Chapter 13-Reunification and Renaissance in China: The Era of the Tang and Song
Dynasties
A. 13.1 Rebuilding the Imperial Edifice in the Sui-Tang Era (What were the key factors in the Sui-Tang
era that made for the restoration of a strong, unified Chinese empire after centuries of division and
turmoil?)
1. Rise of the Sui
i. Consolidation
1. Yang Jian
a. Makes marriage alliance between his daughter and Zhou
b. Seizes throne
c. Supports military nomads
d. Conquers weaker kingdoms
e. Popular with peasants for ensuring food production
2. Sui Excesses and Collapse
i. Decadence
1. Yangdi
a. Promotes Confucian scholar-gentry
i. At expense of military nobility
b. Extravagant construction and corvee labor
c. Failed campaigns into Korea
d. Resurgence of warlord rulers
e. Assassinated by own ministers
3. The Emergence of the Tang and the Restoration of the Empire
i. Foundation
1. Li Yuan, Duke of Tang, minister for Yangdi
a. Acquires throne after Yangdi’s assassination
b. Abdicates to his son Tang Taizong
ii. Expansion
1. Conquest into central Asia
2. Repair walls, establish frontier armies
3. Attempted assimilation of Turkic “hostages”
4. Union of North and South China
5. Capture of Korea
a. Shilla Dynasty
4. Rebuilding the World’s Largest and Most Pervasive Bureaucracy
i. Scholar-Gentry
1. Confucian educated
2. Offsets aristocratic power
3. Runs bureaucracy to local level
5. Institutionalizing Meritocracy: The Growing Importance of the Examination System
i. Egalitarianism
1. Examination system for bureaucratic service
2. Technically open to all
3. Status dependent on results of exam
a. Jinshi (legal classicists)
ii. Nepotism
1. Attain entrance to imperial academies
2. Central administration dominated by established families
6. State and Religion in the Tang and Song Eras
i. Buddhism
1. Proliferates in China
a. Spread by pre-Tang nomadic rulers
b. Chinese influenced
2. Threads
a. Pure land Buddhism
i. Mahayana, not Theravada
ii. More salvific
b. Chan Buddhism
i. Also called Zen
ii. Appreciated of art, natural beauty
iii. Focus on escape from death-rebirth cycle
3. Establishment
a. Patronized alongside Confucianism
b. Supported by Empress Wu
i. Commissions Buddhist art
7. The Anti-Buddhist Backlash
i. Daoism
1. Stresses magical and predictive powers
a. Yellow Turban Revolt!
2. Appeals to Chinese heritage and origins
ii. Confucianism
1. Convinces rulers of the economic burden of Buddhism
2. Xenophobia
iii. Governmental
1. Wuzong
a. Open persecution of Buddhism
b. Attacks shrines, divides up Buddhist lands
c. Permanent weakening of Buddhism in China
B. 13.2 Tang Decline and the Rise of the Song (Why did Buddhism become such a dominant force in
the political and sociocultural life of China in the early Tang period, and who led the campaigns to
rein in the wealth and influence of the Buddhist monastic orders?
1. The Fall of the Tang Dynasty
i. Usurpations
1. To create new dynasties
ii. Burnout
1. Xuanzong’s waning interest
2. Focus on Yang Guifei
a. Royal concubine who uses influence to pack government with family
iii. Revolt
1. Led by An Lushan, eventually crushed
2. Dissension forces Xuanzong to execute Yang Guifei
3. Influence of nomads decentralizes Tang government
a. Decline to regional rule
2. The Founding of the Song Dynasty
i. Emperor Taizu
1. General of Tang dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin
2. Routs most rivals except the Liao Dynasty
a. Khitans, Manchurian nomads
b. Humiliates Song and forces them to pay tribute
c. Highly Sinified by Song China
3. Song Politics: Settling for Partial Restoration
i. Consolidation
1. Military subordination
a. Limits military strength
b. Limits size of the empire
c. All by design
2. Bureaucratic Resurgence
a. Xenophobic, anti-Nomad ideology
b. Institutionalized civil service exams
i. Status of civil servants fortified
c. Surpasses Buddhist influence
4. The Revival of Confucian Thought
i. Neo-Confucianism
1. Devoted to recovering and reinterpreting ancient texts
2. Promotes indigenous thought
3. Confucian “Renaissance” Man
4. Xenophobic
a. Stifles innovation, tolerance
ii. Social Hierarchy
1. Rank
a. Obligation and deference
b. Responsibility and respect
2. Gender
a. Men over women
5. Roots of Decline: Attempts at Reform
i. Economics
1. Tribute
a. Payments to Liao and Xi Xia kingdom of the Tangut tribes
i. For northern protection
2. Military
a. Maintain the army, about one million soldiers!
