A good starting
https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/ ... 29061202-5Brief history of Chinese martial artsAuthored by: Lu Zhouxiang
The Routledge Handbook of Sport in Asia
Print publication date: July 2020
Online publication date: May 2020
Print ISBN: 9780367183776
eBook ISBN: 9780429061202
Adobe ISBN:
10.4324/9780429061202-5
https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/author/Lu_Zhouxianghttps://link.springer.com/book/10.1007% ... -15-4538-2Chinese National Identity in the Age of Globalisation
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Lu Zhouxiang
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http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/main_pop/kpct/kp_song.htmCentral Themes and Key Points KEY POINTS IN DEVELOPMENTS IN EAST ASIA >> 1000-1450 CE
China’s “Golden Age”: The Song, the Mongols, and the Ming Voyages
This period of Chinese history, from roughly 600-1600 C.E., is a period of stunning development in China. From the Tang (discussed in the unit on the Tang Dynasty) through the "pre-modern" commercial and urban development of the Song, ca. 1000, to the Ming voyages of exploration (1405- 1433) with ships that reach the coast of Africa. (The achievements of China under the Song are the subject of Marco Polo's "fantastic" reports when he journeys to China under the Mongols, who rule in China for eighty-nine years (1279- 1368) as the Yuan dynasty, between the Song and Ming.
China's Preeminence under the Song (960-1279) and Commercial Development
The Song dynasty (960-1279) follows the Tang (618-906) and the two together constitute what is often called "China's Golden Age."
The use of paper money, the introduction of tea drinking, and the inventions of gunpowder, the compass, and printing all occur under the Song. (The fact that the dynasty spans the year 1000 may make it easier for students to locate these developments in time.)
The Song is distinguished by enormous commercial growth that historians refer to as "pre-modern" in character. The growth in a) the production of non-agricultural goods in a rural and household context ("cottage industries" such as silk), and in b) the production of cash crops that are sold not consumed (tea), leads to the extension of market forces into the everyday life of ordinary people. When this commercial development takes place in European history it is labeled "proto-industrial" growth by historians, important in European history because it is succeeded by industrialization where the production moves to cities. (In Japanese history, historians see these pre-modern and proto-industrial developments taking place in the Tokugawa period, 1600-1868.) In China, the production of nonagricultural goods at the household level begins in Song and remains an important form of production and market development in China until the 20th century. China is distinguished by early development in this area.
Students might consider the question: Did commercialization have to lead to industrialization, as it did in the West? This is a common assumption. Were there other factors influencing the economic development of the West? Is the Western pattern the "norm" or the Chinese pattern? What made each country's economic evolution follow the path it took?
Urbanization accompanies commercial growth and Chinese cities are the largest and most sophisticated in the world at this time. (Marco Polo came from one of the most sophisticated cities in Europe of his time, Venice, and yet he wrote in awe of the organization of Chinese cities which he visited in the 1200s.)
During the Song there is enormous growth in Chinese population and a shift in the locus of this population to southern China. Under the Tang dynasty, which precedes the Song, the population is concentrated in the north of China, in the wheat growing area. After 1127 when the Southern Song makes its capital in Hangzhou, below the Yangtze (Yangzi) River, there is a corresponding shift in the concentration of the Chinese population to southern China, below the Yangtze River. Rice is the staple crop of southern China and it produces a higher yield per acre than wheat and supports a larger population. By the end of the Song, 2/3 to 3/4 of the Chinese population is concentrated below the Yangtze.
The Grand Canal, built during the Sui Dynasty, connects the Yangtze and the Yellow rivers, facilitating the transport of agricultural production from the south to the north and helping to unify the economy of China.
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/main_pop/ ... x.html#kp2ASIA FOR EDUCATORSTIMELINES KEY POINTS PRIMARY SOURCES LESSON PLANSCentral Themes & Key Points
KEY POINTS IN DEVELOPMENTS IN EAST ASIAOrganized according to the time periods of the National Standards in World History and the College Board, these documents highlight major developments that educators may wish to focus upon in courses on East Asian history.