China’s “Golden Age” began with the Tang Dynasty in in 618 CE and continued under the Song Dynasty from 960-1279 CE (1). During the Song dynasty, China experienced extraordinary commercial growth. The growth is considered to be “premodern”. During this era, China experienced growth in the production of non-agricultural goods like silk as well as the production crops that are to be sold not consumed by China such as tea. This leads to growth in the Chinese markets as well. In fact, this was an important form of Chinese production and market development until the 20th century. The Song Dynasty is credited for China’s early development in this area. The Song made China ahead of its time by creating the use of paper money, the introducing tea drinking, inventing gunpowder, the compass and printing (2). Because of the China’s commercial growth, China becomes urbanized and its cities are the biggest and most developed in the world during this time period.
The Song Dynasty also experiences tremendous growth in …show more content…
The combination of famine and Black Death caused chaos and panic (4). Religious groups feared the end of the world and began to challenge the Mongol leaders of the Yuan dynasty. Eventually, a group known as The Red Turbans were able to drive the Mongols out of China in1368. Their leader, Zhu Yuanzhang, made the southern city of Nanjing his new capital and created the Ming Dynasty. Zhu also declared himself the first emperor of the dynasty and began to reconstruct China’s weakened society after he defeated rival rebel leaders. Zhu was known as The Hongwu