Introduction
History reveals that dynastic authoritarian governing had many challenges in most countries where it was exercised. Dynastic involves a succession of rulers from the same family lineage; a family maintains power all throughout through hereditary means. A country that had such ruling, for example, was ancient China in which there were various dynasties. China for a long period was faced with wars, bloodshed, and conflicts because of the dynastic ruling, people killed each other in order to succeed a power. The succession alternated from competent rulers to incompetent ones and vice versa, and the government was marred with corruption, discrimination, and dictatorial leadership. Peasants in the region were disregarded with the wealthy person getting favored. The most common dynasties that existed during this era were the Sui dynasty, Tang dynasty, and the Song dynasty. Certainly, the three dynasties have similarities and differences because of their effects on people, diplomacy and the kind of their association with other states.
Relevant Information
People in China had undergone a series of wars, torture, and peace instability for a long period. In addition, they were longing for unification by Yang Jian, a young man from a noble class who realized this goal and seized it. In 581, he replaced the previous Northern Zhou with Sui and became the first emperor; he was also known as Sui Wendi. The Sui dynasty is one of the historical dynasties of China; it was started in 581 and reigned for a period of 38 years with its reign ending in 618. Over this period, three different emperors ruled the dynasty successively. The three emperors were Sui Wendi- the founder of the Sui dynasty, Sui Yangdi-the second son of Wendi and an incompetent ruler, and the third emperor was Sui Gongdi who served as the last emperor of the Sui dynasty.
The Sui dynasty took to unifying the war-torn China region and instituted various measure and policies to develop the region. Among the reform policies that were adopted by the Sui leadership are; the equal-field system where land was subdivided almost equally among all members of the society. Other policies were; improved agricultural activity to reduce famine effects, measures to cut down economic inequality, regularization and re-unification of the coinage, and changes in the government structure that encompassed some departments and ministries.
The Tang dynasty succeeded the Sui dynasty from 618 to 907. The Sui dynasty had tried to wage war against the Koreans and these military expeditions ended in great failure. Having lost the war, the dynasty was faced with famine and flooding and these occurrences triggered a rebellion amongst the people. With the rebellion gaining power and momentum, the region was again faced with civil wars. Different province military heads led their men into war to acquire supremacy. The end of the civil war was the birth of the Tang dynasty with its leader having emerged the winner of the battle. The Duke of Tang known Li Yuan reunited the torn China and became the first emperor of the Tang dynasty.
The Tang dynasty with a large population of people managed to form a huge army of several hundred thousand troops. The troops and the dynasty leadership aimed at enlarging its territory to Asia. The dynasty also improved and developed new trade routes to improve the economic status of the region. Many of the kingdoms in the region paid tribute to the Tang established “court for various issues that affected their areas”. The Tang dynasty was also able to conquer several regions and influence cultural changes in its neighboring countries. The Tang dynasty was notably the period in which the country achieved the most development in various fields.
The Song dynasty began in 960 and reigned until 1279. In 960, there were political unrest and chaos in China. It was during this period-organized army troops overthrew the ruling government and instituted a new Emperor Taizu who was their commander. Taizu sought to re-unify the falling apart region and promote peace among the people. The dynasty was the first ever in the Chinese and world history to give banknotes or real paper money to its citizens. During this era, there were numerous discoveries and innovations made including the use of gunpowder and identification of the true north by use of a compass.
Nevertheless, the Song dynasty was faced with conflicts, and there was a division making the Southern and Northern Song. Uneasy relations with conflicts constantly erupting characterized the two division. Despite these instabilities in the region, the song dynasty had a well-developed economy in that era. Industries and trade were able to grow and thrive well in a highly populated region. The aforementioned, are the three dynasties that existed in China since 581-1279 and have contributed much to the status of the present day China in culture, development, and rich history. The dynasties had different approaches to diplomacy and foreign states relationships that enabled them to develop.
When examining the similarities between the three dynasties in their diplomatic relation with neighboring countries, it is true they had weak ties. All the three dynasties engaged their militaries in wars against their neighbors, but their conquest trials always resulted in failure. In addition, their relations with the neighbors were uneasy with a tense atmosphere that could result into war at any time. The Sui dynasty unsuccessfully tried to engage the northern Korean kingdom in the war and resulted in its army being massacred. Majority of the Sui men were killed in battle. Much of the Sui government revenue and militants were depleted in this period and out during this period and it eventually led to internal political unrest. Moreover, civil wars erupted in the region, and the reign of the Sui ended at that time.
The Tang dynasty also had the same crisis regarding its diplomatic ties with various Turkic groups that lived in the central Asia. The Emperor Taizong, in various occasion, sent his men to invade various region in the Central Asia such as the Eastern Tujue, Tuyuhun, and the Xueyantuo. Not all such raids were successful. Nevertheless, the emperor succeeded in capturing the kingdom of Karasahr in 644 and later in 649, he managed to capture the kingdom of Kucha. During the Tang dynasty, some parts of the Turks region were captured by the emperor’s successors. The Tang dynasties also engaged in battles with the Koreans and Japanese people. These are evidences of the weak diplomatic approaches that were used by the dynasty.
