Song Dynasty (960-1279) — Early Woodblock Printing, Travel Literature, Poetry, Scientific Texts and the Neo-Confucian Classics
The next dynasty is called the Song Dynasty. It was weaker than the Tang Dynasty, but the imperial government officials made remarkable scientific and technical advances.
Military technology greatly advanced. They traded little with the west due to the presence of warring Muslim states on the old trade routes. There wasn’t territorial expansion, but the empire was continuously attacked by nomadic tribes and countries around them. Their northern territory was invaded, and they were forced to move their capital to southern China.
So the era is divided into two eras called the Northern Song (960-1127) and Southern Song (1127-1279) eras.
One of the era’s technological accomplishments was the invention of movable type about the turn of 2nd millennia during the Northern Song period. This helped to spread knowledge since printed material could be published more quickly and cheaply.
