Song Dynasty Research Paper
The Song Dynasty
The Song dynasty lasted over 300 years, from 960 to 1279. Their history is divided into two periods of Northern and Southern Song. The Song period was one of China's most peaceful and prosperous era. However the Song government was corrupt and weak.
The Song Dynasty, or Sung Dynasty was a period in which the Chinese government was very weak. In the beginning General Chao K'uang-yin, also known as Sung T'ai Tsu, was forced to become emperor in order to unify China. Sung
T'ai Tsu created a national army under his direct control. He, and only he had control of the military. Once he had passed away his less competent successors were unable to keep the military under control, the military increasingly lost
prestige. …show more content…
Only 200 out of thousands of applicants were granted the jinshi degree.
This was the highest degree and appointed on government posts. From this time on, civil servants became China's most envied elite, replacing the hereditary nobles and landlords.
The Song dynasty only extended over to the parts of earlier Chinese empires. The Khitans controlled the northeastern territories and the His Hsia controlled the northwestern territories. The Song emperors were unable to recover these lands so they were forced to make peace with the Khitans and the
Hsi Hsia. They gave massive amounts of payments to the barbarians, under these peace terms, it depleted the state treasury and cause heavy payments on taxpaying peasants.
About 100 years after the Songs first started ruling over China, their government started to go through a major decline. Officials that held important government positions were corrupt. Wealthy merchants that became rich from foreign trade found ways to avoid paying taxes. The peasants began to rebel when the heavy taxes were placed on them.
The Song Dynasty had a lot of problems, in 1069 Emperor Shen …show more content…
Wang help the governments financial problems by establishing a graduated income tax. This meant the wealthy people were required to pay a greater percentage of their income that poorer people pay. This new tax method reduced the burden on the peasants and increased the governments revenues. The extra money created from the taxing was used to pay government workers, which abolished forced labor.
Many of his new laws were revivals of earlier policies, many officials and landlords opposed his reforms. So when the emperor and Wang died, which happen to been within a year of each other the laws were withdrawn. For the next several decades, until the fall of Northern Song in 1126, the reformers and anti-reformers took turns in power, this in turn created havoc and turmoil in the government.
The Song tried to regain the territory that they had lost to the Khitans by becoming allies with a new powerful Juchens from Manchuria. Once the Juchens defeated the Khitans, they turned on the Song and occupied the capital of
Kaifeng. The Juchens established the Chin dynasty. They took the emperor and his son prisoner, along with 3,000 others, and ordered them to be held in
The Song dynasty lasted over 300 years, from 960 to 1279. Their history is divided into two periods of Northern and Southern Song. The Song period was one of China's most peaceful and prosperous era. However the Song government was corrupt and weak.
The Song Dynasty, or Sung Dynasty was a period in which the Chinese government was very weak. In the beginning General Chao K'uang-yin, also known as Sung T'ai Tsu, was forced to become emperor in order to unify China. Sung
T'ai Tsu created a national army under his direct control. He, and only he had control of the military. Once he had passed away his less competent successors were unable to keep the military under control, the military increasingly lost
prestige. …show more content…
Only 200 out of thousands of applicants were granted the jinshi degree.
This was the highest degree and appointed on government posts. From this time on, civil servants became China's most envied elite, replacing the hereditary nobles and landlords.
The Song dynasty only extended over to the parts of earlier Chinese empires. The Khitans controlled the northeastern territories and the His Hsia controlled the northwestern territories. The Song emperors were unable to recover these lands so they were forced to make peace with the Khitans and the
Hsi Hsia. They gave massive amounts of payments to the barbarians, under these peace terms, it depleted the state treasury and cause heavy payments on taxpaying peasants.
About 100 years after the Songs first started ruling over China, their government started to go through a major decline. Officials that held important government positions were corrupt. Wealthy merchants that became rich from foreign trade found ways to avoid paying taxes. The peasants began to rebel when the heavy taxes were placed on them.
The Song Dynasty had a lot of problems, in 1069 Emperor Shen …show more content…
Wang help the governments financial problems by establishing a graduated income tax. This meant the wealthy people were required to pay a greater percentage of their income that poorer people pay. This new tax method reduced the burden on the peasants and increased the governments revenues. The extra money created from the taxing was used to pay government workers, which abolished forced labor.
Many of his new laws were revivals of earlier policies, many officials and landlords opposed his reforms. So when the emperor and Wang died, which happen to been within a year of each other the laws were withdrawn. For the next several decades, until the fall of Northern Song in 1126, the reformers and anti-reformers took turns in power, this in turn created havoc and turmoil in the government.
The Song tried to regain the territory that they had lost to the Khitans by becoming allies with a new powerful Juchens from Manchuria. Once the Juchens defeated the Khitans, they turned on the Song and occupied the capital of
Kaifeng. The Juchens established the Chin dynasty. They took the emperor and his son prisoner, along with 3,000 others, and ordered them to be held in