hfyfg

REASERCH PAPER
The Sung/Tang dynasty was a prosperous civilization. To better understand this civilization we touch on the subjects of the history, society, economy, culture, technology, architecture, and political characteristics. The first thing we will be touching on is history The Tang Dynasty: Was largely a period of progress and stability, except during the An Lushan Rebellion and the decline of central authority in the later half of the dynasty. The Li family belonged to the northwest military nobles in a certain area during the reign of the Sui emperors. The mothers of both Emperor Yang of Sui and the founding emperor of Tang were sisters, making these two emperors of different dynasties first cousins. Li Yuan was the Duke of Tang when other government officials were fighting off bandit leaders in the collapse of the Sui Empire, caused in part by a failed Korean campaign. With prestige and military experience, he later rose in rebellion along with his son and his equally militant daughter Princess Pingyang, who raised her own troops and commanded them. In 617, Li Yuan occupied Chang'an and acted as regent over a puppet child emperor of the Sui, relegating Emperor Yang to the position of Taishang Huang, or retired emperor/father of the present emperor. With the news of Emperor Yang's murder by his general Yuwen Huaji (d. 619), on June 18, 618, Li Yuan declared himself the emperor of a new dynasty, the Tang. He was deposed by his son Li Shimin. Northern Song Dynasty: Emperor Taizu of Song (r. 960–976) unified China by conquering other lands during his reign, ending the upheaval of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. In Kaifeng, he established a strong central government over the empire. He ensured administrative stability by promoting the civil service examination system of drafting state bureaucrats by skill and merit (instead of aristocratic or military position) and promoted projects that ensured efficiency in communication throughout the empire. In one such project, cartographers created detailed maps of each province and city that were then collected in a large atlas. Emperor Taizu also promoted groundbreaking science and technological innovations by supporting such works as the astronomical clock tower designed and built by the engineer Zhang Sixun. Southern Song Dynasty: Although weakened and pushed south along the Huai River, the Southern Song found new ways to bolster its strong economy and defend its own state against the Jin Dynasty. They had able military officers such as Yue Fei and Han Shizhong. The government sponsored massive shipbuilding and harbor improvement projects, and the construction of beacons and seaport warehouses in order to support maritime trade abroad and the major international seaports, such as Quanzhou, Guangzhou, and Xiamen, that were sustaining China's commerce. To protect and support the multitudes of ships sailing for maritime interests into the waters of the East China Sea and Yellow Sea (to Korea and Japan), Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, and the Red Sea, it was a necessity to establish an official standing navy. The Song Dynasty therefore established China's first permanent navy in 1132, with a headquarters at Dinghai. With a permanent navy, the Song were prepared to face the naval forces of the Jin on the Yangtze River in 1161, in the Battle of Tangdao and the Battle of Caishi. During these battles the Song navy employed swift paddle wheel driven naval vessels armed with trebuchet catapults aboard the decks that launched gunpowder bombs. Although the Jin forces boasted 70,000 men on 600 warships, and the Song forces only 3,000 men on 120 warships, the Song Dynasty forces were victorious in both battles due to the destructive power of the bombs and the rapid assaults by paddle wheel ships. The strength of the navy was heavily emphasized after that. A century after the navy was founded it had grown in size to 52,000 fighting marines. The Song government confiscated portions of land owned by the landed gentry in order to raise revenue for these projects, an act which caused dissension and loss of loyalty amongst leading members of Song society but did not stop the Song's defensive preparations. Financial matters were made worse by the fact that many wealthy, land-owning families—some which had officials working for the government—used their social connections with those in office in order to obtain tax-exempt status. Next the society of our civilization, The Tang Dynasties turned away from the feudal culture of the previous Northern Dynasties, in favor of loyal civil Confucianism (Confucianism is an ethical and philosophical system). The governmental system was supported by a large class of Confucian intellectuals selected through either civil service examinations or recommendations. In the Tang period, Daoism and Buddhism were the main religion, and played a large role in people's daily lives. The Tang Chinese enjoyed feasting, drinking, holidays, sports, and all sorts of entertainment, while Chinese literature blossomed and was more widely