Voices of East Asia

Essential Readings from Antiquity to the Present

Margaret Childs, Nancy Hope

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317515432
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Storia
• Subtopic: Storia dell'Asia

Voices of East Asia provides significant yet accessible readings in translation chosen to stimulate interest in the long and rich cultural history of East Asia, the countries of China, Japan, and Korea. The readings range from ancient to modern, elite to popular, and include poetry, stories, essays, and drama. Each section begins with a broad but brief overview of that country's political and cultural history. Each reading is preceded by a concise explanation of its literary and cultural context. As expertise in East Asian studies has exploded in the West in recent decades, a novice could be overwhelmed by all the materials available now. In this volume, however, the reader will find a manageable set of texts that may be read on their own, as part of a world literature course, or as supplementary readings for an East Asian history class. As economic and political news from East Asia sweeps across the world, this anthology aims to provide a taste of the enduring traditions upon which contemporary East Asia is built, a glimpse into the hopes and fears, love and sorrow in the hearts of the people behind the headlines.

This anthology will be welcomed by students and scholars of Asian history, culture, society and literature.

Part I
China

According to legend, Chinese history begins with two rulers who invented writing, fishing, trapping, agriculture, and commerce. After them came the Yellow Emperor, who created a centralized state. Then there were the most famous early rulers, the three Sage Kings, Yao, Shun, and Yu, whose virtue ensured peace and prosperity in their domains. Yu is credited with building a vast system of dikes and canals that reduced floods and founding the Xia dynasty (ca. 2100–ca. 1600 BCE). The cruelty and corruption of the last of the Xia rulers inspired revolt and the founding of the Shang (or Yin) dynasty (ca. 1600–ca. 1050 BCE). Archeological evidence confirms the existence of the Shang dynasty during the latter half of the second millennium, and legend becomes verifiable history in the ninth century BCE. The most important legacy of Shang times is the Chinese writing system, which evolved into the system of pictographic, ideo-graphic, and phonetic characters in use today. This in turn gave rise to the emphasis on line and brushwork so characteristic of Chinese art. The Shang dynasty was, in turn, overthrown when King Wu of Zhou rebelled against another despotic emperor. Credit for consolidating the Zhou regime (1046–256 BCE) is given to King Wu’s brother, the Duke of Zhou, who is revered as a wise and loyal regent and adviser.

This pattern of the rise of dynasties founded by bold and virtuous men and their fall due to corruption and decadence came to be called the dynastic cycle. The Zhou kings contributed to this political theory by creating the idea of the “Mandate of Heaven,” which means that Heaven controls the right to rule and bestows it based on virtue and benevolence.

The central power of the Zhou dynasty dwindled until it became just one of several smaller states that competed for territory and legitimacy from about 770–221 BCE. Amid that warfare, many philosophers debated human nature, the proper goals of government and society, and the best ways to achieve those goals. One of the “Hundred Schools of Thought” of those centuries was that of Confucius (551–479 BCE), who argued that social order was best achieved by ethical behavior and leadership by example. Other important schools were Legalism, which proposed maintaining order by strictly imposing harsh punishments, and Daoism, which encouraged individuals to seek harmony both internally and externally through a mystical appreciation of the impersonal and perfectly balanced forces of nature.

Late in the third century, the armies of Qin (221–206 BCE) united China through mass slaughter, but the first Qin emperor created the basis for an enduring Chinese empire by centralizing authority and by standardizing weights, measures, roads, and the writing system. He was so fervent an adherent of Legalism that he ordered the burning of Confucian libraries. He also ordered the building of the Great Wall and the Terracotta Army.

A peasant rebel founded the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), and eventually wise policies and political stability led to prosperity and cultural progress that shaped Chinese civilization for the next two millennia. Confucian books were re-created from memory or recovered from hiding places. Five ancient texts were labeled “Confucian” and canonized as the Five Classics: (1) the Book of Songs; (2) the Book of Documents, speeches and anecdotes of ancient rulers; (3) the Book of Rites, lists of rituals for daily life and life’s milestones such as marriage and death; (4) the Book of Changes, a diviner’s handbook; and (5) the Spring and Autumn Annals, a record of events from 722 to 481 BCE at the court of the state of Lu, home of both the Duke of Zhou and Confucius.

