1. Golden Age Tang and Song Dynasties

2. Expanded civil service exams & built schools to help with them. Expanded China and influence on the west, Korea, & Japan. Expanded Buddhism, sending out missionaries. Weakened by a rebellion over taxes & nomadic invasions. Defeated and fell by a powerful general= a new dynasty begins.

3. Became most advanced civilization in the world. Civil Service test made more than Confucianism & now open to ordinary people. Confucianism + Daoism + Buddhism = Neo- Confucianism Tried to please Nomads to the north with gifts but didn’t work for long. Song Dynasty moved south & ends contact with foreigners along Silk Road. Begins to sail more then land travels.

4. A Golden Age during these Dynasties lead to: Created poetry, paintings, drawings and decorative porcelain. Built impressive architecture like pagodas. Invented Gunpowder, magnetic compass, printing, mechanical clock. Produced faster growing rice= higher populations.