Chinese Reunification

1. Reunification of China
Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties

2. I. After the Han
a. Centuries of disunity after fall of Han
• 589; Sui, Tang then Song dynasties centralize &
revitalize China.

3. II. Sui Dynasty - 589
A. Ruler Wendi reestablished centralized state
1. Repaired Great Wall
2. Revolts due to high taxes ended Sui dynasty
- Tang dynasty emerged

4. III. Tang Dynasty – Golden Era of Chinese History
A. Expanded influence
1. Established tributary system (payment by subjects)
w/ Vietnam & Korea = spread Chinese institutions
- foreign envoys performed Kowtow before the
emperor

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B. Strengthened Central Gov’t
1. Empress Wu (one of few female rulers)
- Reduced powers of landlords
- Removed their tax power; state taxed peasants
directly.
- Accurate censuses = fair & reliable taxation
C. Civil Service Exam Revived
1. Stricter
2. Education counting more than birthright
3. Aristocrat’s role faded in favor of scholar-bureaucrats
Empress Wu – 625-705

6. D. State Practices & Infrastructure = Commercial Growth
1. Regulate trade
2. Roads & canals
- Grand Canal linking southern rice fields to pop.
Centers in the north
3. Flying Money = early currency
- Credit instrument = redeemed at end of voyage
- Reduced danger of robbery
- Led to paper money

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8. E. Attack on Buddhism
1. Revival of Confucianism – “Neo-Confucianism”
2. Buddhism = potentially subversive element
- Favored early on; rejected later as alien.
- Thousands of shrines, monasteries destroyed.
- Remained important minority but…
- Period of growth halted
3. Tang felt right and duty to regulate beliefs of
subjects

9. F. Tang Decline - Late 700’s
1. Poverty, taxes, nomadic invasions = protest
2. 906 - civil war
3. 960 - Song comes to power

10. IV. Song Dynasty
A. Controlled less land than Tang
1. North dominated by nomads;
- Jurchens = Jin Dynasty
2. Control focused on southern regions

11. B. Economically Dynamic
1. Tax revenues up; focused on merchants not
peasants; revolts down
2. Domestic (in China) trade increased = tea, cotton
3. Foreign trade flourished
a. Highly developed manufacturing sector
b. sophisticated ships/tech.; Junks
4. Imports limited mostly to raw materials
a. full consumer society does not develop
b. Why? clashed w/ Confucian ideals of
self-reliance & no excesses

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Chinese Junks

13. C. Improved Ag. Productivity & Coal & Iron Output
1. Quick-growing Champa rice from Vietnam &
fertilizers = more harvests & yields
2. Massive pop. growth; 100 mill. +
3. Expansion of urban life; Big Cities! - Hangzhou

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16. D. Expanded Manufacturing for Export
1. Iron & steel
2. textiles & porcelain

17. E. Chinese Diasporic Merchant Communities in SE
Asia
1. Facilitate Chinese trade in those areas

18. F. Arts & Culture During Tang and Song
1. Art, architecture, literature reflected Buddhist,
Daoist influence
a. Pagoda introduced
b. Art & lit. reliance on natural subjects
c. Traditional order of Neo-Confucianism
combined with love of nature inspired by Daoists
& Buddhists

19. E. Scientific Advancement of Tang and Song
1. Gov’t-sponsored map making & astronomical
observation
a. expanded knowledge of universe

20. 2. Diffusion of Scientific & Technological Traditions
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a. Gunpowder powder
- 1st for fireworks
- Then weaponry

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b. Wood-Block then movable-type printing
- By 10th cent. - books of all types &
every classic in print
- paper currency & playing cards followed

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G. Gunpowder & printing spread from East Asia
into the Islamic Empires & Western Europe
Mongol Empire
Islamic Empires
W. Europe
Gunpowder & Printing
1. Tech. & cult. transfers specifically between Tang
China & Abbasid Empire

23. H. Impact of Neo-Confucianism during Song Era
1. Revival of Confucian ideology
a. Emphasis on tradition
b. Less receptive to outside ideas; solutions
drawn from past
c. Limited long-term innovation
d. Reinforced role of patriarch;
submissive/inferior role of women
e. Worsened conditions for women by Later
song Era

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Foot binding –
Song Dynasty to early
20th century

26. I. Song Dynasty Replaced by Mongols
1. Yuan Dynasty forms under Kublai Khan
a. China regains control under Ming dynasty

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Chinese
culture