AS 201 Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties
Sui (581-617)
--Reunited China after 350 Years of Disunity;
--Buddhism Spread as Sui Monarchs were Buddhist
--Built the Grand Canal that linked the Yellow and Yangzi Rivers:
With the recorded labor of five million men and women, the first major section of the Grand Canal was completed in the year 605. The Grand Canal was fully completed under the second Sui emperor, from the years 604 to 609.
This allowed the southern area to provide grain to the northern province. Running alongside and parallel to the canal was an imperial roadway and post offices supporting a courier system. The government also planted an enormous line of trees.
They also pioneered canal lock gates to regulate water levels for the canal. Double slipways were installed to haul boats over when the difference in water levels were too great for the flash lock to operate.
The Grand Canal in China is generally regarded as the oldest and longest man-made canal in the world. It begins in the north at Beijing and ends at Hangzhou, traversing on its way south the four provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang....With a total length of 1,794 kilometers, the canal links up the five large rivers of Haihe, Huanghe (the Yellow River), Huaihe, Changjiang (the Yangtze River) and Qiantangjiang. In ancient times, it served as the main artery of communication between north and south.
Adapted from: http://www.chinatown-online.com/cultureeye/highlights/grand.htm
Tang (617-960)
--Largest capital city called Chang-An at Xian;
--Some 2 million inhabitants
--Model for Heian Capital in Japan (see pictures p. 78 of textbook)
--Cosmopolitan cities with pilgrims arriving from Central Asia (Silk Road), Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Tibet
--Many foreign merchants
--So there were many foreign communities and religions:
--Nestorian Christianity, Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Islam and, of course, Buddhism
--Cha'an and Zen Buddhism thrive
--Large Aristocratic families still dominate but now local elites with education are growing, too
--Examinations for holding office were held
--Candidates judged on deportment, appearance, speech, calligraphy--i.e., educated, proper, responsible men
--Tang = An era of great poets:
--Bai Juyi (much admired by Heian courtiers),
--Du Fu and
--Li Bo
--Tang = an era of high sophisticatin and cultural development;
--As Sulaiman the Merchant, Arabic traveler writes in 851:
--Whether poor or rich, young or adult, all Chinese learn to trace the characters and to write....
--When the cost of living increases, the government issues food from its reserves and sells it at less than the market price ("Ever Normal Granaries")
--If a man is poor, he receives from the Treasury the cost of medicines;
--In each town there is a school and a school master for the instruction of the poor and their children;
--these school masters are supported by the Treasury
--China is more healthy [than India]...One never sees a blindman, a cripple, or an infirm person there whereas many are found in India...
Song Dynasty (960-1127)
--Perhaps the most advanced society in the world:
--"Maturation" of the Chinese Spirit - the Best of the Best
--Experienced a Commercial Revolution
A. Economic Expansion was so great that it was referred to as the “commercial revolution” by scholars. The economic upturn was chiefly propelled by improved agricultural technologies; the use of the abacus, gunpowder, and new printing techniques; the growth of domestic and foreign trade; and the development of a money economy.
B. Technological Development.
A great increase in agricultural productivity occurred during the Song era. In southern China the double cropping of rice was made possible by the introduction of a new strain of rice, which matured more quickly than local plants, from Champa in southern Vietnam. Several major water-control projects were undertaken that significantly improved the irrigation of rice paddy fields. In addition, more commercialized crops were introduced into farming. For instance, the growth of tea plants on the hillsides and the cultivation of cotton not only contributed to the income of growers but also diversified the agricultural resources of the country.
C. Other Advances.
Meanwhile, other technological developments took place during the Song dynasty. Traditional techniques in silk weaving, porcelain making, and lacquer production were further developed. By the later Song dynasty the Chinese began to use the abacus, which became the primary calculating device for East Asian people until the twentieth century. Chinese scholars also learned how to use gunpowder in explosives, which was especially important in mining practices. Among all the technological developments, printing was the most significant advance. Printing technology evolved from an earlier technique of stone rubbing, which produced a block print with white characters on a black background by adhering a moist sheet to the stone and rubbing the surface with lamp soot. By the eleventh century the Chinese had learned to arrange movable carved characters on a woodblock, thus inventing the technique whose principles are still applicable to modern printing technology.
