Editing History of Asia (section)

===East Asia===
{{main|History of East Asia}}
[[File:East-Hem 1200ad.jpg|thumb|280px|The [[Song dynasty]] and main polities in Asia c. 1200]]

====China====
{{main|History of China}}
China saw the rise and fall of the Sui, Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties and therefore improvements in its bureaucracy, the spread of [[Buddhism]], and the advent of [[Neo-Confucianism]]. It was an unsurpassed era for Chinese ceramics and painting. Medieval architectural masterpieces the Great South Gate in Todaiji, Japan, and the Tien-ning Temple in Peking, China are some of the surviving constructs from this era.

=====Sui dynasty=====
{{main|Sui dynasty}}
A new powerful dynasty began to rise in the 580s, amongst the divided factions of China. This was started when an aristocrat named Yang Jian married his daughter into the Northern Zhou dynasty. He proclaimed himself [[Emperor Wen of Sui]] and appeased the nomadic military by abandoning the Confucian scholar-gentry. Emperor Wen soon led the conquest of the southern Chen dynasty and united China once more under the [[Sui dynasty]]. The emperor lowered taxes and constructed granaries that he used to prevent famine and control the market. Later Wen's son would murder him for the throne and declare himself [[Emperor Yang of Sui]]. Emperor Yang revived the Confucian scholars and the bureaucracy, much to anger of the aristocrats and nomadic military leaders. Yang became an excessive leader who overused China's resources for personal luxury and perpetuated exhaustive attempts to [[Goguryeo–Sui War|conquer Goguryeo]]. His military failures and neglect of the empire forced his own ministers to assassinate him in 618, ending the Sui dynasty.

=====Tang dynasty=====
{{main|Tang dynasty}}
[[File:Battle of Talas.png|thumb|380px|[[Battle of Talas]] between Tang dynasty and [[Abbasid Caliphate]] c. 751]]

Fortunately, one of Yang's most respectable advisors, Li Yuan, was able to claim the throne quickly, preventing a chaotic collapse. He proclaimed himself [[Emperor Gaozu of Tang|Emperor Gaozu]], and established the [[Tang dynasty]] in 623. The Tang saw expansion of China through conquest to Tibet in the west, [[Vietnam]] in the south, and Manchuria in the north. Tang emperors also improved the education of scholars in the Chinese bureaucracy. A Ministry of Rites was established and the examination system was improved to better qualify scholars for their jobs.{{sfn|Stearns|2011|loc=Chapter 12}}{{rp|p. 270|quote=In the Tang and Song periods, the examination system was greatly expanded, and the pattern of advancement in the civil service was much more regularized. This meant that in the political realm more than any previous political system (and those yet to come for centuries), the Chinese connected merit as measured by tested skills with authority and status.}} In addition, Buddhism became popular in China with two different strains between the peasantry and the elite, the [[Pure Land Buddhism|Pure Land]] and [[Zen]] strains, respectively.{{sfn|Stearns|2011|loc=Chapter 12}}{{rp|pp. 271–272|quote=Among the masses, the salvationist pure land strain of Mahayana Buddhism won widespread conversions because it seemed to provide a refuge from an age of war and turmoil. Members of the elite class, on the other hand, were more attracted to the Chan variant of Buddhism, or Zen as it is known in Japan and the West.}} Greatly supporting the spread of Buddhism was [[Wu Zetian|Empress Wu]], who additionally claimed an unofficial "Zhou dynasty" and displayed China's tolerance of a woman ruler, which was rare at the time. However, Buddhism would also experience some backlash, especially from Confucianists and Taoists. This would usually involve criticism about how it was costing the state money, since the government was unable to tax Buddhist monasteries, and additionally sent many grants and gifts to them.{{sfn|Stearns|2011|loc=Chapter 12}}{{rp|p. 273|quote=Because monastic lands and resources were not taxed, the Tang regime lost huge amounts of revenue as a result of imperial grants or the gifts of wealthy families to Buddhist monasteries.}}

