relations with Balhae for three decades. Balhae and Japan maintained strong relations, however, and exchanged several dozen diplomatic missions. At the same time, Balhae sent many students to Chang’an to study. The Tang insti- tuted parity between Silla and Balhae in the numbers of students allowed to take the guest examinations.

Should Balhae be viewed as Korean because its founder and many of its subjects had been subjects of Goguryeo? Or, because its founder was a Malgal, should it be viewed as an Inner Asian state, more like the Xianbei, Khitan, Jurchen, and later the Manchus who expanded from bases in southern Manchuria? The Malgal people seem to have been a seminomadic group widely dispersed across Manchuria, north- east Korea, and southeast Siberia. Ethnicity in this

Bronze Statue of the Maitreya Buddha. Made in the early seventh century, this gilt bronze figure, 93 centimeters tall, portrays the buddha of the future as serene and graceful.

Co ur

te sy

, N at

io na

l M us

eu m

o f K

or ea

06475_ch06_rev04.indd 111 9/10/12 10:59 AM

112 Chapter 6 Early Korea to 935

aristocrats, commoners, and slaves. Korean kings adopted such Chinese practices as division of the country into districts and appointment of officials to govern them, but in reality the throne did not have the power to control the aristocrats. From 760 on, political history is filled with murders and coups.

To the north of Silla was the state of Balhae. Be- cause its founder had been a subject of Goguryeo, it can be considered a successor state to Goguryeo (and thus a part of Korean history) but it can also be considered a predecessor to the Inner Asian (Manchurian) states of the Khitan and Jurchen. In all likelihood, language use and ethnic identity were still quite fluid in the region.

How different was Korea in the early tenth century compared to the beginning of the historical period? Warrior aristocracies still could check the power of kings, but change was dramatic in many other regards. For many centuries, the Korean peninsula had been connected to Manchuria by tribes or states that strad- dled the Yalu River. With the fall of Balhae in 926, this phase of Korean history was brought to an end. At the same time, on the Korean peninsula itself, many differ- ent groups had been melded into a much more unified state with a stronger cultural identity. The aristocra- cies of many different polities had been amalgamated and, if anything, strengthened. Buddhism had gained tremendously in importance. Monasteries had be- come important institutions, and monks were among the most learned in society. With Buddhism had come many other elements of Chinese culture, including the use of the Chinese script, Confucian and Daoist teachings, and Chinese secular learning and literature. Histories had been written, giving Korea a story of its past, complete with heroes and villains. Korea had learned how to coexist with both strong and weak states in China as well as strong and weak Inner Asian powers in Manchuria. Korea had resisted repeated Sui and Tang attempts at conquest but was ready to learn from Tang and benefit from allying with it. Because all writing was done in Chinese and education in- volved reading many Chinese books, higher culture had become closely linked to Chinese culture. Place names and family names were adapted to Chinese convention—the single syllable names Kim, Pak, Yi, Choe, Wang (WONG), and so on— undoubtedly re- flecting adaptation to writing in Chinese.

For two centuries Balhae, although often at odds with Silla, also served as a buffer for it, separating it from Tang China and also from Inner Asian nomad- ic forces such as the Turks. Balhae was eventually undermined by rebellions of the Khitans, who cap- tured its last capital in 926. The Manchuria region continued to be multiethnic, and some evidence sug- gests that the Jurchens, who overthrew the Khitans two centuries later, may have been descended from the Malgal tribes.

SUMMARy Although archaeological evidence goes back much earlier, the earliest records of people living on the Korean peninsula were written by Chinese, based on reports by travelers, traders, and envoys of a large number of small polities. The Han dynasty set up four commanderies in northwest Korea, which facil- itated the spread of Chinese material culture, state- craft, and learning. North and east of them the states of Buyeo and Goguryeo were rivals. Perhaps because they were closer to China and to the Chinese com- manderies, as well as the Xiongnu, they were mili- tarily more formidable than the smaller polities in the south.

After 313, the peninsula was divided into three rival kingdoms: Goguryeo in the north, Baekje in the southwest, and Silla in the southeast. Although for a long time Goguryeo seemed the strongest, af- ter Silla formed an alliance with Tang China, they were able to defeat the two other states, thus unify- ing the Korean peninsula for the first time in 668. For the next two centuries, Korea enjoyed relative peace. During this period, mastery of Chinese culture was pursued at many levels. Buddhism had entered Korea from China centuries earlier, but with the Silla peace, the number of Buddhist monks who studied in China grew rapidly and Korean monks were full par- ticipants in East Asian Buddhist culture. Hundreds of men traveled to China as part of official embassies, and some stayed in China for years, pursuing learn- ing or serving in the Tang government or armies.

Despite the popularity of things Chinese, society in Silla Korea was much more aristocratic, with sharp gaps between the True Bone aristocrats, lesser

06475_ch06_rev04.indd 112 9/10/12 10:59 AM

113

In thinking about the languages of East Asia, it is important to keep in mind the distinction be- tween the language itself (the system of sounds

that make up words) and how words are written (the system of symbols that represent the words). Although the Koreans and the Japanese have borrowed elements of the Chinese script to write their own languages, neither Korean nor Japanese is related to Chinese as a language. Historical linguists have identified two large language fami- lies in East Asia: Chinese is thought to have distant ties to Tibetan, Burman, and some of the minority languages in south China (the Sino-Tibetan-Burman languages); Korean and Japanese are thought to be related to a group of north Asian languages, including Manchu, Turkic, and Mongolian (the Altaic languages).

Chinese itself can be seen as a group of related languages, though these are commonly referred to as dialects. However, the differences between the languages spoken in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou are as great as those between French, Italian, and Spanish. All of the variants of Chi- nese have the subject-verb-object word order, make use of tones, and are uninflected (that is, they do not show case or tense). In China today, many people are bilingual, speaking both their lo- cal language/dialect and the standard language promoted by the government (Mandarin or putonghua).

Both Korean and Japanese use a subject- object- verb sentence structure and are agglutinative lan- guages (affixes are added to morphemes to convey meanings, such as tense or aspect). They are also respect languages, using different vocabulary and verbs when speaking to someone of higher or lower rank. Their relationship to each other can be com- pared to the relationship among the Germanic lan- guages (German, Swedish, dutch, English), all of which diverged from a proto-German in the early centuries c.e. but are not mutually intelligible to- day. And just as English absorbed many loan words from French and Latin, both Korean and Japanese were enriched by incorporating many words from Chinese.

Chinese became a written language in the Shang dynasty. Chinese is not written with a pho- netic script, as most other languages are today,

but with thousands of characters that represent words; many of the characters are complex, con- taining two or more elements, often one for the sound and another for the meaning. For instance, the word for pine tree, song 松, is made up of the graph for tree 木 and a graph borrowed for its sound 公, today pronounced gong. A well- educated Chinese will know three thousand or more of these characters.

In the early centuries c.e. the use of the Chinese writing system spread first to Korea and later to Japan. For several centuries, reading and writ- ing in these countries was done in a foreign lan- guage, Chinese. Since most available books had been written in Chinese, learning meant learning through a Chinese lens. In time, however, Chinese characters were used for their meaning or their sound to record the local languages. In Korea, idu were Chinese characters used for their pronun- ciation rather than their meaning to indicate par- ticles and verb endings in Korean; they would be inserted among characters used for meaning. A similar system was developed in Japan, with kana derived from simplified Chinese characters as the symbols used to convey sound. A system that mixes Chinese characters and kana is still used in Japan today. Most Japanese know around two thousand Chinese characters, which can have a variety of readings. For instance, the simple two- stroke character read ren in modern Chinese 人, meaning person, in Japanese can be read as hito when it refers to the Japanese word meaning per- son or as jin in phrases borrowed from Chinese, such as jinzai 人才, man of talent, and jinsei 人性, human nature. In Korea, this sort of mixed system has fallen out of favor, and most people read and write using the phonetic hangul script, invented in 1445. It is a phonetic writing system that records each syllable as a block containing at least one of the 14 letters for consonants and at least one of the 10 letters for vowels. For in- stance, the word yangban 양반is made up of two syllable blocks, each of three letters. The first block has the letter for ngㅇto indicate that there is no initial consonant and for yaㅑabove the ng letterㅇfor the final; the second block is made of the letter for bㅂand the letter for aㅏ, which is above the letter for nㄴfor the final.

M A K I N G C O M P A R I S O N S Languages and writing Systems

06475_ch06_rev04.indd 113 9/10/12 10:59 AM

114

C H A P T E R S E v E N

Early State and Society in Japan (to 794)

The Geography of the Japanese Archipelago

Early Kingship in Late Yayoi (ca. 100–350)

The Formation of a Centered Polity (350–794)

Material Culture: Haniwa

Documents: Poems from Man’yōshū and Nihon shoki

The earliest people to inhabit the seven thousand islands now known as Japan probably arrived from Pacific islands more than twenty thousand years ago. They practiced tattooing, which suggests a link to Taiwan. If that were so, they would have moved up the Ryukyu island chain in the East China Sea to subtropical Kyushu and then to the more temperate zones of Shikoku and Honshu. In shallow bays, they collect- ed shellfish and seaweed. Only a few hunters braved forested volcanic mountains, which comprise more than 80 percent of Japan’s landmass, in search of monkeys, deer, birds, and wild boar while severe winters in northern Honshu and Hokkaido kept all but bear and otter hunters and salmon fishers out of those regions. Archaeologists estimate the popula- tion at between 120,000 and 350,000. They have labeled the decorated clay pots that appeared around 10,000 b.c.e. and the culture that pro- duced them Jōmon (JOE-moan). (See Connections: The Prehistory of East Asia.)

Archaeologists once differentiated between Jōmon hunter-gatherers and the agriculturally based Yayoi (YAH-yo-e), but recent excavated evidence suggests that rice-growing may have begun as early as 900 b.c.e. Starting around 500 b.c.e., the Jōmon had to compete with new arrivals from northeast Asia who settled in communities to grow rice and brought new techniques for working metal. Jōmon people disappeared from western Honshu around 200 b.c.e., replaced by Yayoi culture, which maintained prolonged contact with the continent. By the end of the Yayoi era in ap- proximately 300 c.e., the population had risen to between 1.5 and 4.5 million. Settled agriculture demanded complex social organization and generated a surplus that could be used to differentiate soldiers, rulers, artisans, and priests from farmers. Defining these specific roles led to he- reditary social classes and inequality.

06475_ch07_rev04.indd 114 9/10/12 11:10 AM

Early Kingship in Late Yayoi (ca. 100–350) 115

Archaeologists and historians debate the stages in the process of state formation. What role did con- nections from the continent play? Where were the early states located, what kind of leadership did they have, and how did they interact? What kind of impact did Chinese civilization have on elite life; in particular, what did the introduction of Buddhism do to religious beliefs and practices?

THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE JAPANESE ARCHIPELAGO Geography had a major impact on the development of Japanese civilization. The earliest human settle- ments arose on the fertile plains of southwestern Japan, bordering on the relatively placid Inland Sea that later facilitated communications and trade. Protected by a spine of mountains, the Inland Sea basin usually enjoys mild winters; monsoon rains at the height of the growing season; and hot, humid days before the harvests. Later in the fall, typhoons provide moisture for winter crops. Occasionally the monsoon does not arrive or typhoons come too early and devastate nearly ripe crops.

Other regions suffer more extreme conditions. Winter winds from Siberia blow across the Japan Sea, depositing snow 6 feet or deeper on the plains and mountains that face it. Melted snow cascades down short, fast-flowing streams. Although rivers deposit the fine soil necessary for agriculture, floods carry rocks and other rubble that damage fields. Rapids make navigating rivers treacherous, and only a few could support rafts and small boats for any distance. River mouths and innumerable small bays pro- vide harbor for coastal vessels manned by fishers, smugglers, and pirates. Even whalers tended to stick close to shore.

The islands of what is now called Japan lost their land bridge to the Asian continent some fifteen thousand years ago, but the sea continued to permit access. Although visitors from across the vast Pacific had to wait until the sixteenth century, contact with Asia came via the Tsushima (TZU-she-mah) Strait, across the Japan Sea, and down the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kurile Islands, and Sakhalin to Hokkaido. Each route had its own character. The northern route brought pelts and marine products; the Tsushima Strait provided a bridge for agriculture and civilization. (See Map 7.1.)

EARLY KINGSHIP IN LATE YAYOI (ca. 100–350) The earliest written records concerning Japan are found in Chinese sources. The Han court received delegates from small kingdoms, probably in Kyushu, in 57 and 107 c.e. In 239, a queen called Himiko (HE-me-co) sent a tribute mission to the kingdom of Wei (way). She dominated an alliance of thirty chieftains, lived in a palace fortified with watchtow- ers and guardhouses, and rarely appeared in public. Her brother, the only person to see her except for servants, conveyed her commands and prophecies to the people outside the gates. Her subjects trembled before her because they believed she could commu- nicate directly with the gods. When she died, more than one hundred attendants of both sexes were bur- ied with her in a giant tomb. Archaeologists debate whether her kingdom of Yamatai (YA-mah-tah-e) ruled part of Kyushu or western Japan near present- day Kyoto. Equally problematic is the relationship between brother and sister. Should Himiko be seen not as a queen but as a priestess or shaman whose brother did the work of rule?

During this time, rulers frequently came in male– female pairs. As on the Korean peninsula, both father and mother played a role in determining a child’s fate. Important men had four or five wives. Children stayed with their mothers until old enough to move in with their fathers, and they relied on both their mothers’ and fathers’ kin for aid and support. Husbands and wives maintained their own establish- ments, held property separately, and decided how to divide it among their heirs independently. The lack of clear-cut rules governing inheritance and the priv- ileges accruing to the family head made succession disputes inevitable.

Chinese sources note that warfare was endemic. We can suppose that Himiko sent her tribute mis- sion to China to acquire advanced military technol- ogy and the prestige of recognition by the Wei court. After her death, the chieftains who had supported her fought among themselves until they agreed on a young girl to become queen. The remains of forti- fied hamlets perched high above agricultural plains and the discovery of a formidable array of weap- onry indicates that the struggle for supremacy was more military than political. There must have been several leagues of chieftains, of whom the Chinese knew but one.

06475_ch07_rev04.indd 115 9/11/12 5:54 PM

116 Chapter 7 Early State and Society in Japan (to 794)

Himiko into a single line. They claimed that Japan had but one ruling family descended from the sun goddess, Amaterasu (A-mah-teh-rah-su), who de- creed that her descendant Jimmu (JEEM-mu) was to rule over the land. Aided by his divine ancestress, Jimmu led an expedition eastward to Yamato (YAH- mah-toe) on the Kinai (KEY-nah-e) plain. The histo- ries incorporate a number of myth cycles, suggest- ing that in addition to the Yamato line that claimed the sun goddess as its guardian deity, other lineages had gods who at one time had rivaled Amaterasu in importance. Historians today have identified at least four breaks in the Yamato line. When the current emperor recently acknowledged a special feeling of closeness with the Korean people because the mother

Governed by a chieftain who communicated with the gods and dealt with the outside world, people living in hamlets organized themselves in pseudo-kinship groups. Members of the chieftain’s extended family all claimed a common ancestor, no matter how distant. Their economic founda- tion rested on hereditary servants who worked the fields, wove cloth, made pottery, and fished. When one hamlet fought another, warriors seized goods and turned the vanquished into slaves. Slaves could be traded between houses as a form of money; tribute missions sometimes carried slaves to China.

The first Japanese historians writing five centuries later struggled to fit early Japanese rulers such as

P A C I F I C O C E A N

S e a o f J a p a n

Inland Sea

Kor ea

Str

ai t

KANTO PLAIN

KINAI PLAIN

Oki

Tsushima

Hirado

Sado

Sakhalin

KYUSHU

Okinawa

SHIKOKU

EZO

KURILE ISLANDS

HONSHU

YU KU

IS LA

N D

Nara

C H I N A

K O R E A

150 300 Km.

150 300 Mi.

Map 7.1 Islands of Japan

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch07_rev04.indd 116 9/10/12 11:10 AM

Early Kingship in Late Yayoi (ca. 100–350) 117

Japanese islands. The first system of court titles bore a striking similarity to the Silla bone rank system. Chieftains acquired surnames that they could then use to denote aristocratic status. Territorial divisions from the district (Korean in origin) to the province (Chinese in origin) furthered differentiation in ad- ministration. Korean burial mounds and their mu- rals provided the model for Japan’s giant tombs built from the fifth to seventh centuries. The Korean expe- rience with Chinese-style civil and criminal law codes made it easier for Japan to adopt them in the seventh century. Buddhism as taught in Baekje and Silla had a lasting impact on Japanese society and politics.

Ancient Religion

In Himiko’s time, religious beliefs held society to- gether. One of her tasks was to perform rituals that pleased the gods, leading to the modern assumption that politics and religion in ancient Japan were one and the same. When chieftains had to make deci- sions, they baked deer bones in a fire and examined the cracks to determine what the future might bring. They supervised the agricultural calendar, performed fertility rites, and prayed for victory in war. Female shamans warded off misfortune and communicated with the gods. Because rituals had to be performed by men and women together, the ideal arrangement was for a priestess’s assistant to be her brother. Women and men held secular and sacred authority.

Early Japanese believed that important people be- came gods and that local gods ordered the condi- tions for their existence. Gods regulated the weather; they gave vitality to mountains and rocks; they con- stituted the energy that made rice grow. Human re- production repeated and stimulated the deeds of the creator gods that brought life to the world. This kind of belief system is called animism because it assumes that spiritual forces animate even inanimate objects. Because the gods hated pollution, especially the pol- lution of death, the passing of a chieftain required that his residence be destroyed. By the late fourth century c.e., huge tombs filled with ritual objects pacified an otherwise threatening departed spirit; moats and clay figurines (haniwa; HAH-knee-wah) marked the boundary. (See Material Culture: Haniwa.) Sacred texts from the seventh and eighth centuries connected gods and mortals, celebrated sex and having children, and venerated the natural world. Myths spread by the Yamato court personified the spiritual forces, giving them names, associating them

of his ancestor Kanmu (KAHN-mu) (736–806) was Korean, he alluded to a connection with the Korean peninsula that modern historians have only recently appreciated.

The Korea Connection

Twentieth-century Japanese nationalists preferred to stress the Chinese origins of the cultural artifacts from agriculture to written language that came from the Asian continent, rather than the role played by people on the Korean peninsula who modified and transmit- ted them. Chinese military expansion pushed refugees into the Korean peninsula. Conflicts between states there, some of which allied with states in Japan, sent migrants across the Tsushima Strait in three waves that began in the early fifth century and ended in the seventh. Seafarers plied the coasts of Korea and Japan, sometimes launching pirate raids into the interior. The immigrants first settled along the western coast of Honshu and the northern end of Kyushu, then ac- cepted the Yamato ruler’s invitation to colonize the Kinai heartland. Did they become assimilated into the population already there or did they simply take over?

The immigrants brought an Altaic language from northeast Asia that is the ancestor of modern Japa- nese. In addition to rice, they brought bronze bells, swords, and halberds for rituals, as well as wheel- thrown, kiln-fired pottery and stoves. The cross- bow and iron used for swords, armor, helmets, and plows originated on the Korean peninsula. Nara (NAH-rah), the name of the capital from 710 to 784, is a Korean word meaning “country.” The Jō mon people had used horses as beasts of burden; im- migrant warriors rode them into battle using bridles, saddles, and stirrups. Immigrants irrigated their fields and used stone-fitting technology to build walls and burial chambers in tombs. Goldsmiths crafted crowns and jewelry for rulers; metal casters worked bronze. The first scribes and accountants came from the peninsula before 400. The Hata (HAH-tah) lineage settled in what is now a western suburb of Kyoto where it introduced sericulture and silk weav- ing. It founded a number of temples, among them Kōryūji (CO-re-uu-g), which still treasures a sixth- century Korean statue of Maitreya (MAH-e-tray- ah), the Buddha of the future. Items that originated in China but were imported through the peninsula included bronze mirrors, ornaments, and coins.

The immigrants brought techniques of rule that contributed to the process of state building in the

06475_ch07_rev04.indd 117 9/10/12 11:10 AM

118 Chapter 7 Early State and Society in Japan (to 794)

the lineage god. They acknowledged Yūryaku as their overlord by sending family members to serve at his court and tribute in return for the right to administer and tax the territories he allotted them, often those they already controlled. Occupational groups that took responsibility for goods and servic- es were also organized into lineages. One provided weapons and the men to use them; another supplied Yūryaku’s kitchens; others performed the ritual work that earlier rulers such as Himiko had done themselves. As Yūryaku expanded the land under his control, he balanced the territories bestowed on titled lineages with those reserved for the crown. Lacking the hereditary powerbase of the lineage chieftains, men appointed to administer crown lands were dependent on the court.

Yūryaku also used marriage alliances to bolster his legitimacy and extend his power. His senior con- sort came from the line of an earlier king. Chieftains contributed other consorts to gain status as royal relatives and to exert influence at court. Combined with the court ranking system and gift giving, these connections placed the king above his mightiest sup- porters in a hierarchy of wealth and privilege that distinguished them from untitled commoners.

Yūryaku’s successors built on and fought over the state he had created in southwestern Honshu and northern Kyushu. Within twenty-five years of his death, power struggles between royal relatives aided by disgruntled chieftains had wiped out his line. Rulers in the sixth century defined the royal regalia as mirror, sword, and jewel and selected a princess to serve the royal family’s guardian god at the sun goddess’s shrine at Ise (I-say). By the middle of the 500s, the immigrant Soga (SO-gah) lineage had entrenched itself as the principal consort giv- ers. In 592 a Soga niece named Suiko (SUE-e-co) became head of the Yamato house on the death of her husband, who was her half-brother, and ruled until 628, the longest reign for the next twelve cen- turies. Her capital at Asuka (AH-sue-kah) is famous for Japan’s first flowering of Buddhist art.

The China Connection

Between 592 and 756, the Yamato kings, male and female, transformed themselves into Chinese-style monarchs. They tried to expand the functions and reach of the state in part in reaction to the resur- gence of the Chinese empire under the Sui (Sway) and Tang (Tahng) Dynasties. They also saw the

with local lineages, and ranking them in a hierarchy of kinship, with the sun goddess at the top. This sys- tem of beliefs is now called Shinto, a term created out of Chinese characters that means “the way of the gods.”

Excavations of hamlet burial grounds and giant tombs show that the early Japanese honored the dead by burying them with items they had used in life. Clothing, cosmetics, and pottery can be found with pots holding human bones. Equal numbers of men and women earned tombs that contained ar- mor, swords, and arrowheads, considered valuable because they came from Korea. Because the heavy iron swords forged in Japan with ore from abroad were used less for fighting than for ceremony, they suggest a stratified society in which funeral practices reflected differences in rank. Between 425 and 500, the number of iron items buried in tombs multiplied and objects became more standardized as rulers in the Kinai region grew more powerful.

THE FORmATION OF A CENTEREd POLITY (350–794) Beginning about 350 c.e., rulers in the Yamato ba- sin of the Kinai region began to consolidate their power. Two centuries later, they were overseeing the forging of iron implements and had taken con- trol of distributing them. Warriors on horseback improved the speed at which armies could travel and the distances they could cover. Five kings sent tribute missions to China to gain Chinese confirma- tion of their dominance and acquire the accessories of kingship with which to entice chieftains of other lineages into alliance. They provided military sup- port to their ally Baekje against Goguryeo. When Baekje fell, many of its best-educated and highly skilled supporters fled to Yamato. They brought with them political and administrative talent that local rulers put to good use.

Yūryaku (YOU-re-ah-ku) (late fifth century), the most notable of these early monarchs, placed im- migrant and local chieftains into a ranking system. Each chieftain was deemed a lineage head and re- ceived lavish gifts, such as mirrors from China, and permission to build grand tombs. Each lineage re- ceived a hereditary title derived from Korean terms that defined its position in a new court hierarchy. The chieftains claimed descent from a lineage god or from a person who had a special relationship with

06475_ch07_rev04.indd 118 9/10/12 11:10 AM

The Formation of a Centered Polity (350–794) 119

M A T E R I A L C U L T U R E

Haniwa

Clay figurines from the fifth to seventh centuries illustrate how people lived in ancient Japan. Sha- manesses wear twirling headdresses; shamans hold mirrors; a falconer lifts his hawk; warriors ride horses and carry bows and arrows; one musician plucks a zither and another strikes a drum; a farmer carries a hoe. Women balance jugs on their heads with babies on their backs. Sheep, deer, birds, monkeys, dogs, and rabbits abound. Trading ships carry goods between Japan and the continent. Figurines provide evidence that chieftains sat on chairs and slept in beds, customs that later died out.

Clay figurines and cylinders are called haniwa— literally “clay rings”—because the vast majority are hollow tubes standing 3 to 5 feet high. They are found outside the giant tombs that dot the Japanese landscape from Kyushu to northern Japan, with most clustered in the Kinai region near Osaka and Nara. Why haniwa were placed outside rather than inside the tomb is a matter for speculation. According to an eighth century history, they substituted for the chieftain’s atten- dants. did they demarcate the sacred space of the tomb and protect the deceased, much like the stone sculptures of the twelve animal signs that

encircled Silla dynasty burial mounds, or did they guard the living against the dangerously powerful spirit of a deceased chieftain?

co py

rig ht

hi ba

ya m

a Ko

fu n

an d

H an

iw a

M us

eu m

Haniwa. The warriors in this group covered their heads with tall hats, had full beards and long curling hair, carried swords at their waist, and wore leather boots. Their horses were outfitted with bridles and saddles.

need to overcome the violent factional and succes- sion disputes that had weakened ties between center and periphery in addition to threatening their lives and those of their chief ministers. Suiko and Prince Shōtoku (SHOW-toe-ku) (574–622), her nephew and adviser, opened relations with the Sui Dynasty, paving the way for later study missions and the im- mersion of elite Japanese men into Chinese culture. They promoted Buddhism as much for its magical efficacy as its spiritual value. They reorganized the court by instituting a ladder of twelve official ranks bestowed on individuals to correspond to Sui rather than Silla practice.

In the Seventeen Injunctions promulgated in 604, Prince Shōtoku announced a new ideology of rule based on Confucian and Buddhist thought. He put new dis- tance between the ruling Yamato line and all other lineages by proclaiming, “The Lord is Heaven, the vassal is earth.” This relationship was to be expressed in ritual and governed by propriety: “Harmony is to

be valued and an avoidance of wanton opposition to be honored.” Ministers were to put public duties, their duty to the throne, above the private interests of lineage and self. Only the ruler was to levy taxes be- cause “in a country there are not two lords; the people have not two masters.”* Suiko and Shōtoku’s succes- sors continued to try to distinguish monarch from ministers and court from commoners by drawing on Chinese rituals and regulations.

The reform of 645, later heralded as marking the start of monarchical rule, followed a bloody coup in which Nakatomi no Kamatari (NAH-kah-toe-me no KAH-mah-tah-re), founder of the Fujiwara (FU-g-wah-rah) lineage, destroyed the Soga and purged Koreans from government. The court ap- pointed provincial governors and abolished private

*W. G. Aston, trans., Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (London: Kegan, Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1896), 2:129–133.

06475_ch07_rev04.indd 119 9/10/12 11:10 AM

120 Chapter 7 Early State and Society in Japan (to 794)

(G-toe), daughter of the previous monarch, killed off their relatives in hopes of preserving the throne for their descendants. Tenmu reorganized the bureau- cracy and filled it with men he had appointed rather than the former chieftains, now titled aristocrats. In 685 he prohibited the private possession of weap- ons. Through the creation of a conscript army based on Chinese models, the state was to have a monop- oly on the use of force. Tenmu tried to abolish the aristocrats’ private economic basis by experimenting with the state allocation of land. He enticed the new aristocrats to court by giving them roles in grand cer- emonies of state that drew on Buddhist and Chinese models; he also sent envoys to coordinate worship at local shrines for guardian deities. Jitō claimed the sun goddess as Tenmu’s ancestor, thereby project- ing his dynasty into the mythic past and asserting divine status for the ruling family. When she became ruler, she was styled tennō (TEN-noo) a combina- tion of two Chinese characters meaning “heaven” and “monarch.” When monarchical power declined relative to that of ministers in the tenth century, this title fell out of use. Rulers were called “lord” (shujō; SHOE-joe) in life and “temple” (in; een) in death. Revived in 1841, tennō was officially trans- lated into English as “emperor” in 1868.

Fixing the Capital at Nara

Jitō and her successors oversaw notable advances in state formation. Tenmu started construction on a Chinese-style palace and capital city at Fujiwara, which Jitō occupied in 694. It marked a decision to use architecture to bolster the ruler’s authority. No longer would palaces be destroyed on the death of a monarch or would the ruler’s consorts enjoy sepa- rate residences. Three generations of rulers lived at Fujiwara before the capital moved to the more cen- tral location of Nara in 710, where it remained until 794. (See Map 7.2.) The eighth century is now called the Nara period. Modeled on the Tang capital at Chang’an (chahn-ahn) (see Figure 5.1), Fujiwara and Nara were laid out on a grid, with the palace cen- tered at the north and facing south because in the Chinese view of the universe, the ruler’s place was fixed like the pole star. By dominating the capital, the ruler brought heaven to earth. The central bou- levard divided the city into symmetrical halves just as the Chinese-style bureaucratic structure balanced the minister of the left with the minister of the right, lest either monopolize power that rightfully belonged

land ownership. It started a population census, a cen- tralized tax system, a legal code, and a civil service examination. It tried to curtail the ability of local powerbrokers to harass the people and protected the right of women to remarry. It provided a municipal government for the capital. It instituted the use of Chinese-style era names, and, as in China at the time, the names worked magic. Just as people changed their names to change their luck, so did era names change when they had lost their potency to ward off disas- ter. The Great Reform era called Taika (TAH-e-kah) (645–650) did so little to mitigate factional strife that it was changed to Hakuchi (HAH-ku-che) (White Pheasant, a lucky omen; 650–654). Monarchs had to rely on powerful lineages in implementing these reforms. The Fujiwara consolidated their position by giving their daughters to rulers, a tradition they had some success in maintaining until 1924.

The Fujiwara supported monarchs who promot- ed Chinese models for rule. Following the civil war of 671–672, Tenmu (TEN-mu) and his wife, Jitō

Prince Shōtoku. Prince Shōtoku is the subject of innumerable posthumous portraits. Painted in the eighteenth century, the one shown here features him dressed in the courtly attire of eighth-century China.

Th e

A rt

A rc

hi ve

a t A

rt R

es ou

rc e,

N Y

06475_ch07_rev04.indd 120 9/11/12 5:54 PM

The Formation of a Centered Polity (350–794) 121

the hundreds. Despite these achievements, the early state remained more centered than centralized, with each segment of the population—aristocrat, bureau- crat, cleric, farmer—claiming different rights and privileges relative to the monarch.

During the reign of Shōmu (SHOW-mu) from 724 to 756 (he officially retired in 749 but did not relinquish power), the ancient system of Japanese kingship reached its zenith. More than seven thousand men staffed the central bureaucracy. Shōmu rebuilt the palace at Nara to include halls for ceremonies, offices for officials, and private quarters for his family. He lavishly supported the Buddhist establishment with the construction of Tōdaiji (TOE-dah-e-g) as the Yamato lineage temple that contained the world’s largest bronze Buddhist stat- ue. Monks came from China and Champa (Vietnam) for the inauguration ceremony. Shōmu sent armies to expand his sway across the Japanese islands and used diplomatic ritual to assert Japan’s superiority over Korea.

Shōmu’s successors had to deal with the conse- quences of his success. As power became more cen- tered at the court, struggles for status and influence

to the ruler. The physical layout mirrored social relations. Officials lived on assigned building lots in accordance with their rank, the idea being that they would move when they lost their position. Aristo- crats and rulers competed in building Buddhist tem- ples. District officials were encouraged to use coins for traveling expenses and land sales. In line with Chinese models and to learn about the realm in order to control it, monarchs ordered geographical dic- tionaries for provinces that described local customs, places and their gods, specialties, and resources.

During Jitō’s reign, officials started to compile official histories and create a set of written admin- istrative statutes and law codes. Modified and ex- panded during successive reigns, this system became known as the regime of codes. The penal code set out punishments for rebels and robbers as well as for breaching the taboos that conferred sacred sta- tus on the king. The administrative code specified relations between the ruler and aristocrats in an ef- fort to freeze the status quo and bring the ruler’s jurisdiction down to the level of local strongmen. It established political and religious hierarchies of public offices, temples, and shrines that reached from the center to the provinces. Just as adminis- trators at the capital supervised district offices, so too did temple headquarters rule over provincial temples. The Yamato line’s shrines at Ise and Nara ranked above lineage shrines in the provinces. Chief priests appointed by the ruler supervised the con- duct of monks and nuns and coordinated ritual, while ministers of state ran the bureaucracy.

The codes also dealt extensively with land rights. All land belonged to the ruler, to be allotted to farm- ers, except in the case of new fields. Opening them to cultivation was such an expensive undertaking that the person responsible, whether an individual or a temple, received permanent ownership.

The promulgation of these codes had long-lasting effects. Even chieftains who still lived in the prov- inces competed for official appointments and titles. County, district, and provincial offices and temples spread across the landscape. Each of the sixty-five provinces had a headquarters supervised by a gover- nor whose official mission was to promote agricul- ture and register the population. In fact, he concen- trated on settling land disputes and collecting taxes in kind—cloth, rice, iron, and other goods produced locally and needed by the court. Officials appointed by the court and local strongmen both worked on the governor’s staff, whose members numbered in

Naniwa (Osaka)

YAMASHIRO

Mt. Koya

Mt. Hatsuse

Mt. Yakami

Mt. Kumano

Mt. Hiei Oi

Osaka Bay

Lake Biwa

Yoshino

Nara

Fujiwara

Heian (Kyoto)

Naniwa (Osaka)

Asuka

YAMATO

YAMASHIROSETTSU

TANBA

K A

W A

C H

IZUMI

IGA

ISE

OMI

H A

R IM

KII

- 0 20 Mi.10

0 20 Km.10

Map 7.2 Kinai Area of Japan

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch07_rev04.indd 121 9/10/12 11:10 AM

122 Chapter 7 Early State and Society in Japan (to 794)

(HAH-yah-toe) minority from southern Kyushu who, like the Emishi, resisted the civilization of- fered by the Yamato rulers. He even made over- tures to Silla in search of allies. According to the official history, Shōmu dispatched an army of seventeen thousand, the largest royal army raised in the eighth century. Within two months, it had scattered the rebel army and executed Hirotsugu. The Hayato had no choice but to submit. The immigration of people from the Korean penin- sula and the development of a stratified state in the Kinai basin divided the Japanese islands into three cultural and ethnic zones. By the end of Shōmu’s reign, the central zone centered on Nara had squeezed the southern zone onto the Ryukyu island chain, while the northern zone, which ex- tended up through Hokkaido, was shrinking on Honshu.

The Introduction of Buddhism

Buddhism played a major role in the development of the early Japanese state. First sponsored by the Soga and other immigrants from Baekje, it had to over- come opposition by local priests before receiving official government support in 587. Supported by scribes, metal workers, painters, and other artisans, it became the faith of rulers in a symbiotic relation- ship that strengthened both. Buddhism had a rich textual tradition; its monks paraded in majestic pro- cessions and held thunderous sutra recitations. From Baekje rulers the Japanese learned that worshipping the Buddha would bring their realm the protection of the Four Guardian Kings of the Buddhist law. In the Seventeen Injunctions, Prince Shōtoku urged the court to revere the Buddha, Buddhist law, and monks. Tenmu and Jitō recognized the value of Buddhism in fostering faith in a universal god at the same time that they sent offerings to the Ise shrine of the sun goddess and regional shrines and read omens to divine heaven’s will. By asserting their leadership over all the religious realms, they sought to bolster their authority in secular affairs.

Tenmu and Jitō used Buddhism’s resources to spread their rule across Japan. They built temples in the capital and provinces and used them as store- houses for population and tax records. They oversaw the copying of sutras, held Buddhist ceremonies, and performed Buddhist purification rituals. By restrict- ing hunting, fishing, and the eating of meat, they promoted Buddhist beliefs that valued the lives of

intensified. Except for a few families that enjoyed adequate access to economic resources, most aris- tocrats lived precariously close to poverty. Restive local strongmen disobeyed directives and rebelled against the center, as did farmers unhappy about high tax burdens. County- and district-level officials tried to preserve their autonomy while accepting court rank and office. Despite a history of female monarchs, the spread of Confucian philosophy jus- tified the aristocrats’ resentment at being ruled by a woman—Shōmu’s daughter, who reigned twice, first as Kōken (CO-ken) (r. 749–758) and then as Shōtoku (SHOW-toe-ku) (r. 764–770). Deposed in a palace coup, Shōtoku was the last female mon- arch until 1630. Conflict between the ruler and the aristocratic bureaucracy was repeated in the 780s when two retired monarchs set their factions against each other. Buddhist priests, collateral lines of Fujiwara, and other lineages competed for influ- ence, while disgruntled members of the ruling fam- ily plotted against their chief. A decrease in tax rev- enues forced rulers to scale back building projects and reduce the size of ceremonies. In 794, frustrat- ed at the endless demands for favor that bedeviled him in Nara, the ruler Kanmu moved the capital to Heian-kyō (HEY-ahn-keyo). There it was to remain until 1868.

The Conquest of Emishi and Hayato

In the early eighth century, aristocrats developed a sense of a Japanese ethnic identity that excluded people beyond the court’s control. Because being Japanese was associated with rice-based settled communities, people in the northeast who still practiced late Jōmon-style slash-and-burn agricul- ture were deemed barbarians (Emishi; EH-me-she). The court encouraged the spread of settlements ever farther north, sent emissaries to set up district offices and collect taxes, and dispatched military expeditions to remove or enslave the Emishi. By 725, the first year of Shōmu’s reign, these expedi- tions had pacified the region up to today’s Sendai (SEN-dah-e). Agricultural settlements spread as far north as Morioka through subsequent waves of sol- diers and settlers.

Shōmu also expanded Yamato rule in Kyushu. In 740 the exiled Fujiwara Hirotsugu (HE-ro-tzu-gu) raised an army of ten thousand conscript troops against the throne. He gained the support of some district chiefs and members of the Hayato

06475_ch07_rev04.indd 122 9/10/12 11:10 AM

The Formation of a Centered Polity (350–794) 123

example of good works and public preaching. The government then tried to co-opt his appeal. In 741, Gyōki received an official appointment to supervise the building of a bridge near the capital. In this way, the government admitted that he was indeed a bod- hisattva (Buddha to be) as his followers claimed and brought belief in the saving power of the Buddha into line with official policy.

By the eighth century, Buddhism had become so naturalized in Japan that it had started to blend with native beliefs. Mountain ascetics joined the ancient belief in the sacredness of mountains to esoteric forms of Buddhism that accessed the supernatural. They promised to heal the sick and performed ritu- als to eliminate pollution and evil. The Mahayana Buddhism that entered Japan offered numerous paths to salvation through the pantheon of Buddhas and bodhisattvas (see Connections: Buddhism in India and Its Spread Along the Silk Road). Because

all sentient beings. The number of monks and nuns increased, their behavior minutely regulated. During Tenmu and Jitō’s reigns, Buddhism became a core component of courtly life and practice.

Shōmu did even more to promote Buddhism and harness its power to the court. In line with the ideol- ogy of his day that deemed the natural order a reflec- tion of the social order, he saw in natural disasters and rebellion his own lack of virtue. To compensate, he ordered sutra readings at temples, austerities such as cold-water baths at Shinto shrines, and the con- struction of new buildings. Following the Hayato rebellion in 741, he ordered each province to build a seven-storied pagoda, a guardian temple, and a nunnery and to provide adequate rice land to sup- port the monks and nuns. In a thanksgiving service for his victory, he presented brocade, prayers, and Buddhist sutra readings to the shrine for Hachiman (HAH-che-mahn), the god of war. The giant Buddhist statue at Tōdaiji was cast in the image of Vairocana, the cosmic Buddha who encompasses the thousands of Buddhas and millions of enlightened beings just as Shōmu saw himself as ruling over all aristocrats and commoners. It occupied a hall larger than the royal palace. The temple complex contained Japan’s first ordination platform as well as libraries and schools. There, monks translated texts and sutras for the so-called Six Sects. Rather than go to Tang China or Silla Korea, Japanese monks could now study and receive licenses at Tōdaiji under kingly sponsor- ship and supervision. After Shōmu passed the throne to his daughter, he established the precedent for abdicated rulers to enter the Buddhist priesthood.

Shōmu saw Buddhism primarily as a state reli- gion, leaving it to monks and nuns such as Gyōki (GIYO-key) to convert the populace. Through his sermons, Gyōki, the descendant of an immigrant Confucian scholar, spread Buddhist notions of cau- sality and retribution and promised that following the way of the universal Buddha would bring en- lightenment to any person at any time or place. His followers built irrigation works, roads, bridges, and inns for commoners delivering tax payments to the capital, a material demonstration that the Buddhist law can benefit everyone, not just kings and aristo- crats. In 717 the government accused Gyōki of vio- lating the regulations that restricted nuns and monks to monasteries, of collecting too much in alms, and of confusing the masses by claiming the power to heal, cast spells, and tell fortunes. Gyōki ignored the accusations, and other monks and nuns followed his

Bronze Buddha. Completed in 752, this statue of the Buddha housed at Todaiji in Nara is the world’s largest bronze Buddha.

hr is

to ph

e Bo

is vi

eu x/

Co rb

06475_ch07_rev04.indd 123 9/10/12 11:10 AM

124 Chapter 7 Early State and Society in Japan (to 794)

D O C U M E N T S

6th year [462 c.e.], Spring, 2nd month, 4th day. The ruler [Yūryaku] made an excursion to the small moor of Hatsuse. There, viewing the aspect of the hills and moors, in an outburst of feeling, he made a song, saying:

The mountain of Hatsuse Of the hidden country Is a mountain Standing beautifully, Is a mountain Projecting beautifully The mountain of Hatsuse Of the hidden country Is truly lovely, Is truly lovely.

Thereupon he gave a name to the small moor, and called it michi no Ono (me-che no oh-no).

Poems by Kakinomoto Hitomaro at the time of the procession [by the divine monarch Jitō] to the palace at Yoshino.

many are the lands under heaven And the sway of our Lord, Sovereign of the earth’s eight corners, But among them her heart Finds Yoshino good For its crystal riverland Among the mountains, And on the blossom-strewn

Fields of Akitsu She drives the firm pillars of her palace And so the courtiers of the great palace, Its ramparts thick with stone, Line their boats To cross the morning river, Race their boats Across the evening river. Like this river Never ending, Like these mountains Commanding ever greater heights, The palace by the surging rapids— Though I gaze on it, I do not tire. Envoy Like the eternal moss Slick by the Yoshino river On which I do not tire to gaze, may I never cease to return And gaze on it again. Our lord Who rules in peace, A very god, manifests her divine will And raises towering halls Above the Yoshino riverland Where waters surge, And climbs to the top To view the land. On the mountains

Compiled in the early eighth century, this poetry collection and official history contain poems first composed centuries before that describe fifth- to seventh-century rulers in the process of consolidating power.

Poems from Man’yō shū and Nihon shoki

the Buddha appeared in so many guises, perhaps he had also appeared as local gods. In what would later be known as Ryōbu Shintō (REYO-bu), the gods received Buddhist names. Although an edict from 764 placed Buddhism above Shinto, the reverse was often the case. In the countryside, people worshipped Buddha for the same reason that they worshipped Shinto gods—to promote fertility and gain worldly benefits rather than to eliminate worldly attach- ments to achieve enlightenment. In place of large tombs surrounded by haniwa, provincial chieftains

built Buddhist temples to hold memorial services for the dead and gain the same benefits they hoped to acquire when appeasing the gods: good harvests, health, prosperity, and offspring. People learned that gods and Buddhas supported each other, and both wanted festivals and ceremonies. Important Shinto shrines acquired Buddhist temples so that the gods might hear sutra recitations, and gods protected Buddhist temples. In this way, particular gods and the universal Buddha entered into an enduring symbiotic relationship.

06475_ch07_rev04.indd 124 9/10/12 11:10 AM

The Formation of a Centered Polity (350–794) 125

Folding upward around her Like a sheer hedge of green The mountain gods present their offerings. They bring her blossoms in springtime To decorate her hair And, when autumn comes, They garland her with yellow leaves And the gods of the river That runs alongside the mountains make offerings for her royal feast. They send cormorants forth Over the upper shoals, They cast dipper nets Across the lower shoals, mountain and river draw together to serve her— A god’s reign indeed! A very god Whom mountain and river draw together to serve, She sets her boat to sail Over pools where waters surge.

Poem by Kakinomoto Hitomaro when he parted from his wife in the land of Iwami and came up to the capital.

At Cape Kara On the sea of Iwami, Where the vines Crawl on the rocks, Rockweed of the deep Grows on the reefs And sleek seaweed Grows on the desolate shore.

As deeply do I Think of my wife Who swayed toward me in sleep Like the lithe seaweed. Yet few were the nights We had slept together Before we parted Like crawling vines uncurled. And so I look back, Still thinking of her With painful heart, This clench of inner flesh, But in the storm Of fallen scarlet leaves On mount Watari, Crossed as on A great ship, I cannot make out the sleeves She waves in farewell. . . . And even I Who thought I was a brave man Find the sleeves of my well-worn robe drenched with tears.

Questions for Analysis 1. What are the means by which rulers asserted

their authority and how did they try to make it permanent?

2. What is the public dimension to the last poem that on the surface, at least, expresses only personal feelings?

Elite Culture

The Yamato court attracted followers through its access to Chinese elite culture, including a written language, Daoism, Confucianism, the literary arts, sculpture (particularly Buddhist icons), painting, and music. The Chinese writing system arrived in Japan at the end of the Yayoi period, in the late fourth century, brought by immigrants from the Korean peninsula who served as a closed occu- pational group of scribes for the court. They left

traces of their work in sword inscriptions. Not un- til the Sui unified China and Buddhism arrived did Japanese rulers realize the importance of literacy. Pilgrims to China brought back masses of Buddhist sutras and Chinese books. In addition to his Sev- enteen Injunctions of 604, Prince Shōtoku spon- sored the writing of a history of Japan based on Chinese models. It later disappeared. The earliest evidence for Japanese writing Chinese comes from more than 150,000 wooden tablets similar to those found in Korea, the vast majority dating from the

06475_ch07_rev04.indd 125 9/10/12 11:10 AM

126 Chapter 7 Early State and Society in Japan (to 794)

retold tales of victory in battle, accompanied of- ferings from remote and hence quaint outposts, pleaded for aid from the gods, and celebrated the sexual union of men and women in fertility rites. The court thus appropriated elements of popular culture into an elite culture characterized by mas- sive infusions from the continent. Viewing and participating in music and dance and learning the correct codes for conduct in ceremonies set ever higher standards for civilized behavior.

A Stagnant Agricultural Base

The spread of rice cultivation in the Yayoi period that had transformed agriculture in western regions from slash-and-burn to settled farming soon reached its ecological limit. In contrast with the intensive methods that boosted yields in later centuries, farm- ers during the eighth century cleared fields to plant crops for a few years and then abandoned them to start over when a lack of proper irrigation and fertilizer depleted the soil. Although an edict from 723 noted that a recent increase in population had led to rural overcrowding, the eighth-century regime of codes made much more elaborate provision for returning fallow fields to cultivation than it did for opening new fields. Fragments of census surveys sug- gest that a population of from 3 to 5.5 million in 700 had grown little by 800. Population gains at the turn of the century were wiped out by an epidemic of smallpox or some similar disease in 733–737 that killed approximately 25 to 35 percent of the popu- lation. Repeated famines and epidemics followed later in the century. The state’s demand for revenue to fund building projects and ceremonies was not matched by an increase in population or a bigger economic base.

Rural villages tended to be large in area but small in population. Because depleted fields had to lie fallow for years before they could be returned to production, the earlier pattern of fortified hilltop hamlets gave way to dispersed dwellings, each containing a large household of extended family members along with servants and slaves. Each farmer received an official allotment of land in return for paying taxes, but it did not suffice for survival. To make up the difference, farm- ers planted fields hidden from the tax collector, worked as tenants, or foraged for supplies. To the dismay of officials, farmers felt little connection to their land. Many simply left when times were bad,

seventh and eighth centuries. Inscribed on the tab- lets were official documents, including directives to and reports by local officials, summonses, tran- sit passes, and labels attached to tax goods. They prove that women too worked as conscripts on public works projects.

After the wooden tablets came Japan’s earli- est extant histories. The Kojiki (CO-g-key; Record of Ancient Matters) of 712 and Nihon shoki (KNEE-hohn SHOW-key; Chronicles of Japan) completed in 720 relate histories of Japan from the creation of the cosmos to the establishment of the centered state in the seventh century. Kojiki, which details the age of the gods, can be read as an attempt by the Yamato court to justify its dominion over oth- er lineages. Nihon shoki opens with a passage that draws on Chinese yin-yang theory and views of the universe. It narrates the history of the Yamato rulers in a straight line of descent from the sun goddess. Both histories exaggerate the antiquity of the early Japanese state and its control over local politics.

Poetry had magical properties in the eyes of ancient Japanese because it both summoned and soothed the gods and because the words had spirits of their own. The earliest extant poetry collection, the Kaifū sō (KAH-e-fu-sew; Fond Recollections of Poetry), com- piled in 751, contains the biographies of Japanese poets who wrote in Chinese. It is overshadowed by the Man’yōshū (MAHN-yo-shoe; Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves) compiled in 759, the first anthol- ogy of Japanese verse. (See Documents: Poems from Man’yōshū and Nihon shoki.) Its poems attested to the process of state building, expressed the emotions of courtiers and frontier guards who forsook family and homeland to serve their monarch, and lamented the death of lovers as well as rulers in an intersection of personal feeling and the public realm.

Etiquette, ceremony, dance, and music intro- duced from China taught provincial chieftains aristocratic norms of behavior. Played on flutes and stringed instruments punctuated by gongs and drums, continental music is said to have entered Japan when the king of Silla sent eighty musicians to attend funeral services for King Ingyō (EEN- geyo) in 453. Stately dance performed by men wearing masks came from Silla in 612. The Court Music Bureau was established in 702 and staffed chiefly by immigrants who performed a repertoire of Chinese and Korean music and dance called elegant music (gagaku, GAH-gah-ku) at court cer- emonies. Gagaku incorporated local songs that

06475_ch07_rev04.indd 126 9/10/12 11:10 AM

Summary 127

provided relief from marauders and bandits as well as some security of landholding, its benefits for farmers were decidedly mixed.

SummARY Much remains murky in Japan’s early history; how- ever, it appears that the islands’ earliest inhabitants probably came from the south rather than the Asian continent. Although the Jōmon people are noted for having produced some of the world’s earliest pot- tery, gathering plants and seashells left them no sur- plus with which to support a ruling class. State for- mation thus had to wait for the introduction of wet rice agriculture and migration from the continent.

The earliest political units were tiny. Headed by chieftains who claimed descent from a guardian spir- it and ruled over extended families, they sometimes formed alliances, sometimes fought among them- selves. Beginning in the early fifth century, they faced competition from new migrants who came from the Korean peninsula with more advanced technology that gave them an edge in agriculture, statecraft, and warfare. With enough food to support a larger population and knowledge gained on the continent on how to build an administrative base and collect taxes, early kings convinced local chieftains to coop- erate with the center lest they be killed.

Further advances in state formation came through contact with China and the introduction of Buddhism. Before that time, each extended family or lineage had its own guardian god to whom it made offerings and prayed for help. Buddhism stimulated advances in architecture, metalworking, and literacy and also provided a universal figure to whom everyone could pray, making it a fit religion for a leader hoping to gain supporters outside his lineage.

In addition to religion and political ideology, contact with the continent brought a written lan- guage with which to transcribe the poetry and his- tory that had previously been transmitted orally. It brought music, dance, and new standards of civilized behavior. The ruling class that enjoyed these advan- tages taxed the farmers, conscripted them for public works projects and warfare, and defined people who did not pay taxes as barbarians.

How did Japan at the end of the eighth century differ from the Japan mentioned in first-century Chinese chronicles? Instead of leagues of chief- tains, the monarchy corralled an aristocracy, built

swelling the population of vagrants and weaken- ing the tax base. Infant mortality was so high that a plan to give each child an allotment of land at birth had to be changed to allotments at age five, raised to age twelve in the case of a slave. The average life expectancy at birth was twenty-eight to thirty-three years, approximately the same as in Europe at that time.

In addition to paying taxes for the use of state land, farmers had to meet service requirements and participate in the state’s military adventures. In 713, for example, “For the first time Yamashi- ro-no-kuni (YAH-mah-she-ro no KU-knee) was ordered to establish fifty households in charge of milking cows.”* In this type of required labor sys- tem, the farmers’ obligation to provide services did not mean they would be paid for them. They built the enormous tombs demanded by fifth-century rulers; they built the capitals, palaces, and temples of the later centuries. The court fielded conscript armies and marched them from Kyushu to Tohoku. Men caught in this system could expect to be ill treated, malnourished, and abandoned once the project for which they had been pressed into service was completed. Although the centered monarchi- cal structure created through the regime of codes

*Robert Karl Reischauer, Early Japanese History (c. 40 b.c.– a.d. 1167) (Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, 1967), p. 173.

Quarrelling Worker. Scribbled on the margin of a record regarding sutra copying in 740, this sketch of a quarrelling worker shows the hat and robes worn by commoners.

Sh os

o- in

T re

as ur

e H

ou se

06475_ch07_rev04.indd 127 9/10/12 11:10 AM

128 Chapter 7 Early State and Society in Japan (to 794)

depleted soil is debatable. The power holders who had imbibed Chinese culture defined themselves and the people over whom they ruled as the Yamato race. A centered state spread over Shikoku, Kyushu, and most of Honshu, gradually becoming attenuated as it reached the frontiers. Although historians disagree on the extent to which it enforced its decrees, it be- came a model for kingly rule for centuries to come.

a bureaucracy, and issued legal codes. Rulers had become male by definition, although they claimed descent from a sun goddess. Successive waves of im- migrants from the continent brought metallurgy, sericulture (raising silkworms), Buddhism, literacy, and accounting techniques, though the extent to which these markers of civilization benefited the vast majority of the population eking out a living on

06475_ch07_rev04.indd 128 9/10/12 11:10 AM

129

C H A P T E R E i g H T

China Among Equals: Song, Liao, Xia, and Jin (907–1279)

The Founding of the Song Dynasty

Song’s Rivals: Liao and Xia

A New Era

The Fall of the Northern Song and the Establishment of the Jin Dynasty

Hangzhou and the Southern Song (1127–1276)

Song Culture and Society

Biography: The Cai Family of geomancers

Material Culture: Huang Sheng’s Clothing

Documents: Tales of Retribution

The Song (sung) Dynasty did not dominate East Asia the way the Tang Dynasty had, or even rule all areas occupied largely by Chinese speakers. Northern Vietnam defended its independence. The Khitan Liao (lyow) Dynasty held territory in the northeast down to modern Datong and Beijing, and the Tangut Xia Dynasty held a smaller terri- tory in the northwest. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Song had new northern rivals, the Jurchens and then the Mongols, who took even larger parts of China proper. The Song period is, as a result, convention- ally divided into the Northern Song (960–1127), when the Song capital was in Kaifeng (ky-fuhng) and Liao was its chief rival, and the Southern Song (1127–1276), when the capital had been moved to Hangzhou (hahng-joe) and it confronted Jurchen Jin and later Mongol Yuan on its northern border.

Modern historians have been fascinated by the evidence that Song China was the most advanced society in the world in its day, and many have drawn attention to all that seems progressive during this period: the introduction of paper money, the spread of printing and increases in literacy, the growth of cities, the expansion of the examination system, the decline of aristocratic attitudes, and so on. These successes naturally raise questions. Why couldn’t Song China turn its economic might into military might? How did the increasing importance of the examination system in elite lives affect the operation of the bureaucracy? Why was factionalism such a problem? Because printing led to many more works surviving from the Song than had been the case for earlier periods, histo- rians have also been able to ask questions they could not ask for earlier periods because of lack of sources. What can we learn of daily life among different groups—elite and commoner, men and women, peasants and townsmen? How does Song society, economy, or culture look from the local level?

06475_ch08_rev04.indd 129 9/10/12 11:17 AM

130 Chapter 8 China Among Equals: Song, Liao, Xia, and Jin (907–1279)

contrast, even counting the expenses of the exchange of embassies, the cost of maintaining peaceful relations with the Liao consumed no more than 2 or 3 percent of the state’s annual revenues. Arguments about cost- effectiveness also led Song to give up trying to regain northern Vietnam. Just as Silla was able to prosper un- der the Tang peace, Northern Song was able to pros- per under the peace of its agreements with Liao.

SoNg’S RivALS: LiAo AND XiA The Khitan were a proto-Mongol people originally from the eastern slopes of the mountains that separate Mongolia and Manchuria. There they raised cattle and horses, moving their herds in nomadic fashion. They had been in regular contact with the Tang and with other sedentary societies, such as the multiethnic kingdom of Balhae (Bohai; see Chapter 6) in southern Manchuria. They knew of the wealth of cities to the south and the strategies used by the Uighurs and oth- ers to extract some of it by exerting military pressure.

In the early tenth century, Abaoji (d. 926), of the Yelü (yeh-lyew) clan, united eight to ten Khitan tribes into a federation and secured control of the steppe. The political institutions he set up drew on both Chinese traditions and tribal customs. Abaoji set aside the traditional Khitan practice of tribal coun- cils’ electing chiefs for limited terms and in its place instituted hereditary succession on the Chinese model to ensure that his son would succeed him. The rul- ing Yelü clan married exclusively with the Xiao clan, and these two clans dominated the higher reaches of the government. In 926, Abaoji advanced southward toward Hebei and destroyed the kingdom of Balhae.

The Liao administered their Chinese territories differently from their Khitan territories. The south- ern section was governed on the basis of Chinese traditions, using a civil bureaucracy modeled on the Tang, complete with a civil service examination sys- tem. In contrast to the Tang, however, counties and even prefectures were granted to Khitan imperial rel- atives and high-ranking officials as fiefs over which they had full jurisdiction. The central city of the southern region was the Southern Capital, Yanjing, located at modern Beijing, thus beginning the history of that city as a capital. (See Map 8.1.) The southern section generated the bulk of Liao tax revenue.

The northern section of Liao was huge but sparsely settled. The government there was mobile, with the ruler and his chief officials moving from place to place

THE FoUNDiNg oF THE SoNg DYNASTY The founder of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin, was a general whose troops put him on the throne when their previous ruler was succeeded by a child. Known as Taizu (r. 960–976), he set himself the task of making sure that no army would ever again be in a position to oust the rightful ruler. He retired or ro- tated his own generals and assigned civil officials to supervise them, thus subordinating the armed forces to the civil bureaucracy.

Curbing generals ended warlordism but did not solve the problem of defending against the Khitans’ Liao Dynasty to the north. During the Five Dynasties, Liao was able to gain control of a strip of land in north China (the northern parts of Shanxi and Hebei) that had long been considered part of China proper (and was referred to by Song as the Sixteen Prefec- tures). Taizu and his younger brother Taizong made every effort to defeat Liao. They wanted to reclaim the Sixteen Prefectures because this area included the line of the Great Wall, the mountains and moun- tain passes that had been central to Chinese defense against northerners since before the Han Dynasty. However, although the Liao ruled over a population tiny by Chinese standards, their horsemen were more than a match for the Chinese armies. After a Liao invasion of 1004 came within a hundred miles of the capital Kaifeng, the Song settled with Liao, agreeing to pay tribute to Liao in exchange for Liao’s main- taining the peace. Each year Song was to send Liao 100,000 ounces of silver and 200,000 bolts of silk. (In 1042 this sum was increased to 500,000 units.)

The payments to the Liao and Xia probably did not damage the overall Chinese economy. Even after the tribute to Liao was raised to 500,000 units, it did not result in an increase in Liao’s bullion holdings since Song exports to Liao normally exceeded imports by a large margin, which meant that the silver sent to Liao found its way back into China as payment for Chinese goods, a little like foreign aid today. At the time, how- ever, the pro-war irrendentists felt humiliated by these treaties and thought it only common sense that pay- ments to Liao and Xia helped them and harmed Song.

The pro-peace accommodationists, however, could justly point out that tribute was much less costly than war. During the reigns of the first three emper- ors, the size of the armed forces increased rapidly to almost 1 million by 1022. By that time, the military was consuming three-quarters of the tax revenues. By

06475_ch08_rev04.indd 130 9/10/12 11:17 AM

Song’s Rivals: Liao and Xia 131

During the tenth century, the Tanguts were largely outside the struggle for power in north China and were able to consolidate their state. Un- der Yuanhao (ywan-how) (r. 1032–1048), a script was adopted for writing the Tangut language and the dynastic name Xia was adopted. When Yua- nhao demanded that the Song Dynasty recognize Xia as a sovereign state, the Chinese sent an army. The fighting went poorly for the Chinese, however, and in 1044 a treaty was reached in which the Song agreed to make payments to Xia much as it did to Liao, though in lesser amounts (200,000 units altogether).

The political institutions of Xia drew on Tang, Song, Liao, Tibetan, and Uighur models. There was a perennial tension between the imperial clan and the ministerial-consort clans, who often were able to dominate the court. Elements of Confucian statecraft were adopted, but Buddhism was firmly entrenched as the state religion. Xia was sometimes at war with Liao but also concluded treaties with it, recognizing Liao as the superior party.

in different seasons. To keep records in the Khitan lan- guage, a script was created with characters resembling Chinese characters (a language still not deciphered). This dual form of administration allowed the Khitans to maintain their tribal organization and resist sini- fication. Although the ruling elite became culturally dual, adept in both Khitan and Chinese languages and customs, ordinary Khitans in the north maintained their traditional social and military organization.

To the west of the Liao territories another non- Chinese state established itself during this period: the Xia, or Xi-Xia (Western Xia). It was founded by Tanguts, who spoke a language related to Tibetan. In Tang times, under pressure from the expanding Tibetan kingdom, the Tanguts had moved north and east from the Qingtang (ching-tahng) region into northern Shaanxi and Gansu (gahn-soo). In 881 the Tang court appointed a Tangut chief as military governor of the region, and this office became essentially hereditary. By the end of the ninth century, after the collapse of the Tibetan and Uighur empires, the Tanguts gained con- trol of the important trade in horses with the Chinese.

Bay of Bengal

South China Sea

Yellow Sea

Sea of Japan

East China

Sea Chang’an

(Xi’an)

Kaifeng

Beijing

Hangzhou

Heian Kaegyong Nara

Guangzhou

llo w

Ya ng

M ekong

S a

lw ee

RC H

EN S

UI GH

UR S

G O B I D

E S E R

T MONGOLIAN PLATEAU

M A

N C

H U

R IA

LA IN

TIBET

GORYEO KOREA

NANZHAO

XIA

SONG CHINA

LIAO

ANNAM

CHAMPA

HEIAN JAPAN

10500 500 1000 Km.

0 500 1000 Mi.

Map 8.1 Northern Song, Liao, and Xia, ca. 1050

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch08_rev04.indd 131 9/10/12 11:17 AM

132 Chapter 8 China Among Equals: Song, Liao, Xia, and Jin (907–1279)

on the issuance of these certificates of deposit. In the 1120s, the government took over the system, produc- ing the world’s first government-issued paper money.

With the intensification of trade, merchants became progressively more specialized and organized. They set up partnerships and joint stock companies, with a separation of owners (shareholders) and managers. In the large cities, merchants were organized into guilds according to the type of product sold; they periodi- cally set prices and arranged sales from wholesalers to shop owners. When the government requisitioned goods or assessed taxes, it dealt with the guild heads.

The Song also witnessed many advances in indus- trial techniques. Papermaking flourished with the de- mand for paper for books, documents, money, and wrapping paper. Heavy industry, especially iron, grew at an astounding pace. With advances in metallurgy, iron production reached around 125,000 tons per year in 1078, a sixfold increase over the output in 800. At first, charcoal was used in the production process, leading to deforestation of parts of north China. By the end of the eleventh century, however, bituminous coke had largely taken the place of charcoal.

Much of this iron was used for military purposes. Mass-production methods were used to make iron armor in small, medium, and large sizes. High- quality steel for swords was made through high- temperature metallurgy. Huge bellows, often driven by water wheels, were used to superheat the molten ore. The needs of the army also brought Chinese en- gineers to experiment with the use of gunpowder. In the wars against the Jurchens in the twelfth century, those defending a besieged city used gunpowder to propel projectiles at the enemy.

The quickening of the economy fueled the growth of great cities, especially the two capitals, Kaifeng and Hangzhou. The Song broke all earlier precedents and did not select either Chang’an or Luoyang as its capital, but a city that had prospered because of its location near the northern end of the Grand Canal. The Tang capital, Chang’an, had been a planned city, laid out on a rectangular grid with the walls built far out to allow expansion. Kaifeng, by contrast, grew over time as its economy developed. The city did not have the clearly demarcated wards of the Tang capi- tal, and officials found themselves in frequent contact with ordinary city residents. The curfew was abol- ished in 1063, and from then on, many businesses in the entertainment quarters stayed open all night.

The medieval economic revolution shifted the economic center of China south to the Yangzi River

A NEw ERA The pace of change was rapid from the late Tang into the early Song period, and by the mid-eleventh cen- tury, China in many ways was a much more modern society, with cities and commerce transforming its economy and printing and examinations transform- ing elite culture.

The Medieval Chinese Economic Revolution

In 742, China’s population was approximately 50 million, a little lower than it had been in 2 c.e. Over the next three centuries, with the expansion of rice cultivation in central and south China, the coun- try’s food supply steadily increased and so did its pop- ulation. Song population reached about 100 million in 1102. China was certainly the largest country in the world at the time; its population undoubtedly ex- ceeded that of all of Europe (as it has ever since).

How did China’s economy sustain such growth? Agricultural prosperity and denser settlement patterns fostered commercialization of the economy. In many regions, farmers found that producing for the market made possible a better life; therefore, they no longer aimed at self-sufficiency. Peasants in more densely populated regions with numerous markets sold their surpluses and bought charcoal, tea, oil, and wine. In many places, farmers purchased grain and grew com- mercial crops, such as sugar, oranges, cotton, silk, and tea. The need to transport these products stimu- lated the inland and coastal shipping industries, creat- ing jobs for shipbuilders and sailors. Marco Polo, the Venetian merchant who wrote of his visit to China in the late thirteenth century, was astounded by the boat traffic on the Yangzi River. He claimed to have seen no fewer than fifteen thousand vessels docked at a single city on the river. (See Color Plate 7.)

As more goods were bought and sold, demand for money grew enormously, leading eventually to the cre- ation of the world’s first paper money. The late Tang government had abandoned the use of bolts of silk as supplementary currency, which increased the demand for copper coins. By 1085 the output of currency had increased tenfold since Tang times to more than 6 billion coins a year. To avoid the weight and bulk of coins for large transactions, local merchants in late Tang times started trading receipts from deposit shops where they had left money or goods. The early Song authorities awarded a small set of shops a monopoly

06475_ch08_rev04.indd 132 9/10/12 11:17 AM

A New Era 133

Maritime trade routes also connected these places to Southeast Asia and the societies of the Indian Ocean.

Trade between Song and its northern neighbors was stimulated by the indemnities Song paid to them. These states were given the means to buy Song products, and the Song set up supervised markets along the border to encourage trade. The Song government collected tariffs on this trade, and the trade itself helped sustain Song China’s eco- nomic growth. Chinese goods that flowed north in large quantities included tea, silk, copper coins (widely used as a currency outside China), paper and printed books, porcelain, lacquerware, jewelry, rice and other grains, and ginger and other spices. The return flow included some of the silver that had originated with the Song and the horses that Song desperately needed for its armies, but also other animals such as camels and sheep, as well as goods

drainage area. Rice, which grew there, provides more calories per unit of land than wheat or millet does and therefore allows denser settlements. More- over, the milder temperatures of the south often al- lowed two crops to be grown on the same plot of land, one after the other. The abundance of rivers and streams in the south facilitated shipping, which reduced the cost of transportation and thus made regional specialization more economically feasible.

international Trade

During the tenth through thirteenth centuries, trade connected all the states we now classify under China (Song, Liao, Xia, Jin), the less politically important Dali state in the region of modern Yunnan, the oasis city-states of Central Asia, and the other ma- jor countries of East Asia, notably Korea and Japan.

Knick-knack peddler. Song court painters sometimes portrayed life among ordinary people, as in this scene of a woman with several children eager to buy toys from the itinerant peddler who carries hundreds of items on a shoulder pole. (National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan/Cultural Relics Press)

06475_ch08_rev04.indd 133 9/10/12 11:17 AM

134 Chapter 8 China Among Equals: Song, Liao, Xia, and Jin (907–1279)

Much money could be made from the sea trade, but there were also great risks, so investors usually divided their investment among many ships, and each ship had many investors behind it. One ob- server thought eagerness to invest in overseas trade was leading to an outflow of copper cash. He wrote, “People along the coast are on intimate terms with the merchants who engage in overseas trade, either because they are fellow-countrymen or personal ac- quaintances. . . . [They give the merchants] money to take with them on their ships for the purchase and return conveyance of foreign goods. They invest from ten to a hundred strings of cash, and regularly make profits of several hundred per cent.”*

In 1973 a Song ship that had been shipwrecked in 1277 was excavated off the south China coast. It was 78 feet long and 29 feet wide and had twelve bulk- heads. Inside them were the luxury objects that the Song imported: more than 5,000 pounds of fragrant wood from Southeast Asia, pepper, betel nut, cowries, tortoiseshell, cinnabar, and ambergris from Somalia.

The Song Scholar-official Class

The Song period saw the full flowering of one of the most distinctive features of Chinese civilization: the scholar-official class certified through highly competi- tive civil service examinations. Compared to its Tang counterpart, the Song Chinese scholar-official class was larger, better educated, and less aristocratic in its habits. The legitimacy of the power of this class was en- hanced by its Confucian commitment to public service and by the ostensibly fair and objective ways through which its members gained access to ranks and honors.

The spread of printing aided the expansion of the educated class. In China, as in Europe centuries later, printing brought down the price of books. Song schol- ars could afford to buy many more books than could their counterparts in earlier dynasties. Song publishers printed the classics in huge editions. Works on phi- losophy, science, and medicine were avidly consumed, as were Buddhist texts. Han and Tang poetry and his- torical works were used as models by Song writers.

The demand for books was fueled in part by eagerness to compete in the civil service examina- tions. From the point of view of the early Song em- perors, the purpose of written examinations was to

*Cited in Shiba Yoshinobu, Commerce and Society in Sung China, trans. Mark Elvin (Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 1970), p. 33.

that had traveled across the Silk Road, including fine Indian and Persian cotton cloth, precious gems, incense, and perfumes.

During Song times, maritime trade for the first time exceeded overland foreign trade. The Song gov- ernment sent missions to Southeast Asian countries to encourage their traders to come to China. Chinese junks were seen throughout the Indian Ocean and began to displace Indian and Arab merchants in the South Seas. Shards of Song Chinese porcelain have been found as far away as East Africa. Chinese junks were larger than the ships of most of their com- petitors, such as the Indians and Arabs, and had many technical advances, including waterproofing with tung oil, watertight bulkheads, sounding lines to determine depth, and stern-mounted rudders for improved steering. Some of these ships were pow- ered by both oars and sails and were large enough to hold several hundred men. Also important to ocean- going transport was the perfection of the compass. The way a magnetic needle would point north had been known for centuries, but in Song times, the nee- dle was reduced in size and attached to a fixed stem (rather than floating in water). Sometimes it was put in a small protective case with a glass top, making it suitable for navigation at sea. The first reports of a compass used this way date to 1119.

An early twelfth-century Chinese writer gave two reasons why the ships engaged in maritime trade had to be large and carry several hundred sailors. First, they had to be ready to fight off pirates. Second, high volume was needed so that there would still be a profit after giving substantial “gifts” to the author- ities at every port they visited. The most common product carried by the ships, this author reported, was Chinese ceramics.

In 1225 the superintendent of customs at the port city of Quanzhou, named Zhao Rukua (jow roo-kwa), wrote an account of the countries with which Chinese merchants traded and the goods they offered for sale. It includes sketches of major trading cities from Srivijaya (modern Indonesia) to Malabar, Cairo, and Baghdad. Pearls were said to come from the Persian Gulf, ivory from Aden, myrrh from Somalia, pepper from Java and Sumatra, cotton from the various king- doms of India, and so on. A few decades later, Marco Polo wrote glowingly of the Chinese pepper trade, say- ing that for each load of pepper sent to Christendom, a hundred were sent to China. On his own travels home via the sea route, he reported seeing many merchants from southern China plying a thriving trade.

06475_ch08_rev04.indd 134 9/10/12 11:17 AM

A New Era 135

had of nominating sons and grandsons for civil service appointment. Around 40 percent or more of posts in Song times were filled this way. Men who started their careers through privilege usually had to begin at the very bottom, serving as sheriffs in remote places, and they might well spend their entire careers in county- level posts, collecting taxes and hearing legal cases. It is no wonder, then, that most sons of officials were willing to at least try the civil service examinations.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Western historians stressed the meritocratic side of the Chinese examination sys- tem and the social mobility it fostered. Lists of ex- amination graduates showed that only about half had fathers, grandfathers, or great-grandfathers who had served as officials. In recent decades, it has been more common to stress the advantages official families had in placing their sons in government posts and that even those who did not have recent patrilineal ances- tors who had served in office might have an uncle or a maternal grandfather who had done so. If the comparison is to other premodern societies, including Korea and Japan, Song China was exceptional in the opportunities it offered to intelligent, hard-working young men without powerful relatives. However, no one should assume that mobility through education occurred with the frequency it does in modern society.

Families able to educate their sons were generally landholders. When the Song elite is looked at from the perspective of the local community, families prominent for generations are more striking than new men. In a county with twenty thousand households, a dozen or so family lines might account for nearly all those who

identify capable men. So long as the successful can- didates were literate, intelligent, and willing to work hard and obey the rules, the rulers had reason to be satisfied with the results, even if some able men were overlooked. From the point of view of those aspiring to office, however, issues of equity loomed large. Was everyone given an equal chance? Did examiners favor those they knew? Why should skill in poetry be tested when officials did not have to compose poems as part of their jobs? To increase confidence in the objectivity of the examiners, the names of the test takers were re- placed with numbers, and clerks recopied each exam so that the handwriting could not be recognized.

The Song examination system recruited four to five times more jinshi (jin-shih) “presented scholars,” hold- ers of the highest examination degree, per year than the Tang system had. Yet increasing the number of jinshi did not lower the prestige of the degree. Rather, it encouraged more men to enter the competition. Ear- ly in the eleventh century, fewer than thirty thousand men took the prefectural exams, which increased to nearly eighty thousand by the end of that century and to about four hundred thousand by the dynasty’s end. Because the number of available posts did not change, each candidate’s chances of passing plummeted, reach- ing as low as 1 in 333 in some prefectures. Men often took the examinations several times and were on aver- age a little over thirty years old when they succeeded.

Young men whose fathers or grandfathers had risen to high rank in the government did not have to take the examinations to get government posts; they could instead take advantage of the privilege higher officials

The Scholarly Life. This detail of a long hand-scroll by the court painter Ma Yuan (active 1189–1225) depicts a scholar writing a poem as others watch. Behind him is a monk; nearby are female attendants and a few children. (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust, 63-19. Photo: John Lamberton)

06475_ch08_rev04.indd 135 9/10/12 11:17 AM

136 Chapter 8 China Among Equals: Song, Liao, Xia, and Jin (907–1279)

soaked sawdust to show the mountains, roads, rivers, and passes. He once computed the total number of possible situations on a game board and another time the longest possible military campaign given the limits of human carriers who had to carry their own food as well as food for the soldiers. Interest in the natural world, of the sort Shen Gua displayed, was not as com- mon among the educated elite in Song times as inter- est in art and art collecting. The remarkable poet and statesman Su Shi (soo shih) wrote glowingly of paint- ings done by scholars, who could imbue their paintings with ideas, making them much better than paintings that merely conveyed outward appearance, the sort of paintings that professional painters made. His friend Mi Fu (mee foo), a passionate collector, would call on collectors to view and discuss their treasures. Often he would borrow pieces to study and copy. When he came across something that excited him, he made every ef- fort to acquire it, generally by offering a trade.

Reformers and Anti-Reformers

How was the operation of the Song government affect- ed by recruiting a large proportion of its staff through the examination system? Such men entered government service at older ages and after longer periods of study than men who entered in other ways. Did the prepon- derance of such men alter the dynamics of political life?

One might have thought that jinshi, having been through much the same experience, would demonstrate remarkable solidarity with each other. But this did not happen. Exam graduates did not defend one another’s qualifications or insist that every jinshi was fully quali- fied to practice government. The examination system did not lead to scholar-officials thinking alike or look- ing out for each other’s interests. To the contrary, they seem to have fought among themselves more viciously than the officials of earlier dynasties.

One explanation for their divisiveness might be that even after passing the examinations, competi- tion continued unabated. Promotions in responsi- bility, honor, and pay did not come automatically. There were more men qualified for office than posts, so often after finishing one assignment, officials had to wait months or even years before getting their next one. Moreover, to get choice assignments, they often needed high officials to recommend them, add- ing to the uncertainty they faced.

What did officials fight about? Ostensibly, at least, they fought about how best to run the government. It was very common for younger officials, especially those who had done well in the examinations, to be

gained national notice. Still, because property had to be divided among sons every generation, downward social mobility was always a possibility if nothing was done to add to the family’s income or property every generation. Yuan Cai (ywan tsy), writing in the late twelfth century, stressed the importance of find- ing ways to increase the family’s holdings. When one brother had private funds from office, he should not convert it into gold and silver in order to hide it, but should invest it so that it would grow:

For instance, if he had 100,000 strings worth of gold and silver and used this money to buy productive property, in a year he would gain 10,000 strings; after ten years or so, he would have regained the 100,000 strings and what would be divided among the family would be interest. If it were invested in a pawn broking business, in three years the inter- est would equal the capital. He would still have the 100,000 strings, and the rest, being interest, could be divided. Moreover, it could be doubled again in another three years, ad infinitum.*

Members of the Song scholar-official class would rarely have spent their entire lives in their home coun- ties or prefectures. Many traveled considerable dis- tances to study with well-known teachers. If they suc- ceeded in the first stage of the examinations, they had to travel to the capital for the next stage, held every three years. A large proportion of those who succeeded began their careers in county or prefectural posts, and over the next ten or twenty years they might crisscross the empire several times, returning to the capital be- tween assignments. Travel to a new post might take a month or more, during which time the official would call on his colleagues in the places he passed. When Lu You left his home county in 1170 to take up an assignment in Sichuan, he spent 157 days on the road and called on dozens of officials, retired officials, and Buddhist and Daoist clergy along the way. He also had the chance to visit many sites made famous by earlier visitors who had written poems or essays about them.

Many Song men of letters were adept at a wide range of arts and sciences. One of the most versatile was Shen Gua (shuhn gwa), who tried his hand at everything from mathematics, geography, economics, engineer- ing, medicine, divination, and archaeology to military strategy and diplomacy. On an assignment to inspect the frontier, he made a relief map of wood and glue-

*Patricia Buckley Ebrey, trans., Family and Property in Sung China: Yuan Ts’ai’s Precepts for Social Life (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1984), pp. 199–200.

06475_ch08_rev04.indd 136 9/10/12 11:17 AM

A New Era 137

land taxes more equitable. He introduced a local militia to reduce the cost of maintaining a large standing army. The poetry component of the civil service examination was dropped in the hope of recruiting men with a more practical bent. Wang Anshi’s own commentaries on the classics became required reading for candidates hoping to do well on the examinations.

The resistance these reforms evoked has led his- torians to suspect that interests were at stake. Wang and many of the reformers came from the south, but the split was not a simple north–south one or an old elite versus a newly rising one. Personal antagonisms certainly played a role, as did philosophical differ- ences. In the vocabulary of the time, however, the struggle was portrayed as one between men of prin- ciple motivated by concern for the common good and misguided or nefarious inferior men who could not or would not see the larger picture. Each side, of course, considered themselves the men of principle and their opponents the inferior men.

From the perspective of Wang Anshi and Shen- zong, opposition amounted to obstruction. To put their program into place, they wanted officials who supported it, not ones dead set against it. Yet dismiss- ing all critics would make it difficult for the emperor to learn of unforeseen problems. Usually officials deemed obstructive were assigned offices outside the capital, but when the court wanted to be particularly harsh, it could send them to the far south, the re- gions where malaria and other tropical diseases were sometimes fatal to those from the north.

The reform program came to an abrupt halt when Shenzong died in his mid-thirties in 1085. His heir, Zhezong, was only nine years old, so his grandmother served as regent. She had never approved the reforms and quickly set about bringing to court opponents of them, led by the senior statesman Sima Guang. Once the anti-reformers were in power, they made sure the reformers suffered the same treatment they had by sending them out of the capital as prefectural officials or worse. The New Policies were canceled wholesale, even measures that many had appreciated, such as the substitution of a tax for often-onerous labor service.

When his grandmother died in 1093, Zhezong began ruling on his own. He reversed his grandmother’s policies and brought the reformers back to power. The cycles of revenge and retaliation continued as the reformers banished the anti- reformers. Zhezong succumbed to an illness while still in his twenties and was succeeded by his younger brother Huizong (r. 1100–1125), who also sided with the reformers. His government banned the writings of key opponents of

disappointed in the performance of the average of- ficial, whom they viewed as morally lazy, unwilling to make any exertion for the dynasty or the common people. Idealistic officials criticized the examination system for selecting such mediocre men. Other ar- eas of tension were military and fiscal policy. If one wanted to push the Khitan out of the Sixteen Pre- fectures, as many did, one had to be willing to raise revenue somehow, but no one liked to see new taxes.

Those with proposals to make had to find a way to get the emperor’s ear and convince other officials to support their ideas. This meant lining up allies and maligning opponents. From the emperor’s point of view, such activities were obstructionist. Rather, of- ficials should speak candidly to the emperor about the realms of government they knew. It should be up to the emperor and his chancellors to weigh advice from diverse perspectives.

During the first phase of factional strife in the 1040s, a reform program was initiated by Fan Zhongyan (fahn jung-yen), an idealistic Confucian best known for describing the duty of the Confucian scholar- official as “to be first in worrying about the world’s troubles and last in enjoying its pleasures.” Fan was an experienced official who had served as prefect of Kaifeng and had managed a successful military assign- ment against the Tanguts. Once appointed chancellor, he submitted a ten-point memorial calling for reforms of the recruitment system, higher pay for local officials to discourage corruption, more use of sponsorship to base promotions more on competence and character, and the like. His proposals evoked strong resistance from those who were comfortable with the existing system and did not want to see the rules changed in the middle of their careers. Within a year, the program was canceled and Fan replaced as chancellor. Fan’s ex- ample, however, inspired many idealistic officials who hoped to take up where he had left off.

The one who managed to accomplish this was Wang Anshi (wahng ahn-shih) (1021–1086). After a career largely in the provinces, he submitted a long memorial criticizing the examination system and the state schools. Shenzong (shuhn-dzung), who had just succeeded to the throne at the age of nineteen, made Wang a chancellor and supported his program, called the New Policies.

Wang Anshi was intelligent and hard working and had original ideas. Realizing that government income was ultimately linked to the prosperity of farming fami- lies, he instituted measures he thought would help them, such as low-cost loans and replacing labor service with a tax. To raise revenues, he expanded state monopolies on tea, salt, and wine. He also had land resurveyed to make

06475_ch08_rev04.indd 137 9/10/12 11:17 AM

138 Chapter 8 China Among Equals: Song, Liao, Xia, and Jin (907–1279)

The Song heard rumors of what was happening from Chinese defectors from Liao. Huizong’s leading general urged making a secret alliance with Jin. After a series of envoys had been exchanged, it was de- cided that Jin and Song would cooperate to defeat Liao, then divide its territory, with Song promised the recovery of the Sixteen Prefectures.

