Sui, Tang, Song Dynasties
Period of Disunion
• 220-589 CE
• Period of disunion: the time of disorder that
followed the collapse of the Han dynasty
Sui Dynasty
• 589-618
• Conquered the south and unified
China
• Known for harsh rule: forced
peasants who owed taxes to fight
in the army
• Created a centralized and unified
state and laid the foundation for
the golden age that followed
Sui Dynasty-Achievements
• Repaired and lengthened the Great Wall
• Provided security from Northern invaders
which allowed cultural and economic growth
• Many died while building the wall
• Those who died were often buried among the
walls bricks: giving the nickname “The
world’s longest cemetery”
•
•
•
•
•
Tang Dynasty-Government
618-907 CE: Golden Age of culture
China was the richest most powerful country
in the world
Conquered Vietnam, Tibet, and Korea as
tributary states
Rebuilt bureaucracy
Civil Service exams: ability not rank
Tang Dynasty-Government
• Only dynasty to have a female emperor:
Empress Wu Chao
• After her husband died she decided her
sons were not capable of ruling
• Ruled with an iron fist: if anyone
threatened her, they risked being
killed
• Chose advisors based on ability
not rank
Tang Dynasty-Economics
• After conquering the west, the Tang
were able to reopen the silk road- a
system for trade, travel, communication,
exchange of ideas
• Connected China to central Asia and the middle
east
• From China to west: silk, porcelain, jade, tea, paper,
printing, farming methods,
weapons
• From West to China: glass
rugs, horses, silver,
medicine, spices,
Christianity, Islam
Tang Dynasty-Economics
• Equal Field System- redistributed land to peasants
• Citizens paid taxes on how much land they
received
• Central Government strengthened: benefited from
increased number of taxpayers, limited power of
wealthy landowners
• Benefited commoners and peasants by giving
them a chance to gain wealth
Tang Dynasty-Achievements
• Built the Grand Canal, which connected the
Yellow river in the north and the Yangzi river
in the south
• Connected northern and southern China
• Farmers and merchants in the south (rice)
used the canal
• Government and military
officials could travel and
watch over citizens
• Many died while building the canal
Song Dynasty-Government
• 960-1279 CE
• Song China was limited to
provinces south of the Great
Wall
• Strengthened the system of
meritocracy-jobs based on
ability
• Stricter civil service exams
Song Dynasty-Economy
• Chinese farming reached new
heights
• Irrigation techniques
• Dug underground wells
• Dragon Backbone pump-light
portable pump that allowed farmers
to scoop up water and pour it into a
canal
• Amount of land under cultivation
increased
• Discovery of fast ripening rice= 2 or
3 harvests a year
Tang and Song-Technology
•
•
•
•
Mechanical Clock (700s)
Gunpowder (850)
Block Printing (700s)
Moveable Type (1040s)
Tang and Song-Culture
• Landscape paintingsinfluenced by daoism
• Pagodas: Temples
• Porcelain
• Li Bo and Du Fu- famous
Chinese poets and Wu Daozifamous artist lived at this time
Ming (Brilliant) Dyansty
• Tired of foreign
rule
• Reassert
Chinese
Greatnessrestored civil
service,
Confucian
learning, and
bureaucracy
Zhy Yuanzong: Peasant leader that
founded Ming dynasty
Ming-Economics
• Better fertilization=more
crops
• Many new industries and
technologies-led to
increased output
• Created blue and white
porcelain
• Better printing methodsled to more books
Zheng He 1405-1433
• Chinese Admiral
• Led 7 expeditions:
fleet had 62 ships
and 25,000 sailors.
One ship was 400
feet long
• Goal: Promote
trade, collect
tribute, show
strength and
power of China
Zheng He’s Travels
• Impressed the
Zheng He
• Brought back goods,
exotic plants and
animals, and prisoners
of war (people that
wouldn’t pay tribute)
• China opened Imperial
Zoo where they kept all
of the animals Zheng
He brought back to
China