Lesson One China Rebuilds The Empire Chapter 8 China Lesson One China Rebuilds The Empire

China Rebuilds Its Empire After the Han dynasty* China has no central government (300 yr. period) The people suffered many hardships Warlords fought each other Nomads attacked and captured parts of northern China Quite separated/divided nation!

China faced other challenges: + it lost control of the neighboring lands + Korea was one of these places - decided to free themselves from Chinese rule - wanted to build their own civilization

The Sui (SWAY) China was reunified in AD 581 A general named Wendi declared himself emperor He won many battles and set up a new dynasty* (*family or group remaining in power for a period of time) It was called the Sui (SWAY) Dynasty

Wendi died, his son, Yangdi became emperor He tried to retake foreign land (Korea) but was unsuccessful Was successful within the country - repaired the Great Wall - rebuilt the Han capital of Changan

Yangdi’s Grand canal Connected the two major of China rivers flowing from west to east – the Huang He (Hwahng Huh) (Yellow River) and the Chang Jiang (Chahng Jyahng) (Yangtze River) The canal went north and south Made it easier to ship rice and other products – united China’s economy

To rebuild Yangdi required the help of the people Farmers were forced to work on the canal They had to pay higher taxes to support the projects Their taxes also paid for the emperor to live luxuriously

This all together made the farmers revolt and Yangdi was killed – this ended the Sui dynasty

The Tang Dynasty A new dynasty was started in AD 618 when a general took over China He made himself the emperor; it begun the Tang Dynasty The Tang Dynasty was to last 300 years Tang rulers worked to restore a strong central government

One of the emperors (Taizong) brought back the system of civil service examinations Government officials were selected on how well they did on the exams rather than on family connections He also gave land to the farmers and brought peace & order to the countryside

Empress Wu late 600’s AD only woman in Chinese history to rule the country on her own was a powerful leader added officials to the government strengthened the military

Tang rulers worked to restore China’s power in Asia + extended their rule westward to Tibet + took control of the Silk Road + took control of northern Viet Nam + increased trade with other parts of Asia and forced others to pay tribute (Korea)

As trade increased the Chinese became wealthy Chang’an became the world’s largest city + @ 1,000,000 people lived there + visitors were impressed with the city + goods from India and SW Asia were sold in the city

Challenges to the Tang Turkish nomads drove the Tang armies out of central Asia and won control of the Silk Road Chinese traders could not use the road therefore trade and the economy suffered Farmer revolts weakened the Tang Continued unrest led to the fall of the Tang dynasty in A.D. 907

Song Dynasty After the fall of the Tang, military leaders ruled China In A.D. 960 one of the generals became emperor and founded the Song (sung) dynasty During this dynasty the Chinese enjoyed economic prosperity and made many cultural achievements

Challenges to the Song They did not have enough military to protect their entire empire In the north, nomads took over parts of the country To protect themselves they moved their capital south to the city of Hangzhou (Hahng-joh) This city was on the coast near the Chang Jiang delta (see page 181)