Tang Dynasty

This was the first golden age of China. The first question that may pop into your mind is why? At least, that's what I was wondering. And because of my great time traveling machine, I was allowed to travel back into time and figure out exactly what went down to make this dynasty so great!
After the Han dynasty, China remained divided for almost 400 years. China still functioned, but was not as strong as it had been. In 618, the Tang Dynasty began. Li Yuan was the first emperor, but it was his son Tan Taizong who was the big deal. So, as you can guess, Tan is the guy I visited. Tan was a brilliant general, a government reformer, historian, and master of calligraphy. He restored the Han Confucianism idea, and used the civil test (only smartest people are educated and given good jobs). This made sure all government officials and people of high power were well educated and naturally smart. Because of its success, Vietnam, Tibet, and Korea became part of this dynasty.
After hanging with Tan, I felt like I needed a change of pace. I needed to go somewhere a little more artsy, and find the real reason why the Tang Dynasty was a golden age.
Well, my answer laid in the hands of Li-po and Du fu. Who are these men? The two greatest poets of the Tang Dynasty. In fact, there poetry was so great and inspirational, it inspired art and literature that will come in the Sung Dynasty, which I will explore next. These guys were great! Except, they never really got out of poetry mode when you talked to them, and that could get a little annoying at times.
The Tang Dynasty was not perfect though. Territories were lost to Arab invaders, and because of high taxes and drought, a rebellion occurred. The Mandate of Heaven was taken away, and the Tang Dynasty fell in 907.

https://socialstuds.wikispaces.com/file/view/Emperor_Tang_Taizong.jpg/69771949/Emperor_Tang_Taizong.jpg

Sung Dynasty

This was my other favorite time period to travel to... the Sung Dynasty. The sung dynasty is the other golden age of China, and began in 960 A.D. until the Mongols overtook it in the 1200's. Zhao Kuang Yin, someone who I'm very glad to say I met, is the Emperor who reunited China and founded this Dynasty.
What made this dynasty so great? Growing rice. Crazy right? But it worked. Upon visiting this era, I not only talked to the emperor but also the common people. They told me that they grew more rice than they ever had before, two crops of rice per year! This provided a surplus of rice, so not everyone had to grow rice anymore. Now more people could pursue commerce, learning, and arts. (wen)
Another highlight of the Sung Dynasty is the Grand Canal. The grand canal was originally built in the Sui dynasty in between the years 589-618. The grand Canal was 1,200 miles long and was built from the Yangtze to Yellow river. This canal linked northern and southern China, and was a generator of wealth in China. Many people lived along it, and still do. So, if the grand canal was built during the Sui Dynasty, why is it so important in the Sung Dynasty? Well, during the Sung Dynasty food was shipped from southern China to the capital in the North. This was very profitable, and reached its peak during this Dynasty.
As all golden ages, people were now allowed to really prosper. The Sung Dynasty invented the compass, movable type printing press and woodblock printing. Many things were discovered in science, philosophy, and engineering. Confucianism and Buddhism expanded. And, as in the Tang Dynasty, trade flourished and paper money began to be used.
Wow the sung Dynasty was beautiful... and life was easy! It was so sad that it had to be overthrown! Ah well... it was time well traveled.
http://www.toddborg.com/Art.htm
http://www.suite101.com/content/art-and-literature-of-the-sung-dynasty-a142922

Mongols take China

In 1200 the mongols, led by Genghis Kahn (A.K.A Universal Ruler), took over northern China. Genghis Kahn, who I visited briefly, was born in 1162 and lived until 1227, and united warring mongol tribes. How did he do this when no one else could? Well, at the age of 15 he was put in prison and humiliated. Upon escaping, he learned how to influence people with his words, allowing him to unite the Mongols. Thus, he had power to overtake China and impose Mongol Rule on them. Genghis Kahn was known as a ruthless, determined, and courageous leader, and after meeting him I understood why. Genghis Kahn was determined. He tried hard to take over northern China, which was rewarded by him being successful. I talked to him about what he thought the main reason was to why he succeeded in taking China. He responded with his skilled horseman, and the fact that the Mongols were so united, as they hadn't been for a long time, or possibly, never had been before. 70 years after he took northern, his grandson Kublai Kahn conquered southern China. The Sung empire was conquered in 1279. For most of the time I visited this time period, I lived among the Chinese people. The mongols demanded absolute loyalty, had the best horseman in the world, didn't bug the people much as long as they paid a tribute to the Mongols, and had a strict military discipline. Only mongols were allowed to join the military, and only mongols could be government officials. This made it harder for Chinese people to revolt because they were not disciplined or trained in the military, and didn't have many weapons.
Kublai Kahn made Beijing the capital, and renamed it Khanbaliq. After Kublai's death, his son often attempted to expand the mongol rule even further. The mongol dynasty (also referred to as Yuan Dynasty) was the first and only to capture Russia during the winter. Ain Julet was the city that stopped the mongols from capturing Jerusalem, and stopped westward expansion.
After a while, mongol rule began to dwindle. China was just too big, and there weren't enough Mongols to keep China under there rule. Mongol rule ended, allowing the Ming (meaning brilliant) dynasty to take over.
http://www.historyofjihad.org/mongolia.html

Zheng He

Admiral Zheng He... wow there is so much to say about him. When I visited him, he allowed me to go on his 7 voyages with him. These voyages took place from 1405-1433. Admiral Zheng He and I spent alot of time together, we were so close, he allowed me to call him He! I learned alot about him, like how he was born in 1371. The great thing about time traveling is I could "fast forward" through the slow parts of his life and the boring parts of the voyages, and push play when it got exciting. These voyages during the Ming dynasty were very exciting though.
The fleet Zheng He led consisted of 300 ships, bigger than anything the world had ever seen before. 9 mast vessels, little transport ships, Zheng He was an explorer of the new world. He visited 37 countries, commanded this huge fleet, and some historians argue he could have visited America before Columbus. In 1433 in India he dies. I didn't want to come back to the present just yet, I wanted to see what would happen to this grand fleet. It was disastrous really. Horrible. The new emperor had Zheng He's fleet burned.
Of course, destroying this fleet had it's consequences. The Ming Dynasty had now said to the world they didn't want to conquer it. China had its chance, with the biggest fleet, gun powder, an army. But they destroyed it. China was now weakened.
This spiked my interest. I know, given the chance, any other ruler would have conquered the world. So, I asked the Emperor why. His response? Don't take it word for word, but something along the lines of "I want to fix China's problems, and how could I do that if I was worrying about conquering the whole world?"
Wise words my friend, wise words. Wise until China became captured by the Europeans. And the worst part of that was China's own inventions were used against itself. But, that's another adventure. And that sums up Zheng He's time, and what he did for China. This also ends my time traveling adventure, for now. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did :)

http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/140873