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ASN209 MIDTERM
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Question One
The Chinese civilization was very remarkable and influential. Sinicization, “the spread of Chinese Culture”, started during the “Northern and Southern Dynasties” and spread to prominent areas and neighboring countries during the Tang Dynasty. Sinicization had great influence on the foreign tribes that ruled ancient China.
Even though there were a lot of conflicts during the Northern and Southern dynasties, the period was characterized by blooming arts, religion, and philosophy. There was widespread sinicization during this period. Most notably, Emperor Xiaowen whose mother was a Chinese from Han, did give his support to sinicization in his community. He noted that Chinese culture was superior and allowed construction of Buddhist and Taoist temples across all the regions that he controlled. Moreover, he did accept governance systems that were used in China and carried out economic reforms to correspond to those that were practiced in China. During this period, Chinese became the official language and compulsory for learning. The peasants did embrace sinicization wholeheartedly but there were pockets of resistance from those in the military. The proponents of sinicization wanted to use it to conquer the entire China legitimately. But several people resisted it and a civil war that lasted for approximately 10 years broke out. In the southern dynasties, older Chinese traditions were followed widely. Buddhism did gain a lot of popularity during the period especially among the wealth people and they invested heavily in it. Additionally, more Taoist temples were constructed that were used to conduct rituals and preserve scriptures.[Jieshun, Xu. "Understanding the snowball theory of the Han nationality." Critical Han studies: the history, representation, and identity of China’s majority (2012): 113-27.] [Jieshun, Xu. "Understanding the snowball theory of the Han nationality." Critical Han studies: the history, representation, and identity of China’s majority (2012): 113-27.]
The Sui dynasty that preceded the Tang dynasty did unify the “Northern and Southern dynasties” and brought back the “rule of ethnic Han Chinese” all over China. Moreover, during this dynasty, the minority nomadic communities were sinicized. During the Tang dynasty, Buddhism was entirely sinicized even by some members of the imperial family and became a part of Chinese culture permanently. As the dynasty approached its decline, the status of Buddhism began to decline. Sinicizaton continued further during the dynasty with Taoism become the official religion of the Tang dynasty. During the dynasty, Taoism was used together with “ancient Chinese folk religions”, martial arts, and Buddhism and the result was a complex spirituality. Most influential effect of sinicization during this dynasty was the effect on the neighboring countries. In Japan, Taika reforms that were meant to ensure that the Japanese government was realigned with China were introduced. Japan also adopted rice farming from China. Furthermore, Buddhism and Confucianism were introduced due to the influence of sinicization. In countries such as Vietnam and Korea, Buddhism and Confucianism were practiced because of the influence of the Chinese culture. In Vietnam, Taoism was also practiced. The practice of rice farming was also widespread in Vietnam and Korea mainly due to sinicization.[Abramson, Marc S. Ethnic Identity in Tang China. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.] [Abramson, Marc S. Ethnic Identity in Tang China. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.]
To sum up, China has arisen in the recent times and the rise has been attributed to sinicization. In ancient China, there were many foreigners who ended up adopting the Chinese culture as well as maintaining their own. But it was ...