Anthara: Capital cities served as economic, political and cultural centers of the Sui, Tang and Song Empires. The Sui Dynasty was a time of Chinese reunification after Han conflicts and wars-therefore, the capital served as a main harbor point in the unifying Grand Canal for widespread trade and currency unification. The Tang Dynasty was a time of cultural flowering, so the cosmopolitan capital was important in cultural diffusion, the height of Buddhist influence. The Song Dynasty was an era of significant economic and social changes: the monetization of the economy; growth in commerce and maritime trade; urban expansion and technological innovations, reflecting on Hangzhou being the central harbor of maritime trade. Newly built capitals took on the role of older capitals with the construction of modern buildings, Hangzhou, as they became the new political and economic trade centers(KC 3.3 II C).
Sarika: Many of the original trade routes, such as the Silk Road reached their golden ages during the Sui, Tang and Song eras. Chang’an, the Tang capital, was the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, creating effective and reliable transportation of goods (KC 3.3 II.B) whereby
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Champa rice varieties that were drought resistant and grown in plenty with new irrigation systems, were brought on the Grand Canal on grain barges to the capital, Hangzhou, creating extensive trade and industrialization to the capital city, the economic center of the empire, through agriculture. Technological advances (KC 3.3 I.A) of the Southern Song Dynasty in rice cultivation, included water buffalo working with li (plough), ba (harrow), chao (paddy soil dredge), lu tu (stone roller); rice farmers planting, harvesting, husking and storing lead to the rice cultivation increase, grown by free peasants in farming villages (KC 3.3