The Flowering of Traditional China CHAPTER TEN The Han Dynasty -206 B.C. to 220 A.D. .A Period of progress and prosperity in China .Expanded the Chinese empire and had a very strong army .Han Dynasty and Roman Empire existed at the same time and traded through the silk road. .Fell because of its own success . Growing population . The financial difficulties brought on by increasing wealth . Rivalries . Ever more complex political institutions Han Dynasty collapse .Results of the fall .China experiences a 300 year period of disunity oThe belief system of Confucianism began to loose its popularity to Buddhism oMajor technological advances were made – Gunpowder oBuddhism became very influential during the 300 years of disunity following the fall of the Han Dynasty. Buddhism comes to China . Buddhism came to China from India around 500 AD, spreading through Central Asia along the Silk Road. .Buddhism offered an explanation of why humans suffered and offered a relief from the suffering of the Chinese people. .Chinese people developed their own kind of Buddhism, which is called Zen Buddhism. .Zen comes from the Sanskrit (Indian) word dhyana, which means Zen philosophy emphasizes meditation and A Buddhist artist carved this experience instead of words and explanations wooden Buddha in Western China, on the Silk Road, before Buddhism really reached central China. China Reunified: the Sui After nearly four centuries of internal division, china was unified once again in 581 when Yang Jian founded a new dynasty known as the Sui. (SWAY) The Sui Dynasty ◦ Sui Dynasty; capital at Chang’an ◦ Adopted Daoism and Buddhism to hold the empire together, built monasteries for both doctrines in the capital. ◦ Appointed Buddhist monks to key positions as political advisers. • Yang Jian built a new canal from the capital to the Wei and Yellow rivers nearly 100 miles east. His son continued the process and completed 1,400 miles of the Grand canal linking the Yellow and Yangzi rivers. The Grand Canal • Built (581-618 A.D.) The new canal facilitated the shipment of grain and other commodities longest canal in the world. from the rice-rich southern provinces to the densely populated north. The canal also served other purposes, such a communication, rapid dispatch of • Described by one scholar troops to troubled provinces, and it served as an imperial highway. as “an engineering feat without parallel in the world of its time.” Label grand canal and cities Draw in and label First grand canal Kaifeng Hangzhou Tibet Canton Yangzhou Changan Xinjiang End of the Sui •Sui Yangdi the son of Yang Jian was a tyrannical ruler, and his expensive military campaigns aroused widespread unrest. •After his return from a failed campaign against Korea in 618, the emperor was murdered in his palace. • One of his general, Li Yuan took advantage of the instability and founded a new dynasty known as the Tang. The Tang will last 300 years until 907 Tang Dynasty The Tang Dynasty ◦ Li Yaun (founder) ruled briefly and then was pushed aside by his son; Tang Taizong (tahng ty zoong) ◦ Under his leadership, the Tang launched a program of internal renewal and external expansion that would make it one of the greatest dynasties in the long history of china. ◦ Pacified northwest: Xinjiang (“new region”) ◦ Extended control over Tibet ◦ Southern provinces below Yangzi assimilated into empire ◦ Korea accepted tribute status ◦ China now claimed to be the foremost power in East Asia Zen Buddhism Under the T'ang Dynasty, in the 600s AD, Zen Buddhism became the main kind of Buddhism in China. Zen Buddhists built big monasteries in China, where both men and women lived as monks and nuns. Many of the powerful women at the T'ang court supported the Buddhist monasteries and helped them get tax exemptions and gave the monasteries money and land. Decline of Tang Dynasty ◦Court intrigues and official corruption ◦The loss of power by the central government led to chronic instability along the northern and western frontiers, where local military commanders ruled virtually without central government interference. ◦Border troubles with nomadic peoples Song Dynasty Review notes . Review notes .Write in the left margin- main idea, reaction, question, connection .Share with neighbor Song Dynasty ◦ The Song Dynasty ◦ 960: Song Taizu founds Song Dynasty; capital at Kaifeng ◦ Song rulers encountered more problems in defending their territory than their predecessors, Taizu was unable to reconquer the Xinjiang territory and also lost control over Tibet. ◦ Capital later moved to Hangzhou; Southern Song (1127-1279) ◦ Despite its political and military weakness, the dynasty nevertheless ruled during a period of economic expansion, prosperity, and cultural achievements and is therefore considered among the mores successful Chinese dynasties. Hangzhou city Hangzhou was China’s ancient capital for a little over a thousand years, from 1123, during the Southern Song Dynasty, until the Mongol invasion of 1276. At around the same time, Marco Polo visited the city and called it “beyond dispute the finest and the noblest in the world.” Hangzhou was home to more than a million people. The Golden Age of Chinese Achievement .Politically, the Tang and Song dynasties built a state structure that endured for a thousand years. .Underlying these cultural and political achievements was an “economic revolution” that made Song dynasty China “by far the richest, most skilled, and most populous country on earth.” .The most obvious sign of China’s prosperity as its rapid growth in population, which jumped from about 50 million or 60 million during the Tang dynasty to 120 million by 1200. .Behind this doubling of the population were remarkable achievements in agricultural production, particularly the adoption of a fast-ripening and drought-resistant strain of rice from Vietnam. The Golden Age of Chinese Achievement .Specialized markets abounded for meat, herbs, vegetables, books, rice, and much more, with troupes of actors performing for the crowds. .Industrial production likewise soared. China’s iron industry increased its output dramatically. .By the eleventh century, it was providing the government with 32,000 suits of armor and 16 million iron arrowheads annually, in addition to supplying metal for coins, tools, construction, and bells in Buddhist monasteries. .Inventions in printing, both woodblock and moveable type, generated the world’s first printed books, and by 1000 relatively cheap books on religious, agricultural, mathematical, and medical topics became widely available in China. .Its navigational and shipbuilding technologies led the world. The Chinese invention of gunpowder created within a few centuries a revolution in military affairs that had global dimensions. Review notes . Review notes .Write in the left margin- main idea, reaction, question, connection .Share with neighbor Woman in the Song Dynasty Once again Confucian writers highlighted the subordination of women to men and the need to keep males and females separate in every domain of life. The Song dynasty historian and scholar Sima Guang summed up the prevailing view: “The boy leads the girl, the girl follows the boy; the duty of husbands to be resolute and wives to be docile begins with this.” Foot-binding Foot-binding is the custom of applying painfully tight binding to the feet of young girls to achieve 3 to 5 inch foot. The purpose: to obtain a good marriage, girls with big feet were considered to be common or servants. It was also a status symbol and showed your wealth. .