Hist 387_8

The Restauration of the Later Han
Emperor Guangwu (r. 25-57) re-established the Han with the help of influential landholding families and eunuchs. He defeated the Red Eyebrow rebels in 27 C.E. Capital: Luoyang (third in size after Chang'an and Rome); Imperial Academy: 50,000 students (who lived in Luoyang with their families) and formed an important supportive foundation of the upper class (in addition to the aristocracy at court and their relatives)

Important thinker of the time
Wang Chong (27- ca. 100 C.E.): one fo the most pronounced critics of irrationality in philosophical and religious concepts
- student of the historian Ban Biao (d. 54)
- author of 'Balanced Discussions' (Lunheng; written 76-85; many chapters are lost; chapter 85 has an autobiography) from which we learn about contemporary Daopist practices
(e.g. offerings to fabricated deities; comparison: men-lice, deities of the earth - men)
- critic of Daoist teachings of immortality
- ciritisized superstition
- critisized the concept of the 'Mandate of Heaven' ("Heaven does not bargain")
- was sometimes called a 'materialist philosopher'

Important inventions of the time
- water-powered mills
- water powered bellows for melting iron
- paper

The power of the empresses in the Later Han - The self-conscious Confucian officials

During the Later Han the clans of the empresses became powerful players in court politics. The reigns of emperors Mingdi (r. 58-75), Zhongdi (r. 76-88 C.E.), Hedi and Shundi (126-144 C.E.) were dominated by the clans of empresses Mo, Dou, and Liang. During the reign of Emperor Huan (r. 146-168 C.E.) it was also the Liang clan, especially the regent Liang Ji (d. 159 C.E.), the brother of Emperor Huan's wife, Liang Nüying, who became very influential. Since Emperor Huan felt dominated by him - Liang Ji had acted as the regent since his youth-, he tried to get rid of him in a coup with the help of eunuchs when his wife died. When information about the coup spread and became known publicly, 30,000 students protested against the removal of Liang Ji from office, openly blaming the eunuchs. They defined their role as critics of the emperor: as Confucian scholars they were advisors; if this role was not accepted by the highest authorities, including the emperor, their work for him was pointless. Officials declined to work for Emperor Huan and were honored for their courage.

Some of these officials followed the model of Wu Liang (76-115 C.E.) whose descendants built a shrine for him in order to honor him. The shrine in addition is a documentation of contemporary religious ideas (like the deities Queen Mother of the West and King Father of the East) and was possibly designed to illustrate Wu Liang's political ideas (unsuccessful attempt to retrieve a Zhou tripod from a pond; Hansen, p. 143).


Wilma Fairbank's reconstruction of the Wu Liang shrine (Webpage Nixi Cura)

The Advent of Buddhism in China
Buddhism made its way to China with the Central Asian merchants who came to China for trade as well as through merchants who came to China's coast by ship around the year 0 C.E. The new religion with its 'gentle sacrifices' that excluded animals from offerings came to flourish in China only when the difficult Sanskrit terminology that described philosophical concepts alien to the Chinese mind was translated by well-versed translators and commentators. In 148 An Shigao who hailed from Parthia had begun to translate Buddhist texts in Luoyang. Yet it were the later translators who condcuted philologically sound and reliable translations. In the north it was the monk Kumarajiva (350-403 C.E.) who transmitted the teachings and helped to make Buddhism the state religion, in the south Huiyuan (334-416 C.E.) introduced the deeper meanings of the teaching to his audience which help to transform politics and society.

The reasons for the success of the new religion must be seen in the tolerance for local religious cults and practices. In the translations it was often Daoist terminology that was adopted to transmit Buddhist ideals.

The Daoist saints that gained immortality were very few, but Buddhism opened the way to a higher state of awareness to everybody.

Nevertheless, criticism was harsh: Monastic life was considered unfilial by the conservative Confucians because they claimed that the Buddhist adept who joined a monastery or a convent would neither care for the family nor for the ancestors. This argument was soon eliminated because the merits od a cleric could be transferred to his family, and meritorious families could support the clerics. Buddhism also opened a door to advanced education for women who joined a convent. Later Buddhism became even more a challenge to Confucian officials since the non-Chinese rulers of the north favored Buddhism as it gave them an ideological counterbalance against the Han-Chinese administrators.

The Rise of the Daoist Church
- religious Daoism developed out of philosophical and mystical Daoist teachings as well as animistic and shamanistic traditions
- Emperor Huan worshipped the deified Laozi (deification until the 2nd cent. C.E.) as well as the foreign deity 'Buddha' who was conceived as an immortal; he built a temple for Laozi and offerings are recorded
- Daoism became a challenging alternative for Confucianism

Most important sects of early Daoism:
1. Celestial Masters Sect (Five Pecks of Rice sect = 'membership fee')
- founded in 142 C.E. by the government official and Daoist adept Zhang Daoling after a revelation in which Zhang had a vision of the deified Laozi calling him to become his representative on earth
- a structured church developed:

Zhang Daoling

Daoist priests

'libationers' (heads of lay communities who listened to confessions by lay followers; their title derived from the elders in the community village feasts who were served ceremonial drinks)

