Compare and contrast the chinese government bureaucracy under the tang and song dynasties. how was it similar? how did it differ?

Tang was militarily powerful while song was comparatively weak. Song dynasty is remembered for its accomplishments in the sphere of its culture. Tang Dynasty was overthrown by the rebels whereas song dynasty experienced the downfall when the Mongols invaded them.

Tang Dynasty influenced military authority over Central Asia which included Korea, Japan and Siberia and central China whereas song dynasty influenced only a part of china but its cultural impact was felt in other nations too. Song Dynasty gave little importance to military power and encouraged Confucian intellectuals for advocacy.

Tang Dynasty allowed many religions to be followed in his rule; they were Buddhism, Islam, Taoism, Christianity, and Judaism. But song Dynasty favored only the teachings of Confucius. Tang Dynasty was known for poetry while song dynasty promoted paintings. Both the dynasties are similar in creating a cultural impact on other nations.

the earth’s crust is broken into separate pieces called tectonic plates (fig. 7.14). recall that the crust is the solid, rocky, outer shell of the planet. it is composed of two distinctly different types of material: the less-dense continental crust and the more-dense oceanic crust. both types of crust rest atop solid, upper mantle material. the upper mantle, in turn, floats on a denser layer of lower mantle that is much like thick molten tar.

each tectonic plate is free-floating and can move independently. earthquakes and volcanoes are the direct result of the movement of tectonic plates at fault lines. the term fault is used to describe the boundary between tectonic plates. most of the earthquakes and volcanoes around the pacific ocean basin—a pattern known as the “ring of fire”—are due to the movement of tectonic plates in this region. other observable results of short-term plate movement include the gradual widening of the great rift lakes in eastern africa and the rising of the himalayan mountain range. the motion of plates can be described in four general patterns:

collision: when two continental plates are shoved together

subduction: when one plate plunges beneath another (fig. 7.15)

spreading: when two plates are pushed apart (fig. 7.15)

transform faulting: when two plates slide past each other (fig. 7.15)