The Tang dynasty took power after the collapse of the Sui dynasty, which helped the Tang become a successful and powerful empire. Emperor Li Shimim took the well-working ideas and practices used from the Sui dynasty, and improved it to build his new empire. Due to the fact that Buddhism was the main religion of the Tang empire, cults were formed, and Mahayana did things like helping people reach nirvana, and translating the Buddhist sculptures for better understanding. Chang'an became the new capital of the empire, and it was surrounded by different communications and trade, like the Grand Canal, and was the center of the tributary system. Through the Silk Road, the Tang exchanged things like string instruments, grape wine, tea, sugar, and …show more content…
spices, and later on became famous for their supply of porcelain, a durable ceramic, which all helped the Tang with its economy. Law and Society in Tang China: The Tang law code was a model used for future law codes, because it was successful in combining the ideas of both the government and Confucian concerns. The 502 articles in the law code is divided into twelve books, each with a specific topic it talks about. There are also the ten abominations, and the topics include: rebellion, sedition, treason, depravity, irreverence, lack of filiality, what is not right, and incest. There are also articles in the code called "The Household and Marriage" which are laws that the people must not break. Rivals for Power in Inner Asia and China, 600-907: The Uighurs, who had control over parts of Inner Asia, were successful merchants and scribes, and their success of culture spread to Buddhist teachings, religious art, and more.
After the Uighur collapsed, Tibet was the rival against the Tang, and they were people who excelled in war through the technology they used. Wu Zhao, the woman who declared herself as the new emperor, claimed to others that she was an enlightened soul, but was later said by Confucian elites who did not like the idea of women having power, that she was a terrible leader who tortured and murdered people. People were paranoid about people ruining their society, and they started pointing fingers at Buddhism, saying that they were the source of foreign evil, so this caused Buddhism to fade away, but it was later brought back without the influence that it has from before. The fall of the Tang Empire was caused by internal tensions and military pressure, which led to chaos, and as a result, the Tang never found peace and could not regain …show more content…
power. The Emergence of East Asia, to 1200: The three states that developed after the Tang, had competition against one another because of their different cultures and way of living.
The Liao Empire extended from Siberia to Central Asia, and it was a successful empire that encourages both Confucianism and Buddhism, but they favored Buddhism in the states. The Khitans were excellent horsemen and archers, who challenged the Song, so the Song tried to have a secret alliance with the Jurchens, which ended up in betrayal, and so the Song paid the Jin Empire annually to avoid war. The Song was famous for their intelligence that was used for the advancements and innovations, like their invention of gunpowder, which later became a revolutionary item during war. The economy and society in Song China included new ideas and interpretations of Confucian teachings, meditation used to calm down, and other inventions that helped the growth of its
society. New Kingdom in East Asia: The expansion of Confucianism required the emergence of new kingdoms like Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Each country learned the Chinese language and the Confucian classics, because they were a model for the invented writing systems of the respective countries. Korea was known for their peninsula which was controlled by the Silla, and later helped by Koryo to unite the peninsula, and the woodblock printing used in Korea, showed the technological exchanges they had with China. Japan was similar to the Chinese culture, but was also unlike China because they were not plagued by constant welfare like China was. Vietnam was centered around the Red River and the Mekong, adopted parts of Chinese culture, and gave China Champa rice, as a gift, which later became an essential crop to Chinese farmers. Writing in East Asia, 600-1200: The writing system developed in China, became a model for East Asia. The writings of Korea, Japans, and Vietnam, all evolved from the Chinese characters. The Chinese characters were even used by unrelated languages, because people experimented the characters in different ways to expressed themselves in new ways. Conclusion: The Tang Empire was very successful, because it had cultural diversity, economic influences, and neighboring peoples around them. But the empire eventually fell from tension and military pressure that was received from the Uighurs and Tibetans. Song China benefitted from the technological knowledge of the Tang, because they took the knowledge and furthered their technology and innovations. However, all the East Asian societies were advanced in reading and writing, due to the Tang and Song. Soon Song China fell as well, due to military challenges and the drainage of cooper coins, which they suffered from. Reflection: - theme: conflict I chose the theme conflict from this chapter reflection because after each Chinese empire that was successful, all eventually fell from conflict, but led to the a new empire after. The Tang dynasty was formed through the Sui dynasty, which ended in conflict. But the fall of the empire, led to a new empire, which went through successful innovation, new ideas, and different cultures. Each empire has their good and bad, but all empires eventually came to an end. For example, after unresolved conflicts that occurred during the Tang dynasty, their fall led to the emergence of the Song Empire, the Liao Empire, and the Minyak people, also known as the Tangguts. Through conflict, each empire that fell, led to the success of a new empire.
