The Greatest Chinese Dynasty

Ni Hao, Emperor Ming, I have obeyed your instructions and I researched about the dynasties of China.  One of them, the Song, unified China, discovered and invented many objects, and gave a chance for poor people to become rich.  I believe that under the Song Dynasty, Chinese society thrived the most.

To begin with, the Song Dynasty took a separated, disorganized China, and turned it into one, unified country under a single government.  The last dynasty that unified China, the Sui, fell apart after 30 years but the Song lasted over 300 years.  Before the Song took over rule, there were five dynasties in the north and ten kingdoms in the south and there was chaos all around.  There was war everywhere and people were scared.   Unifying China put people under a single government and working together, they were able to create many discoveries and inventions. To sum up, unifying China made society thrive.

Furthermore, The Song Dynasty gave the hard-working and the less fortunate, a chance for a much better life.  The officials created state-supported schools and a civil service test that if you passed, you could advance and become a government official.  Education for the poor is one of the fundamental building blocks for a lasting, durable, society.  Without available education for everyone, society would advance slower. State-supported schools and a chance to become a government official made the poor really happy and it gave them an education they would have never had.  All in all, happy and educated people made society thrive.

Lastly, during the Song Dynasty, there were many new discoveries and inventions.  For example, the Song invented movable type, which is something that you can use to type a newspaper or print playing cards.  Using this, the Song could mass produce paper money and print a newspaper for the distribution of news. Movable type also led to a decrease in the cost of printing.  Also, by making writing available, books available, it helped spread learning throughout China.  Consequently, during the Song dynasty, the economy had a huge growth spike.  Changes in agriculture were a major reason for the growth. A new kind of rice was introduced into China and was resistant to drought and matured in two months instead of five.  An improved plow and harrow made it easier to prepare fields for planting.  All these reasons indicated that during the Song, new discoveries and inventions made society thrive.

However, some people may disagree by saying that the Song wasn’t that advanced.  People say that the Tang dynasty had lost of trade and culture exchange.  But, they didn’t mention that towards the end of the dynasty there was chaos and resentment towards foreigners.  People also say that the Sui also unified China so they weren’t the only one who accomplished this task.  However, the Sui fell apart after 30 years while the Song only after 300 years and that’s more than 10 times the years.

In conclusion, the Song was a well-developed, stable dynasty, and I believe that under its rule Chinese society boomed.  The Song dynasty unified China, created jobs for poor people, and had many inventions and discoveries.   For these reasons I conclude that under the Song, Chinese society thrived the most.