Chapter 12: Reunification and Renaissance in Chinese Civilization:

The Era of the Tang and Song Dynasties

AP World History I

Overview

• With the fall of the Han Dynasty in 220 CE, China alternates between periods of political unity and fragmentation– Not as traumatic as the fall of Rome for Western

Europe

• Between 589 and 906 CE, China enjoyed a political revival under the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

• China will also be rocked by the advances of the Mongol armies in the 1200s.

Warring States Map

The Sui Dynasty• The first strong

dynasty to emerge after the fall of the Han was the Sui Dynasty (589-618 CE).

• Reunified China• Expanded

China’s borders as a result of military conquest

Tang Dynasty

• Under the Tang (618-906 CE), China became larger than ever before.– Rulers extend China’s influence to parts of Central

Asia, Mongolia, Manchuria, Tibet, and to the south, the Pacific Coast.

• The Tang forced its neighbors(Korea/Japan) into a Tributary System,

Tang Dynasty

Tang Dynasty

• Tang economy was very strong due to advanced infrastructure (roads, waterways, canals)– Grand Canal: Begun in the Sui Dynasty to link the

Yellow and Yangzi Rivers.

• Increased trade stimulated the Tang economy– Silk industry made China exceptionally wealthy

Map of Grand Canal

Grand Canal

Suzhou Bridge Grand Canal

Means of Trade/Exchange

• Indian Ocean Trade Network: China’s control of the southern coast allowed participation in the Indian Ocean Trade Network.

• China also traded along the 5000 mile Silk Road with the Middle East.

IOTC

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Culture in Tang China• Tang rulers were cultural patrons

-Academies for Learning (Han Lin Academy of Letters)

• Tang exerted strong religious and cultural impact on Korea/Japan

• expanded and reworked the imperial bureaucracy– Revived Scholar-gentry elite with CONFUCIAN

values

Tang Examination System

• Academies trained state officials and educated them in Confucian classics.– Examination system was greatly expanded

• Most bureaucrats won their position through success in the Civil Service Examination there were still factors like Connections

State and Religion

• Buddhism thrived in the time before the Sui and Tang dynasties– Many pre-Tang rulers from nomadic origins were

devout Buddhists (Zen Buddhism)• Tang support of Confucianism threatened to

undercut Buddhist success…however, Tang Emperors and Empresses supported the Buddhist establishment (Empress Wu r. 690-705 CE).

State and Religion• Support of Buddhist aroused the envy of

Confucian and Daoist rivals.– Confucian leaders stressed 2 things: No taxes on

Buddhis Temples and unable to Conscript Peasants for war

– Under Wuzong (r. 841-847) China openly persecuted Buddhists.

• Never again would Buddhism gain the strength it had in the early-Tang era…however, it would survive in China– Confucianism becomes dominant ideology of Chinese

civilization from the 9th to early 20th century.

Tang Decline

• During the 800’s, a series of peasant rebellions and military disasters weakened the Tang.

• In 906, the Tang Dynasty collapsed and several centuries of disunity will follow.

China after the Tang

• Following the Tang breakdown, China fragmented into separate states until the late 1200s.

• The largest and longest lasting was the Song Empire.– Song empire will last until 1279.

• Until 1121, the primary threat to the Song was the Liao empire to the north.

China after the Tang

• The Song paid tribute to the Liao via silk and cash, but then destroyed them with the help of Jurchen tribes from the North (even farther north).

• However, the Jurchen then proclaimed their own Empire, the Jin, and turned on the Song.

• The Song gave up territory and retreated to the South. The smaller Song state, the Southern Song Dynasty, will survive until the Mongol Conquests of the 1270s.

Northern and Southern Song

Song Characteristics• Culturally and economically impressive– Steady population growth– World’s largest urbanized society– Largest cities on earth at the time (population over 1

million)– Trade contacts lessened, but still active.– More involvement with the Pacific coast and

Southeast Asia.– Port of Canton (Guangzhou) became the world’s

busiest and most cosmopolitan trading centers.• Large trading vessels, known as junks, cruised the eastern

seas and Indian Ocean carrying goods for trade.

Song Culture and Religion• With the exception of the Abbasid

Caliphate, Song China was of the most scientifically and technically advanced societies in the world.– Excellent mathematicians and

astronomers.– Accurate clocks, compasses (used at

sea in 1090).– Su-Song’s celestial clock was built in

1088 CE• 80 feet tall• Time of day, day of month, positions of

the sun, moon, planets, and major stars.• First device in world history to use a

chain-driven mechanism powered by flowing water.

Chinese Inventions of the Song Era

• Gunpowder• Paper Currency (flying money)• Made use of Block Printing (adopted from the

Koreans)

Religion

• Great revival of Confucius’ teachings, known as Neo-Confucianism.– Reinforced Chinese culture’s tendency toward

hierarchy and obedience.– Put a premium on education and cultured

behavior– Civil Service Examination system

Women in Chinese Society

• Neo-Confucianism was used to justify the greater subordination of women.– Earlier, a husband’s family had to produce a dowry for

a new bride, but during this time period, it reversed…Marriages were arranged for the groom’s benefit.

• Chinese subjugation of women was most obvious in foot-binding.– Kept women’s feet tiny and dainty, but crippled them.– Established in the 1200’s, and continued to the

1900’s.

Women in Chinese Society• Women of lower classes

were freer than those in the upper classes, but still occupied a secondary status to that of men.

• Women of all classes had property inheritance rights, and retained control of their dowry after death or divorce of husband.