Many changed the way art was done in China because of the Northern Song dynasty. The many rules and ways of painting make it very unique.

There were four diffrent styles of painting that were all diffrent and they were, figure painting, landscape painting, bird-and-flower painting and ink painting. Figure painting showed the proper behavior, which durring the Song dynasty was Confucianism. Landscape painting showed figure painting, but with a backround. The bird-and-flower showed the nature in China. Finally the ink painting were picutres in black and white.

There are some basic rules for painters. Painters paint in gray tans and blue. It is also very important for painters to have a steady arm.

All the paintings were done on silk and were painted by a brush. The handle of the brush was made of bamboo. The tip of the brush was made of amimal hair that was carefully attatched to the bamboo.

Styles of the Song Dynasty

During the Song Dynasty there were two big trends in fashions for Chinese women, one was foot binding and the other was their clothing styles.

Most Chinese girls went through foot binding at a young age. The process was said to take two years. First, a 10" by 2" cloth was rapped tightly around the girls foot. The four smaller toes would curl into the bottom of the foot; meanwhile all the bones in her foot would brake. Every day the girl's mother would unwrap the cloth and clean off all the blood and rap it tighter. Every two weeks the girl would have to wear a smaller shoe. When her foot is finally three to four inches, she won't need to wrap it anymore but her foot will be broken and useless from then on. One girl said, "For the two years that I went through the process of foot biding, I cried every night from the terrible pain. I couldn't wait for it to be over. When my mom unwrapped my foot everyday I would see all the blood I was letting out, it was obvious it wasn't healthy. When I walked I felt as if my feet were on fire!" This was not a fun time in a girl's life.

Clothing styles were very important during this dynasty. The way a woman or girl dressed could symbolize her class and status. There three main types of clothing, one for empresses and noble concubines, the second was for government uses and the third were formal clothes. Depending on which one you would wear it showed your status. The way to tell if someone was wealthy was just by looking at their clothes or socks, if they was made of silk the woman was wealthy. People who didn't have as much money made their clothes and socks out of gauze or cloth. If a woman was wearing an outfit with gold printed hibiscus flowers, she was wealthy and had high status. The one thing that all women had in common was that they all wore life like patterns on their clothes.

These are the big trends in the Song dynasty, as you can see it was very hard and painful to stay beautiful.

At Last Peace between Khitans and Chinese

After many years of fighting between the Chinese and the Khitans, they have finally come up with a peace agreement between the both empires. Just a couple of days ago both emperor Liao and Emperor Zhenzong signed a treaty saying there'll be no more fighting.

The treaty states that Emperor Zhenzong has to refer to Emperoro Liao as an older brother. Not only that, he has to pay 200,00 rolls of silk and 100,000 ounces of silver every year. This has helped the dynasty not choose war for an answer, but to make peace with other empires too becuase their belief system (Confucianism) doesn't allow them to solve their problems with war.

The Khitans didn’t like the Chinese very much because they had always been ahead of them, and more sophisticated and wanted to take their lands away becuase they were jeleous. Once Emperor Taizu came into power, they backed out of their plan because they were scared they wouldn’t be successful. Emperor Taizu didn’t want to get involved with them because he never believed in war. After Emperor Taizu was out of power and Emperor Taizhong stepped in, China was planning an attack to drive out of China anyone who wasn’t Chinese. Taizong built his army and was ready to go up and fight for their land back. When he went to attack, it turned out that he was much weaker than the Khitans, so they decided they would escape so they wouldn't be captured. He thought he’d never get back the north. When Taizong died, the Khitans made a large invasion into China and took over many areas, China felt powerless. Now, Zhenzong is in power and doesn’t want to deal with the constant fighting between the two empires. He decided to make a peace treaty between the two empires.

It has helped many people, especially one citizen who said, "I'm so glad emperor Zehzong finally signed that treaty. I'm one of the people who live in the north and own acres of farmland. The Khitans never seem to care whose space they're invading because they always take over my rice and sell if for themselves! Now, they don't have any right to touch my land and I can sell what I work for. I might actually make some money this year." It looks like this treaty is helping the Chinese that live in the north, finally get what they wanted.

Inventions Impact Daily Life

In the Song dynasty, there were many inventions help everyday life, such as gunpowder, printing and mathematics. If it weren’t for these inventions, writing, wars and math would be much harder for the Chinese.

