Transcript Medieval Asia: Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties in China

Medieval Asia:
Sui, Tang and Song
Dynasties in China
S- for Sui, S- for small
T- for Tang, T- for trade
S- for Song tralatralala
Sui
Sui Dynasty (561-618 C.E.)
 Yang Jian reunified China after many years of division
 Strengthened central control of government
 Instituted competitive written exams for selection of
officials
 Constructed Grand Canal connecting Huang He and
southern rivers
 Facilitated grain shipment to north
 Increased importance of southern region
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9hU6PdEgEs
Yang Jian – A Man of Many Hats
But…
 Sui only lasted two reigns
 Ambitious projects led to unrest
 crushing burden of taxes
 compulsory labor (corvée)
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to complete the Grand Canal
to reconstruct the Great Wall
 Li Yuan (Tang) took advantage & seized
throne
T’ang
T’ang Dynasty China (618-907 C.E.)
 Expanded into Korea,
Vietnam, Central Asia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yguW_CsC4Qo
T’ang Culture
 Chang’an – cultural capital of East Asia
 Visited by merchants, pilgrims, missionaries,
students
 Many religions practiced – but Buddhism most
popular
 Buddhists persecuted in late dynasty -fears of wealth,
foreign origins – never again dominant in China
 T’ang art often used the horse as its motif because of
the importance of communication in the Empire.
The T’ang Social
 Early T’ang lowered taxes by redistributing land
of wealthy nobles to peasants - equal-field
system.
 Taxes gradually rose because of military spending
-large army required to keep control of the huge
empire.
 The Civil Service System was continued creating
a governing class.
 Tributary relationships and the kowtow restored.
Tang Empress Wu (690-705)
 The Empress Wu was not a nice
person. While Empress Wu was still a
concubine in the imperial Tang
household, she disposed of a rival by
murdering her own son, and then
claiming her rival did it. In her own
vicious, ruthless, scheming way, she
was absolutely brilliant. Taking power
from the ill emperor she was an
efficient ruler who brought about
needed social change.
T’ang Economics
 Promoted foreign trade
especially of luxury goods
 Agriculture improved due to
the use of the iron plow,
irrigation improvements water wheels, dams and
pumps and the use of highyield Champa rice from
Vietnam.
 Paper money stimulated trade
but also inflation.
Tea Dealers
Merchants gain status,
(They will lose it later.)
Paper money
T’ang ceramics
Fall of the T’ang
 Careless leadership (music and
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mistresses)
Corruption
Huang Chao stole from the rich and
gave to the poor.
Emperors gradually gave power to
military leaders until they had no
power left.
Military rebellions weakened Tang
internally (An Lushan)
Huang Chao
An Lushan Rebellion
 Xuanzong – Grandson of Empress Wu -a
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great ruler, who brought the T’ang to its
height of prosperity and grandeur, fell in
love with a consort - Yang Guifei,
Yang took advantage of her power to fill
high administrative positions with her
corrupt cronies.
Her favorite was a general named An
Lushan, who quickly accumulated power.
An Lushan eventually decided that he would
make a pretty good emperor, and launched
a rebellion.
The civil war lasted for eight years,
Peace established by Uighur forces – who
then looted capital city
End of period of prosperity
Yang Guifei
Song Dynasty (960-1279 C.E)
 Begun by scholarly general Song Taizu – his troops
elevated him to emperor
 He emphasized industry, education and art over the
military.
 The proportion of those living in the south
continued to increase throughout the Song dynasty
Song Dynasty
Song Economics
 Population reaches 100 million with ten cities over a
million.
 Rice (Champa) replaced wheat as the main crop of
China. Two crops a year, Fertilizer. Terracing. “Green Sprouts Program”.
 Trade flourished with Central Asia and India as well
as internally. (Tea, cotton, porcelain and silk ,Grand Canal)
 Customs taxes - vital source of revenue.
 Production of iron and steel surged as coke used to
power the forges. (First Industrial Revolution)
 16.5 million arrow heads produced each year
 Bridges and pagodas used steel
 Paper money (copper money too heavy)
Song Porcelain
 Porcelain made lighter and thinner
and was exported in vast quantities
 In general, the shapes of Sung
dynasty are simple and sedate by
comparison to what preceded them
and what was to follow.
 Likewise, the glazes tend to be
monochromatic and subtle, a fluid,
integral part of the form of the vessel
they cover, with a depth of color and
texture that invites the spectator to
both touch and contemplate
Marco Polo’s account…
“The coinage of this paper money is
authenticated with as much form and
ceremony as if it were actually of pure
gold or silver: for to each note a
number of officers, specially
appointed, not only subscribe their
names, but affix their signets also: and
when this has been regularly done by
the whole of them, the principal
officer… having into vermilion the
royal seal committed to his custody,
stamps with it the piece of paper, so
that the form of the seal tinged with
vermilion remains impressed upon it.”
Song Technology
 Gunpowder used in warfare
 Extremely accurate astronomers
 Printing: first printed book was
Diamond Sutra (Buddhist religious
text). Movable type developed in
the 1040’s. More books written in
Chinese than all languages
combined until 1750.
 Landscape painting inspired by
Daoists
 Naval technology: rudders, huge
ships
 Magnetic compass perfected
Song Art
Landscape painting, poetry and calligraphy excel.
Tea
 In T’ang dynasty became a
major crop especially in the
Southeast
 Song government established
a monopoly
 Used this to ensure a supply of
horse for the military (Tibet,
Mongolia, Central Asia not
suitable for tea-growing)
 Became popular in Japan with
arrival of Buddhist monks
Song Social
 Scholar elite was broader & better
educated - anyone can take the exams,
but only the wealthiest of families
could afford the extensive preparation
required by the examinations. .
 Cheaper books (block printing)
=spread of literacy
 Neo-Confucianism emerged - Status
of merchants fall, wisdom over
wealth, tradition more important,
acceptance of authority, importance
of order, selfless over selfish, group
over individual.
Song Women
 Richer families kept wives & daughters at
home
 Tended children, prepared meals, spun,
wove, sewed, took care of silk worms
 Women married between 16 & 20 – arranged
by families
 Men often took concubines as wife got older
– her children were considered equal to those
of the wife!
Neo-Confucianism blamed for decline in
women’s status “Better for a widow to die of
starvation than to consider remarrying”
 Foot binding introduced amongst elite
The Song is Over!
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFB6T3B8uhc
 The Song had never been a military power
 Outside invaders gradually weakened the Empire (Tibet,
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Manchurian Mongols, Qidan, Jurchen)
Taxes were so high that many peasants were forced to sell
their land. Investment money was spent on luxuries.
By 1042 the Song paid 200,000 ounces of silver a year in
tribute.
Mongols toppled the Song Dynasty and establish the Yuan
Dynasty
Surplus population slow innovation.
 Chinese Dynasty Song
 (to the tune of “Frere Jacques”)
 Shang
Zhou (“Joe”)
Qin (“chin”)
Han
 Shang
Zhou (“Joe”)
Qin (“chin”)
Han
 ( -------------- 400 years of Disunity ---------------)
 Sui (“sway”)
T’ang
Song
 Sui (“sway”)
T’ang
Song
 Yuan
 Yuan
Ming
Ming
Qing (“ching”) Republic
Qing (“ching”) Republic
 Chang Kai-Shek, Mao Zedong