Song+Dynasty

__**The Song Dynasty: 960-1279 **__

__Founding of the Song Dynasty__ > > __ The Politics in the Song Dynasty __
 * 907- The last emperor of Tang Empire was forced to resign and China went through another phase of nomadic dominance, political division, and social strife. (Dynastic Cycle)
 * 960- Zhao Kuangyin emerged to reunite China under a single dynasty (renamed Emperor Taizu).
 * Defeated all his rivals except one: northern Liao dynasty (founded by nomadic Khitan peoples from Manchuria)
 * Showed weakness towards other nomads, could have been possibly exploited
 * Paid a heavy tribute to keep the Liao Dynasty from raiding and possibly conquering the Song Dynasty
 * After being paid tribute, the Khitan eventually admired the Song Dynasty and viewed them as culturally superior
 * The Khitan felt that they could learn much from them and adopted a lot of their southern culture
 * Reputation as honest and able general
 * A courageous soldier who was also educated and a scholarly man and while campaigning, he collected books rather than money
 * [[image:http://www.cultural-china.com/chinaWH/images/arbigimages/292526301b9bd4dab6bae040100b96f4.jpg width="235" height="172" caption="Emperor Taizu"]]
 * Had to sign humiliating treaties with the Khitans
 * Initially, the military was inferior to the civilian administrators of the scholar-gentry class, as only civil officials were granted the position of governors
 * Military commanders were rotated to prevent corruption and greed for control
 * never met up with the greatness achieved by the Tang in either political or military strength
 * weakness came from their imperi al policies that were made to ward off the problems that caused the Tang's downfall
 * in the beginning, military was regarded with lesser importance than the scholar class
 * only civil officials were allowed to be governors
 * commanders were rotated in order to prevent them from building a power base where they were stationed
 * Song rulers promoted the scholars class because they thought that they were the main defense again war lords taking over (made government posts seem lucrative/laughed at)
 * Civil Service Exams (look below)
 * Wang Anshi (1070's to early 1080's) was chief minister of Song Shenzong emperor. (Go to Important People of... for more information).

__ Revival of Confucian Thought __
 * Song rulers strongly promoted interests of the Confucian scholar-gentry.
 * Officials received higher pay
 * They were also given additional servants and were paid through luxurious goods such as silk and wine
 * Civil service exams were administered 3 times a year at 3 different levels: district, provincial, and imperial
 * Secured the position of the scholar-gentry class over its aristocratic and Buddhist counterparts
 * The Thoughts of Neo-Confucians:
 * Neo-Confucians revived ancient Confucian teachings.
 * Cultivating the morals of an individual was a priority
 * Virtue could be attained through intelligence gained by book learning and personal observation
 * Could also be achieved through encounters with wise men of moral exellence
 * Were opposed to foreign philosophical systems such as Buddhism (there was a decreased acceptance in ideas and influences than before)
 * Stressed tradition, rank, obligation, and obedience
 * Distinctions regarding gender, class, and age were to be expressed, particularly in occupational roles
 * Special authority was to be given to the male head of the Chinese household, as he was thought of as the male emperor of the Chinese people
 * Peace and wealth in society would easily result if both men and women knew their place and behaved according to their age and social status
 * Ended Wang's reform after the death of the Shenzong emperor
 * Chinese rulers and bureaucrats were less receptive to outside ideas and influences than they had been in the early period.
 * Emphasis on tradition and hostility
 * Neo-Confucians believe that the nature of humans can be cultivated and men are superior and that they can help govern and teach others in the society.

