A | B |
usurp | illegally take over |
dowry | payment to the bridegroom or his family from the bride's family in an arranged marriage |
tributary state | independent states that give money or tribute to another state |
land reform | redistribution of land |
gentry | wealthy landowning class in China |
pagoda | a type of architecture that developed in China in which the eaves of the roof curve up on the corners |
Sui Dynasty | Dynasty during which China was reunified after a long period of chaos following the fall of the Han Dynasty |
Wendi | First Emperor of the Sui Dynasty |
Yangdi | emperor who undid his father’s accomplishments by raising taxes and increasing forced conscriptions into the Chinese army |
Grand Canal | a man-made waterway connecting the Huang He to the Yangtze River |
Wu | a great Chinese leader during the Tang Dynasty who helped make stricter standards for the civil service system |
Tang | the Chinese dynasty from 600s to 900s that was geographically nearly as large as the Han dynasty |
Song | the Chinese dynasty from 900s to 1200s that marked a 2nd Golden Age |
Tang Taizhong | the most admired Emperor of China |
Genghis Khan | the Mongol leader who united all the Mongols under his rule |
Pax Mongolica | peace under Mongol rule |
Kublai Khan | the Mongol leader who finally conquered the Southern Song dynasty |
Marco Polo | Italian merchant who lived in China during the rule of the Mongols |
Yuan Dynasty | Kublai Khan’s Mongol Dynasty |
Ming Dynasty | the Chinese dynasty to follow the Mongol rule |
Zheng He | Chinese admiral of the Ming dynasty |
abacus | instrument used in China to make mathematical calculations |
steppes | dry grasslands |
celadon | a porcelain with an unusual blue-green glaze |
literacy rate | percentage of people who can read or write |
hangul | an alphabet using symbols to represent the sounds of spoken Korean |
Silla | 1st dynasty to unite Korea which became a tributary state of China but preserved their independence |
Koryo | 2nd dynasty of Korea during which Buddhism became very influential |
Choson | 3rd dynasty of Korea after Mongols were expelled in which Korea based its government on Confucian principles and refined their writing by creating an alphabet |
ring of fire | region of the Pacific ocean prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions |
archipelago | chain of islands |
tsunami | killer tidal waves set off by earthquakes |
Shinto | worship of the forces of nature |
selective borrowing | adopting some ideas and culture from another civilization |
Yamato clan | Japan’s first and only dynasty who claim direct descent from the Sun Goddess |
Lady Murasaki | author of Tale of Genji |
Tale of Genji | the world’s first full length novel |
kana | Japanese writing that used phoenetic symbols representing syllables |
shogun | a supreme military commander in Japan |
daimyo | great Japanese warrior lords who were vassals to the shogun |
samurai | Japanese lesser lords who were the fighting aristocracy (knights) |
bushido | a Japanese warrior’s code of values |
kabuki | a form of drama in Japan based on Noh plays |
haiku | a Japanese type of poetry with only three lines |
Zen Buddhism | form of Buddhism that became very popular among warriors and artists in Japan |
Seppuku | ritual suicide among the Samurai |
centralized feudalism | Japan kept the outward form of feudal society but imposed central government control |
Tokugawa | shogunate that ruled Japan after a violent period that followed Mongol invasions rule lasted until 1868 |