The Global Tapestry and Developments in East Asia (c. 1200 to c. 1450)

These flashcards cover the political, economic, and social developments of the Song Dynasty and the broader context of global empires between 1200 and 1450.

Song Dynasty

The wealthiest and most innovative empire in the world between 1200 and 1450, ruling a unified and prosperous China from 960 to 1279.

Imperial Bureaucracy

A vast organization of appointed officials who carry out an empire's policies, representing a continuity in Chinese government since the Qin dynasty.

Meritocracy

A bureaucratic system in which officials obtain their positions by demonstrating merit on competitive exams, such as China’s civil service exams.

Civil Service Exam

Tests based on knowledge of Confucian texts that allowed young men to obtain jobs in the Chinese bureaucracy, expanded under Emperor Song Taizu to include lower economic classes.

Grand Canal

An internal waterway transportation system extending over $30,000$ miles that enabled China to become the most populous trading area in the world.

Champa Rice

A fast-ripening and drought-resistant strain of rice from present-day Vietnam that greatly expanded agricultural production and allowed for two crops per year.

Proto-industrialization

A set of economic changes where people in rural areas produced more goods than they could sell, relying on home-based or community-based production rather than large factories.

Artisans

Skilled craftworkers who, in the Song Dynasty, produced items like steel, porcelain, and silk for expanding trade networks.

Scholar Gentry

A social class created by bureaucratic expansion in China; they were educated in Confucian philosophy and became more influential than the land-owning aristocracy.

Foot Binding

A practice common among aristocratic families during the Song Dynasty where girls' feet were wrapped tightly to signify social status and restrict movement; it was banned in 1912.

Woodblock Printing

A printing system developed in the 7th century that allowed the Chinese to produce multiple copies of texts, such as farming booklets and Buddhist scriptures.

Tributary System

An arrangement where other states paid money or provided goods to honor the Chinese emperor, cementing China's economic and political power.

Kowtow

A ritual greeting for the Chinese emperor in which the representative must bow their head until it reaches the floor.

Mongols

A group of nomads from Central Asia who conquered lands from central Europe to the Pacific Ocean, creating the largest land empire in human history.

Black Earth

The Chinese term for coal, which was discovered in the 4th century B.C.E. and enabled the production of large amounts of cast iron.