AP World HistoryChapter 12

The Era of the Tang and Song Dynasties

Sui DynastyWendi• Nobleman• Victory over Chen united traditional Chinese Core.• Built grain bins for storing grain.• Lowered taxes and built massive canals.• Leads nomadic leaders to control northern China• 589, defeat of Chen kingdom

Yangdi Emperor (killed his dad and gets killed by his minister)• Established milder legal code• Upgraded Confucian education and restored examination

system.• Extravagant living and building led to social upheaval. (plus

making worn out soldiers go get Korea)• Sets up new capital at Loyang

Tang Dynasty• Dynastic system saved by Li Yuan (Duke of Tang)

– Son, Tang Taizong, is given throne next

• Extended boarder to Afghanistan.• Continued the re-building of the Great Wall.• Moved capital to Changan• Re-building of the bureaucracy.

– Aristocracy weakened– Confucian ideology revised– Scholar-gentry elite reestablished– Bureaucracy– Bureau of Censors

• Examination system bigger than ever before– Ministry of Rites– jinshi

Confucianism and Buddhism

Confucianism and Buddhism potential rivals

Buddhism had been central

Mahayana (Pure Land) Buddhism popular in era of turmoil

Chan (Zen) Buddhism common among elite

Early Tang support Buddhism

Empress Wu (690-705)

Endows monasteries

Tried to make Buddhism the state religion

50,000 monasteries by c. 850

The Anti-Buddhist BacklashConfucians in administration• Support taxation of Buddhist monasteries

Persecution under Emperor Wuzong (841-847)• Monasteries destroyed• Lands redistributed

Confucian emerges the central ideology

Tang Decline• 755 CE, Revolts• Ineffective leaders (Empress Wei) (Xuanzong “hearts”

Yang Guifei)• Frontier boarders raided• Corrupt government officials• 907 CE, last Tang emperor resigns

Song Dynasty• Song founded in 960 C.E (Zhao Kuangyin aka Honest Abe who “collected books rather than booty”)

– Zhao is renamed Taizu

• Song unable to defeat northern nomads.• Song paid tribute to Liao

– Founded by Khitan people/Manchuria

Song PoliticsSettling for Partial Restoration• Scholar-gentry patronized• Given power over military

The Revival of Confucian Thought• Libraries established• Old texts recovered

Neo-confucians• Stress on personal morality• Zhu Xi (apply philosophy to every day life)• Importance of philosophy in everyday life• Hostility to foreign ideas• Gender, class, age distinctions reinforced

Roots of Decline: Attempts at ReformKhitan independence encourages others

Tangut, Tibet• Xi Xia kingdom• Song pay tribute

Wang Anshi (aka FDR• Confucian scholar, chief minister• Reforms

– Legalist enthusiasm– Cheap loans/gov’t assistance– Taxed the scholars– Expanded military and agriculture– Tried to change education system

• When his emperor dies, he is out

Southern Song Dynasty

Jurchens defeat Liao in the North• 1115, found Jin kingdom• Invade China

Southern Song Dynasty• New capital at Hangzhou• Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279)

Tang and Song Prosperity: The Basis of a Golden AgeCanal system• Built to accommodate population shift• Yangdi's Grand Canal (links China across the

Noodle LIne• Links North to SouthSilk routes reopened• Greater contact with Buddhist, Islamic regionsSea trade• Developed by late Tang, Song• Junks (with gun powder rockets!)Commerce expands• Credit• Deposit shops (banks)• Flying moneyUrban growth • Changan

– Tang capital/2 million• Hangzhou

– Song capital– Marco Polo’s favorite

Tang and Song Prosperity: The Basis of a Golden Age

Expanding Agrarian Production and Life in the Country• New areas cultivated• Canals help transport produceAristocratic estates• Divided among peasants• Scholar-gentry replace aristocracy

Family and Society in the Tang-Song Era• Great continuity• Marriage brokers• Elite women have broader opportunities

– Empresses Wu, Wei

• Divorce widely available

The Neo-Confucian Assertion of Male Dominance

Neo-Confucians reduce role of women• Confinement• Men allowed great freedom• Men favored in inheritance, divorce• Women not educated• Foot binding

Glorious Age ConclusionInvention and Artistic Creativity• Influence over neighbors• Economy stimulated by advances in farming, finance• bridges• Explosives and projectiles (Used by Song for armaments)• Chairs used in household• Tea as a common drink• Compasses, abacus• Bi Sheng

– Printing with moveable type• Scholarly Refinement and Artistic Accomplishment

– Scholar-gentry key– Change from Buddhist artists– Secular scenes more common

• Li Bo– Poet– Nature a common theme in poetry, art