Tang and Song Dynasties,Mongol Invasions, and

Ming Dynasty

Achievements – Pre- Tang Dynasty• Built the Grand Canal, which connected the

Yellow River in the north and the Yangzi River in the south

• Farmers and merchants in the south (rice) used the canal to connect to the North

• Government and military officials could travel and control citizens• Many died while

building the canal

Pre-Tang Dynasty (Sui Dynasty) -Achievements

• Repaired and lengthened the Great Wall• Provided security from Northern invaders which

allowed cultural and economic growth• Many died while building the wall, and buried

among the bricks: giving it the nickname

“The world’s longest cemetery”

Tang Dynasty

• 618-907 CE: Golden Age of culture

• China was the richest most powerful country in the world

Tang Dynasty-Government: Aristocracy

• Used civil service exams but…..

• The aristocrats (gentry) – the wealthy landowning class –

got most jobs

• Civil service exams

favored aristocrats

Tang Dynasty-Government

• Only dynasty to have a female emperor: Empress Wu Chao

• Ruled with an iron fist: if anyone threatened her, they risked being

killed

Tang Dynasty-Military• One of the biggest empires in Chinese

history

• Stretched from inner Mongolia in the north, to Vietnam in the south to Korea in the east, to Kashmir in the west

Tang Dynasty-Economics• Reopened the silk road- a system for trade,

travel, communication, exchange of ideas

• From China to the West: silk, porcelain, jade, tea, paper, printing, farming methods, weapons

• From the West to China: glass, rugs, horses, silver, medicine, spices,

Christianity, Islam

Tang Dynasty-Economics• Equal Field System- redistributed land• Citizens were classified into ranks and land was

given equally to members of various ranks• Citizens paid taxes on how much land they

received• Government benefited from increased number of

taxpayers, limited power of rural aristocrats, and loyalty of peasants who got land

• Benefited commoners and peasants by giving them a chance to gain wealth

Tang Dynasty-Religion• Buddhism very popular in beginning but

Tang leaders based their government on Confucian ideals and feared the growing power of Buddhists

• Confucian Tang ruler, Wu Zong, repressed Buddhism.

• He burned texts, took lands from Buddhist temples, destroyed many temples and turned others into schools.

Tang Dynasty-Culture• Chinese culture flourished during

this period• Tang artists and poets were

influenced by Daoism and stressed the beauty, power, harmony, and peace of nature

• Li Bo and Du Fu- very famous Chinese poets and Wu Daozi- famous artist lived at this time

• Made amazing objects in clay• Even government officials painted,

wrote, studied poetry, and made pottery

Song Dynasty

• 960-1279 CE

• Song China was limited to provinces south of the Great Wall

Song Dynasty -Government

• Strengthened the system of meritocracy• Started ruling according to Confucian beliefs:

– 1. Scholarly class of civil servants – 2.Stablility and harmony in social order can

only result from respecting hierarchies

• People joined the bureaucracy by passing civil service examinations-this ensured only intelligent and talented people became civil servants

Song Dynasty-Government• Tests very difficult - though rare, people

from lower classes could become officials

• Only 2-10% of test takers would reach the final test and receive a position in govt.

• If you passed you became a scholar official- an educated member of the government

• Scholar officials were considered elite members of society and were highly respected and admired for their knowledge and ethics

Song Dynasty-FARMING• Chinese farming excelled

• New Irrigation techniques, Dug underground wells, Dragon Backbone pump-light portable pump that allowed farmers to scoop up water and pour it into a canal

• Discovery of fast ripening rice= 2 or 3 harvests a year

• Began growing tea, cotton

Song Dynasty-Economy• Merchants also became wealthy by

selling the surplus crops to cities and neighboring areas such as Korea, Japan, Persia, Arab world and East Africa

• Invented paper money-first time in history merchants didn’t have to carry bags of coins

• Power of merchant class and importance of cities rose

INVASION OF THE MONGOLS

• Mongols: Genghis Khan

• Skilled warriors

(used gunpowder

and cannons)

• Nomadic in Central Asia

• Horsemen

Expansion of Mongol Territory

• See map on p.309 in textbook

• Pax Mongolica – economic

growth

and cultural

exchange

Reign of Kublai Khan

• Yuan Dynasty (1271 – 1368)

• Built a giant palace in Cambaluc (Beijing)

• Welcomed foreign visitors

Ibn Battuta (African) Marco Polo (Venetian)

MARCO POLO

• Describes Kublai Khan’s palace as “the greatest palace there ever was.”

This is a

drawing of

the palace

Ming Dynasty

• Restored meritocracy – civil service exams

• Economic expansion – rice farming;

porcelain making; printing; canal

repairing; landscape painting; poetry

writing; novels;

Chinese opera…

Voyages of Zheng He

• In 1405, sailed throughout Asia and Africa

• Ships 400ft long• Showed many the

power of China

The Forbidden City

• Forbidden City Built 1406-1420– It is the imperial palace (where the emperors

live)

China Turned Inward

• 1433– Zheng He died– Ming emperor banned ship making – traveling

and sailing declined– Confucian leaders looked at bettering China,

rather than abroad