Chinese Dynasties: Sui, Tang, Song, Liao, Jin, and Yuan

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering key historical figures, institutional developments, technological innovations, and major events across the Sui, Tang, Song, Liao, Jin, and Yuan dynasties.

Yang Jian (Sui Wendi)

Founder of the Sui dynasty who ousted his grandson-heir, killed Zhou princes, reunited China in 589, and presented himself as a Buddhist Cakravartin king.

Grand Canal

A waterway nearly 1,200 miles long dug by conscripted laborers between 605 and 609 under Emperor Yangdi to transport southern grain northward.

Li Yuan (Gaozu)

First cousin of the second Sui emperor who triumphed in post-Sui rebellions and founded the Tang dynasty in 618.

Taizong

Ruthless but wise Tang co-founder who killed his brothers, heeded critics, and defeated the Eastern Turks.

Empress Wu

Tang concubine who rose to become ruler and proclaimed her own Zhou dynasty in 690, becoming the only female emperor in Chinese history.

An Lushan

Half-Sogdian, half-Turk frontier military governor who amassed 160,000 troops and launched a devastating rebellion in 755.

Xuanzang

Tang monk who traveled through Central Asia and India for fifteen years, returning to China in 645 to fascinate Emperor Taizong.

Han Yu

Tang intellectual who promoted Confucian moral renewal and strongly attacked Buddhism.

Huang Chao

Failed civil service examination candidate and salt merchant whose rebel army sacked Guangzhou and captured Chang'an in 881.

Twice-Yearly Tax of 780

Tang tax reform assessing actual landholding that replaced the equal-field system and reopened the private market in land.

Tang Suppression of Buddhism (841-845)

Imperial court campaign that dismantled Buddhist power and returned approximately 250,000 monks and nuns to lay life.

Diamond Sutra (868)

The oldest extant block-printed book in the world, preserved and discovered inside the Dunhuang cave cache.

Jinshi Exam

The most prestigious Tang civil service examination focusing on poetry and essays, passed by only twenty to thirty candidates each year.

Tang Salt Monopoly

Fiscal system established by 779 that generated over half of government revenue by indirectly taxing salt through licensed merchants.

Zhao Kuangyin (Song Taizu)

Military commander proclaimed emperor by his troops in 960 who founded the Song dynasty, retired his generals, and placed the army under civilian oversight.

Wang Anshi

Song chief councillor under Emperor Shenzong who initiated the sweeping New Policies in 1069, including state loans to peasants.

Sima Guang

Leading conservative opponent of Wang Anshi's reforms who compiled a monumental 1,300-year history of China.

Shen Gua

Song polymath who documented the magnetic compass, argued that the moon reflects sunlight, and designed a solar calendar.

Su Song

Song engineer who constructed a 40-foot water-powered astronomical clock tower equipped with an escapement mechanism and wrote an illustrated treatise.

Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi

Philosophers who developed the Neo-Confucian li-and-qi framework; Zhu Xi's commentaries became state-backed examination orthodoxy after 1241.

Fan Zhongyan

Song reformer who urged scholars to 'worry first' before enjoying pleasure and created the corporate lineage estate.

Yue Fei

Song loyalist general who drove north near Luoyang but was executed by the Southern Song court after it opted for peace with Jin.

Champa Rice

An early-ripening, drought-resistant variety from Southeast Asia introduced to China, opening up new land to double-cropping and agricultural cultivation.

Coke-Fueled Iron Production

Song industrial breakthrough in which coke replaced charcoal, combining with hydraulic bellows to increase iron output up to sixfold.

Abaoji

Leader who unified the Khitan tribes, ended tribal elections to institute hereditary succession, and founded the Liao dynasty.

Aguda

Jurchen chieftain who founded the Jin dynasty in 1115 and successfully toppled the Liao empire.

Dual Administration

Liao governmental system with separate Khitan and Chinese administrations, enabling the Khitans to preserve their nomadic heritage while ruling sedentary populations.

Decimal Army

Mongol military system created by Chinggis Khan that grouped soldiers into units of 1,000 horsemen, intentionally superseding traditional tribal allegiances.

Yelü Chucai

Sinified Khitan advisor to the Mongols who persuaded them to tax sedentary farmers regularly rather than exterminating them, and who liberated enslaved scholars.

Semu

The second tier in the four-level Yuan social hierarchy, consisting of non-Chinese allies such as Central Asians and Persians.

Bayan

Yuan chief minister from 1328 to 1340 who enforced anti-Chinese policies, prohibiting Chinese subjects from holding high office and owning weapons.

Guan Hanqing

Prominent playwright of Yuan drama who authored over sixty plays, including The Injustice to Dou E.

Red Turban Rebellions

Uprisings during the 1340s fueled by epidemics and internal civil war that ultimately caused the collapse of the Mongol Yuan dynasty.