Ch 12 Sec 1

TANG & SONG DYNASTIES

唐朝 Tang Dynasty (618-907

CE)

A Golden Age of Chinese Civilization

Tang Boundaries

Tang Taizong, aka Li Shimin•Emperor 626-649 CE• In quest for power, he killed his brothers and forced father to abdicate. •Legacy: •Reformed gov’t•New law code•Extended China’s boundaries towards Manchuria (N) and Vietnam (S)•Strongest China yet

Empress Wu Zetian, aka Wu Zhao•Ruled 690-705 CE•Only Empress in Chinese history•Entered palace at 13 as one of Taizong’s concubines. •Later married Taizong’s son, Emperor Gaozung.•Ruled first through husband and 2 of her sons•Ruled on her own beginning at age 66

Empress Wu’s Legacy •Launched military campaign to take Korea•Favored & promoted Buddhism (made it the state religion)•Controversial

• Reign of Terror• Secret Police

•Overthrown in coup d’etat

Scholar-Officials•Bureaucracy: a government of state officials.• An elite class• Chosen through difficult civil service exam• Talent and education became more important than noble birth (or wealth)

The Golden Age of CultureIf I hide out at Cold Mountain

Living off mountain plants and berries –

All my lifetime, why worry?One follows his karma through.Days and months slip by like

water,Time is like sparks knocked off

flint.Go ahead and let the world

change –I’m happy to sit among these

cliffs.

Han-Shan, Cold Mountain Poems, translated from colloquial Tang Chinese by Gary Snyder

•Famous Lyric Poets

The Golden Age of Culture•Art•Sophisticated figure painting•Ceramic tomb figurines•Porcelain

Tang InventionsPloughWaterwheelsBrocadePapermakingIron smeltingPotteryPorcelain (China)

宋朝 Song Dynasty

(960-1279)

A Chinese Renaissance

Innovations, Politics, and Bureaucracy

Song Boundaries

Gentry•New, larger upper class•Scholar-Officials and their families•Attain status through education and civil service (instead of land/wealth)

GentryUrban

Middle Class

(merchants, shopkeepers, artisans,

etc)Urban Lower Class (laborers, soldiers,

servants)

Countryside (peasants)

Foot Binding• Status of women declined during Tang and Shang Dynasties. • “Lily foot”• First-hand accounts of foot binding: • Mother did not feel bad about the pain suffered when my feet were

bound, for the following reasons: Small feet were then thought to be beautiful. If a person were plain-looking but had small bound feet, she might still be considered a beauty. If she had naturally large feet, however, no matter how good-looking she might be, she was not thought pretty, and no one wanted to marry her. • Every toe but the big one was inflamed… the bindings were covered in

blood and pus. To get them loose the skin often peeled off, causing further bleeding and the smell was hard to bear. Every other day the binding was made tighter and sewn up and each time smaller shoes had to be worn. I still had to work every day because I was from a middle class family but walking was excruciatingly painful. This made it impossible for me to complete an average woman’s chores. The cold caused me to lose one toe on my right foot. My feet were only 3 inches long and relatives, friends, and my husband praised them.

Foot Binding

Song InventionsPrinting (moveable type)GunpowderCompass