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Xuanzang

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young Buddhist monk who decided to go to India and visit the holy sites of Buddhism and learn about his faith; crossed 3 mountain ranges: the Tian Shan, Hindu Kush, and Pamir ranges; translated Buddhist treatises into Chinese and promoted his fait

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Yang Jian

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imposed tight political discipline on state; appointed duke of Sui; forced abdication of a 7-yr-old boy and claimed throne and Mandate of Heaven for himself

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Sui Yangdi

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604-618 CE; second emperor of the Sui Dynasty; completed work on the Grand Canal; during his rule, his projects demanded high taxes and force labor, which caused hostility toward his rule; rebellions broke out; assassinated in 618

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Tang Taizong

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627-649 CE; Tang Dynasty's second emperor; banditry ended during reign; taxes were very low; unusual stability and prosperity during his reign

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An Lushan

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one of Tang dynasty's foremost military commanders; mounted rebellion and captured capital at Chang'an and Luoyang; murdered by a soldier in 757

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Huang Chao

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military commander that led an uprising from 875-884; routinely pillaged wealthy and distributed portions of his plunder to the poor

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Du Fu

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(712-770C.E.) Considered Chinas greatest poet. He was born into a prominent Confucian family, and wrote in his early years about the beauty of the natural world, however after the rebellion of An Lushan, he fell into poverty and experienced difficulties. The poetry of his later years lamented the chaos of the late eighth century.

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Song Taizu

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reigned 960-976 C.E.; a junior military officer and was known for his honesty and effectiveness and in 960 his troops proclaimed him emperor. For the next several years he and his army defeated other warlords and brought China under unified rule under the Song dynasty.

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Li Bo

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(701-761 C.E.) the most popular poet of the Tang era and wrote pleasing verse celebrating life, friendship, and especially wine; tradition holds that he died by drowning when the drunken poet fell out of a boat while trying to embrace the moons reflection in the water

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Zhu Xi

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(1130-1200 C.E.); he was the most important representative of Song Neo-Confucianism and maintained a deep commitment to Confucian values emphasizing proper personal behavior and social harmony; wrote Family Rituals and other works on behavior; also became fascinated with Buddhist thought; he argued, like Plato, that two elements accounted for all physical being; li, ideas that define the essence of the being, and qi, its material form.

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Murasaki Shikibu

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a lady in writing in the Heian court who wrote in Japanese syllabic script rather than in Chinese character. She wrote The Tale of Ganji, which reflected Heian court life better than any other literary work.

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Sui Dynasty

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(589-618 C.E,) brought about by Yang Jian, the Sui dynasty lasted less the thirty years however, it did bring all of China back under centralized rule; the Grand Canal was built during this empire

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Grand Canal

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project under the Sui dynasty; one of the world's largest waterworks projects before modern times; to facilitate trade between northern and southern China; almost 2,000 km long

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Tang dynasty

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(618-907 CE) founded by Tang Taizong; after the Sui dynasty; success due to energy, ability, and policies of Tang Taizong; maintained an extensive communications network based on roads, horses, and sometimes human runners; used the equal-field system; relied heavily on a bureaucracy based on merit; extended as far south as northern Vietnam, west as far as the Aral sea, and brought Manchuria under imperial authority and forced the Silla Kingdom in Korea to acknowledge Tan emperor as overlord in the north

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Chang'an

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capital of the Tang dynasty

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Equal-field system

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Chinese system during the Han dynasty in which the goal was to ensure an equitable distribution of land

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Bureaucracy of merit

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Tang dynasty relied heavily on this; recruited government officials from the ranks of candidates who had progressed through the Confucian educational system and had mastered a sophisticated curriculum concentrating on the classic works of Chinese literature and philosophy; won their post because of intellectual ability

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Middle Kingdom

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China; a powerful realm with the responsibility to bring order to subordinate lands through a system of tributary relationships

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Uighurs

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nomadic Turks; the Tang commanders had to invite a nomadic Turkish people to bring an army into China to oust An Lushan from the imperial capitals; in return for their services, the Uighurs demanded the right to sack Chang'an and Luoyang after the expulsion of the rebels.

