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History Department: Lecture Series on Ancient Chinese History Report IV

April 30, 2019

On April 30th, some 7th and 8th graders met in room 413 of the Middle School Building to attend Ms. Zhou Shen’s lecture on the Tang and Song Dynasty. First, she helped the students review the basic knowledge from the last lecture, which included the founder of the Tang Dynasty and the great rulers during the flourishing ages. She then briefly introduced the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and some political powers established by nomads in the far west as well as the An Shi Rebellion, which led to the decline of the Tang Dynasty. Next, she asked the students to observe a table of the founders of the Five Dynasties and Ten States and their former official positions. It made it easy for the students to understand why the Song rulers later tried to establish a civil service system to prevent the military leaders from seizing power. She talked further about the imperial exam system and described the procedures and changes of the exams during the Song dynasty. She detailed an interesting phenomenon to explain how the Song government and society emphasized the importance of learning: “the ones who did well in exams would be caught after the exams by wealthy merchants and officials and asked marry their daughters when they saw the result of the exam”. She then told the stories of Emperor Huizong and the Jing Kang Incident, which led to the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty. Students learned more about the Tang and Song Dynasties through the lectures.

(Written by Shen Zhou Pictures by Zeng Yan)