Download Ancient China

China
Middle Imperial Era
China and Japan
Quiz: Tuesday, December 4
China, Chapter 12 p. 263-276
Japan, Chapter 13, 278-290
Chapter 13 hint: P 286-287
Due: Four pages of notes total
Two pages for each Chapter
China: Reunification &
Renaissance
Recall Political Developments:
• Sui Dynasty (589-618)
– Reunification
– Completion of Grand Canal connecting
northern & southern China
• Tang Dynasty (618-907) – expansion
China during the Tang & Song Dynasties
Song Dynasty (960-1279)
Confucian Civil Service System
• Reintroduced during Sui Dynasty;
expanded in Tang & Song era, especially
• Exams based on Confucian classics
Economic Revolution
• Population doubled during
Song era
• Agricultural prosperity
– New variety of rice
– New cash crops – e.g. tea,
sugar
– Dikes, reservoirs, & dams
– Water pumps
– P. 269
Terraced rice paddies in southern China
Economic Revolution Cont.
• Commercial growth
• Manufacturing expands during this period 10001450
– Internal trade, facilitated by canals & paper $
– Overseas maritime trade facilitated by magnetic
compass & junks
• Growth in industry
– Esp. silk fabric, porcelain & paper
– Water powered mills & bellows
– Iron & steel
Chinese Junks
• Urbanization (growth of cities)
– E.g. Kaifeng & Hangzhou (p. 268)
Other Technological Achievements
• Gunpowder
• Mechanical clock
• Moveable type
(printing)
“Thunderbolt ball”
Social Developments
• Growth of scholar-elite
• Declining status of women
– Increasing legal restrictions
– Demand in cities for domestic servants &
concubines
– Foot binding
Ideal woman’s
foot = 3” long!
FOOT
BINDING
Lotus Shoes
• The role of
Women further
diminishes
during and
after the Song
Dynasty
FOOT BINDING Q & A!
• When did foot binding begin?
– Tang Dynasty (618-907) among upper class
• Why?
– It’s beautiful. Right?
• Another q: Would men find the deformed feet
attractive?
• Was it always the same?
– No—It got much more debilitating (and
widespread) during the later Qing Dynasty.
(When was the Qing Dynasty?)
• Last one – 1636-1911
• The ideal foot: approx. 3 inches long!
Cultural Developments
• Women poets as
exception
• Refined pastimes
of the elite
• Landscape
painting
P. 273-275