Sui, T'ang, and Sung, China

TERMS:
Sui Dynasty
Sui Wen-ti
Grand Canal
T'ang Dynasty
T'ang Taizong
Military Affairs
Censorate
Council of State
Secretariat
Chancellery
State Affairs
Six Ministries
examination system
"equal-field system"
Wu Chao
Li Po
tributary
Northern Sung
Southern Sung
meritocracy
Maitreya
Ch'an
Amitabha Buddha
Tu Fu
 
DATES:
589-618 CE Sui
618- 907 CE T'ang
960-1127 CE Northern Sung
1127-1279 CE Southern Sung
1279-1368 CE Yuan (Mongol)

TOPICS:
1. Sui dynasty very short-lived and harsh:  compare to the Ch'in.  Re-unifies China after the Period of Disunion after the fall of the Han.

2. T'ang dynasty considered the finest dynastic period of Chinese history:  politically, artistically, imperially.  Two T'ang innovations:  division of government into three organs of MilitaryAffairs, Censorate, and Council of State, which is itself divided into three organs:  Secretariat, Chancellery, and State Affairs, the last being divided into the Six Ministries.This division of power (above which always remained the emperor:  these offices were to "advise" the emperor, who still ran the gov't) made the T'ang very efficient.  Helping this new efficiency was the examination system, which gave the most important government jobs to men trained in Confucian scholarship and who had passed a series (3 in all) grueling exams.

3.  T'ang period also one of great artistic and religious / philosophical development:  Buddhism becomes very popular (the Empress Wu, the only woman to run China on her own, claimed to be a bodhisattva, or near-Buddha), and the T'ang poets and sculptors remain some of the most popular of Chinese history (such as the lovely porcelain pieces with a celadon glaze).

4. Sung period, although unstable and divides in 1127, continues the traditions of the T'ang, giving more jobs to the examination men (development of a meritocracy rather than an aristocracy).  More small farmers become independent (rather than serfs).