Politicalpostclassical+China

//By: Nick Cohen//
 * Postclassical China: Political**


 * Sui Dynasty:**
 * Emperor Yangdi was the first emperor (he reunified China in 589 BCE)
 * Had an extensive legal code
 * Revived scholar-gentry
 * Tang Dynasty:**
 * Li-Yuan was first emperor
 * Continued the revival of the scholar-gentry
 * Brought back Confucian ideology
 * Created Bureau of Censors to keep powerful people in check
 * Many different executive offices (War, Justice, etc)
 * Very large bureaucracy with many aristocrats in it
 * Improved education system
 * More tests and scholars than in the Han dynasty
 * Test was easier to pass than in years before
 * Ministry of Rites issued the exam system
 * Aristocrats could still buy/influence their way into power
 * Scholar-gentry became main administrators
 * Decline of Tang: Political**
 * Ruling family lost interest in ruling of China
 * Emperor’s concubine, Yan Guifey, took control and overthrew the government
 * Song Dynasty:**
 * Zhao Kuangyin (later renamed Emperor Taizu) was first emperor of Song Dynasty
 * Collected books, not booty
 * Never could match Tang Dynasty politically
 * Excess of well paid scholar-gentry in the bureaucracy
 * Neo-Confucianism stops government from being open to foreign policies
 * Song Dynasty is moved to the South of China because of invaders from the North
 * Southern Song Dynasty weakens politically
 * Never regained the power and success they had in the North, which still was no match compared to the Tang Dynasty
 * Medieval Japan:**
 * Very similar to Feudalist Europe


 * Japan-Feudalism || Western Europe Feudalism ||
 * Shogun || King ||
 * Daimyo || Noble, vassal ||
 * Samurai || Knight ||
 * Bushido || Chivalry ||
 * Serfs || Serfs ||
 * Shintoism || Christianity ||