The Tang and Song Dynasties

1
The Tang and SongDynasties

• Chinas Golden Age

2
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.

3
Northern and Southern Dynasties420-588 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
4
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
5
Aim Why are the Tang and Song dynasties
considered to be a Golden Age period in Chinese
history?
6
T'ang 618-907 A.D.
7
What are the characteristics of a Golden Age?
8
Tang 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)

9
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 Chinas
  political history.

10
www.regentsprep.org
11
The Tang Dynasty 618-907 C.E.
www.chinahighlights.com
12
Glencoe World History
13
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/bl
  wuxi02.htm

14
Tang Taizong (r. 626-629 C.E.)

• Reconquered the northern and western lands that
  China lost after the decline of the Han Dynasty
• Lets learn more about Tang Taizong!

http//cla.calpoly.edu/bmori/syll/Hum310china/Tan
gTaizong.html
http//www.chinapage.com/painting/tangtaizong.html
15
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?
16
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/2
0024/time.htm
Q Can you detect the changes and continuities of
the Tangs legal system?
17
Inventions of Tang and Song Empires

• Porcelain Late 700s
  ?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 700s
  
  ?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.
• Printing - Block Printing 700s
• Movable type 1040
  ?Block printing one block on which a whole
  page is cut movable type individual characters
• 
  arranged in frames,
  used over and over.
• Impact Printing technology spread to Korea and
  Japan movable type also developed later in
  Europe.
• Explosive Powder 800s
  ?Made from mixture of salt paper, sulfur, and
  charcoal
• Impact First used for fireworks, then weapons
  technology spread west within 300 years.
• Paper Money 1020s
  ?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.

18
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.

19
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 Chinas capital, Changan
  (Xian)
• Japan develops Japanese Samurai culture with
  the decline of Sinification during Chinas Song
  Dynasty
• These states did, however, benefit from the
  Tangs 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.

20
Cultural Diffusion
See how the Tang were influenced By other
cultures!
http//gallery.sjsu.edu/silkroad/culture.htm
21
Empress Wu One scary lady!

• http//www.jstor.org/view/00219118/di973608/97p032
  14/0

22
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
  Dynastys 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
23
Tang Art
http//www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tang/hd_tang.htm
24
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/c
lothing1.html
25
Poetry from the Tang Dynasty
26
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 RoadsTurns his head and looks at the
mountains,--not one man!
http//www.mountainsongs.net/poem_.php?id192
Fordham.edu
27
Lao-tzü Po Chü-i impishly taunts one of the most
influential of all Chinese philosophers in this
poem. "Those who speak know nothingThose 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 bookOf five thousand
words?
Learn more about Lao Tzu!
fordham,.edu
http//www.thetao.info/tao/laotzu.htm
28
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 offAnd as each of them drains
his cup, I say to him in parting,Oh, go and ask
this river running to the eastIf it can travel
farther than a friend's love!
-Li Bai
http//www.chinapage.org/libai/libai2e.html
29
Why did the Tang Dynasty decline?
Remember the Dynastic Cycleit explains the rise
and fall of Chinese dynasties.
30
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

31
The Song Dynasty (960-1279 C.E.)

• http//www.paulnoll.com/China/Dynasty/dynasty-Song
  .html

(Maps of the Song Dynasty)
32
Song Dynasty 960-1279 C.E.

• 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 Neo-Confucianism
• Song were not a strong military power,
  Confucianism did not hold military in high regard

Mnsu.edu
33
Founder of the Song DynastySong Taizu (r.
960-76)
Fordham.edu
34
Neo-Confucianism

• What do you think Neo-Confucianism means?

35
Lets review some important Confucian principles!
36
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
37
Women in China

• China had a patriarchal society for most of its
  history
• Marriages were arranged for the grooms benefit
• Earlier, the husbands 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.

38
The Origins and Practice of Footbinding
http//academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/s
tudpages/vento.html
39
Fordham.edu
40
Fordham.edu
41
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/disse
rtations/AAI9313551/
42
Song art
Bird on silk by Emperor Hui-Tsang (1101-1125 C.E.)
Fordham.edu
43
Song Poetry
http//www.chinapage.com/poet-e/sushi-son.html
44
Song Poetry continued
http//www.wsu.edu8080/wldciv/world_civ_reader/w
orld_civ_reader_1/chinese_poetry.html
45
(No Transcript)
46
Inventions of the Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties
(581CE-1251CE)

• Invention Years Invented Description
  
  Impact
• Porcelain - Late 700s - 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.
• Mechanical Clock 700s - Clock in which
  machinery (driven Early Chinese clocks short
  lived
• 
  by running water)
  idea for mechanical clock carried
• 
  
  by traders to medieval Europe.
• Printing
• Block Printing 700s Block
  printing one block on
  Printing technology spread to Korea and Japan
• 
  which a whole page is cut
• Movable type 1040 movable type
  individual characters movable type also
  developed later in Europe.
• 
  arranged in frames, used over and over.
• Explosive Powder- 800s Made from mixture of
  salt paper, First used for fireworks,
  then weapons
• 
  sulfur, and charcoal
  technology spread west within 300 years.

47
(No Transcript)
48
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, water-powered
  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