Achievements of the Tang and Song Era - Free Essay Example

Following the fall of the Han dynasty, no emperor could unite the whole of China for over 350 years. In 589 A.D., an emperor Wendi was able to join North and South China and establish a central government. In the subsequent dynasties of Tang and Song, China became the most powerful, wealthy, and the most advanced country. During this period, the Tang and Song era saw significant advances in military expansion, economic prosperity, political stability, cultural sophistication, and technological advancement (Watt and James, 2004).

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Cultural Advancement

Perhaps the significant cultural advancement was the introduction of Buddhism by monk Xuanzang. Who, after venturing out to India, returned with Siddhartha's teachings, which most people regard as the founding father of Buddhism? The new religion focused on personal morality achieved through Chinese education and tradition (Charles, 2002).

Apart from traders and religious scholars who flourished, writers also enjoyed success through countless pages of poetry. Poetry was so crucial in the Tang dynasty that is was tested in the civil service exam, and perhaps the most popular compilation is the 300 Tang poems (Hinton 2008).

Technological Advancement

Under the Song dynasty, the Chinese invented the magnetic compass. During navigation, the compass aided sailors in traveling for longer distances as they were able to stay on course with no sight of land. The compass developed a new age of global travel and trade as they were able to travel as far as the coasts of Africa (Lowrie, 2007).

Paper currency was developed as a way to compensate for the rise in demand for the metal currency. The metal bronze and copper coin were minted with a hole for threading; hence bulky dealings meant huge strings of coins. The weight of the coins proved burdensome to carry, especially for long-distance traders. The use of paper currency was instigated by the merchants who avoided carrying the large coins by swapping receipts from guarantee shops where they kept their coins and merchandise. Later the authority took over the system and started issuing the paper money (Glahn, 2010).

The invention of the gunpowder, although initially was meant for a firework display, gunpowder revolutionized warfare all over the world. The Song armies used the powder to create rockets, grenades, flame-throwers, and crude canons.

Work Cited

Charles, Benn. Daily Life in Traditional China: The Tang Dynasty. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2002.

Glahn, Richard Von. Silver and the Transition to a Paper Money Standard in Song Dynasty (960-1276) China. Los Angeles: University of California, 2010. Document.

Hinton, David. Classical Chinese Poetry: An Anthology. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2008.

Lowrie, William. Fundamentals of Geophysics. London: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Watt and C Y James. China: Dawn of Golden Age, 200-750 A.D. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004. Exhibition Catalogue.