The History of the Song Dynasty

The Song dynasty was powerful has possessed much of the country's wealth This dynasty helped feed the population through its rich technological advances which helped them advance with cultivation. The Song dynasty excelled in agriculture, artisan, iron, and gunpowder production. The most important aspect of these advances was their ability to

The Song dynasty, also called the Sung dynasty, was the Chinese reign during the late 10th-13th centuries that, like the Tang, had a far-reaching impact economically, culturally, and socially. The period is divided into two parts: the Northern Song and the Southern Song. Economically, commerce, trade, and manufacturing grew exponentially. Culturally, Confucianism witnessed new life as it undergirded the growth of the Chinese middle class, and socially, a revision of the Chinese civil service examination widened government representation. The Song dynasty could easily be argued as the renaissance of China.

Both the Tang and Song Dynasties had very successful economies. The Silk Roads were reopened and restored during the Tang Dynasty. These were essential trade routes that opened a network of

The following are the Chinese dynasties in order from oldest to most recent: Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui, Tang, Song, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing. The legendary dynasty is the Xia, which is believed to be around 2000 BC. The Shang (1700-1000BC) developed the first written Chinese language. The Zhou (1028-221BC) built the first roads, expanded trade contacts and trade routes, and also developed plows and irrigation systems. Trade at this time was expanding in China. The Qin Dynasty (221-207BC) built the famous Great Wall of China as a defense mechanism and also united all of China under one central government. Next is the Han Dynasty (207BC-AD220), which did a lot for China in terms of trading. They developed the Great Silk Road, a trading route that stretched from China all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. The Sui Dynasty (589-618) united almost all of China. Followed in suit by the Tang Dynasty (618-917) discovered one of Chinas' leading exports, porcelain. During the Tang Dynasty, the first block-style printing press was invented. The Song Dynasty (960-1279) came next, which took over all of China and later took the southern rule after being conquered by the Jin. The Song Dynasty is responsible for developing Chinese cuisine as we know it today. During this time period the compass and gunpowder were also discovered. The Jin Dynasty (1127-1234) took rule over Northern China from the Song. The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) brought a long period of peace to

Entry# 1: Good day journal, I have ventured further into my research on the Song Dynasty, I have learned very much about the landscape, geographical features, and much more like some major epochs of their time and even some quotes directly from some of the people living there. To start the song dynasty lasted from 960 to 1279 A.D. they lasted 319 years “Their climate had a very diverse range, ranges from tropical in south and subtropical in the north. The terrain is mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in the west, plains, deltas, and hills in the east.”(Embry 4). This is what I observed and mentally noted while I was touring the Song Dynasty. “Emperor Taizu began reigning in the year 960. His capital was in Kaifeng. During his 16 years of rule, he instituted successful policies and won his wars of expansion” (Wu 7). This was something that a local had told me about emperor Taizu. He further on explained to me about his resilience and how he expanded his land with intelligent war tactics.The Song dynasty was an era of Chinese history that began in 960 and continued until 1279. It succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and was followed by the Yuan dynasty (Benn 0).

Next is the evidence provided by the works from their methodology. For The Travels of Marco Polo, the evidence for Polo’s conclusions are his own experiences while in China. Therefore, Polo’s work provided Europe a more unfiltered and objective view of China in all its extravagance to Polo and later the Europeans. This unfiltered view point meant that Polo was inaccurate in some of his information. When describing Kublai Khan’s palace, Polo remarked how large the walls are and how extravagant and magnificent it was. The palace itself was in fact just an enclosed royal park used as an encampment. Polo’s observations and vocabulary used to describe the palace showed that European’s viewed China and what they did in awe, even when the Chinese were acting similar to the Europeans in many aspects.

Source: Marco Polo, The Travels of Marco Polo, a Venetian merchant who may have worked for the Yuan dynasty, the Mongol rulers of China, late 13th century. This excerpt is a description of Hangzhou, a southern city that was part of the Yuan empire.

There were several important inventions during medieval chinese times but , there were three key inventions that advanced chinese culture.Did you know that china was one of the first cultures to use gunpowder so they can put it inside of guns ,fireworks and other stuff.China was an advanced culture because china recorded their historians on codices.

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.

Advancements in China during the Song Dynasty caused this time period to flourish with peace, prosperity, and happiness. The Song dynasty was ruled by Zhao Kuangyin who was a chief-general in the dynasty before the Song, Hou Zhuo. Zhao Kuangyin unified china into a strong central government. He designed a strategy to conquer various kingdoms one by one, staring in the south, which was very rich in their production of items but weak in forces and protection. Zhao the ruler of the Song dynasty which lasted over 300 years believed in following short military dynasties.

Throughout the course of China’s history, many dynasties were established and each would bring about great changes to the empire. The most important dynasty that stood out would be the Han Dynasty, which became one of the great dynasties of Ancient China. It is deemed to be one of the most successful dynasties and played a major role in the advancement of Chinese civilization. During its time, the Han Dynasty brought upon new cultural and technological advancements and experienced many agricultural, social and military advancements, which helped the Chinese progress tremendously.

China has presented some of the first uses of music in history. One of the biggest eras in Chinas’ existence that has changed music today is the Zhou Dynasty. Their music traces back to about 3000 years ago. The Zhou Dynasty was the most musically advanced dynasty of the time period.The dynasty revolutionized music and invented many instruments that changed music forever.

The Tang and Song Dynasties of China showed similar periods of prosperity in the Dynastic Cycle. The Tang Dynasty, which lasted from 618 Common Era to 907 Common Era, economy flourished, leading to the flourishing of trade inside the dynasty. Specialization of labor also lead to quality artwork, which aided the economy. The Tang people valued, hard, quality work, and respected good education over family name.

Neo-Confucianism was also created in the Song Dynasty. Neo-Confucianism was Confucianism put together with Taoism, which was the ying and the yang, which was also put with Buddhism. This new patriotism also led to xenophobia in the country which leads to irrational decisions in the future. As time when on the Song Dynasty would lose some land to smaller dynasties who took over smaller parts to China in the south. Despite this the economy amazingly boomed during this time where the Chinese call the “medieval economic revolution” (Holcombe p. 130). Trading had a big role in this economic revolution. Archeologists have uncovered

Song Dynasty: during the Song Dynasty, there were several reformations and the Keju System became more and more mature and consummate. It had reached its summit. The government expanded admission quota and established Provincial Examination, Metropolitan Examination, and Final Imperial Examination. Those exams would be hold triennially. Song Dynasty changed the situation that merchant were discriminated in Sui and Tang Dynasties. Thanks to this policy, many people who were born miserably could have a fair access to higher level of bureaucracy.