Tang and Song

Expansion and retraction is ongoing idea, seen in maps b/c area grew then shrunk then grew etc.

The Tang (618-907) Build an Empire

1) Strengthened gov.
- Bureaucracy
- Civil service exams- meritocracy
2) Expand through military conquest  central Asia
Tributary States include Korea and Vietnam. Tributary States are also called vassal states. They
remain independent but they pledge loyalty, gifts, and taxes.
3) Land Reform
- lowers the power of land-owners and they gave the land to peasants, they can then pay taxes
and aristocrats are less powerful
Decline of the Tang (mid 700s)
The empire became too large to administer and so they couldn’t control it. They then lost control
of the Silk Roads. There are also threatening nomads.
There is also the simple fact that conquests don’t come for free. The government expanded with
conquests so they had to raise taxes to crazed amounts.
There is corruption, draught, famine and these lead to rebellion.
The Song (970-1280) reunited China. The new empire was stable, powerful, and prosperous. In
1127 the Song Dynasty gets pushed to the south.
The prosperity of the Song/Tang
1) Agricultural rice from Vietnam
The rice was fast ripening so there was a rise in productivity. Then there was leisure time which
led to cultural advances and stuff.

2) Trade
Large scale economy and there was paper money. There was trade with India, the Middle East,
and Africa.
How did the Tang and Song dynasties restore Chinese culture and society?
Han Confucianism, expansion/retraction

Prosperity cultural achievements

1) Science and Technology
- Smallpox vaccine
- Gunpowder spread via Arabs
- moveable type efficient and helped to promote literacy MOVEABLE TYPE IS THE THING
WHERE YOU CAN MOVE AROUND SYMBOLS AND STUFF, YOU CAN SORT OF PICK
IT UP AND MOVE IT AROUND
2) Arts, Literature, Architecture
Themes- Buddhism
Daoism
Changes in Chinese Society
1) Women small rise in status
- Patriarchal society
- After marriage women love their birth home and move in w/ husband’s family
- seen as an outsider coming into family
Chinese Foot Binding imperial courts
Symbol of beauty and wealth
Subservient
Trickle down to the peasants b/c of hopes for dialogue to marry up
2) Social Mobility
- Nobility power weakens
- More social mobility
Imperial Court/ Emperor
Gentry Educated land owners
 Peasant Farmers
Merchants

Mongols
Mongols seen as barbaric and uncivilized.
1) Geography
- Conditions on the steppe
- Dry grassland w/ little rain
- Extreme conditions (-57 degrees)
Subsistence method and political organization
– Nomadic pastoralism b/c of lack of natural resources
– Hunting and gathering = dumpster diving
– Horses, basically lived on horseback, used for food and bi-products
Political Organization
Tribe: no written laws, rule with respect
*Kinship is social glue, determines friends, enemies, and lover
Interaction with neighbors= warfare
1162? - 1227 Genghis Khan named Temejun at birth
– Father killed by enemy clan
– Distrust of high ranking authority
– Challenges idea of kinship b/c when captured by enemy clan outsiders helped him
Rise to power- to unify not as clans but as Mongols *used loyalty
1206 Genghis Khan of the Mongols
Strict Military Discipline
– Able to travel long distances using little food
– They didn’t need to cook food so fire didn’t give away location when invading
– Brilliant organization
Gifted Strategists
– Fake retreat and come back in
Adopted new Technologies
 – Could use new things like cannon

– Mongols really just wanted the loot

– Did not torture

– Mongols didn’t make a name through ferocity and cruelty

How did the Mongols impact China?

4 Khanate- 1260
1) Golden Horde- take over Russia
2) Ilkhanate- Persia including Baghdad
3) Chaghutai Khanate- Central Asia
4) Empire of the great Khanate- Mongolia and China
What are the effects of Mongol domination?
– Trade from protection of silk roads
– Tolerant Rulers- had many religions from everywhere, divisions in Mongol empire b/c
they separated by choosing certain beliefs
– Pax Mongolia (1250-1350)
– Cultural diffusion
– Gunpowder and printing spreads, tea from China to Europe
– Carpets, lemons, carrots from Persia to China
– Brought in skilled workers from Paris, Persia, China etc. and they learned from each
other
– Religion, architecture, arts
Kublai Khan and the Yuan Dynasty
– Kublai defeats last Song empire
– Unity was created but the Chinese were not the people that created it
– Not your typical Mongol- educated away from the steppe (in China)
– Makes his mark by building great architecture stuff
– Merchants have higher status under the Mongols

The Mongols had the change b/c China ruled by laws and stuff while Mongols rule with oral
traditions
Mongols were outnumbered

Relationship of gov and Chinese

– No Chinese in high gov positions b/c Mongols didn’t want to diffuse into their society
– In society Mongols liked to bring in foreigners b/c of bias against Chinese and ***they
had no local ties with them so they can fight them if they become too strong