Inventors, Khans and Samurai
1China's Tang dynasty (618–907) and Song dynasty (960–1279) produced inventions that later spread across the world. Under the Tang, printers carved whole pages into wooden blocks; the oldest printed book with a date, a Buddhist text called the Diamond Sutra, was made in 868. Tang alchemists searching for a potion of long life found that certain mixtures burned and exploded, and by Song times gunpowder was used in weapons. In the 1040s a Song craftsman named Bi Sheng made movable type from small pieces of baked clay, one for each character. By the 1100s Song sailors steered with magnetic compasses, and the Song government printed paper money.
2In 1206 Genghis Khan united the Mongol peoples of the northern grasslands. Mongol armies of skilled horse archers built the largest land empire the world had yet seen, stretching from Korea to eastern Europe. Relay stations let messengers change horses and carry news hundreds of miles in a few days, and travel on the Silk Road became safer under one empire. Genghis Khan's grandson Kublai Khan founded the Yuan dynasty in 1271, ruled from Dadu and finished conquering the Song in 1279. The Mongols relied on Chinese engineers, shipbuilders and weapons makers.
3Japan had an emperor in Kyoto, but by the late 1100s real power had passed to warrior families. In 1192 Minamoto Yoritomo received the title of shogun, the top military commander, and set up a warrior government at Kamakura. The emperor kept his title and his role in ceremonies. Samurai, trained warriors, served lords in return for land or pay and were expected to be loyal, brave and skilled with bow and sword, ideals later called bushido.
4When Kublai Khan sent letters demanding that Japan submit to him, the shogun's government refused to give in. After the defeats of 1274 and 1281, Kublai planned a third invasion, but it never sailed.