Chinese Dynasty

TIME LINE OF CHINESE DYNASTIES:

http://www.monarchknights.com/teacherwebpages/jeffbernstein/APTimelines.htm

3 MAJOR CHINESE DYNASTIES:

THE TANG DYNASTY (618-907)

The Tang Dynasty was established by Li Yuan in 618 with its capital at Chang'an (Xi'an). Agriculture, handicrafts and commerce flourished; technologies for textile manufacturing and dyeing, pottery and porcelain production, smelting and shipbuilding were further developed. Woodblock printings of dictionaries and almanacs and Buddhist scriptures were in circulation. The Grand Canal also helped the flow of merchandise. The capital became a cultural, international trade, and commercial center. During the Tang Dynasty cultural relations were established with many countries, including Japan, Korea, India, Persia and Arabia. By the 660s, China's influence had firmly taken root in the Tarim basin and Ili River valley in today's Xijiang in the West, even extending to many city-states in Central Asia.

During the Tang dynasty, Buddhism declined, and Confucianism became more popular. Even though Buddhism was at its peak during the early Tang dynasty, many of the Tang officials were of the Confucian discipline and regarded Buddhism as a disruptive force in China. So, in 845, the Tang emperor started a full-scale persecution of Buddhists. More than 4600 monestaries and 40,000 temples and shrines were destroyed. Other religious groups were also brought under government control. Social and economic growth kept the Tang dynasty together during the years of disunion. Handicraft guilds and the use of paper money all started in the late Tang dynasty.

THE SONG DYNASTY (960-1279)

In 960 a new power, Song (960-1279), reunified most of China Proper. The Song period is divided into two phases: Northern Song (960-1127) and Southern Song (1127-1279). The division was caused by the forced abandonment of north China in 1127 by the Song court, which could not push back the nomadic invaders.

The founders of the Song dynasty built an effective centralized bureaucracy staffed with civilian scholar-officials. Regional military governors and their supporters were replaced by centrally appointed officials. This system of civilian rule led to a greater concentration of power in the emperor and his palace bureaucracy than had been achieved in the previous dynasties.

The Song dynasty is notable for the development of cities not only for administrative purposes but also as centers of trade, industry, and maritime commerce. The landed scholar-officials, referred to as the gentry, lived in the provincial centers alongside the shopkeepers, artisans, and merchants. A new group of wealthy commoners--the mercantile class--arose as printing and education spread, private trade grew, and a market economy began to link the coastal provinces and the interior. Landholding and government employment were no longer the only means of gaining wealth and prestige.

Culturally, the Song refined many of the developments of the previous centuries, including refining the Tang ideal of the universal man, which combined the qualities of a scholar, poet, painter, and statesman. They also developed in historical writings, painting, calligraphy, and hard-glazed porcelain. Song intellectuals sought answers to all philosophical and political questions in the Confucian Classics. This renewed interest in the Confucian ideals and society of ancient times coincided with the decline of Buddhism, which the Chinese regarded as foreign and offering few practical guidelines for the solution of political and other mundane problems.

While the Song was a time of great advances, politically and militarily, the northern half of China was conquered by barbarians, forcing the dynasty to abandon a northern capital in the early 1100's. Then a hundred and fifty years later, the Mongols, fresh from conquering everything between Manchuria and Austria, invaded and occupied China.

THE QING DYNASTY (1644-1912)

The Qing also known as the Manchu Dynasty was the last ruling dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912. The Dynasty was founded not by the Han who form the majority of the Chinese population, but the Manchus, who are today an ethnic minority of China. It was the second time all of China was ruled by foreigners--the first time being when the Yuan Dynasty was controlled by the Mongols. During its reign the Qing Dynasty became highly integrated with Chinese culture. The dynasty reached its height in the 18th century, during which both territory and population were increased. The population estimate was believed to reach 384,000,000 at its height. However, its military power weakened thereafter and faced with massive rebellions and defeat in wars. The Qing Dynasty declined after the mid-19th century and was overthrown following the Xinhai Revolution, when the Empress Dowager Longyu abdicated on behalf of the last emperor, Puyi, on February 12, 1912.

The Qing instituted changes in the dress of the Chinese. They required the Chinese men to shave their heads and wear queues. They also required them to wear Manchu clothes rather than the clothing style of the Ming Dynasty. The Qing did not require the Chinese women to change their dress, yet they did forbid them to bind their feet. This proved impossible to enforce and in 1668 the ruling was withdrawn. A custom the Qing did not attempt to change was the preference for agriculture over trade. The Qing favored an isolationist policy.