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Nov 10, 606
Emperor Sui Yangdi
-completed the work of grand canal
- reconstrution of the Great Wall
-greatest territorial extent, the conquest of Champa (modern-day Vietnam)
- eventually strangled
- campaigns against Korea, left the empire bankrupt and the people in revolt -
Nov 11, 617
decline of dynasty
-numerous military expedition, expensive infrastructure projects, and their high living standards at the expense of the peasants and the people of China -
Nov 11, 620
equal field system (economic)
http://library.thinkquest.org/12255/library/dynasty/sui.html-system of equal land allotments to the male population
- tax on the allotments was the Tang's greatest source of income
- avoid concentration
-by land's fertility and recipients' needs
- 1/5 hereditary possession and redistribution
- maintained stability -
Nov 11, 620
transportation and communication (economic and social)
http://library.thinkquest.org/12255/library/dynasty/sui.html- based on roads, horses and sometimes human runners for communication-
- maintained inns postal stations and stables
for rest and refreshments
- during which - cultural exchanges between ppl
- roads increases trade improves economy -
Nov 11, 620
gender relationship (social)
was more liberal
were accorded with more respect and power. Women were even allowed to take religious orders and become priestesses. This social standing, however, was mostly afforded to women in and close to the large cities with the majority of rural women continuing as before. High-class courtesans were also provided with a great deal of respect and were often allowed to join in discussions and debates with men of high social rank. -
Nov 11, 624
Empress Wu zhao
concubine and then wife of tang taizong, became successor and claimed the imperial title for herself
- organized a secret police force to monitor dissident factions and brutal punishments for those who stood
- patronized buddhists, squashed rebellions and organized military campaigns, opened imoerial administration to talented commoners
- till teh age 0f 80 she ruled
- offically wielded power in a rigidly patriarchal society
- only women to claim title -
Nov 11, 630
Tang foreign relationships (political)
-maintained tributary relationships between china and neighbouring lands
- envoys from states would regularly deliver gifts to the court of middle kingdom would perform kowtow ( a ritual prostration in which subordinates knelt before teh emperor and touched their foreheads to the ground)
- fostering tade and cultural exchanges, diplomatic contacts -
Nov 11, 630
poets (social)
-poets emerged. Li, Po, Tu Fu, and Po Chu-i and prose master Han Yu
- wrote about special occasions, nature, and philospphy
-captures people’s deepest emotions and talks about matters of everyday life: the losing of friends, remembering the good times of the past, voicing innermost feelings, and crying out against social injustice. This reveals the wide range of interests of the people of the Tang Dynasty -
Nov 11, 1004
military (political)
-three non-Chinese groups formed states that controlled the grasslands to the north of the Song, these Inner Asian states gained more territory occupied primarily by Chinese.
-Khitans,Jurchens and the mongols
-social structure was tribal, but they had adopted many elements of Chinese statecraft
-he Song made efforts to buy peace by agreeing to make annual payments of money and silk to them in exchange for their agreement not to invade.
- but finally the mongols took over -
Nov 11, 1084
Status of Women (social)
the status of women declined
-Compared to Tang times, women were less active in politics and less commonly seen on the streets
-Song Confucian teachers argued against widows remarrying, and footbinding began in Song times.
-women’s rights to property were relatively secure in Song times, and older women were often very powerful within their families. -
Nov 11, 1126
emperor Qinzong
Qinzong was not a determined leader. He made poor judgements and eventually removed Li Gang from his post in hopes of peaceful negotiation. Uninterested in peace, the Jurchens invaded Kaifeng in January 1127 and captured 26 year old Qinzong, Grand-Emperor Huizong and the entire Song imperial family including dozens of government officials in the Jingkang Incident, thus ending the Northern Song dynasty. -
Yang Jian
-tight political discipline
- claimed the mandate of heaven for himself by overruling 7-year-old
- sent military expeditions until ruled whole of China by 589
- ordered construction of palaces, gnaries, repairs on defensive walls
- levied heavy taxes
- demanded compulsory labor services -
administative system (poltical)
-The Sui dynasty re-established the centralized administrative system of the Han -
recontruction of Great Wall ( political)
-Great Wall was repaired
- part of their defenses -
rise of buddhism(social)
Emperor Wen and his empress converted to Buddhism, accepted its values and culture and presented himself as the Buddhist monarch who uses military force in enforcing his will over his entire Empire to defend the Buddhist faith. Emperor Wen also rallies the culture of Buddhism, it values, among the people in his empire by distributing relics of Buddha and leaving messages for the people to think of and later on embrace the faith. -
the invention of "flying money" (economic aspect)
- shortage of copper coins led to "flying money"
- enabled merchants to deposit goods or cash at one location and draw equivalent elsewhere include promissory notes which pledge payments of given sum of money at a later date. -Those hequan were a real success and the idea was exploited by the Authorities. Merchants were invited to deposit henceforth their metallic money in the Government Treasury in exchange for official “compensation notes”, called Fey-thsian or flying money.
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Paper money (economic aspect)
-wealthy ppl used it
-issued printed notes that client can redeem for merchandise
-facilitated commercial transactions
- because of poor management temperoryeconomic reverus, people were not able to honor their notes
- too dependent to get rid of it -
commercialization(economic )
-found that producing for the market made possible a better life. Farmers sold their surpluses in nearby markets and bought charcoal, tea, oil, and wine.
