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Power concedes nothing without a demand.
Name:
Date:
Mr. Carey/Mr. Clarke
China & Others
China & Others
I. Overview
From early times to the 19th century, China’s many interactions
with a larger Eurasian world shaped both China’s own
development and that of world history more generally. As the
major civilization of East Asia, China naturally had interactions
with smaller pastoral and semi-agricultural peoples to the north
of China. Living in areas unable to support farming, these
peoples were typically nomadic, moving from place to place
while relying upon the raising of livestock (sheep, cattle, goats)
and the mastery of horse riding.
Directions: Actively read and annotate the provided texts on
Chinese interactions with outsiders. While you read, keep the
question below in mind. When you finish, respond to this
question in the “Homework” section of your AP World History
notebooks.
1.
Characterize the relationship between the Chinese and the nomadic peoples of the north. Your response
should include: a) the ways in which the Chinese and the northern nomads saw each other, respectively, b)
reference to the Chinese tribute system, and c) at least three pieces of textual evidence from across the text.
China and the Northern Nomads
Organized locally in small, mobile, family-based groups, sometimes called tribes, the nomadic
peoples of the north needed grain and other agricultural products from China, and their leaders
developed a taste for Chinese goods—wine and silk, for example—with which they could attract
and reward followers. The nomads were drawn like a magnet toward China, trading, raiding, and
extorting (forcing) to obtain the resources so important to their way of life, for 2,000 years or
more, pressure from these nomadic peoples to the north constantly motivated China’s efforts to
protect itself. (1)
From the nomads’ point of view, the threat often came from the Chinese, who occasionally used
their own armies in attempts to conquer the areas where the nomads lived, built the Great Wall to
keep the nomads out, and often proved unwilling to allow the nomadic peoples to trade within
China. And yet the Chinese needed the nomads. Their lands were the source of horses, which were
essential for the Chinese military. Furthermore, pastoral nomads controlled much of the Silk Road
trading network, which funneled goods from the West into China. (2)
An outcome of this cross-cultural encounter was a particular view the Chinese held of themselves
and of their nomadic neighbors. With its long history, great cities, refined tastes, advanced
intellectual and artistic achievements, organized government, literate people, and booming
economy, China viewed itself as the center of the world, and the Chinese believed that China alone
represented “civilization.” On the other hand, the Chinese saw the surrounding nomadic peoples
as barbarians, describing their movements as similar to “beasts and birds,” while mocking the way
in which the nomadic peoples lived in tents, ate mostly meat and milk, made war, and practically
lived on their horses. (3)
Such was the general understanding of the Chinese about their own civilization alongside the
societies of northern nomads and other non-Chinese peoples. This worldview also took shape as a
system for managing China’s relationship with these people. Known as the tribute system, it was a
set of practices that required non-Chinese peoples to acknowledge Chinese superiority and their
Power concedes nothing without a demand.
own lower place in a world-order ruled by the Chinese. Foreigners seeking access to China had to
send a group of their own officials to the Chinese court, where they would be expected to bow and
present tribute (a money offering) to the Chinese emperor. In return for these expressions of
submission, the emperor would grant permission for foreigners to trade in China’s rich markets
and would provide them with gifts, often worth far more than the tribute they had offered. This
was the system by which Chinese rulers attempted to regulate their relationships with northern
nomads, neighboring states such as Korea, Vietnam, Tibet, and Japan, and later the Europeans. (4)
Often, this system seemed to work, as countless foreigners would agree to the tribute system over
the centuries. But the tribute system also had some problems. Sometimes, China was faced with
much larger and powerful nomadic empires, in which different nomadic peoples had come
together under a single leader. An early example of this was that of the Xiongnu, who were quite
powerful during the Han dynasty. Devastating Xiongnu raids into northern China forced the
Chinese emperor to negotiate an arrangement that recognized the Xiongnu as China’s political
equal, promised its leader a Chinese princess in marriage, and agreed to supply the Xiongnu leader
with large amounts of grain, wine, and silk. Although the Chinese termed these goods “gifts” under
the tribute system, they were clearly paid to the Xiongnu for Chinese protection. In return for
these goods, the Xiongnu agreed to not attack China. (5)
Something similar occurred during the Tang dynasty as a series of Turkic empires arose in
Mongolia (region north of China). Like the Xiognu, they too took large “gifts” from the Chinese.
One of these peoples, the Uighurs, actually saved the Chinese government from a serious internal
rebellion in the 750s. In return, the Uighur peoples received many gifts. Thus, the Chinese were
not always able to control the terms of their relationship with outside peoples, despite the tribute
system—in fact, it was sometimes the opposite. (6)
Nomads were generally not interested in actually conquering and ruling China. It was easier and
more profitable to extort goods from the Chinese government. On occasion, however, that
government broke down, and various nomadic groups moved in to pick up the pieces, conquering
and governing parts of China. Such a process took place following the fall of the Han dynasty and
again after the collapse of the Tang dynasty, when the Khitan and then the Jurchen peoples
established states that included parts of northern China. Both of them required the Chinese Song
dynasty, located further south, to deliver huge amounts of silk, silver, and tea, some of which
found its way into the Silk Road trading network. Thus, the practice of giving gifts to these
“barbarians” allowed the proud Chinese to imagine that they were still in control of the situation
even though they were paying heavily for protection from nomadic attacks. Those gifts, in turn,
provided vital (absolutely necessary) economic resources to nomadic peoples. (7)