The Tang dynasty began to decline under the rule of [[Emperor Xuanzong of Tang|Emperor Xuanzong]], who began to neglect the economy and military and caused unrest amongst the court officials due to the excessive influence of his concubine, [[Yang Guifei]], and her family.{{sfn|Stearns|2011|loc=Chapter 12}}{{rp|p. 274|quote=The arrogance and excessive ambition of Yang Guifei and her family angered members of the rival cliques at court, who took every opportunity to turn Yang&apos;s excesses into a cause for popular unreast.}} This eventually sparked a revolt in 755.{{sfn|Stearns|2011|loc=Chapter 12}}{{rp|p. 274|quote=The deepening crisis came to a head in 755 when one of [Xuanzong]&apos;s main military leaders&nbsp;... led a widely supported revolt with the aim of founding a new dynasty to supplant the Tang.}} Although the revolt failed, subduing it required involvement with the unruly nomadic tribes outside of China and distributing more power to local leaders—leaving the government and economy in a degraded state. The Tang dynasty officially ended in 907 and various factions led by the aforementioned nomadic tribes and local leaders would fight for control of China in the [[Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period]].

=====Liao, Song and Jin dynasties=====
{{main|Liao dynasty|Song dynasty|Jin dynasty (1115–1234)}}
[[File:Along the River During the Qingming Festival (detail of original).jpg|thumb|260px|Daily life of people from the [[Song Dynasty|Song]] period at the capital, Bianjing, today's [[Kaifeng]]]]
By 960, most of China proper had been reunited under the [[Song dynasty]], although it lost territories in the north and could not defeat one of the nomadic tribes there—the [[Liao dynasty]] of the highly sinicized [[Khitan people]]. From then on, the Song would have to pay tribute to avoid invasion and thus set the precedent for other nomadic kingdoms to oppress them. The Song also saw the revival of Confucianism in the form of [[Neo-Confucianism]]. This had the effect of putting the Confucian scholars at a higher status than aristocrats or Buddhists and also intensified the reduction of power in women. The infamous practice of [[foot binding]] developed in this period as a result. Eventually the Liao dynasty in the north was overthrown by the [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin dynasty]] of the Manchu-related [[Jurchen people]]. The new Jin kingdom [[Jin–Song Wars|invaded northern China]], leaving the Song to flee farther south and creating the [[Southern Song dynasty]] in 1126. There, cultural life flourished.

=====Yuan dynasty=====
{{main|Yuan dynasty}}
 [[File:Route of Marco Polo.png|thumb|380px|Map of Marco Polo's travels]]
By 1227, the Mongols had conquered the [[Western Xia]] kingdom northwest of China. Soon the Mongols incurred upon the Jin empire of the Jurchens. Chinese cities were soon besieged by the Mongol hordes that showed little mercy for those who resisted and the Southern Song Chinese were quickly losing territory. In 1271 the current great khan, [[Kublai Khan]], claimed himself Emperor of China and officially established the Yuan dynasty. By 1290, all of China was under control of the Mongols, marking the first time they were ever completely conquered by a foreign invader; the new capital was established at [[Khanbaliq]] (modern-day [[Beijing]]). Kublai Khan segregated Mongol culture from Chinese culture by discouraging interactions between the two peoples, separating living spaces and places of worship, and reserving top administrative positions to Mongols, thus preventing Confucian scholars to continue the bureaucratic system. Nevertheless, Kublai remained fascinated with Chinese thinking, surrounding himself with Chinese Buddhist, Taoist, or Confucian advisors.

Mongol women displayed a contrasting independent nature compared to the Chinese women who continued to be suppressed. Mongol women often rode out on hunts or even to war. Kublai's wife, [[Chabi]], was a perfect example of this; Chabi advised her husband on several political and diplomatic matters; she convinced him that the Chinese were to be respected and well-treated in order to make them easier to rule.{{sfn|Stearns|2011|loc=Chapter 14}}{{rp|p. 327|quote=[Chabi] convinced Kubilai that the harsh treatment of the survivors of the defeated Song imperial family would only anger the peoples of north China and make them more difficult to rule.}} However, this was not enough to affect Chinese women's position, and the increasingly Neo-Confucian successors of Kublai further repressed Chinese and even Mongol women.

