Title: Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties
1Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties
2Themes of Chinese Civilization
- Turmoil after Han Dynasty
- Bureaucracy collapsed
- Scholar gentry lost ground to landed families
- non-Chinese nomads controlled many areas
- Buddhism replaced Confucianism as a primary force
in cultural life - Economic, cultural and Urban decline
- Post Classical China
- Culture consolidated
- Patriarchy reigned stronger than ever
- Scholar gentry restored
- Nomads brought under state control
- Bureaucracy rebuilt
- Center of society moved to South East
- Less FUNDAMENTAL innovation
- Huge developments in Technology
- Seen as Renaissance because it
- WAS a rebirth of Chinese society
3Founding of Sui Dynasty
Sui Dynasty, 581-618 C.E.
- Wendi( noble) came to power with help of nomads
- Conquered Northern and Southern kingdom
- Popular lowered taxes, established granary
- Yangdi ( Wendis son)
- -conquered further
- -reformed legal code
- -brought back scholar gentry
-
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5Sui Dynasty, 581-618 C.E.Accomplishments
- EstablishedLand Equalization System gt land
redistribution. ( Popular) - Unified coinage. (Good for trade growth)
- Grand Canal constructed( linked empire)
- Established an army of professional soldiers.
6The Grand Canal
7The Grand Canal Today
8Sui Collapse
- People were overworked and overtaxed!
- Unsuccessful conquest of Korea and defeat by
Turkic nomads in 615 led to widespread revolts - Assasinated in 618 AD
9Tang Restoration
- Li Yuan- Duke of Tang
- ( former Sui) took over
- Extended empire to
- Afghanistan, Tibet, Vietnam, Manchuria and Korea
- ( ? for nomads)
- Brilliantly used Turkic nomads in military and
trade to assimilate them into Chinese culture - repaired Great wall ?
10More Tang Restoration
- Scholar gentry restored Confucian ideology
- (allowed Tang to maintain imperial unity)
- -Aristocratic power
- Authority shared by imperial families and scholar
gentry bureaucrats - ( bureau of censors watched all officials)
11Totally awesome Scholar Gentry
- Members of Scholar Gentry
- Civil Service Exam and patterns regularized
- Delivered by ministry of public rites
- Highest offices went to highest scoring students
- Additional exams led to special social status
- Birth connections still helped but Intelligent
commoners could rise to high positions
12Tang Dynasty, 618-907 C.E. More totally awesome
feats
- New technologies
- Printing --gt moveable print ?!
- Porcelain!
- Gunpowder!
- Mechanical clocks!
- More cosmopolitan culture.
- Reestablished the safety of the Silk Road.
- Tea comes into China from Southeast Asia. ?
13Tang Religion
- Confucian Revival threatened Buddhism
- (Mahayana Buddhism( salvationist) practiced by
masses) - (Zen Buddhism practiced by elite)
- Many early Tang leaders accepted it
- Especially Chinas only female emperor Empress Wu
14Empress Wu Zetian, 624-705
- The only female Empress in Chinas history who
ruled alone. ? - Searched for outstanding individuals to attract
to her court. - Construction of new irrigation systems.
- Buddhism was the favored statereligion.
- Financed the building of many Buddhist
temples. - BUT She appointed cruel and sadistic
ministers to seek out her enemies.
15Tang Religion Continued
- Concuians and Daoists Hated Buddhists
- Confucian scholars convinced Tang leaders that
untaxed Buddhist Monastaries threatened empire
- Emperor Wuzong ( 841-847)
- destoryed thousands of monasteries and shrines
- Hundreds of thousands of monks and nuns wre
killed or forced to leave - Buddhist lands were taxed or redistributed to
noble and peasants
16RELIGIOUS CHANGE
- But a new version of Confucianism----
- Neo Confucianism
- -became the enduring central ideology of Chinese
Civilization
17Foot-Binding in Tang China
- Broken toes by 3 years of age.
- Size 5 ½ shoe on the right
18Foot-Binding in Tang China
- Mothers bound their daughters feet.
19Foot-Binding in Tang China
- For upper-class girls, it became a new custom.
20The Results of Foot-Binding