what were some accomplishments of the song dynasty

Which are the five most important improvements or contributions of the Song dynasty?

• #1 The Pre-Modern Economic Revolution in China occurred during the Song era.
• #2 It was the first government in the world to issue banknotes.
• #3 The civil service examination system was given unprecedented importance.
• #4 The first permanent standing Chinese navy was established.

Full Answer

What were the major achievements of the Song dynasty?

The Song Dynasty (960-1279) is considered the heyday of Chinese painting development. The royal court prioritized the humanities, turning to people's inner emotions with a minimalist art style that was evident in exhibited artworks. Compared with previous dynasties, the Yuan Dynasty paintings showed obvious regional differences.

What inventions did the Song dynasty invent?

The song Dynasty had many inventions like paper money, gun powder, porcelain, and many more. Here are just a few. Gun Powder- at the end of the Song Dynasty, China had multiple-stage rockets. All thanks to the gun powder that the Song Dynasty made. The Song Dynasty also made fire lances and might have created cannons.

What were the achievements of the Tang and Song dynasty?

However, the Sui, Tang, and Song Dynasty paved the way for the unification and prosperity in China. In 581 CE, the Sui Dynasty reunified China for the first significant time since the collapse of the Han Dynasty. As a result of the reunification, the society became stable and peaceful which encouraged economical and political development.

Who was the Song dynasty most famous ruler?

The last emperor of the Northern Song was Emperor Qinzong (r. 1126–1127), while the first Southern Song emperor was Emperor Gaozong (r. 1127–1162). The emperor, or huangdi, was the supreme head of state during the imperial era of China (221 BC – 1912), including the Song dynasty.

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What 3 things was the Song dynasty known for?

During the Song (Sung) Dynasty (960-1276), technology was highly advanced in fields as diverse as agriculture, iron-working, and printing. Indeed, scholars today talk of a Song economic revolution.

What are some important achievements of the Tang and Song dynasty?

The most significant and impacting of these were the development of primitive gunpowder and porcelain of the Tang and paper money, and the magnetic compass of the Song Dynasties.

What did the Song dynasty succeeded in?

The Northern Song wars (960–1127) ended in stalemate then disaster. The Southern Song Empire (1127–1279) regrouped and had renewed successes (maritime trade and warfare, economic and agricultural development). Song society: The population doubled with extensive urbanization and high wealth, art, and education levels.

What were 3 major accomplishments by the Tang Dynasty?

10 Major Achievements of Tang Dynasty of China#1 China became the largest nation in the world.#2 The first comprehensive criminal code in China was created.#3 The imperial examination became the major path to office.#4 Chinese Poetry reached its pinnacle.#5 Literature flourished.More items...•

How are the accomplishments of the Tang and Song dynasties similar?

"How are the accomplishments of the two dynasties similar?" Both dynasties created a civil working government and built a very large empire; the Tang couldn't control their empire though.

What is the Tang Dynasty best known for?

The Tang Dynasty is well remembered for the era's contributions to poetry, partly the result of Xuanzong's creation of an academy for poets, which helped preserve over 48,900 poems written by well over 2,000 poets of the era. One of the best remembered is Li Bai, born in 701 A.D.

What was an accomplishment by the Tang Dynasty of China?

It was during this successful era that woodblock printing and gunpowder were invented. Meanwhile, the borders of the Tang dynasty expanded far into Korea and central Asia. China became even larger during the Tang dynasty than it had been during the Han.

What were the Song and Tang dynasties?

Scholars often refer to the Tang (618–907) and Song (960–1279) dynasties as the "medieval" period of China. The civilizations of the Tang (618–907) and Song (960–1279) dynasties of China were among the most advanced civilizations in the world at the time.

What is the Song Dynasty?

Song dynasty, Wade-Giles romanization Sung, (960–1279), Chinese dynasty that ruled the country during one of its most brilliant cultural epochs. It is commonly divided into Bei (Northern) and Nan (Southern) Song periods, as the dynasty ruled only in South China after 1127. Exploring China: Fact or Fiction?

What was the significance of the Song period?

During the Song period, commerce developed to an unprecedented extent; trade guilds were organized, paper currency came into increasing use, and several cities with populations of more than 1,000,000 flourished along the principal waterways and the southeast coast.

What was the last emperor of Northern Song?

The last of the Northern Song emperors was himself perhaps the most noteworthy artist and art collector in the country. His capital at Kaifeng was a city of beauty, abounding in palaces, temples, and tall pagodas when, in 1126, the Juchen burned it.

What was the Bei Song used for?

