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Lecture 29 Silk Road and China — Transcript

by jennifer stiles · 3,531 words · 546 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:05so we left off talking about the Silk
0:08Road which not surprisingly is named
0:11after the lucrative trade in silk that
0:13develops and in China which had been
0:15producing silk for centuries however
0:18with the beginning of the Han Dynasty
0:19and the 3rd Century BCE we really see in
0:23a more intensive production of silk and
0:26the desire for silk increases throughout
0:29all of Asia and even up into Europe and
0:32not surprisingly you have this beautiful
0:34light fabric that can be dyed it feels
0:37great next to the skin if you've ever
0:39worn something that's silk and then worn
0:41something that's wool or even linen I'm
0:45sure you'll appreciate why so many
0:46people were interested in this
0:48comfortable Fabric and it's not a
0:50surprise that purple silk becomes
0:52associated with royalty it was difficult
0:55to get it was exclusive and so there's
0:58going to be a wide demand for that
1:00but silk isn't the only thing that
1:03people are trading of course along this
1:05route you have food stuffs and precious
1:08stones different types of spices and in
1:11addition you also have this transference
1:14of ideas so as we talk about that today
1:18I want you to keep in mind that the
1:20changes that are happening in in China
1:22are really going to have a ripple effect
1:24as they're able to facilitate this trade
1:28the ideas which come from East Asia like
1:31Confucianism like Buddhism are also
1:34going to be intermingling with different
1:36Greek philosophies for example
1:39Hellenistic philosophies
1:41and as we move into the century CE we're
1:44also going to have a populist religion
1:47that's taking taking root Christianity
1:49which is also going to have an influence
1:53now if you look at the map here you'll
1:54see that there are two major components
1:57of the Silk Road one goes along the
1:59northern route that's an Overland route
2:02and then we see also the trade that's
2:05going on Via C using some of these new
2:08manuals and peroplus which help to
2:12Sailors to navigate these Waters safely
2:15so all of the Indian Ocean even even
2:17down Around the Horn of Africa is can
2:20still considered part of this trade
2:22route
2:23so there's also a video which I've
2:25included in our materials this week that
2:27takes a nice Deep dive into the Silk
2:30Road
2:30and I like it because in addition to
2:32giving some some time to the types of
2:34products and economic influence that
2:37impact that the Silk Road is going to
2:39have it also kind of gives you a sense
2:42of what life might have been like for a
2:44Trader who's moving across these diverse
2:47geographies and cultural traditions and
2:50some of the cities that actually that we
2:52know today that have their Roots as
2:54Stock points along this Silk Road
3:05I had just mentioned that one of the
3:07things that happens because of the Silk
3:09Road is the emergence of new urban areas
3:12and this makes sense if you think about
3:14the fact that you have large amounts of
3:16Traders it could be one person with a
3:19couple of donkeys or a couple of camels
3:21but more likely you have larger Merchant
3:24Caravans it's safer to travel in groups
3:27to help ward off Pirates and it also
3:31makes sense that if you're going to make
3:32this very long uh Journey you're going
3:36to carry enough stuff that it makes it
3:38economically worth your while so you
3:40have large groups of people traveling
3:42and they're going to need all of the
3:44things that Travelers need it's the same
3:47thing that Travelers need today right if
3:49you're in an airport you think about all
3:51the services and goods that are
3:53available to you at an airport you have
3:56places you can shop for food you have
3:58places for drink you have restrooms for
4:01refreshment you have news stands where
4:04you can get the local news and the
4:06weather they would have needed all of
4:08these things also and so we start to see
4:11at first kind of temporary tent cities
4:13at at regular stations along the Silk
4:16Road and then these are gradually going
4:18to evolve into permanent urban areas
4:23so we have Caravan cities with
4:25throughout the desert where you can um
4:27you can get water refresh your animals
4:29and then also provide all of the needs
4:32that The Travelers would have this
4:34creates just a Melting Pot of different
4:38ideas and cultures you can think about
4:40the sounds that would have been heard in
4:42one of these Caravan cities as people
4:44play music probably from all their
4:46different regions they're sharing
4:48stories they're sharing news so it
4:50really is a point of connection
4:53one of the things that's helping this
4:55Silk Road to work is the development of
4:59different types of technology so you
5:01think why wasn't this Silk Road in um in
5:04existence before on a grand scale well
5:07think about some of the technologies
5:09that we've discussed so far you needed
5:12to have wheels and carts that could
5:16withstand long distance travel
5:18as we move into Maritime trade you need
5:21it to have some stronger ships that
5:23could withstand the types of waves and
5:25winds that they're going to in the sea
5:27better navigation which allows people to
5:30get away from the shoreline and go out
5:32and navigate by the stars using
5:34different types of tools so it really is
