Chinese Dynastic History Blog: Song Dynasty

(Sung Dynasty)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/China_11a.jpg

Song Dynasty and its peak of the powerful nation

The Song Dynasty (Chinese: 宋朝; pinyin: Sòng Cháo; Wade-Giles: Sung Ch'ao) was one of the dynasty in China during 960–1279 CE; it was followed by the Yuan Dynasty ( Song Dynasty was after the Tang Dynasty, 618-907). [1]


Reasons for take-over

The Song Dynasty was rise by the further increase of education which was carried on from the Tang dynasty. This also improved the literature and arts skills for the people. Accordingly to that, people were given their degrees on the amount (years) of education they have. As you can see, that this dynasty period of time there were many intelligent people who have created numerous new ideas which strengthening the government. Meanwhile, they put in newly educated people to higher position rather than military which made them rise much quicker. [2]

Leaders of the civilization

Northern Song:

Zhao Kuangyin (960–976) http://www.geocities.com/kfzhouy/Chron/zhaokuangyin.jpg

In 960, Zhao Kuangyin, a military general, used his army and force the king to abdicate and create a new dynasty called the “Song Dynasty”. He used military (soldier) to united China during the Song Dynasty and consequence with a strong government. He then made himself the Emperor [Emperor Taizu of Song (r. 960–976)]and made this (Northern) Song empire.[1]





Emperor Qinzong (1126–1127)

He is the last emperor of the Northern Song as the Song empire was invaded by the Jin Dynasty.[1]

Southern Song:

Zhao Gou (1127–1162) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/70/SongGaozong1.jpg

In 1127 Zhao Gou (son of the last emperor of the Northern Song, Zhao Ji) was lucky and escaped Jin’s army while most of them were captured. He then created the Southern Song Dynasty in Nanjing Yingtianfu, but they later on change their capital to Lin’an. [1]

Emperor Bing (1278–1279)

He was the last emperor of the Sourthern Song Dynasty of China. He died in the Battle of Yamen upon the fall of the Song Dynasty. [1]




A leader from another civilization outside of China, but during the same time period

At the time, not only China that has fighting such that to invade other provinces; numerous people are also killing each other to control more land. At the time there are no technology or fast transportations for people to travel very far in a short time so people tend to invade area around them to gain for land. At the time they need more land to expand their kingdom which sometimes force them to takeover other people’s living area. [6]

Meanwhile, in 1066 William the Conqueror invaded England. As a result, Normal controlled England which gave England more interactions with high class people and monarchs around Europe. In consequence, England became one of the most powerful monarchs in Europe which lead to a more modernize governmental system. English language had been changed from then and England become rival with France. [6]





The Battle of Hasting resulted in Norman control of England
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Bayeux_Tapestry_WillelmDux.jpg



Accomplishments


As mentioned, there are many accomplishments done during the Song Dynasty since the emperor promoted education, many people try to make new things. These are some of the famour accomplishments during the time:



Gunpowder warfare was introduced during the Song Dynasty. Gunpowder and bombs help the Song’s military until the dynasty fall in the late 13th century. The “Wuijing Zongyao manuscript of 1044” was a book written by the Song which first tells about how to make gunpowder and bombs. [1]






Catapult for lunching bombs
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Trebuchet1-intransit.jpg


Shen Kuo discovered the north direction using a compass by proving with scientific magnetic field. He then made a theory that climates changed over time. He also discovered the camera obscura which later on was improved for photographing in camera. He also invent instrument to see the stars and recorded their patterns. [1]

Yang Hui and Jia Xian described the Pascal’s Triangle. Yang Hui was the first to use “x” and its negative coefficients in quadratic equations. In addition, he used of the zero symbol instead of using blank spaces. Finally, he came up with the using of the remainders. [1]

Yang jia (1155) made the world oldest terrain map of China and extended to India with great accuracy to the scale of 1:900,000. [1]