In music the Bei Song adopted a two-stringed fiddle from the northern tribes, and music was widely used for ceremonies, sacrifices, and other court events. Music attracted considerable attention in the dynasty’s enormous works of literature: the official history of the dynasty devoted 17 of its 496 chapters to musical events, and an encyclopaedia that appeared in 1267 has 10 of 200 chapters on the subject of music. Music drama flourished throughout the Song, and distinctly different styles evolved in the North and the South. The literature of the Song dynasty emphasized a return to old-time simplicity of expression in prose, and short tales called guwen were written in great volume. A school of oral storytelling in the vernacular arose, and conventional poetry enjoyed wide cultivation. Song poets achieved their greatest distinction, however, in the new genre of the ci, sung poems of joy and despair. These poems became the literary hallmark of the dynasty. For the diversity and richness of its cultural achievements, the Song dynasty is remembered as one of China’s greatest.

What was Gaozong's influence on the Han Dynasty?

Gaozong was a conscious admirer and emulator of the highly successful approach of the Han dynasty to the management of civil service , and the empire’s bureaucrats long functioned well. In due course, however, the dynasty began to decline.

What were the pagodas built of?

Pagodas, six- or eight-sided and built of brick or wood, still survive from the period. The sculpture of the Song period continued to emphasize representations of the Buddha, and in that genre there were no substantive improvements over the work of Song sculptors in succeeding dynasties.

Who took over the North and established a dynasty with a Chinese name?

The Juchen took over the North and established a dynasty with a Chinese name, the Jin. But they were unable to take those regions of Song territory south of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang). In the South, the climate and the beautiful surroundings were the setting for the Nan Song dynasty established (1127) by the emperor Gaozong.

What was the new military technology that the Song Dynasty developed?

To repel the Jin, and later the Mongols, the Song developed revolutionary new military technology augmented by the use of gunpowder. In 1234, the Jin dynasty was conquered by the Mongols, who took control of northern China, maintaining uneasy relations with the Southern Song.

What countries did the Song Dynasty trade with?

The Song court maintained diplomatic relations with Chola India, the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt, Srivijaya, the Kara-Khanid Khanate of Central Asia, the Goryeo kingdom in Korea, and other countries that were also trade partners with Japan. Chinese records even mention an embassy from the ruler of "Fu lin" (拂菻, i.e. the Byzantine Empire ), Michael VII Doukas, and its arrival in 1081. However, China's closest neighbouring states had the greatest impact on its domestic and foreign policy. From its inception under Taizu, the Song dynasty alternated between warfare and diplomacy with the ethnic Khitans of the Liao dynasty in the northeast and with the Tanguts of the Western Xia in the northwest. The Song dynasty used military force in an attempt to quell the Liao dynasty and to recapture the Sixteen Prefectures, a territory under Khitan control since 938 that was traditionally considered to be part of China proper (Most parts of today's Beijing and Tianjin ). Song forces were repulsed by the Liao forces, who engaged in aggressive yearly campaigns into Northern Song territory until 1005, when the signing of the Shanyuan Treaty ended these northern border clashes. The Song were forced to provide tribute to the Khitans, although this did little damage to the Song economy since the Khitans were economically dependent upon importing massive amounts of goods from the Song. More significantly, the Song state recognized the Liao state as its diplomatic equal. The Song created an extensive defensive forest along the Song-Liao border to thwart potential Khitan cavalry attacks.

What were the two main periods of the Song Dynasty?

The Song dynasty is divided into two distinct periods: Northern Song and Southern Song . During the Northern Song ( Chinese: 北宋; 960–1127), the Song capital was in the northern city of Bianjing (now Kaifeng) and the dynasty controlled most of what is now Eastern China. The Southern Song ( Chinese: 南宋; 1127–1279) refers to the period after the Song lost control of its northern half to the Jurchen -led Jin dynasty in the Jin–Song Wars. During this time, the Song court retreated south of the Yangtze and established its capital at Lin'an (now Hangzhou ). Although the Song dynasty had lost control of the traditional Chinese heartlands around the Yellow River, the Southern Song Empire contained a large population and productive agricultural land for maintaining a robust economy. In 1234, the Jin dynasty was conquered by the Mongols, who took control of northern China, maintaining uneasy relations with the Southern Song. Möngke Khan, the fourth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, died in 1259 while besieging the mountain castle Diaoyucheng, Chongqing. His younger brother Kublai Khan was proclaimed the new Great Khan and in 1271 proclaimed himself Emperor of China, establishing the Yuan dynasty. After two decades of sporadic warfare, Kublai Khan's armies conquered the Song dynasty in 1279, after the Southern Song suffered military defeat in the Battle of Yamen. The Mongol invasion eventually led to a Chinese reunification under the Yuan dynasty.