A university was founded in 124 BCE with the Five Classics as the primary curricula, and examinations were used to select government officials. Thus education became a means to success, and benevolent government became a common ideal. Also, international trade flourished—much of it along what would come to be known as the Silk Road—and the teachings of Buddhism were welcomed. As Chinese science and technology blossomed, clocks, paper, porcelain, and the water-powered mill were invented.

The fighting that ended the Han dynasty inspired Romance of the Three Kingdoms,¹ written in the fourteenth century. This very long and extremely complex story of loyalty and treachery, military exploits, and Confucian values is considered one of the four greatest Chinese novels.

The Sui dynasty (589–618 CE) reunited China several centuries later, but its ruler was weakened by military failures. Tang rulers (618–906), on the other hand, succeeded through a combination of diplomacy and military brilliance in expanding China to its largest extent to that date. During the Tang dynasty, culture again flourished. Extensive international trade turned the capital Chang’an into a cosmopolitan city of almost 2 million residents. State support for Buddhism is reflected in the historical events that inspired another of the great novels, Journey to the West, which is based on the story of the actual monk Xuanzang (602–664), who left China for India to gather Buddhist scripture and was given a hero’s welcome when he returned in 645. His translations of scripture from Sanskrit to Chinese were a strong stimulus for the development of Buddhism in China. There was potential for conflict between Buddhist teachings that encourage a focus on one’s spiritual state of mind and Confucian principles that require people to prioritize their familial and social obligations, but the idea that one could simultaneously embrace Buddhist ideas privately and Confucian ethics in public life resolved the problem. Daoism also continued to provide guidelines for life for those who were not in public service.

The poetry of Li Bai (701–762) and Du Fu (712–770) represent a pinnacle of Tang cultural achievement. Li Bai is noted for his technical skill and mastery of the literary tradition. His favorite themes are universal: friendship and the sense of freedom that wine could provide. Du Fu is considered a technically superior poet who is especially beloved for his poems describing the turmoil of a rebellion that broke out in his time and for expressing compassion for the suffering of common people, such as conscripted soldiers. Both Li Bai and Du Fu were popular in Japan and often quoted in Japanese literature.

The Tang dynasty was weakened when Emperor Xuanzong (713–756) fell madly in love with the concubine Yang Guifei and neglected his duties. When rebellion ensued, the emperor’s guards blamed Yang Guifei and strangled her. A popular poem by Po Ju-I expressing the emperor’s grief, “Song of Everlasting Sorrow,” helped inspire the Japanese masterpiece The Tale of Genji. The rebellion was quashed, but the Tang dynasty was permanently weakened.

Once again China was fragmented until a brilliant general reunified the nation. During the Song Dynasty (960–1279), the bureaucracy was revitalized by reforms to the examination system. The capital at Bianjing (now Kaifeng) was a city of more than 400,000 people living both inside and outside the city gates, as recorded in a handscroll by Zhang Zeduan (1085–1145). Commerce and the arts flourished together, especially landscape painting and pottery. Movable type was invented. The Song dynasty philosopher Zhu Xi (1130–1200) reaffirmed the importance of education, self-cultivation, and the mutual responsibilities of human relationships. He said the essence of Confucian philosophy could be found in Four Books: Great Learning and Doctrine of the Mean (from the Book of Rites), Analects, and Mencius. Various interpretations of these texts evolved over the centuries as scholars continually wrote new commentaries, but the basic values presented in these texts provided a stable cultural ideology for the next 800 years. In contrast to this noble legacy, foot-binding began among the aristocracy during the Song dynasty and eventually spread to all levels of Chinese society. This painful practice, which required girls to cripple themselves for the sake of having tiny feet, did not die out until the early twentieth century.

