Download How China Became the First Market Society

**How China Became the First Market Society—McNeill’s The Human Web p. 121-127
Tang—618-907
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 Emperor
 SCHOLAR-GENTRY=EXAMINATION SYSTEM
 EMPRESS WU
 EXTENDS INFLUENCE INTO KOREA
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 connections with rest of Asia more intense as long as military powerful
 commercialized behavior
 bazaar trading from foreign merchants
 monasteries were part of economy
 cheap and safe transport along rivers and canals
 Grand Canal after 611 became the main artery of commerce and linked much of China
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 Buddhist texts from India;
 EMPRESS WU TRIES TO MAKE BUDDHISM OFFICAL RELIGION
 block printing widespread making religion more accessible
 845 Confucian scholars convince emperor to forbid foreign religions therefore monastery lands were
confiscated BACKLASH VS. BUDDHIST=PERSECUTION
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 merchant class
 WOMEN SUFFER
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 block printing
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 poetry PRAISED CONFUCIANISM
Powerful military HEAVY TAXATION; AN LUSHAN LEADS REVOLT
Song—960-1279
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 emperor
 scholar-gentry MORE POWERFUL NOW THAN ARISTOCRATS OR BUDDHISTS
 sought to weaken generals by fixing prices
 taxing excessive gains and sometimes confiscating their land
 need for large army to guard vs. northern nomads [with their improved weapons the nomads were
overpowering northern China or western China]
 Song moves south b/c of mobile warships that could cross rivers the horsemen from the north couldn’t;
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 coinage/paper currency help commerce b/c Confucian suspicion of merchants modified
 taxes collected in cash rather than kind—caused selling of goods to pay taxes
 specialization increased artisan skill and because transportation cheap they could rely on market for
food and other necessities
 intensified agriculture
 government spending purchased goods and services
 government set fixed prices
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 government exams based on Confucian teachings
 Neo-Confucianism accommodated Buddhism by asking new questions and reinterpreting texts
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 growth of cities b/c of increased food production
 elegant lifestyles impressed outsiders
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 paper currency
 early ripening rice=2 crops per year
 new crops of tea [boiled which reduced intestinal problems] and cotton [washable clothing improved
health] was more affordable than silk and more comfortable than the hemp clothing
 terraced farming expanded total cultivation
 iron production but does not industrialize
 ship design
 projectile weaponry including catapults and gunpowder weapons
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 poetry and painting DAOIST INFLUENCE
Kublai Khan used Chinese labor to build up navy and conquer all of China
Yuan [Mongol]—1279-1368
P=Kublai Khan united China with rest of Eurasia; gov’t officials weakened by factionalism; rebellions;
foreigners brought into China including Muslims, Buddhists, and Marco Polo to high offices; capital
moved to Beijing which was closer to the frontier
E=movement along Silk Road increased; exports painting, printing, compass, gunpowder, high temp
furnaces; shipbuilding?; eventually inflation of paper money
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S=used Chinese labor to build Navy and defeat Song; epidemics; natural disasters; I=Chinese ideas were
difficult to transmit to others but their technology was easy to export—printing, painting, compass
navigation, gunpowder weaponry; high-temp furnaces; shipbuilding; Mongols divided from Chinese but
Mongols relied on Chinese officials for the administration at low levels; population losses
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Factionalism weakened the Mongol hold as well as epidemics, reckless inflation of paper money, and
natural disasters. Peasant led revolt establishes Ming Dynasty
Ming—1368-1644
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 peaceful encounters with foreigners seen as “tribute missions”
 maintained large army
 expansion beyond southern limits ended and soldiers withdrew from Vietnam
 withdrawal from Old World Web
 capital Nanjing
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 much of the resources used to protect frontier
 fleet allowed to decay
 private overseas trade forbidden but some did so as pirates
 gov’t vs. commercial-imperial expansion
 officially supervised production of silk, porcelain, etc. for export increased
 salt monopoly and tax
 private commerce and artisan manufacture continued mostly on a family scale
 welcomed only silver in return for Chinese goods such as silk, lacquerware, and porcelain
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 reaffirmed Confucian ideas
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 distaste for anything foreign
 attempts to repopulate north
 naval expeditions began and abruptly stopped
 successful merchants sent sons to school to pass exam
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 1415 Grand Canal deepened thereby eliminating need for sea lanes to supply rice to the capital
 salt production required elaborate engineering
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 Confucian classics
 poetry and painting from Tang and Song enshrined
Consistencies—Why? Confucianism, Agriculture, Dynasties, Conflict with northern nomads