FREEMAN SEMINAR
THE HAN IMPERIAL STATE:
THE TRANSITION FROM ANCIENT TO CLASSICAL CHINA
HAN CHINA: THOUGHT AND CULTURE
GOALS:
To introduce the Han dynasty as the first period in Classical Chinese history.
THEMES:
The establishment of the Han dynasty ushers in a major transition
in Chinese history between the Ancient and the Classical phases of cultural
development.
The defining character of the "dynastic cycle" is well illustrated in the rise
and fall of the Han Imperial State (as is the functioning of the political system
itself).
Intellectual developments see the establishment of Confucianism as the fundamental
philosophy of the state and society and the development of both lexicography
and historical studies.
Han religion sees the incorporation of pre-existing religious elements into
the Confucian canon, the merging of Taoism and popular religious cults and deities
and the introduction of Buddhism from South Asia.
Cultural contacts are initiated with the concurrent Roman Empire with the "balance"
decidedly in Han China's favor; Chinese life during the Han is enriched by a
number of cultural innovations and indigenous developments.
The Han sees the establishment of the basic definable characteristics of traditional
Chinese civilization and culture, leading to the emergence of Chinese "culturalism".
OBJECTIVES: Students should be able to
describe the salient historical features of the rise of the Han dynasty to power
and delineate those among them "characteristic" of subsequent periods of dynastic
change;
discuss the basis for the shift from "Ancient" to "Classical" occurring during
the course of the Han dynastic period;
characterize the basic features of Han political, intellectual, religious and
cultural life;
chart a variety of developmental processes at work in the course of the Han
dynasty with insight and understanding;
define the "dynastic cycle" and illustrate it with specific reference to the
Han period;
discuss the place of reform in the dynastic cycle with reference to the Hsin
interregnum;
define and characterize "culturalism" as a force in Chinese history and culture.
I. Introduction: The Rise of Han
A. General dispair over life under the Legalist Ch'in, succession dispute inspired widespread rebellion led by bandits, soldiers and local officials; hegemony established under Hsiang Yu, strongest general, of aristocratic descent; challenged by Liu Pang, prison official turned rebel, of peasant origin, destroyer of Ch'in capital at Hsiang-yang, "King of Han" from 206 BCE under Hsiang Yu in Wei Valley; defeated his superior in 202 BCE.
B. Liu Pang became Kao Tsu, first emperor of the Han dynasty and established his capital at Ch'ang-an (modern Sian [Xian]).
C. Early Han (206 BCE [from time named King of Han] - 8 CE) followed by interegnum (Hsin: 8 CE - 23 CE) under Wang Mang and the Later Han (23 CE - 220 CE); capital move eastward to Loyang give alternate names of Western Han and Eastern Han.
D. Dynasty completes transition from Ancient to Classical periods in larger view of traditional Chinese history: political, philosophical, religious, economic, social advances bring essential character of traditional China into focus; three earlier dynasties become Ancient China; Classical state lasts until Sung.
E. Han Dynasty also sees major developments in thought and culture (recovery of classics; lexicography; historical studies; contacts with the West; religious developments), leading to the development of "culturalism".
II. Establishing the Imperial State
A. The centrality of the Emperor established by Ch'in Legalism maintained; Legalist punishments and taxes (corvee and grain) relaxed but corvee still extensively used for public works projects (canal built from Ch'ang-an to Huang Ho), military conscription and service at court (one month plus per year).
B. Confucianist thought recovered, revived and made dominate state philosophy, but (characteristic) religious and philosophical tolerance practiced (in contrast to Ch'in persecution).
III. The Internal Dynamics of the Han Imperial State
A. The Emperor as a personal factor in the dynastic cycle (first observable in Han):
1. first emperor consolidates and rationalizes the state; the second emperor characteristically expands the emperor; both often appear as demi-gods in subsequent history;
2. later indirect rule, intrigue-ridden courts, luxurious living reduce emperor's role and power; the dynasty becomes increasingly dependent on quality of advisors and bureaucrats;
3. often in the dynasty's waning days, a strong-man revival occurs; but the last emperor is always reviled for the loss of the Mandate of Heaven.
4. (as often as not an historical pattern followed to conform with theory rather than as an accurate reflection of fact; stresses personal moral qualities of imperial figures above all else, failing to take into account administrative, economic, religious, political, social factors that might be involved);
B. The Dynastic Cycle (a pattern first observed in the Han):
1. Period of Imperial Dominance:
a. Kao Tsu invested military leaders, collateral relatives with income and responsibilities towards areas remote from the capital, areas too distant from Ch'ang-an to support Imperial coffers directly given primitive transportation network (this compromise with feudal-like decentralization of the earlier Chou took time to overcome with disunity remaining a threat to Han power until the successful suppression of the Revolt of the Seven Kingdoms in 154 BCE).
b. Expansion continued under Wu Ti, the second emperor:
1) into South China and Nan-Yueh (with increased Sinification).
2) into Southeast China (with a millennium to pass before Sinification).