The Mongol empire absorbed China in 1279, but since the Mongols kept themselves separate and ruled through Chinese institutions, their Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368) had little lasting direct influence on Chinese culture. However, since the route to success via the civil service examinations became blocked, scholars turned their energies to calligraphy, painting, and more accessible forms of literature such as drama (e.g., The West Chamber). Although these forms were not as highly respected as poetry and therefore usually written anonymously, they proved highly popular. The Mongols invaded Japan in 1274 and again in 1281, but were repelled with the help of a timely typhoon. This is the origin of the Japanese expression kamikaze, “divine wind,” a term later used by suicide pilots during World War II. It was also China under Mongol rule that Marco Polo visited and described when he returned in 1295 to Venice from Peking after a seventeen-year trip.

The Mongol dynasty was weakened by infighting and popular unrest caused by famine and flooding. Multiple rebellions broke out, and one commoner, an orphan who had been a Buddhist monk, emerged to lead the rebels to victory and found the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). The ethnically Chinese rulers of the Ming Dynasty emphasized stability and relied heavily on the Confucian tradition they believed had produced glory in the ancient past. Ming dynasty painters like Xie Jin (1369–1415) also drew upon established motifs and conventions, especially in landscape painting. Ming emperors became more autocratic and circumvented traditional governing structures by relying more and more on the eunuchs who maintained their harems and helped rulers communicate with officialdom, but change came in other areas. Increasing literacy created a market for popular novels and Confucian scholars responded: three of the great books still known and loved today took recognizable form during the Ming dynasty: Water Margin, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Journey to the West. Also of note is the arrival in China of Jesuit missionaries and the consequent deepening awareness in Europe of Chinese civilization.

The Manchus had developed a powerful state north of China just when Ming China was in the hands of weak and corrupt leaders. Taking advantage of the turmoil caused by rebellion in China, Manchu forces occupied Beijing in 1644 and soon conquered the rest of China. The conservative and inward-looking orientation of the Ming rulers persisted in the Qing dynasty. Like the Mongols, they kept themselves apart from the Chinese and employed Chinese to staff the bureaucracy. They were successful in expanding the borders of the Chinese empire, but not in controlling corruption. When Europeans traders arrived in the late eighteenth century, the Qing emperors were incapable of effective action. In the aftermath of the Opium War (1839–1842), Great Britain forced China to import opium. Then the Christian-inspired Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864) against the ruling Manchuled Qing dynasty cost the lives of 20 million Chinese and was suppressed only with the help of French and British forces. Without the resources to resist, China agreed to more and more economic concessions to Western countries. In 1900, inspired by anti-foreign and anti-Christian violence carried out by members of secret societies, the Qing government declared war on the West but was quickly defeated.

In 1911 rebellion broke out again, and the Manchu government fell. A founder of the Nationalist People’s Party, Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925), a medical doctor who had spent time in Hawaii and converted to Christianity, became the first president of the Republic of China. In need of military support, the presidency was offered to Yuan Shihkai (1859–1916), commander of an army in northern China. The ambitious Yuan quickly betrayed the cause, but Sun was able to maintain the republic in southern China. When World War I ended in April 1919, the Chinese were angered by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles: Japan had taken territory under German control in Shandong province and was allowed to retain it. On May 4, 1919, a student demonstration marked the beginning of a widespread anti-imperialist and Chinese nationalist movement. This is the context in which Lu Xun (1881–1936) wrote stories scathingly critical of traditional Chinese culture.

When Sun Yat-sen died in 1925, Chiang Kai-shek, then commandant of a military academy, stepped up and defeated rival elements in northern China in 1926, but then suddenly attacked the Communists who had been organizing in Shanghai since 1921. This won him recognition from Western nations, but consolidating the republic and modernizing Chinese social and economic institutions remained daunting challenges. In 1931, Japan occupied Manchuria, but Chiang focused on rooting out Communists. Late in 1934, the Communists were surrounded, but they broke thr...