Kevin's World History: Song Dynasty (China)

Song Dynasty (China)

In my latest time travel journey I went back in time to the Song Dynasty in 1231. I’ve always been interested in Ancient China and was excited to go back and photograph this great place in history. At this time, China was developing very quickly creating things such as gunpowder which strengthened China’s Military and played a cultural role in China. The Song Dynasty was divided into two separate periods, the Northern Song and the Southern Song. During the Northern Song, which lasted from 960 to 1127, the Song capital was in the northern city of Bianjing and the dynasty controlled most of inner China. The Southern Song lasted from 1127 to 1279, and refers to the period after the Song lost control of northern China to the Jin Dynasty.

So once again I climbed into my trusty time machine and dialed in the time and location, 1231 the Song Dynasty. I pushed the button and off I went flying back through time until the time machine suddenly stopped. I climbed out and found myself in the middle of a battle field, I ran for cover as arrows fly past me and the bang of cannons rang out in the distance. Soldiers on horseback brandishing razor sharp swords galloped from my right clashing with opposing soldiers and I could hear the sharp clink of metal meeting metal as the soldiers swords struck armor. I identified the soldiers on horseback as Mongols and quickly made me way back to the time machine, snapping a few picture in the process, and franticly pushed the button again.

The time machine sped off and stopped once again. I stepped out and this time I wasn’t in the middle of a battle I was standing in the middle of a busy city market. I was in the city of Hangzhou, which had a population of over a million and was one of the largest cities in the world at the time. I began taking pictures of the market and the people, venders were selling everything from chickens to coal and the buyers used a paper money system to purchase these items. After exploring the city a little more and taking a few more pictures I returned to time machine and set the dial back to 4020 pushed the button and went back home.