The Tang and Song
Dynasties
China’s Golden Age
Chin Dynasty (265-420 C.E.)
•
•
•
•
Disorder
Power Struggles
Defeated by Huns
Defeated Chin fled to
Nanking (317 C.E.)
where they ruled as
Eastern Chin.
Northern and Southern
Dynasties
420-588 A.D
• Period of disunity
• Buddhism flourished in the North
• Idea of an afterlife appealed to the
peasantry (as well as reincarnation)
• Non-Chinese rulers were not committed to
Confucianism or Chinese shamanistic
religions
• Confucianism moved South
Mnsu.edu
The Sui Dynasty
580-618 A.D.
• Expanded empire
• Built granaries
• Fortified Great Wall of China near the northern
border
• Confucianism began to regain popularity as the
nobles gained importance
• Unsuccessfully tried to attack Korea four times
• This defeat led the Eastern Turks to attack
China and China was split into smaller states
Mnsu.edu
Aim: Why are the Tang and Song
dynasties considered to be a
“Golden Age” period in Chinese
history?
T'ang 618-907 A.D.
What are the characteristics of a
“Golden Age?”
Golden Age
T’ang Achievements
• Forced Vietnam, Korea, and Tibet to
become tributary states
• Japan sent missions to China to study
Chinese culture
• Revived civil service system and exam
• Redistributed land to peasants
• Built canals
• Poetry (I.e. Li Po)
The Dynastic Cycle
• The Zhou Dynasty (1027 B.C.E.-256 B.C.E.)
were the first to claim the “Mandate of
Heaven.”
• From then on it was used to justify the reign of
a new dynasty.
• This cycle has characterized most of China’s
political history.
www.regentsprep.org
The Tang Dynasty 618-907 C.E.
www.chinahighlights.com
Glencoe World History
A Good Foundation
•
•
•
•
•
After a period of civil war and
disorder the Tang came to power
in China in 618 C.E.
Thanks to the Sui (580-618 C.E.)
and other earlier dynasties the
Tang had a pretty good foundation
to build on.
Canals helped with transportation
throughout the Empire.
Granaries built alongside the
canals aided the transportation of
rice from the south to the north of
China during times of famine.
The Tang administration of
government was based on
developments from the 3rd and 4th
centuries.
The Grand Canal
•http://cruises.about.com/library/pictures/china/blwuxi02.htm
Tang Taizong (r. 626-629 C.E.)
• Reconquered the
northern and western
lands that China lost
after the decline of
the Han Dynasty
• Let’s learn more
about Tang Taizong!
http://cla.calpoly.edu/~bmori/syll/Hum310china/TangTaizong.html
http://www.chinapage.com/painting/tangtaizong.html
THE TANG SOCIAL SYSTEM
Regentsprep.org
Q: Why were the peasants considered more important the merchants?
What conclusion can you draw about eastern values based on this phenomenum?
Tang Law
• The Tang devised their code of law in 624
C.E.
• Tang law had more than 500 articles
divided into 12 sections.
China today
http://www.chinatoday.com.cn/English/20024/time.htm
Q: Can you detect the changes and continuities of the Tang’s legal system?
Inventions of Tang and Song
Empires
•
Porcelain
Late 700’s →Bone-hard, white ceramic made of a special clay and mineral found
only in China.
Impact: Became a valuable export- so associated with Chinese culture that it is now called china; technology remained
a Chinese secret for centuries.
•
Mechanical Clock
700’s
Printing - Block Printing:
Movable type: 1040
type: individual characters
700’s
→Clock in which machinery (driven by running water) regulated the
movements.
Impact: Early Chinese clocks short lived; idea for mechanical clock carried by traders to medieval Europe.
•
•
→Block printing: one block on which a whole page is cut; movable
arranged in frames, used over and over.
Impact: Printing technology spread to Korea and Japan; movable type also developed later in Europe.
•
Explosive Powder
800’s
→Made from mixture of salt paper, sulfur, and charcoal
Impact: First used for fireworks, then weapons; technology spread west within 300 years.
