9th Grade Notes, China.

Joseph Henry-Penrose - World Cultures Chinese Notes.

Religions In China
Christianity
Active in asia for centuries
Philippines almost entirely christian
Very influential with millions of followers
Korea most influenced
Pacific islands largely committed to christian tradition

Shito
Emerged in earliest period of Japanese history
Originally animalistic religion that gave human form to various gods that rule the forces of nature
Similar traditions in southeast asia and african groups puts emphasis on “awe” sun goddess, Amaterasu, sent her decedents to further create the japanese islands loosely organized stayed dormant for centuries revival in 19th century

Islam
Large communities found in south asia and western china emerged in the 7th century most theology shared with judaism and christianity the holy text is the Qur’an. It has 114 chapters

Confucianism
Mose social philosophy than religion founder not interested in “supernatural” stuff developed a new theory of nobility based on “merit” rather than birth
Merit = single-mined commitment to “nurturing” a “truly noble” heart. emphasis on education to elevate the human soul later more emphasis on virtue from the study of various writings known as the 5 classics
China was influenced heavily by this movement

Buddhism
One of the strongest religions throughout east and southeast asia
Uses karma best reward is “Nirvana” A place of individual non-existence
Sri-lanka converted in 3rd BC
Almost every country has their own buddhist sects
Mahayana Buddhism became widespread in china in the first centuries of the modern era influenced the lives of Chinese tibet - tentrism heavily influenced by Hinduism still exists in eastern tibet but mostly replaced by: lanmaism - Dalai Lama is the leader

Naturism
Elaborate intellectual system yin, yang & qi (chi)
Understanding Yin and Yang is crucial qi is said to run through the body and be vital to good health

Daoism (Taoism)
Formed at the same time as confucianism more of a philosophy more individual more about wisdom
3-4000 years old

East Asians, Chinese, Japanese and koreans are largely made up of “mongoloid” racial communities
All divided by language heritage
Southeast asia is very diverse

Western pacific islands are cut into three groups polynesian melanesian
Micronesian

More than 100 languages spoken between them

Chinese civilization is over 4000 years old
Xia dynasty = 2205 bce - 1766 bce (the oldest)
Shang dynasty = 1766 bce - 1045 bc -most advanced bronze work -started Chinese writing style -very bloodthirsty
Zhou dynasty =western - 1045 - 770bc

The middle dynasties china reunited by the sui and tang dynasties after 581 under suppression buddhism reached hight of popularity
Confucianism was modified in 1200 into neo-Confucianism country ruled by song (or sung) dynasty

The Mandate of Heaven
THE most important political theory in China's history heaven blesses the emperor to rule with Virtue
Virtue means to rule selflessly
The emperor is the son of heaven
The theory is over 3000 years old shifts in the mandate of heaven are signaled by natural disasters and wars

Zhou Dynasty
Western and eastern Zhou came up with the mandate of heaven
Spring & autumn period (eastern Zhou) were peace and growth because of agricultural developments
War & states period (East) -Warlords ruled over localities -warlords started fighting to see who would replace the Zhou -Sun Tzu, one of China’s most important writers was a general. He wrote “The art of War”
Qin Dynasty
Lasted 14 years
Not Virtuous
Started building the great wall of china

Han Dynasty
Very important
Gave name to Chinese ethnicity
Developed governmental bureaucracy
The records of the grand historian by sina Quan. It was a few thousand years of Chinese history
Wang Mon in charge from 8-25 AD. He was a commoner & became an emperor. the empire drifted down to the south
Fell apart in 22AD

Sui Dynasty
Unified area better than others

T’ang Dynasty
618-907AD
Expanded china’s boarders more than any other dynasty
The first and only empress regent
Empress Wu
Mistress of emperor
Murdered her son and anyone else who got in her way. not very nice
Buddhism reached peak of influence

Song Dynasty
Had agricultural technology developments
960 - 1279

Yuan Dynasty 1279 - 1368
The mongolians and the Hun
Brutal
Short

Ming Dynasty 1368-1644 very good sailors discovered west cost of america and east coast of Africa moved capitol of china to Beijing finished great wall

Manchu / ching Dynasty - 1644 - 1911
From manchuria (northeast)
The strongest dynasty, very popular in china and thus very powerful adopted Chinese culture but made men get haircuts
Emperors: Kangxi 1662-1722 Yongzheng 1722-1736 qianlong 1736-1799
Kangxi: China expanded a lot under hes reign. to celebrate he built a “cottage”. The grounds were 80 square miles. It was called the Summer Palace. it had over 200 buildings

Europeans
Searched for: wealth (gold) God (spread religion) Glory Girls
Missionaries, jesuits (the storm troopers of god!) were the defenders of the religion and faith. They still exist.

Kang xi said that if the the Europeans wanted china to convert then they must be able to keep practicing their own culture. Europe said sure.
New pope, new papal envoy (Maillard de tournon) [How to remember: Ducks turn on lights] Pope sent him to china & said to make them stop the Chinese rituals. Thus most missionaries got kicked out of the country.

The Western Arrival
The modern “shino-western relations” started in the 18th century when the british started to arrive. the british started to trade silver for silk and tea. the Chinese would only accept silver as they had “all things in abundance” because they were the middle kingdom
The brits started to run out of silver and wanted a new way to pay.
George II sent his envoy to sort this out.
He sent Viscount Maccarthney.
Brits wanted to be able to use credit
He took over 200 chests of british stuff and 60 assistants who were brilliant math profs and such to try and impress china.
China thought that british stuff was inferior and kept it in the bathroom of the summer palace.
V. Maccarthney was not able to “kowtow” to the emperor because he did not bow that low to his own king.
The meeting DID NOT GO WELL

18th-19th century
More threts from the west society became more conservitive (rejecting things, making laws harsher)
Women’s feet bound

In the late 18th and early 19th century the british discovered opium in india and found that it made much profit in china
It was illegal but nobody cared (except the government)
Everyone was in on the trade the drug devastated Chinese society
It became british policy to get everyone hooked on the drug

In 1838-9 a new “high” commissioner was drafted to stop the trade of opium. he did this by setting a warehouse on fire the brits were upset

So they declaired war. The brits won.

They used the gunboat diplomacy to get china to negotiate the first “unfair treaty”.

The Unfair Treaties china lost large part of it’s sovereignty. westerners gained access to many ports
Brits did not have to obey Chinese law because of extraterritorially.
China had to pay for all damage done to british ships
The tarrif was set to 5 per-cent
We got hong kong in a 99 year lease
We got the right to trade in what became known as the treaty ports (Fuzhow, ningbo, shanghi, hong kong

The heavenly kingdom of great peace
Enormous rebellion in 1851 rebels known as “taiping kingdom”

Cutting the melon
Many countries asked for influence in china
Most got “forced 99 year leases” of land
Britain were given Hong Kong