  Three Dynasties: Sui, Tang, Song Dynasties  All three brought progress and stability to China  China invented block printing, gunpowder, participated in foreign trade  Used civil service exams Three Dynasties

  Came after the Han Dynasty  581- new emperor came into China and began Sui dynasty  Lasted from  Dynasty did not last long but did unify China  Sui Yangdi- second emperor- completed Grand Canal  Grand Canal linked the Huang He and Yangtze River The Sui Dynasty

  Cruel ruler:  Used forced labor to complete Grand Canal  Used high taxes  Lived an extravagant life  Military failures  Caused rebellion  He was murdered Sui Yangdi

  700 year period- used same principles from Qin and Han dynasties  Monarchy  Bureaucratic government  Civil Servant exams  Government based on provinces, districts, villages  Confucian ideals Government

  Based on trade, agriculture, and manufacturing  Majority of population were peasants and serfs  Technology: used steel to make swords  Gunpowder- to make explosives  Mathematics  Made new economy- based on money instead of trade  Trade= silk road= cultural diffusion! Economy

  New forms of entertainment  Rise in gentry  Few Chinese had power  Female children were considered less desirable  When a girl married, she became part of the husbands family  Poor families sold their daughters Society

 Section 2: The Mongols

  Military nomads  From present day Mongolia  Mongol people elected Genghis Khan  Genghis Khan was a strong military ruler The Mongols

  Genghis Khan’s army= 130,000 men  Brought Eurasian landmass under one ruler  New capital: Karakorum  When Khan died- empire split  Khanates- each under the rule of one of his sons Mongols and Military

  Mongols attacked Persia and defeated the Abbasids in 1258  Kubali Khan- Genghis Khan’s grandson- ruled China until his death in 1294  Kublai Khan set up a capital- Khanbalik which is Beijing today  Mongols expanded into Vietnam  Mongols won support of many Chinese people  Fell: too much spreading of foreign conquests, corruption at court, and growing instability. Mongol Impact

  Under Kublai Khan  In attack, Mongols encountered gunpowder  Inventions came too late to save China from Mongols  Kublai ruled not only China, but Korea, Tibet, parts of Vietnam Yuan Dynasty

  Chinese came to respect the stability and prosperity they experienced under Mongol rule  Chinese believed the Mandate of Heaven could be passed to foreign rulers  Chinese merchants benefitted from extensive trade networks  Mongols brought peace and order  Great cities flourished under Kublai Khan Pax Mongolia

  Pax Mongolia: political stability throughout much of Asia resulted from Mongol rule  Allowed for an exchange of goods and ideas between the east and west Pax Mongolia

  Silk Road was very dangerous before the Mongols  Traders were using it less because of fear  Mongols provided safe passage along the Silk Road  Trade increased as a result Silk Road

  Disease that followed along trade routes  Millions were killed  Impacted the Mongols  Plague began with infested rats  Killed 1/3 of Europe  35 million in China were killed Black Plague

  Italian merchant  Traveled to the court of Kublai Khan  Remained there for several years  Marco Polo’s writing introduced Europeans to the beauty of riches of China Marco Polo

  Scholar from Morocco  Traveled at the same time as Marco Polo  Recorded his travels  Traveled for 30 years- 73,000 miles Ibn Battuta

  Confucian teachings  Song and Tang- Buddhist and Daoism  Buddhism was brought in from India  Daoism- rival of Confucianism  Buddhism criticized  Buddhist monasteries had acquired thousands of acres of land and serfs- with that came corruption  Tang Dynasty destroyed Buddhist temples Religion and Government

  Revived Confucianism- became the heart of the state government  Teaches that the world is real, not an illusion  Divided the world into a material and spiritual world  Goal: move beyond the material world to reach Supreme Ultimate Neo-Confucianism

  Period between Tang and Ming dynasties  Invention of printing  Used Calligraphy  Most Chinese were illiterate  Poetry- heavy focus  Paintings and ceramics- influenced by Daoism  Porcelain- a ceramic made of fine clay baked at very high temperatures Golden Age in Literature and Art

  Buddhist themes dominated Chinese architecture  Pagoda- temple with roof that curved up at corners  Religious building of the Far East  Used as a memorial or shrine Golden Age: Architecture

  China’s economy depended on farming  Agriculture grew in size and complexity  Most lived on what was produced  Subsistence farming- no surplus to sell Farming

  Tang Dynasty saw the development of steel making  Cotton began being used to make clothing  Development of gunpowder led to the production of powerful explosives and new weapons New Technology

  Many women held great authority in Tang and song than in earlier dynasties  Tang Dynasty had one of the few women rulers: We Zhao  Women’s roles included: managing family finances, imposing discipline, and supervising servants.  Boys were still valued over girls  Song Dynasty- footbinding Women

  During the mid 1300s- fell due to corruption and revolts  Mongol efforts to conquer Japan and Indonesian islands were unsuccessful  Mongol lands too large and diverse to govern effectively  Excellent fighters but Mongols had little experience in government Fall of the Yuan Dynasty

  Known as the Golden Horde  Mongols conquered most of Russia  Controlled Russia for 200 years  Many Mongol words, customs, and clothing found their way into Russian culture Mongols in Russia

  Geography:  Japan is made up of a chain of mountainous islands in the Pacific Ocean  Archipelago- chain of many islands  Off the coast of mainland Asia  Four main islands and about 3,000 smaller islands  Islands are apart of the Ring of Fire  Land is vulnerable to earthquakes and volcanoes Early Japan

  Japan’s islands are mountainous- land was difficult to farm  Only about 11% of the land was farmable  Volcanic soil was very fertile  Farming was the basis of Japan’s economy  Known for growing wet rice  Most of the population lived around narrow river valleys Japanese Life