China (Tang and Song)

1. China (Tang and Song)

2. Dynasties • “A sequence of powerful leaders in the same family” • Tang Dynasty 618 to 907 A.D. • Song Dynasty 960 to 1279 A.D. Tang Dynasty

3. Agriculture

4. Agriculture: Fast-ripening rice • As Tang and Song armies ventured into Vietnam, they encountered fast-ripening rice • Allowed two crops per year • When introduced into the fertile fields of southern China, fast-ripening rice quickly expanded the food supply Chinese characters for “rice field”

5. New Agricultural Techniques • Heavy iron plows • Harnessed oxen and water buffaloes • Enriched soil with manure and composted organic matter • Extensive irrigation systems • Reservoirs, dikes, dams, pumps, water wheels • Artificial irrigation greatly increased agricultural production which led to a rapid population expansion

6. Cities Southern Gate of Chang’an

7. Cities • Increased food supplies encouraged the growth of cities • During the Tang Dynasty, the imperial capital of Chang’an was the world’s most populous city • 1 to 2 million people • During the Song Dynasty, the capital of Hangzhou had over a million residents • Southern terminus of the Grand Canal

8. Economic Exchange Coins from the Tang Dynasty Yellow and Yangzi Rivers

9. Economic Exchange: Grand Canal • Grand Canal built during the Sui Dynasty (precursor to Tang) • One of the world’s largest waterworks projects before modern times • Built to facilitate trade between northern and southern China, particularly to make the abundant supplies of rice and other agricultural products from the Yangzi River valley available to residents of the northern regions • China’s rivers generally flow east to west so an artificial waterway had to be built to facilitate trade between north and south

10. Economic Exchange: The Grand Canal • Linked Hangzhou in the south with Chang’an in the west and Zhou (near modern Beijing) in the north • Almost 1,240 miles, reportedly forty paces wide, with roads running parallel to the waterway on either side • Integrated the economies of northern and southern China which established an economic foundation for political and cultural unity

11. Economic Exchange: Letters of Credit • Trade grew so rapidly during the Tang and Song era that copper coin shortages developed • Traders began issuing letters of credit (“flying cash”) as an alternative • Enabled merchants to deposit goods or cash at one location and draw the equivalent cash or merchandise somewhere else Coin from Tang Dynasty

12. Economic Exchange: Paper Money • The search for alternatives to cash also led to the invention of paper money • During the late ninth century, wealthy merchants began accepting cash from their clients and issuing them printed notes that the clients could redeem for merchandise • Greatly facilitated commercial transactions

13. Economic Exchange: Tea • Tea trading flourished during Tang and Song era • Tea was compressed into bricks and used as money

14. Specialization Agricultural Regional Areas of Specialization

15. Specialization • Increased urbanization brought a host of specialized activities to the cities • Merchants, artisans, metallurgists, printers, chemists, craftsmen, textile workers, performers, restaurateurs, etc • China’s various regions specialized in the cultivation of particular food crops and traded their own products for imports from other regions • The government developed a specialized class of bureaucrats

16. Social Hierarchy Emperor Xuanzong of Tang China Song examination candidate dreaming of the rewards of academic success

17. Social Hierarchy: Centralization • Tang society revolved around centralized imperial rule • Early successes based on • Well-articulated transportation and communication network (Grand Canal) • Equal-field system • Bureaucracy of merit

18. Governed allocation of agricultural land Ensured equal distribution of land to avoid the concentration of landed property that had caused social problems during the Han Dynasty Land was allotted to individuals and their families according to the land’s fertility and the recipient’s needs About one-fifth of the land became the hereditary possession of the recipients, while the rest was available for redistribution Social Hierarchy: Equal-field System

19. Rulers recruited government officials from the ranks of candidates who had progressed through the Confucian educational system Merit was based on performance on the imperial civil service examinations Some powerful families were able to use their influence, but most officeholders won their posts on the basis of intellectual ability Talented class of bureaucrats were generally loyal to the dynasty and worked to strengthen and preserve the state Social Hierarchy: Bureaucracy of Merit

20. Social Hierarchy: Song Bureaucracy • Song rulers mistrusted the military so they placed more emphasis on civil administration • Scholar bureaucrats proved to have limited military expertise and Song was vulnerable to military aggression • Song increased centralization and built an enormous bureaucracy • Devoured China’s surplus production and strained the treasury • Efforts to raise taxes led to two peasant rebellions Wang Anshi unsuccessfully attempted socioeconomic reforms during the Song era

21. Religion and Education Buddha from Tang Dynasty

22. Religion and Education • Buddhist merchants visited China as early as the second century B.C. • Found a popular following in Tang and Song China • Emphasized high standards of morality, intellectual sophistication, and a promise of salvation • We’ll talk more about Buddhism during Lesson 9 (Buddhism and Hinduism) and Lesson 23 (the Silk Roads) A Buddhist monk

23. New Technologies Song porcelain Cannon ca. 1368

24. New Technologies: Porcelain • Tang craftsmen discovered how to produce porcelain which was lighter, thinner, and adaptable to more uses than earlier pottery • Strong enough and attractive enough to serve utilitarian or aesthetic purposes • Tang and Song products gained such a reputation that porcelain is commonly called “chinaware” Tang Marble Glazed Porcelain Figure

25. New Technologies: Printing Book printing ca. 868

26. New Technologies: Printing • Became common in Tang era • Earliest printers used block-printing techniques • Carved a reverse image of an entire page into a wooden block, inked the block, then pressed a sheet of paper on top of it • By the mid-eleventh century, printers began to experiment with movable type • Fashioned dies in the shape of ideographs, arranged them in a frame, inked them, and pressed the frame over paper sheets • Speeded up the process and allowed printers to make revisions and corrections • Facilitated production and distribution of texts quickly, cheaply, and in large quantities

27. Impact of Movable Type • Allowed large production and distribution of • Buddhist texts • Confucian works • Calendars • Agricultural treatises • Popular works

28. New Technologies: Gunpowder • During the Tang era, Daoist alchemists learned it was dangerous to mix charcoal, saltpeter, sulphur, and arsenic • Military officials saw possibilities • By the tenth-century, the Tang military was using gunpowder in bamboo “fire lances,” a kind of flame thrower and by the eleventh century they had made primitive bombs

29. Art and Writing Poet Li Bo Poet Du Fu

30. Art and Writing • The ruling and elite classes of the Tang and Song Dynasties were major supporters of Chinese painting. • Sought elaborate and ornate art with political and educational significance • Stressed realism

31. Eighth Century was a golden age in Chinese poetry Du Fu (712-770 A.D.) is often considered China’s greatest poet Other great poets of the Tang era were Wang Wei (699 – 761) andLi Bo (701 – 762) Passing the Night at Headquarters Clear autumn at headquarters,wu-tung trees cold beside the well; I spend the night alone in the river city, using up all of the candles. Sad bugle notes sound through the long night as I talk to myself; glorious moon hanging in mid-sky but who looks? Art and Writing

32. Next Lesson • Mayans and Incas