THE ERA OF THE TANG/SONG DYNASTIES
READING GUIDE
(CHAPTER 12-STEARNS)
Answer Key
1) What were the basic political characteristics
of the Tang dynasty? Song dynasty?
TANG
 Take care of the nomad problem to the west.
 The Great Wall was repaired.
 Rebuilt and expanded the imperial bureaucracy.
- reestablish the civil service exams
- emphasize the importance of the scholargentry.
** Used to help the run the empire….gain
more and more influence.
SONG
 Military subordinate to the scholar-gentry.
 Only civilian officials allowed to be governors,
no military leaders!
 Promote the interests of the scholar-gentry:
** pay increases
**more servants
**given more luxury goods-wine and silk
2) What facilitated the growing popularity of
Buddhism during the early Tang period?
How did the popularity of Buddhism
influence Confucianism?
a) Pre-Tang(6 Dynasties Era): Buddhism seen as a
refuge from an age of war and turmoil.
1) Tang Emperor Taizong- endowed
monasteries, sent emissaries to India to
collect texts and relics, and commissioned
Buddhist paintings and statues.
2) Tang Empress Wu- Tries to elevate it to a
“state” religion
*** By the 9th century there are 50,000
monasteries and hundreds of thousands of
Buddhist monks and nuns.
b) Confucians become envious. Argued to imperial
leaders that the large Buddhist monastic
establishment was an economic liability/threat.
1) monastic lands and resources were not taxed.
2) imperial grants and gifts from the wealthy hurt
state revenue.
3) monastic estate workers did not have to perform
public service.
*** Eventually leads to a change in policies and
persecution of Buddhists!
3) What were the causes of commercial
expansion during the Tang-Song era? How
did the commercial expansion affect China?
I. Causes
a) Conquests into central Asia = Opens up Silk
Road
b) Building of the Canal System linking north and
south.
c) Improvement of trading ships=Indian Ocean
Trade and Triangle Trade.
II. Effects
a) Markets: specialty shops sell local and foreign
goods.
b) “flying money”=credit, paper money, and
deposit shops=banks.
c) Urban growth
- Changan=2 million people
- Hangzhou=Great marketplaces, very active
nightlife, numerous restaurants.
4) Analyze the changes to China’s social
structure and gender status during the TangSong era?
a) Patriarchal society intensifies. Males/elders
dominate.
b) Scholar-Gentry move up in status as well as
merchants and artisans.
c) Aristocrats lose status.
d) Pre-arranged marriages.
e) Divorce only by mutual consent.
 Status of women improve during the
Tang=Empress Wu, Empress Wei.
 Status of women decline during the late Song
dynasty thanks to the
neoconfucians beliefs in a male-dominated society.
 Women should be mothers and homemakers.
 Women denied education
 Footbinding-Confines women
5) What were the major artistic and scientific
accomplishments of the Tang-Song era?
(MAIN ACCOMPLISHMENT!!!!)
ARTISTIC
a) Poetry-Li Bo(Tang): celebrates the natural
world.
b) Art-Landscapes(Song): “created a highly
personal vision of natural beauty”.
- Put them on scrolls that could be read as
they were unrolled.
***Scholar-Gentry create a lot of this art.
SCIENTIFIC
a) Bridge design: arched/segmented, trussed, and
suspension
b) Gunpowder
c) Grenades/bombs/flamethrowers/rocket launchers
d) Coal as fuel
e) Compasses for sea travel
f) abacus
g) block printing/movable type