Chapter 10 - Inner and East Asia

     The Sui dynasty reunited China after its fall, but Li Shimin, the first of the Tang, took parts of it when a Sui ruler was killed. During his rule, Mahayana Buddhism became popular in the area between the Yellow and Yangtze rivers. Other nearby states entered a tributary system with China, where they allowed the emperor to rule them without being under his direct command.  Wu Zhao, a woman, was allowed to become emperor shortly before the fall of the Tang (their fall was due to the Chao Uprising and a rebellion led by a man named An Lushan).

A shoe for a bound foot. The optimum size was around three inches.

     For a period of time, the land was split between the Liao, Khitan and nomads in the north and the Song in the south. The Song were able to make advancements in math, technology, astronomy and medicine. They came up with the idea of fractions, found the North Star and the Crab Nebula, and invented gunpowder.  One of their most influential thinkers was Zhu Xi, who led the empire back towards Confucian concepts (neo-Confucianism). The Song dynasty brought along Zen Buddhism (now commonly practiced in Japan), the concept of credit, and movable type. Women had more freedoms in poorer areas - wealthy women even went to the extreme of breaking and then binding their feet for the sake of beauty, leaving them barely able to walk, and thus, dependent on men. *Side note: the practice of foot binding was not outlawed in China until 1912.*

Samurai

     In Korea, the Silla kingdom was formed, but was taken over by the Koryo in 918. Their religion depended on shamans, or religious leaders who could communicate with the spirits. However, they soon adopted Confucianism and Buddhism from their Chinese neighbors.
     Japan's civilization consisted of four islands that were unified by an unknown leader and centralized by the Yamato regime. Women were allowed to rule, the Fujiwara clan being one of the first to grant them this power. The Kamakura Shogunate came out on top after a civil war and created the first decentralized militaristic government, with the samurai warrior class created to help maintain control. The Tale of Gengi tells of life in court and family alliances, giving us a glimpse into Japanese life at the time.
     Vietnam was largely an agricultural society concentrated on growing rice. The Annam/Dai Viet people ruled in the north, while the Champa, their rivals, ruled in the south.

Sumatra

Java

     The Srivijaya lived on the island of Sumatra between 7 and 11 CE. They controlled India-China sea trade routes and had some of the only ports for stops between the countries. They were allied with groups of pirates who kept the waters safe (for some people), and had their agricultural center on the island of Java. The Srivijayan king declared himself a Bodhisattva after learning about Buddhism (Mahayana), but after the  Srivijaya's decline, the islands were taken over by Theravada Buddhism.