 You are clear for launch, and with that shut down your visors, O2 on and prepare for ignition to O2. We can keep copy that and ummm. It's me again, Mr. Roushaw. In this lesson we're going to look at the early history of East Asia and how it has impacted the region's culture. Now we believe that modern humans first arrived in East Asia around 80,000 years ago, but when did civilization actually begin in East Asia? Well, this begs the question, what is the difference between being inhabited and being a civilization? Now, Webster's defines a civilization as a relatively high level of cultural and technological development, whatever that actually means. Now anthropologists still debate the definition of what a civilization is, but most agree that for a people to be considered a civilization, they have to meet several criteria. Now what's chief among these criteria are that the people are developing cities. After all, the word civilization actually comes from the Latin word, which means city. In China, the oldest city discovered is Banpo Village, which is about 45 homes. Now it was believed to have been settled as early as 4500 BC. However, around 3700 BC, Banpo Village was abandoned and is probably due to the flooding of the Yellow River. But the Chinese civilization today stretches back an uninterrupted 4,000 years and its beginning also is along the Yellow River. Now to govern this civilization, the Chinese ruled by a series of dynasties. A dynasty is when a family passes down the right to rule the people from one generation to another, like a king or an emperor or a czar. Now what is impressive is that this stretch of dynasties continued for 4,000 years, ending only in 1912. Now due to time, we're only going to go over really over four of these dynasties and we'll also in our next lesson go over the Qing and Ming dynasties. So let's start at the beginning. Now the Xiao dynasty is considered the first dynasty of China beginning around 2100 BC. But many historians argue that the Xiao dynasty may have been just a legend, just a myth. So the first true dynasty was the Shang dynasty. This dynasty ruled for about 600 years and perhaps the reason why the Shang dynasty is more accepted than the Xiao dynasty because it was during the Xiao dynasty that the written language was developed. The first Chinese characters have been found echelon to turtle shells and bones during the Shang dynasty. Now the Chinese is a pictograph language which means its characters represents an object or an idea. For example on our last lesson I showed you the character for Shan which means mountain. And here is Zhang which actually means middle and you can see this it is a box with a line going through well the middle. So understanding this, which character do you think means two? I imagine you figured this out right? Two. Now the language does become more complex as not everything can be represented by a picture. Now through the years the Chinese would continue to develop their language they would start combining different characters to make one new character and they would introduce something called radicals. But as you can imagine Chinese is a much more complex system of writing than our own alphabet English. But through cultural diffusion we said that this Chinese writing system actually went back to Korea and Japan because both Korean and Japan uses Chinese characters in their own language even though their languages are spoken differently. So the Shang dynasty got things rolling and provided China with a written language. But while the Shang would give China its written language the Chen dynasty would give China its name. The Chen dynasty was the shortest of all major dynasties lasting for only about 15 years but there were many different reasons why this dynasty was still important. First the Chen dynasty came to power after a period of time known as the warring states period. See before the Chen dynasty came to power China was really a network of city states. Now for the 200 years during the warring states period these city states were fighting each other and this is before the state of Chen conquered them all in 221 BC unifying China for the first time. Now the leader of China would be known as an emperor than just a king and the empire would be named after the Chen state. This is what gives us the name China today. Now the Chen dynasty would also give us the building project that really defines China. The leaders of the previous city states had built walls to protect themselves. The Chen emperor would use peasant labor to be able to connect all these different walls into one wall what we call the Great Wall of China today. The wall would be continued to be expanded by later dynasties and would ultimately grow to be over 13,000 miles long. It would also be during the Chen dynasty that the terracotta warriors would be built and estimated 75,000 workers would be building this mausoleum for the emperor and over 8,000 clay warriors that were to guard the emperor after death in the afterworld. Now what is interesting is that these terracotta warriors would not be discovered until a farmer in 1974 unearthed one of them nearly 1,700 years after their first build. Now