Sui – Tang – SongSui – Tang – Song

Review Early DynastiesReview Early Dynasties

• Shang Dynasty1766-1122

• Zhou Dynasty1122-221

– Last 400yrs - warring states

• Qin Dynasty 221 -206 BCE– Shi huangdi (1st emperor)– Legalist philosophy– First coinage, writing system,– Censorship– Lasts 15 years– China- in 2,000 years - 23

dynasties - 9 important ones

Han DynastyHan Dynasty

• Han Dynasty • (classical era)

– Confucian based society– Merit system-bureaucrats– Paper & porcelain invented

• For 400 years after fall of Han - time of great troubles…– Buddhism becomes

popular in this period

Sui Dynasty (588-618)Sui Dynasty (588-618)

• Sui unite China - rule for 30 years

• Wendi– Revival of

Confucianism

• Yangdi

• Grand Canal

Tang Dynasty (618 – 907)Tang Dynasty (618 – 907)

• Tang– Increased boundaries– Heavy dependence on

Militarism • Rise of Tang• First emperor & minister

(Wei Zheng)- model of good rule

• Imperial power and moral restraint in theory - in practice hard to maintain

TangTang

– Trade & commerce grow

– Printing

– Arts- focus on landscape/nature

– Gun powder

– Woodblock printing

• Capital city Chang’an (eternal peace) 24 mile walled city

• Artistic / commercial & invention continues in Song era

Empress WuEmpress Wu• Ruled for 50 years - 705

– Biggest challenge deal with scholar/gentry and old aristocrats

– Economy remained strong!

• Econ- equal land system

• Civil exam system

– Blow to noble class

– Social mobility

• Confucianism as official philosophy = cultural literacy uniting China

• Buddhism - why the backlash?

– Around 845...

Tang Xuanzong (The Profound Emperor) and Consort YangTang Xuanzong (The Profound Emperor) and Consort Yang

Decline of Tang - Losing the Mandate of HeavenDecline of Tang - Losing the Mandate of Heaven

• Xuanzong– (Empress Wu’s grandson)– Patron of Arts– Decline due to lack of morality?– Blame consort - during rebellion,

soldiers want her head - he gives it to them

– He abdicates• Overextension • Rebellions

– Chang’an overran (755 – 763)– Uighurs (nomadic) help Tang restore

order, don’t leave and gain influence in China

• Northern nomads attacking, mass migration of Chinese to the sout

• Dynasty can not recover and ends in 907

• Other reasons for decline

– 751 - loss to Arabs at Talas

– Equal land system breaks down

– Poor attention to canal & irrigation systems

– Nomadic attacks

• Moral: China’s view

– Centralization = unity = peace (stability)

– Decentralization = civil war

• The years 907 – 960 saw the fragmentation of China into five northern dynasties and ten southern kingdoms until Song unify

Nomadic RelationshipsNomadic Relationships• Two successor nomadic groups attempted to establish control• Liao Empire (916 – 1121(decline))

– Relatives of Mongolians – Established rule in the north.– Khitan people– Linked China with societies to the north and west– They encouraged and allowed Chinese culture to remain in their region.– Buddhism flourished – rulers were seen as bodhisattvas or Buddhist

kings• Minyak (related to Tibetans) – established control in the west. Tried to

relate to the Tang by calling themselves Tangguts.

1313

Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE)Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE)

• Emphasis on administration, industry, education, the arts

• Military not emphasized

• Direction of first emperor, Song Taizu (r. 960-976 CE)– Former military leader

– Made emperor by troops

– Instituted policy of imperial favor for civil servants, expanded meritocracy

1414

The Song dynasty, 960-1279 The Song dynasty, 960-1279 C.E.C.E.