In the process of defeating Liao, Jin discovered that Song was not much of a military threat and attacked it next. Kaifeng was besieged, an enor- mous ransom paid to escape slaughter, and thou- sands taken captive, including Huizong, the impe- rial clan, craftsmen, and female entertainers. Jin went on to establish a stable government in north China and Manchuria. In the beginning, Jin con- tinued the dual government of Liao and employed former Liao officials, both Chinese and Khitan. Jin ruled a much larger Chinese population than Liao had and had to distribute Jurchens through- out north China to maintain control. Gradually more and more Chinese political institutions were adopted and more Chinese officials employed. Jin moved its capital from central Manchuria to Beijing in 1153 and to Kaifeng in 1161. Like oth- er non- Chinese rulers before them, the Jurchens found that Chinese political institutions such as hereditary succession were a potent weapon in their competition with their own nobles. The Jurchen rulers did not adopt Chinese traditions of respect for the dignity of officials, however. Jin emperors had high officials flogged in open court, a brutal violation of the Confucian dictum that of- ficials are to be treated according to ritual and not subjected to corporal punishments.

Because they lived surrounded by Chinese, many Jurchens adopted Chinese customs in language, dress, and rituals. Jurchen generals opposed to sinifi- cation assassinated the Jin emperor in 1161, and the succeeding emperor did his best to raise the prestige of Jurchen as a written language. He ordered Jurch- ens to attend special Jurchen-language schools, had Chinese texts translated into Jurchen, and instituted Jurchen-language civil service examinations. Later Jin emperors largely accepted sinification, viewing the Chinese classics, for instance, as universal texts, not exclusively Chinese ones. In 1191 an emperor even outlawed referring to the Jurchens as “bor- der people,” a relatively polite Chinese term, seeing no reason that their country should not be viewed as the Central Kingdom (the common Chinese term for China).

reform including Sima Guang and Su Shi and elevated Wang Anshi. A statue of Wang Anshi was placed in the Confucian temple next to Mencius, and pictures of him were distributed throughout the country.

THE FALL oF THE NoRTHERN SoNg AND THE ESTABLiSHMENT oF THE JiN DYNASTY Huizong’s interests extended well beyond the reform program. Committed to the cultural side of rulership, he collected paintings, calligraphies, and antiquities on a huge scale and had catalogues compiled of his collections. He took a personal interest in the training of court artists and instituted examinations for their selection. He wrote poetry as well as treatises on med- icine and Daoism. He initiated an ambitious reform of court music and court rituals. He appreciated archi- tecture and garden design, created his own distinctive calligraphy style, and produced exquisite paintings.

While Huizong was busy with these projects, the balance of power among Song, Liao, and Xia was radically altered by the rise of a new tribal group in the northeast, the Jurchens. The Jurchens lived in vil- lages and small walled towns, their economy based on fishing, hunting, animal husbandry, and some farming. Jurchens who lived near Chinese, Khitan, or Goryeo cities adopted practices and technologies from these neighbors, leading to a distinction be- tween the “civilized” Jurchens and their “wild” coun- terparts in more remote areas. The lands the Jurch- ens occupied were ideal for horse raising, and by the mid-eleventh century, the Jurchens were selling the Khitans about ten thousand horses per year. During the mid- to late eleventh century, the Wanyan clan gradually gained the dominant position among the Jurchens. In the early twelfth century, under the lead- ership of Wanyan Aguda (1068–1123), the Jurchens began challenging Liao authority. In 1115 their repu- diation of Liao overlordship was made explicit by the proclamation of their own dynasty, the Jin (Golden).

States North of Song Dynasty Name Ethnic Group Liao Khitan Xia Tangut Jin Jurchen Yuan Mongol

06475_ch08_rev04.indd 138 9/10/12 11:17 AM

Hangzhou and the Southern Song (1127–1276) 139

HANgzHoU AND THE SoUTHERN SoNg (1127–1276) One of Huizong’s sons was out of Kaifeng when the Jurchens occupied Kaifeng, and after his father and brothers were transported north, Song forces rallied around him and had him installed as emperor (Gaozong, r. 1127–1162). The south had never been held by forces from the steppe, and Gaozong wisely retreated to that region. Still, the military situation remained precarious: the Jurchens not only pursued Gaozong across the Yangzi River but even out into the ocean. To get far from the Jurchens, the Song ended up making its capital Hangzhou, a beautiful city well south of the Yangzi River. (See Map 8.2.)

Gaozong disavowed the New Policies reform pro- gram, but this did not end factional strife because other issues emerged around which officials were divided, above all how aggressively to pursue recov- ery of the north. Efforts to drive the Jurchens out of north China were largely abandoned in 1141, when

a peace treaty was concluded with Jin. Song agreed to heavy payments of silk and silver to Jin, much as the Northern Song had made payments to Liao.

Because the economic center of the country had already shifted south, loss of the north did not ruin the Song economy. Sixty percent of the population was still under Song control, along with much of the most productive agricultural land. The government still had to devote a large part of its revenues to de- fense, but it was able to raise much of its revenue through taxes on commerce. The government’s mon- etary policies in time, however, produced rampant inflation.

Hangzhou itself grew to 1 million or more resi- dents. At the southern end of the Grand Canal, it was a natural center for trade. Fortunetellers, acrobats, puppeteers, storytellers, tea houses, and restaurants were all to be found in the entertain- ment quarters. There were brokers who had girls and young women available for purchase or hire as rough or refined maids, concubines, singers, or prostitutes. Schools were found throughout the city,

Bay of Bengal

South China Sea

Yellow Sea

Sea of Japan

East China

Sea

Ye ll

ng zi

ekong

S a lw

ee n

Chang’an (Xi’an)

Kaifeng

Beijing Kaegyong

Hangzhou

Kyoto Nara

Guangzhou

G O B I D

E S E R

T MONGOLIAN PLATEAU

M A

N C

H U

R IA

P LA

1200

MO NG

OL S

UI GH

URS

GORYEO KOREA

TIBET SOUTHERN

SONG CHINA

JIN

ANNAM NANZHAO

CHAMPA

KAMAKURA JAPAN

XIA

0 500 1000 Km.

0 500 1000 Mi.

Map 8.2 Southern Song, Jin, and Xia, ca. 1200

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch08_rev04.indd 139 9/10/12 11:17 AM

140 Chapter 8 China Among Equals: Song, Liao, Xia, and Jin (907–1279)

the goodness of human nature and still explain hu- man wrongdoing: principle underlying human be- ings is good, but their endowment of vital energy is more or less impure, giving rise to selfish impulses. Followers of the Cheng brothers referred to their school as the Learning of the Way (Daoxue, dow- shwe). In English this movement is often termed neo-Confucianism to stress how different it was from early Confucianism.

After the loss of the north to the Jurchens, the elite lost confidence in the possibility of reform from above and began proposing ways to build a more ideal society by starting from the bottom, reforming families and local communities, establishing schools and academies, and spreading their message by publishing works for diverse audiences. The greatest of these Southern Song Confucian masters was Zhu Xi (joo shyee, 1130–1200). Although he passed the jinshi examination at the young age of eighteen, he spent very little of the next fifty-two years in govern- ment service. (The government in essence supported his teaching career by regularly appointing him to si- necures with few or no duties.) Zhu Xi taught groups of disciples and led the way in establishing private academies as the institutional basis for the revived Confucianism. These gathering places for teachers and their disciples were often located on mountains, the way monasteries were, and like monasteries al- lowed a retreat from the world.

Zhu Xi extended the Cheng brothers’ ideas in many directions. Confucius and Mencius had just said to be good, apparently assuming that anyone who desired to be good could do so. Zhu Xi’s letters and conversa- tions show that many of his contemporaries wanted a path toward goodness, with steps to follow and ways to judge their progress. He encouraged his students to master the Four Books—the Analects, Mencius, Doc- trine of the Mean, and the Great Learning. The last two, each a chapter in the canonical Book of Rites, stress that improvement of the world starts by im- provement of the mind. As the Great Learning puts it:

Those in antiquity who wished to illuminate lumi- nous virtue throughout the world would first govern their states; wishing to govern their states, they would first bring order to their families; wishing to bring or- der to their families, they would first cultivate their own persons; wishing to cultivate their own persons, they would first rectify their minds; wishing to rec- tify their minds, they would first make their thoughts sincere; wishing to make their thoughts sincere, they

which also had many Buddhist and Daoist temples. For banquets and other parties, there were catering companies that provided all the food, tents, tables, chairs, and even decorations. To combat fire, the government stationed two thousand soldiers at fourteen fire stations within the city and more out- side it. Poverty was more of a problem in crowded cities than in the countryside, and the government not only distributed alms but also operated pub- lic clinics and old-age homes as well as paupers’ graveyards. The better-off residents in the city often formed clubs; a text written in 1235 mentions the West Lake Poetry Club, the Buddhist Tea Society, the Physical Fitness Club, the Anglers’ Club, the Occult Club, the Young Girls’ Chorus, the Exotic Foods Club, the Plants and Fruits Club, the Antique Collectors’ Club, the Horse- Lovers’ Club, and the Refined Music Society.

SoNg CULTURE AND SoCiETY The Song period was one of advances in many facets of culture, ranging from scientific discoveries to land- scape paintings. In addition, because of the spread of printing, more books and more types of books sur- vive from the Song than from earlier periods, provid- ing more glimpses of ordinary people’s lives.

The Revival of Confucianism and the Learning of the way

The scholar-statesmen of the eleventh century, such as Fan Zhongyan, Wang Anshi, Sima Guang, and Su Shi, believed that they were pursuing Confucian agendas of advising the ruler and aiding the com- mon people. Other influential Confucian teach- ers of the period, notably the brothers Cheng Hao (chuhng how) and Cheng Yi (chuhng ee), were more interested in metaphysics and ethics and argued that moral self-cultivation was more fundamental than service to the ruler. Their explanations of the workings of principle (li) and vital energy (qi) can be seen as a response to the sophisticated metaphys- ics of Buddhism. The principle for something could be moral or physical; for example, the principle for wives is essentially moral in nature, that for trees, physical. For either to exist, however, there must also be the energy and substance that constitute things. The theory of principle and vital energy al- lowed Song thinkers to validate Mencius’s claim of

06475_ch08_rev04.indd 140 9/10/12 11:17 AM

Song Culture and Society 141

to read with their brothers, farmers’ daughters who made money by weaving mats, childless widows who accused their nephews of seizing their property, wives who were jealous of the concubines their husbands brought home, and women who drew from their dow- ries to help their husbands’ sisters marry well.

Families that could afford it tried to keep their wives and daughters at home, where there was plenty for them to do. Not only was there the work of tending children and preparing meals, but spinning, weaving, and sew- ing took a great deal of time. Women in silk-producing families were very busy during the silkworm-growing period. Women had to coddle the worms, feeding them chopped mulberry tree leaves and keeping them warm, in order to get them to spin their cocoons.

Women tended to marry between the ages of sixteen and twenty. Their husbands were, on average, a couple of years older than they were. The marriages were ar- ranged by their parents, who called on professional matchmakers (usually older women) or turned to friends or relatives for suggestions. Before a wedding took place, written agreements were exchanged that listed the pro- spective bride’s and groom’s birth dates, parents’ and grandparents’ names, and the gifts that would be ex- changed, as well as the dowry the bride would bring. The idea was to match families of approximately equal status, but a young man who had just passed the civil service exams would be considered a good prospect even if his family had little wealth or rank.

A few days before the wedding, the bride’s fam- ily sent her dowry, which at a minimum contained boxes full of clothes and bedding. In better-off fami- lies, it also included items of substantial value, such as gold jewelry or deeds for land. On the day of the wedding, the groom and some of his friends and rela- tives went to the bride’s home to fetch her. Dressed in elaborate finery, she tearfully bid farewell to ev- eryone in her family and then stepped into the fancy sedan chair that carried her to her new home. Musi- cians were an important part of the procession, alert- ing everyone on the street that a wedding was taking place. Meanwhile, the groom’s family’s friends and relatives gathered at his home so they would be there to greet the bridal party. The bride knelt and bowed to her new parents-in-law and later to the tablets rep- resenting the family’s ancestors. Her husband, whom she was meeting for the first time, shared a cup of wine with her, a classical ritual still in practice. Later the young bride and groom were shown to their new bedroom, where the bride’s dowry had already been placed, and people would toss beans or rice on the

would first extend their knowledge. The extension of knowledge lies in the investigation of things.*

Zhu Xi and his disciples frequently discussed what was entailed in this “investigation of things.” Study, Zhu argued, should be intensive rather than extensive:

Zhengchun said, “I’d like to survey a great many books.”

“Don’t do that,” Zhu Xi said. “Read one book thoroughly, then read another one. If you confusedly try to advance on several fronts, you will end up with difficulties. It’s like archery. If you are strong enough for a five-pint bow, use a four-pint one. You will be able to draw it all the way and still have strength left over. Students today do not measure their own strength when reading books. I worry that we cannot manage what we already have set ourselves.”†

Even if he urged his disciples to focus their ener- gies, Zhu Xi’s own interests were very broad. He dis- cussed with his disciples everything from geomancy to the nature of fossils, the political events of the past century, and perplexing passages in the classics (see Biography: The Cai Family of Geomancers).

However much his disciples admired him, many of Zhu Xi’s contemporaries found him offensively self- righteous. Near the end of his life, his teachings were condemned as “spurious learning,” and candidates for the examinations were forbidden to cite them. Yet, within decades of his death, this judgment was reversed. In 1241 an emperor credited Zhu Xi with “illuminating the Way,” and government students had to study his commentaries to the Four Books.

gender Roles and Family Life

By Song times, sources are diverse enough to see that the old principles that men belong outside the house and women in it, or that men plow and women weave, should not be taken too literally. Song stories, docu- ments, and legal cases show women participating in a wide range of activities never prescribed in Confucian didactic texts. There were widows who ran inns, mid- wives who delivered babies, pious women who spent their days chanting sutras, nuns who called on such women to explain Buddhist doctrine, girls who learned

*From Sources of Chinese Tradition, rev. ed., by Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom, eds. Copyright © 1999 by Columbia University Press. Reprinted with permission of the publisher. †Patricia Buckley Ebrey, ed., Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook (New York: The Free Press, 1993), p. 173.

06475_ch08_rev04.indd 141 9/10/12 11:17 AM

142 Chapter 8 China Among Equals: Song, Liao, Xia, and Jin (907–1279)

position in the family only by becoming the mother of one of the men.

Every community had older women skilled in mid- wifery who could be called to help when a woman went into labor. In a well-to-do family, a wet nurse might be brought in to help the woman take care of the newborn, though some Song scholars disap- proved of depriving another child of milk for the sake of one’s own child.

bed, symbolizing the desired fertility. After teasing the couple, the guests would finally leave them alone and go out to the courtyard for the wedding feast.

After the guests had all departed, the young bride’s first priority was to try to win over her mother-in- law, since everyone knew that mothers-in-law were hard to please. (See Color Plate 11.) One way to do this was to bear a son for the family quickly. Within the patrilineal system, a woman fully secured her

The Cai Family of geomancersB I O G R A P H Y Cai Fa (tsai fah, 1089–1152) learned geomancy, the science of “wind and wa- ter,” from his own father and would later pass it on to his sons. The Cai family lived in Fujian, where geomancy was widely used to locate graves. Underlying geo- mancy was the idea that the energy (qi ) in the veins of the earth, in conjunction with the energy of the wind and water, make some burial sites much better than oth- ers, and good burial sites can bring good

fortune to the descendants of the person buried there. Cai Fa wrote a book on geomancy, which explained it in philosophical terms, such as, “A geomancer examin- ing veins is not different than a doctor examining [the pulse in] veins. A good doctor examines veins’ yin and yang to prescribe medicine; a good geomancer exam- ines how veins float or sink to set the grave site.” Cai Fa himself was also well versed in medical theory.

Cai Fa taught his son Cai Yuanding (1135–1198) not only geomancy and other sciences but also the ideas of leading Confucian thinkers, including the Cheng brothers. Cai Yuanding never passed the civil service examinations and never served in office, but he found alternative ways to support himself, prob- ably in part by collecting fees for locating graves. He was highly educated and produced a new edition of the classic work on geomancy, the Book of Burials, removing twelve of its twenty sections.

Cai Yuanding first visited zhu Xi when he was twenty-five. Although he asked to be zhu Xi’s stu- dent, zhu Xi considered him already well educated and treated him instead as a fellow teacher. Before long, Cai Yuanding was helping with zhu Xi’s new students and contributing to the books zhu Xi was drafting. zhu Xi reportedly enjoyed discussing meta- physical subjects with Cai Yuanding, such as the Book of Changes and numerology. one contemporary re-

ported that zhu Xi had learned about the numbers of heaven and earth, music theory, yin and yang, and geomancy from his friend Cai Yuanding. Eventually Cai Yuanding set up his own study on another moun- tain, but he and zhu Xi would meet from time to time.

in 1194 zhu Xi submitted a memorial to the throne proposing that a new site be chosen for the burial of the recently deceased emperor, drawing on ideas he had learned from Cai Yuanding. He wrote that “all literati and commoners with even modest resources when burying their forebears consult widely among experts and visit famous mountains, comparing one site to the next to select the very best.” They did this because being off even slightly could lead to such un- fortunate consequences as the extinction of the fam- ily line. zhu Xi particularly recommended geomancers from Jiangxi or Fujian. in his conclusion, zhu Xi ac- knowledged that many educated men dismissed geo- mancy, seeing it as a pseudo-science, and they might ridicule him for his confidence in it. But, he said, he could not bear to think of the emperor’s body lying in a bad spot where water, ants, or ground wind would make the body and spirit uncomfortable.

Cai Yuanding was considered so close to zhu Xi that when zhu Xi was accused of “false learning” in 1196, Cai Yuanding was also accused of “helping him in his diabolical activities” and banished to Hunan. More than sixty years old, he did not live long after walking all the way there. A few decades later, when the verdict on zhu Xi’s learning was reversed, the court approved having a picture of Cai Yuanding sitting and conversing with zhu Xi painted on the walls of Cai Yuanding’s study.

Questions for Analysis 1. Why would expertise in a field like geomancy be passed

down within a family? 2. Is Zhu Xi’s confidence in geomancy consistent with

other elements in his philosophy?

06475_ch08_rev04.indd 142 9/10/12 11:17 AM

Song Culture and Society 143

accomplished poets of Song times, Li Qingzhao (lee ching-jow, 1084–ca. 1151), was a woman from a scholar-official family. After her husband’s death, she wrote of the evenings she and he had spent poring over his recent purchases of paintings, calligraphy, or ancient bronze vessels. Many of her poems have been interpreted as expressions of her longing for him when he was away or her sorrow at his loss:

Lovely in my inner chamber.

My tender heart, a wisp; my sorrow tangled in a thousand skeins.

I’m fond of spring, but spring is gone,

And rain urges the petals to fall.

I lean on the balustrade;

Only loose ends left, and no feeling.

Where is he?

Withered grasses stretch to the heavens;

I can’t make out the path that leads him home to me.*

The Learning of the Way is sometimes blamed for a decline in the status of women in Song times, largely because Cheng Yi once told a follower that it would be better for a widow to die of starvation than to lose her virtue by remarrying. In later centuries, this saying was often quoted to justify pressuring a widow, even a very young one, to stay with her husband’s family and not marry someone else. In Song times, however, widows commonly remarried.

It is true that foot binding began during the Song Dynasty, but it was not recommended by Confucian teachers; rather, it was associated with the pleasure quarters and with women’s efforts to beautify them- selves. Mothers bound the feet of girls aged five to eight, using long strips of cloth. The goal was to keep their feet from growing and to bend the four smaller toes under to make the foot narrow and arched. Women with feet shaped this way were con- sidered beautiful. Foot binding spread gradually during Song times but probably remained largely an elite practice. (See Material Culture: Huang Sheng’s Clothing for an upper-class woman who had bound feet in the late Song.) In later centuries, foot bind- ing became extremely common in north and central

*Excerpts from Women Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry and Criticism by Kang-i Sun Chang and Haun Saussy. Copyright © 1999 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Jr. University. All rights reserved. Used with the permission of Stanford University Press, www.sup.org.

Families frequently had four, five, or six children, but likely one or more would die in infancy or early childhood. Within the home, women generally had considerable voice and took an active interest in is- sues such as the selection of marriage partners for their children. If a son reached adulthood and married before his mother was widowed, she was considered fortunate, for she would always have had an adult man who could take care of business for her—first her husband, then her grown son. But in the days when infectious diseases killed many people in their twen- ties and thirties, it was not uncommon for a woman to be widowed before her children were grown. If her husband had brothers and they had not yet divided their households, she would stay with them, assum- ing they were not so poor that they could not afford a few more mouths to feed. Otherwise she could return to her natal family. Taking another husband was also a possibility, though it was considered an inferior al- ternative from a moral point of view.

Women with healthy and prosperous husbands faced another challenge in middle age: the husband could bring home a concubine (or more than one, if the family was rich enough). Moralists insisted that it was wrong for a wife to be jealous of her husband’s concubines, but many women could not get used to their husband’s paying attention to another woman. Wives outranked concubines and could give them orders in the house, but concubines had their own ways of getting back, espe- cially when the concubine was twenty and the wife was forty and no longer as attractive. The children born to a concubine were considered just as much children of the family as the wife’s children, and if the wife had no sons, she would often raise a concubine’s sons herself because she would be dependent on them in her old age.

As a woman’s children grew up, she would start thinking of suitable marriage partners for them. Women whose sons and daughters were all mar- ried could take it easy: they had daughters-in-law to do the cooking and cleaning and could enjoy their grandchildren and help with their education. Many found more time for religious devotions at this stage of their lives. Their sons, still living with them, were often devoted to them and did their best to make their late years comfortable.

The social and economic changes associated with the Tang-Song transition brought changes to gen- der roles. With the expansion of the educated class, more women learned to read. In the scholar-official class, many women were literate enough to serve as their children’s first teachers. One of the most

06475_ch08_rev04.indd 143 9/10/12 11:17 AM

144 Chapter 8 China Among Equals: Song, Liao, Xia, and Jin (907–1279)

D O C U M E N T S

Retribution for Miss Liu

gao Junzhi, from Fuzhou, attained the jinshi de- gree and married a daughter of the Tan family. They had a son who, when grown, married a Miss Liu of the same prefecture. Before her hus- band died, Miss Liu bore two sons and a daugh- ter. gao Junzhi himself died after reaching the rank of gentleman for Closing Court. His eldest grandson was dimwitted and the younger one was still young, so they lived with their grand- mother Miss Tan and their mother Miss Liu.

Miss Liu was still young, and rather than adhere to her duties as wife, she committed adultery with a monk in her home. when her mother-in-law discovered this, she reprimand- ed her, infuriating Liu.

Sometime later when her mother-in-law got sick, Miss Liu did not give her medicine, preferring to see her die. She poisoned her mother-in-law’s two maids, then before her

mother-in-law had taken her last breath, had her encoffined and cremated.

A few months later Liu got sick and every day called the names of the maids she had killed, pleading with them, “My head is ex- tremely painful. Stop pulling my hair!” or “You’ve already beaten me a lot. Couldn’t you forgive me a little?” when her family ques- tioned her, she said, “Mom and the two maids are beating me.” Ten days later she died.

Her son gained an office on the basis of his grandfather’s rank, but did not do well. Today their house is desolate.

Liang Little Two

Liang Little Two, a commoner of Chixi village in Anyi county, Jie prefecture, came from a family that for generations had been humble but hon- est and hard-working farmers. Liang was the first scoundrel. He treated his widowed mother

One of the most common themes in Chinese stories concerns the retribution inflicted on those who commit evil deeds. In these stories, unfilial sons may be struck by lightning, and those who have committed murder often suffer at the hands of the ghosts of those they have killed. In the twelfth century, Hong Mai (hung my, 1123–1202) published hundreds of stories of this sort that he had heard on his travels around the country. In these stories, both men and women are depicted as wrongdoers, as the two stories below reveal.

Tales of Retribution

China, eventually spreading to all classes. Women with bound feet were less mobile than women with natural feet, but only those who could afford servants bound their feet so tightly that walking was difficult.

Religion in Song Life

The religious activities of laypeople are much better known for the Song than for earlier periods. The text that has attracted the most attention from historians of the Song is The Record of the Listener, a huge book of more than two hundred chapters written by Hong Mai (hung my) (1123–1202). Hong came from a prominent official family in the south (Jiangxi), and his book recorded events that he learned about firsthand or from friends, relatives, and colleagues. Many of these anecdotes dealt in one way or another

with the spirit realm and people’s interaction with it. (See Documents: Tales of Retribution.)

How did people conceive of the spirit realm? They understood that both blessings and misfortunes could be caused by all sorts of gods and spirits. The gods included the nationally recognized gods of Bud- dhism and Daoism as well as gods and demons par- ticular to their locality. As was true in much earlier times, dissatisfied ancestors were seen as possible causes of illness in their descendants. Like ancestors, gods and demons were thought to feel the same sorts of emotions as people. Demons and other malevo- lent spirits might extort offerings, acting much like local bullies. Gods were seen as parts of complex hierarchies, much like those in the human world. Some were seen as the rulers of small territories— local kings and lords. Others were seen as part of an

06475_ch08_rev04.indd 144 9/10/12 11:17 AM

Song Culture and Society 145

very cruelly. His wife, Miss wang, was quiet by nature and served her mother-in-law diligently.

During the Huangtung period (1141– 1144) of the northern bandits (that is, the Jin Dynasty), there was a famine in Hedong and epidemics spread, so that refugees filled the roads. Liang took his mother, wife, and young child to Dongling in gushan, where he begged for food for his child. Miss wang, knowing that her mother-in-law had not eaten in a long time, gave her half the food. Liang got furious when he saw this, so falsely sent his wife ahead carrying the child while he stayed behind with his mother. when the distance between them was about a hundred paces, he dropped his mother on the ground, dragged her to the side of the road, stuffed mud and sand into her mouth, and left.

when he met up with his wife a little bit ahead, she asked where his mother was, and he said, “old people walk slowly. we should go ahead to beg food from a great house, then wait for her to catch up.” when she had not appeared after a long time, the wife suspected that her husband had hurt her, so went back to search for her. She found the body already stiff. She embraced her, cried mournfully, and tried to force a drink down her, but her vital spirit was already gone and she did not revive.

Miss wang then quickly went to report to the local constable, who seized Liang to take him to the county government. on the road a storm arose. The sky became so dark that people were not visible. Thunder clapped, ghosts and spirits flew around, and weird forms appeared and disappeared. Everyone was so frightened that no one paid attention to where Liang was.

when the sky cleared up a little later, Liang was found lying in a pit. His eyes were burned by the lightning but the rest of his body was unaf- fected. He could not recognize people or things but he could drink, eat, and talk as before.

Liang regularly told people, “There are three ghosts in charge of me. At each meal i must first make offerings to them before dar- ing to eat.” The officials had pity for his wife and child and gave them grain. A few years later Liang was still alive.

Questions for Analysis 1. How similar are the crimes in these two stories?

How similar are the consequences? 2. Do you think these stories are simple fiction, or

could they be based on real events?

Hong Mai, Yijian zhi (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1981), pp. 41, 784–785; translated by Patricia Ebrey.

otherworldly government, where gods held specific offices and transmitted paperwork from those below them to those above. Gods were not conceived of as omnipotent, and a god might inform a petitioner that he would have to seek the approval of a higher god.

One way people learned whether particular spir- its were responsible for their problems was through divination. Another was through dreams or visions. Once they understood the source of the problem, there were steps they could take themselves, such as trying to gain spirits’ favor by making offerings or beseeching them in prayers. But people also often turned to religious experts ranging from ordained Buddhist and Daoist clerics and unordained prac- titioners of these traditions, to professional fortu- netellers, and to the wardens of temples to local gods who acted as spirit mediums or exorcists. In

one instance, a man pestered by a ghost first em- ployed a local exorcist. When that failed to solve his problem, he called on a visiting Daoist priest to perform an offering ceremony. He then called on Buddhist monks from the local monastery to recite incantations and conduct an exorcism, which finally brought results.

When medical doctors failed to cure them, peo- ple regularly called on religious experts. (See Color Plate 12.) Mediums could induce spirits to descend into the body of a boy, who would then speak in the voice of the spirit. In one such case, the voice of a maid who had died a few years earlier blamed her mistress for her accidental death. After the boy awakened, the medium wrote out a dispatch to send to the City God, who in turn had the spirit of the dead maid sent to purgatory. In this instance, the

06475_ch08_rev04.indd 145 9/10/12 11:17 AM

146 Chapter 8 China Among Equals: Song, Liao, Xia, and Jin (907–1279)

her next if Liu did not repent. When she too died, Liu went to the shrine to beg forgiveness.

The Song state claimed the power to approve and disapprove local shrines. Occasionally the court or- dered the destruction of illicit or excessive shrines, such as shrines whose divinities made extortionate demands on people. Much more common was the government’s bestowal of titles on local gods. Lo- cal supporters of shrines regularly petitioned the government to confer titles of king, duke, or lord on their gods because of the miracles the god had performed.

City God acted much like a government official in the human world, receiving and dispatching orders.

Sometimes educated men are portrayed by Hong Mai as skeptics. When Liu Zai (1166–1239) served in a low county post, we are told, he was the only official there to ignore a prominent local shrine. In fact, he raised his sleeve every time he went by in order to avoid having to look at the shrine. Before he had been there long, his wife’s younger brother died. Then his pregnant wife had an ominous dream: the enshrined god told her that he had taken her brother because of her husband’s impudence and would take

M A T E R I A L C U L T U R E

Huang Sheng’s Clothing

in 1242, at the age of fourteen or fifteen, Huang Sheng (hwang shuhng) married an imperial clans- man distantly related to the throne. Her father was a high-ranking official who had earlier served as su- perintendent of foreign trade in the major seaport of Quanzhou (chwan-joe), in Fujian (foo-jyan). Her hus- band’s grandfather had recently been administrator of the imperial clan in Quanzhou. Her father and her husband’s grandfather had become acquainted

when they both were studying with a disciple of zhu Xi.

The year after her marriage, Huang Sheng died, possibly in childbirth. Buried with her was a profu- sion of items that must have constituted her splen- did and costly dowry. in total there were 201 pieces of women’s clothing and 153 lengths of cloth, all finely made. Among the objects were several sets of shoes for bound feet. There were also long robes, jackets, vests, wraparound skirts, and various sorts of underwear. Patterned gauzes were very common, perhaps because of the warm climate of Fujian. From these items we can not only imagine how ele- gantly upper-class women dressed but also see how families passed property to their daughters.

Cu ltu

ra l R

el ic

s Pr

es s

Ph ot

o: P

at ric

ia E

br ey

Gauze Vest. The lightweight, transparent silk gauze of this vest has a woven-in decoration of peonies.

Floral Patterns. Many of Huang Sheng’s garments were trimmed with ribbons decorated with floral designs, four of which are illustrated here.

06475_ch08_rev04.indd 146 9/10/12 11:17 AM

Summary 147

and Doctrine of the Mean) proved especially influen- tial in later centuries. Men in the educated class did not confine their interests to philosophy, however. Many pursued cultivated interests in poetry, paint- ing, collecting antiquities, and even flowers.

The Northern Song came to an end in 1127 after the Jurchen invaded and took members of the court and imperial relatives into captivity. Yet the Song dynasty survived, despite the loss of more than a third of its ter- ritory. Its capital, Hangzhou, became just as splendid as the Northern Song capital Kaifeng had been.

Because there were more educated men in Song times, more books were written, and because of the spread of printing, a much greater share of them have survived to the present, making it possible to see dimensions of life poorly documented for earlier periods, such as the lives of women and the religious activities of commoners. People would visit temples to pray to the gods enshrined there, asking the gods to send them sons, cure their ailments, protect them when they travel, and help them in their careers. Women were just as involved in local religion as men were.

Overall, the China of the late thirteenth century was quite different from the China of the mid-tenth century. Its population had nearly doubled. More of the population lived in the south, which had become the undisputed economic center of China. China had become a more commercialized society, with a higher proportion of its farmers engaged in producing for the market. The scholar-official elite of the late Song was very different from the elite of the Five Dynasties or early Song. With the ex- pansion of education, the size of the educated class had grown much larger, and jinshi examinations had become a defining element in its culture. The Confucian revival was shifting the focus of literati learning from literature toward the Four Books and Zhu Xi’s commentaries on the classics. The Song Dynasty began with a powerful neighbor to the north, but over the course of the next three cen- turies, the balance of power continued to shift in favor of the north. Jin held more of China proper than Liao had, and the Mongols were a more for- midable foe in the mid-thirteenth century than the Jurchens had been in the mid-twelfth. The concept of the Mandate of Heaven—that heaven recogniz- es a single Son of Heaven ruling over the civilized world—was more and more difficult to sustain. During Song times more than one ruler called him- self “Son of Heaven.”

SUMMARY The Song period was one of cultural and economic advance but not geographical expansion. The Song was surrounded by relatively strong states that it could not dominate, including the Khitan state of Liao, the Tangut state of Xia, and later the Jurchen state of Jin and the Mongol state of Yuan. Treaties with Liao, Xia, and Jin made possible periods of relative peace in exchange for substantial payments of silver and silk from Song. The Mongols did not negotiate such an agreement but rather aimed at to- tal conquest of Song, bringing it to an end in 1279.

The loosening of the central government’s control of the economy in the late Tang period seems to have stimulated trade and economic growth. From the mid-Tang to 1100, China’s population doubled to 100 million, reflecting in part the spread of wet-field rice cultivation, especially in the south. At the same time, the economy became increasingly commercial- ized. There was a huge increase in the use of money, and paper money was introduced to meet demand. The iron industry expanded sharply, much of the output used for military purposes. Cities grew, and the economic center of China shifted from the north China plain to the south, the region drained by the Yangzi River. Merchants became more specialized, and foreign trade grew. Chinese porcelains were in particular demand in other countries and have been found all around the Indian Ocean.

In the Song period the booming economy and the invention of printing allowed a great expansion in the size of the scholar-official class, which came to dominate the government. The life of the educated class was strongly shaped by the civil service exami- nations, which most educated men spent a decade or more preparing for, often unsuccessfully. With the copying of exam papers and removal of the candi- date’s name, men without connections had a better chance to become officials than ever before. Serving in office, however, could involve one in unpleasant factional strife. In the Northern Song the main cleav- age was between the supporters and the opponents of the New Policies reform program started by Wang Anshi. The most important intellectual movement of the period was a vigorous revival of Confucian- ism. Key figures in this movement were the brothers Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi and two generations later Zhu Xi, the great synthesizer. His selection of the Four Books (Analects, Mencius, Greater Learning,

06475_ch08_rev04.indd 147 9/10/12 11:17 AM

148

C H A P T E R n i n E

Heian Japan (794–ca. 1180)

The Age of Kingly Rule (ca. 794–900)

Biography: Sugawara no Michizane

The Fujiwara Era (900–1050)

Material Culture: Writing Japanese

Documents: Sanbōe (The Three Jewels)

Rule by Retired Monarchs (1086–1180)

When the Kanmu emperor moved the court to Heian-kyō (“capital of peace and stability,” now called Kyoto) in 794, he modeled his city on the Chinese imperial layout just as the Nara rulers had. For the next century, the regime of codes continued to provide the framework for a bureaucratic-style government. Although the period from approxi- mately 900 to 1050 marks the climax of classical refinement during the golden age of the Fujiwara, rebellions in the provinces suggest that its benefits did not accrue to all. During both periods, political life at the capital remained largely free from violence. The final phase, from 1050 to 1180, saw retired monarchs wrest power from the Fujiwara while taking advantage of the private landholding system. Beginning in the 900s, an outpouring of literary texts ranged from royally commissioned poetry an- thologies to diaries, memoirs, and the novel The Tale of Genji. Buddhist thought governed how aristocrats saw the world; Buddhist institutions became a powerful political and economic force.

Scholars debate issues concerning the degree of central control, the extent to which Chinese civilization became absorbed, and the nature of relations between men and women. What changed in relations between state, periph- ery, and the continent? Why was this age so important for poetry and fiction by women? What kind of impact did the state have on commoners’ lives?

THE AgE oF Kingly RulE (ca. 794–900) Kanmu continued the bureaucratic and ceremonial practices that had been instituted while the court was at Nara. Just as men qualified by birth and talent climbed administrative ladders, commanders of imperial guards rose to become generals who led armies against the barbarian Emishi in the northeast. Kanmu relied on officials on the Board of Divination to interpret omens in line with Daoist teachings. Bedeviled by a factional dispute after his enthronement in 781, he ordered the era name changed to Enryaku (EHN-reya-ku) (prolonged succession) to ensure a long and prosperous reign. Despite assassinations, disease, and famine, the name stayed the same until his death. Codifying the annual round of ceremonies conducted by the Board of Divination began in 823, but the procedures had been in place for more than a century.

06475_ch09_rev04.indd 148 9/10/12 11:52 AM

The Age of Kingly Rule (ca. 794–900) 149

Despite maintaining the fascination with Chinese culture that had characterized the Nara period, Kanmu intended moving the capital to be a break with the past. Perhaps he wanted to free his admin- istration from political interference by Buddhist clergy whose temples encircled Nara. Although he forbade Nara clergy to follow him to Heian-kyō, the court continued to support them financially and send representatives to ceremonies. Kanmu tried to control what was to become the great temple com- plex of Enryakuji (EHN-reya-ku-g) that had opened on Mount Hiei (HE-eh-e) northeast of Heian-kyō in 785 by appointing its abbots and restricting monks to monasteries. Another reason for the move may have been political. Taking advantage of a tempo- rary decline in Fujiwara influence, Kanmu aban- doned what had become their stronghold. Finally there was the desire for a fresh start. Violent fac- tional and succession disputes had tainted Nara. If Kanmu was to launch a new initiative in righteous governance, he needed a fresh venue, one that divin- ers promised would be auspicious.

Kanmu retained the formal structure of govern- ment defined in the regime of codes, but he also by- passed it in the name of efficiency. Rather than rely on the large and unwieldy Council of State, he chose a small group of court councilors to advise him. To reduce expenses, he and his successors eliminated offices and reduced the number of officials. The Fujiwara having made a comeback, this left fewer positions for other lineages. In 792, Kanmu ended the Chinese-style system of conscripting common- ers for the provincial militia. Farmers made lousy fighting men; militia commanders had abused their power by ordering conscripts to labor on private projects; and depopulation caused by repeated fam- ines and epidemics threatened the manpower and tax base. Instead of conscripts, the court relied on hired warriors to resist piracy and push back the frontier. To guard the palace and prosecute crimes in the capital, the Office of Police assumed military and juridical responsibilities. In 894 the court ceased formal relations with China, although private trade and religious traffic continued.

The court gradually relinquished direct supervi- sion over the countryside. It set tax quotas by prov- ince and appointed inspectors to audit provincial accounts and prevent provincial governors from returning to the capital until all taxes had been paid. Appointed to four-year terms, the governors chose their own assistants, but they delegated tax collection

and administrative duties to local strongmen with registered lineages who staffed the district and coun- ty offices. By keeping the revenues collected beyond their quotas, the governors became tax farmers. Be- low the officials were the farmers, hardly an undif- ferentiated mass. The middlemen in collecting taxes, the “rich and powerful” (fugō, FU-go) who owned livestock and slaves to work large plots of land, also overcollected so as to keep a share for themselves. Most farmers barely scraped by on what they could squeeze from marginal plots and work for others. When harvests failed and provincial governors be- came too greedy, they abandoned their fields to try their luck elsewhere.

Commoners in the countryside managed their own affairs. At most, the Office of Police might at- tack an army of bandits that terrorized a community near Heian-kyō. To handle ordinary thieves, farmers defined crimes and meted out punishments. In their eyes, the worst crime was to steal their food sup- ply. Anyone caught doing that was killed. In eastern Japan, people supplemented agriculture with hunt- ing and fishing, woodcutting and charcoal burning, and horse breeding. They too punished theft of their livelihood with death. Farmers also devised trials to determine whether a suspect was telling the truth; placing the suspect’s hand in boiling water was a typ- ical ploy. Whereas the Heian court exiled criminals rather than go against Buddhist teachings forbidding the taking of life, farmers had no such scruples.

Taira no Masakado’s Rebellion

The rebellion by Taira no Masakado (TAH-e-rah no MAH-sah-kah-doe) from 935 to 940 in the Kanto (KAHN-toe) region of eastern Japan dramatizes the connection between court politics and local issues. Under the regime of codes, the ruler’s descendants not in the direct line to rule received family names and gradually fell in rank over six generations. Losing royal status allowed them to fill civilian or military positions in the state bureaucracy otherwise closed to them. Some chose the clerical route and became temple abbots. Because branches of the Fujiwara line monopolized the highest central offices, most royal offspring went to the provinces, where their exalted lineage gave them prestige unobtainable in Heian- kyō. Kanmu’s descendants took the name Taira. By the early tenth century, they and junior branches of powerful aristocratic lineages dominated provincial headquarters’ staffs as clients of the governors.

06475_ch09_rev04.indd 149 9/10/12 11:52 AM

150 Chapter 9 Heian Japan (794–ca. 1180)

with drinking, dancing, and musical entertainment but kept to a meager diet. Their mansions over- looked landscaped gardens and contained almost nothing by way of furniture except for armrests, bedding, and screens.

Aristocrats refined their understanding of classi- cal Chinese and took the literary arts in new direc- tions. The monarchy sponsored three anthologies of Chinese poetry. The monk Kūkai (KUU-kah-e), who had studied in China, and Sugawara no Michizane (SUE-gah-wah-rah no ME-che-zah-neh), the most outstanding scholar of Chinese learning before the seventeenth century, penned some of the best Chinese poetry ever produced by Japanese. For centuries to come, intellectuals in Japan would employ Chinese categories of thought in the Chinese language. By the end of the ninth century, Japanese scribes had suf- ficiently modified Chinese characters that they had developed a syllabary (kana, KAH-nah) in which to write Japanese poetry and prose. Such was the prestige of Chinese that men continued to use it for official documents and personal reflections. Being native to Japan and hence of less cultural value, the syllabary was largely, though not entirely, relegated to women.

Transformations in Religious Practice

In the early 800s, two monks, Kūkai and Saichō (SAH-e-cho), returned from China with texts and practices that transformed the teachings of the ear- lier Nara sects and entrenched Buddhism ever more firmly in Japan’s political, economic, and spiritual life. Kūkai’s visit to China from 804 to 806 led him to esoteric (secret) rites, symbols, and scriptures. Challenging what he saw as an overdependence on Confucianism in political ideology, he developed rituals and wrote texts to explain a philosophy of ideal leadership derived from the great cosmic Buddha Mahavairocana that was to be transmit- ted to the ruler through a secret initiation rite dur- ing enthronement ceremonies. In Kūkai’s vision of the world, the ruler ranked below priests and nuns in the political hierarchy. Kūkai built a retreat for the Shingon (SHEEN-gon) (True Word) School on Mount Kōya (CO-yah), far from Heian-kyō, where he and his disciples prayed for protection of the state and prosperity for the people in rites that invoked the mystical power of prayer. His headquarters at Tōji (TOE-g) in Heian-kyō put art to the service of religion. Rather than spend years studying sutras,

Masakado’s rebellion began as a quarrel with his uncle that expanded into an attack on provincial headquarters. The court also had to contend with another revolt closer to Heian-kyō when Fujiwara no Sumitomo (SUE-me-toe-moe) (?–941), a former official in Iyo (E-yo) province on Shikoku and the leader of a pirate band, began attacking granaries and administrative offices. By deputizing rivals of these rebels to fight in its name, the court got both suppressed. Following his death, Masakado became a hero to the farmers in the Kanto because he had sided with them against the provincial governor’s staff. (His uncle had been vice governor.) They erect- ed a shrine to his spirit in what later became Tokyo where people still pray today.

Masakado’s attack on his uncle and other relatives illustrates the rivalry that divided kin and under- mined the state adapted from Tang models. Because relatives had the same ancestor, they vied for the same slots in the social and administrative hierarchy. Rival branches challenged the chieftain’s authority to control the lineage’s temples and shrines, schools for the lineage’s youth, and appointments for lineage members at court. Like the Fujiwara, the Taira grew too unwieldy to function as an effective power bloc. Instead, the heads of houses (ie, E-eh), defined by residence locations, competed among themselves for court honors and position regardless of who hap- pened to be the chieftain. In eastern Japan, the con- nection between the ie and location was especially strong. There, family compounds (yashiki, YAH-she- key) tended to be dispersed. Each contained many members because, in the frontier setting, there was a chronic labor shortage. According to the conven- tion of the time, when Masakado married his uncle’s daughter, he should have gone to live in his uncle’s compound and work for him. When Masakado re- fused, he challenged his uncle’s dominance in the lineage and threatened his economic base. This type of kin-based struggle over hierarchy and dominance, far removed from the court and the treachery, arson, and pitched battles that resulted, mark the beginning of a new stage in Japan’s history of violence.

Early Heian Culture

Both luxury and privation characterized the Heian court. Aristocrats wore layer upon layer of beautifully dyed silks and Chinese brocades, especially in winter because they had but primitive heating systems. They hosted elaborate banquets

06475_ch09_rev04.indd 150 9/10/12 11:52 AM

The Age of Kingly Rule (ca. 794–900) 151

assimilation to Buddhas. Daughters and sisters of rulers continued to serve as high priestesses at the family’s Ise shrine. Geographic, not doctrinal, boundaries separated institutions and beliefs. Bud- dhist and Shinto gods brought prosperity; they also brought misfortune. In the ninth century, most peo- ple believed that powerful spirits caused disease and epidemics. Goryō (GO-reyo), either a cosmic force or the spirit of an aristocrat who had died unjustly, required cults to be appeased. The most famous cult started at the Gion (GEY-o-n) temple-shrine com- plex in 876. It climaxed in a midsummer festival performed when epidemics ran rampant. Angry spir- its (onryō, OHN-reyo) resulted from an excess of strong emotion, usually after a well-born person had died unhappy. The conjunction of such a death with epidemics, earthquakes, and drought led the living to believe that the dead person’s passion prevented his rebirth by trapping him in limbo. Pacifying his spirit required exorcism performed by mountain as- cetics, whose knowledge of the realms of the dead and experience with hell gave them powers unavail- able to ordinary monks. The prayers of priests and ordinary people also helped transform angry spirits into guardian gods. Onryō cults culminated with Sugawara no Michizane in 947. (See Biography: Sugawara no Michizane.)

aristocrats might find enlightenment by fixating on the mandala (a stylized representation of Buddhist teachings) and achieve Buddhahood in their own bodies without having to die first.

Saichō is often contrasted with Kūkai, but they shared an interest in esoteric teachings and prac- tice. Saichō performed the first officially sanctioned esoteric initiation rite in Japan because he believed it to be the fastest route to attain Buddhahood. He launched the Tendai (TEHN-dah-e) school of Buddhism, which draws from diverse teachings, and made the temple complex of Enryakuji on Mount Hiei its headquarters. From 804 to 805, he stud- ied four schools of Buddhism in China, including Zen (Chan in Chinese; Son in Korean), and brought them back to Japan along with the Tendai sect’s central text, the Lotus Sutra (see the sections on Buddhism in Chapters 5 and 6 for more on these schools). One of the most important Buddhist sutras, it contains stories and parables to explain Buddhism to the uninitiated. It teaches that all Bud- dhist texts have merit because many are the ways that lead to enlightenment and it promises that un- der extraordinary circumstances even women may attain Buddhahood.

The court’s fascination with new Buddhist sects neither displaced the native gods nor stopped their

Gion Festival. By 1013 the Gion festival procession featured dancers, mounted musicians, and decorated floats pulled by oxen or carried by men.

Co ur

te sy

, T an

ak a

Sh ig

er u

06475_ch09_rev04.indd 151 9/10/12 11:52 AM

152 Chapter 9 Heian Japan (794–ca. 1180)

Sugawara no MichizaneB I O G R A P H Y Scholar and bureaucrat, Sugawara no Michizane (845–903) rose unsuitably high for a man of his modest birth, but he owes his fame to deeds done after he died.

A child prodigy, Michizane wrote his first poem in Chinese at age ten. in 867 he began his career at the junior sixth rank and assisted in the reception of emissaries from Balhae, located north- west of the Korean peninsula. When

offered the post of ambassador to China, he recom- mended that missions to the Tang court be halted. As a bureaucrat, he served a term as a provincial governor. As a scholar, he helped compile two his- tories of Japan and taught at the family school and court university.

Michizane’s reputation for scholarship and astute advice brought him to the attention of the monarch uda (u-dah), who ascended the throne in 887. Through uda’s patronage, Mich- izane rose far beyond the rank normally permitted a man from a scholarly family. in 893 he became a court councilor. in 895 his daughter became one of uda’s consorts. Two years later, when uda de- cided to abdicate and rule through his son Daigo (DAH-e-go), he had Michizane and the head of the Fujiwara lineage, Tokihira (ToE-key-he-rah), share the highest positions in government. When uda’s son Tokiyo (ToE-key-yo) came of age in 898, he married yet another of Michizane’s daughters, giv- ing Michizane the marital relations with the royal family customarily enjoyed by the Fujiwara. in 899, Michizane became Minister of the Right. Promo- tion to junior second rank soon followed. These promotions marked him as the retired monarch’s favorite, whom everyone else despised. in 901

Tokihira found a man to accuse Michizane of plot- ting with uda to force Daigo to abdicate and place Prince Tokiyo on the throne. Daigo promptly exiled Michizane and made Tokiyo a monk. Michizane died in exile of grief, it was said, at having to leave his beloved plum trees and his cultivated friends for the wilds of Kyushu.

When men who had plotted Michizane’s fall died in following years, people whispered that his angry spirit was responsible. Tokihira died mysteriously in 909. in 923 the crown prince, Tokihira’s nephew, died. To appease Michizane’s spirit, the charges against him were burned, the decree of exile was revoked, and he was restored to his previous court rank. in 930 a lightning bolt killed the man who had accused him of treason. Fearing that heaven had turned against him, Daigo died. Speaking through shamans, Michizane demanded that a shrine be built to transform him from a vengeful spirit to the protector of the nation. in 947 he and his literary works were enshrined at the Kitano (KEy-tah-no) shrine-temple complex north of Heian-kyō. Forty years later, he officially became a god when the ruler bestowed on him the title of Tenjin (TEHn-g-n) (heavenly deity). over the centuries, he became identified as the god of literature. Today children pray to him for help in passing their school entrance examinations.

Questions for Analysis 1. Why was Michizane able to rise so high? 2. Why has Michizane become famous?

Source: Based on Robert Borgen, Sugawara no Michizane and the Early Heian Court (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1985).

THE FuJiWARA ERA (900–1050) The heyday for the Fujiwara lineage came between approximately 900 and 1050, idealized retrospective- ly as a peaceful golden age of court culture. During these years, a small number of aristocratic women and men produced what are universally deemed to be literary classics, a feat accomplished despite a lack of growth in either population or the economy.

A population of perhaps 5 million in 700 grew by only five hundred thousand by 900, and it took an- other three centuries for it to reach at most 7 million in 1200. The lack of economic growth meant compe- tition for scarce resources by ruler, aristocrats, and temples and a miserable existence for commoners.

The Fujiwara helped hollow out the institutions created by the regime of codes. Approximately twenty thousand men and women comprised the aristocracy, and by 900 they formed three separate groups in a

06475_ch09_rev04.indd 152 9/10/12 11:52 AM

The Fujiwara Era (900–1050) 153

the ancient pattern of visiting a wife in her father’s household when the father was of higher rank and could serve as his patron. Because no one outranked the ruler, his women lived with him at court and re- turned to their parents’ families to give birth. Aris- tocratic women could inherit property from their parents, and remaining childless did not constitute grounds for divorce. A man might have additional wives of nondescript background who lived with him and managed his household. A man and woman might also consider themselves to be husband and wife even if she lived alone and he visited her only on occasion. A fourth, less common practice was for the wife to move into her husband’s parental household.

The Fujiwara used their mastery of marriage poli- tics, their skill at faction building, and their illustrious lineage to dominate ruler and court. During the peak of their influence, between 967 and 1068, eight rul- ers occupied the throne for average reigns of thirteen years. Politically, each functioned primarily as a spouse for Fujiwara women. As soon as a Fujiwara consort with a powerful father or brother bore a son, the child was appointed crown prince. When he reached pu- berty, he received Fujiwara women as consorts. Once he had proven capable of siring sons, his father would be encouraged to abdicate, shave his head, and seek enlightenment. The average ruler ascended the throne at age eighteen and abdicated at age thirty-one. Some took the throne as toddlers and abdicated as teenagers. An underage ruler needed a regent to advise him, and who better than his maternal grandfather in whose house he had been born and raised? Even adult rulers needed regents to make policy decisions; they too were either Fujiwara grandfathers or fathers-in-law accord- ing to the precedent established in 884. Fujiwara no Michinaga (ME-che-nah-gah) made himself grandfa- ther to two rulers and father-in-law to three. His son served as regent for three. The original Fujiwara lin- eage had already split into four branch houses when the court moved to Heian-kyō. In Michinaga’s day, all but his house, the northern branch, disappeared in power struggles. By the middle of the eleventh cen- tury, Michinaga’s descendants monopolized the posi- tions of regent. They later split into five sublineages that competed for political power and forced the few remaining non-Fujiwara houses from court.

Even during their days of greatest glory, the Fujiwara always had to be on guard lest a non- Fujiwara woman bear the ruler a son. Women too re- ceived court rank, and the ruler’s officially designated wife enjoyed a status far above that of concubines.

nine-rank system. The highest three ranks had great wealth derived from office lands and private estates, the prestige of the Fujiwara lineage, and the power to set policy. Approximately twenty houses qualified. Ranks four and five consisted of provincial gover- nors and junior officials, who with the right family background might advance to higher ranks. People in ranks six through nine possessed specialized skills in scholarship, astronomy, medicine, and law. They had no hope of advancement, and everyone knew they were inferior. In 1030, for example, they were forbid- den to roof their dwellings with cedar-bark shingles or to surround them with earthen walls. Because life at court came to center on performing a yearly round of ceremonies, the task of everyday administration devolved to household officials.

High-ranked houses required large staffs to manage their economic, social, and legal affairs. Staff members who served the house as private officials received ap- pointments from the ruler at the request of the house they served. These appointments came with the court rank for which their recipients were qualified by birth, normally the fourth through the sixth ranks. Even royal offspring who had become military men in the provinces and former provincial governors might serve in a Fujiwara household, and they too requested appointments for their servants. Household personnel granted fictive kin ties participated in family ceremo- nies along with family members. They accompanied their patrons on outings to the family temples and shrines, to the palace, and on visits to other aristocrats. They served as messengers, prepared documents, and supervised bringing in supplies. Reward came as pro- tection in disputes and their patron’s recommendation for promotion in the court bureaucracy.

The state soon lost control over the extensive net- works of patron–client relationships. Each aristo- cratic house had numerous helpers, military men as well as personal servants, all of whom were clients in that they worked for the house in the expectation that they would receive a benefit from the state. Even admission to an aristocratic house as a toilet cleaner freed a man and his family from conscript labor de- manded by the state. Clientage tended to become he- reditary and to continue for generations.

Marriage and Politics

Marriage bonds reinforced patron–client relations and integrated different levels of society. Because familial ties helped a man succeed, he continued

06475_ch09_rev04.indd 153 9/10/12 11:52 AM

154 Chapter 9 Heian Japan (794–ca. 1180)

Kagerō nikki (KAH-ge-row KNEE-kkey), a poetic memoir of her unhappy twenty-year marriage to a high-ranking court official who seldom visited her. Izumi Shikibu Diary (I-zu-me SHE-key-bu) is an- other memoir by a low-ranking court woman (also in Shōshi’s service) who married a man of her own sta- tion, had affairs with two princes, and wrote poetry famous for its passion. A Tale of Flowering Fortunes, composed during the 1030s by Akazome Emon (AH-kah-zo-neh EH-moan), Japan’s first vernacular historian, begins in 887 and concludes with a trium- phal biography of Michinaga. A daughter of Suga- wara no Takasue (TAH-kah-sue-eh) wrote Hama- matsu Chūnagon monogatari (HAH-mah-mah-tzu CHEW-nah-gon MOE-no-gah-tah-re) (A Tale of Hamamatsu Chūnagon) around 1070, which tells of Chūnagon who goes to China, falls in love, and re- turns. She also wrote Sarashina nikki (SAH-rah- she- nah), an autobiography notable for her recollections of her childhood with her father, who left eastern Japan to try his luck at court. Steeped in the aesthet- ic sensibility of their day, these women wrote in the Japanese syllabary. (See Material Culture: Writing Japanese.) Summed up in the phrase mono no aware (MOE-no no AH-wah-reh) (beauty, evanescence, and pathos), this sensibility derived from the Buddhist view that the material world is transitory.

Men, too, wrote in Japanese. The poet and aspir- ing bureaucrat Ki no Tsurayuki (KEY no TZU-rah- you-key) edited the first of the royally commissioned Japanese poetry collections, the Kokinshū (CO-keen- shoe) (Collection of the Past and Present), in 905. Female and male poets contributed approximately eleven hundred poems to this anthology, famous for its polished, elegant, intellectual tone. “The seeds of Japa- nese poetry lie in the human heart,” Tsurayuki claimed, and poetry “moves heaven and earth.”‡ He also wrote Tosa nikki (TOE-sah), an account of a two-month trip to the capital across the Inland Sea by the provincial governor and his retinue. In his Preface he pretended to be a woman so as to justify his use of the syllabary and enhance the pathos of having lost a child while away. Other men wrote anonymously in Japanese, compiling a history, Ōkagami (OOH-kah-gah-me) (Great Mir- ror), to supplement and correct Akazome’s portrait of Michinaga; the first military tales; a poetic tale titled Tale of Ise; and collections of anecdotes and observa- tions. Along with women, they also painted folding

‡Laurel Rasplica Rodd with Mary Catherine Henkenius, trans., Kokinshū : A Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1984), p. 35.

Fujiwara women in the houses of high-ranking Fu- jiwara men started with significant advantages, but to maintain their position over the generations re- quired policing the boundaries to elite status. For the monarch, only a wife of the Fujiwara or royal lineage would do; for the Fujiwara, only a wife from another Fujiwara branch or the ruling family sufficed. Similar to practices in Silla Korea, monarchs and Fujiwara men married aunts, nieces, and first cousins while continuing to father children with concubines and serving women lest their official wives prove barren.

The Heyday of Aristocratic Culture

The surge of female literary triumphs during the Fujiwara era is inseparable from political intrigue. When Fujiwara no Michinaga made his daughter Shōshi (SHOW-she) the monarch Ichijō’s (I-che-joe) wife in 999, he selected a bevy of educated and en- gaging women to help her compete for Ichijō’s atten- tion against his niece, the daughter of his rival and elder brother who was already Ichijō’s official wife. In her retinue was Sei Shonagon (SEH-e SHOW-nah- go-n), famous for her brilliant wit and the author of The Pillow Book, a collection of essays on taste. “A preacher ought to be good-looking. For, if we are properly to understand his worthy sentiments, we must keep our eyes on him while he speaks.” “A good lover will behave as elegantly at dawn as at any other time.”* A consummate snob, Sei Shona- gon hardly considered commoners to be the same species as herself. “Good people,” by contrast, had impeccable lineage, taste, and spiritual virtue. Her contemporary Murasaki Shikibu (MU-rah-sah-key SHE-key-bu), who served in Shōshi’s retinue, chided Sei Shonagon: “She thought herself so clever, and littered her writings with Chinese characters, but if you examined them closely, they left a great deal to be desired.”† In addition to poetry and a diary, Murasaki Shikibu wrote Tale of Genji (GEHN-g), a novel of court intrigue, life, and manners about a royal offspring who exemplifies masculine perfec- tion in physical appearance and behavior.

The tenth and eleventh centuries marked the pinnacle of classical women’s literature. In the 970s, a woman known to us only as the mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna (ME-che-tzu-nah) wrote

*Ivan Morris, trans., The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon (New York: Columbia University Press, 1967), 1:29, 33. †Robert Bowring, trans. and ed., Murasaki Shikibu: Her Diary and Poetic Memoirs (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1982), p. 131.

06475_ch09_rev04.indd 154 9/10/12 11:52 AM

The Fujiwara Era (900–1050) 155

M A T E R I A L C U L T U R E

Writing Japanese

When the Japanese first learned to read and write, they did so in Chinese, the only writing system avail- able to them. Chinese is a tonal, monosyllabic lan- guage whereas Japanese is polysyllabic with a dif- ferent grammatical structure. Fortunately for the Japanese, the Chinese had already created a system for reproducing the sound of foreign words, primar- ily Buddhist terms, by using characters for their pho- netic value alone. The author of Kojiki adopted this method for the names of places, gods, and people. The editor of Man’yōshū also used characters for their phonetic value—twenty-nine of them for the sound shi (she) alone. Thanks to the regularity of the poetic meter, it is usually clear when the editor expected characters to be sounded using their Japa- nese pronunciation—uma (u-mah) (horse) instead of ma (mah), for example.

The introduction of calligraphy spurred the de- velopment of the Japanese syllabary. The so-called grass style brought from China by Kūkai became a favorite of poets. it allowed writers to stream- line commonly used characters; by the eleventh century, these streamlined characters were being used for their sound alone, although each syllable could be written in a number of ways. Called kana (KAH-nah) (borrowed names), the syllables con- tinue to be used for grammatical markers and to soften the appearance of a text by writing out what might also be expressed in visually dense Chinese characters.

Two forms of the syllabary appeared. Katakana (KAH-tah-kah-nah), angular kana, developed from pieces of characters. it was used to transcribe prayers and indicate the Japanese reading of Chinese texts. Hiragana (HE-rah-gah-nah) has a smooth, round look. Known also as the woman’s hand, it was used for poetry, essays, novels, and diaries. To show off

the elegance of their hand, men and women wrote in a cursive style that flowed down the page. The aim was to combine calligraphy, text, and paper into a harmonious and attractive whole.

Preface to Kokinshū . Kokinshū was the first poetry anthology commissioned by the monarch in 905. Except for the title, the text is written in the cursive syllabary with calligraphy by Ki no Tsurayuki.

screens, wall panels, and handscrolls in what is known as Yamato-e, Japanese art. (See Color Plate 14.)

Men such as Ki no Tsurayuki wrote in both Japanese and Chinese, but until recently, modern scholars of Japan’s national literature have slighted writings in Chinese and the activities they portrayed. Tale of Genji shows men with women or perform- ing music, dance, and kickball at which women were spectators. But courtiers had another life apart from women. They practiced the martial arts of archery,

hawking, and horseback riding. They compiled an- thologies of Chinese poetry, copied examinations held in Chinese, made vows to the Buddha in Chinese, and wrote edicts, wills, petitions, and litigation set- tlements in Chinese. Michinaga’s diary records his activities to serve as precedents for his descendants. Like other male officials, he spent three-fourths of his time performing the annual cycle of ceremonies designed to instill awe in subordinates and common- ers while coaxing supernatural powers to work on

To ky

o N

at io

na l M

us eu

m /D

N Pa

rt co

06475_ch09_rev04.indd 155 9/10/12 11:52 AM

156 Chapter 9 Heian Japan (794–ca. 1180)

D O C U M E N T S

A Woman of Yamato Province There was a woman who lived in the village of yamamura in Sōkami District in yamato Prov- ince. Her name is unknown. This woman had a daughter who married and had two children. Her husband was appointed governor of an- other province. He took his wife and children with him and had been living in that province for two years when his wife’s mother, back home in their native village, had an inauspi- cious dream about her daughter. When she awoke, she was full of dread and grief. She wanted to sponsor readings of the sutras, but she was poor and had no property. She took off her own clothes and washed and purified them and gave them as a fee for the readings.

Her daughter lived in the governor’s man- sion with her husband. Her two children, who had been playing out in the courtyard, called inside to her: “There are seven monks on our roof, chanting sutras! Come out quickly and see!” indeed, when she listened for sounds from the roof, she could hear voices chanting, just like a crowd of droning bees. incredulous, she went out into the yard to have a look. in

the next instant, the house collapsed. Just as suddenly, the seven monks had disappeared. in fright and alarm, she thought to herself: “Heaven has come to my aid and kept me from being crushed to death beneath the fall- ing house!”

later her mother sent a courier who report- ed the inauspicious dream and how she had sponsored the sutra readings. Hearing this, her daughter’s reverence for the Three Jew- els (the Buddha, his teachings, and the clergy) was many times increased.

Thus it was known: the power generated by the chanting of the sutras brought her the protection of the Three Jewels.

A Miner of Mimasaka Province in Agata District in Mimasaka Province there was a mine from which the government took ore. in the reign of Empress Kōken (749–758) the governor of the province ordered ten men to go up to the mine and bring out some of the ore. While they were inside, the entrance sud- denly crumbled and collapsed. The men were frightened, and they scrambled out. nine of

Sponsored by Princess Sonshi (SEWN-she) and written by Minamoto Tamenori (ME-nah-moe-toe), Sanbōe (SAHN-bow-eh) was the first Buddhist instruction book written in Japan. The first volume explains the essential nature of the Buddha, the second contains biographies of Buddhist monks, and the third describes the monthly round of Buddhist services

Sanbō e (The Three Jewels)

the court’s behalf. He also fulfilled the duties as- sociated with his position in the bureaucracy. Both ceremony and administration required knowledge of Chinese, from which women were excluded by virtue of their sex. In contrast to prehistoric rituals in which men and women participated together, the Heian court differentiated between a man’s world and a woman’s. Because men could cross back and forth, whereas women could not, gender asymmetry characterized social relations and language.

For women in the middle to lower ranks of the ar- istocracy, an education in the arts and letters helped them advance at court without ensuring their future.

Despite having written great works of literature, Sei Shonagon, Murasaki Shikibu, and Akazome Emon ended their lives in obscurity and probable poverty. Female attendants thronged the court and the man- sions of the Fujiwara. When their patron died, they might, if they were lucky, be given a small stipend and be paid to recite Buddhist prayers for their mas- ter’s or mistress’s salvation. Otherwise they might join a group of nuns who owned no property.

In the tenth century, female entertainers called players (asobi, AH-sew-be), who lived outside the court but made themselves available for casual affairs, posed a new threat to court women’s

06475_ch09_rev04.indd 156 9/10/12 11:52 AM

The Fujiwara Era (900–1050) 157

them managed to escape, but just as the tenth and last man was about to come out, the en- trance caved in and was completely closed.

The governor of the province was terri- bly upset, and the man’s wife and children grieved. images of the Buddha were paint- ed, sutras were copied, and a forty-nine-day period of memorial rites was observed.

The man inside the mine made a vow: “long ago i planned to offer a copy of the Lotus Sutra, but i have not copied or present- ed it. if am saved, i swear that i will complete the project without delay.”

Just then a crack about as wide as his finger opened between the rocks, and a tiny beam of sunlight shone through. A monk appeared and passed through the crack, gave him some food and said: “This was given to me by your wife and children. i have come to you because you are suffering.” Then he disappeared through the crack.

Scarcely a moment after his departure, a crack opened immediately over the miner’s head, through which he could see the sky. This opening was more than three feet wide and about five feet long.

Just then, thirty villagers had come to the mountain to cut vines. They happened to pass close to this opening. The man inside heard them draw near and shouted, “Help!” The vil- lagers heard him, though his voice seemed no louder than a mosquito’s buzz. But the sound made them curious, so they tied a vine to a

rock and lowered the end down through the opening, and the man inside pulled on it. Then they knew there was a man inside, so they tied vines together and made a basket, and they twisted more vines together to make a rope and lowered them through the opening. The man inside got into the basket, and the men above pulled him out.

They took him to his parents’ house, and when his family saw him, there was no limit to their joy. The governor of the province was amazed, and when he made inquiry, the miner told him all about it. The miner, full of respect and awe, gathered together all the faithful of the province, and following his lead, they all contributed to the preparation of a copy of the Lotus Sutra and a grand offertory service.

He survived that which is difficult to survive. This was made possible through the power of his faith in the Lotus Sutra.

Questions for Analysis 1. How do the stories presented here try to get their

readers to believe in the Buddha and Buddhist teachings?

2. What is their message? 3. What kind of people are they talking about?

monopoly over the male courtiers’ attentions. They specialized in amusing travelers along the river and providing song and dance entertainment at ban- quets. A few asobi came from declining aristocratic families and possessed as much education and refine- ment as any court lady. Some became the consorts of courtiers or even monarchs. The gifts of rice and cloth they received for sexual favors differed only in scale from those received by women who enjoyed longer liaisons with a man, suggesting a continuum of male–female relationships from lifelong to a single evening. Asobi who marketed their skills as enter- tainers and sex partners became well established in

the eleventh century. By the twelfth, asobi had been joined by shirabyōshi (SHE-rah-beyo-she) (Masters of the White Clappers) who sang popular songs, danced in male clothing, and brandished swords. They too attracted the patronage of high officials and a retired monarch.

Buddhism and the Fujiwara

During the degenerate last days of the Buddhist law (mappō, MAH-ppoe), said to begin in 1052, people had fallen so far from the true teachings of the Buddha that only reliance on the power of a

06475_ch09_rev04.indd 157 9/10/12 11:52 AM

158 Chapter 9 Heian Japan (794–ca. 1180)

and omens. Brushing teeth, washing hands, combing hair, and cutting fingernails and toenails had a ritual dimension that tied them to the wor- ship of gods and Buddhas and protected the doer from evil. Some doctrines preached that god and Buddha existed as one body, others that gods mani- fested the essence of the Buddha. In the tenth centu- ry, a doctrine developed that whereas the Buddhas truly existed, gods did not; what appeared to be a god was in reality the manifestation of a Buddha in god-like form. This combination of Buddhism and native belief infused the morally uplifting tales told to commoners, who learned that personal respon- sibility for their actions had to take into account the desires of the gods and the compassion of the Buddha. The search for salvation and help in cop- ing with disease and famine required pilgrimages to numerous temples and shrines in the hope that one might prove beneficial.

Men enjoyed a more diverse range of religious practices than did women. The Enryakuji monastery and the rituals it performed on behalf of the court were closed to women. Monks ordained men; they also ordained women and supervised the nunneries to ensure that nuns obeyed the precepts. Being prone to sin and to arousing sinful thoughts in men, women suffered greater obstacles to achieving Buddhahood. In The Three Jewels, compiled in 984 to instruct Princess Sonshi (?–985), the scholar-bureaucrat who was its author set forth the teachings that promised to help her overcome these obstacles and described services held on Mount Hiei that she would never be allowed to see. (See Documents: Sanbōe [The Three Jewels].)

RulE By RETiRED MonARCHS (1086–1180) The last days of the Buddhist law coincided with political turmoil. In 1068 the Fujiwara regent proved powerless to prevent GoSanjō (GO-sahn- joe), whose mother was not Fujiwara and who was already a mature adult, from grabbing the throne. His chief advisers came from the Murakami Genji (MU-rah-kah-me GEHN-g) (the character for Gen can also be read as Minamoto) (ME-nah-moe-toe) line of royal offspring, and his youngest sons were born to Minamoto mothers. His son Shirakawa

Buddha or bodhisattva could save them from hell. According to the Mahayana tradition, the merci- ful and compassionate Amida (AH-me-dah) had vowed to take every person who believed in him to the Pure Land of the Western Paradise at death. There they would become Buddhas and continue to enjoy their accustomed luxuries in a spiritual realm. Michinaga built an Amida Hall in 1020. For five days he recited from 110,000 to 170,000 invo- cations to Amida per day. He died clutching a silk cord attached to nine statues of Amida who were to pull him to the Pure Land. In 1053 the Fujiwara regent built a graceful building called the Hōōdō (HOE-oh-doe) (Phoenix Hall) at his retirement villa for the worship of Amida. At this and the ninety- five other Amida halls built before 1192, monks dressed as the Buddha and, wearing golden masks, ceremoniously welcomed high-ranking patrons to Amida’s paradise.

Likewise popular in China and Korea, the Amida cult spread widely in the tenth to eleventh centuries. Scriptures describing the Pure Land in the West- ern Paradise had entered Japan during the Nara period, and monks on Mount Hiei had introduced the practice of chanting Amida’s name in the ninth century. By 970, monks who had once spent twelve years studying the entire corpus of Tendai teachings spent ninety days in meditation during which they concentrated their thoughts on Amida, invoked his name, and walked around his statue. Holy men who shunned monasteries brought the promise of salva- tion through faith in Amida to the common people along with simple esoteric rites and devotion to the Lotus Sutra in one eclectic package. Kūya (KU-yah) (903–972) spent his youth in the mountains, where he starved himself and meditated to eliminate bodily desires. He ordained himself and then walked all over Japan chanting the name of Amida with sutras and holy images carried on his back. He reached out to people through good works—building roads, bury- ing corpses, and digging wells—because he believed that Buddhism had to be made available to everyone in terms they could understand. His message and that of other holy men appealed to people who had to break the Buddhist precepts against the taking of life—warriors, farmers, hunters, and fishermen.

Various Buddhist practices coexisted with other teachings and beliefs. Aristocrats chanted Buddha’s name, invoked the gods, and followed Daoist directions regarding auspicious days, directions,

06475_ch09_rev04.indd 158 9/10/12 11:52 AM

Rule by Retired Monarchs (1086–1180) 159

su-gah) shrine under its control. The monks from Mount Hiei aired their grievances by carrying por- table shrines through city streets, taking advantage of the popular belief that any damage done to the shrines or to the monks who carried them would incur the wrath of the gods. An ongoing dispute between rival Tendai sects at Enryakuji and nearby Onjōji (OWN-joe-g) that began in 980 erupted into violence in 1039 when, furious at an ecclesiastical appointment that favored Onjōji, the Enryakuji monks set the regent’s residence on fire. In 1075, they fought Onjōji’s request for an ordination plat- form. In 1081, they burned the Onjōji temple com- plex, an act repeated in 1121, 1140, and 1163. These incidents and many others marked the militarization of the clergy. Although abbots and their disciples continued to accept the precepts that forbade monks to carry weapons or take life, they allowed low- ranking and minimally educated monks to fight for them and summoned soldiers from temple estates to attack their enemies.

(SHE-rah-kah-wah) extended his authority by manipulating personnel practices in the bureau- cracy to promote his supporters. Officials entrusted with provincial administration and tax collection on behalf of provincial governors paid Shirakawa kickbacks. Boys in their teens received appointment in provincial offices, and three or four members of one family served simultaneously. None ventured to the provinces; they too deputized tax collection. In 1086, Shirakawa abdicated in favor of his son and became the dominant power at court. This initiated the rule by retired monarchs that added another institutional layer to the system already de- veloped under the regime of codes and manipulated by the Fujiwara.

The retired monarchs had even more trouble than the Fujiwara in dealing with lawlessness. For years, the local strongman Taira no Tadatsune (TAH-dah-tzu-neh) refused to pay taxes and at- tacked provincial offices in eastern Japan. When the court delegated a cousin and rival to subdue him, both sides engaged in scorched-earth tactics that left less than 1 percent of the arable land in Tadatsune’s home province under cultivation. His revolt of 1031 preceded three major conflicts between 1051 and 1135: two wars in the northeast and piracy on the In- land Sea. In 1051, the court appointed Minamoto no Yoriyoshi (YO-re-yo-she) to tackle the Abe (AH-beh) family, tax evaders and chiefs of the Emishi. It took Yoriyoshi twelve years to subdue them.

The next war, from 1083 to 1087, erupted when Yoriyoshi’s son got drawn into an inheritance dis- pute involving his erstwhile allies, the Kiyowara (KEY-yo-wah-rah) family, also Emishi. Closer to Heian-kyō on the Inland Sea, provincial soldiers sent after pirates were often pirates themselves. In 1129 and again in 1135, the court dispatched Taira no Tadamori (TAH-dah-moe-re) to suppress them. Royal offspring figured in all of these incidents, des- ignated either lawbreakers or court-appointed com- manders, and sometimes both (though not at the same time).

The court also had to deal with unruly monks who wielded sacred symbols to gain political de- mands. Warrior monks from Tōdaiji launched the first confrontation when they marched on Heian-kyō in 949. The Fujiwara temple of Kōfukuji (CO-fu-ku-g) repeatedly terrorized the Fujiwara by dispatching monks armed with branches from the sacred sakaki (SAH-kah-key) tree prepared by the Kasuga (KAH-

To ky

o N

at io

na l M

us eu

m /D

N Pa

rt co

Warrior Monks. Little distinguished warrior monks from ordinary warriors except the monks’ weapon of choice—the halberd carried here by the monk on the right. Note the lack of footwear, a testimony to their low status.

06475_ch09_rev04.indd 159 9/10/12 11:52 AM

160 Chapter 9 Heian Japan (794–ca. 1180)

collected taxes on it, kept a portion for themselves and their staffs, and sent the rest to Heian-kyō.

Tax-exempt estates had political, social, and economic functions. In place of a unified bureaucrat- ic framework, multiple quasi-independent centers of power—temples, high-ranking aristocrats, the re- tired monarchs, and the monarch—had the author- ity to levy taxes, conduct censuses, and police the inhabitants on their estates. Local strongmen who had amassed taxed holdings through clearance, pur- chase, or extortion in the tenth century petitioned the court for tax immunity through an aristocratic sponsor, who became the formal proprietor and re- ceived a share of the produce. That aristocrat in turn sought protection from temples or higher-ranking families. The local strongman remained in charge of the estate as its manager. This process of com- mendation from lower to higher levels increased the number and size of estates and complicated the levels of proprietorship without increasing the amount of land under cultivation. Each estate encompassed a broad territory divided into a welter of not neces- sarily adjacent smallholdings of cultivated wet and dry fields, fallow fields, mountains, forests, swamps, huts for the farmers, and a residence-office block for the manager. The offices (shiki, SHE-key) for every- one from named farmers to the resident manager and his guards to the urban-based legal proprietor and protector all came with rights to income in re- turn for fulfilling their documented responsibilities toward the estate. This income included food, cloth- ing, and items of daily use. By the late Heian period, shiki became less associated with the duties of of- fice than with income from and authority over estate residents.

SuMMARy Although the Heian state tried to extend its control over the three islands of Honshu, Shikoku, and Ky- ushu, it focused more on collecting revenue than on providing services such as protection from bandits. When provincial governors avoided visiting the re- gion they were supposed to govern, they left a power vacuum readily filled by local strongmen. At court, rulers fell under the sway of the Fujiwara family; they had to appease temples; they even had to de- fer to their fathers, the retired monarchs. Yet despite competition, the royal line continued, maintaining

The Estate System

The wars and political turmoil of the eleventh cen- tury led to a set of decrees by the monarch GoSanjō to regulate tax-exempt estates (shōen, SHOW-ehn). Starting in 743, the court had decreed that temples and aristocrats who sponsored land reclamation projects would be allowed to hold the land in per- petuity, albeit subject to taxation. All other land belonged to the state. In this agrarian society, offi- cials and holders of court rank received salaries in the form of rights to income from specific fields. The same was provided for temple upkeep. In theory, these fields changed when rank or office changed, but as offices became hereditary, land assignments tended to be seen not as the temporary and revo- cable grant of state land but as constituting a type of ownership. The labor force came largely from farm- ers working state lands who also rented the land granted to aristocrats or temples on an annual ba- sis. Occasionally, influential aristocrats and temples got tax immunities for their land assignments that turned them into estates.

What changed with GoSanjō’s decree of 1068 and an earlier decree in 1045 was creation of a distinc- tion between tax-exempt estates and government land (kokugaryō, CO-ku-gah-reyo) (literally, provin- cial land) that resulted in multiple kinds of owner- ship for estates and made estates more permanent. GoSanjō tried to restrict the growth of estates by voiding estates created after 1045 and threatening to confiscate those created before if they were im- properly documented. The bureau he set up for this purpose certified each proprietor’s claims to income and gave him or her de facto legitimacy. Confiscated estates became not government land but land whose revenues were destined for use by GoSanjō and his family. GoSanjō took this step because, in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries, drought, war, and disease left too few farmers to work the land and pay taxes. To bring land back into production, he gave temples and powerful aristocrats incentive to sponsor land reclamation projects by permitting them to re- ceive a guaranteed income from tax-exempt estates.

Although tax-exempt estates placed limits on the state’s ability to tax and control landholdings, they did not absorb all government land. Approximately 50 to 60 percent of the land remained subject to taxation by the state. This state land included ports, transportation routes on land and sea, and agricul- tural plots. Provincial governors or their deputies

06475_ch09_rev04.indd 160 9/10/12 11:52 AM

Summary 161

benefit to them. Little wonder that many seized the opportunity to work on private estates that released them from the grip of greedy tax farmers in return for rents and services.

What changed in the course of the long Heian pe- riod? The flowering of aristocratic culture, in par- ticular the literary masterpieces written in Chinese and Japanese, set the standard for cultivated expres- sion. The last hundred years closely resemble the century that followed. Warrior monks, pirates, and wars in the northeast foretold the military conflict that would bring warriors to new prominence. Po- litical and factional strife at court took an increas- ingly militarized hue as aristocrats, monarchs, and retired monarchs called on warriors in the provinces to come to their aid or saw court nobles take to the profession of arms. The leaders of warrior bands, some of whom were royal offspring, tried to domi- nate, not eliminate, the court. Infected by the eso- teric teachings that Kūkai and Saichō had brought back from China, the court performed ever more elaborate rituals that suffocated the monarch as a political player, while individuals both high and low sought salvation in the teachings of the Lotus Sutra or faith in Amida. The dual system of estate and provincial lands accommodated military, ecclesiasti- cal, and aristocratic demands for income and power. These three power blocs were to dominate Japanese history for centuries to come.

an exclusive claim to the monarchy, retaining just enough power to sanction violence, and attracting support by setting norms of civilized behavior.

Although Japan soon stopped official delegations to China, its monks continued to study abroad, bringing back political ideas, religious beliefs, cer- emonies, new notions of ritual space, and artifacts— statues, for example. Chinese culture dominated in- tellectual life for men; modifications to the Chinese writing system gave women a tool with which to express themselves in Japanese. They participated in factional intrigue by using their skill with the brush to attract the attention of rulers, not necessarily to themselves but to their patron, male or female.

Along with the other elements of Chinese culture, Buddhism too attracted supporters. While rulers con- tinued to call on the Buddha’s magical power to pro- tect their reign, aristocrats turned to teachings and practices, especially faith in Amida, which promised release from the frightening cycle of birth and re- birth. At the same time, people of all classes feared that powerful angry spirits could wreak havoc if not properly appeased through festivals and worship.

A base composed of commoners, chiefly farm- ers, supported the superstructure of aristocratic rule. While eking out a bare living, they provided the goods needed to sustain the court and the reli- gious establishment; they also labored as conscripts on construction projects that often proved of little

06475_ch09_rev04.indd 161 9/10/12 11:52 AM

162

BY THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY, CHINA and Korea had accrued many centuries of experience with northern nomadic pastoralists who from time to time formed wide-ranging confederations that threatened and occasionally invaded their territory. To China and Korea, these neighbors may have seemed a local problem, but in fact settled societies across Eurasia had to cope with horse-riding herders skilled at warfare and raiding.

The grasslands that supported nomadic pasto- ralists stretched from eastern Europe to Mongolia and Manchuria. Twice before, confederations that rose in the East led to vast movement of peoples and armies across the grasslands. The rise of the Xiongnu in the East beginning in the third century b.c.e. caused rival groups to move west, indirectly precipitating the arrival of the Shakas and Kushans in Afghanistan and northern India and later the Huns in Europe. The Turks, after their heyday as a power in the East in the seventh century c.e., broke up into several rival groups, some of whom moved west into Persia and India. By the twelfth century, separate groups of Turks controlled much of Central Asia and the adjoining lands from Syria to northern India and into Chinese Turkestan, then occupied by Uighur Turks. It was not until the Mongols, how- ever, that the military power of pastoralists created a unified empire linking most of Asia.

In Mongolia in the twelfth century, ambitious Mongols aspired not to match nomads who had mi- grated west but those who had stayed in the East and mastered ways to extract resources from China. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, the Khitans had accomplished this; in the twelfth century, the Jurch- ens had overthrown the Khitans and extended their reach even deeper into China. Both the Khitans and the Jurchens formed hybrid nomadic-urban states, with northern sections where tribesmen continued to live in the traditional way and southern sections politically controlled by the non-Chinese rulers but

populated largely by Chinese. Both the Khitans and Jurchens had scripts created to record their languag- es, and both adopted many Chinese governing prac- tices. They built cities in pastoral areas as centers of consumption and trade. In both cases, their elite be- came culturally dual, adept in Chinese ways as well as in their own traditions.

