I. The Song (960-1279) Dynastic Cycle

            A. Founding and Initial Prosperity (960-1127) --- imperial capital: Kaifeng

                1. Agricultural Revolution: from serfs to free farmers owning land

                    a. double cropping rice increased yields

                    b. fertilizers, advances in irrigation systems contributed

                    c. population of over 100 million supported adequately

                2. Commercial Revolution

                    a. demographic shift to the south, Yangzi River region

                    b. movable type printing developed----woodblocks since the 7th century

                    c. abacus developed, along with gunpowder in grenades and projectiles

                    d. use of letters of credit and paper money more pervasive

                    e. urban revolution: cities emerged as the centers of commercial regions

                3. Government: From Aristocracy to Autocracy

                    a. elimination of the aristocracy enhanced imperial power

                    b. gentry bureaucrats rose to power via civil service exam system

                4. Cultural Developments

                    a. Neo-Confucianism as a native response to Buddhism

i. history: Sima Guang (1019-86) Comprehensive Mirror

ii. government: Wang Anshi's (1021-86) reforms

iii. philosophy: Zhu Xi's (1130-1200) Four Books

b. The Neo-Confucian Philosophical Vision

i. li "principle" and qi "vital force," "substance," "matter"

ii. yin and yang, ti "substance" and yong "function"

iii. taiji "supreme ultimate"---unifying principle of cosmos

iv. xing "human nature" morally good

v. ren "humaneness" forming one body with cosmos

vi. sagehood attainable through "the investigation of things"

vii. guishen "ghosts and spirits" activities of yin and yang

i. shan "mountains" and shui "water" basic elements

ii. Confucius: humane man loves mountains; just man, water

iii. landscape painting reaffirmed reality of world, political order

d. Poetry

e. Ceramics

                1. Khitan Liao founded Yenjing (later Beijing)

                    a. assumed control over territories south of the Great Wall

                    b. eventually defeated by a combination of Chinese and Jurchen forces

                2. Jurchen Jin (predecessors of the Manchus)

                    a. rose to power in the northern part of the Song dynasty after defeating the Khitan

                    b. ruled north China and Manchuria, 1127-1279

                    c. defeated by combined forces of the Mongols and Southern Song

            C. Fall of the North (1127) Song military weakness doomed the north

            D. Southern Song (1127-1279) a rump empire, imperial capital: Hangzhou

      II. Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368): Founded by Mongol leader Kublai Khan

            A. Eastern extension of the Mongol empire

             B. Kublai Khan the grandson of Genghis Khan (1167-1227)

                 1. 1227 Beijing taken by the Mongols

                 2. 1241 Northern China fell to the Mongols: Jurchen driven out

                3. Kublai chosen as Khan in 1260

                        a. Marco Polo supposedly served Kublai, 1275-92

                        b. Polo's A Description of the World inspired Christopher Colombus

                4. Sinicized "Barbarian" Dynasty

                    a. autocratic trends continued

                    b. dyarchy of Mongols and Chinese: only 400,000 Mongols in China during the Yuan

                    c. Neo-Confucianism made the "official" learning for civil service exams

                    d. Beijing made the imperial capital

                 5. Fall of the Yuan

                        a. Mongol rule never really accepted by most Chinese

                        b. Natural disasters: Yellow River flooded, changed course radically

                        c. Excessive paper money in print ruined the economy

                        d. Popular Uprisings: White Lotus predicted the coming of Maitreya Buddha

                        e. Warlords appeared and the Mongol court fled to central Mongolia