Renaissance and Rebirth in
China: The Sui, Tang and Song
Era
Key Questions
1. What was the dynasty that reunited China after the fall of the
Han?
2. What caused the 845 backlash against Buddhism?
3. What is the significance of the Grand Canal?
4. Name one trade and one agricultural innovation from this
period in China’s history?
5. What is neo-Confucianism?
People and Places
 Wendi
 Empress Wu
 Hangzhou
Ripe for Reunification
 Northern and Southern
dynasties another phase
after fall of the Han
 Wendi creates marriage
alliance with the
Northern Zhou
 Wendi favors nomads
over scholar-gentry
 Conquers southern Chen
in 589
3.2.1
Sui Dynasty
Sui
Han
Short-lived Sui
Good
 Lower taxes and granaries
 Grand Canal
 Restoration of Confucian
government by Yangdi
Bad
 Failures against Korea
and nomads
 Excessive conscription for
extravagant projects
Tang Dynasty
3.2.1
 Li Yuan emerges from the
Sui wreckage
 Conquered deep in to
Central Asia and uses
nomads
 Korea finally overrun and
the empire reached to
Tibet and Vietnam
Rebuilding the Bureaucracy
 Scholar-gentry offset
power of aristocracy and
nomads
 Ministry of rites greatly
expanded examination
system
 Birth still mattered
3.2.1
Buddhism
3.1.3
 Popularized in the Era of
Division
 Pure Land attractive to
the peasants
 Chan attractive to the
elites
 Xuanzang
 Rulers like Empress Wu
patronized Buddhist art
and monasteries
Buddhism
Buddhism Backlash
 Daoism and
Confucianism opposed
Buddhism
 Economically bad for the
imperial order
 In 845 Emperor Wuzong
began open persecution
against all foreign
religions
Termination of the Tang
 Decline began with the
initially strong rule of
Xuanzong(713-756)
 An Lushan rebellion(755763) nearly destroyed
dynasty
 Nomads began assert
control over large areas
and provincial governors
acted independently
Song Dynasty
 After a brief period of
turmoil song takeover in
960
 Not as large as the Tang,
couldn’t defeat the Liao
dynasty who were sinified
 Song emperors supported
scholar-gentry and
increased bureaucracy
size
3.2.1/3.2.2
Two Songs
Song(960-1167)
Southern Song(1167-1279)
Swan Song
3.2.1
 Fending off the kingdoms of the north was a huge burden
 In the 1070s and 1080s the chief minister Wang Anshi tried to
introduce sweeping reforms based on Legalism and
interventionism
 After Anshi’s patron emperor died in 1085 the neoConfucians undid much of his work
 The Jurchens overthrew the Liao and forced the Song to move
south
 The Song were finally beaten by the Mongols in 1279
Grand Canal
3.1.1
 Begun by the Yangdi
 Made necessary by
population boom in the
south
 Linked millet north to
rice south
 Made control over south
and transportation of
food easier
Commercial Expansion
 Reopening of the Silk
Road
 Junks brought
manufactured goods to
the rest of East Asia
 First flying money, then
paper money made trade
easier
 Imperial supervision of
trade centers and
introduction of merchant
guilds
3.1.1
Unusually Urban
3.3.2
 Urban growth, especially
in the south
 Fed by trade and
population boom
 Most notable was
Hanzhou
Agrarian Changes
3.3.1/3.1.4
 Government promoted
agrarian expansion
through migration and
irrigation
 Sui and Tang also sought
to break up old estates
and distribute land
 New techniques and
inventions, as well as the
Champa rice from
Vietnam
Neo-Confucianism
 Began in the later Tang and Song
 Reemphasized classical texts and believed in applying rational
principles to everyday life
 Reinforced Five Relationships, especially husband to wife
 Against Buddhism and Daosim but incorporated their ideas
of harmony
 Sought to find li(principle) which expressed the way of
Heaven
 Human nature originally good but not pure
The Woes of Women
 Originally, the position of
women improved in this
period in marriage and for
upper class women
 Later neo-Confucianism
made it worse than ever
with foot-binding
 Double standard for men
3.3.3
Inventions
 Engineering prowess
demonstrated by dams
and bridges
 Gunpowder invented in
Tang, applied to warfare
in late Song
 Movable type printing,
abacus, and application of
the compass to sea
navigation just some of
the advances
Golden Age
 Scholar-gentry was
responsible for most of
the art after the decline of
Buddhism
 Tang known for literature,
especially the poetry of Li
Bo
 Song known for
landscapes
 Art focused on everyday
life and the natural world
Landscapes
Amazing Art
When compared to the radical changes
occurring further west, Period Three in China
may seem like a continuation of the status quo
established by the Han. However it is during this
period that we see Chinese civilization at its
apex. By the time of the Song dynasty China is
at its most Confucian, most hostile to foreigners,
most patriarchal, most advanced compared to
the rest of the world, and most artistically
productive. This is important to keep in mind for
the future, since it’s all downhill from here for
China.