Tang and Song China Flashcards
-wendi:
eclared himself first emperor of sui dynasty, lasted only two emperors,
-sui dynasty:
: completion of grand canal, built strong found for tang dynasty
-grand canal:
aterway connected huang he and chang jiang, provided vital route for trade between north cities and southern rice-producing region of chang delta,
-revolt against sui dynasty:
easants dying and working to create Grand canal and great wall, overworked and overtaxed, assassinated second Sui emperor
-Tang dynasty:
ruled for 300 years, gained northern and western lands (lost since decline of han dynasty), extend influence over Korea
-tang taizong:
gained northern and western lands (lost since decline of han dynasty),
-wuz zhao:
ruler during extend influence over Korea, held real power while weak emperors ruled, then got title of emperor, ONLY WOMEN TO DO SO IN CHINA
-tang rulers: st
strengthened central government of china, expand roads and canals (pull empire together), promoted foreign trade and improvement in agriculture
-tang rulers and restoring bureaucracy:
revived and expanded civil service examination system, who passed became part of scholar-officials
-exams:
open to all men, wealthy have money for education, with political connections = could get job without exam, create intelligent and capable governing class,
-importance and result of exams:
talent and education became more important than noble birth in winning power, result= wealthy families shared in government
-before tang:
noble families dominated country,
-tang lose power:
crushing taxes to meet costs of gov, bring hardships, failed to cover costs of military expansion and new building programs,
-couldn’t control empire
muslims beat them at Battle of Talas, central asia control went to foreign hands, border attacks and internal rebellions chipped away at the power of imperial government, sacking and burning of tang capita
-after fall of tang dynasty
ivided china into kingdoms
-taizu:
reuint china, declare first song emperor
-song dynasty:
ast three centuries, remained stable, powerful and prosperous, didn’t get west and north lands back,
song dynasty and north:
try to get peace through annual tributes = fail, after jurdens force them to retreat south only ruled southern china
-jin empire:
urchen conquered northern china, forced song to retreat south
-population grow:
in song and tang, 10 cities with one million each, china = most populous country, became most advanced
-important inventions:
gunpowder and movable type, porcelain, mechanical clock, paper money, used of magnetic compass for sailing
-movable type
printer could arrange blocks of individual characters in a frame to make up a page for printing, carved words of whole page into one large block
-gunpowder:
: led to explosive weapons
-math:
made advanced in arithmetic and algebra, spread southward and westward
-agriculture:
: rapid growth = cause, improve cultivation of rice, importation of fast-ripening rice from vietnam allow harvest two crops not one, officials distributed seedlings throughout country, produce more food, need more food to feed big population
-foreign trade flourished:
china lost control over routes during tang decline, relied on ocean trade, advances in sailing technology = sea trade expand, port cities with international trade, sailed indian ocean to india, persian gulf and coast of africa, make trade colonies around southeast asia, foreign traders resided in chinese cities
-chinese culture spread through trade:
spread throughout east asia,
-big cultural export
= buddhism, spread to vietnam, korea and japan
-two way:
exchange of goods and ideas was …, foreign religions spread to china and won followers
-liu bo:
tang period, life’s pleasures
-tu fu
tang period, praised orderliness and confucian virtues, critically about war and hardships of soldiers
-painting
song dynasty, emphasized beauty of natural landscapes and objects, did not use bright colors, black ink = favorite
-result of china’s prosperity:
society became mobile, moved to cities, greater social mobility, civil service system
-gentry:
upper class, scholar officials and families, got status by education and civil service positions, not land ownership
-urban middle class:
below gentry, merchants, shopkeepers, skilled artisans, minor official,
bottom of urban middle class:
laborers, soldiers, servants
-peasants: l
largest, toiled for wealthy landowners
-women: s
subservient to men, status further declined in tang and song, (wealthy) their work was less important to family’s prosperity and status, (peasants) worked in fields, helped produce food and income for family
binding of feet of upper class girls
= sing of changing status, when girls was young= bound rightly with cloth, broke arch and curled all but big toe under, produced lily foot, with bound feet = crippled for life, REFLECTED WEALTH AND PRESTIGE OF HUSBAND (who could afford such a beautiful but not useful wife)
-social economic and technological transformations of tang and song
= permanently shaped chinese civilization
