Chinese Empires

Chinese Empires (Section 1)

The Inside Story

How might floating dragons show the power and unity of China?
The dragons for the Chinese people were the symbol of China’s imperial family and at the top deck of the boat the emperor sat dresses in golden silk, meaning he was the son of heaven, and this not only showed power but also unity of the empire.

Sui and Tang Dynasties
• Afterthe Han dynasty collapsed military leaders slip China into rival kingdoms

• This began a period of disorder call the Period of Disunion

Period of Disunion (Lasted 350 years, ended 589 a.c)

• Nomads invaded northern China and formed their own kingdoms

• Chinese were unhappy to live under the rule of the nomadic invaders

• Chinese fled to the south of the region ofthe Chang Jiang

• Number of southern dynasties rose and fell

• In the north, Nomadic invaders adopted many aspects of Chinese civilization

• In the south, the culture of the northern Chinese immigrants blended with the local cultures

The Sui Dynasty

• The Period of Disunion ended when a northern ruler named Wendi (Yang Jian) reunified China.

• Wendi founded thenew Sui dynasty and became its first emperor

• Build a centralized government

• Created a new legal code

• Reformed bureaucracy

• Created policies to provide all adult males with land and to ensure the availability of grain

• Greatest accomplishment: The completion of the Grand Canal

• Grand Canal: 1,000 mile waterway which linked northern and southernchina

• As a result of the Grand Canal, China could more easily access the recourses from south to north such as rice

• Yang Di (Wendi’s son) forced millions of peasants to work on the Grand Canal

• Hundreds of laborers died, leading to discontent and rebellion

• Failed military campaigns worsened the situation

• In 618 an official assassinated Yang Di lettingthe Sui dynasty to an end

The Tang Dynasty (618-907)

• China experienced a period of prosperity and cultural achievement

• Chinese influence spread across East Asia

• Established their capital at Chang’an

• Control remained centralized and based on a bureaucracy of officials

• Tang expanded the civil service examination system (Written exams)

• Createda flexible law code

• Expanded China and its influence along Korea and Japan

• Contact with other peoples contributed to the growth of foreign trade, and the economy prospered

• Taizong, one of China’s most admired emperors, relied on talented ministers to help him govern and made all the expansion possible

• After his death, one of his sons became emperor

• Thenew emperor was weak and sickly, and his wife Wu Zhao gained power

• When her husband died, Wu Zhao continued to rule through her sons

• Wanting full power, she became emperor herself-only woman to hold this title

• Wu Zhao was overthrown in 705, and the tang dynasty reached its height under Xuansong

The Tang Decline (750s)

• Began to decline in the 750s

•Put down a rebellion in 755; the government remained weak

• Military defeats led to the loss of lands in central Asia and the north

• Nomadic invasions

• Peasant rebellions over rising taxes

• A powerful general killed the emperor in 907

• The Tang dynasty ended

An Age of Buddhism

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The Song Dynasty

Government and the Civil Service

•Established capital at Kaifeng and restored centralized government control

• Enlarge the government bureaucracy and reformed civil service examination

• New form of Confucianism called Neo-Confucianism

• Neo-Confucianism: “neo” means new; emphasized also in spiritual matters

• Civil service exams were extremely difficult to pass

• Those who pass the exams became...