Transcript Shang, Zhou, Qin & Han China

Chinese
Dynasties
Dynasty
• Family of rulers whose
right to rule is hereditary
Mandate of Heaven
• If rulers were “just” and “effective,”
they received a “mandate of heaven”
or authority to rule from heaven
• If rulers did not govern properly – as
indicated by poor crops or losses in
battle – they lost the mandate of
heaven to the next dynasty
Zhong Guo - “Middle Kingdom”
• Lack of contact with
foreigners gave the
Chinese a strong sense of
identity and superiority
• They believed they were
the center of the world
and the “only civilized
land”
Shang Dynasty -
Founding
• 1700 BC – 1100 BC
• Conquered 1800
city-states
• Hereditary king gave
land to followers
who pledged their •Used war chariots
loyalty = nobility and bronze weapons
to maintain power
Shang Dynasty - Power
• Organized simple irrigation and flood
control for the first time
• Learned to raise
silkworms, to spin
thread from cocoons &
weave silk cloth from
thread
• Artisans – ceramic art; bronze objects
• Accurate lunar calendar
• 1st dynasty with written records
• Animism – belief
Religion
that spirits inhabit all
things
• Ancestor worship
– believed all
members of family
(living & dead) were
united forever
• Used oracle bones
to predict future
(divination)
Priests wrote questions on
oracle bones, then applied
intense heat. Priests
interpreted cracks in bone as
answers from ancestors
Shang - Decline
• Tried to expand the
boundaries to the South
• Failed to guard the NW
frontier
Shang - Collapse
• A tribe of soldier-farmers called the
Zhou (Joh) led a rebellion
• Zhou conquered the Shang, claiming
the last Shang king had lost the
Mandate of Heaven because he was a
monster of corrupt wickedness and
cruelty
Zhou Dynasty- Founding
• 1000BC – 200’s BC
• 1st to claim
mandate of heaven
• Called themselves
“sons of heaven”
• Established a
system of
landholding &
military obligation (feudalism)
Zhou - Power
• Longest dynasty
• Trade expanded, copper
coins came into use
• Invented iron plow
• Built canals, dikes and reservoirs – Grand
Canal irrigated 1,000 sq miles
• Population grew
• Developed the cavalry (group of mounted
warriors) and crossbow
Zhou - Decline
• Frivolous King You & his false
alarms -Nobles ignored warning
fires – nomads killed King You &
ransacked capital
• City –state war lords grew
rebellious – began to fight
among selves to expand their
territories
• Philosophers Confucius &
Laotze taught during this time
Zhou - Collapse
• Zhou rulers lost power
• State on the western border ruled
by the Qin wiped out the Zhou and
conquered the rest of northern
China.
Chinese Philosophies &
Doctrines
Confucianism, Daoism & Legalism
2 opposing forces present in all nature
Yin
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Negative
Dark
Night
Cold
Moon
Wet
Female
passive
&
“Naturalism”
Yang
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Positive
Light
Day
Hot
Sun
Dry
Male
dominant
Confucianism
• Originated in China in 6th century BC
• Founder Kongfuzi...Confucius
• Major Writings:
– Analects: Collection of Confucius’
teachings after his death…these ethics
provided the basis for the civil service
system in China
– 5 Classics – thought to carry solutions
to most problems
Main Beliefs
• Focus on Harmony in
Society through the
5
Basic Relationships
• Law of Shu:
• “Do not do unto others what
you would not have them do
unto you”
Sound Familiar?
5 Basic Relationships
•
•
•
•
•
Husband
Father
Older brother
Older friend
Ruler
Set a good example
Show self-control
•
•
•
•
•
Wife
Son
Younger brother
Younger friend
Subject
Honor and obey
superiors
5 Basic Relationships
• authority of one person over another
• Power and the right to rule belong to superiors
over subordinates
• Each person has to give obedience and respect
to "superiors“
• The "superior," however, owes loving
responsibility to the inferior and must set a
good example & show self control
Daoism (Taoism)
• Originated in 6th century BC,
during the Zhou Dynasty
• Founder: Laozi
(a scholar)
• Major Writing: Dao De
Jing… a Chinese classic
• Goal: Inner peace
Major Beliefs
• People should renounce worldly ambitions and
turn to nature and the Dao (Tao), the universal
force that guides all things (the Way)- the
harmonious balance of yin/yang
• Emphasize harmony with nature
• Wu Wei – principle of inaction: do nothing
unnatural – meaning do nothing selfish
– Focus on inner peace…don’t compete; don’t seek
learning, riches or power; withdraw from public
affairs
Legalism
• Emphasized strict laws and harsh
punishments
• Developed from the teachings of
Hanfeizi
• Believed humans were evil by nature
and required a strong forceful gov’t to
make them obey
Who Said It?
