1. Yellow River (Huanghe) III. Routes The “Silk Road”
I.Rivers
Yangzi / Yangtze River
Yellow River (Huanghe)
III. Routes
The “Silk Road”
The route along which Mahayana
Buddhism entered China
the Grand Canal before 1250
IV. Other Features
Gobi Desert
The North China Plain
Tibetan Plateau
Sichuan Basin
Korean Peninsula
Xiongnu territory
II.Cities
Luoyang / Loyang
Jiankang (modern Nanjing / Nanking)
Chang’an (modern Xi’an)
Kaifeng/K’ai-feng

2. The transformation of society
750 and 1050 compared

3. Tang 618-907 Song 960-1279 The An Lushan rebellion 755-757
Five Dynasties (in the north)
Ten Kingdoms (in the south)
Liao (the Khitans)
Song

5. Telling Time 12 hours per day beginning in the Warring States period
10 day weeks
12 months of 30 days. Beginning in Eastern Han named by number, 1st moon, 2nd moon, etc.
four seasons (defined by the solstices and equinoxes)
year (beginning and ending at the winter solstice)
12 animals (rat, ox, etc.) already by the Qin dynasty
60 year cycles (10 “heavenly stems” and 12 “earthly branches”) beginning in the Western Han (a1, b2… a11, b12, c 1… i11, j12)
counting years: from the first year of a ruler’s accession (Shang, Zhou, early Han)
by the “reign period” within the reign of a ruler (beginning in 110 BC)

6. the emperor (posthumously known as) Xuan-zong (Mysterious-Ancestor)
example
When was January 1, 755 in Tang terms?
In Chinese it was 大唐 玄宗天寶13年(甲午)閏11月14日
Which translates as:
Great Tang
the emperor (posthumously known as) Xuan-zong (Mysterious-Ancestor)
his reign period named Tianbao (Heavenly Treasure)
the 13th year
(the jiawu year )
intercalary 11th month
14th day

8. Song and surrounding states, ca. 1100
Liao
Song and surrounding states, ca. 1100

11. Transport networks, Tang and Song compared

13. Huai River as the dividing line between north and south

17. Scroll of Kaifeng in the 11th century:
Website: tutorials, slide shows, and scrolls
View the scroll “Qingming shanghe tu” (Going up the River during the Qingming Festival)