Transcript Imperial China -- Qin to Ming Dynasties

Today’s Goal  Describe the new
philosophies emerging in China and how
Legalism was used by the Qin Dynasty.
Dynastic Cycle
Justifies overthrow of
poorly ruling dynasty
Approval of
gods to
rule
Warring States Period
 Zhou Dynasty fell apart
 Empire divided into seven states
 Regional lords struggled against one another
 New technologies
 New schools of thought
Confucianism
 Restore order & moral living
 Five basic relationships (ruler  subject,
father  son, husband  wife, older bro 
younger bro, friend  friend)
 Filial piety - respect for parents &
ancestors
 Education!!!
 Bureaucracy (trained civil service)
Daoism
 Laozi  Dao De Jing (“The Way of Virtue”)
 Natural order more important than social order
 the Dao (“Way”) is universal force
which guides all things
 Live simply & in
harmony with
nature
Humans model themselves
on earth,
Earth on heaven,
Heaven on the Way,
And the way on that which
is naturally so.
-- Laozi, excerpted from
Daodejing #251
Other Ethical Systems
 I Ching  book of oracles to solve ethical or
practical problems
 Yin & yang  represented the natural rhythms
of life
 Yin
= cold, dark, soft, mysterious
 Yang = warm, bright, hard, clear
Feminine
Passive
Darkness
Cold
Weak
Earth;
Moon
Masculine
Active
Light
Warmth
Strong
Heaven;
Sun
Legalism
 Efficient & powerful gov’t needed to restore
order
 Rewards for obedient; harsh punishments for
disobedient
 Control ideas & actions
Qin [Ch’in] Dynasty, 221-206
B.C.
 Established China’s first empire
 “First Emperor” = Shi Huangdi (221-206
B.C.)
 “Strengthen the trunk & weaken
the branches”
 Legalist rule
 Bureaucratic
administration
 Centralized control
 Military expansion
Qin [Ch’in] Dynasty, 221-206
B.C.
 Prevented criticism & opposition


Book burnings
Buried protestors alive
 Autocracy – gov’t w/unlimited
power & uses it however it
wishes
 Program of Centralization



Highway & road networks
Set standards for writing, law,
currency, weights & measures
Harsh taxes & cruel gov’t
Great Wall of China
 Closed gaps in pre-
existing wall & extend
along border
 Hundreds of thousands
of peasant laborers 
“work or die”
 Built upon later by the
Han & Ming Dynasties
 Today it is 8,851.8
kilometers (5,500 miles)
from east to west of
China
Great Wall of China
Fall of the Qin
 Shi Huangdi’s son was
an ineffective ruler
 Cruel and strict laws
 Peasant rebellion
 Weapons = farming
tools
 Broken cloth = flag
 Replaced by Liu Bang
& Han Dynasty
Shi Huangdi’s Terra Cotta
Army
Shi Huangdi’s Terra
Cotta Army