Confucianism or Daoism?
• Heaven is long lasting and earth is
enduring. The reason why heaven and
earth can live long and endure is that they
do not live only for themselves.
Daoist
Who Said It?
Confucianism or Daoism?
• To govern is to set things right. If you
begin by setting yourself right, who
will dare to deviate from the right?
Confucianist
Who Said It?
Confucianism or Daoism?
• China without a recognizable leader is
preferable to foreigners with all their
leaders.
Confucianist
Who Said It?
Confucianism or Daoism?
• When the people are subjected to
overmuch government, the land is
thrown into confusion.
Daoist
Who Said It?
Confucianism or Daoism?
• The highest good is like water. Water
benefits all things generously and is
without strife.
Daoist
Who Said It?
Confucianism or Daoism?
• Leave all things to take their natural
course and do not interfere…what is
contrary to the Way soon perishes.
Daoist
Who Said It?
Confucianist or Daoist?
• Sometimes I have gone a whole day
without food and a whole night without
sleep, giving myself to thought. It was
no use. It is better to learn.
• Confucianist
Who Said It?
Confucianism or Daoism?
• Let the sole worry of your parents be
that you might become ill.
Confucianist
Who Said It?
Confucianism or Daoism?
• Do not worry about NOT holding high
positions; worry rather about playing
your proper role.
• Confucianist
Who Said It?
Confucianism or Daoism?
• If the Way prevails on earth, horses
will be used for purposes of
agriculture. If the Way does not
prevail, war-horses will be bred.
• Daoist
Qin (Chin)-
Founding
• 221BC-207BC
• Founded by Qin Shihuangdi
• First ruler to add title
Shihuandi to name, meaning
“First Emperor”
• Unified China under a strong
central gov’t
• But was the shortest dynasty
Qin - Power
• Standardized coins
• Instituted a uniform
writing system
• Uniform weights/measures
• Code of Qin – uniform system of laws
• Uniform single tax system
• Connected/built Great Wall of China
with forced labor…
Great Wall of China
• 300,000 peasants,
criminals, & scholars
worked (and died)
building the wall
• Extended nearly 1500
miles, 25 ft high and 15
ft wide
• Road along top enabled
soldiers to travel quickly
to any threatened area of
the frontier
Qin - Decline
• Harsh rule (Legalism) & military districts
lead to resentment
• Heavy taxation
• Censorship –persecuted Confucian
scholars
• Nobles mad b/c aristocracy was destroyed
• Scholars mad b/c of book burning
• Peasants mad b/c of forced labor
Qin - Collapse
• Qin’s subjects saw
him as a cruel
tyrant who lost
mandate of heaven
• Peasant General
Lui Bang
•Qin Shihuangdi’s Great Tomb
•700,000 workers labored for 34 years.
overthrew the Qin •discovered in the mid-1970s
government and •sprawling underground palace designed
as a miniaturized replica of the Qin
declared himself kingdom, with scaled-down cities, rivers of
flowing mercury, jewel-bedecked heavens
emperor
above the emperor's stately bier
• an army of 7,000 terra-cotta warriors
Han (Hahn) Dynasty • 207 BC – 220 AD
Founding
• Took name from
Han River
• Used same forms
of centralized
power as the Qin,
but without the •Restored the teachings
harshness
of Confucius
Han - Power
• Dynasty reached its peak under reign of
Wudi
• Extended empire north into Manchuria &
Korea, south into Indo China & west into
central Asia
• Established Chinese civil service –
candidates had to pass tests to enter gov’t
service
• Pax Sinica – 400 years of peace
• Leveling of prices – more stable
The
Silk
Road
• Expanded trade routes to West (Med Sea)
on Silk Road
• Long camel caravan carried silk, jade & other
Chinese goods to be sold to wealthy Greeks &
Romans
• They returned with glass, amber asbestos, and wool
& linen textiles
Scenes from the Silk
Road
Han - Decline
• None of Wudi’s
successors in the
Han matched his
leadership
• Empire weakened
Han - Collapse
• A revolt overthrew the last Han emperor
• For hundreds of years, countless
nomadic tribes (the Huns) swept across
China (around the same time that Huns
were also attack the Roman Empire!)
• Not until AD 589 did a Chinese general
unify China once again