Chinese, Persian, and European observers have all left descriptions of the daily life of the Mongols in the thirteenth century, which they found strikingly different from their own. Before their great con- quests, the Mongols did not have cities, towns, or villages. Rather, they moved with their animals be- tween winter and summer pastures. To make them portable, their belongings had to be kept to a mini- mum. Mongols lived in tents (called yurts) about 12 to 15 feet in diameter, constructed of light wooden frames covered by layers of wool felt and greased to make them waterproof. A group of families travel- ing together would set up their yurts in a circle open to the south and draw up their wagons in a circle around the yurts for protection. The Mongols’ herds provided both meat and milk, with the milk used to make butter, cheese, and fermented alcoholic drinks. Wood was scarce, so the common fuel for the cook fires was dried animal dung or grasses. Without gra- naries to store food for years of famine, the Mongols’ survival was threatened whenever weather or diseas- es of their animals endangered their food supply.

Because of the intense cold of the grasslands in the winter, Mongols needed warm clothing. Both men and women usually wore undergarments made of silk obtained from China. Over them they wore robes of fur, for the very coldest times of the year, in two layers: an inner layer with the hair on the inside and an outer layer with the hair on the outside. Hats were of felt or fur, boots of felt or leather.

Mongol women had to be able to care for the animals when the men were away hunting or fight- ing. They normally drove the carts and set up and

The Mongols

C O N N E C T I O N S

06475_Connection_4_rev04.indd 162 9/10/12 11:59 AM

Connections: The Mongols 163

however, because their original tribe might be able to recapture them or make an exchange for them, or their masters might free them.

Although population was sparse in the regions where the Mongols lived, conflict over resources was endemic, and each camp had to be on the alert for attacks. Defending against attack and retaliating against raids were as much a part of the Mongols’ daily life as were caring for their herds and trading with nearby settlements.

In the mid-twelfth century, the Mongols were just one of many tribes in the eastern grasslands, nei- ther particularly numerous nor especially advanced. Their rise had much to do with the leadership of a single individual, the brilliant but utterly ruth- less Temujin (ca. 1162–1227), who later took the title Chinggis (“boundless,” sometimes written as Genghis). Chinggis’s early career was recounted in The Secret History of the Mongols. When Chinggis was young, the Mongol tribes were in competition with the Tatar tribes. Chinggis’s father had built up a modest following and had arranged for Chinggis’s future marriage to the daughter of a more power- ful Mongol leader. When Chinggis’s father was poi- soned by a rival, his followers, not ready to follow a boy of twelve, drifted away, leaving Chinggis and his mother and brothers in a vulnerable position. In 1182, Chinggis himself was captured and carried to the camp of a rival in a cage. After a daring midnight escape, he led his followers to join a stronger chief- tain who had once been aided by his father. With his help, Chinggis began avenging the insults he had received.

As he subdued the Tatars, Kereyids, Naimans, Merkids, and other Mongol and Turkic tribes, Chinggis built up an army of loyal followers. He mastered the art of winning allies through displays of personal courage in battle and generosity to his followers. He also proved willing to turn against former allies who proved troublesome. To those who opposed him, he could be merciless. He once asserted that nothing surpassed massacring one’s en- emies, seizing their horses and cattle, and ravishing their women. Sometimes Chinggis would kill all the men in a defeated tribe to prevent later vendettas. At other times, he would take them on as soldiers in his own armies. Courage impressed him. One of his leading generals, Jebe, had first attracted his at- tention when he held his ground against overwhelm- ing opposition and shot Chinggis’s horse out from under him.

dismantled the yurts. They were also the ones who milked the sheep, goats, and cows and made the butter and cheese. In addition, they made the felt, prepared the skins, and sewed the clothes. Because water was scarce, clothes were not washed with water, nor were dishes. Women, like men, had to be expert riders, and many also learned to shoot. Women participated actively in family decisions, especially as wives and mothers. The Secret History of the Mongols, a book written in Mongolian a few decades after Chinggis’s death, portrayed his mother and wife as actively involved in family affairs and frequently making impassioned speeches on the importance of family loyalty.

Mongol men made the carts and wagons and the frames for the yurts. They also made the harnesses for the horses and oxen, the leather saddles, and the equipment needed for hunting and war, such as bows and arrows. Men also had charge of the horses, and they, rather than the women, milked the mares. Young horses were allowed to run wild until it was time to break them. Catching them took great skill in the use of a long, springy pole with a noose at the end. One specialty occupation among the nomads was the blacksmith, who made stirrups, knives, and other metal tools. Another common specialist was the shaman, a religious expert able to communicate with the gods. Some groups of Mongols, especially those closer to settled communities, converted to Buddhism, Nestorian Christianity, or Manichaeism.

Kinship underlay most social relationships among the Mongols. Normally each family occupied a yurt, and groups of families camping together were usu- ally related along the male line (brothers, uncles, nephews, and so on). More distant patrilineal rela- tives were recognized as members of the same clan and could call on each other for aid. People from the same clan could not marry each other, so clans had to cooperate to provide brides for each other. A woman whose husband had died would be inherited by another male in the family, such as her husband’s younger brother or his son by another woman.

Tribes were groups of clans, often distantly relat- ed. Both clans and tribes had recognized chiefs who would make decisions on where to graze and when to retaliate against another tribe that had stolen ani- mals or people. Women were sometimes abducted for brides. When tribes stole men from each other, they normally made them into slaves, and the slaves were forced to do much of the heavy work. They would not necessarily remain slaves their entire lives,

06475_Connection_4_rev04.indd 163 9/10/12 11:59 AM

164 Connections: The Mongols

Chinggis preferred conquest to administration and left ruling north China to subordinates while he turned his own attention westward to Afghanistan and Persia, then in the hands of Turks. (See Map C4.1.) In 1218, Chinggis proposed to the Khwarazm shah of Persia that he accept Mongol overlordship and establish trade relations. The shah, to show his de- termination to resist, ordered the envoy and the mer- chants who had accompanied him killed. The next year, Chinggis led an army of one hundred thousand soldiers west to retaliate. Mongol forces not only destroyed the shah’s army but also pursued the shah to an island in the Caspian Sea, where he died. To complete the conquest, Chinggis sacked one Persian city after another, demolishing buildings and mas- sacring hundreds of thousands of people. The irriga- tion systems that were needed for agriculture in this dry region were destroyed.

On his return from Central Asia in 1226, Chinggis turned his attention to the Tanguts who ruled the Xia state in northwest China. They had earlier ac- cepted vassal status, but Chinggis thought they had not lived up to their agreements. During the siege of their capital, Chinggis died of illness.

Before he died, Chinggis instructed his sons not to fall out among themselves but to divide the spoils. Although Mongol tribal leaders traditionally won their positions, after Chinggis died the empire was

In 1206 at a great gathering of tribal leaders, Chinggis was proclaimed the Great Khan. At the time he had an army of about 95,000 men. Chinggis decreed that Mongol, until then an unwritten language, be written down in the script used by the Uighur Turks. With this script, a record was made of Mongol laws and customs, ranging from the rules for the annual hunt to punish- ments of death for robbery and adultery. Another mea- sure adopted at this assembly was a postal relay system to send messages rapidly by mounted couriers.

With the tribes of Mongolia united, the energies previously devoted to infighting and vendetta were redirected to exacting tribute from the settled popu- lations nearby, starting with the Jurchen state that extended into north China (the Jin Dynasty). After Chinggis subjugated a city, he sent envoys to cit- ies farther out to demand submission and threaten destruction. Those who opened their city gates and submitted without fighting could become allies and retain local power, but those who resisted faced the prospect of mass slaughter. Chinggis despised city dwellers and sometimes used them as living shields in the next battle. After the Mongol armies swept across north China in 1212–1213, ninety-odd cities lay in rubble. Beijing, captured in 1215, burned for more than a month. Not surprisingly, many gover- nors of cities and rulers of small states hastened to of- fer submission when the Mongol armies approached.

Nomads’ Portable Housing. This painting by a Chinese artist illustrates an event that took place in Han times, but it reflects the conditions on the grassland in Song times, when it was painted.

Im ag

e co

py rig

ht ©

T he

M et

ro po

lit an

M us

eu m

o f A

rt I

m ag

e so

ur ce

: A rt

R es

ou rc

e, N

06475_Connection_4_rev04.indd 164 9/10/12 11:59 AM

Connections: The Mongols 165

armed with swords, lances, and javelins. On military campaigns, Mongol soldiers had to be able to ride for days without stopping to cook food; they would carry a supply of dried milk curd and cured meat, which could be supplemented by blood let from the neck of their horses. When time permitted, the soldiers would pause to hunt, adding to their food dogs, wolves, foxes, mice, and rats.

Marco Polo left a vivid description of the Mongol soldiers’ endurance and military skill:

They are brave in battle, almost to desperation, setting little value upon their lives, and exposing themselves without hesitation to all manner of dan- ger. Their disposition is cruel. They are capable of supporting every kind of privation, and when there is a necessity for it, can live for a month on the milk of their mares, and upon such wild animals as they may chance to catch. The men are habituated to remain on horseback during two days and two nights, without dismounting, sleeping in that situ- ation whilst their horses graze. No people on earth can surpass them in fortitude under difficulties, nor show greater patience under wants of every kind.*

The Mongols were also open to new military tech- nologies and did not insist on fighting in their tra- ditional ways. To attack walled cities, they learned how to make use of catapults and other engines of war. At first they used Chinese catapults, but when they learned that those used by the Turks in Afghan- istan were more powerful, they quickly adopted the better model. The Mongols made use of exploding arrows and gunpowder projectiles developed by the Chinese. They made good use of intelligence and tried to exploit internal divisions in the countries they attacked. Thus, when attacking the Jurchens in north China, they reminded the Khitans of their bit- ter defeat by the Jurchens a century earlier. In Syria, they exploited the resentment of Christians against their Muslim rulers.

Because of his early experiences with intertribal feuding, Chinggis mistrusted traditional Mongol tribal loyalties, and as he fashioned a new army, he gave it a nontribal structure. Chinggis also cre- ated an elite bodyguard of ten thousand sons and brothers of commanders, which served directly un- der him. Chinggis allowed commanders to pass their posts to their sons, but he could remove them at will.

*The Travels of Marco Polo, the Venetian, ed. Manuel Komroff (New York: Boni and Liveright, 1926), p. 93.

divided into four khanates, with one of the lines of his descendants taking charge of each. Chinggis’s third son, Ögödei, became Great Khan, and he di- rected the next round of invasions.

In 1237 representatives of all four lines led 150,000 Mongol, Turkic, and Persian troops into Europe. During the next five years, they gained control of Moscow and Kievan Russia and looted cities in Poland and Hungary. They were poised to attack deeper into Europe when they learned of the death of Ögödei in 1241. In order to participate in the election of a new khan, the army returned to the Mongols’ newly built capital city, Karakorum.

Once Ögödei’s son was certified as his successor, the Mongols turned their attention to Persia and the Middle East. When the Abbasid capital of Baghdad fell in 1258, the last Abbasid caliph was murdered, and much of the population was put to the sword.

Under Chinggis’s grandson Khubilai (r. 1260– 1294), the Mongols completed their conquest of Korea and China. Not all campaigns succeeded, however. Perhaps because surrendered Chinese sol- diers and sailors came to make up a large share of the invasion forces, the attempts to conquer Japan, Vietnam, and Java in the 1270s–1290s all failed.

Chinggis and His Descendants

Jochi (Russia) Chaghadai (Central Asia)

Chinggis Ögödei Güyüg Tului Möngke

Khubilai (China) Hülegü (Persia) Arigh Böke

Why were the Mongols so successful against so many different types of enemies? Although their population was tiny compared to that of the large agricultural societies they conquered, their tactics, weapons, and organization all gave them advantag- es. Like nomadic herdsmen before them, they were superb horsemen and excellent archers. Their horses were short and stocky, almost like ponies, and able to endure long journeys and bitter cold. Even in the winter they survived by grazing, foraging beneath the snow. Their horses were extremely nimble, able to change direction quickly, enabling the Mongols to maneuver easily and ride through infantry forces

06475_Connection_4_rev04.indd 165 9/10/12 11:59 AM

166 Connections: The Mongols

B e ij in

K a if

e n

G u

a n

g zh

o u

H a n

g zh

o u

S h

a n

g d

S a m

a rk

a n

d Je

ru sa

le m

B a g

h d

a d

M o

sc o

K ie

K a ra

ko ru

D e lh

B u

kh a ra

B o

lg a r

K h

o ta

P a g

a n

G O

B I

D E

S E

R T

H IM

A L

A Y

A S

A R

A B

IA S

u lt

an at

e of

D el

h i

S o

u th

er n

S o

n g

(f el

l 1

2 7

9 )

M O

N G

O L

IA M

A N

C H

U R

R U

S S

E M

P IR

E O

F T

H E

G R

E A

T K

H A

K H

A N

A T

E O

F T

H E

G O

L D

E N

H O

R D

IL -K

H A

E M

P IR

K H

A N

A T

E O

C E

N T

R A

L A

S IA

JA P

A N

K O

R E

VIE TN

B U

R M

V IJ

A Y

A N

A G

A R

E M

P IR

IN D

K H

M E

E U

R O

P E

I N

D I

A N

O C

E A

S o

u th

C h

in a

S e

E a

st C

h in

a S

e a

B a

y o

f B

e n

g a

A ra

b ia

n S

S ea

o f

Ja p

a n

(E a

st S

ea )

Caspia n Sea

B la

ck S

M o n g o l c

am p ai

g n s

b e fo

re 1

2 4 0

M o n g o l c

am p ai

g n s

af te

r 12

4 0

R o u te

o f

M ar

co P

o lo

0 5

0 0

10 0

0 15

0 0

2 0

0 0 K

m .

0 10

0 0

5 0

0 15

0 0 M

M a p

C 4 .1

ap o

f M

o n go

l C

o n

q u es

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_Connection_4_rev04.indd 166 9/10/12 11:59 AM

Connections: The Mongols 167

had conquered into their armies and governments. Chinese helped breach the walls of Baghdad in the 1250s, and Muslims operated the catapults that helped reduce Chinese cities in the 1270s. Chinese, Persians, and Arabs in the service of the Mongols were often sent far from home. Especially promi- nent were the Uighur Turks of Chinese Central Asia, whose familiarity with Chinese civilization and flu- ency in Turkish were extremely valuable in facilitat- ing communication. Literate Uighurs provided many of the clerks and administrators running the Mongol administration.

One of the most interesting of those who served the Mongols was Rashid al-Din (ca. 1247–1318). A Jew from Persia, the son of an apothecary, Rashid al-Din converted to Islam at the age of thirty and entered the service of the Mongol khan of Persia as a physician. He rose in government service, travel- ing widely, and eventually became prime minister. Rashid al-Din became friends with the ambassador from China, and together they arranged for transla- tions of Chinese works on medicine, agronomy, and statecraft. He had ideas on economic management that he communicated to Mongol officials in Central Asia and China. Aware of the great differences be- tween cultures, he believed that the Mongols should try to rule in accord with the moral principles of the majority in each land. On that basis, he convinced the Mongol khan of Persia to convert to Islam. Rashid al-Din undertook to explain the great variety of cultures by writing a history of the world that was much more comprehensive than any previously written. The sections on Europe were based on in- formation he obtained from European monks. The sections on China were based on Chinese informants and perhaps Chinese Buddhist narratives. This book was richly illustrated, with depictions of Europe- ans based on European paintings and depictions of Chinese based on Chinese paintings, leading to the spread of artistic styles as well. (See Color Plate 15.)

The Mongols were remarkably open to reli- gious experts from all the lands they encountered. Khubilai, for instance, welcomed Buddhist, Daoist, Islamic, and Christian clergymen to his court and gave tax exemptions to clerics of all religions. More Europeans made their way as far as Mongolia and China in the Mongol period than ever before. This was the age of the Crusades, and European popes and kings sent envoys to the Mongol court in the hope of enlisting the Mongols on their side in their long-standing conflict with the Muslim forces over

Because, in Mongol eyes, the purpose of warfare was to gain riches, they regularly looted the settle- ments they conquered, taking whatever they want- ed, including the residents. Land would be granted to military commanders, nobles, and army units, to be governed and exploited as the recipients wished. Those who had worked on the land would be dis- tributed as serfs. To bring Karakorum up to the level of the cities the Mongols conquered, they transport- ed skilled workers there. For instance, after Bukhara and Samarkand were captured, some thirty thousand artisans were seized and transported to Mongolia. Sometimes these slaves gradually improved their sta- tus. A French goldsmith working in Budapest named Guillame Boucher was captured by the Mongols in 1242 and taken to Karakorum, where he lived for at least the next fifteen years. He gradually won favor and was put in charge of fifty workers making gold and silver vessels for the Mongol court.

The way the Mongols ruled China and Korea is addressed in Chapters 10 and 12. In Central Asia, Persia, and Russia, the Mongols tended to merge with the Turkish nomads already there and convert- ed to Islam. Russia in the thirteenth century was not a strongly centralized state, and the Mongols were satisfied to see Russian princes and lords continue to rule their territories as long as they paid adequate tribute. The city of Moscow became the center of Mongol tribute collection and grew in importance at the expense of Kiev. In the Middle East, the Mongol Ilkhans were more active as rulers, continuing the traditions of the caliphate.

Mongol control in each of the khanates lasted about a century. In the mid-fourteenth century, the Mongol dynasty in China deteriorated into civil war, and in the 1360s the Mongols withdrew back to Mongolia. There was a similar loss of Mongol power in Persia and Central Asia. Only on the south Russian steppe was the Golden Horde able to main- tain its hold for another century.

The Mongol empire did more to encourage the movement of people and goods across Eurasia than had any earlier political entity. The Mongols had never looked down on merchants as the elites of many traditional states did, and they welcomed the arrival of merchants from distant lands. Even when different groups of Mongols were fighting among themselves, they usually allowed caravans to pass unharassed.

Once they had conquered a territory, the Mongols were willing to incorporate those they

06475_Connection_4_rev04.indd 167 9/10/12 11:59 AM

168 Connections: The Mongols

loss of Mongol power in China, Iran, and Central Asia probably owes something to the effect of the spread of this plague and other diseases.

Traditionally, the historians of each of the coun- tries conquered by the Mongols portrayed them as a scourge. Russian historians, for instance, saw this as a period of bondage that set Russia back and cut it off from Western Europe. Today it is more com- mon to celebrate the genius of the Mongol military machine and treat the spread of ideas and inventions as an obvious good, probably because we see global communication as a good in our own world. There is no reason to assume, however, that every person or every society benefited equally from the improved communications and the new political institutions of the Mongol era. Merchants involved in long-distance trade prospered, but those enslaved and transported hundreds or thousands of miles from home would have seen themselves as the most pitiable of victims, not the beneficiaries of opportunities to encounter cultures different from their own.

In terms of the spread of technological and sci- entific ideas, Europe seems to have been by far the main beneficiary of increased communication, largely because in 1200 it lagged far behind the oth- er areas. Chinese inventions such as printing, gun- powder, and the compass and Persian expertise in astronomy and mathematics spread widely. In terms of the spread of religions, Islam probably gained the most. It spread into Chinese Central Asia, which had previously been Buddhist, and into Anatolia as Turks pushed out by the Mongols moved west, put- ting pressure on the Byzantine Empire.

Perhaps because it was not invaded itself, Europe also seems to have been energized by the Pax Mon- golica in ways that the other major civilizations were not. The goods from the East brought to Europe whetted the appetites of Europeans for increased contact with the East, and the demand for Asian goods eventually culminated in the great age of Eu- ropean exploration and expansion. By comparison, in areas the Mongols had conquered, protecting their own civilization became a higher priority for elites than drawing from the outside to enrich or enlarge it.

the Holy Land. These and other European visitors were especially interested in finding Christians who had been cut off from the West by the spread of Is- lam, and in fact there were considerable numbers of Nestorian Christians in Central Asia. Those who left written records of their trips often mention meeting other Europeans in China or Mongolia. There were enough Europeans in Beijing to build a cathedral and appoint a bishop.

The most famous European visitor to the Mongol lands was Marco Polo, who was enormously im- pressed with Khubilai and awed by the wealth and splendor of Chinese cities. There have always been skeptics who do not believe Marco Polo’s tale, and some scholars think that he may have learned about China from Persian merchants he met in the Middle East. But most of what he wrote about China tallies well with Chinese sources. The great popularity of his book in Europe familiarized Europeans with the notion of Asia as a land of riches.

The more rapid transfer of people and goods across Central Asia in the thirteenth century spread more than ideas and inventions: it also spread diseases, the most deadly of which was a plague called the Black Death in Europe (long thought to be the modern bu- bonic plague, though some recent scholars have ar- gued that it more closely resembles Ebola-like viral diseases). Europe had not had an outbreak of the plague since about 700 and the Middle East since 1200. There was a pocket of active plague in the southwestern mountains of modern Yunnan prov- ince in China, the area that had been the relatively isolated Nanzhao kingdom of Thai speakers. Once the Mongols established a garrison there, plague was carried to central China, then northwestern China, and from there to Central Asia and beyond. By the time the Mongols were assaulting the city of Kaffa in the Crimea in 1346, they themselves were infected by the plague and had to withdraw. But the disease did not retreat and was spread throughout the Medi- terranean by ship. The Black Death of Europe thus was initiated through breaching the isolation of a remote region in southwestern China. The confu- sion of the mid-fourteenth century that led to the

06475_Connection_4_rev04.indd 168 9/10/12 11:59 AM

169

C H A P T E R T E n

Goryeo Korea (935–1392)

Early Goryeo Government (935–1170)

The Changing International Context (943–1146)

Society and Culture in the Goryeo Period

Material Culture: Celadon

Documents: Popular Songs

Military Rule and the Mongol Invasions (1170–1259)

Goryeo Under Mongol Domination (1260–1351)

Biography: Lady Ki, Consort of the Mongol Emperor

Making Comparisons: Monarchical Institutions

The Goryeo (GO-riyo) Dynasty, founded in 935 by the military com-mander Wang Geon (WONG-gun), lasted four and a half centuries. China was no longer its main neighboring power; in this era Korea had to cope with strong non-Chinese northern neighbors: the Khitans, Jurchens, and Mongols. Society continued to be highly stratified, with the yangban (YANG-bahn) aristocracy at the top and a large slave population at the bottom. Buddhism remained strong, but Confucianism was also penetrat- ing more deeply, especially among yangban. The spread of printing led to the survival of more books, among the most important of which were his- tories of early Korea. The dynasty suffered a military takeover of the gov- ernment by the Choe (CHAE) family in 1170. Still, during the subsequent period of Choe family dominance, the Goryeo royal line was maintained, as it was during the century of Mongol supremacy from 1258 to 1351. In the mid-fourteenth century, the ambitious King Gongmin (GONG-min) restored the authority of the throne and promoted Confucian learning.

Historians of the Goryeo period have concentrated their attention on the challenges the government faced because of the unprecedented military threats from the north. How successful was the Goryeo military in defending the country against powers in Manchuria? Why did civilian rule succumb to military takeover? Did Goryeo make good use of diplomacy in meeting foreign challenges? Another important issue is assessing cultural change. Did Korean culture develop in any new directions during this period?

EARLy GoRyEo GovERnMEnT (935–1170) The last king of Silla abdicated in 935 to the military commander Wang Geon, who had already declared himself king of the Goryeo Dynasty (Goryeo derived from Goguryeo and is the origin of the modern name “Korea”). Wang Geon came from a powerful merchant family. Known as King Taejo (TAY-joe) ( r. 935–943), he moved the capital northwest to his hometown, re- named Gaegyeong (GAY-gyoung) (modern Gaeseong [GangjinGAY-sung]), near the mouth of the Han River. Taejo consolidated his power, not by cen- tralizing the government but by seeking alliances through intermarriage with

06475_ch10_rev04.indd 169 9/10/12 12:06 PM

170 Chapter 10 Goryeo Korea (935–1392)

on his own land. The state also made similar grants to Buddhist monasteries, princes and princesses, foreign settlers, degree holders, state offices, schools, and mili- tary colonies. Although some historians have connect- ed this fiscal system to the Tang equal-field system, it was in fact very different and reflected the weakness of the royal house, not its strength.

Goryeo’s centralizing measures were based on Tang and Song models, but Goryeo never became as centralized as those Chinese dynasties because officials from the center were dispatched to only a third of the three hundred or so districts. The oth- er two-thirds were headed by magistrates recruited from local magnates, who later might move up the bureaucratic ladder and even into posts in the capi- tal. Moreover, with so much of the land allotted as prebends, the tax basis of the state was weak, limit- ing what the state could do. Enhancing tax collec- tion would have been difficult not only because of the power of landholding aristocrats but also because the economy was backward compared to Tang or Song China, with little use of money and very limited trade.

After 1020, Goryeo politics was dominated by an oligarchy of powerful clans. Bloody succession struggles marred politics between 1095 and 1109. Still, Confucian culture gradually gained a stronger hold. In the eleventh century, a number of officials traveled to Song China and learned of the develop- ment of the Song Confucian school called the Learn- ing of the Way (see Chapter 8). With time, the ex- amination system slowly became more of a force in government. In the 1050s, on average, only eleven candidates passed per year, but by 1120 the num- ber had doubled to twenty-two. By then, besides state schools, there were also private academies for educating the sons of the aristocracy.

The system of prebendal allotments began to break down as aristocrats treated prebends as pri- vate property. By the twelfth century, they were forming estates and inducing indebted peasants to commend their lands or become their private serf- like slaves to escape the depredations of the govern- ment tax collectors. This concentration of land and slaves increased the aristocrats’ wealth and power significantly. The three most prominent aristocrat- ic clans were the Gyeongju Choe, the Haeju Choe, and the Gyeongwon Yi (GYONG-won E) (each clan identified with its place of origin). The Gyeongwon Yi became the most prominent political family and solidified its power by supplying queens to the royal family and intermarrying with other leading clans.

local strongmen, whom he controlled by requiring them to send relatives to live in the capital as hostages. The old Silla bone rank system became irrelevant, but a new aristocracy emerged. Taejo chose men to staff his central government from a much wider range of families than the True Bone aristocrats from Gyeongju and did his best not to alienate the old aristocracy. He welcomed the Confucian- educated elite of Gyeongju into the new Goryeo elite, granted the last Silla king a prebend (that is, the right to collect taxes in the place of central government officials) over Gyeongju, and paid respects to the Silla scholar Choe Chiwon (CHAE GEE-won). Other ways Taejo built support were by patronizing Buddhism and Confucianism. He built many Buddhist temples in the capital and worked for harmony among Buddhist sects. He continued the Silla Festival of Light every year on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month to celebrate the Buddha and pray for peace and prosperity for the state and royal house.

Further efforts to increase the power of the throne and the central government vis-à-vis the aristocracy were taken by the third king, Gwangjong (GWANG- jong, r. 949–975). In 956 he set up a commission to investigate slaves’ origins so that those who had been acquired illegally could be restored to commoner status and thus pay taxes and do labor service, an act that naturally enraged slave owners. In the same year, he had a Chinese refugee design a Chinese-style civil service examination system to recruit officials on the basis of talent. Social mobility hardly increased, however, because the examinations were not held frequently enough to make a dent in the domination of hereditary aristocrats in officialdom. When a cen- tralized school system was established in 992, admis- sion to the best schools was restricted to families of high rank. Gwangjong also carried out a purge of his officer corps and began to favor civil over military officials in emulation of Song Dynasty policy.

To appease aristocrats, the next king initiated a sys- tem of allotting rights to collect taxes on specific tracks of land (a prebend system). Allotments of arable and wooded parcels of land of varying size were granted to men according to the level of their personal rank, not the rank of their office. These grants of tax-collection rights were also given to men who served the state as magistrates or military officers. These prebendal grants, which began in 976 and continued to 1076, constituted income over and above any salaries aris- tocrats received as officials. Presumably if a prebend was granted on land that the recipient already owned, it meant that he was being granted a tax exemption

06475_ch10_rev04.indd 170 9/10/12 12:06 PM

The Changing International Context (943–1146) 171

policy based on a calculation of the relative power of the two neighboring states. These decisions were always opposed by Confucian moralists, who felt that Goryeo belonged to the superior Chinese civilized world and disdained the horse-riding “barbarians.”

Liao forces invaded Goryeo territory in 993. Instead of pushing for total victory, the Khitans ne- gotiated a peace that forced Goryeo to adopt the Liao calendar and end tributary relations with Song (a violation of King Taejo’s testamentary injunction never to make peace with the Khitan).

Once Liao settled with Song in 1005, the Khitan army was free to harass Goryeo. In 1010, on the pre- text that the rightful king had been deposed without the approval of the Liao court, the Khitan emperor personally led an attack that culminated in the burn- ing of the Goryeo capital. Several other confrontations followed until Goryeo reaffirmed its tributary rela- tionship with Liao in 1020. The final border between Liao and Goryeo was farther north than the earlier border between Silla and Balhae (PAR-hay) (but not as far north as the modern border). (See Map 10.1.)

In the mid-twelfth century, bureaucratic corrup- tion, domestic rebellions, piracy, and the king’s ne- glect of business created deepening problems for the government. The growth of slavery and private es- tates went unchecked. The king, we are told, ignored his responsibilities and enjoyed himself in making the rounds of his various palaces and immersing himself in spiritualism. Until 1158 he left business in the hands of Jeong Ham (JUNG-hahm), perhaps the most powerful eunuch in Korean history.

The yangban officials’ growing contempt for mil- itary officers reached its limit when Kim Donjung (KIM DON-jung) playfully set fire to the beard of a commander of the guards. Kim’s high-ranking father demanded that the commander be tortured, but the king refused, an act of toleration that he was soon to regret. Dynastic fortunes had reached a low ebb.

THE CHAnGInG InTERnATIonAL ConTExT (943–1146) Because of its alliance with Tang China, after 700 Silla had not needed to invest heavily in military forc- es, but Goryeo did not have that luxury. The Song Dynasty, as discussed in Chapter 8, did not domi- nate its northern neighbors militarily. Goryeo had to face northern neighbors who had been strength- ened by their ability to extract resources from Song China. In the case of the Khitan Liao, two decades of military confrontation ended in 1020 with a ne- gotiated settlement to transfer Goryeo’s vassal status from the Song to the Liao. In the case of the Jurchen Jin, the court decided to transfer its tributary rela- tionship from the Liao to Jin before serious violence broke out. In the case of the Mongol Yuan, the court and its military rulers took refuge on Ganghwa (GAHNG-hwa) Island for almost three decades, re- fusing to negotiate while the country was laid waste.

Korea became aware of the rise of the Khitans when the founder of its confederation, Abaoji, de- stroyed Balhae in 926 and refugees from Balhae poured into Korea. Abaoji next set his sights on China. To prepare for an attack by the Khitans, the Goryeo government built forts along the northern frontier, fortified the Western Capital, and created a new thirty-thousand-man Army of Light.

Goryeo enrolled as a Song tributary in 963, but Liao demanded that Goryeo enroll as its tributary instead. Goryeo had to abandon any notion of moral obliga- tion to China and adopt a more pragmatic foreign

N O R T H

B O R D E R

K O R Y O

SOHAE

J U R C H E N

J I N Paektusan

Y e l l o w S e a

E a s t S e a ( S e a o f J a p a n )

Y al

Tu me

JILIN

ZHANGCHUN

HAMHEUNG

GAEGYEONG

CHEONGJU

JEONGJU

NAJU

KILJU

GYEONGWEON

JINJU

SOUTHERN CAPITAL (SEOUL)

EASTERN CAPITAL (GYEONGJU)

WESTERN CAPITAL (PYEONGYANG)

N O R T H

B O R D E R

E A S T E R N

B O R D E R

GYEONGSANG

JEOLLA

SOHAE

Ganghwa Island

J U R C H E N

J I N

G O R Y E O

0 100 Km.50

0 100 Mi.50

Map 10.1 Goryeo Dynasty After 1126

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch10_rev04.indd 171 9/10/12 12:06 PM

172 Chapter 10 Goryeo Korea (935–1392)

SoCIETy AnD CULTURE In THE GoRyEo PERIoD Although cut off from Song by land, Goryeo con- tinued trade and cultural exchange with Song by developing the sea route from the mouth of the Yeseong (YEH-sung) River below Gaegyeong to Zhejiang Province. Trade was spurred by Goryeo enthusiasm for Song products like silks, ceramics, and the new printed books, including the Chinese classics and the Buddhist Tripitika. Arab mer- chants attracted to China’s coastal seaports also traveled on to trade with Goryeo. Song cultural influence was important in painting styles, par- ticularly the monumental monochrome landscape paintings, and in ceramics, especially celadon, the most outstanding examples of which were pro- duced in the Goryeo period. (See Material Culture: Celadon and Color Plate 13.) Distinctly Korean arts also flourished, such as poetry in Korean (see Documents: Popular Songs).

Goryeo society was as deeply stratified as Silla society before it. The Goryeo founder may have tried to strengthen the central government at the expense of the aristocracy, but his own supporters quickly developed into a hereditary aristocracy as entrenched as Silla’s. In the eleventh century, the new aristocracy came to be called the yangban, a term that referred to those qualified to partici- pate in audiences with the king. Below them were commoners, most of whom were peasants, though smaller numbers were merchants or artisans. Al- though “free” in contrast to the slaves, who were the private property of their masters, commoners were mostly “free” to pay taxes to the state and rent to landlords, perform uncompensated labor service for the state to build roads and palaces, or serve as soldiers. The wars of the transition from Silla to Goryeo had enabled the yangban to add to their land and slave holdings. Although some of Taejo’s officials suggested that he manumit recently acquired slaves, he did not want to challenge the new elite’s property interests.

Taejo’s failure to manumit captives turned slaves created the basis for hereditary slavery that distin- guished Goryeo from contemporary Chinese and Japanese states, where slavery was a much more minor element in society. Although no Goryeo king ever ordered that slavery henceforth be hereditary, a decree issued in 1037 provided that the children

In the early twelfth century, the Khitans were sup- planted as the northern power by the Jurchen. As dis- cussed in Chapter 8, the Jurchen were a Manchurian people who had been living in the eastern part of Liao territory, which had earlier been part of the Balhae kingdom. The Jurchens made their first con- tacts with Goryeo in the 980s and began to launch pirate raids on Goryeo’s east coast in 997. Goryeo extended the long wall it had built in the northeast to block Jurchen raids but at the same time tried to conciliate Jurchen chiefs and get them to pay tribute to the Goryeo court.

In the late eleventh century, the Wanyan branch of the Jurchen grew in power. They attacked Goryeo territory in 1103 and defeated a Goryeo army the next year. In response, Goryeo added a new cav- alry unit and began recruiting soldiers from all so- cial statuses, including Buddhist monks and slaves, hoping to strengthen its military forces. After the Jurchen declared the Jin Dynasty in 1115 and allied with Song to oppose Liao, Goryeo consented to an elder brother–younger brother relationship with Jin. When Jin turned on Song and invaded north China, Jin also demanded that Goryeo recognize its over- lordship. Although most Goryeo officials wanted to resist, pragmatists argued that the Jin forces were too strong to resist, and Goryeo enrolled as a Jin tributary. (See Map 10.1.)

Among those who urged resisting the Jurchen was Myocheong (MYO-jung), a Buddhist monk favored at court. Myocheong detested the Jurchen and insisted that King Injong (IN-jung) declare his independence, assume the title of emperor, and launch a campaign against Jin. He knew that aristocrats surrounded and controlled the king in the capital and that the king’s Confucian advisers, headed by Kim Busik (KIM BU- shik), preferred tributary subservience to an inde- pendent and assertive foreign policy. To get the king away from them, Myocheong urged him to move to the Western Capital, which he claimed had superior geomancy. Myocheong’s enemies were quick to coun- terattack and soon brought him down. Although re- viled by the Confucian scholars who wrote the History of Goryeo in 1454, Myocheong is today adored by nationalists who have portrayed him as one of the rare heroes in an era when few resisted either Chinese culture or alien domination. Had Myocheong suc- ceeded and attacked Jin, however, Goryeo would have been conquered outright, as north China was. Because the Confucians held sway, peace with Jin was preserved for close to another century.

06475_ch10_rev04.indd 172 9/10/12 12:06 PM

Society and Culture in the Goryeo Period 173

well as the male line and mourned grandparents in both lines. Wives might move into the homes of their husbands, but husbands more frequently moved into the homes of their wives, and their children grew up among their mother’s parents, uncles, and brothers. When the head of a family died, all siblings, includ- ing the sisters, shared equally in the inheritance of property. When a sister married, she retained owner- ship of her property. She could divorce her husband virtually at will and move back to her natal family or support herself on her inherited property. After divorce, she retained possession of her children.

For a man, eight lines of descent through fathers and mothers provided key relatives to whom he could turn for political allies. There were few restrictions on choice of marriage partners, and once married,

of mixed marriages between commoners and slaves would inherit the social status of the mother. Be- cause the slave owners soon violated the new rule by taking over the offspring of all mixed marriages, hereditary slavery expanded rapidly and most likely reached at least 30 percent of the population by the eleventh or twelfth century.

Family and Kinship

Enough is known of family and kinship organization among the Goryeo elite to see that it differed marked- ly from the Chinese patrilineal and patrilocal system and was much closer to Heian Japan (see Chapter 9). In contrast to Chinese practice, the Goryeo family traced its ancestry back through the female line as

M A T E R I A L C U L T U R E

Celadon

During the Goryeo Dynasty, Korean potters perfected a type of pottery—the grayish green celadon. Similar pieces were produced in Song China, but the Goryeo versions are unsurpassed. The variety of forms include flasks, vases, ewers, cauldrons, teapots, wine bowls, pitchers, bottles, jars, headrests, water pots, boxes, incense burners, bowls, cups, and plates. In addition to plain and undecorated pieces, the most impressive include bas-relief ornaments in the shape of clouds, lotus leaves, and waves; colors that are not found on Chinese pieces; and incised designs on the surface filled with white kaolin or black clay. Many pieces have the famous crackled surface achieved by in- terrupting the firing of the vessel. In late Goryeo, designs were painted with ferro-manganese date- plum juice to produce dark brown or black lines or petals.

The main kilns that produce these pieces were located in the Gangjin (GAnG-jin) area of mod- ern South Jeolla (JEoL-lah) province; the pieces were shipped to Gaegyeong for distribution to the rest of the country and China. Several shipwrecks discovered in recent years off the west coast of Korea have yielded thousands of pieces of celadon that were being transported from one site in Korea to another.

Celadon, Goryeo Dynasty, Tenth–Fourteenth Centuries. See also Color Plate 13.

Ka ns

on g

A rt

M us

eu m

, S eo

06475_ch10_rev04.indd 173 9/10/12 12:06 PM

174 Chapter 10 Goryeo Korea (935–1392)

D O C U M E N T S

The Turkish Bakery

I go to the Turkish shop, buy a bun, An old Turk grasps me by the hand. If this story is spread abroad, you alone are to blame, little actor. I will go, yes, go to his bower: A narrow place, sultry and dark.

I go to the Samjang Temple, light the lantern, A chief priest grasps me by the hand. If this story is spread abroad, you alone are to blame, little altar boy. I will go, yes, go to his bower: A narrow place, sultry and dark.

I go to the village well, draw the water, A dragon within grasps me by the hand. If this story is spread abroad, you alone are to blame, o scooper. I will go, yes, go to his bower: A narrow place, sultry and dark.

I go to the tavern, buy the wine, An innkeeper grasps me by the hand.

If this story is spread abroad, you alone are to blame,

o wine jug. I will go, yes, go to his bower: A narrow place, sultry and dark.

Song of Green Mountain

Let’s live, let’s live, Let’s live on the green mountain! With wild grapes and thyme, Let’s live on the green mountain! Yalli yalli yallasyeong yallari yalla

Cry, cry, birds, Cry after you wake. I’ve more sorrow than you And I’ve more sorrow than you And cry after I wake. Yalli yalli yallasyeong yallari yalla

I see the bird passing, bird passing, I see the passing bird beyond the

waters. With a mossy plow

Among the earliest surviving poetry in Korean are love songs dating from the Goryeo period. They probably originated among female entertainers, who transmitted them orally, but they also were popular at court. Commonly they include repeated refrains, often of meaningless syllables. Most have no known authors, but one of the three here, “The Turkish Bakery,” is said to have been written in 1279 by a court official who was very fond of this sort of entertainment.

Popular Songs

a man’s wife’s relatives were as important to him as his own relatives. King Taejo married twenty-nine consorts and had twenty sons and nine daughters. He made those alliances even more secure by marry- ing some of his daughters to their own half-brothers, a practice that was anathema to the Chinese. Mar- riage between cousins occurred not only within the royal family but among the aristocratic elite as well. Because succession in both the royal house and the aristocracy was not limited to descendants in the male line, brothers, cousins, and even relatives of wives could inherit the headship of a family. As in

the Three Kingdoms and Silla periods, women could reign as queens.

Buddhism and Confucianism

During the Goryeo period, Buddhism remained strong and developed more independently of Buddhism in other parts of East Asia. Leading Buddhist thinkers put effort into reconciling doctrinal differences among rival schools. Centuries earlier, the Buddhist monk and geomancer Doseon (DOE-son) had traveled to China and returned with information on geomancy and occult

06475_ch10_rev04.indd 174 9/10/12 12:06 PM

Society and Culture in the Goryeo Period 175

I see the passing bird beyond the waters.

Yalli yalli yallasyeong yallari yalla

I’ve spent the day This way and that. But where no man comes or goes, How am I to pass the night? Yalli yalli yallasyeong yallari yalla

Where is this stone thrown? At whom is this stone thrown? Here no one to hate or love, I am hit and I cry. Yalli yalli yallasyeong yallari yalla

Let’s live, let’s live, Let’s live by the sea! With seaweed, oysters, and clams, Let’s live by the sea! Yalli yalli yallasyeong yallari yalla

I’ve listened as I went, went, Turning an isolated kitchen I’ve

listened. I’ve listened to the stag fiddling Perched on a bamboo pole. Yalli yalli yallasyeong yallari yalla

I have brewed strong wine In a round-bellied jar. A gourdlike leaven seizes me. What shall I do now? Yalli yalli yallasyeong yallari yalla

Song of Pyeongyang (PYOUNG-yang) (Without Refrain)

Although Pyeongyang is my capital, Although I love the repaired city, Instead of parting I’d rather stop spinning If you love me I’ll follow you with tears.

Were the pearls to fall on the rock, Would the thread be broken If I parted from you a thousand years, Would my heart be changed?

not knowing how wide the river is, you pushed the boat off, boatman. not knowing how loose your wife is, you had my love board the ferry,

boatman.

The flower beyond the Daedong (DAy-dong) River,

When he has crossed the shore When he has crossed he will pluck

another flower!

Questions for Analysis 1. In the case of each poem, do you think a man or

a woman is the imagined speaker? 2. Does the gender of the speaker make a difference

to how you interpret the poem?

teachings along with Buddhism. Goryeo kings hon- ored him posthumously, and his teachings gained re- spect throughout the land. The prince-monk Uicheon (WI-chon) (1055–1101) returned from a year’s visit to China and attempted to merge the meditative Seon (SUN) (Chan, Zen) sect with the textual Chontae (CHON-tae) (Tiantai, Tendai) sect. The monk Jinul (JIN-ul) (b. 1158) devoted his life to reforming Buddhism. He was distressed because many monks had become too concerned with wealth and finery. He abandoned ties with established sects and in 1190 established a separate Seon Cultivation Community

of monks and laypeople. Not only did he attempt to reconcile Seon with the Flower- Garland Sect but he also tried to combine the gradual and sudden en- lightenment approaches of the northern and southern Chan schools in China. He admired the Tang monk Zongmi, who had argued for gradual cultivation even after enlightenment to make sure that the individual would continue to cultivate the mind to distinguish good from evil and act accordingly in society.

One of the most significant developments in late Goryeo was the introduction of the Song Dynasty ver- sion of Confucianism, called the Learning of the Way,

06475_ch10_rev04.indd 175 9/10/12 12:06 PM

176 Chapter 10 Goryeo Korea (935–1392)

kingdoms, they were all part of a single nation. In this spirit, he praised all the Three Kingdoms for hav- ing strong kings. At the same time, he defended the Silla conquests over Baekje and Goguryeo because their rulers were cruel to their own people, and Silla provided stability to replace the confusion of the other states. Possibly because Silla’s relations with Balhae were bad, he failed to take note of the Balhae kingdom, much less argue that it was part of Korean history, as many Korean scholars insist today.

MILITARy RULE AnD THE MonGoL InvASIonS (1170–1259) Goryeo suffered a major blow in 1170. A group of military officers, claiming to be enraged by the king’s frequent pleasure trips, overnight poetry competi- tions, and drinking sessions with his refined aristo- cratic friends, carried out a coup d’état. They slaugh- tered numerous civil officials and eunuchs, deposed the king and the crown prince, and put the king’s younger brother on the throne. The deposed king was soon assassinated by a general of slave origins. The coup leaders then appointed military officers to civil posts and made the supreme military council the highest council of state.

The military takeover of the civil government was a major turning point in Goryeo history. For a de- cade, military commanders, civil officials, monks, pirates, and low-status communities attacked the authorities and each other. The most dangerous

associated especially with Zhu Xi. The Yuan Dynasty court had adopted Zhu Xi’s commentaries on the Four Books for the civil service examinations in 1315, and several dozen Goryeo men studied them in China before returning to Korea. In 1344, the Four Books were established as a subject for study in Goryeo. Many eminent scholars admired Zhu Xi’s teachings because of their emphasis on the cultivation of virtue.

Printing came into wider use during the Goryeo period and was adopted by both Confucians and Buddhists to make their books more widely available. Korea led the world in inventing metal movable-type printing in 1234 (China had made movable type out of clay), but as in China most books continued to be printed by carving whole wooden blocks. A particu- larly notable printing project was undertaken from 1237 to 1251 as an act of piety to gain the aid of the cosmic Buddha in resisting the Mongol armies. It involved carving the entire Buddhist canon (Tripi- tika) onto woodblocks. Although the effort failed to stop the Mongols, it did result in the survival of many texts that otherwise would have been lost. The wood- blocks have been preserved to this day in the Haeinsa (HAY-in-sa) monastery near Daegu (DAY-goo).

History-Writing

History-writing also advanced in the Goryeo period with the compilation in 1145 of the History of the Three Kingdoms under the direction of the versatile Kim Busik. Earlier histories, including ones used to compile this text, were subsequently destroyed or lost, making this the earliest extant history of Korea. Kim borrowed the format of Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian (see Chapter 3) and like him made explicit historian’s comments.

The History of the Three Kingdoms was heav- ily influenced by Confucian values and traditions of didactic historiography. The biographies were designed to praise good and blame evil to guide future generations. Stress was placed on those who were loyal and subordinated their own interests to the public good, particularly those who died in battle in defense of their country. Kim Busik also defended the tributary system as the proper way to conduct re- lations with powerful neighbors. Despite his belief in the universality of Confucian ethical standards, Kim Busik justified the Silla practice of marriage between close relatives as a legitimate local custom.

One of Kim Busik’s favorite themes was that despite the division of the Korean people into three

Woodblocks of Buddhist Tripitaka at Haeinsa. Carved 1237–1251, Goryeo Dynasty. (© Our Place the World Heritage Collection, www.ourplaceworldheritage.com)

06475_ch10_rev04.indd 176 9/10/12 12:06 PM

Military Rule and the Mongol Invasions (1170–1259) 177

their rule, there were two slave uprisings, two popu- lar revolts on the eastern coast, attempts to restore both Silla and Goguryeo, and the revolt of a Baekje pretender. All were put down successfully, securing Choe family rule over Goryeo for four generations to 1258, but after 1216 their power was limited by the Mongols. The Choe regime resembled the Kamakura shogunate in Japan, except that it emerged from the capital guards rather than provincial forces (see Chapter 11).

The Mongols

It was during the period of Choe rule that the Mongols appeared near Goryeo’s northern bor- der (see Connections: The Mongols). The Mongols posed the greatest challenge to the survival of the Korean people that they had ever faced. In the 1210s, the Mongols gained control of Manchuria, push- ing Jurchen Jin commanders to the area around the Duman (DOO-mahn) River in northeast Korea, where they established an independent state. At the same time, a Khitan army moved south across the Yalu River to the Korean peninsula in 1216 to evade Mongol forces. The local population in northern Goryeo, who sup- ported themselves by hunting, weaving willow bas- kets, and sending their daughters out to become female entertainers (gisaeng, [GI-seng]), cooperated with the Khitans. The Goryeo government had never bothered to tax them or to register them for labor and military service, so when Choe Chungheon (CHAE JOONG- hyeon) imposed taxes on them for the first time, they decided to join forces with the Khitans. Choe, mean- while, overestimated the strength of his army and did not want to be bothered by reports of disturbances. We are told that he ordered the border commanders not to inform him of attacks unless at least two or three walled towns had been captured.

Not surprisingly, Goryeo government forces were repeatedly defeated. Some Khitan forces made it to the gates of the capital, and other units raided deep into the south. In 1218, three years after the Mongols had taken over the Jin Central Capital, they sent units south across the Yalu River in pursuit of the Khitans. The local Goryeo commander, Jo Jung (JOE-jung), joined in the Mongol operation in 1219 to mop up the Khitan force. The Mongol commander became friends with Cho and promised him that the Mongol– Goryeo alliance was so firm that it would last forever. A Mongol envoy arrived at the Goryeo court to re- quest a peace agreement, but the court officials were

uprising lasted from 1174 to 1176 and was led by the minister of war and concurrent magistrate of the Western Capital. The leader of the original coup was killed by the son of a newly risen military officer of merchant background.

The king then recalled his father’s assassin, Yi Uimin (E WI-min), to run the government. Yi Uimin, whose mother was a monastery slave and father a salt and liquor merchant, had worked his way up the ranks in the capital guards to the post of superior general, a prime example of the complete overturn- ing of the social order that characterized the period of military rule. Because his rule was marked by extreme corruption, domination of the court by eunuchs, peasant unrest, and a Silla restoration up- rising, it was no surprise when another commander, Choe Chungheon, staged another coup in 1196 and executed Yi, his whole family, and thirty-six high civil officials and military commanders.

Choe Family Dominance

Choe Chungheon demanded that King Myeongjong dismiss superfluous officials, confiscate illegally acquired land, carry out tax reform, and eliminate Buddhist influence and monastic money lending. When the king failed to respond to his directives, Choe replaced him with his younger brother, who obediently did as he was told.

After his death in 1220, Choe was succeeded by his direct heirs for several decades. The Choe family regime created a new structure to govern the country. The supreme agency was the military headquarters. Choe Yi (CHAE E) set up a personal guard with three thousand private retainers. The Directorate General of Policy Formulation handled security, and the Choe family sent its own tax-collecting agents to the prov- inces. Choe Yi’s Government Chamber took charge of personnel appointments, and his Chamber of Scholar- ly Advisers was staffed by rotating civil officials.

The Choe family maintained the civil service exami- nations for the yangban, many of whom intermarried with members of the Choe family. Choe Chungheon held writing and poetry contests. Still, some scholar- officials refused to serve under the Choes, particular- ly the Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove (whose name was borrowed from the escapist literati of the Period of Division in China), who wrote escapist po- ems as an outlet for their frustrations.

Choe rule had its share of turmoil. The Choe fam- ily deposed two kings and enthroned four. During

06475_ch10_rev04.indd 177 9/10/12 12:06 PM

178 Chapter 10 Goryeo Korea (935–1392)

GoRyEo UnDER MonGoL DoMInATIon (1260–1351) Khubilai, who became khan of the Mongols and em- peror of China in 1260, did not impose direct rule over most of Goryeo. Goryeo Korea, in contrast to Song China, was treated more like an Inner Asian power. The dynasty was allowed to survive, and intermarriage with Mongols was encouraged, even with the Mongol imperial family, while the Song Dynasty was ended and marriage between Chinese and Mongols was strictly forbidden.

The most severe blow came when Khubilai decided to invade Japan (see Chapter 11). In 1274, he ordered twenty-five thousand Mongol and Chinese troops and another eight thousand Korean troops and sixty- seven hundred sailors to begin the invasion of Japan after meeting up with forces from China. Koreans were required to build about nine hundred ships and pro- vide supplies for them. A huge typhoon the Japanese referred to as the “divine wind” (kamikaze) wrecked more than half the ships at anchor off Kyushu and forced the return of the expedition.

In 1272 the Korean crown prince married Khubi- lai’s daughter, the first of seven marriages of a Kore- an crown prince to a Mongol princess. Korean kings were looked on as “sons-in-law” of the Mongol emperor (even when that was not the exact kinship relationship). From this time on, the Goryeo royal house became more and more Mongol in its ways, to the dismay of many Korean yangban. Princes spent much of their time in the Mongol capital and with mothers and grandmothers who were Mongol, and they might well have more Mongol relatives than Korean ones. Many Goryeo kings chose to abdicate early and retire to Beijing, bringing a large retinue of Korean officials. King Chungyeol (CHUNG-yol, r. 1274–1308), the first to marry a Mongol princess, surrounded himself with interpreters of the Mon- gol language, eunuchs, inner palace functionaries, military officers with little education, scribes, petty clerks, and slaves. When Khubilai began prepara- tions for his second invasion of Japan, Chungyeol was much more cooperative than his father had been before the first invasion in 1274.

In 1279, Khubilai established ten branch secretariats throughout China as an intermediate level of Mongol military control over existing Chinese prefectures. He also established one in Goryeo, called the branch sec- retariat for the chastisement of Japan, to manage the

offended by the envoy’s arrogant attitude and wary of the Mongols’ reputation for cruelty.

The Mongols severed relations with Goryeo in 1225 after their envoy was murdered by bandits on his return from Gaegyeong. The Mongols de- manded that Goryeo sign a peace treaty and pay im- mense tribute. When Choe Yi, then military ruler of Goryeo, failed to respond, Mongol forces invaded Goryeo almost to Gaegyeong in 1231 before Goryeo sued for peace and agreed to disband its army, pay heavy tribute, and send five hundred young men and five hundred young women to the Mongols as hos- tages. The Mongols withdrew the next year but left military garrisons and governors behind. Because some of the Mongol governors were murdered later that year, Mongol forces again invaded Goryeo. The king, Choe Yi, and the court took refuge on Ganghwa Island, just off the coast near Gaegyeong, where they remained for the next two decades.

A year after their final destruction of the Jin Dynasty in 1234, the Mongols again invaded Goryeo. They wreaked tremendous destruction but they were unable to capture Ganghwa Island. The government did send hostages to them but also en- couraged individual commanders to conduct guerril- la warfare against the Mongols on their own. After Möngke became the Great Khan of the Mongols, he pressed the Goryeo king to leave Ganghwa Island, return to the old capital at Gaegyeong, then proceed to the Mongol capital to offer obeisance. After the king stalled for two years, Möngke sent an army in 1253 to enforce his demand. After Mongol forces captured several mountain forts and slaughtered the inhabitants, the king was inclined to surrender, but the Choe family head stopped him. Finally the king crossed over to the mainland from Ganghwa Island in 1254 and sent his second son to pay court to Möngke. When he quickly returned to the island, the Mongols charged the king with duplicity. The Mongols sent another army and over the next six years wreaked even more destruction. In 1254 alone, about 207,000 Koreans were taken captive, and the number of deaths reached new heights as starvation and famine spread throughout the country.

Choe Hang (CHAE HAHNG) was assassinated in 1257 by a cabal of military and civil officials and Choe family slaves. When his successor, Choe Ui, was also murdered the next year, Choe family rule collapsed, and King Gojong (GO-jung) sent the crown prince to the Mongol court as a hostage, tore down the fortifications on Ganghwa Island, and submitted to the Mongols.

06475_ch10_rev04.indd 178 9/10/12 12:06 PM

Goryeo Under Mongol Domination (1260–1351) 179

commoners, presumably to increase the population under the state’s control for taxation and labor ser- vice. King Chungyeol objected that the Korean cus- tom of hereditary slavery was so firmly entrenched that any attempt to change it could cause serious political resistance from yangban slave owners. The Mongols also objected to Korean marriages to close kin, including first cousins on both sides and even step-siblings with different mothers. King Chungseon, whose mother and grandmother were both Mongol, spent much of his time in Beijing and decided in 1308 to prohibit marriages between people of the same sur- name, as well as marriages to matrilateral cousins, at least among the royal house and the yangban.

Reportedly there were also thousands of foreigners in Korea during this period, many of them Mongols. Some new families rose to power by gaining favor un- der the Mongols. For instance, the Ki (GI) family gained influence at the Goryeo court after a woman from their family became the favored consort of the Mongol em- peror Toghun Temür (r. 1332–1370; see Biography: Lady Ki, Consort of the Mongol Emperor).

After 1350, the power of the Mongols was rapidly deteriorated, and King Gongmin quickly set about asserting Korean independence and restoring civil agencies that had existed prior to military rule and the Mongol conquest. His reform efforts were inter- rupted by frequent pirate attacks and by two major invasions by the Red Turban rebels from China be- tween 1359 and 1361. Nahachu, a Yuan official who took advantage of Yuan weakness to try to establish his own satrapy in Manchuria, invaded next. During his occupation of the capital, his forces burned the na- tional slave registers in the capital and the household registers of Gyeonggi province, thus weakening the government’s ability to levy taxes and labor service. After several months, Goryeo forces under Northeast Army commander Yi Seonggye (E SUNG-geh) (who decades later established the Joseon Dynasty) drove out Nahachu’s forces. King Gongmin returned to the capital, and he survived another coup in 1363 thanks to aid from a pro-Yuan commander. They also defeat- ed a division-sized force dispatched from Mongol ter- ritory by Empress Ki in 1363 to unseat King Gongmin.

By the time the Mongols were losing influence, the Confucian establishment in Korea was a force to contend with. The new breed of scholars was not satisfied with the hitherto limited role of Confucian- ism in Korean life and wanted nothing less than the transformation of Korea into a morally perfect Confucian society. One of the scholars Gongmin

second invasion. By this point, the Southern Song had been conquered, and the Mongols had several hundred thousand Chinese troops to use on new campaigns. The second invasion force left Korea with forty thou- sand soldiers, of whom ten thousand were Koreans, in 1281. An additional eighteen thousand Korean sailors manned the ships. They were joined by forces from China, but the second expedition was as ill-fated as the first. After six weeks, a typhoon destroyed the ships and rendered the army vulnerable to Japanese coun- terattacks. About one hundred thousand Chinese and Mongol troops and seven thousand Korean soldiers were lost before the survivors were recalled. After the failed invasion, Khubilai left the branch secretariat in place with authority to supervise the Mongol military colonies in southern Korea and manage defense in case of a Japanese counterattack.

The Mongols made sure the Korean kings knew who was in charge. Mongol emperors deposed Goryeo kings who failed to serve their interests in 1298, 1313, 1321, 1330, 1332, 1343, and 1351. Some kings were held in detention in Dadu (Beijing) to issue decrees in absentia. Insult was added to injury in 1343 when Mongol envoys arrested the Korean king for initiating reforms detrimental to Mongol interests. They kicked him around, tied him up, and exiled him to China, but he died on the way, a blatant act of maltreatment that energized the anti-Yuan Dynasty group in Goryeo.

As in China, once Mongol domination was firmly established, more and more people worked with the Mongols. Many Koreans vying for office and power gravitated to the Mongol capital at Dadu, where they established connections or passed the examinations to hold office in China. Contact between Koreans and those they met in the capital aided the spread of ideas and technology. It was during this period that Korea acquired from China knowledge of how to grow cotton and make gunpowder and from the Muslim world advanced mathematical and medical knowledge. The greatest impact, however, probably came from increased contact in Beijing with Chinese scholars. Korean scholars brought back with them new currents in Chinese painting, calligraphy, litera- ture, and, above all, the philosophy of the Cheng-Zhu school (Learning of the Way, dohak [DOE-hak]).

An interesting cultural clash occurred in 1300 when the Mongol official Körgüz tried to get King Chungyeol to reform the Goryeo system of slav- ery to conform to Yuan Dynasty rules by making all children of mixed slave–commoner marriages

06475_ch10_rev04.indd 179 9/10/12 12:06 PM

180 Chapter 10 Goryeo Korea (935–1392)

Lady Ki, Consort of the Mongol Emperor

B I O G R A P H Y

During the period of Mongol domina- tion, not only did Mongol princesses be- come Korean queens, but Korean young women were recruited for the harems of the Mongol emperors. The young woman who rose highest came from the yangban Ki family and was literate in Chinese. Her personal name is preserved in Mongolian only—olĵei Quduc.

From Lady Ki’s early years in the pal- ace, she allied herself with another Korean—a boy who had been taken to serve as a court eunuch. In his case, not even his Korean surname has been preserved—only the Mongol name transcribed into Chinese as either Pubuhua or Baobuha.

The Mongol emperor Toghun Temür came to the throne in 1332 at age thirteen. He was under the dom- ination of the Mongol grandee Bayan, who had his daughter made empress. Toghun Temür did not par- ticularly like her, much preferring the Korean woman who brought his food and tea, Lady Ki. She also bore him his first and only son in 1339. His first empress was killed when her father fell from power, and another Mongol woman was appointed empress to replace her, but the emperor was so attached to Lady Ki that he had her promoted to secondary empress.

Both Lady Ki and her eunuch ally Pubuhua are given credit in their dynastic history biographies for organizing the response to the great famine and epidemic of 1358–1360, when starving people streamed into the capital and corpses were piled on top of each other in the streets. Lady Ki asked Pubuhua to collect funds from the imperial family and others to pay for relief and burial. She must have given him many gifts, or encouraged the em- peror to do so, because his personal contributions are said to have included a jade belt, a gold belt, and two silver ingots, as well as 34 bushels of rice and 6 of wheat. When all was done, they had arranged for

the purchase of burial grounds and Buddhist funeral services for two hundred thousand victims.

Toghun Temür may have been very fond of Lady Ki, but he was not a particularly good emperor, and he was certainly not up to stemming the rapid decline of the dynasty after 1350. Lady Ki gradu- ally shifted her allegiance to her son. In 1356, the Goryeo king Gongmin had the temerity to slaugh- ter Lady Ki’s relatives, who had gained power at court because of their connection to her. She clearly saw this as a personal affront and asked her son to avenge their deaths. He had an army of ten thou- sand soldiers sent across the yalu to try to install a brother of Gongmin as king, but the army was badly defeated. By this time, the yuan armies had lost control of much of the country to rebels and in- dependent strongmen, so sending an army to Korea seemed perverse to leading generals, who forced the emperor to send Lady Ki out of the capital on the grounds that she was interfering in politics.

As the situation became more desperate, Lady Ki twice made use of Pubuhua to try to carry mes- sages to leading officials, asking them to help her force Toghun Temür to abdicate in favor of her son. By that point, power was held mostly by two rival Mongol warlords. In 1364, the warlord Bolod Temür marched into the capital. The crown prince fled, Pubuhua was executed, and Lady Ki was im- peached and confined to her quarters. The emper- or did not turn against her, however, and when the fall of the dynasty was imminent, he took her with him on the retreat to Kharokotum in Mongo- lia. He died two years later; how long she lived is not recorded.

Questions for Analysis 1. What did the Mongols gain by taking consorts from the

Korean royal family? 2. Are any of Lady Ki’s actions difficult to understand?

recruited was Yi Chehyeon (E CHAE-hyon) (1287– 1367), who had been traveling back and forth from Beijing for several decades in the service of earlier Goryeo kings and was a staunch supporter of Zhu Xi’s thought. With his help, Gongmin set up new schools to train officials in Confucianism, increased

the number of lower degree graduates in the civil ser- vice examinations, and appointed more degree hold- ers to office, especially to posts in the censorate.

Gongmin also sought the help of Buddhist monks, notably Sin Don (SHIN-don), who was given charge of the monk registers, the office of yin yang and

06475_ch10_rev04.indd 180 9/10/12 12:06 PM

Summary 181

Direct land access to China was cut off with the founding of the Khitan state of Liao, a situation that continued when the Khitans were supplanted by the Jurchens and then the Mongols. The sea route, however, allowed considerable trade between Song China and Goryeo Korea. Buddhism and Con- fucianism both continued to flourish. Books came into wider use with the adoption of printing. Goryeo Confucian scholars took an interest in new devel- opments in Song China, such as the growing influ- ence of Zhu Xi and the emphasis he put on the Four Books. The Korean family system, however, retained many of its earlier features, including tracing descent through both male and female lines.

Goryeo rulers had to contend not only with yangban aristocrats but also with the military, which took control over the government in 1170. From 1196 on, power was in the hands of generals of the Choe family, who deposed and appointed kings at will. The Choes, however, could not cope with the emergence of the Mongols. By the 1250s, Goryeo was under firm Mongol control. The Goryeo royal family spent much time in Beijing. Crown princes were required to reside there, and Goryeo princesses were often taken into the Mongol imperial harem. In the late Goryeo period, after the rapid decline of Mongol power in the 1250s, the king Gongmin was able to restore Goryeo political institutions and pro- mote Confucianism.

How different was Korea in the late fourteenth century than in the early tenth century, four and a half centuries earlier? After a period of extensive, active contact with Tang China, Korea had found itself separated from China by powerful Inner Asian states. During this period of close contact with In- ner Asian powers, the more Inner Asian side of Korea seems to have been allowed room to flour- ish, as seen in the ascendance of the military, violent succession struggles, and the pervasive practice of slavery. China remained very important but it was no longer the great power of the region. What we tend to think of as the great achievements of Song China, such as the burgeoning economy and high level of urbanization, seem to have had little impact on contemporary Goryeo. China became the source of books and ideas, of Confucian culture and such associated arts as printing and history-writing. Per- haps this encouraged Koreans to be more selective in what they adopted from China and more willing to develop in new directions ideas that had been borrowed from China.

geomancy, the Royal Guards, and the personnel bureau. Because Sin Don had no landed estates and no independent economic base, he was totally de- pendent on the king’s favor. In 1366, Sin Don was appointed director of the General Directorate for the Investigation of Land and Slaves to register every- one who had illegally been made a slave during the period of turmoil and all the land that the landlords had been hiding from the central government. These measures infuriated wealthy yangban.

When the Chinese rebel Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming Dynasty in China in 1368, the Mongols fled north to Mongolia. King Gongmin abandoned the Yuan year period and in 1370 accepted a pat- ent of investiture as king of Goryeo from the Ming founder. Meanwhile, the political tide in Goryeo had turned against Sin Don. When trumped-up charges were leveled against him in 1371, Gongmin with- drew his support, executed him, and purged about fifty officials. Sin Don had been placed in the im- possible situation of leading a frontal attack against the interests of the most powerful families without a political base of his own. Three years later, King Gongmin himself was assassinated.

SUMMARy During the Goryeo dynasty Korea evolved more in- dependently of China than it had for the past several centuries, in part, because it had to placate powerful non-Chinese neighbors. The commercial economy declined, and an increasing portion of the population was unfree; slaves worked much of the agricultural land in the hands of aristocrats and local magnates, and the government compelled others to work for it in mines or factories. Buddhism, however, continued to flourish. Military strongmen dominated the gov- ernment, but the armies were no match for the much larger empires to their north and had to accede to often-onerous demands, especially during the period of Mongol domination.

The Goryeo Dynasty lasted four and a half centu- ries. During the first several reigns, the kings made efforts to strengthen central control. The aristocracy remained strong, however, their economic power enhanced by a system of land grants (prebends). After 1020, Goryeo politics was dominated by an oligarchy of aristocratic clans who treated their land grants as private property and acquired large num- bers of serf-like slaves.

06475_ch10_rev04.indd 181 9/10/12 12:06 PM

182

Through the nineteenth century, China, Japan, and Korea all had hereditary monarchies. Rul- ers were viewed as divinely sanctioned; ritual

prescribed how others interacted with them; and powers behind the throne often controlled them, all features of premodern monarchies around the world. Beyond that, however, the monarchi- cal systems of China, Japan, and Korea were not especially alike.

First, consider the number of royal houses. In historical times, Japan has claimed to have had a single royal family. Since Korea was unified by the state of Silla in the seventh century, the royal house changed only twice (the Goryeo and Joseon Dynas- ties). In China, however, there were ten major royal families (Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui, Tang, Song, yuan, Ming, and Qing) and more than a dozen mi- nor ones. The frequent changes in Chinese ruling houses owes much to the concept of the Mandate of Heaven, which required a new ruling house when the existing dynasty lost Heaven’s favor. In Japan, the myth of the descent of the royal family from the sun goddess Amaterasu had just the opposite effect on people’s conceptions of kingship: not selecting someone descended from the royal line became unthinkable.

In all three countries, the office of monarch carried with it obligations to perform sacred rituals. In China, the key rituals—sacrifices to Heaven and the royal an- cestors—were described in the Confucian classics and thus were always considered part of Confucianism. In Japan, the ruler’s ritual responsibilities grew from the complex of early religious rites generally termed Shinto. In both China and Korea, Confucianism was also strongly associated with the authority of officials as critics of monarchs and their exercise of power. In China, this strain of Confucianism was countered by Legalist ideas that validated firm control from the center by the ruler, ideas that played a much smaller role in Korea and Japan.

Because succession to the throne follows principles of the family system, differences in the original family systems of the three countries also

can be seen in their succession practices. In both Korea and Japan in the years before 1000 (and in Japan a couple of times later as well), women from time to time succeeded to the throne as daugh- ters of the royal family. In China this never hap- pened. There was a strong preference in China for selecting an heir from among a ruler’s sons or, if he had none, from among patrilineal kinsmen of the same generation as sons. This not infrequent- ly led to the succession of young boys. In Japan and Korea, younger brothers more frequently suc- ceeded to the throne even when there were sons, which sometimes led to contentious succession disputes. When a boy became ruler in China, the normal practice was to have his mother or grand- mother serve as regent, perhaps a reflection of the great weight placed on filial piety to both parents. In Japan, boys most often became rulers because the previous ruler had abdicated, and for several centuries the most likely person to serve as regent was the father of the monarch’s mother or wife (normally from the Fujiwara family). In nineteenth- century Korea, when a series of boys succeeded to the Joseon throne, men from consort families served as regents.

Several times in Chinese history, the eunuchs who were supposed to be the ruler’s servants came to control the palace and access to him. In late Tang, eunuchs even installed and deposed rulers. Eunuchs played a much smaller role in Korea and none at all in Japan.

As adhering to Confucian norms became more important in Korea in the Joseon period, principles of succession came to resemble China’s (women no longer succeeded as queens, and succession consistently went to sons rather than brothers). The rituals the king performed also were mod- eled on the Confucian classics. Convergence only went so far, however. The power of the aristo- cratic yangban class kept the king in check more effectively than Chinese scholars did. Yangban aristocrats even dethroned two kings in the Joseon Dynasty.

M A K I N G C O M P A R I S O N S Monarchical Institutions

06475_ch10_rev04.indd 182 9/10/12 12:06 PM

183

C H A P T E R E l E v E N

Kamakura Japan (1180–1333)

Rise of the Warrior

Prelude to Kamakura Rule (1156–1185)

Military Government at Kamakura (1180–1333)

Documents: The Estate Stewards in legal Documents

Material Culture: Portrait Sculpture

Biography: Nichiren

The Mongol Invasions (1271–1281)

Fall of the Kamakura Regime (1293–1333)

The Kamakura period takes its name from the military regime estab-lished in the seacoast town by that name. (See Map 11.1.) Located a week’s journey northeast of Kyoto and flanked by mountains, Kamakura had none of the capital’s spacious grandeur. Instead it provided housing, offices, and places of worship for warriors. The task of awing visitors was delegated to the colossal statue of Amida and the Tsurugaoka Hachiman (TZU-ru-gah-oh-kah HAH-che-mahn) shrine to the god of war, guard- ian and protector of the Minamoto. The Kamakura regime sought not to displace Kyoto but to keep the peace and dispense justice while the royal court continued to perform essential rituals and ceremonies.

During the Kamakura period, new forms of literature and religion be- gan to supplement the courtly tradition. By the middle of the thirteenth century, improved agricultural technologies had overcome the stagnation of the previous centuries. Economic growth made it feasible to divide a family’s estate among all the children until the defense against the Mongol invasions of 1274 and 1281 exposed fault lines in warrior society. When they fissured some fifty years later, they brought down the regime.

Where did samurai come from, and what was the nature of the relation- ship between the Kyoto court and the military regime? What kind of roles did women play in samurai families; how did people’s beliefs change?

RISE oF THE WARRIoR The samurai played such a central role in Japanese history from the twelfth to the nineteenth centuries that he appears almost timeless. Yet his connections with monarchy and court, and what it meant to be a samu- rai, changed from one age to the next. Where he came from is a matter of debate. Historians once thought that the aristocracy started to ignore its responsibility for maintaining peace early in the Heian period when it stopped executing criminals, allowed the conscript army to disintegrate, and permitted provincial governors to hire deputies rather than forsake the capital. By the tenth century, disorder plagued the countryside. Men in the provinces, active in land reclamation projects, armed themselves in local disputes and turned to warfare to protect their interests. A substantial

06475_ch11_rev04.indd 183 9/10/12 12:21 PM

184 Chapter 11 Kamakura Japan (1180–1333)

dants. Under the regime of codes, they found a niche in offices at provincial headquarters as local strong- men.† Even when it could not control how or when it would be used, the monarchy retained the right to sanction military force down to the end of World War II. The monarchy also kept the privilege of conferring prestige through grants of rank and office.

A third interpretation emphasizes the difference in culture and values between aristocrats and warriors. Warriors originated as hunters in eastern Japan and sea- men along the Inland Sea whose occupations and values contrasted with farmers, who abhorred killing. Rather than reclaim land themselves, they took fields opened by others through forged documents or force. Instead of releasing captured animals in Buddhist rites that sought

†See Wayne W. Farris, Heavenly Warriors: The Evolution of Japan’s Military, 500–1300 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1992).

warrior class arose, and in the twelfth century it turned on a degenerate monarchy.

Historians today argue that the monarchy was a dynamic success, functional at least to the beginning of the fourteenth century and capable of manipulat- ing the samurai for its own ends. According to one interpretation, the monarchy deliberately encouraged new forms of military organization after the killer epidemic of smallpox or a similar disease in 733–737. Rather than support a large, ill-trained army, it hired professional mercenaries for police work and military protection.* Another interpretation is more evolution- ary: it claims that conscript armies never completely replaced Yayoi period (300 b.c.e.–300 c.e.) fighters and that military men of later times were their descen-

*See Karl F. Friday, Hired Swords: The Rise of Private Warrior Power in Early Japan (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1992).

Osaka Sakai

Kamakura

Sendai

Morioka

Heian

S e a o f

J a p a n

IZUMO

IYO

MUTSU

MIMASAKA HARIMA

SHINANO

HIZEN

KOZUKE

SUO

SATSUMA

KII

NOTO

MIKAWA OWARI

IWAMI ISE

OMI

KINAI

KANTO

TOHOKU _

_ J A P A N

KOREA

0 200 Mi.100

0 200 Km.100

Kinai region

Kanto region

Tohoku region

Traditional province boundary

Map 11.1 Major Provinces, Regions, and Cities in Japan

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch11_rev04.indd 184 9/10/12 12:21 PM

Rise of the Warrior 185

court, their high rank and distinguished lineage helped them attract followers. In political terms, the need to have success at arms legitimized by court approval, rank, and title always limited warrior autonomy.

Warriors fought with bows and arrows on horse- back. Their preferred tactic was to catch the enemy off guard, often in night attacks, and they violated promises and truces if that would gain them an ad- vantage. Honor lay in winning. Being of lowly rank, samurai felt none of the compassion a superior exhibits toward inferiors. They did not hesitate to burn villages and kill or enslave the inhabitants. The fighting season lasted from the fall harvest to the spring planting, and men stayed with the army only so long as they received rewards. They fought for personal glory and social advancement. There was no point in engaging the enemy if the commander was not watching or in risking one’s life against a lowly opponent. Samurai sanctioned by the court engaged not in conquest but in police actions. The goal was to eliminate rivals, not seize territory.

merit through freeing sentient beings, they hunted them for meat, for recreation, and to test their martial skills. In eastern Japan, they raised horses and practiced sha- manism. They dressed in iron armor and animal skins rather than silk, and many were illiterate. In the eyes of Kyoto aristocrats, they were rustic boors, hardly more civilized than the Emishi they were called on to fight.*

The verb samurau means “to serve”; the first samurai were warriors who held the sixth court rank along with scholars, scribes, and artisans. Other terms for fighting men did not imply service to the court. By acquiring court rank and offices, such as guard at the left gate, samurai distinguished themselves from commoners. Warriors either sought rank themselves or accepted the leadership of someone who did. When royal offspring or Fujiwara descendants moved to the provinces in search of careers that eluded them at

*See Eiko Ikegami, The Taming of the Samurai: Honorific Individualism and the Making of Modern Japan (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1995).

Night Attack on the Sanjō Palace. Taken from a picture scroll depicting the 1159 conflict, this scene of four warriors ganging up on a member of the royal court contrasts the clean- shaven courtier with men who resemble animals in appearance and behavior. [Night Attack on the Sanjō Palace, from the Illustrated Scrolls of the Events of the Heiji Era (Heiji monogatari emaki) (detail) Japanese, Kamakura period, second half of the 13th century Handscroll; ink and color on paper. Overall, including endpapers and jiku: 45.9 3 774.5 3 7.6 cm (18 1/16 3 304 15/16 3 3 in.) Image: 41.3 3 700.3 cm (16 1/4 3 275 11/16 in.) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Fenollosa-Weld Collection, 11.4000. Photograph © 2012 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]

06475_ch11_rev04.indd 185 9/10/12 12:21 PM

186 Chapter 11 Kamakura Japan (1180–1333)

managing more than five hundred tax-exempt estates, and amassing a fortune in trade with Goryeo Korea and Song China. Even before Kiyomori’s death, re- sentment that he had usurped aristocratic privilege had brought his henchmen under attack.

In 1180, one of GoShirakawa’s sons issued a proclamation ordering the samurai to punish Kiyomori. Although the hapless prince was imme- diately forced to commit suicide, this edict provided the justification for samurai and the warrior-monks of Kōfukuji to initiate a five-year struggle celebrated in legend as the Genpei (GEN-peh-e) War (1180– 1185). Minamoto no Yoritomo (YO-re-toe-moe) amassed an army in the Kanto region of eastern Japan and proclaimed himself Minamoto chieftain at a shrine to Hachiman. Other aspiring Minamoto chieftains also revolted against the Taira. Following Kiyomori’s death in 1181, the Taira still held the Kinai region around Kyoto and western Japan, but Minamoto forces dominated the Japan Sea coast and the east. Yoritomo’s cousin and rival chased the Tai- ra out of Kyoto, putting himself in their stead, but the court saw him as the boorish leader of a band of hooligans. GoShirakawa appealed to Yoritomo for help. Yoritomo dispatched his brothers Noriyori (NO-re-yo-re) and Yoshitsune (YO-she-tzu-neh) to fight under GoShirakawa’s banner while he consoli- dated his control in the Kanto.

Decisive battles in the Genpei War were few; most conflict erupted between kin in skirmishes that degen- erated into persistent lawlessness. Weakened by years of drought in western Japan, the Taira forces melted away. When the first Minamoto forces ventured too far west and remained too long, they too ran out of supplies. Yoshitsune, by contrast, proved to be a bril- liant tactician who quickly defeated rival Minamoto troops and immediately marched west against the re- maining Taira and the child monarch Antoku. Yo- shitsune’s string of naval and land victories against the Taira climaxed at Dannoura (DAHN-no-u-rah) at the lower end of the Inland Sea in 1185. The Taira chieftains were wiped out, and Antoku’s nurse threw herself into the sea with the child clasped in her arms.

MIlITARy GovERNMENT AT KAMAKuRA (1180–1333) While Yoshitsune was fighting battles, Yoritomo was building a power base in the east. In 1180, he sum- moned housemen and supporters to his residence to

PREluDE To KAMAKuRA RulE (1156–1185) Competition between and within the Taira and Minamoto lines characterized political conflicts of the twelfth century. Royal offspring with fol- lowers in provincial governors’ offices used their military credentials to gain access to power hold- ers at the center. The Minamoto became the re- tired monarch’s clients by serving as the leader of his personal bodyguard, but rival claimants to this position fought each other so viciously in 1106 that they left an opening for Taira no Tadamori, victor against Inland Sea pirates, to replace them. Access to the throne enabled Tadamori to obtain lucrative positions in the provincial governors’ offices in west- ern Japan and to promote Taira interests at court. His son Kiyomori (KEY-yo-moe-re) was to take the Taira to such heights that he rivaled the Fujiwara.

In the middle of the twelfth century, factional disputes in the Heian court merged with warfare that pitted family members against each other. The death of the retired monarch in 1156 turned his sons against each other. The retired head of the Fujiwara house wanted his second son to succeed him as chief- tain and regent, to the dismay of his first son, who already held these positions. The Minamoto too were divided between father and son. Only Taira no Kiyomori led a unified house. When rival claimants to the throne and the Fujiwara headship called on samurai to aid their cause, Kiyomori and the Mina- moto obliged in the Hōgen (HOH-gen) Incident of 1156. Marked by patricide and fratricide, it brought warfare to the streets of Kyoto for the first time. Ki- yomori won and received the fourth rank under the new ruler, GoShirakawa (GO-SHI-rah-kah-wah). In the 1159 Heiji (HEH-e-g) Incident, provoked by re- newed conflict within the Fujiwara house, Kiyomori eliminated his chief Minamoto rivals.

Kiyomori’s rise from an obscure branch of the Taira family to the grandfather of a ruler, followed by the Taira’s rapid collapse after his death, is the stuff of legend. Kiyomori intended to use his military dominance to replace the Fujiwara as the monarch’s controller. In 1167 he became prime minister, first rank, an unprecedented achievement for a samurai. One daughter bore the monarch Antoku (AHN- toe-ku). The other daughters married Fujiwara. Kiyomori’s kinsmen monopolized the bureaucracy, holding governorships for more than thirty provinces,

06475_ch11_rev04.indd 186 9/10/12 12:21 PM

Military Government at Kamakura (1180–1333) 187

military men to accept his rule in return for confir- mation of their holdings and rewards for defeating his enemies. The monarchy retained its prestige; Yoritomo ended up with a military regime.

After the Taira had been defeated, Yoritomo found new ways to perpetuate his claim to govern Japan. The defeat had not brought an end to disorder; local warriors continued to raid tax-exempt estates and interfered with the collection of taxes by provincial headquarters. To rein in lawlessness and reward his followers, Yoritomo began to replace Taira support- ers on estates by appointing estate stewards (jitō, G-toe) who were responsible for keeping the peace and forwarding the income owed Kyoto. Just as estate personnel remained administratively distinct from provincial governors, so did jitō remain inde- pendent of military governors. Each jitō received his own rights to income (shiki), and these shiki, guar- anteed by Kamakura, not by Kyoto, became the means by which Yoritomo rewarded his followers and demonstrated the necessity for his rule. In 1189, he defeated a family calling itself Fujiwara that had ruled a semi-autonomous state in northern Honshu for a century. This victory enabled him to reward a substantial number of followers with the position of estate steward and its attendant rights to income and to infiltrate his men into the provincial government. Although aristocrats and temples continued to be the protectors and proprietors of estates, the monar- chy’s sovereignty had been compromised. Yoritomo had taken over the policing of the entire country, and he had created a new office, the jitō, that be- came the backbone for his military.

Family Politics

After the Taira defeat at Dannoura, Yoritomo’s kin became his chief enemies. By executing Yoritomo’s elder brothers along with their father, Kiyomori had rid Yoritomo of senior rival claimants to chieftain of the Minamoto line. As architect of the Taira’s military defeat, Yoshitsune lacked only birth to qualify to head the Minamoto; Yoritomo’s moth- er was the daughter of a shrine official, whereas Yoshitsune’s was a servant. When GoShirakawa offered Yoshitsune the position of provincial gov- ernor and Yoshitsune accepted without waiting for Yoritomo’s approval, Yoritomo hounded his broth- er to his death. Yoritomo got rid of his uncle and his uncle’s children in 1186. He had his youngest brother, Noriyori, killed despite the latter’s pledge

witness his claim to jurisdiction over the east as lord of Kamakura by virtue of his distinguished lineage and the call to arms he had received from the now- deceased prince. Each then signed his name to an oath of allegiance under the scrutiny of the head of Yoritomo’s Bureau of Samurai. In return, Yoritomo promised to protect each claim to land and office. This oath began the process of differentiating the samurai as a self-conscious class. The estates and of- fices confiscated from men who might be expected to oppose Yoritomo, in particular the provincial governors’ deputies and Taira supporters, were used to reward achievements on Yoritomo’s behalf. Al- though Yoritomo usurped the monarchy’s authority to confirm landholdings and office, he did so only in terms of military personnel. Court officials and temples that had not sided with the Taira retained the rights to income they already enjoyed.

