China

• tang dynasty expanded chinese borders outward and created a global culture w/ elements from many different places
• in the tenth century, Tang China broke into separate competing states. one of the largest and most enduring was ruled by the Song Dynasty, centered in southern China
• in the fourteenth century, droughts, diseases, rebellions, and ineffective leadership led to disorders within the mongol empire
• taizu, a poor orphan, led armies against the mongols and founded a new dynasty (the Ming)
• estimated years of the dynasties

  Tang (600-900) —> Song (960s-1280s) —> Yuan (1280s-1370s)  —> Ming (1370s-1640s)
• song dynasty began issuing money in the 1120s, producing the worlds first ever paper money

  • also block and movable printing technology allowed for the production of texts
  • gunpowder
• cities became growing increasingly bc of the economic expansions

  • Hangzhou began as a rice growing village in the Yangzi River delta and grew to become the largest city in china
  • became the state of china to which many people immigrated to
• How did the Song Dynasty maintain and justify its rules?

  Neo-Confucianism and Imperial Bureaucracy
• Neo-Confucianism sought to rid of Confucian thoughts of Buddhism which had influenced China significantly in prior years
• Neo-Confucianism stripped women of their legal rights/women had to endure social restrictions

  • foot binding
• Neo-Confucianism restored filial piety, which is a hierarchical nature
• Imperial Bureaucracy had the Civil- Service Exams
• the Civil Service Exams were opened to men of all social economic status but the exam required a man to be rich enough to devote himself to studying instead of working
• Economy in Song China focused on three main things

  • Commercialization
  • Agricultural Innovations
  • Transportation Innovations
• Commercialization

  manufacturers and artisans made more goods than they consumed

  sold excess goods in China through Eurasia (silk & porcelain)
• Agricultural Innovation

  Champa Rice

  • matured early, resisted drought, harvested multiple times a year
• Transportation Innovations

  Grand Canal

  • facilitated trade & communication
• countries like Korea, Vietnam, and Japan tried to adopt China's system because it was so good, but they ultimately failed