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After the Han dynasty ended in 220 C.E., what happened to China's government?
For 300 years China had no central government, there were many seperate kingdoms ruled over by warlords.
Who declared himself emperor and set up the Sui dynasty?
Wendi
Who was Yangdi?
Yangdi was Wendi's son and took over when he died
Who took over as emperor after Yangdi?
One of Yangdi's generals and cousins
What did the emperor after Yangdi do?
He founded the Tang Dynasty, which lasted nearly 300 years
Who was the only woman in Chinese history to rule China?
Wei Zetian
Why was Buddhism popular in China and what was it like?
It's teachings meant people could escape suffering, many Chinese Buddhist set up monasteries, monks and nuns helped their Buddhist communities
What happened to Buddhism later in the Tang Dynasty?
Leaders saw Buddhism as a threat to Confucian traditions and teachings so they destroyed monasteries and temples.
What was Confucianism's impact on China?
Tang and Song rulers wanted to revive Confucius thinking and traditions because of the Mandate of Heaven which said Chinese rulers got their right to rule from the gods, Confucian thinking brought order to China.
What is Neo-Confucianism?
A new understanding of Confucianism, which taught that people should be concerned about the world and the afterlife, blended Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism, focused of morality and wisdom/education.
They used civil service exams to select officials.
What were the civil service exams like?
They were based on Confucian teachings, open to all men, biased towards rich familys because they could afford higher education
What were the government workers called and what did they do?
Scholar-officials, had a lot of influence in China and were forbidden to do manual labor
What was Wei Zetian like as a ruler and what did she do?
Helped farmers, gave women more rights, strict but effective
What did Yangdi do during his reign?
He forced peasants to work on projects (rebuilding Great Wall, roads, Grand Canal, palaces) he expanded land in China but was defeated when China tried to take over Korea (about 3000 out of 300,000 survived).
What did Taizong do?
He brought back civil service exams, selected gov officials based on exams not family, gave land to farmers, treader soldiers well
During the Tang Dynasty, what were visitors to China especially impressed with?
Changan, the capital of China
Tang rulers restored what?
A strong central government
Who did the founder of the Tang Dynasty have the support of?
He had the support of peasants and soldiers because Yangdi treated them well.
Who was Taizong?
The most powerful Tang emperor
Which emperor came up with the equal field system?
Taizong
What did the Tang rulers do to restore China's power?
They expanded their rule west to Tibet, took control of the Silk Road and northern Vietnam, increased trade in Asia, and forced neighboring states to pay tribute (Korea)
How did the Tang Dynasty fall?
The Tangs lost some battles and had to give up the Silk Road and faced revolts from farmers
Who did Tang rulers hire to fight for them during the farmer revolts?
What did Yangdi try to conquer?
Korea