WEBVTT

00:00:00.523 --> 00:00:02.856
- [Narrator] In other
videos when we talked about

00:00:02.856 --> 00:00:04.902
the various Chinese empires,

00:00:04.902 --> 00:00:07.738
we talk about the Song
dynasty in particular

00:00:07.738 --> 00:00:12.269
as a time of significant
technological innovation.

00:00:12.269 --> 00:00:14.945
And here are just some of the
examples that we talk about,

00:00:14.945 --> 00:00:18.710
most notably gunpowder,
movable block print,

00:00:18.710 --> 00:00:21.859
you have block printing
emerge during the Tang dynasty

00:00:21.859 --> 00:00:26.191
but during the Song
dynasty, it gets perfected

00:00:26.191 --> 00:00:28.459
and it becomes more efficient
with movable block print.

00:00:28.459 --> 00:00:31.315
You have the compass being perfected,

00:00:31.315 --> 00:00:34.904
especially for naval use,
the boats being perfected,

00:00:34.904 --> 00:00:38.059
you see this reinvigoration,
really the high point

00:00:38.059 --> 00:00:39.524
of the Chinese civil service,

00:00:39.524 --> 00:00:42.339
you see the emergence of Neo-Confucianism.

00:00:42.339 --> 00:00:44.811
But one question is well what allowed

00:00:44.811 --> 00:00:46.852
all of this innovation to take place?

00:00:46.852 --> 00:00:51.117
And also what allowed for the
stability of the Song dynasty?

00:00:51.117 --> 00:00:53.109
When you look at it on
the timeline like this,

00:00:53.109 --> 00:00:56.387
that's covering over 2,000 years,

00:00:56.387 --> 00:00:57.586
it might not look that long

00:00:57.586 --> 00:00:59.235
but when you actually
think about it this is

00:00:59.235 --> 00:01:03.152
over 300 years of dynastic
rule by one dynasty.

00:01:04.360 --> 00:01:06.987
Now it is split in the middle
between the Northern Song

00:01:06.987 --> 00:01:10.997
and the Southern Song,
that happens in 1127,

00:01:10.997 --> 00:01:12.580
we'll talk about that in a little bit.

00:01:12.580 --> 00:01:13.697
But for the most part,

00:01:13.697 --> 00:01:17.709
it is a very prosperous time for China.

00:01:17.709 --> 00:01:20.410
The population actually grows

00:01:20.410 --> 00:01:25.099
from roughly 50 million people
during the Tang dynasty,

00:01:25.099 --> 00:01:29.277
to, it is estimated, 100 million people by

00:01:29.277 --> 00:01:33.859
the Northern Song dynasty
and eventually keeps growing

00:01:33.859 --> 00:01:36.625
so that by the time we
get to the Ming dynasty,

00:01:36.625 --> 00:01:40.130
we have a population of
about 200 million people.

00:01:40.130 --> 00:01:41.979
So what are the things that allows

00:01:41.979 --> 00:01:45.302
for that population explosion, really?

00:01:45.302 --> 00:01:49.297
Well one thing you can imagine
is food is very important,

00:01:49.297 --> 00:01:52.544
and it's during this time period that

00:01:52.544 --> 00:01:55.786
the Song dynasty is able
to leverage a more robust

00:01:55.786 --> 00:02:00.057
rice seed from Southeast
Asia that allows it

00:02:00.057 --> 00:02:02.378
to feed many, many more people.

00:02:02.378 --> 00:02:04.882
And so this obviously
allows a population growth,

00:02:04.882 --> 00:02:07.065
but any time you're able to feed people,

00:02:07.065 --> 00:02:08.444
and there's more prosperity,

00:02:08.444 --> 00:02:12.177
you're going to have a more stable empire.

00:02:12.177 --> 00:02:14.813
Now another major input into prosperity

00:02:14.813 --> 00:02:16.913
and the stability of empires

00:02:16.913 --> 00:02:18.830
is the notion of trade.

00:02:19.709 --> 00:02:22.777
And China had always many river systems,

00:02:22.777 --> 00:02:26.329
which helped facilitate
agriculture and trade.

00:02:26.329 --> 00:02:31.313
But as you get into the Sui
dynasty, right over here,

00:02:31.313 --> 00:02:34.954
you have the completion
of the Grand Canal,

00:02:34.954 --> 00:02:38.871
which is even today the
largest man-made canal.

00:02:40.261 --> 00:02:43.110
It stretches from Beijing to
Hangzhou and actually goes

00:02:43.110 --> 00:02:45.872
beyond that and has other tributaries

00:02:45.872 --> 00:02:48.235
and that connected with
the existing river systems

00:02:48.235 --> 00:02:50.920
allowed for a lot of trade to happen,

00:02:50.920 --> 00:02:54.649
especially as we get into
the Tang and Song dynasties.

00:02:54.649 --> 00:02:56.836
Now the Song dynasty in particular,

00:02:56.836 --> 00:03:00.360
you have the pound lock being invented,

00:03:00.360 --> 00:03:03.386
which allows for easier
travel across waterways

00:03:03.386 --> 00:03:05.850
when you have a change
in the level of water.

00:03:05.850 --> 00:03:08.718
The pound lock is still the
standard technology used

00:03:08.718 --> 00:03:11.301
in canals throughout the world.

00:03:12.350 --> 00:03:15.933
You also have the first
use of paper money.

00:03:17.348 --> 00:03:20.289
This is a big deal. We
use paper money today.

00:03:20.289 --> 00:03:22.743
Our ability to have
transactions in our society

00:03:22.743 --> 00:03:25.234
are not dependent on our ability to mine

00:03:25.234 --> 00:03:27.712
for gold or silver or copper.

00:03:27.712 --> 00:03:28.970
And one of the things that allowed

00:03:28.970 --> 00:03:31.212
for paper money to even be used

00:03:31.212 --> 00:03:34.038
was this notion of block printing,

00:03:34.038 --> 00:03:37.807
and block printing with
movable type in particular.

00:03:37.807 --> 00:03:40.974
Once again, a Song dynasty innovation.

00:03:41.824 --> 00:03:45.157
Now as I mentioned, as we get into 1127,

00:03:46.134 --> 00:03:50.299
you have conquerors from the
north, in particular the Jin,

00:03:50.299 --> 00:03:53.044
who are able to conquer Northern China.

00:03:53.044 --> 00:03:55.473
They caused the Song to move their capital

00:03:55.473 --> 00:03:57.996
from Kaifeng in the north,

00:03:57.996 --> 00:04:00.516
to Hangzhou in the south.

00:04:00.516 --> 00:04:03.364
Here you see Hangzhou is
a major southern terminal

00:04:03.364 --> 00:04:05.145
of the Grand Canal.

00:04:05.145 --> 00:04:09.286
And even though the
Northern Song had to move

00:04:09.286 --> 00:04:12.297
and essentially become
the Southern Song dynasty,

00:04:12.297 --> 00:04:14.167
you continue to have that prosperity

00:04:14.167 --> 00:04:17.467
for roughly another 150
years and once again,

00:04:17.467 --> 00:04:19.398
this comes from this meritocracy

00:04:19.398 --> 00:04:21.022
from the civil service system.

00:04:21.022 --> 00:04:23.909
This abundance of food,
this stability from

00:04:23.909 --> 00:04:26.428
having the dynastic rule,
the trade, the money,

00:04:26.428 --> 00:04:29.297
all of these technological advances,

00:04:29.297 --> 00:04:32.673
which make the Song dynasty
one of the notable periods

00:04:32.673 --> 00:04:34.256
of Chinese history.