Tang-Song+Military+Methods

=__ Tang & Song Dynasty Military Methods __=

=__Final Copy__= Our group researched the T’ang and Song Dynasty military methods and culture. Examples would be the way the types of soldiers, how the soldiers were treated, and other information of the T’ang culture.  The T’ang Empire is now considered one of the great Golden Ages of China. There are many great aspects of the Chinese culture of this time. The T’ang Dynasty started under Li Yuan and his son, Tang Taizhong. After many military failures in Korea, Yuan lead his troops onto the Chinese government at this time and upon conquering it, set up the T’ang dynasty. In the T’ang Dynasty, China flourished. There was a main idea of man equal and therefore their land should be equal; and that meaned taxes weren’t made on how much land someone had. This way leads to people able to pay taxes to the government and still have enough to support themselves. Instead of tax on amount of land a family had (plots of land were families for life) Chinese peasants were taxed by how many people are in a family. This lead to an accurate census of the growing Chinese population. In addition in the flourish of the T’ang dynasty, the Chinese government had an Administrative System. This Administrative System was made up of four parts: the Department of State Affairs, the Imperial Chancellory, the Imperial Grand Secretariat, and the Council of State. In the Council of State, there was a judicial court system that used the T’ang Code. The T’ang Code is the first complete code used today. It was said that, “It consists of a continuous scale of penalties that are applied based on both the crime and the degree of relation between the criminal and the offended person. The degree was based on the amount of time that would be spent in mourning if the person died" http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/classical_imperial_china/tang.html The code had in all over five-hundred articles, or rules, divided into twelve sections.   Also in the middle of the T’ang Dynasty, there was an interruption of it when the only Empress, Wu Zhao, took over the government. Though she was part of the T’ang Empire, she called her rule a different dynasty. When she finally died, she left China in a troubled time, as she had over-taxed the peasants, whereas those she favored rolled in wealth and expanded their land. However, the T’ang family quickly gained control and re-established trade on the Silk Road. On the Silk Road, they held monopolies on salt, tea, and alcohol, along with silk. Silk, however, wasn’t the most profitable monopoly. The most profitable monopoly was salt. When the T’angs re-established power, they also brought back many of the ruling manners that died with Wu Zhao’s inherit of power. Some of these ruling manners were the restoration of taxes equivalent to the number of people in a family, reliable census, strong military (military wasn’t ready to take over and be a government, so it quickly died out), and poetry. New poetry was written, and old poetry was being perfected. Poems started to be sung, and this led to the founding of opera, a form of theatre that is all sung. While researching the Tang Dynasty, we found out some very interesting and important details on how it was founded. The Tang Dynasty started on June 18, 618. The center of the Tang empire was the city of Chang'an. This was probably because Chang'an was the most populated city in the world. The Li family founded the Tang Dynasy by taking power during the collapse of the Sui Empire. In 617, Li Yuan occupied the city of Chang'an. In Chang'an, Li Yuan ruled over a puppet child emperor. While in ruling the puppet child emperor, Li Yuan sent his general,Yuwen Huaji to kill Emperor Yang. After Emperor Yang was killed, Li Yuan appionted himself to be the emperor of a new dynasty or the Tang Dynasty. Li Yuan was the first emperor of the Tang Dynasty and ruled from 618 to 626. In 626 his son Li Shimin forcefully took over the throne and therefore was the second ruler of the Tang Dynasty. Li Shimin had successfully commanded troops since he was eighteen years old. This was a very good quality for an emperor to have. In 621, Li Shimin had killed his two brothers because he was affraid of being killed and not having the throne. Even though he killed his two brothers and forcefully took the throne from his father went against his beliefs, he proved he could still be a great leader. This is how the Tang Dynasty was founded. In the T’ang dynasty, military was important; because it led to China expanding its borders. Soldiers were both aristocrats and peasants. The aristocrats were the cavalry members simply because they were the ones with enough money to buy and maintain horses. The peasants were therefore used as infantry, foot soldiers, and to defend forts at the borders of China. This strategy worked extremely well, as we can see. This is proven as the T’ang Empire expanded their lands from China to Iran to Manchuria to the Korean Peninsula.


