Prosperity in Song China (960-1279) | World History | Khan Academy
Aug 10, 2023
Prosperity in Song China (960-1279) | World History | Khan Academy
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Content
0.399 -> in other videos when we talked about the
2.879 -> various chinese empires we talk about
5.68 -> the seong dynasty in particular as a
8 -> time of significant technological
10.96 -> innovation
12.16 -> and here are just some of the examples
13.759 -> that we talk about most notably gun
15.92 -> powder movable block print you have
19.119 -> block printing emerge during the tang
21.039 -> dynasty but during
22.48 -> during the song dynasty it gets
24.24 -> perfected and you and it becomes more
26.24 -> efficient with movable block print you
28.56 -> have the compass being perfected
31.039 -> especially for naval use the boats being
34.16 -> perfected you see this reinvigoration
36.8 -> really the high point of the chinese
38.559 -> civil service you see the emergence of
40.32 -> neo-confucianism
42.079 -> but one question is well what allowed
44.48 -> all of this innovation to take place and
46.96 -> also what allowed for the stability of
49.36 -> the song dynasty when you look at it on
51.68 -> the timeline like this that's covering
54.399 -> over 2000 years it might not look that
57.039 -> long but when you actually think about
58.32 -> it this is over 300 years of dynastic
62.32 -> rule by one dynasty now it is split in
65.28 -> the middle between the northern song and
67.04 -> the southern song that happens in
69.64 -> 1127 and we'll talk about that in a
71.76 -> little bit but for the most part it is a
74.24 -> very prosperous time for china the
77.68 -> population actually grows from roughly
81.759 -> 50 million people during the tang
84.08 -> dynasty to it is estimated 100 million
87.84 -> people by the northern song dynasty and
91.92 -> eventually keeps growing by the so that
94.159 -> by the time we get to the ming dynasty
96.4 -> we have a population of about 200
98.799 -> million people so what are the things
100.96 -> that allows for that population
103.28 -> explosion really well what one thing you
106.159 -> can imagine is food is very important
109.2 -> and it's during this time period that
112.32 -> the song dynasty is able to leverage a
114.56 -> more robust rice seed from southeast
118.24 -> asia that allows it to feed many many
121.119 -> more people and so this obviously allows
123.52 -> the population growth but any time
125.439 -> you're able to feed people and there's
127.119 -> more prosperity you're going to have a
129.679 -> more stable empire
132 -> now another major input into prosperity
134.72 -> and the stability of empires is the
137.04 -> notion of trade
139.599 -> and china had always many river systems
142.72 -> which helped facilitate agriculture and
145.04 -> trade but as you get into the sway
148.08 -> dynasty right over here
150.959 -> you have the completion of the grand
153.76 -> canal which is even today the largest
157.44 -> man-made
159.04 -> canal it stretches from beijing to
161.84 -> hangzhou and actually goes beyond that
164.16 -> and has other tributaries and that
166.08 -> connected with the existing river
167.519 -> systems allowed for a lot of trade to
170.16 -> happen especially as we get into the
172 -> tang and the song dynasties now the song
175.2 -> dynasty in particular you have the pound
178.64 -> lock being invented which allows for
180.959 -> easier travel across waterways when you
183.599 -> have a change in the level of water and
185.599 -> the pound lock is still the standard
187.599 -> technology used in canals throughout the
191.04 -> world
192.239 -> you also have the first use
195.36 -> of paper money this is a big deal we use
198.879 -> paper money today our ability to have
201.12 -> transactions in our society are not
202.879 -> dependent on our ability to mine for
205.519 -> gold or silver or copper and one of the
207.84 -> things that allowed for paper money to
209.68 -> even be used was this notion of block
213.28 -> printing and block printing with movable
216.08 -> type in particular once again a song
219.44 -> dynasty innovation now as i mentioned as
222.879 -> we get into 11 27 you have conquerors
227.2 -> from the north in particular the jinn
229.92 -> who are able to conquer northern china
232.799 -> they caused the song to move their
234.64 -> capital from kaifeng in the north to
238.56 -> hangzhou in the south here you see
240.799 -> hungzhou is the major southern terminal
243.28 -> of the grand canal and even though the
246.799 -> northern song had to move and
249.2 -> essentially become the southern song
251.36 -> dynasty you continue to have that
253.12 -> prosperity for roughly another 150 years
256.4 -> and once again this comes from this
258.4 -> meritocracy from the civil service
260.239 -> system this abundance of food the
262.88 -> stability from having the dynastic rule
264.96 -> the trade the money all of these
267.52 -> technological advances which make the
269.919 -> song dynasty one of the notable periods
272.56 -> of chinese history
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBjLSRfqoAg
