Transcript China in the Middle Ages

China in the Middle Ages
When and Who?
Reading Strategy
• Categorizing Information
Complete a table like the one on page 408
of your textbook to show the time periods,
the most important rulers, and the reasons
for the decline of the Sui and Tang
dynasties
People to Meet
Tang Dynasty China c. A.D. 700
Rebuilding China’s Empire
• After the Han empire ended in A.D. 220, China
broke into 17 kingdoms and became very chaotic.*
• Warlords, military people who run a government,
fought each other for control of the empire.
• China lost control of some of its conquered people,
such as the people of Korea.*
• The people of Korea lived on the Korean Peninsula
to the northeast of China. The Koreans decided to
end the Chinese rule of their own country and built
their own separate civilization.
Rebuilding China’s Empire
The Sui Dynasty Reunites China
• A general named Wendi declared himself
emperor and reunited China in A.D. 581.
• He founded the Sui (Swee) dynasty.
• Wendi’s son Yangdi (Yahng-DEE) took the
throne after his father’s death.
• Yangdi made important improvements to
China.
Rebuilding China’s Empire
The Sui Dynasty Reunites China
Rebuilding China’s Empire
The Sui Dynasty Reunites China
• His greatest achievement
was the Grand Canal, which
links the Chang Jiang
(Yangtze River) and the
Huang He (Yellow River).
• Shipping products on the
Grand Canal helped unite
China’s economy.
• An economy is an
organized way in which
people produce, sell, and
buy things.
Rebuilding China’s Empire
The Sui Dynasty Reunites China
• Yangdi’s
improvements placed
hardships on the
Chinese people
• They rebelled and
killed Yangdi.
Rebuilding China’s Empire
The Tang Dynasty
• The Tang (Tahng) dynasty was established
by one of Yangdi’s generals.
• The Tang dynasty ruled for about 300
years, from A.D. 618 to A.D. 907.
• The Tang dynasty brought about many
reforms to improve government
• Reforms are changes that bring
improvements.
Rebuilding China’s Empire
The Tang Dynasty
• One of the most powerful Tang emperors
was Taizong.
• He reinstated the civil service
examination.*
• Empress Wu was a ruler in the Tang
dynasty who strengthened China’s military.
Rebuilding China’s Empire
The Tang Dynasty
• Empress Wu was the
only woman in
Chinese history to
rule the country on
her own.
• She was a forceful
leader who added
more officials to the
government and
strengthened military
forces.
Rebuilding China’s Empire
The Tang Dynasty
• The Tang dynasty expanded China’s
empire and regained much of its power in
Asia.
• Tang armies pushed west into central Asia,
invaded Tibet, and took control of the Silk
Road.
• They marched into Korea and forced the
Korean kingdom to pay tribute, which is a
special kind of tax that one country pays to
another to be left alone.
Rebuilding China’s Empire
The Tang Dynasty
• By the mid-A.D. 700s, the Turks began to threaten the
Tang dynasty’s hold in Asia.
• They took control of central Asia and the Silk Road,
damaging China’s economy.
• The Tang dynasty weakened and fell.
Rebuilding China’s Empire
The Song Dynasty
• A Chinese general established the Song
dynasty, which ruled for about 300 years,
from A.D. 960 to A.D. 1279.*
Song China c. A.D. 1200
Rebuilding China’s Empire
The Song Dynasty
• Song rulers did not have enough soldiers to
control their large empire.
• Tibet broke away, and nomads took over much
of northern China.
• For safety, the Song moved their capital farther
south to the city of Hangzhou (Hahng-joh),which
was on the coast near the Chang Jiang delta.
Buddhism Spreads to China
Chinese Buddhism
• Buddhism was brought to China during the Han
dynasty about A.D. 150.
• The Tang dynasty allowed people to practice
Buddhism and supported the building of
Buddhist temples.
• Monasteries are places where monks and nuns
meditate and worship.
• In China, monasteries provided services for
people.