3) into Indochina, particularly modern Vietnam (with great Chinese influence).
4) into Korea as far as P'yong-yang (Lo-lang in Chinese) where Han control lasted into the fourth century (Korea becomes subsequent source of many Han era tomb artifacts).
5) into Central Asia along the Tarim Basin (Kansu) oasis route between East and West; control established by 42 BCE with two peaks of activity, one in each half of the dynastic period (promoting East-West contact).
6) forced migration into Kansu, following pattern used earlier by Chou in Szechwan (expands Chinese cultural influence into Central Asia).
c. Population reaches fifty-nine and a half million people by 2 CE, more than in the concurrent Roman Empire, in an empire stretching nearly to Europe, into Korea and Indochina;
d. Chinese subsequently known as "Men of Han;" Chinese characters are known in Japan as "Han characters."
2. Period of Imperial Dependency:
a. Expanded empire increased need for bureaucratic administrators: growth to over 130,000 as staff of military, central, provincial and imperial household ministries; chosen for ability by examination with talent and education replacing blood and / or military leadership as sign of elite status.
1) scholar-official / peasant division appears to replace earlier aristocrat / peasant distinction;
2) despite attempts to keep landholdings small, a landowner class develops and comes to represent the link between the central government and the peasantry;
3) local affairs left to peasants as long as taxes are paid and no subversion is attempted; rebellion, however, a constant worry: revolutionary movements driven underground, to remote areas and into secret societies; relatively free upward mobility, however, a safety valve.
b. Wealth important but merchants excluded from landholding or taking the examinations.
3. Period of Imperial Decline: little concern with the people but rather with the Imperial family and the preservation of the dynasty.
a. Imperial consorts chosen from among subjects; mother of heir named Empress; tremendous prestige accorded her family, often transformed into direct power on death of Emperor when Empress Dowager left as regent for her infant son; example: Empress Lu, widow of Kao Tsu; her son, Emperor Wu Ti, had family of presumptive heir put to death as a result; Wang Mang, however, rose to power via this route -- a constant threat to the Imperial family, to bureaucrats and to eunuchs.
b. Eunuchs, usually from the lower classes, acted as trusted advisors to both Emperors and Empresses but often were used to counter the power of the Empress and her family; in turn held in check by jealous bureaucrats.
c. Military generals arose in remote areas with personal professional armies as corvee conscription fell off yet the empire continued to expand; these men took advantage of the inner-court turmoil to advance their own positions.
4. Period of Imperial Revival:
a. result of fiscal crisis which follows physical expansion of the Han state:
1) defense, administration, public works funding needs expand.
2) Tax rolls shrink with growth of tax-free states and removal of families / individuals from tax rolls.
3) Population grows faster than land base.
b. Government efforts made to reform and increase income:
1) monopolies on salt, iron, liquor, coins.
2) "ever-normal" granaries.
3) debasement of coinage.
4) sale of bureaucratic rank, particularly to wealthy merchants.
c. Wang Mang attempts further reform:
1) Wang Mang, nephew of Empress Dowager, rises to chief bureaucratic post under cousin, the Emperor; following brief eclipse under successor, usurps throne and establishes the Hsin Dynasty in 8 CE; an audacious Legalist reformer in Confucian dress: strengthened monopolies and "ever-normal" granaries, arranged agricultural loans, debased currency; attempted to nationalize tax-free estates but failed (China's first "socialist").
a) Red Eyebrows in revolt by 18 CE: a Shantung peasant Taoist secret society bent solely on destruction of current repressive political and economic order.
b) Bureaucratic infighting leads to breakdown in defense, water control near capital which opened Ch'ang-an to Hsiung-nu (a Mongol-Turkish nomadic group known as the Huns, a problem to China since the fifth century, now unified in Mongolia, Southern Siberia to the Pamirs; often obtained princess wives from the Chinese to maintain peace and received the frequent aid of Chinese rebels); invasion leads to destruction in 23 CE.
d. Liu Hsu, a Han descendent and large landowner, restored the Han Dynasty with a new capital at Loyang; suppressed rebels, recentralized the state and maintained an adequate tax base because of lessened demand; briefly reestablished control of the Tarim Basin.
5. Period of Imperial Overthrow: internal power plays among eunuchs, bureaucrats and the families of empresses brought unrest to the country and increased peasant unrest -- the Yellow Turbans, the Five Pecks of Rice rise in revolt; this in turn disputed dynastic affairs too much to make retrenchment possible; the Han eventually falls to a group of strong, independent military generals who divide the kingdom once again into smaller units, the Three Kingdoms of Wu, Wei and Shu.
HAN CHINA: THOUGHT AND CULTURE
I. The Han Intellectual Scene
A. The recovery of the Confucian classics undertaken by scholars, at first without official encouragement; commentaries added to original texts to explain and elucidate passages no longer understood in the original; kept separate from main text, but the basis for much later controversy and the subject of further attempts at clarification when mixed into original.
B. Lexicography begun with the first dictionary in 3rd century BCE with classification by radicals by 100 CE, a method still in use today.
