Song Dynast Kaifeng Website Assignment

http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/song/

The more types of functions a city has the larger it tends to be. By the end of the Song Dynast, the population of Kaifeng was probably close to a million while the population of Paris and London was about 30,000 – 80,000. Answer the following questions using the above website.

1.  What were the different functions of Kaifeng? What evidence do you find for these functions? List each function and the supporting evidence.

2.  What was life like in the city?

3.  Read about the development of movable type and printing. What impact did this have on society?

4.  What were the four most important technological breakthroughs or inventions of the Song Dynasty? List each and briefly describe which socio-economic class (merchants, peasants, etc.) the invention probably affected and why.

5.  Using the population line graph – What was the approximate population of the Song Dynasty at the beginning and the end of the dynasty? By what percent did the population increase during the dynasty?

6.  What evidence might indicate the reasons why the population increased so dramatically? What other factors might have led to population increases?

7.  Why do you think the population decreased so dramatically during the Yuan/Mongol Dynasty?

8.  What different socio-economic classes existed in Kaifeng?

9.  What groups of people seem to have more status and prestige? What evidence is there to support these claims?

10.  What evidence is there of religious activity? What did this look like?

11.  Why are there not any Buddhist pagodas in the Kaifeng scroll?

12.  What were the common forms of entertainment? What forms of entertainment were suited to the different socio-economic classes?

13.  What impact did the outside world have on Song China?

14.  What important role did Hangchow (Southern Song Capital) play in the long distance interactions China had with other cultures?

15.  Was the Song Dynasty sophisticated and advanced enough to be considered the world’s first “modern” culture? Why or why not? Use evidence from this website.