The movable type printer was invented by Bi Sheng (990-1051) and was improved by Shen Kuo in 1088. It used the woodblock technique to stamp down the writing. This is useful because more books could be produced by printing, and printed book were cheaper than handwritten copies. [1]

Song Star map done by printing
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Su_Song_Star_Map_1.JPG

One of the social changes was that many people seemed to be wealthier that women labors were not used very much. Women then become the symbol for beauty display. As a result, many females in rich families do foot binding and this was carried on for another hundreds of years. [4]

http://www.yutopian.com/arts/five/FB.html

Fall for Northern Song

Emperor Shen Tsung of the Song Dynasty seemed to consider that educations are more important than military. This decision had resulted in the vital weakness for their military. However, they always tried to make peace with all their enemies by signing treaties with them but they do not last very long. Wang An-shih, the chief minister had made many laws for peace and improvements for the dynasty. Finally after Wang death, new people fought for power. Wang’s laws and ideas were not use which consequence in the fall of the Northern Song. [2]

Bianjing was the capital city of the Song which was located in the northern part and controlled most of inner China. At the end, Northern Song face political corruption, so in 1127, the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed by the Jin Dynasty. [1]

Fall for Southern Song

The Southern Song was ruled by the Jin Dynasty. Finally, in 1279 the Southern Song Dynasty was attacked by the Yuan Dynasty and lost when they captured Lin’an (capital) resulting the fall of he Song Dynasty [2]. The Mongol invaded the Song Dynasty by using the same type of gunpowder weapons by employing the northern Chinese soldiers to reveal the secrets. [1]

Biliography:

[1]
From Wikipedia, free encyclopedia “Song Dynasty” This page is last modified 02.40 AM, 9 January 2008 <> 12 January 2008

[2]
Rit Nosotro “The rise and fall of the Sung Dynasty” Last updated:01/12/2008 11:34:42
12 January 2008

[3]
“Sung Dynasty.” Bergen. 14 January. 2004. 12 January 2008
[4]
“Foot Binding.” Yutopian Online. 14 January. 2004. 12 January 2008
[5]
Documents “Timeline CA 700-1500” © 1998 Research Foundation of the State University of New York at Binghamton 12 January 2008

[6]
From Wikipedia, free encyclopedia “Norman conquest of England” This page was last modified 18:56, 8 January 2008 12 January 2008

Welcome [ Ton Jiropas (Ton)]

See what'cha look for?

If so check this blog out and feel free to consume the information about the 2004 Tsunami Earthquake. This document could save your loving ones and your life especially if you live in those affected countries.

If not, don't worry there are many more natural hazards in other places created by my classmates. By the way, have a small glance over this blog you might seem to enjoy it.

(After reading it)
Thank you for all of your participations and comments

Natural Hazard Case Study: Tsunami the Great Wave

Introduction: Natural Hazard

There are many natural hazards phenomenon that scared the land everywhere worldwide. Those phenomenons not only create inconveniences for us but cost the lives of numerous people; no one wants to know or mention that numbers. We share the same world and the time of sand is running out so we need to know about them so we could prevent them or evacuate the area in time to sustain our precious life. So by knowing they beforehand would give advantages for us to survive in that precise invisible moment. This blog will only explain about The 2004 Earthquake that caused the memorial Tsunami, however there are many other blogs created by my classmates that tells about other various natural hazards.



The day that no one would forget

On 26th December 2004 an earthquake in the Indian Ocean occurred (95.854 E and 3.316 N) (1). It was near the Sumatra Island. It had the magnitude of between 9.0 and 9.3, and it was the largest earthquake since the earthquake in Alaska on March 27, 1964, which had the magnitude of 9.2. So it was a very big earthquake that cost many lives (2). No earthquake occurred in this area before; so many people don’t know that there was going be an earthquake happened. Unfortunately, this earthquake happened in the ocean where there were not a lot people and it does not effect directly to the people.