__Roots of the Decline:__ __Belief in Male Dominance__ - Chinese women had the least rights and independence during the Tang-Song dynasty era - Neo-Confucian philosophers greatly supported the male dominance - Men were allowed to engage in sexual activity before marriage and have many wives (concubines) if they could afford them - Women weren't allowed to have an education that would teach them how to rise to power or how to enter the civil service - Women were very restricted and there was much emphasis on the virginity of the females: > - Foot binding was one of the greatest constrictions for Chinese women, where the foot would be bound at a young age to keep the foot small for the rest of the woman's life media type="youtube" key="H_FYM2Y4AR4" width="420" height="315" align="center"
 * Nomadic groups were encouraged to attack because of the weakness the Song dynasty showed in their encounter with the Khitan
 * Tribute that had to be paid to the Tangut tribes for "protection" against invasions from the north became a burden on the empire
 * Cost of the army also became a burden (1 million soldiers that Song had to maintain to guard against invasion from the north)
 * Funds that were needed by the army were either wasted on scholarly pursuits or entertainments of the court
 * Generals and heads of armies were not the brightest
 * Peasant unrest grew when Wang's reforms were ended by the Neo-Confucians
 * Resulted in deteriorating economic condition.
 * Increasing threat from beyond the northern borders of the empire.
 * 1115- new nomadic contender, Jurchens, overthrew Liao dynasty of Khitans and established Jin kingdom north of Song Empire; forced Song to flee to south.
 * This caused the capital to be moved (Chinese called it) Hangzhou. It was the formation of the Southern Song Dynasty which lasted from 1127-1279, allowing the Song Dynasty to survive for another century.
 * Stressed that women roles were strictly as a mother and housekeeper, and their only purpose was to bear sons to continue the family line
 * Harassed Buddhists for supporting career alterations for women (scholarships and monastic life)
 * Made laws that favored the men in inheritance, divorce, and familial interaction
 * Excluded women from having an education to prevent them from being eligible to participate in politics and the civil service exams
 * young brides should be virgins or pure
 * should be sexually faithful to their husbands
 * should be restrained from sexual activities if they were widows and remarrying was not encouraged
 * Highly favored by the emperor who preferred dancing girls with small feet
 * Both upper-class men and lower-class men (even peasantry) had a preference for small feet
 * Shaped the foot into a "lotus petal" or a "golden lily" which was preferred by most men.
 * Many lower-class families forced their daughters at the ages as young as five or six to begin binding their feet in hopes of being able to attract a good husband for them in the future and give them a better life. Some women did it to themselves in hope of marrying a wealthy husband.
 * Pain was intolerable and even walking short distances was difficult, due to their lack of mobility. Women were easily confined by their husbands
 * Women could not engage in occupations that were away or off the grounds of the family compound.
 * Properly bound feet were known as "3 inch golden lotuses" and many women aspired to have them
 * After people were forced to work in fields, women with small bound feet could no longer walk well and were shunned

__Women's Powers-__
 * Often acted as professional go-betweens to negotiate sticky situations between families such as matching men and women and the amount of dowry paid to the husband's family.
 * Yang Guifei was an example of how women could wield considerable power
 * Enjoyed a wide range of activities, and perhaps career possibilities.
 * Divorce was allowed with mutual consent between man and wife. Wife could not be abandoned if her parents were dead or if he had been poor when they were married and later became rich.
 * Wealthy women in larger cities took "complementary husbands" (separate lovers) with their husbands knowledge.

__Hangzhou__- late Song capital
 * Located between a large lake and a river in the Yangtze Delta.
 * Location allowed its traders and artisans to prosper through the sale of goods or the manufacture of products.
 * Many great marketplaces stocked with products from much of the known world (foods, luxury goods)
 * Many parks, bathhouses, delightful gardens, tea houses, restaurants, entertainments, etc.

__Invention and Artistic Creativity (Tang and Song Eras):__
 * Remembered as a remarkable time filled with many Chinese accomplishments in science, technology, literature, and the fine arts.
 * new tools, production techniques, weapons
 * Confined to mostly Central Asia, Japan, and Vietnam-Chinese imports were a great cultural change
 * Poetry and short stories of Tang Dynasty and the landscape paintings of the Song Dynasty were some of the most splendid artistic creations of all human history.
 * Innovations such as banks and a paper money system
 * Construction of dikes and damns for water regulation as well as bridges
 * New way to build bridges-from arched and segmented to suspension and trussed (tied up).



media type="youtube" key="QO7NHZJ-eE4" width="560" height="315" //The history of the Song dynasty//

__Overall Achievements of the Song Dynasty__ (Some achievements are included in the text above, but this specifies the achievements so you don't have to go looking for them.)

This is an abacus. media type="youtube" key="VkOZ971RIEw" width="420" height="315"A video that a student taking World History made to further explain footbinding.
 * Landscape paintings among artists became popular forms of visual expression.
 * Trade continued between the Tang and Song Dynasties.
 * Warfare technological aspects improved. Catapults threw bombs and grenades. Armies and marine soldiers used flame-throwers and rocket launchers.
 * The development of printing with moveable type occurred.
 * In order to more precisely find their way around the ocean, compasses were utilized.
 * The abacus (an ancient Chinese counting device used rods on which were mounted movable counters) was used to efficiently count and record taxes.
 * Footbinding (a method of breaking and binding women's feet; seen as a sign of beauty and social positions) was used more frequently in the higher social classes. Lower social classes practiced this later in time.
 * Patriarchalism in families was magnified.