During the this time period, Tang dominance in politics, economy, foreign relations, and military strength made them perhaps the greatest civilization of their time. The powerful military strength was based on their prosperous economy, and advanced science and technology. China also saw government reforms in their time, intended to strengthen their government by centralizing, with large civil service, and a large territory expansion. The Song Dynasty is related to the Tang through economic growth, art, and intellectual achievement. In this dynasty, the chinese

=__Subtopic__ __Ideas__ = =__Notes__- __Work in__ __progress__ = __***Military Power***- Charlie:-) __**-Song-**__ __Soldier's life- Carly__ > chinese character for "soldier"
 * powerful military strength was based on the prosperous social economy and advanced science and technology.
 * the soilders life
 * founding of tang dynasty + Tang Dynasty culture
 * type of military- i.e. calvary, infantry, artillery etc.
 * -Tang-**__
 * Tang dominance in politics, economics, foreign relations, and military power perhaps made them the greatest civilization of their time.
 * In the Tang dynasty, China saw governmental reforms, intended to strengthen the internal government by centralizing, with a large civil service, and large territory expansion.
 * This dynasties’ decline is believed to have begun as a result of a series of rebellions and military defeats around the eighth century CE.
 * The powerful military strength was based on the prosperous social economy and advanced science and technology
 * The Song Dynasty ranks along with the Tang in the aspects of economic growth, artistic and intellectual achievement.
 * During this dynasty the Chinese enhanced gunpowder, the cannon, and flamethrowers.
 * The southern kingdoms, while economically and culturally advanced, did not have strong militaries and were relatively easy to defeat.
 * In order to maintain peace with the Khitans, the Song were forced to pay them annual tributes.
 * These annual tributes were more cost effective than maintaining a military that could hold the Khitans back.
 * The Song used gunpowder as a weapon in siege warfare, foreign trade expanded greatly, and the Chinese had the best ships in the world.
 * Their ships contained as many as four decks, six masts, and a dozen sails.
 * The ships were guided by a stern post rudder.
 * Navigation was done through the use of charts and compasses.
 * These ships could carry 500 men.
 * The Tang Dynasty (618 - 907) had superb military power starting from the reunification of the whole nation at the end of the Sui Dynasty (581 - 618).
 * However, in the late Tang Dynasty, the Fubing Military System (in which soldiers did not belong to a fixed commander and supported themselves by farming) was changed into the Mubing System (in which soldiers were recruited by a particular commander and followed him)
 * The latter system made it possible for generals safeguarding the frontiers to easily form strong military forces against the court.
 * Eventually, under pressure from domestic separatist forces and invasion by outer ethnic minorities, the Tang military force gradually withered and died.

http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?srch=105&FORM=IE7RE&q=ancient+chinese+social+soldier

