Socialpostclassical+China

Let’s rebuild China shall we?
 * By Jonte Claiborne **
 * Socialness of Post-classical China **
 * __ Sui Dynasty __**
 * Sui Dynasty proceeded Han Dynasty and rose in the early 580s Yang Jian (nobleman) made an alliance for his daughter to marry the ruler of a northern Zhou empire
 * o He then took the throne from his son-in-law and proclaimed himself emperor… dangggg
 * o He renamed himself Wendi
 * What did Wendi do?
 * o He extended his rule across north China
 * o Conquered the weak and divided Chen kingdom
 * o Reunited the traditional core areas of Chinese civilization
 * o Lowered taxes
 * o Established granaries throughout his domains
 * o Large landholder and poor peasants were both taxed a portion of their crops in order to keep the granaries in business
 * Yangdi emperor
 * o Murdered his own father to get to the throne (father was Wendi... haha)
 * o Yangdi extended conquests and fought off nomadic intruders
 * o Established a milder legal code and devoted resources to upgrading **Confucian education**
 * § Legal and educational reforms were part of a broader policy of promoting the scholar-gentry but advancement often worked to the detriment of the great aristocratic families and nomadic military commanders
 * o Overly fond of luxury and forced his peasants to build grand palaces and canals
 * o Lead his tired and super angry subjects into unsuccessful wars to re-capture Korea and bring it under China’s rule again 611-614
 * o 615 revolts set in motion because of the empires suffering at the hands of Turkish nomads
 * o FALL OF EMPIRE!


 * __ Tang and Song Eras __**

=** GEEEEE guys it was really great teaching you! This is the end so, I love you! **=
 * ** Family and Society in the Tang and Song Eras **
 * o Status of women showed signs of improving- then deteriorated steadily in the late Song
 * o Extended family houses were preferred but only upper class could afford them
 * o Women remained clear subordinate to men- but for some women in the upper class in urban areas, the possibility for personal expression increased in the Tang and Song eras
 * o Tang and Song allowed consent if there was a mutual wish for divorce
 * o They prohibited a husband from setting aside his wife if her parents were dead or if he was poor when he married her, then became rich
 * The Neo-Confucian Assertion of Male Dominance
 * o Assertion of male dominance! * that’s what the philosophers supported and thought*
 * o Stressed the women’s role as a homemaker and mother (especially bearing sons… what the heck)
 * o They stressed confining women and emphasized the importance of the virginity of young brides, fidelity of wife’s and chastity of widows and were frowned upon if they re-marry after your husband dies
 * o Men were supposed to take concubines if they could afford them
 * o Men were permitted to have premarital sex
 * o They were allowed to re-marry when their wives die
 * o Men excluded women from education that would allow them to enter civil service and rise to political power
 * o They confined women to the house by means of FOOTBINDING