The Black Death, which would later ravage Western Europe, had its beginnings in Asia, where it wiped out large populations in China in 1331.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gribbin |first1=John |title=Q is for quantum: particle physics from A-Z |last2=Gribbin |first2=Mary |date=1998 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |isbn=978-0-297-81752-9 |location=London |pages=463 |quote=1331: Black Death emerges in China and eventually spreads to Europe.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Senker |first=Cath |title=The Black Death 1347-1350: the plague spreads across Europe |date=2006 |publisher=Raintree |isbn=9781410922786 |pages=8 |quote=Chinese records from 1331 describe a mysterious illness that swept through Hopei province in the northeast. It killed 90 percent of the population.}}</ref>

====Japan====
{{main|History of Japan}}
[[File:Shotoku Taishi.jpg|thumb|Sculpture of [[Prince Shōtoku]]]]

=====Asuka period=====
Japan's medieval history began with the [[Asuka period]], from around 600 to 710. The time was characterized by the [[Taika Reform]] and imperial centralization, both of which were a direct result of growing Chinese contact and influences. In 603, [[Prince Shōtoku]] of the [[Imperial House of Japan|Yamato dynasty]] began significant political and cultural changes. He issued the [[Seventeen-article constitution]] in 604, centralizing power towards the emperor (under the title ''tenno'', or heavenly sovereign) and removing the power to levy taxes from provincial lords. Shōtoku was also a patron of Buddhism and he encouraged building temples competitively.{{sfn|Bowman|2000|pages=124–137}}

=====Nara period=====
Shōtoku's reforms transitioned Japan to the [[Nara period]] (c. 710 to c. 794), with the moving of the Japanese capital to [[Nara, Nara|Nara]] in [[Honshu]]. This period saw the culmination of Chinese-style writing, etiquette, and architecture in Japan along with Confucian ideals{{sfn|Stearns|2011|pages=291–301}} to supplement the already present Buddhism. Peasants revered both Confucian scholars and Buddhist monks. However, in the wake of the [[735–737 Japanese smallpox epidemic]], Buddhism gained the status of state religion and the government ordered the construction of numerous Buddhist temples, monasteries, and statues.{{sfn|Bowman|2000|pages=124–137}} The lavish spending combined with the fact that many aristocrats did not pay taxes, put a heavy burden on peasantry that caused poverty and famine.{{sfn|Bowman|2000|pages=124–137}} Eventually the Buddhist position got out of control, threatening to seize imperial power and causing [[Emperor Kanmu]] to move the capital to [[Heian-kyō]] to avoid a Buddhist takeover.{{sfn|Stearns|2011|pages=291–301}} This marked the beginning of the [[Heian period]] and the end of Taika reform.