Buddhism Spreads to China
Chinese Buddhism Spreads East
• As Buddhism became more
popular, the Tang dynasty
began to feel threatened.
• The rulers ordered many
Buddhist monasteries and
temples destroyed in A.D. 845.
• Buddhism spread from China to
Korea, and the Korean
government supported the
religion.
• Buddhism spread to the nearby
islands of Japan.
New Confucian Ideas
• Confucius and his followers believed
government officials should be wise.
• The Han empire reinstated
civil service examinations.
• These challenging
examinations tested
job seekers about their
knowledge of Confucian
writings
New Confucian Ideas
What is Neo-Confucianism?
• The examination system created a wealthy class
of scholar-officials.
• The Tang dynasty supported neo-Confucianism to
reduce Buddhism’s popularity
• Neo-Confucianism taught that people should take
part in life and help each other.
• The Song dynasty adopted neo-Confucianism as
their official philosophy, or belief system.
New Confucian Ideas
• Chinese civil service
exams were very difficult.
• Men of almost all ranks
tried to pass the exams
so they could hold
government jobs and
become wealthy.
• Only a few hundred
qualified for the important
positions.
Connecting to the Past
1. How old were the Chinese when they took
the tests?
They were in their twenties or early thirties.
2. Why do you think taking the tests was so
stressful for these men?
Possible answer: they knew their future career,
wealth, and status depended on it.
New Confucian Ideas
Scholar-Officials
• Neo-Confucianism also became a way to
strengthen the government.
• Both Tang and Song rulers used civil
examinations to hire officials.
• The exams tested job seekers on their
knowledge of Confucian writings.*
• Those who failed usually found jobs helping
officials or teaching others.
Section 2
Chinese Society
Chinese Society
A Growing Economy
• The political stability under the Tang dynasty
helped the economy regain strength.
• As peace was
restored, farmers
were able to make
advances and be
more productive.
• They improved irrigation, introduced new ways
of growing crops, and developed new kinds of
rice.*
Chinese Society
A Growing Economy
• Farmers began growing tea,
which became a popular drink.
• New roads and waterways
helped increase trade with
other parts of Asia
• *The Silk Road became a busy
trade route again.
• Other items that were popular
were tea, steel, paper,
and porcelain, which is fine
clay baked at high
temperatures.*
Chinese Society
New Technology
• New inventions changed China during the
Tang and Song dynasties
• Wood was becoming scarce in China.
• The Chinese discovered that coal
could be used for heat.
• The Chinese discovered that hot iron
mixed with carbon from coal
produced steel.*
Chinese Society
New Technology
• Steel was used to make
weapons, stoves, farm tools,
drills, and sewing needles,
among other things
• The printing process was
invented in the A.D. 600s
• Blocks of wood with
characters cut into them were
covered in ink.
• Then paper was laid on the
ink-covered block to make a
print.
Chinese Society
New Technology
• The wood blocks could be used again and again
to make copies.
• Pi Sheng (BEE SHUNG) was a printer who
invented moveable type.
• With moveable type, each character is a
separate piece.
• The pieces can be moved around to make
sentences.*
Chinese Society
Art and Literature
• Chinese rulers
supported art and
literature.
• The Tang dynasty is
considered as the age of
poetry.
• Artists and writers were
invited to live in
Changan, the capital
city.
• Tang poems express joy
and sadness and
celebrate the beauty of
nature.
• Daoist beliefs are
reflected in Chinese
landscaping paintings.
Chinese Society
New Technology
• The Chinese invented gunpowder and began
using rudders, sails, and compasses for sea
travel.
Chinese Society
Art and Literature
• Li Bo was a popular
Tang-era poet who wrote
one of China’s bestknown poems titled “Still
Night Thoughts.”
• Duo Fu was another
favorite poet who wrote
very serious poems that
dealt with social injustice
and problems of the poor.
Chinese Society
Art and Literature
• People in the paintings
are portrayed as living
in, but not controlling,
nature.
• Calligraphy is the
process of painting
beautiful characters with
brush and ink.
• Painters often used
calligraphy to write
poems on their works