while the Chen dynasty built a wall the Han dynasty would build a under the Chen dynasty, China had expanded to most of eastern China. However, the mountains and deserts of western China really isolated China from the rest of the world. This isn't until King Wudi sent a general Zhang Jian and an army to go find out what is beyond their borders and be able to negotiate with the people they met. Unfortunately for the Zhang Jian nomadic tribes attacked them and killed all of his men except for him and his guide. And they also imprisoned Zhang Jian for 10 years. When the general returned to China 13 years later, King Wudi was still in the throne and Zhang Jian told him of all the different advanced civilizations that he had came in contact out into the West. King Wudi saw this as an opportunity to be able to trade outside of his kingdom. Now China's part was adding to a trade route that was already in place between Central Asia and Europe. But with China's addition, this trade route would become known as the Silk Road. Now rather than a single road, the Silk Road is more of a network of routes that connected now China to Europe stretching over some 5,000 miles. Now speaking of nomads attacking people, this is a good time to introduce the Mongols. Now the Mongols were nomadic herdsmen up until about 1206 AD. This is when a guy by the name of Timogen began to unite the Mongols into one empire that would later conquer most of Asia. We now know Timogen by a different name, Genghis Khan. Now beyond Genghis Khan's leadership, the Mongols biggest advantage was the Sturip, which allowed its warriors to be able to fight on horseback. This proved devastating to their opponents. By 1307, the Mongols had conquered most of Eastern and Central China. But the Sturip was not the only tool that they used to be able to expand their empire. The Golden Horde, which is what the Mongols were known as, also used cruelty as a weapon. Take for example the tax law of Genghis Khan. It reads like this, if you do not pay homage, which means to pay tax, we will take your prosperity or your wealth. If you do not have prosperity, we'll take your children. If you do not have children, we will take your wife because with your wife we can make more children. And if you do not have a wife, we will take your head. And people think the IRS has strict rules. So terrifying was the Mongols that villages would surrender before even trying to fight them. And for the cities and states that would simply surrender the Mongols without fighting, the Mongols for their part would pretty much leave them alone. At least until tax time each year when they would come to collect their prosperity. Moving south to the Korean Peninsula, the Koreans largely migrated from China and bringing many aspects of the Chinese culture and language. And much like the Chinese mythical Shao Dynasty, the old Choson Dynasty in Korea was supposed to been established around 2000 BC. However, this was largely considered just a legend. By the 4th century AD, the Three Kingdoms period came to power. This was a loose confederation of three kingdoms that controlled all of the Korean Peninsula and stretched up into Manchuria, which is the area north of the Korean Peninsula into what is now China. However, with Chinese assistance, one of these kingdoms, the Sheila Kingdom, conquered the other two kingdoms in the 7th century. And they would continue to rule the peninsula for another 300 years. Now the Goryeo Kingdom followed the Sheila, now beyond being invaded by the Mongols because, well, wasn't everyone during those times. The Goryeo Kingdom is important because this is actually where we get the name Korea from. Then there is the new Choson Dynasty. And this is where we get to meet King Sejong the Great. In 1420, King Sejong established the Hall of Worthies. The Hall of Worthies was a collection of specially selected 20 men who would study all matters of things and then advise the king. Together with the Hall of Worthies, King Sejong developed the Korean alphabet, Hangul. The Korean language by that time had diverged from Chinese so much that half the language could not actually be represented by Chinese characters. With Hangul, the entire Korean language could be written, both the Sino-Korean, which is the Chinese portion, and the native Korean language. More than that, an alphabet is much easier for people to be able to learn. Therefore, with the Hangul or the Korean alphabet, more of his citizens were able to read and write. And while it doesn't really look like an alphabet, we know it truly is an alphabet. For example, this is an H. This is an A. That is an N. This is a G. This is a U. And this is an L. Now, Hangul is actually considered by some linguists as one of the most logical and straightforward writing systems in the world. And how important is King Sejong to the people? Well, think about our own $10 bill. On our $10 bill, we have Alexander Hamilton, who in addition, having a really big play about him running in New York, he is also one of the framers of the Constitution responsible for the federalist leaders and established the Treasury Department for the United States. On the Korean equivalent of the $10 