Question:
In general, how did the types of items traded East (from China) to West differ from the types of items traded West to East?
Use information provided above and your own understandings to explain how successful trade along the Silk Road helped China achieve a Golden Age. Explain at least two ways.
Document #3:
Questions:_1._According_to_the_chart,_which_levels_of_Chinese_government_have_power_over_all'>Questions:
1. According to the chart, which levels of Chinese government have power over all people?
2. Based on what is shown in the chart, make two points explaining how there is an opportunity for social mobility (movement of people) in this class structure.
Inventions__Cultural_Innovations_of_Tang_and_Song_China'>Document #4:
Technological Inventions & Cultural Innovations of Tang and Song China
Invention
|
Date
|
Description
|
Impact
|
Gun Powder
|
900 CE
|
Explosive powder made from mixture of saltpeter,
Sulfur, and charcoal
|
First used for fireworks, then weapons, technology spread west within 300 years.
|
Magnetic Compass
(for navigation)
|
1100 CE
|
Floating magnetized needle that always points north-south; device had existed in China for centuries before it was adapted by sailors for use at sea
|
Helped China become a sea power; technology quickly spread west
|
Mechanical clock
|
725 CE
|
Clock in which machinery (driven by running water) regulated the movements
|
Early Chinese clocks short –lived; idea for mechanical clock carried by traders to medieval Europe
|
Paper money
|
960 CE
|
Paper currency issued by Song government to replace cumbersome strings of metal cash used by merchants
|
Contributed to development of large-scale commercial economy in China
|
Porcelain
|
600 CE
|
Bone-hard white ceramic made of a special clay and a mineral found only in China
|
Became a valuable export-so associated with Chinese culture that it is now called “china”, technology remained a Chinese secret for centuries
|
Printing
|
Block printing:
735 CE
|
Block printing; one block on which a whole page is cut
|
Printing technology spread to Korea and Japan
|
Pick two inventions of the Tang and Song Dynasties and explain how they helped China achieve a “Golden Age”.
How would the two inventions you chose influence the rest of the medieval world?
Document #6:
“The basic justification for the Chinese Imperial (civil service) Exams was that appointees to civil service positions were not to be chosen through special or inherited privilege, but through an individual's own abilities. For centuries, the might of China was established militarily, often by emperors from humble origins who had toppled existing dynasties. However, once in control, these emperors soon realized that the actual governance of China would require the administrative services of thousands of bureaucrats. The civil service examination was thus a means for creating such a body of men…”
http://www.csupomona.edu/~plin/ls201/confucian3.html
Document #7:
“The examination system also helped to maintain cultural unity and agreement on basic values. The fact that the content of the examinations were uniform (did not vary) meant that the local scholars and ambitious would-be scholars across the whole of China were taught with the same values. Even though only a small fraction (about 5 percent) of those who attempted the examinations passed them and received titles, the studying and the hope of eventual success on a another examination sustained the interest of those who took them. Those who failed to pass—most of the candidates at any single examination—did not lose wealth or local social standing; as dedicated believers in Confucian ideals, they served, without the benefit of state appointments, as teachers, patrons (supporters)of the arts, and managers of local projects, such as irrigation works, schools, or charitable foundations.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_examination
Questions:
Examine both documents.
According to Document #6, what was needed—in addition to a powerful Emperor—to successfully rule China?
Using information from both documents above, explain how civil service examinations helped China achieve a Golden Age. Describe at least two ways.
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