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SONG DYNASTY
In 960 T'ai Tsu, (formerly Zhao Kuangyin) the founder the Song dynasty
was made emperor by his soldiers. During this era, T'ai Tsu used
restraint against the Khitans in the north. Instead, he focused his
efforts and military prowess to the southern half of China.
Under T'ai Tsu, the Song Dynasty was divided into two periods. Firstly,
the Northern Song when the capital was in Dongjing (present day Kaifeng
City in Henna Province) from 960 to 1127. Secondly, the Southern Song,
with their capital in present day Hangzhou from 1127 to 1279.
For over 300 years during this era, China enjoyed a period of economic
growth coupled with great artistic and intellectual achievement. It is
for this reason that the period is referred to as the Chinese
Renaissance, comparing it with the Renaissance that spread through
Europe.
Great advances of the Song were made in the areas of technological
invention, material production, political philosophy, government, and
elite culture. The Song used gunpowder as a weapon in siege warfare,
foreign trade expanded greatly, and the Chinese had the best ships in
the world. Advances in medicine were noted, specifically with the first autopsy in about 1145 AD on the body of a Southern Chinese captive.
Culturally, painting took a major turn in using expression, surreal
images using colors and fine detail. Poets became more vernacular. The
popularity of ceramics, and in particular, celadon and the introduction
of blue and white porcelain, made the Song the most creative and
advanced of that era.
Reforms in the dynasty included recruitment of gentry and others into
the civil service through its examination system, which were held at two
levels: prefecture exams and metropolitan examinations. It is noted in
several papers that those who passed metropolitan exams, proceeded to
the palace for another exam that was carefully scrutinized by the
emperor. It appears that only those that had 'doctor's papers' were able
to pass onto the palace exam. However, rules were changed to allow
easier access to education with the increasing number of books and
printing made available, which made eligibility of candidates more
accessible to the examination process.
Another reform was to change the taxation system by offering to reduce
the concentration state-controlled farming loans to farmers to avoid
going into debt; changed forced labor services for hired labor;
increased defense and policing at the local level, thereby decreasing
the need to maintain a larger than necessary army in each region.
A revival of Confucianism was a major intellectual development during
the Southern Song dynasty. Zhu Xi was one of the people who helped
develop Neo-Confucianism. While not the only person to write about
Confucianism, he was the one who combined others works with his and best
organized the beliefs. He selected, from the ancient writings on
Confucianism, the Four Books and also synthesized the writings of
previous philosophers who had been active earlier during the Northern
Song era. An important part of Neo-Confucianism is the attempt to
"repossess the Way." Pursuit of the Way through disciplined self
cultivation formed a person's character. This was important because it
encouraged the nobles to live up to the Confucian ideals by being less
selfish.
While being one of the most technologically and culturally advanced
people in the world at the time, the Song were not militarily powerful.
Part of the reason for this may be because Confucianism held military in
very low regard. Confucianism did not recognize the military as being
part of the four official classes of occupations; therefore, the
military consisted of either the poor, uneducated peasants, mercenaries
or allies. Diplomacy was the favored form of dealing with enemies. This
prolonged period of paying tribute to enemies, rather than being
militarily strong enough to defeat them, left the Song susceptible to
attack from others. This weakness allowed for two non-Chinese kingdoms
to exist to the north of the Song. They were the Liao and the Western
Xia. All three of these kingdoms favored diplomacy over military
aggression. Thus by 1125 A.D., a group called the Jin were able to
conquer the Liao and the Song, along with part of the territory of the
Western Xia. A brother of the Song emperor fled south, and declared
himself emperor. His dynasty is generally known as the Southern Song,
which lasted until 1279 with the bloody occupation of the Yuan.
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