Factors that helped shape technological and industrial development during the Tang and Song dynasties include: 1. Abundant food supplies allowed many people to pursue technological and industrial interests, leading to innovations like lighter porcelain, improved metallurgy, gunpowder, printing, and naval technologies. 2. Literacy spread greatly due to innovations like block printing and movable type, facilitating larger scale book production. 3. The Song dynasty saw more scientific and technological achievements than the Tang due to different cultural environments, with the Song pursuing science and technology more. Improvements included shipbuilding, chemical science, and hydraulic engineering. 4. During both dynasties, Chinese craftspeople generated many

1. WORLD HISTORY
SECTION II
Note: This exam uses the chronological designations B.C.E. (before the common era)
and C.E. (common era). These labels correspond to B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (anno
Domini), which are used in some world history textbooks.
Part A
(Suggested writing time—40 minutes)
Percent of Section II score—33 1/3
Directions: The following question is based on the accompanying Documents 1-9. (The
documents have been edited for the purpose of this exercise.) Write your answer on the
lined pages of the Section II free-response booklet.
This question is designed to test your ability to work with and understand historical
documents.
Write an essay that:
- Has a relevant thesis and supports that thesis with evidence from the documents. ␣ Uses
all of the documents.
- Analyzes the documents by grouping them in as many appropriate ways as possible.
Does not simply
summarize the documents individually.
- Takes into account the sources of the documents and analyzes the authors’ points of
view.
- Identifies and explains the need for at least one additional type of document.
You may refer to relevant historical information not mentioned in the documents.
1. Analyze factors that shaped the Technological and Industrial Development in
the Tang and Song Dynasties of China.
Historical Background: In the times of the Tang and Song dynasty there were many
advancements in Technology and Industrial. There were more advances in the Tang
dynasty and made China into what it is today. Also, the advancement of paper money and
what we know today as “checks” were made important.
Prompt: Using the documents analyze the factors that helped to shape the industrial
and technological developments during the Tang and Song dynasties.

2. Document 1
Source: Bentley , Jerry H., and Herbert F. Ziegler. Traditional Encounters A Global Perspective on the Past .
3rd ed. . New York , NY: McGraw Hill , 2006. Print.
Abundant supplies of food enabled many people to pursue technological and industrial
interests. During the Tang and Song dynasties, chines craft workers generated a remarkable range
of technological innovations. During Tang times they discovered techniques of producing high-
quality porcelain, which was lighter, thinner, and adaptable to more uses than earlier pottery. Tang
and Song craftsmen also improved metallurgical technologies.
Quite apart from improving existing technologies, Tang and Song craftsmen also invented
entirely new products, tools, and techniques, most notably gunpowder, printing and naval
technologies. During the tang dynasty, however, Chinese consumers developed a taste for he spice
and exotic products of southeast Asian islands and Chinese mariners increasingly visited those
lands in their own ships. These long-distance travels helped to diffuse elements of Chinese naval
technology particularly the compass, which soon became the common property of mariners
Document 2
Source: "China." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online
School Edition.
Encyclopædia Britannica, 2010. Web. 10 Dec. 2010.
<>.http://www.school.eb.com/eb/article-71718
Literacy spread with printing, which evolved from rubbing through block printing to the use of movable
type that facilitated much larger-scale production at reduced cost. The demand for improved technology,
aided by certain concerns of the Neo-Confucian philosophy, helped to promote numerous investigations
that approached the use of scientific methods. Literacy spread with printing, which evolved from rubbing
through block printing to the use of movable type that facilitated much larger-scale production at reduced
cost. On the contrary, the Song pattern attained cultural stability, giving rise to the myth of an
unchanging China.

3. Document 3
Source: the world's first paper-printed currency, an innovation of the
SongDynasty.
Jiao, . Early Paper Money . Web. 10 Dec. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
File:Jiao_zi.jpg>.

