tang and song dynasties, mongol invasions, and ming dynasty
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Tang and Song Dynasties, Mongol Invasions, and Ming Dynasty. Achievements – Pre- Tang Dynasty. Built the Grand Canal, which connected the Yellow River in the north and the Yangzi River in the south Farmers and merchants in the south (rice) used the canal to connect to the North - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Tang and Song Dynasties,Mongol Invasions, and
Ming Dynasty
Achievements – Pre- Tang Dynasty• Built the Grand Canal, which connected the
Yellow River in the north and the Yangzi River in the south
• Farmers and merchants in the south (rice) used the canal to connect to the North
• Government and military officials could travel and control citizens• Many died while
building the canal
Pre-Tang Dynasty (Sui Dynasty) -Achievements
• Repaired and lengthened the Great Wall• Provided security from Northern invaders which
allowed cultural and economic growth• Many died while building the wall, and buried
among the bricks: giving it the nickname
“The world’s longest cemetery”
Tang Dynasty
• 618-907 CE: Golden Age of culture
• China was the richest most powerful country in the world
Tang Dynasty-Government: Aristocracy
• Used civil service exams but…..
• The aristocrats (gentry) – the wealthy landowning class –
got most jobs
• Civil service exams
favored aristocrats
Tang Dynasty-Government
• Only dynasty to have a female emperor: Empress Wu Chao
• Ruled with an iron fist: if anyone threatened her, they risked being
killed
Tang Dynasty-Military• One of the biggest empires in Chinese
history
• Stretched from inner Mongolia in the north, to Vietnam in the south to Korea in the east, to Kashmir in the west
Tang Dynasty-Economics• Reopened the silk road- a system for trade,
travel, communication, exchange of ideas
• From China to the West: silk, porcelain, jade, tea, paper, printing, farming methods, weapons
• From the West to China: glass, rugs, horses, silver, medicine, spices,
Christianity, Islam
Tang Dynasty-Economics• Equal Field System- redistributed land• Citizens were classified into ranks and land was
given equally to members of various ranks• Citizens paid taxes on how much land they
received• Government benefited from increased number of
taxpayers, limited power of rural aristocrats, and loyalty of peasants who got land
• Benefited commoners and peasants by giving them a chance to gain wealth
Tang Dynasty-Religion• Buddhism very popular in beginning but
Tang leaders based their government on Confucian ideals and feared the growing power of Buddhists
• Confucian Tang ruler, Wu Zong, repressed Buddhism.
• He burned texts, took lands from Buddhist temples, destroyed many temples and turned others into schools.
Tang Dynasty-Culture• Chinese culture flourished during
this period• Tang artists and poets were
influenced by Daoism and stressed the beauty, power, harmony, and peace of nature
• Li Bo and Du Fu- very famous Chinese poets and Wu Daozi- famous artist lived at this time
• Made amazing objects in clay• Even government officials painted,
wrote, studied poetry, and made pottery
Song Dynasty
• 960-1279 CE
• Song China was limited to provinces south of the Great Wall
Song Dynasty -Government
• Strengthened the system of meritocracy• Started ruling according to Confucian beliefs:
– 1. Scholarly class of civil servants – 2.Stablility and harmony in social order can
only result from respecting hierarchies
• People joined the bureaucracy by passing civil service examinations-this ensured only intelligent and talented people became civil servants
Song Dynasty-Government• Tests very difficult - though rare, people
from lower classes could become officials
• Only 2-10% of test takers would reach the final test and receive a position in govt.
• If you passed you became a scholar official- an educated member of the government
• Scholar officials were considered elite members of society and were highly respected and admired for their knowledge and ethics
Song Dynasty-FARMING• Chinese farming excelled
• New Irrigation techniques, Dug underground wells, Dragon Backbone pump-light portable pump that allowed farmers to scoop up water and pour it into a canal
• Discovery of fast ripening rice= 2 or 3 harvests a year
• Began growing tea, cotton
Song Dynasty-Economy• Merchants also became wealthy by
selling the surplus crops to cities and neighboring areas such as Korea, Japan, Persia, Arab world and East Africa
• Invented paper money-first time in history merchants didn’t have to carry bags of coins
• Power of merchant class and importance of cities rose
INVASION OF THE MONGOLS
• Mongols: Genghis Khan
• Skilled warriors
(used gunpowder
and cannons)
• Nomadic in Central Asia
• Horsemen
Expansion of Mongol Territory
• See map on p.309 in textbook
• Pax Mongolica – economic
growth
and cultural
exchange
Reign of Kublai Khan
• Yuan Dynasty (1271 – 1368)
• Built a giant palace in Cambaluc (Beijing)
• Welcomed foreign visitors
Ibn Battuta (African) Marco Polo (Venetian)
MARCO POLO
• Describes Kublai Khan’s palace as “the greatest palace there ever was.”
This is a
drawing of
the palace
Ming Dynasty
• Restored meritocracy – civil service exams
• Economic expansion – rice farming;
porcelain making; printing; canal
repairing; landscape painting; poetry
writing; novels;
Chinese opera…
Voyages of Zheng He
• In 1405, sailed throughout Asia and Africa
• Ships 400ft long• Showed many the
power of China
The Forbidden City
• Forbidden City Built 1406-1420– It is the imperial palace (where the emperors
live)
China Turned Inward
• 1433– Zheng He died– Ming emperor banned ship making – traveling
and sailing declined– Confucian leaders looked at bettering China,
rather than abroad