Name: __________________________
Date: ______________ Period: ______
Chapter 12.1 Reading Quiz
1.
Describe 4 inventions of Tang and Song China and explain their impact.
Porcelain: white ceramic made of a special clay
and mineral found only in China
Mechanical clock: machinery was driven by
running water, regulated movements
Printing: block printing and moveable type
Gunpowder: explosive powder made from
saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal
Paper Money: paper currency issued by Song
government…replaced strings of metal cash
Magnetic compass: floating magnetized needle
always pointed north-south
2.
Valuable export- called “china”…technology was
secret for centuries
Short-lived, idea was carried by traders to
medieval Europe
Printing technology spread to Korea and Japan
First used for fireworks, then weapons
Development of large-scale commercial economy
in China
Helped China to become a sea power
Who was Tang Taizong? (Time Period, Location, Key Achievements)
600-649 CE…took over as Tang emperor and took the title Taizong, meaning “Great Ancestor”…military
campaigns extended China’s borders north to Manchuria…also reformed the government organization
and law code.
3. What was footbinding? What did it signify about a female’s status in society?
 The breaking of a young girls foot, and subsequent binding, which led to her foot being
disproportionately small…sign of status because girls/women with bound feet were less able to
do menial labor/ stand for long periods of time…showed lower status of women in Chinese
society.
Chapter 12.1: Two Great Dynasties in China
I.
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The Tang Dynasty Expands China
Sui Wendi declared himself the first emperor of the Sui Dynasty…lasted through only 2
emperors from 589 to 618
 Greatest accomplishment was completion of the Grand Canal
o Waterway connected the Huang He (Yellow River ) and the Yangtze River
o Vital trade route between the northern cities and the southern rice-producing region
o 1,000 mile waterway…tens of thousands of peasant men and women toiled…1/2 died
o Thousands more died rebuilding the Great Wall
o People turned against the Sui Dynasty…overworked and overtaxed
 618: member of the imperial court strangled the 2nd Sui emperor
A. Tang Rulers Create a Powerful Empire
 Tang Dynasty- lasted for nearly 300 years (618-907)
o Begun by emperor Tang Taizong (627-649)
 Empire expanded
 Taizong’s armies reconquered the northern and western lands that had been lost after the Han
 668- China extended influence over Korea
 Empress Wu Zhao- held real power from about 660 on…690, Empress Wu assumed title of
emperor for herself- only woman to do that in China
 Tang rulers further strengthened the central government of China
 Expanded the network of roads and canals
 Promoted foreign trade and improvements in agriculture
 Tang China prospered
B. Scholar-Officials
 Tang rulers needed to restore China’s vast bureaucracy
 Tang rulers revived and expanded the Civil service system to recruit good officials
 Opened schools around the country to train young scholars in Confucianism, poetry
 Elites: scholar-officials
 Exams technically open to all men, but needed expensive years of schooling to do well
 Eventually, talent and education became more important than noble birth in winning
power…many moderately wealthy families shared in China’s government
C. The Tang Lose Power
 By the mid-700’s Tang Dynasty was weakening…to pay for military expansion, Tang rulers
reimposed crushing taxes
 Times of famine…bandit gangs
 Tang could not control the vast empire that they had built
 Battle of Talas: 751, Arab armies defeated the Chinese…Central Asia passed out of Chinese
control
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III.
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907 Chinese rebels sacked and burned the Tang capital at Chang’an…and murdered the last
Tang emperor (a child).
The Song Dynasty Restores China
After the end of the Tang Dynasty, rival warlords divided China into separate kingdoms
960: able general reunited china and proclaimed himself Song Taizu, first Song emperor
Song Dynasty lasted 3 centuries (960-1279)
Song ruled a smaller empire than the Han or Tang, but China remained stable, powerful, and
prosperous
Song armies never regained the western lands lost after 751…or the northern lands
Song paid annual tributes of silver, silk, and tea to northern enemies (ex: Jurchens)
Early 1100’s, Jurchens (Manchuria) conquered northern China and established the Jin
empire…forced the Song to retreat south across the Huang He
After 1126: Song Emperors ruled only southern China
New capital at Hangzhou…(coastal city, south of Yangtze)
Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) had rapid economic growth
o South as economic heartland
An Era of Prosperity and Innovation
Period of Tang and Song dynasties- intense growth
China’s population nearly doubled to 100 million
China was the most populous country in the world, and most advanced
Science and Technology
Important inventions: movable type and gunpowder
Movable type: printer could arrange blocks of individual characters in a frame to make up a
page for printing
Gunpowder: led to explosive weapons
Porcelain
Mechanical clock
Paper money
Use of magnetic compass for navigation
Chinese developed algebra and used zero…also use of negative numbers
Agriculture
Rapid growth of China resulted from advances in farming
Improvement in cultivation of rice
1000- imported “quick-rice” from Vietnam
o Harvest 2 rice crops each year
o Chinese officials distributed seedlings throughout the country
o China able to produce more food to feed a growing population
Trade and Foreign Contacts
Foreign trade flourished under the Tang and Song
Tang imperial armies guarded the Silk Roads
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China lost control over routes during Tang decline…Chinese merchants then relied increasingly
on ocean trade
o Advances in sailing technology: use of magnetic compass
o During Song period: China developed into greatest sea power in the world
International trade
Merchant ships carried trade goods to Korea and Japan
Sailed across Indian Ocean to India, Persian Gulf, and coast of Africa
Chinese merchants established trading colonies around Southeast Asia
Chinese culture spread through East Asia
o Major cultural export- Buddhism
o Buddhism spread from China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam
Tang- tea arrived in China from Southeast Asia- Chinese become avid tea drinkers and tea
producers.
Foreign religions, including Islam and some Eastern sects of Christianity, also spread to China
A Golden Age of Art
Prosperity of Tang and Song nourished an age of artistic brilliance
Scholar-officials- expected to write poetry and to own at least one fine painting
Tang period produced great poetry
o Li Bo- life’s pleasures
o Du Fu- praised orderliness and Confucian virtues…wrote critically about war
Chinese painting reached new heights of beauty during the Song Dynasty…shows Daoist
influence
o Beauty of natural landscapes…muted colors…black ink was favorite paint
o “Black is ten colors”
Changes in Chinese Society
Chinese society became increasingly mobile
People moved to the cities in increasing numbers
More opportunities in cities for managers, professionals, and skilled workers
Civil Service Exam was the most important avenue for social advancement
Levels of Society
Power of old aristocratic families faded
New, much larger upper class emerged…scholar-officials and their families
Gentry: powerful, well-to-do people
o Gentry attained their status through education and civil service positions, rather than
land ownership
Urban middle class- merchants, shopkeepers, skilled artisans, minor officials, and others
Bottom of urban society: laborers, soldiers, and servants
Largest class= peasants
The Status of Women
Women always subservient to men in Chinese Society
Women’s status further declined during Tang and Song periods
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o Especially upper class women
Foot-binding for upper-class girls
o Continued into 20th century
o Young girls feet- arches were broken, curled all but the big toe under “lily-foot”
o Women with bound feet were crippled for life
o Sign of status and of not able to do menial labor