Yoritomo’s regime gained new legitimacy in the autumn of 1183. Years of poor harvests, a virtual blockade between eastern and western Japan, and re- fusals to pay rents and taxes had reduced the revenue owed the government, aristocrats, and temples by provincial headquarters and private estates. After ne- gotiation, GoShirakawa bestowed the fifth court rank on Yoritomo, and Yoritomo guaranteed the flow of income from eastern Japan. This official recognition of Yoritomo’s de facto jurisdiction in the east proved the springboard for him to assert it across the coun- try, but always as the monarchy’s delegate.

Once Yoritomo received formal recognition of his control over eastern Japan, he exercised it in ways that increased his power while benefiting GoShi- rakawa and the aristocracy. He intervened in land disputes, suppressed outlaws, and issued orders for payments to be made to Kyoto all across Japan, not just in the east. Several weeks after Yoshitsune’s first major victory against the Taira in 1184, Yoritomo informed GoShirakawa that he was now the emer- gency protector for the entire country. He claimed the sole right to raise armies, giving him a hold over the entire warrior class. He forbade the monarchy to reward any Minamoto man without his approval. He urged it to restore virtuous rule and to be care- ful of whom it appointed to be provincial governors. To assist the operations of provincial headquarters, Yoritomo appointed military governors (shugo, SHOE-go) who had the power to arrest bandits and pirates, punish traitors, and summon Minamoto housemen to serve their lord. He even dispatched deputies to western Japan to identify and recruit

06475_ch11_rev04.indd 187 9/10/12 12:21 PM

188 Chapter 11 Kamakura Japan (1180–1333)

insisted that marriages be registered, nor did it try to prevent marriages across classes. Sanetomo married a princess. The property women received or inher- ited from their mothers and fathers remained theirs and continued to link them to their birth families; it went with them in marriage, left with them at di- vorce, and was theirs to bestow on their children. Like their brothers, daughters competed for shares in the family estate and frowned when their parents had too many children. Given the potential for sib- ling rivalry, people without heirs turned to adoption rather than enrich a hated brother or sister. Adop- tion needed no ratification by the state. When a hus- band died without heirs, his wife, not his siblings, arranged for his successor.

Kamakura Shogunate

The office of sei-i-tai shōgun (SEH-e e tah-e SHOW- goon) meant little to Yoritomo because it designated a general with only temporary authority to raise troops and suppress barbarians. Yoritomo used it for three years after receiving it in 1192; thereafter, he accepted higher court office. The Hōjō acquired the title of shogun for the series of figureheads for whom they acted as regents and applied it retroactively to Yoritomo to legitimize their scheme. Historians of- ten use the term bakufu (BAH-ku-fu) to designate the military regimes between 1180 and 1867, but it is a nineteenth-century term that obscures the substantial differences between them.

In 1221, the retired monarch GoToba misjudged samurai support for the Hōjō and tried to rally war- riors around Kyoto to crush the Kamakura regime. Following his defeat and exile, the Hōjō extended their reach into western Japan. They confiscated estates belonging to GoToba’s supporters and gave them to estate stewards who fought for Kamakura. They stationed two members of their family in Kyoto to oversee relations with the court and ensure that no future monarch followed GoToba’s example. They obeyed the precedent set by Yoritomo in guarantee- ing local land rights. Across Japan, estate managers proclaimed themselves loyal followers of Kamakura in order to attack proprietor land rights and take over the office of estate steward. As the leaders of the samurai, the Hōjō wanted to have samurai declare themselves for Kamakura. They also had to prevent the fighting that their new followers provoked to gain income. Although the Hōjō and their chief sup- porters became provincial governors, neither they

of loyalty. After Yoritomo eliminated his kinsmen, nothing should have prevented his sons from suc- ceeding him.

In the competition not to overthrow social supe- riors but to displace kin, a man’s staunchest allies were his in-laws. Following his father’s execution, Yoritomo had been placed as a hostage in the Hōjō (HO-joe) family, followers of the Taira in eastern Japan. There he seduced his host’s daughter, Masako (MAH-sah-co). While Yoritomo was consolidating his power base, the Hōjō proved loyal supporters. His father-in-law even went to Kyoto in 1184 to get the court’s permission for Yoritomo to appoint estate stewards.

As Yoritomo’s wife, Masako exercised authority in his name, but she also promoted Hōjō interests. She drove away Yoritomo’s mistresses, lest their relatives replace hers. After Yoritomo died, Masako held together the coalition of housemen and allies who had pledged loyalty to Yoritomo. Their first son, Yoriie (YO-re-e-eh), succeeded Yoritomo. In less than five years, Yoriie so preferred his wife’s family that Masako and her father killed them all and forced Yoriie to abdicate. He died a few months later. The second son, Sanetomo (SAH-neh-toe- moe), then became lord of Kamakura with Masako’s father as regent. In 1205 Masako had her father ar- rested because he favored the children born of his second wife over Masako’s full brother. Masako and her brother made the Hōjō the dominant power in Kamakura and the wealthiest of the Minamoto supporters. When Yoriie’s son killed Sanetomo in 1219 and was then promptly executed, Yoritomo’s line became extinct. Only Masako provided conti- nuity. As her husband’s representative, she adopted an aristocratic infant to become nominal head of the Kamakura regime. When the retired monarch GoToba (GO-toe-bah) declared Masako’s brother an outlaw in 1221, Masako rallied Yoritomo’s sup- porters by presenting herself as his mouthpiece. Despite occasional attempted rebellions by the dis- gruntled descendants of Yoritomo’s allies, successive generations of Hōjō regents governed the samurai through children summoned from Kyoto. Although Masako preserved her husband’s legacy, she did so in ways that enriched the Hōjō.

Masako’s roles as wife, daughter, and sister suggest that women played a crucial role in military households. Marriage remained a private matter between a man and a woman, often marked with scant or no ceremony. The Kamakura regime never

06475_ch11_rev04.indd 188 9/10/12 12:21 PM

Military Government at Kamakura (1180–1333) 189

couple and confiscating their estates. Unlike previ- ous codes based on Chinese models, this code was based on precedent: the decisions made by Yoritomo and Masako cited in the text. When no precedent fit a particular situation, the judges were to rely on reason. In its provisions dealing with inheritance rights, the code made legal what had been custom- ary, including women’s rights. Women had the right to inherit property and the office that went with it. A woman could become the family head, and a wid- ow could become a steward. The code protected the rights of the monarchy to its income and added legal protection to the land grants made to stewards. The steward in effect owned his or her land rights and could do with them what he or she liked: buy, sell, or divide them among heirs.

Toward Intensive Agriculture and Economic Growth

As an unintended consequence of the tax-exempt estate system, farmers who held permanent title to cultivation rights as myōshu (MEYO-shoe) had an incentive to cultivate land more intensively. In Kyushu and western Japan, they grew two crops a year, rice and a lesser grain such as barley. Toward the end of the twelfth century, a hardier rice va- riety arrived from China that could be grown on previously marginal fields and that proved resistant to drought and cold weather. Farmers expanded their acreage by using upland areas for dry fields and orchards, and they stopped allowing fields to lie fallow. To keep land in production, they spread processed fertilizer—ashes, mulch, and manure. The spread and improvement in iron smelting technolo- gy to make armor and weapons also produced better plows and harrows. Pulled by draft animals, these tools tilled more fields more thoroughly. Irrigation canals regulated the flow of water to paddy fields, and human-powered water wheels lifted water from streams to canals. The result was higher agricul- tural productivity that more than compensated for population growth.

Intensive agriculture did not spread uniformly. In the east, only the northern lowlands of the Kanto plain grew wet rice. Mulberry leaves from trees on dry fields provided fodder for silkworms while flood plains supplied pasturage for horses. The central Kanto plain sheltered deer, boars, and bandits. Ar- eas separated from the core agricultural regions by mountains, such as southern Shikoku, southwestern

nor the estate stewards tried to seize territory. Final authority over land rested with the monarchy, and the provincial headquarters continued to administer large portions of it. The estate structure remained dominated by Kyoto and defended by Kamakura in a system of dual governance.

Neither Yoritomo nor the Hōjō instituted a government that would be considered fully fledged today. Yoritomo ruled through a household agency similar to the administrative offices in provincial headquarters, aristocratic families, and temple com- plexes. In 1225, Masako’s nephew Yasutoki (YAH- sue-toe-key) established a thirteen-member council composed of the senior Hōjō and the heads of al- lied families. It made policy decisions and appoint- ments and served as a court of last appeal. There was no public treasury. The thirteen councilors had their own sources of income as the stewards for numerous estates and as Kyoto-appointed officials holding court rank and office. People engaged in lawsuits paid the court costs that supported the judi- cial system; the residents of Kamakura paid fees for city administration; Minamoto housemen provided upkeep for the Tsurugaoka Hachiman shrine; and Yoritomo’s followers got their income from the rev- enues generated by the tax-exempt estates.

Legal disputes over land generated the most paperwork (see Documents: The Estate Stewards in Legal Documents). Conflict between siblings was common, and women as well as men brought suit. Newly appointed estate stewards wanted clarity in the extent of their authority over the farmers, their relations with the staff already there, and the col- lection of rents. When a steward took too much income for himself or interfered in the activities of the estate staff, the injured party in Kyoto appealed to Kamakura to restore its rights. For more than 150 years, judges in Kamakura made a serious ef- fort to maintain the status quo by judging these cases more or less fairly.

The Hōjō soon realized that disciplining the stewards required clear guidelines. In 1232, Yasu- toki published a new code, the Goseibai shikimoku (GO-seh-e-bah-e SHE-key-moe-ku) (a list of rules for making judgments), the first law code based on the norms of his day. Steeped in the Chinese classics, Yasutoki believed that government had to be just in order to be legitimate. Stewards had to be held ac- countable for unlawful acts. A steward convicted of starting a brawl, for example, would lose his estates. Adultery and rape were to be punished by exiling the

06475_ch11_rev04.indd 189 9/10/12 12:21 PM

190 Chapter 11 Kamakura Japan (1180–1333)

D O C U M E N T S

ordered to the residents of paddy and upland areas in Ryūzōji village, ozu-Higashi Gō, Hizen Province that Fujiwara Sueie (sue-eh-e-eh) shall henceforth be jitō.

Concerning the aforesaid place, and owing to Fujiwara Sueie’s hereditary claim, an order by the government-general for the island of Kyushu authorizing him to administer it was granted. However, a local chief of Kanzaki district, Shige- zane (SHE-geh-zah-neh), has reportedly been obstructive. Sueie did not join the Heike rebellion and served loyally, honoring imperial authority. Shigezane plotted rebellion as a Heike partisan, in itself a great crime. Worst of all, his failure to sub- mit formally before the Kamakura lord is evidence of a continuing sympathy for the Heike rebels. The import of this is outrageous. Accordingly, Shige- zane’s disturbances are to cease permanently, and Sueie is to hold the jitō shiki. Regarding the stipulated taxes and annual rice levy, the orders of the proprietor are to be obeyed and duty discharged in accordance with precedence. It is commanded thus. Wherefore, this order. 1186, 8th month, 9th day.

The chancellery of the shogun’s house orders to the residents of three districts— Iwamatsu, Shimo Imai, Tanaka—within Nitta estate, Kōzuke

Province that in accord with the last will of the husband, yoshikane (yo-she-kah-neh), his wid- ow shall forthwith be jitō.

The aforesaid person, in accordance with the will, is appointed to this shiki. As to the fixed annual tax and other services, these shall be paid in accordance with precedent. It is commanded thus. Wherefore, this order. 1215, 3rd month, 22nd day.

Concerning the estate manager shiki of Tarumi estate, Settsu province:

Regarding the above, the former estate manager Shigetsune (SHE-geh-tzu-neh) had his lands confiscated because of his Heike af- filiation [and bestowed on a jitō]. However, the palace woman Izumo-no-tsubone (E-zu-moe no TZu-bow-neh) has stated: This estate is a land first opened by my ancestors with an es- tate managership that is hereditary. Given this original-holder status, we request that the shiki be reconferred. Since it is difficult to ignore a suit lodged by a court person, the reappoint- ment will be made to this shiki. By command of the Kamakura lord it is decreed thus. 1204, 9th month, 6th day.

ordered to the jitō headquarters of Fukunaga Myō in Matsuura estate in Hizen province that

Underpinning the rise of the samurai was the office of estate steward (jitō shiki), a position central to understanding the nature of Kamakura rule. With it came rights to income that supported a military lifestyle in return for loyal service.

The Estate Stewards in legal Documents

Kyushu, and the regions along the Japan Sea, had smaller populations and fewer farmers.

Farmers included myōshu, responsible for paying taxes to the state and rents to proprietors, and their dependents. Although squeezed by estate managers and stewards, the myōshu’s cultivation rights made them wealthy. The dependents ranged from slaves to serfs to small holders. The Kamakura shogunate is- sued bans on trade in human beings several times in the thirteenth century, but professional slave traders continued to kidnap women and children, and people voluntarily sold themselves when they were destitute. (For a comparative discussion of slavery, please see the Comparison feature at the end of Chapter 21.)

Serfs called shojū (SHOW-ju) (those who obey) had their own parcels of land and huts for their families. They were not free in that their masters disposed of them in wills and deeds as though they were prop- erty. Small holders leased fields from the myōshu and tilled dry field plots that they had cleared from mar- ginal land. Because these were less likely to be taxed than rice-bearing paddies, they provided a measure of independence and a tiny income.

Although regional crop failures owing to drought or unseasonable cold continued to cause famines, demographic crises had become a thing of the past. Le- thal contagious diseases had become endemic, mostly killing children rather than adult workers. After 1189,

06475_ch11_rev04.indd 190 9/10/12 12:21 PM

Military Government at Kamakura (1180–1333) 191

forthwith undeveloped areas shall be opened and taxes paid from them.

Regarding this, a petition from the jitō and oth- ers states: “this estate is populous, but has too few paddy and upland fields. Accordingly, new fields should be opened and taxes produced.” In essence, the restoration of smoke from every house will mean prosperity for the village, and will also ensure the peace. you may open new land, as requested. During the first year of devel- opment, taxes will be waived. For the next year the rate will be one-half bushel per .294 acre of whatever the commodity being grown, with an increase of one-half bushel the following year, and ultimately a rate of one and one-half bush- els. As regards the miscellaneous obligations, a similar exemption will be in force. Should the newly opened fields become a pretext for the desolation of established ones, payment quotas will conform to those of the old fields, even in newly cultivated areas. As for the stipulated regu- lar taxes, these will be paid, without fail, into the estate warehouse. Also, the number of workers engaged in developing the new land is to be re- ported each year when the proprietor’s agents conduct their annual survey. In response to the petition, it is so decreed. 1229, 2nd month, 21st day.

Concerning a dispute of ōeda village, a hold- ing of Kashima shrine, between the Kashima priest Tomochika (ToE-moe- che-kah) and Nomoto Shirō Gyōshin (No-moe-toe SHE-row GEyo-SHEEN).

Although both plaintiff and defense have submitted many details regarding the above, it is evident that the land of this village was divid- ed in 1237 by mutual agreement. Nevertheless, Gyōshin now argues that because the 1237 compromise was effected through negotia- tions with an uninformed deputy jitō, the land should be totally controlled by the jitō, with rents paid to the shrine. Relative to the original compromise document, the statute of limita- tions has passed, with dual possession dating from 1237; it is thus very difficult to attempt to disrupt things now. Therefore, authority will be exercised in accordance with the 1237 doc- ument. By command of the Kamakura lord, it is so decreed. 1298 2nd month, 3rd day

Questions for Analysis 1. What do the documents here tell us about the

estate steward’s responsibilities and what this office entailed for him (or her), his descendants, and previous estate personnel?

2. What are the factors considered in settling lawsuits and promoting land reclamation?

3. When do women receive the right to hold office and receive income?

Source: Excerpt from The Kamakura Bakufu: A Study in Documents by Jeffrey P. Mass. Copyright © 1976 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Jr. University. All rights reserved. Used with the permission of Stanford University Press, www .sup.org.

warfare ceased to be a problem. A population of per- haps 7 million at the beginning of the Kamakura pe- riod had grown to roughly 8.2 million by its end and was more densely concentrated in western Japan than in other regions. The roads built by the state in the seventh and eighth centuries still centered on Kyoto.

In addition to aristocrats, clerics, warriors, and farmers, there was a large unsettled population. It included entertainers, artisans, traders, missionaries, prostitutes, fishermen, pirates, hunters, bandits, and various types of outcasts deemed polluted or unclean for reasons of disease, work with dead animals, or ill fortune. Fishermen and people of the forest paid tribute to the court with fish, game, seaweed, and wild

vegetables. Between the eleventh and thirteenth centu- ries, they received privileges from aristocrats, temples, shrines, and retired monarchs that authorized them to travel freely and avoid taxes. Artisans who traveled in search of raw materials and markets for their prod- ucts also sought the court’s protection. Female enter- tainers and prostitutes received licenses to travel and organized themselves into fictive kin groups under the control of female chiefs. Buddhist monks who scolded entertainers for leading men astray practiced same-sex relations to satisfy their sexual needs. Some tales that taught a moral lesson told of prostitutes who became nuns; in others, they were depicted as bodhisattvas who led men to salvation. Most outcasts enjoyed the

06475_ch11_rev04.indd 191 9/10/12 12:21 PM

192 Chapter 11 Kamakura Japan (1180–1333)

meaning of poetry collections in terms of Tantric Bud- dhism (a school that sought enlightenment through sex). Samurai modeled themselves on aristocrats in patronizing and building shrines and temples. In the history titled Gukanshō (GU-kahn-show) (Humble Interpretations), the Tendai priest Jien (G-ehn) ex- plained the court’s lack of virtue and the warrior’s rise to power in the context of the latter days of the Buddhist law. Temple-shrine complexes constituted one of the three power blocs, along with the Kyoto court and Kamakura regime. The relations between them were never stable, and the distinctions between aristocrats, warriors, and clerics easily blurred.

Outside the mainstream appeared teacher-monks who reformulated the principles taught at the Tendai headquarters on Mount Hiei and instituted new practices. They criticized the establishment temples for their superficial ceremonies and monastic deca- dence. They reached out to all believers, including women, and addressed female concerns, especially the issue of whether women could be reborn after death in the Buddhist paradise called the Pure Land.

Faith in Amida was already widespread when Hōnen (HOH-nehn) and Shinran (SHEEN-rahn) started preaching. Hōnen told listeners that Buddhism was available to all through absolute faith in the saving power of Amida. The best way

protection of temples and shrines or the court. Some performed police work for warriors while others ran inns where they offered hot baths to travelers. Even beggars were useful because they enabled the wealthy to perform acts of charity.

Buddhism

The six Nara sects, as well as the Tendai and Shingon sects, dominated mainstream Buddhism and religious life during the Kamakura period and they attracted some of the greatest minds of the age. A cult grew up around Prince Shōtoku for having spread Buddhism. Zenkōji (ZEN-co-g) in the mountains of central Japan had what was reputed to be a living statue that drew pilgrims from all walks of life, as did the bronze statue of Amida at Kamakura completed in 1252. Simpli- fied practices and teachings plus hope for salvation in the latter days of the Buddhist law contributed to Buddhism’s mass appeal. In 1245, a group of aristo- cratic nuns revived the Hokkeji (HOH-kkeh-g) nun- nery in Nara that had died out in the ninth century. Ceremonies that pointed to the mysteries of esoteric Buddhism spread to provincial temples; their audience contained commoners as well as nobles. Aristocrats drew on esoteric initiation rites in crafting secret tradi- tions to transmit poetic styles and explained the hidden

Im ag

e co

py rig

ht ©

T he

M et

ro po

lit an

M us

eu m

o f A

rt . I

m ag

e so

ur ce

: A rt

R es

ou rc

e, N

Shinran. The illustrated scroll of Shinran’s life portrays him expounding on his teachings as he traveled around Japan.

06475_ch11_rev04.indd 192 9/18/12 4:54 PM

Military Government at Kamakura (1180–1333) 193

Nichiren (NEE-che-rehn) opposed all forms of Buddhism that did not center on the Lotus Sutra. Only it offered the true way to salvation. He taught his followers to beat drums and chant, “Praise to the glorious teachings of the Lotus Sutra,” because the sutra’s title contained the essence of the sutra and the sutra contained the grand total of Buddhist teaching. Performing the chant made it possible to achieve buddhahood in this very body or at least ac- cess to the Pure Land. Salvation came through faith, not study or meditation. Calling on the Lotus Sutra could bring wealth and good luck for individuals and protection for the state. (See Biography: Nichiren.)

literature and Popular Arts

Buddhist beliefs permeated Kamakura period literature and the visual arts. A section in the seventh royally commissioned poetry anthology, the Shinkokinshū (SHEEN-co-keen-shoe) (New Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems), completed in 1206, was devot- ed to Buddhist poetry. The court-poet-turned-priest Kamo no Chōmei (KAH-moe no CHOE-meh-e) wrote about his life as a recluse in Hōjōki (HOH- joe-key) (An Account of My Hut) that explored the tension between his pleasure in artistic pursuits and his desire to renounce the world to seek salvation. The realism of portrait sculptures suffused Buddhist statues that served as a focus for religious devotion. (See Material Culture: Portrait Sculpture.) Picture scrolls depicted the battles that began the Kamakura period and the later Mongol invasions; they also brought to life the torments that await the unbeliev- er in hell. The classic war story Tale of the Heike (HEY-keh) begins by evoking the brief moment of existence expressed in the tolling of a temple bell. Moralistic tales recounted miraculous stories of the Buddha’s power. Even the chronicle Azuma kagami (AH-zu-mah KAH-gah-me) (Mirror of the East), which records the day-to-day affairs of the Kamaku- ra regime, dwells on Yoritomo’s and his successors’ pilgrimages to and support for temples.

War tales recounted the course of major conflicts. Tale of Masakado (Shōmonki, SHOW-mohn-key) contained historical documents along with stories and exciting battle scenes created decades after the event and credited Taira no Masakado’s defeat in 940 to arrogance. Yoshitsune was a favorite of story- tellers, from his youth in Kyoto where he challenged the Herculean warrior monk Benkei (BEN-keh-e) to his death in the mountains of northern Japan.

to achieve faith was not through pious deeds or religious study but by reciting “praise to Amida Buddha.” In 1207, Hōnen was exiled when some of his disciples proved too eager in taking his mes- sage to the ladies-in- waiting at GoToba’s court. Fol- lowing his death in 1212, his disciples created the Jōdo (JOE-doe) (Pure Land) sect. Shinran took Hōnen’s teachings to low-ranking warriors, the poor, and criminals. He preached that Amida had vowed to save everyone—sinners, murderers, thieves, the humble, and evil alike—even people who did not know he would save them. All that was required was faith. “At the moment that faith is established, birth in the Pure Land is also established.”* He rejected a monk’s life because cutting oneself off from the world in order to study and pray was meaningless. He married, had children, and encouraged his dis- ciples to do the same. He had not planned to start a new group, but after his death in 1262, his chil- dren and disciples founded Jōdo shinshū (JOE-doe SHEEN-shoe) (True Pure Land sect).

Hōnen and Shinran taught people to rely on Amida for salvation; Zen taught reliance on the self. Its teachers had such close ties with China and knowl- edge of the Chinese language that the shogunate used them as envoys to the Yuan (you-ahn) court. Follow- ing his training on Mount Hiei, Eisai (EH-e-sah-e) went twice to China and then settled in Kamakura, where he founded the Rinzai (REN-zah-e) school that uses riddles (kōan, CO-ahn) to concentrate the mind during meditation. By exposing the limits to ra- tional thought, riddles helped achieve enlightenment. Eisai became the shogunate’s master of religious ceremonies when he developed close ties with Hōjō Masako that brought the Rinzai school wealth and power. Dōgen (DOE-gehn) went to China for five years, where he studied Zen in what is now popular in Japan as the Sōtō (SEW-toe) school. Upon his re- turn, he taught that everyone has a Buddha essence, but it is concealed under layers of desire. To remove these layers, a person has to achieve an inner awak- ening through sitting meditation (zazen, ZAH-zehn). Chanting sutras and reciting the Buddha’s name were secondary. During his lifetime, Dōgen’s austere quest for absolute truth attracted few disciples.

*Quoted in Endō Hajime, “The Original Bōmori: Husband and Wife Congregations in Early Shin Buddhism,” in Engendering Faith: Women and Buddhism in Premodern Japan, ed. B. Ruch (Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 2002), p. 513.

06475_ch11_rev04.indd 193 9/10/12 12:21 PM

194 Chapter 11 Kamakura Japan (1180–1333)

Another category of tale is setsuwa (SEH-tzu-wah) (popular tales). The most famous, Tales of Times Now Past, compiled in the early twelfth century, con- tains more than a thousand short stories set in India, China, and Japan. The Japanese part has Buddhist tales, stories about aristocratic and warrior families, and anecdotes, many humorous, about ordinary peo- ple such as artisans, criminals, unhappy wives, and abducted ladies, as well as about animals and the supernatural. A later collection contains stories that trace the appearance of the supernatural in every- day life. Kokonchomonjū (CO-cohn-choe-moen-ju) (Stories Heard from Writers Old and New), compiled in 1254, contains folk stories, stories about the gods, and stories illustrating the Buddha’s teachings. There, Yoritomo’s pilgrimage to the mountain temple of Zenkōji reveals that its central statue was alive.

War tales and popular tales brought new classes of people into literature but they did not displace

Accounts of the Genpei War portrayed it as an epic struggle between the Taira and the Minamoto for control of Japan. Political intrigue and fierce battles filled these tales, as they did Tale of the Heike.

Tale of the Heike began as stories recited by blind storytellers to soothe the souls of the Taira who had fallen in battle. Accompanied by the lute, storytell- ers traveled across Japan to bring people to an un- derstanding of the Buddha by crafting miraculous and uplifting tales. Each generation of storytellers enriched the story, adding details and anecdotes, be- fore it was written down in the fourteenth century. Their accounts featured Kiyomori, entertainers, guards, widows, and a host of warriors. By speaking their names, the storyteller summoned the dead. By recounting their exploits, he pacified their spirits and sought to save them from hell. Heike illustrates the connections between humankind and unseen forces and the importance of karma in deciding one’s fate.

M A T E R I A L C U L T U R E

Portrait Sculpture

Sculpture in the Kamakura period took on new life thanks to renewed contact with the sophisticated statues of Song dynasty China, themselves indebted to the earlier import of Buddhist statues from west- ern and south Asia. Although many of the continent’s most famous statues were carved in stone or cast in metal, what distinguishes most Kamakura sculpture is its reliance on wood and its exceptional realism. From figures in the Buddhist pantheon to warriors to priests, all enshrined in temples or shrines as objects of ven- eration, the depiction of each individual is unique.

Sculptors of both Buddhist figures and portraits of famous people relied on the same techniques. They painted their work to make it as lifelike as possible. They never worked from a single block of wood; in- stead they carved different parts of the body sepa- rately and then assembled them, leaving the core hol- low. This made it possible to write inscriptions inside giving the sculptor’s name, when the work began, and how long it took, or to insert objects such as Bud- dhist sutras or a donor’s hair. The head too would be hollow to allow the insertion of crystal eyes, which constituted one of the defining features of Kamakura realism. In an effort to bring out the character that comes with age, sculptors carved graphic wrinkles on the face, sometimes to the point of caricature.

Hachiman. Hachiman, the god of war and the god associated most closely with Minamoto Yoritomo, is here portrayed in the guise of a Buddhist monk. [Kōshun, Japanese, 1315–1328. The Shinto Deity Hachiman in the Guise of a Buddhist Monk Japanese, Kamakura period, dated 1328 Japanese cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa) with polychrome and inlaid crystal; joined woodblock construction. Overall: 81.3 3 93.3 3 61 cm (32 3 36 3/4 3 24 in.) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Maria Antoinette Evans Fund and Contributions, 36.413 Photograph © 2012 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]

Ph ot

og ra

ph ©

2 01

2 M

us eu

m o

f F in

e A

rt s,

B os

to n

06475_ch11_rev04.indd 194 9/10/12 12:21 PM

The Mongol Invasions (1271–1281) 195

NichirenB I O G R A P H Y Born in a fishing village northeast of what is now Tokyo far from the tra- ditional centers of power, Nichiren (1222–1282) became the most notori- ous figure in Japan’s religious history.

Nichiren’s life is so filled with legend and so lacking in documentation that little is known of his early years. He received training at a local temple and at Kamakura before seeking higher education on Mount Hiei and Mount

Kōya. There he became convinced that the Lotus Sutra embodied the ultimate truth. Any other teach- ing was not just delusional, but harmful.

In 1253 Nichiren carried his message back to east- ern Japan where, thanks to his charismatic personal- ity, he acquired congregations of devoted followers, men and women, commoners and samurai. In 1260 he wrote his most famous work, Risshō ankokuron (RE-sshow AHN-co-ku-roen) (on establishing truth to bring peace to the nation) and submitted it to the retired but still powerful Hōjō regent. In it he blamed believers in the Pure land and Zen for the natural disasters that had afflicted Japan in previous years (the regent had retired to a Zen temple) and warned of worse calamities to come—unless the govern- ment stamped out false teachings, Japan would suf- fer foreign invasion. Although the Hōjō ignored the work, its contents became known. When Nichiren’s enemies tried to kill him, he attributed his narrow escape to the miraculous power of the Lotus Sutra. He continued preaching in Kamakura until the Hōjō had him exiled to Izu.

When the Mongols sent threatening letters to Japan, Nichiren took them as proof that he had been right. Returned from exile, he intensified his attacks

on other Buddhist sects and called on the government to create an ideal state based on the Lotus Sutra. He stirred up such controversy with his intolerant views that again he was exiled, this time to the island of Sado in the Japan Sea. Pardoned in 1274, he retired to a mountain west of Mt. Fuji, where he established a temple for the clerics he had ordained himself. To communicate with his followers, he issued pastoral letters, one telling a woman to continue reading and reciting the sutra even while menstruating because menstruation was not a source of pollution. He also taught them to welcome persecution because this proved that they were worthy of receiving the ulti- mate teaching reserved for those suffering through the last Days of the Buddhist law.

At the end of his life, Nichiren preached that the bodhisattva to whom the original Buddha had entrusted the Lotus Sutra now inhabited his body. Buddhism had arisen in India, but it reached its ultimate moment of truth in Japan. In the name he chose for himself, the character for nichi represents the sun as in the Japanese word for Japan, Nihon, the origin of the sun. Ren means “lotus.” Today the chant he taught his followers is engraved on a marker in Washington, D.C., and a new religion based on his teachings has established Sōka (SEW-kah) university in southern California.

Questions for Analysis 1. What made Nichiren a controversial figure? 2. Why are Nichiren’s teachings remembered today?

Source: Based on Richard Bowring, The Religious Traditions of Japan 500–1600 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp. 334–343.

the aristocrats who continued to compile poetry collections, keep diaries, and write essays in the manner of their Heian forebears. Fujiwara no Teika (TEH-e- kah) set high standards for poetic diction and kept a diary of distinction. His niece wrote Mumyōzōshi (MU- meyo-zo-she) (Anonymous Writing), which critiqued classical literature. In 1307, Lady Nijō (KNEE-joe) wrote a memoir that illustrates how the court continued to model its ceremonies on the past, although with more attention to drinking and sex. The Hōjō and their supporters at Kamakura avidly sought

training in the civilizing arts. They hired teachers from Kyoto, studied poetry, and immersed themselves in Buddhist texts.

THE MoNGol INvASIoNS (1271–1281) Starting in 1271 after the fall of Korea, Kamakura summoned the samurai to defend Japan against the threat of Mongol invasion. (See Connections: The Mongols.) Fierce fighting in 1274 proved that

06475_ch11_rev04.indd 195 9/10/12 12:21 PM

196 Chapter 11 Kamakura Japan (1180–1333)

FAll oF THE KAMAKuRA REGIME (1293–1333) The growing sophistication of the Hōjō underscored the gulf developing between them and provincial warriors. Every aristocratic or royal child brought to Kamakura to serve as the figurehead shogun had a retinue of cultivated female and male attendants. Yoritomo had emphasized austerity and simplic- ity; his successors led lives of luxury. They were also growing more despotic. In 1293, the Hōjō regent abolished his council of advisors. He and his suc- cessors exiled opponents, seized governorships, and had their housemen fill positions in the shogunate. In 1297, the regent announced an “edict for virtu- ous government” aimed at restoring land to impover- ished samurai, especially the stewards who had been forced to sell or mortgage their land over the pre- ceding twenty years. It was based on the notion that the sale of land did not mean that the original owner lost all claim to it; instead, a family that had worked land for generations possessed it by inalienable right. Under this ruling, former owners retrieved ancestral land. Any satisfaction they obtained was only tempo- rary, because it did not lessen their poverty and made it more difficult to sell land in the future. The former buyers were naturally annoyed. The result of the edict was to lose friends and supporters for the regime.

Dividing the inheritance among all the children was a major cause of the stewards’ impoverishment.

the Japanese enjoyed near parity in weapons and numerical superiority. Unable to prevail, the Mongols retreated, giving Japan time to strengthen its fortifica- tions before the second onslaught in 1281. Stone walls above landing beaches hedged in Mongol troops, and ships harassed their fleet. Fighting raged for almost a month before an epidemic ravaged the tightly packed fleet and a typhoon sank Mongol ships. The samu- rai then massacred the thirty thousand troops left stranded. In later centuries, the shrine-temple com- plexes that had prayed for supernatural intervention claimed that a divine wind (kamikaze, KAH-me- KAH-ze) had destroyed the Mongols.

The invasions made the shogunate a truly national government by extending Kamakura’s reach into Kyushu, but it came at a cost. Building defenses against the second invasion reduced food production. The Hōjō made promises of rewards they could not keep and pressured temples for money. They appointed new provincial governors in the west, all of them from the Hōjō family or its allies. Many of the war- riors from Kyushu who fought against the Mongols had not previously been subject to Kamakura rule. Their only reward was confirmation of their rights to the income from estates they already held. For warriors from western Japan who joined the battle, Kamakura announced debt amnesties, a tactic it also used to placate the shrines and temples that had prayed for victory. Because warriors fought not for glory or love of country but for reward, these returns were paltry indeed.

GENKAI SEA

HAKATA BAY

Mongol defense walls

0 5 10 km

FUKUOKA PLAIN

Map 11.2 Site of the Mongol Invasions

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch11_rev04.indd 196 9/10/12 12:21 PM

Summary 197

into political power resulted in a military regime founded at Kamakura. It rewarded its followers with the new offices of military governor and estate steward that provided institutional niches for sam- urai in provincial offices and at the ground level and gave them an identity as servants of the court. In the decades that followed, Kamakura guaranteed local land rights and adjudicated disputes between samurai stewards and aristocratic proprietors, sep- arate from yet dependent on the Kyoto court for its legitimacy.

A samurai wife exercised authority in her hus- band’s name, but she kept her parents’ name. Be- cause her inheritance came from parents and broth- ers, she was as likely to identify her interests with theirs as with her husband’s. Half-brothers and sis- ters were another matter. They had such different loyalties that they became a threat. Given the po- tential for sibling conflict, samurai women thus had to choose between parents’ interests and husbands’ interests in designating an heir.

The most popular forms of Buddhism today ap- peared in the Kamakura period. The Pure Land sect, the True Pure Land sect, Zen, and Lotus Sutra sects have followers not just in Japan but around the world. Only Zen teaches that an individual can gain enlightenment on his or her own; all the others urge reliance on outside help—either Amida or the Lotus Sutra. Buddhist belief that life is as fleeting as the tolling of a bell permeated the visual arts and literature while attempts to dramatize the Buddha’s charisma led to portrait sculptures that have lasted for centuries.

How did Japan change in the Kamakura period? Measures taken in Kamakura for settling disputes re- sulted in the creation of a new law code based more on local needs than on Chinese precedents. While aristocrats continued to write in the style of their Heian forbearers, anonymous storytellers appeared who recounted the deeds of warriors and ordinary people. Increases in agricultural production laid the foundation for an increase in trade and manufactur- ing. One practice that did not carry forward was the division of family assets among all children and female economic autonomy.

When each received a portion, the result was to ex- pand the size of the warrior class without expanding the income at its disposal. Bequeathed an inadequate share, stewards fell into debt and had to mortgage their rights to income. Although the inheritance could be divided, the obligation to fulfill the duties of military service to Kamakura was not divisible. Even women had to field a warrior on horseback should the need arise.

Generations had passed since Yoritomo had re- warded supporters by making them estate stewards. Their descendants stayed on their land unless a law- suit called them to Kamakura. In 1285, the Hōjō regent decided that the shogunate would no longer intervene in disputes between its retainers and Kyoto aristocrats. Instead litigants had to seek redress from Kyoto, a move that increased conflict between members of the two centers. This decision estranged Kamakura from its followers in the provinces. With Kamakura now reluctant to guarantee land rights, support for it weakened.

Challenges to the shogunate multiplied in the early fourteenth century. Stone-throwing brawls had long erupted in Kyoto on festival days, but in Kamakura in the early 1300s, they turned into gang warfare. Bands of mounted bandits ravaged the provinces of central Japan, sometimes in league with estate stew- ards who refused to send income to protectors and proprietors. Pirates attacked coastal settlements, carried off goods, and enslaved the inhabitants. The swell of disorder suggested to people both high and low that they could act with no fear of consequences.

SuMMARy Historians do not agree on whether to trace the samurai back to the Yayoi period, hunters in eastern Japan, or hired mercenaries. What they do know is that by the twelfth century, bands of warriors led by royal offspring from the capital had injected them- selves into court politics with disastrous results for the aristocrats’ income from tax-exempt estates. The conflict between the Taira and Minamoto over different strategies for translating military force

06475_ch11_rev04.indd 197 9/10/12 12:21 PM

198

C H A P T E R T w E l v E

China Under Mongol Rule (1215–1368)

The Mongol Conquest of the Jin and Xia Dynasties

The Mongol Conquest of the Southern Song

Documents: The luoluo

life in China Under the Mongols

Biography: Hao Jing, Imprisoned Envoy

Material Culture: Blue-and-white Porcelain

Making Comparisons: Food Cultures

The Mongols conquered China in successive campaigns stretching over seven decades. Even the non-Chinese rulers of north China, the Tanguts and Jurchens, themselves horsemen proud of their reputation as fierce fight- ers, had to submit to the superior striking force of the Mongols. Although the Mongols brought massive destruction in their early campaigns, by the time of Khubilai (r. 1360–1394), they had become more sophisticat- ed administrators. Because Mongols and people from elsewhere in Asia occupied a large share of administrative posts, the traditional elite of Confucian-educated men generally had to turn to other occupations.

Scholars of this period have devoted much of their energy to work- ing out the political and military history of the age. How did Jin and Song officials organize resistance, and why did it fail? What policies did the Mongols put in place? Why did the Yuan Dynasty in China fail to last even two centuries? Another set of questions revolves around how Chinese coped with the Mongol presence. Did the experience of bitter defeat have any long-term effects on Chinese culture? What was going on in society at local levels, beyond the purview of Mongol rulers?

THE Mongol ConqUEST oF THE JIn AnD XIA DynASTIES North China fell to the Mongols early in Chinggis’s (Ching-gis) cam- paigns. Chinggis had raided Jin territory in 1205 and 1209 and launched a major campaign in 1211. He led an army of about 50,000 bowmen, and his three sons led another of similar size. The Jin, with 150,000 cavalry, mostly Jurchen, and more than 300,000 Chinese infantrymen, thought they had the strongest army known to history. Yet Mongol tactics frustrat- ed them. The Mongols would take a city, plunder it, and then withdraw, letting Jin take it back and deal with the food shortages and destruction. Both the Jin Western Capital (modern Datong) and their Central Capital (Beijing, bay-jing) were taken this way more than once.

06475_ch12_rev04.indd 198 9/10/12 12:25 PM

The Mongol Conquest of the Jin and Xia Dynasties 199

alliances with Jin and Song. Chinggis eventually decided that Xia had failed to live up to the terms of its submission to the Mongols and personally led a large force into Xia territory in 1226. It only enraged Chinggis when Xia soldiers fought well; in response, he had his generals systematically destroy Xia, city by city. Chinggis himself led the final siege of the capital, which valiantly held out for five months. Chinggis died during the siege, but his death was kept secret. When the Xia ruler offered to surrender, he was persuaded to walk out of the capital with a small entourage. Perhaps because he was held in some way responsible for Chinggis’s death, he was promptly hacked to death, and the Mongol troops, on entering the city, did their best to slaughter every living being in it.

During this period north China suffered enormous destruction. Mongol armies did not try to control territory; they only plundered it. Sometimes they slaughtered the entire population of a town, and even when people were not slaughtered, they were frequently seized like their cattle and enslaved. The Mongols began by giving out large chunks of land as fiefs to generals, both Mongols and allies. This did not lead to orderly government, however, because the fief holders were generals on campaigns else- where. With no one maintaining order, farmers suf- fered the depredations not only of Mongol soldiers but also of bandits, rebels, and local defense forces.

Ögödei’s Mongol advisers proposed turning much of north China into pastureland. Yelü Qucai offered the counterargument that the Mongols should leave the Chinese farmers in place because great wealth could be extracted from them through equitably col- lected taxation. He calculated that the Mongols could raise revenues of 500,000 ounces of silver, 80,000 bolts of silk, and more than 20,000 tons of grain by direct taxation of subjects. He was given authoriza- tion to put his tax plan into effect, but before it had much chance to show its benefits, Yelü’s rivals con- vinced Ögödei that an even more lucrative way to raise revenue was to let Central Asian Muslim mer- chants bid against each other for licenses to collect taxes. To the Chinese, these Central Asian tax farmers were even more oppressive than the Mongol lords.

Some Chinese who had served the Jurchen refused to serve the Mongols out of loyalty to the defeated dynasty. Yuan Haowen (ywan how-won) (1190– 1257) passed the examinations in 1221 and served in Kaifeng during Jin’s final struggle. When Kaifeng fell, he wrote a letter to Yelü Qucai, asking that

Jin did not have stable leadership during this crisis. In 1213 a Jurchen general murdered the Jin emperor and put another on the throne, only to be murdered himself two months later. In 1214, Jin negotiated a humiliating peace with Chinggis, who then with- drew his armies from the Central Capital. The new Jin emperor decided that the Central Capital was too vulnerable, so he moved the court to the Southern Capital, Kaifeng, bringing thirty thousand carts of documents and treasures (reversing the journey north of 1126). Because Chinggis thought Jin had agreed to vassal status, he interpreted the transfer of the capital as revolt. When the Central Capital fell in 1215, it was sacked and burned. From then on, Jin controlled little more than a province-sized territory around Kaifeng.

The rump Jin state, hoping to expand to the south, attacked Song from 1216 to 1223. The next Jin emperor concentrated on defending against the Mongols, but in 1229, when the new khan, Ögödei, sent the main Mongol army to destroy Jin, Jin could barely slow their advance and succumbed by 1234.

As the Mongols captured Jin territory, Chinggis re- cruited more and more Chinese and Khitans into his armies, arguing that they had little reason to be loyal to the Jurchen. Chinese soldiers and generals were in- corporated into Mongol armies, and literate Chinese were given clerical jobs. Chinese also were put to work as catapult operators during sieges. In 1218 the Mongol commander leading the north China cam- paigns recommended to Chinggis a well-educated and highly sinicized Khitan named Yelü Qucai (yeh- lew chyu-tsy). Chinggis is said to have addressed him, “Liao and Jin have been enemies for generations; I have taken revenge for you.” Yelü had the courage to disagree: “My father and grandfather have both served Jin respectfully. How can I, as a subject and son, be so insincere in my heart as to consider my sov- ereign and my father as enemies?”* Chinggis, admir- ing his forthrightness, took him into his entourage. Yelü served the Mongols for the next twenty-five years, patiently trying to get them to see the benefits of ruling their Chinese subjects in Chinese ways.

The Tangut Xia Dynasty suffered much the same fate as Jin. Early on, in 1209, Xia submitted to Chinggis and agreed to help the Mongols attack Jin, but during the next dozen years also tried to secure

*Igor de Rachelwiltz et al., eds., In the Service of the Khan: Eminent Personalities of the Early Mongol-Yuan Period (1200– 1300) (Wiesbaden: Harrossowitz, 1993), p. 140.

06475_ch12_rev04.indd 199 9/10/12 12:25 PM

200 Chapter 12 China Under Mongol Rule (1215–1368)

Mongols were busy extending their conquests into Central Asia, Persia, and Russia. Song therefore had more time to prepare and the Mongols more time to learn how to deal with south China.

Khubilai

The man behind the final conquest of the Song was Khubilai (b. 1215), a grandson of Chinggis, son of his youngest son, Tolui. In Khubilai’s youth, his uncle Ögödei was Great Khan (r. 1229–1241), and succes- sion went to Ögödei’s descendants until 1251, when Khubilai’s elder brother Möngke became Great Khan.

In the 1240s, Khubilai spent much of his time in Mongolia. One of the Chinese who came to call on him there was Liu Bingzhong (lyou bing-jung) (1216–1274), a believer in Three Teachings syncre- tism (which drew from Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism). Khubilai appointed Liu as a major ad- viser, and Liu in turn introduced Khubilai to many other Chinese, both generals and scholars. From them, Khubilai came to understand that the repeated plundering of north China had greatly reduced its worth and that letting Mongol lords make the resi- dents of their lands slaves had impoverished the so- ciety and made it practically ungovernable.

In 1251, Khubilai was assigned control of all north China, and he put in place a much more Chinese style of government. Khubilai never learned to read Chinese and did not identify with Chinese culture but he did come to appreciate that China could be exploited most effectively through Chinese methods. In 1254, Möngke sent Khubilai to lead a campaign south from Sichuan into Yunnan, where he defeated the independent country of Dali (dah-lee), incorpo- rating this region into China for the first time. (See Documents: The Luoluo.) When Khubilai was en- raged at the resistance of the king of Dali, a Chinese adviser convinced him not to slaughter the popula- tion for the faults of their ruler by reminding him of a passage in which Mencius asserted that only some- one “who takes no pleasure in killing people” would be able to unify the realm (Mencius 1A6).

Möngke died in 1259 during a campaign against Song. His death brought the campaign to a close as the Mongols headed north to select a new khan. Be- fore a full assembly met, however, Khubilai declared himself the successor. Elsewhere, his younger broth- er Arigh Böke did the same thing. It took a four- year civil war to end this dispute in Khubilai’s favor. In 1264, Khubilai constructed a new capital at the

fifty-four men of letters be spared by the Mongols. He himself was interned for two years; on his re- lease, he devoted himself to collecting materials for a history of the Jin Dynasty. A poet, he also wrote poems on the fall of the Jin. He viewed continuing to write as a way to preserve Chinese civilization. The following poem, “Crossing the Yellow River, June 12,” describes what he saw around the time Kaifeng fell:

White bones scattered

like tangled hemp,

how soon before mulberry and catalpa

turn to dragon-sands?

I only know north of the river

there is no life:

crumbled houses, scattered chimney smoke

from a few homes.*

Other Chinese subjects of the Jin took a different attitude. From experience with the Jin, they knew that the Chinese would fare better if Chinese were the ad- ministrators and could shield Chinese society from the most brutal effects of Mongol rule. Therefore, many Jin officials willingly served the Mongols. Some dedicated Confucian scholars such as Xu Heng (shyu huhng) devoted themselves to the task of teaching Mongol rulers the principles of Confucian government.

THE Mongol ConqUEST oF THE SoUTHERn Song The Song Dynasty had plenty of time to get ready to fight the Mongols. They knew of the Mongols’ con- quests of both Xia and Jin. In the 1230s, the Mongols had also attacked Sichuan, under Song control, and refugees from Sichuan brought stories of the horror of the Mongol advance. Song knew it had to raise rev- enues and prepare its armies for a fearsome enemy. In a desperate attempt to raise revenues, an activist chancellor confiscated parts of the lands of the rich, leading to the disaffection of important segments of the population. But the attack did not come when expected in the 1240s or 1250s, a period when the

06475_ch12_rev04.indd 200 9/10/12 12:25 PM

The Mongol Conquest of the Southern Song 201

Once Xiangyang fell to the Mongols in 1273, the Mongol general Bayan (1237–1295) was put in charge of the invasion of the south. He led an army of 200,000, mainly Chinese. Victory was of- ten achieved without fighting: generals who had al- ready gone over to the Mongols were sent ahead to persuade Song commanders of the wisdom of sur- render. At one point, the Song chancellor, Jia Sidao (jya sih-dow), personally led an army of 130,000 and a navy of twenty-five hundred ships to keep the Mongols from entering the lower Yangzi region. The Mongols, landing their cavalry on both sides of the river and using catapults to destroy Song ships, still prevailed. Jia was dismissed from office and soon killed by angry local officials.

Although by the 1260s many Chinese in the north were working for the Mongols, Song officials and the educated class more generally tended to see in the Mongols the greatest threat Chinese civilization had ever faced. As Song officials readied themselves for the inevitable onslaught, many committed them- selves to an all-out effort. That China had survived rule by non-Chinese before did not allay their fears. The Mongols seemed more savage and less likely to protect key features of Chinese culture and tradition than any previous foe.

Although Song had generals willing to resist to the bitter end, it lacked adequate leadership. The emper- or at the time was a child, and the advisers to the em- press dowager spent much of their energy opposing each other’s plans. By the time the Mongol armies crossed the Yangzi in 1275, the empress dowager was reduced to calling on the people to rise up and fight the invading barbarians. Although some two hundred thousand recruits responded to the call, they were no match for the battle-hardened Mon- gols. The Mongols also had the advantage of scare tactics. To frighten Hangzhou into submitting with- out a fight, on the way there the Mongols ordered the total slaughter of the city of Changzhou (chahng- joe). The ploy worked. The empress dowager, want- ing to spare the people of the capital, surrendered. She, the child emperor, and other members of the Song imperial family were taken north to Beijing as hostages. Song loyalists, however, held out for three more years, placing young children from the Song imperial family on the throne. The final battle oc- curred off the coast of Guangdong (gwahng-dung) province. Many Chinese fled into Vietnam, which the Mongols soon unsuccessfully attacked with an army of recently defeated Chinese soldiers.

site of the Liao and Jin capitals. This capital, Dadu (dah-doo) (modern Beijing), became the main capital of the khanate of the Great Khan, which stretched from Mongolia through north China and Korea. In the 1270s, Khubilai began more concerted efforts to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the Chinese. In 1271, he adopted the Chinese name Yuan (“primal”) for the Mongols’ state in China, casting it as a dynasty to the Chinese. He explained the choice of the word yuan by reference to a passage from the ancient Book of Changes. Although the Yuan retained the tradi- tional Chinese county and prefectural governments, it added a new higher level, the province, which had the authority to handle much of government busi- ness on its own, without seeking approval from the central government.

Crossing the yangzi River

Many non-Chinese groups had gained control of north China in the past, from the Xianbei of the Northern Wei to the recent Khitans and Jurchens. None of them, however, had been able to secure con- trol of any territory south of the Yangzi River, in no small part because cavalry were of little advantage in a land crisscrossed with streams and canals. More- over, controlling the Yangzi required a navy. When Jin had conquered Shu in the third century and Sui had conquered the last of the Southern Dynasties in the sixth century, the first step to conquest of the south had been the construction of a fleet of ships large enough to contest control of the Yangzi River. By the 1260s, the Mongols had plenty of Chinese ad- visers to explain this to them. They soon put Chinese shipbuilders to work building a fleet. Khubilai also sent envoys to Song to urge them to surrender (see Biography: Hao Jing, Imprisoned Envoy).

In 1268, the Mongols set siege to Xiangyang (shyahng-yahng), a major city on a northern tribu- tary leading into the Yangzi River. Both sides saw this city as the key to control of the river; as a con- sequence, the siege lasted five years. Each side had thousands of boats and tens of thousands of troops. The Mongols’ force was multiethnic, with Chinese, Uighur, Persian, Jurchen, and Korean experts in siege warfare and naval tactics. Muslim engineers demonstrated their superior catapults, which could throw rocks weighing up to a hundred pounds each. To keep the residents of the city from starving, the Chinese fleet regularly ran the blockade to ferry food supplies into the city.

06475_ch12_rev04.indd 201 9/10/12 12:25 PM

202 Chapter 12 China Under Mongol Rule (1215–1368)

D O C U M E N T S

The luoluo [yi] are also known as the wu Man or Black Barbarians.

The men put their hair up in a coil and pluck their facial hair or shave their heads. They carry two knives, one at each side, and enjoy fight- ing and killing. when a disagreement arises among fathers and sons and among brothers, they are known to attack each other with mili- tary weapons. Killing is taken lightly, and they consider it a sign of valor. They prize horses with cropped tails, their saddles have no trap- pings, and their stirrups are carved from wood in the shape of a fish’s mouth to accommodate the toes.

The women wear their hair down and wear cotton clothing, and the wealthy wear jew- elry and embroidered clothes; the humble are garbed in sheepskin. They ride horses side- saddle. Unmarried girls wear large earrings and

cut their hair level with their eyebrows, and their skirts do not even cover their knees. Men and women, rich and poor, all wear felt wraps and go barefoot, and they can go as long as one year without washing face or hands.

It is the custom of husbands and wives not to see each other during the day, but only to sleep together at night. Children as old as ten sui most likely have never seen their father. wives and concubines are not jealous of each other. Even the well-to-do do not use padding on their beds, but just spread pine needles on the ground with only a layer of felt and mat. Marriages are arranged with the maternal un- cle’s family, but if a suitable partner cannot be found, they can look elsewhere for a match. when someone falls ill, they do not use medi- cine, but instead call in a male shaman, who is known as the daxipo. He uses chicken bones

The region of modern Yunnan province in southwest China became part of China for the first time during the Yuan period, after the Mongols conquered it. During Tang and Song times, this region was ruled by the independent kingdoms of Nanzhao and Dali. In 1301 the Chinese official Li Jing was given the post of deputy pacification commissioner for the northwest corner of Yunnan and neighboring Guizhou (gway-joe). After two years there, he wrote a treatise on the many different ethnic groups of the area, with particular attention to where they stood on a continuum from “raw” to “cooked”— that is, how civilized they were. In this passage, he describes the Luoluo (law-law). Also called the Yi, the Luoluo remain a major ethnic group in the area.

The luoluo

Prominent among the Song loyalists was Wen Tianxiang (won tyen-shyahng), a poet and official who took up arms. Long after there was any real chance of driving the Mongols out, Wen kept fighting, withdraw- ing farther and farther south. Even after he was captured, he resisted all inducements to serve in the Yuan govern- ment, preferring execution to serving the Mongols.

lIFE In CHInA UnDER THE MongolS Life in China under the Mongols was much like life in China under earlier alien rulers. Once order was restored, people did their best to get on with their

lives. Some suffered real hardship. Many farmers had their lands expropriated; others were forced into slavery or serfdom, perhaps transported to a distant city, never to see their family again. Yet people still spoke Chinese, followed Chinese customary practic- es in arranging their children’s marriages or dividing their family property, made offerings at local tem- ples, celebrated New Year and other customary fes- tivals, and turned to local landowners when in need. Teachers still taught students the classics; scholars continued to write books; and books continued to be printed. (See Color Plate 16.)

The Mongols, like the Khitans and Jurchens before them, did not see anything particularly desirable in

06475_ch12_rev04.indd 202 9/10/12 12:25 PM

Life in China Under the Mongols 203

to divine good and evil fortunes. The tribal leader always has the shaman at his side, and he must consult the shaman to make a final decision in all matters great and small.

A woman who is about to get married must first have relations with the shaman, and then “dance” with all the groom’s brothers. This custom is known as “making harmony.” only after that can she be married to her hus- band. If any one of the brothers refuses to go along with this custom, he will be regarded as unrighteous and everyone will be disgusted with him.

The first wife is known as the naide, and it is only her children who can inherit their father’s position. If the naide has a son who dies be- fore marrying, she will go ahead and arrange a wife for him anyway. Anyone can then have relations with the deceased son’s wife, and any child born is considered the child of the deceased. If the tribal leader does not leave a male heir, his wife’s [the naide’s] daughter then becomes the leader. However, she then has no female attendants—only ten or more young male attendants, with whom she can have relations.

when the tribal leader dies, they wrap his body in a leopard skin, cremate him, and then bury his bones on a mountain at a location known only to his closest relatives. After the burial they take images of the Seven Precious

Things and place them on a high platform. They then go steal the head of a neighbor- ing nobleman and offer it as a sacrifice. If they are not able to obtain one, they cannot make the sacrifice. At the time of the sacrificial cere- mony all the relatives arrive, and they sacrifice more than a thousand cattle and sheep, or at least several hundred. Every year when they celebrate the spring festival during the twelfth month, they take a long vertical pole and a horizontal piece of wood, [and arranging a seesaw] with one person on each side, they go up and down together playing.

They support many soldiers, who are called juke, and they generously provide for them. when they go off to battle, they view death as “returning home.” They expertly craft armor and swords that are worth dozens of horses. on their javelins and crossbow arrow tips they put a poison that kills instantly.

Questions for Analysis 1. Does the author seem an objective observer? 2. Would any of the Luoluo’s customs make it

difficult for them to assimilate into Chinese society?

the openness of Chinese society, with opportunities for people to rise in status through hard work or ed- ucation. They aimed instead at stability and placed people in hereditary occupational categories: farmer, Confucian scholar, physician, astrologer, soldier, ar- tisan, salt producer, miner, Buddhist monk, and oth- ers. Many occupational groups had to provide un- paid services according to a rotational schedule and earn their living the rest of the year. Often the only alternative for those whose obligations threatened to bankrupt them was to abscond.

Besides these occupational categories, the Mongols classified the population into four grades, apparently as a way to keep the Chinese from using their numbers

to gain a dominant position. Not surprisingly, the Mongols put themselves in the top grade. Next came various non-Chinese, such as the Uighurs and Central Asians. Below them were the former subjects of Jin, called the Han. And at the bottom were the former subjects of the Song, called southerners. These clas- sifications affected methods of taxation, the judicial process, and appointment to office. The Han, for in- stance, were taxed by household according to Jin prac- tice, whereas the southerners were taxed by acreage following Song precedent. In legal cases, each group was tried and sentenced according to its own legal tra- dition, which meant, for instance, that Chinese were the only ones tattooed if convicted of theft.

06475_ch12_rev04.indd 203 9/10/12 12:25 PM

204 Chapter 12 China Under Mongol Rule (1215–1368)

Hao Jing, Imprisoned EnvoyB I O G R A P H Y Hao Jing (how jing) was born in north China in 1223 while his family was fleeing the Mongols and his father was eking out a modest living as a teacher. Because of the chaotic conditions, dur- ing his childhood, his family moved ten times. In 1238, when he was fifteen, Hao Jing started taking on tutoring jobs himself. once he spent five years as the children’s tutor in the home of an of- ficial who owned a large library, which

enabled him not only to continue study himself but also to get to know some prominent literary men.

In 1253, Hao visited the ruins of the former Jin capital (at modern Beijing), largely destroyed by the Mongols in 1215. In 1255 he traveled through Shandong and visited qufu (chyu-foo), the birth- place of Confucius, and Mount Tai (ty), the sacred mountain. when Hao Jing was thirty-three, he was recommended to Khubilai, then in charge of China proper and gathering around him a group of Chinese advisers. The histories report that Khubilai engaged him in dialogue on how best to govern “from morning to night” for several days. Hao largely argued the Confucian position that virtuous rule is the most effective.

Hao Jing had to return home when his father became very ill, but after his father died, Hao Jing rejoined Khubilai and participated in the assault on Song in 1259. Because Hao Jing gave good advice, Khubilai assigned him a military post. when victory was not immediate, Hao Jing recommended to Khu- bilai that he send an envoy to Song to propose a peace treaty of the sort Song had had with liao and Jin, involving yearly tribute.

Before long Khubilai appointed Hao Jing special envoy to the Song emperor. when someone warned Hao Jing that his assignment might be dangerous, he supposedly answered, “I have read about the way and studied it for thirty years, yet I have not yet accomplished any real good in the world. now the north and the South are courting disaster, a situ- ation which has reached calamitous proportions. If I can stop the armies from fighting, calm the dis- turbances, and save the lives of millions of people who are now living under the shadow of war, my learning will finally be of some use.”*

Before Hao Jing departed, Khubilai asked him to submit an assessment on his views of the current situation. Hao Jing responded with a long essay

begging the khan to take as his model not only the Tang and Song Dynasties but also the liao and Jin Dynasties, which had drawn on Chinese officials and Chinese institutions.

Hao Jing set off on his mission with a retinue of about forty, all of them Chinese, because Khubilai said this was a mission for properly trained Chinese, not Mongols. After nearly four months on the road, Hao Jing and his party entered Song territory. They were allowed to proceed for another month, then were taken to a fort outside yangzhou. Because there had been a recent attack by a rebellious war- lord, the Song court suspected Hao’s mission might be a ruse and kept him there for what turned out to be sixteen years. Hao wrote to the local officials, to Khubilai, and to the Song emperor, but it is un- clear which, if any, of his messages got through. For a long time the guards tried to get Hao Jing to defect to Song, but he remained firmly loyal to the Mongol rulers.

Hao Jing did his best to keep the other members of his retinue from going stir-crazy. The better educated he taught about Confucian scholarship; the illiterate he tried to teach to read. To pass his time he wrote poetry and commentaries on the classics. After six years, the soldiers in his retinue got into a brawl, with the result that several were killed. Hao Jing and six others then constructed a separate shelter in the compound to separate themselves. After ten years, Hao was able to borrow some of the dynastic histories and set to com- piling books on inconsistencies in them.

not until 1275, when the Mongols had crossed the yangzi River and Hao Jing’s younger brother was sent as an envoy to Hangzhou, did Song agree to release Hao Jing and his party. on his return to the north, he was treated like a hero, but unfortu- nately by the time he got to Dadu and his audience with Khubilai, he was quite ill, and he died within a few months.

Questions for Analysis 1. Why did Khubilai send only Chinese on the mission to

Song? 2. Why did Hao Jing accept confinement rather than switch

sides, as so many others did?

*Igor de Rachewiltz et al., In the Service of the Khan: Eminent Personalities of the Early Mongol-Yuan Period (1200–1300) (Wiesbaden: Harrossowitz, 1993), pp. 358–359.

06475_ch12_rev04.indd 204 9/10/12 12:25 PM

Life in China Under the Mongols 205

M A T E R I A L C U L T U R E

Blue-and-White Porcelain

Porcelain is distinguished from other types of ceramics by its smoothness, whiteness, and trans- lucence. only certain types of clays can be used to make porcelain, and the wares must be fired at very high temperatures (1280–1400°C, 2336–2552°F). During Song times, Jingdezhen in Jiangxi became a major center for making porcelain.

The development of the highly popular blue- and-white style of porcelain owes much to the circumstances created by the Mongol Empire. The yuan rulers established an official agency to su- pervise ceramic production at Jingdezhen. Artists at these kilns invented a new style of decoration,

with underglaze-painted decoration using cobalt blue. west Asia was the best source for cobalt, so Chinese production depended on stable trade relations across Asia. Moreover, the designs of this type of porcelain seem to have been stimulated by Arab clients who wanted ceramics that would be more durable and refined than the ones they were used to but with designs of the sort common in their region. Some yuan-period blue-and-white wares exported to the Middle East are kept today in the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul. They have dense, busy designs reminiscent of the textiles and carpets of the region.

Blue-and-White Plate. This fourteenth-century plate combines Chinese designs, such as the four cranes in the inner ring, with dense floral patterns highly appreciated in the Islamic world.

The reason for codifying ethnic differences in this way was to preserve the Mongols’ privileges as con- querors. Chinese were not allowed to take Mongol names, and great efforts were made to keep them from passing as Mongols. Intermarriage was dis- couraged, though it did occur. Many of the differ- ences in how Chinese were treated, however, came from Mongol fear that they would rebel or attempt sabotage. Chinese were forbidden to own weapons

or congregate in public. Khubilai even prohibited Chinese from dealing in bamboo because it could be used to make bows and arrows. Chinese were sub- ject to severe penalties if they fought back when at- tacked by a Mongol. Mongols, however, merely had to pay a fine if found guilty of murdering a Chinese.

Because the Mongols wanted to extract wealth from China, they had every incentive to develop the economy. They encouraged trade both within China

he lte

nh am

A rt

G al

le ry

& M

us eu

m s,

G lo

uc es

te rs

hi re

, U K/

Th e

Br id

ge m

an A

rt L

ib ra

06475_ch12_rev04.indd 205 9/10/12 12:25 PM

206 Chapter 12 China Under Mongol Rule (1215–1368)

China or even maintain a stable currency. A colder- than-average climate and the spread of deadly dis- eases added to the hardship. Power devolved to the local level, to anyone who could organize an area well enough to suppress banditry.

The Chinese Educated Elite During the Mongol Era

Government service, which had long been central to the identity and income of the educated elite in China, was not as widely available during the Yuan Dynasty. Because the Mongols employed Mongols, Tibetans, Uighurs, Persians, Jurchens, and others in their government in China, there were fewer posi- tions for the Chinese educated elite than there had been under either Jin or Song. Moreover, the large majority of Chinese who gained government posi- tions came from clerk, not from scholar-official, families. The Mongols had no interest in doing their own paperwork and employed clerks to keep the re- cords that made government possible. Clerks without classical educations had always been looked down on by Chinese scholars. To the Mongols, however, they seemed perfectly suited to doing their bidding.

The Mongols reinstituted the civil service exami- nations in 1315, but opportunities for scholars were still very limited. There were quotas to ensure that no more than a quarter of those who passed would be southerners, no more than a quarter would be Han, and half would be Mongols and other non-Chinese. In addition, there were regional quotas, which had the effect of limiting opportunities for those from the southeast where educational traditions were stron- gest. On top of that, only about 2 percent of the positions in the bureaucracy were filled through the examination system.

In the south, the generation that had devoted itself to resisting the Mongols rarely also served them, but that generation’s sons, growing up under Mongol rule, frequently did. The Mongols were tolerant of all religions but tended to favor Buddhists over Confucians. Khubilai gave the Tibetan cleric Yang Lianjianjia wide powers in postwar Hangzhou. He not only converted the Song palaces to Buddhist temples but also excavated the Song imperial tombs to extract valuables from them to cover the cost of building more Buddhist temples. Defeated Song loyalists gave meaning to their survival by secretly searching for the bones of the Song emperors and respectfully reburying them.

and beyond its borders. The Mongols allowed the conversion of Song paper money into Yuan currency and tried to keep paper money in circulation. They repaired the Grand Canal, which had been ruined during the initial conquest of north China. Chinese industries with strong foreign markets, such as por- celain, thrived during the Yuan period. A recently excavated vessel headed from Ningbo (ning-baw) to Japan that was wrecked off the coast of Korea in 1323 contained about seventeen thousand pieces of ceramics, such as bowls and cups. More than half were green celadon from a kiln complex not far from Ningbo; the next largest group came from the Jingde- zhen (jing-deh-juhn) kilns in Jiangxi (jyahng- shyee). In Yuan times, these kilns invented a new style of decoration using underglaze blue drawing that was widely exported throughout Asia (see Material Culture: Blue-and-White Porcelain).

Despite Mongol desire to see China rich, the econ- omy of north China, in particular, was hard hit by the Mongols and began a downward spiral that took centuries to reverse. First came the devastation of the initial conquest. Restoring production was impeded by widespread scattering of the population, much of it forced by the conquerors. Taxation, once it was in the hands of tax farmers, was often ruinous. The Mongols had difficultly regulating the paper cur- rency, and by the fourteenth century inflation was rampant.

After the death of Khubilai in 1294, Mongol administration began to decline. Cliques of Mongol nobles fought over the place of China within the khanate of the Great Khan. Should traditional steppe strategies of expansion remain central to the Mongol state, or was there too much to be gained from ex- ploiting China that they should give up steppe-based expansion? Unlike the Jurchen, who had largely moved into north China, most of the Mongols re- mained in Mongolia. Renzong (run-dzung), who came to the throne in 1311, was the first Mongol emperor able to both read and speak Chinese, and he shifted the emphasis toward China. In 1313 he reestablished a limited civil service exam system. His son Yingzong succeeded him in 1320, but when he continued the China-centered policies, he was as- sassinated by opposing factions. Civil wars and fac- tional violence marred the next several reigns. The last Mongol emperor, who came to the throne in 1333 at age thirteen, was bright and well educat- ed in Chinese but not a strong ruler. By his reign, the central government was failing to keep order in

06475_ch12_rev04.indd 206 9/10/12 12:25 PM

Life in China Under the Mongols 207

When Khubilai in 1286 dispatched a southerner to recruit prominent southern literati to serve the Mongols, Zhao Mengfu decided to accept the call. Not all of his friends and relatives approved; some refused to speak to him after they learned of his deci- sion. Once in the north, Zhao used Khubilai’s favor to work for Chinese interests. He pressed for bet- ter treatment of officials, arguing that literati should be exempt from corporal punishment. He proposed major currency reforms and did his best to cause the downfall of the notoriously corrupt Tibetan chancel- lor Sangha. By 1316, he had risen to president of the Hanlin Academy, the prestigious government organ that supplied literary men to assist the emperor.

Zhao Mengfu (jow muhng-foo) (1254–1322) is a good example of a southern literatus who decided to serve the Mongols. Descended from the first Song emperor, Zhao had grown up as a member of the privileged imperial clan. He had enrolled in the im- perial academy in Hangzhou before the fall of the Southern Song, but he had not yet held office. For the first five years after the Song surrender, he kept to his circle of friends interested in poetry, painting, and calligraphy. Several of them had lost their prop- erty during the wars and were dependent on patrons to survive. This group looked on painting in archaic styles as a way to express longing for the past and dissatisfaction with the present.

Wintry Landscape. Ni Zan (1301–1374) was known for his sketchy monochrome landscapes. In his inscribed poem, he states that he did this painting as a present for a friend who was departing to take up an official post, to remind him of the joys of peaceful retirement.

Pa la

ce M

us eu

m , B

ei jin

g/ Cu

ltu ra

l R el

ic s

Pr es

06475_ch12_rev04.indd 207 9/10/12 12:25 PM

208 Chapter 12 China Under Mongol Rule (1215–1368)

survive, some of which can be read as covert protest against the Mongols. The best known of the Yuan dramatists is Guan Hanqing (gwahn hahn-ching) (ca. 1240–ca. 1320), author of sixty plays, fifteen of which survive complete. The leading characters of most of his plays were virtuous women who act forcefully in a wide variety of social situations, such as a courtesan who befriends a poor examination candidate, a widow who protects her husband’s honor, a daughter-in-law who lets herself be execut- ed to spare her mother-in-law from judicial torture, and a mother who is so strict in her education of her sons that all three place first in the civil service examinations in successive years.

There is even a Yuan play in which writing plays is treated as superior to studying the classics. Set in the Jin period Kaifeng, Grandee’s Son Takes the Wrong Career has as its protagonist the son of a Jurchen of- ficial who has fallen in love with a girl whose parents are itinerant performers. When she chides him for studying too much, he distracts her by reading a re- cent collection of plays, and the two learn the songs in them. The play ends with the young man giving up his studies and joining the troupe. When her father hears of his proposal, he responds, “The only man I want for my son-in-law is a writer of play books.”* Only after the young man has shown that he can write speeches and will carry their costumes does the father consent to the marriage.

SUMMARy The Mongols were the first non-Chinese group to conquer all of China. North China, then under the Jurchen Jin dynasty, was just south of the region of Mongolia where Chinggis Khan rose to power, and it was one of his first targets. Jin lost territory in stages and by 1234 had been fully destroyed. The Mongols went on to seize Sichuan, but did not strike at the heart of the Song Empire until Khubilai be- came khan in 1260. Naval warfare was a large part of the final assault on the Song because control of the Yangzi was essential to victory. Many Chinese officials saw the Mongols as the gravest threat to Chinese civilization in history and took up arms to show their loyalty to Song.

Southern literati who did not serve the Mongols found other ways to support themselves. Some could live off the income from their lands; others worked as physicians, fortunetellers, children’s teachers, Daoist priests, publishers, booksellers, or playwrights. Many took on leadership roles at the local level, such as founding academies for Confucian learning, organizing their kinsmen into lineages, and promoting local charitable ventures. Through such activities, scholars out of office could assert the importance of civil over military values and see themselves as trustees of the Confucian tradition.

One art that benefited from the political frustra- tions of Chinese literati in the Yuan period was paint- ing. Scholars like Su Shi in the Northern Song period had written of the superiority of paintings done by scholars who imbued their paintings with ideas. Still, through the Southern Song period, court painters and professional painters were at the center of stylis- tic developments, and even of marrying painting and poetry. During the Yuan period, however, men of letters were in the forefront. Some of these painters, like Zhao Mengfu, held office. Others, like Huang Gongwang (hwahng gung-wahng) and Wu Zhen (woo juhn), supported themselves as clerks or divin- ers. Ni Can (nee tsahn) had enough family wealth to live comfortably without working. All of them painted for a restricted audience of like-minded indi- viduals and often used the allusive side of paintings to make political statements.

Drama

The literary art of drama was given a boost in Yuan times by literati who wrote for the theater. Perform- ing arts had flourished in earlier eras, with plays and performing styles passed down orally from master to disciple among hereditary groups of singers and actors, who were treated as a demeaned caste. Plays generally alternated prose passages and songs. Be- cause women who performed in public were looked on as little better than prostitutes, female roles were often taken by boys or young men impersonat- ing women. The presence of female impersonators, however, only added to the association of the theater with sexual laxity.

With the diminished career prospects of educated men in Yuan times, some talented writers began writing scripts for impresarios, and their scripts began to circulate as texts. About 160 Yuan plays

*William Dolby, Eight Chinese Plays from the Thirteenth Century to the Present (New York: Columbia University Press, 1978), p. 48.

06475_ch12_rev04.indd 208 9/10/12 12:25 PM

Summary 209

How different was China in the 1360s than it had been before the Mongols took control? The more destructive side of this period helped reinforce in China a preference for things Chinese and a wari- ness about things from outside. Some innovations can be attributed to this period, most notably the province as a political unit with a full array of ad- ministrative functions. The elite were given even more incentives than they had in Song times to find ways to maintain their standing without participa- tion in the government. Population had declined, but population records are not good enough to be certain by how much. The gap between north and south China had been reinforced, though it also had very deep roots, leaving the north farther behind economically.

Living under the Mongols definitely had a harsh side. Ordinary people were sometimes enslaved and moved wherever the Mongols wanted them. Many occupations were made hereditary and carried re- quirements for unpaid labor. The educated elite found their status made hereditary, but they had many fewer chances to serve in the government be- cause most places were filled by Mongols, Uighurs, Central Asians, and even Persians. Some refused to serve the Mongols as a matter of integrity; others thought they could do more good by teaching the Mongols the principles of good government.

An indirect result of the contraction in the demand for Confucian officials was stimulus to the art of drama. Talented writers took work in drama com- panies, improving the literary quality of the scripts.

06475_ch12_rev04.indd 209 9/10/12 12:25 PM

210

The food cultures of East Asia have long been in- terlinked. Throughout the region, food has been offered to ancestors and gods. For centuries

the two most popular sources of carbohydrates have been rice and noodles eaten from individual bowls. In all three countries—China, Korea, and Japan— soybeans have been used to make bean curd, soy sauce, and various bean pastes. Food has been served in small enough pieces so that no cutting needs to be done at the table. Fuel-efficient ways of cooking, such as stir-frying and steaming, have been widely used. Chopsticks have long been a ubiquitous utensil for picking up food. Because water normally had to be boiled before it was drunk, simple soups became a major way to consume fluids. At the same time, in all three countries much farmland had been devoted to tea and a significant share of rice used to make alcoholic drinks.

The explanation for these common features is in most cases diffusion of Chinese foodstuffs and food customs to Korea and Japan, many dating back quite early. These were not customs that elites purposely set out to adopt or teach to commoners but rather ones that spread as a by-product of con- tact. Rice had spread to Korea by 1000 b.c.e. and to Japan by 900 b.c.e. Chopsticks, found in some Shang tombs in China, spread to Korea and Japan during the early centuries c.e. Soybeans were na- tive to both China and Korea, but the ways they were prepared as sauces and bean curd must have spread from China. Foodstuffs that were introduced to China from farther west, such as wheat, barley, and sesame seeds, in time also spread to Korea and Japan. Tea is thought to have spread via monks who studied in China.

In premodern times, most people ate locally produced foods, so there would be considerable

differences from place to place in what people ate, depending on the local climate and terrain. Japan, with its long seacoasts suitable for fishing, made the most use of products of the sea, not only fish and shellfish but also seaweed. Many dishes associated with Japan today—sushi, buckwheat noodles (soba), and tempura—appeared only in the eighteenth cen- tury. In China, much of the fish consumed came from rivers and lakes rather than from the ocean. In ancient China, millet was the most common grain in the north, but with the introduction of wheat from the west and improved transport of rice from the south, millet gradually came to play a lesser role in people’s diet. wheat became the basic grain in the north, and meals frequently included steamed rolls, rarely seen in the south.

Beginning in the fifteenth century, new world foods such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, tomatoes, corn, chili peppers, and peanuts spread to the countries of East Asia. In all three coun- tries, sweet potatoes became a common “poor people’s food.” In China it is believed that new world crops contributed to increased food sup- ply and therefore to rapid population growth because they could be cultivated on steep, rainy slopes or sandy coastal soils that had previously been viewed as worthless.

The twentieth century brought many changes in food culture to all three countries. Railways, hot- houses, and refrigeration have added to the vari- ety of foods available all year. Restaurants serve versions of western and other foreign food, and some originally foreign foods such as bread and ice cream have been fully incorporated into every- day eating habits. yet for most people their own country’s cuisine remains a source of pride and pleasure.

M A K I N G C O M P A R I S O N S Food Cultures

06475_ch12_rev04.indd 210 9/10/12 12:25 PM

P A R T T H R E E

Chapter 13 Japan’s Middle Ages (1330–1600)

Chapter 14 The Ming Empire in China (1368–1644)

Chapter 15 Joseon Korea (1392–1800)

Making Comparisons Women’s Situations

Connections Europe Enters the Scene

Chapter 16 The Creation of the Manchu Empire (1600–1800)

Chapter 17 Edo Japan (1603–1800)

Making Comparisons Neo-Confucianism

Meeting New Challenges (1300–1800)

06475_ch13_rev04.indd 211 9/10/12 12:30 PM

212

C H A P T E R T H I R T E E N

Japan’s Middle Ages (1330–1600)

New Political Alignments (1338–1573)

Biography: Hino Meishi

Material Culture: The Matchlock

Civil War (1467–1600)

Documents: The Journal of Sōchō

Historians today see the fourteenth century as marking the divide be-tween ancient Japan and the middle ages. Political power became increasingly fragmented among contending warlords, the court, temple- shrine complexes, urban residents, and farmers’ leagues. International and domestic trade networks expanded, carrying a greater variety of goods over longer distances than ever before, while urban markets supplied the needs of city folk from social and political elites to commoners. Women exchanged economic autonomy for domestic authority. Samurai became moralists and poets. The fourteenth century began with conflict between samurai and the court followed by civil war from the late fifteenth century through the sixteenth century. Europeans brought new weapons and a new religion. At the end of the sixteenth century, the world turned upside down: a commoner ruled Japan and sent his armies to invade Korea.

Historians disagree over who were significant political actors—the losers, such as GoDaigo (GO-dah-e-go), the religious establishment, and commoner leagues, or the winners among the samurai. Much of the dynamism during this period came from its unsettled margins. What impact did they have on the center? How did men and women protect their interests? How did the arts manage to flourish in the midst of turmoil?

NEW PolITICAl AlIgNMENTS (1338–1573) The monarch GoDaigo’s plan to restore power to the monarchy provided the catalyst for the Kamakura shogunate’s fall. After GoDaigo got his father to renounce the political power held by the retired monarch in 1321, he revived the monarchical records office and attracted able admin- istrators who reasserted the royal prerogative of judging lawsuits. Three years later, the shogunate learned of his plots against it and arrested his accomplices. GoDaigo continued to insist on monarchical privilege. When the shogunate tried to force him to abdicate in favor of his cousin’s line in 1331, he called on loyalists across Japan to revolt.

06475_ch13_rev04.indd 212 9/10/12 12:30 PM

New Political Alignments (1338–1573) 213

court. By the end of the fourteenth century, they had also taken over the responsibilities and the income of the estate stewards (jitō). Fourteen shugo were branches of the Ashikaga family; the remaining sev- en, such as the Shimazu (SHE-mah-zu) of Satsuma (SAH-tzu-mah) in Kyushu, lived far from Kyoto and supported the Ashikaga in return for a free hand at home. Shugo served as high officials, military gov- ernors, and the Ashikaga’s chief retainers. Takauji and his heirs exchanged women with shugo to main- tain their allegiance and strengthen alliances. Each ruled large, unwieldy territories defined in patents of appointment issued by the shogun. The Ashikaga shoguns were the chief of the shugo, derived some of their income from being shugo of two provinces, and controlled approximately sixty estates scattered across Japan.

The most important office under the shogun was the deputy shogun, a position normally filled by one of three families including the Hatakeyama (HAH- tah-keh-yah-mah). These three had prestige as the shogun’s close relatives, governing Japan’s richest provinces as shugo made them wealthy, and their of- fice gave them authority. By combining these three components of power, they formed an inner bastion of support for the shogun. When they acted together on his behalf, he could dominate the other shugo and his retainers. When they quarreled, they tore the country apart.

The shugo normally supported the shogun be- cause they also had weaknesses. Although they had jurisdiction over entire provinces, they did not con- trol land. Even when a military man had managed to take over an aristocrat’s claim to income from an estate, he still had to contend with temples, other shugo, or even the shogun. Not all military families within a shugo’s province were his retainers. With increasing frequency, rustic warriors (kokujin, CO- ku-gene) accepted no one as their overlord. The longer the shugo resided in Kyoto, the more they relied on deputies for provincial administration. To intimidate their underlings, they needed the prestige bestowed by the shogun. The problem left unsolved by both the Kamakura and Ashikaga regimes was how to maintain the connection between center and periphery. Unlike China, where a bureaucracy mari- nated in a common ideology was first gathered to the center, then sent to the provinces, Japan remained in danger of fragmenting.

Defenders of the Ashikaga wrote the history of the Kamakura regime in such a way as to make it

Although the shogunate exiled GoDaigo to the remote island of Oki (OH-key), men rallied to his cause. Some believed in it; others saw a chance to gain wealth and power. Ashikaga Takauji (AH-she- kah-gah TAH-kah-u-g) started by leading Kamaku- ra’s troops against Kyoto and then switched sides. In 1333 his forces set fire to Kamakura where the Hōjō family and its retainers, more than eight hundred men, women, and children, committed suicide. Takauji brought GoDaigo back from exile, only to turn on him when forced to share spoils of war with members of the aristocracy. He finally drove GoDaigo out of Kyoto and placed his cousin on the throne. Takauji built his headquarters in the Muromachi (MU-row- mah-che) section of Kyoto, where he could supervise the new monarch and watch his followers. Claiming descent from Minamoto Yoritomo to legitimize his rule, he had himself named shogun in 1338. Despite this title, the administrative structure that he and his successors pieced together over the next sixty years owed nothing to the Kamakura regime and every- thing to the needs of the moment.

Takauji’s victories over GoDaigo did not bring peace to an increasingly militarized Japan. GoDaigo’s sons established a court in the mountains of Yoshino (YO-she-no) that held out until 1392. With two courts, northern and southern, men could choose for whom to fight, depending on which suited their interests. Takauji’s grandson Yoshimitsu (YO-she- me-tzu) brought an end to rival monarchs by prom- ising to alternate rule between their descendants. He later broke this promise. He brought enemies in Kyushu under his control, but he had less suc- cess with a rival Ashikaga branch in eastern Japan. In 1402 he received the title “king of Japan” from the Ming emperor (a title not previously used in Ja- pan, although similar to the Yi Dynasty’s ruler be- ing titled “king of Korea”) and appeared poised to replace the monarchy with his son. His reign marked the height of Ashikaga power, although the shogu- nate remained in Ashikaga hands until 1573.