=====Heian period=====
With the Heian period (from 794 to 1185) came a decline of imperial power. Chinese influence also declined, as a result of its correlation with imperial centralization and the [[Mandate of Heaven|heavenly mandate]], which came to be regarded as ineffective. By 838, the Japanese court discontinued its embassies in China; only traders and Buddhist monks continued to travel to China. Buddhism itself came to be considered more Japanese than Chinese, and persisted to be popular in Japan. Buddhists monks and monasteries continued their attempts to gather personal power in courts, along with aristocrats. One particular noble family that dominated influence in the imperial bureaucracy was the [[Fujiwara clan]]. During this time cultural life in the imperial court flourished. There was a focus on beauty and social interaction and writing and literature was considered refined. Noblewomen were cultured the same as noblemen, dabbling in creative works and politics. A prime example of both Japanese literature and women's role in high-class culture at this time was ''[[The Tale of Genji]]'', written by the [[lady-in-waiting]] [[Murasaki Shikibu]]. Popularization of wooden palaces and [[shōji]] sliding doors amongst the nobility also occurred.
[[File:Machiya in Heian period.jpeg|thumb|[[Machiya]] in Heian period]]
Loss of imperial power also led to the rise of provincial warrior elites. Small lords began to function independently. They administered laws, supervised public works projects, and collected revenue for themselves instead of the imperial court. Regional lords also began to build their own armies. These warriors were loyal only their local lords and not the emperor, although the imperial government increasingly called them in to protect the capital. The regional warrior class developed into the [[samurai]], which created its own culture: including specialized weapons such as the [[katana]] and a form of chivalry, [[bushido]]. The imperial government's loss of control in the second half of the Heian period allowed banditry to grow, requiring both feudal lords and Buddhist monasteries to procure warriors for protection. As imperial control over Japan declined, feudal lords also became more independent and seceded from the empire. These feudal states squandered the peasants living in them, reducing the farmers to an almost [[serfdom]] status. Peasants were also rigidly restricted from rising to the samurai class, being physically set off by dress and weapon restrictions. As a result of their oppression, many peasants turned to Buddhism as a hope for reward in the afterlife for upright behavior.{{sfn|Stearns|2011|pages=296}}

With the increase of feudalism, families in the imperial court began to depend on alliances with regional lords. The Fujiwara clan declined from power, replaced by a rivalry between the [[Taira clan]] and the [[Minamoto clan]]. This rivalry grew into the [[Genpei War]] in the early 1180s. This war saw the use of both samurai and peasant soldiers. For the samurai, battle was ritual and they often easily cut down the poorly trained peasantry. The Minamoto clan proved successful due to their rural alliances. Once the Taira was destroyed, the Minamoto established a military government called the [[shogunate]] (or bakufu), centered in [[Kamakura, Kanagawa|Kamakura]].

=====Kamakura period=====
The end of the Genpei War and the establishment of the [[Kamakura shogunate]] marked the end of the Heian period and the beginning of the [[Kamakura period]] in 1185, solidifying feudal Japan.

====Korea====
{{main|Goryeo}}

=====[[Three Kingdoms of Korea]]=====
[[File:History of Korea-476.PNG|thumb|Korean peninsula in 476 AD. There are three kingdoms and Gaya Union in the picture. This picture shows the heyday of [[Goguryeo]]]]
The three Kingdoms of Korea involves [[Goguryeo]] in north, [[Baekje]] in southwest, and [[Silla]] in southeast Korean peninsula. These three kingdoms act as a bridge of cultures between China and Japan. [[Prince Shōtoku]] of Japan had been taught by two teachers. One was from [[Baekje]], the other was from [[Goguryeo]]. Once Japan invaded [[Silla]], Goguryeo helped Silla to defeat Japan. [[Baekje]] met the earliest heyday of them. Its heyday was the 5th century AD. Its capital was [[Seoul]]. During its heyday, the kingdom made colonies overseas. Liaodong, China and Kyushu, Japan were the colonies of [[Baekje]] during its short heyday. [[Goguryeo]] was the strongest kingdom of all. They sometimes called themselves as an Empire. Its heyday was 6th century. King Gwanggaeto widened its territory to north. So Goguryeo dominated from Korean peninsula to Manchuria. And his son, [[Jangsu of Goguryeo|King Jangsu]] widened its territory to south. He occupied [[Seoul]], and moved its capital to [[Pyeongyang]]. Goguryeo almost occupied three quarters of South Korean peninsula thanks to king Jangsu who widened the kingdom's territory to south. [[Silla]] met the latest heyday. King Jinheung went north and occupied[[Seoul]]. But it was short. [[Baekje]] became stronger and attacked Silla. Baekje occupied more than 40 cities of Silla. So Silla could hardly survive.
China's Sui dynasty invaded [[Goguryeo]] and [[Goguryeo–Sui War]] occurred between Korea and China. [[Goguryeo]] won against China and [[Sui dynasty]] fell. After then, [[Tang dynasty]] reinvaded [[Goguryeo]] and helped [[Silla]] to unify the peninsula. [[Goguryeo]], [[Baekje]], and Japan helped each other against Tang-Silla alliance, but [[Baekje]] and [[Goguryeo]] fell. Unfortunately, [[Tang dynasty]] betrayed [[Silla]] and invaded Korean peninsula in order to occupy the whole Korean peninsula ([[Silla-Tang war]]).{{citation needed|date=November 2021}} Silla advocated 'Unification of Three Korea', so people of fallen Baekje and Goguryeo helped Silla against Chinese invasion. Eventually Silla could beat China and unified the peninsula. This war helped Korean people to unite mentally.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