Song Dynasty 960-1279Song Dynasty 960-1279• CHARACTERISTICS

– Scholar-gentry class dominates

• abuses in civil service exam develop

– Paper money– Arts & commerce– 11C Needle compass

(3rd century - South pointer)

Splintering of North and Southern SongSplintering of North and Southern Song

• Heavy dependence on growth of civilian government at expense of military

– By 1127, the Song court could not push back the Northern nomadic

invaders – Surrounded by north ‘empires’

(Jurchin’)

• Invasion of Mongols from North 1279– Start of Yuan (Mongol

Dynasty)

Splintering of North and Southern SongSplintering of North and Southern Song

• 1125 Jurchens take the last of the Liao and establish the Jin Empire in north China

• Jin lay siege to Song capital (Kaifeng) and forced the Song south of the Yellow River – Jurchen establish control of north and central China– Song make annual payments to Jin to avoid warfare– This period is known as the Southern Song (1127 –

1279)

Northern and Southern SongNorthern and Southern Song

1919

Song WeaknessesSong Weaknesses

• Size of bureaucracy heavy drain on economy– Two peasant rebellions in 12th c.– Internal inertia prevents reform of bureaucracy

• Civil service leadership of military– Lacked military training– Unable to contain nomadic attacks– Jurchen conquer, force Song dynasty to Hangzhou,

southern China (Southern Song)

2020

Agricultural Economies of the Agricultural Economies of the Tang and Song DynastiesTang and Song Dynasties

• Developed Vietnamese fast-ripening rice, 2 crops per year

• Technology: iron plows, use of draft animals

• Soil fertilization, improved irrigation– Water wheels, canals

• Terrace farming

2121

Population GrowthPopulation Growth

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

600CE

1000

Millions

• Result of increased agricultural production

• Effective food distribution system– Transportation networks

built under Tang and Song dynasties

2222

UrbanizationUrbanization

• Chang’an world’s most populous city: 2 million residents

– Southern Song capital Hangzhou: over 1 million

– Several cities over 100,000

• By the end of the Song, 2/3 of the Chinese population is concentrated below the Yangtze.

UrbanizationUrbanizationrise of mercantile classrise of mercantile class

The Grand Canal, built during the Sui Dynasty, connects the Yangtze and the Yellow rivers, facilitating the transport of agricultural production from the south to the north and helping to unify the economy of China.

2424

Patriarchal Social StructuresPatriarchal Social Structures

• Increased emphasis on ancestor worship– Elaborate grave rituals– Extended family gatherings in honor of deceased

ancestors

• Footbinding gains popularity– Increased control by male family members

2525

FootbindingFootbinding

2626

Technology and IndustryTechnology and Industry

• Porcelain (“Chinaware”)• Increase of iron production due to use of coke, not coal,

in furnaces– Agricultural tools, weaponry

• Gunpowder invented • Earlier printing techniques refined

– Moveable type by mid-11th century– Yet complex Chinese ideographs make wood block

technique easier• Naval technology

2727

Emergence of a Market Emergence of a Market EconomyEconomy

• “Flying cash:” letters of credit developed to deal with copper coin shortages– Promissory notes, checks also used

• Development of independently produced paper money– Not as stable, riots when not honored

• Government claims monopoly on money production in 11th century

2828

Persecution of BuddhistsPersecution of Buddhists

• Daoist/Confucian persecution supported in late Tang dynasty

• 840s begins systematic closure of Buddhist temples, expulsions– Zoroastrians, Christians, Manicheans as well

• Economic motive: seizure of large monastic landholdings

Neo-ConfucianismNeo-Confucianism

• The Song Neo-Confucian philosophers, finding a certain purity in the originality of the ancient classical texts, wrote commentaries on them. The most influential of these philosophers was Zhu Xi ( b1130-1200), whose synthesis of Confucian thought and Buddhist, Taoist, and other ideas became the official imperial ideology from late Song times to the late nineteenth century.

• As incorporated into the examination system, Zhu Xi's philosophy evolved into a rigid official creed, which stressed the one-sided obligations of obedience and compliance of subject to ruler, child to father, wife to husband, and younger brother to elder brother.

