Mughal India and Central Asia

For Wednesday's class, please read Murphey, Chapter 10, and be prepared to discuss the following questions:

• Where did the Mughals come from and who did they claim descent from?
• What culture did they infuse Indian culture with? What were the results?
• What was so great about Akbar? Who was ruler of England at the same time?
• What bad habits did the Mughals inherit from their Central Asian origins that blighted their achievements and drained their resources?
• What are the most notable monuments of Shah Jahan?
• What was so terrible about Aurangzeb? Who ruled France at the same time?
• Who were the Rajputs, Sikhs, and Marathas, and what did they fail to do?
• What might or might not have happened if all the Mughal rulers had been like Akbar?
• What was the relationship between the nomads of Central Asia and their settled neighbors?
• What was their military advantage?
• You won't be responsible for the info on Iran, but it's useful to know.
  
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Japanese & Korean Civilization

For Monday's class, please read Murphey, Chapter 9, and be prepared to discuss the following questions:

• What aspects of Chinese culture did Japan and Korea take? What did they do with it?
• How did the geography of Japan and Korea effect their development?
• Where did the Japanese and Koreans come from originally? How are they related to each other?
• What was the original social pattern of Japan?
• What were the mythological origins of the rulers of Japan? How does it compare to the Chinese?
• What is the nature of Shinto? Why might the Japanese have retained this form of religion after other places abandoned it?
• What did Prince Shotoku do?
• What has generally been the role of the Japanese emperor?
• What did the adoption of Confucian values do to the role of women in Korea and Japan?
• What era of Chinese culture is best preserved in Japan?
• What is the shoen system?
• What happened with economic and cultural development during periods of political turmoil in Korea and Japan (and China, too)?
• Who wrote The Tale of Genji, and what is it about?
• What are Kana and Hangul? Why were they developed? Who used them first/most initially?
• Buddhist armies?!
• Define samurai, bushido, daimyo, kamikaze, shogun, and Noh.
• What was the role of piracy in Japan and Korea?
• What element of Chinese Confucianism was not adopted in Korea and Japan because of the strong role of the aristocracy?

Chinese Civilization II

For Wednesday's class, please read Murphey, Chapter 8, and be prepared to discuss the following questions:

• Why did Buddhism flourish after the fall of the Han dynasty?
• Who controlled northern china and what was going on in the south in the post-Han era?
• Who reunified China and did they follow a pattern from earlier times in China?
• What was the most notable building project of Yang Di?
• What are the two golden age dynasties that follow after Yang Di's dynasty? (know the order)
• Come up with one-word descriptions of the poetry of Du Fu and Li Bo. Which poet do you prefer?
• Describe the tribute system.
• Where did most of the empire's revenue come from and most of its population live?
• What is the significance for the West of the battle of the Talas River?
• What important technologies were developed by the Chinese? What were the main exports?
• Define and describe Chang'an.
• Who is Wu Zhao?
• What happened to Buddhism in Chinese? Why?
• The size of China was much reduced during the Song dynasty. Was that a good or a bad thing?
• What were Wang Anshi's reforms? Where they successful?
• How did the Song dynasty become the Southern Song? What developments and advances were made to deal with the loss of access to their overland trade routes?
• How do we know so much about the glories of Hangzhou?
• How might history be different if the Mongol invasion had occurred a bit later or if Genghis Khan had died young?
• What was the size of the Mongol people? Why were they able to conquer? How long did their dynasty last?
• Describe the dynastic cycle.
• How did the progressive shortage of fuel influence Chinese cuisine?

Southeast Asian Civilization

For Monday's class, please read Murphey, Chapter 7, and be prepared to discuss the following questions (there might be a quiz):

• List the countries of Southeast Asia (old and new names for two of them).
• Where did the people of Southeast Asia originally come from?
• Why is java so fertile, and what food plants are native?
• Which countries got significant Indian culture, and what forms of culture did they get?
• The first kingdoms were based on what rather than agriculture?
• Who brought Islam to insular (=island) Southeast Asia?
• What is the significance of the Malaka Straits?
• What Islamic custom was rejected in Southeast Asia?
• Describe Angkor.
• Which was the only state of Southeast Asia to be Sinified (=Chinesified) rather than Indianized?
• What culture and language family dominate insular Southeast Asia?
• What is Srivijaya? Borobudur?
• Describe the Philippines before the Spanish conquest and the cultural effect of four centuries of Spanish control there.

Indian Civilization II

For Friday's class, please read Murphey, Chapter 6, and be prepared to discuss the following questions:

• Who were the new invaders into northern India in the Medieval period?
• Who resisted the invaders? Why couldn't the rest resist?
• Why did the invaders make their capital at Delhi?
• How were Hindus treated?
• Why was southern Indian not successfully invaded?
• What weakened the sultanates?
• Define jizya and Mamluk and dhimmi.
• What cultural influence did the invaders have?
• What did the sultan Ala-ud-din Khalji manage to do that no one else could?
• Who was Tamerlane?
• What is bhakti?
• Of the 35 sultans, how many died by assassination?
• The chief cities of southern India were mainly what?
• Where did south Indian states get a lot of their wealth?
• What does Vijayanagara mean and what is it?

Ancient China I

For Wednesday's class (re)read Murphey, Chapter 5 and be prepared to discuss the following questions:

• What's the Xia dynasty? What's the evidence for it?
• What did Chinese culture during the Shang dynasty borrow from elsewhere, and what is original to China?
• What brought the Shang dynasty to an end?
• What was the Zhou dynasty system that was admired by Confucian scholars and for which the Zhou period was considered a golden age? Why did the system break down?
• Describe the rival kingdoms of the Warring States period.
• How might the history of China be different if the Chu kingdom had won out over the Qin kingdom?
• How did what was happening in China during the Warring States period parallel what had happened in Mauryan India a century earlier?
• What is your impression of Confucius? 
• Why was Qin victory over the other kingdoms surprising?
• What changes did the Qin bring to the rest of China when they took over?
• What were the upsides and downsides of Qin Legalism?
• How did the Han dynasty differ from the Qin? What stayed the same?
• What was the relationship of the Han dynasty to Vietnam and Korea?
• The Han Dynasty and the Roman empire never connected. How might history have been different if they had?
• What was important about the imperial examination system?
• What were Wang Mang's reforms? What was the problem with landowning?
• What is interesting about the roles of (some) women during the Han dynasty?
• What do you think are the greatest achievments of the Han period?

Link to video Engineering an Empire: China

For Monday's class, please read Murphey, pp. 49-65. Be prepared to discuss family and gender; education; livelihood; and law.

For Friday's class, please read Murphey, pp. 31-49, and prepare to be quizzed on the first three reading assignments and the map of Monsoon Asia.