GOING SOUTH: The Song Dynasty

Another period of disunity followed the fall of the Tang until the North- ern Song dynasty (960-1127) was established. The Northern Song was a rather small empire coexisting with the non-Chinese Liao dynasty (which controlled a belt of Chinese territory south of the Great Wall) and rather less happily with the Xi Xian, another non-Chinese power that pressed hard on the northwestern provinces. In 1126 the Song lost its capital, Kaifeng, to a third non-Chinese people, the Jurchen, who had previously been their allies against the Liao. The Song was driven to its southern capital of Hangzhou for the period of the Southern Song (1127-1279).

The Jurchen, forebears of the Manchu, established the Jin dynasty with a capital near Beijing. A treaty was drawn up with the Southern Song that divided the empire along the boundary of Huai He. The Jin dynasty pulled rank over the Southern Song, demanding the payment of tribute in the form of silk, tea and silver.

Nevertheless, the Song dynasty, North and South, was a time of enor- mous economic and cultural vitality. Considerable advances were made in archaeology, mathematics, astronomy, geography and medicine. Phil- osophy, poetry, painting and calligraphy flourished. Agricultural produc- tivity was booming, brought on by the spread of rice cultivation since the 8th century, and this left a surplus of labour that was used to develop secondary industries, like mining, ceramics, and silk manufacture. The tea-bush and lacquer trees were cultivated, and gunpowder and move- able type were invented. Paper making and print technology experienced significant advances, and a busy trade with Southeast Asia and Japan sent Song copper currency far afield.

All of these developments nurtured urbanisation and commercial classes. Kaifeng emerged as the great centre of Northern Song politics, culture and commerce. Merchants flourished, while the aristoc- racy more or less disappeared. Many Tang restrictions on society were abolished as the urban population became more liberated; the removal of the curfew led to a thriving nightlife.

Hangzhou prospered as capital of the Southern Song, and to this day retains its reputation as one of the most beautiful and cultured cities in the empire.

An educated class of high social standing became a distinguishing feature of Chinese society as Confucianism achieved a dominance it was to retain until the 19th century. The Song refined and expanded the exam- ination system, selecting officials from the successful candidates.

The Wrath of Khan

While the Song literati were busy studying moral codes, Genghis Khan(1167-1227) was beginning to flex his muscles in Mongolia. The son of a chieftain, Genghis commenced his awesome rise to power by aven- ging his father's murder. By 1206 he was recognised as supreme ruler of the Mongols. The Mongols, despised for what was considered their ignorance and poverty, had occasionally gone to war with the Chinese but had always lost. In 1211 Genghis Khan turned his sights on China, penetrated the Great Wall two years later and took Beijing in 1215. He fought the Jin in the east, destroyed the Xi Xia in the west and advanced on Russia. Under his descendants, a great Mongol empire was formed, stretching from the Ukraine and Persia to Korea and the northern limits of Vietnam.The Jin fell in 1234. Hangzhou, the Southern Song capital, was taken in1276. The court tied and Southern Song resistance ended in 1279