Download Sui and Tang Dynasty Notes

Sui and Tang Dynasty Notes
Sui dynasty
• Before Tang dynasty
• Brief, successful
• Set groundwork for Tang
• Brought China together
China before Sui
• Collapsed into north, south
• When divided, open to invasion
• Western tribes, others: raided, did damage
Sui
• Understood that unified China could resist invasion
• Took command
Emperor Wendi
• Organized, centralized government
• Realized need for effective bureaucracy to run empire
Reforms
• Bureaucratic: officials reported to central government
• Grand Canal: 100s of miles of canals—linked China
Conquest
• Tried to conquer Vietnam, Turkistan, Mongolia
• Required more taxes, led to revolts
End of Sui
• Emperor Yang Di assassinated
• 618: leader of revolt established Tang dynasty
Taizong
• Dynamic, ruthless Chinese emperor
• Outstanding military commander
• Great governor, flexible
Taizong's policies
• Recognized need for own cavalry
• Brought in Zhongguo to become more Chinese
• Pushed Confucian doctrine, literary traditions
• Wanted able scholars as government ministers
• Made Vietnam, Tibet, Korea tributary states
Capital city: Changan
• 8th–9th centuries CE: biggest in world at time
• Had Persian, Arab, Jewish, Greek communities
• Japanese, Koreans came to study law, art
Land reforms
• Landed estates of nobility broken up
• Peasants given ownership of land, taxed directly
Taizong
• Required money for wars, building projects
• Benefactor of cultural growth: entertained poetry, art
Tang Culture
Tang dynasty: Art
• Artists, poets: wrote, painted with brushes
• Brushwork defined scholars, artists, poets
• 2,000 identified poets, 49,000 known works
Wu Daozi
• Worked in iron wire line: distinctive artistic style
• Used creativity to vary thickness of ink
• Known for fluidity, rapid hand movement
• Work gained 3-dimensional look: orchid petal line
• Thought of as genius, magical
Jadework
• Chinese started to work with jade
• Jade: material with distinctive green effect
Landscape art
• Based on Daoist urge to understand nature
• Images of land, trees
• Contemplative, peaceful
Inventions
• Timepieces, clocks
• Manufacturing of paper
• Porcelain, flatware
• Gunpowder
• 1st printed book: Diamond Sutra (868 CE)
Religion
• Blended Daoism, Confucianism, Buddhism
• Tang: tolerant of all traditions
Confucian ideals
• Being dutiful, fulfilling family obligations
• Working hard, being honest
• Being in the world
Daoist beliefs
• Retreat from the world into nature
• Could have shrine, use meditation
Buddhism
• About the next world: what happens after death?
• Asks people to be well-behaved, good
Tang Centralization and Decline
Tang dynasty
• Promoted culture
• Brought together Daoism, Confucianism, Buddhism
• Had problems after founder Taizong’s death
Problems of dynasty
• Usually established by 1 dynamic individual
• Within few generations: tend to have weaker leaders
Tang reforms
• Instituted to unify state, strengthen government
• Created departments for efficient bureaucracy
• Made it easier to collect taxes, recruit troops
Food production, storage
• Brought back faster-ripening rice
• More food = population growth
• Created greater storage ability
• Could feed people in famine
Taizong: Military leader
• Put together state that could survive invasions
• Reorganized military, created cavalry
Land reform
• Landed estates broken up
• Peasants controlled land, had to pay taxes
Civil service exam
• Based on Confucian doctrines, literature
• Men could enter civil service, move up
Rural Chinese
• Lived in small villages
• Most of life communal experience
• Village leader consulted with council of elders
Empress Wu
• Moved quickly to seize power after emperor died
• Pushed other heirs out of the way
• Executed anyone seen as threat
• Ran military campaigns, conquered Korea
End of Tang
• Conquest, construction, taxes led to unhappiness
• 755 CE: general led rebellion
• By 907 CE: last Tang emperor killed
• Tang replaced by Song dynasty
Switching of dynasties
• Caused chaos, military destruction
• Not a disaster: change of government
MLA Citation
"Outline." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras, ABC-CLIO, 2016, ancienthistory.abcclio.com/Topics/Display/1185626?cid=142&sid=1913371. Accessed 14 Nov. 2016.