Compare And Contrast Tang And Song Dynasties

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ang dynasty, which lasted from 618-907, and the Song dynasty, which lasted from 960-1279, formed a golden age in China’s history that formed out of a time of troubles. After the fall of the prosperous Han dynasty in 220, China went into a period of dissolution known as the era of the Six Dynasties, which lasted for over three and a half centuries. During this time, six empires jostled for control in China, and it wasn’t until the Sui dynasty, which lasted from 581-618, that the vast area was reunited. Although it was short, the Sui dynasty laid political and economic foundations for the Tang dynasty, which began to elevate China to, and even above, the level of success that it had achieved during the Han dynasty. The Song era that followed continued and added to this success for much of its lifespan. To attain this prosperous state, the Tang and …show more content…

To begin, the early conquests of the Tang in central Asia reopened the Silk Road trading routes that allowed international contacts. At the same time, the fertile lands in the south were continuing to become heavily populated, and new tools, seeds, like Champa rice from Vietnam, use of manure, soil preparation, and irrigation and cropping techniques resulted in a massive expansion in agricultural production. In terms of commerce, new ships, or junks, carried Chinese goods to other areas, an action that did not occur all that often in the past. Furthermore, market areas began to boom as a new sense of commercial organization developed in the late Tang and Song periods; markets sold local farm, artisan, and foreign products as the use of banks, credit, and, for the first time, paper money expanded China’s commercial system. There were even advancements in general technology, like the construction of new bridges and the introduction of gunpowder, and new art styles, specifically the nature landscapes that were prominent in the Song

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