=====North-South States Period=====
[[File:History of Korea-Inter-country Age-830 CE.gif|thumb|left|[[Balhae]] in the north, [[Later Silla]] in the south]]
[[File:Korea - Seoul - National Museum - Incense Burner 0252-06a.jpg|thumb|right|the [[Goryeo ware]], which shows splendid culture of [[Goryeo]] in mediaeval Korea.]]

The rest of [[Goguryeo]] people established [[Balhae]] and won the war against Tang in later 7th century AD. [[Balhae]] is the north state, and [[Later Silla]] was the south state. Balhae was a quite strong kingdom as their ancestor Goguryeo did. Finally, the Emperor of Tang dynasty admits Balhae as 'A strong country in the East'. They liked to trade with Japan, China, and Silla. Balhae and Later Silla sent a lot of international students to China. And Arabian merchants came into Korean peninsula, so Korea became known as 'Silla' in the western countries. Silla improved Korean writing system called Idu letters. Idu affected [[Katakana]] of Japan. [[Liao dynasty]] invaded [[Balhae]] in early 10th century, so [[Balhae]] fell.

=====Later Three Kingdoms of Korea=====
The unified Korean kingdom, Later Silla divided into three kingdoms again because of the corrupt central government. It involves [[Later Goguryeo]] (also as known as "Taebong"), [[Later Baekje]], and Later Silla. The general of [[Later Goguryeo]], Wang Geon took the throne and changed the name of kingdom into [[Goryeo]], which was derived by the ancient strong kingdom, [[Goguryeo]], and Goryeo reunified the peninsula.

=====Goryeo =====
{{main|Goryeo}}
[[Goryeo]] reunited the Korean peninsula during the later three kingdoms period and named itself as 'Empire'. But nowadays, Goryeo is known as a kingdom. The name 'Goryeo' was derived from [[Goguryeo]], and the name [[Korea]] was derived from Goryeo. Goryeo adopted people from fallen [[Balhae]]. They also widened their territory to north by [[Goryeo–Khitan War|defending Liao dynasty]] and attacking the [[Jurchen people]]. Goryeo developed a splendid culture. The first metal type printed book [[Jikji]] was also from Korea. The [[Goryeo ware]] is one of the most famous legacies of this kingdom. Goryeo imported Chinese government system and developed into their own ways.

During this period, laws were codified and a civil service system was introduced. Buddhism flourished and spread throughout the peninsula. The [[Tripitaka Koreana]] is 81,258 books total. It was made to keep Korea safe against the Mongolian invasion. It is now a UNESCO world heritage. Goryeo won the battle against [[Liao dynasty]]. Then, the [[Mongolian Empire]] invaded Goryeo. Goryeo did not disappear but it had to obey Mongolians. After 80 years, in 14th century, the Mongolian dynasty Yuan lost power, King Gongmin tried to free themselves against Mongol although his wife was also Mongolian. At the 14th century, [[Ming dynasty]] wanted Goryeo to obey China. But Goryeo didn't. They decided to invade China. Going to China, the general of Goryeo, Lee Sung-Gae came back and destroyed Goryeo. Then, in 1392, he established new dynasty, [[Joseon]]. And he became [[Taejo of Joseon]], which means the first king of [[Joseon]].