5:37kind of a combination of Technology new
5:40products such as silks and then this
5:42ability to travel long distance
5:45the other thing that will play a role
5:47increasingly is the stable dynastic
5:50powers
5:51it's very difficult to maintain stable
5:54trade when you have political chaos
5:58again it's difficult to maintain trade
6:01if you have political chaos because
6:03Merchants cannot rely on safe roads that
6:07are being regularly policed they might
6:09not even be able to rely on stapled
6:11forms of currency so as we see in the
6:15East the Han Dynasty is going to be a
6:18strong stable dynastic force in the East
6:20and then this is going to be bookended
6:23by the um the Roman civilization which
6:27is emerging in the west so you have a
6:29very strong stable dynastic power on
6:32both sides of the Silk Road and then you
6:35have different groups such as the cush
6:37who are facilitating trade along the
6:40Route
6:41so take a look at that video of the Silk
6:43Road if you haven't already
6:53as we move into talking about Maritime
6:55trade technology again is going to play
6:57an important role and here it's going to
7:00come in the form of documents
7:03around the transition from the years BCE
7:06to CE
7:08there emerges these types of documents
7:10called paraplus from the Greek meaning
7:12sailing around and these are really just
7:14navigation guides
7:17if you were a merchant
7:19um and you were entering across the
7:21Indian Ocean or across the Red Sea or
7:24working in the Mediterranean these types
7:26of documents you would be able to take
7:28with you and they would describe the
7:31different ports that were available for
7:33you to Dock and different landmarks that
7:36you could use to navigate and their
7:37approximate distances so this is a very
7:40important tool
7:41throughout the first century CE that
7:44Merchants could use also as we mentioned
7:47ships are are changing not the
7:50navigation for ships is improving and
7:52along with the construction of ships
7:54they're making them heartier here we
7:57have a recreation of a Roman vessel from
8:01around the perhaps second to third
8:03Century CE where you can see that the
8:06ships are becoming in in large part
8:08larger stronger and able to withstand
8:11more frequent voyages and also also
8:14voyages across different Waters so we
8:17have these paraplus one of the most
8:19famous is the paraplus of the rest of
8:21the Red Sea but there were also
8:23documents that were produced for bodies
8:25of water elsewhere
8:34we're going to move even further east
8:36now and talk about China and remember
8:39that the last time we spoke about China
8:41Confucius was lamenting all the Intrigue
8:46and backbiting that had dissolved unity
8:48and eventually LED of course to the
8:51regionalization of the Warring States
8:53period
8:55the Qin Dynasty is credited with
8:59quelling many of those re rebellions
9:02and unifying China again under one
9:05Dynasty however because of the
9:08authoritarian measures that they took to
9:11do this they really aren't going to be
9:13able to hold on to power very long you
9:15can see from those dates from 221 to 206
9:18and most people feel as if it was
9:20because of these harsh authoritarian
9:24um rules that they had put in place
9:27however one of the things that the Quinn
9:30Dynasty does which is going to have long
9:32Legacy is
9:36against the northern uh to protect their
9:39Northern Territories from Invaders and
9:43of course this eventually is going to be
9:45incorporated into a much larger wall the
9:47Great Wall of China
9:49the reason why though I think it's worth
9:51noting that the reason why they were
9:53having trouble with that northern region
9:55is because of a series of expansions
9:57that had happened under the Qin dynasty
10:00in particular they had annexed
10:03territories
10:05um north of the Yellow River Basin which
10:07had belonged to nomadic tribes so
10:10they're expanding and then in some cases
10:12these quote-unquote Invaders are
10:14actually trying to get back onto the
10:16lands that they had initially settled
10:20most
10:21um historians see this Quinn Dynasty as
10:24an essential transitional stage to the
10:27first Imperial period
10:30the Han Dynasty is going to be the
10:34longest lived of any dynasty in China
10:37the dynastic line is going to the direct
10:40dynastic line is going to go all the way
10:42up into 220 CE which I've listed there
10:44as the date
10:46but remember because of this conception
10:48of the Mandate of Heaven
10:51continuing to support the ruling house
10:55the Empire will actually be seen to last
10:57until the last emperor in 1911 shortly
11:01before World War one you're going to see
11:03a continuity with this Han Dynasty
11:08so let's talk about some of the things
11:10that happen under the Han Dynasty
11:22traditionally the Han period is divided
11:24into two parts the Western Han and the
11:26Eastern Han and we're going to begin
11:28with the Western Han and it is lubong
11:31who becomes known as the gauzu Emperor
11:33who is responsible for leading a
11:35successful coup against the Qin dynasty
11:38and we move into that next domestic
11:40period of the Han Dynasty
11:42and it seems as if um lubong was able to
11:46make this
11:48new Empire successful
11:51largely because of some administrative
11:53changes that he made
11:56um he's going to really reorganize the
11:58Empire with a very firm efficient
12:00provincial oversight and create some
