The Rise of the Song (960 C.E. – 1279 C.E.)

Chapter 12 (2 of 3)

By the mid-800s, the Tang Dynasty was beginning to collapse

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Star-Crossed Lovers and the Fall of a Dynasty

XuanzongYang Guifei

XuanzongTang Emperor (713-756)

As time went on, Xuanzong lost interest in politics and slipped into

life of luxury

At first he reformed and improved China, but overexpanded which

helped lead to collapse As Xuanzong was oblivious, and Yang

abused power, China had huge economic

problems and military was weakened as

result

Yang abused the immense power she

got, promoting family members to

important jobs and wasting government’s

money

Became infatuated with 1 of his many concubines,

Yang Guifei

An Lushan

An Lushan = nomadic general who led rebellion against the Tang

in 755

Revolt was stopped, but

Xuanzong forced to have Yang

executed

To stop revolt, Tang had to make

alliances with nomadic military leaders, who got

large areas of land in north China

Economy kept getting worse and

rebellions kept occurring, often led by unhappy

peasants

Tang became very weak and soon

the Song Dynasty took over

In 907 the last Tang emperor forced to

resign

Zhao Kuangyin emerged as leader and

began the Song Dynasty

The 1 group Song never beat were the

Khitan people (nomads) from the

Liao Dynasty

Khitans left Song alone as long as Song paid tribute, but Song at

mercy of the nomads

Song v. Tang Dynasties

1. Song never got as large as Tang

2. Song had even more emphasis on examinations and increased size of bureaucracy even more

3. Bureaucracy became overstaffed and wasteful, but scholar-gentry class gained even more power at expense of aristocrats and Buddhists

The Neo-Confusions

Under the Song, there was a revival of Confucian thought as scholar-gentry gained influence

(called neo-Confucianism)

Reinforced idea men as head of family, and the best way to

solve problems was to look back at history (stress of

tradition actually slowed new innovations)

New schools and academies formed to teach Confucian ideas and texts (teaching

indigenous idea of Confucianism over outside

ideas like Buddhism

Neo-Confucians emphasized Confucian teachings of class,

age, and gender roles (traditions)

Zhu Xi = The leading Neo-Confucian during

Song Era

The Music Fades on the Song Dynasty

Song had large army (over 1

million), but it was costly and

poorly led

Song couldn’t stop nomadic

Khitans, so other nomads decided they could attack

Songs had been paying Khitans “protection”

money, which drained

economy

Funds needed to improve army

instead went to education and entertainment

Reasons for Song Demise

Wang Anshi Tries to Get the Song to Carry On

Wang Anshi = Chief Minister in the 1070s who

initiated series of reforms to try to prevent a Song

collapse

Legalist = belief that government

should intervene a lot in society (Wang was a

legalist)

Government gave cheap loans to spur business, built irrigation systems, and

reformed education, and taxed landlords

and scholar-gentry to be able to afford better

army

The Fat Lady Sings for the SongThe emperor supporting Wang

and his ideas died, and new emperor stopped reforms

Neo-Confucians came to power, against Legalist reforms, and

economy again suffered

Jurchens = nomads from the north who after defeating Liao

(who had been “protecting” Song) conquered the Song

The peasants were upset with the economic problems and rebelled

against the Song government

Sort of

Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279)

Song Dynasty able to live on, although on a

much smaller scale

Though much smaller, this period was a glorious cultural

period for the Chinese