The Song Dynasty (960-1279) was a ruling dynasty in China. This dynasty is divided into two periods: Northern Song and Southern Song. Social life was vibrant in the Song dynasty. Literature and knowledge were enhanced by wood block printing and movable type printing. Confucianism infused with Buddhist ideals emphasized a new organization of classic texts brought out the core doctrine of Neo-Confucianism. The civil service examinations became more prominent in the Song period. Administrative sophistication and complex organization was during this era. Song Dynasty was prosperous in many respects of the society. Even though this dynasty was technologically and culturally advanced, Song people were not militarily powerful. The civil service examination and the scholar-officials helped shape the educated class of Song and produce extraordinary men. The most distinctive features of Chinese civilization were in the Song period. This was the scholar-official class certified through highly competitive civil service examinations. These elite were better educated than others in Chinese history. Aristocratic habits and prejudices largely disappeared when examination system was fully developed. This system came to be considered the normal ladder to success. The invention of printing should be given a little credit. The art of carving words and pictures into wooden blocks was developed by Tang craftsmen. They would ink the blocks then press paper onto them. An entire page of text and illustrations was held on each block. In the eleventh century movable type, on piece of type for each character, was invented. In China whole-block printing was cheaper. The spread of literacy was because printing dramatically lowered the price of books.... ... middle of paper ... ... Song times was sometimes blamed on Neo-Confucianism. Foot-binding also began during the Song Dynasty. This is the practice of binding the feet of girls with long strips of cloth to keep them from growing large. Moms wanted them to be judged more beautiful. Printing and the booming economy allowed a great expansion of educated class in the Song period. This also dominated the government. The educated class in the Song period was shaped by the civil service examinations. Most educated men spent years or more studying but not always successful. Military leadership was at a disadvantage even though there were high levels of education in literature, antiquities, philosophy, and art. The education of men, more books, and printing much of them was survived. This made it possible to see earlier periods and lives of women. Works Cited History of World Societies
During the Tang and Song dynasty, many excellent achievements have been accomplished which are still being preserved and used widely over centuries. Their citizens were excelled in many fields with several of new and practical inventions which all directly affected the citizens’ lives.
Years later during the Ming and Ch’ing eras it became wide spread among all status levels. Footbinding is a mutilation of the feet by wrapping them up weeks upon weeks to force them into the shape of a lotus flower and keep them at a length of three inches. (p.366) “Small feet became a prestige item to such an extent that a girl without them could not achieve a good marriage arrangement and was subjected to the disrespect and taunts of the community.” (p.364). Eventually lower-class women began using binding to find wealthy husbands.
Due to a shift in views in Chinese masculinity, sewing was deemed manly. Men began to stop their wives from sewing materials such as silk, decreasing their roles in the household. The Song dynasty collapsed in 1279 due to Mongol invasions.
Before launching into praises of the Song Dynasty 's many achievements, the matter of its origin
Chinese culture has been evolving for more than one thousand years with one of the most significant influences being the development of the Han dynasty. This paper analyses the ways in which the development of the Han dynasty influenced Chinese culture, to what extent, and why. Knowledge of the Han period’s impact on Chinese culture, is obtained through the analysis of written and archaeological sources depicting the Western Han dynasty (206 B.C.–9 A.D) and Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 A.D).
Although the history of footbinding is very vague it lasted for at least one thousand years.Early text referred to the Han Dynasty as people who preferred that the women have small feet (Vento, 1). Vento also acknowledged the first documented reference to actual binding of the feet was from the Tang Dynasty in Nanjing (1). Before the Sung Dynasty Binding was only slightly constricting, allowing for free movement, they were also thought to have used footbinding to suppress women. The Yuan Dynasty introduced binding into the central and southern parts of China. It may have been emphasized to draw a clear cultural distinction between the Chinese and their large footed conquerors, the Mongols.
The Song dynasty is actually divided into two separate periods: The Northern Song from 960-1126 A.D. and the Southern Song from 1126-1279 A.D. The northwestern part of the country had been taken over by the nomadic tribes, forcing the emperor move the capital to Kaifeng, then later to Hangzhou during the southern Song period. They also lost control of Tibet. (Duiker, & Spielvogel, 2009) While they struggled with territory control, the Song strived in economic development and cultural achievement.
The Qing dynasty prospered in arts and culture. Traditional forms of arts flourished: including the delicate and exquisite ceramics and Chinese porcelain.
During the Han and Roman time period everything was changing. New Technology greatly expanding the empire's. Attitudes shifted in the Han and Roman empire. The Han attitude towards technology is for the common people with innovative tools and natural disaster prevention. The attitude to the Roman technology is to show off how advanced their civilization was with aqueducts and paved roads.
Today we can look around ourselves and see thousands of technical innovations that make life easier; But if we take a step back and ask ourselves “How?” we will soon realize that most often, these technological advancements did not just “poof” into existence, but are usually the outcome of building upon yesterday’s technology. If we follow this cycle back into time, we can attribute almost any modern day invention to an ancient civilization during its golden age. China was no exception. China’s Song and Tang dynasties fostered scientific advances comparable to Rome’s during its Pax Romana. 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. Although these may seem very far off, if you look hard enough, you can see traces of their impacts in society today because most of the advancements today we owe to them.
In her article "The body as attire," Dorothy Ko (1997) reviewed the history about foot binding in seventeenth-century China, and expressed a creative viewpoint. Foot binding began in Song Dynasty, and was just popular in upper social society. With the gradually popularization of foot binding, in the end of Song Dynasty, it became generally popular. In Qing Dynasty, foot binding was endowed deeper meaning that was termed into a tool to against Manchu rule. The author, Dorothy Ko, studied from another aspect which was women themselves to understand and explained her shifting meaning of foot binding. Dorothy Ko contends that “Chinese Elite males in the seventeenth century regarded foot binding in three ways: as an expression of Chinese wen civility,
Usually, boys who earned a degree were from noble families. Their parents had opportunities to provide them quality education, which in the future helped them to hold high ranking jobs. James Hutton Brew was “the only one trained lawyer among the ‘important men’ with whom Abina interacted” (Getz and Clarke 111). He was an educated man, who had strong social bonds with other “important men.” He was able to influence the judge through his ability to get around all laws. Brew knew exactly on which factors the judge’s decision would be made and which language to use in the court. He convinced the magistrate that Abina was lying by asking her questions that she was not able to answer well enough due to her lack of knowledge and education. By humiliating her, he acquitted his defendant Quamina Eddoo and proved that he acted like a strict father to Abina. By Brew’s example, it can be concluded that education was one of the key factors, which helped men to become employed, and as a result, take places in the highest positions of
people who were poor or badly educated, elevating them to positions for which they were
The Chinese Empire was large and controlled most of Asia at one point in time. One of the dynasties that ruled the empire was the Ming Family. Ruling from 1368-1644, almost three hundred years, the Ming Dynasty impacted Chinese history very much.