Tang And Song Dynasty And Neo-Confucianism

The Tang Dynasty is an important aspect of Chinese history.  Lasting from 618 AD to 907 AD, it received the nickname “The Golden Age of Ancient China” because it was a very prosperous time.  This powerful empire came into control when the reign of the Sui Dynasty before it ended.

The Tang and Song dynasties in China existed between 618 to 1279 CE. Throughout this period, there were many developments in art, poetry, and technology. China was highly influential all around the world. It became known as the Golden Age of China. With advances in technology and ideas that could improve the everyday life, a unified government, and a strong economic system, the Tang and Song dynasties became the Golden Age of China.

Many aspects of the political reign throughout the Tang and Song Dynasty are fairly similar, yet there are some key differences. During the Tang Dynasty, emperors established a new system of land reform. This meant that land was taken from the rich and evenly distributed to peasants. The peasants owning land could now

One of the primary aspects of social structure in China was class. In the Classical Era, the Han and Qin dynasties ran China as a bureaucracy based on a person’s importance to society. One of the main reasons status did not pertain to the amount of wealth a person had is that during this time, China was an agrarian based society, which meant that farmers did

China was divided for almost four centuries. It became unified in 581 with the founding of the new dynasties, Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties. During the time of these dynasties, many changes took place. There were changes in the political, social, and economic structures. The first changes took place during the Sui dynasty in 581. Additional changes took place during the Tang dynasty in 618, and the Song dynasty in 960.

The Tang was a very aristocratic society that is known for being the “Golden Age” in Chinese history, with some of the greatest developments in the society occurring, (CD Benn, 2002). The dynasty made the unheard-of move of allowing women to sit for the Imperial examination and serve as government officials, with women enjoying the unprecedented power in politics (CD Benn, 2002). Charles Benn’s book, “China’s Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang dynasty”, is a secondary source in the form of a book, published in 2002. He is a professor studying Chinese history, in particular, the Tang dynasty, and in his publication, details the lives of Chinese people in this dynasty. Women had much more freedom than seen in any dynasty before it and it gave women a voice and saw women with almost as equal rights in society, with women finally being able to enjoy the privilege of education and marriage

1. Why are the centuries of the Tang and song dynasties in China sometimes referred to as a “golden age”?

New agricultural techniques, porcelain, metallurgy, printing, and naval technology were few of the technological elements that reinforced the established features of social order. New agricultural techniques helped in the expand of their agricultural potential, the dynasties gained reputation from porcelain technology which moderately diffused to other societies producing porcelain in large quantities, metallurgical techniques as well diffused to lands beyond China, printing produced texts quickly and popular works appeared in huge quantities, and naval technology included of the magnetic compass which soon became common for mariners to use. Population growth, patriarchal social structures, and gunpowder were technological elements reinforcing established features of political order. Population growth reflected the capacity of economy and distribution of food, patriarchal social structures included of concern to preserve family fortunes and foot binding, and gunpowder was an element used for military effectiveness. These aspects provided a fundamental change in traditions because they changed their whole concepts of how to use goods as in previous Chinese eras.

A golden age is a specific time where peace, happiness and prosperity flourishes within a civilization. In China. This period was known as the Song Dynasty, which lasted from (920-1279). China’s Golden Age was followed by the Yuan Dynasty, which dated from the years (1271-1368). During this period the Song Dynasty was exciting to people. Agriculture flourished leading to the inventions of the moveable typewriter and magnetic compass, paper money, and even gunpowder. The Song Dynasty led to China’s most significant achievement, Neo-Confucianism. Despite the influential importance art and creativity had on the Chinese people, it did not perform as much of an important, helpful part to the Chinese people as Agriculture and Neo-Confucianism did.

The Han dynasty was a golden era for China. It saw the greatest land confiscation of the nation’s history and economic success. In this paper I will be focusing on the structure of the national government, the monopolizing of iron and salt, the Yumen Pass and the Yellow Turban rebellion. Join me as we take a trip back in time to visit a time in Chinas history that is highly revered.

The first reason why the Tang dynasty is the most impactful is that many cultural advancements occurred which affected the future culture of China. For example, a form of novel was created called Chuan Qi. This type of novel had a complex storyline and often reflected real life. These novels later became the basis for future stories (“Tang Dynasty”). In other words, the novels created in the Tang dynasty influenced the structure of future stories. Another example of the Tang dynasty’s cultural impact is through poems and

Similar to other hyperpowers, the Chinese Empire was also capable of rising to global dominancy by its interesting method of tolerance. In this section, Amy Chua’s thesis includes how the Tang Dynasty depicts China’s Golden Age because of its period of incredible political, economic, and artistic achievements. At that period in history, China overcame any other empire; of that time it was the most religiously tolerant and culturally diverse.

The Tang and Song dynasty in China was known as the Golden Age of China. “The use of paper money, the introduction of tea drinking, and the inventions of gunpowder, the compass, and printing all occur under the Song.” There were many inventions that helped them prosper and live more comfortably. “The Song is distinguished by enormous commercial growth that historians refer to as "pre-modern" in character. The growth in the production of non-agricultural goods in a rural and household context ("cottage industries" such as silk), and in the production of cash crops that are sold not consumed (tea), leads to the extension of market forces into the everyday life of ordinary people. ”

In china there has been no central rule in China for 70 years until the Song Dynasty created in 960. Things started to change in China, for example, the government started to aid the poor a lot more than what they have in the past. They were getting this money from the newly introduced income tax. This made a lot of people happy and everyone started to have more patriotism and pride. This pride gave the government a feel of legitimacy. Some of the major things the government is paying for is the roads, food, and education. Pottery at this time helps out the economy in China, because the pottery is so advanced that it was being exported for good money and it also led more people to come to China. Even though China was number one in the world for many things like technology and a sophisticated culture they were weak military wise (Holcombe p.127).

During the Song Dynasty period (960�1279) in China, educated gentry became interested in the antiquarian pursuit of art collecting. Neo-Confucian scholar-officials were generally concerned with archaeological pursuits in order to revive the use of ancient relics in state rituals. This attitude was criticized by the polymath official Shen Kuo in his Dream Pool Essays of 1088. He endorsed the idea that materials, technologies, and objects of antiquity should be studied for their functionality and for the discovery of ancient manufacturing techniques, instead. Although a distinct minority, here were others who took the discipline as seriously as Shen did; the official, historian, poet, and essayist Ouyang Xiu (1007�1072) compiled an analytical