accessible with new printing methods. The Song Dynasty (or Sung Dynasty) was an era of sophistication and complex social organization. Some of the largest cities in the world were found in China during this period (Kaifeng and Hangzhou had populations of over a million). People enjoyed various social clubs and entertainment in the cities, and there were many schools and temples to provide the people with education and religious services. The Song government supported multiple forms of social welfare programs, including the establishment of retirement homes, public clinics, and pauper's graveyards. The Song Dynasty supported a widespread postal service that was modeled on the earlier Han Dynasty (202 BC – AD 220) postal system to provide swift communication throughout the empire. The central government employed thousands of postal workers of various ranks and responsibilities to provide service for post offices and larger postal stations. ]In rural areas, farming peasants either owned their own plots of land, paid rents as tenant farmers, or were serfs on large estates. Women were on a lower social tier than men (according to Confucian ethics), they enjoyed many social and legal privileges and wielded considerable power at home and in their own small businesses. The economy of the sung/tang dynasty was one of the most modern and well-organized of all ancient civilizations. Grand Canal built during the Sui Dynasty (precursor to Tang) was one of the world’s largest waterworks projects before modern times it was built to facilitate trade between northern and southern China, particularly to make the abundant supplies of rice and other agricultural products from the Yangzi River valley available to residents of the northern regions.China’s rivers generally flow east to west so an artificial waterway had to be built to facilitate trade between north and south. It linked Hangzhou in the south with Chang’an in the west and Zhou (near modern Beijing) in the north. Almost 1,240 miles, reportedly forty paces wide, with roads running parallel to the waterway on either side. It integrated the economies of northern and southern China which established an economic foundation for political and cultural unity. Trade grew so rapidly during the Tang and Song era that copper coin shortages developed Traders began issuing letters of credit (“flying cash”) as an alternative. It enabled merchants to deposit goods or cash at one location and draw the equivalent cash or merchandise somewhere else. The search for alternatives to cash also led to the invention of paper money. During the late ninth century, wealthy merchants began accepting cash from their clients and issuing them printed notes that the clients could redeem for merchandise. It greatly facilitated commercial transactions. Tea trading flourished during Tang and Song era. Tea was also compressed into bricks and used as money. The culture in this civilization dealt a lot with religion,art, and writing. One of the religions was Buddhism,merchants introduced it in china around 2nd century B.C.E. It was a very popular following in Tang and Song China. It emphasized high standards of morality, intellectual sophistication, and a promise of salvation. Elite classes of the Tang and Song Dynasties were major supporters of Chinese painting. It sought elaborate and ornate art with political and educational importance. Eighth Century was a golden age in Chinese poetry, Du Fu (712-770 A.D.) is often considered China’s greatest poet. Other great poets of the Tang era were Wang Wei and Li Bo. The architecture of the Song Dynasty was noted for its towering Buddhist pagodas, enormous stone and wooden bridges, lavish tombs, and its palaces. Architecture during the Song period reached new heights of sophistication. Authors such as Yu Hao and Shen Kuo wrote books outlining the field of architectural layouts, craftsmanship, and structural engineering in the 10th and 11th centuries, respectively. The technology was one of the most influential in society today. Tang craftsmen discovered how to produce porcelain which was lighter, thinner, and adaptable to more uses than earlier pottery. They created the earliest printers used block-printing techniques. They carved a reverse image of an entire page into a wooden block, inked the block, then pressed a sheet of paper on top of it By the mid-eleventh century, printers began to experiment with movable type. Fashioned dies in the shape of ideographs, arranged them in a frame, inked them, and pressed the frame over paper sheets. It speeded up the process and allowed printers to make revisions and corrections also facilitated production and distribution of texts quickly, cheaply, and in large quantities. During the tang and song dynasties, there was a political stability in the central government. The prime ministers were the highest officials. The frontiers were stabilized and attempts at expansion weren’t completely successful. Centralized government returned along with a bureaucracy of trained civil servants. Thus, the dynasties society revolved around centralized imperial rule.