How the Ashikaga Shoguns governed Japan

The Ashikaga shoguns tried to rule Japan through a combination of family ties and marriage politics. As a gesture at institutional continuity with the Kamak- ura shogunate, they used the title of shugo (military governor). The shugo took over the administrative functions of provincial governors appointed by the

06475_ch13_rev04.indd 213 9/10/12 12:30 PM

214 Chapter 13 Japan’s Middle Ages (1330–1600)

became her husband’s property. No legal distinction was made between adultery and rape because both were crimes against the husband. On the other hand, the woman’s position as wife became much more secure. The marriage ceremony’s public character meant that only compelling political reasons justified divorce. If a man fathered children by a concubine, his wife became their official mother. The wife be- came the person primarily responsible for domestic affairs. When her husband went to war, she managed the household and sent him supplies. A mark of her responsibilities was her title: midaidokoro (ME-dah- e-doe-co-row) (the lady of the kitchen).

Women at the Kyoto court had always partici- pated in public ceremonies; during the middle ages, they took over administrative functions as the circle around the monarch shrank. (See Biography: Hino Meishi.) Only the highest-ranking aristocrats man- aged to survive the turmoil of the age; those of lesser rank went to live in the countryside to keep close to their sources of income. Women replaced them in running the monarch’s household, a change in func- tion documented in their writing. Earlier women’s di- aries and memoirs had been subjective and recorded their lives and thoughts. Beginning in the fourteenth century, they recorded men’s deeds. Women also served as secretaries, writing letters and transmitting orders on behalf of monarch, regent, and shogun.

Trade in Town and Country

The fourteenth century saw a series of transformations in rural Japan. The conversion of dry fields to paddy, the growing of two crops per year, and irrigation sys- tems powered by water wheels brought increased yields, population growth, and more commerce. Estates split into villages that acted like corporations. On estates, each named farmer had his own legal relationship with multiple overlords. In villages, former named farmers, who might also be warriors, plus smallholders dealt with overlords as a unit. They presented petitions for reductions in taxes and conscript labor, and they as- serted corporate control over common land and irri- gation systems. Overlords who encouraged the spread of self- governing organizations as a way to replace the Kamakura-sanctioned estate stewards hastened this process. Land rights became transferable commodi- ties rather than being associated with office and sta- tus. During times of widespread social disorder when overlords were far away, farmers banded together in village communities, constructed walls and moats, and

resemble the new relationship between the Ashikaga shoguns, the shugo, and the monarch. Yet the shugo had much broader power than any single office at Kamakura. The monarchy had lost so much of its income and autonomy that one ruler had to put off his enthronement ceremony for twenty years because the shogun refused to fund it. The Kamakura regime had lived on a relatively small income generated from land, but the Ashikaga shoguns cast their net more broadly, collecting fees to license both foreign and domestic trade, demanding kickbacks from temples, dunning the populace in the name of the monarch, and erecting toll barriers to tax commerce. Whereas during Kamakura times, monarch and shogun had ruled Japan together, if not to the same ends, during the Muromachi period, neither can be said to have exercised effective governance.

Changes in Roles for Women

Nothing better marks the break between ancient Japan and medieval Japan than changes in the rela- tionships between men and women, especially at the higher reaches of society. Even before the Mongol invasions, it had become clear that dividing property among all children, men and women alike, threat- ened a family’s future income. At the same time, the fluidity in marriage arrangements that had charac- terized the Heian period largely disappeared. Wom- en increasingly moved to their husband’s house. If they took property with them, less was left for their brothers. Rather than give assets to daughters or too many sons, powerful families selected a single heir. With women and their husbands out of the picture, brothers and cousins fought over the family estate. Property rights in farmer households evolved differ- ently because increases in agricultural productivity plus new commercial opportunities left more income in their hands. With women as well as men trading in land and other goods, a woman would continue to manage her own property even after she moved into her husband’s household.

Now seen as an alliance between two families, elite marriages became more durable and of greater con- sequence with the exchange of betrothal gifts and the bride’s entry into her husband’s house becoming cer- emonies. Once in her new home, the bride served her parents-in-law as well as her husband. The goods she brought with her (her trousseau) supplied her with what she needed for daily life, but she lost the auton- omy that had come from owning real property. She

06475_ch13_rev04.indd 214 9/10/12 12:30 PM

New Political Alignments (1338–1573) 215

Hino MeishiB I O G R A P H Y Aristocrat, official, mother, and writer, Hino Meishi (he-no meh-i-she) (?–1358) lived through a time of political intrigue.

Meishi’s father Sukena (SUE-keh- nah) served the monarch Kōgon (Co-gon) (r. 1331–1333). When she was about ten years old, she became a maid to Kōgon’s mother, Kōgimonin (Co-ge-mohn-een). Meishi developed expertise in court ceremonies at Kōgon’s coming-of-age ceremony, and

when he was enthroned as a replacement for goDaigo, she stood directly behind him.

Sometime before 1331, while Meishi was par- ticipating in official public functions, she started an affair with Kōgimonin’s nephew, Kinmune (KEEN- mu-neh), from the powerful Saionji (SAH-e-ohn-g) branch of the Fujiwara lineage. They continued to see each other while Kyoto was thrown into turmoil by goDaigo’s return, Kōgon’s dethronement, and her father’s involuntary decision to shave his head and become a monk. For a while they met at hide- aways far from the eyes of parents and employers. In 1333, Meishi became Kinmune’s recognized wife when he wrote her a poem pledging his troth. He then visited her publicly at her father’s home and stayed the night. A few months later, the Saionji family summoned Meishi to its main residence at Kitayama (KEY-tah-yah-mah) as Kinmune’s official wife in a move that united two aristocratic oppo- nents to goDaigo’s rule.

In 1335 Kinmune and Sukena were both arrested for having plotted against goDaigo. The night be- fore Kinmune was to be exiled to Izumo (E-zu-moe),

Meishi visited him at the mansion where he had been confined. They exchanged a tearful farewell, and Kinmune handed over several mementos. Before Meishi left, a messenger arrived with the news that Kinmune was to be transferred to another house. As he was bending down to enter a palanquin, the messenger cut off his head. The pregnant Meishi fled to the Saionji mansion, where she gave birth to a son. A messenger from goDaigo’s court arrived with an offer to find a wet nurse for the child. Kinmune’s mother told him that Meishi had miscarried to protect her grandson from his enemies. When the northern court was restored in 1337, Meishi used her connection with the now-retired monarch Kōgen to promote her son and restore the Saionji family to its former glory.

Meishi wrote a two-volume memoir. The first volume covers the period of her romance with Kin- mune from 1329 to 1333; the second takes up the restoration of the northern court in 1337 and the revival of the Saionji family fortunes. She thus omits the years of turmoil that expose the political calcula- tions behind her marriage.

Questions for Analysis 1. What does Hino Meishi’s story tell us of what it meant

to be a wife while the nature of marriage was changing? 2. How did Hino Meishi cope with her traumas?

Source: Based on Hitomi Tonomura, “Re-Envisioning Women in the Post Kamakura Age,” in The Origins of Japan’s Medieval World: Courtiers, Clerics, Warriors, and Peasants in the Fourteenth Century, ed. Jeffrey P. Mass (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1997).

defended themselves. They met in committee to han- dle village administration—irrigation procedures and tax payments, for example—and to deal with crimes and conflicts. In central Japan these village assemblies took the form of shrine associations that ranked mem- bers according to status and gender. Many of today’s hamlets trace their names back to this century, when a village identity was created that excluded outsiders and regulated the behavior of insiders.

Trade had spread in Kamakura times, but the ear- ly fourteenth century saw new developments. First was the use of cash for large and small transactions

by relying on coins imported from Ming China, al- though farmers continued to pay taxes in kind and barter never disappeared. Second, markets appeared at places where people congregated: at toll barri- ers, river crossings, harbors, post houses, and the entrances to shrines and temples. Men and women from nearby villages brought their wares for sale, primarily vegetables but also processed food such as bricks of tofu. As in earlier ages, preachers fol- lowed the crowds; some used pictures to teach faith in Amida or to warn of the torments of hell. Nuns solicited donations for the Kumano (KU-mah-no)

06475_ch13_rev04.indd 215 9/10/12 12:30 PM

216 Chapter 13 Japan’s Middle Ages (1330–1600)

The shogunate strove to control and profit from the maritime trade that flourished regardless of po- litical boundaries. Seafarers of mixed ethnicities pur- sued trade and piracy with equal aplomb, ravaging the Korean, Japanese, and Chinese coasts. Communi- ties of foreign traders thrived in all the port cities of East Asia, including Japan. The Ming Dynasty closed China to foreign commerce after 1368, with the only exception being the official trade carried on between states, which was called tribute. In 1402, the Chinese emperor agreed to provide two ships a year with the official seal that allowed the ships to trade in China. By 1465, two shugo had taken over this tally trade, although the shogunate continued to assess a fee of 10 percent on private merchandise. Late-fourteenth- century state formation in the Ryukyu Islands led three kingdoms to merge into one under King Sho Hashi (SHOW HAH-she) in 1429. The Ryukyuans sent tribute missions to China and received official permission to pursue trade. As a maritime nation, they sailed their ships from Southeast Asia to Japan and Korea. Through piracy, smuggling, and legal trade, Japan participated in economic networks stretching across the East Asia seas. Japanese seafar- ers established a community in Vietnam’s Hoi An. In the sixteenth century, these networks brought Europeans in search of trade and led to Christian converts. (See Connections: Europe Enters the Scene.)

temple complex. The authorities tried to keep people tied to a specific place and required that travelers carry a passport. These regulations were relaxed for markets, making them a zone where people could mingle and exchange goods and information.

The third development centered on the spread of guilds (za). They first appeared in the twelfth century and reached their peak in the fourteenth to fifteenth centuries. The idea behind a guild was that the traders or artisans dealing in a specific product would pay a fee to a patron (court noble, religious establishment, shogun) and receive two privileges in exchange: a mo- nopoly on the sale or production of their product and the right to travel in pursuit of trade. Comb makers, sesame oil producers, metal casters, and potters all joined guilds. Many lived in the countryside, where they were listed in land records as hyakushō (HE- YAH-ku-show) (the hundred names). Although this term came to specify farmers or villagers in the sev- enteenth century, in the fourteenth century it simply meant anyone who was not an aristocrat or warrior. It thus included fishermen and salt makers. Horse traders from central Japan relied for centuries on a monarchical decree that gave them exclusive rights to trade in horses. They expanded their monopoly to everything carried by horses from the Pacific to the Japan Sea. Not until modern times did researchers discover that the decree was a forgery.

Kyoto functioned as both the political and eco- nomic center of Japan. The court, shogunate, and temple-shrine complexes competed as well as co- operated to control and tax commoners in cross- cutting systems of overlord authority that made for interdependence, exploitation, and tax evasion. Dur- ing the Kamakura period, low-ranking monks from Enryakuji on Mount Hiei had begun to brew and sell saké and lend money. Their wealthy fourteenth- century descendants made cash loans to aristocrats, warriors, townspeople, and farmers at annual in- terest rates of up to 300 percent. Enryakuji issued business licenses and ran a protection racket, fend- ing off attempts by other overlords to tax the mon- eylenders and helping to collect debts. As lobbyist for its clients, Enryakuji paid stipends to shogunal officials to protect its clients’ interests, and money- lenders bribed officials to grant tax exemptions. The shoguns sometimes made prominent moneylenders their storehouse keepers and later their tax agents in return for 10 percent of the take and the prestige of an official appointment. As a result, the shogunate’s income shrank while individual officials grew rich.

Female Moneylender. This segment from a twelfth- or thirteenth-century scroll of diseases (yamai no sō shi) depicts a female moneylender so suffering from obesity brought on by her wealth that she needs help to walk.

Fu ku

ok a

A rt

M us

eu m

06475_ch13_rev04.indd 216 9/10/12 12:30 PM

New Political Alignments (1338–1573) 217

sometimes violent converts. Zen Buddhism made major contributions to Japanese notions of beauty and played an important political role.

Rather than patronize the temples already en- trenched in the Kyoto court, Ashikaga shoguns preferred the Rinzai (REEN-zah-e) Zen sect. At the suggestion of a Zen monk, Takauji and his son set up official temples named Ankokuji (AHN-co-ku-g) (temples for national peace) in each province and had pagodas built in the precincts of temples belong- ing to other sects to console GoDaigo’s spirit and raise the shogun’s prestige. Later shoguns ranked Zen temples in Kyoto and Kamakura in loose accord with the system already developed for Zen (Chan, Chahn) temples in China. Priests jockeying for posi- tion and a shogun’s preference meant that rankings could shift. By 1410, ten temples enjoyed the top rank of “five mountains” (gozan, GO-zahn), and all the Kyoto temples ranked above their Kamakura counterparts. Next in importance were the sixty-odd “ten temples” (jissetsu, G-seh-tzu). At the bottom were the “multitude of temples” patronized by pow- erful provincial families. Many had originally been temples of other sects that changed their affiliation to Zen in order to join this ranking system, which brought prestige and connections to the center.

The Ashikaga organized priests in a vertical order that aligned the Rinzai sect even more closely with its fortunes. When Yoshimitsu built Shōkokuji (SHOW- co-ku-g) next to his palace in 1382, he had the chief Rinzai priest reside there. This priest decided appoint- ments to the heads of the Rinzai temples, recommend- ed promotions, and decided on ceremonial proce- dures. Owing to his expertise in Chinese, he prepared documents related to maritime trade and foreign af- fairs. In the fifteenth century, the shogunate appointed men from aristocratic families to this position, with the result that the chief priest often had little interest in routine administration or religious affairs.

As the Rinzai school became increasingly powerful, its teachings and practice moved farther from what is conventionally associated with Zen. Instead of seek- ing the path to enlightenment through meditation, Rinzai adopted practices from different sects. It ab- sorbed secret teachings and incantations from esoteric Buddhism that had proved popular with the aristoc- racy. Even in provincial temples, question-and-answer sessions between master and disciple took a fixed form based on oral tradition handed down in secret. In Kyo- to the chief priests participated with the military and civilian aristocracy in literary and artistic pursuits.

life on the Margins

Trade did not make up for the disasters caused by crop failures. Famines forced desperate people to sell themselves into bondage, a form of slavery that could last for generations. Disease was another scourge. Causing a disfigured face and body as the flesh rotted away, leprosy terrorized people in Japan as it did in Europe. How could it be other than pun- ishment for evil committed in a previous life? Lest they contaminate the healthy, lepers had to leave their families and join groups of paupers, the infirm, and entertainers, referred to as the people of the riv- erbank (kawaramono, KAH-wah-rah-moe-no).

The kawaramono were outcasts. They included people whose occupations brought them into contact with things deemed to be polluting, death in particu- lar. Tanners, butchers, policemen, and undertakers were excluded from ordinary society. For them, the only place to live was on untaxed land that nobody wanted. Occasionally, riverbank people were hired to cleanse a shrine after it had been defiled by fire or by the loss of life in a fight. Purifying the shrine in- volved the dirty work of removing dead bodies, but such rites also suggest a social imagination in which two negatives become a positive and the power to purify lies with the impure.

Other people used marginal spaces as temporary refuges. Markets, river crossings, the entrances to temples and shrines, and graveyards offered immu- nity from arrest to people fleeing bondage. Moun- tains provided shelter for entire villages that fled to protest unjust taxes or forced labor. Another form of protest was for groups of warriors or farmers to dress in the persimmon-colored robes reserved for lepers. It was a desperate measure because it cut them off from normal society. It worked because spaces set apart from ordinary life were protected by gods and Buddhas.

Changes in Religious Practice

An important characteristic of Japan’s middle ages was the power of the Buddhist establishment. Although Ashikaga shoguns dominated the court, they had to bow to the temples that largely controlled the urban economy and had their own police force as well as deep roots in the lives of Japanese people. Major temples that had received support from the Heian court continued to flourish; popular sects that originated in the Kamakura period attracted

06475_ch13_rev04.indd 217 9/10/12 12:30 PM

218 Chapter 13 Japan’s Middle Ages (1330–1600)

paradise. Ashikaga Yoshimasa (YO-she-mah-sah) built the Silver Pavilion (Ginkakuji, GEEN-kah- ku-g), a more modestly refined building, seventy-five years later. A truncated cone of white sand designed to reflect moonlight on the pavilion dominates its Zen garden.

Literary arts also reflected Buddhist influence. Be- tween 1310 and 1331, the poet and hermit Yoshida Kenkō (KEHN-co) wrote Essays in Idleness, a collec- tion of reflections on his time, instructive statements, and meditations, all suffused with longing for the past. In the late fourteenth century, stories about the wars between the northern and southern courts came together in Taiheiki (TAH-e-heh-e-key) (Records of Great Pacification). Calling Ashikaga Takauji a trai- tor and claiming legitimacy for the southern court, this military history became a favorite of storytellers. Ghost stories, instructive tales, folktales, testimonials to the saving power of the Buddha, and sermons were sold in booklets later called otogi zōshi (OH-toe-ge ZOH-she) (chapbooks).

The tea ceremony, from which women were ex- cluded, taught warriors and priests aristocratic stan- dards of taste. In the first century of Ashikaga rule, sipping bitter green tea provided the occasion for parties at which the host displayed his finest art trea- sures in a beautifully decorated sitting room over- looking a garden. With the coming of warfare in the late fifteenth century, this florid style gave way to a simpler, more ritualized and disciplined ceremo- ny performed in a hut. Instead of richly decorated Chinese vessels, the emphasis shifted to plain, of- ten misshapen pots because the standard of beauty for the time expressed in the combination of wabi (WAH-be) and sabi (SAH-be) (elegant simplicity) celebrated the charm of imperfect objects. The par- ticipants included provincial samurai and merchants from Kyoto and Sakai, who found the tea ceremony an excellent excuse to mingle with aristocrats. Linked verse (renga, REHN-ga), a collaborative form of po- etry writing, provided a venue for the talented but lowborn to attract attention. Traveling priests such as Sōchō carried the practices of poetry and tea to provincial strongmen across Japan. (See Documents: The Journal of Sōchō.)

In contrast to the Zen-influenced arts of earlier times, exuberant color characterized the Momoyama (MOE-moe-yah-mah) period at the end of the sixteenth century. Epitomized in Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s (TOE-yo-toe-me HE-deh-yo-she) golden tearoom, upstart extravagance marked lacquer boxes

Yoshida (YO-she-dah) Shinto—also called Yuiitsu, (YOU-e-tzu) Shinto—“one and only”—opposed Zen Buddhism and the mingling of Buddhism and Shinto by insisting on the worship of gods only as gods rather than as some form of Buddha. Justified by his claim to a tradition stretching back to the creation of Japan through his Urabe (U-rah-beh) lineage of court diviners, Yoshida Kanetono (KAH-neh-toe-moe) (1435–1511) invented Shinto rituals, some of which had an open, exoteric dimension obvious to ordinary worshipers. Secret esoteric rituals for initiates surprisingly similar to Buddhist rites drew on Buddhist hand gestures called mudras and used quotations from ancient Japanese histories in place of mantras (sacred Buddhist formu- las). Yoshida Shinto dogma and practice reasserted the centrality of the monarch and rescued Shinto from complete submersion in Buddhism.

Muromachi Culture

The cult of sensibility from the Heian period and the Kamakura aesthetic characterized by austerity were combined in the fifteenth century into a notion of beauty and elegance modified by stern simplicity. The key term was yūgen (YOU-gehn), used to de- scribe the profound, the remote, the mysterious—a term taken from Nō, the most representative dra- matic form of the day, one in which shoguns and warlords performed along with professional actors wearing robes of brilliant brocade, their glitter de- signed to gleam in torchlight (See Color Plate 17). In Nō every gesture must be refined, the dance graceful, and the language elevated. The most meaningful mo- ments are those when the actor’s unspoken, unmov- ing spiritual presence allows the audience a glimpse of the inexpressible. The same search for the pres- ence behind the form can be seen in black and white ink brush painting wherein the spaces left blank give shape to the composition, in flower arranging based on the asymmetrical placement of a blossom or two, and in the tea ceremony.

Zen permeated the arts and architecture of the time. Just as natural settings depicted in ink brush paint- ings express Zen doctrine, so did the late- fifteenth- century rock garden at Ryōanji (REYO-ahn-g). Raked white sand surrounds fifteen rocks, only fourteen of which are visible from any one point. It takes the experience of enlightenment to grasp all fifteen at once. Partly inspired by Song Dynasty architecture, the Golden Pavilion (Kinkakuji, KEEN-kah-ku-g) and its pond built in 1398 were designed to model

06475_ch13_rev04.indd 218 9/10/12 12:30 PM

Civil War (1467–1600) 219

M A T E R I A L C U L T U R E

The Matchlock

Although the Record of the Gun written in the late seventeenth century claims that Portuguese sailors first brought the matchlock to Tanegashima (TAH-neh-gah-she-mah) in 1543, historians today think that guns arrived at several places around that time, brought by pirates, smugglers, and merchants, often one and the same. Unlike European weap- ons, they had the short butt commonly found on guns made in Southeast Asia. Japanese blacksmiths quickly learned the technique of using a screw to close one end of a pipe to make the barrel and mas- tered the firing mechanism with its trigger, spring, and lever. By the end of the sixteenth century, just when Britain decided to replace the long bow with the gun, Japan made the finest matchlocks in the world, and its artisans continued to improve on matchlock technology throughout the Tokugawa (ToE-ku-gah-wah) period.

Starting in 1570, guns figured more and more prominently in battles. It is said that oda Nobunaga (oH-dah No-bu-nah-gah) deployed more than 1000 at the battle of Nagashino

(NAH-gah-she-no), a figure that must be treated with caution. Most matchlocks saw action against game. Shoguns organized hunts on a royal scale, complete with beaters and shooters. Some took pride in being able to bring down birds on the wing. When warlords marched across Japan to at- tend the shogun, they had foot soldiers carry guns on parade. Hunters used guns to kill animals that destroyed crops. By the eighteenth century, guns had become an unremarked part of Japan’s store of weaponry.

Japanese Matchlock. Note the short butt characteristic of Southeast Asian guns, the screws for the spring, and the fuse cord holder on this eighteenth- century matchlock. (Courtesy, Milwaukee Public Museum, CAT. N2041)

dusted with gold and wall paintings with gold leaf background. Vividly painted screens depicted European traders and missionaries and celebrated lo- cal customs. Artistic triumphs based on technological innovation led to elaborate textile designs and tower- ing castle keeps.

CIvIl WAR (1467–1600) The hundred years of civil war that began with the Ōnin (OH-knee-n) conflict of 1467–1477 spread elite cultural practices across the country. The breakdown of unified public authority spurred innovations from military organization to village life. Estates vanished. Buddhist temples lost power and income when they were not sim- ply destroyed. Without their protection, the Kyoto mon- eylenders and other guild organizations disappeared. Territorial units of domains and villages replaced the former patchwork of competing jurisdictions.

Succession disputes provided an excuse for re- tainers and overlords to push their own interests. In the Hatakeyama (HAH-tah-keh-yah-mah) case, the

aging shugo first appointed a nephew to be his heir, but when a son was born to his concubine, he tried to have his decision reversed. In the 1450s, power- ful retainers and the shogun’s deputy backed the nephew and got the shogun to censure the son. Son and nephew fought on the political front, each being censured three times and forgiven three times, and on the military front where their retainers demanded rewards after each battle. This conflict foreshad- owed conflict in the Ashikaga house when Yoshi- masa appointed his younger brother his successor, only to be forced to change his mind when his wife, Hino Tomiko (HE-no TOE-me-co), gave birth to Yoshihisa (YO-she-he-sah) in 1465. Her dedication to her son’s future shows how family loyalties had changed from Hōjō Masako’s day. Already at odds over the Hatakeyama dispute, the two chief shugo each picked a rival claimant.

The shugo fought their first battles in and around Kyoto in 1467 using arson as their chief weapon to punish and exorcise enemies. Temples, aristocratic mansions, and the treasures of the ages burned. Commanders marched armies through the streets to

06475_ch13_rev04.indd 219 9/10/12 12:30 PM

220 Chapter 13 Japan’s Middle Ages (1330–1600)

D O C U M E N T S

1522: We crossed to ōminato harbor in Ise and proceeded to Yamada, where we visited Ise shrine. The matter had been raised earlier of a thousand-verse sequence to be presented to the shrine, and I had invited the priest Sōseki down for that purpose. He arrived near the end of the seventh month, and we began compos- ing the sequence soon thereafter, on the fourth of the eighth month. Two hundred verses a day for five days. The work was commissioned as a votive sequence by the present shogunal depu- ty, Hosokawa Takakuni when he returned to the capital from ōmi. His opening verse (hokku) for the first hundred verses was sent from Kyoto:

Everywhere aglow in the morning sunlight— the haze! Takakuni Plum trees blossom, willows bend, and even the wind abates! Sōchō

Sōseki then left for owari. Knowing it was like- ly to snow before long, I decided to set out for the north on the sixteenth. There has been fighting in this province beyond Kumozu river and Anon- otsu, making it difficult to get from place to place.

Anonotsu has been desolate for more than ten years, and nothing but ruins remains of

its four or five thousand villages and temples. Stands of reeds and mugwort, no chickens or dogs, rare even to hear the cawing of a crow.

1525: Item. There is nothing like going into business for profit. People who do so never speak of gods or Buddhas, give no thought to the world’s prosperity or decline, know noth- ing of the elegant pursuits of snow, moon, and blossoms, grow distant from friends, reject ap- peals from their near and dear, and spend every waking moment thinking of making money. But that is how to get on in the world. Note, though, that those with even nominal lands, and monks with temple properties, should not take an interest in business. But note too that the sake dealers in the capital, Sakai, the Southern Capital, Sakamoto, and also in this part of the country do very well.

Item. Consider the low-ranking samurai, starving with no land to call his own. There is no help for him. He obviously cannot part from his wife and children. Their food runs out, and the woman must draw water and the man must gather brushwood. Their children are taken away before their eyes to slave for oth- ers. Their bowing and scraping is pitiful. Driven to that pass, those with self-respect may even do away with themselves. Someone said that to such unfortunates one should give a little some- thing. That is the essence of charity. of course

Written by Saiokuken Sōchō (SAH-e-oh-ku-kehn SOW-choe), an acclaimed master of linked verse and a Zen monk, these entries show how he received commissions to write poetry from the shogun’s deputy amid the ravages of civil war. During his travels throughout central Japan in search of patrons and poetic inspiration, Sōchō encountered all sorts of people.

The Journal of Sō chō

overawe their opponents. When they fought, they did so during the day, and seldom did they pur- sue a fleeing foe. In the early years, a defeated en- emy might be sent into exile or allowed to retire to a monastery. Later, a desire for revenge led to the slaughter of hostages and prisoners, the mutilation of corpses, the lacquering of an enemy’s skull for use as a drinking cup. By the end of the Ōnin war, Kyoto’s palaces had become fields; the shugo had become pawns of their former retainers when they had not disappeared; and Yoshihisa had inherited an

empty office. He died in 1489 while trying to pun- ish a disobedient retainer who had organized rustic warriors in Ōmi to take over estates that paid tithes to nobles and temples.

The shogunate became irrelevant to power strug- gles that rent Japan. Shugo families split in disputes between brothers over titles and the power to control landholdings that they conferred. Samurai retainers manufactured quarrels between factions or betrayed one lord for another. Believing their honor to be at stake in every encounter, they fought deadly duels

06475_ch13_rev04.indd 220 9/10/12 12:30 PM

Civil War (1467–1600) 221

one must give as well to those who beg by the roadside and wait by houses and gates.

Item. lion dancers, monkey trainers, bell ringers, bowl beaters, and the like have some- thing they can do for a living. People some- how provide for them, though their need is no greater than that of those I have just men- tioned. It is the latter, for whom there is no help at all, who are the world’s true unfor- tunates, even more than lepers and beggars. They are truly wretched.

Item. People who pursue the study of Zen are embarked on a difficult and estimable course. But those who are perfunctory in their Zen practice, even highly placed samurai in the capital and provinces, easily fall into error.

Item. Where today can one find an inspirational teacher of the doctrines of “separate transmission outside the teachings” and “nonverbalization”? Some call today’s Zen practitioners a pack of devils, of the lowest guttersnipe sort. Abbots, monks, and novices these days consort with the high and mighty, curry donations from provincial gentry, pursue their austerities only when it suits them, run hither and yon all day, and dally with other practitioners. But who are the masters they practice with themselves? Some say it is far better to repeat the Holy Name [of Amida]. I am more attracted to those who follow a simple and igno- rant practice, as I do.

Item. Acquiring bows, horses, and armor and maintaining good retainers—that is the way of the samurai. But there is no need to run out and buy things for which one has no specific purpose. Constant spending and extravagance must be avoided, I am told.

1526, fourth month: We crossed the Mountain of Meeting and entered the capital at Awataguchi without meeting a soul. This route used to be filled with horses and palan- quins, everyone bumping shoulders and tilting hats to squeeze by. As I looked out over the city, I saw not one in ten of the houses that had been there formerly, either rich or poor. The sight of tilled fields around farmhouses, with the Imperial Palace in the midst of sum- mer barley, was too much for words.

1527: on the fourth of the third month I left Yashima. A village called Minakuchi [Water’s mouth] in Kōga continued for about ten chō, and I recalled the old palace built here once for an imperial pilgrimage to Ise. There are many toll gates in these parts, and as we went along people would shout “Stop! Toll!” at every one, whereupon I composed the following:

I must have appeared at the water’s mouth, for at every gate “Stop! Toll!” is what they cry together.

Questions for Analysis 1. What kinds of people did Sōchō meet? 2. What did Sōchō think of the people he met? 3. What did Sōchō think of the times in which

he lived?

Excerpt from The Journal of Sōchō translated by H. Mack Horton. Copyright © 2002 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Jr. University. All rights reserved. Used with the permission of Stanford University Press, www.sup.org.

over imagined slights. Fortunately for the residents of Kyoto, even before the Ōnin war petered out in 1477, battlefields had shifted to the provinces, closer to the spoils of war.

local leagues

The power vacuum at the top provided an opportu- nity for locally based leagues (ikki, e-kkey—literally, “union of minds”) to escape from the vertical chains of command that had tied them to aristocratic,

religious, and military patrons. In 1487 rustic warriors in Yamashiro (YAH-ma-she-row) united province-wide to resist their overlords. Theirs was a horizontal alliance of self-reliant men of no particu- lar pedigree who organized mass demonstrations vil- lage by village. On occasion they looted, burned, and killed. Between 1428 and 1526, twenty-four ikki de- manding debt amnesty from moneylenders erupted in Kyoto and its surroundings. Many were at least par- tially successful; indeed they ceased to be a threat only when moneylenders mobilized Kyoto townspeople

06475_ch13_rev04.indd 221 9/10/12 12:30 PM

222 Chapter 13 Japan’s Middle Ages (1330–1600)

to defend the city but also to attack warlords and supporters of different Buddhist sects. They with- held rents, collected taxes, and settled disputes, in effect setting up a commoner-run city government, though the merchants in Sakai (sah-kah-e) went far- ther in developing self-rule. Enryakuji was the first to organize opposition to the league, soon joined by a warlord in Ōmi. In eight days of fighting in 1536, the attackers destroyed all the Lotus temples, burned the entire lower city and one-third of the upper, and slaughtered men, women, and children suspected of being true believers. Kyoto suffered worse damage than it had during the Ōnin war. From a military point of view, suppression had to be brutal because the Hokke teachings placed commoners on the same level as their masters.

The most radical refusal of allegiance to overlords came in the One-Mind Leagues (Ikkō ikki, E-cco) that flourished in central Japan after the Ōnin war. Supporters of the True Pure Land school of Buddhism believed that Amida offered salvation to

to go on the offensive in 1536. The moneylenders took the lead in consolidating the cityscape into two defensible sectors and in building moats and walls. (See Map 13.1.) They had already organized neigh- borhood associations for crime prevention, mutual protection, and firefighting. When the shogun proved unable to defend the city, the associations hired war- riors. Many moneylenders helped build the temple fortresses belonging to the Lotus sect that dominated the commoners’ religious life.

The Lotus League (hokke ikki, HOH-kkeh) at- tracted supporters in cities owing to its faith in the saving power of the Lotus Sutra. In teaching that this world can be the Buddhist paradise, it encour- aged worldly success. It provided institutional sup- port independent of traditional elites, thus making it possible for moneylenders to end their subor- dination to Enryakuji, and supported a paramili- tary organization useful in times of disorder. With the shogun on the run after 1521, believers in the Lotus Sutra massed in tens of thousands not only

Moats and earthen wall fortifications

Imperial Palace

Sanjo

Gojo

Shichijo

Kujo

S uz

ak u

O m

iy a

O m

iy a

K yo

go ku

Sanjo

Nijo Nijo

Gojo

Shichijo

Kujo

- -

S uz

ak u

W . T

oi n

Ta ka

ku ra

W . T

oi n

Ta ka

ku ra

K a

m o

K am

K a

m o

T ak

an o

T ak

an o

Abandoned Imperial Palace

New Imperial

Palace

Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion)

Imperial Palace

Moats and earthen wall fortifications

0 1 Mi.0.5

0 1 Km.0.5

0 1 Mi.0.5

0 1 Km.0.5

Kyoto in the 10th century

Kyoto in the 16th century

Map 13.1 Kyoto in the Tenth–Eleventh Centuries and Its Transformation in the Sixteenth Century

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch13_rev04.indd 222 9/10/12 12:30 PM

Civil War (1467–1600) 223

effort to tame the samurai, they tried to bring pri- vate feuds to an end by announcing that in cases of quarrels, both sides would be judged equally guilty and punished accordingly. They wrote house codes that warned against fomenting factions or indulging in luxury. Income and responsibility rewarded dedi- cation to duty, loyalty, and obedience. In this way, warlords created competing power blocs centered on castle towns.

The most notable warlords of the sixteenth cen- tury were self-made men who rose from obscurity to become conquerors, a process summarized in the term gekokujō (GEH-co-ku-joe) (the overthrow of those above by those below). Maeda Toshiie (MAH- eh-dah TOE-she-e-eh) of Kaga started his career as a low-ranking retainer. He initiated land surveys and reorganized his retainer band to reduce its au- tonomy. Takeda Shingen (TAH-keh-dah SHEEN- gehn) fought nearly constantly from age twenty to his death. Realizing that military force legitimizes nothing, he claimed that his quest for personal gain was done in the name of public authority. The politi- cal experiments tried by Maeda, Takeda, and others laid the groundwork for Japan’s unification through military conquest.

The Conquerors

The earliest conqueror was Oda Nobunaga, born to a junior branch of an obscure lineage. His first ac- complishment was to wipe out his kin. He brought masterless samurai who had been living by robbery and extortion into his retainer band and demanded that they swear loyalty to him personally. Although Nobunaga commanded fewer troops than his op- ponents, he used them more effectively. When he marched on Kyoto in 1568 on the pretext of install- ing Ashikaga Yoshiaki (YO-she-ah-key) as shogun, he provided sorely needed aid to the impoverished court. Later displeased with Yoshiaki’s lack of grati- tude, Nobunaga drove him out of Kyoto in 1573 and brought the Ashikaga Dynasty to a humiliating end.

Nobunaga’s signal achievement was to destroy the Buddhist temples’ military, economic, and po- litical power. He began with Enryakuji, which had allied with his enemies after he seized some of its land. In 1571 he burned three thousand buildings in its temple complex on Mount Hiei and massacred the monks. By threat or force, he expropriated the holdings of several other monasteries and ordered them to reduce their personnel. Between 1570 and

all who accepted his gift of faith. Because everyone was equal in Amida’s eyes, the One-Mind Leagues rejected both religious and secular ranking systems. Although their supporters lived in largely autono- mous communities organized around a lay teacher and temple, they were linked to a nationwide or- ganization through the sect’s headquarters at the fortified temple complex called Ishiyama Honganji (e-she-yah-mah HOHN-gahn-g) built in Osaka in 1532. The longest lasting of the One-Mind Leagues on the Noto peninsula held out against warlords from 1488 to 1578.

Rise of Warlords

Out of the same pattern of disorder that produced ikki appeared military men determined to cre- ate a new vertical organization. Unlike the shugo, who depended on the shogun for patents of rule, the new leaders, called daimyo (DAH-e-meyo), re- lied on nothing other than military force. Daimyo constructed domains from the inside out. They ig- nored provincial boundaries in favor of natural de- fenses—rivers, mountains, and seas. Their domains were smaller than those held by the former shugo, but they were more secure. By tolerating no absentee landlords, they impoverished the Kyoto aristocrats and temples. In order to survive, monarch and court sold themselves as judges of taste and erected toll barriers to tax goods in transit.

Warlords acquired territory through conquest, alliance, or marriage. Territory came with fighting men—the samurai—and farmers, often one and the same. Samurai joined the warlord’s retainer band by taking an oath of loyalty in return for land or perhaps a stipend. Sometimes this meant confirm- ing a samurai’s hold over the land he brought with him, though when possible warlords preferred to move retainers to a different area, often with the promise of a raise, in order to break their ties with former supporters. Even village headmen swore al- legiance to a warlord in return for protection. They were expected to fight in time of war in addition to cultivating their land, maintaining order, and collecting taxes.

Warlords tried to mold their territories and retainer bands into a tight unit. They surveyed land to find out how much it produced and who was re- sponsible for its taxes, promoted irrigation works to open new land, and forbade farmers to move away. They relaxed restrictions on commerce. In an

06475_ch13_rev04.indd 223 9/10/12 12:30 PM

224 Chapter 13 Japan’s Middle Ages (1330–1600)

the Hōjō in a move that shifted Ieyasu from his home- land in Mikawa (ME-kah-wah) to an unfamiliar region swarming with rustic warriors. Hideyoshi commanded enormous resources through the land he controlled and his taxes on commerce. For the first time since 958 when a Japanese government had issued currency, he minted huge gold coins. Rather than spend his own money, he had the daimyo pay for construction proj- ects and provide military service on demand. He creat- ed an ideological basis for his rule by claiming descent from the sun god who had entered his mother’s womb, a drama he acted on the Nō stage for the benefit of aristocrats, daimyo, and foreign visitors.

In the pursuit of order and stability, Hideyoshi tried to make sure that no one would rise as he had. Building on the work of his rivals, he instituted a nationwide land survey to determine the amount of land under cultivation and to fix a name to every plot, marking the beginning of efforts to quantify landholdings and estimate tax revenues. By eliminat- ing intermediate claims to landed income, the survey marked the end of the largely extinct estates. He or- dered branch castles torn down and destroyed the re- maining fortified neighborhoods in Kyoto. In 1588, he also tried to create a rigid distinction between samurai and commoners by forbidding all but samu- rai from wearing two swords, one long and one short. Thereafter, commoners might own swords, but they could not put them on display. Hideyoshi prohibited samurai from leaving their lord’s service to become merchants or farmers and told farmers not to desert their fields for the city. Although it proved impossible to make clear distinctions between various statuses, and some domains such as Satsuma or Tosa contin- ued to recognize rustic samurai, Hideyoshi’s intent remained the law of the land until 1871.

In 1592, Hideyoshi launched the first East Asian war by invading Korea. (For Chinese and Korean perspectives, see Chapters 14 and 15.) He mobilized 158,000 samurai supported by 9,200 sailors and kept 100,000 men as a backup force, one indication of how heavily militarized Japan had become. At his most bombastic, Hideyoshi proposed to conquer both Korea and China and to put the Japanese monarch on the Chinese throne with Hideyoshi’s adopted heir as regent. (He later withdrew the adoption when his concubine bore a son.) The first invasion plundered as far as Pyeongyang (Pyoung-yang). The troops were forced to retreat when supplies ran low, the Ming came to Korean aid, and the Korea admiral Yi Sunsin attacked Japanese ships with armor-plated ships and

1580, he waged war against the Ikkō ikki, showing no mercy to its supporters and slaughtering tens of thousands. To destroy the fortified headquarters at Ishiyama Honganji, he may have outfitted ships with cannon. As a result, the power of the Buddhist estab- lishment, which had characterized Japan’s Middle Ages, was permanently eliminated.

As befit a man who aimed to bring the entire realm under one sword, Nobunaga designed new economic and social policies. He freed merchants from having to seek the protection of guilds in return for contribu- tions called “thank-you money,” eliminated toll bar- riers within the areas he controlled, and tried to sta- bilize the exchange rates between different types of coins. By collecting tax registers to gauge how much his land was worth and asserting his authority over its disposal, he could claim that his retainers held their ancestral lands only at his pleasure. They had to be willing to move from place to place as he saw fit; otherwise, they would be marked as traitors and destroyed. Fearing Nobunaga’s growing power, one of his generals, Akechi Mitsuhide (AH-keh-che ME- tzu-he-deh), launched a surprise attack on Nobunaga in 1582. Nobunaga and his son committed suicide.

Nobunaga’s avenger, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, typi- fied the opportunities created by social upheaval. He came from little more than farmer stock, rising through his own efforts to dominate Japan. Although Nobunaga had pacified central Japan, independent warlords still controlled northern Japan and much of the southwest. Hideyoshi either subdued them or so intimidated them that they acknowledged him as overlord. When he defeated the Shimazu of Satsuma in 1586, he allowed them to keep a portion of their domain, and he did the same for the Mōri (MOE- re) of Chōshū (CHOE-shoe). Preferring the security of submission to the whims of battle, the northern warlords surrendered without a fight after he defeat- ed the Hōjō (no relation to the Kamakura Hōjō) at Odawara (OH-dah-wah-rah) in 1590. For the first time in over 250 years, Japan had a single ruler.

Although Hideyoshi epitomized the self-made man and created a new government structure, he looked to the monarchy to validate his rule. Having rebuilt the Kyoto palace and paid for court ceremonies, he took the name Fujiwara and had himself appointed retired regent. He allowed his supporters and even his rivals to remain as daimyo of domains, though he separated the latter to prevent conspiracies. He rewarded his faith- ful supporter Tokugawa Ieyasu (E-eh-yah-su) with the eight Kantō (KAHN-toe) provinces after the defeat of

06475_ch13_rev04.indd 224 9/10/12 12:30 PM

Civil War (1467–1600) 225

Korean Invasion. Japanese landing at Pusan, 1592.

Co ur

te sy

, S te

ph en

T ur

nb ul

cannon. Hideyoshi tried again in 1597. When he died the next year, the Japanese troops in Korea decamped to participate in the succession dispute to come.

Hideyoshi had hoped to have his young son succeed him by establishing a balance of power in the five-man advisory council created shortly before his death. Its most powerful member was Tokugawa

Ieyasu who, like Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, came from an obscure background in central Japan. Ieyasu earned his retainers’ loyalty by making them com- pletely dependent on him for their rewards. Rath- er than kill his kin, he left them with the original Matsudaira (MAH-tzu-dah-e-rah) name when he took the Tokugawa name in 1566. Upon moving

06475_ch13_rev04.indd 225 9/10/12 12:30 PM

226 Chapter 13 Japan’s Middle Ages (1330–1600)

The warriors who now dominated Kyoto imitated aristocratic canons of taste modified by having been channeled through a Zen value system. Whether in blank spaces in ink brush painting or frozen move- ment in the dance-theater known as Nō, contact with the inexpressible was said to allow the viewer to see beyond surface reality. Yoshida Shinto brought an- other change in the structure of belief by insisting that the gods were gods, not the Buddha in another form, and the monarch was descended from them.

Beginning during the late-fifteenth-century succes- sion disputes and continuing through the sixteenth- century civil wars, the shogun and military governors discovered that they could control neither their offspring, nor their retainers, nor their territories. Instead local leagues based on horizontal alliances of- ten fostered by a common religious affiliation and be- lief that men are fundamentally equal in the Buddha’s eyes opposed warlords, often self-made men, who val- ued a vertical chain of command with themselves on top. By overcoming the military governors’ shortcom- ings, the warlords (daimyo) conquered Japan. In the first East Asian war, Toyotomi Hideyoshi sent enor- mous armies to attack Korea as one solution of what to do with the enormous armies they had amassed; Tokugawa Ieyasu reaped the reward of his predeces- sors’ efforts when he set up his own rule over Japan.

What changed during Japan’s middle ages? Warfare destroyed the estate system and forged new political institutions from the village to the domain. The shaved pate for men originated during the Onin war because it made wearing helmets less hot. Warlords instituted land surveys and sword hunts to consolidate their rule. Shifting patterns in marriage and the spread of in- heritance by the eldest son (primogeniture) enhanced patriarchal authority in the ruling class. Despite, or perhaps because of, the disruptions caused by war, do- mestic trade based on increased agricultural produc- tivity led to new occupations, while international trade linked Japan with Korea, China, and Southeast Asia, although not always in channels approved by rulers. Some social experiments, such as vertically organized warrior bands, endured. Others—the religiously based horizontally constructed leagues—became historical dead-ends. Religious institutions lost economic and political power, but religious beliefs informed cultur- al values. Arts inspired by Zen such as rock gardens came to define what people often think is the essence of the Japanese aesthetic. The popularity of the tea ceremony among merchants prefigured the spread of popular culture centered on townspeople.

from central Japan to the Kantō plain, he turned the village of Edo (EH-doe) into his castle town and started to build an administrative and personnel sys- tem like that of other warlords. He fought only those battles he knew he could win. By the time the advi- sory council fell apart in 1600, he had neutralized, compromised, or won over most of his rivals.

The battle of Sekigahara (SEH-key-gah-hah-rah) in 1600 brought the civil wars to a close. Although Hideyoshi’s son remained in Osaka castle, his sup- porters were samurai who had lost their masters (rōnin, ROW-kneen) and other warriors who found that peace left little outlet for their talents. When Ieyasu decided to move against the castle in two cam- paigns in 1615 and 1616, the resistance was fierce but futile. Another threat to peace was the Shimabara (SHE-mah-bah-rah) Christian rebellion of 1637 in Kyushu, the last of the religiously based ikki. Like other ikki, it was suppressed with the slaughter of approximately ten thousand men, women, and children. It was the last military conflict Japan was to suffer for more than two hundred years.

SUMMARY Conflict marked Japan’s middle ages as men struggled to gain and hold power or resist authority imposed from above. When GoDaigo tried to reassert monar- chical rule, he opened the door for samurai to create a new military regime under Ashikaga Takauji that relied on military governors. The difficulty they had holding territory and in cooperating among themselves left room for warriors of no particular pedigree to at- tract followers, first in the fourteenth century struggle between the northern and southern courts and then in the sixteenth century warring states period.

The militarization of society had consequences. When women moved to their husbands’ house upon marriage, they traded economic autonomy for security. The need for protection led people in the countryside to create new ways to run their com- munities that fostered cooperation while mobiliz- ing farmer/fighters for defense. The spread of trade opened markets to farmers close to cities; the rise of guilds protected handicraft development and trans- portation networks across Japan. The middle ages era saw Japan’s first flourishing of international trade, both sanctioned and not. Its benefits seldom extended to people living on the margins, the slaves, lepers, and outcasts seen as defiled and defiling.

06475_ch13_rev04.indd 226 9/10/12 12:30 PM

227

C H A P T E R F O U R T E E N

The Ming Empire in China (1368–1644)

The Founding of the Ming Dynasty

Diplomacy and Defense

Social and Cultural Trends

Biography: Tan Yunxian, Woman Doctor

Material Culture: Gardens of Suzhou

Documents: Scene from The Peony Pavilion

Dynastic Decline

The Ming Dynasty was founded by a man who lived through the disorder of the late Yuan and knew poverty firsthand. His efforts to impose order on Chinese society sometimes took draconian forms, but his thirty-year reign brought China peace and stability. Although he and some of his successors treated officials cruelly, in time competition to join officialdom surpassed Song levels. Literati culture was especially vibrant in the economically well-developed Jiangnan region, south of the lower Yangzi River. As population increased, both rural and urban areas took on distinctive traits. Rural areas differed greatly by region, with powerful lineages, tenantry, and absentee landlords much more common in some areas than in others. The merchant-centered culture of cities found expression in vernacular fiction and drama, published in increasing quantity and accessible even to those with rudimentary educations.

Because the Ming Dynasty was succeeded by a non-Chinese conquest dynasty (the Qing [ching] Dynasty of the Manchus, 1644–1911), the Ming was the last of the native dynasties. Historians have therefore often turned to it for a baseline against which modern change has been judged. How did China compare to Western Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries? Had China already begun to fall behind Western Europe in technology, standard of living, or pace of change? At the local level, were communities becoming more integrated into the realm as standardizing policies and economic linkages spread? Or were they becoming more diverse as the economy developed in different direc- tions in different places? A related set of questions concerns the gov- ernment and the educated elite. How effective and how adaptable was the government? Why did educated men continue to seek office when the government so often treated them poorly? What was the impact on the educated class of the changes in the examination system and the explosion of printing?

06475_ch14_rev04.indd 227 9/10/12 1:07 PM

228 Chapter 14 The Ming Empire in China (1368–1644)

another. In 1368 his armies took the Yuan capital (which the Yuan emperor and his closest follow- ers had vacated just days before). Then forty years old, Zhu Yuanzhang declared himself emperor of the Ming Dynasty. The word ming, meaning “bright,” resonated with the Manichaean strain in Red Tur- ban ideology. His first reign period he called Hon- gwu (hung-woo, “abundantly martial”), and because he did not introduce a new reign period for the rest of his thirty-year reign, he is often referred to as the Hongwu emperor. It became the custom from this point on for emperors not to change their reign period names. Zhu Yuanzhang’s posthumous temple name (the name used in the sacrifices to him after his death) is Taizu (ty-dzoo), so he is also called Ming Taizu.

Ming Taizu, the Hongwu Emperor

In the milieu in which Taizu grew up, the deities in Daoist temples labeled “emperors,” such as the Yellow Emperor and the Emperor of the Eastern Peak, provided a folk image of imperial rule. The Hongwu emperor seems to have taken these divine autocrats as his model and did everything he could to elevate the position of emperor to their level. He required his officials to kneel when addressing him, and he did not hesitate to have them beaten in open court. He issued instructions to be read aloud to villagers, telling them to be filial to their parents, live in harmony with their neighbors, work contentedly at their occupations, and refrain from evil.

Taizu wanted a world in which people obeyed their superiors and bad deeds were promptly pun- ished. In order to lighten the weight of government exactions on the poor, he ordered a full-scale reg- istration of cultivated land and population so that labor service and tax obligations could be assessed more fairly. Taizu called for the drafting of a new law code and took it through five revisions. He had legal experts compare every statute in it to the Tang code in his presence, but he made the final decisions.

Some Yuan practices Taizu retained. One was the strengthening of the provinces as the administrative layer between the central government and the prefec- tures. The creation of provinces should not be viewed as a decentralization of power, but instead as a way for the central government to increase its supervi- sion of the prefectures and counties. Another Yuan practice that the Hongwu emperor retained was use of hereditary service obligations for artisan house- holds that had to supply the palace or government

THE FOUNDiNG OF THE MiNG DYNASTY The founder of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang (joo ywan-jahng) (1328–1398), started life at the bottom of society. His parents often moved to look for work or evade rent collectors. His home region in Anhui (ahn-hway) province was hit by drought and then plague in the 1340s, and when he was only sixteen years old, his father, oldest brother, and brother’s wife all died, leaving two penniless boys with three bodies to bury. A neighbor let them bury them in his field, but they had no way to provide cof- fins or anything to eat. With no relatives to turn to, Zhu Yuanzhang asked a monastery to take him on as a novice. The monastery was short of funds itself because its tenants could not pay their rent, and in less than two months, Zhu was sent out to beg for food. For the next three to four years, he traveled widely through central China. Not until he returned to the monastery did he learn to read.

A few years later, in 1351, a millenarian sect known as the Red Turbans rose in rebellion. The Red Turbans were affiliated with the White Lotus Society, whose teachings drew on two distinct tra- ditions. One was Manichaeism and its idea of the incompatibility of the forces of good and evil. The other was the cult of the Maitreya Buddha, who would in the future bring his paradise to earth to relieve human suffering. The Red Turbans met with considerable success, even defeating Mongol cavalry. In the course of fighting the rebels, the Yuan govern- ment troops burned down Zhu Yuanzhang’s temple. Zhu, then twenty-four, joined the rebels. The leaders of the Red Turbans were men of modest origins, and Zhu Yuanzhang rose quickly among them. One of the commanders let Zhu marry his daughter. Within a couple of years, Zhu had between twenty thousand and thirty thousand men fighting under him.

At this time there were strongmen all over China— some rebels, some loyal to the Yuan, but all trying to maintain control of a local base. Zhu quickly at- tracted literati advisers who thought he had a chance to be the final victor and hoped to help shape his gov- ernment. They encouraged him to gradually distance himself from the Red Turbans, whose millenarian beliefs did not appeal to the educated elite. In 1356, Zhu took Nanjing, made it his base, and tried to win over the local population by disciplining his soldiers.

Many of Zhu’s followers developed into brilliant generals, and gradually they defeated one rival after

06475_ch14_rev04.indd 228 9/10/12 1:07 PM

The Founding of the Ming Dynasty 229

interfere in the government. The princes were sent out of the capital to fiefs, and Taizu issued rules that they and their descendants were not to take exami- nations, serve in office, or follow any sort of career other than specified military assignments. They were to live outside the capital, supported by government stipends.

Taizu had deeply ambivalent feelings about men of education and sometimes brutally humiliated them in open court. His behavior was so erratic that most likely he suffered from some form of mental ill- ness. In 1376, Taizu had thousands of officials killed because they were found to have taken a shortcut in their handling of paperwork related to the grain tax. In 1380, Taizu concluded that his chancellor, Hu Weiyong (hoo way-yung), was plotting to assas- sinate him. Anyone remotely connected to Hu was executed, the investigations taking nearly a decade, with as many as fifteen thousand people losing their lives. From 1380 on, the Hongwu emperor acted as his own chancellor, dealing directly with the heads of departments and ministries.

As Taizu became more literate, he realized that scholars could criticize him in covert ways, using phrases that had double meanings or that sounded like words for “bandit,” “monk,” or the like. Even poems in private circulation could be used as evi- dence of subversive intent. When literary men began to avoid official life, Taizu made it illegal to turn down appointments or resign from office. He began falling into rages that only his wife, Empress Ma, could stop. After her death in 1382, no one could calm him.

Chengzu, the Yongle Emperor

Taizu lived a long life, to seventy-one sui, outliving his eldest son, who had been his heir apparent. He made that son’s eldest son the next heir, and this grandson, known as Huidi (hway-dee), succeeded to the throne at the age of twenty-one. Almost im- mediately, however, the eldest of Taizu’s surviving sons by the empress, a man known then as the Prince of Yan, launched a military campaign to take the throne himself. After a three-year civil war, he pre- vailed. He is known as Chengzu (chuhng-dzoo), or the Yongle (yung-luh) emperor (r. 1403–1425).

Chengzu was a military man like his father, and he was married to the daughter of a leading general, who encouraged his military interests. He directed the civil war himself and often led troops into battle,

as their tax obligation. The army too made use of hereditary households. Centuries earlier, during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, armies composed of men with inherited obligations to serve had been common. Among the non-Chinese in the north, the status was an honorable one, but in the south, the status became despised. In the Tang, the divisional militia, with its hereditary obligations, had worked well for a half-century, but then it was supplanted by recruited professional armies, a practice the Song retained. The Mongols, however, made military ser- vice a hereditary obligation as they did so much else, and the Ming took over this practice.

Under the Hongwu emperor, the Ming army reached 1 million soldiers, drawn from the armies that had fought for control of China as well as some conscripts and some convicts. Once a family had been classed as a military household, it was respon- sible for supplying one soldier in succession, replac- ing soldiers who were injured, who died, or who deserted. Garrisons were concentrated along the northern border and near the capital; each garrison allocated a tract of land that the soldiers took turns cultivating to supply their own food, a system that had been repeatedly tried since the Han Dynasty. Al- though in theory this system should have supplied the Ming with a large but inexpensive army, the real- ity was less satisfactory. Just as in earlier dynasties, garrisons were rarely self-sufficient, men compelled to become soldiers did not necessarily make good fighting men, and desertion was difficult to prevent.

Many of the soldiers in the Ming army were Mongols in Mongol units. Although anti-Mongol sentiment was strong among the rebels, Taizu recog- nized that the Yuan Dynasty had had the Mandate of Heaven and told Mongols that they would be welcome in his dynasty: “Those Mongols and Inner Asians who live on our land also are our children, and those among them who possess talent and ability also shall be selected and appointed to office by us.”* Taizu did not try to conquer the Mongols, and Ming China did not extend into modern Inner Mongolia or Central Asia. Where it did expand was to the southwest. In the 1380s, Ming took control of modern Yunnan and cre- ated the new province of Guizhou east of it.

Taizu had twenty-six sons, several in their teens by the time he became emperor, and he took measures to see that they and their descendants would not

*Cited in F. W. Mote, Imperial China, 900–1800 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999), p. 560.

06475_ch14_rev04.indd 229 9/10/12 1:07 PM

230 Chapter 14 The Ming Empire in China (1368–1644)

transport army, who pulled loaded barges from the tow paths along the canal, became the lifeline of the capital.

Weaknesses of the imperial institution

Ming Taizu had decreed that succession should go to the eldest son of the empress, or the latter’s eldest son if he predeceased his father, the system generally, but not inflexibly, followed by earlier dynasties. In Ming times, the flaws in this system became apparent as one mediocre, obtuse, or erratic emperor followed another. Yingzong (ying-dzung) (r. 1436–1450), who came to the throne at age eight, liked to play soldier; with the encouragement of his favorite eunuch, he led an army against the Mongols when he was twen- ty-one years old, resulting in the destruction of his fifty-thousand-man army and his own capture. The Mongols found him so useless that they returned him the next year, after his brother had been enthroned. Xianzong (shyen-dzung) (r. 1465–1488), after com- ing to the throne at age sixteen, let himself be ma- nipulated by a palace lady almost twenty years his senior; she had his children born to other women systematically killed. Wuzong (r. 1505–1521) will- fully defied established practices and spent much of his time drunk. Shizong (r. 1522–1567) refused to treat his predecessor as his adoptive father. Subject to fits of rage, he was so cruel to his palace ladies that a group of them tried to murder him in 1542. In 1565 the brave official Hai Rui (hy ray) submitted a me- morial saying that the emperor had failed as a man, a father, and a ruler and had been a disaster for the country. Shenzong, the Wanli (wahn-lee) emperor (r. 1573–1620), was intelligent but refused to hold court for years at a time and allowed memorials to pile up unopened and vacancies to go unfilled.

Because Ming Taizu had abolished the position of chancellor, the emperor had to turn to members of the inner court to help him. At first, relatively junior men in the Hanlin Academy served as secretaries, a practice that became regularized as a kind of cabi- net of grand secretaries. Although they were given concurrent titles as vice ministers to enhance their standing, their lack of actual administrative experi- ence hampered their dealings with the outer court. Added to this, they had to work with the eunuchs to manage the flow of paperwork, and some of the stigma attached to eunuchs spilled over to them.

Eunuchs became as serious a problem in Ming times as they had in late Han and late Tang.

leading to victories over the Mongols. In 1406 he authorized a major expedition into Vietnam, which had been independent for more than four centuries. Although the campaign was a success, the region was held for only two decades. Also like his father, Chengzu was willing to use terror to keep govern- ment officials in line. Quite a few officials serving Huidi resisted his usurpation. When the leading Confucian scholar, Fang Xiaoru (fahng shyow-roo), refused to draft the proclamation of his accession, Chengzu not only had him executed by dismember- ment but had his relatives and associates to the tenth degree executed as well, including all those who had been passed when he conducted the civil service ex- aminations. Tens of thousands were killed.

Yet the Yongle emperor also had impressive ac- complishments. He put two thousand scholars to work making a fifty-million-word (22,938-chapter) compendium of knowledge drawn from seven thou- sand books (the Yongle Encyclopedia). To assist those studying for the civil service examinations, he had a selection of texts from the Cheng-Zhu school of Confucianism compiled. He expanded and regu- larized the court diplomatic system.

Early in his reign, Chengzu decided to move the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, which had been his own base as a prince as well as the capital dur- ing Yuan times. Construction employed hundreds of thousands of workers and lasted from 1407 to 1420. Although little of the original city walls and gates survives today, the palace complex remains, its layout and architecture still reflecting the fifteenth- century design. The city was a planned city, like Chang’an in Sui-Tang times, built near the site of the Yuan capital, but starting afresh. Like Chang’an, it was built on a north–south axis and consisted of boxes within boxes. The main outer walls were forty feet high and nearly fifteen miles around, pierced by nine gates. Inside it was the Imperial City, with government offices, and within that the Forbidden City, the palace itself, with close to ten thousand rooms. The main audience halls were arranged along the central axis, with vast courtyards between them where attending officials would stand or kneel. The design, as intended, awes all who enter.

The areas surrounding Beijing were not nearly as agriculturally productive as those around Nanjing. To supply Beijing with grain, the Grand Canal was extensively renovated, broadening and deepening it and supplying it with more locks and dams. The fifteen thousand boats and 160,000 soldiers of the

06475_ch14_rev04.indd 230 9/10/12 1:07 PM

Diplomacy and Defense 231

institutions that would limit the damage an emperor could do. They came to prefer weak emperors who let them take care of the government, knowing that strong emperors often acted erratically. Probably one of the reasons so many Ming emperors resisted their officials’ efforts to manage them was that the officials were indeed trying to keep emperors engaged in tasks where they could do relatively little harm.

Many officials did in fact risk their careers, and sometimes their lives, trying to admonish emper- ors. The tradition of protesting against evil offi- cials, harmful policies, and wrong-headed imperial decisions was strong throughout the Ming, though it rarely led to the results the protesters sought. In 1376, when Taizu asked for criticism, Ye Boju (yeh baw-joo) submitted a memorial objecting to harsh punishment of officials for minor lapses. In it he noted that many officials considered themselves for- tunate to be out of office. Taizu, incensed, had Ye brought to the capital in chains and let him starve to death in prison. A few decades later, many of Huidi’s top officials protested Chengzu’s usurpation, with dire consequences to themselves and their families. In 1519, when Emperor Wuzong announced plans to tour the southern provinces, he was flooded with memorials objecting to his decision. More than one hundred officials staged a protest by kneeling in front of the palace. Wuzong was outraged and ordered the officials to remain kneeling for three days, after which he had them flogged; eleven died. A few years later, in 1524, during the crisis over Shizong’s refusal to treat the previous emperor as his adopted father, hundreds of officials again gathered at the palace gate. The emperor had 134 of them imprisoned, and 16 died of the floggings they received. The Confucian tradition celebrated these acts of political protest as heroic. Rarely, however, did they succeed in moving an emperor to change his mind; more often they ex- acerbated factional tensions within the government.

DiPlOMACY AND DEFENSE The Ming government faced both new and old chal- lenges along its borders. Until 1600 and the rise of the Manchus, the Ming looked on the Mongols as their primary military threat. The seacoast at this time was presenting new challenges. Ming China was being drawn more deeply into maritime trad- ing networks, which brought both piracy and new sources of wealth.

From the time of Ming Taizu on, eunuchs were employed in the palace, their numbers gradually growing. As in earlier dynasties, emperors often preferred the always compliant eunuchs to high- minded, moralizing civil service officials. A eunuch bureaucracy developed, headed by the director of ceremonial, who was responsible for seeing that the emperor was attended at all times, that security was maintained, and that documents were properly handled. When the emperor allowed it, the director of ceremonial became a kind of chief of staff who could impose his will on the civil service. In 1420, Chengzu set up the Eastern Depot, headed by a eu- nuch, which acted as a secret service and investigated cases of suspected corruption and sedition. During the late fifteenth century, the eunuch bureaucracy grew as large as the civil service, each with roughly twelve thousand positions. After 1500, the eunuch bureaucracy grew much more rapidly, and by the mid- sixteenth century, seventy thousand eunuchs were in service throughout the country, with ten thousand in the capital. Eunuch control over vital government processes, such as appointments, was especially a problem during the long reign of the derelict Shenzong (1573–1620).

Confucian writers generally vilified eunuchs, as though they were by nature evil, and rarely showed sympathy for their unfortunate circumstances. Eunuchs were essentially slaves. Many were acquired by dubi- ous means as children, often from non-Chinese areas in the south, and once they were castrated, they had no option but to serve the imperial family. Zheng He (juhng huh), for instance, was taken from Yunnan as a boy of ten by a Ming general assigned the task of se- curing boys to be castrated. Society considered eunuchs the basest of servants and heaped scorn on them.

What was a conscientious official to do, given the flaws in the Ming government? Officials serving in local posts could do their best to make the govern- ment work, even when they knew that needed re- forms would not be made. Some, discouraged, left office after a few years. If they had enough property to live on, they could enjoy the status of retired of- ficial and concentrate on matters more within their control, such as writing local histories or collecting works of calligraphy.

Although the educated public complained about the performance of emperors, no one proposed or even imagined alternatives to imperial rule. High of- ficials were forced to find ways to work around unco- operative emperors but were not able to put in place

06475_ch14_rev04.indd 231 9/10/12 1:07 PM

232 Chapter 14 The Ming Empire in China (1368–1644)

who later became the Yongle emperor and gained extensive military experience in battles with the Mongols and later in the wars that secured Yongle’s succession.

Within three years of seizing the throne, Yongle put Zheng He in charge of a series of unprecedent- ed naval expeditions. The first of the seven voyages was made by a fleet of 317 ships, of which 62 were huge “treasure ships,” reportedly 440 feet long. Each expedition involved from twenty thousand to thirty-two thousand men, including sailors, soldiers, navigators, doctors, and laborers. Some of the ships were water tankers, carrying about a month’s supply of fresh water. Others carried food. The design of the ships took full advantage of the many advances in nautical technology since Song times that had enabled Chinese mariners to become a dominant presence in maritime trade. Assembling so large a fleet and sending it so far from home testified to the power of the Ming Dynasty. Suppressing piracy was another goal. During the first voyage in 1405, Zheng destroyed the fleet of a powerful Chinese pirate who had for years been harassing ships passing through the Straits of Malacca.

The ships followed well-established trading routes. The first three voyages (1405–1411) stopped in Viet- nam, Malaysia, the islands of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and India. The fourth (1413–1415) went to the Per- sian Gulf and Arabia. The last three (1416–1422 and 1430–1433) reached east Africa. (See Map 14.1.) At each stop, Zheng He would go ashore to visit

Early in the Ming, the government expanded and regularized the court diplomatic system, trying to make it conform to the idealized view of how it had functioned in the Han and Tang Dynasties, when China had dominated East Asia, rather than in Song times, when a multistate sys- tem had operated and Song had paid tribute to its northern neighbors. To the Ming court, the ar- rival of envoys from dozens of countries, bringing their strange or valuable goods with them, served to confirm China’s moral centrality. As in earlier dynasties, countries that sent missions had their own agendas and were as eager to benefit from the trade that the missions made possible as to stay on China’s good side. Vietnam, for instance, regularly sent missions to the Ming court after it expelled the Ming invaders.

Zheng He’s Voyages

In order to invite more countries to send missions, the Yongle emperor Chengzu authorized an extraordinary series of voyages to the Indian Ocean under the com- mand of his trusted eunuch Zheng He (1371–1433).

Zheng He was from a Muslim family in Yunnan and may have learned Arabic in his youth (both his father and grandfather had made the Hajj to Mecca). At the age of about ten, however, during the Ming conquest of Yunnan, he was taken along with other boys to be castrated and to serve in the palace as a eunuch. Zheng He was assigned to the prince

Zheng He Stamp. Zheng He is today treated as a hero and commemorated on stamps.

Vi su

al C

on ne

ct io

n A

rc hi

06475_ch14_rev04.indd 232 9/10/12 1:07 PM

Diplomacy and Defense 233

rulers, transmit messages of China’s peaceful inten- tions, and bestow lavish gifts. Beginning with the third voyage, rulers invited to come to China or send envoys were offered passage.

Besides envoys, Zheng He brought back exotic animals and goods likely to delight the emperor, including giraffes and lions from Africa, fine cotton cloth from India, and gems and spices from South- east Asia. Another Muslim who accompanied him on three of his voyages, Ma Huan, wrote a book- length account of the places they visited that gave details about their geography, politics, climate, economy, and local customs.

Why were these voyages abandoned? One likely reason is that they did not bring much of a return. Officials complained of the cost of the expeditions, which they saw as wasteful. Another possibility is that they had special appeal to the Yongle emperor, who died in 1424 after the sixth expedition. The next two emperors had other priorities, includ- ing dealing with the rising power of the Mongols. Zheng He did get to make one final journey after his patron’s death, in 1430–1433, but he died during it. Thereafter the boats sat in harbor. Four decades later, in 1474, all the remaining ships with three or more masts were broken up and used for lumber.

Not long after the destruction of Zheng He’s fleet, the more modest expeditions of Vasco da Gama and Christopher Columbus changed the course of world history (see Connections: Europe Enters the Scene).

The Mongols and the Great Wall

The early Ming emperors held Mongol fighting men in awe and saw in them the potential for another great military machine of the sort Chinggis had put together. Both Taizu and Chengzu were determined to avoid the fate of the Song Dynasty, which had to pay off its powerful northern neighbors. Both em- perors personally led armies into Mongolia. Cheng- zu, in fact, died on his fifth campaign in 1424, at age sixty-four.

As it turned out, the Mongols in Ming times never formed the sort of federation that could have seriously threatened China. After he retreated to Mongolia, the last Yuan emperor did not find it easy to keep the Mongols united under his lead- ership because his loss of China discredited him. Ensuing Mongol civil wars weakened Mongolia and led to division. Through much of the Ming,

the 3 million or so Mongols were loosely divided into six groups, located in today’s Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, and Mongolia, or north of those areas. Under Taizu and Chengzu, the Ming sent large and well-provisioned armies into Mongol territory, with as many as 250,000 troops. Such campaigns were extremely expensive and did not accomplish much, given the Mongols’ mobility. Later in the dynasty, the Ming was less inclined to send armies into Mongolia and concentrated on defending its borders against attack.

Although in Ming times, the Mongols were never united in a pan-Mongol federation, groups of Mongols could and did raid, and twice they threatened the dynasty: in 1449, when Esen, the khan of the Western Mongols, captured the em- peror, and in 1550, when Beijing was surrounded by the forces of Altan Khan, khan of the Mongols in Inner Mongolia. The Ming was very reluctant to grant any privileges to Mongol leaders, such as trading posts along the borders, and wanted the different groups of Mongols to trade only through the envoy system. Repeatedly Mongol envoys said friction could be reduced if regular- ized trade could be introduced, but until 1570, when an agreement was reached with Altan Khan, the Ming court refused.

Two important developments shaped later Ming–Mongol relations: the building of the Great Wall and the Mongols’ forging of close ties with Tibetan Buddhism. Work on the wall began by the mid-fifteenth century, when administrators of the western sections of the border began connect- ing principal garrison points and had some suc- cesses in trapping contingents of Mongol cavalry. Extending the wall was later seen as a solution to the deadlock between officials who argued that the Mongols could be managed by allowing more trade and those who insisted that no concessions be made to them.

Much of the Ming Great Wall survives today. It is about 1,500 miles long, from northeast of Beijing into Gansu province. In the eastern 500 miles, the walls average about 35 feet high and 20 feet across, with towers every half-mile for lookouts. The wall itself is faced with brick much of the way, giving it an imposing appearance that greatly impressed the first Westerners who saw it.

Although there was considerable trade between Tibet and China through Sichuan (sih-chwan) and Yunnan, Ming China did not have close diplomatic

06475_ch14_rev04.indd 233 9/10/12 1:07 PM

234 Chapter 14 The Ming Empire in China (1368–1644)

the late sixteenth century. Under the new policies, Portugal was permitted to set up a trading base at Macao in 1557, which it held until 1999.

Besides stimulating the Ming economy, the expan- sion of maritime trade brought New World crops to China. Sweet potatoes, maize, peanuts, tomatoes, chili peppers, tobacco, and other crops were quickly introduced into China. Sweet potatoes and maize in particular facilitated population growth because they could be grown on land that had not been culti- vated because it was too sandy or too steep. Spanish and Portuguese ships also began to bring mission- aries with radically different sets of ideas about the nature of the world.

Social and cultural trendS During the first half of the Ming, as China recovered from the wars and dislocations of the Yuan period, attempts were made to stabilize society. By the six- teenth century, however, Chinese society and culture were breaking free of many of the restraints that the early Ming government had tried to impose on them, and social and cultural change sped up.

the educated class and the examination life

Despite the harsh and arbitrary ways in which Ming emperors treated their civil servants, edu- cated men were as eager to enter the bureaucracy as in earlier ages. As discussed in Chapter 12, civil service examinations played only a very small part in the recruitment of officials during the Yuan pe- riod. In Ming times, the examinations more than regained their significance as the most prestigious way to enter government service. To a greater de- gree than in Tang or Song times, the Ming exami- nation system created a nationwide culture for all those who participated. All had to learn to write in the approved “eight-legged” style, which empha- sized reasoning by analogy and pairing statements. The orthodoxy of Zhu Xi’s teachings was an inte- gral part of the Ming system. All had to study the Four Books and Zhu Xi’s interpretations of them. Because Zhu Xi considered writing poetry of no value to moral cultivation, the poetic composition component of the examinations was dropped.

ties to Tibet, then largely ruled by the major mon- asteries. When Tibetan monasteries needed mili- tary assistance, they called for help from competing Mongol leaders, and many struggles were decided by Mongol military intervention. Tsong-kha-pa (1357–1419) founded the Yellow Hat or Gelug-pa sect, whose heads later became known as the Dalai Lamas. In 1577 the third Dalai Lama accepted the invitation of Altan Khan to visit Mongolia, and the khan declared Tibetan Buddhism to be the official religion of all the Mongols. The Dalai Lama gave the khan the title “King of Religion,” and the khan swore that the Mongols would renounce blood sacrifice. When the third Dalai Lama’s reincarna- tion was found to be the great-grandson of Altan Khan, the ties between Tibet and the Mongols, not surprisingly, became even stronger.

trade and Piracy along china’s coasts

The Ming court’s obsession with defending against the Mongols was not because its other borders posed no problems. The court wanted trade sub- ordinated to diplomacy and stipulated that envoys from the Philippines were supposed to enter only through the port of Fuzhou, those from Japan only through Ningbo, those from Indonesia only through Guangzhou, and so on. Moreover, the size and fre- quency of missions was restricted; Japanese embas- sies, for instance, were not to call more than once in ten years or bring more than two ships with three hundred men. In the sixteenth century, this formal system proved unable to contain the emergence of an international East Asian maritime trading com- munity composed of Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and Chinese merchants and adventurers. Because the profits to be had from maritime trade were high, both open and clandestine trade took place all along the coast.

Boats leaving China carried silk and porcelains; those entering it brought silver from Peruvian and Mexican mines, transported via Manila, to pay for the Chinese goods. Boats laden with goods at- tracted pirates. Pirates grew so strong that they took to raiding the coast from Shandong to Guangzhou. Instead of trying to suppress the pirates by expand- ing its navy, the Ming government forced people to move away from the coast, hoping to starve out the pirates. Anti-pirate efforts did not have much suc- cess until maritime trade restrictions were eased in

06475_ch14_rev04.indd 234 9/20/12 3:17 PM

Social and Cultural Trends 235

given at the same time by the Jin, the Ming average was only 89 per year.

Another difference between the Song and Ming systems was that the Ming made a more concerted effort to ensure that the wealthy and cultured Jiang- nan area did not dominate the examination results. Quotas were established for the number of candi- dates each province could send on to the capital. In 1397 all of those passed at the palace examination were southerners, leading Taizu to execute two of the examiners. Taizu retested everyone and passed

Another new feature of the Ming examination sys- tem was a screening test taken at the province level, adding to the number of tests a successful candidate would eventually have to pass. There were thus three principal degrees: the shengyuan (shuhng-ywan), at the county or prefectural level; the juren (jyu-run), at the province level; and the jinshi, those selected at the capital examination and confirmed at the palace examination. Fewer men made it to the top in Ming times than in Song times. In contrast to the 135 jinshi per year in Southern Song plus the 149 per year

l l

l l l l

l l l l l l l l l l l l

l l

l l l l l l

l l

Gr ea

t W all

Grand Canal Yell

Han

Yan gzi

Brahmaputra

Yellow Sea

East China Sea

South China Sea

Sea of Japan

P A C I F I C

O C E A N

Bay of Bengal

Beijing

Nanjing

Jingdezhen

Hanoi

Hangzhou

Guangzhou

Hansong

Kamakura

Kyoto

Dehua

0 500 1000 Km.

0 500 1000 Mi.

M O N G O L I A

TAIWAN

YUNNAN

EASTERN TURKESTAN

M A

N C

H U

R I A

M I N G E M P I R E

JAPAN

T I B E T

JOSEON KOREA (after 1392)

ANNAM

SIAM

B U R M A

CHAMPA (to 1500)

Ry uk

yu (L

iu qi

u) Is

la nd

Philippine Islands

Chittagong Guangzhou

Cochin

Calicut Pegu

Vijaya

Malacca

Hormuz

Aden

Jedda

Mogadishu

MING EMPIRE

INDIAAFRICA

CEYLON

ARABIA

THE VOYAGES OF ZHENG HE, 1405–1433

Map 14.1 The Ming Empire

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch14_rev04.indd 235 9/20/12 3:17 PM

236 Chapter 14 The Ming Empire in China (1368–1644)

sometimes endowing schools for their members. Be- cause the lineage as a whole would enjoy the prestige that came with examination success, lineage leaders were willing to invest in the education of any tal- ented boy in the lineage.

The provincial and capital examinations had three sessions spread out over a week and involved a series of essays. In the first session, the essays were on passages from the Four Books and the classic of the candidate’s choice. In the second and third ses- sions, candidates had to write essays on practical policy issues and a passage from the Classic of Filial Piety. In addition, they had to show that they could draft state papers such as edicts, decrees, and judi- cial rulings. Reading the dynastic histories was the best way to prepare for the policy issue and state paper questions.

Examinations themselves were major events not only for the candidates but also for the officials serving in the locality and for nearby residents. At the county or prefectural level, the tests lasted a day and drew hundreds or thousands of candi- dates. The government compound was taken over to give all candidates a place to sit and write. Out- side were stalls selling supplies, friends and rela- tives pressing gifts on those entering, and curious people eager to watch the examiners and the can- didates file in.

Even more elaborate were the weeklong af- fairs of the provincial examinations. From five thousand to ten thousand candidates descended on the city and filled up its hostels. Candidates would show up a week in advance to present their

only northerners. Thereafter, the examiners consid- ered regional origin and tried for a balance. After 1427, northern candidates were ensured 35 percent of the places.

The lowest degree holders, the shengyuan, had to pass tests periodically to retain their status and compete for the privilege of traveling to the provin- cial capital to take the juren examination. By 1500, there were about thirty thousand shengyuan in the country (about one in three thousand people, count- ing women and children). Because only a small num- ber of the shengyuan became juren in each triennial exam, taking exams became a way of life for most degree holders.

Preparation for the examinations required, in es- sence, learning a different language—the classical written language, which was quite different from everyday spoken language. Education thus was best started young. Moreover, the young are usually more adept at memorizing long texts, a necessary part of examination preparation. Calligraphy count- ed at this level because tests were not recopied by clerks until the provincial level. Literati families who started to teach their sons at age four or five had a significant advantage.

As in earlier periods, well-off families hired tu- tors for their boys, but schools became more and more available in Ming times. Families that for gen- erations had pursued other careers, such as physi- cian or merchant, had more opportunities than ever before to attain success through the exams (see Biography: Tan Yunxian, Woman Doctor). Lineages were especially active in setting up and

Ming Examination Degrees

Degree How Attained Benefits Likely Age Likely Percentage Passed

Shengyuan Pass test to enter county or prefecture school

Exempt from labor service; may take test to qualify for provincial exams; need to recertify regularly

17–30 Highly variable

Juren Pass provincial examinations

Permanently qualified to take capital examinations; may receive less-desired appointments

20–30 2–4%

Jinshi Pass capital and palace examinations

Qualified for entry-level official appointment

30–40 7–9%

06475_ch14_rev04.indd 236 9/20/12 3:17 PM

Social and Cultural Trends 237

sessions. Clerks used horns and gongs to begin and end each session. Candidates had time to write rough drafts of their essays, correct them, then copy final versions in neat, regular script. Tension was high. Sometimes rumors that the examin- ers had been bribed to leak the questions led to riots in the exam quarters, and knocked-over can- dles occasionally caused fires.

After the papers were handed in, clerks recop- ied them and assigned them numbers to preserve anonymity. Proofreaders checked the copying be- fore handing them on to the assembled examiners, who divided them up to read. The grading generally took about twenty days. Most candidates stayed in the provincial capital to await the results. Those few who became the new juren would be invited to the governor’s compound for a celebration. By the time they reached home, most of their friends, neighbors, and relatives would have already heard their good news.

Wang Yangming’s challenge to confucian orthodoxy

One might have thought that the intellectual con- formity encouraged by the examination system would stifle thought or channel it narrowly. But the government’s ability to channel the intellec- tual and literary pursuits of the elite should not be overestimated. Members of the educated class did not lose their love of poetry, even though it was no longer tested, and examiners were not immune to new intellectual trends. Moreover, although the government continued to use Zhu Xi’s teachings as the standard for the civil service examinations, during the sixteenth century Confucian thought developed in new directions, with a remarkable official and teacher, Wang Yangming, leading the way.

Wang Yangming (wahng yahng-ming) (1472– 1529) grew up in the Jiangnan region in a literati family that had not had an official in a century. When he was ten, however, his father passed the examina- tions in first place, guaranteeing him a prominent career in the capital. Wang Yangming went with him to Beijing, where as a youth he met court officials, poets, writers, and thinkers and pursued interests in military strategy, horsemanship, and archery. Like so many others, he failed the jinshi examinations the

credentials and gather the needed paper, ink, brushes, candles, blankets, and food they would need to survive in their small exam cells. Each cell was open in the front, to allow guards to watch the candidate, and was bare except for two shelves, which could be arranged together to make a bed or set at different levels to form a seat and a table to write on.

Candidates were searched before being admitted because no written material could be taken into the cells. Anyone caught wearing a cheat-sheet (an in- ner gown covered with the classics in minuscule script) was thrown out of the exams and banned from the next session; he might also lose his sta- tus as shengyuan. Each exam had three two-day

Examination Cells. The spare cells that candidates occupied during the three days of the examination were furnished only with two boards, which could be arranged to make a bed or a desk and seat.

Co ur

te sy

, D r.

St ef

an M

ei er

ho fe

r, M

un ch

en , G

er m

an y

06475_ch14_rev04.indd 237 9/20/12 3:17 PM

238 Chapter 14 The Ming Empire in China (1368–1644)

Tan Yunxian, Woman DoctorB I O G R A P H Y The grandmother of Tan Yunxian (tahn yun-shyen) (1461–1554) was the daughter of a physician, and her husband had married into her home to learn medicine himself. At least two of their sons—including Tan Yunxian’s father—passed the jinshi examina- tion and became officials, raising the standing of the family considerably. The grandparents found Yunxian very bright and therefore decided to pass on

their medical knowledge to her. Tan Yunxian married and raised four children but

also practiced medicine, confining her practice to women. At age fifty she wrote an autobiographical account, Sayings of a Female Doctor. in the pref- ace she described how, under her grandmother’s tutelage, she had first memorized the Canon of Problems and Canon of the Pulse. Then, when her grandmother had time, she asked her granddaugh- ter to explain particular passages in these classic medical treatises.

Tan Yunxian began the practice of medicine by treating her own children, asking her grandmother to check her diagnoses. When her grandmother was old and ill, she gave Yunxian her notebook of pre- scriptions and her equipment for making medicines, telling her to study them carefully. later, Yunxian became seriously ill herself and dreamed of her grandmother telling her on what page of which book to find the prescription that would cure her. When she recovered, she began her medical career in earnest.

Tan’s book records the cases of thirty-one patients she treated. She treated only women and mostly women with chronic complaints rather than critical illnesses. Many of the women had what the Chinese classed as women’s complaints, such as menstrual irregularities, repeated miscarriages, barrenness, and postpartum fatigue. Others had ailments men could also suffer, such as coughs, nausea, insomnia, diarrhea, rashes, and swellings. like other literati

physicians, she regularly prescribed herbal medica- tions. She also practiced moxibustion. The theory behind burning moxa (dried artemisia) at specified points on the body was similar to the theory behind acupuncture: it stimulated the circulation of qi. Be- cause the physician applying the moxa has to touch the patient, it was not something male physicians could perform on women.

