A strong agrarian economy ensured that its inhabitants were better provided for than those of any other society on earth.Its command of science and technology far exceeded that of Europe."China in 1492 was the oldest, largest, and richest civilization in the world.The Ming defeated the Mongol conquerors in 1368 and reasserted Chinese military and political authority on land and sea. Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) - China at the Time of Columbus 1275-1291) under the Mongol rule, as mentioned above. The Mongol empire spans Eurasia in the 13th and 14th centuries and facilitates trade and exchange across the Eurasian land mass.1227), the Mongols move the Chinese capital to Beijing and establish the capital of their empire there. Under Khubilai (Kublai) Khan (1215-1294), the supreme leader of the Mongols and a grandson of Chinggis (Genghis) Khan (d.The Mongols invade China from the north, defeat the Song, and establish the Yuan dynasty in 1279, ruling less than one-hundred years, to 1368.Mongols in China - the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) 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.By the end of the Song, 2/3 to 3/4 of the Chinese population is concentrated below the Yangtze.Rice is the staple crop of southern China and it produces a higher yield per acre than wheat and supports a larger population.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.Under the Tang dynasty, which precedes the Song, the population is concentrated in the north of China, in the wheat growing area.During the Song there is enormous growth in Chinese population and a shift in the locus of this population to southern China.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.).Urbanization accompanies commercial growth and Chinese cities are the largest and most sophisticated in the world at this time.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? Students might consider the question: Did commercialization have to lead to industrialization, as it did in the West? This is a common assumption.China is distinguished by early development in this area. 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.( In Japanese history, historians see these pre-modern and proto-industrial developments taking place in the Tokugawa period, 1600-1868.) 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.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.The Song is distinguished by enormous commercial growth that historians refer to as "pre-modern" in character.(The fact that the dynasty spans the year 1000 may make it easier for students to locate these developments in time.) the inventions of gunpowder, the compass, and printing all occur under the Song.The Song dynasty (960-1279) follows the Tang (618-906) and the two together constitute what is often called "China's Golden Age.".(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)Ĭhina's Preeminence under the Song (960-1279) and Commercial Development to the Ming voyages of exploration (1405- 1433) with ships that reach the coast of Africa.through the "pre-modern" commercial and urban development of the Song, ca.From the Tang (discussed in the unit on the Tang Dynasty).This period of Chinese history, from roughly 600-1600 C.E., is a period of stunning development in China.China China’s “Golden Age”: The Song, the Mongols, and the Ming Voyages