How did the Civil Service work in China?

During this period greater emphasis was laid upon the civil service system of recruiting officials ; this was based upon degrees acquired through competitive examinations, in an effort to select the most capable individuals for governance. Selecting men for office through proven merit was an ancient idea in China. The civil service system became institutionalized on a small scale during the Sui and Tang dynasties, but by the Song period, it became virtually the only means for drafting officials into the government. The advent of widespread printing helped to widely circulate Confucian teachings and to educate more and more eligible candidates for the exams. This can be seen in the number of exam takers for the low-level prefectural exams rising from 30,000 annual candidates in the early 11th century to 400,000 candidates by the late 13th century. The civil service and examination system allowed for greater meritocracy, social mobility, and equality in competition for those wishing to attain an official seat in government. Using statistics gathered by the Song state, Edward A. Kracke, Sudō Yoshiyuki, and Ho Ping-ti supported the hypothesis that simply having a father, grandfather, or great-grandfather who had served as an official of state did not guarantee one would obtain the same level of authority. Robert Hartwell and Robert P. Hymes criticized this model, stating that it places too much emphasis on the role of the nuclear family and considers only three paternal ascendants of exam candidates while ignoring the demographic reality of Song China, the significant proportion of males in each generation that had no surviving sons, and the role of the extended family. Many felt disenfranchised by what they saw as a bureaucratic system that favored the land-holding class able to afford the best education. One of the greatest literary critics of this was the official and famous poet Su Shi. Yet Su was a product of his times, as the identity, habits, and attitudes of the scholar-official had become less aristocratic and more bureaucratic with the transition of the periods from Tang to Song. At the beginning of the dynasty, government posts were disproportionately held by two elite social groups: a founding elite who had ties with the founding emperor and a semi-hereditary professional elite who used long-held clan status, family connections, and marriage alliances to secure appointments. By the late 11th century, the founding elite became obsolete, while political partisanship and factionalism at court undermined the marriage strategies of the professional elite, which dissolved as a distinguishable social group and was replaced by a multitude of gentry families.

How many men were on the Song Dynasty?

Although the Jin forces commanded by Wanyan Liang (the Prince of Hailing) boasted 70,000 men on 600 warships, and the Song forces only 3,000 men on 120 warships, the Song dynasty forces were victorious in both battles due to the destructive power of the bombs and the rapid assaults by paddlewheel ships.

Why was the Song army organized?

The Song military was chiefly organized to ensure that the army could not threaten Imperial control, often at the expense of effectiveness in war. Northern Song's Military Council operated under a Chancellor, who had no control over the imperial army. The imperial army was divided among three marshals, each independently responsible to the Emperor. Since the Emperor rarely led campaigns personally, Song forces lacked unity of command. The imperial court often believed that successful generals endangered royal authority, and relieved or even executed them (notably Li Gang, Yue Fei, and Han Shizhong ).

Why did the Southern Song build seaports?

Although weakened and pushed south beyond the Huai River, the Southern Song found new ways to bolster its strong economy and defend itself against the Jin dynasty. It had able military officers such as Yue Fei and Han Shizhong. The government sponsored massive shipbuilding and harbor improvement projects, and the construction of beacons and seaport warehouses to support maritime trade abroad, including at the major international seaports, such as Quanzhou, Guangzhou, and Xiamen, that were sustaining China's commerce.

What are the strengths of the Song Dynasty?

The strengths are more likely to tend to the economy and culture. The boom economy made the Song Dynasty the most prosperous dynasty in China's history. In culture aspect, there were a lot of poets and litterateurs. As for the weakness, as the emperors in the Song Dynasty restricted the military force so that it used to be invaded often and people suffered from wars from time to time.

What was the Song Dynasty?

Starting in 960 and ending in 1279, the Song Dynasty consisted of the Northern Song (960-1127) and the Southern Song (1127-1279). With a prosperous economy and radiant culture, this period was considered as another period of 'golden age' after the glorious Tang Dynasty (618 - 907).

What were the two inventions of China?

As for the development of science and culture, tremendous achievements were made during this period. Two of China's four great inventions - typography and compass were both invented and the application of gunpowder also developed rapidly.

Why did the Song Dynasty never unified China?

In fact, the emperors of the Song Dynasty never unified the whole China because of the poor military power.

Who founded the Northern Song?

The Northern Song was founded by Zhao Kuangyin, a military general in the Latter Zhou (951 - 960). In 960, Zhao Kuangyin launched a mutiny in Chenqiao county (in current Henan Province).It was not long before the last king of the Latter Zhou was forced to abdicate. Thus a new dynasty - Song was established in Kaifeng.