Tan’s patients included working women, and she seems to have often thought that their prob- lems sprang from overwork. One woman came to her because she had had vaginal bleeding for three years. When questioned, the woman told her that she worked all day with her husband at their kiln making bricks and tiles. Tan Yunxian’s diagnosis was overwork, and she gave her pills to replenish her yin. When a boatman’s wife came to her complaining of numbness in her hands, Tan found out on question- ing that the woman worked in the wind and rain plying the boat and advised a respite. Tan Yunxian explained to a servant girl that she had gone back to work too quickly after suffering a wind damage fever. By contrast, when her patient came from an upper-class family, Tan saw negative emotions as the root of her problems, particularly if she reported that her mother-in-law had scolded her or that her husband had recently brought a concubine home. Two women who had miscarried were told that they had hidden their anger, causing fire to turn inward and destabilize the fetus.

Tan Yunxian herself lived a long life, dying at the age of ninety-three.

Questions for Analysis 1. What do you think of Tan’s diagnoses? 2. What would be the advantages and disadvantages of a

woman physician for a woman patient?

Source: Based on Charlotte Furth, A Flourishing Yin. Gender in China’s Medical History, 960–1665 (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1999), pp. 285–295.

first two times he took them, but he passed in 1499. During his first term in office, he fell ill and had to return to Zhejiang, where he became more interest- ed in philosophy. After he returned to the capital in 1504, he fell afoul of the eunuch dictator Liu Jin by

defending two officials who had submitted memori als condemning Liu. Wang was arrested, sent to the eunuch-controlled secret service prison, and severely beaten. On his release, he was assigned a banishment post in an aboriginal region of Guizhou province in

06475_ch14_rev04.indd 238 9/10/12 1:07 PM

Social and Cultural Trends 239

in Nanjing and Beijing while still lecturing to his grow- ing circle of disciples. Conservative officials, disturbed by his message, got him out of the capital by arranging an assignment as governor of a special military district in southern Jiangxi, an area with many non-Chinese ethnic groups. Once there, he had to lead the regional armies into battle and set up a governing structure for the local people. He was a successful military com- mander, and when a prince rebelled nearby, it was Wang who led troops to capture him. On Wang Yang- ming’s way back to the capital, his father died, which necessitated his retiring from office to mourn him. In 1527 he was called out of retirement because of upris- ings among the non-Chinese in Guangxi. He spent a year there, directing campaigns, winning victories, and negotiating surrenders, but his health was failing, and he died on his way home in 1529.

In the century after Wang Yangming’s death, his followers extended his ideas in many directions. Some took a new interest in both Daoism and Buddhism. Some questioned the traditional social hierarchy, such as the elevation of the scholar above the farmer. One of Wang’s most enthusiastic followers, Wang Gen

the far southwest. He took this post seriously, how- ever, doing his best to understand the problems of the Miao tribesmen. It was in Guizhou that he had his spiritual and intellectual breakthrough.

Wang had been struggling with Zhu Xi’s concept of “the extension of knowledge”—that is, gaining understanding through careful and rational inves- tigation of things and events, usually through study of the classics and other books. Wang came to real- ize that universal principles existed in every person’s mind. People could discover them by clearing their minds of obstructions such as selfish desires and allowing their inborn knowledge to surface. The teachings of others, even those of Confucius and Mencius, are mere aids; they are not the source of truth. According to Wang, “If words are examined in the mind and found to be wrong, although they have come from the mouth of Confucius, I dare not accept them as correct.”* Because everyone has a mind with similar capacity, common people have just as much potential to become sages as those who have pored over the classics their entire lives. Wang also argued against distinguishing knowledge and action. Moral action results spontaneously from true understanding. One does not truly understand filial piety if one does not practice it, any more than one understands taste, smell, or pain without experiencing them. True knowledge compels action.

Wang believed firmly that people could pursue sagehood in the midst of everyday activities. When an official told him that his official duties left him no time to study, Wang urged him not to abandon his work: “Real learning can be found in every aspect of record-keeping and legal cases. What is empty is study that is detached from things.”† Wang wanted his followers to concentrate on the basic moral truths that everyone could understand. He once asserted that what was truly heterodox was not Buddhism but ideas incomprehensible to average people. Critics of Wang, however, saw his teachings as dangerously contaminated with Chan Buddhist ideas.

Wang Yangming lived up to his own ideals. Even after he attracted dozens of disciples, he did not give up his official career. After the eunuch Liu Jin was executed in 1510, Wang accepted high- ranking appointments

*Wing-tsit Chan, trans., Instructions for Practical Living and Other Neo-Confucian Writings (New York: Columbia University Press, 1963), p. 81. †Patricia Buckley, ed., Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook, rev. ed. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993), p. 258.

Portrait of an Official. The man depicted here in official dress, Jiang Shunfu, lived from 1453 to 1504. The front of his robe had a panel with the two cranes, a “rank badge” that indicated he was a civil official of the first rank.

N an

jin g

M us

eu m

/C ul

tu ra

l R el

ic s

Pr es

06475_ch14_rev04.indd 239 9/10/12 1:07 PM

240 Chapter 14 The Ming Empire in China (1368–1644)

choice but to levy extralegal ones to continue ba- sic services, leading to just the sort of abuses Taizu had wanted to prevent. Ordinary households, for their part, often were devastated by the burden of uncompensated responsibility for delivering taxes or maintaining local hostels for government travel- ers. Reforms that converted most obligations into a monetary tax eventually had to be introduced.

The lijia system and subsequent tax reforms were supposed to be enforced uniformly around the coun- try. Much of local social organization, however, was highly variable from place to place, depending on the crops grown, whether there were significant non-Han populations, when migrants had arrived, and the like.

During the Ming Dynasty, voluntary associations that included both educated men and ordinary vil- lagers became a common feature of local society. Re- ligious associations were formed to support a temple and its ceremonies. Lineages were formed to promote cooperation among relatives descended from a com- mon ancestor. Often the lineage held land in com- mon to support joint ancestral rites. When income was sufficient, a lineage might also build an ances- tral temple or school. Generally lineages were more common in the south than in the north, perhaps a reflection of migration patterns. In Fujian, large lin- eages were evident in Song times and continued to play prominent roles through the Ming. In Huizhou (hway-joe) in Anhui province, lineages were flour- ishing in the mid-Ming, their strength owing much to the wealth of local merchant families. In Taichang in Jiangxi province, most of the lineages were delib- erately formed in the early Ming by educated men to enhance their own status at a time of intense compe- tition for social prestige. In Guangdong, by contrast, most of the major lineages date back only to the seventeenth century or later. In some areas, lineages seem to have been initiated by members of the edu- cated class; in other places, by ordinary people who saw advantages in banding together.

By the mid-Ming, lineages in some parts of the country were setting up systems to discipline and control members, complete with long lists of rules and ways to handle disputes. In this they resembled community compacts, a form of local organization Zhu Xi had praised, believing it could promote moral renewal. Members of the compact had to agree to correct each other’s faults, offer assistance to those in need, and expel those who failed to cooperate. Wang Yangming used the term community compact for the organizations he set up as part of a rebel pacification

(wahng guhn), came from a plebeian family of salt workers. He gave lectures to crowds of ordinary people, focusing on issues important in their lives and encouraging them to pursue education to im- prove their lots. In the next generation, He Xinyin (huh shin-yin) was more radical in that he challenged the age-old elevation of the family. To He, the family was a restrictive, selfish, and exclusive institution, and loyalty to family was inferior to loyalty to friends. His contemporary Li Zhi (lee jih) championed the validity of feelings and passion and ridiculed conforming to conventional patterns of behavior. He contended that women were the intellectual equals of men and should be given fuller educations. Li Zhi also reinterpreted history to present some of the great villains as heroes.

Only a small minority of late Ming literati were ready to hear these messages. Both He Xinyin and Li Zhi died in prison, having been arrested on charges of spreading dangerous ideas.

local Society

As best historians can reconstruct, China’s popula- tion more than doubled during the course of the Ming Dynasty, from between 60 and 80 million to between 150 and 200 million. Small market towns appeared all over the country. Regional specialization increased as communities took advantage of the availability of cheap water transport to take up cash cropping. By the end of the sixteenth century, the Yangzi River del- ta area had become a center of cotton and silk pro- duction; coastal Fujian was known for tobacco and sugar cane; and porcelain manufacture at Jingdezhen in Jiangxi had achieved unprecedented levels of out- put. All of this occurred despite continued govern- ment suspicion of those who pursued profit.

The Ming founder Taizu had grown up in a family that lived in fear of rapacious tax collectors, and he redesigned tax collection at the village level in the hope that future families would not have to suffer as his had. In each village, the better-off families were identi- fied and assigned the obligation to perform low-level judicial, police, and tax-collecting services without pay as part of what was called the lijia (lee-jya) system. In other words, villagers themselves, not underlings of the magistrate, would be responsible for assessing, col- lecting, and transporting taxes, paid mostly in grain.

Taizu’s efforts to organize his government around unpaid service created many headaches for later Ming administrators. Local officials found that legal sources of revenue were so limited that they had no

06475_ch14_rev04.indd 240 9/10/12 1:07 PM

Social and Cultural Trends 241

M A T E R I A L C U L T U R E

Gardens of Suzhou

Well-to-do families in the Jiangnan region often constructed gardens within the walls enclosing their homes. The gardens of Suzhou (soo-joe) became particularly famous for their sophisticated beauty. These gardens were places to entertain friends and pass leisure hours. They were considered works of art in progress. like landscape painters, garden designers tried to capture essential features of nature and made use of objects laden with metaphorical meaning, such as bamboo, gnarled pine trees, and craggy rocks.

Architecture was integral to garden design, and Suzhou gardens had walkways, pavilions, bridges over ponds, and other features. Views were appre- ciated, but they were intimate in scale, not broad vistas. The spaces within a garden were often visual- ly linked by views glimpsed through open doorways and lattice windows.

About twenty Ming gardens still survive in Suzhou. (See Color Plate 19.)

Garden of the Humble Administrator. The pathways and small pavilions invite strolling and pausing to view the water and plants.

A A

W or

ld T

ra ve

l L ib

ra ry

/A la

m y

program. His followers made even broader use of the plan, urging villagers to form compacts in which they all encouraged each other to strive for goodness.

One reason Confucian scholars encouraged this form of voluntary social organization was the common fear that the moral fabric of society was unraveling. Many complained that the rich and poor no longer helped each other but looked on each other as enemies. Some educated men turned to charitable works as a way to try to lessen so- cial tensions. At the end of the sixteenth century,

for instance, one man set up the Society for Shar- ing Goodness, whose members paid monthly dues to support projects such as repairing roads and bridges or offering assistance to families unable to cover funeral expenses.

Urban Culture

Many literati, especially those with ample means, lived in cities where they could pursue the elegant life (see Material Culture: Gardens of Suzhou). But

06475_ch14_rev04.indd 241 9/10/12 1:07 PM

242 Chapter 14 The Ming Empire in China (1368–1644)

D O C U M E N T S

Scene 9. Sweeping the Garden

FRAGRANCE:

little Spring Fragrance favored among the servants, used to pampered ways within the

painted chambers waiting on the young mistress, i mix her powder, match her rouge, set her feather adornments, arrange

her flowers, ever waiting beside the boudoir mirror ready to smoothe the brocaded quilt, ready to light the fragrant nighttime

incense, urged on by Madam’s stick on my puny

shoulders. Bondmaid with petaled cheeks just into

my teens, sweet and charming, wide awake to the

spring’s arrival. A real “passion flower” is what we need

now to follow our every step with admiring

glances.

Day and night you will find me, Fragrance, by the side of my mistress. She, though she might win fame above all others for her beauty, is more

concerned with jealous guarding of the fam- ily reputation. Maiden modesty composes her gentle features, and it is her nature to be serious and reverent. The master having engaged a tutor to instruct her, she commenced the study of the Book of Songs; but, when she reached the lines “So delicate the virtuous maiden, a fit mate for our Prince,” she quietly put the book down and sighed, “Here we may observe the full extent of love to the true sage. As men felt in ancient times, so they feel today, and how should it be other than this?” So then i suggested, “Miss, you are tired from your studies, why don’t you think of some way to amuse yourself?” She hesitated and thought for a moment. Then she got to her feet. “And how would you have me amuse myself, Fragrance?” she asked me. So i said, “Why, miss, nothing special, just to take a walk in that garden behind the house.” “Stupid creature,” says the young mistress, “what would happen if my father found out?” But i said, “His Honor has been out visiting the country districts for several days now.” Then for ages the young mistress walked up and down thinking, not saying a word, until at last she began to consult the calendar. She said tomorrow was a bad day, and the day after not very good, but the day after that is a propitious day because the God of Pleasure Trips is on duty for the day. i was to tell the gardener to sweep the paths to ready for her visit. i said i would. i’m scared of

The Peony Pavilion, written in 1598, is probably Tang Xianzu’s best-loved play. Its main characters are a young woman from an official family who falls in love with a young man she encounters in a dream, then pines away for him. Before she dies, she buries a portrait of herself in the garden. Her family moves; the young man moves into the garden, discovers the portrait, and falls in love with her from her picture. His love is so strong it revives her.

With fifty-five scenes, this play was rarely performed in its entirety, but people knew the play and would ask for specific scenes. In the early scene here, the young woman’s maid, Fragrance, talks to herself and then with the recently hired tutor.

The parts that are sung are here indented.

Scene from The Peony Pavilion

literati were not the only cultural force in the cities. As cities grew and the commercial economy thrived, a distinctive urban culture emerged, a culture of those with money to spend in the cities, centered on entertainment of many sorts.

Books accessible to the urban middle classes were now published in large numbers, including refer- ence books of all sorts and popular religious tracts, such as ledgers for calculating the moral value of one’s good deeds and subtracting the demerits

06475_ch14_rev04.indd 242 9/10/12 1:07 PM

Social and Cultural Trends 243

Madam’s finding out, but there’s nothing we can do about that. So let me go give the gardener his instructions. Hello, there’s Tutor Chen at the end of the verandah. Truly,

on every side the glory of the spring and what does this old fool see?— Not a thing.

TUTOR CHEN (enters).

Aging book lover now for a while “within the green gauze

tent” where once the learned Ma Rong gave

instruction curtain flaps against hook in warmth

of sun. Ha, there on the verandah young girl with hair in double coil seeming to speak, but wordless, closer

now, who can it be? Oh, it’s Fragrance. Tell me, where is your gracious lord and where his lady? And why is my pupil absent from her

lessons?

FRAGRANCE: Oh, it’s you, Tutor Chen. i’m afraid the young mistress has not had time for classes these last few days. CHEN: And why is that? FRAGRANCE: i’ll tell you.

Spring in its splendor cruel to a sensitive nature —everything’s gone wrong?

CHEN: Why, what has gone wrong? FRAGRANCE: Ah, you’ve no idea how angry the governor is going to be with you. CHEN: For what reason? FRAGRANCE: Why, that Book of Songs of yours, you’ve been singing a bit too sweetly, my poor young mistress—

your classical exegesis has torn her heart to pieces.

CHEN: All i did was explicate the “Guanguan cry the ospreys.” FRAGRANCE: That was the one. Guan means “shut in,” doesn’t it? My young mistress said, “Even though the ospreys were shut in, they still had the freedom of the island: why should a human being be treated worse than a bird?”

in books the head must be buried, but it lifts itself to gaze on a scene of

beauty.

Now she has ordered me to take her in a day or two to stroll in the garden behind the house. CHEN: What will be the purpose of this stroll? FRAGRANCE:

Unsuspected the spring has struck and before it hastens

past she must cast off there in the garden spring’s disquiet.

CHEN: She should not do this.

When woman walks abroad lest eyes should light upon her at every step she should be screened from view.

Fragrance, by the grace of Heaven i, your tu- tor, have enjoyed some sixty years of life, yet never have i felt such thing as “spring-struck,” nor have i ever strolled in any garden.

Questions for Analysis 1. What makes this scene humorous? 2. Why is such a fuss made about a stroll in the

garden?

from bad ones. To make their books attractive in the marketplace, entrepreneurial book publish- ers commissioned artists to illustrate them. By the sixteenth century, more and more books were being published in the vernacular language, the language

people spoke. Writing in the vernacular had begun on a small scale in Tang and Song times, when it was used to record the oral teachings of Buddhist and Confucian teachers. By mid-Ming it was widely used for short stories, novels, and plays. Ming short

06475_ch14_rev04.indd 243 9/10/12 1:07 PM

244 Chapter 14 The Ming Empire in China (1368–1644)

to conceal their identity than the authors of nov- els. The greatest of the Ming playwrights was Tang Xianzu, whose love stories and social satires were very popular. His Dream of Han Tan tells the story of a young man who falls asleep while his meal is cooking. In his dream he sees his whole life: He comes in first in the jinshi examinations, rises to high office, is unfairly slandered and condemned to death, then cleared and promoted. At the point of death, he wakes up and sees that his dinner is nearly done. He then realizes that life passes as quickly as a dream. (For a passage from Tang’s most popular play, a love story, see Documents: Scene from The Peony Pavilion.)

Fiction and plays were so avidly consumed in Ming times that the values and attitudes expressed in them began to have an impact on the culture of the literati. Educated men and women often seem to have judged themselves and others on the standards of purity of feelings that they had come to expect in literary char- acters. Headstrong attachments—verging on obses- sions—came to be admired. Courtesan culture flour- ished in this environment, and writers wrote of the romantic liaisons between well-known writers and famous courtesans. Because they associated courte- sans with high aspirations and disappointed hopes, writers saw parallels between the frustrated official and the talented but powerless woman waiting for her lover to appreciate her full worth.

DYNASTiC DECliNE After 1600 the Ming government was beset by fiscal, military, and political problems. The government was nearly bankrupt. It had spent heavily to help defend Korea against a Japanese invasion (see Chapters 13 and 15), had to support an ever-increasing imperial clan, and now was called on to provide relief for a series of natural disasters.

The bureaucracy did not pull together to meet these challenges. Officials diagnosed the problems confronting the dynasty in moral terms and saw removing the immoral from power as the solution, which led to fierce factionalism. Accusations and counteraccusations crossed so often that emperors wearied of officials and their infighting. Frustrated former officials who gathered at the Donglin Acad- emy in Jiangsu province called for a revival of ortho- dox Confucian ethics. They blamed Wang Yangming for urging people to follow their innate knowledge,

stories written in the vernacular depicted a world much like that of their readers, full of shop clerks and merchants, monks and prostitutes, students and matchmakers.

It was during the Ming period that the full-length novel appeared. The plots of the early novels were heavily indebted to story cycles developed by oral storytellers over the course of several centuries. Water Margin is an episodic story of a band of bandits set at the end of the Northern Song period. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a work of historical fiction based on the exploits of the generals and statesmen contending for power at the end of the Han Dynasty. The Journey to the West is a fantastic account of the Tang monk Xuanzang’s (shwan-tsahng) travels to India; in this book he is accompanied by a monkey with supernatural powers as well as a pig. Plum in the Golden Vase is a novel of manners about a lustful merchant with a wife and five concubines, full of de- tails of daily life as well as the quarrels and scheming of the women. In none of these cases is much known about the author. Competing publishers brought out their own editions, sometimes adding new illustra- tions or commentaries.

Musical drama was also a major element in Ming urban culture. The Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci, who lived in China from 1583 to 1610, described resident troupes in large cities and traveling troupes that “journey everywhere throughout the length and breadth of the country” putting on operas. The leaders of the troupes would purchase young children and train them to sing and perform. Ricci thought too many people were addicted to these performances:

These groups of actors are employed at all imposing banquets, and when they are called they come pre- pared to enact any of the ordinary plays. The host at the banquet is usually presented with a volume of plays and he selects the one or several he may like. The guests, between eating and drinking, follow the plays with so much satisfaction that the banquet at times may last for ten hours.*

People not only enjoyed watching and listening to plays, they also avidly read the scripts. Perhaps because so much of a dramatic script was com- posed of poetry, authors of plays were less likely

*Louis J. Gallagher, trans., China in the Sixteenth Century. The Journals of Matthew Ricci: 1583–1610 (New York: Random House, 1953), p. 23.

06475_ch14_rev04.indd 244 9/10/12 1:07 PM

Summary 245

SUMMARY After the fall of the Mongols, China was ruled by the native Ming Dynasty for nearly three centuries. The dynasty’s founder, Taizu, knew poverty firsthand and ruled for thirty years, becoming more paranoid and despotic over time. Taizu made efforts to ease the plight of the poor but was suspicious of educat- ed men and did not hesitate to humiliate officials. Many officials were executed because he feared they were involved in plots against him. The second important Ming emperor, Chengzu, is notable for moving the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, send- ing Zheng He out on maritime expeditions to en- roll more countries in the Ming tribute system, and putting two thousand scholars to work on a huge compendium of all knowledge.

Few of the subsequent Ming emperors were partic- ularly good rulers. Palace eunuchs, given responsibil- ity to investigate charges of corruption and sedition, came to rival the civil service in numbers and power. Clashes between emperors and officials and between officials and eunuchs occurred several times.

The Ming government had to contend with several external threats as well. The Mongols were still very powerful to the north, and it was to defend against them that the Ming built the Great Wall that we see today. Along the coasts piracy was a major problem, as was sea-based banditry. The Ming tried to limit maritime trade to a few coastal cities, a policy that proved of no use and that was abandoned in the late sixteenth century.

Flaws in the Ming government did not discourage educated men from seeking to become officials. The examination system became much more important than it had been in Yuan times, probably even more important than it had been in Song times. A new first level became institutionalized and regional quo- tas were set to ensure that the wealthy and cultured Jiangnan region did not dominate the ranks of suc- cessful candidates.

In mid-Ming the scholar-official Wang Yangming challenged the orthodoxy of Zhu Xi’s interpretations of the classics and developed Confucian thought in new directions. He argued that everyone had the inborn capacity to recognize right and wrong and that there was no gap between thought and action: those who see what is right invariably act on it. Wang attracted many followers, and his movement remained strong through the end of the dynasty.

which seemed to the critics equivalent to urging them to pursue their personal advantage.

At this time a “little ice age” brought a drop in average temperatures that shortened the growing season and reduced harvests. When food shortages became critical in northern Shaanxi in 1627–1628, army deserters and laid-off soldiers began form- ing gangs and scouring the countryside in search of food. By 1632 they had moved east and south into the central regions of Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, and Anhui provinces. Once the gangs had stolen all their grain, hard-pressed farmers joined them just to survive. Li Zicheng, a former shepherd and post- al relay worker, became the paramount rebel leader in the north. The ex-soldier Zhang Xianzhong be- came the main leader in the central region between the Yellow and Yangzi rivers. The Ming govern- ment had little choice but to try to increase taxes to deal with these threats, but the last thing people needed was heavier exactions. Floods, droughts, locusts, and epidemics ravaged one region after an- other. In the Jiangnan area, tenants rose up against landlords, and urban workers rioted. Meanwhile, the two main rebel leaders were in a race to see which of them could topple the Ming and establish a new dynasty.

Part of the reason people rioted over rents was that real rents had risen due to deflation, itself brought on by a sudden drop in the supply of silver. In 1639 the Japanese authorities refused to let traders from Macao into Nagasaki, disrupting trade that had brought large quantities of silver to China. Another major source of silver was cut off a few months later when Chinese trade with the Spanish in the Philip- pines came to a standstill after a slaughter of Chinese residents there. For China the drop in silver imports led to hoarding of both silver and grain, creating artificial shortages.

In 1642 a group of rebels cut the dikes on the Yellow River, leading to massive flooding. A small- pox epidemic soon added to the death toll. In 1644, Li Zicheng moved through Hebei into Beijing, where the last Ming emperor, in despair, took his own life. Zhang Xianzhong had moved in the opposite direc- tion into Sichuan, where his attacks on Chongqing and Chengdu led to widespread slaughter. Both Li and Zhang announced that they had founded new dy- nasties, and they appointed officials and minted coins. Neither, however, succeeded in pacifying a sizable re- gion or in ending looting and violence. That would await the arrival of the Manchus (see Chapter 16).

06475_ch14_rev04.indd 245 9/10/12 1:07 PM

246 Chapter 14 The Ming Empire in China (1368–1644)

All considered, how different was China in the early seventeenth century than in 1368? China was more populous, with a population of perhaps 175 million by 1600. Some of this increase was made possible by pushing deeper into the south- west, but much of it occurred in long-occupied areas that became more densely populated with more towns and larger cities. Many more books were in circulation, and more of these books were aimed at an audience looking to be entertained rather than educated. Regional disparities may well have increased, as the Jiangnan area stayed several steps ahead of other regions. At the intel- lectual level, China was much more lively in 1600, with writers and thinkers offering much more sus- tained critiques of inherited ideas. The fear of the Mongols had largely abated, but those fears had left their trace in the Great Wall. The civil ser- vice was discouraged by failures of leadership at the top, but with the expansion of education, the number of those aspiring for civil service careers was much larger in 1600 than it had been in the first generation of the Ming.

The Chinese population grew during Ming times, possibly doubling, and market towns developed in many places. The Ming founder had wanted to pro- tect villagers from rapacious tax collectors by setting up a system in which better-off local families did the tax collecting. This system probably caused as many problems as it fixed, in part because communities varied so much from one place to another, but the law was the same everywhere. Cities flourished, at- tracting both educated men looking for comfort and stimulation and ordinary people looking for jobs. Drama was very popular, and full-length novels be- gan to appear in some number, written in the ver- nacular language, not the literary language used for government documents, poetry, and essays.

The decline of the Ming dynasty in the early seven- teenth century has been attributed to government bank- ruptcy brought on by a series of crises: the Japanese attack on Korea, floods and droughts, a “little ice age” that reduced harvests, and deflation brought on by a drop in silver imports. As in the Tang and Han dynas- ties before it, peasant rebellions sparked the wars that brought the Ming dynasty to an end.

06475_ch14_rev04.indd 246 9/10/12 1:07 PM

247

C H A P T E R F I F T E E N

Joseon Korea (1392–1800)

Yi Seonggye’s Rise to Power

Kings and Yangban Confucian Officials

Dynastic Decline and the Japanese Invasion

Material Culture: Yangban Children’s Board Games

Biography: Interpreter Jeong Myeongsu

Relations with the Manchus

Internal Politics in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Economic Growth and the Decline of Slavery

Documents: Lady Hyegyeong’s Memoirs

Cultural Developments

The Family and Women in the Confucian Age

Making Comparisons: Women’s Situations

The Joseon Dynasty was founded in 1392 by Yi Seonggye (E SUNG-geh). The next four centuries were marked by extensive Confucianiza- tion. Chinese statecraft and the examination system were copied more closely. The hereditary yangban (YANG-bahn), who now had to devote themselves to education in order to gain office, could provide a powerful check on the power of kings, but factionalism divided them. Confucianiza- tion reached the level of the family; the family head became recognized as the owner of family property, and women’s rights to inherit were largely lost. The dynasty survived serious crises, including invasions by the Japanese and the Manchus. Yet, by the eighteenth century, there were increasing signs of economic growth, social change, and new cultural openness.

Historians of the Joseon (JOE-son) period have looked closely at its elite and government. Did the founding of the dynasty bring social change? Why was factionalism so bitter and so bloody? Did the empha- sis on Confucian orthodoxy make factionalism worse? Would Joseon have been stronger if its kings had been able to control their yangban officials more effectively? Or did the power of the officials—imbued with Confucian ideas—save the country from tyranny? Given the flaws in the government system and the many crises, why did the dynasty last so long? Joseon’s international situation has also been a subject of close scrutiny. Did Joseon benefit from the tributary relationship with Ming China? Why was Joseon unable to repel Hideyoshi’s invasion? How did Korea respond to its first encounter with Christianity? Scholars today are also asking basic questions about social and economic change. How large was the population? Why did commercialization lag behind China and Japan? Why was so much labor unfree?

YI SEONGGYE’S RISE TO POWER In the mid-fourteenth century, the Goryeo (GO-riyo) dynasty was revived after the period of Mongol domination. As discussed in Chapter 10, King Gongmin took steps to strengthen royal power; he strengthened the military,

06475_ch15_rev04.indd 247 9/10/12 1:20 PM

248 Chapter 15 Joseon Korea (1392–1800)

far outshone any of his successors. He improved both the army and navy, defeated the Wakō pirates on Tsu- shima Island, and extended Joseon’s territory north to the Yalu and Tumen rivers. To secure control of those areas, until then settled by Jurchens and other Manchu- rian groups, he dispatched thousands of Koreans from the south as colonists. He revised the land registra- tion system to make it more equitable. To encourage adoption of more productive agricultural techniques, he published books on agriculture and sericulture. He rein- stituted state-sponsored grain loans to peasants to tide them over the spring planting season and famine pe- riods. His legal reforms prohibited cruel punishments, allowed appeals in death penalty cases, and added penalties for masters who beat their slaves without first obtaining official permission. He tried (unsuccessfully) to introduce coins and paper currency.

One of Sejong’s most important achievements was founding the Hall of Worthies (Jiphyeonjeon [JIP-hyon-jeon]) in 1420, where scholars collected doc- uments and published books. Sejong put this agency in charge of inventing an alphabet in 1443—the first and only one of its kind in East Asia. Sejong’s goal was to spread learning beyond the elite yangban, who rec- ognized that its use would break their stranglehold on knowledge and therefore opposed it (see Figure 15.1).

expanded tax revenue, and promoted Confucianism. After he was assassinated, Confucian reformers al- lied themselves with a powerful general, Yi Seonggye, who became the force behind the throne. Steps were taken to reclaim authority over prebendal grants, cancel tax-free exemptions to favored yangban, and carry out a national land survey. In 1389, Yi elimi- nated his principal rival, paving the way to declare a new dynasty in 1392. For the name of the dynasty, he chose the phrase used in Chinese sources for the an- cient Korean state—Joseon. As its first emperor, he is known as Taejo (TAY-joe, r. 1392–1398). In essence a coup from within, this was a relatively bloodless dy- nastic transition. Most of the great families of Koryeo survived to play leading roles during Joseon.

Among Taejo’s successors were three of the most successful kings in Korean history—Taejong (TAY- jong), Sejong (SAY-jong), and Sejo (SAY-joe)—noted for their achievements in culture, science, and military theory. King Taejong twice called up one hundred thou- sand corvée laborers to build a new capital at Hanyang (HAN-yang) (Seoul), not far from the Koryeo capital. He strengthened the armed forces, confiscated Buddhist temple and monastery property, and created a sound fiscal base for the state. His son, King Sejong (r. 1418– 1450), established a record of accomplishment that

Vowel pairs

Some consonant pairs

Some other consonants

Syllables

Figure 15.1 Hangul Chart

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch15_rev04.indd 248 9/10/12 1:20 PM

Kings and Yangban Confucian Officials 249

failed, to put iron cash into circulation to promote com- merce. He also ordered the compilation of a major law code, the Grand Institutes for Governing the State.

Sejo antagonized the Confucian officials by pa- tronizing Buddhism and finding ways to circumvent Confucian critics. He neglected the state council, or- dered the six ministries to send all their communications directly to him, and abolished the Hall of Worthies. Thus, despite Sejo’s accomplishments, his reputation was tarnished, making it easier for Confucian officials to regain their power under subsequent kings.

KINGS AND Yangban CONFuCIAN OFFICIALS The early Joseon period saw the culmination of what might have seemed contradictory trends. Kings con- solidated their authority through extension of cen- tral control. Committed neo-Confucians, as critics of power, circumscribed both the authority of the king and the authority of military men and aristo- crats. And yangban aristocrats maintained their po- litical and social predominance.

Among the books Sejong sponsoredwere Episodes from the Life of the Buddha, eulogies of his ances- tors, The Songs of the Flying Dragons, and Illustrated Guide to the Three Moral Relationships, as well as works on science, medicine, and astronomy. Scientific accomplishments of his reign included sundials, an astronomical chart, a new type of water clock, and a rain gauge invented in 1442 (two centuries before Europe’s first). The arts and crafts also flourished during this period (see Color Plate 23).

Despite the great accomplishments of King Sejong, he was unable to bequeath political stability to his heirs. His successor died early, and his twelve-year- old grandson was robbed of his throne by his uncle, King Sejo (r. 1455–1468), an act that sowed the seeds of political discord for the rest of the century.

Sejo was devoted to military strategy and published three treatises on it. He authorized attacks against the Jurchens in 1460 and 1467, established military colo- nies to support troop units, and established the Five Guards Command in 1466 to function as a supreme na- tional defense council. He adopted the famous Chinese ever-normal granaries to stabilize the price of grain by buying or selling grain on the market and he tried, but

Courtyard of a Sixteenth-Century Confucian Academy. A half century after the death of the teacher Yi Eon-jeok (E UN-juck, 1491–1553) the academy where he had taught was dedicated as a shrine to his memory.

Co ur

te sy

A si

an H

is to

ric al

A rc

hi te

ct ur

e, w

w w

.o rie

nt al

ar ch

ite ct

ur e.

co m

06475_ch15_rev04.indd 249 9/10/12 1:20 PM

250 Chapter 15 Joseon Korea (1392–1800)

difficult to exercise their theoretically absolute power because of the obstruction and remonstrance of the civil officials, almost all of whom came from yangban families with longer histories and more prestige than the Yi royal family. One of Sejo’s successors, Yeonsangun (YON-san-goon), took a strong stand against the Confucian establishment. He acted in ever more arbitrary fashion against real and supposed threats to his authority, ordering the execution of people for minor offenses. His critics saw themselves as waging a moral crusade against a usurper and his political appointees, but he thought he was defending his rights as an absolute monarch. He carried out a purge of the literati in 1504, canceled the royal lec- tures because the lecturers were aggressive in criticiz- ing his actions, and neglected the National Academy. He became so paranoid that a cabal of high officials deposed him in 1506.

Although for centuries Korean kings had been adopting elements of Chinese statecraft, it was not until the early Joseon period that centralization reached the point where magistrates in all of the three- hundred-odd local districts were appointed by the central government. It was also during this period that the civil service examinations became the main route to high office. As in China, government service became the goal of the elite. The exams were used to select men with literary educations and inclinations to be put in charge of the government apparatus. Birth alone was no longer enough. To advance to high of- fice, passing the examinations became necessary.

Nevertheless, the vast majority of officials in the Joseon Dynasty came from long-established yangban families. They were the ones who could best afford edu- cation. There was no attempt by any of the early Joseon kings to manumit slaves and challenge the property rights of the yangban aristocrats. As competition for government posts increased, the yangban found ways to give themselves advantages. They banned the Goryeo practice of allowing hyangni (HYANG-ni) (local clerks) to be promoted to the central bureaucracy. They further narrowed the pool of candidates by barring sons of concubines from taking the examinations.

Neo-Confucian scholars inherited Chinese scholars’ arguments against Buddhism, such as the claim that the Buddhist emphasis on the individual attainment of enlightenment interfered with the Confucian ob- ligation of filial piety. As a result of their campaigns, many Buddhist monasteries were disbanded and stripped of their land, and eighty thousand of their slaves were converted to government slaves.

Joseon Confucians recognized Ming China as a mature example of a Confucian society, but they did not see Confucian civilization as uniquely Chinese or the Chinese manifestation of it as intrinsically su- perior. Zealous Korean Confucians aspired to create a more perfect Confucian society, one that adhered more closely to the classics than Ming China did.

Confucian emphasis on filial piety and loyalty to the ruler was useful to the Joseon kings in gaining conformity to their authority. On the other hand, as in China, Confucian scholars viewed themselves as responsible for guiding the ruler toward moral perfec- tion, and they insisted that the ruler should listen to their counsel, even if it tended to hamstring the king’s authority and protect their yangban class interests.

Did the moral authority of the yangban Confu- cian scholars keep Joseon Korea from becoming a despotism like Ming China? Joseon kings found it

Map 15.1 Joseon Dynasty, 1392–1910

KANGWON

Pyongyang

KYONGGI˘

Ch'ongju

Som jin

Y e l l o w

S e a

E a s t S e a

( S e a o f

J a p a n )

TSUSHIMA ISLAND

(JAPAN)

TAMNA (JEJU ISLAND)

USAN (ULLANG ISLAND)

Ya lu

Dum an

Nakdong

Som jin

H an

eu m

Da edo

ng Ch eo

ng ch

eo n

Im ji n

HAMHEUNG

WEONJU

HAEJU

CHEONGJU

JEONGJU

GWANGJU

GANGJIN

CHEONGJIN

SIN’UIJU˘

BUKCHEONG

CHUNCHEON

KONGJU DAEJEON

TONGNAE

JINJU

HANSEONG (SEOUL)

DAEGU

PYEONGYANG

JEOLLA

GYEONGGI

CHUNGCHEONG

HWANGHAE GANGWON

PYEONGAN

HAMGYEONG

GYEONGSANG

RUSSIA

J O S E O N

J A

A N

0 100 Km.50

0 100 Mi.50

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch15_rev04.indd 250 9/10/12 1:20 PM

Dynastic Decline and the Japanese Invasion 251

yangban families gradually increased as they became the elite among the yangban. Because an average of only thirty men per year passed the examinations, many yangban who studied for the examinations had no chance for office and were left in the coun- tryside to make their way there. Some were able to form single-family villages and further strengthen their local power. In other villages, yangban power declined because of reforms in tax collection. In or- der to alleviate the tax burden, village associations were formed of all households regardless of status to divide the tax burden equitably among all fami- lies. Thus many yangban in the countryside became indistinguishable from ordinary farmers in the ways they lived (though legally they were still distinct).

During the Joseon period, jungin (JOONG-in), or middle people, formed a new hereditary class. The jungin were clerks, legal specialists, accountants, in- terpreters, and the like who had lost any hope of rising to regular office but at the same time wanted to save these positions for themselves.

DYNASTIC DECLINE AND THE JAPANESE INvASION By the sixteenth century, signs of dynastic decline were apparent. Rich landlords expanded their hold- ings by legal and illegal means at the expense of small-holding commoner peasants. Yangban land- lords lent money to small holders, then foreclosed when they could not repay. Indebted poor peasants often commended their land to yangban and became their slaves to escape both the tax collector and mili- tary service. The state failed to remedy this situation by updating tax registers.

Military preparedness also suffered. Yangban without office and even rich commoners often could escape military service by bribing clerks to register them falsely as exempt students. Local commanders conspired with them by letting them off actual duty in return for bribes or military cloth tax payments. As a result, there was a serious decline in the number of troops on duty in the army and the local garrisons. Although a new national security agency, the Border Defense Command, had been created in 1522 to deal specifically with defense against Japanese pirate raids, the government failed to stem the hollowing out of the military.

In 1582, Yi Yulgok recommended the creation of an armed force of one hundred thousand men to be

Under Yeonsangun’s successor, King Jungjong (JOONG-jong), the political tide turned in the op- posite direction. The yangban Confucians serving as censors, led by Jo Gwangjo (JOE GWANG-joe), dis- dained those the king had appointed to high offices. Jo persuaded King Jungjong to expand opportuni- ties for neglected but outstanding scholars. When the new “recommendation” examination was held in 1515, however, it turned out that Jo’s friends and supporters passed the examinations and immediately joined in his efforts to topple those they labeled un- worthy political appointees. By 1519, the king had lost patience with his critics; he purged the young censors and executed Jo. To students of the National Academy, Jo Gwangjo became a martyr to the cause of ethically pure Confucian government. Jo and his associates can also be viewed, however, as politicians playing the moral card to gain political advantage.

By the late sixteenth century, many scholars with high reputations for virtue were holding high office, and they debated the ethical and metaphysical argu- ments of Zhu Xi. A debate began over which of the two elements, principle (i, li in Chinese) or psychophys- ical force (ki, qi in Chinese), was primary. Yi Toegye (E TWAE-geh) held that the nonphysical principle took priority because it contained all the elements of pure virtue, while the younger Yi Yulgok (E YULE-gok) took the view that psychophysical force took priority because without it, the mind would not exist at all.

In China at that time, the main challenge to Zhu Xi’s orthodoxy came from Wang Yangming and his followers. Wang challenged Zhu Xi’s stress on the need for textual study and emphasized the ca- pacity of everyone to decide what is morally right by looking within himself. Yi Toegye defended Zhu Xi’s formula and condemned Wang as a heterodox thinker who relegated the judgment of Confucian virtue to the whims of the imperfect vagaries of the emotions beclouded by ki. Yi Toegye’s rejection of Wang Yangming set the tone for Korean Confucian- ism for the rest of the Joseon Dynasty. Yi Toegye’s reputation was so powerful at the time that those at- tracted to Wang Yangming’s ideas had to keep their views secret.

The yangban preserved their elite position throughout the Joseon period and kept a near mo- nopoly on access to high office (see Material Culture: Yangban Children’s Board Games). At the same time, the yangban stratum grew in size and began to separate into two levels. The percentage of suc- cessful examination-passers from the top two dozen

06475_ch15_rev04.indd 251 9/10/12 1:20 PM

252 Chapter 15 Joseon Korea (1392–1800)

M A T E R I A L C U L T U R E

Yangban Children’s board games

Boys in yangban families were under a lot of pres- sure to gain facility in classical Chinese—a written language unrelated to the language they spoke. To be able to recognize people’s names and place names, they had to know hundreds of Chinese characters, and if they hoped to take the civil service examinations, they not only had to know several thousand characters but also be able to recognize passages from the Confucian classics and terms used for government offices and policies. Games could make this learning more fun. Shown here are two board games. In both, the goal is to be the first

to complete the route, moves determined by the roll of the dice. On the circular board, each circle names a scenic place in Korea. Landing on certain spots can bring favorable winds that speed the jour- ney or obstacles like battlefields that slow it. On the rectangular board, the boxes are the names of government posts, arranged to show career paths. When the player lands on certain spaces, he can be cashiered or even poisoned. Promotion games had been popular in China since the Tang dynasty and helped teach not only the names of offices but also the role of chance in advancement in office.

Geography Game Promotion Game

assigned around the country in anticipation of military threats. Other officials called for the establishment of naval bases on strategic islands off the coast and a major army base at Busan to block any attack from Japan. The court, however, failed to act on any of those suggestions, leaving three walled towns—Busan (BOO-sahn), Tongnae (DONG-nae), and Kimhae (KIM-hay)—as the only defense against invasion.

The exacerbation of factionalism also weakened defense. In 1575 competition between two men for appointment to a key post in the ministry of

personnel led to a split between what came to be known as Easterners and Westerners, terms re- lated to the location of their homes in the capital, not to different parts of the country. To be sure, personal relations based on blood ties, marriage al- liances, schoolboy friendships, and master–disciple relations had shaped political group formation for centuries, but no permanent factional groups were created until 1575. After 1575, factions became he- reditary, and frequent purges prevented unity even in times of crisis.

Ph ot

o: P

at ric

ia E

br ey

Ph ot

o: P

at ric

ia E

br ey

06475_ch15_rev04.indd 252 9/10/12 1:20 PM

Dynastic Decline and the Japanese Invasion 253

Interpreter Jeong MyeongsuB I O G R A P H Y Communication between countries that speak different languages de- pends on interpreters who can convey messages accurately in both directions. In the seventeenth century, with the rise of the Manchus, the need for men who could translate between Manchu and Korean offered those who knew Manchu new chances to rise to wealth and prominence. One of the most suc- cessful of these interpreters, Jeong

Myeongsu (JuNG MYuNG-sue), started as a lowly soldier who had been captured by the Manchus in 1619 after the defeat of a Korean army sent to aid the Ming. During the next decade, Jeong not only managed to learn to speak the Manchu language, but also gained the trust of the Manchu leaders. By the time of the Manchu invasion of Korea in 1636, both the Manchus and the Joseon court turned to him for advice on how to handle the other. The Jo- seon court offered him thousands of ounces of silver to help them in the peace negotiation.

One consequence of the resulting treaty was that the Joseon government had to keep a mission headed by the crown prince in the Manchu capital of Shenyang—in a sense, the Manchus were demand- ing a royal hostage. During the eight years that the Shenyang Residence functioned, Jeong Myeongsu served as a liaison between the Qing ruler and the Korean crown prince. Jeong accompanied Qing envoys to the Joseon court on several diplomatic missions. The Joseon court granted him the rank of minister-without-portfolio in an attempt to curry favor with him and get him working secretly on their behalf. As a middleman, Jeong had information and access that both sides wanted and he was able to play one side off against the other to his advantage. There was also money to be made, both from trade

and from helping Koreans who were trying to ran- som their captured relatives.

Despite the base social origins of Jeong’s family, with his rise several of his relatives were given gov- ernment jobs. At first, the yangban looked down on him, but as Jeong’s power rose, some yangban sought connections with him. In 1639 two Koreans serving in the Shenyang Residence brought charges of corruption against Jeong to the Manchu govern- ment. They claimed that Jeong Myeongsu had re- ceived 2,600 ounces of silver and seven horse-loads of miscellaneous goods as a bribe. The accusers told other Koreans that Jeong should be punished for betraying Joseon by serving the Manchus, but an- other motivation may well have been their resent- ment of him as a parvenue. The Manchu authorities sided with Jeong and found the two accusers guilty of making a false accusation and sentenced them to death. The Joseon crown prince tried to get their sentence reduced, but only succeeded in having them hanged rather than beheaded.

Even after the Shenyang Residence was abolished, Jeong Myeongsu continued to have influence at the Joseon court. He advised kings Injo (IN-joe) and Hyojong (HYO-jung) on the appointment of high of- ficials, as well as magistrates and military officials, in the northern provinces. In 1650, however, with the death of the Manchu Dorgon and the succes- sion of a new king in Korea, Jeong Myeongsu fell from power. Still, for more than twenty years he had been able to turn his linguistic and administrative skills into economic and political power.

Questions for Analysis 1. Why did the Joseon court try to get Jeong Myeongsu to

work on their behalf? 2. Why didn’t yangban learn Manchu so that they could

exert the sorts of power that Jeong gained?

Although factionalism was looked on negatively because it kept the king from getting impartial ad- vice, Korean officials justified their factions in the same way Chinese officials had in the Song period: moral men had to join forces against the immoral. King Seonjo (SON-joe, r. 1567–1608) disliked the factions but failed to eliminate them. Instead, he made the situation worse by shifting his favor from one faction to another repeatedly.

When a rebellion broke out in the southwest in 1589, King Seonjo accepted the unreasonable charge of the Westerners that the rebellion was an Easterner plot, and he executed more than sev- enty Easterner officials. He then sent a delegation to Japan in 1591 to assess the intentions of the Japanese leader Hideyoshi. On the delegation’s return, Seonjo rejected the warning of the West- erner ambassador that Hideyoshi was preparing

06475_ch15_rev04.indd 253 9/10/12 1:20 PM

254 Chapter 15 Joseon Korea (1392–1800)

devastated. About 2 million lives had been lost, and agricultural production was so disrupted that it took a century to reach pre-1592 levels.

Korea severed all relations with Japan after the invasion. Hideyoshi’s successor, Tokugawa Ieyasu, had no interest in invading Korea, however, and Korea reestablished relations in a 1609 treaty. The treaty restricted trade to Tongnae, in the southeast, where the Japanese were left to administer their enclave behind a palisade fence. Trade with Japan, limited to a specific number of ships a year, was reg- ulated through tallies that were issued to the head of the Japanese Sō family on Tsushima Island and then distributed to various daimyo throughout Japan.

RELATIONS WITH THE MANCHuS Just as stable relations with Japan were being established, Korea found itself embroiled in a conflict be- tween the declining Ming Dynasty and the rising Jurchen tribes in Manchuria. In the 1590s, the Jurchens, previ- ously divided into a number of independent small units, were united by Nurhaci, who changed their name from Jurchen to Manchu. Korea soon found itself in a diffi- cult spot between the two rivals, both of whom wanted its aid (see Biography: Interpreter Jeong Myeongsu). The Joseon king, Gwanghaegun (GWANG-hay-goon), tried to maintain neutrality, but the vast majority of his own officials wanted him to support the Ming, whose armies had saved Joseon from Hideyoshi.

Factional strife complicated foreign relations during this period. Gwanghaegun was the son of one of King Seonjo’s concubines and was appointed crown prince by the king during the Japanese invasion. However, once Seonjo’s second queen gave birth to a son, called Great Lord Yeongchang (YOUNG-chang), many officials of the Small Northerner, Southerner, and Westerner factions wanted to depose Gwanghaegun on the grounds that the son of a queen took ritual pre- cedence over the son of a concubine. With the support of the Great Northerner faction, Gwanghaegun had Grand Prince Yeongchang and his younger brother assassinated for plotting against him.

In 1623 the Westerner faction led a coup to depose Gwanghaegun. They replaced him with King Seonjo’s grandson, known posthumously as King Injo. All the Northerners who had supported Gwanghaegun were executed or banished, and they remained out of high office for the next two centuries. Upon seiz- ing power, the Westerners reversed Gwanghaegun’s

an invasion of Korea and took no action to prepare the country for war.

Japan, by contrast, had been engaged in almost constant internal warfare among powerful warlords (daimyo) since the outbreak of the Ōnin War in 1467. The victor in that long struggle was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, an uneducated peasant who had risen from the ranks and now could mobilize the mounted samurai warriors and archers and commoner foot sol- diers from all domains of Japan (see Chapter 13). In addition, his armies were equipped with muskets and cannon, which had been introduced into Japan earlier in the century by the Portuguese. In 1592 Hideyoshi asked King Seonjo for free passage through Korea so that he could attack Ming China. When Seonjo refused, Hideyoshi sent his army and quickly over- whelmed the Korean defenders. Hideyoshi’s forces occupied Seoul in three weeks and Pyeongyang in two months, then settled in for the winter.

Under the tributary system, the Ming had a mor- al obligation to send forces to defend Joseon, but the Ming government was at that time plagued by the raids of Manchu tribesmen, internal conflict between powerful eunuchs and Confucian reform- ers, fiscal shortages, and a decline in the number and quality of soldiers. Still, it mobilized its forces, and seven months after the Japanese invasion, Ming forces began to arrive. Although they succeeded in defeating Japanese forces at Pyeongyang in February 1593, they suffered a stunning defeat just north of Seoul later that month. Ming generals became much more cautious after that and later that year negoti- ated a truce with the Japanese commander.

The one bright spot in these wars was the repeated victories of Admiral Yi Sunsin’s (E SOON-shin) na- val forces. His command ship, in the shape of a turtle with a dragon’s head at the bow, was unprecedented in its use of iron cladding. Ten oars on each side of the ship allowed it to escape enemy pursuit. Its sides had long iron spikes camouflaged with straw mats to prevent enemy sailors from boarding. The ship had a lower deck with six gun ports and an upper deck with twenty-two gun ports on each side. The cannons fired shells filled with gunpowder and iron splinters. In the undoubtedly exaggerated record, Yi’s twelve ships de- stroyed four hundred ships in one month alone.

Hideyoshi renewed the fighting in 1597 because he was angered by the terms that the Chinese offered, but when he died in 1598, Japanese forces withdrew from the peninsula. Ming military intervention had saved Joseon from destruction, but Korea was left

06475_ch15_rev04.indd 254 9/10/12 1:20 PM

Internal Politics in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 255

anti-Qing policies and the Qing court lighten its trib- ute demands. Most Korean yangban, however, still held the Manchus in contempt and remained loyal to the memory of the Ming.

Why did the Manchus leave Korea independent but fully conquer China? Like the Mongols before them, the Manchus apparently did not see Korea as much of a prize. Early on, they were satisfied to ex- tract tribute from Joseon to help them in their cam- paigns into China. After the conquest of the Ming, they had so much territory to administer that adding to it was not a high priority. The Qing did later add territories when security was at stake, but Joseon proved a nonthreatening vassal that could safely be allowed to remain autonomous.

INTERNAL POLITICS IN THE SEvENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTuRIES The poor showing of the Joseon army during the Japanese and Manchu invasions made reorganiza- tion of the armed forces necessary. Everyone rec- ognized that evasion of military service had been a major problem, and so attention was turned to re- quiring military duty from slaves. Nevertheless, eva- sion by the yangban persisted.

Factionalism reemerged when what seemed a minor ritual issue led to a series of major purges and execu- tions. It began in 1659 when Song Siyeol (SONG SHE- yeol) of the Westerner faction insisted that a member of the royal family should perform a lesser degree of mourning for the deceased King Hyojong because he was the second son of King Injo. The Southerner fac- tion, led by Yun Hyu (YOON Hugh), accused Song and the Westerners of impugning the legitimacy of King Hyojong and his heirs. The Southerners eventually persuaded King Hyojong to adopt their position and dismiss Song. Westerners who disliked Song’s uncom- promising and arrogant leadership of the Westerner faction split to form their own Disciples faction, leaving Song and his supporters to form their own Patriarchs faction. King Sukjong (SOOK-jong, r. 1674–1720) con- tributed to the conflict by switching his support almost whimsically. He replaced Patriarchs and Disciples with Southerners in 1689 because they opposed his decision to replace his first queen with a palace concubine and then turned around and purged the Southerners in 1694 after he lost interest in her. When the Patriarchs regained power, they excluded the descendants of Southerners from office until the late eighteenth century.

controversial foreign policy and supported the Ming against the Manchus.

Injo prepared for war with the Manchus but kept much of his army near the capital to guard against potential rebels. When the Manchus invaded Korea in 1627 with a force of 30,000, they overran Korean resistance and imposed a peace treaty on King Injo. When the king stubbornly refused Manchu demands, they sent an invasion force of 120,000 men. Because the Joseon border commander failed to transmit the war beacon signals to the capital on time, King Injo received word of the invasion only two days before Manchu troops arrived at Hanyang (present-day Seoul). Surrounded, he was forced to submit to the Qing demand that he sever relations with the Ming Dynasty and enroll as a Qing tributary. This was seven years before the Manchus conquered China in 1644.

To help pay for its expansion, the Manchus levied heavy tribute demands on Joseon. Not until the end of the seventeenth century did Joseon kings abandon

Landscape of the Diamond Mountains. This painting by Jeong Seon (JUNG Sun, 1676–1759) depicts the landscape of the Diamond Mountains (Geumgangsan [GEUM-gang-san]) with a touch of animistic spirits in the swaying mountains. Joseon Dynasty.

Sa m

su ng

M us

eu m

o f A

rt , L

ee um

/S am

su n

Fo un

da tio

06475_ch15_rev04.indd 255 9/10/12 1:20 PM

256 Chapter 15 Joseon Korea (1392–1800)

The Patriarchs and Disciples factions then turned against each other during a succession dispute. In 1727 King Yeongjo (YOUNG-joe) decided that the time had come to put an end to factional strife. He ap- pointed moderate members of both the Disciples’ and Patriarchs’ factions and excluded not only vengeful members of those two factions but Northerners and Southerners as well. The radical Disciples, however, rose up in rebellion in 1728. King Yeongjo put the rebellion down and maintained his coalition cabinet, but the rebellion alerted him to serious danger in the future if he endangered yangban interests.

Worse was to come. In 1749, the king had given the fifteen-year-old Crown Prince Sado (SAW-doe) responsibility as prince regent to take over many of his responsibilities, but Sado’s fear of his father’s ridicule pushed him over the edge of sanity. He re- leased his pent-up frustrations in paroxysms of rage in which he murdered palace ladies who offended him. (See Documents: Lady Hyegyeong’s Memoirs.) In 1762 the king decided to lock the prince in a small rice chest in the palace courtyard and left him to starve to death, which he did eight days later. This action immediately split the government into those (mostly Patriarchs) who agreed with the king’s decision and those (mostly Southerners) who sympathized with the deceased crown prince, laying the groundwork for an- other round of purges. Years later in 1776 when the son of the deceased Crown Prince Sado came to the throne as Jeongjo (JUNG-joe), he ardently desired a way to honor his father and take revenge on the fac- tions against him. In 1795 he led a procession of six thousand men to his father’s burial site, saying his goal was to celebrate his mother’s seventieth birthday.

Jeongjo wanted to be a model king like the an- cient Chinese sage kings but was hampered by the factionalism of his officials. Jeongjo chastised his of- ficials for their devotion to their own private inter- ests and their failure to master the moral teachings of the Chinese classics. To rectify this problem, he ordered the importation of Chinese classical texts for the new Royal Library and turned the library staff into his own private cabinet for advising him on state affairs. Nevertheless, he banned the free im- portation of books from China because he saw many as subversive, including works by Wang Yangming, popular novels, and treatises on Christian theology. Jeongjo’s efforts to be a model king did not bring about the moral transformation of society that Confucian theory predicted; to the contrary, plotters tried to have him assassinated seven times.

Procession for Crown Prince Sado. Procession returning from a visit to Hwaseong (HWA-sung) (modern Suwon) to Seoul in 1795 led by King Jeongjo with his mother, Lady Hyegyeong, to honor his father, Crown Prince Sado, who had been murdered by his own father, King Yeongjo, in 1762.

Sa m

su ng

M us

eu m

o f A

rt /S

am su

ng F

ou nd

at io

06475_ch15_rev04.indd 256 9/10/12 1:20 PM

Economic Growth and the Decline of Slavery 257

ECONOMIC GROWTH AND THE DECLINE OF SLAvERY During the Joseon period, the Korean economy was not as advanced as that of China or Japan, but it was gradually commercializing. During the early Joseon period, the economy was predominantly agrarian with limited commercial activity. All taxes were paid in kind or by physical labor. Most artisans were slaves who served the needs of the yangban and the royal house. Commerce in the capital was restricted to monopoly merchants and in the countryside to itinerant peddlers and fifth-day markets. Commer- cial towns and permanent shops were rare. National defense was based on military service for all adult males except for merchants, slaves, and men in offi- cial schools; sons of yangban with official rank (not necessarily office) were allowed to serve in special guard units set aside for them.

Many government fiscal policies were in need of reform, especially the tribute tax on local products, the maldistribution of the land tax burden, and the military conscription system. The local products tribute tax originated as a fixed and unchanging assessment on local villages that specialized in the production of certain goods, but when many villages ceased producing those products, they had to pay fees to so-called tribute merchants to procure those products elsewhere. This practice of tribute contract- ing was regarded by the authorities as illegal, and those caught doing it were subject to punishment and fines, but there was no other way for villagers to meet their tribute tax quotas. Yet although tribute contracting was illegal, it contributed to the expan- sion of commercial activities by private merchants in the countryside.

After the invasions, the Joseon government ex- tended military service to private slaves for the first time. It also replaced local product payments in kind by imposing an extra land tax in grain, which it used to purchase the special goods it needed. The new tax was adopted gradually, but by 1708 the new system covered the entire country and more than doubled the tax burden on landowners. The law stimulated increased commercial activity, particularly among private, unlicensed merchants.

In 1650, the official Kim Yuk (KIM-yook) returned from a trip to China with large quantities of currency he had purchased with funds saved from his expenses. He received King Hyojong’s approval

to put the coins into circulation, and in 1654 he persuaded the king to order that the cash be accepted in payment of the tax. This marked the first use of money in about one hundred years.

The Joseon population grew to 14 million by 1810, a 40 percent increase from 1650. Connected to this growth were increases in agricultural pro- ductivity, allowing farmers to abandon the fal- low system under which land was periodically left fallow for a year or two to recover fertility. The conversion of dry fields to wet, irrigated ones also increased productivity, as did the adoption of transplanting rice seedlings (in place of sowing seeds directly in the field). Yet, even as late as 1900, average production per acre in Korea was about 15 bushels, about the same as in China in 1400 and about one-third less than production in Japan and China around 1880.

The eighteenth century witnessed expanded com- mercial activity. Although the number of commer- cial towns remained small, the number of periodic fifth-day markets increased. Seoul was the largest city, with about two hundred thousand people. Market growth was slowed when the government decided to stop minting coins in 1697 because of inflation from excessive minting. That policy con- tinued for thirty-three years and produced defla- tion. The court reluctantly agreed to mint more cash in 1731, and minting continued for the rest of the dynasty.

Private, unlicensed merchants began to com- pete with the licensed merchants in the capital. In the 1740s the government capitulated and stopped prosecuting merchants who traded in monopoly goods without licenses. In 1791 the court adopted a compromise solution, the joint-sales policy, which protected monopoly privileges for only six shops in Seoul and allowed private merchants to manufacture or sell all other products.

In the early Joseon period, both private and government slavery were pervasive. State slaves alone in the late fifteenth century numbered about 350,000, and government efforts to limit private slaveholding never got far. Yet, as the economy be- came more commercialized in the eighteenth centu- ry, slavery declined. Between 1750 and 1790, there was a sharp reduction in the slave population from about 30 percent to less than 10 percent of the population. King Yeongjo contributed a little to this reduction when in 1730 he approved readopt- ing the matrilineal rule governing the inheritance of

06475_ch15_rev04.indd 257 9/10/12 1:20 PM

258 Chapter 15 Joseon Korea (1392–1800)

D O C U M E N T S

His Majesty’s [King Yeongjo] sagacious heart became irritated with small things at the Prince’s quarters, mostly imperceptible and of an unspecified nature. Consequently, without really knowing why, he visited his son less fre- quently. This happened just as the Prince began to grow; that is just when a child, suffering some inattention or relaxation of control, might easily fall under other influences. As the Prince was often left to himself at this stage, he began to get into trouble. . . .

In his study sessions with tutors, however, Prince Sado was a serious and attentive student. . . . Thus it is all the more sad that, in his father’s presence, the prince grew inarticulate and hesitant out of fear and nervousness. His Majesty became more and more exasperated with him during these encounters in which the Prince was hopelessly tongue-tied. He was

alternately angry and concerned about his son. Nonetheless, he never sought a closer relation- ship with his son, never sought to spend more time with him or to teach him himself. He con- tinued to keep the Prince at a distance, hop- ing that his son would become on his own the heir he dreamed of. How could this not lead to trouble? . . .

[When he was ten], the Prince’s behavior became strange indeed. It was not just the behavior of a child playing excitedly or loudly. Something was definitely wrong with him. The ladies-in-waiting became quite concerned, whispering to each other of their fears. In the ninth month of that year, the Prince fell gravely ill, often losing consciousness. . . .

[In 1749, when Sado was fifteen, King Yeongjo appointed him Prince-Regent to sit in court and conduct business.] There was

One of the most outstanding literary works of the Joseon period is Memoirs of Lady Hyegyeong (HAY-gyon) (Hanjungnok [HAN-joong-nok], or Records Written in Silence), written in hangul by the wife of Crown Prince Sado, who was starved to death by his father, King Yeongjo, in 1762. The book consists of four accounts written in 1795, 1801, 1802, and 1805. No other source provides a better introduction to the vicissitudes of palace life, particularly at a time when the slightest slip could mean death. In fact, Lady Hyegyeong’s uncle and younger brother were executed in 1776 and 1801, respectively. In her Memoir of 1805, excerpted here, she tries to explain why Crown Prince Sado became mentally ill.

Lady Hyegyeong’s Memoirs

slave status by offspring of mixed slave–commoner marriages. The main cause of the decline, however, was the increase in the number of runaway slaves. Instead of paying the cost of chasing after them, yangban and rich landlords took advantage of the recent increase in landless peasants to whom they could rent their land. Escaped slaves did not neces- sarily see a rise in income and standard of living because now they had to pay rents to landlords, in- terest on grain loans from the state or private lend- ers, and the commoner military cloth tax. Another factor in the decline in the slave population was that the government had begun to replace official slaves with hired commoner labor. The number of official slaves dropped from 350,000 in 1590 to 60,000 by 1801.

CuLTuRAL DEvELOPMENTS The social and economic changes of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were accompanied by a new openness to cultural variety and innovative thinking.

Literature

Literary activity burgeoned in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Poetry remained a favor- ite pastime of both men (in Chinese) and women (in Korean, using the hangul [HAN-gul] alphabet). The favorite forms during this period were the short sijo (SHE-joe) poems, their longer versions (saseol sijo [SAH-sul SHE-joe]), and the still longer

06475_ch15_rev04.indd 258 9/10/12 1:20 PM

Cultural Developments 259

nothing that the Prince-Regent did that His Majesty found satisfactory. He was constant- ly discontented and angry with his son. It reached a point where the occurrence of cold spells, droughts, poor harvests, strange natu- ral omens, or calamities caused His Majesty to denounce “the Prince-Regent’s insuffi- cient virtue” and to reproach the Prince most severely. . . .

[In 1757] . . . Prince Sado began to kill. The first person he killed was Kim Hanchae (KIM HAN-chae), the eunuch who happened to be on duty that day. The Prince came in with the severed head and displayed it to the ladies-in-waiting. The bloody head, the first I ever saw, was simply a horrifying sight. As if he had to kill to release his rage, the Prince harmed many ladies-in-waiting. . . .

In the ninth month of that year, Prince Sado took in Bingae, a lady-in-waiting. . . . Before this, he had been intimate with many ladies- in-waiting. Whoever resisted him in any way he beat until he rent her flesh and consum- mated the act afterwards. Needless to say, no one welcomed his advances. Despite the many women he had been intimate with, he neither cared for anyone for long nor showed any particular fondness while it lasted. This was true even of the secondary consort who had borne him children. It was different with

Bingae (BING-ae) [Prince Sado’s concubine who bore him two children]. He was mad about her. . . . His Majesty learned of Bingae. He was highly provoked. He summoned the Prince to question him, “How dare you do that?”

By this time [1761], whenever he was seized by his illness the Prince invariably hurt people. For some time now, Bingae had been the only one to attend the prince when he dressed. Hopelessly in the grip of the disease, he grew oblivious even of his beloved. One day, for one of his outings incognito, he was suddenly overwhelmed by a fit of rage and beat her senseless. No sooner had he left than Bingae drew her last breath there where he left her. How pitiful her end was! . . . upon his return, Prince Sado heard of what had happened, but he said nothing. He was not in his senses.

Questions for Analysis 1. How does Lady Hyegyeong understand her

husband’s illness? 2. What made it possible for the prince to keep

killing people?

lyrical gasa (GA-sa). Poems in Korean (unlike those in Chinese) did not use rhymes; poetic language in- stead depended on alliteration and cadence.

Hundreds of short tales and long novels were also written during this period, either by men in classical Chinese or by women in Korean. Many of the stories deal with women. Some portray women defending their womanly virtues, but suffering is another com- mon theme. In some tales, lowly courtesans steal their lovers’ money or humiliate them in public. The most popular of all tales concerned a woman named Chunhyang (CHOON-hyang). It was both a didactic tale of the triumph of womanly virtue over evil and a romantic tale about the son of a yangban official who fell in love with the daughter of a courtesan who did not want to become one herself. In defiance of convention,

the two wed secretly at the age of fifteen. The husband then left for Seoul to prepare for the civil service ex- aminations, which he passed in first place. Meanwhile, a cruel governor arrived in Chunhyang’s town and de- manded that the young woman become his concubine. When she refused, he ordered her beaten unmercifully and threw her in jail to die. The husband then returned as a secret inspector to cashier the governor, and the two lived happily ever after. The story contains many dream sequences, Buddhist awareness of karma, life after death, and resignation to fate. The erotic descrip- tion of the two lovers affirms the superiority of love over stifling convention, undoubtedly one reason that the story has remained so popular.

One of the great classic novels, Nine Cloud Dream, was written by Kim Manjung (KIM MAHN-joong,

06475_ch15_rev04.indd 259 9/10/12 1:21 PM

260 Chapter 15 Joseon Korea (1392–1800)

yangban for focusing only on China and neglecting the history and culture of their own country. He also criticized yangban disdain for manual labor and the backwardness and poverty of the Joseon economy.

Pak Jiwon (PARK GEE-one), one of Hong’s disci- ples, left a detailed record of his travels as a member of a tribute mission to China in 1780. He attacked the yangban monopoly of the examination system and satirized them in stories like Master Heo (HUH) and The Yangban. He demanded an end to discrimi- nation against sons of concubines, the manumission of official slaves, and adoption of a land-limitation scheme. He encouraged everyone to engage in com- merce and industry and recommended improving transportation by copying the superior carts and boats used in Qing China.

Pak Jega (PARK JAY-gah) was a Southerner who studied with Pak Jiwon. In 1786 he proposed that the king invite Christian missionaries in China to come to Korea to teach Western astronomy and mathe- matics. In his 1788 book titled Northern Learning, he expanded on themes introduced by Hong Dae- yong and Bak Jiwon and urged the king to appoint the best merchants to office and expand trade with Qing China. Northern Learning represented a lib- eralization of intellectual thought, but it had a very limited effect on government policy because anti- Manchu prejudice and the Confucian bias against merchants were too deeply entrenched.

Christianity and Western Learning

After the Jesuit Francis Xavier arrived in Japan in 1549, many Japanese were converted to Christianity (see Connections: Europe Enters the Scene). Some Korean captives who were taken to Japan during Hideyoshi’s invasions converted, but they had a negligible effect on Korea. Many of Matteo Ricci’s works in Chinese on Catholic theology and West- ern mathematics, astronomy, and geography were brought into Korea from China in the early seven- teenth century, and they had more impact. The Kore- ans lumped Christian theology and Western science together in a single term, Western Learning. Koreans were won over to Western astronomical ideas and adopted the Western calendar in 1653, nine years after the Qing Dynasty did.

Scholars who looked into Christianity in the 1720s often rejected its basic premises. Yi Imyeong (E E- myoung) in 1720 rejected the Catholic notion of heaven and hell, and Yi Ik’s (E IK) disciple, Sin Hudam

1637–1692), a high official and member of the Patriarch faction who was twice dismissed in purges. Set in Tang China, the novel’s main message is Buddhist. A monk dreams that he is reborn and sees his life unfold—the glories of a Confucian education, promotion to high office, and unrestricted access to sex with two wives and seven concubines. But then he wakes up and sees the emptiness of it all. In this story, the wives and concubines are all independent, resourceful women who stand out as more vivid characters than the male protagonist.

Two other famous literary works of the period are more political in nature. The True History of Queen Inhyeon (IN-hyun), written by an unknown mem- ber of the Patriarch faction, was a partisan account aimed at defending Queen Inhyeon of the Min fam- ily, who was deposed by the king in 1689 and then later reinstated. The other was Lady Hyegyeong’s brilliant memoirs of her life in the palace married to the mad Prince Sado (see Documents: Lady Hyegyeong’s Memoirs).

Popular oral literature also flourished. Rural dances and local masked plays were often biting in their satire. Pansori (PAN-sori) was an oral song tra- dition that became popular in the countryside in the eighteenth century. It was performed by the singer as a chant, usually accompanied by a drummer who varied the tempo according to the mood of each seg- ment. Famous singers could improvise. Many of the songs mocked the yangban, but as time passed, clas- sical Chinese phrases were inserted into the songs to appeal to yangban as well as commoners.

Northern Learning

For much of the Joseon period, Confucianism was intellectually rigid. This too changed in the eighteenth century as scholarly circles became more open to new ideas. One important group, dubbed the Northern Learning group, challenged the con- ventional prejudice against the Manchus. They urged that Korea learn from the Qing Dynasty to improve the economy and the material aspects of life. Most came from the minority Southerner or Northerner factions.

When Hong Daeyong (HONG DAY-young) ac- companied his uncle on a mission to the Qing capital in 1765, he became interested in Western astronomy and mathematics. He rejected the idea that China was either at the center of the earth or the only enlight- ened country on earth, and he criticized his fellow

06475_ch15_rev04.indd 260 9/10/12 1:21 PM

The Family and Women in the Confucian Age 261

with their wives’ families for several years before setting up their own homes. Oldest daughters often stayed permanently in their parents’ home, and con- tinuing a family through a daughter was an accept- ed practice. Women inherited equal shares of their parents’ property and could take their property into marriage and maintain control of it; if they had no children to inherit the property, it was returned to their natal family. Both men and women remarried if widowed. Men could have several wives who were treated equally. Ancestor worship was not common, and funerals were largely Buddhist affairs. Rather than bury the dead in coffins, families followed the Buddhist practice of cremation. Mourning, too, fol- lowed Buddhist customs and was generally limited to one hundred days.

To the early Joseon Confucian scholars, all these practices needed to be reformed, and yangban should set the example for the rest of society. Some reforms were accepted relatively quickly. By the end of the fifteenth century, yangban were observing Confucian mourning prescriptions. This is seen in Choe Bu’s accounts of his travels in China after he was ship- wrecked there in 1488. At the time, he was in mourn- ing for his father and made every effort to follow all the rules. By the late fifteenth century, yangban were also more often adopting nephews and other close patrilineal relatives when they had no sons, rather than letting a daughter inherit the family property. Remarriage of widows also declined markedly, per- haps in part due to a law issued in 1474 that barred sons of remarried widows from taking the civil service examinations. By the eighteenth century, Confucian ancestor worship had completely replaced Buddhist ceremonies for the deceased, and the Confucian pat- tern of patriarchal domination of the family reached its zenith. It took about three hundred years before Buddhist burial practices and beliefs were replaced at the lowest level of society.

Confucian promotion of patrilineal kinship led to the compilation of genealogies. At the beginning of the dynasty, women were listed in the family geneal- ogy along with their brothers in the order of birth. By the eighteenth century, however, women were all listed after their brothers, and when they married, their names were expunged and listed instead in their husband’s genealogy as the daughter of their father. Their personal names were not even recorded.

One reason practices of this sort spread is that the lower levels of yangban society, whose mem- bers had no hopes of official careers, saw meticulous

(SHIN WHO-dahm), in 1724 condemned Christian- ity for its resemblance to Buddhism in its selfish em- phasis on individual salvation and its concern with life after death. Much Jesuit philosophical argument passed over the heads of Confucian scholars, who were interested primarily in whether Catholic doc- trines would aid or hinder adherence to Confucian so- cial morality. What did attract Korean attention was the pope’s 1715 condemnation of Chinese ancestral rites as idolatry and the Yongzheng emperor’s subse- quent ban against Christian proselytization.

In 1784 the student Yi Seunghun (E SOONG-hoon) traveled to China to be baptized, only to be refused by the Catholic missionaries because of his inadequate knowledge of Catholic doctrine. Still, he brought back Christian texts to proselytize among acquaintances. Several dozen men formed the first Christian congre- gation and worshipped at the home of the jungin Kim Beomu (KIM BUM-woo), who became Korea’s first Christian martyr.

In 1788 two high officials asked the king to ban European books. The Southerner Councilor of the Right, who had many Catholic relatives, pleaded with King Jeongjo not to punish the Christians for their ignorance. The king agreed, but he also ordered the destruction of all Christian books. In 1791, after being reminded of the pope’s ruling on ances- tral rites, two Catholics who were also Southerners burned the ancestral tablets for the mother of one of them. When they refused to recant, King Jeongjo or- dered their decapitation and forced their associates to commit apostasy.

The first Christian missionary to Korea, the Chinese Zhou Wenmo, was discovered in 1794. King Jeongjo executed him and demoted or exiled South- erners suspected of being sympathetic. King Jeongjo’s attempt at toleration had backfired, and he adopted a hard line against both Southerners and Christians.

THE FAMILY AND WOMEN IN THE CONFuCIAN AGE Joseon Confucianists were zealous in their efforts to reshape Korea into a model Confucian society. Korea’s original family system was quite different from China’s, so making Koreans conform to the strictures in the Chinese classics required much more radical change in Korea than it ever had in China.

In Goryeo times, the Korean family was neither patriarchal nor patrilineal. Sons-in-law usually lived

06475_ch15_rev04.indd 261 9/10/12 1:21 PM

262 Chapter 15 Joseon Korea (1392–1800)

SuMMARY After the end of Mongol domination, a general founded the Joseon Dynasty, which lasted almost as long as the Chinese Ming and Qing Dynasties togeth- er. The first four kings were notable for political and cultural accomplishments. Of them, King Sejong is especially notable for his strengthening of the armed forces, settlement of the northern frontier area, legal reforms, book projects, scientific interests, and spon- sorship of a new phonetic writing system (hangul). Hangul made possible the development of literature in the vernacular language, which could be written and read by those who knew no Chinese, including women.

Neo-Confucianism became firmly established as the ideology of the yangban class in the Joseon period. Confucian scholars did not see Confucian civilization as specifically Chinese; the more zealous aspired to make Korea a more perfect Confucian so- ciety. This can be seen in the efforts to get Korean yangban to adhere to the more strictly patrilineal form of the family celebrated in Confucian texts.

The greatest crisis of the Joseon period was the Japanese invasions under Hideyoshi, which cost about two million Korean lives. Joseon military read- iness had declined during the long period of peace, and factionalism at court made it difficult to get the government united in its response. Japan, by con- trast, had been engaged in civil war for a century and had mastered the use of firearms, giving it the ad- vantage. Although Korea had impressive victories at sea, Hideyoshi was able to land his armies and ad- vanced as far as Pyeongyang within two months. A few months later, Ming forces arrived to help Korea and push back the Japanese army. Hideyoshi did not accept a peace settlement and renewed the fighting in 1597, and it was only after Hideyoshi died in 1598 that the Japanese troops were fully withdrawn.

The next major challenge was the Manchus, who were gaining strength on Joseon’s northern border. Again, factional strife made a united response dif- ficult. The Manchus invaded and forced the Joseon government to accept unfavorable terms. Many yangban maintained their loyalty to the Ming Dynasty even after the Qing had succeeded it in China.

The eighteenth century was a period of econom- ic growth in Korea, as it was in China and Japan. Currency came back into use, trade grew, and agri- cultural technology was improved. The population

observance of Confucian family practices as a way to show their yangban credentials. But Confucians thought that these practices should be observed by all, and they encouraged moral tracts written in hangul to spread them to those with less education.

Because Korean reformers were copying the sys- tem described in the Chinese classics, not the fam- ily system of China in their day, many differences between the two family systems persisted. Perhaps most significant, whereas in China distinctions in status between brothers had been greatly reduced from Han times on and by law all brothers were to receive equal shares of property, Korea adhered to the classical rules that discriminated against younger sons and, even more so, sons of concubines.

How were women’ lives affected by these changes in law and ideology? Women in yangban families were affected most because their behavior impinged on the social standing of the family, putting them under more pressure to conform to such ideals as avoiding contact with men who were not relatives. Certainly women could still have considerable power within the family, especially older women who chose spouses for their children and had daughters-in-law subordinate to them.

Moreover, we should not assume that women al- ways bought into the dominant ideology. Even in families where the men were Confucians, the wom- en continued to engage in religious practices usually frowned on by men. They prayed to mountains, trees, and household gods. They regarded their dreams as predictive of the sex and capacity of a new child, and they had to take care to defend the family against bad omens around the home. A special ceremony might be held for cutting the umbilical cord, and precautions were taken so that the spirits of women who died in labor or committed suicide would not harm surviving members of the family. Women also attended religious festivals, such as the Tano Festival (see Color Plate 24).

In popular religion, women were active agents. They hired shamans, usually female ones (mudang [MOO-dang]), to go into a trance and communicate with the angry spirits of a woman’s own dead parents and grandparents, who were believed to cause sickness and other problems among family members. Women, as well as many men, continued to believe in Buddhist ideas despite Confucian condemnation, particularly transmigration, karma, and punishment in Buddhist hell, especially when facing illness or impending death. Literature of the Joseon period, as just discussed, often depicts women as independent-minded and articulate.

06475_ch15_rev04.indd 262 9/10/12 1:21 PM

Summary 263

remained distinct, many other features of Korean life were strongly affected by the Confucianization campaigns, which changed such basic social prac- tices as where people lived after marriage and how family property was transmitted. The economy had evolved from one rooted in control over land and people with very little use of money to one where coins circulated, trade was more prevalent, and slavery had declined substantially. The yangban stratum had steadily expanded and gradually divided into a national elite who held office and local yangban with much less power. The national yangban elite in turn were divided into largely he- reditary factions who competed for control of the court. Intellectually, while the most learned contin- ued to follow trends in China, it had become more common for intellectual leaders to develop ideas in original ways.

grew to about 14 million by the end of the century. Slavery declined from about 30 percent of the popu- lation to less than 10 percent. There was at the same time a new openness to cultural innovation. Fiction flourished, both short tales and long novels. Some scholars took an interest in the Western learning and Christianity that missionaries and traders were bringing to China, mostly learning about it from books in Chinese or trips to China, as in this period no Westerners were allowed into Korea.

How different was Korea in 1800 than in 1392? Much, of course, had not changed. Korea was still unified under kings of the same dynasty who competed for power with the entrenched yangban elite. But in other regards, life in Korea had changed dramatically. Buddhism had been pushed to the sidelines as aggressive Confucianization pre- vailed. Although Korean food, houses, and clothing

06475_ch15_rev04.indd 263 9/10/12 1:21 PM

264

How similar were the situations of women in premodern China, Korea, and Japan? In broad terms, if we compare East Asia and Europe in

1700 or 1800, women in each of the three countries of East Asia were probably more like each other than like women in England or France. In China, Korea, and Japan, men could take concubines and could di- vorce their wives relatively easily, but women could not divorce their husbands, and wives were expect- ed to act deferentially in the presence of men. Girls did not go to schools with boys, and male literacy was substantially higher than female literacy. In all three countries, female entertainers were also a prominent part of social life; they associated with men of high rank but did not have high social stand- ing themselves. In all three countries, too, historians have tended to see women’s situations as declining over time, with the high point in the period between 650 and 1050.

Despite these broad similarities, the history of women’s positions and gender ideology in China, Korea, and Japan differs in many significant ways. The Chinese family was patrilineal and patriarchal from as far back as historians can trace, but in Korea during the Silla and Goryeo periods and in Japan during the Nara and Heian periods, people traced kinship through both men and women, and it was more common for a newly married couple to live with the wife’s family than with the hus- band’s. Over time, however, the family systems of both Korea and Japan grew more patrilineal and patriarchal. One reason for these shifts might be the influence of Chinese law codes, which were used as models in both Korea and Japan. Beyond that, in the case of medieval Japan, scholars have pointed to the shift in the structure of elite. In samurai families, property came to be transmitted to a single heir, marriages became more durable, and wives moved in with their husbands’ families. In the case of Korea, scholars have given more weight to the commitment of yangban to Confu- cianism and the conscious efforts made to instill such Confucian virtues as filial piety and wifely deference. Still, neither Korea nor Japan went as far as China in the patrilineal direction. In Korea, maternal kinship mattered, and the son of a yangban father and a lowborn mother could not take the civil service examinations.

The issue of women’s literacy and writing is tied less to Confucianism and more to writing systems. With the development of the kana syllabary in the ninth century, it became much easier to write in Japanese. Japanese women were quick to make use of the new way to write, and Heian women wrote an astonishing number of books. The script is not the full story, however, because although it continued to be available in later centuries, women writers attracted less attention after the Heian pe- riod. In Korea, the invention of hangul in the fif- teenth century similarly made it possible to write in Korean. As in Japan, women predominated among earlier users of the script, and many more writings by women survived after the development of han- gul than before. In the Chinese case, by contrast, women stuck with the more literary way to write after writing in the vernacular became established. By Qing times, there were more women who pub- lished poetry than in any earlier period. By this time, ways to write that reflected speech more closely had been developed and were used to write fiction and drama, but women rarely wrote in these ver- nacular forms. Instead, they chose to use the more elegant classical language.

In the case of China, the impression that wom- en’s situations deteriorated is based above all on the spread of footbinding and growing pressure on widows not to remarry. Both these customs can be traced back to the Song period, but they penetrat- ed more deeply through society in later centuries. Footbinding was not copied by Korea or Japan, or even by most non-Han ethnic groups within China. Widow chastity, however, did become the ideal in Korea as Confucianism gained strength in the Joseon period. The government went so far as to ban the sons of remarried widows from taking the civil service examinations.

For all three countries, there is a large discrepancy between what didactic texts say women should do, the way they are portrayed in fiction and anecdotes, and what women’s writings suggest. Before con- cluding that women were submissive in late tradi- tional East Asia, we should recall the highly varied women portrayed in literature, such as resourceful servants and overbearing mothers-in-law, not to mention malicious schemers, and the opportunities they seized to shape their own lives.

M A K I N G C O M P A R I S O N S Women’s Situations

06475_ch15_rev04.indd 264 9/10/12 1:21 PM

265

TRADE ROUTES FLOURISHED BETWEEN NORTHEAST and Southeast Asia long before European adventurers, merchants, and Catholic missionaries entered the South China Sea. Lured by Asian silks, porcelain, and spices, ships under the Portuguese flag were the first to risk the voy- age in the early sixteenth century. The Spanish, British, and Dutch followed. In early seventeenth- century Japan, early eighteenth-century China, and early nineteenth-century Korea, rulers put a stop to missionary activities, although for different reasons. Trade between Europe and East Asia continued, but it was confined to specific ports in China and Japan.

