Advances in Agriculture
• Main Idea 1:– Advances in agriculture led to increased
trade and population growth.
Agriculture: farming, crop growing
Advances in Agriculture
• Chinese civilization has always been based on agriculture.
• In the north, farmers grew wheat, barley, and other grains. The south was ideal for growing rice.
Wheat Barley
Rice
Advances in Agriculture
– Farmers dug underground wells.– A new kind of pump allowed one person to do the work of
many.
A water wheel pump
Advances in Agriculture
A water-wheel pump. It is an irrigation machine that was invented in the Tang Dynasty. It was widely used in Mountain Areas of South China. It was improved during the Song Dynasty and is still used in some parts of China today.
Advances in Agriculture
• Farms became more productive and their population grew and trade was increased.
Chinese Arts & Inventions
• Artists wrote poems, painted, sculpted in clay, and made porcelain items.
Chinese Arts & Inventions
• Woodblock printing was invented. Entire pages were carved into a block of wood, covered with ink, and pressed onto paper to create copies.
Chinese Arts & Inventions
• Gunpowder was a very important invention of the Tang dynasty.
– Gunpowder was originally used to make fireworks & signals.
Chinese Arts & Inventions
• The magnetic compass was perfected during the Tang dynasty.
– The compass allowed sailors and merchants to travel vast distances.
Chinese Arts & Inventions
• The Song dynasty brought about the inventions of movable type and paper money.
600-1450 Religious
-Confucianism is widely accepted/practiced and co-exists with Buddhism.
-Daoists get jealous of Buddhism’s foothold in China and burn down their temples stunting its growth a bit.
The Confucian Revival
• At least Confucianism made a major comeback during the Song period
– Long lost texts were recovered, new schools and libraries were opened
– Many new thinkers emerged to interpret the meanings of Confucius’ teachings
• This application developed into Neo-Confucianism– A hostility developed to foreign ideas and
innovations (isolationism)– The emphasis on rank, obligation and
deference reinforced class, gender and age divisions
– Social harmony would be maintained, according to Neo-Cs, as long as men and women performed their tasks appropriately (man as patriarch, woman as subordinate)