Sui Dynasty around the year 600 AD

Map

“History and Culture of the Song Dynasty”Compiled by Robert PonzioChair, Fine ArtsOak Hall School

960–1279 AD

The Grand Canal

China’s ancient “Super Highway” helped keep the culture unified.

Advances in AgricultureNew developments in irrigation and rice cultivation, especially the introduction of new strains of Rice from Champa (Vietnam), spectacularly increased rice yields.

As a result the population, which had never before exceeded 60 million, grew to 100 million by 1127.

Many Song Dynasty agricultural techniques are still in use today

Vibrant Market Economy

The basic unit of payment was copper coins strung on a string, but these were heavy and cumbersome for use in

large-scale transactions.

The Song solution was to print paper money — Helping to grease the wheels of trade.

Marco Polo's report of this was met with incredulity in

the West.

SilkMajor

Manufactured Product:

• The Silk Road - A Vast Network of Trade RoutesDuring the first millennium B.C.E. through the middle of the second millennium C.E., a vast

network of trade routes known as the "Silk Road" linked the people and traditions of Asia with those of Europe. These historic routes served as a major conduit for the transport of

• Important scientific knowledge, technological innovations and material goods migrated between East and West and resulted in the first global exchange of scientific and cultural traditions.

The Silk Road

“The Spring Festival Along the River”

A Hand Scroll by

Zhang Zeduan

Ewer, Northern Song dynasty (960–1127), 11th–12th century; Yaozhou ware China

Stoneware with incised, carved, and relief decoration under glaze; H. 8 1/4 in. (21 cm)Gift of Mrs. T. Samuel Peters, 1926 (26.292.73)

Ceramics

Advancement

in the Arts:

Poem Written in a Boat on the Wu River, Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127), ca. 1100Mi Fu (Chinese, 1052–1107) China

Handscroll; ink on paper; 44 columns in running-cursive script; 12 1/4 in. x 18 ft. 3 1/4 in. (31.1 x 557 cm)Gift of John M. Crawford Jr., in honor of Professor Wen Fong, 1984 (1984.174)

Scroll for Zhang Datong, dated 1100Huang Tingjian (Chinese, 1045–1105)

Handscroll; ink on paper; 34.1 x 552.9 cmThe Art Museum, Princeton UniversityGift of John B. Elliott

Calligraphy

Summer Mountains, Northern Song dynasty (960–1127), 11th centuryAttributed to Qu Ding (Chinese, active ca. 1023–ca. 1056) China

Handscroll; ink and pale color on silk; 17 7/8 x 45 3/8 in. (45.4 x 115.3 cm)Ex coll.: C.C. Wang Family, Gift of The Dillon Fund, 1973 (1973.120.1)

Painting

Auspicious Cranes

Emperor Huizong was also a great painter and calligrapher who invented

the "Slender Gold" style.

Song Dynasty 1082 – 1135

Great Advances in Science, Math and Medicine

Chinese Armillary

“The Golden Age of Mathematics” occurred

under the Song.

Advances were also made in medicine, as the first

autopsy was performed in about 1145 AD on the

body of a Southern Chinese captive.

Shen Kuo (Kua)

In 1086 he created a book

“The Dream Pool Essays”

or Meng Xi Bi Tan within which he attempted to compile

all of the scientific knowledge of his day

He also documented within it the knowledge of the common people,

the creative inventions and innovations created by those who

were not of the literati.

This book still survives today.

Born: 1031 - Died: 1095Scientist, Mathematician, General,

Diplomat, Financial Officer, Geologist, Meteorologist, Astronomer, and

Engineer.

Observed fossil shells in a mountain hundreds Observed fossil shells in a mountain hundreds of miles from the ocean. Inferred that the land of miles from the ocean. Inferred that the land was formed by erosion of the mountains and was formed by erosion of the mountains and by deposition of silt. by deposition of silt.

Shen Kuo formulated an hypothesis for the process of land formation:

Inventor of Navigation Compass

South Facing Chinese Compass. model of the first instrument known to be a compass. The spoon is of magnetic loadstone, and the plate is of bronze

He discovered that the compasses do not point north, but to a magnetic north pole. That was the decisive step to make them useful for navigation.

