Tang & Song China
What impact did the Tang and Song dynasties have on the
following areas of Chinese society?
Transportation:
Expanded network of
reads and canals
begun during Sui
dynasty
Agriculture: Improved
cultivation of rice
Government:
Strengthened central
government;
revised/expanded civil
service exam system
Science/Technology:
Moveable type;
gunpowder; magnetic
compass
Foreign trade:
Encouraged extensive
overland trade
Expanded sea trade;
colonies; new religions;
Islam, Eastern
Christianity
Art: Nurtured works of
artists; produced great
poetry/painting
What changes did the two dynasties bring about for the following
groups?
Old Aristocratic
Families: Power
began to fade
Gentry: Created elite
upper class whose status
based on education and
position in civil service,
not on land ownership
Buddhist Monasteries:
Attacked as “foreign”
Women: Status declined
especially among upper
classes in cities
(footbinding)
What was continuous throughout the period (600-1450)?
Political-Nomadic threats, Confucianism
Economic-long-distance trade, urbanization
Society-patriarchal family
Technology-stirrup