C. Historical studies (ranked as a division of literature along with philosophy, the classics and belle lettres).
1. The use of year periods begun by Wu Ti; often changed at first sign of unfavorable event, portent; later only one period per reign -- a problem to present scholars.
2. Ssu-ma Ch'ien [Sima Qian] (136-85 BCE), court astrologer with access to Imperial library, archives, a widely traveled Taoist and explorer, castrated for support of general sent against Hsiung-nu who surrendered; finished his father's history Shih Chi (Historical Records; Memoirs of an Historian), a work in 130 chapters covering history of China to reign of Wu Ti containing historical chronologies, essays, the genealogical histories of aristocratic houses, biographies, geographical descriptions -- our only source for much early history; the orthodox version of the pre-Han past for centuries in China.
3. Pan Ku followed Ssu-ma Ch'ien and wrote first dynastic history, Ch'ien Han Shu (History of the [Early] Han).
II. Han Religion
A. Confucianism replaced Legalism (banned), became associated with scholars, was incorporated into government (first university in 154 BCE, a Confucian innovation), maintained an interest in the past, antiquinarianism but adopted many religious elements:
1. Naturalist elements: yin-yang, the five elements and a concern with natural portents.
a. The five elements -- water, fire, metal, wood and earth -- are each overcome by the preceding element in a yin-yang-like cyclical movement.
b. Each elements is associated with a particular color, direction, season and animal:
WATER BLACK NORTH WINTER SNAKE, TORTOISE
FIRE RED SOUTH SUMMER BIRD
METAL WHITE WEST AUTUMN TIGER
WOOD GREEN EAST SPRING DRAGON
EARTH YELLOW CENTER SOLSTICES TS'UNG
c. One of these elements was adopted in turn by each traditional Chinese dynasty in predetermined order to aid in justification; also widely used in art.
2. T'ien worship adopted as part of state support apparatus; Emperor required to sacrifice at T'ai Shan (Shantung) to assure Mandate of Heaven still held.
B. Taoism, not textually inclined, became closely associated with popular religious cults and deities; Tao-te-ching also recovered but supernatural inclinations brought allegory into realm of accepted fact, helped make Taoism a popularly-based religion; the quest for immortality, magic, alchemy, proper diet and breathing techniques emphasized rather than aesthetic or philosophical elements.
C. Changes from philosophical to religious appeal experienced by both Confucianism and Taoism accompanied by vast increase in spirit pantheon and mythology surrounding these deities.
D. Buddhism introduced from its Indian birthplace (6th century BCE) across Sinkiang and by sea to south by foreign travelers; by 1st century CE established in Loyang under patronage of Emperor's brother; spread through north and Yangtse River areas; scriptures translated into Chinese.
III. Han Cultural Innovations
A. Western contacts:
1. Overland to Ta Chin (Rome) and by sea to Hanoi (Tongkin) from India and the Mediterranean; Canton, a later port.
2. Trade balance in favor of China with marked technological superiority:
a. inventions, porcelain, silk (the most important; Serica, the Latin name for China) flowed westward.
b. imports from Greco-Roman world enhanced life in China: precious stones, ivory, horses, glass, wool and linen -- alfalfa, grapes -- Greek astronomy, math, music and medicine -- the lute.
B. Indigenous developments: iron casting, the seismograph, the study of sunspots, the water-powered mill, the shoulder harness -- bronze mirrors -- porcelain and paper.
V. Conclusion: Chinese "Culturalism"
A. By the end of the Han Dynasty the basic elements of the Chinese cultural style are all present: philosophies, religions, literary and artistic modes of expression, the written form of the language, the patterns of economic, political and social organization characteristic of traditional China.
B. Neither the myth of race nor that of empire defines the boundaries of the Chinese state but rather the cultural homogeneity already established by the third century of the Christian era.
THE PERIOD OF THREE KINGDOMS AND SIX DYNASTIES:
THE CHINESE RESPONSE TO DISUNITY
GOALS:
To discuss the "typicality" of the Period of the Three Kingdoms and Six Dynasties as illustrative of the Chinese response to political disunity and disarray.
THEMES:
The traditional Chinese response to political disarray characteristically
intermingles political and cultural consequences.
A variety of politically powerful forces seeks advantage in the midst of disarray,
all dedicated to eventual recreation of the ideal unified Confucian empire.
The physical division of the empire represents a common response to the collapse
of a geographically extended political state due to the inability of the system
to meet demands for public works, stability and order.
The rapid rise and fall of rival dynastic houses results from an inability to
garner sufficient support to allow the recreation of political unity in such
a large scale state system (despite the characteristic appeal to expected Confucian
norms and values).
Political disunity and disarray results in dynamic cultural movement (as can
be seen during this era in the relocation of the center of Chinese culture from
the North China Plain to the Yangtse River Valley) and brings both cultural
and religious innovation and change to the forefront.
