Question

China’s Tang Dynasty had a great deal of cultural and political influence on early Japan. Which of the following was a political system Japan borrowed (temporarily) from Tang China?

Answer 1

Ans

Japan borrowed the “a merit-based bureaucratic system” temporarily from China during the Tang dynasty rule.

Explanation: The Tang Empire was one of the strongest of China. This dynasty was established by the “Li Family”. The period ruled by the dynasty ( from 618AD to 684AD, and from 705 AD to 904 AD) is regarded as the “Golden Age” of Chinese cosmopolitan culture and the highest point of country’s civilization. The Empire also had a powerful influence on Korea, Japan and other East Asian countries. While Japan did fight wars with Tang China, both the countries had cordial and friendly relations as well, and several diplomatic channels were established.

The “Taika” or the “Great Change” reforms of Japan adopted the Chinese style of bureaucracy, which assisted the emperor of Japan who had all the absolute powers. These reforms were initiated by the Japanese prince Naka no Oe in the year 645 AD. The Japanese wished to make their kingdom and empire more centralized through these reforms. The Taika reforms were not a legal code, but they initiated a new system of administrative, fiscal and social mechanisms in Japan that were practised between the 7th and 10th centuries. This system was known by the “Ritsuryo system”.”Ritsu” was the term used for denoting certain penal laws while “ry” denoted administrative codes.

While the bureaucratic system of governance was immensely successful in China, it did not perform well in Japan. The influential aristocrats/families of Japan had very large and extensive land holdings, started controlling the bureaucracy of the country, and also proved to be dominant on the emperor. Japanese borrowings from China were not limited to governing systems, but language, architecture, cloth and fashion, religion and many aspects of this nation were influenced by Chinese patterns. Later on, the cultural borrowing made by the Japanese from the Chinese governing system and culture started to fade around the year 794.