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Song Dynasty

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960-1279 C.E.; never built a very powerful state; Song rulers mistrusted military leaders, and they placed much more emphasis on civil administration, industry, education, and the arts than on military affairs; Song Taizu was the first Song emperor and its founder; the Song's financial weaknesses include enormous bureaucracy and high salary devoured surpluses; their military problems included civil bureaucrats in charge of the military forces; they eventually moved to the south and ruled south China until 1279

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Khitan

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a seminomadic people from Manchuria; from the early tenth through the early twelfth century, they ruled a vast empire stretching from northern Korea to Mongolia; during the first half of the Song dynasty, they demanded and received large tribute payments of silk and silver from the Song state to the south; caused external pressure on the Song Dynasty; in the early 12th century the nomadic Jurchen conquered the Khitan

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Jurchan

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the nomadic Jurchan conquered the Khitan, overran northern China, captured the Song capital at Kaifeng, and proclaimed establishment of the Jin empire (early 12th century); thereafter, the Song dynasty moved its capital to the prosperous port city of Hangzhou and survived only in southern China

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Foot Binding

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gained popularity among the privileged classes during the Song era; the tight wrapping of young girls' feet with strips of cloth that prevented natural growth of the bones and resulted in tiny, malformed, curved feet; women with bound feet couldn't walk easily or naturally; sometimes servants carried them around in litters; wealthy families often bound the feet of their daughters to enhance their attractiveness, display their high social standing, and gain increased control over the girls' behavior

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Dunhuang

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a city on the silk road that transmitted Mahayana Buddhism to China; by the fourth century C.E., a sizable Buddhist community had emerged at Dunhuang in western China; Buddhists built hundreds of cave temples in the vicinity of Dunhuang and decorated them with murals depicting events in the lives of the Buddha and the boddhisatvas; missions supported by establishments such as those at Dunhuang helped Buddhism to establish a foothold in China

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Chan Buddhism

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a syncretic faith; a form of Buddhism with Chinese characteristics; known in Japan as Zen Buddhism; emphasized insight in the search for spiritual enlightenment

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Neo-Confucianism

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emerged when the Confucians of the Song dynasty drew inspiration from Buddhism; their thought reflected the influence of Buddhism and original Confucian values

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Silla

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native dynasty of Korea that agreed to a political compromise with invading Tang authorities to avoid a long and costly conflict

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Vietnam

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called Nam Viet by the Chinese; Viet people settled in the region around the Red River and resisted the Tang armies; adopted Chinese agricultural methods, irrigation systems, schools, administration, and Confucian texts; Viets won their independence during the fall of the Tang dynasty; women played a much more prominent role in Vietnamese society and economy than China; Buddhism was introduced to Vietnam through China

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Nara Japan

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period in Japan (710-794 CE) where Chinese influence was most prominent; Nara was also a city near modern Kyoto named as capital in 710; the city stood as a replica of the Tang capital at Chang'an

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Heian Period

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(794-1185 CE); also a city named capital of Japan in 794 and is now modern Kyoto; became the seat of a refined and sophisticated society that drew inspiration from China but also elaborated distinctively Japanese political and cultural traditions; local rulers on the island of Honshu mostly

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Tale of Genji

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best reflected the Heian court life; composed by Murasaki Shikibu; relates the experiences of a fictitious imperial prince named Genji

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Minamoto

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engaged in outright war with the Taira in the mid-12th century and were victorious; claimed to rule the land in the name of the emperor; dominated political life in Japan for four centuries

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Shogun

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a military governor who ruled in place of the emperor; installed as clan leader by the Minamoto

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Kamakura

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early medieval period of Japan that ran from 1185 to 1333 CE

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Muromachi

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later medieval period of Japan that ran from 1336 - 1573 CE; during the two periods, Japan developed a decentralized political order

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Samurai

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professional warriors and specialists in the use of force and the arts of fighting; served the provincial lords of Japan

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Bushido

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the "way of the warrior"; the code of conduct of the Japanese samurai that was based on loyalty and honor

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Seppuku

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Japanese term for ritual suicide committed by the samurai when he had been dishonored

AP World History- Chapter 15 Vocab – Flashcards

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