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4. Commerce Thrives
a. Revenues generated by the expansion of commercial ventures with the West,
South & Southeast Asia.
b. Trade routes by sea (threatened by pirates) and land routes (threatened by
nomadic raiders) were safeguarded.
c. The "Silk Road" becomes a major thoroughfare for Chinese goods that move
West and specie that moves East.
d. The increased trade accelerated the exchange of ideas and materials within
Asia and between Asia and Europe.
5. Empress Wu-Zhao
a. Only woman to rule China "in her own name".
b. Continued policy of lowering peasant taxes.
c. Organized a campaign against Korea
d. Endorsed the spread of Buddhism.
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6. Poetry Proliferates
a. Poetry writing went hand-in-hand with being educated.
b. Great Poets of Tang China
! Li Po
! Tu Fu
E. Collapse of the Tang Dynasty
1. Muslim/ Arab Incursions- Umayyad & Abbasid Caliphates
2. Trade Declines
3. Rising Tax Burden
4. Internal Rebellion
E. Nomadic peoples move south of the Great Wall. Establish two, non-Chinese, dynasties in
Northern China- 'Xia' in NW China & 'Jin' in NE China. The Sung are 'pushed' south and center
the civilization of the Yangtze river. The northern Sung capital (Kai-feng) is replaced by the new
southern Sung capital (Hangzhou).
Materials/Sources:#Refer to the course calendar for additional assignments and pertinent due dates.
! World History: Patterns of Interaction
! Slide Presentation
! CNN's Millennium Series- 11th Century: Century of the Sword
! Additional Source: Lecture by Prof. Morris Rossabi, Columbia Univ. 28 Sept. '00 (Stuyvesant H.S.)/ Author of Khubilai
Khan: His Life and Times
! http://campus.northpark.edu/history/WebChron/China/Tang.html (Text copyright 1996-9 by David W. Koeller.
dkoeller@northpark.edu. All rights reserved.)
! http://www.chaos.umd.edu/history/imperial2.html, Originally accessed 2003, and again Mar. 2011.
Compare to our (H1G) discussions of the Heroic Ideal of Homer and ancient Greece, Gravitas of ancient Rome, Guru and
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Bodhisattva of the Indian tradition.