Hemmed in by Spain, Portugal relied on trade to fill the royal treasury. At the beginning of the fifteenth century, Portuguese ships started exploring the west coast of Africa in search of gold. African gold then financed a voyage around the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. From there, the Portuguese established a colony at Goa on the west coast of In- dia and followed Muslim and Indian trade routes to the Spice Islands of Indonesia. Once Queen Isabella and her husband, Ferdinand, captured Grenada, the last Muslim emirate in Spain, in 1492, they funded Christopher Columbus’s voyage across the Atlantic in hopes of finding an alternative route to China. Two years later, the pope divided the world beyond Europe between Spain and Portugal. Spain’s sphere included most of the so-called New World except Brazil; Portugal went east.

China’s contact with Portugal began in 1511 when Admiral Alfonso de Albuquerque captured the Chinese trading center of Malacca near the tip of the Malay Peninsula. With this as a base, the first official Portuguese embassy followed traders to China in 1517. The embassy behaved badly by refusing to conform to Chinese customs, while ship captains acted more like pirates than traders. Few Portuguese were willing to risk the long voyage in tiny ships around the Horn of Africa, across the wide

expanse of the Indian Ocean, and through the Strait of Malacca to the South China Sea. Most were nei- ther officials dispatched from the Portuguese court nor explorers seeking glory and territory. What they had in limited resources and manpower had to go toward making a living in competition with local traders. (See Map C5.1.)

Although Ming emperors at Beijing tried repeat- edly to prohibit maritime travel, they could not stop the Portuguese or seafaring people on the south Chi- na coast who made little distinction between trade, smuggling, and piracy. In 1521, the Ming tried to ban the Portuguese from China. Two years later, an expedition authorized by the Portuguese king and charged with negotiating a friendship treaty defeated its mission by firing on Chinese warships near Guangzhou. In 1557, without informing Bei- jing, local Chinese officials decided that the way to regulate trade was to allow the Portuguese to build a trading post on vacant land near the mouth of the Pearl River, called Macao by the Portuguese. It be- came the first destination for all Europeans going to China until the nineteenth century, and it remained a Portuguese settlement until 1999.

The only significant products Portuguese traders brought to networks that had already developed in East Asia were New World crops such as corn, sweet potatoes, chili peppers, and tobacco. They are said to have reached Japan by accident in 1543 when a typhoon blew a ship with a mixed crew of South- east Asians to a small island called Tanegashima. Japanese historians long credited the Portuguese for bringing both the gun and syphilis to Japan, but it is now thought that syphilis arrived earlier and that guns from Southeast Asia landed at various places around the same time, both carried by pre-existing trade routes. In later decades of the sixteenth cen- tury, Portuguese traders profited from the Ming ban on Japanese ships because they had raided the coast. The Portuguese carried 20 metric tons of Japanese

Europe Enters the Scene

C O N N E C T I O N S

06475_Connection_5_rev04.indd 265 9/10/12 1:24 PM

266 Connections: Europe Enters the Scene

A m

st e rd

a m

V e n

ic e

M e x ic

o C

it y

A ca

p u

lc o

V e ra

cr u

C a rt

a g

e n

P a n

a m

a Q u

it o

N e w

O rl

e a n

s C

h a rl

e st

o n

L im

S a n

ti a g

B a h

B u

e n

o s

A ir

e s

R io

d e J

a n

e ir

L is

b o

A le

x a n

d ri

a C

a ir

o Tr

ip o

S e v il le

M a d

ri d

L u

a n

d a

C a p

e To

w nM

o m

b a sa

M o

za m

b iq

u e

S o

fa la

A d

e nB

a sr

a M u

sc a t

M a la

cc aM

a ca

o C

a n

to n

N in

g b

o N

a g

a sa

M a n

il a

Is ta

n b

u l

G o

N E

W S

P A

S P

A N

IS H

M A

IN N

E W

G R

A N

A D

P E

R U

B R

A Z

A R

A B

IAP E

R S

IN D

C H

IN A

P H

IL IP

P IN

E S

JA P

A N

G O

L D

C O

A S

A N

G O

L A

C A

P E

V E

R D

S P

A IN

N E

T H

E R

L A

N D

P O

R T

U G

A L

C U

B A

JA M

A IC

AH A

IT I P

U E

R T

O R

IC O

C U

R A

C A

O (

N et

h. )

M A

U R

IT IU

S (N

et h

S U

M A

T R

A B

O R

N E

JA V

M A

L D

IV E

IN D

O N

E S

G U

IA N

F L

O R

ID A

N E

W G

U IN

E A

M A

D A

G A

S C

A R

G U

JA R

A T

N O

R T

H A

M E

R IC

S O

U T

H A

M E

R IC

E U

R O

P E

A S

A F

R IC

S tr

a it

o f

M a g

e ll a n

M ed

it er

ra ne

an S

R ed

S ea

S u n d a

S tr

a it

A ra

b ia

n S ea

A R

C T

I C

O C

E A

P A

C I

F I

C O

C E

A N

P A

C I

F I

C O

C E

A N

A T

L A

N T

I C

O C

E A

A T

L A

N T

I C

O C

E A

I N

D I

A N

O C

E A

C a p

e H

o rn

C a p

e o

f G

o o

d H

o p

OL UC

CA S

E q

u a to

Si lk

, S ug

ar , R

um , M

ol as

se s

Sl av

Slaves

Sl av

Sugar

Sl av

Sla ves

Sl av

Si lv

Sla ves

Sl av

To ol

s Cl

ot h

To ol

s Cl

ot h

Ru gs

a nd

Ki lli

m s

Po rc

el ai

n Si

W he

at Ti

m be

r Fu

r Ta

r Pi

tc h

Si lv

Si lk

Ivo ry,

old , S

la ve

In d

ig e

n o

u s

A si

a n

t ra

d e

r o

u te

E u

ro p

e a

n t

ra d

e r

o u

te s

A re

a o

f E

u ro

p e

a n

c o

n tr

o l

0 0

15 0

03 0

0 0 K

m .

3 0

0 0 M

C ey

lo n

M a p

C 5 .1

ab o rn

e T

ra d in

g E

m p ir

es i

n t

h e

Si x te

en th

a n d S

ev en

te en

th C

en tu

ri es

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_Connection_5_rev04.indd 266 9/10/12 1:24 PM

Connections: Europe Enters the Scene 267

influence in East Asia enjoyed by that other foreign religion, Buddhism.

The Jesuit priest Francis Xavier had worked in India and the Indies before China and Japan at- tracted his attention. After many misadventures, he landed on Satsuma in 1549 where the Satsuma lord treated him well in hopes that he would attract the official Portuguese trading ships the next year. When the ships went instead to the island of Hira- do (He-rah-doe), Satsuma expelled Xavier’s party. Xavier traveled throughout western Japan as far as Kyoto, preaching wherever warlords gave permis- sion. Asked why the Chinese knew nothing of Chris- tianity if it was indeed an ancient and true religion, Xavier decided that Japan would become Christian only if China led the way. His efforts to enter China ended when he died on an island off the China coast in December 1552.

Jesuits and Dominicans soon joined the mission- aries and converts Xavier left behind in Japan. In 1565, Louis Frois met Oda Nobunaga, who be- friended the Jesuits to annoy his Buddhist enemies. In 1580, Jesuits acquired Nagasaki from a warlord interested in promoting trade with Portuguese ships. Two years later, four young Kyushu samurai left Nagasaki for Lisbon and Rome, where they helped Jesuits get a papal bull that put Japan off limits to other orders. Because it could not be enforced, quar- rels between the Catholic orders over how best to present Christianity to East Asia damaged the mis- sionaries’ credibility in the eyes of Asian rulers.

Warlords trying to unite Japan under secular au- thority became increasingly suspicious of Christian- ity. If an absolute god demanded absolute loyalty, where did that leave the bonds between lord and retainer? Suppression began in 1587 and intensified nine years later when the pilot of a ship wrecked on the Japanese coast allegedly pointed out that soldiers had followed Spanish missionaries to the Philippines. In 1614, Tokugawa Ieyasu decided that missionar- ies undermined the social order and were not essen- tial to foreign trade. He ordered them expelled un- der threat of execution. He also tortured and killed Christian converts who refused to renounce their faith. Among the martyrs were Koreans who had been brought to Japan as slaves during Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s invasions in the 1590s. The shogunate broke off relations with Catholic countries in 1624. The remaining Christians practiced their religion in secret by crafting statues of the Virgin Mary in the guise of Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy.

silver a year to China in exchange for silk, sugar, medicine, and dye.

Trade between China and Europe increased in the late sixteenth century through an economic connection that included the Americas following the discovery by Andrés de Urdaneta of a return route for sailing ships across the Pacific to Mexico. China needed foreign silver because its monetary system depended on it and domestic production had declined after 1430. China bought Japanese silver carried on Portuguese ships as well as 50 percent of all silver mined in Mexico and Bolivia. Carried in Spanish ships, New World silver came through Manila, founded in 1571 when Spain made the Philippines a colony. Later disruptions in the flow of silver from Japan and the New World in 1639 contributed to the fall of the Ming. Spanish silver bought manufactured goods—Chinese silk, porce- lain, and lacquer—that dominated the luxury trade in Europe and funded Spain’s wars against multiple enemies for generations.

Portuguese merchants seeking profits in East Asia faced competition from their government when the Portuguese viceroy at Goa made the Japan trade a royal monopoly in 1550. The Ming approved be- cause their officials also wanted to see trade regular- ized. Each year, a captain major appointed by the crown sent ships to Japan, where warlords competed to attract the ships to their ports. (See Color Plate 20.) The governor of Macao forbade the sending of goods to Japan on private ships via third-party countries, especially the Philippines. His directives were futile; Portuguese and Spanish traders with crews drawn from all over East and Southeast Asia found Manila too convenient to abandon.

Catholic missionaries seeking converts who fol- lowed the traders hoped to keep the European re- ligious wars that undermined the pope’s spiritual authority secret from Asia. The first were Jesuits, from the order founded by Ignatius Loyola in 1534 to promote Catholic scholarship and combat the Protestant Reformation initiated by Martin Luther. Jesuits insisted that Christianizing China and Japan was not to be done with the intent to conquer, as had been the case in the New World. As individuals, they displayed a rare sensitivity to other cultures. They were willing to find universal principles of be- lief outside a European context, but they served an institution that refused to compromise with local be- liefs and practices. Despite the efforts of charismatic missionaries, the Catholic Church never gained the

06475_Connection_5_rev04.indd 267 9/10/12 1:24 PM

268 Connections: Europe Enters the Scene

Following the European religious wars of the lat- ter half of the sixteenth century, the profits to be made in East and Southeast Asia lured traders from Protestant countries. Determined not to allow their Catholic rivals to dominate the world, Protestant nations sent explorers across the oceans; at the same time, Britain’s defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 began Spain’s long decline. Early in the seventeenth century, the Dutch gained a competitive advantage in the world spice trade by opening a faster sailing route across the southern Indian Ocean before turn- ing northward to Java. Both nations established East India companies in 1600 whose ability to capitalize trade far exceeded that of the merchants of Spain and Portugal.

Like Qing emperors, seventeenth-century Japanese shoguns tried to regulate foreign trade by confining it to specific harbors. In contrast to the sixteenth century, they also tried to prevent the increasingly short supply of precious metals from leaving the country by practicing import substitution for silk and

Christianity arrived later in China. Not until 1583 did the Jesuit Matteo Ricci receive permission to move farther inland than Macao. Once he had edu- cated himself in the style of Chinese literati, he set himself up in Nanjing. In 1601 he received tacit per- mission from the emperor to live in Beijing. From him the Chinese learned Western-style geography, astron- omy, and Euclidean mathematics. In the years after Ricci’s death in 1611, Jesuits regulated the Chinese lunar calendar. Anti-foreign officials sometimes ha- rassed them, but the Jesuits retained their standing with Chinese literati through the collapse of the Ming Dynasty and the founding of the Qing in 1644. Al- lowed into China after 1633, Catholic monks who lived on alms criticized Jesuits for aiming their efforts at the ruling class and trying to fit Christian ideas into the Chinese worldview rather than remaining European in approach and appealing to the masses.

Ricci and his Jesuit successors believed that Con- fucianism as a philosophy could be brought into line with Christian beliefs. Not only did Confucianists and Christians share similar concerns for morality and virtue, but Confucian rites of filial piety per- formed for the ancestors did not constitute a form of worship, which made Confucianism compatible with Christianity. Monks who lived by begging disagreed. In 1715, religious and political quarrels in Europe, worsened by long-standing hostility to the Jesuits, resulted in Ricci’s accommodation with Chinese practices being deemed heretical. Angry at this insult, the Kangxi emperor forbade all Chris- tian missionary work in China, although he allowed Jesuits to remain in Beijing to assist with the calen- dar. A Jesuit portrait painter later proved popular at the courts of his son and grandson. The negative outcome to the “rites controversy” over whether Christian converts should be allowed to maintain ancestral altars, plus accusations that missionaries had meddled in the imperial succession, led the Qing to view all Europeans with suspicion.

China’s rulers also limited trade for strategic rea- sons. Between 1655 and 1675, the Qing banned maritime trade to isolate Ming loyalists on Taiwan. In addition to official trade at the state level, the Qing permitted merchants to trade with foreigners, but only under tight control. After 1759, all mari- time trade, whether with Southeast Asia or Europe, was confined to Canton (Guangzhou). Merchants put up with these restrictions because, in exchange for silver, China provided luxury items and tea, a bulk ware introduced to Europe in 1607.

Trade Practices in East Asia. When European ships visited Chinese or Japanese ports, they were supposed to unload their guns before trade could begin. This painting shows the guns under a roof next to the sheds where trade was conducted.

Lu nd

s U

ni ve

rs ite

ts bi

bl io

te k,

R ar

sa m

lin ge

n, n

r. 50

06475_Connection_5_rev04.indd 268 9/10/12 1:25 PM

Connections: Europe Enters the Scene 269

motives led the government to reject them. Korean scholars in residence at the Chinese court read the Jesuits’ religious, scientific, and mathematical texts and took them back to Korea, where they attracted a small following for Catholic Christianity. The con- verts soon became embroiled in the factional infight- ing that characterized politics in eighteenth-century Korea and suffered severe persecution starting in 1791. No European missionary or merchant tried to visit Korea until three French priests landed il- legally in 1836–1837. The Korean court had them and their converts executed in 1839 for spreading the “evil teaching” that ran counter to the dictates of filial piety.

Europeans had only minimal impact on East Asia before the nineteenth century. Except for a few out- posts, they seized no territory, and what they tried to take, they could not always hold. In the Indian Ocean, the Portuguese found themselves on the de- fensive when Arabs expelled them from the Red Sea, Aden, Muscat, and Mombasa over the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Between the Mughal conquest of the 1520s and the Afghan at- tacks in the 1750s, the most serious threats suffered by the South Asian subcontinent were from non- Europeans. In the seventeenth century the Chinese navy expelled the Dutch from the Pescadores Islands and from outposts on Taiwan. Although trade in- creased between the sixteenth and eighteenth centu- ries, with the exception of the Philippines, it did not yet lead to colonization as it had in the New World.

sugar. A Dutch ship carrying a mixed crew of men from Europe and the New World arrived in 1600. (Of the original five ships with a crew of 461 men, only one ship and 25 men survived to reach Japan.) The British arrived in 1613. Both Dutch and British came as representatives of trading companies, not of their governments. Disappointed with scant profits, the British shut down their quarters. Unhappy with what it deemed smuggling, in 1635 the shogunate is- sued a maritime ban that forbade all Japanese from sailing overseas and ordered those who had migrated to Southeast Asia to return home or face permanent exile. The thriving Japanese community at Hoi An in Vietnam disappeared. In a further attempt to control unregulated trade and piracy, the shogunate later banned the building of oceangoing ships. In 1641, it ordered the Dutch to move to the artificial island called Dejima in Nagasaki bay originally constructed for the Portuguese. The annual visits by Dutch ships allowed an exchange of information, maintained Japan’s connections with trade routes to Southeast Asia, and opened the door to Western science and medicine.

Korea proved unfriendly to merchants and mis- sionaries alike. In the seventeenth century, British and Dutch traders made several attempts to insert their goods into the trade route between Korea and Japan that later developed into a triangular trade carrying Japanese copper, Korean ginseng, and Chinese silver. Memories of piracy, fear of unregulated trade that smacked of smuggling, and suspicion of European

06475_Connection_5_rev04.indd 269 9/10/12 1:25 PM

270

C H A P T E R S I X T E E N

The Creation of the Manchu Empire (1600–1800)

The Manchus

Ming Loyalism

The Qing at Its Height

Biography: Jiang Chun, Salt Merchant

Documents: Fang Bao’s “Random Notes from Prison”

Contacts with Europe

Social and Cultural Crosscurrents

Material Culture: Jin Nong’s Inscribed Portrait of a Buddhist Monk

The Less Advantaged and the Disaffected

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were the age of the Manchus (man-choo). As the Ming Dynasty fell into disorder, the Jurchens put together an efficient state beyond Ming’s northeastern border and adopted the name Manchu for themselves. After they were called in to help suppress peasant rebellions, the Manchus took the throne them- selves, founding the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911). Many Chinese did all they could to resist the Manchus out of loyalty to the Ming, but by the eighteenth century, Chinese and Manchus had learned to accom- modate each other. In many ways, the eighteenth century was the high point of traditional Chinese civilization. The Manchus created a multi- ethnic empire, adding Taiwan, Mongolia, Tibet, and Xinjiang to their realm, making the Qing Empire comparable to the other multinational empires of the early modern world, such as the Ottoman, Russian, and Habsburg empires.

Many historians have been attracted to research on the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries because it provides a baseline of traditional China before the rapid changes of the modern era. In addition to the usual ques- tions of why the Ming fell and the Qing succeeded, scholars have recently been asking questions about the Manchus themselves. Who were they, and how did their history shape the way they ruled China? How did they compel the allegiance of peoples of different backgrounds? How did they manage to give traditional Chinese political forms a new lease on life? Other historians have focused more on what was going on among the Chinese during these two crucial centuries. Was population growth a sign of prosperity? Or was it beginning to cause problems? How did scholars respond to Manchu rule?

06475_ch16_rev04.indd 270 9/10/12 3:38 PM

The Manchus 271

brought together Manchus, Mongols, and Chinese. A Korean who traveled to Nurhaci’s headquarters in 1595–1596 encountered many small Jurchen settle- ments, most no larger than twenty households, sup- ported by fishing, hunting for pelts, collecting pine nuts or ginseng, or growing crops such as wheat, millet, and barley. Villages were often at odds with each other over resources, and men did not leave their villages without arming themselves with bows and arrows or swords. Interspersed among these Manchu settlements were groups of nomadic Mongols who lived in yurts in open areas. The Korean visitor ob- served that Nurhaci had in his employ men from the Ming territory of Liaodong who could speak both Chinese and Manchu and could write in Chinese. Nurhaci’s knowledge of China and Chinese ways was not entirely secondhand, however. In 1590, he had led an embassy to Beijing, and the next year he of- fered to join the Ming effort to repel the Japanese invasion of Korea. Nurhaci and his children married Mongols as well as Manchus, and these marriages cemented alliances.

Like Chinggis, who had reorganized his armies to reduce the importance of tribal affiliations, Nurhaci created a new social basis for his armies in units called banners, identified by their colors. Each ban- ner was made up of a set of military companies but included the families and slaves of the soldiers as well. Each company had a captain whose position was hereditary. Many of the commanding officers were drawn from Nurhaci’s own lineage. Over time new companies and new banners were formed, and by 1644 there were twenty-four banners (eight each Manchu, Mongol, and Chinese banners). When new groups of Manchus were defeated, they were distrib- uted among several banners to lessen their potential for subversion.

In 1616, Nurhaci declared war on the Ming Empire by calling himself khan of the revived Jin Dynasty and listing his grievances against the Ming. In 1621 his forces overran Liaodong and incorpo- rated it into his state. After Nurhaci died in 1626, his son Hong Taiji succeeded him. In consolidating the Jin state, then centered on Mukden, Hong Taiji grudgingly made use of Chinese bureaucrats, but his goal was to replace them with a multiethnic elite equally competent in warfare and documents. In 1636, Hong Taiji renamed his state Qing (“pure”). When he died in 1643 at age forty-six, his brother Dorgon was made regent for his five-year-old son, Fulin, the Shunzhi emperor (r. 1643–1661).

THE MANCHuS The Manchus were descended from the Jurchens, who had ruled north China during the Jin Dynasty (1127–1234). Although they had not maintained the written language that the Jin had created, they had maintained their hairstyle. A Manchu man shaved the front of his head and wore the rest of his hair in a long braid (called a queue). The language the Man- chus spoke belongs to the Tungus family, making it close to some of the languages spoken in nearby Siberia and distantly related to Korean and Japanese.

During the Ming Dynasty, the Manchus had lived in dispersed communities in what is loosely called Manchuria (the modern provinces of Liao- ning [leeow-ning], Jilin [jee-lin], and Heilongjiang [hay-lung-jyang]). In the more densely populated southern part of Manchuria, Manchus lived in close contact with Mongols, Koreans, and Chinese, the latter especially in the Ming prefecture of Liaodong. (See Map 16.1.) The Manchus were not nomads but rather hunters, fishers, and farmers. Like the Mongols, they had a tribal social structure and were excellent horsemen and archers. Also like the Mongols, their society was strongly hierarchical, with elites and slaves. Slaves, often Korean or Chinese, were generally acquired through capture. From the Mongols, the Manchus had adopted Lamaist Bud- dhism, originally from Tibet, and it coexisted with their native shamanistic religion. Manchu shamans were men or women who had experienced a spiri- tual death and rebirth and, as a consequence, could travel to and influence the world of the spirits.

Both the Joseon Dynasty in Korea and the Ming Dynasty in China welcomed diplomatic missions from Manchu chieftains, seeing them as a counter- balance to the Mongols. Written communication was frequently in Mongolian, the lingua franca of the region. Along the border with the Ming were of- ficially approved markets where Manchus brought horses, furs, honey, and ginseng to exchange for Chinese tea, cotton, silk, rice, salt, and tools. By the 1580s, there were five such markets that convened monthly, and unofficial trade occurred as well.

The Manchus credited their own rise to Nurhaci (1559–1626), who in 1583 at age twenty-four became the leader of one group of Manchus. Over the next few decades, he was able to expand his territories, in the process not only uniting the Manchus but also creating a social–political–military organization that

06475_ch16_rev04.indd 271 9/10/12 3:38 PM

272 Chapter 16 The Creation of the Manchu Empire (1600–1800)

were thus following the strategy that had allowed the Song Dynasty to continue to flourish after it had lost the north in 1126. The Ming court offered to buy off the Manchus, just as the Song had bought off the Jurchens. Dorgon, however, saw no need to check his ambitions. He sent Wu Sangui and several Manchu generals to pursue the rebel forces across north China. Li Zicheng was eliminated in 1645, Zhang Xianzhong (jahng shyen-juhng) in 1647.

At the same time, Qing forces set about trying to defeat the Ming forces in the south. Quite a few able officials joined the Ming cause, but leadership was not well coordinated. Shi Kefa (shih kuh-fah), a scholar-official who had risen to minister of war in Nanjing, took charge of defense and stationed his army at Yangzhou. Many other generals, how- ever, defected to the Manchu side, and their soldiers were incorporated into the Qing armies. As the Qing forces moved south, many local officials opened the gates of their cities and surrendered. Shi Kefa refused

The distinguished Ming general Wu Sangui (woo sahn-gway) (1612–1678), a native of Liaodong, was near the eastern end of the Great Wall when he heard that the rebel Li Zicheng (lee dzih-chuhng) had captured Beijing. Dorgon proposed to Wu that they join forces and liberate Beijing. Wu opened the gates of the Great Wall to let the Manchus in, and within a couple of weeks they had occupied Beijing. When the Manchus made clear that they intended to conquer the rest of the country and take the throne themselves, Wu joined forces with them, as did many other Chinese generals.

MING LOYALISM When word of the fall of Beijing to the Manchus reached the Yangzi valley, Ming officials selected a Ming prince to succeed to the throne and shifted the capital to Nanjing, the Ming secondary capital. They

Bay of Bengal

South China Sea

Yellow Sea

Sea of Japan

East China

Sea

Aral Sea

Guangzhou

Beijing

Nerchinsk

Fort Kumarsky

Kyoto

Osaka

Zhapu

Edo (Tokyo)

Samarkand Kashgar

Ye llo

Ya ng

ekong

S a lw

ee n

Ganges

In dus

O xus

Amur

JAPAN

TIBET

AFGHANISTAN

TAIWAN

PHILIPPINES

MONGOLIA

MANCHURIA

LIAODONG

MARITIME PROVINCE

SIBERIA

TONKING (VIETNAM)MUGHAL

EMPIRE

RUSSIAN EMPIRE

SAFAVID EMPIRE

JOSEON

Shenyang

BHUTAN

LAOS

BURMA

SIAM

NEPAL

Qing homeland

by 1644

by 1659

Acquired from Russia, 1689

by 1783

Tributary states

The Qing Empire

0 500 1000 Km.

0 500 1000 Mi.

Map 16.1 The Manchu Empire at Its Height

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch16_rev04.indd 272 9/10/12 3:38 PM

The Qing at Its Height 273

A third example is Wang Fuzhi (wahng foo-jih) (1619–1692). He had passed the provincial exams under the Ming, but marauding rebels made it im- possible for him to get to Beijing to take the jinshi exams in 1642. After Beijing fell to the Manchus two years later, Wang joined the resistance. He raised troops in his native Hunan province and held a minor post at the court of the Ming pretender for a while, but he fell victim to factional strife and in 1650 withdrew to live as a retired scholar. Wang saw an urgent need not only to return Confucianism to its roots but also to protect Chinese civilization from the “barbarians.” He insisted that it was as im- portant to distinguish Chinese from barbarians as it was to distinguish superior men from petty men. It is natural for rulers to protect their followers from intruders: “Now even the ants have rulers who pre- side over the territory of their nests, and when red ants or flying white ants penetrate their gates, the ruler organizes all his own kind into troops to bite and kill the intruders, drive them far away from the anthill, and prevent foreign interference.”* The Ming rulers had failed in this basic responsibility.

THE QING AT ITS HEIGHT For more than a century, China was ruled by just three rulers, each of whom was hard working, talented, and committed to making the Qing Dynasty a success. The policies and institutions they put in place gave China a respite from war and disorder, and the Chinese population seems to have nearly doubled during this period, from between 150 and 175 million to between 300 and 325 million. Population growth during the course of the eighteenth century has been attributed to many factors: global warming that extended the growing season; expanded use of New World crops; slowing of the spread of new diseases that had ac- companied the sixteenth-century expansion of global traffic; and the efficiency of the Qing government in providing relief in times of famine. Some scholars have recently argued that China’s overall standard of living in the mid-eighteenth century was compa- rable to Europe’s and that the standards of China’s most developed regions, such as the Jiangnan region, compared favorably to the most developed regions of

*W. Theodore de Bary and Richard Lufrano, Sources of Chinese Tradition from 1600 Through the Twentieth Century (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000), p. 35.

to surrender Yangzhou, and a five-day battle ensued. The Manchu general was so angered at Shi’s resis- tance that he unleashed his army to take revenge on the city, slaughtering hundreds of thousands. As cities in the south fell, large numbers of Ming loyalists committed suicide, their wives, mothers, and daughters frequently joining them.

In the summer of 1645, the Manchu command ordered all Chinese serving in its armies to shave the front of their heads in the Manchu fashion, presum- ably to make it easier to recognize which side they were on. Soon this order was extended to all Chinese men, a measure that aroused deep resentment and made it easier for the Ming loyalists to organize resistance. When those newly conquered by the Qing refused to shave their hair, Manchu command- ers felt justified in ordering the slaughter of defiant cities such as Jiading, Changshu, and Jiangyin. Still, Ming loyalist resistance continued long after little hope remained. The Manchus did not defeat the two main camps until 1661–1662, and even then Zheng Cheng-gong (juhng chuhng-gung, Koxinga) was able to hold out in Taiwan until 1683.

Ming loyalism also took less militant forms. Sev- eral leading thinkers of this period had time to think and write because they refused to serve the Qing. Their critiques of the Ming and its failings led to searching inquiries into China’s heritage of dynastic rule. Huang Zongxi (hwang dzung-shyee) (1610– 1695) served the Ming resistance court at Nanjing and followed it when it had to retreat, but after 1649 he lived in retirement at his home in Zhejiang prov- ince. The Manchu conquest was so traumatic an event that he reconsidered many of the basic tenets of Chinese political order. He came to the conclusion that the Ming’s problems were not minor ones like inadequate supervision of eunuchs but much more major ones, such as the imperial institution itself.

Gu Yanwu (goo yen-woo) (1613–1682) partici- pated in the defense of his native city, then watched his mother starve herself rather than live under Manchu rule. He traveled across north China in search of a better understanding of Ming weakness- es, looking into economic topics Confucian scholars had rarely studied in depth, such as banking, mining, and farming. He had only disdain for scholars who wasted their time on empty speculation or literary elegance when there were so many practical prob- lems awaiting solution. He thought that the Ming had suffered from overcentralization and advocated greater local autonomy.

06475_ch16_rev04.indd 273 9/10/12 3:38 PM

274 Chapter 16 The Creation of the Manchu Empire (1600–1800)

who had been unwilling to serve the Qing. He un- dertook a series of tours of the south, where resis- tance had been strongest, and held a special exam to select men to compile the official history of the Ming Dynasty.

The main military challenge the Kangxi emperor faced was the revolt of Wu Sangui and two other Chinese generals who in the early years of the con- quest had been given vast tracts of land in the south as rewards for joining the Qing. Wu was made, in effect, satrap of Yunnan and Guizhou, and it was his armies that had pursued the last Ming pretender into Burma. When the Qing began to curb the power of these generals in 1673, Wu declared himself the ruler of an independent state, and the other two “feudatories” joined him. The south was not yet ful- ly reconciled to Qing rule, but Wu, as a turncoat himself, did not attract a large following. Although it took eight years, the military structure that the Qing had put together proved strong enough to defeat this challenge. At the conclusion of these campaigns, Taiwan, where the last of the Ming loyalists had held out, was made part of Fujian province, fully incorpo- rating it into China proper.

By annexing Mongolia, the Kangxi emperor made sure the Qing Dynasty would not have the northern border problems the Ming had faced. (See Map 16.1.) In 1696 he led an army of eighty thousand men into Mongolia, and within a few years Manchu suprem- acy was accepted there. Qing forces were equipped with cannons and muskets, giving them military su- periority over the Mongols, who were armed with bows and arrows only. They thus could dominate the steppe cheaply, effectively ending two thousand years of northern border defense problems.

The Qing also asserted its presence in Tibet. This came about after a group of Western Mongols tried to find a new place for themselves in Tibet. The army the Qing sent after them occupied Lhasa in 1718. In the 1720s, the Qing presence in Tibet was made firm with the establishment of a permanent garrison of banner soldiers. By this time, the Qing Empire was coming into proximity of the expanding Russian Empire. In 1689 the Manchu and the Russian rulers approved a treaty—written in Russian, Manchu, Chinese, and Latin—defining their borders in Manchuria and regulating trade. Another treaty in 1727 allowed a Russian ecclesiastical mission to reside in Beijing and a caravan to make a trip from Russia to Beijing once every three years. The Russians were especially inter- ested in securing a steady supply of tea.

Europe at the time, such as England and the Nether- lands. Life expectancy, food consumption, and even facilities for transportation were at similar levels (see Biography: Jiang Chun, Salt Merchant).

Kangxi

After the Shunzhi emperor died of smallpox (which struck many Manchus after they settled in Beijing), one of his sons who had already survived the disease was selected to succeed him. Known as the Kangxi (kahng-shyee) emperor (r. 1661–1722), he lived to see the Qing Empire firmly established.

The Kangxi emperor proved adept at meeting the expectations of both the Chinese and Manchu elites. At age fourteen, he announced that he would begin ruling on his own and had his regent imprisoned. He could speak, read, and write Chinese and appre- ciated the value of persuading educated Chinese that the Manchus had a legitimate claim to the Mandate of Heaven. Most of the political institutions of the Ming Dynasty had been taken over relatively un- changed, including the examination system, and the Kangxi emperor worked to attract Ming loyalists

Official Languages. The Qing government issued documents in the four main languages of its realm. On this name plaque at a government-sponsored temple in Beijing, the name is given first in Manchu, then Chinese, then Tibetan, and finally Mongolian (reading from right to left).

TA O

Im ag

es L

im ite

d/ G

et ty

Im ag

06475_ch16_rev04.indd 274 9/10/12 3:38 PM

The Qing at Its Height 275

Jiang Chun, Salt MerchantB I O G R A P H Y Jiang Chun’s (jyahng chun) (1725– 1793) great-great-grandfather moved to Yangzhou to enter the salt trade cen- tered there. Salt was a special commod- ity because the government claimed a monopoly over it and licensed mer- chants to transport and sell it. Salt mer- chants could grow exceptionally rich; it has been estimated that the twenty to thirty head merchants could pocket 50,000 to 100,000 taels of silver a year

from the salt business alone. Government connec- tions made possible the great wealth of the salt merchants, and the government regularly called on them to contribute huge sums for disaster relief, re- pair of the waterworks, or visits of the emperor.

As the Jiang family grew rich, many of its men pursued scholarly or official careers (often gaining positions through purchase, a legal but less presti- gious route). But in each generation one man, like Jiang Chun, served as one of the head salt mer- chants. Although there are several biographical sketches of Jiang Chun, they say little about him as a merchant.

A description of the great sites of Yangzhou written in 1795 provides an elaborate description of Jiang Chun’s garden, naming its halls, ponds, towers, terraces, and so on. In addition to dis- cussing Jiang and his talented kinsmen, the au- thor added notes on thirty-nine men of talent in his entourage, including scholars, painters, poets, calligraphers, physicians, musicians, connoisseurs able to authenticate antiquities, craftsmen-paint- ers good at portraits, gardeners expert in pruning plum trees, and the architects who had designed the buildings in his garden. Some had lived in dif- ferent buildings of his estate for years, sometimes decades. Jiang also kept two opera troupes, one that specialized in Kunqu (kun-chyew), the other in Huapu (hwa-poo), which was performed in the local Yangzhou accent. Jiang once organized an archery contest in his Garden of Pure Fragrance. A prominent courtesan was among the guests and scored three bull’s-eyes in a row, an event other guests celebrated in poems.

The Qianlong emperor made six visits to Yang- zhou on his “southern tours of inspection” (in 1751,

1757, 1762, 1765, 1780, and 1784). Jiang met him every time, and during the last four visits, Jiang hosted the imperial party at one or both of his famous gardens. In fact, the name “Garden of Pure Fragrance” was chosen by Qianlong. The emperor wrote out the three characters of the name, which Jiang then had carved in stone and placed in a special pavilion. On one of his visits, Qianlong put Jiang’s seven-year-old son on his lap, patted his head, and took off an ornamental purse and gave it to the boy, which Jiang’s biographer Yuan Mei (ywan may) considered an exceptional honor. In 1765, Qianlong gave Jiang Chun four sable skin pelts and two ornamental silk pouches. Jiang Chun’s thank-you note has been preserved in the archives. Qianlong must have had some discussions of practical matters with Jiang Chun, because he once told the new director-general handling transport of tax grain to consult the ex- perienced and knowledgeable Jiang Chun if he needed any advice.

In 1768 the top salt administration officials were accused of gross embezzlement and cashiered. Jiang Chun, like the other salt merchants, had to go to the capital to testify during the investiga- tion. Qianlong, Yuan Mei tells us, was impressed by Jiang Chun’s demeanor and made sure that the charges against him were dismissed. Neverthe- less, by 1771, Jiang was out of money. Qianlong, we are told, personally lent him 500,000 taels as working capital (to be repaid with 10 percent annual interest).

None of Jiang Chun’s children lived to adult- hood. He adopted his brother’s son, but that boy also died young. When Chun was on his deathbed at age sixty-nine, he selected another nephew to succeed him. After Jiang Chun died, on Qianlong’s suggestion, the Yangzhou salt merchants pur- chased his famous garden to use as a clubhouse. The 50,000 taels they paid for the garden became his adopted son’s main source of income.

Questions for Analysis 1. Why did the biographers of a merchant concentrate

more on how he spent money than on how he earned it? 2. Why was meeting the emperor such an honor?

06475_ch16_rev04.indd 275 9/10/12 3:38 PM

276 Chapter 16 The Creation of the Manchu Empire (1600–1800)

He had the child Dalai Lamas raised and educated in Beijing. He made much of the Buddhist notion of the “wheel-turning king” (cakravartin), the ruler who through his conquests moves the world toward the next stage in universal salvation (see Color Plate 21).

To demonstrate to the Chinese scholar-official elite that he was a sage emperor, Qianlong worked on affairs of state from dawn until early afternoon, when he turned to reading, painting, and calligra- phy. He took credit for writing more than forty-two thousand poems and ninety-two books of prose. He inscribed his own poetry on hundreds of master- pieces of Chinese painting and calligraphy that he had gathered into the palace collections. He especial- ly liked works of fine craftsmanship, and his taste influenced artistic styles of the day. The Qianlong emperor was ostentatiously devoted to his mother, visiting her daily and tending to her comfort with all the devotion of the most filial Chinese son. He took several tours down the Grand Canal to the Jiangnan (jyahng-nahn) area, in part to emulate his grandfa- ther and in part to entertain his mother. Many of his gestures were costly. His southern tours cost ten times what the Kangxi emperor’s had cost and in- cluded the construction of temporary palaces and triumphal arches.

For all these displays of Chinese virtues, the Qianlong emperor still was not fully confident that the Chinese supported his rule, and he was quick to act on any suspicion of anti-Manchu thoughts or actions (see Documents: Fang Bao’s “Random Notes from Prison”). After more than thirty years on the throne, when rumors reached the Qianlong emperor that sorcerers were “stealing souls” by clipping the ends of men’s queues, he suspected a seditious plot and had his officials interrogate men under torture until they found more and more evi- dence of a nonexistent plot. A few years after that episode, the Qianlong emperor carried out a huge literary inquisition. During the compilation of the Complete Books of the Four Treasuries, an effort to catalogue nearly all books in China, he began to sus- pect that some governors were holding back books with seditious content. He ordered full searches for books with disparaging references to the Manchus or previous alien conquerors. Sometimes passages were omitted or rewritten, but when the entire book was offensive, it was destroyed. So thorough was the proscription that no copies survive of more than two thousand titles.

The Kangxi emperor took a personal interest in the European Jesuit priests who served at court as astronomers and cartographers and translated many European works into Chinese. However, when the pope sided with the Dominican and Franciscan orders in China who opposed allowing converts to maintain ancestral altars (known as the “rites con- troversy”), he objected strongly to the pope’s issu- ing directives about how Chinese should behave. He outlawed Christian missionaries, though he did allow Jesuit scientists and painters to remain in Beijing.

The Kangxi emperor’s heir ruled for twelve years as the Yongzheng (yung-juhng) emperor (r. 1723– 1735), taking the throne when he was forty-five years old. A hard-working ruler, he tightened central control over the government. He oversaw a rational- ization of the tax structure, substituting new levies for a patchwork of taxes and fees.

Qianlong

The Yongzheng emperor’s heir, known as the Qian- long (chyen-lung) emperor (r. 1736–1795), benefited from his father’s fiscal reforms, and during his reign, the Qing government regularly ran surpluses. It was during the Qianlong reign that the Qing Empire was expanded to its maximum extent, with the addition of Chinese Turkestan (the modern province of Xinjiang [shin-jyahng]). Both the Han and Tang Dynasties had stationed troops in the region, exercising a loose su- zerainty, but neither Song nor Ming had tried to con- trol the area. The Qing won the region in the 1750s through a series of campaigns against Uighur and Dzungar Mongol forces. Like Tibet, loosely annexed a few decades earlier, this region was ruled lightly. The local population kept their own religious leaders and did not have to wear the queue.

The Qianlong emperor put much of his energy into impressing his subjects with his magnificence. He understood that the Qing capacity to hold the empire together rested on their ability to speak in the political and religious idioms of those they ruled. In addition to Manchu and Chinese, he learned to converse in Mongolian, Uighur, Tibetan, and Tangut and addressed envoys in their own languages. He was as much a patron of Lamaist Buddhism as of Chinese Confucianism. He initi- ated a massive project to translate the Tibetan Buddhist canon into Mongolian and Manchu. He also had huge multilingual dictionaries compiled.

06475_ch16_rev04.indd 276 9/10/12 3:38 PM

The Qing at Its Height 277

enough positions in the banner armies for all adult males in the banners. Yet bannermen were not al- lowed to pursue occupations other than soldier or official. As a consequence, many led lives of forced idleness, surviving on stipends paid to relatives. By the time of the Qianlong emperor, this had become enough of a problem that he had most of the Chinese bannermen removed from the banner system and reclassified as commoners, increasing the Manchu dominance of the banner population.

Bannermen had facilitated entry into government service. Special quotas for Manchus allowed them to gain more than 5 percent of the jinshi degrees, even though they never exceeded 1 percent of the popu- lation. Advancement was also easier for bannermen because many posts, especially in Beijing, were re- served for them, including half of all the top posts. In the middle and lower ranks of the Beijing bureau- cracy, Manchus greatly outnumbered Chinese. One

The Qianlong emperor lived into his eighties, but his political judgment began to decline in his six- ties when he began to favor a handsome and intel- ligent young imperial bodyguard named Heshen (huh shuhn). Heshen was rapidly promoted to posts normally held by experienced civil officials, includ- ing posts with power over revenue and civil service appointments. When the emperor did nothing to stop Heshen’s blatant corruption, officials began to worry that he was becoming senile. By this time, up- risings in several parts of the country were proving difficult to suppress. Heshen supplied the Qianlong emperor with rosy reports of the progress in sup- pressing the rebellions, all the while pocketing much of the military appropriations himself.

The Qianlong emperor abdicated in 1795 in order not to rule longer than his grandfather, the Kangxi emperor, but he continued to dominate court until he died in 1799 at age eighty-nine.

The Banner System

The Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong emperors used the banner system to maintain military control and preserve the Manchus’ privileges. In the first few decades of the Qing, as the country was pacified, banner forces were settled across China in more than ninety garrisons, usually within the walls of a city. All the Chinese who lived in the northern half of Beijing were forced out to clear the area for bannermen, and Beijing became very much a Manchu city. In other major cities, such as Hangzhou, Nanjing, Xi’an, and Taiyuan (ty-ywan), large sections were cleared for the banners’ use. The bannermen became in a sense a hereditary occupational caste, ranked above others in society, whose members were expected to devote themselves to service to the state. They were also expected to live apart from nonbanner Chinese and were not allowed to intermarry with them.

Outside the cities, lands were expropriated to provide support for the garrisons, some 2 million acres altogether, with the densest area in the region around Beijing. In China proper, bannermen did not cultivate the fields (as they had in Manchuria) but rather lived off stipends from the rents, paid part in silver and part in grain. The dynasty supported ban- ner soldiers and their families from cradle to grave, with special allocations for travel, weddings, and fu- nerals. Once the conquest was complete, the banner population grew faster than the need for soldiers, so within a couple of generations, there were not

Imperial Bodyguard Zhanyinbao. Dated 1760, this life-size portrait was done by a court artist in the European-influenced style favored by the Qianlong emperor.

Im ag

e co

py rig

ht ©

T he

M et

ro po

lit an

M us

eu m

o f A

rt I

m ag

e so

ur ce

: A rt

R es

ou rc

e, N

06475_ch16_rev04.indd 277 9/10/12 3:38 PM

278 Chapter 16 The Creation of the Manchu Empire (1600–1800)

D O C U M E N T S

In the prison there were four old cells. Each cell had five rooms. The jail guards lived in the cen- ter with a window in the front of their quarters for light. At the end of this room there was another opening for ventilation. There were no such windows for the other four rooms and yet more than two hundred prisoners were always confined there. Each day toward dusk, the cells were locked and the odor of the urine and ex- crement would mingle with that of the food and drink. Moreover, in the coldest months of the winter, the poor prisoners had to sleep on the ground and when the spring breezes came everyone got sick. The established rule in the prison was that the door would be unlocked only at dawn. During the night, the living and the dead slept side by side with no room to

turn their bodies and this is why so many peo- ple became infected. Even more terrible was that robbers, veteran criminals, and murder- ers who were imprisoned for serious offenses had strong constitutions and only one or two out of ten would be infected and even so they would recover immediately. Those who died from the malady were all light offenders or se- questered witnesses who would not normally be subjected to legal penalties.

I said: “In the capital there are the metropoli- tan prefectural prison and the censorial prisons of the five wards. How is it then that the Board of Punishment’s prison has so many prisoners?” [My fellow prisoner, the magistrate] Mr. Du answered: “. . . The chiefs and deputy heads of the Fourteen Bureaus like to get new prisoners;

As more and more varied types of sources survive, it becomes possible to get better glimpses of the less pleasant sides of life. The ordeal of judicial confinement was hardly new to the eighteenth century, but it was not until then that we have a depiction as vivid as that provided by Fang Bao (fahng bow) (1668–1749). In 1711 he and his family members were arrested because he had written a preface for the collected works of one of his friends, and the friend’s writings had just been condemned for language implying support for revival of the Ming Dynasty. After Fang spent two years in prison, he was pardoned and went on to hold a series of literary posts. Despite this brush with imperial censorship, Fang was willing in his account of his time in prison to point to the inhumane way people not yet found guilty of a crime were treated and the corruption of prison personnel, who demanded cash in exchange for better treatment.

Fang Bao’s “Random Notes from Prison”

study suggests that about 70 percent of the metro- politan agencies’ positions were reserved for banner- men and less then 20 percent for Chinese (the rest were unspecified). In the provinces, Manchus did not dominate in the same way, except at the top level of governors and governors-general, where they held about half the posts.

Bannermen had legal privileges as well. They fell under the jurisdiction of imperial commissioners, not the local magistrate or prefect. If both a Chinese and a Manchu were brought into court to testify, the Chinese was required to kneel before the mag- istrate, but the Manchu could stand. If each were found guilty of the same crime, the Manchu would receive a lighter punishment—for instance, wearing

the cangue (a large wooden collar) for sixty days instead of being exiled for life.

Despite the many privileges given to Manchu ban- nermen, impoverishment of the banner population quickly became a problem. Although the government from time to time forgave all bannermen’s debts, many went bankrupt. Company commanders some- times sold off banner land to provide stipends, which made it more difficult to provide support thereafter. The Qianlong emperor also tried resettling Manchus back in Manchuria, but those used to urban life in China rarely were willing to return to farming, and most sneaked back as soon as possible.

Within a generation of settling in China proper, ban- nermen were using the Chinese dialect of the Beijing

06475_ch16_rev04.indd 278 9/10/12 3:39 PM

The Qing at Its Height 279

the clerks, prison officials, and guards all ben- efit from having so many prisoners. If there is the slightest pretext or connection they use ev- ery method to trap new prisoners. Once some- one is put into the prison his guilt or innocence does not matter. The prisoner’s hands and feet are shackled and he is put in one of the old cells until he can bear the suffering no more. Then he is led to obtain bail and permitted to live outside the jail. His family’s property is as- sessed to decide the payment and the officials and clerks all split it. Middling households and those just above exhaust their wealth to get bail. Those families somewhat less wealthy seek to have the shackles removed and to obtain lodging [for the prisoner relative] in the custody sheds outside the jail. This also costs tens of sil- ver taels. As for the poorest prisoners or those with no one to rely on, their shackles are not loosened at all and they are used as examples to warn others. Sometimes cellmates guilty of serious crimes are bailed out but those guilty of small crimes and the innocent suffer the most poisonous abuse. They store up their anger and indignation, fail to eat or sleep normally, are not treated with medicine, and when they get sick they often die.

“I have humbly witnessed our Emperor’s virtu- ous love for all beings which is as great as that of the sages of the past ages. Whenever he exam- ines the documents related to a case, he tries to find life for those who should die. But now it has

come to this [state of affairs] for the innocent. A virtuous gentleman might save many lives if he were to speak to the Emperor saying: ‘Leav- ing aside those prisoners sentenced to death or exiled to border regions for great crimes, should not small offenders and those involved in a case but not convicted be placed in a separate place without chaining their hands and feet?’”. . .

My cellmate Old Zhu, Young Yu, and a cer- tain government official named Seng who all died of illness in prison should not have been heavily punished. There was also a certain per- son who accused his own son of unfiliality. The [father’s] neighbors [involved in the case only as witnesses] were all chained and impris- oned in the old cells. They cried all night long. I was moved by this and so I made inquiries. Everyone corroborated this account and so I am writing this document.

Questions for Analysis 1. What gave Fang Bao the courage to report on

prison conditions? 2. Does Fang suggest any solution to the prison

problem? What made reform difficult?

Source: “Fang Bao’s Random Notes from Prison”, from The Search for Modern China, A Documentary Collection by Pei Kai Cheng, Michael Lestz and Jonathan Spence. Copyright © 1999 by W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. Used by permission of by W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

area as their common language. The Qing emperors repeatedly called on the Manchus to study both spoken and written Manchu, but it became a second language learned at school rather than a primary language. Oth- er features of Manchu culture were more easily pre- served, such as the use of personal names alone to refer to people. (Manchus had names for families and clans but did not use them as part of their personal names.)

The elements of Manchu culture most important to the state were their martial traditions and their skill as horsemen and archers. Life in the cities and long stretches of peace took a toll on these skills, despite the best efforts of the emperors to inspire martial spirit. The Qianlong emperor himself was fully literate in Chinese, but he discouraged the Manchu bannermen

from developing interests in Chinese culture. He knew the history of the Jin Dynasty and the problems the Jurchens had faced with soldiers living in China tak- ing up Chinese ways, and he did everything he could think of to prevent this. Although the Qing court was as opulent as any other in Chinese history, the em- peror tried to convince the bannermen that frugality was a Manchu characteristic, to be maintained if they were not to lose their ethnic identity.

Perhaps because they were favored in so many ways, the bannermen proved a very loyal service elite. Unlike their counterparts in other large em- pires, the banner armies never turned on the ruling house or used the resources that had been assigned to them to challenge central authority.

06475_ch16_rev04.indd 279 9/10/12 3:39 PM

280 Chapter 16 The Creation of the Manchu Empire (1600–1800)

dissatisfied. It was becoming suspicious of the British East India Company, which had made great fortunes from its trade with China, and wanted to open di- rect diplomatic relations with China in part as a way to curb the company. To accomplish all this, King George III sent Lord George Macartney, the for- mer ambassador to Russia and former governor of Madras, to China. Macartney was instructed to se- cure a place for British traders near the tea- producing areas, negotiate a commercial treaty, create a desire for British products, arrange for diplomatic repre- sentation in Beijing, and open Japan and Southeast Asia to British commerce as well. He traveled with an entourage of eighty-four and six hundred cases packed with British goods that he hoped would im- press the Chinese court and attract trade: clocks, telescopes, knives, globes, plate glass, Wedgwood pottery, landscape paintings, woolen cloth, and carpets. The only member of the British party able to speak Chinese, however, was a twelve-year-old boy who had learned some Chinese by talking with Chinese on the long voyage.

After Lord Macartney arrived in Guangzhou in 1793, he requested permission to see the emperor in order to present a letter to him from George III. Although the letter had been written in Chinese, its language was not appropriate for addressing an em- peror. Still, the British party was eventually allowed to proceed to Beijing. Once there, another obstacle emerged: when instructed on how to behave on see- ing the emperor, Macartney objected to having to perform the kowtow (kneeling on both knees and bowing his head to the ground).

Finally Macartney was permitted to meet more informally with the Qianlong emperor at his sum- mer retreat. No negotiations followed this meeting, however, because the Qing court saw no merit in Macartney’s requests. It was as interested in main- taining its existing system of regulated trade as Britain was interested in doing away with it.

Several members of the Macartney mission wrote books about China on their return. These books, often illustrated, contained descriptions of many elements of Chinese culture and social customs, less rosy than the reports of the Jesuits a century or two earlier. The official account of the embassy, prepared by George Staunton, depicted Chinese women as subjugated: “Women, especially in the lower walks of life, are bred with little other principle than that of implicit obedience to their fathers or their husbands.” Although the wives of the peasantry worked very

CONTACTS WITH EuROPE The Qing regulated its relations with countries beyond its borders through a diplomatic system modeled on the Ming one. Countries like Korea, Ryukyu, Japan, Vietnam, and many of the other states of Southeast Asia sent envoys to the court at Beijing. Europeans were not full players in this sys- tem, but they had a marginal presence.

Trading contacts with Europe were concentrated at Guangzhou in the far south (see Connection: Europe Enters the Scene). Soon after 1600, the Dutch East India Company had largely dislodged the Spanish and Portuguese from the trade with China, Japan, and the East Indies. Before long, the British East India Company began to compete with the Dutch for the spice trade. In the seventeenth century, the British and Dutch sought primarily porcelains and silk, but in the eighteenth century, tea became the commodity in most demand. By the end of the century, tea made up 80 percent of Chinese exports to Europe.

In the early eighteenth century, China enjoyed a positive reputation among the educated in Europe. China was the source of prized luxuries: tea, silk, por- celain, cloisonné, wallpaper, and folding fans. The Manchu emperors were seen as wise and benevolent rulers. Voltaire wrote of the rationalism of Confu- cianism and saw advantages to the Chinese political system as rulers did not put up with parasitical aris- tocrats or hypocritical priests.

By the end of the eighteenth century, British mer- chants were dissatisfied with the restrictions imposed on trade by the Qing government. The Qing, like the Ming before it, specified where merchants of particu- lar countries could trade, and the Europeans were to trade only in Guangzhou, even though tea was grown mostly in the Yangzi valley, adding the cost of trans- porting it south to the price the foreign merchants had to pay. The merchants in Guangzhou who dealt with Western merchants formed their own guild, and the Qing government made them guarantee that the European merchants obeyed Qing rules. As the sys- tem evolved, the Europeans had to pay cash for goods purchased and were forbidden to enter the walled city of Guangzhou, ride in sedan chairs, bring women or weapons into their quarters, and learn Chinese.

As British purchases of tea escalated, the balance of trade became more lopsided, but British merchants could not find goods that Chinese merchants would buy from them. The British government also was

06475_ch16_rev04.indd 280 9/10/12 3:39 PM

Social and Cultural Crosscurrents 281

The conservative turn in scholarship fostered a new interest in rigorous textual analysis. Some Confucian scholars turned back to the Han com- mentaries on the classics, hoping that they could free their understandings of the texts from the contami- nation of Buddhist and Daoist ideas that had infil- trated Tang and Song commentaries. Others wanted to rely solely on the classics themselves and to con- centrate on verifiable facts. Yan Ruoju (yen rwaw- jyu) compiled a guide to the place names in the Four Books and proved that the “old text” version of the Book of Documents could not be genuine. Research of this sort required access to large libraries, and it thrived primarily in Jiangnan, with its high densities of both books and scholars.

There are always those who resist calls for decorum and strenuous moral effort, and in the eighteenth century, both the Manchu rulers and the Chinese intellectual elite provided room for the less conven- tional to contribute in creative ways. Exploration of the potential of ink painting for self-expression reached a high point in the eighteenth century with a closely affiliated group of painters known as the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou (see Material Culture: Jin Nong’s Inscribed Portrait of a Buddhist Monk). These painters had no difficulty finding patrons, even among social and cultural conservatives. Similarly, Yuan Mei, on familiar terms with the great classi- cists and philologists of his day, was willing to risk their censure by taking on women as poetry students. One of his female poetry students, Luo Qilan (law chee-lahn), wrote in 1797 to defend him from charg- es of impropriety, arguing that if Confucius had be- lieved in the principle that women’s words spoken inside a chamber must stay indoors, he would have removed poems by women from the Book of Poetry.

The Dream of Red Mansions

Women with poetic talents figure prominently in an eighteenth-century novel, The Dream of Red Mansions (also called Story of the Stone), considered by many the most successful of all works of Chinese fiction. Concerned with the grand themes of love and desire, money and power, life and death, and truth and illu- sion, it is at the same time a psychologically sensitive novel of manners. The author of the first eighty chap- ters was Cao Xueqin (tsow shwe-chin) (1715–1764). He died before the novel was completed, but another writer added forty chapters to complete it before it was published in 1791. Cao Xueqin came from a

hard at domestic tasks and did all the weaving in the country, they were treated badly: “Not withstanding all the merit of these helpmates to their husbands, the latter arrogate an extraordinary dominion over them, and hold them at such distance, as not always to al- low them to sit at table, behind which, in such case, they attend as handmaids.”* From books like these, Europeans began to see more of the complexity of China. The Chinese, by contrast, did not learn much about Europe or Britain from this encounter.

SOCIAL AND CuLTuRAL CROSSCuRRENTS During the late Ming, Chinese culture had been remarkably open and fluid. Especially in the cities of Jiangnan, new books of all sorts were being published; the theater flourished; and intellectuals took an inter- est in ideas of Buddhist, Daoist, or even European origin and, encouraged by Wang Yangming’s teach- ings, pursued truth in individualistic ways.

The Conservative Turn

With the collapse of the social order in the early sev- enteenth century and the conquest by the Manchus, many Confucian scholars concluded that the Ming fell as a result of moral laxity. Wang Yangming and his followers, by validating emotion and spontane- ity, had undermined commitment to duty and re- spect for authority. The solution, many thought, was to return to Zhu Xi’s teachings, with their emphasis on objective standards outside the individual.

This conservative turn was manifested in several ways. Laws against homosexuality were made harsher. Because literati argued that drama and fic- tion were socially subversive, theaters were closed and novels banned. Qian Daxian (chyen dah-shyen), a highly learned scholar, went so far as to argue that the vernacular novel was the main threat to Confu- cian orthodoxy. The cult of widow chastity reached new heights, with local histories recording more and more widows who refused to remarry, includ- ing those who lived their entire lives as the celibate “widows” of men to whom they had been engaged but who had died before they had even met.

*George Staunton, An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China (London: W. Bulmer, 1798), 2:109.

06475_ch16_rev04.indd 281 9/10/12 3:39 PM

282 Chapter 16 The Creation of the Manchu Empire (1600–1800)

M A T E R I A L C U L T U R E

Jin Nong’s Inscribed Portrait of a Buddhist Monk

Chinese painters often combined words and images, sometimes inscribing poems or explana- tions of the occasions that gave rise to the paintings on the paintings themselves. The highly individualis- tic painters of the eighteenth century, known as the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, sometimes carried this practice to the extreme, filling all the space on a painting with their writing. The painting shown here, by Jin Nong (jin nung) (1687–1764), is dated 1760. Writing in his highly distinctive calligraphy, Jin Nong fills the space around the Buddha with a his- tory of the painting of images of Buddhas followed by personal remarks:

I am now a man beyond seventy years of age who has no false ideas and desires. Though physically I am in the dusty world, I earnestly try to live cleanly. I wash my ten fingers, burn incense, and hold the brush to record the dig- nity and seriousness of humanity. What I do is not far from the ancient tradition. I offer good wishes to all men on earth.

In the second lunar month, 1760, on the date when Buddha achieved enlightenment, I painted several Buddha images, four Bodhi- sattvas, sixteen Lohans, and distributed these sacred materials. These works are the prod- uct of my deep conviction, not in the style of famous masters of the Jin and Tang. My inspiration came from the Longmen caves that were carved a thousand years ago. When my priest friend, Defeng commented, “These paintings found [a new school] and will be followed by the coming generations,” I roared with laughter.*

*Tseng Yuho, trans., A History of Chinese Calligraphy (Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong Press, 1993), p. 94, slightly modified.

Portrait of a Monk. This hanging scroll, painted by Jin Nong in 1760 in ink and colors on paper, measures 133 by 62.5 cm.

Ti an

jin g

M us

eu m

/C ul

tu ra

l R el

ic s

Pr es

Chinese family that had risen with the Manchus. As bondservants of the ruling house, his family was in a position to gain great wealth and power managing enterprises for the rulers. In the eighteenth century, however, the family lost favor and went bankrupt.

The Dream portrays in magnificent detail the af- fairs of the comparably wealthy Jia family. The cen- tral characters of the novel are three adolescents: Jia Baoyu (jya bow-yew) and his two female cousins of other surnames who come to live with his family. One

06475_ch16_rev04.indd 282 9/10/12 3:39 PM

The Less Advantaged and the Disaffected 283

THE LESS ADvANTAGED AND THE DISAFFECTED The eighteenth century is considered one of the most prosperous periods in Chinese history, when the gov- ernment frequently ran a surplus and the population grew rapidly. General prosperity, however, did not mean that everyone benefited equally or that conflict and strife disappeared.

Qing China was both huge and economically di- verse. Regions varied in density of population, types of crops grown, extent of trade, and so on. The most advanced area, with the highest level of wealth and commercial development, is generally referred to as the Jiangnan (“south of the Yangzi River”) region or sometimes just as “the south.” In that region, culti- vation was intensive and farmers often sold much of what they grew. It was common for cultivators to rent land from absentee landlords for fixed cash amounts, agreed to in written contracts. In most places in north China, a majority of the farmers owned their own land, but their farms were often tiny, and they might well be no richer than tenant farmers in the south. There were also differences within regions be- tween core areas centered on major cities and more peripheral areas, where population density was much lower because the land was harder to farm. During the course of the eighteenth century, as the popula- tion grew, people pushed into these peripheral areas, clearing upland areas and moving to the frontiers, in the process often pushing out aboriginal peoples who had lived in the area for centuries. New World crops, such as sweet potatoes, white potatoes, peanuts, and tobacco, made possible exploitation of land previ- ously rejected as too hilly or infertile.

Villages all across China were “open,” not closed corporate villages as in Japan (see Chapter 17). That is, villages held no land in common and had little say in who could buy or sell land or houses there. Because small farmers could easily fall into debt and sell or mortgage all or part of their land, the wealth of village families could vary markedly. Families whose land was not adequate for their support often put effort into sideline work—their women and children weaving mats and baskets, for instance. During the winter, when there was little work to be done in the fields, the men might go into nearby towns to look for temporary jobs.

In some parts of the country, single-surname villages were common, with all males descended

of the cousins, Lin Daiyu (lin dy-yew), is sickly and difficult; the other, Xue Baochai (shwe bow-chy), is capable and cheerful. A magnificent garden is built in the family compound in order to receive a visit from Baoyu’s sister, who had become an imperial consort. After the visit, Baoyu, his cousins, and their personal servants move into the garden, an idyllic world of youth and beauty. This magical period comes to an end when Baoyu is tricked into marrying Baochai (thinking he is marrying Daiyu). While the wedding is taking place, Daiyu is on her sickbed, dying of con- sumption. The novel ends with Baoyu passing the jinshi examinations, only to leave his wife and family to pursue religious goals.

Much of the power of Dream comes from the many subplots and the host of minor characters from all walks of life—officials, aristocrats, monks and nuns, pageboys, gardeners, country relatives, princes, gamblers, prostitutes, actors, and innkeep- ers. The seamier side of political life is portrayed through memorable cases of abuse of power. The machinations of family politics are just as vividly captured through numerous incidents in which fam- ily members compete for advantage. The maids in the family are often unable to keep the lustful men away, in the process attracting the anger of the men’s wives. A concubine of Baoyu’s father plots demon possession against both Baoyu and his sister-in-law, the household manager Xifeng (shee-fung). One of Baoyu’s mother’s maids commits suicide after Baoyu flirts with her. This incident, coupled with Baoyu’s dalliance with an actor, provokes his father into ad- ministering a severe beating.

At one point Baochai notices that Daiyu has un- consciously quoted a line from a play. She then con- fesses that since she was seven or eight, she and the other children in her family had read plays:

All of us younger people hated serious books but liked reading poetry and plays. The boys had got lots and lots of plays: The Western Chamber, The Lute-Player, A Hundred Yuan Plays—just about everything you could think of. They used to read them behind our backs, and we girls used to read them behind theirs. Eventually the grown-ups got to know about it and then there were beatings and lectures and burnings of books—and that was the end of that.*

*Cao Xueqin, The Story of the Stone, vol. 2, trans. David Hawkes (New York: Penguin Books, 1977), p. 333.

06475_ch16_rev04.indd 283 9/10/12 3:39 PM

284 Chapter 16 The Creation of the Manchu Empire (1600–1800)

When lack of rain ruined a harvest, better-off farmers might be able to hold out till the next har- vest, but those without much in the way of reserves would have to try other strategies—ranging from pawning their clothes, tools, and land, to foraging for edible plants in forests, to sending out able- bodied men to look for work in nearby towns, to the entire family’s taking to the roads in search of food. When a drought lasted through two harvests or covered a large geographical area, the numbers of refugees on the road would swell. Bands of hungry men might well seize the grain stores of the rich or crops in the field. Starving peasants would also de- scend on cities, expecting local officials to open soup kitchens and refugee camps. The lack of sanitation in these camps, coupled with the weakened condi- tion of the refugees, made it all too easy for epidem- ics to spread, adding to the famine’s death toll.

Bad harvests hurt townsfolk as well because they led to rapid escalation in the price of food. Understanding the law of supply and demand, towns- people would gather to prevent merchants from send- ing their grain to areas with severe shortages, fearing price rises. They would also protest officials who did not keep government granaries open long enough to bring down prices. Sometimes officials called on troops to quell these sorts of food riots.

The Qing government was remarkably successful in curbing the death toll of major famines by care- ful administration of granaries and provision of di- rect relief. Its success contributed to the rapid rise in population in the eighteenth century.

This population growth, coupled with the prac- tice of partible inheritance, led to the proliferation of farms too small to support a family. In addition, many men could not marry because of a shortage of marriageable women—caused not only by the rich taking extra women as concubines but also by sex-selective infanticide practiced by poor families unwilling to rear another daughter. Men with little or no land and unable to marry commonly would leave their villages in search of work. Some would travel with their tools to do carpentry or farm work. Others found jobs pulling the boats that carried grain up the Grand Canal or working in cities as dock- hands, sedan chair carriers, or night-soil collectors. When copper mines were opened in the southwest, unemployed men traveled long distances to get work as miners. Both the government and settled villagers were wary of these rootless men. They were quick to suspect strangers when crimes occurred.

from a common patrilineal ancestor who had set- tled in the area centuries earlier. In those cases, vil- lage organization and lineage organization would overlap, with the lineage ancestral hall serving as the center of village life. In villages or clusters of villages where families with several surnames lived, the temple to a local god often served as the focus for communal activities.

Villages were connected to each other through marriages and marketing. Villagers normally mar- ried people from another village, so their mother’s brothers and sisters and their father’s sisters would reside in other local villages. Men and boys made regular trips to market towns, sometimes several hours away by foot, in order to sell agricultural sur- plus and buy needed tools or foodstuffs such as salt and oil. Farmers also needed to cooperate across village lines in order to maintain water-control sys- tems, whether the diking of rivers prone to flood- ing or the diverting of water into irrigation canals or reservoirs. For projects of this sort, the local village heads might get together, or each village might be represented by several of its larger landowners. Written agreements would be drawn up recording what the different parties had pledged to do. When one party thought another was diverting more water than agreed upon, a complaint could be taken to the county magistrate to adjudicate.

By Qing times, there was relatively little in the way of legal status distinctions among the rural pop- ulation. Slavery was insignificant (a contrast with Korea), and there were no nationwide outcast groups (a contrast with Japan). But that does not mean that there was no discrimination. In certain localities, particular groups might be treated as lower than commoners—such as the so-called Boat People in Guangdong and the Duomin (daw-min) in Zhejiang who worked as musicians, funeral managers, and yamen runners. In addition, ethnic differences were a common basis for discrimination. Throughout the south, local indigenous peoples—called Miao, Yao, Zhuang, and many other names—were often exploited and treated with contempt.

The routine of village life was from time to time disrupted by calamity, most often in the form of too little or too much water—flooding or drought. North China was particularly subject to drought, though occasionally heavy rains led to breaks in the dikes along the Yellow River, leading to devastat- ing floods. In the drainage area of the Yangzi River, floods were more common than droughts.

06475_ch16_rev04.indd 284 9/10/12 3:39 PM

The Less Advantaged and the Disaffected 285

exercises and breathing techniques that circulated qi were also taught as other ways to cure illnesses and promote health.

White Lotus teachings had particular appeal to women, who were welcomed as members on the same terms as men. When leaders were arrested or executed, often their wives took over. A Qing of- ficial whose city was seized by White Lotus forces described the woman who led the local group:

When she emerges in a home, five or six young women will hold tobacco bags and towels for her, and she will be seated at the center of the hall. Both men and women make obeisance: the man puts the palm of his right hand on the back of his left hand and the woman, the palm of her left hand on the back of her right hand. They kowtow in reverence.*

The White Lotus sect survived repeated attempts by the government to suppress it, probably because local congregations did not depend on a central es- tablishment. The sect was especially strong in the central provinces, from Sichuan and Shaanxi to Shandong. Itinerant prophets and teachers carried the message to new places. Leaders of these sects often combined talk of salvation with martial arts and herbal healing. In 1774 a White Lotus leader in Shandong convinced his followers that he was the Future Buddha and that his techniques would make them invulnerable, even though they were armed only with spears. They were able to capture several small towns before the Qing sent in massive armies to quell them.

Many White Lotus adherents were pious vegetar- ians who tried to live good lives. An offshoot of the White Lotus called the Luo sect established a mission to help canal boatmen far from their homes who normally had no means of support for sever- al months in the winter. The sect set up hostels in Suzhou and Hangzhou where the boatmen could stay for free and could get meals on credit, to be repaid when they were paid in advance for the next year’s work. Because many of these men were never able to marry, the hostels also served as retirement homes for elderly boatmen. The Qing government, however, was deeply suspicious and had all the hostels destroyed.

Single men often found support in groups called brotherhoods or secret societies. The best known of these brotherhoods was called the Heaven and Earth Society, but other names were also used, such as the Three Harmonies Society or the Three Dots Society. (In English they are often called the Triads.) To mar- ginalized men, the attraction was security, mutual aid, and empowerment. Drawing on ideas from Daoism and popular religion, the groups promised access to supernatural powers through rituals and cultivation. Appearing first in the 1760s, the Heaven and Earth Society spread quickly through Taiwan, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Guangxi (gwahng-shee). Government functionaries and urban workers were among their members. The societies were explicitly anti-establishment in that they espoused a rhetoric of “overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming.” Mem- bers away from home could get in touch with mem- bers elsewhere through secret signals or passwords. Lodge brothers helped each other with loans, funeral costs, and lawsuits. Lodges would arbitrate disputes between members and mete out punishments for cheating at gambling and other offenses. But their morality was not Confucian. Many lodges controlled gambling, narcotics, prostitution, and smuggling in their region. The first uprising led by the Heaven and Earth Society occurred in the 1780s in Taiwan, af- ter which the Qing government tried without much success to suppress the society.

The Qing government was also wary of the White Lotus Society, which drew on folk Buddhist teach- ings that dated back to the Song period. This society had been an important element in the rebellions at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. It was not approved by regular Buddhist clergy because of its syncretic teachings, married clergy, and noncanonical scrip- tures. It incorporated millenarian doctrines derived from both Manichaeism and the Buddhist idea of the future Maitreya Buddha who would usher in an era of peace. Its central deity was the Eternal Mother, the original progenitor of all humankind. Grieving that her earthly children had lost their way, she wanted to bring them back to the Original Home, identified with nirvana. She sent Buddhas to earth to teach people the true way to salvation. When the end was near, floods, fires, and winds would destroy everyone who lacked faith in the Eternal Mother. Adherents were taught that repeating the mantra “Eternal Progenitor in Our Original Home in the World of True Emptiness” would bring bless- ings and protection from calamities. Martial arts

*Cited in Kwang-ching Liu, “Religion and Politics in the White Lotus Rebellion of 1796 in Hubei,” in Heterodoxy in Late Imperial China, ed. K. Liu and R. Shek (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2004), pp. 295–296.

06475_ch16_rev04.indd 285 9/10/12 3:39 PM

286 Chapter 16 The Creation of the Manchu Empire (1600–1800)

expansion of the empire with victories over the Mongols and Tibetans. They depended on Chinese officials and soldiers to help administer their empire, but they perfected ways to ensure that the Manchus would maintain their dominance. These included special quotas and legal privileges for bannermen and the requirement that they live separately from the Chinese. Mastery of reading and writing in Man- chu was strongly encouraged, but in time most Man- chus living in China came to use Chinese more than Manchu.

In an effort to win over the Chinese elite, the Manchu rulers made a point to patronize Chinese culture, and many facets of Chinese culture thrived during this period, ranging from historical research to manufacturing technology. However, the Manchu rulers were highly sensitive to ethnic slights, which may have made Chinese in high office especially cautious. In intellectual circles, the spontaneity and openness of the late Ming gave way to a more con- servative turn. The cult of widow chastity reached such extremes that girls whose fiancés had died would commit themselves to stay chaste their entire lives as “widows” of men they had not yet married. Some scholars even argued that fiction was a threat to the Confucian social order. Fortunately, they did not succeed in suppressing fiction; to the contrary, perhaps the greatest Chinese novel was written in the eighteenth century, The Dream of Red Mansions.

In the early eighteenth century, interest in China was widespread in Europe. Not only was the taste for tea growing steadily, but taste for things Chinese extended to silk, porcelain, and even wallpaper. China’s political system was viewed positively be- cause it seemed to be a land where government was in the hands of the educated, rather than an aristoc- racy or a church hierarchy.

The standard of living in the eighteenth century was high, and the population was growing. The Qing gov- ernment contributed to population growth through its efforts to deal with famines caused by droughts and floods. As the number of people who wanted to farm increased, more and more people moved into peripheral areas, both upland and along the frontiers, often displacing the original inhabitants, such as the Miao or Yao. New World crops such as potatoes and peanuts made possible exploitation of land previously considered unsuited to agriculture. Those who could not support themselves by farming found jobs pull- ing boats on the Grand Canal, working in mines, or sought work in cities as dockworkers.

In 1793 the Qing government initiated a major investigation of White Lotus congregations, which soon had to take up arms to protect themselves from predatory elements in the local government. In 1796 open revolt began in Hubei and soon spread to Sichuan and Shaanxi. White Lotus forces held fortified villages and towns, and they used those bases to raid larger cities. Armed bands often joined them—martial arts groups and bandits alike. It took the government more than eight years to fully anni- hilate White Lotus forces.

Non-Han ethnic groups constituted another seg- ment of society that often felt aggrieved. As the Han Chinese population swelled, more and more settlers moved into Miao (myow) territories, often expropriating Miao land. The Miao aborigines put up fierce resistance beginning in the 1720s, and of- ficials repeatedly tried to find ways to separate the Miao and the Han settlers, but with little success. In 1795 there was a great revolt of Miao along the Hunan-Guizhou border, where a Han ethnic group called the Hakka had recently been moving in. The Qing government found the Miao uprisings to be as difficult to suppress as the concurrent White Lotus ones.

SuMMARY The Qing Dynasty was founded by the Manchus, the new name given to the descendants of the Jurchens of the Jin Dynasty, which had held north China be- fore the rise of the Mongols. In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the Manchus or- ganized a strong state outside the Ming borders. They organized their armies into divisions called “banners” as a way to limit the importance of tribal affiliations; in addition to Manchu banners, there were also Mongol and Chinese banners. After a Ming general asked the Manchus to help suppress the rebels who had captured Beijing, the Manchus not only took the capital but went on to conquer the rest of the country.

Many of the Chinese educated elite alive during the conquest did everything in their power to resist the Manchus in deep dread of another “barbarian” dynasty. Yet the Manchus proved to be very different sorts of rulers than the Mongols had been. For more than a century, from 1662 to 1795, three very com- petent emperors reigned, the Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong emperors. They presided over a huge

06475_ch16_rev04.indd 286 9/10/12 3:39 PM

Summary 287

through institutions much like those earlier Chinese dynasties had employed. The geographic scope of the empire was much bigger: for the first time, China was administered as part of the same polity as Tibet and Xinjiang. The population was significantly larger, probably reaching at least 300,000 by 1800. Cul- ture was more conservative than it had been in the last decades of the Ming Dynasty, with standards of proper behavior more rigid. Contact with Europe was increasing, to a large extent because Europeans want- ed to buy China’s tea, silk, and porcelains, but few people in China were aware of these trade relations.

Benefits were not spread evenly, of course, and as in prior periods, many people struggled. The marginalized and disaffected were particularly likely to join secret societies such as the Heaven and Earth Society (Triads) or religious sects such as the White Lotus Society. The Qing government from time to time tried to suppress these societies, which were of- ten anti-establishment.

How different was China in 1800 than in 1600? By 1800, China had been under alien rule for a century and a half. Most Chinese of all social levels had gotten used to the Manchus, who administered the country

06475_ch16_rev04.indd 287 9/10/12 3:39 PM

288

C H A P T E R S E V E N T E E N

Edo Japan (1603–1800)

Tokugawa Settlement (Seventeenth Century)

Material Culture: Night Soil

Documents: Ihara Saikaku’s “Sensible Advice on Domestic Economy”

Biography: Tadano Makuzu, Daughter of the Samurai

Maturity and Decay (Eighteenth Century)

Making Comparisons: Neo-Confucianism

The social and political order imposed by the Tokugawa shoguns consolidated trends long in the making. The creation of villages as corporate communities and the warlord domains, the separation of samu- rai from commoners, and the growth of and restrictions on commerce all began in the late sixteenth century. The structure of family life, in particu- lar, eldest sons taking all and the custom of brides serving their husbands’ families, continued practices already apparent in the fourteenth century. Yet peace also made possible cottage industries that some historians deem proto-industrialization, unprecedented urbanization, and a flourishing of theater, fiction, poetry, and intellectual life.

What distinguished the Tokugawa shogunate from previous military regimes? What were the consequences of the political settlement for economic and demographic growth? To what extent did the shoguns’ efforts to restrict foreign contact isolate Japan? What did samurai do without battles to fight? How did urban and rural commoners make their presence felt?

TokugAwA SETTlEMENT (SEVENTEENTH CENTuRy) Land surveys and separation of warriors from the land were aimed at ordering society. The Tokugawa brought an end to the conflicts caused by rivalry between brothers by insisting on primogeniture (eldest son inheri- tance) for the military ruling class and confiscating domains torn apart by succession disputes. As a result, a daimyo’s personality and competence mattered less than his office, and the retainers’ loyalty focused on the posi- tion, not the individual. The monarch and his court lived, according to the popular saying, “above the clouds” in Kyoto. Samurai stood at the top of the official status order, followed by commoners in order of their contri- butions to society. In principle no one was to change residence or status, nor was marriage permitted across status lines. In reality, status bound- aries were fluid. Because changing names changed identity, a commoner woman took an aristocratic name when serving a military household.

06475_ch17_rev04.indd 288 9/10/12 2:25 PM

Tokugawa Settlement (Seventeenth Century) 289

ritual (see Color Plate 18). Beyond this basic level, each household was on its own. Village boundaries also enclosed wastelands and forests, with access to their products regulated by the village council. As a corporation led by the headman, the village was collectively responsible for paying taxes, both the yearly tribute measured in units of rice (koku—1 koku equals 5.1 bushels of rice, the amount needed to feed one man for a year) and various additional taxes—for example, fees for the privilege of exploit- ing forest resources.

Villages constituted the building blocks of do- mains ruled by daimyo. The shogun had the largest domain concentrated chiefly in eastern and central Japan, totaling approximately one-fourth of the to- tal agricultural base. Vassal daimyo (fudai) were he- reditary retainers who governed domains and also served as the shogun’s chief advisers and his first line of defense against potential foes. According to a decree of 1634, only vassals whose domains con- tained more than 10,000 koku enjoyed the status of daimyo. The shogun’s retainers with smaller fiefs, often made up of parcels in several villages, were called hatamoto (HAH-tah-moe-toe) (“beneath the banner”). In addition, the shogun commanded the services of thousands of housemen who received stipends from the shogun’s warehouses. Daimyo who had been shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu’s rivals or peers were deemed outside lords (tozama, TOE-zah- mah). Fewer in number than the vassal daimyo, the mightiest controlled large domains that functioned almost as nations. Some of Ieyasu’s descendants also numbered among the daimyo. They were neither wealthy nor politically powerful, but they enjoyed great prestige. All daimyo, who numbered between 250 and 280, had retainer bands to be supported and employed.

government

The government pieced together by the Tokugawa shoguns developed an elaborate bureaucracy (later called a bakufu—tent government). The se- nior councilors—four to five men who rotated on a monthly basis, each of them a vassal daimyo worth at least 30,000 koku—took responsibil- ity for policy decisions, personnel matters, and su- pervising the daimyo. Their assistants, also vassal daimyo, handled matters relating to the shogun’s retainers. The hatamoto staffed the administra- tion, beginning with the magistrates in charge of

Actors and prostitutes became celebrities, and the exclusive right to work with animal skins made some outcasts wealthy.

Tokugawa Social Hierarchy

Core Social Statuses

Other Social Groups (Between Statuses)

Outcasts

Samurai Priests Blind Female

Farmers Doctors Entertainers

Artisans Monks Beggars

Merchants Prostitutes

Actors

Non-Humans (Hinin)

Polluted Ones

(Kawata)

This status order restricted rural communities to farmers. In the seventeenth century, most villages had at least one dominant family, often descend- ed from a warrior who had returned to the land, which monopolized the position of headman. A council of elders of landholding farmers provided a sounding board for matters related to village af- fairs. Their households included family members, house servants, and field workers. In central and eastern Japan, complex lineage systems with mul- tiple branches complicated relations within vil- lages. Across Japan, social, economic, and politi- cal inequality structured village life. The men who claimed descent from village founders expected to be treated with deference; they claimed the largest and best fields and they dominated village politics. Their wives shared their prestige; a male of lesser standing had to treat such women with respect.

Villages divided up the countryside. A village contained residential plots, rice paddies, and dry fields, each assigned to households. In some regions agricultural lands periodically rotated from family to family. These families cooperated in doing the heavy work of leveling rice paddies and building dikes, managing irrigation networks, and transplanting rice seedlings into the paddies. Women performed this last backbreaking task in a carryover of medi- eval religious beliefs that sanctified it as a fertility

06475_ch17_rev04.indd 289 9/10/12 2:25 PM

290 Chapter 17 Edo Japan (1603–1800)

issued increasingly strict guidelines governing the daimyo’s attendance on the shogun. Known as sankin kōtai (SAHN-keen CO-tah-e) and formal- ized in 1635, this system required that each daimyo spend half of his time in his domain and half in the shogun’s capital at Edo. Each daimyo’s wife and heir had to live in Edo as hostages. Designed to keep the daimyo both loyal to the shogun and effective in lo- cal administration, the system counteracted the dis- persal of retainers that had weakened the Kamakura regime and the competition among men at the center of power that had destroyed the Ashikaga. Sankin kōtai also had the unintended consequence of stim- ulating trade, encouraging travel, and promoting cultural exchange.

The shogunate took certain national responsi- bilities for itself. It refurbished the highway system with post stations and checkpoints to keep guns out of Edo and female hostages in. For its own de- fense, it forbade the building of bridges over major rivers. It oversaw the development of coastal ship- ping routes, took over the mines for precious met- als, and minted copper, silver, and gold coins. In a boon for historians, it established an official hand- writing style for documents. It forbade the practice of Christianity and set up a nationwide system of temple registration to ensure compliance. In 1635 it forbade Japanese to travel overseas and banned foreign books. Four years later it regulated rela- tions with the West by allowing only the Dutch to trade at Nagasaki while oversight of trade and di- plomacy with neighboring countries was delegated to three domains: Satsuma for the Ryukyus, Tsu- shima (TUZ-she-mah) for Korea, and Matsumae (MAH-tzu-mah-eh) for the Ainu and the north. The shogunate supervised trade with China that took place at Nagasaki; it had less control over Chinese goods that arrived indirectly through the Ryukyus and Hokkaido.