A further refinement in the box compass (to the right) is from about 1200 CE, and is much more suitable for navigation.

Mariner's compass, with a floating magnetized needle pointing north and south.

Advances in Construction Techniques

Invented by Pi Sheng between 1041 and 1048, and a page printed from it.

Movable type was not invented by Johann Gutenberg, in 1423 as is universally believed in the West.

This reproduction was made from the detailed description by Shen Kuo which survives from 1086.

Printing Press w/ Movable Type

Confucianism

Ask me about: Mencius vs. Xunxi!

•Provided a philosophy for people to live by, a convincing account of the natural and human world, and a theoretical framework for state and society.

• Emphasizes self-cultivation as a path not only to self-fulfillment but to the formation of a virtuous and harmonious society and state.

Learning to be a better and wiser person goes hand in hand with service to the larger social body.

Public School System

•Confucius made education available to students from all classes.

•Education in China has been an equalizing force from ancient times. It became a means by which individuals from even the humblest backgrounds could rise to great heights.

•The ethics of Confucius which informed the curriculum, was a powerful mechanism for implementing the ethical and social norms of Chinese society.

Confucius taught:•All people possessed the same potential

•Education was the corrective means to ensure ethical behavior.

The Examination System

Since the Sui Dynasty (581-617), passing a series of examinations led to office in the civil service. It was only in the Song, however, that the examination system came

to be considered the normal ladder to success.

•Exams based on a command of Confucian texts.

•Honesty was ensured by identifying papers by number rather than the candidate's name.

•Examination taking could become a lifetime endeavor.

•Competition was keen from the start, but became intolerable by the end of the Song Dynasty.

Those successful at passing the exams are known as

The Literati (or The Gentry)

Cell Used by Students Taking the Imperial Exams

A Gift fromEmperor Huizong

•He was also one of the three Chinese emperors to prohibit Buddhism.

BuddhismChinese, Northern Song Dynasty

Guanyin, 11th centurywood with polychrome and gilt

39 inches high

The Iron Pagoda, Kaifeng

Women of the Song• Under the Song, many women gained rights to own property,

the ability to inherit, and to control their children's education.

• Women also ran businesses and oversaw family budgets.

The Lily Foot

Foot Binding

While foot binding was finally outlawed in 1911,

it was not until the Chinese Cultural Revolution of the 1940s and '50s that it was genuinely obliterated.

Song Shipbuilding

The Song were world leaders in ship-building including water-

tight compartments and

stern-post rudders.

Their ships contained as many as four decks, six masts, a dozen

sails and held 500 sailors.

Typical Viking Ship

1000 AD

The Song period improvements in speed, adaptability to marine conditions, and steadiness.

A strong navy of an attacking army could come right up to a riverside city. If a ship's deck was high enough, soldiers could step from it to the top of

the city's wall.

"Sea Hawks," as the type of ship above was called, had floating boards on each side to stabilize the ship. (it is difficult to distinguish the oars from these boards.)

Song ships were also strengthened with iron in the hull.

Some had several decks to keep the ship steady.

Song battleships were equipped with fire-bomb catapults and incendiary arrows that used gunpowder. Sometimes protected stations on upper decks were created for crossbowmen

who also played the role of watchmen.

The Military"Whirlwind" catapult

The Song possessed superior militarily technology rather than military skills.

Determined to keep power out of the hands of the military leaders, Song rulers reduced the status of its military men.

No longer could officials move between the civil and military services.

Some soldiers were tattooed to keep them from deserting. "Bamboo fire

hawk"

"Thunderbolt-ball"

Raised "flower" and ball bombs

Fire oxen Fire cart

Flame Throwers & Canons

"Fire-spurting lances" were also invented during the Song. Bamboo was used as a barrel to hold the gunpowder, though by the Song, metal barrels were also used. Some had narrow barrels and could be held by one person. Others were mounted on wooden frames and can be understood to precede the modern cannon; these were called eruptors.

Emperor Huizong’sSystem of Tributes

•Huizong neglected the army, and Song China became increasingly weak and at the mercy of foreign enemies.

