China Chp. 10 & 12 Flashcards

Ms. Kent
12-1

248792060	Li Shimin	One of the founders of the Tang Empire and its second emperor (r. 626-649). He led the expansion of the empire into Central Asia.	0
248792061	Tang Empire	Empire unifying China and part of Central Asia, founded 618 and ended 907. The Tang emperors presided over a magnificent court at their capital, Chang'an.	1
248792062	Grand Canal	The 1,100-mile (1,700-kilometer) waterway linking the Yellow and the Yangzi Rivers. It was begun in the Han period and completed during the Sui Empire.	2
248792063	tributary system	A system in which, from the time of the Han Empire, countries in East and Southeast Asia not under the direct control of empires based in China nevertheless enrolled as tributary states, acknowledging the superiority of the emperors in China in exchange for trading rights or strategic alliances.	3
248792064	bubonic plague	A bacterial disease of fleas that can be transmitted by flea bites to rodents and humans; humans in late stages of the illness can spread the bacteria by coughing. Because of its very high mortality rate and the difficulty of preventing its spread, major outbreaks have created crises in many parts of the world.	4
248792065	Uighurs	A group of Turkic-speakers who controlled their own centralized empire from 744 to 840 in Mongolia and Central Asia.	5
248792066	Tibet	Country centered on the high, mountain-bounded plateau north of India. Tibetan political power occasionally extended farther to the north and west between the seventh and thirteen centuries.	6
248792067	Song Empire	Empire in central and southern China (960-1126) while the Liao people controlled the north. Empire in southern China (1127-1279; the "Southern Song") while the Jin people controlled the north. Distinguished for its advances in technology, medicine, astronomy, and mathematics.	7
248792068	junk	A very large flatbottom sailing ship produced in the Tang,Ming, and Song Empires, specially designed for long-distance commercial travel.	8
248792069	gunpowder	A mixture of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal, in various proportions. The formula, brought to China in the 400s or 500s, was first used to make fumigators to keep away insect pests and evil spirits. In later centuries it was used to make explosives and grenades and to propel cannonballs, shot, and bullets.	9
248792070	neo-Confucianism	Term used to describe new approaches to understanding classic Confucian texts that became the basic ruling philosophy of China from the Song period to the twentieth century.	10
248792071	Zen	The Japanese word for a branch of Mahayana Buddhism based on highly disciplined meditation. It is known in Sanskrit as dhyana, in Chinese as chan, and in Korean as son.	11
248792072	movable type	Type in which each individual character is cast on a separate piece of metal. It replaced woodblock printing, allowing for the arrangement of individual letters and other characters on a page, rather than requiring the carving of entire pages at a time. It may have been invented in Korea in the thirteenth century.	12
248792073	Koryo	Korean kingdom founded in 918 and destroyed by a Mongol invasion in 1259.	13
248792074	Fujiwara	Aristocratic family that dominated the Japanese imperial court between the ninth and twelfth centuries.	14
248792075	Kamakura shogunate	The first of Japan's decentralized military governments.	15
248792076	Champa rice	Quick-maturing rice that can allow two harvests in one growing season. Originally introduced into Champa from India, it was later sent to China as a tribute gift by the Champa state.	16
248792077	Yuan Empire	Empire created in China and Siberia by Khubilai Khan.	17
248792078	bubonic plague	A bacterial disease of fleas that can be transmitted by flea bites to rodents and humans; humans in late stages of the illness can spread the bacteria by coughing. Because of its very high mortality rate and the difficulty of preventing its spread, major outbreaks have created crises in many parts of the world.	18
248792079	Beijing	China's northern capital, first used as an imperial capital in 906 and now the capital of the People's Republic of China.	19
248792080	Il-khan	A "secondary" or "peripheral" khan based in Persia. The Il-khans' khanate was founded by Hülegü, a grandson of Genghis Khan, and was based at Tabriz in modern Azerbaijan. It controlled much of Iran and Iraq.	20
248792081	Ming Empire	(1368-1644) Empire based in China that Zhu Yuanzhang established after the overthrow of the Yuan Empire. The Ming emperor Yongle sponsored the building of the Forbidden City and the voyages of Zheng He. The later years of the Ming saw a slowdown in technological development and economic decline.	21
248792082	Zheng He	(1371-1433) An imperial eunuch and Muslim, entrusted by the Ming emperor Yongle with a series of state voyages that took his gigantic ships through the Indian Ocean, from Southeast Asia to Africa.	22