• Block printing
• Porcelain
• Mechanical clock (water)
• Movable Type
• Gunpowder
• Paper money
• Magnetic compass
• Rice (champas or wet rice)
• bridges

• Shang Dynasty1766-1122
• Zhou Dynasty1122-221
– Last 400yrs - warring states
• Qin Dynasty 221 -206 BCE
– Shi huangdi (1st emperor)
– Legalist philosophy
– First coinage, writing system,
– Censorship
– Lasts 15 years
• China- in 2,000 years - 23 dynasties - 9 important ones

• Classical period
– Confucian based society (five relationships)
– Merit system-bureaucrats
( meritocracy )
– Paper & porcelain invented
• For 400 years after fall of Han - time of great troubles…
– Buddhism becomes popular in this period – Why?

• Period of the Six Dynasties (220-589CE)
– Bureaucracy collapsed
– Buddhism gained strength, replacing
Confucianism
– Non-Chinese nomads rule much Chinese territory

• Era of Division
:
– Small warring states
– period of Buddhist dominance
– loss of imperial centralization
– loss of dominance of scholar-gentry in favor of militarized aristocracy
• Sui-Tang:
– return to centralized administration
– unified empire
– reconstruction of bureaucracy
– reconstruction of Confucian scholargentry at expense of both Buddhists and aristocracy
– restoration of Confucianism as central ideology of state

Sui Dynasty (589-618CE)
• Sui dynasty established by Wendi
– Lowered taxes
– Established granaries – stable, cheap food supply
• Yangdi replaced his father, Wendi
– Brought scholar-gentry back into the administration
– Built the Grand Canal
• How do you think the canal impacted life in China?
Economically? Politically? Socially?
Militarily?

• Tang
– Increased boundaries
– Heavy dependence on militarism

• First emperor & minister (Wei Zheng)model of good rule
• Imperial power and moral restraint in theory - in practice hard to maintain
• Trade & commerce grow
• Printing develops
• Arts- focus on landscape/nature
• Gun powder
• Woodblock printing
• Capital city Chang’an (eternal peace) -walled city
• Artistic / commercial & invention continues in
Song era

• Ruled for 50 years - 705
– Biggest challenge deal with scholar/gentry and old aristocrats
– Economy remained strong!
• Reform of land system
• Civil exam system
– Blow to noble class
– Social mobility
•
Confucianism as official philosophy = cultural literacy uniting China
• Buddhism – Wu spreads

Tang Xuanzong (The Profound Emperor) and Consort Yang

Decline of Tang - Losing the Mandate of Heaven
• Xuanzong
– (Empress Wu’s grandson)
– Patron of arts
– Decline due to lack of morality?
• Other reasons for decline
- Equal land system breaks down
– Poor attention to canal & irrigation systems
– Nomadic attacks
Moral: China’s view
(long lasting)
Centralization = unity = peace
(stability)
VS.
Decentralization = civil war

Song Dynasty (969-1279CE)
• Taizu reunited China under the Song
– Failed to defeat border nomads – sets legacy of weakness
• Politics
– Not as strong politically or militarily as the Tang
– Strong support of Confucian values
• Neo-Confucianism – emphasis on high morality, hostility to foreign influence, stress on tradition (stifled innovation), authority of men
• CHARACTERISTICS/ACHIEVEMENTS:
– Scholar-gentry class dominates
• abuses in civil service exam develop
– Paper money
– Arts & commerce
– 11C Needle compass (3rd century - South pointer)

• Northern Song
(960-1127)
Based in Kaifeng
• Southern Song
(1127-1279)
Based in Hangzhou
Move South due to barbarian pressure from the North

• Tang Dynasty
– More influence on family affairs
– Wives/mothers-in-law = managed homes/servants
– BUT – still subordinate in accordance to Confucian tradition
• Song Dynasty
-Less active in politics/public
-Footbinding emerges – What impact do you think this had on women’s status?
BUT – retained (kept) property rights

Footbinding: indicator of change of role of women

Regional and age differences in role of women
• The emergence of a new ideal of the "willowwaisted woman," a stronger advocacy against widow remarriage, the presence of some bound feet in Southern Song all suggest a decline in status of women.
• However, the control women gained over property, their ability to inherit, their control of family budgets, and of their children's education show that older women were not without authority.

• Made refinements in the ideal of the universal man
– combined the qualities of scholar, poet, painter, and statesman
– Song intellectuals sought answers to all philosophical and political questions in the Confucian Classics.
– This renewed interest in the
Confucianism coincided with the decline of Buddhism
• Seen as offering few practical guidelines for the solution of political and other mundane problems.

End of Song Dynasty/Beginning of Yuan Dynasty:
Mongol Empire ( 1271 – 1368)
• Heavy dependence on growth of civilian government at expense of military
– By 1127, the Song court could not push back the
Northern nomadic invaders
– Surrounded by north ‘empires’
• Invasion of Mongols from
North
• What impact do you think foreign rule might have on China’s society?