Margin review questions

Margin Review Questions 1. They established parts of Chinese life that lasted all the way into the 20th century. They were also the “ golden age” of arts and literature because of their poetry, landscape, and ceramics along with the birth of Neo-Confucianism. 2. In the Tang Dynasty, elite women had greater freedom and influence. In the Song Dynasty, they had tighter patriarchal restrictions. In both, they started foot binding and textile production became larger which replaced women’s role in that industry. But women’s property rights expanded and more women were educated so they could teach their sons. 3. Chinese needed the nomads because the steppes provided the horses and other goods and the nomads controlled much of the Silk Roads. But the nomads viewed the Chinese as a threat because the Chinese had military attacks on the steppes and they built the Great Wall. 4. Non-Chinese authorities must acknowledge the Chinese superiors, present tribute to the emperor, and in return would get trading privileges and “ bestowals”. 5. Often, China was confronting powerful nomadic empires that were able to deal with China on at least equal terms. They promised Chinese princesses as wives, sanctioned exchanges of goods that favored the nomads, and agreed to supply the nomads annually with large quantities of grain, wine, and silk. While these goods were officially termed ” gifts,” granted in accord with the tribute system they were tribute in reverse or even protection money. 6. Nomads ruling parts of China often adopted Chinese ways except the steppe nomads. They had interactions in the form of trade, military conflict, negotiations, and some cultural influences. Also the parts in Northern China were ruled frequently by the nomads. 7. Both Korea and Vietnam achieved political independence while participating fully in the tribute system; Japan was never conquered by the Chinese but still participated in the tribute system. The elite of Korea, Vietnam, and Japan heavily borrowed: Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, administrative techniques, the examination system, and artistic and literary styles even when their own cultures remained distinct. Unlike Korea or Japan, the cultural part of Vietnam was fully part of the Chinese state for over a thousand years. This political dominance led to cultural changes in Vietnam. 8. Elite Japanese women, unlike those in Korea, largely escaped the more oppressive features of Chinese Confucian culture, such as the prohibition of remarriage for widows, seclusion within the home, and foot binding. Moreover, elite Japanese women continued to inherit property, Japanese married couples often lived apart or with the wife’s family, and marriages in Japan were made and broken easily. 9. China actively participated in commerce, exporting silk, porcelain, and lacquer ware. The size of the Chinese economy provided a market commodity from a long distance. One key outcome was the diffusion of many Chinese technological innovations: papermaking, printing, explosives, textiles, metallurgy, and naval technologies. China got cotton and sugar from India and got access to new strains of rice plus it also helped with the spread of Buddhism. 10. The chaotic, violent, and politically fragmented centuries that followed the collapse of the Han dynasty gave bad credit to Confucianism and opened the door to alternative ways to establish the Mandate of Heaven. Buddhism provided comfort to the population in the face of a collapsing society. Also, once established, Buddhist monasteries provided support to the poor. There was a serious effort by Buddhist monks, scholars, and translators to present this Indian religion in terms that Chinese could relate to, for example, women are seen as unequal in Chinese Buddhism. 11. Buddhism was foreign so it offended some Confucianism and Daoism thinkers. For some Confucian believers, the monks’ withdrawal from society undermined their family system.