Imperial China and the spread of Buddhism

Tang Dynasty and Sung (AKA Song) DynastyBoth political leaders

Used state money to helpSpread the Buddhist religion.

.

Emperor Taizong Empress Wu Zetian

500 400 300 200 100 * 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 Buddhism Spreads Quickly Buddha In India Confucius in China

Tang Sung Dynasty Dynasty THE GOLDEN AGE

The Tang were around during the same time that Islam was conquering

the Mediterranean World.

This was a peaceful and prosperous time for China.

They had extra $$ so they could spend time :

• Inventing• Painting• Writing• Studying• Sculpting• This will be the beginning of their Golden

Age.

During this period, they invented 2 significant items:

Block Printing

• Gun Powder

• Before printing was invented, knowledge could only be passed on my word of mouth, or by extremely expensive handwritten manuscripts.

• Not only was it expensive, but it was slow, and there was no guarantee each copy would be the same.

1. Block printing is like working with a page-size stamp. Stamps

Images and print were carved into a page size, block of wood. This was an easier (and cheaper) to way to copies

of books.

During this time when print was available to many more people

Emperor Taizong sent representatives to India to collectBuddhist texts (writings).• These Sutras (BuddhistScriptures) were Translated into ChineseAnd printed so thatGreater numbers ofPeople learned aboutBuddhism.

A Medieval Buddhist Sutra:

As a side note, Emperor Taizong also paid for Buddhist paintings and

sculptures to be spread around the empire .

A Buddha from the Tang Empire

He also gave money to Buddhist Temples and Monasteries.

• Definition of a Monastary: • A building occupied by people who have

dedicated their lives to a religion. They live, work and worship together and have no personal possessions. They take vows and follow strict rules of conduct.

These Monasteries provided many services for the common people.

• They housed people who were traveling.• They ran schools.• They provided medical care.• They provided seed for poor farmers.

• Basically, they helped those who needed help.

• Social actions like these helped Buddhism to spread.

Practice for the Constructive Response (Pages 37-41):

• Read the intro on page 37 and review the map on page 38.

• Answer the questions on page 39. Focus on 2 of the essay prompts on Pages 40 and

41 (Political Reasons and Economic Reasons).Use the information given you in the workbook

AND the info from the notes we just took to write a 1 paragraph response for each question.

2. Gunpowder was also invented during the Tang Dynasty.

• In Chinese, gunpowder is called huo yao, meaning flaming medicine.

• Unlike the inventions of paper and printing, the birth of gunpowder was accidental. It was first invented by chemists that were attempting to make a flaming “elixir of immorality”.

Fire had always been used as a weapon that was delivered into enemy camps in

China.

Oxen with flaming straw on their tails.

A fire wagon.

But gun powder was more efficient.

A flame thrower An hand cannon

This is what their earliest bombs looked like.

These bombs could help to break through a fortified wall .

• A flower bomb A ball Bomb

They will be using gun powder a full 200 years before it reaches The

Mediterranean area.

The Tang Dynasty perfected something we hate.

State Assessments!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The justification for the Chinese Imperial Exams was that appointees to leadership positions were not to be chosen through

special or inherited privilege, but through an individual's own abilities.

• If you studied hard enough, you could make it to the top.

• There is a word for this. It is called meritocracy.Rising to the top through your own hard work (Merit).

Theoretically, any male adult in China, regardless of his wealth or social status,

could become a high-ranking government scholar-official by passing the imperial

examination.

• These exams lasted for days. Only 2 out of 100 passed.

Those who passed these exams were selected for administrative positions. This meant that their clans or families also rose in social class and wealth.

A Scholar-Official

A peasant

Of course, peasants usually didn’t have the money to educate their

children but in theory, it was possible.

It was a dynasty of prosperity and education.

• Literature, science, technology, art, and poetry flourished.

The Sung (Song) Dynasty

• Technology continued to advance.

• They created manufactured goods to export to other areas of the world.

• The Arts flourished.• A combination of Buddhism and

Confucianism were added to the civil service exams. (This was

called Neo – Confucianism .) A scholar-official

This was a period of great prosperity for China.

(The Sung family led China about the same time that the Crusades were taking place

around the Mediterranean.)

Sung Achievements

They began to make money through trade.

A market during the Sung Period.

They began to manufacture many things and export them to willing

buyers.

3. Cast Iron Steel (What they make cannons out of.)

Manufacture:

• The organized action of making of goods for sale

• To create or produce something in a mechanical way.

Silk Paper

Gunpowder

“Fire Arrows”

During the Sung Dynasty they improved upon their printing

techniques.• They invented “Movable Type” (4).• They had a cast iron base where they could

slide in individual characters.

This was much faster than carving each page into a piece of wood.

All these inventions:• Paper• Wood-block printing• Movable type printing Contributed to the spread of Learning In China.

With printing becoming more efficient they began to print paper

money (5) .• Before: After:

• Paper money made trading much easier.

A very important navigational tool was designed during The Sung

Dynasty.• The Compass (6)

Before the invention of the compass, ships were frequently lost in the big oceans and the consequences would be deadly.

The magnet inside the compass automatically remains parallel to the Prime Meridian.

The needle automatically points to the North and South Pole.

• They called it the south-pointing Fish!

By finding the north and south poles, they would know which way to steer

their ships.

• Europeans didn’t use a compass until 150 years later!

• All of these things that were important in China spread across the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan to influence the people of Japan. Japan

• China

The last thing we have to talk about is the morphing of Confucianism and Buddhism into something called

Neo-Confucianism.

Draw a line down the Middle of a clean sheet of paper.

• Confucius Says: Buddha Says:

Confucius says:Peace and social order come by acting

“right” in all of our relationships.• “Those above should be kind to those below.”

Ruler Father Older Sibling Husband Friend

Subject Son Younger Sibling Wife Friend

• “Those below should Respect and Obey those above.”

Buddha Says:

Look at your paper and tell me what a society would be like if they followed

all these teachings.

This is a simplified version of how Confucian thought changed during the

Sung Dynasty.

• That meant the leaders and scholars all studied this “new”belief-system to pass the civil-service exams.

I know we have covered a lot but does this timeline make any sense now?

The Sung Dynasty came to an end when invading foreigners came from

the North.• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mongol_Em

pire_map.gif Click on Interactive map of Mongol invasions.

Go back through your notes and tell me:

1. What 6 life-changing items were invented during the Tang and Sung Dynasties?

2. What did the political leader named Emperor Taizong do to introduce China to Buddhism?

3. How did scholar-officials get their chance to work for the government?

4. How did Confucian thought change during the Sung Dynasty?