Texas Southern University The Song Dynasty Significant Advances Discussion

Final examination questions

Part I: Short answer: summary of secondary sources (20 points)

1. Summarize the key features of the Song Dynasty (Ebrey, China, pp. 136–163)

Part II: Short answer—close readings of primary sources (20 points each)

For each of the following primary sources, please summarize and critically analyze the key ideas in historical context. Please use all the information presented in the lectures. Do not use the internet; do not use the translators’ introductions.

2. “On the Six Schools of Thought,” Records of the Grand Historian, (Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1, pp. 278–282).

3. Tang Code, in Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1, pp. 547–553 (including the preface).

Part III: Essay question: critical analysis and synthesis (40 points)

Integrate summary, historical contextualization, and critical analysis of primary sources. Again, please use the information presented in the lectures. Do not use the internet; do not use the translators’ introductions.

4. Neo-Confucianism: Outline the key tenets of Neo-Confucianism using Zhu Xi’s Great Learning and The Mean (including the prefaces, texts, and commentaries, Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1, pp. 721–737), illustrating your points with very short quotes. Then explain key similarities and differences with Confucianism, using the Analects and Mencius, again with very short quotes.