Century of Changes 2


 * Century of Changes 2
 * by Jonathan I. Edelstein
 * 22 January 2002

China ... In China, the long war of attrition between south and north ended in SE 320 [1092 CE], with the northern Liao dynasty the victor. Weakened by plagues and in chaos after a palace coup by hired Turkish soldiers, Wuyue fell in 316, and it was not long before the remainder of the Three Kingdoms passed into history. For the first time in almost two centuries, China had a single ruler.

In the hundred years that the Liao had ruled north China, they had become steadily more Sinicized, and their assimilation only accelerated after they became emperors of a united land. By SE 335 [1107 CE], the Liao dynasty had largely abandoned its nomadic court, residing at Kaifeng from May to September and at Hangzhou from November to March. (Historians in later centuries would occasionally refer to the early Liao Dynasty as the "Summer and Winter" period.) The Liao retained their previous practice of appointing a separate council for every province, but important matters were increasingly heard at the capitals.

The Liao state was characterized by bureaucratic dominance almost from the beginning. The imperial government sought to control the plagues by imposing tight restrictions on movement; peasants were confined to their villages, only licensed traders were permitted to use the roads, and travelers had to undergo inspection for signs of plague before entering a city. The process of issuing licenses, conducting expenses and registering villagers required a significant expansion of the civil service, and administrative officers acquired enormous power over citizens' everyday lives. Inevitably, this led to widespread corruption and petty oppression, but the Liao considered this an acceptable price for maintaining a semi-effective quarantine.

Despite the stifling bureaucracy, however, China continued to advance. Under the Liao, China's sea trade increased, and Chinese merchants were competing with the Japanese in Mindanao and Formosa by the end of the fourth century. Beginning about SE 380 [1152 CE], Liao armies also pushed the Chinese frontier to the north and west, subjugating many of the outlying nomadic tribes. The battles against the nomads were largely minor skirmishes, and would likely have gone unremembered if not for the fact that they were the first in which rockets and bombs were used against the enemy...

East Indies ... In Java and Sumatra, kingdoms also fell. Eastern Java was first; by 320, the pirates of the Lesser Sundas and the Moluccas increasingly came as conquerors rather than raiders. Several short-lived dynasties seized various parts of Java during the 320s and 330s, laying waste to much of the countryside in the process. Fortunately, the period of chaos was relatively short. By 336 [1108 CE], the ablest barbarian – Rajasa, a pirate chief from Kupang on Timor -- had gained the upper hand over his rivals and united the Javanese rice kingdoms under a single throne.

Srivijaya, too, fell to Rajasa's armies. Decadent, seething with rebellion and fatally weakened by epidemics and Chola raids, the Srivijayans were able to offer little resistance; by 350 [1122 CE], all of Java had fallen, and Palembang itself was sacked in 356 [1128 CE]. Southern Sumatra would become part of Rajasa's empire, while the Malay and northern Sumatran principalities became independent. By 370 [1142 CE], several of these had been persuaded to grant trading concessions to the Company in return for protection against the Chola fleets...

... In many ways, the rise of Rajasa revitalized Javanese society. Although he was an illiterate barbarian chief, Rajasa valued the accomplishments of civilization, and ensured that his sons were educated by Javanese scholars. Rajasa's successor, Kartanegara (reigned 372-410 [1144-1182 CE]) was a thoroughly Javanese monarch who built great temples and patronized the court dances and theater. Kartanegara was also a conqueror; by the time of his death, his writ extended across the Sundas and even to southern Sulawesi and Kalimantan...

... The troubles in the East Indies resulted in the displacement of many noblemen. Some were able to take service with Rajasa or the Company, but others chose the time-honored route of sailing off with their retainers to settle new lands. The fate of many of these expeditions has never been learned, but it is known that by 347 [1119 CE], Javanese settlements existed on the southern continent, in the area to the north and east of the diamond mines... FN1

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