Imperial China -- Qin to Ming Dynasties

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Song (Sung) Dynasty960-1279
Same dynasty but when N. Song was lost to N.
tribes in 1127 the name changes
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Song Overview

• prosperous economy/ trade along Silk Road
• radiant culture with goods and entertainment from
  all over the world
• Most urban Chinese culture
• Beginning of modern China
• Strongest empire in the world at this time

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Song Politics

• effective centralized bureaucracy
• Elite families important locally
• Official must pass the Civil Service Exam
• the mercantile class grew in power as they became
  wealthy

Zhao Kuang-yin founder of Song
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Song Economics

• Agriculture improved more food
• paper currency used regularly
• private trade grew, and a market economy began to
  link the coastal provinces and the interior.
• Much trade along Silk Road, Grand Canal and
  coastal regions of China and SE Asia

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Song Grain Mill
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Song Religion

• Confucianism remains the most important official
  philosophy
• Neo-Confucianism added metaphysical answers to
  many Buddhist questions
• Buddhism continued
• Taoism also
• Ancestor worship

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Song Social Life

• Poor farmers remain the same as always women
  still oppressed
• City life improves with better food, music, art,
  and great entertainment
• Many opportunities for travel
• Education increases in the city
• House and architecture improve

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Song Intellectual Life

• magnetic compass and calculator (the abacus)
  invented
• Education improved since schools were
  abundant.Woodblock printing made books more
  widely available.
• Confucian scholars wererespected
• Military was not respected

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Song Art

• monumental landscape painting
• often done in a watercolor/ink wash style
• Great poetry continues
• FYI (no notes)
• First panting called Games in the Jinming Pool,
  by Chinese artist Zhang Zerui, a silk painting
  with dimensions of 28.6 by 28.5 cm, dated to the
  Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127 AD). It depicts
  the imperial gardens of Kaifeng, the capital city
  of China during the Northern Song

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• the artist captures the atmosphere of the
  southern China
• The trees in the foreground appear as dark
  silhouettes against the misty mountains in the
  distance which are painted in pale ink washes.
• Mi Youren is a son of Mi Fu (1051-1107), one of
  the four great Song masters.

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Fall of the Song

• Heavy dependence on growth of civilian government
  at expense of military
• By 1127, the Song court could not push back the
  Northern nomadic invaders
• Cut the size of the Song about in half

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1279 Coming of the Mongols (Yuan Dynasty)

• Empire fell because they stopped emphasizing
  military and relied on wealth
• Often hired N. tribes to defend China
• Corruption in govt lost confidence of the peasants