OBJECTIVES: Students should be able to --
explain the rationale behind the emergence of smaller "kingdoms" as a characteristic
Chinese response to political disarray within the empire;
describe factors (and actors) contributing to the political dynamics of a disrupted
empire;
describe ways in which the Chinese attempt to recreate (and justify a return
to) unity in the face of political disarray;
account for the cultural dynamism present during periods of political chaos
in traditional Chinese history;
list specific consequences traceable to cultural innovation and growth present
during the Period of the Three Kingdoms and Six Dynasties illustrative of the
above proposition.
I. Introduction: With the collapse of the Han dynasty, China once again reverted to a period of political disunity; the response to this disarray -- culturally as well as politically -- can be considered "characteristic".
II. The Three Kingdoms (220-280) [period representing physical division of the empire into three separate concurrent states]
A. The division of the Han empire by generals and great families [following slaughter of court eunuchs (189) and sack of Loyang (190)]:
1. Ts'ao Ts'ao (adopted son of a eunuch), chief power in the north; his son founded WEI with capital at Loyang; named after late Chou state; expanded into South Manchuria and Korea, eventually bringing contact with Japan.
2. Liu Pei, of powerful great family descended from a Han emperor, founded SHU HAN in Szechwan, named after Szechwan state and Han empire, with capital at Cheng-tu; successfully fought SW barbarians but eventually fell to WEI.
3. Sun Ch'uan, an official's son and general, founded WU in lower Yangtze with capital at site of the modern Nanking; expanded into South Vietnam.
B. The Western Chin Dynasty (first of Six Dynasties) briefly reunites the empire (265-317).
1. Following conquest of SHU HAN, WEI general Ssu-ma Yen usurps the throne, becomes Chin Wu Ti of Western Chin with capital at Loyang.
2. WU conquered in 280 and empire reunited.
3. Power of great families, political infighting and financial instability led to eventual collapse in face of barbarian invasions.
C. The move to the south (to Yangtze River Valley) and the Eastern Chin (317-420) at Nanking.
1. Nomads allowed to settle within empire, became backbone of armed forces; military weakness encourages further barbarian inroads.
2. Chinese fled into Kansu and southward to Nanking where Chin rulers faced the old problems with generals, great families and peasant revolts; sinification of the south accelerated, attended by rapid population growth.
III. The Six Dynasties
A. After move to the south, four additional ruling houses governed the contracted empire (for a total of six dynastic periods):
1. [The Western Chin (265 -317).]
2. [The Eastern Chin (317-420).]
3. Liu Sung (420-479), during which four emperors died before the age of twenty.
4. Southern Ch'i (479-502), during which of six emperors only one ruled longer than two years and four died violently.
5. Liang (502-557), during which further losses to the barbarians were incurred.
6. Ch'en (557-589).
B. Sui Dynasty established by an official in 589, marking the transition to a unified state under the T'ang.
IV. Conclusion: Cultural consequences --
A. Flexibility and loosening resulting from political disunity;
B. The Yangtze becomes the center of Chinese civilization for the first time;
C. Accelerated cultural assimilation in South and among barbarians; continued contact with the West and first contacts with Japan.
D. Tea and wet rice agriculture added to Chinese cultural style;
E. Poetry, literature enhanced by new environment;
F. Inventions encouraged by new setting: the wheel barrow, pi, sedan chairs, dice.
G. Development of Neo-Taoism;
1. Disillusionment, pessimism led to "pure debates," development of individualistic aesthetic sensibilities, hedonism.
2. Increased emphasis on inner hygiene, alchemy to achieve immortality; experimentation leads to culinary richness, anesthetics, pharmacopeia, accepted mode of scientific inquiry.
3. Popular religious organizations emerge but put down; monasticism and sects develop under Buddhist influence.
G. Spread of Buddhism.
BUDDHISM IN CHINA
GOALS:
To examine (and account for) the impact of Buddhism on Classical Chinese civilization and culture.
THEMES:
Buddhism develops initially within a distinctly Indian cultural
and religious context during the 6th century BCE.
The growth of Buddhism as a religion witnesses the emergence of two distinct
branches, the Theravada and the Mahayana; the latter eventually spreads into
China beginning in the Han Dynasty.
Differences inherent in Chinese society and culture bring necessary adaptations
to win acceptance in the Chinese cultural and religious mileau.
The eventual emergence of Chinese Buddhism is followed by a surge of interest
among the Chinese elite during the course of the T'ang Dynasty, particularly
between 350 and 750.
Thereafter Buddhism's appeal is strongest during periods of political confusion,
but it attracts interest from among scholars, artists and seekers after religious
truth through-out much of Chinese history.
Eventually many of Buddhism's most basic tenets are absorbed into Neo-Confucianism;
others become accepted within the popular religious traditions followed by the
peasant majority.
