CHINESE DYNASTIESFrom

581 - 1644

Sui (581 - 618 CE)

• Completed Grand Canal

• High taxes, forced labor

• Made repairs on the Great Wall of China

• Rebels assassinated the Emperor

Tang (618 - 907 CE)

• Golden Age of China: Richest, most powerful country in the world.

• Rebuilt bureaucracy– Examination system– Confucian education– Limited social mobility

• Buddhism supported, then oppressed• Invention of movable print, porcelain,

gun powder

Tang Dynasty (618-918)Tang Dynasty (618-918)

Empress Wu

The Golden AgeThe Golden AgeArtistic, Technological and Industrial Developments

Gunpowder and Rockets

Moveable Type

Chinese junks

Porcelain - Chinaware

Landscape art

Tang (618 - 907 CE)

Decline

• Weak emperors, nomadic incursions, economic difficulties

• Warlords take control

Song (969 - 1279 CE)

• Large centralized bureaucracy (Neo-Confucian)

• Mercantile class grows, increased trade – silk and porcelain are big exports.

• Magnetic compass, paper currency, growing sea power

• Weak military

Song Dynasty (960-1279)Song Dynasty (960-1279)Economic System:

•Rise of the Merchant

•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

Agricultural Advancements:

• New developments in rice cultivation, especially the introduction of new strains

from what is now Central Vietnam, spectacularly increased rice yields.

Paper Money

Yuan (1279 - 1368 CE)

• Mongol Khubilai Khan conquers China• Economic stability and prosperity• China more open to trade and travel (Marco

Polo)• Ignored Chinese traditions, replaced

bureaucrats with non-Chinese• Unsuccessful attacks on Japan, corruption

weakens dynasty• Peasant rebellion ends Yuan

Ming (1368 - 1644 CE)

• Tried to erase all signs of Mongols

• Reinstated civil service, Confucian scholars

• Eunuchs play growing role - resented by scholar gentry

• Rebuilt and extended Great Wall and built the Forbidden City.

• Distant overseas exploration…(Zheng He)

• Collapsed after famines and riots