i. Testament to Song agricultural output
b. Upgrade and repair fortifications, arms
3. Luxuries
a. Scholarly and nobility pursuits
i. Entertainment, poetry
ii. Reform
1. Legalism
a. Led by Wang Anshi
b. Hated by Confucian ministers
i. No tax exemptions
c. Consolidates military
d. Critical thinking rather than Confucian memorization
6. Reaction and Disaster: The Flight to the South
i. Internal
1. Neo-Confucians return to power
a. End reforms, reverse Wang’s initiatives
b. Economy declines (again)
ii. External
1. Jin Kingdom
a. Established by Jurchens
b. Annexes most of northern Song territory
i. Song becomes highly cultured rump state
C. 13.3 Tang and Song Prosperity (What innovations and socioeconomic developments account for the
widespread prosperity of Chinese civilization in the Tang-Song era, and what were the main social
effects of those developments?)
1. Infrastructure
i. The Grand Canal
1. Links northern and southern China during the Sui dynasty
2. Influx of food, easy communication
3. Practical, useful project, but huge cost
2. A New Phase of Intercontinental Commercial Expansion by Land and Sea
i. External
1. Silk Roads
a. Reopened and protected
b. Foster exchange of goods
2. Sea Trade
a. Chinese junks most innovative ships
b. Dominant east of Malaya
ii. Internal
1. Economics
a. Growth of markets and merchant class
i. Still controlled by Confucian government/ideals
b. Creation of guilds
c. Exchange
i. Deposit shops
ii. Flying money
1. Safer when travelling
2. Replaced by paper money
2. Demography
a. Urbanization
i. Chang’an largest city in the world at two million people
ii. Highly stratified
iii. Expansion of towns into cities
3. Expanding Agrarian Production and Life in the Country
i. Expansion
1. Into uncultivated or non-Chinese cultivated areas
2. Brings irrigation, garrisons (water and stability)
ii. Technology
1. Champa rice
a. Multiple yields
b. Hardy, robust
2. Manure
a. Healthy crops
iii. Land Politics
1. Large estates broken up
a. Support peasants, break up noble wealth
b. Empowers gentry families
4. Family and Society in the Tang and Song Eras
i. Confucian Patriarchy
1. Male dominance supported by law
a. Punishments for women, young children
ii. Confucian Marriage
1. Practical rather than romantic
2. Subordinate to men in families, not necessarily among upper class
3. Divorce by mutual consent
a. Protections for the wife
5. The Neo-Confucian Assertion of Male Dominance
i. Female Suppression
1. Virginity, fidelity, chastity
2. Mothering, matronly
ii. Male Expression
1. Fornication, adultery, remarriage
2. Rejection of Buddhist equality
3. Systemic sexism
6. Invention, Artistic Creativity, and China’s Global Impact
i. Gunpowder
1. Used in fireworks
2. Eventually in bombs and rockets
ii. Printing
1. Moveable type printing
2. Combined with Han papermaking, promotes literacy
7. Scholarly Refinement and Artistic Accomplishment
i. Confucian Dominance
1. Art and literature
2. Reinforced by Confucian “Renaissance-man” ideals
a. Create art, appreciate music
3. Focus on concrete imagery and abstract though
4. Elitist individuality, rare in global context
D. Themes
1. Chinese Consolidation
i. Refinement rather than advancement
ii. Expanding cultural orbit
iii. A central sphere of global commerce
E. Ties that Bind: Paths to Power
1. Exultation
i. Praises his superior’s accomplishments
2. Deference
i. Downplays own accomplishments
ii. Begs for favor
iii. Reduces his own station
1. Compares himself to a woman
F. Thinking Historically
1. Art for the Historian
i. Communicates social values, especially where lack of written word
ii. Questions of who produced this and why?
iii. What is the purpose, and how do we “read” art?
G. Visualizing the Past
1. Footbinding
i. Origins unknown, but perhaps based in status
ii. Rationales
1. Standard of beauty
2. Signifies wealth
3. Confines women
4. Reinforces Confucian values
5. Slow spread into poorer classes