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Nov 11, 605
stone arch bridge (Social)
stone arch bridgeThe first stone arch bridge Zhaozhou Bridge was completed by Chinese engineer Li Chun. Different from earliest bridges. The new structure of stone arch bridge allowed relatively light in weight due to the four semi-circular arch spandrels which allow for additional flood waters to pass through. -
Nov 9, 607
The Grand Canal (Economy)
the grand canal
The Grand Imperial Canal (607-610) was the world's longest man-made waterway. It was completed by the second Emperor Sui Yangdi. It links Yellow and Yangzi River, and was the main water route for trading and transportation. However, the enormous taxation and hard labor used for the construction of the Grand Canal caused hostility toward Sui Yangdi’s rule -
Nov 11, 617
Sui Yang Di
Sui Yangdi
Yangdi took the throne by assassinating his father and his older brother. He extended the transportation system by building the Grand Canal; and strengthened China’s northern border by rebuilding the Great Wall. However, he spent lavish sums on palace construction and ornamentation; ended up being assassinated by the wrathful rebels -
Nov 11, 626
Tang Taizong
Tang Taizong rebelled against Song, then became the first emperor of Tang Dynasty. He ruled with high sense of duty and strong conscientiously, thus ruled with a effective and stable government. -
Nov 11, 645
Goguryeo-Tang War (political)
goguryeo-tang war
The Goguryeo-Tang War was a series of wars fought between Tang Dynasty and the Goguryeo Kingdom from 645 C.E. to 668 C.E. It ended with the result of Tang-Silla Allaince brought down the Goguryeo Kingdom -
Nov 11, 701
Li Bai
Li Bai (701-762)
Li Bai was one of the most well-known Chinese poet during the Tang Dynasty
- He took social life as the principle theme for most of his poetry -
Nov 11, 755
An-Shi Rebellion (political)
An-Shi Rebellion(755-763)
The An-Shi Rebellion refers to a rebellion against the Tang Dynasty from the fourteenth year of Tianbao
- the rebellion spanned the reign of three Tang emperors
- caused the population declined by up to 36 million -
Sui Wen Di
Sui Wendi (541-604 A.D)
Yang Jian was the first emperor of Sui Dynasty, he reunified and reorganized China after 300 years of instability. He sent military expeditions into central Asia, southern China, and Korea; he also broke the power of the Turks in the northern part of the country. -
Unification of China (Political)
Unification of China
589A.D
Emperor Wen employed Xianbein(ethnic groups) and Sichuan(aborigines) and conquered Chen dynasty in southern China and unified China -
Three Departments & Six Ministries (Political)
3departments & 6 ministries
The political system: three departments and six ministries system was officially established during the Sui Dynasty. It divided the imperial government into three different departments: Zhongshu Sheng, Menxia Sheng and Shangshu Sheng; and the six ministries: Personnel, Revenue, Rites, War, Justice and Works, which were branches of Shangshu Sheng. -
equal-land system (Economy)
equal-land systemThe Sui administration established the equal-land system to repopulated the devastated land to enhance agricultural production and state income by taxes on grain output. The state distributed the confiscated land among the peasantry, every household was given a certain amount of land, a part being hereditary, but the most part had to be rendered back to the state after the death of the owner. -
Sui Gong Di
Sui GongDi
Sui Gong Di was the third Emperor of Sui Dynasty, who only lasted for one year. he was the grandson of Sui Yangdi -
Imperial Examination (Political)
Imperial Examination
The imperial examination system was set up for the reason to curtail corruption by ensuring that officials were selected based on merits. This way, the system would also satisfy majority of small and medium land owners. -
Religion & Phylosophy (Social)
religion and phylosophy
During Sui, the Government relied on Confucian scholars as government official, it was also the basic philosophy of imperial examing system.
However, Emperor YangJian was also a great proctector and sponsor of Buddhism -
Empress Wu Zhao
Empress Wu
Empress Wu was the one and only Chinese Empress.
- She ruled with secret police force to monitor dissident factions, and brutally punish her opponents.
- She strenghtened civil service system, to reduce the amount of aristocratic officials
- she generously patronized buddhists -
Equal-Field System (economy)
Equal-Field System
The government redistribute the confiscated land to famers
- To ensure an equitable distribution ofland & avoid land poverty that would cause social problem -
urbanization (social)
urbanizarionhttp://www.daoiststudies.org/dao/bibliography/flourishing-frontier-trade-and-urbanization-tang-dynasty-guangzhou-618-907-ce
The increase of food supplies brought the increase of population.
- People immigrate from countryside to cities
- became the central of communication, trading -
Argricultural technique (economy)
argriculture technique
cultivators adopted improved argricultural techniques
- increased use of heavy iron plows, harnessed oxen, and water buffaloes.
