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Period: 581 to 618
Sui Dynasty
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583
Wendi moved the capital to the newly built Chang’an named for a previous Han capital city to the northwest.
It became the largest city in the world for its
day as well as the largest in area of any walled Chinese city. Under the Tang
Dynasty it was the most cosmopolitan city. -
Period: 584 to 589
The Grand Canal was built from Chang’an eastward to the Tong Pass.
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Period: 586 to 587
Wendi repaired portions of the Great Wall
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589
China is reunified.
Wendi established the “Three Department” system with Six Ministries:
Personnel, Revenue, Rites, War, Justice, and Public Works. -
605
Yangdi began building the Grand Canal from Luoyang to Huai River, then to Jiangdu on the Yangtze River.
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607
Yangdi repaired and added portions to the Great Wall.
Over a million men
undertook the construction. Working at an exhausting pace, it was completed
in 20 days costing many lives.
Both Wendi and Yangdi extended control over portions of the Silk Road. -
Period: 608 to 609
The Grand Canal was built from the Yellow River to Beijing by many thousands of men and, for the first time, of women.
The canal was 40 paces
across and 2000 km long creating an interconnecting transportation system
which aided administrative tasks, defense movements, and movement of
agricultural and trade goods. It also established a link between northern and
southern China making the two territories economically interdependent. -
Period: 618 to 907
Tang Dynasty
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630
Taizong was the first Chinese emperor to control the northern steppe
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Period: 630 to 645
Xuanzong traveled across Central Asia and India collecting Buddhist texts to be translated into Chinese.
Gaozong brought Lady Wu out of retirement from a Buddhist nunnery. Through
ruthless scheming, she became Empress Wu. -
635
Taizong welcomed Nestorian Christians and allowed a church to be built.
-
660
Gaozong suffered a stroke.
Empress Wu was given informal power as regent. -
683
Gaozong died.
Empress Wu held power as regent through the reigns of
her two sons: Zhonzong and Ruizong. -
690
Empress Wu usurped power for herself and became the only female emperor in Chinese history.
-
705
Empress Wu was forced to abdicate at the age of eighty.
Chan Buddhism introduced and became popular, known as Zen Buddhism in
Japan -
Period: 712 to 745
Xuanzong ruled very ably
strengthened prestige of court by reducing
corruption, abolished the death penalty, pursued vigorous foreign policy,
established the Hanlin Academy for the arts which long survived his dynasty:
some of the greatest poets (Li Biao and Du Fu ) and greatest painters (Wang
Wei and Wu Tao-tzu) flourished during his reign, and invited teachers of newly
introduced Tantric school of Buddhism. -
745
Xuanzong fell in love with his son’s concubine, Yang Guifei, abandoning his responsibilities of ruler- ship
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Period: 755 to 763
An Lu-shan rebellion forcing Xuanzong to flee with Yang Guifei.
Palace troops strangle Yang Guifei as source of their troubles and Xuanzong
abdicated to his son. This story became the subject of poems, paintings, and
plays. -
Period: 841 to 845
Massive suppression of Buddhism and other foreign religions occurred
Many temples and monasteries were closed, their wealth
confiscated by the government, a quarter of a million monks and nuns returned
to secular life. This persecution cut China off from contact with Central Asia
and India where Buddhism then declined in favor of Islam and other religions.
Only Pure Land and Chan schools continued; the other schools did not
survive. -
Period: 875 to 884
Rebellion destroyed Tang Dynasty
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Period: 960 to 1279
The Song Dynasty
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1127
Northern Song dynasty was overrun by nomadic groups such as the Jurchen from Manchuria calling themselves the Jin dynasty.
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1210
Mongols under Genghis Khan begin to attack northern frontiers.
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1215
Mongols capture Beijing.
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1232
Southern Song allied with Mongols to destroy Jin.
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Period: 1235 to 1279
Song dynasty resisted Mongol invaders.
Explosive weapons are used for the first time, initially by the defending armies
of the Song and later adapted by the Mongols. -
1274
Kublai sent fleets against Japan.
The second attempt was
aborted by a typhoon’s destruction of the fleet which the Japanese regarded as
the godly intervention of the Kamikaze or divine wind.
Mongol rule throughout was maintained by military occupation. The Mongols
resisted assimilation into Chinese culture by retaining the Mongol language
and yearly summer visits to Mongolia. -
Period: 1275 to 1295
The Venetian merchant Marco Polo traveled throughout Kublai’s realm.
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Period: 1276 to 1368
The Yuan Dynasty
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1281
Kublai sent fleets against Japan.
The second attempt was
aborted by a typhoon’s destruction of the fleet which the Japanese regarded as
the godly intervention of the Kamikaze or divine wind.
Mongol rule throughout was maintained by military occupation. The Mongols
resisted assimilation into Chinese culture by retaining the Mongol language
and yearly summer visits to Mongolia. -
1292
Kublai sent a fleet to Java to rebuke the reluctant leader, asserted Mongol control.
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1315
The civil service examination was reinstated, but it required that half the degrees be awarded to Mongols and other non-Chinese regardless of their qualifications.
The Mongols rebuilt the Grand Canal and extended it to Beijing. -
1344
Taizu became a monk at the age of 16 and was sent from his monastery to beg, wandering throughout east-central China.
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1352
Taizu joined one of the rebel groups associated with the Red Turbans. Within this band, he rose quickly to command.
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1368
Taizu gained control of Beijing.
He neither captured or defeated the
Mongol emperor who fled to Mongolia. The Ming dynasty was never able to
defeat the Mongol; thus were unable to expand their empire into inner Asia. It could be described as ordinary, favoring the common man.
Taizu had policies that favored the poor over the rich: he confiscated great
estates, and then the state rented these lands to the landless. He abolished
slavery and heavily taxed the rich. -
Period: 1368 to
The Ming Dynasty
-
Period: 1405 to 1433
Under Yongle, seven expeditions were sent out under Admiral Zheng He to assert Chinese domination
This included collecting tribute. This
marked the only time China was the dominant maritime power. -
Period: to
Struggles between Donglin scholars and the eunuch dictator Wei Zhongxian.
-
Ming emperor commited suicide after rebels took Beijing
-
Period: to
The Qing Dynasty
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Chinese men required to wear Manchu hairstyle.
-
Qing army enter Lhasa; Tibet made a Qing protectorate.
-
Period: to
Opium War occurred ending with the Nanjing Treaty which gave Hong Kong to Great Britain.
-
Period: to
Taiping Rebellion
Peasant uprising in which a Christian
convert called himself the Son of Heaven, identified himself as the younger
brother of Christ, collected a huge following, and attempted to overthrow the
Qing Dynasty. -
Sino-French War occurred.
-
Sino-Japanese War occurred.
-
Guangxu emperor had attempted needed reforms which the Empress Dowager Cixi suppressed.
-
Boxer Rebellion occurred
-
Qing Dynasty was overthrown by revolutionaries.