Song dynasty

The Song dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. It was started by Emperor Taizu of Song, who took the throne from the Later Zhou dynasty. He then took over the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, which ended the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The Song often fought with the Liao, Western Xia, and Jin dynasties in northern China. After the Song moved south because of attacks by the Jin dynasty, the Yuan dynasty, led by the Mongols, eventually conquered the Song.

The dynasty's history is split into two periods. During the Northern Song (北宋; 960–1127), the capital was in the northern city of Bianjing (now Kaifeng). The dynasty ruled most of what is now East China. The Southern Song (南宋; 1127–1279) began after the Song lost control of the northern half of its land to the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in the Jin–Song wars. The Song court then moved south of the Yangtze and made its capital at Lin'an (now Hangzhou). The Song no longer held the old Chinese heartlands around the Yellow River. Even so, the Southern Song had many people and good farmland, which helped its economy stay strong. In 1234, the Jin dynasty was conquered by the Mongols, who took over northern China. Möngke Khan, the fourth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, died in 1259 while attacking the mountain castle Diaoyucheng in Chongqing. His younger brother, Kublai Khan, became the new Great Khan and started the Yuan dynasty in 1271. After about twenty years of on-and-off fighting, Kublai Khan's armies conquered the Song dynasty in 1279 by defeating the Southern Song at the Battle of Yamen. China was then united again under the Yuan dynasty.

Technology, science, philosophy, mathematics, and engineering grew strong during the Song era. The Song dynasty was the first in world history to issue banknotes, which were real paper money. It was also the first Chinese government to set up a permanent standing navy. This period has the first surviving records of the chemical formula for gunpowder. It also saw the invention of gunpowder weapons, such as fire arrows, bombs, and the fire lance. People first used a compass to find true north. The first recorded description of the pound lock was made, and designs of astronomical clocks improved. The economy was very strong. In the 12th century, its gross domestic product was three times larger than Europe's. China's population doubled between the 10th and 11th centuries. This growth was possible because of more rice cultivation, the use of early-ripening rice from Southeast and South Asia, and plenty of extra food. The Northern Song census recorded 20 million households, which was double that of the Tang and Han dynasties. The Northern Song is estimated to have had about 90 million people. This fast growth in population started an economic revolution in pre-modern China.

The growing population, bigger cities, and the rise of a national economy led the central government to slowly step back from directly controlling the economy. The lower gentry took a bigger role in local government and public affairs. Song society was lively, and cities had busy entertainment areas. People gathered to view and trade artwork, and they mixed at festivals and in private clubs. The spread of literature and knowledge was helped by the fast growth of woodblock printing and the invention of movable type printing in the 11th century. Philosophers such as Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi revived Confucianism with new commentary. Their ideas mixed in some Buddhist ideas and a new way of organizing classic texts. Civil service examinations had existed since the Sui dynasty, but they became much more important during the Song. As officials gained power through the imperial examination, the ruling elite changed from a military-aristocratic group to a scholar-bureaucratic one.

History

Main article: History of the Song dynasty

Further information: List of emperors of the Song dynasty

After usurping the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty, Emperor Taizu of Song spent sixteen years conquering the rest of China proper. He ended a long period of fighting called the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms and set up a strong central government in Kaifeng. He chose government workers based on skill and merit through the civil service examination. The Song often fought with and made deals with their northern neighbours, including the Khitans of the Liao dynasty and the Western Xia. Leaders at court often disagreed about how to rule, and these disagreements made the dynasty weaker.

The Jurchen people, who had been ruled by the Liao, rebelled and formed the Jin dynasty. The Song first worked with the Jurchens against the Liao, but then the Jurchens attacked the Song. In 1127 they captured the capital Kaifeng and took the emperors and most of the court away. The Song forces that remained moved south and built a new capital at Lin'an (modern Hangzhou). This started the Southern Song period. The Southern Song built a strong navy and grew its trade by sea. Later, the Mongols, led by Genghis Khan, became a new threat in the north. Under Kublai Khan, the Mongols took control of much of the Song land. Kublai named his new dynasty the Yuan in 1271. In 1279, the Yuan army defeated the last Song forces at the Battle of Yamen, and the Song dynasty came to an end.

Culture and society

Main articles: Culture of the Song dynasty and Society of the Song dynasty

The Song dynasty was a time of careful government and complex social organization. Some of the largest cities in the world were in China then. Kaifeng and Hangzhou each had more than a million people. The government helped people in need. It supported social welfare programs, including retirement homes, public clinics, and paupers' graveyards. A postal service carried messages across the empire. It was modeled on the earlier Han dynasty (202 BCE – CE 220) postal system. In the countryside, farmers either owned their own plots of land, paid rent as tenant farmers, or were serfs on large estates. Religion in China had a great effect on people's lives. People honored Daoist and Buddhist gods, ancestral spirits, and the gods of Chinese folk religion with offerings. Women were ranked below men under Confucian ethics. Still, they had many social and legal privileges. As families grew wealthier, brides' families gave larger dowries. Women also gained new legal rights to property. Li Qingzhao (1084–1151) became famous even during her lifetime.

