2.  Tang ruled for almost 300 years, followed Sui (618-907)  Capital – Ch’ang-an  Tang Taizong – first emperor  Wu Zhao – China’s only female ruler  Unified after period of instability – 960-1279  Taizu – first emperor  Problems with nomads  Lost Tibet  Tried to make peace with northern enemies – tributes of silk, tea – lost N to Jin Empire (Manchuria) in 1127

3.  Reconquered land lost after the Han  Wu Zhao – took control of parts of Korea  Expand roads and canals  Revived civil service exam - bureaucracy  Peace, stability, prosperity restored  Training academies – civil service exam  During both dynasties – population hits 100 million; 10 cities with population over 1 million  Land redistribution

4.  New upper class – gentry – earned status through education and civil service – not nec. Based on land ownership  Entertainment – chess, cards  Transportation – boats  Urban middle class  Most still at bottom – laborers, soldiers, servants

5.  Mostly centered on village  Patriarchal – move in with husband’s family  Men – rights over wife; could take second wife if no male heir  Children – obedience to parents – filial piety  Dowry

6.  Declined during Tang and Song  Foot binding – “lily foot”

7.  Science and technology  Gunpowder  Moveable type  Manufacturing steel  Porcelain  New weapons  Paper money - banking  Mechanical clock  Compass, rudder, sail  Negative numbers – math  Acupuncture

8.  New variety of rice  2 crops a year instead of one  Helped feed growing population

9.  Armies guarded Silk Road; still dangerous though  Sailing technology – compass, rudder, sail  New port cities  Exported tea, silk, porcelain, fruit  Spread of culture – ex. Buddhism

10.  Growth of Buddhism under Tang (monasteries)  Li Bo – poet – life’s pleasures  Tu Fu – hardships of war  Artists – natural landscapes  Favorite color/ink - black

11.  Taxes too high  Corruption  Muslim armies – challenge – lost Central Asia  907 – rebels murdered the last Tang emperor  Fall to the Mongols – 1206; defeated Jurghen (Manchuria) first, then Song