- In many places, farmers specialized in commercial crops, such as sugar, oranges, cotton, silk, and tea.
merchants
-set up partnerships and joint stock companies, with a separation between owners (shareholders) and managers -
neo-confucianism (social)
Confucianism became closely associated with the state and as it had to face competition from Buddhism,
-Confucian teachers responded to the challenge of Buddhist metaphysics by developing their own account of the natural and human world.
emphasized self-cultivation as a path not only to self-fulfillment but to the formation of a virtuous and harmonious society and state. -
family (soicial)
the family is the most basic unit of society. Everyone should respect and obey his or her parents and put the interests of the family before personal interests.
This attitude of “filial piety” extended also to ancestors. It was considered essential that everyone marry, so that family lines would continue and male heirs make offerings of food and drink to their deceased ancestors. -
officials of song (political)
the scholar-official class certified through highly competitive civil service examinations by teachings of confuciansm
-the purpose of the civil service examinations was to draw men with literary educations into the government to counter the dominance of military men -
government administration (political)
laying more power into the hands of the emperor or persons acting on the emperor's behalf, like the strong chancellors
Under the Song administration, prefectures and districts were directly controled by the central government
balancing between military and civil officials -
Song Taizu
-1st Song emperor
- Told generals to retire because cant displace him, had tight supervision over them
- state officalis loyal to Taizu inreturn rewarded greatfully
- more opportunities for education
- made civil bureacrats in charge of military forces -
government (political)
-tradition of a central bureaucracy that was already created during the Han Dynasty
-didnt have imperial princes , had state officials -centralized administration and enacted an elaborate code of administrative and penal laws -
military expansion (political)
The Tang dynasty was vast, with its control ranging from Korea, southern Manchuria, and Northen Vietnam. In the west, the Tang influence was felt as far away as present-day Afghanistan -
Emperor Gaozu
was the founder and first emperor
worked to conquer other regions, thus unifying china under rule of the new Tang Dynasty
relaxed the harsh laws of the region and worked to promote trade. -
emperor taizong
son of emperor yang
- murdered 2 brothers and pushed father aside for throne
- a confucian ruler who heeded teh interests of his subjects
- banditry ended during his reign
-price fo rice fell
- taxes only 25% though required rent payments and labor services -
bankruptcy (economic)
Even though the bankruptcy of empire due to warfare, construction projects and infrastructure improvements in the early part of reign the emperor has established food granaries in order to control the prices in the market – from crop taxation, just like the Han Dynasty -
grand canal (economic)
building of the Grand Canal
- served conduct of internal trade
- completed to facilitate trade between north and south china to make supplies of rice -
(economic)
the usage of coinage began in sui dynasty
standardized currency bythe emperor -
unification of china(politcal)
In defeating the Chen dynasty, Emperor Wen employed Xianbein, different ethnic groups in China, and Sichuan who are aborigines from the southeastern part of China which he recently conquered. This is one of Emperor Wen’s campaigns for southern invasion. initiated series of reforms that would unify China and strengthen his empire. He also won Confucian scholars’ admiration and support, who opposed the corruption and nepotism of the 9-rank system. -
social (tax)
high taxes and compulsory labor services generated hostility towards the emperors -
social (test)
reinstated the competitive tests that were once taken to measure a bureaucrat's competency
so that the lower class people can have an education and a place in government -
emperor Zhenzong
the Khitan waged war against the Song empire. Zhenzong, leading his army, struck back at the Khitan. Despite initial successes, in 1005 Zhenzong concluded the Shanyuan Treaty. The treaty resulted in over a century of peace, but at the price of the Song dynasty agreeing to an inferior position to the Khitan, and also agreeing to pay an annual tribute of 100,000 ounces of silver and over 200,000 bolts of silk -
fast-ripening rice (economic aspect)
- foundation of economic because surge in production
- allowed cultivators to harvest 2 crops per year
- increased supply of food
- the practice was called huang-lu -huang-lu’s fast ripening and water resistance permitted proper ripening, surpassing actual need. It could also use the limited time before and after flooding to complete growth from sowing to harvesting. These traits met economic needs and natural conditions; e.g., land reclamation from water
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social structure
During the Tang Dynasty there were basically eight social classes. The emperor and his family were usually the most powerful in the Tang Dynasty’s social hierarchy
The aristocracy was the next in the social hierarchy, followed by the bureaucracy.
The eunuchs came next in the social hierarchy as they functioned as servants in the emperor’s palace. The clergy were above the peasants who in turn were higher in the hierarchy than the artisans and traders. Slaves were the lowest in the Tang Dynasty’s -
Period: to
Sui dynasty
was a short-lived Imperial Chinese dynasty. Preceded by the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it unified China for the first time after over a century of north-south division -
Period: to
Tang dynasty
founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire. The dynasty was interrupted briefly when Empress Wu Zetian seized the throne, becoming the only Chinese empress regnant, ruling in her own right -
Period: to Nov 11, 1279
Song dynasty
first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a permanent standing navy
