Imperial China Sui, Tang, Song Dynasties
After the fall of the Han
Era of Disunity
•Technological advance continued
–Gunpowder, wheelbarrow etc
•Buddhism displaced Confucianism
•Trade continued but central government and bureaucracy declined
•Chinese worried about foreign invaders and influence of their cultures
Sui Dynasty 581-618
•“Land Equalization” System- land redistributed
•Unified coinage
•Reorganize Confucianism and civil service
•Drive out nomadic invaders
•Repair damage to Great Wall
•Established army of professional soldiers
•Conscripted labor for lavish projects
•People were overworked and overtaxed
•Assassinate emperor start Tang dynasty
Grand Canal
•South: majority population, rice production
•North: millet production
•Rivers ran east-west
•Built Grand Canal North South
–Oldest and largest in the World
–People migrate, make trade easier
Tang Dynasty 618-907
•Imperial examination system perfected
•Liberal attitude toward all religions
–Spread of Buddhism continues
•Golden Age of foreign relations with other countries
–Empire into Tibet, Vietnam, Manchuria, Korea
Conflict: Buddhism vs Confucianism
•Buddhism had been central
–Mahayana Buddhism popular in era of
turmoil
–Chan (Zen) Buddhism common among
elite
•Early Tang support Buddhism but
Confucians in administration/ civil service
•Support taxation of Buddhist monasteries
•Confucian emerges the central ideology
Rebuilding the Bureaucracy
•Aristocracy weakened
•Confucian ideology revised
•Bureaucracy
• Scholar-gentry elite reestablished
–Educated civil servants
–5% could become officials; rest stayed local as social leaders
–Performed Confucian rituals, helped collect taxes, keep paperwork
–Created meritocracy with best students running country
•Bureau of Censors- Evaluated work of civil servants
The Growing Importance of the Examination System
• Ministry of Rites
–Gave regular exams for students from gov’t schools or known teachers
–Granted higher status if successful; best got official jobs
•Birth, connections important for office
Family and Society in the Early Tang-Song Era
•Great continuity
Culture and trade flourish
•Marriage brokers
•New technologies
•Elite women have broader opportunities
•More cosmopolitan culture
–Empresses Wu, Wei and Yang Guifei
–Cities growing
•Divorce widely available
•Reestablish safety and importance of Silk Rd
•Imported tea, wood and spices
•Exported manufactured goods
Expanding Agrarian Production and Life in the Country
•New areas cultivated
•Canals help transport produce
• Influence over neighbors
•Economy stimulated by advances in farming, finance
Foot Foot binding
• Aristocratic estates
Under influence of Buddhism women enjoy
–Divided among peasants
relatively higher status, as return of Confucianism,
–Scholar-gentry replace aristocracy
that ends
th
Began in Tang but not common until Song
Tang Decline by 8 Century
Prince Li Yu his concubine, was a suburb dancer.
•High taxation
“Precious Thing” toe danced inside a six-foot high
•Peasant rebellions led to more independent
platform shaped like a lotus flower made of gold.
local rule ~907
early variation of ballet, though rather than
•For 50 years, regional war lords ruled
squeezing the feet into toe shoes, Chinese women
resorted to permanent disfigurement
•By 960 Song Dynasty centralized
Broke toes by age 3
but not able to unify
Mother bound their daughter’s feet
–Khitan independence encourages others
For upper-class girls it became a new custom
Why upper-class?
Song Dynasty 960 - 1279
•Kirhgiz people overthrew Tang form Song
•Not able to unite as much as Tang did
–Liao (Manchuria/Khitan) and Xi Xia empire to the north
•Strengthen Confucianism and civil service
–Increased emphasis learning b/c printing
•Established gov’t monopoly on tea trade
•Become sea power
•Create middle/merchant class
•Deemphasize military and reestablished tribute system
–‘Pay off’ nomads with gifts
Power Shift- from N to S
•Capital at Hangzhou
•Commerce soured
•Rice cultivation increases
•Most powerful navy in the world
A New Phase of Commercial Expansion
Greater contact with Buddhist, Islamic regions
Silk routes reopened
Sea trade
Developed by late Tang, Song
Junks, magnetic compass
Look at page 270. Read about ships. How would
Commerce expands
these boats facilitate trade overseas? Why do you
Credit
think the Chinese did not dominate Age of
Deposit shops
exploration?
Flying money
Urban growth
Changan Tang capital 2 mi
The Revival of Confucian Thought
•Libraries established
•Old texts recovered
Neo-Confucians
•Neo-Confucians reduce role of women
–Confinement
–Men allowed great freedom; favored in inheritance, divorce
–Women not educated
What changes took place when shift back to
–Foot binding
Confucian thought? How are each consistent with
•Stress on personal morality
our understanding of Confucian thought from the
•Importance of philosophy in everyday life
classical period?
•Hostility to foreign ideas
•Gender, class, age distinctions reinforced
Song decline
•Never that strong to begin with
•Never able to unify all parts
–Warlords control large parts in the north
•Military and economic weakness
–Scholar-gentry given control of army; ineffective
–Paper money caused inflation
•Mongol invasion 1200s
How are the Sui, Tang and Song dynasties different? How are they similar?