bill, the Koreans have King Sejong. Kind of a big deal. Then, there is Japan. Now, most of Japan was settled by people coming across to see a Japan from Korea. However, we believe that the southern islands of Japan were actually inhabited by the Austronesians. Remember, these are the same people who settled in Indonesia and the Pacific Islands, such as Hawaii. Until the fourth century, Japan was not a unified country. Then in the fifth century, the Yamato clan gained control over all the other clans of Japan. And this is when the Chinese first started talking about Japan as one country. Now, what has happened to the Yamatos in Japan? Nothing. In fact, the current emperor today is part of the Yamato dynasty. The longest ruling dynasty in the world today. But it's not always been smooth sailing. In the eighth century, a smallpox epidemic killed nearly a third of the population of Japan. And that's when things really started getting out of hand. This is when rich farmers began to exert their own autonomy. They even started hiring their own soldiers, the samurai. Then in 1192, the Mimoto clan takes over. Now, the emperor still has his title, but the control of Japan now rides with this military dictator or the shogun. Now, the shogunate would now rule Japan until 1868. During this time, they would not only fight off the Mongols, with quite a bit of help from typhoons that swamped the Mongol ships, but they also attempted to protect Japan's isolationism. In 1853, the American naval officer, Matthew Perry, sailed his fleet of Navy ships into Tokyo and demanded that Japan open itself up to American trade. Now, weakened by Perry's gunboat diplomacy, the last shogun resigned in 1868, and the emperor regained control of the government. As with any region, religion has had a big part in developing the culture of East Asia. Religion in China evolved for over centuries and was first developed through their beliefs and their worship of their ancestors, which they believed were always washing over them and could be called upon in difficult times. And if you're thinking, you're pretty much on the right track. But there would be three larger religions that would play a major role in China, Buddhism, Confuciism, and Taoism. In 551 BC, a guy by the name of Kongzi would introduce a new philosophy of religion. We now know this guy as Confucius. Now, Confucius saw many problems in the world, but he believed he had the answer to them. In order to get his ideas instituted, he first thought he would become a government official. That way, he could influence government leaders and have his ideas mandated throughout the country. But he failed, so he became a teacher. And what he taught was the three themes of Confucius. The first is peace and order, which he believed that could be established if everyone would just accept their role in society. The second theme was a respect for elders. After all, in traditional religion in China, if you were supposed to worship your ancestors after they're dead, why shouldn't we follow them while they're still alive? And the third is what he called ethics. This laid out how people were supposed to treat each other. This included people and their rulers, the rulers and their kings, husband and wives, and even friends. Unfortunately, Confucius, his teachings did not catch on until nearly a hundred years after he died when an emperor in the Han dynasty actually adopted Confucius because the emperor saw that as a way to be able to manage the country. Then Confucius became a widely followed religion and has remained a powerful force in Chinese history. At about the same time that Confucius was going around teaching, there was another teacher. His name was Lao Zhu. Although we don't know a lot about him, what we do know of him is probably pretty much myth. But we know his teachings revolve around the Tao, also known as the Wei. It is said to be the essential energy of life. Taoism teaches that you should seek balance in the contrast of the world, life and death, cold and hot, light and darkness. This is what they call Yin and Yang. With the seeking of balance, Taoism also attempt to live in harmony with nature and practice meditation and feng shui. Some even will take pilgrimages to five mountains in China. Then there is Buddhism. Now we've talked about Buddhism in both South and Southeast Asia. Mahayana Buddhism came to China around the first century AD and today is a major religion throughout the region. It would spread to China around the fourth century and then to China in the sixth century. Today, 18% of China, 36% of Japan and 22% of South Koreans are Buddhists. But 28% of South Koreans are Christian. And if you go to Korea and you go to capital Seoul, at night you will see the Red Crosses on the top of the steeples all around the city. Koreans associated Christianity with nationalism during the Chinese occupation and they've also been influenced by the Americans after the Korean War. All right, so now you should have a good idea of the forces that have shaped the culture of East Asia's culture. Next, what we're going to do is we're going to find out why their British love for tea led to us nuking Japan. Until then, keep on learning.