Reunification and Renaissance in Chinese Civilization: The Era of the Tang and Song Dynasties.
298944239 | Hangzhou | It was the capital of Song rulers and was located near the Yangtze River and the coast of the East China Sea. It had more than a million and a half residents and was a hub of trade and wealth. | 0 | |
298944240 | Wendi | a member of a prominent north Chinese noble family that had long been active in the struggles for power after the fall of the Han. He struck a marriage alliance between his daughter and the northern Zhou Empire's ruler. He later seized the throne of his son-in-law. | 1 | |
298944241 | Yangdi | A man who murdered his father to ascend the throne. At first he was successful by furthering conquest, stopping invaders, and developing a more mild legal code. While updating resources to teach Confucian education. He forced people to do things for his own luxury. | 2 | |
298944242 | Li Yuan | The Duke of Tang, one of Yangdi's officials, who saved the imperial order from dissolution. | 3 | |
298944243 | Changan | the new capital of the Tang, where the emperor's palaces were located, and where princes of the imperial line, and other dignitaries lived. | 4 | |
298944244 | Ministry of Rites | an organization that administered tests to students from government schools, or those who had been recommended by distinguished scholars. | 5 | |
298944245 | Jinshi | those who passed the exams on Chinese literature. These people were transformed into dignitaries overnight, and given all the perks that came with being one. | 6 | |
298944246 | Pure Land | the Salvationist strain of Mahayana Buddhism that won wide-spread conversions because it provided a refuge from war and turmoil. | 7 | |
298944247 | Chan | a variant of Buddhism, or Zen (as known in Japan and the West). It was anchored more towards the wealthy elite, and stressed meditation and appreciation of nature and art. Their goal was to acquire full wisdom. | 8 | |
298944248 | Zen | emphasizes appreciation of beauty, both natural and artistic meditation. | 9 | |
298944249 | Empress Wu | (r. 690-705); she was the best of all the Tang rulers at supporting the Buddhist establishment. She tried to elevate Buddhism to the state religion. | 10 | |
298944250 | Wuzong | (r. 841-847); he was the emperor who continued the restrictions of the flow of Buddhism. | 11 | |
298944251 | Xuanzong | (r. 713-756); his rule was the peak of Tang power and the high point of Chinese civilization under the dynasty. He became emperor after he thwarted empress Wei's attempts at the throne. | 12 | |
298944252 | Yang Guifei | a young woman of which Xuangzong became infatuated with. She was from the harem of one of the imperial princes. Her relationship with him caused her and her family to gain power in court, but her family's pompous, undeserving greed turned the court (and the rest of the empire) against Xuangzong, and eventually against Yang Guifei. | 13 | |
298944253 | Zhao Kuangyin | established a reputation as a good, honest, brave general. He united China under a single dynasty. | 14 | |
298944254 | The Liao Dynasty | the one enemy Zhao could never beat. It was founded in 907. | 15 | |
298944255 | Khitan | the nomadic peoples from Manchuria that made up the Liao dynasty. | 16 | |
298944256 | Zhu Xi | One of the most important thinkers of the era, who stressed the importance of applying philosophical principles to everyday life and action. | 17 | |
298944257 | Neo-Confucianism | revivers of ancient Confucian teachings. They believed that cultivating personal morality was the highest goal for humans. | 18 | |
298944258 | Jurchens | new nomadic contenders who, in 1115, overthrew the Liao dynasty of the Khitans and established the Jin Kingdom. Their conquests forced the Song to move south for another century and a half. | 19 | |
298944259 | Jin | a kingdom established by the nomadic Jurchens. It was located to the north of the Song Empire. | 20 | |
298944260 | The Grand Canal | This was a canal that connected the original centers of Chinese civilization on the north China plain with the Yangtze River basin more than 500 miles to the south. This made the movement of people and goods easier, redirecting it to go west to east, instead of north to south. | 21 | |
298944261 | Southern Song Dynasty | A dynasty that lasted from 1167 to 1279. It was not much of a dynasty, and was formed mostly out of the remains of the Tang dynasty, but culturally its reign was the most glorious in Chinese history, and possibly in all of humankind. | 22 | |
298944262 | Junks | Chinese ships that were the best in the world in that period. | 23 | |
298944263 | Flying Money | The Chinese name for credit vouchers. People with credit vouchers could turn them in for reimbursement at the appropriate office in the city of destination. | 24 | |
298944264 | Footbinding | By the later Song era, upper-class men had developed a preference for small feet for women. This later spread to lower-class people as well. This restricted women's mobility, and made it easier to confine them in the house. | 25 |