12:04administrative positions which are not
12:05based upon Family Ties but rather upon
12:09Merit and again this is a theme that
12:10that we've seen before within China they
12:13have a very large
12:15bureaucracy which in some ways is quite
12:18good because for example compared with
12:20an Empire like Rome which is very large
12:23geographically but really is not going
12:26to develop the kind of complex
12:28bureaucratic system
12:29that China has it'll never develop that
12:32level of complexity so that's the good
12:35part is that you have all of these civil
12:37officials which are able to make the
12:39matters of state run smoothly
12:41problem of course is that you have a lot
12:44of areas for corruption people that are
12:46not doing their jobs people that are
12:48practicing nepotism
12:50so it seems as if periodically
12:53um you'll have an emperor like lubong
12:55who's going to come in and kind of wash
12:57the slate and get rid of those corrupt
13:00administrators and replace them with
13:02really good merit-based people and
13:06that's what he seems to have done
13:07throughout his reign
13:10and along with that they're going to
13:12move away from that very sharp
13:14legalistic authoritarian type of
13:17government that the Quinn had had and
13:19align themselves with Confucian
13:21principles and remembering the the
13:25readings that we did earlier in the
13:26semester on Confucius that if you order
13:30your house in a respectful
13:33way where people are striving for virtue
13:37and to act with Integrity if you order
13:39your household in that manner then
13:41society as a whole is going to follow
13:43suit and that's the approach that the
13:46early Western Han are going to have
13:48incorporating principles of moderation
13:51and respect integrity
13:53and virtue and it seems to have worked
13:56fairly well the next emperor that we'll
13:59touch on within the Han Dynasty is Wu of
14:02Han he was the seventh seventh emperor
14:04of the Han Dynasty
14:06and it's worth noting that he is the uh
14:09second longest ruling Emperor um his
14:13Reign lasted 54 years and again I think
14:16whenever you see someone like Wolfhound
14:19like Ramses II someone who is able to
14:22rule for quite a long period of time you
14:25often see significant changes they're
14:27able to both come up with new policies
14:31and then have time to implement those
14:33policies so again along with um the
14:37beginnings of the western Han Wu is also
14:39going to adopt these Confucian
14:41principles of moderation personal virtue
14:45and then later he's going to incorporate
14:46some of these Taoist ideas too which we
14:49spoke about earlier in the semester
14:52along with um leading a successful
14:55expansion of the Empire through a
14:57combination of military uh campaigns and
15:00diplomacy
15:02he's going to be known for becoming a
15:04real patron of the Arts particularly in
15:07the field of historical and cultural
15:09studies
15:12um he is a patron of poem of poetry and
15:15the musical arts and actually will
15:17develop the Imperial music Bureau
15:21um into becoming this really prestigious
15:23entity and I think that this gives us a
15:25sense that Society has uh reached the
15:29point where it's not just sustaining
15:31itself right through food through
15:32clothing through protection but it
15:35really is
15:36um has enough Prosperity that they can
15:38begin to develop many of these other
15:41types of things like art and music
15:44it's also during the reign of Wu
15:47um that you're going to see increased
15:49contact with the Western
15:52areas we look at those dates 141 to 87
15:55BCE this is really on the Advent of the
15:58of the Silk Road so trade is beginning
16:01to get going they're beginning to make
16:03contact with more Western societies such
16:07as those in India and across the
16:09Anatolian Plains and indeed all the way
16:11to Rome
16:20all right
16:23the Eastern Dynasty the Eastern Han
16:25Dynasty is referred to because of the
16:29change from the capital the capital had
16:30resided in the west prior to 25
16:33CE and then there is a brief
16:36reorganization a brief kind of coup and
16:39then the the Han Dynasty is
16:41re-established in 25 CE so it's a pretty
16:43brief hiccup there and so most
16:46historians view this as an entire
16:48period the Han Dynasty but one of the
16:51features of the Han Dynasty which comes
16:54to us is the expansion of the
16:55bureaucratic system they estimate that
16:57over 130 000 different government
16:59officials were working in the Han
17:01Dynasty during this period and again
17:03this really stands out as something
17:05unique globally at this time even as I
17:08mentioned within the Roman Empire which
17:09is going to be quite extensive you see
17:11nothing on the level of these types of
17:13numbers and when you think about 130 000
17:17people that are working as government
17:18officials it really suggests a high rate
17:21of literacy which again most of the
17:23world did not have during this period of
17:26time and I think that it also shows an
17:30esteem a cultural esteem for education
17:33for literacy which is going to be
17:37influential within Eastern Asian Society
17:40for centuries to come
17:42the other reason why these bureaucrats
17:44are important is because they help to
17:46balance the power
17:48of the land
17:49ability
17:50compare this in a few
17:52of what's going to happen further west
17:53within Europe for example we'll see it
