Sui, Tang, & Song Dynasties

​During the violence and uncertainty of the Period of Disunion, many Chinese people tried to find spiritual comfort. Some looked to Daoism and Confucianism to find out why they had to suffer so much, but they did not find helpful answers. However, Buddhism, which had recently arrived in China from India, did provide the answers people sought. They took comfort in the Buddhist teaching that people can escape suffering and achieve a state of peace. By the end of the Period of Disunion, Buddhism was well established in China.

​Finally, after centuries of political confusion and cultural change, China was reunified. The man who finally ended the Period of Disunion was a northern ruler named Yang Jian. In 589 he conquered the south, unified China, and created the Sui dynasty.

​The Sui dynasty did not last long—only from 589 to 618. During that time, however, its leaders restored order and began the Grand Canal. This huge series of canals and waterways linked parts of northern and southern China.

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​China’s Grand Canal is the world’s longest human-made waterway. It was begun during the Sui dynasty largely to transport rice and other foods from the south to feed China’s cities and armies in the north.

​The Sui dynasty was followed by the Tang, which would rule for nearly 300 years. China grew under the Tang dynasty to include much of eastern and central Asia. Historians view the Tang dynasty as a golden age in China.

Tang rulers conquered many lands, reformed the military, and created law codes. The Tang period also saw great advances in art. Some of China’s finest poets, for example, lived during this time.

​After the Tang dynasty fell, China entered another period of chaos and disorder, with separate kingdoms competing for power. As a result, this period in China’s history is called the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. The disorder lasted 53 years, from 907 to 960.

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In 960 China was again reunified, this time by the Song dynasty. Like the Tang, the Song ruled for about 300 years, until 1279. Also like the Tang, the Song dynasty was a time of great achievements. The Song greatly strengthened the Chinese economy, making it the strongest in the world at that time.

​The Song dynasty took another major step that affected China for centuries. They improved the system by which people went to work for the government. These workers formed a large bureaucracy , or a body of unelected government officials. They joined the bureaucracy by passing civil service examinations. Civil service means service as a government official.

​Because of the extreme difficulty of the tests, only a very small fraction of the people who took the tests would reach the top level and be appointed to a position in the government. However, candidates for the civil service examinations had a strong incentive for studying hard. Passing the tests meant life as a scholar-official—an educated member of the government.

​Scholar-officials were elite members of society. They were of the scholar gentry class.

They performed many important jobs and were widely admired for their knowledge and ethics. Their typical responsibilities might include running government offices; maintaining roads, irrigation systems, and other public works; updating and keeping official records; or collecting taxes.