Term
|
Definition
| (581 – 618) Short-lived Chinese dynasty that unified northern and southern China after centuries of division. Under the Sui, the cultural and artistic renaissance that was to reach its height under the succeeding Tang dynasty was set in motion. The first Sui emperor, Wendi, established uniform institutions of government throughout the country, promulgated a new legal system, conducted a census, recruited officials through examinations, and reestablished Confucian rituals. The Sui conducted three costly and unsuccessful campaigns against the Korean kingdom of Koguryo. The Sui capital at Chang'an was, in design, six times the size of the modern city of Xi'an at the same site |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the second emperor of the Tang Dynasty of China, ruling from 626 to 649. As he encouraged his father, Li Yuan (later Emperor Gaozu) to rise against Sui Dynasty rule at Taiyuan in 617 and subsequently defeated several of his most important rivals, he was ceremonially regarded as a co-founder of the dynasty along with Emperor Gaozu. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a custom practiced on young girls and women for approximately one thousand years in China, beginning in the 10th century and ending in the first half of 20th century. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| first chemical explosive and the only one known until the invention of nitrocellulose, nitroglycerin, smokeless powder and TNT in the 19th century. Prior to the invention of gunpowder, many incendiary and burning devices had been used, including Greek fire.Gunpowder is considered one of Four Great Inventions of ancient China. Around 1240, the Arabs acquired knowledge of saltpeter ("Chinese snow") from the East, perhaps through India. They knew of gunpowder soon afterward, and not long after learned about fireworks ("Chinese flowers") and rockets ("Chinese arrows"). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Chan was a version of what in India was called dhyāna, a meditative and ecstatic form of Buddhism.
Chan and Zen emphasize the possibility for the individual to discover through concentration and meditation the Buddha nature underlying all things, including the self. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| introduced into Japan by Zen Buddhists and became the guiding philosophy of the Tokugawa period (1603 – 1867), providing a heavenly sanction for the existing social order. Its emphasis on classical literature led to renewed interest in the Japanese classics and a revival of Shinto studies. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Kingdom of ancient Korea that in AD 668 consolidated other polities on the Korean peninsula under the Unified Silla dynasty (668 – 935). Traditionally believed to have been founded by Hyokkose in 57 BC, Silla emerged as a full-fledged kingdom in the 6th century. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
1.The Japanese feudal military aristocracy.
2.A professional warrior belonging to this class. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A historical region of southern Pakistan along the lower Indus River. Inhabited since prehistoric times, it was held by Muslim dynasties from the 11th century until 1843, when it was annexed to British India. Sind became part of Pakistan in 1947. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| one of the three of ancient Tamil tradition, but the dynasty had been virtually submerged for centuries when at the end of the 9th cent. A.D. it rose again. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Name of the island now home to the modern state of Sri Lanka. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a traditional Arab sailing vessel with one or more lateen sails. It is primarily used to carry heavy items, like fruit, along the coasts of the Arabian Peninsula, Pakistan, India and East Africa. Larger dhows have crews of approximately thirty people, while smaller dhows typically have crews of around twelve. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A junk is an ancient Chinese sailing vessel design still in use today. Junks were developed during the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD) and were used as sea-going vessels as early as the 2nd century AD. They evolved in the later dynasties, and were used throughout Asia for extensive ocean voyages. They were found, and in lesser numbers are still found, throughout South-East Asia and India, but primarily in China, perhaps most famously in Hong Kong. Found more broadly today is a growing number of modern recreational junk-rigged sailboats. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Islamic mystic;
mystical Islamic sect and system that seeks union with God through ecstatic trance, associated esp. with Iran |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Swahili culture is the culture of the Swahili people living on the east coast of Tanzania, Kenya, and Mozambique as well as on the islands in the area, from Zanzibar to Comoros, who speak swahili as their native language.
Swahili culture is the product of the complex history of East Africa, that has been influenced by Middle Eastern, Arab, European and Asian cultures. As for the swahili language, swahili culture has a bantu core that has been modified by those foreign influences. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| an imperial prince of the Chinese dynasty Sui Dynasty. During the reign of his father Emperor Yang, he carried the title of Prince of Qi. When his father was killed in a coup led by the general Yuwen Huaji in 618, Yang Jian and his sons were also killed. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An inland waterway, about 1,609 km (1,000 mi) long, of eastern China extending from Tianjin in the north to Hangzhou in the south. Begun in the sixth to fifth century B.C., it was extended in the seventh century A.D. and completed in the 13th century |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Chinese land-distribution system, AD 485 – 8th century. Borrowed by Japan in 646, it lasted about a century there. Under the system, all adults were assigned a fixed amount of land; a portion of its produce was paid as taxes. On a person's death, most of the land was returned to the government. Increases in population and a tendency for the land to come to be held permanently led to the system's collapse in China; tax-free status and additional allotments for nobles and monasteries resulted in its demise in Japan. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
In about the 1000 yr, China
imported new varieties of fast ripening rice from Vietnam. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
1.A hard, white, translucent ceramic made by firing a pure clay and then glazing it with variously colored fusible materials; china.
2.An object made of this substance. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The Japanese at the Heian court began to develop a culture independent of the Chinese culture that had formed the cultural life of imperial Japan. First, they began to develop their own system of writing. Second, they developed a court culture with values |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
One of North India's most celebrated heroes, Harsha (ca. 590-647) was a gifted warrior-administrator, a sensitive poet and playwright, and a generous patron of religions and the arts.
|
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Former Hindu kingdom, southern India, south of the Krishna River. Founded in 1336, it became the greatest empire of southern India and for more than two centuries served as a barrier against Muslim raiders from the north. It was an important centre of Hindu culture and Dravidian art. Its downfall began with the defeat at Talikota (1565) by a confederacy of Deccan Muslim sultans; the empire dissolved c. 1614. The kingdom's capital, Vijayanagar, was destroyed in 1565. Its ruined site is located at modern Hampi, in southeastern Karnataka.
|
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A wind system that influences large climatic regions and reverses direction seasonally.
- A wind from the southwest or south that brings heavy rainfall to southern Asia in the summer.
- The rain that accompanies this wind.
|
|
|
Term
|
Definition
In Buddhist theories of causation, the moment when anything comes into being. In the Abhidharma this moment was thought to be succeeded by a moment of duration (sthiti) and then one of death or dissolution (bhaṇga).
|
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a temple complex at Angkor, Cambodia, built for the king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation — first Hindu, dedicated to the god Vishnu, then Buddhist. It is the world's largest religious building.[1] The temple is at the top of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors. Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple architecture: the temple mountain and the later galleried temple, based on early South Indian Hindu architecture, with key features such as the Jagati. It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the devas in Hindu mythology |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| By the Middle Ages, there was a civilization that occupied the region, evidenced by ruins at Great Zimbabwe, near Masvingo, and other smaller sites. The main archaeological site is a unique dry stone architecture. Around the early 10th century, trade developed with Muslim merchants on the Indian Ocean coast, helping to develop the Kingdom of Mapungubwe in the 11th century. This was the precursor to the more impressive Shona civilizations that would dominate the region |
|
|