History reveals that although China was the center of diplomacy the Song dynasty had little or none of it at all. In essence, the Song dynasty never tried diplomacy at all among the three dynasties under discussion. The evident weak approach to diplomacy was brought out by the Song dynasty through the internal conflicts that affected the country. The song dynasty was divided into two due to failed diplomacy and thereafter there were conflicts and wars between the Chinese people in the two divides.
Another similarity that exists across the three dynasties in terms of diplomatic approaches is that of poor internal talks to solve conflicts. Across the three dynasties, there always erupted internal wars after talks on a certain subject failed; wars were their option to settle disputes arising within the dynasty and the societies in which they ruled. All the three dynasties came into power after a series of wars against their presiding government; there were no peace talks, and overthrowing the reigning government was only achieved through bloodshed. The dynasties were always anticipating war and their attitude to it was ironically positive putting into thought the number of deaths that resulted.
Another similarity that cuts across the three dynasties is the fact they all were unable to maintain peace amongst themselves. There were constant internal conflicts and civil wars that faced the dynasties. In cases of succession, there were sibling rivalry and family wars that erupted while trying to establish who would be the right heir to the emperor’s seat. Rebellion against the ruling government was always common, and the government was unable to manage such rebels and eventually a war would break out disrupting the existing peace in the region.
There were some leaders chosen by the rulers of the dynasty to ensure fairness and equality among all the people in the dynasties. These people or ministers were also charged with the responsibilities that would ensure there were peace and unification of the people throughout the dynasty. Therefore, the dynasties had at least some level of diplomacy; the shortcoming of these leaders was that they were lenient on the leaders. All their plans and efforts were directed towards eradicating the rebelling people who they considered a threat rather than hearing them out to maintain peace.
The three dynasties did not have the same diplomacy approaches, their views about other states and nations were not the same, there existed some differences among these three dynasties as discussed henceforth. The Song dynasty, which was more developed and civilized than the early dynasties, showed a difference in its diplomatic relationships with the other dynasties. It engaged in skillful diplomatic approaches with other powerful neighboring states. It engaged in skillful diplomatic approaches with other powerful neighboring states. The dynasty is said to have developed the diplomatic ties to help settle the boundary conflicts that existed between it and its neighbors such as the Western Xia. The skillful diplomatic approaches were not used much out of choice, but the dynasty was compelled by the fact that its neighbor were clearly very powerful than them, and only diplomacy would save the situation.
Popular public officials and scientists named Shen Kuo, and Su Song was sent to represent the Song dynasty in ironing out the boundary issues with the Liao dynasty. The two representatives used their vast knowledge and skills to settle the disputes on the rightful boundaries for the two dynasties. From that period henceforth, Song dynasty developed its diplomatic ties with a variety of nations such as Egypt and India. These was a different diplomatic approach to that of the Sui and Tang dynasties, whereas the diplomatic approaches of the two always ended in war the Song approach ended in a peaceful agreement. Furthermore, there were no treaties and agreements signed for the Sui, and Tang dynasties and bloodshed was always the result with the victor acquiring the disputed boundaries.
Another difference that existed was the Song dynasty sent representatives into foreign countries, and it harbored some foreign representatives. These were different with the other two dynasties, which did not send any representatives to the conflicting states or harbor foreigners from such states. The perception of foreign states was also different across the three dynasties. While the Sui dynasty perceived them as a threat and an enemy to their establishment and growth, the Tang dynasty had a mixed view of them, and the Song saw them as friends. The Tang considered the foreign states a threat and at the same time a friend. While waging war against the Koreans, the Tang joined forces with the Korean Silla kingdom to attack the Baekje Kingdom. The Sui did not make treaties and agreements with any foreign kingdoms as they were viewed as threats while the Song made peace treaties with its neighbors and viewed them as a friendly bunch.
Because of their difference views of the foreign states, the dynasties ability to maintain peace across their boundaries also varied. The Sui were completely unable to co-exist peacefully with their neighbors, whereas the Tang dynasty managed to live peacefully with only some of the neighbors whom they had joined allies while still conflicting with others. The Song dynasty managed to foster peace with its neighbors by always engaging them in talks and treaties.
The attitude towards war also differed among the three dynasties. The Song dynasty did not prefer wars at any time with its neighbors and was always ensuring that conflicts were managed skillfully to avoid getting into the war. However, the Sui and Tang dynasties had a positive attitude to war, and they would always engage their neighbors in boundary and territory expansion wars. Although the Tang had some proper diplomatic ties with other states, it engaged other in war.
Conclusion
The Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties had differences in the running of their internal and external affairs as well as similarities. It is obvious that the modern China underwent a series of political struggles and divided before growing into a peaceful and diplomatic state. The three dynasties are key contributors to the history of the region and their effects reflect in the country up to date.
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