OBJECTIVES: Students should be able to
discuss with insight and understanding the origins and basic tenets of Buddhism
as it emerged within the Indian cultural and religious context in the 6th century
BCE.
discuss with insight and understanding the basis for the divisions between the
Theravada and the Mahayana schools of Buddhist thought and practice and the
reasons for the eventual spread of Mahayana Buddhism to China.
discuss cultural differences between India and China and the resulting process
of adaptation that leads to the development of Chinese Buddhism.
account for the appeal of Buddhism in China and its T'ang Dynasty successes.
discuss (and account for) the subsequent fate of Buddhism within the Chinese
cultural and religious context after the T'ang.
I. Introduction: The most important cultural influence (customs, art, thought) of foreign origin in traditional China before the coming of the West; however, never replaced the centrality of Confucianism, a marginal phenomenon eventually exerting an influence on development of Neo-Confucianism, absorbed into popular eclectic religious practices.
II. Historical Origins and Developments Before Reaching China.
A. The historical Buddha: Sakyamuni, an aristocratic Indian from Magadha (in modern southern Nepal), lived in the 6th century BCE.
1. Grew to maturity in wealth but rejected the world destressed by the poverty and suffering around him.
2. The aesthetic, mendicant life of the hermit failed.
3. Meditating under a Bodi tree in Gaya (in modern Patna), he achieved enlightenment in following "the middle way," engaging in neither self-mortification nor self-indulgence; thereupon became a Buddha, a title meaning "enlightened" or "the enlightened one".
B. Basic teachings and beliefs:
1. Couched in Indian (principally Hindu) beliefs in "the Wheel of Life", the transmigration of souls and karma with an added stress on the possibility of escape from the evils of existance.
2. The Four Noble Truths:
a. life is painful;
b. the origin of pain is desire;
c. to eliminate pain, eliminate desire;
d. the way to eliminate desire is to follow the Eight Fold Path (right views, right asperations, right meditation and right actions -- including vow of chastity, prohibitions against stealing, killing, lieing and drinking).
3. Goal: the ultimate extinction of all desire, including the desire to be, to exist as a separate personality, thus attaining nirvana, a "blowing out", the merging of a drop of water into the sea, a transcendent state of bliss and lucid comprehension (enlightenment).
C. Growth and development:
1. Rapidly became monastic, leading to designation of the Three Treasures (Buddha, the Law and the Monks or Disciples).
2. By 3rd century BC spread to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and through-out India.
3. Doctrines recorded as "sutra" in both Sanskrit and Pali in the 1st century CE as the Tripitaka (the discipline, the teachings and the commentaries).
4. Split into two schools:
a. Theravada: conservative, holding to original doctrines, philosophical, monastic, rigid morality; (found in Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Sri Lanka).
b. Mahayana: the "greater vehicle" (in contrast to the "lesser vehicle" of the Hinayana -- Theravada); accepting of the religious ideas of the converted, a pantheon of bodisattva, salvation by faith open to secular adherents with nirvana becoming an afterlife in paradise (the possibility of hell just as vividly present); bodisattva (Kuanyin, Maitreya) often become central; (found in China, Korea, Japan).
5. Spread into Southeast Asia and China during the Han dynasty; eventually all but disappears in Indian birthplace; transformed into Tantric amalgamation in Tibet.
II. Buddhism in China:
A. Discussion: The Challenge -- A marked contrast existed with Indian culture and between Buddhism and Chinese religions / philosophies:
1. Intellectual Indian culture: other worldly; concerned with individual life after death, the transmigration of souls, mysticism -- how different from Chinese concerns?
2. Buddhism stresses escape, celebacy, the evil of present existence, monasticism, mendicancy, asceticism -- how different from Chinese conceptions?
3. China:
a. concerned with ordering of human society, sceptical of afterlife, not mystically inclined; sought unified state control; disliked parasites; stressed humanism and moderation.
b. although parallels existed with Legalist orientation and Taoist stress on meditation, distrust of physical world; still and all, an immense gap [language and literature, role of the individual personality, concepts of time and space, social and political values]:
. ..we might pause to consider the cultural gulf which had to be bridged before this Indian religion could be made intelligible to the Chinese. No languages are more different than those of China and India. Chinese is uninflected, logographic, and (in its written form) largely monosyllabic. Chinese has no systematized grammar; Indian languages, particularly Sanskrit, have a formal and highly elaborated grammatical system. When we turn to literary modes, we find that the Chinese preference is for terseness, for metaphors from familiar nature, for the concrete image, whereas Indian literature tends to be discursive, hyperbolic in its metaphors, and full of abstractions. The imaginative range expressed in Chinese literature -- even in the Taoist calssics -- is far more limited, more earthbound, than in the colorful writings of the Indian tradition.
In their attitudes toward the individual the two traditions were poles apart at the beginnings of the invasion of Buddhism. The Chinese had shown little disposition to analyze the personality into its components, while India had a highly developed science of psychological analysis. In concepts of time and space there were also striking differences. The Chinese tended to think of both as finite and to reckon time in life-spans, generations or political eras; the Indians, on the other hand, conceived of time and space as infinite and tended to think of cosmic eons rather than units of terrestrial life.
