Reunification and Renaissance in Chinese Civilization: The Era of the Tang and Song Dynasties

1
Chapter 12

• Reunification and Renaissance in Chinese
  Civilization The Era of the Tang and Song
  Dynasties

2
Summary

• Political turmoil followed the fall of the Han
  during the Period of the Six Dynasties (220 589
  C.E.), and the empires bureaucratic apparatus
  collapsed. The scholar-gentry class lost ground
  to landed families. Non-Chinese nomads ruled
  much of China, and a foreign religion, Buddhism,
  replaced Confucianism as a primary force in
  cultural life. There was economic,
  technological, intellectual, and urban decline.
  New dynasties, the Sui and Tang, from the end of
  the 6th century brought a restoration of Chinese
  civilization. Political unity returned

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• as nomads and nobility were brought under state
  control and the bureaucracy was rebuilt. Major
  changes occurred in economic and social life as
  the focus of a revived civilization shifted from
  the north to the Yangtze valley and southern and
  eastern coastal areas. The Song dynasty
  continued the revival their era saw the
  restoration of the scholar-gentry and the
  Confucian order. It was a time of artistic,
  literary, and technological flourishing. Male
  dominance reached new heights.

4
Rebuilding the Imperial Edifice in the Sui-Tang
Era

• The emergence of the Sui dynasty at the end of
  the 6th century C.E. from the patchwork of
  warring states that had predominated for nearly
  four centuries signaled a return to strong
  dynastic control. In the Tang era that followed,
  the bureaucratic institutions begun under the Han
  were restored, improved, and expanded. A
  Confucian revival enhanced the position of the
  scholar-gentry and provided the basis for a
  return to highly centralized rule under an
  imperial dynasty.

5
Tang Decline and the Rise of the Song

• After several centuries of rule, the Tang fell on
  hard times. Beset by internal rebellions and
  nomadic incursions, the Tang gave way to the Song
  in the early 10th century C.E. Although the Song
  domains were smaller than the Tang, a Confucian
  revival flourished under the successor dynasty.
  Following new waves of nomadic invasions, in the
  mid-12th century the Song lost control of north
  China. A century and a half later, their empire
  in south China fell to the Mongols.

6
Tang and Song Prosperity The Basis of a Golden
Age

• The Tang and Song period was a time of major
  transitions. Shifts in the population balance
  within China, new patterns of trade and commerce,
  urban expansion, novel forms of artistic and
  literary expression, and a series of
  technological breakthroughs contributed to new
  directions in Chinese civilization. These shifts
  became pronounced in the late Tang period and the
  Song dynasty. The China that emerged from this
  era was wealthy and market-oriented and more
  bureaucratized, urbanized, and more cosmopolitan
  than the Han civilization.

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1

• Trace the Sui rise and fall from power.

8
1

• A member of a respected family, Wendi, set up a
  marriage between his daughter and the powerful
  Zhou monarch Wendi then took the throne from his
  son-in-law. Wendi used nomadic militia to help
  his conquest of China. He was favored for
  lowering taxes.

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• Correlate the rise of the Tang with the Confucian
  renaissance.

10
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• Wendis son Yangdi continued strengthening the
  state by further conquests and victories over
  nomads. He reformed the legal code and the
  Confucian educational system. The scholar-gentry
  were brought back into the imperial
  administration.

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3

• Trace the decline of the Tang dynasty

12
3

• The Tang were beset by internal rebellions they
  were also hit with nomadic incursions

13
4

• Compare the strengths of the Song Empire with the
  Tang

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4

• The Song Empire did not have the strong emperors
  that the Tang had. The Tang also conquered a
  larger area than the Song was able to. The
  subjects of the Tang favored them more than the
  Song.

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5

• Describe the aspects of economic prosperity
  during the Tang-Song era.

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• The expansion toward southern China led to an
  increase in agricultural production. China also
  tended to export manufactured goods and import
  luxuries.

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6

• Describe the status of women during the Tang-Song
  era

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6

• The status of women showed signs of improving in
  the Tang and early Song eras but deteriorated in
  the late Song era

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