•Emperor Huizong extended a system of tributes where gold, silk, grains and other goods were offered in exchange for peace.

•It didn’t work, the Song was invaded in 1126. The enemy crossed the Yellow River and came in sight of Kaifeng, the capital of the Song empire.

•Stricken with panic, Huizong abdicated his throne to his son (who became Emperor Qinzong) & fled.

•He was captured and spent the last 8 years of his life as a captive.

The man who once had been the most powerful ruler on earth and had lived in opulence and art, died a broken man in far-away

Northern Manchurian prison in 1135 at the age of 52.

In 1126, The Song was invaded by a semi-nomadic people from northeast Asia, (the Jurchens). They captured the capital at Kaifeng and founded their own Jin dynasty in the north. The Song court reestablished itself in Hangzhou, where it continued to rule for another 150 years as the

Southern Song dynasty.

"Lady Liang" ( 梁氏 ) "The Heroic and Valiant Lady of Yang" ( 英烈杨国夫人 ).

General Liang Hongyu (1102–1135) Liang and her force fought a fierce campaign against the invading Jurchen forces, winning battle after battle.

On October 6, 1135, she died a heroic deathin battle. As she led a raid on a Jurchen supply line with a small elite cavalry force. They unwittingly walked into an ambush and were outnumbered 10 to 1. In the midst ofbattle, Liang was mortally wounded when herAbdomen was slashed.

With about 3 feet of intestines dangling outside her belly. She realized this would be her final battle. She used all her remaining strength to push her intestines back into her belly and wrapped the wound with a long scarf around her waist, charged forward and said to her followers… "Today is the day I die for my country!" Her body rests in Suzhou.

Yue Fei • Days after his birth, flooding of the

Yellow River destroyed Yue Fei's village.

• His father drowned in the floods, but not before he had ensured the survival of his wife and son by floating them downstream in a jar.

• Yue Fei became proficient in warfare at an early age. As a young man narrowly escaped execution after killing the Prince of Liang in a martial arts tournament.

• He did not join the fight against the Jurchen invaders until he was 23.

The Most Famous Tattoo in Chinese History

The ultimate.loyalty.

is to serve. Your Country.

Yue Fei : Famous general of the Southern Song Dynasty. While serving as a soldier defending the Jin from the North, his commanding Field Marshal went over to the enemy. In disgusted, Yue Fei returned home to care for his mother.His mother was displeased, and lectured him that a soldier's first duty is loyalty to his country. To be sure that this would never be forgotten, she tattoo the words on his back! Yue Fei went back and led another army to defend the country.

Yue Fei

Book書 香 不 是 花

“Return My Country”!

Sword劍氣非關 月

Yue Fei:Scholar, Artist,

Warrior

Famous Bad Guy!

Qin Gui• born 1090 - died 1155

Chief counselor to the Southern Song Emperor.

He maintained external security by signing a peace with the Jurchen in the north and internal security by undermining the power of leading generals, notably Yue Fei, who had argued for war with the Jurchen.

Qin Gui had Yue Fei Killed.

Qin Gui is remembered as China’s greatest traitor.

•

Yue Fei was only 39 at the time he was executed. Yue Fei was soon cleared of the groundless charges and a temple was built in his memory by West Lake in Hangzhou.

Before Yue Fei's tomb are four cast-iron kneeling figures, with chests bare and hands bound behind their backs to kneel forever before the tomb.

Yue Fei’s Temple and Tomb

“No Spitting”

Mongols (Yuan dynasty, 1279-1368)- after defeating the Jurchen in the early 13th century, The Mongols went on and fully defeated the Song to control all of China.

HangzhouCapitol City of the

Southern Song 1125- 1279AD

West Lake

Marco PoloMarco Polo (1254-1324),

The famous Venetian traveled on the Silk Road. His journey through Asia lasted 24 years. He reached further than any of his predecessors, beyond

Mongolia to China. He became a confidant of Kublai Khan (1214-1294). He traveled the whole of China and returned to tell the tale, which became the

greatest travelogue.

Global Artistic & Education Outreach

Robert Ponzio Oak hall School

Global Artistic & Education Outreach

Robert Ponzio Oak hall School