Sui, Tang, and Song Dynasties

EQ: What qualities define power struggle s

and stable periods of rule? 

Chapter 5, Lesson 1 pg. 82

Vocabulary

• scholar-gentry

• Silk Road (pg. 85)

• Grand Canal (pg. 82)

• Confucius

• civil servant

• dowry

Confucius (501-479 BC) • Philosopher and teacher • Social Relations:

– People and Politics • People: Should obey the law, do what the Emperor told

them to do. • Government- should do its duty to the people, and not

abuse them. The Emperor should be cooperative and helpful to the people.

• His idea influence Chinese society and the rest of the world.

• If a person not fit to rule—overthrow the Emperor (he loses the “Mandate of Heaven”)

Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD)

• Han dynasty fell in 220AD– Civil war until 581AD.

• Sui Dynasty– Sui Yangdi

– Forced labor– High taxes– Luxurious lifestyle– Built Grand

Canal– Connected Yellow

and Yangzte

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuSrV-LywWQ

Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD)

• People overthrew Sui Yangdi in 618 AD

• Tang Dynasty– Instituted many reforms:

• Return to Confucian principles

• Return of the Silk Road and trade

• Restored civil service exams

– Difficult exams given to civil servants who worked in government

– Eventually fell victim to rebellions in 907 AD

• Powerful generals begin fighting each other.

Chinese Society Under the Tang

• Education becomes important.– Reading becomes popular

after invention of woodblock printing.

– Old landed aristocracy replaced by scholar-gentry• Aristocrats schooled in

Confucian principles• Treatment of women…

– Female children seen as less desirable than male children.• Female infants would be

killed during famines.– Marriage

• Woman became part of male’s family.

• Her family must provide a dowry

Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD)• Song Dynasty

– Economic prosperity and cultural achievement.• Trade increased.

– Painting, poetry popular

– Create fleet of large ships that navigate with charts and compasses.

– Northern neighbors (Mongols) were a constant problem.• Moved capital to

Hangzhou • Developed a

“defensive alliance” with the Mongols.

Silk Road

•  Caravans carried goods between China and Southwest Asia and South Asia.

• It was more than a trading route, however.• Conduit of ideas.

– Three religions—Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam—spread along the Silk Road.

– Technical knowledge from China—including the secrets of printing, drilling wells, and making iron, gunpowder, paper, and silk—reached the West along the Silk Road. 

The Mongols• Mongols are a

pastoral people from present day Mongolia.

• Expansion originally started by Genghis Khan. – Will create the

largest land empire in history.

The greatest joy a man can know is to conquer his enemies and drive them before him. To ride their horses and take away their possessions. To see the faces of those who were dear to them bedewed with tears."

China under the Mongols• Genghis Khan’s

grandson, Kublai Khan, conquered the Song in 1279.– Against the Chinese,

the Mongols encountered two significant obstacles.•Great Wall of China•Fire-lance

(gunpowder)• Created a new dynasty:

Yuan.– Kublai Khan ruled

China until 1294.•Moved capital to

Beijing.http://www.history.com/shows/mankind-the-story-of-all-of-us/videos/mankind-the-story-of-all-of-us-genghis-khan

Fall of the Yuan Dynasty• Mongol rulers continued the

Chinese political system.– Over time, the dynasty

won support of Chinese people.•Respected stability and

economic prosperity.• Marco Polo visited China

during the Yuan– Brings Chinese

technologies back to Europe.

• Yuan overthrown in 1368.– Began the Ming dynasty.

Do you think the expedition shown on the map is traveling long distances? Use at least three details from the map to support your answer.

A view of Hangzhou, China, from Marco Polo’s Livres de Merveilles

Analyzing Visuals Describe the economic activity taking place at Hangzhou.

Video Review

• As you watch the video in a separate sheet of paper answer the following questions.

1.Explaining What accomplishments from the Song dynasty helped to spur trade (trade grow)?

2.Describing What accomplishments from the Song dynasty revolutionized (change) warfare (the way people fight)?

Activity: Chinese Innovations

• Read “Government and Economy” pg. 84

• Complete “Chinese Innovations” chart

Biography Marco Polo

Activity

• How did the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties bring order to China between periods of chaos and instability?

• In which of the three dynasties would you have want to live and which member of society would you have been?

Activity

• Read government and economics

• Answer the following question – How did the Chinese government and

economy develop and change over the time period of the three dynasties?