People enjoyed festivals such as the Lantern Festival and the Qingming Festival. They also enjoyed storytellers and theatrical drama. Actors spoke Classical Chinese on stage, not the vernacular language. At home, people played the board games go and xiangqi. Government jobs were filled mainly through civil service examinations. These were meant to choose the most capable people. Printing helped spread Confucian teachings to more candidates. The critic Su Shi argued that the system favored families who could afford the best education. Local affairs were often run by the gentry class. The law was based on the legal code of the earlier Tang dynasty. Magistrates such as Bao Zheng were expected to be fair and moral judges. The Song military was organized to protect imperial control. Crossbowmen were prized soldiers. In 971, Song crossbowmen defeated the war elephant corps of the Southern Han. The Wujing Zongyao, written in 1044, was the first known book to list formulas for gunpowder. In the arts, Emperor Huizong was a famous artist. Zhu Xi's teachings on the Four Books became standard study for the civil service exams by 1241. Wealthy people wore silk, while common people wore hemp. In 1011, Emperor Zhenzong of Song introduced Champa rice from Vietnam's Kingdom of Champa.

Main article: Society of the Song dynasty

Main article: Military history of the Song dynasty

Further information: Religion in the Song dynasty

Further information: Culture of the Song dynasty, Sumptuary law, Hanfu, and Chinese clothing

Economy

Main article: Economy of the Song dynasty

The Song dynasty had one of the most prosperous and advanced economies in the medieval world. People invested money in joint stock companies and in several ships at once, because trade along the Grand Canal and Yangtze River and overseas was very profitable. Both private and government-run industries met the needs of a growing population. Artisans and merchants formed guilds, and the state had to work with them when collecting taxes, gathering goods, and setting workers' wages and prices. The iron industry included both private owners and government-supervised smelting. The Song economy produced a very large amount of iron products each year. In the 11th century, people began using coal instead of charcoal in blast furnaces to make cast iron. This helped slow deforestation. The Song also issued the world's first government paper money, known as Jiaozi (see also Huizi). The government set up factories to make paper money in Huizhou, Chengdu, Hangzhou, and Anqi.

The growth of the capital city Hangzhou shows how strong the economy was. Its population was 200,000 at the start of the 12th century. It grew to 500,000 around 1170, and then doubled to over a million a century later. Song trade also affected economies in other lands. In 1154, the Moroccan geographer al-Idrisi wrote about Chinese merchant ships in the Indian Ocean. These ships carried goods to places such as Aden (Yemen), the Indus River, and the Euphrates. Foreign merchants also came to China to trade and became an important part of its import and export business. Sea trade brought great wealth and led to a large growth in the shipbuilding industry in Fujian. Because long trips overseas were risky, historians Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais wrote that investors usually spread their money across many ships. Each ship had many investors behind it.

Science and technology

Main articles: Science and technology of the Song dynasty and Architecture of the Song dynasty

Further information: List of Chinese inventions and List of Chinese discoveries

Further information: Chinese astronomy and List of Chinese inventions

Further information: Chinese mathematics and Chinese geography

Further information: History of printing in East Asia

Main article: Science and technology of the Song dynasty

Main article: Architecture of the Song dynasty

Further information: History of Chinese archaeology

The Song dynasty was a time of many new ideas and inventions. People made new weapons using gunpowder, including flamethrowers, grenades, firearms, cannons, and land mines. These helped the Song defend their land until the dynasty ended in the late 13th century. The book Wujing Zongyao, written in 1044, was the first in history to give formulas for gunpowder. Other inventions included the mechanical odometer for measuring distance, the south-pointing chariot, and the magnetic compass, which helped sailors travel on the open sea. Printing also improved when the craftsman Bi Sheng created movable type. Engineers and builders made great progress too. They built the astronomical clock tower of Kaifeng, the tall Iron Pagoda, and large bridges and pagodas.

Scholars such as Shen Kuo and Su Song worked in many fields, including astronomy and mapmaking. Yang Hui and Qin Jiushao were mathematicians who improved Chinese mathematics. In 1103, the architect Li Jie published the building manual Yingzao Fashi. It set standard building methods for the government and craftsmen. Scholars also studied ancient objects from archaeological sites. Ouyang Xiu made an early list of ancient writing on stone and bronze. Zhao Mingcheng argued that inscriptions written at the time of events could be trusted most.