Tsunami Earthquake: The Great destruction

The epicenter of the earthquake was on the west coast of northern Sumatra Island, but it was in the ocean, not on land. This earthquake happened when the two plate’s boundaries slip past each other in opposite direction, creating transform boundaries. The earthquake is very big that it pushes the ocean crust up very strong which makes the footwall move up very fast and huge amount of water were pushes up. As huge amount of water were pushes up, it’s created a huge wave called tsunami, which makes lots of damages to the buildings and people (4). Nevertheless, after the first gigantic wave they comes the second and the third strikes which are more vigorous and actually killing more and more people as they expected it to end. It also deposited sediments and flooded the area for a long period of time creating numerous inconveniences. This earthquake occurred along the Great Sumatran fault, which is on the Indisch-Australlsche plate and the Eurasische plate. As a result, every spot on earth was raised or lowered at least a centimeter (3).

The Ignorant Victims

This earthquake took the souls many lives and confiscated the bodies of unchoosen victims down to the bottom of the sea with them. The actual earthquake damaged only the coastal area of the Sumatra Island, but it actually killed a lot of people by creating huge waves called Tsunami. The Tsunami destroyed a lot of buildings and confiscated huge amount of lives in Indonesia, but every country on the coast of the Indian Ocean was also affected. There were about 240,000 people in Indonesia died from the earthquake and the Tsunami. In addition, another 47,000 people died from other countries that have the coast in the Indian Ocean (3). Moreover, some people in the sea (boat) felt the effects and some that are in caves died from the rapid rise of sea level.

The Unpredictable Outcomes

The areas of effect are mostly in Least Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs), Southeast Asia, so poor people who actually have small amount of money have lost all their properties and have to stay in far worst living conditions. The countries that were affected are Thailand, Myanmar, Jakarta, India, Bangladesh, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Mauritius. These countries have small amount of facilities and when they were attacked by the wave, almost all the facilities were destroyed and the government can’t replace them in time (also considering the lack of money). They required huge amount of money (which they don’t have enough), maybe from donations, and they also took more time to recover back to normal again. Nevertheless, there were blessing from kind people, who have sympathy, from around the world donated uncountable amount of money for the people who were affected by this disaster which brighten up their hopeless lives.

Why do people live in hazard prone area

As mentioned that the disaster had never happen in this area before so people live in their usual shelters peacefully and not expect anything to happen also because no scientists predict anything to happen. After the disaster their living conditions are worst but they still have to live in their home area and continue their civilized town life because they have no places to go and neither money nor supports.

Protections and Helps

This kind of earthquake and the tsunami had never happened in this area before; so many people does not know what it was and did not get to the safe places in time. There were no warnings, because no one expected that the earthquake and the Tsunami could happen in this area. Moreover, people neglect the dangers and just went out to see what had happened to the sea, for why the water level went low very rapidly. As a result, they could not run in time and died from this disaster (second and third strikes). Now, many countries around this area have the warning alarms, so people would know before the disaster actually happen and could get to safe places in time. There is also the NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center from the U.S.A. to announce the warnings for other countries approximately when and where the earthquakes will occur (5). Right now most of the schools had taught there students about earthquakes and tsunami, and how does it happened. So now many people will be safe from it (6). So no more tear would have to be wasted.

Thank you

Thank you and I hope that you have gained all the information you expected from this document. One day, who knows, maybe you could be in that position where the actual disaster happens so by having some knowledge about them might save your loving ones and your life. If anyone is interested investigate more from these websites mentioned right below and master about it (those are websites I used for the information in this blog).

Special Thanks to these Sources

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake

(2) http://www.to-b.com/

(3) http://geology.about.com/od/historicearthquakes/a/aasumatra.htm

(4) http://www.springerlink.com/content/n58247vw77u25m26/?p=23a849fd78a3430598c033c945889fc3&pi=0

(5) http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/s2411.htm

(6) http://www.3mfuture.com/investment/tsunami-alarm-system.htm