Brigid347

Intellect in Post-Classical China

The Tang Dynasty · With the emergence of the Tang dynasty, the existence of a proper ruling class was desired · The Examination system was put into use as the number of educated scholar-gentry rose (370) · This was used to prevent those ineligible to rule from attaining some amount of power (370) · Only those who passed the exam could gain the highest of offices (370) · Those who passed gained the title of jinshi (370-371) · Passing the exam allowed men of status to wear certain types of clothing and they were freed from corporal punishment (371) · Buddhism left its mark on the late Tang era (373)

The Song Dynasty · Scholars tried to recover texts and decipher ancient inscriptions (376) · New lessons became devoted to the study of classical texts (376) · Scholars sought to prove the Confucian dominance over Buddhism (376) · Neo-Confucians tried to revive the ancient Confucian texts (376) · The scholar-gentry was responsible for a lot of the artistic and literary activity of both the Song and the Tang era (384) · Confucian thinkers valued writing and painting- with educated people well associated in these arts (384) · Literature was focused on lives of common people (385)