China: Tang & SongChina: Tang & Song

Reunification & Renaissance

Chapter 12, pg.256-276

220 CE: Han dynasty ends220-589: era of division589-618: Sui dynasty618-907: Tang dynasty960-1279: Song dynasty1279-1368: Yuan Mongol dynasty

Rebuilding the Imperial Edifice

589: WendiSui dynasty came to power

Wins widespread support throughRole of nomads

Lowering taxes

Establishing granaries

Sui Excesses & Collapse

YangdiMilder legal code

Restoration of Confucian exam system

Promotion of scholar-gentry

Excess, waste, & wars led to collapseYangdi assassinated in 618

Emergence of the Tang

623: Li Yuanlays the foundation for the Tang

Extends borders of the empire

Attempts to assimilate nomads of the Central Asian frontier

Rebuilding the Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy key to Chinese unityRevived scholar-gentry

Bureaucracy staffed by scholar-gentry Offset power of the nobility

The Examination System

Emphasized Confucian thought

Exam system expanded

Meritocracy exists, but birth/family connections still most important

State & Religion

Buddhism spread rapidly during era of division (b/t fall of Han & rise of Sui)

Mahayana/Pure Land = mass appeal

Chan/Zen = elite appeal

Buddhism = cultural, political forceMaintained support during early Tang

Empress Wu

Anti-Buddhist Backlash

Confucian revival threatened Buddhism

Daoism & Confucianism counter Buddhism’s popularity

Persecution under Wuzong

Confucianism re-emerges as central ideology

Buddhism remains influential minority

Tang Decline, Rise of Song

713-756: Xuangong’s rule = climax of Tang civilization

Yang Guifei

800s: Tang collapse by:Nomadic groups

Powerful provincial governors

Worsening economic conditions

Founding of the Song

960: Zhao Kuangyin establishes Song dynasty

Nomadic Khitans/Liao dynasty remain influential in north

Tribute paid to Khitans for peace

Sinification

Song Politics

Song = less powerful than TangWeakened military

Strengthened scholar-gentry

→Bureaucracy becomes bureaucratic: large, ineffective government

Confucian Revival

Neo-Confucianism:Virtue could be cultivated

Tradition over new, foreign ideas

Particularly stressed lessons of five relationships

Patriarchal

Decline & Reform

Decline:Held hostage by threat of nomadic groups

Reform:Legalist & interventionist ideas aimed at correcting dynastic weaknesses

Reaction & Disaster

Neo-Confucianism prevailed in endReversed reforms

Manchurian nomads (Jurchens/Jin) invaded

Song leadership fled southTermed “Southern Song dynasty”

Golden Age: Prosperity

Population shifted to southGrand Canal

Commercial Expansion

Territorial expansion & manufacturing → renewal of silk roads

Trade aided by:JunksGovernment regulationFlying money

Urbanization intensified economic growth

Expansion of Agriculture

Expanded agriculture into new lands

Innovations increased productivity

Redistributed land to peasants

Family & Society

Confucian social ideas adopted at all levelsHierarchy became more rigid & elaborate

Reinforced by lawMarriage practices

Early postclassical saw improvement for urban-elite women

Male Dominance

Despite exceptions, women’s conditions overwhelming declined

Especially in late postclassical Due to power of Neo-Confucianism

FootbindingCompare upper class to lower class?

Question:In what ways was footbinding symbolic of women’s position in postclassical China?

Invention, Scholarship, & Art

Extremely technologically advancedEngineering

Gunpowder

Compasses

Moveable printing

Confucian scholarship & being well-rounded valued

Tang = poetry, literature

Song = landscape painting

Global Connections

No major changes, instead, a consolidation of Chinese civilization

Extended influence over East Asia

Most advanced economy in world with major technological innovations

Important global impacts

Sui Tang

SongSouthern Song

Question:

How did Chinese society change & stay the same during the postclassical period?Compare & contrast the Tang & Song dynasties.In what ways did each successive dynasty try to address the weakness of the previous? What were the results of these efforts?