4. Document 4
Source: "Science, Technology, and Health: Overview." World Eras. Ed. Guangqiu Xu. Vol. 7: Imperial
China, 617-1644. Detroit: Gale, 2003. 411-413. Gale World History In Context. Web. 10 Dec. 2010.
There were more scientific and technological achievements in the Song dynasty (960-1279) than in the
Tang dynasty (618-907) because the two dynasties had completely different environments. The Tang
period was humanistic while the Song era was much more scientific and technological.
Ship-building technology was improved greatly when the stern-post rudder became common, and
seagoing junks of substantial size were built. Chemical science, practiced in the little-known laboratories
of Daoist shrines in Tang times, was applied to devastating effect on the battlefield when armies began to
use gunpowder.
Document 5
Source: "Science, Technology, and Health: Overview." World Eras. Ed. Guangqiu Xu. Vol. 7: Imperial China,
617-1644. Detroit: Gale, 2003. 411-413. Gale World History In Context. Web. 13 Dec. 2010.
There were more scientific and technological achievements in the Song dynasty (960-1279) than in the Tang
dynasty (618-907) because the two dynasties had completely different environments. The Tang period was
humanistic while the Song era was much more scientific and technological. During the Song dynasty the pure
sciences began to appear. Improvements in hydraulic engineering occurred, including the caisson, used either
as an underwater foundation or as a floodgate. Ship-building technology was improved greatly when the stern-
post rudder became common, and seagoing junks of substantial size were built. Chemical science, practiced in
the little-known laboratories of Daoist shrines in Tang times, was applied to devastating effect on the battlefield
when armies began to use gunpowder.

5. Document 6
Source: Bentley , Jerry H., and Herbert F. Ziegler. Traditional Encounters A Global
Perspective on the Past . 3rd ed. . New York , NY: McGraw Hill , 2006. Print.
During the Tang and Song dynasties, chinese craft workers generated a remarkable
range of technological innovations. During Tang times they discovered techniques of
producing high-quality porcelain, which was lighter, thinner, and adaptable to more uses
than earlier pottery. Tang and Song craftsmen also improved metallurgical
technologies.
Quite apart from improving existing technologies, Tang and Song craftsmen also
Document 7

6. Document 8
"Song dynasty." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition.
Encyclopædia Britannica, 2010. Web. 10 Dec. 2010.
<http://www.school.eb.com/eb/article-9070368>.
Widespread printing of the Confucian Classics and the use of movable type, beginning in the
11th century, brought literature and learning to the people. The Song dynasty is particularly
noted for the great artistic achievements that it encouraged and, in part, subsidized. Song wares
are noted for their simplicity of shape and the purity of colour and tone of their glazes. Song
poets achieved their greatest distinction, however, in the new genre of the ci, sung poems of joy
and despair. These poems became the literary hallmark of the dynasty.
Source: Guillaume, Jaquet.Cernuschi Museum, Paris, France. Wikimedia. Web. 10 Dec. 2010.
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cernuschi_Museum_20060812_163.jpg>.
Document 9
Document 10
"Restoration of Empire." The Imperial Era: II. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. <http://www-
chaos.umd.edu/history/imperial2.html>.
Block printing was invented, making the written word available to vastly greater audiences. The
Tang period was the golden age of literature and art. The Song dynasty Tang Dynasty figurines
Chinese is notable for the
development of cities not only for administrative purposes but also as centers of trade, industry,
and maritime commerce. Culturally, the Song refined many of the developments of the previous
centuries. Included in these refinements were not only the Tang ideal of the universal man, who
combined the qualities of scholar, poet, painter, and statesman, but also historical writings,

7. "The Tang Dynasty ." n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. <http://library.thinkquest.org/12255/library/
dynasty/tang.html?tqskip1=1>.
During the Tang dynasty, many great poets emerged. Li, Po, Tu Fu, and Po Chu-i and prose
master Han Yu appeared when the political decline had begun. The printing of books and
sharing of ideas promoted cultural unity. Handicraft guilds and the use of paper money all
started in the late Tang dynasty.