•
Paper Money
1020’s
→Paper currency issued by Song government to replace cumbersome
strings of metal cash used by merchants.
Impact: Contributed to development of large-scale commercial economy in China.
•
Magnetic Compass
1100’s
(For navigation)
→Floating magnetized needle that always points north-south; device
had existed in China for centuries before it was adapted by sailors for use at sea.
Tang Power
• Under Tang rule Chinese culture spread to
Korea, Tibet, and Japan.
• Historians believe that these countries
maintained independence and were not
controlled by the Tang.
• However, if a state interfered with Tang
supremacy they could face invasion (i.e.
Gaochang)
• Gaochang was seized by the Tang in 638 C.E.
for refusing to let Western merchants pass
along the Silk Road.
Tributary States – “Sinification”
• Korea, Vietnam, Japan, and Tibet had to pay tribute to
the Tang regularly in order to avoid punishment.
• Japan – (Heian Period 700s-1100s) Kyoto (the capital) is
almost an exact copy of the architecture of Tang China’s
capital, Chang’an (Xian)
• Japan develops “Japanese” Samurai culture with the
decline of “Sinification” during China’s Song Dynasty
• These states did, however, benefit from the Tang’s
intellectual and material culture (i.e. Neo-confucianism).
• Delegations from the “outside” (i.e. Japan and Siam) had
to perform the kowtow, a bow (the head touches the
ground several times)-in the royal presence. This
reinforced ethnocentrism in China.
Cultural Diffusion
See how the Tang were influenced
By other cultures!
http://gallery.sjsu.edu/silkroad/culture.htm#
Empress Wu: One scary lady!
• http://www.jstor.org/view/00219118/di9736
08/97p03214/0
Buddhism during the Tang
• During the reign of Empress Wu (690 C.E.) Buddhism was
supported. She started a school based on Buddhist and Confucian
principles.
• Empress Wu sponsored Buddhist art.
• Things changed during the later part of the Tang Dynasty’s reign.
• Compromise between the Confucian emphasis on family and filial
responsibilities and the demands of Buddhist monastic life was
maintained to varying degrees until 845, when the Tang emperors
moved to limit the wealth and economic power of landed Buddhist
monasteries. (This resulted in many monastaries being destroyed).
The influence of Buddhism declined in China after the Tang, and
Buddhism, as Rhodes Murphy notes, "entered the stream of folk
religion, especially for the non-literate, and its beliefs and practices
further mixed with peasant traditions of magic, as was also the case
with Daoism."
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/webcourse/key_points/kp_4.htm
Tang Art
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tang/hd_tang.htm
Trade
• The Tang Dynasty flourished due to several
economic factors.
• The silk industry made the Chinese very
wealthy.
• They also took part in Indian Ocean trade.
• The Chinese also traded with the Middle East
and Mediterranean by means of the 5,000 mile
long Silk Road.
• The Silk Road was fortified by military garrisons.
http://artisticchinesecreations.stores.yahoo.net/clothing1.html
Po Chü-i (772-846)
The snow has gone from Chung-nan;
spring is almost come.
Lovely in the distance its blue colors,
against the brown of the streets.
A thousand coaches, ten thousand
horsemen pass down the Nine Roads;
Turns his head and looks at the
mountains,--not one man!
http://www.mountainsongs.net/poem_.php?id=192
Fordham.edu
Lao-tzü
Po Chü-i impishly taunts one of the most influential of all Chinese philosophers in this
poem.
"Those who speak know nothing
Those who know are silent."
These words, as I am told,
Were spoken by Lao-tzü.
If we are to believe that Lao-tzü
Was himself one who knew,
How comes it that he wrote a book
Of five thousand words?
Learn more about Lao Tzu!
fordham,.edu
http://www.thetao.info/tao/laotzu.htm
Parting at a Wine-shop in Nan-king
• Poem
A wind, bringing willow-cotton, sweetens the shop,
And a girl from Wu, pouring wine, urges me to share it.
With my comrades of the city who are here to see me off;
And as each of them drains his cup, I say to him in parting,
Oh, go and ask this river running to the east
If it can travel farther than a friend's love!
