Because we won't have class next week I have typed up some notes that review what we went over last Thursday. I have also included a brief reading guide for Topic 6B (we skipped Topic 6A).
For background reading, have a look at pages 141-148 in Murphey. You might also want to skim pages 149-155.
In the sourcebook, you should read pages 118-119 and pages 141-162 (though pages 154-162 do not need to be read as closely as 140-154).
On pages 118-119 pay attention to the concept of unity and the development of art and the relationship this has with the growth of Classical Civilization. Also be aware of the problems of defining Classical Civilization.
On pages 141-144 and 146-147, pay attention to the problems the government faces in terms of power and its abuse.
On page 144-146 we have a journal entry that tells of the conflict between Taoism and Buddhism. What is this conflict like? How does it show converging and diverging? Have a look at an entry by the same author on page 156.
Be sure to look at the poems on page 147-154. Connect them to the four poets we went over (more on them below). Pay special attention to Du Fu’s remarks about having daughters in “The Ballad of the Army Wagons”. Look also at “Lament Everlasting” and how note how Bo Juyi connects the decline of the dynasty with the death of Yang Guefei. Also note issues of identity between Han and Tartar in his “The Prisoner”.
The following are remarks about the course notes. They are meant to supplement the notes, not as a substitute for the ntoes.
Make sure you know the dates of the dynasties (what I called the Six Dynasties is called North/South). Usually Professor Harlow doesn’t ask for specific dates but she might have questions about order
The Sui dynasty was short lived. It overstretched itself. It was eventually overthrown by one of its generals, Li Yuan, who had fought against the Turks. He established the Tang dynasty. Li Yuan shows an important pattern, that of a general who is supposed to be fighting barbarians rebelling/overthrowing an emperor.
Empress Wu is a rather interesting figure. She was a concubine of the second emperor, Taizong. When he died, she was sent to be a Buddhist nun (this was the custom when an emperor died, his concubines went to a nunnery). Later, Taizong’s son, Emperor Gaozong saw her and became infatuated with her and had her taken out of the nunnery to be his concubine (this story sounds a bit odd, there is a chance that they knew each other before she went to the nunnery and might even have had an affair then). In 660 the Emperor suffered from strokes and could no longer govern allowing Empress Wu to stay in charge. She kept his sons from gaining power and after he died, rule through other sons of his. She eventually declared herself empress and founded the Zhou (Chou) dynasty. She patronized Buddhism (I think she did this to increase her power, she declared herself to be Maitreya!) but eventually lost power and was forced to abdicate in 705 at the age of 80.
Similar problems continued with the Xuanzong emperor. He became infatuated with Yang Gueifei, his son’s concubine and took her as his own. She became powerful and recommended An Lushan as a general on the frontier (it must be stressed that even though he had a Chinese name he was actually of Turkish/Sogdian ancestry). He gained greater and greater power and eventually rebelled. The rebellion was so successful that the Emperor had to flee the capitol (he eventually abdicated). While escaping, imperial soldiers demanded the execution of Yang Gueifei and her cousin (the Yang’s were blamed for the problems the empire was facing) and so she died (though she might have killed herself before she was executed. In 757 An Lushan would be killed by his own son but the rebellion would continue. Emperor Suzong was able to re-establish the Tang dynasty but only with the help of the Uighurs (they were Manicheans for awhile but I think the majority are now Muslims). The Uighurs had a lot of power in the Tang dynasty up until 840 when their power was broken by the Kirghiz Turks. Eunuchs also took power over the court.
There are several key points for our class that can be seen in these power struggles:
1) These power struggles seriously weakened the Tang dynasty.
2) The barbarians had an important part in Chinese history. They could both threaten and serve the dynasty.
3) The Uighurs were the ones who helped the Tang dynasty continue but the Chinese were dependent on them, even though the government didn’t want to acknowledge it.
4) There were constant problems between balancing the power of the center (the capitol, Changgan with the Emperor in control) and the outer provinces, where generals with large armies were needed to control the barbarians (but these armies allowed them to rebel and pose a danger to the center.
5) The Emperor wasn’t always in charge. Sometimes an empress or concubine could wield power (often used to advance the interests of her family) as could barbarians and even eunuchs.
6) Not talked about above, but related is that in an effort to control the barbarians the Tang pushed out far into the west, much like the Han
7) While the early Tang was open to foreign influence, its bad experiences with foreign religion (especially Buddhism) and the influence of non-Chinese (especially the barbarians) led China to close in on itself. The helped lead the Song dynasty (and later dynasties) to be more aloof from the world and to distrust foreign influence and to turn less towards Buddhism and more towards Confucianism (and later, Neo-Confucianism, which was developed under the Song).
There are four poets Tang dynasty poets that we looked at:
Wang Wei
Li Bo
Du Fu
Bo Juyi
Make sure you know their years and how they were influenced by the An Lushan rebellion. There are generational differences between them which affects their outlook. It’s also important to know what they were influenced by (Confucian/Buddhism) and what sort of poems they wrote.
The Tang eventually fell in 907 and China was disunited until 960 when it was reunited by the Song dynasty.
According to Web ct the test will cover from topics 4-6. 3B isn’t listed as being on the test but I would encourage you to review it just to be sure. While multiple choice will be from those topics and not on information before the midterm, Professor Harlow’s essays might require some knowledge before the midterm and my essays definitely will (I have given you the themes I will use so there shouldn’t be any surprises). So concentrate on post-midterm material but don’t ignore stuff that came after it.
