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Spread of Civilizations in East
Asia: 500 - 1650
Two Golden Ages of China: The Tang and the
Song
The Sui Dynasty
AD 589- 618
• The Han Empire (210 BC-Ad 220) like the Roman
Empire, collapsed
• The Sui Dynasty AD 589-618 unified China for the first
time in 400 years
• Emperor Wendi
• Capital was at Changan
• Wendi and Yangdi were harsh rulers
• Forced peasant to fight in army or work on public works
projects-(corvee)
• Wen Di was Buddhist , encouraged Confucianism and
Daoism too
• Continued building Grand Canal
• Rebuilt Great Wall
Tang Dynasty
AD 618 - 907
• Emperor Taizong in
626
• Buddhism spread
• Learning and arts
flourished
• Farm production
expanded
• Technology improved
• Invaders assimilated
Tang Dynasty: Building an Empire
• Brilliant general,
government
reformer,
historian, master
of the calligraphy
brush
• China’s most
admired emperor
Emperor Tang Taizong
Tang Dynasty: Building an Empire
Tang Dynasty: Government & Economy
• most geographically extensive
empire in Chinese history
• Rebuilt Han bureaucracy
• Upheld Confucian ideals by
acting as artists and politicians
• perfected civil service exams
• Recruited Confucian scholars
• Government officials had
highest status in society
• Set up schools to prepare male
students for the exams
• Developed flexible law code
Empress Wu
Emperor Receives A Civil Service Candidate
Tang Dynasty: Government & Economy
• gave land to peasants
– (equal field system)
• weakened power of
large land owners
• some peasants
gained wealth
• Increased government
revenues & power
• Scholars become new
ruling elite
• Emperors directly
controlled army
Tang Dynasty: Government & Economy
• Canals encouraged
internal trade and
transportation
• Grand Canal linked
the Huang He to the
Yangzi
• Food grown in the
south could be
shipped to the capital
in the north
The Grand Canal
• Grand Canal was the
longest waterway
ever dug by human
labor
• Designed to
transport the military
• 1200 miles and still
used today
Tang Dynasty Decline
AD 907
• Emperors lost
territories in Central
Asia to Arabs
• Corruption, high
taxes, drought,
famine, and rebellions
• Mandate revoked
• 907, rebel leader
overthrew the last
Tang emperor
• 50 years pass before
the next dynasty
comes
The Song Dynasty:
AD 960-1279
• Tai Zu founded after 50
years of civil war &
reunited much of China
• Faced constant threat of
invaders from Mongolians
and Manchurians
• Forced to establish new
capital in the south at
Hangzhou -south of
Huang He - and ruled for
another 150 years
Song Dynasty
• Bureaucrats selected
according to scores they
obtained on civil-service
exams -meritocracy
• Zen Buddhism became
popular
• Power of merchant class
rose –increased trade
• New strains of rice
allowed double output
Tang & Song Golden Age
•
•
•
•
•
Wealth
Culture
Foreign Trade
Paper Money
Porcelain
Technology of Tang & Song
• Gunpowder
• Block printing
• Movable type
More Advances
• small pox vaccine in
the 10th century.
• Spinning wheel
• Arches
• Gunpowder –
combination of saltpeter,
sulfur, and charcoal
• block printing
– characters carved onto a
wooden block then inked
and pressed onto a sheet of
paper
• Sailing ship – the junk
• mechanical clocks
Song Golden Age
• Wealth and culture dominated East Asia
• Farming shifted from wheat fields of the north to the rice
paddies of the Yangzi in the south
• New strains of rice & Improved irrigation led to two crops
per year
• Created surplus which allowed more people to pursue
commerce, learning or the arts
Prosperity Under the Song
• Foreign trade flourished
• Merchants from India,
Persia, and Arabia
• Chinese merchants
carried goods to
Southeast Asia in
exchange for spices and
special woods. Song
porcelain has been found
as far away as East Africa
• Paper money issued
• China’s cities now
became centers for trade
City Life During the Song Dynasty
Qing Ming Festival
Group of seated female
musicians, Tang dynasty
(618–906), late 7th century
Night-Shining White, Tang
dynasty (618–906), ca. 750
Chinese Society During Tang &
Song
Emperor and aristocratic
families at the top
•
•
•
•
Well-ordered
Highly stratified
Gentry
Peasantry-relied on
each other instead of
the government
• Merchants at the
bottom
Song Dynasty:
Women
• Higher status than
later periods
• Girls are “small
happiness”
• Footbinding custom
emerges
• “Golden Lillies”
Song Dynasty: Arts & Literature
• Wealthy people bought books, paintings,
and other art to decorate homes
Song Dynasty: Landscape Painting
• Reaches a high point
• Artists would meditate for
days on a landscape,
capture mood, and then
paint from memory
• Painting done with
brushes and ink on silk
• Stress harmony of nature
• Influence of Buddhism
declines
• Influence of Daoism
grows
Song Dynasty: Other Arts
• Indian Stupa
becomes Chinese
pagoda
• Buddha statue
Porcelain
Literature
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Poetry
Philosophy
Religion
History
Poetry
Li Bo
Down the blue mountain in the evening,
Moonlight was my homeward escort.
Looking back, I saw my path
Lie in levels of deep shadow....
I was passing the farm-house of a friend,
When his children called from a gate of thorn
And led me twining through jade bamboos
Where green vines caught and held my clothes.
