Mongols, and the T’ang, S’ung, and Yuan dynasties

Mongols are the glue that brings East and West together – how did that happen?

Chapter 12:1, 2, 3

Big Picture

Large-scale Asian trade and contact continued between East Asia and the Mediterranean world through the first millennium CE, including over the Indian Ocean. Other kingdoms in southeast Asia and Africa were connected by this trade. Strong, highly developed Chinese dynasties followed the Han Dynasty, but fell to Mongol invasions, who created the largest empire known in human history.

Han Territories: 202 BCE – 220 CE

Silk Road Trading Routes

Camels and Horses

Taking a Break on the Silk Road

Post-Han• Period of de-centralization in China

– Three Kingdoms period (220-280 CE)– Jin (265-420 CE)– Southern and Northern Dynasties

• Sui Dynasty (581-618 CE)• T’ang Dynasty (618-907 CE)• Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE – Northern and Southern periods)• Yuan Dynasty (Mongols!) (1279-1368 CE) Period of intense

overland connection with the West• Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 CE)• Qing Dynasty (Manchus!) (1644-1911 CE)• Modern Era (20th-21st Centuries CE)

Sui Dynasty

• Reunited China under Sui Wendi, but (like the Qin Dynasty) abused the peasantry and overused resources and collapsed.

• Harsh rulers, but achievements include reuniting China– Canal to connect northern cities and southern

rice-producing regions– Half the workers died on this project!– Great Wall(s) were worked on – much suffering

T’ang Dynasty

• Chang’an the capital under T’ang Taizong, Wu Zhao (the only woman emperor ever in China)

• Kept trade routes open, expanded canals and roads• “Equal Field System” – families given land grants

based on need rather than wealth• Continued Confucian Civil Examinations, built

schools (although only wealthy could participate)• Fell due to internal rebellions, Arab defeats in the

West, and heavy taxes - which fragmented China until Song reunited them

• Foot-Binding reading

Empires of Central Asia

Song Dynasty

• Capital moved to Kaifeng (closer to the coast)• Had to constantly fight with the Jurched Jin Empire in

the north and the Tangut Empire in the west (Tibet regions) – Usually paid tribute instead– Pushed south of the Huang He by 1126

• Historical works, artwork, and great Buddhist paintings survive from this period.

• Defeated by the Mongols in 1279• Population was roughly 120 million people by this point

• S’ung Paintings

S’ung Cosmetic Case

T’ang and Song Inventions

• Porcelain – late 700s Ce• Mechanical clocks – 700s Ce• Printing – block printing: 700s CE; movable

type: 1040 CE• Gunpowder: 800 CE• Paper Money: 1020s CE• Magnetic Compass: 1100s CE

Mongol Empire

Mongols

• Genghis Khan (born Temujin) 1165-1227• Consolidated the Mongol nomadic tribes and

systematically conquered his neighbors (the Jurched Jin, the Song Dynasty, the Tangut Empire etc).

• Horses, fighting, wrestling, fermented mare’s milk• Established the closest thing to the first world-wide

trading network that allowed free travel west and east.

• Mongol Empire Reading• Allowed for the travels of Marco Polo etc

Yuan Dynasty

• Mongol Dynasty• Population in 1300 was roughly 60 million

people! – Dynasty ended mostly due to the Black Death

(Bubonic Plague) cut that population down by at least 1/3 – closer to ½ (from 120 million).

– Eventually spread to Europe in the 14th century• Pax Mongolica• Connection to the West