Transcript China: Shang on the Hwang

China: Shang
Shang: 1600-1100 BCE
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Stable agri-surplus, trade-centered
N. China, walled cities, strong army, chariots
“The Middle Kingdom” World View
Trade with Mesopotamia
Bronze, pottery, silk, decimal system, calendar,
water control
• Patriarchal, ancestors as advocates w/the gods
• Stratified into nobles and commoners
• Ability to control floods led to increased power
It’s Zhou Time
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Replaced Shang around 1100 BCE
Ruled 900 years, kept customs, traditions
Mandate of Heaven and the dynastic cycle
Feudal system, nobles gained power,
bureaucracies, middle class emerges
• War amongst feudal kingdoms, collapse
256 BCE
• This is the time of Confucius and Lao Zi
(reading page 90)
Establishment of the Qin Dynasty
• Following the Warring States Period (480 – 221 BCE)
(map page 77)
• It takes over other states gradually
• Lags behind in culture
• First emperor unifies China and begins the imperial
age
• This Dynasty may be the source of the name “China”
• This dynasty was Legalist (see Legalist Sanction p 81)
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Shi Huangdi
• “First Emperor”
• Ruthlessly ruled along with prime minister Li
Si
• Highly mobilized the people of China
• Constructed Irrigation and flood control works
that solidified his position
Qin Dynastic Structure
• State had a totalitarian structure
• Cracked down on Confucianism
• This was as a result of the duties shared by people in
Confucianism(5 Relationships)
• Rivals were eliminated
• Primogeniture abolished
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– This was the practice of having the eldest son inherit all land a
property
Wanted to limit power and split amongst multiple heirs
Slavery eliminated
What do all of these steps help Shi Huangdi to accomplish?
CONTROL
Accomplishments of the Qin
• Thousands of Miles of Roads
• Standard weights, measurements, currency, law,
writing
• Canals
• Frontier Walls (beginning of Great Wall) (Video)
• Following the death of Shi Huangdi, he had a massive
tomb built (video)
Han Emergence
• Liu Bang - 206 BCE Becomes emperor
• the “Great Progenitor” or forefather
• 202 BCE – he had eliminated virtually all
his competition via military means or
diplomacy
• tax burden of the peasants
Han dynasty would do this over time
• Food Stockpiles
• Treatment of loyalists
Liu Bang
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Han Confucianism
• The Qin/Chin Dynasty
Totalitarian and Legalist
• Rooted in the Legalist Philosophy
• Confucianism vs Legalism
• Confucianism as the basis for the Han Dynasty
• 136 BCE – HAN emperor adopted Confucianism and
the principle of appointing officials based upon merit
• Bureaucracy expands
• Examinations and opening positions to “anyone”
Changing of the Guard
• Liu Ying and his mother, Empress Lu
Emperor Wu Di
• Expansion
– Conquered the Tarim Basin, Korea, Tonkin
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Taxes
Ambassadors
Royal academy
The Silk Road Grows
– Trade ended in Rome
• Wu Di’s envoy
Things Get Worse under Wu Di
• Imperial authority declined
• Babies inherited powerful positions
• Mothers appointed relatives to high-level
positions
• What was the problem with this?
• Financial Problems
Hsin Dynasty (8 – 23 CE)
• Rose up against existing dynasty to attempt to return
to Confucian focused style of rule
• Founder, Wang Mang, felt that the Han Dynasty has
lost its “Mandate of Heaven”
In the years 2, 5, and 11 CE, there were great floods
of the Yellow River causing large numbers of death.
• These led to civil war and the eventual assassination
of Wang Mang and his followers
Later Han Era (25 - 220 CE)
• Struggle for a ruler
• Landowners
• Wars ended by general Ts’ao Ts’ao in 215
His son took the throne in 220 and
established the Wei dynasty.
Han Dynasty Falls
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Peasant revolts
184 – Yellow Turbans
Eunuch Issues - 189
The empire was later split into 3 parts
The end of the Han Dynasty marked the end of
Ancient Chinese unity
• Following this tragic loss of power and unity,
there was continual instability
• Remembered as the height of ancient Chinese
power
Accomplishments
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Improved silk production techniques
Silk Road
Water Clock and sundial invented
Mechanical inventions increased the
production of salt
• Wheel Barrow – Wooden Ox
• Emergence of the science of acupuncture
• Paper 105 by Tsai-Lun