Sui, Tang, Song & The Mongols

Sui Dynasty• Han dynasty fell in

220AD– Civil war until 581AD.

• Three Kingdoms Period– No trading between the

east and the west.• Rome?

• Sui Dynasty– Sui Yangdi

• What is legalism?• Legalist

– Forced labor– High taxes– Luxurious lifestyle

– What do you remember about Chinese geography?

• Built Grand Canal– Connected Yellow and

Yangzte

Tang Dynasty• Tired of his Legalist ways,

the people overthrew Sui Yangdi in 618AD.

• Tang Dynasty– Instituted many reforms.

• Gave land back to peasants• Return to Confucian principles• Return of the Silk Road and

trade– Developments…

• Steel• Porcelain• Gunpowder• Woodblock printing

• Eventually fell victim to rebellions in 907AD– Powerful generals begin

fighting eachother.– Forced to hire a northern

tribal group, the Uighurs, to defend the dynasty.

Chinese Society Under the Tang• Education becomes really

important.– Reading becomes popular after

invention of woodblock printing.– Old landed aristocracy replaced

by scholar-gentry• Aristocrats schooled in Confucian

principles.– Memorize all of Confucius’ works– No strenuous activities

» Painting & writing were only acceptable activities.

• Only 1 in 5 became a “civil servant”

• Treatment of women…– Female children seen as less

desirable than male children.• Female infants would be killed

during famines.– Marriage

• Woman became part of male’s family.

• Her family must provide a dowry

Song DynastyAfter the Tang Dynasty fell, China

again erupted into a civil war known as the “Five Kingdoms Period…”

• Song Dynasty ruled from 960 to 1279AD– Economic prosperity and

cultural achievement.• Trade increased.

– Painting, poetry popular– Create fleet of large ships

that navigate with charts and compasses.

– Northern neighbors (Mongols) were a constant problem.

• Moved capital to Hangzhou

• Developed a “defensive alliance” with the Mongols.

– Will it last?

The Mongols• Mongols are a

pastoral people from present day Mongolia.

• Expansion originally started by Genghis Khan. – Will create the

largest land empire in history.

The greatest joy a man can know is to conquer his enemies and drive them before him. To ride their horses and take away their possessions. To see the faces of those who were dear to them bedewed with tears."

China under the Mongols• Genghis Khan’s

grandson, Kublai Khan, conquered the Song in 1279.– Against the Chinese,

the Mongols encountered two significant obstacles.

• Great Wall of China• Fire-lance

(gunpowder)

• Created a new dynasty: Yuan.– Kublai Khan ruled

China until 1294.• Moved capital to

Beijing.

Fall of the Yuan Dynasty• Mongol rulers continued

the Chinese political system.– Over time, the dynasty

won support of Chinese people.

• Respected stability and economic prosperity.

• Marco Polo visited China during the Yuan– Brings Chinese

technologies back to Europe.

• Yuan overthrown in 1368.– Began the Ming dynasty.