1) Aim: Were innovative emperors or new technologies more important in creating a new “Golden Age” for China during the Tang Dynasty? (2) Aim: How did art and literature reflect a new “Golden Age” of Chinese culture during the Song Dynasty?

Homework: Create a “primary source” from the Tang Dynasty or Song Dynasty, which can be a poem, letter, newspaper article, or letter to the editor of a newspaper.

Tang Dynasty (618-907) / Song Dynasty (960-1279) (expansion) (contraction)

Strong Central Government

• Why did they need it?• How did it work?• Civil Service Exams• What did exam system do to social classes?

The Grand Canal

• Built during the Sui Dynasty (581-618)• What did it do for China?• How did it unify China?• How did it affect trade?• How did it affect population growth?

Inventions• How did Chinese inventions and

technology affect trade?

Agriculture

• How did trade affect farming?• How did the seed program affect food production?• How did food production affect population growth?

Trade and Foreign Contact

• What impact did geography have on trade?• How was geography a political and social hardship for

China?

Changes in Chinese Society

• Civil Service Examination System• Removed hereditary aristocracy• New educated class emerged• New system based on “merit”• Who got to take the civil service exam?• Levels of Society:• Gentry – upper class (scholar-officials_• Urban middle class – merchants, shopkeepers, skilled artisans, minor officials• Laborers, soldiers, and servants• Peasants

Art and Poety

Viewing the Plain Chengdu (759-765) White snow lies on the western hills by the three walled cities,To the south, from the clear river's bank, stretches the thousand li bridge.In this world of war and confusion, I'm cut off from my brothers,Standing alone at the end of the sky, I weep for distant places.Past my prime, all I have to offer is this sick body,I have no trickle or mote of strength with which to repay the emperor.On my horse, outwith the city, at times I gaze afar,I cannot bear our condition, which daily grows more desolate.(Song Dynasty)

Decline of the Tang Dynasty

• How did geography affect China’s political status?

• In 751, Muslim armies beat the Chinese at the battle of Talas, and the Tang Dynasty lost Central Asia. Border attacks and internal rebellions steadily chipped away at the power of the imperial government. Finally, in 907, Chinese rebels sacked and burned the Tang capital at Ch’ang-an, and murdered the last Tang emperor, a child.

• Did China’s trade routes through Central Asia play a role in the war against Muslim armies is 751?