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 EmpireThe 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.


China


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.


China

• Yangdi’s improvements placed hardships on the Chinese people

• They rebelled and killed Yangdi.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Sui_Yangdi_Tang.jpg

Rebuilding China’s EmpireThe 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.


• 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.


• 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.


• 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.


• 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 EmpireThe 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 EmpireThe 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 ChinaChinese 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 ChinaChinese 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 IdeasWhat 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

They were in their twenties or early thirties.

1. How old were the Chinese when they took the tests?

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 IdeasScholar-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.

Chinese SocietySection 2

Chinese SocietyA 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 SocietyA 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 SocietyNew 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.*


• 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.


• 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 SocietyArt and Literature

• Chinese rulers supported art and literature.

• Artists and writers were invited to live in Changan, the capital city.

• Daoist beliefs are reflected in Chinese landscaping paintings.

• The Tang dynasty is considered as the age of poetry.

• Tang poems express joy and sadness and celebrate the beauty of nature.


• The Chinese invented gunpowder and began using rudders, sails, and compasses for sea travel.


• Li Bo was a popular Tang-era poet who wrote one of China’s best-known 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.


• 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

Documents

China in the Middle Ages