Who destroyed the Southern Song?

In 1127, it was destroyed by the Jin (1115 - 1234). The Southern Song was set up by Zhao Gou, son of the last emperor of Northern Song. After Jin defeated the Northern Song, many imperial clansmen were captured by Jin's army. Fortunately, Zhao Gou had a luck escape.

Who was the son of Emperor Zhenzong?

1022 - 1063. 5. Song Yingzong. (Zhao Shu) Son of one of the imperial clansmen and was adopted by Emperor Renzong; Actually, Emperor Yingzong' s father was the first cousin of Emperor Renzong.

When did China's economy grow?

For several centuries the Chinese economy had grown spectacularly: “Between ... 960 and ... 1127, China passed through a phase of economic growth that was unprecedented in earlier Chinese history, perhaps in world history up to this time.

What was the most advanced country in the world in 1000 CE?

China in 1000 CE. In 1000, 1100, 1200, and 1300, China was the most advanced place in the world. Marco Polo (1254-1324) recognized this when he got to China in the late 13th century after traveling through much of Asia. In what is now Europe, this was the period now referred to as the “high” Middle Ages, which fostered ...

What were the major advances made in the Song Dynasty?

Notable advances in civil engineering, nautics, and metallurgy were made in Song China, as well as the introduction of the windmill to China during the thirteenth century. These advances, along with the introduction of paper-printed money, helped revolutionize and sustain the economy of the Song dynasty .

What was the first paper currency invented by the Song Dynasty?

Science and technology of the Song dynasty. Jiaozi, the world's first paper-printed currency, a Song innovation. The Song dynasty ( Chinese: 宋朝; 960–1279 CE) invented some technological advances in Chinese history, many of which came from talented statesmen drafted by the government through imperial examinations .

What was Su Song's most famous work?

He also was the author of a large celestial atlas of five different star maps, and his extensive written and illustrative work in cartography helped solve a heated border dispute between the Song dynasty and its Khitan neighbor of the Liao dynasty. However, Su was most famous for his hydraulic-powered astronomical clock tower, crowned with a mechanically driven armillary sphere, which was erected in the capital city of Kaifeng in the year 1088. Su's clock tower employed the escapement mechanism two centuries before it was applied in clocks of Europe. Su's clock tower also featured the earliest known endless power-transmitting chain drive in the world, as outlined in his horological treatise of 1092. The cases of these two men display the eagerness of the Song in drafting highly skilled officials who were knowledgeable in the various sciences which could ultimately benefit the administration, the military, the economy, and the people.

How many wheels did the Tang Dynasty use?

This employed seven wheels, each about 3 m (10 ft) in diameter and manually powered, but by the Tang dynasty (618–907) palaces featured water-powered rotary fans for air conditioning, and in the Song dynasty, states Needham, "the refrigerant effects of artificial draught seem to have been appreciated ever more widely.".

How much iron did the Song Dynasty produce?

The per capita iron output rose sixfold between 806 and 1078, and by 1078 Song China was producing 127,000,000 kg (125,000 long tons; 127,000 t) in weight of iron per year. The historian Donald B. Wagner points out that this estimate was based upon the total number of government tax receipts on iron from the various iron-producing prefectures in the empire. In the smelting process of using huge bellows driven by hydraulics (i.e. large waterwheels ), massive amounts of charcoal were used in the production process, leading to a wide range of deforestation in northern China. However, by the end of the 11th century the Chinese discovered that using bituminous coke could replace the role of charcoal, hence many acres of forested land and prime timber in northern China were spared by the steel and iron industry with this switch of resources to coal. This massive increase in output of the iron and steel industry in China was the result of the Song dynasty's needs for military expansion, private commercial demands for metal products such as cooking utensils found in the market and a wide variety of agricultural tools, and by new canals linking major centers of iron and steel production to the capital city's bustling market. The many uses for manufactured iron products in the Song period included iron for weapons, implements, coins, architectural elements, musical bells, artistic statues, and components for machinery such as the hydraulic -powered trip hammer, which had been known since the 1st century BCE during the ancient Han dynasty, and used extensively during the Song.

How long was the Song dynasty ship?

Confirming Zhu Yu's writing on Song dynasty ships with bulkhead hull compartments, in 1973 a 78-foot (24 m) long, 29-foot (8.8 m) wide Song trade ship from c. 1277 was dredged from the water near the southern coast of China that contained 12 bulkhead compartment rooms in its hull.

Which dynasty used the pound lock system?

A canal lock system in modern-day France which uses the pound lock system developed during the Song dynasty.

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