they were sold for as little as twenty
strings.

(B) Period of Moderate Absolutism

(1) The Northern Sung dynasty

1 _Southward expansion_

The founder of the Sung dynasty, Chao K'uang-yin, came of a Chinese
military family living to the south of Peking. He advanced from general
to emperor, and so differed in no way from the emperors who had preceded
him. But his dynasty did not disappear as quickly as the others; for
this there were several reasons. To begin with, there was the simple
fact that he remained alive longer than the other founders of dynasties,
and so was able to place his rule on a firmer foundation. But in
addition to this he followed a new course, which in certain ways
smoothed matters for him and for his successors, in foreign policy.

This Sung dynasty, as Chao K'uang-yin named it, no longer turned against
the northern peoples, particularly the Kitan, but against the south.
This was not exactly an heroic policy: the north of China remained in
the hands of the Kitan. There were frequent clashes, but no real effort
was made to destroy the Kitan, whose dynasty was now called "Liao". The
second emperor of the Sung was actually heavily defeated several times
by the Kitan. But they, for their part, made no attempt to conquer the
whole of China, especially since the task would have become more and
more burdensome the farther south the Sung expanded. And very soon there
were other reasons why the Kitan should refrain from turning their whole
strength against the Chinese.

[Illustration: 10 Ladies of the Court: clay models which accompanied
the dead person to the grave. T'ang period. _In the collection of the
Museum fuer Voelkerkunde, Berlin_.]

[Illustration: 11 Distinguished founder: a temple banner found at
Khotcho, Turkestan. _Museum fuer Voelkerkunde, Berlin, No. 1B_ 4524,
_illustration B_ 408.]

As we said, the Sung turned at once against the states in the south.
Some of the many small southern states had made substantial economic and
cultural advance, but militarily they were not strong. Chao K'uang-yin
(named as emperor T'ai Tsu) attacked them in succession. Most of them
fell very quickly and without any heavy fighting, especially since the
Sung dealt mildly with the defeated rulers and their following. The
gentry and the merchants in these small states could not but realize the
advantages of a widened and well-ordered economic field, and they were
therefore entirely in favour of the annexa