Tang and Song Dynasty Essay

The governmental structure was great in the Tang dynasty and included: the Secretariat created and wrote bills, the Chancellery reviewed and changed bills, and the Department of State Affairs put the bills into place.  The Department of State was the head of the government and in it there were six ministries: one for personnel, military, finance, rites, justice, and public works.  Many other

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

While China culturally remained the same from the 600s to the late 1400s, the country hardly changed politically either. A monarchy completely dominated China’s government during these years. Under the Tang dynasty, the rulers constantly changed and new policies were thought of, but the overall government did not change. The Tang Code, the criminal or penal code, was established in 624. It synthesised Legalist and Confucian of law, and it has constantly been considered one of the greatest achievemnts of traditional Chinese law. This code became the basis of later codes in both China and other parts of Asia. During the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhanged began the draft of a new Confucian law code, the Daming Lu, which repeated various clauses that were found in the Tang Code years ago. Specific aspects in the Tang dynasty were revived during the Ming dynasty, resulting in a very slight amount of change for the lives of Chinese citizens for almost 800 years. Women’s status remained lower than that of

To begin with, both Imperial Rome and Han China were ruled under a bureaucracy. In Rome the emperor was the ultimate authority. The

Chinese government legislation was a great influence on Korean and Japanese societies. Silla’s government was modeled closely to the Tang Dynasty’s form of government because of the alliance they

During the Song Dynasty (960–1279) in Ancient China, the gender in which a person was born as, changed their whole path of life. Their role in society, their education, their power in the household were very different depending on if they were male or female. A typical female had much less power compared to a man; they were considered the inferior gender. It was unfair, and to an extend, cruel, the way that women were treated compared to a man, but during that time in China, it was so normal that no one questioned it. The roles that each gender held were rigid, quite different, and clearly not equal. As China gained power during this time and became more powerful, women were greatly downgraded by men because men were thought to be the ones

The Next piece is an image form Guo Xi who was a master from the Northern

From 618-907, the unprecedented leniency and tolerance of the Tang dynasty created a large hyper power, with alliances and trading and such. This empire left a lasting impression on the Chinese. “These and other factors converged to produce a dynasty more tolerant of foreign cultures, religions, and influences than any other in Chinese history.” Taizong was the first emperor of the tang dynasty and set the precedent for his successors. His main goal was to establish equality throughout the regions. He achieved this and became “the first Chinese ruler to establish dominion over the steppes.” As the Tang rule grew larger and larger, it engulfed areas like Manchuria, Vietnam, and parts of Iran. The way they chose to handle the commerce and diplomacy

First, the Han Dynasty was more important to the development of China because it created the idea of a Civil Service Exam. The Han Dynasty readopted the idea of having families rulers after the Qin Dynasty strayed from the tradition; however, they kept the idea of bureaucrats from the Qin Dynasty. They used appointed government officials to oversee the day-to-day work of their government. This lead them to implement the Civil Service Exam. The exam was meant to help chose the bureaucrats for the government. It was a test centered around the ideas of Confucius and how to apply them to everyday life. By making this a normal part of Chinese society, the Han Dynasty was able to extend government official job opportunities to people of all social classes. In addition, because the exam gave these opportunities to all people, all people put more emphasis on

It is known for being flourished with women rights. The Song dynasty’s society definitely had its differences to Tang, “For instance, the prime minister of the Song dynasty might take a bath in the same public bath house as everyone else, which would be unthinkable in the Tang Dynasty”, (Wang, 2003). This is quoted from a secondary source from a professor studying Chinese history and shows how different the societies were between the two. Men were still greatly superior to women in this period. In contrast with the Tang dynasty, women in this period despite it following the Tang dynasty, were not allowed into positions of great importance like government officials or be involved in politics and were just expected to stay at home and take care of the household. But women of this period, unlike those of Tang, were had equal societal and legal rights that enabled them to control their own dowry, able to establish small businesses and were equal to men when it came to terms of inheritance, (Yuan, 1984). Essentially, Tang dynasty women were bolder and more active in the society where the women of the Song dynasty were more academically inclined and well reserved and respectful. Although the society themselves were different in certain aspects, women’s role between the two were similar. Both of these dynasties were divided by gender,

Emperor- the emperor was at the top of the entire hierarchy and he ruled over the Dynasty while his family was rich and

The governmental structure was great in the Tang dynasty and included: the Secretariat created and wrote bills, the Chancellery reviewed and changed bills, and the Department of State Affairs put the bills into place.  The Department of State was the head of the government and in it there were six ministries: one for personnel, military, finance, rites, justice, and public

Wu Zhao belonged to the Tang Empire, which according to the author which “…was a true empire, encompassing many lands, many peoples, and many ideologies. Multi ethnic and cosmopolitan, Tang China was perfectly suited for the ascent of a historical anomaly like Wu Zhao…” (Rothschild, 2008, p. 11) In a sense, there was a conflict of traditional Confucian values which promoted a patriarchal society and the liberal Steppe culture which gave women more freedom and rights. China at that time was a cocktail of these cultures which led to a significant impact on the lifestyle and values of peoples in that era. Women were bold and tough, and unlike earlier societies, were no longer confined socially and sexually (Rothschild, 2008, p. 12). While did not exist a perfect equality between men and women, women of that era were allowed to live without hiding under the dominance of the male Yang. As the author talks of the Silk Road, it is mentioned that,”…In this free-wheeling milieu, women donned men’s attire and rode horses…” (Rothschild, 2008, p. 15) .This “cosmopolitan” (Rothschild, 2008, p. 16) society was the foundation for the Tang Empire. Another important factor was the prevalence of Buddhism as a religion of the masses. Buddhism, in itself, helped united much of Asia, and was a common platform for men and women, unlike in Confucianism where

The Empire of the Great Tang and the Byzantine Empire existed on a similar large scale in the around same period. Both empires dominated vast land area and had significant impact on the human history. The territories of both empires were so large that were even difficult to manage in the 21 century. On one hand, the Tang Empire used the examination method to select officials. On the other hand, the Byzantine Empire used the republic system to elect officials (Mckay). How did these methods seek the proper people to govern the such immense territory and large population? Further, which empire was more appropriate, efficient and well-handled in electing officials for bureaucracy?