21H.151 | Fall 2024 | Undergraduate

# Dynastic China

## Week 11 Discussion Post Prompts

We have managed to make it through the Southern Song. Be prepared that from the Southern Song through the Mongol Conquest, a lot of things are going to happen very quickly in China and across Asia: the formation and spread of Neo-Confucianism, the conversion of a portion of the Mongol elites to Tibetan Buddhism (and Islam), and many other social, political, and economic changes. Choose one question to address in a paragraph or two, then write a couple of sentences in response to one of your classmates.

1. Look at the Diagram of the Supreme Polarity. Can you explain the diagram from Zhu Xi’s perspective? Does it differ from Zhou Dunyi’s (its creator’s) original intention?
2. What evidence (either textual or artistic) do you see for the widespread growth of Neo-Confucianism into the Mongol period?
3. Select one painting from either the Song or the Yuan Dynasties (or the Mongol Empire more broadly), introduce it and its creator (include an image in your post!), and analyze the painting. Note that the book on Yuan painting includes the romanization of Chinese characters in Wade-Giles, not pinyin. Use this guide to get some bearings: Wade-Giles to Pinyin Conversion Table.
4. The Mongol Yuan Dynasty saw the Tibetan and Chinese worlds brought into contact more directly than ever before. Open up the “Sources of Tibetan History” reading. What does the Mongol Empire look like from the Tibetan perspective? Cite one of the primary sources. How does it differ from what (southern) Chinese authors recorded (or painted!)? Consult your Tanner reading for an overview.
5. Open up the reading about Pax Mongolica. How are the described land and sea routes different from the “Silk Road” channels we saw from the Han to Tang? Are they different? Besides the exchange of commercial goods, what other people, ideas, sources of celebration/concern, etc. are crisscrossing the vast Mongol Empire? Feel free to use your post to explore how Mongol rule came to differ in various parts of their Eurasian empire.
6. How do you interpret the tomb inscription for a Mongol Governor? (in Ebrey, Chinese Civilization, “A Mongol Governor”)? What insights about the Mongols’ military conquest can you glean from this record?
7. Out of the possible theories behind the origins and rise of footbinding as a cultural practice, which do you find most compelling and why?

## Course Info

### Instructor

- Prof. Tristan G. Brown

### Departments

- History

### As Taught In

Fall 2024

### Level

Undergraduate

### Topics

- Humanities
  - History
    - Asian History
    - World History

### Learning Resource Types

This course includes the following types of learning materials.

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Readings
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