Under the Tokugawa regime, people from the Ryukyu Islands found themselves forced into much closer proximity to Japan. An independent kingdom with tributary ties to China as well as to Japan in the sixteenth century, the Ryukyus suffered invasion by Satsuma in 1609. Although the king survived and trade with China continued, he had to surrender control over his islands’ diplomatic and economic affairs, and that harmed the islanders’ well-being. Intellectuals in the Ryukyus tried to craft a new iden- tity by claiming that although they were politically subordinate to Japan, they achieved moral parity

finances, cities, and temples and shrines. Finance magistrates supervised the district administrators responsible for seeing that the villagers paid their taxes and keeping peace in the countryside. They also managed the increasingly futile task of bal- ancing expenditures with income. Their staff, and those of the other magistrates, included an array of functionaries, guards, and servants. Although the shogun had reduced the size of his army in the seventeenth century, he was never able to provide more than part-time employment to his retainers; 42 percent of hatamoto (1,676 in 1829) served in the fatigue regiment, the default category for men without office. Each daimyo likewise had more ad- visers, accountants, liaison officers, attendants, tax collectors, doctors, teachers, guards, servants, and placeholders than he needed.

The shogunal and domainal governments devel- oped the most complex, sophisticated, and coherent bureaucracies Japan had ever seen. Retainers learned to wield a brush as well as a sword, understand high finance, and accustom themselves to routinized of- fice jobs, but administrative systems also retained non-modern elements. The shogun bestowed his former family name of Matsudaira on important fudai and tozama daimyo, both as an honor and as a reminder that rulers were kin. Opportunities for promotion depended on hereditary rank; men born of guards stayed guards. The senior councilors may have been policy experts, but they were also the sho- gun’s vassals. Their duties included watching him perform rites to his ancestors, lecture on the Chinese classics, and dance in Nō. When he left the castle to go hawking or to visit one of them, they and their retainers had to attend him. The shogun maintained a large staff of palace women ordered in a female bureaucracy to serve him, his wife, and his mother in the great interior (ōoku, OH-oh-ku). Their respon- sibilities included a yearly round of ceremonies and managing gift exchanges with the Kyoto court and daimyo families.

Although the daimyo ran their domains as they saw fit, the shogunate started to issue decrees to reg- ulate their behavior in 1615. It limited the number of guns allowed per castle and restricted castle repairs. The daimyo were not to harbor criminals, collude against the shogun, or marry without the shogun’s permission. They all had to contribute men and money to the shogun’s building projects, and they could be relocated from one domain to another at the shogun’s pleasure. Most important, the shogunate

06475_ch17_rev04.indd 290 9/10/12 2:25 PM

Tokugawa Settlement (Seventeenth Century) 291

Running his domain became public administration (kōgi). He also built a shrine to himself. Hideyoshi actively promoted a cult to his own divinity.

The title given Ieyasu after his death transformed him into the “Buddha incarnate as the sun god of the east.” Enshrined at Nikkō, he protected the shogunate from evil spirits and worked for the good of all people. (See Map 17.1.) The third shogun Iemitsu (E-eh-me-tzu) claimed that the just social or- der ruled by shogunate followed the way of heaven (tendō, TEHN-doe). This way is natural, unchang- ing, eternal, and hierarchical. The ruler displays the benevolence of the Buddha, the warrior preserves the peace, and the commoners are obedient. The fifth shogun, Tsunayoshi (TZU-nah-yo-she), tried to domesticate the warriors by codifying mourning rit- uals, lecturing on Confucian classics, and forbidding the killing of animals, especially dogs (used for target practice). His successor reversed this last item, and the eighth shogun, Yoshimune (YO-she-mu-neh), sought to revive the martial arts. One aim of later re- forms between 1787 and 1793 was to recalibrate the balance between brush and sword, suggesting that, for samurai, how to follow the way of heaven was not self-evident.

Agricultural Transformations and the Commercial Revolution

Farmers, merchants, artisans, and rulers quickly ex- ploited the peace dividend. Large- and small-scale land reclamation projects, often funded by mer- chants at a daimyo’s urging, opened new rice pad- dies and expanded arable land by 45 percent. Rivers were diked and new channels dug to bring irrigation water to fields. Countless building projects, partly to repair the ravages of war in Kyoto but mainly to build the daimyo mansions, shogunal palaces, and merchant quarters in the new capital at Edo and the castle towns, seriously depleted forests. By the end of the seventeenth century, floods sweeping down denuded mountains threatened hard-won fields. The shogunate tried to regulate the use of forestry prod- ucts, but the agricultural base continued to press against ecological limits. (See Material Culture: Night Soil.)

The introduction of better seeds and new crops intensified the use of land and labor. Detailed ob- servations of soil types and climatic conditions led to the development of rice varieties suited for specific local conditions. Fast-ripening rice spread

with both Japan and China by cultivating the way of the Confucian sage.

Relations with the Ainu in Hokkaido evolved differently. There the shogunate had the Matsumae family with long-standing ties to the region establish a domain on the island’s southern tip in return for the privilege of monopolizing trade with the Ainu. In 1669 conflict between Ainu tribes over access to game and fish escalated into a war to rid Hokkaido of the Japanese. Following its vicious suppression, the Ainu and the Japanese solidified distinct ethnic identities that incorporated elements of the other— eagle feathers and otter pelts for the Japanese ruling class and ironware, rice, and saké for the Ainu. Between 1590 and 1800, the Ainu became increas- ingly dependent on trade with Japan for their sur- vival, while occasional epidemics brought by traders ravaged their population. Many ended up working as contract laborers in fisheries that shipped food and fertilizer to Japan.

The Tokugawa shogunate survived for more than 250 years not simply because it dominated Japan militarily but because, like sixteenth-century conquerors, Ieyasu and his heirs recognized the im- portance of ideology in transforming power into au- thority. Oda Nobunaga had claimed that he acted on behalf of the realm, not his private, selfish interests.

Ainu Feeding a Hawk. This mid-nineteenth-century drawing of an Ainu feeding a hawk depicts the bird as being almost as large as its captor. The Ainu is stereotypically hairy with full beard and heavy eyebrows.

ok ka

id o

U ni

ve rs

ity L

ib ra

ry A

ll rig

ht s

re se

rv ed

06475_ch17_rev04.indd 291 9/10/12 2:25 PM

292 Chapter 17 Edo Japan (1603–1800)

to spend preparing cloth for their families while revolutionizing clothing and bedding. During the seventeenth century, Japan imported Chinese silk and sugar. By the 1730s for silk and the 1830s for sugar, domestic production provided substitutes. The daimyo competed in developing products for export by hiring teachers to show farmers how to harvest lacquer, make paper, and raise silkworms and promoting distinctive styles of wooden combs, paper hair ties, and pottery. Merchants supplied the capital to farmers who provided the labor, although a few rural entrepreneurs profited from distributing raw materials and transporting goods. Lights fueled by rapeseed oil enabled work to continue after dark. Increases in agricultural productivity spurred demand for nonagricultural goods. The growth of cottage industries diversified income sources and led

cultivation into the marginal lands of the northeast. Farther south, it allowed the sowing of a second crop, often wheat, although some paddies in Kyushu supported two rice crops a year. As in China and Korea, corn, tobacco, and sweet potatoes, products of the New World, became dry field staples along with barley and millet. In a trend that continued throughout the Tokugawa period, seventeenth- century agricultural experts traveled Japan build- ing social networks of like-minded experimenters, seeking the most advanced methods for increasing crop yields, and spreading their findings through books.

Farmers also grew cash crops and developed products based on Chinese technology. The spread of cotton growing in western Japan beginning in the sixteenth century reduced the hours women had

Mt. Fuji

Edo

Kobe

Odawara

Yokohama

Kumamoto

Fukuoka

Nagasaki

Saga

Kagoshima

Niigata

Matsumae

Mito Nikko-

Sekigahara

Shimoda

Shimonoseki

Shimabara Peninsula

Hirado SHIKOKU

HONSHU

KYUSHU

S e a o f

J a p a n

AIZU

MITO

KAGA

MATSUMAE

SATSUMA

TOSA

CHOSHU - -

KII

OWARI

J A P A N

0 200 Mi.100

0 200 Km.100

Major domains

Map 17.1 Tokugawa Japan, 1600–1868

en ga

ge L

ea rn

in g

06475_ch17_rev04.indd 292 9/10/12 2:25 PM

Tokugawa Settlement (Seventeenth Century) 293

meant that a family could usually find someone to carry on the family line. Other factors were also at work. Men often left their homes for months at a time to work in towns and cities, especially dur- ing the winter. The female age at marriage went up in central Japan because women increasingly worked to gain experience before settling down. Disease mattered: Smallpox can reduce male fer- tility by 50 percent. Syphilis struck urban popu- lations. Periodic famines hit some regions harder than others. In the early nineteenth century, pop- ulation decline in the impoverished northeast off- set growth in the more commercially developed and prosperous west.

One characteristic of Japan’s early modern growth was that while labor remained in the coun- tryside, capital largely concentrated in cities. Not until the late eighteenth century did rural entre- preneurs acquire significant amounts of capital, and they often depended on urban merchants for financial backing. Daimyo traveling on sankin kōtai marketed rice they collected in taxes to merchants

to a virtuous cycle of interaction between agricul- ture and manufacturing. Neither entrepreneurs nor domains tried to set up large-scale production units. Instead they emphasized quality and variety, trying to beat the competition by producing regional spe- cialties found nowhere else.

The agricultural and commercial revolutions meant higher per capita productivity and a trend toward smaller families. After almost a threefold increase in the seventeenth century, Japan’s popu- lation remained surprisingly stagnant in contrast to the populations of China and Korea at the same time. In villages the extended families character- istic of earlier times broke down into main fami- lies and branches or landlords and tenants. Most households cultivated parcels just big enough to support a stem family of grandparents, parents, and children without enough to bestow on more than one heir. Historians have supposed that farmers practiced abortion and infanticide lest they have more children than they could afford. Even if the sole son died, the ease of adoption

W er

ne r F

or m

an /C

or bi

Sa ka

m ot

o Ph

ot o

Re se

ar ch

L ab

or at

or y/

Co rb

Artisans. Cottage industries relied on families. Both the pattern dyers depicted on the screen to the right and the weavers shown on the screen to the left employed men and women, children and grandparents.

06475_ch17_rev04.indd 293 9/10/12 2:25 PM

294 Chapter 17 Edo Japan (1603–1800)

M A T E R I A L C U L T U R E

Night Soil

A large city produces huge quantities of human waste, but the Edo city government left the disposal of this waste in the hands of individual landlords. Members of the ruling class contracted with nearby villages to bring vegetables to their compounds and remove garbage. Communal toilet facilities in each commoner ward also had to be cleaned.

In the eighteenth century, farmers began to plant crops where once they had foraged for green fertil- izer, forcing them to look outside their communities for ways to improve the soil. Vegetable farmers near Edo carted away night soil and other organic wastes to supplement the manure they produced them- selves. Separated into solids and liquid and cooked in its own heat to kill harmful bacteria, night soil became a valuable commodity.

Starting in the late eighteenth century, towns- people expected farmers to pay for the privilege of collecting night soil. landlords insisted that tenants use their toilets and tried to sell their product to the highest bidder. Transactions between subcontrac- tors, wholesalers, and middlemen so raised costs that farmers formed regional alliances to petition the shogunate to keep prices down.

The price placed on night soil reflected status inequality. landlords segregated toilets by sex be- cause men’s excrement was valued more highly than women’s. Samurai received more for theirs than did commoners. An eighteenth-century farm- house had a toilet for samurai made of polished wood. The tenant farmers and family members used an open pit.

Toilets. The photo on the left depicts a toilet for the use of samurai officials next to the formal reception room at a village headman’s house. On the opposite side behind the stable is the pit for family and servants (right).

in Osaka who advanced them money and letters of credit. Redeemable at the merchant’s branch in Edo, these letters served as Japan’s first paper money. Domains later printed their own currency, modeled on religious talismans to gain users’ trust. Merchants either advanced the money to make specialty prod- ucts or bought them at a discount to sell to urban consumers. Some merchants acted as suppliers to daimyo and their women, stimulating the desire for high-quality labor-intensive goods. Others catered to the broader market by selling cotton cloth, lamp oil, and soy sauce. At the end of the seventeenth

century, a few Osaka and Edo merchants had be- come extremely wealthy, and a number of daimyo found themselves deeply in debt.

urban life and Culture

Edo’s layout mirrored the shogun’s strategic con- cerns. Taking advantage of advances in fortifica- tion technology, the shogun’s castle was enclosed behind multiple stone walls surrounded by moats. The shogunate drained the swamp on which the city was built through canals that provided

Ph ot

os : P

at ric

ia E

br ey

06475_ch17_rev04.indd 294 9/10/12 2:25 PM

Tokugawa Settlement (Seventeenth Century) 295

(See Documents: Ihara Saikaku’s “Sensible Advice on Domestic Economy.”) Matsuo Bashō (MAH-tzu-oh BAH-show) raised the seventeen-syllable verse form known as haiku (HAH-e-ku) to a fine art, in the process making poetry accessible to commoners in town and country. Passing by a battlefield, he wrote: “A thicket of summer grass, all that remains of warriors’ dreams.”* Chikamatsu Monzaemon (CHE-kah-mah-tzu MOAN- zah-eh-moan) wrote scripts for the puppet theater that explored the interplay between social obligations and human feeling, as when a young man in love with a prostitute wants to buy her out of her contract with a brothel owner but lacks the money to do so with- out ruining his family’s business. Caught between love and duty, the couple resolves the dilemma by commit- ting double suicide. Although Chikamatsu wrote for puppets, the literary artistry of his scripts endeared them to amateur performers and raised the quality of theatrical performances.

Two pleasure zones are associated with the Genroku era: the brothel district and the theaters, often located near each other on the margins of respectable society. These constituted the “floating world” (ukiyo, U-key- yo) celebrated in woodblock prints of prostitutes, ac- tors, and pornography. In the early seventeenth centu- ry, entrepreneurs in the three metropolises petitioned the shogunate to establish districts for prostitution where it could be regulated and controlled. A moat and walls surrounded Edo’s Yoshiwara (YO-she- wah-rah) with a main gate where guards noted the men who entered and prevented women from leav- ing. The earliest customers were daimyo and samurai. Merchants whose lavish spending brought them fame soon eclipsed them. In this status-conscious society, prostitutes too were ranked.

Kabuki (KAH-bu-key) began in the early seven- teenth century on a riverbank in Kyoto where a pros- titute erected a stage on which to sing and dance to attract customers. Fights over her charms led the sho- gunate to forbid women from appearing on stage in 1629. Boys then replaced them as actors and prosti- tutes. Again the shogunate stepped in to quell disorder, banning all but mature men from performing in public. To make up for a lack of sex appeal, actors developed the techniques of acting, singing, and dancing and per- formed on elaborate and frequently changing sets that made kabuki into a spectacle. It became enormously

*Translated by Anne Walthall from Matsuo Mashō, Oku no hosomichi (The Narrow Road to the Deep North), Tanabe Seiko, ed. (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1989).

transportation for goods and people. Bridges over moats were faced with guardhouses, forcing the traveler to make a sharp turn, and no roads led di- rectly to the castle. Vassal daimyo and the shogun’s retainers lived nearby, providing another ring of protection. The wealthy tozama daimyo had large compounds containing barracks for their retainers, storehouses, mansions, and gardens. None was al- lowed moats and stone walls, and compounds for the vassal daimyo surrounded them. Each daimyo maintained multiple compounds; the total number was more than one thousand. The ruling class took the healthful high ground for itself, leaving the low- lands directly east and south of the castle for com- moners. Scattered throughout the city were shrines and temples. Daimyo castle towns followed a similar pattern of segregating people according to status and occupation.

The seventeenth century saw an unprecedented jump in urban growth, from little more than 1 percent of Japan’s population to almost 15 percent after 1700. In addition to the castle towns were three metropolises: Kyoto became a manufacturing center for luxury goods, Osaka served as Japan’s chief market, and Edo’s swollen population of daimyo and bureaucrats made it a consumption center. Urbanization stimulated the growth of commercial publishing that created and fed a read- ing public hungry for knowledge and amusement. It provided space for exhibitions from religious icons to plants and flowers and for private salons where scholars, artists, and writers met patrons. Urban residents paid for services—hairdressing, entertainment—that had once been provided by servants. They bought processed food and cloth that their ancestors had made themselves. Labor and leisure were oriented toward the market, and buying finished products saved time. This transfor- mation stimulated a consumption revolution—the increased demand for a greater variety of goods, from durable luxury items such as carved wooden transoms placed above doors to drug foods such as saké and tobacco.

Unprecedented urban prosperity culminated in the Genroku (GEHN-row-ku) era (1688–1704), the hey- day of townsman culture, justly celebrated in art and literature. Ihara Saikaku wrote stories about the samu- rai passion for boys, but most of his works focused on the townspeople in books such as Five Women Who Loved Love and The Life of an Amorous Man. He also wrote books on how to make and keep money.

06475_ch17_rev04.indd 295 9/10/12 2:25 PM

296 Chapter 17 Edo Japan (1603–1800)

D O C U M E N T S

“The immutable rule in regard to the division of family property at the time of marriage,” said the experienced go-between from kyoto, “is as follows: let us suppose that a certain man is worth a thousand kan. To the eldest son at his marriage will go four hundred kan, together with the family residence. The second son’s share will be three hundred kan, and he too is entitled to a house of his own. The third son will be adopted into another family, requir- ing a portion of one hundred kan. If there is a daughter, her dowry will be thirty kan, in ad- dition to a bridal trousseau worth twenty kan. It is advisable to marry her off to the son of a family of lower financial status. Formerly it was not unusual to spend forty kan on the trousseau and allot ten kan for the dowry, but because people today are more interested in cash, it is now customary to give the daughter silver in the lacquered chest and copper in the extra one. Even if the girl is so ugly that she can’t afford to sit near the candle at night, that dowry of thirty kan will make her bloom into a very flowery bride!

“In matchmaking, money is a very important consideration. If thirty kan of silver is depos- ited with a trustworthy merchant at six-tenths

percent interest per month, the income will to- tal one hundred and eighty momme monthly, which will more than suffice to support four women: the bride, her personal maid, a second maid, and a seamstress. How unselfish must be the disposition of a bride who will not only look after the household faithfully, meantime taking care never to displease her husband’s family, but also at the same time will actually pay for the food she eats! If you are looking merely for beauty, then go where women are made up solely to that end, to the licensed quarters. you are free to visit them any time of night you may wish, and thoroughly enjoy it, but next morning you will have to pay out seventy-one momme—which is not in the least enjoyable!

“It is better on the whole to give up dissipa- tion in good time, for a roué is seldom happy in later life. So even if life at home seems dry and tasteless, you’d better have patience with a supper of cold rice, potluck bean curd, and dried fish. you may lie down whenever you like, at perfect ease, and have a maid massage you down to the very tips of your toes. If you want tea, you may sip it while your wife holds the cup for you. A man in his own household

Ihara Saikaku (E-hah-rah SAH-e-kah-ku) (1642–1693) is often considered Japan’s first professional author because he lived by his pen, writing haiku, short stories, novels, and essays that described life in Osaka during the townspeople’s heyday. Here he feeds the merchants’ obsession with money by focusing on the details of daily life.

Ihara Saikaku’s “Sensible Advice on Domestic Economy”

popular, with the highest acclaim reserved for the men who specialized in playing women. It put the scandals arising in townspeople’s society on stage, but it became best known for swashbuckling melodramas set in the past, for the shogunate forbade any discussion of its own affairs or those of contemporary samurai society.

Intellectual Trends

The Edo period saw an explosion in intellectual pursuits. Deprived of the opportunity to gain fame in battle, some samurai turned to scholarship and

made serious efforts to understand their society. In the seventeenth century, Hayashi Razan (HAH- yah-she RAH-zahn) formulated the Tokugawa ideology in neo-Confucian terms that saw the social order as a reflection of the visible natural order in that both relied on the same underlying principle. Among his students was Yamaga Sokō (YAH-mah- gah SO-co), famous for defining a way for samurai to survive during a time of peace: “The business of the samurai consists in reflecting on his own station in life, in discharging loyal service to his master, . . . in deepening his fidelity in associations

06475_ch17_rev04.indd 296 9/10/12 2:25 PM

Tokugawa Settlement (Seventeenth Century) 297

is the commander supreme, whose authority none will dare to question, and there is none to condemn you. There’s no need to seek fur- ther for genuine pleasure.

“Then, too, there are certain business ad- vantages to staying home. your clerks will stop their imprudent visits to the yasaka quarters and their clandestine meetings at that ren- dezvous in oike. And when in the shop, since they can’t appear to be completely idle, maybe they’ll look over those reports from the Edo branch office, or do some other work that they have been putting off doing—all to the profit of you, the master! The apprentice boys will diligently twist wastepaper into string, and in order to impress you, the master, sitting in the inner room, they will practice penmanship to their profit. kyushichi, whose habit it is to retire early, will take the straw packing from around the yellowtail and make rope on which to string coins; while Take, in order to make things go more smoothly tomorrow, will pre- pare the vegetables for breakfast. The seam- stress during the time you’re at home will take off as many knots of Hino silk as she ordinarily does in a whole day. Even the cat keeps a wary watch in the kitchen and when she hears the least sound in the vicinity of the fish hanger she will mew to scare away the rats. If such unmeasured profit as this results from the mas- ter’s remaining at home just one night, think how vast will be the benefits that will accrue within the space of a whole year! So even if you are not entirely satisfied with your wife, you have to exercise discretion and realize that

in the gay quarters all is but vanity. For a young master to be well aware of this is the secret of the successful running of his household.”

Such was the counsel offered by the vet- eran go-between.

Be that as it may, let me say that the women of today, under the influence of the styles of the gay quarters, dress exactly like professional entertainers. Prominent drapers’ wives, who in public are addressed as mesdames, are dressed so as to be mis- taken for high-class courtesans; the wives of small shopkeepers, who once served as clerks of the drapers, look exactly like cour- tesans one grade lower. Again, the kimono worn by wives of tailors and embroiderers who live on the side streets bear a startling resemblance to those of the women em- ployed in teahouses. It is fun to spot them in a crowd dressed in conformity with their respective degrees of fortune.

Questions for Analysis 1. What should merchants do if they want to

prosper? 2. What should merchants look for in a wife? 3. Compare how merchants divide up their

property with the rules for inheritance in samurai households.

Source: Used with permission of Charles E. Tuttle Company from The Scheming World, translated by Masanori Takatsuka and David C. Stubbs, 1965; permission conveyed through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.

with friends, and . . . in devoting himself to duty above all.”* Kyoto scholar Itō Jinsai (E-toe GENE-sah-e) likewise began as a neo-Confucianist, only to reject the notion of an underlying principle in favor of study- ing Confucius himself. (For a comparative discus- sion of neo- Confucianism, see Making Comparisons following this chapter.) For him, the purpose of scholarship was to show how to put morality based on benevolence and love into practice, a goal that

*Ryusaku Tsunoda et al., eds., Sources of the Japanese Tradition (New York: Columbia University Press, 1959), 1:390.

commoners as well as samurai could achieve. Such was the prestige of Chinese philosophy that any man who wanted to become learned had to employ Chinese categories of thought. Women were not subject to this restriction, but for that reason, they had little access to scholarship beyond the study of Japanese poetry. (See Biography: Tadano Makuzu.)

Ogyū Sorai (OH-geyu SOH-rah-e) gained influ- ence by attacking the neo-Confucian Hayashi school and Itō Jinsai. He argued that only the most ancient Chinese texts, those that came before Confucius, were worthy of study because they contained the

06475_ch17_rev04.indd 297 9/10/12 2:25 PM

298 Chapter 17 Edo Japan (1603–1800)

teachings of the sage kings, the creators of civiliza- tion. The social order did not reflect the natural or- der of beasts; instead it was an artificial construct, made in history, and that was good. Men needed rules lest their passions run away with them. Japan was fortunate that its own sage king Ieyasu had created the shogunate, and his deeds were not for mere mortals to challenge. Sorai’s rational bureau- cratic view of government called on samurai to de- vote themselves to public duty. In 1703 forty-seven retainers from the Akō (AH-co) domain assassinated their dead lord’s enemy (an incident dramatized as “The Treasury of Loyal Retainers,” Chūshingura, CHEW-sheen-gu-rah) because, they claimed, their honor as samurai left them no choice. Sorai ap- plauded the deed but agreed with the shogunate that because they had broken the law against private ven- dettas, they had to atone by committing suicide. As long as people obeyed the law, government had no business interfering in their lives.

The eighteenth century saw an increase in schools and thinkers. Dazai Shundai (DAH-zah-e SHOE-n- dah-e) explored political economy. He urged daimyo to supplement flat revenues coming from an agrarian tax base by promoting the production of goods for export to other domains. Kaiho Seiryō (KAH-i-hoh SEH-e-reyo) took Shundai’s ideas a step farther by arguing that all social relationships are predicated on the measured exchange of goods and services, a principle understood by merchants but not, unfortu- nately, by samurai. Andō Shōeki (AHN-doe SHOW- eh-key) claimed that Sorai’s sage kings were thieves and liars who created governments to deceive and cheat the farmers. In his eyes, the samurai were no better than parasites.

Merchants pondered business ethics. Troubled by the excesses of the Genroku period when some merchants had gone bankrupt through lavish spending and making bad loans to daimyo, Ishida Baigan (E-she-dah BAH-e-gahn) founded the Shin- gaku (SHEEN-gah-ku) school (literally, study of the heart). He argued that merchants deserved to make a just profit because profit for them was like the samu- rai’s stipend. They should devote themselves to their businesses with the same devotion a samurai owed his lord and, like the samurai, they should strive for moral perfection. Texts and teachers could guide this quest, but it could be completed only through medi- tation and the practice of diligence, thrift, and forti- tude. Baigan and his followers had no political agen- da; the idea that merchants might have something to

say to samurai was left to the merchant academy in Osaka, the Kaitokudō (KAH-e-toe-ku-doe), founded in 1724. Its teachers denied that merchants caused hardships through their pursuit of profit. Merchants, they argued, played a crucial role in society by help- ing goods circulate based on objective and accurate calculations. When they applied this principle to do- main finances, their advice ought to be followed. A number of them gained coveted positions as advisers to daimyo and shogun.

Other thinkers found inspiration in Japan’s past. The greatest was Motoori Norinaga (MOE-toe-o- re NO-re-nah-gah), whose computer-like memory enabled him to decipher the patterns of Chinese characters used to write Kojiki (CO-g-key), Japan’s most ancient history. Through the study of history and literary classics, he affirmed Japan’s unique po- sition in the world as the sole country ruled by de- scendants of the sun goddess, and he celebrated the private world of the individual. Based as they were on the spontaneity of human feeling, Japanese values were superior to those of other peoples. “In foreign countries, they place logic first, even when it comes to revering the gods . . . all this is but shallow human reasoning.” The Chinese had introduced rules that, although they might be necessary in China where people were naturally inclined toward error, were entirely unsuited to Japan, where people were natu- rally perfect in their possession of the “true heart” (magokoro, MAH-go-co-row).* Even when he was asked by a daimyo to comment on the conditions of his day, Norinaga remained apolitical, claiming only that rulers should live in accordance with the way of the gods found in the study of history and poetry.

Official interest in Western studies began in 1720 when Shogun Yoshimune lifted the ban on Western books so long as they did not promote Christianity. Japanese doctors and scientists, attracted to what was called “Dutch studies,” paid little attention to Western philosophy; their enthusiasm was for practical matters, in particular the study of human anatomy, astronomy, geography, and military science. Sugita Genpaku (SUE-ge-tah GEHN-pah-ku) discov- ered that a Dutch human anatomy book provided names for body parts not found in Chinese medical texts. In 1771 he watched the dissection of a crimi- nal’s corpse, a fifty-year-old woman, performed by an outcast. Although this was not the first dissection

*Sey Nakamura, “The Way of the Gods: Motoori Norinaga’s Naobi no Mitama,” Monumenta Nipponica 46 (Spring 1991): 39.

06475_ch17_rev04.indd 298 9/10/12 2:25 PM

Maturation and Decay (Eighteenth Century) 299

the natural world percolated into popular culture when Utagawa Kunisada (U-tah-gah-wah KU-knee- sah-dah) drew pictures of greatly magnified insects to illustrate a story about monsters.

MATuRATIoN AND DECAy (EIgHTEENTH CENTuRy) Following the excesses of the Genroku period, the shogun’s and the daimyo’s officials fretted over the state of government finances and their retainers’ morale. The miserly Ieyasu had left stores of gold

performed in Japan, the evidence of his own eyes plus the Dutch text led him to invent Japanese terms for pancreas, nerve, and other body parts; these terms were later exported to China. The faith in reason based on experience and the benefits of experiments promoted by the Chinese “practical learning” school already constituted one strand of Japanese intellec- tual life; the opportunity to engage with Western scientific texts developed it further. Sugita spread his ideas through his writing and salons, whose mem- bers ranged from merchants to daimyo. Western instruments such as the telescope and microscope fascinated intellectuals. The insights they gained into

Tadano Makuzu, Daughter of the Samurai

B I O G R A P H Y Male intellectuals focused on morality, politics, and economics. Tadano Makuzu (TAH-dah-no MAH-ku-zu) (1763–1825) drew on her observations and experience to analyze human relations.

Born kudō Ayako (ku-doe AH-ya-co), she grew up in a lively family of parents, grandmother, and seven siblings. At age nine she insisted that her mother teach her classical Japanese poetry. Ayako en- joyed her grandmother’s company be-

cause she was a cheerful and attractive woman who loved kabuki. To complete her education, at fifteen Ayako became an attendant to the lord of Sendai’s daughter, a position she held for ten years.

Ayako’s father, Heisuke (HEH-e-su-keh), had many friends who shared his interests in medicine, botany, foreign trade, and western countries. He hoped to arrange a good marriage for Ayako should his pro- posal for the colonization of Hokkaido and trade with Russia lead to a position with the shogunate. The fall of his patron in 1786 thwarted his career and his plans for his daughter.

when Ayako left service, she was too old to make a good match. In 1789 she was married to a man so decrepit that she cried until she was returned to her parents. Eight years later her father found her a husband in a widower with three sons, Tadano Iga Tsurayoshi (E-gah TZu-rah-yo-she), a high-ranking Sendai retainer with an income four times that of the kudō family. Marrying Iga meant that Ayako had to leave the city of her birth for Sendai, a move she likened to “the journey to hell.” There she spent

the remainder of her life, visited only occasionally by her husband, who remained on duty in Edo.

Signed with the pen name Makuzu, “Solitary Thoughts” sums up Ayako’s views on her society distilled during her years of isolation in Sendai. She bemoans her ignorance of Confucianism because her father thought it inappropriate knowledge for a woman. It was of little use even for men, she believed, because it was too clumsy to regulate the niceties of Japanese behavior. like other intel- lectuals of her day, she pitied the samurai for not understanding the principle of money. Instead of a well-ordered harmonious society, she saw competi- tion, hatred, and strife: “Each person in our country strives to enrich him or herself alone without think- ing of the foreign threat or begrudging the cost to the country.” Townspeople despised warriors: “They take secret delight in the warriors’ descent into pov- erty, hating them like sworn enemies.” Competition governed even relations between the sexes: “when men and women make love, they battle for superi- ority by rubbing their genitals together.”

Questions for Analysis 1. What kinds of opportunities did Makuzu have as a

daughter of the samurai? 2. What kind of constraints did Makuzu face? 3. What did Makuzu think of her society?

Source: Bettina Gramlich-Oka, Thinking Like a Man: Tadano Makuzu (1763–1825) (Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2006).

06475_ch17_rev04.indd 299 9/10/12 2:25 PM

300 Chapter 17 Edo Japan (1603–1800)

across Japan, priests, village officials, and rural entrepreneurs opened schools to provide the basics in reading and math. Coupled with private academies in castle towns and cities for samurai and merchants, their efforts led to impressive rates of literacy by the mid-nineteenth century: approxi- mately 40 percent for men and between 10 and 15 percent for women. Students studied texts that delivered a moral lesson; those for women empha- sized docility, modesty, and self-restraint lest the young working woman slip from seamstress to prostitute. Publishers printed one-page almanacs and Buddhist mandalas (pictures of the cosmos) as well as pamphlets giving advice on agriculture and etiquette. Some students read well enough to enjoy multivolume works of historical fiction, but for many, the aim was more practical: to learn when to plant crops and how to calculate profit and loss.

In the eighteenth century the national road system designed to bring daimyo to Edo started to attract commoners. Although the shogunate prohibited travel in the interests of preserving order, it allowed pilgrimages, visits to relatives, and trips to medici- nal hot springs. With a passport issued by a local official giving name, physical description, and des- tination, travelers set off, usually on foot, always in groups, accompanied by neighbors to see them to the community border. Many traveled in confraternities (societies created for a specific purpose) that raised money to send a few members on pilgrimage each year. The most popular destination was Ise, with its outer shrine to the god of agriculture. Because few travelers were likely to repeat the pilgrimage experience, they were determined to see as much as possible. They took enormous detours through temple circuits and stopped in Edo and Osaka for sightseeing and theater. Men traveled in the prime of life; women traveled either before they were mar- ried or after they had a daughter-in-law to raise the children and run the household. Rather than suffer the invasive inspection procedures required at check- points, women hired guides to show them byways. Men and women bought souvenirs to ship back home and distribute to those who had given them money before they left. They kept diaries of their trips; some were little more than expense accounts while others were lengthy descriptions of things seen and heard.

Not every pilgrim was literate or had the permis- sion of a local official. Driven, they said, by the need

bullion, but his heirs spent them so freely that by the 1690s, the shogunate had to devalue the currency. Creeping inflation eroded the value of tax revenues and samurai stipends, while the growing availability of consumer products stimulated demand. Shogun Yoshimune responded by instituting reforms in the 1720s. To aid the samurai who received their stipends in rice, he supported rice prices even though urban consumers complained. He assessed a “voluntary contribution” of a rice donation in proportion to their domain’s size from all daimyo in return for spending less time in Edo on sankin kōtai. Instead of basing taxes on each year’s harvest, he tried to get rid of changes in revenues by establishing a fixed tax rate. He allowed villages to open new fields in regions previously set aside to provide forage and fer- tilizer and encouraged the cultivation of cash crops. To reduce expenses, he issued regulations governing the quality of clothing people of different statuses could wear and cut the staff of palace women. He set up a petition box, already tried in some domains, to allow commoners’ suggestions to reach his ear. A famine caused by a plague of locusts in western Japan in 1732 brought the reform period to an end.

Popular Culture

In contrast to the ruling class, urban commoners generally enjoyed the benefits of the consumption revolution. By 1750, Edo’s population reached well over 1 million inhabitants, making it perhaps the largest city in the world at the time. A fish market filled the hub of the city at Nihonbashi (KNEE-hohn-bah-she); the surrounding streets were lined with shops selling goods of every sort. Restaurants catered to people for whom dining out had become a pleasure while innkeepers who specialized in lodging for plaintiffs became proto- lawyers in an increasingly lawsuit-driven society. The draper Echigoya (EH-che-go-yah) innovated a fixed price system for cash (see Color Plate 22). The world’s first commodity futures market opened in Osaka. Kabuki actors advertised stores and prod- ucts during their routines starting in 1715. In 1774 a popular actor put his name on cosmetics sold in his store, mentioned his products on stage, and placed them in woodblock prints. Best-selling au- thors accepted money to praise products such as toothpaste and pipes.

The spread of commerce made education both possible and necessary. In thousands of villages

06475_ch17_rev04.indd 300 9/10/12 2:25 PM

Maturation and Decay (Eighteenth Century) 301

to cities, where they joined a floating population of day laborers and prostitutes.

Hard Times and Rural uprisings

The underside to prosperity, resentment at status distinctions, and injustice gave rise to thousands of incidents of rural protest. The corporate structure of the village meant that protest was organized collec- tively. When farmers lodged complaints against un- just officials or pleas that the tax burden be reduced

to make a pilgrimage to Ise or some other sacred spot, they escaped from parents or employers with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They depend- ed on the charity of strangers who hoped to earn some of the merit of making the pilgrimage by giv- ing alms. They also fell prey to bandits and pimps. At approximately sixty-year intervals, thousands of people left towns and villages to make a thanksgiving pilgrimage (okage mairi, oh-KAH-geh MAH-e-re) to the inner shrine of the sun goddess at Ise. Many never returned home. Instead they found their way

Woman Reading. Created by Kikugawa Eisen in the early nineteenth century, this portrait of an ordinary woman depicts her engrossed in reading a selection of poems. The woodblock print is from a series titled “Mirror of contemporary beautiful women.”

N ew

ar k

M us

eu m

/A rt

R es

ou rc

e, N

06475_ch17_rev04.indd 301 9/10/12 2:25 PM

302 Chapter 17 Edo Japan (1603–1800)

The famine exposed problems at all levels of soci- ety. The shogunate had struggled for years with an inadequate tax base and the increasing competition among daimyo, merchants, and farmers for access to commercial income. Under the direction of senior councilor Tanuma Okitsugu (TAH-new-mah OH- key-tzu-gu), it had proposed schemes to force mer- chants to buy shares in organizations (guilds) granted a monopoly over trade in a specified item. The guild then paid regular fees in “thank you” money to the shogun. These monopolies angered those excluded— producers forced to accept lower prices for their goods and daimyo who had their own schemes for profiting from trade. Following the Edo riot, the shogunate launched a second reform led by essay- ist, novelist, and staunch neo-Confucian Matsudaira Sadanobu (MAH-tzu-dah-e-rah SAH-dah-no-bu) to rectify finances and morals. He established new stan- dards for bureaucratic conduct that endured to mod- ern times. His “Edo first” policy ensured that the city remained quiet for almost eighty years.

Sadanobu’s reforms also had a darker side. A float- ing population of men without families or property worked as day laborers in fields and cities. Sadanobu had those in Edo rounded up and confined to an is- land in the bay. From there they were transported to the gold mine on Sado in the Japan Sea, where most of them died within two or three years. Other offi- cials condemned the harshness of this measure, and it was not repeated. Instead governments encour- aged commoners to police themselves.

Summary The military regime established by the Tokugawa shoguns was designed to preserve order and enhance stability. Everyone was expected to stay put, work- ing at the same occupation as his ancestors for gen- eration after generation. The shoguns balanced the need for effective local administration with their fear of treachery by forcing the daimyo to divide their time between their domains and the shogun’s capital at Edo where they had to leave hostages as a pledge of good behavior. To regulate foreign trade, the sho- gunate limited where it could take place.

Starting in the seventeenth century, rising agricul- tural yields led to a boom in cottage industries and a commercial revolution. Labor stayed in the coun- tryside while capital came from cities. Japan’s urban population swelled with samurai and the merchants,

following a crop failure, they petitioned the lord to show compassion to the honorable farmers because their hardships threatened their survival. As the vil- lage’s representative, the headman was supposed to take the responsibility for seeking help from samurai officials dealing with rural affairs. If officials deemed the matter worthy of consideration, they passed it up the chain of command. If at any point an offi- cial decided not to trouble his superiors, those below had no legal recourse. According to rural legend, in the seventeenth century a few brave headmen, typi- fied by Sakura Sōgorō (SAH-ku-rah SOW-go-row), made a direct appeal to the daimyo or, in Sōgorō’s case, to the shogun. Sōgorō paid for his audacity by suffering crucifixion along with his wife and saw his sons executed before his eyes. Although historians doubt that he ever existed, he became Japan’s most famous peasant martyr.

Few headmen in the eighteenth century were will- ing to risk their families to help their neighbors. In- stead of an individual groveling before his superiors, farmers marched together to state their grievances en masse. They called their deeds ikki, harking back to the leagues that had bedeviled political authori- ties in the sixteenth century. In 1764, approximately two hundred thousand farmers marched toward Edo to protest new demands for forced labor to trans- port officials and their goods on the national roads. Smaller outbursts disrupted domains, peaking at times of economic hardship. Seldom did any district erupt more than once, and protestors wanted help, not revolution. Yet fear that rural protest would ex- pose such weaknesses in domainal administration that the shogun would transfer the daimyo or simply dispossess him limited efforts to tax the products of farmers’ labor.

The 1780s brought hard times to Japan. Mount Asama erupted in 1783, spewing ash that blocked sunlight all summer. Crop failures made worse by misguided policies led to famine, a catastrophe repeated in 1787. It is said that the population de- clined by 920,000. In the eyes of many sufferers, the cause of their distress was not so much natural disas- ter as human wrongdoing. Unlike earlier rural pro- tests that had demanded tax relief and government aid, the majority of incidents in the 1780s focused on commercial issues and evil merchants accused of hoarding grain while people starved. Commoners rioted for five days in Edo, punishing merchants by smashing their stores, trampling rice in the mud, and pouring saké in the street.

06475_ch17_rev04.indd 302 9/19/12 4:12 PM

Summary 303

stagnated. Such was not the case. New bureaucratic procedures taught military men how to handle rou- tine paperwork. Ideologues preached the virtue of the public performance of duty. To a certain ex- tent, loyalty to lord became loyalty to the domain and was no longer tied to reward. To keep up with economic development, people had to work harder. Commerce boomed, and people let their pocket- books regulate their behavior.

To be sure, farmers suffered under heavy taxes. Merchants had to accept arbitrary restrictions on commerce and pay forced loans whenever govern- ments faced financial crisis. Many samurai could not afford the pleasure districts, nor did their offices keep them occupied. They retreated to the private world of intellectual stimulation and the pursuit of pleasure, where they joined townspeople and rural entrepreneurs in creating a vibrant popular culture.

artisans, and entertainers who supplied them with goods and services, from food to prostitutes. Faced with underemployment, some samurai turned to intellectual pursuits, debating Japan’s place in the world, the nature of society, and the best way for governments to stay solvent.

By the end of the eighteenth century, the regime’s scorecard was decidedly mixed. Governments and the military ruling class were chronically in debt while attempts to place new burdens on farmers, famines, and the perception that evil merchants prof- ited from high prices sparked uprisings and riots. At the same time, men and women, townspeople and farmers sought education, supported a thriving pub- lishing industry, and enjoyed the delights of travel.

What difference did two hundred years of peace make to Japan? Because the shogunate restricted foreign trade, historians once assumed that Japan

06475_ch17_rev04.indd 303 9/19/12 4:12 PM

304

As a philosophical system and set of practices, what historians today call neo-Confucianism had a lasting impact on China, korea, and Japan. It

was distinguished by a search for a unifying expla- nation for the universe, the physical world, and hu- man nature. Philosophers found this explanation in li (principle or pattern), an invisible underlying principle that informs everything. Plants, mountains, and people are what they are because of li, and li provides the link between them. Thus all things are fundamentally one, a view of the world with strong Buddhist overtones. At the same time, li is different in different objects—the principle in men is different from the principle in wom- en. what makes things different and gives them their physicality is qi—often translated as “ether,” “physi- cal force,” or “matter.” According to the great Song philosopher Zhu Xi (1130–1200), neither li nor qi could exist without the other.

Some philosophers believed that because human be- ings had both li and qi, knowledge should be sought through meditation; others believed that it should be sought by studying books and examining the external world. what mediates between li and qi in human be- ings is xin—mind or heart. In its underlying form, xin is pure and flawless; in its physical form, it is clouded by desires (yu) and feelings (qing). Because desires and feel- ings can lead to evil, they have to be regulated.

Zhu Xi used rules and rites centered on the virtues promoted in the Chinese classics to regulate indi- vidual behavior and family life in accordance with li. He warned that although food and sex are necessary to sustain life, tasty food and too much contact with women stimulate desire. Men and women should lead separate lives, and the wife’s position should be supe- rior to that of concubines. To train people in the key vir- tue of filial piety (reverence for parents), Zhu Xi detailed the appropriate rites for paying homage to ancestors. The household head and his wife played the central role, and the wife knew that she, unlike concubines, would join the ancestors on the family altar.

In yuan, Ming, and Qing China, Zhu Xi’s com- mentaries on the Confucian classics became required reading for all who hoped to pass the civil service ex- aminations. The effects of this government-imposed orthodoxy were not as stagnating as one might ex- pect, and in both Ming and Qing times some neo- Confucian thinkers rejected Zhu Xi’s understandings and proposed radically different ideas.

In korea, Joseon-period yangban opposed to Buddhism seized on neo-Confucianism so as to

order social relations and explore the nature of the universe. In the sixteenth century, scholars delved deeply into the relationship between li and qi, dis- puting which came first and trying to quantify their relative importance. In the eighteenth century, the positions staked out in this debate became aligned with different factions and justified purges.

Yangban incorporated separation of the sexes and filial piety into their daily lives. They reformed gender relations in the fifteenth century by reducing women’s status and property rights. As in China, they empha- sized integrity, which for a widow meant that she must never remarry. Their houses had walls and courtyards to separate male quarters at the front from female quarters at the back. only sons by the primary wife could participate fully in yangban society, especially in taking civil service exams. The king had to venerate his father’s wife in public rituals; if his mother had been a concubine, she received nothing but private rites. when a man died, his eldest son moved to a grass hut beside the tomb where he performed elaborate rituals to feed and honor the departed.

In Tokugawa Japan, neo-Confucianism served the ideology of rule. The social hierarchy was deemed to reflect the natural order; by a sleight of hand, war- riors turned into gentlemen. Even shoguns lectured on the classics praised by Zhu Xi and hired scholars to lecture on similarly suitable topics. while recognizing the centrality of filial piety and compiling records of filial children, samurai turned loyalty into an abstract, all-encompassing standard for behavior. while some scholars investigated the external world, others lauded desire and human feeling. A merchant philosopher taught meditation to clear the cloudy heart.

living the neo-Confucian way was more prob- lematic. only wealthy members of the warrior class had the resources to segregate their living space. They distinguished between wife and concubines as much for political reasons as for moral reasons, although birth mothers received greater public re- spect than in korea. Rather than waste a political asset, they had their sisters and daughters marry repeatedly. At the turn of the eighteenth century, the shogun codified mourning rituals that took into consideration the complex family relationships created by adoption, but Buddhist ritual special- ists continued to mediate between the dead and the living. Even the most devoted follower of Zhu Xi’s teachings could not bring himself to wail at his father’s grave.

M A K I N G C O M P A R I S O N S Neo-Confucianism

06475_ch17_rev04.indd 304 9/10/12 2:25 PM

I-1

Abaoji (Khitan), 130, 171 Abbasids, 93; Mongols and, 165 Abe family (Japan), 159 Abu Zayd (Persia), 93 Administration. See Government Admonitions for Women

(Ban Zhao), 49, 52 Adoption: in Japan, 188;

in Korea, 261 Africa: Chinese trade with,

134; spread of Homo sapiens from, 2

Agriculture: in China, 12, 50, 132; in Japan, 114, 126–127, 183, 189–190; in Korea, 248; in Neolithic China, 2; in Tokugawa Japan, 291–294; in Vietnam, 54; See also Farmers and farming

Aguda (Jurchen), 138 Ainu people, 6, 291, 291 (illus.) Akazone Emon (Japan), 154 Akechi Mitsuhide (Japan), 224 Albuquerque, Alfonso de, 265 Alliances, in Zhou China, 21

See also specific alliances All-Under-Heaven, 17; Han Chinese

bureaucracy and, 44 Alphabet, hangul (Korea), 113,

248 (illus.), 258, 262, 264 Altaic languages, 100, 113, 117 Altan Khan (Mongols), 233, 234 Amaterasu (sun goddess),

116, 182 Americas: China-European trade

and, 267; movement of peoples into, 2; See also New World crops

Amida Buddha cult, in Japan, 158, 192, 222–223

Amitabha, Buddha as, 58 Amoghavajra (Ceylon), 84 Analects (Confucius), 22, 26,

34, 90 Ancestor worship: in China, 10,

268, 276, 304; in Korea, 261 Ando– Sho– eki (Japan), 298 Angkor Wat, 95 Animals: Bactrian camel, 52;

Chinese trade in, 133; in early

China, 3, 14, 14 (illus.); in Japan, 114, 189; See also Horses

Animism, 117 An Lushan (China), 75, 84–85,

90, 92 Annals of Mr. Lü, The, 37–38 Anyang, China, 8, 10, 12, 19. See

also Shang Dynasty (China) Architecture: Buddhist monumental,

57–58; in China, 11, 51; in Japan, 218

Arigh Böke (Mongol), 200 Aristocracy: in China, 50, 68;

in Japan, 152–153, 154–157; Japanese warrior class and, 184–185; in Silla Korea, 106, 107–108, 109; in Tang China, 81–82; in Zhou China, 18, 20. See also Elites; Nobility; Yangban aristocracy (Korea)

Armed forces: in China, 10, 36, 65, 67, 77, 229; in Japan, 254; in Korea, 248, 251; Manchu banners, 271, 274, 277–279; Xianbei, 64. See also Military; Warriors

Artisans, in Japan, 191, 293(illus.) Art of War (Sunzi), 32 Art(s): in China, 33–34, 69–70;

Chinese in Vietnam, 54; in Japan, 126, 150; from Kamakura Japan, 193, 194 (illus.); in Momoyama Japan, 218–219; in Silla, 110, 111 (illus.). See also Literature; Painting and painters; Poets and poetry; Pottery; specific arts and artists

Aryan people (India), 56 Ashikaga Dynasty (Japan):

Ashikaga Takauji, 213, 217; Ashikaga Yoshiaki, 223; Ashikaga Yoshihisa, 219, 220; Ashikaga Yoshimasa, 218, 219; Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, 213, 217; Buddhism and, 217–218; end of, 223

Ashoka (India), 57–58, 76 Asia: communication within

(6th–10th centuries), 94 (map);

cultural contacts in, 93, 95–96; Japanese islands and, 115; trade within, 94 (map)

Asobi (female entertainers), 156–157, 191

Asuka, Japan, 119 Australia, human migrations to, 2 “Autumn Meditation” poems

(Du Fu), 87 Avalokitesvara (bodhitsattva), 58 Azuma kagami (Japan), 193

Bactrian camel, trade and, 52 Baekje state (Korea), 103–104,

105–106 Bai Juyi (China), 87–88, 96 Bai Xingjian (China), 88 Bakufu (bureaucracy), in Japan, 188 Balanced Discourses (Wang

Chong), 46 Balgi (Korea), 102 Balhae (Korea), 106, 107,

110–112, 171 Bandits: in China, 65, 91;

in Japan, 197 Ban family (China), 48–49;

Ban Biao, 49; Ban Chao, 49; Ban Gu, 49; Ban Zhao, 49, 52

Banner system (China): in Manchu armies, 271; in Qing China, 274, 277–279

Baoshan, China, tomb from, 34 Bao Shuya (China), 22 Bayan (Mongol), 201 Beijing, China: British diplomats

in, 280; Forbidden City in, 230; Jesuits in, 268, 276; as Jin capi- tal, 138, 198; as Liao capital, 130; Manchu conquest of, 272, 273, 277; Mongol capture of, 164, 201

Biographies of Exemplary Women (Liu Xiang), 52

Black Death, 168 Board of Divination (Japan), 148 Boatmen, missions for, 285 Boat People, in China, 284 Bodhisattvas, 58; in China, 71, 81;

in Japan, 123

I N D E X

06512_index_rev01.indd 1 9/14/12 5:55 PM

I-2 Index

Bone Rank system. See True Bones aristocrats (Silla)

Book burning, in China, 39 Book of Changes (China), 64 Book of Documents (China),

16, 19, 47, 281 Book of Rites (China), 51 Book of Songs (China), 16–17,

18, 19 Books: in China, 134, 242–244,

276; Chinese, in Korea, 256; European, in Korea, 269; See also Libraries; Printing; specific works

Border Defence Command (Korea), 251

Borderlands, of China, 53–54 Borneo, 95 Borobudur, 95 Boucher, Guillame, 167 Britain: China and, 280;

Japan and, 269 maritime trade of, 265 British East India Company,

268–269, 280 Bronze: in China, 5, 10,

13–14, 14 (illus.), 15; in Korea, 100, 111 (illus.); in Mongolia, 5; Xiongnu, 43 (illus.)

Bronze Age: in China, 8–19; See also Shang Dynasty (China); Zhou Dynasty (China)

Brotherhoods, in China, 285 Buddha and Buddhism: in Ashikaga

Japan, 217–218; Ashoka and, 57–58, 76; in China, 61, 68, 69, 70–72, 76, 79–81, 83–84, 92, 285; Daoism and, 60, 72, 74, 84, 90; expansion of, 56–60, 58 (illus.), 59 (map), 93; in Fujiwara Japan, 157–158; in Japan, 60, 80, 122–124, 148, 150–151, 222–223; in Kamakura Japan, 192–193; in Korea, 107, 174–175, 261; Lamaist, 271, 276; Tantric, 84, 95, 192; in Tibet, 58, 95, 206, 233, 234, 276; Zen, 81, 151, 175, 193, 217–218. See also Bodisat- tvas; Monks and monasteries; Temples (Buddhist)

Bukara, 96 Bureaucracy: in China, 36, 44, 66,

231, 244; in Japan, 122, 188, 290, 302; in Silla, 108. See also Examination system

Burials: of chariots, 18 (illus.); in China, 4, 23, 142; dolmens, 5, 6 (illus.); in Indian stupas, 57; in Japan, 118; Korean cremation, 261; in Mumun culture, 5; in Northern Zone cultures, 5; in Shang tombs, 11–12, 15; in Yayoi Japan, 115. See also Tombs

Business: in China, 132; in Japan, 298 See also Commerce

Buyeo, 101, 107 Byeonhan, 101

Cai family (China), 142 Cakravartin king, Wendi as, 76 Calendar, Western, in Korea, 260 Calligraphy, in China, 64 (illus.),

69, 70, 236, 276, 282 (illus.) Cambodia, Khmer of, 95 Camels, trade and, 52 Canton. See Guangzhou Cao Cao (China), 62, 63, 64 Cao Pei (China), 62, 64 Cao Xueqin (China), 281 Cao Zhi (China), 64, 69 Caste system, in India, 56, 57 Catapults, 165, 167, 201 Catholicism: in East Asia, 267,

268; in Korea, 260–261, 269. See also Christians and Christianity

Cave temples: Buddhist Chinese, 60 (illus.), 71; Dunhuang (China), 71 (illus.), 90, 91

Celadon pottery, in Korea, 172, 173, 173 (illus.)

Censorship, in China, 276 Census: in China, 53, 84:

in Japan, 120, 126 Central Asia: Buddhism in,

58, 59 (map), 70; China and, 49, 52, 78, 79; cultural contacts in, 96; Mongols in, 199; trade and, 52, 53; Turks in, 78, 162

Centralization: in China, 38–39; in Korea, 170, 250

Ceramics. See Porcelain; Pottery Champa, Vietnam, 68, 76–77 Chan Buddhism. See Zen Buddhism Chang’an, China, 42, 64, 69;

Buddhism in, 60; as capital, 76, 79, 82, 92; foreigners in, 93; layout of, 79 (fig.), 230; Uighurs in, 85

Chariots, 5, 7, 10, 18 (illus.)

Chen Dynasty (China), 63 (map), 68 Cheng brothers (Cheng Hao, Cheng

Yi, China), 140, 143, 147 Cheng (China), 37, 38 Cheng-Zhu school, 179, 230; See

also Learning of the Way Chengzu (Yongle emperor, China),

229–230, 231, 233 Chieftains, in Japan, 115–116,

117, 118 Chikamatsu Monzaemon

(Japan), 295 Children: in Chinese families,

142–143; Korean board games, 252, 252 (illus.); See also Families

China: Abaoji and, 130, 171; after last Ice Age, 2–3; ancestors in, 10, 268, 276, 304; ancient migrations from, 2; Baekje culture and, 103; borderlands of, 53–54; Bronze Age in, 8–19; Buddhism in, 61, 68, 69, 70–72, 79–81, 83–84; east-west cultural divide in, 3–4; European contacts with, 266–267, 268, 280–281; families in, 135–136, 142–143, 262; First Emperor in, 38–41; footbinding in, 143–144, 264; geography of, 9–10; Goguryeo state (Korea) and, 105; Han society, 49–52; intellectual thought in, 26–32; jade plaque from, 4 (illus.); Japan and, 93, 115, 118–120, 149, 245; Jesuits in, 268, 276; Jurchen rulers of, 138; Korea and, 98, 100–101, 104, 108, 170, 250; lacquer- ware from, 33 (illus.); Legalism in, 31–32, 37, 39, 182; links with neighbors, 4–5; medieval economic revolution in, 132–134; monarchy in, 182; Mongol rule of, 198–209; non-Chinese dominance, 65; Northern Zone of, 5, 12; Period of Division in, 62, 63 (map), 69–70; plague in, 72, 168; printing, 91, 134; Qin unifica- tion of, 37–42; queue braid for men, 271, 273, 276; rammed earth foundations in, 11 (illus.); Southern Dynasties in, 61, 67–68, 74; tea in, 80, 81 (illus.), 274, 280; Three Kingdoms in, 61, 62, 63 (map), 74, 101;

06512_index_rev01.indd 2 9/14/12 5:55 PM

Index I-3

trade and, 133–134, 205–206; unification of, 37–42, 75, 76–77; Vietnam and, 54, 68, 76–77, 79, 95; women in, 143–144; writing in, 12–13, 38 (fig.), 113; Yin/Yang, 32, 83; See also Bureaucracy; Exami- nation system; Government; Mongols; specific dynasties

Chinese language, 2, 22, 113; Buddhist texts in, 60; in Japan, 150; in Korea, 252

Chinggis Khan (Mongols), 163–164, 165, 198, 199

Choe Bu (Korea), 261 Choe Chiwon (Korea), 108 Choe family (Korea), 169,

181;Choe Chiwon, 170; Choe Chungheon, 177; Choe Hang, 178; Choe Yi, 177, 178

Chontae Buddhism, 175. See also Tendai Buddhism

Christians and Christianity: in China, 268; in Japan, 290; Nestorian, 79, 95, 168; Shimabara rebellion, 226; Western Learning and, 260–261; See also Catholicism; Missions and missionaries

Chu culture (China), 33–34. See also Eastern Zhou Dynasty (China)

Chungyeol (Korea), 178 Chu state (China), 20, 21 Cishan, China, 3 Cist burial, 5 Cities and towns: in China, 85,

132; Chinese elites in, 241–244; in Japan, 184 (map), 294–296; in Korea, 257; modeled on Chang’an, 79 (fig.); See also Villages; specific cities

City-states, Silk Road, 52 Civil service: in China, 63, 76,

83, 206, 231; Chinese scholar- official class and, 134–136; in Korea, 170, 177, 250; See also Examination system

Civil war: in China, 64, 229–230; in Japan, 219–226; Mongol, 233

Classes: Chinese scholar-official class, 134–136; Indian castes, 56, 57; in Japan, 118, 152–153, 288–289; in Mongol China, 203, 205; samurai (Japan) as, 187, 224; in Silla, 107–108; in Zhou society, 17, 18; See also

Society; Slaves and slavery; specific class

Classic books, in Han China, 45 Classic of Filial Piety (China),

51, 236 Climate: of China, 9; of Japan,

115; of Korea, 99 Clothing: in China, 146, 146

(illus.); of Chinese armies, 25; in Japan, 292; of Mongols, 162

Codes of law. See Laws and law codes

Coins: in China, 24, 85, 132; in Japan, 215, 224, 290

Columbus, Christopher, 265 Commanderies, in Korea, 100–101 Commerce: China and, 43;

in Japan, 214 in Tang China, 85; in Tokugawa Japan, 292–293, 302. See also Trade

Commoners: in Japan, 149; in Korea, 172, 258. See also Peasants

Communication, in Asia (6th–10th centuries), 94 (map)

Community compacts. in China, 240–241

Compass, in China, 134 Complete Books of the Four

Treasuries (China), 276 Complete Tang Poems (China), 86 Concubines: in China, 21, 143;

in Japan, 153, 214; in Korea, 254

Confucian Academy (Korea), 249 (illus.)

Confucius and Confucianism, 26–27, 304; Analects, 22, 26, 27, 34, 90; Buddhism and, 69; in China, 281; Chinese family life and, 26, 51; Christianity and, 261, 268; Daoism and, 31; Empress Wu and, 83; govern- ment support for, 90; Guan Zhong and, 22; Han form of, 44, 45, 47, 55; in Japan, 122; junzi (Chinese gentlemen), 26–27; in Korea, 169, 175–176, 247, 248, 249–251, 260, 261–262, 263; Mencius and, 28; in Song China, 137, 140–141; Wang Yangming’s challenge to, 237–239, 240, 244, 245, 251. See also Neo-Confucianism

Conservatism, in China, 281 Consumption revolution,

in Japan, 295

Conversion, to Christianity, 261 Corruption: in China, 277;

in Korea, 177 Corvée (required labor):

in Japan, 127; in Korea, 248 Cosmology: in Han China,

45, 47; in India, 56; in Korea, 103; in Zhou China, 16–17

Cottage industries, in Japan, 292–293, 293 (illus.)

Cotton: in Japan, 292; in Korea, 179

Council of Notables (Silla), 106, 107

Council of State (Japan), 149 Courtesan culture, in China, 244 Court (royal): in China, 18, 66;

in Japan, 148, 152, 213, 288 Craftsmen, in Shang China, 12.

See also Artisans Crime, in Japan, 149 Crops: in China, 3, 132, 210,

234, 283; in Japan, 189, 300; in Korea, 99; Manchu, 271; in Vietnam, 54; See also Agriculture; Rice

Crossbow, 23 “Crossing the Yellow River”

(Yuan Haowen), 200 Cultivators: in China, 210, 283;

in Japan, 190; See also Farmers and farming

Cults: in China, 45, 228; in Japan, 150, 217. See also Religion(s)

Culture(s): in China, 10, 15, 65; Chinese influence on Japan, 120; East Asia conflicts among, 4–7; Eurasian contacts and, 93, 95–96; of Goryeo Korea, 174–176; in Han China, 43; in Heian Japan, 150; in Japan, 2, 114, 126, 294–296, 300–301; Japanese elite, 152–153; of Khitans and Jurchens, 162; in Korea, 2, 108–110, 172–176, 258–261; Manchu, 279; in Ming China, 234–244; Muromachi (Japan), 218–219; prehistoric, 2–4; in Qing China, 281–283; in Song China, 129, 140–146; in Tokugawa Japan, 294–296; urban Chinese, 241–244; in Western Zhou period, 18–19; of Xianbei nobility, 66–67

Currency. See Coins; Money

06512_index_rev01.indd 3 9/14/12 5:55 PM

I-4 Index

Dadu. See Beijing Dae family (Balhae), 111 Dae Joyeong (Korea), 110 Daigo (Japan), 152 Daimyo warlords (Japan), 288;

castles of, 295; in Edo, 290; government and, 289, 290; indebtedness of, 294

Dalai Lama (Tibet), 234, 276 Dali kingdom, 133, 200, 202 Dance: cultural exchange of, 96;

Japanese, 126 Daoism, 30–31, 62, 64, 145, 285;

Buddhism and, 60, 72, 74, 84, 90; Huang-Lao, 45; monaster- ies, 72, 74; poetry and, 70

Dawenkou, Shandong, burials in, 4

Dazai Shundai (Japan), 298 Defenses: in China, 4, 24, 64;

Great Wall, 41–42, 233; in Korea, 254

Deforestation, in China, 132 Deities. See Gods and goddesses;

specific deities Dejima, Japan, Dutch trade

and, 269 Deng (Chinese empress), 49 Diamond Mountains

(Jeong Seon), 255 (illus.) Diamond Sutra, 91 Dian state (Yunnan), 53–54 Di (Chinese deity), 10, 19 Di (ethnic group), 22, 41, 65 Diplomacy, Chinese, 232, 280 Disciples faction (Korea), 255–256 Discourses of the States, 21 Diseases: in China, 137, 284; in

Japan, 126, 151, 190, 217, 293; plague, 72, 168; smallpox, 245, 274, 293; in Vietnam, 77

Divination, 145; Anyang texts, 8, 10, 12, 15

Divorce: in China, 51; in East Asia, 264 in Japan, 214; in Korea, 173

Doctors, women as, 238. See also Diseases; Medicine

Doctrine of the Mean, 140 Dogen (Japan), 193 Dolmens, 5, 6 (illus.) Domains (Japan), 290 Dominicans, 267, 276 Dongyang (China), 71 Dong Zhongshu (China), 44, 47 Dorgon (Manchu), 271–272 Doseon (Korea), 174–175

Double-descent system, in Korea, 108

Dowry, in China, 51, 141, 146 Drama: in China, 208, 242–243;

in Japan, 218, 295–296, 300; musical, in China, 244

Dream of Han Tan (Tang Xianzu), 244

Dream of Red Mansions, The (Cao Xueqin), 281–283

Drought, in China, 284 Du Fu (China), 87 Dunhuang caves (China), 71, 71

(illus.), 90–91 Duomin people, in China, 284 Dutch East India Company,

268, 280 Dutch traders, 268, 280; Japan

and, 269, 290, 298–299 Dynasties. See specific dynasties

and rulers Dzungar Mongols, 276

Earthenware, in Korea, 100 East Asia: Buddhism in, 56–60;

Chinese script in, 13; early humans in, 2; Europeans in, 265–269; food cultures in, 210; language families in, 2; Neolithic sites in, 3 (map); women in, 264. See also specific countries

Easterner faction (Korea), 252, 253

Eastern Jin Dynasty (China), 63 (map), 68, 74

Eastern (Later) Han Dynasty (China), 44, 45

Eastern Zhou Dynasty (China), 20–35; hundred schools of thought in, 26–32; literature and art in, 33–34; multistate system in, 21–23; Warring States period in, 21, 22, 23–26, 33–34

East India Companies, 268–269, 280 See also British East India Company

Echigoya (Japan), 300 Economy: in China, 24, 85,

132–134; in Japan, 183, 189, 216; of Jurchen people, 138; in Korea, 257; in Mongol China, 205–206. See also Commerce; Trade

Edo, Japan, 226; daimyo in, 290; lifestyle in, 294–295; night soil from, 294; population in, 300; riots in, 302

Edo period (Japan), 288–303; intellectual trends in, 296–299. See also Tokugawa shogunate

Education: in China, 91, 206–208, 234–237; in Japan, 300; for women, 49, 52, 143, 156. See also Scholars; Scholar- official class

Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, 281, 282, 282 (illus.)

Eightfold Path (Buddhism), 57 Eisai (Japan), 193 Elites: in China, 4, 15, 50–51,

63–64, 65, 234–237; Japanese culture and, 125–126; in Korea, 101; in Mongol China, 206–208; reforms in China and, 136–137; in Tang China, 81–82; warrior, 5. See also Scholars; Scholar- official class

Emishi (barbarians), 122, 148, 159

Emperor, use of title in China, 38. See also specific rulers

Empress, in China, 43, 75, 82–84, 92

Encountering Sorrows (Qu Yuan), 34

Ennin (Japanese monk), 81, 108 Enryaku era (Japan), 148 Enryakuji, Japan, 158, 159;

destruction of, 223; Lotus League and, 222; moneylend- ing by, 216; temple complex of, 149, 151

Entertainment: in China, 139; female, in Japan, 156–157, 191; in Japan, 150

Episodes from the Life of Buddha, 249

Equal-field system, in China, 66, 84, 85, 90

Esen (Western Mongol khan), 233 Essays in Idleness (Yoshida

Kenko–), 218 Estates, in Japan (sho–en), 160 Estate stewards (Japan), 187,

188–189, 190–191, 196–197 Eternal Mother (goddess), 285 Ethnic groups: in China, 22, 65,

202–203, 286; Hakka people (China), 286; in Inner Asia, 111; in Japan, 122; in Korea, 100, 101; Turks as, 78

Eunuchs, in China, 86, 92, 182; in Han court, 42, 44–45, 47, 51; in Ming court, 230–231, 245

06512_index_rev01.indd 4 9/14/12 5:55 PM

Index I-5

Eurasia: contacts within, 4–5; cultural contacts across, 93–96; human migrations in, 2; logographic scripts in western, 12–13

Europe: East Asian contacts with, 265–269; Mongols and, 168; Qing China and, 280–281; trade with, 265, 266(map), 267. See also Western World; specific countries

Examination system: in China, 76, 82, 83, 86, 87, 134–135, 206, 234–237; in Korea, 170, 177, 250, 251

Exploration: European, 265; by Zheng He (China), 232–233, 235 (map)

Factionalism, in Korea, 252–253, 254, 255–256

Families: aristocratic Chinese, 82; in China, 135–136, 142–143, 283; Confucius on, 26; in Han China, 51; in Japan, 187–188, 289, 293 (illus.); in Korea, 107–108, 173, 261–262; in Wei China, 62; in Western Zhou society, 18; Xiongnu, 41

Famine: in China, 284; in Japan, 300, 302

Fang Bao (China), 278–279 Fang Xiaoru (China), 230 Fan Zhongyan (China), 137 Farmers and farming: in China,

132, 210, 283, 284; conscrip- tion of farmers and, 149; in Han China, 49–50; in Japan, 126–127, 190, 214–215, 292, 293, 294, 301–302; in Mumun (Korea), 5; in Shang China, 12. See also Agriculture

Faxian (Chinese pilgrim), 72 Female infanticide, in China, 284 Ferghana, China and, 52 Fertilizer, in Japan, 189, 294,

294 (illus.) Feudalism, in Zhou China,

17–18, 21 Fiction. See Literature Fiefs, in Han China, 42 First Emperor (China), 38–41;

tomb of, 39–41, 40 (illus.) Five Classics (China), 45 Five Dynasties (China), 91, 129 Five Guards Command

(Korea), 249

Five Phases theory, 103; correspondences of, 47 (illus.)

Five Women Who Loved Love (Ihara Saikaku), 295

Floods, in China, 10, 284 Flower Garland Sect (Korea),

108, 175 Flower Garland Sutra, 108 Food(s): Chinese trade and, 52;

East Asia linkages, 210; in little ice age, 245; in Neolithic China, 3; in prehistoric Korea and Japan, 2. See also Agriculture; Crops

Footbinding, of Chinese women, 143–144, 264

Forced labor. See Corvée; Slaves and slavery

Fotudeng (China), 70 Four Books (China), 140–141,

147, 176, 234, 236, 281 Four Noble Truths (Buddhism), 57 Franciscans, in China, 276 Frois, Louis, 267 Frontiers: of China, 52, 53–54,

85; Turks on, 78 Fujiwara lineage (Japan), 148,

152–158, 186; Buddhism and, 157–158; Fujiwara Hirotsugu, 122; Fujiwara no Michinaga, 153, 154, 155–156, 158; Fujiwara no Sumitomo, 150; Fujiwara no Teika, 195; Fujiwara Tokihira (Japan), 152; marriage and politics under, 120, 153–154; monks and, 158; mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna, 154; patron-client relations under, 153; Yoritomo’s defeat of, 187

Funan, 68

Gagaku (Japan), 126 Gangsu (Korean scribe), 109 Gansu province, China, 60 Gao (Han Chinese Emperor),

42–42 Gao Huan (China), 67 Gaozong (Southern Song

China), 139 Gaozong (Tang China), 82, 83 Gaozu (Li Yuan, Tang China),

65, 77 Garden of Pure Fragrance, 275 Gardens of Suzhou, 241, 241

(illus.) Gasa poems (Korea), 259

Gautama, Siddhartha, 56. See also Buddha and Buddhism

Gaya confederation, 104, 105 Ge Hong (China), 72 Gekokujo–, 223 Gender roles: in China, 143;

in Japan, 156. See also Men; Women

Genealogies: in China, 82, 84; in Korea, 261

Genpei War (Japan), 186 Genroku era (Japan), 295, 298 Geography: of Chinese subconti-

nent, 9–10; of Japan, 115; of Korea, 98–100, 99 (map)

Geomancy, in China, 142 George III (England), 280 Gija (Qizi), 100 Gion festival (Japan),

151, 151 (illus.) Goa, India, 265, 267 GoDaigo (Japan), 212–213,

215, 217 Gods and goddesses: in China, 10,

144–145; in Japan, 116, 182, 298, 301. See also Religion(s); specific deities

Go family (Balhae), 111 Gogukcheon (Korea), 102 Goguryeo state (Korea), 77, 101,

102, 103, 104 (map); Balhae and, 111; China and, 92, 105, 106

Golden Pavilion (Japan), 218 Gongmin (Korea), 169, 180, 181,

182, 247–248 Gongzi Cheng (China), 25 Goryeo Dynasty (Korea),

169–182; end of, 247–248; government, 169–170; inter- national context, 171–172; military rule of, 177–178; Mongols and, 177–181; society and culture in, 172–176

Goryo– (angry spirits) (Japan),151 Go-Sanjo– (Japan), 158, 160 Goseibai shikimoku (Japan), 189 GoShirakawa (Japan), 186, 187 GoToba (Japan), 188 Government: Ashikaga Japan,

213–214; of Baekche, 103–104; Chinese bannermen in, 277–278; Chinese Legalism and, 31–32; Confucius on, 27; in Eastern Zhou period, 21–22; of Goryeo Korea, 169–171; in Han China, 43–44, 53; in Japan, 118, 121, 149;

06512_index_rev01.indd 5 9/14/12 5:55 PM

I-6 Index

of Japanese villages, 214–215; of Kamakura Japan, 186–187; of Khitan tribes, 130–131; of Korean Three Kingdoms, 104; military rule, in Korea, 177; of Ming China, 228; of Mongol China, 200, 206; of Qianlong China, 276; of Qin China, 38–39; service in China, 206; of Song China, 136–137; of Tang China, 83, 84, 85, 91; of Tokugawa Japan, 289–291; of Western Zhou Dynasty, 17–18; of Xia Dynasty, 131

Grand Canal (China), 92, 132, 139, 206, 276

Grandee’s Son Takes the Wrong Career, 208

Grand Institutes for Governing the State (Korea), 249

Great Cloud Sutra, 83–84 Great Learning, 140–141 Great Reform era (Japan), 120 Great Wall (China): Mongols

and, 233; Xiongnu and, 41–42 Guangzhou (Canton): European

traders in, 280; foreigners in, 93; maritime trade in, 268

Guan Hanqing (China), 208 Guanyin (Kannon),

58, 71, 267 Guan Zhong (China), 21, 22 Guanzi, 22 Guilds: in China, 132; in Japan,

216, 224, 302; of merchants, 280, 302

Gu Kaizhi (China), 70 Gukansho (Japanese history), 192 Gunpowder, 132; in Korea, 179,

254; Mongols and, 165 Guns (matchlock), 219 Gu Yanwu (China), 273 Gwaneum. See Guanyin (Kannon) Gwanggaeto (Korea), 103 Gwanghaegun (Korea), 254 Gwangjong (Korea), 170 Gyeongju Choe (Korea), 170 Gyeongwon Yi (Korea), 170 Gyo– ki (Japan), 121, 123

Hachiman (god), 194 (illus.) Haeju Choe (Korea), 170 Haiku poetry, in Japan, 295 Hakka people (China), 286 Hakushi reform era (Japan), 120 Hall of Worthies (Korea), 248

Hamamatsu Chunagon monogatari, 154

Han Dynasty (China), 42–60; borderlands, 53–54; bureau- cratic empire of, 36; Central Asia and Silk Road, 52, 53 (illus.); Confucianism in, 44, 45, 47, 55; empire of, 37(map); intellectual thought and religion in, 45–49; Liu Yuan and, 65; palace eunuchs in, 42, 44–45, 47; society during, 49–52; tomb scenes from, 48 (illus.), 52 (illus.); Vietnam and, 54; Wei dynasty and, 62; Western and Eastern periods of, 44, 45

Han Feizi (China), 31 Han Gan (China), 84 Hangul alphabet (Korea), 113,

248 (fig.), 258, 262, 264 Hangzhou, China, 129, 132,

139–140, 201 Haniwa (clay figurines and

cylinders), 117, 119 (illus.) Han (Korea), 101 Han people (China), 9, 203

migration of, 286 Han River, 99 Hanyang. See Seoul Han Yu (China), 90 Hao (Lady), royal tomb of, 11–12 Hatakeyama family (Japan),

213, 219 Hata lineage (Japan), 117 Hatatomo, in Japan, 289–290 Hayashi Razan (Japan), 296, 297 Hayato people, 122, 123 Heaven, Mandate of. See Mandate

of Heaven Heaven and Earth Society

(China), 285 Hebei, China, 3 Heian-kyo, Japan, capital at,

122, 148 Heian period (Japan), 148–161;

religious practice in, 150–151. See also Fujiwara lineage (Japan)

Heiji Incident (Japan), 186 Hemudu, China, rice grown in, 3 Heo (Korea), 260 Hereditary military caste.

See Banner system (China); Samurai (Japan)

Hereditary succession, in China, 43, 135, 229

Heshen (China), 277

He Xinyin (China), 240 Hideyoshi. See Toyotomi

Hideyoshi Himiko (Japan), 115 Hinduism, in India, 57, 95 Hino Meishi (Japan), 215 Hino Tomiko (Japan), 219 Hiragana Japanese writing, 155 Hirotsugu (Fujiwara, Japan), 122 Historical Records

(Sima Qian), 100 History: by Ban Family (China),

49; Dunhuang documents and, 90–91; in Han China, 48, 49; in Japan, 192; in Korea, 176; by Rashid al-Din, 167

History of Goryeo, 172 History of the Former Han

Dynasty (Ban family), 48, 49 History of the Sui Dynasty, 77 History of the Three Kingdoms

(Korea), 176 Högen Incident (Japan), 186 Ho– jo– family (Japan),197, 213,

224; estate stewards and, 188–189, 196

Ho– jo– Masako (Japan), 188 Ho– jo– ki (Japan), 193 Hokkaido, 122, 290; Ainu people

of, 6, 291 Holy Teachings of Vimalakirti, 70 Homo erectus, in East Asia, 2 Homo sapiens, 2 Homosexuality, Chinese laws

against, 281 Honen (Japan), 192–193 Hong Daeyong (Korea), 260 Hong Mai (China), 144–145, 146 Hongshan culture, 4 Hong Taiji (Manchus), 271 Hongwu period (China), 228–229 Honshu, 6, 122 Horses: chariots and, 5, 7, 10;

domestication of, 4–5; in Japan, 117, 216; Jurchen, 138; Mongol, 165; Northern Wei Dynasty and, 66, 66 (illus.); Song China trade and, 133; stirrups and, 65; Xiongnu, 41; Zhou cavalry, 24

Hou Jing (China), 68, 69, 82 Housing: of Mongols, 162, 164

(illus.), 271; in Neolithic China, 3; Xiongnu, 41

Huang Chao (China), 91 Huang Gongwang (China), 208 Huang-Lao Daoism, 45. See also

Daoism

06512_index_rev01.indd 6 9/14/12 5:55 PM

Index I-7

Huang Sheng (China) clothing of, 146, 146 (illus.)

Huang Zongxi (China), 273 Hu (Chinese Empress Dowager), 73 Huineng (China), 81 Huiyao (Chinese nun), 71 Huizong (Song China), 137–138 Hulü Che, 66 (illus.) Human nature, Mencius on, 29 Humans: in East Asia, 2;

in Korea, 100 Human sacrifice, in China, 4, 12 “Hundred Schools of Thought”

(Zhou Dynasty, China), 26–32 Hungary, 165 Hunting, in Neolithic China, 3 Hu people, 41, 42. See also

Xiongnu people Hu Weiyong (China), 229 Hwaeom (Flower-Garland sect,

Korea), 108, 175 Hyangni (local clerks), 250 Hyecho (Korean monk), 108 Hyegyeong (Korean princess),

256, 256 (illus.); memoirs of, 258–259

Hyojong (Korea), 255, 257

Ice Age, human society after, 2 Ihara Saikaku (Japan), 295,

296–297 Ikki (local leagues, Japan),

221–223, 226, 302 Illustrated Guide to the Three

Moral Relationships, 248 Imperial City (Beijing), 230 Imperial system, in Han China, 44 India, 265; Buddhism in, 56–58, 96

Hinduism in, 57, 95; music of, 96

Indo-European languages, 56, 59 Infanticide: female, in China, 284;

in Japan, 293 Infant mortality: in China, 143;

in Japan, 127 Inflation: in China, 139; in Japan,

300; in Korea, 254 Inheritance: in China, 51; in Japan,

115, 189, 196–197, 288 Inhyeon (Korea), 260 Injo (Korea), 254–255 Injong (Korea), 172 Inner Asia, Turks in, 93, 95 Intellectual thought; Chinese

scholar-officials and, 134–136; of Confucius, 26–27; of Daoism, 30–31; in Eastern Zhou (China),

20, 26–32; in Han China, 45; in Japan, 296–299; Legalism as, 31–32; of Mencius, 28–29; of Mozi, 27–28; of Wang Yangming, 237–239; of Xunzi, 29–30; Yin/ Yang and, 32. See also Buddha and Buddhism; Confucius and Confucianism; Neo-Confucianism

Intrigues of the Warring States, The, 21, 25

Invasion of Japan by Mongols, 178, 195–196

Invasions, of China: by Jurchen, 138; by Manchus, 271–272; by Mongols, 198–202

Invasions, of Korea: by China, 105–106; by Japan, 224–225, 251–254, 262, 267; by Manchus, 254–255

Iron: in China, 5, 24, 132; in Japan, 6, 118, 189; in Korea, 254

Irrigation: in China, 284; in Han China, 50; in Japan, 189, 214, 215

Ise shrine (Japan), 118, 300, 301 Ishida Baigan (Japan), 298 Ishiyama Honganji temple

complex, 224 Islam, 79, 95; Mongols and,

167, 168. See also Muslims Ito Jinsai (Japan), 297 Izumi Shikibu Diary, 154

Jade, 4, 4 (illus.) Jang Pogo (Silla), 107 Japanese language, 2; kana

writing, 113, 150, 154, 155 (illus.), 264

Japan: agriculture in, 114, 126–127, 183, 189–190, 291–294; aristocracy in, 152–153, 154–157; Buddhism in, 60, 80, 122–124; China and, 93, 115, 118–120, 245; Christians in, 290; civil war in (1467–1600), 219–226; con- querors of, 223–224; division into three zones, 122; Dutch and, 298–299; economy in, 189; Edo period in (1603–1800), 288–303; elite culture in, 125–126, 154–157; estate system in, 160; European trade and, 265, 268–269; geography of, 115; guilds in, 216, 224, 302; haniwa in, 117, 119 (illus.); Heian period in, 148–161;

Jesuits in, 260, 267; Jomon peoples, 2, 6, 114, 117, 122; Kamakura period, 182–197; kana writing in, 113, 115, 154, 155 (illus.); kingly rule in, 148–151; Korea and, 103, 117; Korea invaded by, 224–225, 251–254; Korean migration to, 6, 117; literature in, 148, 154, 193–195, 295, 296–297; local leagues (ikki) in, 221–223, 226; major provinces, regions, and cities in, 184 (map); mar- riage and politics in, 153–154; Middle Ages in, 212–226; moneylenders in, 216, 216 (illus.), 221–222; Mongols and, 178, 195–196; Muromachi culture in, 218–219; Neo- Confucianism, 296–297, 302, 304; outcasts in, 191–192, 217; peoples of, 114–115; poetry in, 124–125, 126, 150, 154, 193, 218, 220, 221; regime of codes in, 149, 152, 184; religion in, 117–118, 217–218; rice in, 6, 114, 126, 189, 210, 289, 291–292, 300; tea ceremony, 218; technology in, 4; trade and, 215–216, 290; urban life in, 294–296; warlords in, 223; women in, 154, 189, 197, 290; Yamato lineage, 116, 118–120; Yayoi era, 6, 114–115, 116

Java, 95, 165 Jeongjo (Korea), 256, 261 Jeong Myeongsu (Korea), 253 Jeong Seon (Korea), 255(illus.) Jesuits: in China, 268, 276; in

Japan, 260, 267 Jeulmun period, in Korea, 2, 5 Jiang Chun (China), 275 Jiangnan region (China), 227,

235, 237, 241: farms in, 283; libraries in, 281; in Qing dynasty, 273, 276

Jiang Shunfu (China), 239 (illus.) Jia Sidao (China), 201 Jie tribe, 65 Jimmu (Japan), 116 Jin (Duke, China), 23 Jin Dynasty (Jurchen), 138; Korea

and, 172; Manchu revival of, 271; Mongols and, 164, 198– 200; Southern Song and, 139; Western and Central Capitals of, 138, 198–199

06512_index_rev01.indd 7 9/14/12 5:55 PM

I-8 Index

Jin Dynasty (Manchu), 271 Jin Dynasty (Period of Division,

China), 61, 64, 65; Eastern Jin, 63 (map), 68; Western Jin, 74

Jingdezhen, ceramic production at, 205, 206

Jinhan (Korea), 101, 104 Jin Nong (China), 282, 282 (illus.) Jinshi degree (China), 135, 235,

236, 277 Jinshi examinations (China), 136.