The two traditions diverged most critically in their social and political values. Familism and particularistic ethics continued to be influential among the Chinese even in an age of cataclysmic change, while Mahayana Buddhism taught a universal ethic and a doctrine of salvation outside the family. Whereas Chinese thinkers had long concentrated their efforts on formulas for the good society, Indian and Buddhist thought had laid particular stress upon the pursuit of other-worldly goals.
B. The appeal of Buddhism:
1. Failure of Confucianism or Taoism to meet spiritual needs in an era of confusion;
2. The promise of a future life, the freedom from determination at least of future existences;
3. An intellectual appeal for disaffected scholars; the cultural appeal of Indian mythology, ceremonials, ideas of heaven and hell, karma, the transmigration of souls;
4. both universal and individualistic in its appeal.
...Buddhism seemed to meet some basic demands of the human spirit for which the then existing Chinese religions offered no satisfaction. Mahayana Buddhism -- the type which ultimately predominated in China -- presented a more definite picture of the future life and could promise to all who followed its precepts the assurance of bliss beyond the grave -- an ample and happy existence of which it gave glowing and specific portrayal. It also terrified the timid and warned the wicked with its hells...
Buddhism may also have been a welcome relief from the rigid determinism of some forms of Confucianism. Its doctrine of karma, by which an individual's present existence is fixed by his deeds in all his previous existences, seems hopelessly fatalistic. But a man by his deeds in this life could modify his karma and so affect his lot in a future existence.
Then, too, Buddhism, with its philosophies, its pantheon and saints, its images, its staely worship, its music, its voluminous religious literature, its cosmology, and its elaborate forms of the religious life, greatly enlarged the spiritual horizons of the Chinese and made a powerful aesthetic and intellectual appeal. To some, moreover, the celibacy, the asceticism, and the authoritarian community life must have proved attractive.
Buddhism, again, in practice exalted the individual as the native philosophies did not. Confucianism and Taoism were aristocratic, and Taoist immortality was only for the few. Buddhism was for all: any one, no matter how humble, might share in its salvation for himself, or more popularly, through an easy reliance on monk, ceremony, or savior.
4. The factor of adaptability: transformed Indian Buddhism into Chinese Buddhism in not accepting asceticism, cremation, nirvana (in the Indian sense), not emphasizing celibacy and mendicancy.
C. The spread of Buddhism in China:
1. Following early introduction and royal patronage in Later Han, in the following period of disunity appealed to barbarian rulers in the North (as Confucian alternative) to mold polity, to increase acceptability and to scholars in the South; pilgrims sent to India between the 3rd and 8th centuries.
2. The period from 350 to 750 can be called the Age of Buddhism in China.
D. The chief Chinese Buddhist sects:
1. T'ien-t'ai: philosophical, seeking eclectic harmony; stress on the Lotus Sutra; an intellectual appeal.
2. Pure Land: devotional, stressing Amitabha and the Western Paradise; invocation of the bodisattva's name, all that is required; appeal strongest among common Chinese.
3. Ch'an: institutionalized meditation, individual enlightenment throught discipline, sudden intuitive insight; scripture and doctrine, deemphasised.
E. Most sects sought Confucian approval by offering prayers for the Emperor and maintaining philanthropical interests: hospitals, inns and refuges; Buddhist contributions to Chinese culture (printing and vernacular literature), major and immense.
F. Some repression (446 and 547-577 particularly); reached heyday under the T'ang; spread to peasantry by the 8th and 9th centuries but lost its appeal among the elite thereafter; eventually subject to much persecution; in time saw many of its understandings incorporated into Neo-Confucianism (Sung Dynasty).
IV. Conclusion: Buddhism and "Classical Chinese Civilization and Culture".
THE CLASSICAL STATE UNDER THE T'ANG
GOALS:
To introduce the Sui and T'ang Dynasties as characteristic of the fully-formed Classical Chinese state and political cycle in practice.
THEMES:
The rise of the Sui follows patterns established during the
Ch'in dynasty in its emphasis on military reunification and in its use of Legalist
principles but also illustrates changes in Chinese life that have occured since
that time.
The Sui emperor Yang-ti (as both the second and the last dynastic ruler) illustrates
difficulties inherent in following established Confucian models of philosophical
evaluation.
The T'ang state exhibits characteristics associated with past Confucian-dominated
dynastic periods but also initiates far-reaching innovations of its own in establishing
a well-run Classical Chinese imperial system in terms of exerting economic as
well as political control over an increasingly far-flung empire.
OBJECTIVES: Students should be able to
discuss the reunification accomplished by the Sui in terms of how it exemplifies
the larger dynastic cycle evident in Classical Chinese history;
examine the contradictions inherent in any Confucian philosophical evaluation
of Sui Yang-ti as both the second and last emperor to rule the Sui;
describe the degree to which the early T'ang might be seen as representative
of the early portions of the Confucian dynastic cycle;
discuss the interaction between political and economic organization (and reasons
behind that interaction) apparent in the emerging T'ang state system.
