Social Classes
- Tang Dynasty Social Levels
- Emperor
- Aristocracy
- Bureaucracy
- Servants
- Clergy
- Peasants
- Artisans
- Slaves
- Women of Tang
- Treated with more respect and power
- Allowed to become priestesses
- Social standing was afforded to women in cities
- High-class courtesans had respect and could join in discussion and debates with men of high standing
- Song dynasty social levels
- Emperor
- State officials
- Landowners and scholars
- Artisans, craftsmen, merchants
- Peasants
- Women of the Song
- Girls left their families when they married
- If they gave birth to sons, they would gain respect in the family
- Mothers and grandmother had important and respected places in the family
- Widows could not remarry
- Compared to Tang times, women were less active in politics and less commonly seen on the streets
- Often referred to as the time when the status of women declined
Agriculture and trade
- Song trade
- The silk road was very important for trade with the west
- There was also vigorous sea trade with Korea, Japan, and lands to the south and southwest
- The major port of Quanzhou dominated trading for the song Dynasty
- During Song times maritime trade for the first time exceeded overland foreign trade
- Trade between the Song dynasty and its northern neighbors was stimulated by the payments Song made to them
- The song dynasty set up supervised markets along the border to encourage this trade
- Chinese goods that flowed north in large quantities included tea, silk, copper coins, paper and printed books, porcelain, lacquer ware, jewelry, rice ginger, and other spices and grains
- The return flow included some of the silver that had originated with the Song and the horses that song desperately needed for its armies, other animals like camels and sheep, fine Indian and Persian cotton cloth, precious gems, incense, and perfumes
- Song Agriculture
- Agriculture, as the basis of the national economy of China experienced considerable improvements during this dynasty
- There was a shortage in farmable fields, and every inch of soil in mountainous regions had to be opened for agriculture
- In these very steep hills, the famous terrace fields were created
- Agrarian tools and irrigation technique improved substantially
- Iron harrows, hay cutters, and sickles were forged with improved standards, and water wheel driven by human or animal power were common
- Improved techniques of plowing, fertilizing and weeding lead to a substantial increase in agricultural output
- Especially in the lower Yangtze region, where at least two harvests could be obtained in a year
- When and beans were imported from the northern region, and rice was cultivated in the north where possible
- Tang Dynasty Trade
- Silk road was very important
- Islamic world coveted and purchased in bulk Chinese goods
- They acquired instruments, and handicrafts
- The currency is the same as the Song Dynasty currency
- With a friendly foreign policy and use of the Silk Road, trade with more than seventy countries flourished, which also brought foreigners with new technologies and ideas, such as astronomy and mathematics
- The tang capital of Chang’an became the most populate and wealthiest city in the world at the time
- Tang Agriculture
- A system of equal land allotments to the male population increased agriculture productions that was the backbone of a prosperous farming civilizations
- Taxes on the allotments were the Tang’s greatest source of income, and increased the government’s wealth and strength
- Had a lot of farmer-soldiers
- The tang made irrigation systems along the rice crop to ripen quickly to sustain a very rapidly growing Chinese populations
Accomplishments of the Song
- The Northern Song was destroyed by the Jin in 1127
- The southern song was set up by Zhao Gou, son of the last emperor of the Northern Song
- Zhao Gou escaped being captured by the Jin in 1127 and fled to Nanjing Yingtianfu or the first capital city of the southern song
- Key Players
- General Zhao Kuangyin
- Served in army of Zhou Dynasty and then founded Northern song
- Elected emperor after that
- God ride of the emperor of the Zhou and established the Song Dynasty
- Took the title Taizu
- Built a centralized and efficient civilian bureaucracy
- General Zhao Kuangyin
- Emperor Taizong
- He followed Tauizu as emperor
- Son of Tauizu
- Unified all of China for the Song
- Rebuilt China
- Restored devastated lands
- China began to grow strong again under his power
- Populations started in increase
- Wang Anshi
- He was prime minister 1069
- Made reforms designed to help the common people
- Expanded use of money
- Broke up private monopolies
- Introduced some form of government regulations and social welfare
- Land reforms also
- Yu Fei
- During the 1130’s
- General Yu Fei waged was on the Jin
- He had MANY victories
- Was an awesome general
- He was executed though because of the traitor, Qin Hui
- Hui persuaded the emperor that a peace treaty was much better than war- Killed Yu Fei
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