Copy of Tang and Song China

POLITICAL

ECONOMICS

CULTURAL

Political

Economics

Cultural

Connections

Why the Dynasties declined

Song:

• Rice production doubled.
• Increased population and merchants allowed for internal trade to flourish.
• Kaifeng became a manufacturing center of cannons, moveable type printing.
• Hangzhou in Southern Song used cotton sails and magnetic compasses, the Song had the most powerful navy in the world.

Song:

• Women were entitled to keep their dowries and could be merchants.
• Footbinding originates with the aristocratic class. It was seen as a sign of wealth and status. Resulting in an increase in the restriction of freedom for women.

Tang:

• Military outposts allowed for the protection and security of Silk Road Trade.
• Equal field system was established, in which peasants were given land in return for tax in grain and corvee.
• Introduced paper money which led to economic prosperity.
• Letters of credit (flying money) made long distance trade easier.

Tang:

• Heavily influenced by the spread of Buddhism.
• Empress Wu started a school dedicated to Buddhist and Confucian scholarship.
• In a backlash against Buddhism, Neo-Confucianism developed which sought to limit foreign influence in China.
• Marriages were arranged within women's own social class.
• Upper-class women could own property, move about in public, and remarry.

(618-907 C.E.)

(960-1279 C.E)

Tang and Song China

The Tang dynasty fell due internal rebellions as well as invasions of nomadic peoples along their northern borders.

Tang:

• Expanded its territory beyond China into Tibet and Korea.
• Completed the Grand Canal.
• Maintained well run transportation and communication network
• Distributed land according to the equal field system.
• Relied upon bureaucracy based on civil service examination system.
• Reestablished the tribute system with its nomad neighbors (paying off the nomads in order to keep the peace).

After the fall of Tang dynasty, warlords split China apart and it was soon joined back together and into the Song dynasty. It wasn't as big as the Tang, never gaining back some western and northern lands.

Create a Venn Diagram comparing the Tang and Song Dynasties.

Tang

Song

Completed Grand Canal

Used the civil service examination system

Both

5

Used the equal field system

Armies led by scholar bureaucrats

Introduced paper money

The other major power during the Tang dynasty was the Muslim Abbasid dynasty, the Muslims and the Tang traded along the Silk Road.

Rice production doubled

Heavily influenced by Buddhism

Footbinding begins

Fell due to internal rebellions

Fell to Mongol invaders

Song:

• Expanded bureaucracy through civil service exam system which in turn limited the power of the land owning elites.
• Scholar bureaucrats led armies into battle which eventually led to its downfall.

Male dominated society

Agricultural advancements

Trade based economy

The Song dynasty fell due to the Mongols conquering Jin dynasty to the north, and soon after conquered the Song.

Weak military

Expansive bureaucracy