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Post-classical: tang & Song dynasties of china. Like Western Europe after the decline of the Roman Empire, China entered a long period of turmoil and unrest after the collapse of the Han Dynasty in A.D. 220. As in the west, the advance of the Huns helped plunge China into disunity.
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Post-classical: tang & Song dynasties of china • Like Western Europe after the decline of the Roman Empire, China entered a long period of turmoil and unrest after the collapse of the Han Dynasty in A.D. 220. • As in the west, the advance of the Huns helped plunge China into disunity. • Several warring kingdoms arose, and science, art and culture declined; however, during this same time Buddhism spread through much of China. • It took several hundred years before China re-emerged as one of the world’s leading civilizations under the Tang Dynasty.
Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618 – 907): Golden Age of China • Emperor Tang Taizong: second emperor • Military buildup/expansion to Tibet, Vietnam, Manchuria; frontier Turkish forces • Empress Wu Zhao 688: Conquest of Korea • Tang era is the first time gun powder is used as a weapon • Significant engineering achievements: bridges, canals, irrigation • Economic Developments: • First use of paper money/banks; flying money: credit vouchers • Foreign trade on Silk Road grew, tea from SE Asia • Attempt to help the free peasants with redistribution of land • Revival of a strong bureaucracy/Confucianism- Civil Service Examination system expanded • Buddhism flourishes under early Tang leaders like Empress Wu (wants to establish Buddhism as a state religion) Achievements play a greater role than in the Han dynasty, in shaping China today. First use of block printing to make copies of Confucian texts to study for the civil service exams
FOOTBINDING – role of women under Tang and Song declines due to traditional beliefs of Confucianism that a woman must obey her father; the practice of footbinding began under the Song Dynasty and shows the desire to limit female mobility – this gave wealthy women small feet which was considered attractive
•Political Developments • Rule limited to southern China after Tang losses in Central Asia and Manchuria • Economic Developments • Introduction of a fast-growing rice from Vietnam that led to faster growing population • Moveable type spread to Japan and Korea • Paper money contributed to a large-scale economy • Advances in sailing technology, such as the magnetic compass, led to the growth of ocean trade • Cultural Developments • Reached new heights in Chinese art with natural landscapes and objects drawn with black ink • China’s population was at 100 million with ten cities having at least 1 million people SONG DYNASTY (A. D. 960 – 12 76) Song Dynasty will fall To invaders from the North