1. What was the "silk road" and how did it affect the economy and culture of Dunhuang and China in the Tang dynasty? Support your answer with specifics drawn from the readings.
2. Write an essay explaining the way in which China and Chinese ideas influenced the political and cultural practices of the early Japanese state.
3. What was distinctive about Heian Japan's court culture and society? How did the bushi emerge from this society and come to dominate Japan under the Kamakura shogunate?
4 To what extent is it justified to read economic developments in Song dynasty China as a "commercial revolution"? What were the social, political, and ideological impacts of this "revolution"?
S. What was "neo-Confucianism" and how did it respond to the social and economic changes of Song China.
6. What made the Mongol conquests possible and what were the most important impacts of Mongol rule in East Asia?
7. What kind of social order did Zhu Yuanzhang want to build, and what specific policies were instituted to create this order?
8. How was Japan unified in the sixteenth century? What were the principal policy innovations and strategies utilized by Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and the Tokugawa?
II. Comprehensive Essay (1x40%):
We began this course with Neolithic East Asia and end in the early modern era of global commercial integration. In this essay, I would like you to identify what you see as the three most important events or processes in East Asia during this period, and justify your choices with analysis supported by specific examples.