-- So a national market for porcelain, silk, copper coins, paper, books, lacquerware, jewelry develops
--increase in Agricultural Productivity--new crops, seeds, agricultural techniques spread
--This supports a larger population of 100-120 million more than double that of Han and Tang
--Growth of Cities and Urban Lifestyles
--10 cities boast 1 million population
--a national urban bourgeosie emerges
--Invention and spread of Paper and Printing
--Leading to growth of literacy, Education
--An age of great creativity and invention
--Great Song ink painters and landscape painters
--Spread of Printing and Books means more people are reading and studying for exams
--Roughly 200 successful candidates per year, 100 chin-shih or top level
--A landed Gentry class as local elites part of this new Song society
--Many new inventions and technologies
--Printing, Gunpowder and Magnet (magnetic compass) = the big 3 discoveries/inventions
--The Chinese also come up with Waterwheel, Windmill, water-powered textile machinery driving 32 spindles
-- metallurgical bellows
--coal--> iron ore from coke-->
--better agricultural tools--->can dig earth more deeply
--astronomical clock
--map-making, cartography evolves
-- new medical advances
--stone segmental arched bridges
--watertight bulkhead compartments on ships
--roads, transportation, shipping, commerce, all grow--a world in motion
All of this is depicted nicely in the film about the Qing Ming Festival--the Spring Festival--originally painted by Zhang Zeduan in the Song Dynasty, but later copied and recopied, additons and updates made during Ming and Qing Dynasties.
The film is called the "City of Cathay" and it points out that, like the Genji for Heian Japan, this work of art is kind of a "compendium" for better visualizing and understanding the:
--Economy, what the film calls a "beehive" of activity"
--Transporation modes - Boats--Cargo boats, moving goods from country to city, Passenger boats--and Carts, Donekys, Horses, etc.
--As many as 20 horses pull a cart laden with large stones
--We see crowded Bridges, stalls on the sides to attact passersby,
--We also see what's going on Beneath the Bridge
--Bustling Street Scenes, Salt Dealers, Fish mongers
--Lots of Vendors seen carrying their goods on poles across their shoulders - like coal, Vegetables, baskets, ceramics, etc. = There is a thriving national market going on!!
--We get the feel of Urban Settings (originally Kaifeng)
--We see Children at play; we also see schools
--Leisure Activities
--Shops and Shopkeepers:
Tea Shops, Snacks, Ginseng, Calligraphy materials, Fabric stores, Potted Plants
--A Fortune Teller's Booth - Yijing?
--A Daoist Monk meditating outside a Ginseng shop
--Calligraphy, Antiques, and Art shops
--Restaurants and Wine shops, Taverns
--Hence, the Commercialized elements
--The Marketplace
--We get to see lots of Architecture, some 2-story;
--Some Palatial buildings with Huge Gardens
--Folk Customs like Wedding Processions
--Many forms of Popular Entertainment such as:
Opera, Drum Beating, Story Telling, Monkey Performances, Acrobatics...
--Kite flying
--We see the Scholar types depicted
--But also Military folk: Guards, Sentries, Archers training in the Trainingn Grounds
--Blacksmiths, Iron workers
--Female acrobats on a high-wire
--Huge City Walls for security and safety
--Silk dyeing establishments
--Restaurants, Inns
--Private houses
--Herbal medicine shops
--Girls performing the Flower Drum Dance
--A scholar's residence with Imperial Plaque - very high-status
--Girls swinging on a swing during the festival in colorful clothing looking like butterflies
--Officials' residence as they come out and "send-off" their guets
--a Money Changer
--a Shoe Store
--Story tellers and Monks gathering crowds
--People practicing Gong Fu and Qigong
--Butchers, Smoked Fish and Hams
--Goat and Pork-meat specialty shops
--Incense shop, Joss sticks
--Paint shop
--Clothing Shop
--Wooden Barrel repair
--Public Baths,--Man-made lakes
--People enjoying riverbanks with picnics or being at restaurants
...All the things that we might associate with Imperial China.
