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The challenge of academic writing for Chinese students within ...

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and Northern<br />

Dynasties (386 - 581)<br />

- Sui Dynasty (581 –<br />

617) and Tang<br />

Dynasty (618 – 907)<br />

self-realization, with a strong<br />

emphasis on man.<br />

Sui Dynasty saw the reuniting <strong>of</strong> the country, expansion<br />

<strong>of</strong> territories, and political, economic and cultural<br />

achievement. Tang Dynasty was an era <strong>of</strong> a golden age:<br />

unprecedented prosperity, flourishing <strong>of</strong> trade,<br />

accomplishments in culture, technological innovation, the<br />

arts and literature, although no escape from internal<br />

conflict and feud, and warfare across borders.<br />

Later Imperial<br />

China<br />

- Song Dynasty [the<br />

Northern Song (960<br />

- 1126) and the<br />

Southern Song<br />

(1127 - 1279)]<br />

- Yuan (1271 -<br />

1368), Ming (1368<br />

- 1644), Qing (1644<br />

- 1911) Dynasties<br />

Neo-Confucianism – can be traced<br />

back as early as the later Tang<br />

Dynasty, developed in the Song<br />

Dynasty (960 - 1279), and <strong>of</strong>ficially<br />

endorsed during Qing Dynasty;<br />

prominent Neo-Confucianism<br />

philosophers – Zhou Dun-yi (1017 -<br />

1073), Cheng Hao (1032 -1077),<br />

Cheng Yi (1033 - 1107), Zhu Xi<br />

(1130 - 1200), Wang Shou-ren/Yangming<br />

(1472 - 1529)<br />

Neo-Confucianism refers to the<br />

Lixue <strong>of</strong> the Song and Ming<br />

Dynasties. Lixue regards Li<br />

(Principle/idea), as the natural<br />

law <strong>of</strong> all things; in contrast<br />

Xinxue, one school <strong>of</strong> Neo-<br />

Confucianism, considers mind<br />

as the principle <strong>of</strong> all things.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Song Dynasty enjoyed economic prosperity, great<br />

advances in technology, manufacture, and science, and<br />

was rich in culture, the arts and intellectual works, but<br />

weak in political and military power. <strong>The</strong> Song empire<br />

extended its power southwards, leaving the North and<br />

West <strong>of</strong> China undergone the control <strong>of</strong> the Qidan (Liao<br />

Dynasty 907 - 1125), the Nuzhen (Jin Dynasty 1115 -<br />

1234), and Western Xia Dynasty (1032 - 1227).<br />

<strong>The</strong> Yuan Dynasty, ruled by the Mongols, saw the<br />

development <strong>of</strong> cultural diversity, <strong>of</strong> the culture exchange<br />

between East and West, <strong>of</strong> <strong>for</strong>eign trade, but the<br />

impoverishment <strong>of</strong> China. <strong>The</strong> Ming Dynasty saw great<br />

agricultural, economic and cultural development, and<br />

social harmony; centralization <strong>of</strong> the government,<br />

eunuchs‘ control <strong>of</strong> political power, and internal struggle<br />

<strong>of</strong> cliques.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Qing Dynasty <strong>of</strong> China experienced peace, prosperity<br />

and social harmony, and great expansion <strong>of</strong> the empire <strong>for</strong><br />

the first 150 years <strong>of</strong> the dynasty.<br />

Domestic uprising and rebellions started in the year 1775<br />

against the Manchu government;<br />

<strong>The</strong> First (1840 - 1842) and Second (1856 - 1860) Opium<br />

21

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