1. Reunification  Political turmoil follows the fall of the Han Dynasty  Scholar-gentry class lost ground to landed families  Non-Chinese nomads rule China  Buddhism replaces Confucianism  Economic, technological, intellectual and urban decline

2. Rebuilding  From Chen to Sui Dynasty  A noble, Wendi, with the support of nomadic military leaders, won control of northern China.  Lowered Taxes  Established Granaries to ensure a stable, cheap food supply

3. Rebuilding  Son takes over and continues to strengthen the state. o Victories over nomads o Reforms the legal code and Confucian educational system o Scholar-gentry brought back into the imperial administration. o Improvements to capital including canals to link the empire. o Tries to conquer Korea and is defeated by Turkic nomads in central Asia.

4. Tang Dynasty  Reunites China  Imperial unity restored  Utilize Turkic nomads into their military and assimilate them into Chinese culture.  Great Wall is repaired  Extend empire to Afghanistan, Vietnam, Manchuria and Korea.

5. Tang Dynasty o Power of the aristocracy reduced o Scholar-gentry elite and Confucian ideology help the Tang maintain unity o Political authority shared by imperial families and scholar-gentry bureaucrats. o Bureaucracy reached from imperial court to district levels of administration.

6. Under the Tang and Song  Examination System regulated. o Highest offices went to those who passed exams based on the Confucian classics and Chinese literature. o Birth and family connections remained important. o Intelligent commoners might rise to high positions but not as common.

7. Tang and Song Dynasty  Confucian revival threatened Buddhism.  Elite Chinese accepted Zen, which stressed meditation and appreciation of natural artistic beauty.  Empress Wu endowed monasteries and statues of Buddha.

8. Tang and Song Dynasty o Confucians and Daoists opposed Buddhist growth saying it was an alien faith. o Buddhist lands were taxed or redistributed to taxpaying nobles and peasants o Buddhism survived the persecutions but Confucianism emerged as the central ideology of Chinese civilization