Zhang Daoling, deified patriarch of the Celestial Masters

From 190-215 C.E. the Five Pecks of Rice sect founded their own state which was eventually defeated by General Cao Cao with the help of the private armies owned by wealthy landholders. These landowners had already quelled about 30 uprisings between 132 and 172 C.E. The rules of the Five Pecks of Rice sect were very strict (and came to be used as a model for a religious movement in the 19th century called the 'Taiping Rebellion'):

- no female infanticide
- no accumulation of profit
- no alcohol
- meditation
- medical practices such as acupuncture and moxibustion as remedies for illness

2. Yellow Turbans: their community structure resembled that of the Five Pecks of Rice sect; they aimed at political change and called for an 'Era of Great Peace'. The movement was inspired by the spread of epidemics and the impoverishment of the peasants, indicators which seemed to call for a change in politics as well as in lifestyle. From 184 to 192 C.E. their army of 360.000 people from eight provinces posed an intense threat to the ruling house; they were finally defeated by General Cao Cao who became the regent of a new government that was not dominated by the eunuchs, 200,000 of whom had been killed in a raid in 189. Cao Cao controlled only about one third of the Han territory.

During the time following the defeat of the Yellow Turbans the Han empire incresingly lost political stability due to strong military leaders who dominated large parts of the Han territory and fought against each other in an endless civil war. The successful and triumphant survivors finally founded their own dynasties: The Three Kingdoms.

Their power and territorial extension were largely determined by 214 C.E., six years before the fall of the Han. The empire disintegrated: the peasants were impoverished and land ownership was concentrated in the hands of highly educated, non-aristocratic landowners who stabilized their power positions by creating family ties with the imperial clan through a marriage policy that benefitted their status.

In the north, Cao Cao (155-220 C.E.) dominated with the Wei Dynasty (capital Luoyang), in the southwest Liu Bei (161-223C.E.) and then Zhuge Liang (d. 234) ruled the state of Shu (capital Chengdu) and in the southeast Sun Quan ruled in Nanjing as head of the Wu Dynasty. In 208 C.E. Liu Bei and Sun Quan attacked Cao Cao in the famous battle of the Red Wall and succeeded in limiting Cao Cao's power to the north.

Modern portrait and temple statue of the shrewd statesman Zhuge Liang who served Liu Bei and advised him to form an alliance with Sun Quan in the southeast against Cao Cao.

Idealized portrait of Sun Quan

The Chaotic Years of Medieval China: The Period of Disunity
This period were the begin of 360 years of the chaotic period called 'Medieval China' which was dominated by military anarchy and dictatorship. The Wei in the north were the successors of the Han. The Cao clan was followed by the Sima Clan in the rulership. A total of sixtyeight clans shared the territory of Wei.
In 265 Sima Yan founded the Western Jin which swallowed the territory of Wu in 280 C.E. The Western Jin was haunted by war between private armies and the re-settlement of large parts of the population. According to a census 66% of the households disappeared. During the reign of the weak emperor Huidi (r. 290-306 C.E.) power struggles between the clan of the emperor and the empress led to seven years of civil war, called the 'Chaos of the Eight Dukes'. At the end of this period the Eastern Jin was founded. Its capital was in Nanjing and the state functioned until 420 C.E.



In the meantime the north was divided into '16 states of five barbarians' headed by the Xiongnu. The war between the northern non-Chinese and the southern Han-Chinese was not only a fight for military dominance but also a struggle between Buddhism and Chinese classical culture which ultimately culminated in the battle at the Fei River in 381 C.E. It was won by the Han Chinese.

In 351 C.E. the former Qin successfully overcame the Eastern Jin. The north was now ruled by the Tabgac or Tuoba of the Northern Wei (r. 386-534), in the south the Liu Song (r. 420-479) became the successors of the Eastern Jin.
The Northern Wei (capital Luoyang) declared Buddhism to their state religion. They reformed the agriculture and distributed the land among tax paying adults. Men aged 15 and above received 40 mu of land, women 20 mu. In addition both received 20 mu for mulberry trees, as well as 10 mu (men; 5 mu women) ramie and hemp land. These amounts were also provided for slaves (serfs) which offered excellent possibilities for land owners to accumulate land and evade taxation since slaves did not have to pay land tax.
The Liu Song in the south received thousands of immigrants who resettled here. When the Liu Song lost the war against the Northern Wei in 450, they were succeeded by the Southern Qi (r. 479-502).

Important thinkers of the time
Wang Bi (226-249) became a master of the interpretation of the Daodejing and Yijing. He died at the age of 23 and up to this day is revered for his insightful commentaries on the classics of Daoism in which he combined concepts of Confucius and Laozi and praises self-cultivation as a way to obtain mental harmony with the universe.

This period of chaos and disunity has a remarkable legacy of philosophical and artistic works: The' Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove' of which Wang Bi was a member, were a scholarly group of philosophers and musicians that are revered for their pronounced eclecticism ever since. [Xi Kang, Wang Bi, Xiang Xiu, Shan Tao, Liu Ling, Wang Rong, Ruan Ji]. In addition the most famous artists flourished during this period. The poets Tao Yuanming (365-427 C.E.) and Xie Liangjun (385-433 C.E.), as well as the painters Gu Kaizhi (345-411 C.E.) and the calligrapher Wang Xizhi (307-365).

Two of the seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove [an estate that belonged to Xi Kang who invited his friends for gatherings here].

Letter by Wang Xizhi (copy), the most famous calligrapher of China