Buddhism is a religion that teaches peace to all, so when King Asoka of the Mauryan Empire began practicing Buddhism, he ceased expanding the empire. Instead the government diverted its efforts towards creating a road system and building sculptures. Confucianism was based on the teachings of Confucius who preached the practice of “reverence [respect], generosity, truthfulness, diligence [industriousness], and kindness.” Because Wudi wanted his government employees to embody these qualities, Wudi set up schools that would teach these and had examinations for students for students based on these principles. This placed people of wealth
Since the introduction of Buddhism into China, it was not well received by the population as its foreign beliefs clashed with pre-existent principals of Confucianism and Taoism. On top of that, it was alienated by the Confucianism-based government in the late Han Dynasty. All in all, Buddhism was not a common nor a popular religion throughout China at first. Nevertheless, this all changed after the rise of the Tang Dynasty. There is no doubt that Buddhism and the Tang administration under Wu’s reign formed a critical symbiotic relationship with one another. Buddhism played a pivotal role in justifying Empress Wu’s rule. She enthroned herself as the monarch of China, an extraordinarily difficult achievement for a woman in a male-dominant society, by associating herself with Buddhism: proclaiming herself as the Maitreya and that she will bring an utopian era for the Chinese. (Smarr, 17 Feb. 2012) At the same time, Buddhism benefitted handsomely from government support, as monasteries are exempted from tax and that they are financially supported by the state, as seen in A Pilgrim’s Visit to the Five Terraces Mountains, which ultimately resulted in the substantial growth in attraction of Buddhist converts and Buddhism itself. Wu’s extensive support of the religion with ostentatious gifts and donations contributed to the rapid proliferation of Buddhism. Evidently, the mutually benefitting relationship between Buddhism and the state are crucial to each other’s survival during Wu’s sovereignty, but to what extent did her financial support (donations to monasteries) of Buddhism bettered the government overall?
I have loved history since 8th grade, and have continued to be intrigued with the subject throughout my high school career. In fact one of the reasons I even applied to CAP was to challenge myself and learn as much as I could in social studies and history. This project, which tasked me with comparing the political methods of the Tang and Byzantine empires, did exactly that. Going into this project I was interested in the Byzantine Empire, I already knew a lot about it and was more aligned with my interests. On the other hand I usually regard China as dull and uninteresting but after this project and a more in depth analysis of a specific dynasty I realized that I could appreciate its amazing history.
...ther religions since they never really comitted to one main religion. Han China spread Confucianism by leading Confucius lives, they used Confucius ideas for their law codes and taught Confucius ideas to their children. The Confucian ideas spread by the Han helped rulers like Wudi have long reigns of power by embracing rule by morals and ethics. It also helped spread written exams as ways to determine peoples places and jobs in society based off of merit as opposed to putting anyone anywhere just to give people jobs. China also had a growing population of Daoists who believed in the power of nature. As time progressed both of their societies changed their religions. Rome slowly progressed from a basic Hellenistic polytheism to the once persecuted Christianity. Meanwhile China, which was mainly a Confucian and Daoist led society began to accept and embrace Buddhism.
During the Tang and Song dynasty, many excellent achievements have been accomplished which are still being preserved and used widely over centuries. Their citizens were excelled in many fields with several of new and practical inventions which all directly affected the citizens’ lives.
There is no simple answer to this question, especially with the convoluted and entwining relationship between Buddhism and Wu, so we focus on how the religion assisted Wu in grasping power and its indispensable role in the Chinese economy. The close connection between government and religion is not a new concept to the Tang era as it has been well-established prior to its time, and it even survived long after. In the case of Buddhism and Empress Wu, the religion played a pivotal role in justifying her rule, which could explain her special interest in it. Among the Buddhists followers, she was identified as the bodhisattva Maitreya, which helped her gain a sense of legitimacy to her reign, especially in a male-dominant society (Smarr Feb. 17 2012). The association of Buddhism with Wu helped spur Wu’s benevolent policies towards the religion, who benefitted handsome...
Religion has always had an impact on an individual’s perspectives and the government, and this can clearly be seen with Buddhism and the Tang Dynasty. Before Buddhism pervaded China, the traditional religion in China was Confucianism, and the majority of individuals strictly followed the rules and principles of Confucianism. When Buddhism was introduced, every person engendered their own views on Buddhism and the influences the religion would have on the government. The Tang Dynasty generated a prosperous time in China, until the dynasty spiraled down into its demise in c. 750 (Smarr “Tang China”). Many individuals believed that the reason why the collapse of the Tang Dynasty occurred was because of Buddhism and foreign ideas. A Chinese poet, named Han Yu, believed in the concept that Buddhism was the ultimate cause for the destruction of the Tang Dynasty, and his ideas were very influential. Han Yu’s ideas promoted the riddance of Buddhism values and monasteries in China (Smarr “An Lu-shan Rebellion”). Therefore, the question that arises from such observations is was this an accurate portrayal of perspectives during the Tang dynasty and how influential was this portrayal? Although, one portrayal of the Tang Dynasty’s collapse was Emperor Xuanzong’s carelessness, Han Yu persists that the accurate portrayal of the collapse was brought about by Buddhism through monasteries and monks, and selfish values.
