Dynasties of China

1. Dynasties of China • “A sequence of powerful leaders in the same family” • Shang Dynasty 1766 to 1122 B.C. • Zhou Dynasty 1122 to 256 B.C. • Tang Dynasty 618 to 907 A.D. • Song Dynasty 960 to 1279 A.D. Tang Dynasty

2. Restoration of Centralized Imperial Rule • After the Han Dynasty, several regional kingdoms made bids to gain control over China, but none possessed the resources necessary to dominate their rivals for the long term. • It was a time of constant warfare (about 400 years) but yet unlike Europe in the Middle Ages learning continued and inventions made life better. • The Tong Dynasty would be the first to control China as a whole once again.

3. Tang Dynasty gains control. • Tributary States: Tang emperors conquered territories deep into Central Asia. Chinese armies forced the neighboring lands of Vietnam, Tibet and Korea to become Tributary States. While these states remained independent, their rulers had to acknowledge Chinese supremacy and send regular payments of money or tribute to the Chinese emperor. At the same time, students from Korean and Japan traveled to the Tang capital to learn about Chinese government, law and arts.

4. Government of the Tang Government: Tang emperors helped reform the Han system of uniform government throughout China. The first thing they did was enlarged the civil service exams to recruit talented officials trained in Confucian philosophy. In order to receive a government job, a wealthy man must first prove they understood Confucian philosophy by passing a civil service exam. They also set up schools to prepare male students for the exams and developed a flexible law code. They instituted a system of land reform in which they broke up large agricultural holdings and redistributed land to peasants.

5. Results of Tang’s Policies The Tang’s policies strengthened the power of the central government by weakening the power of landowners. It also increased government revenues, since peasants who farmed their own land were able to pay taxes. A system of canals encouraged internal trade and transportation. The Grand Canal linked the Huang He to the Yangzi River. As a result, food that was grown in the south could be shipped to the capital in the north. At the time, the Grand Canal was the longest waterway ever dug by human labor.

6. Economic Exchange: The Grand Canal China’s rivers generally flow west to east so an artificial waterway had to be built to facilitate trade between north and south • The Grand Canal was almost 1,240 miles long, reportedly forty paces wide, with roads running parallel to the waterway on either side linked the economies of northern and southern China which established a foundation for political and cultural unity

7. Economic Exchange: Grand Canal • One of the world’s largest waterworks projects before modern times • Built to facilitate trade between northern and southern China, particularly to make the abundant supplies of rice and other agricultural products from the Yangzi River valley available to residents of the northern regions

8. Decline of the Tang Decline: The Tang Dynasty eventually weakened. Tang Emperors lost territories in Central Asia to the Arabs. Corruption, high taxes, drought, famine, and rebellions all contributed to the downward swing of the dynastic cycle. In 907, a rebellion led to the overthrow of the last Tang emperor.

9. Song Dynasty Emerges Emperor Xuanzong of Tang China Song examination candidate dreaming of the rewards of academic success

10. Civil Service Exams • Scholar-Officials • Tang rulers revive civil service examination system. People had to prove they were qualified for a government job, by passing a test. • Theoretically, exams are open to all men, even commoners. • Practically, only rich can afford necessary education to take exam. • Growth of men in government cuts power of nobles.

11. The Gentry were the wealthy landowning class. They could afford to spend years studying the Confucian classics in order to pass the civil service exam. Very few would be able to pass the civil service exams to get a government job. They followed the teachings of Confucius. Song Dynasty’s Social Classes The Peasants worked the land, living on what they produced. They made up most of China’s population. Peasants relied on one another and were largely self-sufficient. Peasants could move up in society through education and government service. The Merchants in some towns were able to acquire a massive amount of wealth. According to Confucian tradition however, merchants had a lower status than peasants because their riches came from the labor of others. Merchants might by land and educate one son in order for him to become a member of the gentry class.

