Trade & Exchange

The stone pagoda structure is called the Great Wild Goose Pagoda enclosed within the Ci’en (Temple of Mercy) monastery in present-day Xi’an. It was erected in 652 to commemorate the return of the temple’s abbott, the celebrated monk Xuanzang. This heroic figure to Chinese Buddhist history traveled west across the Silk Road and throughout India for sixteen years, exploring the homeland of Buddhism before returning with hundreds of sutras (Buddhist texts).

Fresh water jar in the form of a wooden bucket, 1625–1635. Made in China for Japanese patrons. Porcelain with underglaze blue. Asian Art Museum, Gift of Roy Leventritt, B69P95L.

Four-lobed wall tile, 1450-1500, Vietnam, made for the Indonesian market, Glazed stoneware with underglaze cobalt decoration, Gift of Betty and Jack Bogart, 1994.141.

Students explore the unique geogrraphical features through visual analysis of works of art. Then, they infer how these characteristics affected Japan’s culture and relationships with the mainland.

Ewer with lid, approx. 1050-1125. Goryeo dynasty (918-1392). Stoneware with blue-green (celadon) glaze. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60P123+.

After 150 year of civil war, the Shogunate in Japan was determined to enforce and maintain a stable society. The Shogunate further extended its control of the people through a class system with social and economic constraints. The highest class was composed of the samurai, followed by farmers, craftsmen, and at the lowest level, merchants.

Balinese stories are continually told and retold. Tales such as the Ramayana are mainly spread through storytelling, shadow plays, masked dance, chants, and other theatrical genres. Learn more.

An overview of the Japanese warrior class known as the samurai.

The region bordering the Yellow River, which runs more than 3,400 miles from the Himalayan Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, has long been considered the cradle of Chinese civilization. These vast, fertile plains encouraged the rise of agriculture and the development of neolithic cultures (New Stone Age, roughly 6000-2000 BCE). Archeological discoveries made over the past few decades have revealed that early societies also flourished to the south, along the Yangzi River, as well as sites in the far northeast. These finds indicate that Chinese civilization arose through the gradual blending of several regional cultures.