Change and Continuity Essay

China Changes:
Womens status goes up
o Song:
Footbinding, have to be virgins before marriage, widows celibate
confined to house, polygamy, concubines
Neo Confucianist ideas of gender roles promote this.
o Yuan:
None of the Songs to bullet.
Women hunted
Chabi=Kublai Khans wife who had a lot of influence and promoted
Buddhism
Merchant/Artisan status goes up
o Song:
Jinshi made high officials and high status. Considering contributing
members of society, unlike merchants.
Had extreme influence on emperor- convinced him that Buddhism hurt
economy because monasteries didnt pay taxes.
Neo Confucianist idea that education/intelligence is the most important
thing
o Yuan:
No civil service exams- scholar-gentry not in political power.
had both scholars and artists at the court
urban life flourished- trade, dramas (The Romance of the West
Chamber), actors became celebrities
Chinese people persecuted:
o Song:
Ethnocentrism only Chinese people in govt

Yuan:

foreigners (like Persians) in bureaucracy

harsh laws against Chinese
no intermarriage, Chinese cant know Mongol script

China Continuities:
Well Organized Bureaucracy:
o Yuan is a chinese name (dynastic cycle continued)
o Postal system, organized taxation
o Capital in center of china (Khanbalik <current day Beijing>)
Trade leading to cultural diffusion:
o Song Yangdi built grand canal in Sui dynasty. Millet and rice trade
Indian buddhism, persian rugs.
Exported silk, porcelain and paper
govt regulated markets, guilds, deposit shops, and flying money
Used dhows and Junks (best ship at the time!) compasses.
o Yuan persian maps and improved Chinese calendar(called abacus). Muslim
doctors.

made silk road safer. Made connection bw regions/nations

Doaism, Buddhism, and Confucianism continued:
o Song:
Neo confucian revival
philosophies emphasized the importance of old ways of thinking
Buddhism flourished in Tang. Empress Wu tried to make it state
religion- build shrines, statues, and pagodas. Pureland Mahayana
popular for peasants, and Chen popular for high class
o Yuan:
Chabi made Buddhist shrines n stuff
Religious Tolerance
built Daoist temples and used traditional confucian rituals

Islamic World Changes:

Destruction:
o sacked Baghdad in 1258 and many other cities. massacre of over 800,000
people
o Desertification- over exhausted lands and neglected irrigation network bc of
migration of nomadic Mongols
o ended dynasty that had been around for 500 years
Islamic World Continuities:
Kept Persians in political power
o kept bureaucracy
o persians became advisors in Yuan
o some farming and cities renewed by Persians
Kept Islam
o they actually spread it to China! Zheng He is muslim! (Ming)
o religious tolerance
o Ghazan- 7th ruler of Ilkhanate. converted to Islam in 1295!
Russia Changes:
Turned Feudal - eliminated political unity
o Kievan Rus:

sort of political unity

formal law code
court system
o Golden Horde:
regional princes paid tribute but left alone otherwise (Mongols
remained in the steppes)
serfs because peasants needed protection from Mongols
Isolated from Western Europe:
o Kievan Rus:
Cyrill and Methodius
trade between scandinavia and Constantinople- traded fur

Golden Horde:
Russia doesnt take part in European exploration or the Renaissance

Rise of Moscow:
o Became trade city through Mongol connections to Asia
o gained power as tax collectors for Golden Horde
o Where orthodox leaders lived
o rise helped by Mongol weapons, rituals, court practices, and military draft
styles

Russia Continuities:
Russian Orthodoxy
o Kievan Rus
brought from Byzantine through missionaries (like Cyril and Methodius)
Prince Vladimir I converted to Christianity and forced conversions.

Golden Horde
churches didnt pay taxes
mongol policies strengthened hold on rural land
religious tolerance