Tang+and+Song+Prosperity

- Yangdi, the second emperor of the Sui Dynasty, risked his throne to have the Grand Canal built. - Millions of peasants were forced to work, and many died during this project. It also costed millions of dollars for the project to be enforced - Connected the original centers of Chinese civilization on the north China plain with the Yangtze river basin more than 500 miles to the south - Allowed people and goods to be transported easily. - Heavy labor (similar to Great Wall of China)
 * The Grand Canal (1200 miles long) **

-Silk routes between China and Persia reopened and expanded because Tang control in Asia expanded. -Commerce was also prominent in the markets (Supervised by government) - Commercial expansion was so great that merchants banded together in guilds to regulate competition and also to promote their interests with local officials. - Started using bodies of water to trade their goods across water.
 * Commercial Expansion in Building the Economy**
 * Horses, Persian rugs, and tapestries passed to China. Silk textiles, porcelain, and paper were exported to Islamic civilizations.
 * Built ships that were able to be used for seas, rivers and canals.

-Expansion brought in different forms of credit available in China.
 * Merchants deposited their profits in deposit shops before setting out on trading caravans to different cities. Forms of payment or exchange such as paper money (first used in the Tang era), credit vouchers (called flying money) could be presented for reimbursement at a certain office in the city of destination. This reduced dangers of robbery.

Chinese **junks** were the best ships in the world during this period, in comparison to the dhows of the Arabs. The junks had watertight bulkheads, sternpost rudders, oars, sails, compasses, bamboo fenders, and gunpowder rockets. Overseas trade was improved because of the use of junks, and Chinese sailors and merchants became the dominant force in the Asian seas.


 * Cities of China **

CHANG'AN (Tang capital): There was a surge in urban growth in the cities. The Tang capital and its suburbs of Chang'an were larger than any other city in the world. The imperial city of Changan was divided into restricted zones dominated by palace halls, audience halls, elaborate gardens and hunting parks. The city itself was a citadel ( a fortress, typically on high ground, protecting or dominating a city) surrounded by walls.

HANGZHOU (Late Song capital): Location- Between a large lake and a river in the Yangze Delta Marco Polo described Hangzhou as "the most noble city and the best that is in the world." Hangzhou had ten great marketplaces and was renowned for its cleanliness, wealth, and diverse attractions. Its location allowed traders and artisans to prosper through the sale of goods or the manufacture of products from materials from both north and south China as well as overseas. There was also a variety of entertainments, such as boating, visiting "singing girls", bathing at bath houses, watching acrobats, dining at restaurants and tea houses, and listening to opera performances.

Agricultural improvements were promoted by the rulers of both dynasties. The state encouraged peasant groups to migrate to uncultivated areas (by breaking up the vast lands that aristocrats had and equally distributing the land among the free peasants of the empire, reducing the aristocracy's __#|power__ and preventing corruption), supported military garrisons in the area to protect settlements and to conquer non-Chinese people, and regulated irrigation and canal system to advance agrarian expansion.
 * Life in the Country and Expanding Agrarian Production**

Newly introduced seeds, such as Champa rice from Vietnam, better use of human, animal, and fertilizer manure, thorough soil preparationand weeding, multiple cropping and improved water control techniques increased the yields of peasant holdings. Inventions like wheelbarrows eased plowing, planting, weeding, and harvesting. These improvements brought fortune to rural households. (Graceful curved roods with upturned corners, with yellow or green tiles, symbolized power.)

The position of women showed signs of improvement in the Tang and early Song. However, the male-dominated hierarchy (heavily influenced by Confucianism) was still present in all social classes. In the field of marriage, marriage of men and women of the same age was promoted. Professional go-between (a negotiator who acts as a link between parties) (usually women) helped match young men and women and negotiate the amount of money that the woman's family had to pay to the husband. Brides and grooms were usually the same age most likely because of the Confucian reluctance to mix generations. Law allowed divorce by mutual consent of both husband and wife, and sometimes women had more defense against husband's negative behavior. Women did have some defenses such as laws prohibiting a husband from setting aside his wife for various reasons. Some wealthy women in large cities, like Hangzhou, had lovers ("complementary husbands") with their husbands knowing. Women in upper classes yielded considerable power. In the late Song, however, the position of women deteriorated.
 * Family and Society in Tang-Song Era**

__Other Facts of Society__
 * Extended-family households were preferred, but normally they would be afforded only by the upper classes.
 * Many cruel punishments for children striking parents or grand parents, older brother and sisters (ex: beheading or two and a half years of hard labor)

During the Tang, women had more rights than during the Classical Period (Han) but those rights disappeared with the revival of Neo Confucianism.
 * Neo-Confucian Assertion of Male Dominance**

Towards the late Song Dynasty, men took on a dominating role in society, due to Neo-Confucian philosophers. These philosophers stressed the woman's role as homemaker and mother. Their only job was seen as simply continuing the family line and name. They also emphasized the importance of virginity for young brides, faithfulness for wives towards their husbands, and chastity for widows. Widows were also discouraged from remarrying. Furthermore, Neo-Confucians attacked Buddhists for promoting scholarship and monastic life, at the expense of marriage and raising a family, to women. Women were also rejected education so that they could not pass the civil service exam and therefore could not rise in power.

Men, however, had commanding roles in society. They were permitted to have premarital sex without scandal, take concubines if they could afford them, and remarry if one or more of their wives died. Laws were also made to favor men in divorce.

__**//The Origin of Footbinding//**__ It may have originated from one of the Tang emperor's delight at his favorite dancers' small feet. Eventually, upper class men developed a preference for small feet. Then over time, women other classes started to do the ritual as well, in hope of finding a husband. This ritual became unquestioningly passed down from generation to generation. Footbinding caused a constant source of pain that limited women's mobility, which made it easier for the men to confine their wives to the household.

__ Facts of the Footbinding Process __ > -Textile production
 * Mothers began to bind their daughters feet around the age of five and six by wrapping the foot with silk. Sometimes they forced their daughters to bind their feet because it was vital for finding worthy husbands.
 * The foot took on a bone structure that created a "lotus petal" or "golden lily" shape of the foot (preferred by future husbands)
 * The practice of footbinding limited women to certain occupations (mostly within the family compound)


 * Invention and Artistic Creativity**
 * New economical changes like banks and paper money contributed to local prosperity
 * Engineers created ingenious new ways to build bridges
 * First use of coal as a fuel, chairs as household items, and tea as a common habit
 * Abacus introduced as a modern calculator
 * 11th century artisan Bi Sheng introduces printmaking called block printing, which helped in making written records and scholarly books
 * Explosive powder was created during the Tang dynasty and had little effect on warfare, rather on fireworks
 * By the Song era, explosive powder was widely used by imperial armies in bombs and grenades, as well as naphtha flamethrowers, poisonous gases, and rocket launchers
 * Chinese landscape paintings and poetry focusing on nature was emphasized
 * Short story literature featured themes like witchcraft, demons, ill-fated romances, and detective stories
 * Paintings carry underlying philosophical ideas and metaphors (crane as symbol of longevity)
 * Canals to allow for trading between the North and South
 * Chinese junks and broad-hulled river boats ideal for transporting goods and junks are equipped with gun powder-fueled rockets for defense, dominating the sea.