I. INTRODUCTION: The Reunification of the Empire: The Sui Dynasty (581-618)
A. The Reunification Process:
1. North China reunited under the barbarian Northern Chou.
2. Yang Chien of the powerful Yang family, a Northern Chou minister, usurped the throne in 581 from a child emperor; by 589 had reunified all China with victory over the Ch'en in the South.
3. As Sui Wen Ti, founded the Sui Dynasty with new capital at Ch'ang-an; faced cultural reunification problems: austere North with harsh life, barbarian admixture looked at South as effete and lacking military virtue while the relatively easy life in the South brought elegance and leisure to the fore with stress on higher culture, the sensuous, concubinage and scholarship.
B. Accomplishments Under the Sui:
1. Under Sui Wen Ti:
a. Imperial administration restructured; appointments centralized under exam system; relied on Northern families and Legalist principles; favored Taoism and Buddhism.
b. Public works begun: canal from capital to Honan-Shensi border; new capital at Ch'ang-an: six miles (EW) by five miles (NS) with 12 NS avenues and 9 EW dividing city into 112 walled wards; first planned city.
c. Territorial expansion undertaken into Tonkin and Annam in Vietnam and into Central Asia (in alliance with Northern Turks).
2. Under Yang Ti:
a. Established Censorate and reformed examination system; aided scholars and built up imperial library; shifted to Southern officals and encouraged Confucianism (though himself a Buddhist).
b. Built Loyang and Yangchow as subordinate capitals; completed the Grand Canal in three sections; constructed grainaries, walls and palaces at great cost in lives.
c. Expanded into Champa (Vietnam) and Sinkiang but unsuccessful in Korean campaigns against Koguryo (612-13-14); captured by Turks in N. Shensi; faced revolts after 613; fled to Yangchow where he was killed by rebels in 618.
II. The T'ang State (618-907)
A. The Rise of the T'ang and Early T'ang Rulers
1. Li Yuan, an aristocratic Northerner with ancestry traceable back to Lao Tse but whose mother was a Turk, provoked into rebellion against Yang Ti over gift of imperial concubines by his second son Li Shih-min (who had earlier rescued Yang Ti from the Turks); as figurehead under title Kao Tsu establishes the T'ang with capital at Ch'ang-an (which grew to 1.96 million).
2. Li Shih-min, having removed sibling rivals, succeeds father as T'ai-tsung, one of China's ablest emperors: frugal, magnanamous, capable of instilling loyalty; reunited country (under father) and brought state to new cultural and economic heights; expanded into Central Asia and Tibet.
3. Kao Tsung inherits throne and concubine Wu Chao; expands into Korea, reinstitutes sacrifices and establishes Buddhist temples everywhere; eventually looses Korea and Tibet.
4. Empress Wu institutes puppet son as emperor in place of heir, eventually usurps the throne and renames dynasty (the Chou); an able, iron-handed ruler who presides over expansion into Tarim Basin, favors Buddhism and remains on throne until overthrown in her eightieth year.
B. The T'ang Political State: Confucian, Centralized, Bureaucratized
1. The central government:
a. Emperors and imperial advisors at the top encouraged agriculture, welfare and moral virtue, education and the establishment of Confucian temples through-out the empire.
b. The Imperial Secretariet issued government policy and imperial orders.
c. The Imperial Chancellery, bureaucratic power center, passed on the Secretariet, returning orders with with it disagreed, before sending pronouncements on to --
d. The Secretariet of State Affairs charged with the execution of imperial orders and government policies via --
(1) Board of Personnel
(2) Board of Revenue
(3) Board of Rites
(4) Board of War
(5) Board of Justice
(6) Board of Public Works
e. The Censorate charged via surveillance and admonishment with maintaining internal control; uncovering treason, misgovernment, maladministration.
2. Local government followed earlier precedents but added circuits (10) to 358 prefectures and numerous subprefectures (hsien).
a. Officials appointed by central government, including imperial commissioners to deal with emergency situations.
b. Post stations established every ten miles to maintain communications.
c. The government of non-Chinese districts left to centrally-appointed non-Chinese.
3. Recruitment by examination (specialized: history, law, math, calligraphy, poetry, Taoism as well as Confucian classics; highest degree: chin-shih) plus imperial summons for even most important offices offices.
C. The Economic State:
1. The "equal field" system: nationalized land (to keep tax-free estates from draining state revenue); granted lifetime land to all between ages 21 and 59 (with lesser amounts for special catagories, e.g., widows) and permanent holdings for house plot and mulberry trees; land to be returned to state at age 59 and redistributed, not inherited from generation to generation.
2. Neighborhood associations formed to insure control and function: five households made up an administrative village; five villages made one association.
a. basis for land survey and periodic census needed to make system work;
b. provided tax collection mechanism as well.
3. Tax system tied to "equal field" system: a per capita grain tax on land, a fabric tax on household wealth, corvee labor tax on household as well (public works, court service, local and border militia).
4. To maintain support of aristocratic families and important bureaucrats, "rank lands" and "office lands" created with income from these sources going into salaries.
