Prosperity in Song China (960-1279) | World History | Khan Academy

In other videos, when we talked about the various Chinese empires, we talked about the Song Dynasty in particular as a time of significant technological innovation. Here are just some of the examples that we talk about. Most notably, gunpowder, movable block print. You have block printing emerge during the Tang Dynasty, but during the Song Dynasty, it gets perfected. It becomes more efficient with movable block print.

You have the compass being perfected, especially for naval use. The boats being perfected. You see this reinvigoration, really the high point of the Chinese civil service. You see the emergence of Neo-Confucianism. One question is, well, what allowed all of this innovation to take place? Also, what allowed for the stability of the Song Dynasty?

When you look at it on the timeline like this, covering over 2000 years, it might not look that long. But when you actually think about it, this is over 300 years of dynastic rule by one dynasty. Now, it is split in the middle between the Northern Song and the Southern Song. That happens in 1127, and we'll talk about that in a little bit. But for the most part, it is a very prosperous time for China.

The population actually grows from roughly 50 million people during the Tang Dynasty to an estimated 100 million people by the Northern Song Dynasty. Eventually, it keeps growing, so that by the time we get to the Ming Dynasty, we have a population of about 200 million people. So, what are the things that allow for that population explosion?

Really, one thing you can imagine is food. Food is very important, and it's during this time period that the Song Dynasty is able to leverage a more robust rice seed from Southeast Asia that allows it to feed many, many more people. This obviously allows for population growth. But any time you're able to feed people and there's more prosperity, you're going to have a more stable empire.

Now, another major input into prosperity and the stability of empires is the notion of trade. China had always had many river systems, which helped facilitate agriculture and trade. But as you get into the Sui Dynasty, right over here, you have the completion of the Grand Canal, which is even today the largest man-made canal. It stretches from Beijing to Hangzhou and actually goes beyond that and has other tributaries. That connected with the existing river systems allowed for a lot of trade to happen, especially as we get into the Tang and the Song Dynasties.

Now, the Song Dynasty in particular, you have the pound lock being invented, which allows for easier travel across waterways when you have a change in the level of water. The pound lock is still the standard technology used in canals throughout the world. You also have the first use of paper money. This is a big deal. We use paper money today. Our ability to have transactions in our society is not dependent on our ability to mine for gold or silver or copper.

One of the things that allowed for paper money to even be used was this notion of block printing. Block printing with movable type, in particular, is once again a Song Dynasty innovation.

Now, as I mentioned, as we get into 1127, you have conquerors from the north, in particular, the Jinn, who are able to conquer Northern China. They caused the Song to move their capital from Kaifeng in the north to Hangzhou in the south. Here you see Hangzhou is the major southern terminal of the Grand Canal. Even though the Northern Song had to move and essentially become the Southern Song Dynasty, you continue to have that prosperity for roughly another 150 years.

Once again, this comes from this meritocracy from the civil service system, this abundance of food, the stability from having the dynastic rule, the trade, the money, all of these technological advances, which make the Song Dynasty one of the notable periods of Chinese history.