The+Asian+World

**Ayushi and Elsa**

**China suffered three hundred years of disorder and civil war following the collapse of the Han dynasty. The ****Sui Dynasty ****came into power in 581 AD. ****Sui Yangdi, ****the second emperor of the Sui Dynasty, had completed the Grand Canal to build the link between the two great rivers of China, the Huang He River and the Chang Jiang River. After the empire fell around 680 AD, a new dynasty called Tang Dynasty soon emerged. Tang rulers had to work really hard to restore the power of China in East Asia. But the Tang Dynasty finally fell because of an emperor named Tang Xuanzang . The Tang ****Dynasty was known to be the best dynasty of all the other dynasties. After the Tang Dynasty came the Song Dynasty , which lasted from 960 to 1279 AD. The Song Dynasty had a lot of problems from the constantly attacking Mongols from the region current day Mongolia. During the Song Dynasty, Marco Polo  came all the way from Europe to describe the Chinese society to the Europeans. Wu Zhao was only one the few women who any power back then. She made classes called <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif;">scholar-gentry <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">to make sure everyone was learning. But finally, the day came when the Mongols took over all the modern day China, south eastern Asia, and most of Russia. The <span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Mongolian Empire <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">was the biggest empire this world has ever seen. ** **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">However, the Mongols were not able to capture Japan. It is said that a kamikaze wind had destroyed all the Mongol fleets and saved Japan from their invasion. The Japanese were very religious people. They believe that <span style="color: #00b0f0; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Amaterasu <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">had made Japan and her son <span style="color: #00b0f0; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Jimmu <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">was the first emperor of Japan. Family clans were soon founded and everyone lived in them. Eventually a Yamato clan prince took, <span style="color: #00b0f0; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Shotoku Taishi <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">, took over and ruled Japan. After his death in 622 AD, the Fujiwara clan came into power and established the <span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Nara Period <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">. The social classes were the a little different than in Ancient India. There were <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif;">samurai <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">, who had to live by the <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Bushido <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">. The <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif;">shogun <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">was the general and the <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif;">daimyo <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">were the ‘great names’ or the families. But by the 1500’s, Japan was in total chaos. An Onin War began, which was the dispute against the <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Shogunate <span style="color: #00b0f0; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Ashikaga Yoshimi <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">. **
 * <span style="color: #00b0f0; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Genghis Khan ****<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">was the leader of this conquest. He was determined to get revenge for his father’s death. When he died around 1227, the Mongolian Empire was separated into <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif;">khanates <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">, each ruled by one of his sons. ****<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Khan's grandson <span style="color: #00b0f0; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Kublai Khan <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> established the <span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Yuan Dynasty <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">in China. The capital city was made Khanbaliq, also known as ‘The City of the Khan.’ With all these changes, a new religion came in called <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Neo-Confucianism <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">. New literature and art were made, such as the priceless <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif;">porcelain <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">vases. Li Bo and Duo Fu were two of the most popular poets during this ti ****<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">me. It is said that about 48,000 poems were written by 2,200 authors. These poems celebrated the beauty of nature, the changes of the seasons, and the joys of friendship. **

<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">**"I have not told half of what I saw"** <span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">**~Marco Polo**

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">** Five People :** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">** Five Terms :**
 * 1) **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Sui Yangdi- Yangdi was the second emperor of the Sui Dynasty who completed the Grand Canal to linke the two great rivers of China. **
 * 2) **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Tan Xuanzang- Emperor Xuanzang is remebred for his devotion to a commoners daughter. **
 * 3) **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Marco Polo- An Italian merchant who described the city to European readers as one of the largest and wealthiest cities on Earth. **
 * 4) **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Wu Zhao- A Chinese women known as Empress Wu. In many places, females were considred less than males. **
 * 5) **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Kublai Khan- One of Genghis Khans grandsons. Completed the conquest of the Song and established a new Chinese dynasty, the Yuan. Ruled China untill his death in 1294. **
 * 1) **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Daimyo- Heads of noble families. "Great names" who controlled landed estates what owed no taxes to the government. **
 * 2) **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Shogun- A powerful military leader used to strengthen the government. **
 * 3) **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Shogunate- A new system in which the emperor remained ruler in name only, and the shogun exercised the actual power. **
 * 4) **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Samuri- "Those who serve." Resembled the knights of medieval Europe. **
 * 5) **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Scholar-gentry-A group that controlled much of the land and at the same time produced most of the candidates for the civil service. **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">**Five Links:** > > <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">** 500-Grand Canal is completed 618-Tang dynasty begins802-Jayavarman is crowned god-king and unites the Khmer of Angkor905-Fire-lance invented1000-Moveable type invented in China1258-Mongols defeat the Abbasids at Baghdad1368-Zhu Yuanzhang defeats the Mongols and establishes the Ming Dynasty1369-Timur Lenk seizes power and begins conquest1397-Golden Pavilion built in Japan1450-Japanese civil war results in the collapse of the shogunate ** > > > > > <span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;"> media type="custom" key="12036309" media type="youtube" key="4koLtox45TY" height="315" width="420" > > > >
 * 1) **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Oxford University Press Oxford University with an article with a description of the Ancient Asian World **
 * 2) ** [|The Song Dynasty] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">This website tells about the Song Dynasty.  **
 * 3) ** [|The Mongol Empire]<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">This website tells about the Mongol Empire.  **
 * 4) ** [|The Sui Dynasty]<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">This website tells about the Sui Dynasty.  **
 * 5)  ** [|The Tang Dynasty]<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> This website talks about the history of the Tang Dynasty  **