The Tang and Song

Dynasties
Chinas 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

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)

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.

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.ht
m

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/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 Tangs legal system?

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

Printing - Block Printing:

Movable type: 1040
characters

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.

Block printing: one block on which a whole page is cut; movable type: individual

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.

Magnetic Compass
1100s
(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.
Impact: Helped China become a sea power; technology quickly spread west.

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.
These states did, however, benefit from the
Tangs intellectual and material culture (i.e. Neoconfucianism).
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 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

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 Ch-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-tz
Po Ch-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-tz.
If we are to believe that Lao-tz
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 Cycleit 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.

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 regard
Mnsu.edu

Founder of the Song Dynasty

Song Taizu (r. 960-76)

Fordham.edu

Neo-Confucianism
What do you think Neo-Confucianism
means?

Lets 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 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.

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 700s -

Description

Impact

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.

Printing
Block Printing:

700s

Movable type: 1040

Clock in which machinery (driven

by running water)

Early Chinese clocks short lived;

idea for mechanical clock carried
by traders to medieval Europe.

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- 800s

Paper Money - 1020s

Magnetic Compass 1100s 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

Made from mixture of salt paper,

sulfur, and charcoal
Paper currency issued by Song govt
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