5. Military service tied to economic system as tax due; military centralization occurs, cavalry stressed.
6. Commercial activity discouraged:
a. government monopolies, heavy taxes;
b. price controls, limits on distribution;
c. internal barriers to tax transportation of goods.
III. CONCLUSION: T'ang Unity and Influence as a Mark of Historical Success
T'ANG CULTURE
GOALS:
To expand on the cosmopolitan nature of T'ang culture and the rich cultural developments occuring during this dynastic period, particularly in religion, art and poetry.
THEMES:
The T'ang represents a dynastic period noted for religious tolerance
as well as cultural growth and enrichment enhanced by contacts with South Asia
and the West.
Growth and tolerance are eventually undermined by a growing conservativism rooted
in the increased power accorded Confucianism and Taoism within the organized
political state.
The emergence of secular motifs in art and the heyday of poetry represent the
key cultural contributions of the T'ang to the world of the Chinese fine arts.
OBJECTIVES: Students should be able to
describe the nature of Chinese contact with the outside world as experienced
during the T'ang;
indicate how the toleration of non-Chinese cultures in the early T'ang contributed
to the enlargement of the Chinese religious world;
discuss the nature of the Confucian and Taoist critique of foriegn influences
(particularly that of Buddhism) on T'ang culture (and the eventual consequences
of that critique);
describe the art motifs considered most closely identified with T'ang developments
in the fine arts;
discuss the nature of the shih as a type of Chinese poetry and the representative
contributions of Li Po, Tu Fu and Po Chu-i to the development of traditional
Chinese poetry.
I. A Period of Cultural Tolerance, Growth and Enrichment.
A. Widespread and intensified contact with the West, overland and by sea, as World's Second Largest Empire.
1. Canton replaces Tongkin as chief port.
2. Arabs (other major world power) control maritime international commerce: silk, porcelain, spices; Negro slaves.
3. In addition to merchants, foreign visitors / residents included official missions from foreign governments, mercenaries, monks and entertainers.
4. Chinese travel confined to India: Buddhist studies; Indian astronomy, math, medicine and optical lenses.
5. Indigenous developments contributed to increased contact: printing, gun powder, kite and chairs.
B. New religions (in addition to Buddhism) flourished, mainly, however, among foreign Arab residents.
1. Zoroastrianism: Zoroaster (7th century BC) in Persia; reformed nature worship; dualistic emphasis on light and darkness, motive power of the universe; good (light) will triumph; brought to China by Persian exiles (including royalty).
2. Nestorian Christianity: Nestorius (5th century) in Constantinople; Mary, mother of man, not God; brought by Byzantine exiles.
3. Jacobite Christianity: Jacob Baradaeus (6th century) in Syria; Jesus' one nature, God.
4. Manicheism: Mani (3rd century) in Persia; spiritual Zoroastrianiam with Christian overtones; introduced seven day week to China.
5. Judaism.
6. Islam.
All allowed temples in Ch'ang-an, provinces; granted occasional patronage, official protection; persecuted with Buddhism, 841-845; wiped out except among foreign residents.
C. Buddhism: heyday and persecution.
1. At height under imperial, aristocratic, scholarly interest and favor; great influence in art (sculpture, painting, architecture, literature); new mystic sect imported.
2. Subject to criticism with growing power of Confucianism / Taoism:
a. a foreign religion; not mentioned in the Classics; detrimental to the Chinese state and to Chinese culture.
b. opposes Confucian moral base with superstition; neglects filial piety and respect for the emperor; advocates personal salvation over service to the state.
c. a state within a state: a drain on manpower, land and state wealth.
3. Persecution (841-845) as foreign religion but mainly to expropriate wealth, add to tax roles; represents loss of upper class and intellectual support to Confucian revival; extent: 4600 monasteries, 40,000 shrines destroyed; 260,000 monks, 150,000 nuns returned to tax roles.
II. Art and Literature Under the T'ang
A. Art: secular; burial figures (often glazed; horses), bas relief on tombs; mirrors (floral and animal patterns replacing geometrical designs), painting and calligraphy.
B. Literature:
1. Bureau of History; literary and art criticism; encyclopedia.
2. Lyric poetry: the shih.
a. rhyme, length of line and tone pattern determinates of poetic form and style.
b. inspiration found in Taoism: [R/F, p 181]
c. the great T'ang poets:
(1) Li Po (701-770), a Taoist hedonist; drowned; beauty, word use, style, mastery of form, spontaneity make him most famous: [R/F, p 233; Birch, pp 225 and 232]
(2) Tu Fu (712-770), a Confucian moralist; suffered much; realism, labored style: [Birch, p 238]
(3) Po Chu-i (772-846), a scholar-official; didactic, popular, romantic, wise: [Birch, pp 277 and 278 (two)];
THE TAO TE-CHING
"Who know, speak not; who speak, know naught,"
Are words from Lao Tzu's lore.
If Lao Tzu knew, why did he speak
"Five thousand words and more?"
III. CONCLUSION: The Glories of the T'ang.