And I was glad of a chance to rest
And glad of a chance to drink with my friend....
We sang to the tune of the wind in the pines;
And we finished our songs as the stars went down,
When, I being drunk and my friend more than happy,
Between us we forgot the world.
• Human
emotions
• Nature
• Individuals
place in
universe
The Mongols
How did Genghis Khan conquer & create the
largest empire ever known?
• Largest land empire; entire Asian continent from
Pacific Ocean to modern-day Hungary in Europe
• visionary leadership
• superior organizational skills
• swiftest, most resilient cavalry ever known
• army of superb archers ("devil's horsemen")
• Asian states were politically weak
• created fear, havoc, devastation
Mongolian Artifacts
Mongolian ewer
Mongol Legacy
• Pax Mongolica
• Silk Road trade flourished
• Four “Khanates”
– China-Yuan Dynasty
– Central Asia-Chaghatay
Khanate
– Russia- Golden Horde
– Iran- Ilkhanid Dynasty
Mongol Rule
• Transformed from nomadic tribal
people into rulers
• learned how to administer vast
empire
• Adopted system of administration of
conquered states
• Some Mongols in top positions but
allowed former local officials to run
everyday affairs
• Khanates connected through
intricate network that crisscrossed
the continent
• Horses made swift communication
possible, carrying written messages
through relay system of stations
• Letter sent by emperor in Beijing,
carried by envoy wearing his paiza,
or passport, could reach Ilkhanid
capital of Tabriz, 5,000 miles away, in
about one month
Legacy of Pax Mongolica
• Active trade
• Transfer/resettlement of artists & craftsmen along
main routes
• Religious tolerance
• New influences integrated w/ established local
artistic traditions
• By middle of 13th century, Mongols had formed
largest contiguous empire in the world,
• united Chinese, Islamic, Iranian, Central Asian, and
nomadic cultures within an overarching Mongol
sensibility
China: Yuan Dynasty
• Mongols conquered Song-only “foreign”
dynasty to rule China
Mongols in China: Kublai Khan
1214-1294
• Grandson of Genghis Khan
• Became emperor in 1279 after
40 years of conflict with Song
• Buddhism state religion
• Welcomes foreigners
• Hired Marco Polo for 17 years
Mongol/Yuan Rule
• Not oppressive
• Allowed people to live
as before if they paid
regular tribute
• abolished civilservice, then
reinstated it
• Hired Turks/ Persians
as administrators
Mongol Rule
•
Strict hierarchy:
1. Tax-free Mongols
2. Non-Chinese civil
Servants
3. Northern Chinese
4. Southern Chinese
•
Intelligentsia ignored
Mongol Religion
• Kublai Khan retained
shamanism
• Chinese beliefs
unaffected
• Buddhist monasteries
increased
Mongolian Shamanism Ceremony
China Under Mongol Rule
• Kublai Khan ruled from
Beijing; China, Korea,
Tibet, Vietnam
• Tried to conquer Japanunsuccessful
• Kublai maintained
roads/canals, but later
Yuan emperors let them
deteriorate
Mongol/Yuan Dynasty
• Kublai initially resisted Mongol
assimilation
• Only Mongols allowed in military &
high government jobs
• Too few Mongols to control vast
empire
• Uneasy mix of Chinese & foreign
ways develop
• Kublai eventually adapts; uses
Chinese name for dynasty- Yuan
• Welcomes outsiders to court
(Marco Polo)
Marco Polo
1254-1324
• 17 years old-traveled
w/ merchant uncle &
dad across Persia &
Central Asia to Chinaarrived age 21
• Kublai Khan hired
him-stayed 17 years
• Returned to Venice at
age 41 (1295)
• Captured/imprisoned
• Wrote book about
wonders of China
Ming Dynasty: Restoration of
Chinese Rule
• Chinese took
advantage of chaos
during late Yuan rule
to rebel against the
Mongols
• Rebel leader and
founder of Ming
Dynasty, Hong Wu,
named his dynasty
“brilliant”
How did the Ming govern China?
• Reintroduced the
civil-Service Exam
• Emperors very
powerful, ruled as
despots
• Brief period of
overseas
exploration
although later Ming
emperors prohibited
foreign trade
Ming Belief System
• Rebirth of Confucianism
• Combined belief in Daoism, Confucianism
and Buddhism
Confucius, Buddha, and Lao-Tse tasting
from a pot of vinegar, meant to symbolize
the essence of life. Confucius believed
that life was sour, and required rules and
regulations to correct the impropriety of
the people who lived it; he makes a sour
face in reaction to the vinegar. Buddha
believed that life was suffering, and that
the path to enlightenment lay with the
elimination of our earthly desires; his face
is stern and contemplative. Lao-Tse, who
believed that life – is by nature imperfect,
confusing, and complex – was sweet and
beautiful, is smiling.
Daily Life under the Ming
• Rebuilt bridges, canals,
roads, temples, shrines,
and the walls of 500 cities
• At first reduced taxes,
improved trade &
agriculture
• Later, heavy taxation and
careless government
produced peasant
rebellion and civil war
How did this dynasty help China?
• Secured borders of China to prevent foreign invasion
• Gained control of Korea, Mongolia, parts of Central and
Southeast Asia
• Eliminated Mongol influences and revived traditional
Chinese values and practices like Confucian principles.
Ming China
Zheng He
Voyages of Zheng He