25.6 The far east: a.d. 1001 to 1100

The far east

Back to The Far East: A.D. 901 to 1000

China and manchuria (sung dynasty)

The Northern Sung capital, Kaifeng, is said to have had over 50 theaters, some large enough for several thousand patrons, entertained by acrobats, dancers, clowns, musicians and actors. China, in this century, was the most populous, prosperous and cultured nation on earth. A new invasion in the northwest by Uigurs in A.D. 1035 and the rise of a Western Xia Dynasty (1032-1227) apparently did little damage to the main area of China, but they did cut off Dunhuany completely from the mainstream of Chinese culture.

(Ref. 282 )

After A.D. 1000 Neo-Confucianism, having absorbed important elements from Buddhism and Taoism, emerged unchallenged as the official intellectual system of China. This was a victory for the gentry as against the mercantile and military intruders, although industry continued to thrive. One of the greatest Sung advances was the introduction of the Champa rice, a new strain more drought resistant and faster ripening than previous varieties

Hundreds of workmen in the Kaifeng region were employed in large scale coal and iron complexes, accounting for about 1/2 of the country's total iron production. One huge complex at Ch'its'un in Hopei had 700 coal miners, 1,000 ore miners and 1,000 blast furnace workers, producing annually some 42,000 tons of coal and over 14,000 tons of pig iron. The national total iron production was 125,000 tons a year, by A.D. 1078. (Ref. 279 ) Although the principal of the blast furnaces had been known in China for 1,000 years, it was the use of coke in the early decades of this 11th century which solved not only the fuel shortage but greatly improved the iron and steel production. Canals connected the capital, Kaifeng, with Honan and Hopei and it became a vast market for the iron and steel. But the government continued to closely supervise the minting of coins (made from iron) and the manufacture of weapons and agricultural implements after 1083 with carefully controlled directives and taxation. A rising population meant that poverty did not disappear even in the face of the rising production, with the old story of "the rich got richer and the poor got poorer". (Ref. 279 ) It is one of the main hypotheses of the historian, William H. McNeill's recent book Pursuit of Power (Ref. 279 ) that China's rapid start toward industrialization and rapid change towards a market-regulated (as opposed to a "command" society) behavior in this and the next few centuries tipped a critical balance in world history. While politicians found it less and less possible to escape the effects of the financial market interchange, new forms of management and compromise between rulers, military power and money power had to be developed. (Ref. 101 )