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| - The Song Dynasty (; Wade-Giles: Sung Ch'ao) was a ruling dynasty in China between 960–1279 CE; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese polity to establish a permanent standing navy.
- After the fall of Tang dynasty in 907 CE, China was briefly disunited for about 53 years. During this disunited time, five dynasties ruled the north while ten kingdoms ruled the south. A general under one of the five dynasties, Zhao Kuangyin, usurped the throne and quickly reunited China. Under the Song dynasty, the first paper currency and methods of rich farming were introduced. The Song improved a series of waterways and created a fairer system for awarding officials so that revolts were less likely in their bureacracy system. In 1068, the emperor, Shenzong, ordered his minister, Wang Anshi, with implementing radical reforms. He hoped to gain a monopoly on tea and to gain more money by charging higher taxes on the rich families. This unpopular act caused Wang Anshi to be dismissed from
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| abstract
| - The Song Dynasty (; Wade-Giles: Sung Ch'ao) was a ruling dynasty in China between 960–1279 CE; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese polity to establish a permanent standing navy. The population of China doubled in size during the 10th and 11th centuries. This growth came through expanded rice cultivation in central and southern China, the use of early-ripening rice from southeast and southern Asia, and the production of abundant food surpluses. Within its borders, the Northern Song Dynasty had a population of some 100 million people. This dramatic increase of population fomented and fueled an economic revolution in premodern China. The expansion of the population was partially the cause for the gradual withdrawal of the central government from heavily regulating the market economy. A much larger populace also increased the importance of the lower gentry's role in grassroots administration and maintaining local affairs, while the appointed officials in county and provincial centers relied upon these scholarly gentry for their services, sponsorship, and local supervision. The Song Dynasty is divided into two distinct periods: the Northern Song and Southern Song. During the Northern Song (, 960–1127), the Song capital was in the northern city of Bianjing (now Kaifeng) and the dynasty controlled most of inner China. The Southern Song (, 1127–1279) refers to the period after the Song lost control of northern China to the Jin Dynasty. During this time, the Song court retreated south of the Yangtze River and established their capital at Lin'an (now Hangzhou). Although the Song had lost control of the traditional birthplace of Chinese civilization along the Yellow River, the Song economy was not in ruins, as the Southern Song contained 60 percent of China's population and a majority of the most productive agricultural land. The Southern Song Dynasty considerably bolstered naval strength to defend its waters and land borders and to conduct maritime missions abroad. To repel the Jin (and then the Mongols), the Song developed revolutionary new military technology augmented by the use of gunpowder. In 1234, the Jin Dynasty was conquered by the Mongols, who subsequently took control of northern China and maintained uneasy relations with the Southern Song. Möngke Khan, the fourth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, died in 1259 while besieging a city in Chongqing. His successor Kublai Khan was perceived both as the new Great Khan of the Mongols and by 1271 as the Emperor of China. After two decades of sporadic warfare, Kublai Khan's armies conquered the Song Dynasty in 1279. China was once again unified, under the Yuan Dynasty, which was a division of the vast Mongol Empire. Social life during the Song was vibrant; social elites gathered to view and trade precious artworks, the populace intermingled at public festivals and private clubs and cities had lively entertainment quarters. The spread of literature and knowledge was enhanced by the earlier innovation of woodblock printing and the 11th century innovation of movable type printing. There were numerous intellectual pursuits, while pre-modern technology, science, philosophy, mathematics, and engineering flourished in the Song. Philosophers such as Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi reinvigorated Confucianism with new commentary, infused with Buddhist ideals, and emphasized a new organization of classic texts that brought out the core doctrine of Neo-Confucianism. Although the institution of the civil service examinations had existed since the Sui Dynasty, it became much more prominent in the Song period, and was a leading factor in the shift of an aristocratic elite to a bureaucratic elite. Although exam-drafted scholar-officials scorned any emphasis or favor shown to the growing merchant class and those of petty commercial vocations, commercialism was nonetheless heavily embedded into Song culture and society. Key industries were controlled by the government under strict monopolies, while private industry and businesses produced goods and services not officially monopolized by the state. The Song court received tributary missions from foreign countries while scholar-officials, tenant landlords, merchants, and other wealthy individuals invested money in the booming overseas trade and shipbuilding industry. Independent, state-sponsored, and state-employed architects, engineers, carpenters, and craftsmen erected thousands of bridges, pagoda towers, temple halls, palace halls, ancestral shrines, shops and storefronts, and other buildings throughout the empire.
- After the fall of Tang dynasty in 907 CE, China was briefly disunited for about 53 years. During this disunited time, five dynasties ruled the north while ten kingdoms ruled the south. A general under one of the five dynasties, Zhao Kuangyin, usurped the throne and quickly reunited China. Under the Song dynasty, the first paper currency and methods of rich farming were introduced. The Song improved a series of waterways and created a fairer system for awarding officials so that revolts were less likely in their bureacracy system. In 1068, the emperor, Shenzong, ordered his minister, Wang Anshi, with implementing radical reforms. He hoped to gain a monopoly on tea and to gain more money by charging higher taxes on the rich families. This unpopular act caused Wang Anshi to be dismissed from his position, weakening the dynasty. In 1125, the Jurchen, a nomadic group to the north, invaded northern China and even took the city of Chang'an and the capital of Kaifeng for themselves. Eventually, in 1234, the Jin dynasty of the north (the Jurchen) were overthrown by the Mongols and the Song dynasty finally fell in 1279 to the brutal conquerors.
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