Compare And Contrast Tang And Song Dynasties

The Tang, Song, and Ming Dynasties were all very innovative. The Tang focused more on something that would last. The Song Focused on a lasting, but more convenient building. The Ming Dynasty wasn’t going for anything very tall, but they wanted to make everything very beautiful, with colors and statues. Architecture shows more continuity then change in the Tang and Song Dynasties while the Ming Dynasty had radical change. This is because both the Tang and Song Dynasty are similar where they are more conscious about the strength of their buildings then the Ming.

The Tang dynasty used architecture while building their pagodas in the City of Chang’an, the pagoda is a leveled tower that was originated in South Asia and spread throughout Asia. “T’ang period pagodas usually had a square base…”The Tang dynasty made their pagodas squared and sturdy. They made many of these, almost every building was a pagoda, the library, the Buddhist temples, even living spaces. They used bricks and stones for building and made few wooden pagodas. We do not know the exact number of wooden pagodas because wood erodes more then stone and

brick. “From the Tang Dynasty onward, brick and stone architecture gradually became more common and replaced wooden edifices,” this quote was helpful to me because it clarified the Tangs material used for building. I think that the Tang Dynasty shows more continuity then change because they were always trying to make their buildings more complex, which was the case for all of the Dynasties.

The Song Dynasty created less sturdy Pagodas then the Tang but made them more convenient to the people.

They were made of stone with wooden lattices around it. The buildings were taller and thinner with high spires. “The tulou in the picture has 53 rooms on each level… These apartment houses were popular because they were efficient to build and heat, using very little wood…” Therefore, the Song may not have been as sturdy as the Tang’s pagodas but the Song Dynasty did create apartment Complexes similar to Pagodas called tulou’s, which seems very intelligent. “Palaces and temples were at first designed in the Tang tradition, sturdy and relatively simple in detail though smaller in scale… however, became progressively more complex.” The Song Dynasty is similar to the Tang because it kept progressing and becoming more of a complex advanced

City.

The Ming Dynasty has a very interesting way of architecture that was much more architecturally detailed. The Ming Dynasty used wood for the buildings with a brick floor. However, you could say that the Ming dynasty was very colorful. The buildings all had colored tiles, most buildings were yellow tiled, “The tile roofs are painted yellow, the color of the emperors,” The emperors were very important to represent, just like how in today’s society you see our president being advertised with billboards and is all over the news. “The library at the pavilion of Literary Profundity has black tiles because black was associated with water, and thus fire prevention,” the colors were symbolic. The crowned prince’s residence had green tiles, green was associated with wood, therefore to grow. The Ming Dynasty was constantly changing, by including roof statuettes, colored tile, and much more. The Ming were much more expressive and artistic with their buildings then the Tang and Song. It seems that the Tang and Song Dynasties went more towards efficiency and the Ming Dynasty Chose to be more artistic.

In Conclusion, the Tang Dynasties pagodas were very sturdy and well crafted. The Song Dynasty has a similar design and build to the Tang, but is more architecturally detailed. The Ming Dynasty is relatively different, they are more artistically advanced with the production of architecture.