Transcript Chinese Dynasty Overview

Chinese Dynasty Overview
Shang to Qing
AP World History
Shang (1700 - 1027 BCE)
• First recorded Dynasty (Xia no written records)
• Ruled by aristocracy
• First Chinese cities, center of
court life
• Developed writing, worked
with bronze, created silk
• Honored ancestors, used
oracle bones
• Shang tyrant emperor
overthrown
Zhou (1027 - 250 BCE)
• Longest lasting Chinese Dynasty
• Beginning of Mandate of Heaven
• Early: Feudal system, lords had total
authority
• Later: City-states
• Built roads, expanded trade, made
agricultural advancements
Zhou (1027 - 250 BCE)
• Taoism and Confucianism introduced
• Decline: Inefficient rulers can’t control
fighting between city-states
• Period of Warring States
Qin (221 - 207 BCE)
• Qin She Huanshi - only
emperor
• Adopted Legalism
• Developed highly
centralized gov’t with
bureaucratic administration
• Standardized currency,
language, measurements,
laws
• Built first Great Wall
Qin (221 - 207 BCE)
• Brutal ruler executed dissenters,
burned books
• Many enemies,
dynasty falls after his
death
Han (202 BCE - 221 CE)
• Legalism replaced by Confucianism
• Introduced civil service examination
(scholar gentry)
• Silk Roads
developed,
opens trade
Han (202 BCE - 221 CE)
• Buddhism introduced, paper invented
• Great increase in population, land
holdings
Decline
• Nomadic raiders
• Corruption, weak leaders
• Collapse of bureaucracy
221 - 581 (CE)
• Warlords control china - no centralized
gov’t
• Non-Chinese nomads control much of
China
• Buddhism becomes popular Confucianism failed
Sui (581 - 618 CE)
• Completed Grand
Canal
• High taxes, forced
labor
• Military failures
(couldn’t conquer
Korea)
• Assassination ends
dynasty
Tang (618 - 907 CE)
• High point of Chinese culture
• Rebuilt bureaucracy
– Examination system
– Confucian education
– Limited social mobility
• Buddhism supported, then oppressed
• Invention of movable print, porcelain,
gun powder
Tang (618 - 907 CE)
• Wu Zetian - Only Empress in Chinese
history
Decline
• Weak emperors, nomadic incursions,
economic difficulties
• Warlords take control
Song (969 - 1279 CE)
• Large centralized bureaucracy (NeoConfucian)
• Mercantile class grows, increased trade
• Magnetic compass, growing sea power
• Weak military
Yuan (1279 - 1368 CE)
• Mongol Khubilai Khan conquers China
• Economic stability and prosperity
• China more open to trade and travel (Marco
Polo)
• Ignored Chinese traditions, replaced
bureaucrats with non-Chinese
• Unsuccessful attacks on Japan, corruption
weakens dynasty
• Peasant rebellion ends Yuan
Ming (1368 - 1644 CE)
• Tried to erase all signs of Mongols
• Reinstated civil service, Confucian
scholars
• Eunuchs play growing role (Zheng He) resented by scholar gentry
• Rebuilt and extended Great Wall
• Collapsed after famines and riots
Qing (1644 - 1911 CE)
• Manchus (from Manchuria) move south
• Take Korea, Japan, then China
• Manchus hold top posts, but relied upon
scholar gentry
• “Son of Heaven” concept emphasized
• Would be final Chinese Dynasty
• Eventually would be weakened by
European / American interventions