-Li Bai
http://www.chinapage.org/libai/libai2e.html
Why did the Tang Dynasty decline?
Remember the Dynastic Cycle…it explains the rise and fall of Chinese dynasties.
Reasons for the decline of the
Tang Dynasty
• Higher taxation created tension within the
Chinese population
• Peasant rebellions led to more
independent regional rule
• The Tang dynasty collapsed in 906 C.E.
• China remained fragmented throughout
the next major dynasty, the Song
The Song Dynasty (960-1279 C.E.)
• http://www.paulnoll.com/China/Dynasty/dy
nasty-Song.html
(Maps of the Song Dynasty)
Song Dynasty 960-1279 C.E.
Mnsu.edu
• Used 4-deck ships that
could carry 500 men
• Performed the first
autopsy on a Southern
Chinese captive in 1145
C.E.
• Administered civil
service exam
• Zhu Xi developed NeoConfucianism
• Song were not a strong
military power,
Confucianism did not
hold military in high
Founder of the Song Dynasty
Song Taizu (r. 960-76)
Fordham.edu
Neo-Confucianism
• What do you think Neo-Confucianism
means?
Let’s review some important
Confucian principles!
Zhu Xi
• Neo-Confucianism was a
unifying factor in a
politically divided China
• Hierarchy and obedience
emphasized
• Education and cultured
behavior stressed
• Government officials
gained their positions by
doing well on the civil
service exams
Fordham.edu
Women in China
• China had a patriarchal society for most of
its history
• Marriages were arranged for the groom’s
benefit
• Earlier, the husband’s family had to
produce a dowry for the new bride. This
reversed because of Neo-Confucianism.
• Women were subjected to footbinding
from 1200 through the 20th century.
The Origins and Practice of
Footbinding
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/studpages/vento.html
Fordham.edu
Fordham.edu
On the bright side…
See your textbook pages 279-280 for a
review on the subject of the male
dominance and the Chinese family.
http://digitalcommons.libraries.columbia.edu/dissertations/AAI9313551/
Song art
Bird on silk by Emperor Hui-Tsang (1101-1125 C.E.)
Fordham.edu
Song Poetry
http://www.chinapage.com/poet-e/sushi-son.html
Song Poetry continued
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reade
r/world_civ_reader_1/chinese_poetry.html
Inventions of the Sui, Tang and
Song Dynasties (581CE-1251CE)
•
Invention Years Invented
•
•
•
Porcelain -
•
•
•
Mechanical Clock 700’s -
Description
Impact
Late 700’s Bone-hard, white ceramic made
Became a valuable export- so associated with Chinese culture
of a special clay and mineral found only in china. that it is now called china; technology remained
a Chinese secret for centuries.
Clock in which machinery (driven
by running water)
Early Chinese clocks short lived;
idea for mechanical clock carried
by traders to medieval Europe.
•
•
•
•
•
Printing
Block Printing:
700’s
Movable type: 1040
Block printing: one block on
Printing technology spread to Korea and Japan;
which a whole page is cut;
movable type: individual characters
movable type also developed later in Europe.
arranged in frames, used over and over.
•
•
Explosive Powder- 800’s
Made from mixture of salt paper,
sulfur, and charcoal
•
•
•
Paper Money - 1020’s
•
•
•
•
•
Magnetic Compass 1100’s Floating magnetized needle that
always by sailors for use at sea.
points north-south
for centuries before it was adapted
device had existed in China
Paper currency issued by Song gov’t
to replace cumbersome strings of metal
cash used by merchants.
First used for fireworks, then weapons;
technology spread west within 300 years.
Contributed to development of
large-scale commercial economy in China.
Helped China become a sea power
technology quickly spread west.
The Song Dynasty: The experiencing of an
Economic Revolution
• Rice production doubled
• Internal trade increased
• Kaifeng became a manufacturing center with
cannons, moveable type, printing, waterpowered mills, and the production of porcelain
• Copper coins were used as cashed and
eventually were replaced with paper money
• Officials collected taxes in cash
• letters of credit (“flying money”) was used by
merchants