Xuanzang was a highly educated Buddhist monk from China, who in 629 C.E. made the long and treacherous journey along the Silk Road to India. His main objectives in his sixteen years away from home were fundamentally religious; he only wanted to study more complete scriptures to answer questions he had, which he deemed unsolvable in his own country. It is important to understand Xuanzang’s own position within the Chinese society and the type of situation it was in: Chinese Buddhists had many disagreements
Today we can look around ourselves and see thousands of technical innovations that make life easier; But if we take a step back and ask ourselves “How?” we will soon realize that most often, these technological advancements did not just “poof” into existence, but are usually the outcome of building upon yesterday’s technology. If we follow this cycle back into time, we can attribute almost any modern day invention to an ancient civilization during its golden age. China was no exception. China’s Song and Tang dynasties fostered scientific advances comparable to Rome’s during its Pax Romana. The most significant and impacting of these were the development of primitive gunpowder and porcelain of the Tang and paper money, and the magnetic compass of the Song Dynasties. Although these may seem very far off, if you look hard enough, you can see traces of their impacts in society today because most of the advancements today we owe to them.
One of the eras of a majestic ancient civilization that has left a lasting impression upon the world of today is the Chinese Song Dynasty. Established by General Zhao Kuangyin this dynasty lasted from 960–1279 AD and brought a new stability to China after many decades of civil war, and ushered in a new era of modernization. It was divided into the Bei (Northern) and the Nan (Southern) Song periods. This brilliant cultural epoch gave birth to major advances in economic reform, achievements in technology, and helped to further medical knowledge.
After starting the Chinese Empire, Shihuangdi based the empire on a harsh law system called legalism and was also influenced by Confucianism. Since Shihuangdi was the only ruler of the empire, the government was considered a strong central monarchy. When the Chinese empire had a good start, they expanded their territories to northern Vietnam, Korea, and the northwest steppes. Shihuangdi believed the harsher the empire the more respected, so he invested heavily into a strong military army a...
The Song dynasty is actually divided into two separate periods: The Northern Song from 960-1126 A.D. and the Southern Song from 1126-1279 A.D. The northwestern part of the country had been taken over by the nomadic tribes, forcing the emperor move the capital to Kaifeng, then later to Hangzhou during the southern Song period. They also lost control of Tibet. (Duiker, & Spielvogel, 2009) While they struggled with territory control, the Song strived in economic development and cultural achievement.
Although Siddhartha Gotama spread the religion of Buddhism in India, his teaching had a great impact on other countries. Buddhist first made their way to China via the silk route; this was a network of caravan tracts that linked China to the rest of central Asia to the Mediterranean region. Buddhist monks also made their way into China with Buddhist scriptures and Buddhist art in their possession. This is the first time that Buddhism made a substantial impact on the Chinese. Quickly many Chinese began to convert to the new religion that was brought into china. In fact, Buddhism would become a central aspect to culture of the Chinese. Buddhism had a great impact on the Chinese, philosophers, and Chinese emperors. Additionally, Buddhism had a great influence on Chinese art, and Buddhism was the greatest foreign influence on the artwork of the Chinese. Chinese artist would mix their traditions, with other popular Buddhist art forms from places, such as India. The arrival of Buddhism in China greatly influenced the art of China for many dynasties.
The Tang Dynasty (618 -907 A.D), also known as China’s glorious revelation, was a time of major change both politically and economically in the Chinese Empire. During this time period, trade became greater than ever. The military power strengthened. The population also increased during this time period from fifty million to eighty million in just two centuries with its large population base, the dynasty was able to raise professional and conscripted armies of hundreds of thousands of troops to contend with nomadic powers in dominating Inter Asia. The Tang also has a strong influence on its neighboring states such as Korea (which was at the time made if of three kingdoms) and Japan. During this time period the Silk Road expanded and trade
The Tang and Song Dynasties are both pertinent to China’s development. During the Tang period, which is also considered the “Golden Age”, art and literature was embraced and thrived. During the Song Dynasties, many technical inventions allowed China to grow as a nation, and emerge as one of the greatest nations in the medieval world. Both dynasties played a key role in the history of China.