The Song Dynasty

In Chinese history, it is said that the Chinese believed in a belief known as the "Mandate of Heaven". This belief stated that all the rulers of China were chosen by the gods. If the chosen ruler did not fulfill his duties properly, then the gods would take away his power and choose a new ruler. Each period that had a different ruler was known as a dynasty. The Song dynasty was a specific dynasty that started in year 960, and here is a more indepth view of it.

Dates of Power:
The Song dynasty consisted of two periods: the northern Song which started in 960 until 1127, and the southern Song which continued from 1127 and ended the dynasty in 1279.(http://www.china-window.com/china_briefing/china_history/
chinese-historysong-dynas.shtml) The Song dynasty consists of two phases because the northern Song was forced to get rid of it's Song court because the Jin dynasty took over.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_Dynasty) The Song dynasty began under the rule of general Zhao Kuangyin, also known as Song Taizu. (http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Song/song-event.html)


The
Northern
Song
dynasty
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/China_11a.jpg)

The
Southern
Song
dynasty http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/China_11b.jpg

The Take Over:
The Song dynasty was established because the dynasty that had been reigning before the Song dynasty was called the Tang dynasty. The rulers of the Tang dynasty were not doing a very good job of helping the lower class people, so the peasants riotted against the empire and in the end, the emperor was forced to give up his throne, thus resulting in the creation of the Song dynasty. (http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/history/tang/end.htm)

Leaders of the Civilization:
Throughout both periods of the Song dynasty,there were quite a few rulers. But there were a few emperors that were important because of the differences they made during their reign. The dynasty began with Emperor Song Taizu who ruled until 975. Then the next important ruler was Emperor Qinzong who ruled from 1126 to 1127. Following him was Emperor Gaozong from 1127 until 1162 and then finally Emperor Bing from 1278 until the downfall of the Song dynasty in 1279. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_Dynasty)

Leader Outside of China
During the Song dynasty, there were also other rulers in different countries. For example, King Hugh Capet who had been the king of France from 938-996 was ruling at that time. King Hugh Capet was also a king who had started a new dynasty called the Capetian dynasty.


King Hugh Capet of France
(http://www.kidspast.com/images/capet.jpg)

Accomplishments
The Song dynasty was a period with many accomplisments in various areas. Gunpowder was first introduced during the Song dynasty, so that resulted in the Chinese having an upper hand ruing wars. Their ships were also better built than the European ships, which helped expand their foreign trade. The first autopsy was performed, resulting in medicinal advances. Education also became more popular, and this was because printing became much more convenient and more books were made. A different philosophy was also discovered during this period. It was called Neo-Confucianism. This philosphy was a combination of all the Confucianism ideas that had been founded in the past. This philosophy was very important because it taught people that it was their own decisions that formed their character. So people started to become less selfish and greedy, especially the nobles. Art was another area that changed. People began to write poetry and painting began to be more than just painting portraits.
(http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/classical_imperial_china/song.html)
Advances in mathematics were made, so that carographers were able to draw more precise maps and the first map of China all the way to India was drawn with a grid system. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_Dynasty#Technology.2C_science.2C_and_engineering)


Type of machinery called the trebuchet that fired explosive bombs

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Trebuchet1-intransit.jpg

Type of ships that were used for foreign trading
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/6/6b/SongJunk.jpg)

Downfall

Although the Song dynasty had a lot of accomplishments, they were still weak in the area of the military. This was because Neo-Confucianism stated that problems were solved through diplomacy, not fighting.
(http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/classical_imperial_china/song.html) So then the Mongol tribes first chased out the Northern Song dynasty, and then they invaded all the areas surrounding Southern Song. All the tribes attacked Southern Song and captured them. This was the end of the Song dynasty.

Bibliography

• "China History." China-Window. 1994. 13 Jan. 2008 .
• "Song Dynasty." Wikipedia. 9 Jan. 2008. 13 Jan. 2008 .
  
• Theobald, Ulrich. "Chinese History-Song Dynasty." ChinaKnowledge. 2000. 9 Jan. 2008 .
• "End of Tang Empire,Tang Dynasty Decline,China Tang Dynasty History." Travel China Guide. 27 Nov. 2007. 8 Jan. 2008 .
• "The Northern and Southern Song Dynasties." 12 Jan. 2008 .
• "Song Dynasty." Wikipedia. 9 Jan. 2008. 13 Jan. 2008 .

