Tang and Song Dynasties (Ch. 12 Sec. 1)

The Tang and Song Dynasties By: Carmen Carselle

The Tang and Song Dynasties were the two Golden Ages of China. Much advancement occurred during the time period of these two dynasties. Both the Tang and Song dynasties restored unity to China.

The Tang Dynasty had many great achievements such as the establishment of land reform. Land reform increased government revenues since the peasants who farmed their own land would be able to pay taxes because of the land reform policy. It also strengthened central government by weakening the power of large landowners.

The Song dynasty lasted longer than the Tang dynasty. However, the women of the Song dynasty were much more subordinate to their male counterparts than the women of the Tang dynasty. A new custom formed during the Song dynasty called foot binding. A women would break her feet in order to make them into "Golden Lotuses" or 3-inch feet. Golden Lotus feet were very appealing to the men of the Song dynasty. However, the bound feet were extremely painful and did not allow women to walk without help. This helped to enforce the belief that women belonged at home, running family affair and further subjugated the women of the Song dynasty.

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Both the Tang and Song dynasties had marvelous works of writing. Scholars produced works on philosophy, religion, and history. Short stories that blended fantasy, romance, and adventure made their first appearance through Chinese literature. The greatest Tang poet was name Li Bo. He wrote around 2,000 poems celebrating harmony with nature or lamenting the passage of time. Legend says that he died when he drowned trying to embrace the reflection of the moon in a lake. Another, more realistic and less romantic, poet name Du Fu created poems about the horrors of war or condemned the lavishness of the court. Poetry was a respected work of Chinese literature among the gentry. Confucian scholars were expected to master poetry.

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