China:

Sung Dynasty and the Mongols

Sung Dynasty

The Sung Dynasty was around from 960 until 1279. It was regarded as the end of the medieval order and the beginning of modern development.

There are two time periods the Northern Sung and the Southern Sung.

Sung DynastyNorthern Sung Dynasty

Artsmia.org

Sung DynastyChao K’ung-Yin founded the Sung. He was also know as T’ai Tsu.

This portrait of T'ai-tsu shows him in imperial regalia.

Chinese portrait painting emphasizes transmitting the spirit of the sitter, and Chinese physiognomy (the study of facial features) includes a type known as "imperial visage.“

Sung dynasty documents reveal that T'ai-tsu was so imposing that no one dared look him in the face.

All portraits of T'ai-tsu were painted by Wang Ai, a native of the capital. Whether this work was done by Wang or not is an issue that remains to be studied in further detail.

Npm.gov.tw

Sung DynastyKaifeng—near the Yellow River, it was a commercial and manufacturing center close to 1 million inhabitants.

Wang An-Shih—responsible for financial policy by 1068, 80% of the governments budget went to the military. So, how was this corrected?

--Personal property assessed for taxation

--Corvee labor was a given a wage

--government loans to peasants control of

prices

Sung DynastyWang An-shih suggesting political reforms to emperor Shen-tsung

Taiwantoday.tw

Sung DynastySung Dynasty Art from Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Video Break

http://www.artsmia.org/art-of-asia/history/dynasty-sung.cfm

Sung DynastyGrand Canal

Hagen-bobzin.de

Sung DynastyGrand CanalChinatoday.com

Sung DynastyInvasion and Decline

Jurchen—capture the Sung capital at Kaifeng and invade northern China

1126—end of the northern sung

Sung DynastySouthern Sung Dynasty

Artsmia.org

Sung DynastySouthern Sung

HangchouCloser to the Yangtze river. The Yangtze delta was the southeast’s commercial center.

It was more wealthy and populous. It had many more merchants, artisans, shopkeepers, restaurants and teahouses.

Southern Sung was more successful because of tax revenues from manufactured goods and trade.

Sung DynastySouthern Sung Art

Depts.washington.edu

Sung DynastySouthern Sung Art

Probably the most successful of the Southern Song court landscapists was Xia Gui (active c. 1180-1224).  Pure and Remote Views of Mountains and Streams, shown below, is unusually tall for a handscroll, almost twenty inches in height.

http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/painting/tptgssla.htm 

Sung DynastySouthern Sung Technology

Naval ships—catapults with hurling explosive grenades. The use of a cannon, cast-metal barrels with a gunpowder propelled projectile.

The use of encyclopedias and algebra.

Sung DynastyCollapse of the Sung

“He who sups with the devil needs a long spoon”

Sung Mongol

Jurchen

(Ogodei Khan)alliance

1232

Sung DynastyCollapse of the Sung

Mongols Sung

Fighting between the two lasted 40 years

The Mongols defeated the north and they poured into Hangchou by 1276.

turn

against

Mongol empireGeography—Northern China

Teachengineering.org

Mongol empireGeography

Northern China

Steppe Region

–Flat plains area few trees

—Cold and harsh winds

—Little in terms of agriculture

Mongol empireWhy were the Mongols so successful?

Transportation—horse, Mongols controlled the major breeding grounds. They were

tough, wiry and had more stamina

Mongol empireWhy were the Mongols so successful?

Technology—stirrup, it gave a firmer ride on the horse and they were able to turn around.

Mongol empireWhy were the Mongols so successful?

Technique—False retreat and ambush.

Hunting allowed them to practice their skills

Mongol EmpireYuan Dynasty

History.culture-china.com

Personal.psu.edu

History.culture-china.com

Hightech-edge.com

Ghengis Khan

Ogedai Khan

Batu Khan

Hulagu KhanKublai Khan

Mongol empireChinghis (Ghengis) Khan (1155-1227)—

Temujin

--United the Mongols tribes through oaths and alliances

--Created unity among tribes based upon common allegiance

--built a strong army and in turn alliances with neighboring tribes in Central Asia.

Converts to Islam

Yuan DynastyArtsmia.org

Yuan DynastyGovernment—Used the Chinese bureaucratic system of government. Employed non-Chinese, foreigners. Marco Polo (1275-1292) served as worker.

Achievements—Rebuilt the Grand Canal and roads issued paper money and started a postal system

Tolerance and trade—Pax Mongolia policy of good will and tolerance toward different cultures

Decline—1350s Mongols loose control of the Yangtze river Valley. 1368 Mongols are forced back into the steppe.

Yuan DynastyBhoffert.faculty.noctrl.edu

Yuan Dynasty

Metmuseum.org

Yuan Dynasty ArtAlthough it was in use in China before the advent of the Mongols, the paiza, an

inscribed metal plaque that functioned as a passport or a patent of office, became

a symbol of Mongol administration used to regulate and secure communication in

the vast empire. Most paizi were circular or rectangular and were worn either

fastened on an item of clothing or suspended from the neck to make them visible

to customs officers. These metal plaques are not only important historical

documents but are also of great interest for the study of Asian metalwork during

the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, a time of massive movements of people

and rapid exchange of ideas and technology.

Two kinds of Mongol plaques were issued–to officials as patents of office, and as

passports for persons on state missions and for important guests. (Marco Polo on

his return journey to Venice would have carried one.) The paiza illustrated here is

a passport, made of iron with inlay of thick silver bands forming characters in the

Phagspa script, devised for the Mongol language in 1269 by the Tibetan monk

'Phagspa (1235—1280), a close advisor to Kublai Khan (r. 1260–95). The

inscription reads in translation (by Morris Rossabi):

By the strength of Eternal Heaven,

an edict of the Emperor [Khan].

He who has no respect shall be guilty.

Above it is a lobed handle, with an animal mask in silver inlay. The mask is

probably the kirttimukha (lion mask) taken from Tibetan art but ultimately of Indian

origin; the lobed shape reflects Islamic influence. Silver inlay on iron (as opposed

to bronze) is extremely rare in China before the Mongol period.

This plaque is one of about a dozen Mongol paizi known. Two others of the same

type are in Lanzhou, China, and in Russia. (The latter example was found during

the nineteenth century in Tomskaya.)http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1993.256

Yuan Dynasty Art

Cosmological Mandala with Mount Meru,

Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)

China

Silk tapestry (kesi) 33 x 33 in. (83.8 x 83.8 cm)

This mandala is in the form of the Tibetan

cosmological diagram. In the center is

Mount Meru, the axis of the cosmos,

surrounded by oceans and mountains of the

four quarters. The work is typical of the

Mongol Yuan period in China: technically

superb, while stylistically and

iconographically eclectic—Indian, Tibetan,

and Chinese elements are all present.http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1989.140

Mongol Empire

The Mongols—Crash Course World History #17http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szxPar0BcMo