12. Agriculture

13. Agriculture: Fast-ripening rice • As Tang and Song armies ventured into Vietnam, they encountered fast-ripening rice • Allowed two crops per year • When introduced into the fertile fields of southern China, fast-ripening rice quickly expanded the food supply Chinese characters for “rice field”

14. New Agricultural Techniques • Heavy iron plows • Harnessed oxen and water buffaloes • Enriched soil with manure and composted organic matter • Extensive irrigation systems • Reservoirs, dikes, dams, pumps, water wheels • Artificial irrigation greatly increased agricultural production which led to a rapid population expansion

15. Cities Southern Gate of Chang’an

16. Cities • Increased food supplies encouraged the growth of cities • During the Tang Dynasty, the imperial capital of Chang’an was the world’s most populous city • Perhaps two million residents • During the Song Dynasty, the capital of Hangzhou had over a million residents • Southern terminus of the Grand Canal

17. Economic Exchange Coins from the Tang Dynasty Yellow and Yangzi Rivers

18. Economic Exchange: Letters of Credit • Trade grew so rapidly during the Tang and Song era that copper coin shortages developed • Traders began issuing letters of credit (“flying cash”) as an alternative • Modern banking system begins. Enabled merchants to deposit goods or cash at one location and draw the equivalent cash or merchandise somewhere else Coin from Tang Dynasty

19. Economic Exchange: Paper Money • The search for alternatives to cash also led to the invention of paper money • During the late ninth century, wealthy merchants began accepting cash from their clients and issuing them printed notes that the clients could redeem for merchandise • Increased trade and allowed people to loan money

20. Religion and Education Buddha from Tang Dynasty

21. Religion and Education • Buddhist merchants visited China as early as the second century B.C. • Emphasized high standards of morality, intellectual sophistication, and a promise of salvation A Buddhist monk

22. New Technologies Song porcelain Cannon ca. 1368

23. New Technologies: Porcelain • Tang craftsmen discovered how to produce porcelain which was lighter, thinner, and adaptable to more uses than earlier pottery • Strong enough and attractive enough to serve utilitarian or aesthetic purposes • Tang and Song products gained such a reputation that porcelain is commonly called “chinaware” Tang Marble Glazed Porcelain Figure

24. New Technologies: Gunpowder • During the Tang era, Daoist alchemists learned it was dangerous to mix charcoal, saltpeter, sulphur, and arsenic • Military officials saw possibilities • By the tenth-century, the Tang military was using gunpowder in bamboo “fire lances,” a kind of flame thrower and by the eleventh century they had made primitive bombs

25. New Technologies: Printing Book printing ca. 868

26. New Technologies: Printing • Became common in Tang era • Earliest printers used block-printing techniques • Carved a reverse image of an entire page into a wooden block, inked the block, then pressed a sheet of paper on top of it • By the mid-eleventh century, printers began to experiment with movable type • Fashioned dies in the shape of ideographs, arranged them in a frame, inked them, and pressed the frame over paper sheets • Speeded up the process of printing and allowed printers to make revisions and corrections • Facilitated production and distribution of texts quickly, cheaply, and in large quantities. Gave more people opportunity to learn.

27. Art and Writing Poet Li Bo Poet Du Fu

28. Art and Writing • The ruling and elite classes of the Tang and Song Dynasties were major supporters of Chinese painting. • Sought elaborate and ornate art with political and educational significance • Stressed realism and landscapes

29. Su Song’s Astronomical Clock

31. Foot Binding in Tang and Song Women’s subordinate position in society was reinforced when the custom of footbinding emerged. The custom probably began in the imperial court but soon it spread to the lower classes. The feet of young girls were bound with long strips of cloth, producing a lily-shaped foot about half the size of the foot that was allowed to grow normally. Tiny feet and a stilted walk became a symbol of nobility and beauty. Footbinding was extremely painful. Yet the custom survived and in time spread to the lower classes. Even peasant parents feared that they could not find a husband for a daughter with large feet. Not all girls in China had their feet bound. Peasants who needed their daughters to work in the fields did not accept the practice. Yet most women did have to submit to footbinding. Women with bound feet often could not walk without help. Thus, footbinding reinforced the Confucian tradition that women should remain inside the home.