The invention of gunpowder was an accident, it was made while trying to come up with a mixture of immortality. They mixed, sulfur, saltpeter and charcoal and it exploded. They realized that they could use it as an explosive, such as a grenade, in war and they did. It was not just an explosive, they also realized if they made it in a specific form they could use it to explode colors in the sky which they thought looked good especially during New Year. Just recently, some Arab countries have started using the invention.

Printing helped the wealthy people do their jobs more easily and also made books available to whoever could buy or use them. The Chinese discovered, that if you put each character on a separate block people could put ink on them and place it in the order in which they would use in order to print their words onto paper. They figured it wouldn’t take as long as writing it out by hand. But, it wasn’t as successful as it was thought to be due to the many characters in the Chinese language.The invention of solving algebraic problems was spread worldwide and was useful to many people, especially to people who have an interest in math. It was discovered by Al-Khwarizmi, he figured it out by using addition and multiplication. It was an amazing discovery.

These inventions have helped many people with their jobs and has made their life easier. They will help genorations to come, in math, war and writing.

Strong New Empire From Emperor Taizu

After many years of hard work, emperor Taizu has changed things in his empire to make it a unique one. Thanks to his hard work, his dynasty might be very successful.

The past five dynasties failed due to the fact that prior emperors became selfish and greedy, those dynasties got overthrown by the people. After a gap of no leader in China, Emperor Taizu got the Mandate of Heaven from the Gods and took over China to make it better.

For him to be able to make this empire successful he took five big steps to make it all work.

One of the most interesting things he did for his empire was the way he treated his enemies. Most people would fight them for the pride and honor of winning. Emperor Taizu wasn't like that. He is a Confucianist, which means he doesn't believe in wars. He followed a saying from an old Chinese general from around 400B.C.E. He said, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." By following that, he decided to invite them over to a formal dinner. The emperor made a toast and offered them all rewards. He spent time with them to understand what kind of people they are. To keep them even closer, he kept them in the capital of China, which at the time was Kaifeng. There he could watch them and make sure that they weren't causing any trouble.

Emperor Taizu also constructed a new army, but not for the reason most people would think. He made it to keep everything in his empire running smoothly and safely. The members of the army were advised that they should not kill as a punishment because that was against their beliefs as Confucianists. He recruited young men for these jobs. He divided them into different divisions which do different jobs. He also was scared that the people with high power would be cocky and take their power for granted. In order for that not to happen, he decided that members of the army should switch jobs every three years. It sounds like a very strong new beginning for this new army.

Emperor Taizu felt that in order to rebuild this empire successfully he needed to set a few simple things to put himself in control. By being a Confucianist, Emperor Taizu made very few simple laws that must be followed by all. One of the most important ones was that everyone must understand the authority of the emperor. He also set a few new rules for his army. He also brought back all but two small states into his empire.

He reorganized the government system. He divided the high ministers into three groups, which were, the Chancellery, the Secretariat and the Department of State Affairs. They were the ones, who thought of ideas for new laws, but they didn't make the final decisions, the emperor did. The high ministers are lucky though, because Emperor Taizu usually sides with the majority. He also redid the civil service exams, he made the first test about Confucianism, pretty basic, but most people didn't pass, less than 10% were eligible to move on to the second and more difficult test. This test takes place in Kaifeng and the ones who pass are called "elevated men" which is a name of honor, but doesn't give you a government job, in order to get one you have to stay at the capital and take the next test, which tests you on history, government, moral ethics and skills of poetry. Only 10% passed this test, and for the ones who have come that far should be proud and should definitely try again. The ones who do pass become advanced scholars. They are separated by their excellency; the one who come in first becomes very famous around all of China. And under these scholars Emperor Taizu decided that he should have branches of officers in state that help keep the area safe and organized. So far this system has worked in order to get the people in the places they belong.

Last but not least, Emperor Taizu wanted to make the capital, Kaifeng more safe and organized. First, he put walls around the city, so no invaders could attack. He made the roads line up in a grid form. All of the important buildings face south. The most important building, which is where emperor Taizu lives, is in the center. He supplied the city with food and water. This design might actually keep invaders away especially if he chooses to guard all the gates.

Emperor Taizu was special because he does what he thinks is right in a different way than the way most other emperors would’ve approached their problems. However, we all know that there must be some flaws here and there because an empire can’t last forever.

If he continues this way, he’ll have a long and successful dynasty. He’s taking control and trying to help the empire to be as strong as possible. He is also trying to help the people stay safe, which is very important because it shows he is not a selfish emperor. Emperor Taizu is building up to a new empire that actually might last for a very long time.