Also during the Song Dynasty we see
--Formalization of Examination system
--Examination system meant the rise of a Scholar-Official class: this class now larger, better-educated, greater status, non-aristocratic
--So we can say it was now a "Meritocratic" class
--3 levels of the Exam held every 3 years:
1. Local or County level--certified as "flowering talent"
2. Provincial or Prefectural level--"recommended talent"
3. Capital/Palace Exams = produces the chin-shih or "Scholar Official" designation; can be in the list to be actually be appointed to an office in the bureaucracy
--Confucian texts were "streamlined" into:
The Four Books:
1.The Analects
3. Doctrine of the Mean (中庸 )
4. Mencius
--A revitalized "Neo-Confucianism" emerges
--led by Zhu Xi (1130-1200) = the supreme synthesis;
--Zhu Xi practiced Chan Buddhism and loved the Yijing/Book of Changes
-- also = a Confucian response to Buddhism
-- he posits a "Supreme Ultimate"--Tai-chi (太極) like an upgrade to the Dao 2.0
--The Tai-chi (太極) could be reached through the study of li Principles (理) and qi Cosmic Ether (気)
--two approaches:
--study of li (理 principle) of things: "the extension of knowledge lies in the investigation of things." Opens door for rational inquiry, scientific learning?
--study of mind (心); bring unity through investigating things from the Outside (principles) coupled with investigation of the inner-person through the Mind; related to meditation, Daoism, inner work, self-cultivation
--So in the Song we find a dynamic, literate, urban, sophisticated society, one really, primed for an Industrial Revolution...but it did not happen;
--But, still, it is a dramatically transformed, markedly upgraded version of Han, Sui and Tang versions of Imperial China.
--China at its very best? It's zenith?
--Marco Polo would visit after Song had fallen and Mongols rule, but, still, he could see how amazing this era was.
--His writings on China are legendary.
--He wrote things like
"The natives of the city of Hangzhou are men of peaceful character...They know nothing of handling arms, and keep none in their houses. You hear of no feuds or noisy quarrels or dissensions among them."
--They are thoroughly honest and truthful, and there is such a degree of good will and neighborly attachment among both men and women that you would take the people who live on the same street to be all one family."
--Other travelers like Friar Odoric write:
--"In that country the number of people is so great that among us here it would be deemed impossible.
--And no man ever seeketh alms, however poor he may be, as long as he can do anything with his his own hands to help himself.
--But those who have fallen into indigence and infirmity are well looked after and provided with the necessities."
--These descriptions would suggest that to European eyes, much was going well in the Song dynasty;
--Society was being well-managed by the scholar-officials and their civil service, and their cities were something to behold!
--Enlightenment thinkers in France like Voltaire saw China as a model that should be looked at: they offered rule by an educated, trained, philospher elite, not rule by Divine Right of Kings or an Archaic Church which often obstructed the new scientific learning.
--He saw China as far more advanced, in matters of technology and of governance, than any of the European latecomers...Voltaire heaped praise on Confucianism, which he describes in terms that make it sound like an Asian version of deism; but he saw China goverend by the literati who were rational and refined beings who, following Confucius, dutifully acted to serve benefit the state.
--Was there something that occurred after the Song to change China's status as a world leader? Of course, there were many things, but population growth was of prime importance:
Population of China (approx.):
From Han times all the way up to the 8th Century, China's population had been about 50-60 million.
During the Song, given all the economic expansion, the popualtion doubled to around 120 million. In retrospect, this seems to be perhaps the largest population that the society could manage and support. but the population continuned to grow until it reached 180 million in the 13th century. From there....
1700s 210, 000,000
1800s 300, 000, 000
1840 412, 000, 000
1850 430, 000, 000
1920 472, 000, 000
1950s 600,000,000
1970s 800, 000, 000
Today, of course, China's population is more than 1.3 billion!!
So in less than 300 years, between 1700-1970s, China's population nearly quadrupled; that is a pretty spectacular and unprecedented rate of growth!
Some scholars talk about a "High Level Equilibrium Trap" which seems like a fancy way of saying that real per capita growth in the economy is rendered very difficult because the popualtion increases consume all the surplus leaving the econony caught in this "equilibrium trap." A static instad of dynamic economy. Without an economic surplus there are few resources to invest in the growth and development of the economy.
Of course, we must also think about the goals of the great Imperial Bureaucratic State that China created - What do you think these goals were?
Weren't they basically to keep the economy and society stable and orderly? To keep the majority of the rural population engaged in growing grain and other crops?
Economic advance was not necessarily a goal.