Welcome

Welcome to the blog about the wonders of Asian Studies. Read the information on this page and learn something! =]

Earthquake in Kobe,Japan 1995

An earthquake is a natural disaster that takes place when seismic waves, which is movement in the tectonic plates, are created when energy is released in the Earth's crust. An instrument called the seismometer is used to measure earthquakes with a scale called the Richter scale. A earthquake below 3 on the Richter scale does not cause that damage whereas an earthquake of 5 and above can be very dangerous.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake) The epicenter is the point where the earthquake originated.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicentre)Below is a diagram of how an earthquake takes place.(http://www.richmond.ca/__shared/assets/Earthquake_Diagram11097.jpg)

earthquake was the Philippine plate and the EurasianThe Kobe earthquake took place on January 17th, 1995. The plates that were involved in this plate, and Pacific plate.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hanshin_earthquake#Plate_Tectonics) The Philippine is an oceanic crust so it was thrust under the Eurasian plate, which is continental crust.(www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/ astronomy/planets/earth/continents.shtml) This type of plate boundary is called a destructive plate boundary. It was when these three plates collided against each other that the earthquake had been caused.

Effects of an earthquake are observed by looking at three factors: its magnitude and location, area's distance from the epicenter, and quality of structures and the time of day. The magnitude of this earthquake was 7.2 on the Richter scale, which is extremely severe and caused a lot of destruction in the city. The total duration of this earthquake was 20 seconds. The epicenter of this earthquake was near the paddy fields in Kobe. The soil of the fields started to spread apart from each other as the ground shook, which caused 102,000 buildings to collapse. Railways were also destroyed and part of the Kobe highway broke off, which caused cars that were on it to soar through air and crash into the ground. Some roads were also raised above the ground while others sank. The city lost a lot of its resources because water, electricity, and gas lines ran underground. So when the ground shifted, all pipes were broken and destroyed. Gas explosions and fires were results of the pipes breaking and so many homes were burnt down. In a mere matter of seconds, more than 150 billion dollars of infrastructure was destroyed. 5,250 people were killed and more than 400,000 people were homeless. The city was at shock at first by the earthquake, but soon repairs started to be made. By January 24th, 589 evacuation homes were built and a month later schools were reopened. Electricity, gas, and phone lines were fixed and running smoothly by July 1995. 1.13 million volunteers from all around Japan came to Kobe to help rebuild the city. Buildings were constructed to be more earthquake restraint and many laws were passed to allow this. A lot of donations and fund raisers took place to help the victims of this earthquake, such as the Kobe Housing Transition Center and the Post-Quake Citizen Support Services. (http://artsci.wustl.edu/~copeland/kobe.html)













The reason why people still live in Kobe is because it is the main port city in Japan. So a lot of companies and international corporations have their businessses set up in this city. All trading with western countries are done in the ports of Kobe. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe#Economy)

Effects of an earthquake in an LEDC is much greater than the effects in an MEDC. Some reasons why is because buildings in MEDC's are more likely to be built to withstand earthquakes than in LEDC's because it would be too costly for LEDC's. For example, in the Kobe earthquake only about 5,000 people were killed whereas in Turkey, an earthquake that had been 6.8-7.0 on the Richter scale killed 17,000 people. Another reason is because MEDC's are more likely to have plans and emergency drills planned out in case of natural hazards unlike LEDC's which lack disaster response plans. LEDC's often need the help of MEDC's when a natural hazard takes place because more money and resources are needed. So for aid to come to LEDC's could take a few days and by then more people who were trapped or sick could have died. (http://www.geography.learnontheinternet.co.uk/topics/earthquakes_impact_response.html)

In conclusion, earthquakes are a type of natural disaster that can be very dangerous and cause a lot of problems in a country, especially in LEDC's. Hopefully, this information helped realise how severe the repercussions can be and see that people need to be more aware of this destructive natural disaster.

Bibliography

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicentre
• http://www.richmond.ca/__shared/assets/Earthquake_Diagram11097.jpg
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hanshin_earthquake#Plate_Tectonicsquake#Plate_Tectonics
• www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/earth/continents.shtml
• http://artsci.wustl.edu/~copeland/kobe.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe#Economy
• http://www.geography.learnontheinternet.co.uk/topics/earthquakes_impact_response.html