The+Fall+of+China,+India,+and+Rome

5.1 The Fall of China, India and Rome

1. Han dynasty - less population growth/ less economic prosperity a. Confucian intellectual activity = less active b. Central government's control diminished c. Corrupt bureaucrats d. Local landlords gain power e. Social unrest w/ peasants and high taxes f. Rise of Daoism as alternative to Confucianism - Yellow Turbans (promised Chinese people golden age with divine magic) g. Demonstrations over failures of Chinese government h. Devastating plagues swept across nation i. Buddhism threatened China's cultural unity j. Collapse of Han dynasty followed by three centuries of chaos 2. Sui and the Tang a. Confucian bureaucratic identity too strong to be lost b. No permanent cultural disruptions
 * Decline in China**

1. Reasons for Decline (less dramatic than that of Han China) a. Gupta emperors lost their ability to govern b. Invasions by central Asian nomads (Huns) - formed a new ruling warrior class called the Rajput (controlled small regional states) c. Buddhism declined further in India d. Hindu beliefs gained ground after adoption by Hun princes + worship of mother goddess Devi e. Islam presented threat in 600 CE - Some northwestern converts - New emphasis placed on Hindu religious devotion A. further popularized by translating texts to vernacular languages - Arab merchants took control of trade throughout Indian Ocean f. Regionalism, Hinduism, and Caste System still survived
 * Decline in India**

1. Complex and collapse, involving internal and external factors a. Had many profound effects on Europe 2. Causes of decline a. Dwindling population ---> less people ready to serve in military b. Ineffective political leaders c. "pervasive despondency over the futility of this life and despair at the absence of an afterlife" d. Plagues e. Pleasure-seeking tendencies of the upper-classes f. No real creativity (like that of the Greeks) 3. Course of Decline a. Economic life becomes harder b. Increase in self-suffiencent communities (less trade with other parts of the empire) c. Emperors who tried to stop decline - Diocletian - administrative reforms + persecution of Christianity - Constantine - broke Roman Empire into Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire + embraced Christianity d. No common religion that offered afterlife e. Resulted in the creation of 3 regions - ERE (Byzantine-Greek) A. Sassanid Empire - Persia - North Africa A. Coptic Church in Egypt ---> country eventually fell to Islam - WRE A. Fell to Germanic tribes B. launched into the Dark Ages C. fall in literacy
 * Decline In Rome**



5.1 The Spread of Religion 1. Classical decline gave religion (particularly Buddhism and Christianity, and later Islam) a chance at rapid expansion  a. Period saw an unusual trend in quick turnaround of human beliefs 2. Religions like Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam all emphasized intense devotion and piety 3. Religions underwent changes as they spread to different regions (syncretism - esp. apparent as Buddhism spread to China) 4. Spread of Buddhism  a. Doctrine of bodhisattvas developed - gurus/monks helped people to reach emotional fulfillment  -->helped Buddhism shift from original emphasis on ethics to more "emotional cult stressing possibility of popular salvation" b. Mahayana Buddhism - Chinese version of Buddhism - Treated Buddha as mythical, religious figure (worshipped him with temples etc) - More effective priesthood - Through syncretism, Buddhism was modified to keep women as subordinates (original form of Buddhism held sexes in somewhat equal regard) - Opposed by threatened Confucian administrators c. Buddhism had more profound impact in other parts of Asia (Vietnam, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia) 5. Spread of Christianity a. Formed as reaction to Jewish priesthood b. People attracted to notion of an afterlife - Jesus of Nazareth (central figure in Christianity) c. Spread through missionaries, attractiveness to all social classes, and b/c it preached equality for women d. Gradual growth (w/ Constantine only 10% Christian) e. Beliefs - formal theology (Augustine), free will, religion supersedes the state g. Benedictine Rule - told clergy to be discipline through prayer, study, and piety 6. Spread of Islam a. 7th century, initially surpassed Christianity, no new religions after