WHI-Chap15-Obj7
Describe the achievements and shortcomings of the Song Dynasty.
The Song dynasty's (960-1279 C.E.) first emperor, Song Taizu (960-976 C.E.), implemented several traditions that, although it helped their rise, also caused their demise. The first thing he did as emperor was persuade all of his military generals to retire, so they wouldn't try to usurp his throne. He also paid "all" of his state officials, even minor ones in distant provinces, great sums of money to insure their loyalty to him. He then expanded his bureaucracy based on merit by creating more oppurtunities for people to take the exams. However, the last two reasons also led to the fall of the Song. By paying every single one of his state officials, a large number of people because of the new oppurtunities from the exam, he completely emptied the imperial treasury. High taxes to make up for the lost money lead to peasent rebellions, but by the point the peasents rebelled the Song bureaucracy was impossible to reform. The second reason was military. The Song dynasty placed more importance on their enormous bureaucracy rather than their military. As a result, they lacked military officials and had to place imperial bureaucrats in military positions, causing them to lose several military battles. This particularly affected them when the Jurchen, a large group of nomadic peoples, took over the Khitan empire of nomadic peoples, whom they had an agreement with in which the Song paid the Khitan not to attack them. Ignoring the agreement between the Khitan and Song, the Jurchen attacked them and forced them into the southern half of their territory, where their new capital was Hangzhou.
You may also want to see: Describe the weaknesses of the Song Dynasty
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