Chapter 12: Reunification and
Renaissance in Chinese Civilization:
The Era of the Tang and Song
Dynasties
AP World History I
Overview
• With the fall of the Han Dynasty in 220 CE, China
alternates between periods of political unity and
fragmentation
– Not as traumatic as the fall of Rome for Western
Europe
• Between 589 and 906 CE, China enjoyed a
political revival under the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
• China will also be rocked by the advances of the
Mongol armies in the 1200s.
Warring States Map
The Sui Dynasty
• The first strong
dynasty to
emerge after
the fall of the
Han was the Sui
Dynasty (589618 CE).
• Reunified China
• Expanded
China’s borders
as a result of
military
conquest
Tang Dynasty
• Under the Tang (618-906 CE), China became
larger than ever before.
– Rulers extend China’s influence to parts of Central
Asia, Mongolia, Manchuria, Tibet, and to the
south, the Pacific Coast.
• The Tang forced its neighbors(Korea/Japan)
into a Tributary System,
Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
• Tang economy was very strong due to
advanced infrastructure (roads, waterways,
canals)
– Grand Canal: Begun in the Sui Dynasty to link the
Yellow and Yangzi Rivers.
• Increased trade stimulated the Tang economy
– Silk industry made China exceptionally wealthy
Map of Grand Canal
Grand Canal
Suzhou Bridge Grand Canal
Means of Trade/Exchange
• Indian Ocean Trade Network: China’s control
of the southern coast allowed participation in
the Indian Ocean Trade Network.
• China also traded along the 5000 mile Silk
Road with the Middle East.
IOTC
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Culture in Tang China
• Tang rulers were cultural patrons
-Academies for Learning (Han Lin Academy
of Letters)
• Tang exerted strong religious and cultural
impact on Korea/Japan
• expanded and reworked the imperial
bureaucracy
– Revived Scholar-gentry elite with CONFUCIAN
values
Tang Examination System
• Academies trained state officials and educated
them in Confucian classics.
– Examination system was greatly expanded
• Most bureaucrats won their position through
success in the Civil Service Examination there
were still factors like Connections
State and Religion
• Buddhism thrived in the time before the Sui
and Tang dynasties
– Many pre-Tang rulers from nomadic origins were
devout Buddhists (Zen Buddhism)
• Tang support of Confucianism threatened to
undercut Buddhist success…however, Tang
Emperors and Empresses supported the
Buddhist establishment (Empress Wu r. 690705 CE).
State and Religion
• Support of Buddhist aroused the envy of
Confucian and Daoist rivals.
– Confucian leaders stressed 2 things: No taxes on
Buddhis Temples and unable to Conscript Peasants for
war
– Under Wuzong (r. 841-847) China openly persecuted
Buddhists.
• Never again would Buddhism gain the strength it
had in the early-Tang era…however, it would
survive in China
– Confucianism becomes dominant ideology of Chinese
civilization from the 9th to early 20th century.
Tang Decline
• During the 800’s, a
series of peasant
rebellions and military
disasters weakened the
Tang.
• In 906, the Tang
Dynasty collapsed and
several centuries of
disunity will follow.
China after the Tang
• Following the Tang breakdown, China
fragmented into separate states until the late
1200s.
• The largest and longest lasting was the Song
Empire.
– Song empire will last until 1279.
• Until 1121, the primary threat to the Song was
the Liao empire to the north.
China after the Tang
• The Song paid tribute to the Liao via silk and cash,
but then destroyed them with the help of Jurchen
tribes from the North (even farther north).
• However, the Jurchen then proclaimed their own
Empire, the Jin, and turned on the Song.
• The Song gave up territory and retreated to the
South. The smaller Song state, the Southern Song
Dynasty, will survive until the Mongol Conquests
of the 1270s.
Northern and Southern Song
Song Characteristics
• Culturally and economically impressive
– Steady population growth
– World’s largest urbanized society
– Largest cities on earth at the time (population over 1
million)
– Trade contacts lessened, but still active.
– More involvement with the Pacific coast and
Southeast Asia.
– Port of Canton (Guangzhou) became the world’s
busiest and most cosmopolitan trading centers.
• Large trading vessels, known as junks, cruised the eastern
seas and Indian Ocean carrying goods for trade.
Song Culture and Religion
• With the exception of the Abbasid
Caliphate, Song China was of the
most scientifically and technically
advanced societies in the world.
– Excellent mathematicians and
astronomers.
– Accurate clocks, compasses (used at
sea in 1090).
– Su-Song’s celestial clock was built in
1088 CE
• 80 feet tall
• Time of day, day of month, positions of
the sun, moon, planets, and major stars.
• First device in world history to use a
chain-driven mechanism powered by
flowing water.
Chinese Inventions of the Song Era
• Gunpowder
• Paper Currency (flying money)
• Made use of Block Printing (adopted from the
Koreans)
Religion
• Great revival of Confucius’ teachings, known
as Neo-Confucianism.
– Reinforced Chinese culture’s tendency toward
hierarchy and obedience.
– Put a premium on education and cultured
behavior
– Civil Service Examination system
Women in Chinese Society
• Neo-Confucianism was used to justify the greater
subordination of women.
– Earlier, a husband’s family had to produce a dowry for
a new bride, but during this time period, it
reversed…Marriages were arranged for the groom’s
benefit.
• Chinese subjugation of women was most obvious
in foot-binding.
– Kept women’s feet tiny and dainty, but crippled them.
– Established in the 1200’s, and continued to the 1900’s.
Women in Chinese Society
• Women of lower classes
were freer than those in
the upper classes, but still
occupied a secondary
status to that of men.
• Women of all classes had
property inheritance
rights, and retained
control of their dowry
after death or divorce of
husband.