NORTHERN SONG (960-1126)

SOUTHERN SONG(1127-1279)

POLITICAL CHANGE

Chinese court under constant threat from Northern Nomads (Liao & Xi Xia, and later Jin Kingdoms)

Confucian Idealism leads to Court Factional Fighting

Wang Anshi (1021-86): high-ranking court official best known as a political reformer who implemented his radical state-building ideals through the "New Laws (xinfa)" of 1069-76.

Fall of Northern Song is a Crisis!

Court Vision Increasingly "Turns Inward" during Southern Song

INTELLECTUAL CHANGE

Neo-Confucianism becomes popular by Southern Song

Zhu Xi (1130-1200): Chinese philosopher whose school of Neo-Confucian thought would later dominate Chinese intellectual life; also known as the “Great Synthesizer.”

Learning from the Four Books & the Search for the Confucian Sage

SOCIAL CHANGE

Final Stage in the Development of the Civil Service Examinations

Triumph of a Non-aristocratic Official Class via the Civil Service Exams

CULTURAL CHANGE

Scholars Dominate the Arts

As Cultural Center of China Moves South