The Rise of the Song (960 C.E. – 1279 C.E.) Chapter 12 (2 of 3)

By the mid-800s, the Tang Dynasty was beginning to collapse Text Box

Star-Crossed Lovers and the Fall of a Dynasty XuanzongYang Guifei

Xuanzong Tang Emperor ( ) As time went on, Xuanzong lost interest in politics and slipped into life of luxury At first he reformed and improved China, but overexpanded which helped lead to collapse As Xuanzong was oblivious, and Yang abused power, China had huge economic problems and military was weakened as result Yang abused the immense power she got, promoting family members to important jobs and wasting government’s money Became infatuated with 1 of his many concubines, Yang Guifei

An Lushan An Lushan = nomadic general who led rebellion against the Tang in 755 Revolt was stopped, but Xuanzong forced to have Yang executed To stop revolt, Tang had to make alliances with nomadic military leaders, who got large areas of land in north China Economy kept getting worse and rebellions kept occurring, often led by unhappy peasants Tang became very weak and soon the Song Dynasty took over

In 907 the last Tang emperor forced to resign Zhao Kuangyin emerged as leader and began the Song Dynasty The 1 group Song never beat were the Khitan people (nomads) from the Liao Dynasty Khitans left Song alone as long as Song paid tribute, but Song at mercy of the nomads

Song v. Tang Dynasties 1.Song never got as large as Tang 2.Song had even more emphasis on examinations and increased size of bureaucracy even more 3.Bureaucracy became overstaffed and wasteful, but scholar- gentry class gained even more power at expense of aristocrats and Buddhists

The Neo-Confusions Under the Song, there was a revival of Confucian thought as scholar-gentry gained influence (called neo-Confucianism) Reinforced idea men as head of family, and the best way to solve problems was to look back at history (stress of tradition actually slowed new innovations) New schools and academies formed to teach Confucian ideas and texts (teaching indigenous idea of Confucianism over outside ideas like Buddhism Neo-Confucians emphasized Confucian teachings of class, age, and gender roles (traditions) Zhu Xi = The leading Neo-Confucian during Song Era

The Music Fades on the Song Dynasty Song had large army (over 1 million), but it was costly and poorly led Song couldn’t stop nomadic Khitans, so other nomads decided they could attack Songs had been paying Khitans “protection” money, which drained economy Funds needed to improve army instead went to education and entertainment Reasons for Song Demise

Wang Anshi Tries to Get the Song to Carry On Wang Anshi = Chief Minister in the 1070s who initiated series of reforms to try to prevent a Song collapse Legalist = belief that government should intervene a lot in society (Wang was a legalist) Government gave cheap loans to spur business, built irrigation systems, and reformed education, and taxed landlords and scholar- gentry to be able to afford better army

The Fat Lady Sings for the Song The emperor supporting Wang and his ideas died, and new emperor stopped reforms Neo-Confucians came to power, against Legalist reforms, and economy again suffered Jurchens = nomads from the north who after defeating Liao (who had been “protecting” Song) conquered the Song The peasants were upset with the economic problems and rebelled against the Song government Sort of

Southern Song Dynasty ( ) Song Dynasty able to live on, although on a much smaller scale Though much smaller, this period was a glorious cultural period for the Chinese