Song and Tang Dynasties and a bit of the Mongols Write the WHITE text!!!

Ancient China Review Confucianism Daoism Emphasis on order, balance, things to make this world (the secular world) better Social Hierarchy (father over son, husband over wife, emperor over subjects, etc.) Importance of family, ancestors, tradition Value of ritual and education GROUP more important than individual and maintain 5 relationships Emphasis on passivity, solace, individual connections to the natural world Equality of all (duality of existence, yin/yang). Example – men and women, dark and light, young and old – together create whole or balance Primacy of nature Seek to become one with cosmic energy called Qi INDIVIDUAL more important than the group

POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS IN TANG CHINA 618 CE - 907 CE The Tang Dynasty was a Golden Age and is considered the high point in Chinese civilization. The Tang capital city was at Chang'an (Xi'an). Along the silk trade route, Chang'an welcomed traders from Korea, Japan, Syria, Arabia, Iran, and Tibet. Foreign trade on the Silk Roads grow. Arrival of tea from Southeast Asia.

Tang Dynasty Culture One of the many accomplishments of the Tang was its ability to spread Chinese culture, while at the same time incorporating the cultures of surrounding civilizations. During the Tang period, Buddhism reached as far as Japan and Korea whih reunited China, yet Confucianism won out as the state doctrine and a government by bureaucracy. Massive Tang Dynasty statues of a bodhisattva, an arhat, and Vairocana Buddha. Confucius

Tang Dynasty Inventions during the Golden Age                                    Tang Dynasty Inventions during the Golden Age The Tang Dynasty witnessed many advancements in Chinese science and technology, with various developments in woodblock printing, timekeeping, diffusion of paper, gun powder, mechanical engineering, medicine, magnetic compass, cartography, optics and alchemy. Chinese soldiers revealed secrets of Chinese papermaking to the Arabs. These techniques ultimately reached Europe by the 12th century through Arab-controlled Spain. A page from the Diamond Sutra, printed the Tang Dynasty i.e. 868 CE. Currently located in the British Library, London. According to the British Library, it is “the earliest complete survival of a dated printed book”. A square bronze mirror with a phoenix motif of gold and silver inlaid with lacquer, 8th century Song Compass

CHINESE FOOT BINDING In the 10th century, in China, legend says a prince began the practice of foot binding because he loved the small "Lily Feet" of his concubine. The tiny foot became the mark of a wealthy and well-born woman. For over 1000 years, rich women had their feet bound. The new Republic banned foot binding in 1912, and the custom finally died out in the 1930's. The perfectly bound foot was only 3" long. Women who got their feet bound could not walk, run, or dance. Foot binding began between the ages of four and seven. A strip of bandage ten feet long and two inches wide was wrapped tightly around the foot. The four small toes were broken and bent under the sole. The arch of the foot was bowed to make the foot shorter. If you were a woman would you rather be a upper class woman who has to bind her feet or a lower class woman with no rights?

Song Dynasty Cultural Achievements What would paper money do for an empire? (Hint: Remember Persia and its metal coins) Introduction of a fast-growing rice from Vietnam that lead to faster growing population – 100 million by the end of the dynasty. Movable type spreads to Japan and Korea. Paper money contributes to a large-scale economy. Advances in sailing technology such as the magnetic compass lead to the growth of ocean trade. Warfare consisted of gunpowder bombs. Chinese Navigational sailor’s compass rose. An illustration of a trebuchet catapult. Trebuchets like this were used to launch the earliest type of explosive bombs.

Song and Tang Decline Song Dynasty: The Mongols, led by Genghis Khan (r. 1206– 1227), initially invaded, engaging in large raids across its borders, and in 1211 an enormous Mongol army was assembled to invade the China. The Chinese were forced to submit and pay tribute to the Mongols as vassals. Tang Dynasty: Misrule, court intrigues, economic exploitation, and popular rebellions weakened the empire, making it possible for northern invaders to terminate the dynasty in 907.

Mongols The Mongols under the different Khan leaders expanded their vast empire across Eurasia which unified many cultures. They captured Baghdad and ended Turk rule however they couldn’t rule the vast empire allowing the Ottoman Turks to take power. The end of the Mongol domination of Islamic territories was the rise of the Ottoman Turks power.