MMW 12 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Hangzhou, Public Health, The Arts
Song/Sung Dynasty late 900s – c. 1200
Mainly 11th – 12th Centuries
The entire north is eventually lost; population mainly along Yangtze River
New Capital at Hangchow = seaport at south end of Great Canal/South of Yangtze River
• Song China (11th – 12th c.): Europe in 17th century
o Strong belief in education and in reason
o Revival and wide diffusion of classics
o Tremendous interest in science and technology
o Great economic development
o Optimism for the possibility of improving society through knowledge and invention
o The first oder ulture
▪ WAY ahead of its time
• Song develops Late Tang Neo-Confucianism
o Emphasis on social/political world
o Emphasis on material/physical world
▪ Not transcendence
o Rational laws govern both physical nature and human nature
▪ Both natural science and political science
o Education = moral/political and scientific/technological
o De-emphasized Buddhism
▪ Not eause it’s foreig
▪ Because it seeks to escape the world instead of improving it
• Publishing Business Contributes:
o Books (block print) = cheap, widely available
▪ Combined text and image
o Education = widely accessible/cheaper
o Government sponsored publication of practical info
▪ Health, medication, malaria control
▪ Agricultural techniques
▪ Models and techniques for handi-crafts
• Catalogs of collections
o Libraries became secularized
▪ No longer exclusively Buddhist
• First ever government-issued paper money (1024)
o Idea of paper oe ae fro Ara erhats ho had sste of I Oe Yous
o Invention of paper money – redeemable for gold/silver
o 11th century
▪ Official government printed banknotes
• Development of banking and loan business
o Use of personal checks
First
government-
issued paper
money (1024)
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