Transcript Medieval China

Medieval China
The Rise and Fall of the Tang and
Song Dynasties
Before the Medieval Period
• Han Dynasty (202
BCE–220 CE): growth
and expansion
• “Mandate of Heaven”
• Medieval China’s three
dynasties:
– Sui Dynasty (580–
618)
– Tang Dynasty (618–
906)
– Song Dynasty
(960–1127)
• Recovery and a time
of great glory and
development
Zhang Qian, explorer during the Han dynasty,
travels west
The Tang Dynasty
• Li Yuan
• Emperor Tang Taizong
• Policies
Li Yuan
Tang Taizong
Gaozong :
Domestic Policies
• Restored the feudal
order
• Land reform for
peasants
• State involvement in
economic production
• Other economic
endeavors
• Education and
governing officials
• Growth of towns and
cities
Gaozong:
Foreign Interaction
Buddhist statue
• Expansion:
Korea, North
Vietnam,
southern
Manchuria and
Tibet
• Trade with
central and
western Asia
• Spread of
Chinese culture
The Bureaucracy of Merit
Taking exams in the presence of the emperor
• Competitive
exams
• Altered the
class of people
receiving
governmental
positions
• Conflicts
between the
new and
established
officials
• “Rule of
Avoidance”
Tang Innovations
•
•
•
•
Printing
Papermaking
Shipbuilding
A variety of
other Chinese
inventions
Papermaking
Foreign Interaction
Woodcut of a woman winding silk
• Reestablishment
of tributary
relationships
• Contact with
southwest Asia
• Changes in
clothing
• New pastimes
• Diffusion of crops
and foodstuffs
• Increasing trade,
including silk
Tang Literature
• Poetry
• Han and
plain style
• Woodblock
printing
Calligraphy
Poetry: Li Bo
“I drink alone with no
one to share.
Raising up my cup, I
welcome the moon…
We frolic in revels
suited to Spring”
Li Bo
• Wrote over 20,000 poems
• Legend of his death
Collapse of the Tang Dynasty
• An Lushan
Rebellion
• Ineffective control
over military and
court officials
• Series of
rebellions
• Usurpation of
Tang power in
907
• The Ten
Kingdoms
Mounted Khitan noble dressed in Chinese silk
The Song Dynasty
• 960–1279
• Unification
• Prosperity
Emperor Taizu
Song Dynasty, Mid-11th Century
Age of the Civil Government
• The best and
most educated
• Levels of
advancement
in the exam
system
• Officials were
regularly
evaluated for
performance
• Good
government
and stability
Exam Hall at Nanjing
The Song and the Economy
• Improved
economy
• Expansion
• Control over
revenues
• Industry
A Chinese coin
Paper Money and Finance
• Emperor
Zhenzong
• Promissory
notes
• “Flying
Cash”
• Taxation
and
expenditures
Earliest extant paper money printed on woodblock
Confucianism
• A revival of
Confucianism
• The five
relationships
• Morality
and
responsibility
Han Yu, a Neo-Confucianist
Social Structure
• *Emperor with royal family
• Gentry: wealthy landowners
–valued knowledge rather
than physical labor
• Peasants: worked the land—
lived in self-sufficient villages
• Merchants: lower than
peasants because they gained
from another’s labor and hard
work
Women were considered a
subordinate class in Song
society
Military Advances
• Produced strong
steel weapons
• Use of iron
• Created body
armor
• Began to use
gunpowder
The Chinese used projectiles to
counter tribal cavalries
China, the Mongols, and
Beyond
• Medieval period
ended with collapse
of the Song
• Ming restoration
• Impact of
developments in
medieval China
Genghis Khan, Mongol leader
and conqueror