Enriched the soil with manure and composed organic matter -
Social Structure (Social)
Patriarchal
The Tang Dynasty was strickly patriarchael
- reflected a concern to preserve family fortunes through enhanced family solidarity -
Bureaucracy of Merit (political)
Bureaucracy of Merit
During the early Tang dynasty, most of the office holders were aristocrard. During the late Tang dynasty, through the civil service exam, office holders came largely from common families that had confusion education -
Gunpowder (economy)
Gunpowder
Daoist alchemists discovered how to make gun powder during Tang Dynasty
- used by military officials, they were put in the bamboo to exploade, called "fire lances" -
Foot binding (social)
[Foot binding](Foot binding)
Female's feet bone were broke and wrapped in a amaller shape.
- reflected strenghtened patriarchal authority
- foot binding would enhance their attractiveness and gain control over girl's behavior -
Standarlized currency (Economy)
Paper MoneyStandarzation of Coinage Contribute to trading - more simple and reduce conflicts
- Coins: made of copper, and carved with different words
- Paper money(letter of credit) became popular during Song Dynasty
- Easier to carry with -
Bureaucracy (political)
Song Bureaucracy
Centralized bureaucracy were mostly civilian scholar-officials, they were also appointed to replace the regional military governors. This system of civilian rule led to a greater concentration of power in the emperor and his palace bureaucracy. -
Song Taizong
Song Taizong (976-997)
Song Taizong, the second Emperor of Tang Dynasty, he contributed to the reunification of China by conquering the Northern Han. He was also a hardworking and diligent Emperor, paid attention to the wellbeing of his people. -
Emperor Zhenzong
Emperor Zhenzong (997-1022)
Song Shenzong, the third Emperor of Song Dynasty, under his rule, China prospered, and the militay=ry was further reinforced. However, he sign the Shanyuan Treaty with Khitan, left over a century of peace and humiliation. -
argriculture (economy)
argricultural economy
During the Song period, argriculture experienced considerable improvements: many peasent fled to the southern China, where the land favored argriculture more than the North. Due to the enviroment, they created the famous terrace fields, and cultivated with improved tools and irrigation system. -
Industrial Manufactury (economy)
Industrial Manufactury
Song Dynasty handicrafts and industrial manufactury had acheived a high niveau
- Shipbuilding - transport goods along the imperial canal
- Metal processing -
Literature
Literature
The Song period can be seen as the apogee of the - development of two kinds of literature: poetry and prose.
- exchangeable types for bookprinting were invented -
The tax system (economy)
tax system
The tax system of the Sui Dynasty consisted of three parts: the tax in grain, in textiles, and in corvée labour or military service. The tax was collected based on household, for every household, irrespective of its production power and income, had to pay the same tax. The Sui government also gave up partly of Song monopole, to enhance private production of goods and therefore to raise their tax income. -
Song Taizu
Song Taizu (960-976)
Song Taizu was the first Song Emperor, he ruled by centralized administrative, and regarded all his state officials as servants of government, and reward them handsomely -
The Golden Age
The Golden Age
The Tang dynasty was a golden age of art and literature for the Chinese.
- Most of the poetry and art of the times were deeply affected by the rebellion of northeastern troops against court officials in the capital city of Ch'ang-an in 756 C.E.
- Many of them also shown the everyday life during tang Dynasty
- Many poets: Li Po, Tu Fu, Wang Wei...etc. wrote thousands of poets which had huge influence even to the mordern day China -
Government system (political)
Government system
To solve the problem of military leaders posecced too much power in han Dynasty, Song Dynasty led to a thoroughly new system of parallel installment of civil and military officials that were to control mutually each other. -
Territorial Administration (political)
Administration
Under the Song administration, prefectures and districts were directly controled by the central government, prefects were transferred every three years and were controlled by controllers-general that were allowed to report to the capital without knowledge of the prefect. -
social Class (Social)
social class
Ancient China had a hierarchical apparel system. When wearing clothes, one’s color represents his/her social status. Yellow was exclusive to the emperor and his officials; the civil and military officials wore purple, red or bright green; for majority of the common people, they usually wear Black or white -
Social Class
Social Class
the scholarly elite included the scholar-officials and those who held examination degrees; compare to Tang Dynasty, Song scholar elite was more educated and far less aritocratic.
- however, no matter how rich a merchant gets, they were seen at lower than peasants. -
Period: to
Sui Dynasty
The short-lived Sui Dynasty only lasted for 38 years with three emperors. It reunified China from the the Period of Disunion. And had a prospering economy, overwhelming culture, and a big reform: The Grand Canal. -
Period: to
Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
During Tang Dynasty, China reached it's high point: the vast territory, prosperous social life, and flourishing economy.
- the Chinese culture was glorified with literature, art, and dance -
Period: to Nov 11, 1279
Song Dynasty
Song dynasty reimposed centralized imperial rule in ancient China. However, the Song dynasty never built a very powerful state, because they put majority attention on civil administration, industry, education,and arts, than on military afairs.