• The effect was to inhibit the societal development of premodern China, resulting both in many generations of political, social, and spiritual stability and in a slowness of cultural and institutional change up to the nineteenth century.

• Neo-Confucian doctrines also came to play the dominant role in the intellectual life of Korea, Vietnam, and Japan.

• Army Area Handbook on China, written by Rinn-Sup Shinn and Robert L. Worden.

Tang and Song Influence on East Asia Tang and Song Influence on East Asia

• The influence of Chinese civilization spreads throughout East Asia as neighboring countries study and borrow from Chinese civilization– Korea, Japan, and what is today Vietnam

• Confucian thought and social and political values• Buddhism• Literary Chinese and its writing system which becomes

the language of government and that used by the elites of these societies to communicate among themselves.

3131

China and KoreaChina and Korea

• Silla Dynasty: Tang armies withdraw, Korea recognizes Tang as emperor

• Technically a vassal state, but highly independent

• Chinese influence on Korean culture pervasive

3232

China and VietnamChina and Vietnam

• Vietnamese adaptation to Chinese culture, technology

• But ongoing resentment at political domination

• Assert independence when Tang dynasty falls in 10th century

3333

China and Early JapanChina and Early Japan

• Chinese armies never invade Japan• Yet Chinese culture pervasive • Imitation of Tang administration

– Establishment of new capital at Nara, hence “Nara Japan” (710-794 CE)

• Adoption of Confucian and Buddhist teachings• Retention of Shinto religion

3434

Heian Japan (794-1185 CE)Heian Japan (794-1185 CE)

• Japanese emperor moves court to Heian (Kyoto)

• Emperor is a figurehead, real power in hands of Fujiwara clan– Pattern in Japanese history: weak emperor, power

behind the throne (feudal society)– Helps explain longevity of the institution

3535

Japanese LiteratureJapanese Literature

• Influence of Chinese kanji characters– Classic curriculum dominated by Chinese

• Development of hiragana, katakana syllabic alphabet

• Court life: The Tale of Genji– Written by woman with weak command of Chinese,

becomes classic of early Japanese literature

3636

Institution of the Institution of the ShogunShogun

• Civil war between Taira and Minamoto clans in 12th century

• Minamoto leader named shogun, 1185 CE

• Ruled from Kamakura, allowed imperial throne to continue in Kyoto

3737

Medieval JapanMedieval Japan

• Kamakura (1185-1333 CE) and Muromachi (1336-1573 CE) periods

• Decentralized power in hands of warlords

• Military authority in hands of samurai

• Professional warriors

3838

China and the Hemispheric China and the Hemispheric EconomyEconomy

• Increasingly cosmopolitan nature of Chinese cities

• Chinese silk opens up trade routes, but increases local demands for imported luxury goods

3939

Cultural Change in Tang and Cultural Change in Tang and Song ChinaSong China

• Declining confidence in Confucianism after collapse of Han dynasty

• Increasing popularity of Buddhism• Christianity, Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism,

Islam also appear• Clientele primarily foreign merchant class

4040

DunhuangDunhuang

• Mahayana Buddhism especially popular in western China (Gansu province), 600-1000 CE

• Buddhist temples, libraries

• Economic success as converts donate land holdings

• Increase popularity through donations of agricultural produce to the poor

4141

Conflicts with Chinese CultureConflicts with Chinese Culture

• Buddhism:– Text-based (Buddhist

teachings)

• Emphasis on Metaphysics

• Ascetic ideal– Celibacy

– isolation

• Confucianism:– Text-based (Confucian

teachings)

– Daoism not text-based

• Emphasis on ethics, politics

• Family-centered– Procreation

– Filial piety

4242

Chan (Zen) BuddhismChan (Zen) Buddhism

• Buddhists adapt ideology to Chinese climate– Dharma translated as dao

– Nirvana translated as wuwei

• Accommodated family lifestyle– “one son in monastery for ten generations of salvation”

• Limited empahsis on textual study, meditation instead