17:56to be a real factor in preventing the
17:59type of
18:01um
18:02Elite control that is going to
18:04characterize political systems in the
18:06west we'll see the rise of feudalism in
18:09the west where you have the king and his
18:13very close family members are going to
18:15be gifting large tracts of land to a
18:18select nobility and they really are
18:20going to become the haves within that
18:23Society
18:24within China because of these civil
18:27officials they are going to help to
18:29balance the power
18:31of these landed magnates for some time
18:34now eventually these landed Elite Elites
18:37are going to push back effectively
18:40um but for this period during the Han
18:42Dynasty this bureaucracy is going to uh
18:45play an important role in keeping power
18:47within the hands of the Imperial family
18:49and within their administrative
18:51officials
18:53now the most extensive as I've mentioned
18:56the most extensive Empire at this time
18:58in the west is Rome and their
19:01bureaucracy by comparison is really
19:03quite small and their literacy cannot
19:05compare to what's going on within China
19:09the other reason we speak about the Han
19:11Dynasty is because it really becomes
19:13synonymous with Chinese ethnicity and
19:16the term um Han Chinese is still an
19:19important
19:20characterization within China
19:24um you're also going to see the
19:26reintroduction of Confucius as we
19:28mentioned moving away from that more
19:31legalistic period and adopting the ideas
19:34of Confucius
19:35and the introduction of civil service
19:37exams which is going to be tied to that
19:40idea that you have government officials
19:41who need to be literate and they need to
19:43be well qualified for those positions so
19:46much earlier than we see anything like
19:48this really in most of the rest of the
19:50world China has developed a series of
19:52exams to make sure that the person that
19:55is in that job is the right person for
19:57that job
20:06there are many other different cultural
20:08contributions that are being made during
20:11this period during the Han Dynasty and
20:12we unfortunately in a class like this we
20:15don't have time to look at all of them
20:16but some of the real game changers
20:19include paper
20:21um the early use of gunpowder although
20:23it's not being used in military
20:25capacities that's really not going to
20:27begin to be used widely until many
20:29centuries they are experimenting with
20:32explosives during this period the
20:34development of a compass which of course
20:35is very important for navigation and
20:39when you think about something like
20:40paper for example
20:42and the impact that it's going to have
20:44throughout the rest of the world
20:46although we had seen some earlier forms
20:49of writing material we have moved from
20:51Stone to Clay in Egypt of course they're
20:54using a Papyrus which is made from the
20:56wreath of um that grow along the banks
20:59of the Nile there have been some
21:01experimentation with
21:03parchment and parchment is a form of
21:06writing material that's created from
21:08animal skins and you scrape off all of
21:11the fur and then there are a series of
21:13different acid washes that that leather
21:16goes through in order to make it able to
21:19be written upon of course that's a very
21:20laborious process and parchment is going
21:22to remain quite expensive so the ability
21:25to make paper relatively cheaply from
21:28Pulp is going to be a game changer and
21:31when you think about the importance of
21:33bureaucracy
21:34within the Han Dynasty it makes sense
21:36that they need something to record all
21:38of this work that they're doing and to
21:40be able to show it to their supervisors
21:43um so traditionally it is thought that
21:45paper was developed by a court official
21:47within the Han Dynasty the Han period
21:49called kailun
21:51um We're not able to cooperate that but
21:53sometime within the Han Dynasty paper is
21:56going to really start to take off it's
21:58then going to spread throughout the next
22:01centuries into the Islamic World
22:03um where pulp Mills and paper mills are
22:06really going to begin going by the early
22:10medieval period
22:13um so this period of the Han Dynasty is
22:16going to be referred to as the the great
22:18Chinese peace you perhaps have have
22:21heard of the term in the west pox Romana
22:23which refers to the Roman piece in the
22:26west and this is going to be matched in
22:28the East with this past cynica epoxynica
22:31the the Chinese piece and again I think
22:34it makes sense that when you have these
22:36two bookends
22:37um throughout the
22:39throughout the Eurasian world where you
22:42have Rome on the west and you have China
22:44on the far East
22:46um that this is really going to create
22:48an environment well there will be lots
22:50of cultural transmission the flourishing
22:52of the Silk Road
22:54um and as we'll talk about in coming
22:56lectures this is also going to create a
22:59conduit for the religions of Buddhism
23:01and Christianity to really begin to to
23:05spread and have a large impact on these
23:07different societies
23:08so that's where we're going to leave it
23:10for today and the next time we come back
23:13we will talk about the rise of these
23:16Universal religions uh Christianity and
23:19Buddhism and then a little later we're
23:21going to be talking about Islam

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