 **__T'ang Dynasty Culture__ -** Cameron Chinavoc notes > Buddhism flourish throught trading centers like Chang'an, Louyang, and Guangzhou (aka Canton) <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">msnu.edu notes <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;"> <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">  <span style="color: #0020ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">**__Founding of the Tang Dynasty__- Brenna** __**
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Military failures in Korea
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Li Yuan (aka Gouza) turned military back to China's capital and conquered it, setting up the Tang Dynasty
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Was Li's son, Tang Taizong who is credited with founding of Tang Dynasty
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Under Taizong, re-established control of Silk Road
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">T'ang dynasty closely related to Sui Dynasty
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Sui made canals that connected all of T'ang empire
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;"> Expanded administrative system
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Department of State Affairs
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Imperial Chancellory
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Imperial Grand Secretariat
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Council of State
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Also had a judicial system
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Compiled T'ang Code- code followed by judicial -people
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">First complete Chinese code used today "It consists of a continuous scale of penalties that are applied based on both the crime and the degree of relation between the criminal and the offended person. The degree was based on the amount of time that would be spent in mourning if the person died" (http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/classical_imperial_china/tang.html)
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Code had 500+ articles divided into 12 sections
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Land distribustion important to economy wealth and growth
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Life plots of land to peasant families
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">supposed to mean equal land wealth of all families
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">allowed people to have enough land to support themselves and pay taxes to the government
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Land plots equal mean taxes come from not amount of land, but number of people in a family
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Taxes by amount of people in family = accurate census system
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">archaeologists found easier in the north (wheat) than mass people in the south (rice)
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Armies are made of both aristocrats and peasents
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Aristocrats were used for fighting Nomads in the north
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Aristocrats were calvary men- only ones who had $ for horses
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Peasents were used as infantry men in forts to the south
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Army grew stronger and conquered most of Asia, spanning from China to Iran to Manchuria to the Korean Penninsula.
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">From these Conquerings, T'ang became the most powerful group in Asia
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Only female empress- Wu Zhao (called Wu Chao)
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Got power from support in Buddhist churches (BuddhistTemples)
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Peasents had it rough- heavy taxes
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Whereas those favored by empress experienced wealth and expanded thier land
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">After Wu Chao died, reverted back to regular T'ang dynasty
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Golden Age started in 710-755 AD
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Restoration of equal taxes to # of people in family
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Reliable census
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Strong army
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Poetry
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">New poetry was influenced
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">old poetry perfected
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Poetry started being sung, which led to the foundation of opera
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Monopolies on trade of tea, salt, and alcohol
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">Salt monopoly brought highest income of trade
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">** Power of military lead to longing for more power **
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">** Internal rebellions led to final destruction of the T'ang- peasents **
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">** No $ coming in from taxes, yet military stayed up and running **
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">** Governors fund own armies **
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">** Trade with other countries diminshed **
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">** Peasent army conquered E China **
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">** Wang Hsien-chi and Huang Ch'ao lead peasent uprising **
 * <span style="color: #147209; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="display: block; color: #54b337; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">** Wang beheaded, but Ch'ao founded new dynasty called Ch'i dynasty **
 * <span style="color: #0020ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">Li Yuan of Tang China started the Tang Dynasty
 * <span style="color: #0020ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">The Capital of the Tang Dynasty= Chang'an
 * <span style="color: #0020ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">Li Yuan and his son Li Shimin rose in rebellion
 * <span style="color: #0020ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">In 617, Li Yuan acted as a puppet child emperor of the Sui
 * <span style="color: #0020ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">Later, emperor Yang is murdered by Li Yuans general, Yuwen Huaji
 * <span style="color: #0020ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">Li Yuan is declaired emperor on June 18, 618(This is when the Tang Dynasty started).
 * <span style="color: #0020ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">Li Yuan is the first emperor of this dynasty from 618 to 626
 * __<span style="color: #0020ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">Tang Dynasty Culture- Brenna
 * <span style="color: #0020ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">They contributed a lot to the development of astronomy, medicine and printing techniques.
 * <span style="color: #0020ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">Monk Yixing, was the first to successfully measure the length of the meridian line.
 * <span style="color: #0020ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">Sun Simiao, wrote a medical book //Qianjin Fang//
 * <span style="color: #0020ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">In 868, the Chinese translation of the //Diamond Sutra// was printed(Its one of the earliest translations known.)
 * <span style="color: #0020ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">THE MOST IMPORTANT CULTURAL ACHIEVEMENT WAS **TANG POETRY!**
 * <span style="color: #0020ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">Themes of the poems were various, ranging from life at the frontiers, life in the peaceful fields, historic affairs and imaginative fancies.
 * <span style="color: #0020ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">The literary level of Tang Poems reached a peak that had never been surpassed in the history of Chinese literature.
 * <span style="color: #0020ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">Due to the prosperous cultural development in the Tang Dynasty, cultural exchange between China and many foreign countries was frequent.

=__Messages__*= -Charlie- I started my paragraph but didnt finish... i will fifnish at home--- Cameron- Carly and Charlie- can't tell what you have done so please color code what you have done in a color that isn't blue or green and change it. Makes it easier to expand and add to your ideas. Brenna-
 * I researched why military was powerful
 * i found another websight on the military power, but i found interesting facts on the soldiers life.
 * __I WILL WRITE THE INTRODUCTION AND THE PARAGRAPH ABOUT THE T'ANG CULTURE. WHY DON'T YOU GUYS WRITE A PARAGRAPH ABOUT WHAT YOU RESEARCHED. IF YOU WANT PICK A LITTLE BIT FROM EACH OTHERS NOTES. I DIDN'T INCLUDE THE BITS I FOUND OUT ABOUT THE ARMY, SOMEONE ELSE INCLUDE THEM, THEY ARE IMPORTANT!__**
 * 1) Started learning about the T'ang Culture
 * 2) Background info like court systems
 * 3) Calvary = aritocrats (gentry)
 * 4) Infantry is the peasents
 * 5) Zhoa interuption of T'ang dynasty and then reverting to the T'ang dynasty- lead to Golden Age
 * 6) My stuff is in dark green
 * I researched the culture and the founding of the Tang Dynasty.
 * All my notes are in blue.
 * My final paragraph is done. Feel free to edit some more.

=__Source= http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/classical_imperial_china/song.html =http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/history/tang/military.htm__= = = =http://chineseculture.about.com/library/symbol/blcc_soldier.htm= =http://www.chinavoc.com/history/tang.htm= =http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/classical_imperial_china/tang.html= =http://www.timelineindex.com/content/view/1689= =http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/history/tang/military.htm= http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/history/tang/culture-religion.htm