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ChinaSui, Tang, Song dynasties
Special Thanks to Traci Langworthy Jamestown, NY
China: Reunification & Renaissance
Recall Political Developments:
• Sui Dynasty (589-618)
– Reunification
– Completion of Grand Canal connecting
northern & southern China
• Tang Dynasty (618-907) – expansion
China during the Tang & Song Dynasties
Song Dynasty (960-1279)
• Founded by Song Taizu
• Threat of nomads to north
Confucian Civil Service System
• Reintroduced during Sui Dynasty; expanded in Tang & Song era, especially
• Exams based on Confucian classics
• Jinshi = highest title
Neo-Confucianism
Economic Revolution
• Population doubled during Song era
• Agricultural prosperity
– New variety of rice
– New cash crops – e.g. tea, sugar
– Dikes, reservoirs, & dams
– Water pumps
Terraced rice paddies in southern China
Economic Revolution Cont.
• Commercial growth
– Internal trade, facilitated by canals & paper $
– Overseas maritime trade facilitated by magnetic compass & junks
• Growth in industry
– Esp. silk fabric, porcelain & paper
– Water powered mills & bellows
– Iron & steel
• Urbanization (growth of cities)
– E.g. Kaifeng & Hangzhou
Other Technological Achievements
• Gunpowder
• Mechanical clock
• Moveable type (printing)
“Thunderbolt ball”
Social Developments
• Growth of scholar-elite
• Declining status of women
– Increasing legal restrictions
– Demand in cities for domestic servants & concubines
– Foot binding
Ideal woman’s foot = 3” long!
Cultural Developments
• Women poets as
exception
• Landscape
painting