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15 - East Asia

from Part II - Trans-regional and regional perspectives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2015

By
Charles Holcombe
Edited by
Craig Benjamin
Craig Benjamin
Affiliation:
Grand Valley State University, Michigan
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Summary

The written Chinese language played a critical role in shaping the emergence of a distinctively East Asian cultural zone. The development of writing in Bronze Age China is thus fundamental to both Chinese and East Asian civilization more broadly. Although tantalizing examples of markings that seem to resemble writing have been discovered from earlier periods, the first unmistakable examples of written language in China appear on the 'oracle bones' that were used for divination at the late Shang court. During the fourth and early fifth centuries, Xianbei bands in the northeast established a series of dynasties in the area of southwestern Manchuria and northeastern China proper. In the early sixth century, there was reportedly a steady flow of merchants from the remote west arriving in the Northern Wei dynasty capital at Luoyang, in north-central China. Buddhism was then introduced to Paekche by a Central Asian monk, Malananda, coming from Southern dynasty China in 384.

Keywords

Chinese empiresfeminine rolesChinese literaturetraditional discoursesgender relationsprocreative sexualityideal masculinity
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge World History , pp. 407 - 434
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2015

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References

Further Reading

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Chang, Chun-shu, The Rise of the Chinese Empire, 2 vols., Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2007.Google Scholar
Chang, Kwang-chih, Pingfang, Xu, and Allan, Sarah, The Formation of Chinese Civilization: An Archaeological Perspective, New Haven, ct: Yale University Press, 2005.Google Scholar
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Dien, Albert E., Six Dynasties Civilization, New Haven, ct: Yale University Press, 2007.Google Scholar
Farris, William Wayne, Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures: Issues in the Historical Archaeology of Ancient Japan, Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1998.Google Scholar
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Holcombe, Charles, The Genesis of East Asia, 221 bc–ad 907, Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2001.Google Scholar
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  • East Asia
  • Edited by Craig Benjamin, Grand Valley State University, Michigan
  • Book: The Cambridge World History
  • Online publication: 05 May 2015
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059251.017
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  • East Asia
  • Edited by Craig Benjamin, Grand Valley State University, Michigan
  • Book: The Cambridge World History
  • Online publication: 05 May 2015
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059251.017
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

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  • East Asia
  • Edited by Craig Benjamin, Grand Valley State University, Michigan
  • Book: The Cambridge World History
  • Online publication: 05 May 2015
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059251.017
Available formats
×