Transcript Collapse of the Han

ANCIENT AND
CLASSICAL
CHINA
ANCIENT LEGENDS: THE THREE
WISE SAGE KINGS
– King Yao: a virtuous ruler bringing
harmony to society
– King Shun: regulating the four
seasons, weights, measures, and
units of time
– King Yu: rescued China from raging
floods of the Yellow River
Legends reflected the values of society;
many may prove true!
ANCIENT CHINA
Dynastic Cycle
MANDATE OF HEAVEN
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The right to rule granted by heaven
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Zhou justified their overthrow of Shang
Ruler called "the son of heaven"
Only given to virtuous, strong rulers
To lose mandate = someone else should rule
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Replacement of dynasties = Dynastic Cycle
Signs one had lost mandate
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Corruption, heavy taxes
Lazy officials and rulers
Revolts, invasions, civil wars, crime
Natural disasters
Society develops bad morals, habits
Chinese Dynastic Cycle
Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han
 Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han
– Sui, Tang, Song
– Sui, Tang, Song
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(classical China)
(post-classical)
 Yuan,
Ming, Qing, Republic
 Yuan, Ming, Qing, Republic
– Mao Zedong, Deng!
– Mao Zedong, Deng!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqHR1uA
c_-Q&feature=player_detailpage
THE ZHOU DYNASTY:
1122-256 B.C.E.
– The rise of the Zhou
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The last Shang king was a bad ruler
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The Zhou forces toppled the Shang
– Political organization
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Adopted decentralized administration
Used princes and relatives to rule regions
Consequences
– Weak central government with ceremonial
functions
– Rise of regional powers; often called feudalism
– Constant rivalry between warring families, nobles
FAMILY
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Xia to Zhou ruled through family, kinship
Veneration of ancestors
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Belief in ancestors' presence, continuing influence
Burial of material goods with the dead
Offering sacrifices at the graves
Eldest males presided over rites honoring ancestors
Only males could perform religious duties
Filial Piety- respect or reverence for one’s parents
Patriarchal society
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During Neolithic times, Chinese society = matrilineal
Rise of states, war due to men's contribution s
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After Shang, not even queens merited temples
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THE SOCIAL ORDER
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The ruling elites
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Peasants, the majority of population
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Royal family and allied noble families at the top
Their lavish consumption of bronze products, silk
Hereditary aristocrats with extensive landholding
Most of the land owned by the king, nobles
Called the “mean” people
Landless peasants provided labor
Lived in small subterranean houses
Wood, bone, stone tools before iron spread in the
6th century B.C.E.
Women’s World
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Wine making, weaving, silkworm raising
Managing household, raising children
Elite women vs. poor women
OTHERS
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Specialized labor
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Merchants, trade were important
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Jade from Central Asia, tin from SE Asia
A few pieces of pottery from India
Merchants ranked socially lower
Slaves
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Free artisans, craftsmen in great demand
Also served the needs of the ruling elites
Mostly war prisoners
Performed hard work
Became sacrificial victims
Suspicious towards Foreigners
THE FALL OF THE ZHOU
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Iron metallurgy
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Iron technology spread; 1st millennium B.C.E.
Iron weapons helped regional authorities to
resist the central power
Qin mastered iron technology, weapons
Nomadic invasion sacked capital
Other Troubles
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Territorial princes became more independent
Warring States (403-221 B.C.E.)
Rise of Qin state
Last king abdicated his position in 256 B.C.E.
Chinese Dynastic Cycle
Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han
 Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han
– Sui, Tang, Song
– Sui, Tang, Song

 Yuan,
Ming, Qing, Republic
 Yuan, Ming, Qing, Republic
– Mao Zedong, Deng!
– Mao Zedong, Deng!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqHR1uA
c_-Q&feature=player_detailpage
SECULAR CULTURAL TRADITION
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No organized religion, priestly class
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Impersonal heavenly power - tian
Males performed few duties
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Fathers took care of family duties
Rulers took care of the public duties
Oracle bones
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Rulers, people question tian for direction
Primary instruments of fortune-tellers
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Discovery of the "dragon bones" in 1890s
Bones recorded day-to-day concerns
Early Chinese writing
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Earliest form was the pictograph
From pictograph to ideograph
Absence of alphabetic or phonetic component
More than two thousand characters
Modern Chinese writing is direct descendant
THOUGHT, LITERATURE
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Zhou literature
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The Book of Change, a manual of diviners
The Book of History, the history of the Zhou
The Book of Rites
– The rules of etiquette and rituals for aristocrats
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The Book of Songs
– The most notable of the classic works
– Verses on themes both light and serious
– Reflected social conditions of the early Zhou
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Destruction of early literature
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Most Zhou writings have perished
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1st emperor destroyed most writings
NOMADS, PASTORALISTS
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Steppelands
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Pastoralists domesticated animals
Lived on grassy lands
Seasonal migrations to pasture lands
Became nomads, ancestors of Turks, Mongols
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Little farming, but relied on herding animals
Exchange of products between nomads, farmers
Nomads often invaded rich agricultural society
Nomads did not imitate Chinese ways
Nomadic society
Nomadism relied on grains and
manufactured goods of the Chinese
EXPANSION OF CHINESE SOCIETY
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The Yangzi valley
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Indigenous peoples of S. China
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The longest river of China
Two crops of rice per year
Dependable and beneficial to farmers
Many assimilated into Chinese society
Some pushed into hills, mountains
Migrated to Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand
State of Chu (Conquered by Qin)
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Emerged in the central Yangzi region
Challenged the Zhou for supremacy
Adopted Chinese ways
UNIFICATION OF CHINA
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The Qin State and Dynasty
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Partially sinified pastoralists, perhaps even Turkish
Located in west China and adopted Legalist policies
Encouraged agriculture, resulted in strong economy
Organized a powerful army equipped with iron
weapons
Conquered other states and unified China in 221
B.C.E.
Qin Shi Huang di
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King of the Qin proclaimed himself First Emperor,
221 B.C.E.
Established centralized imperial rule
Held sons of nobles as hostages; demolished nobles
castles
Project of connecting and extending the Great Wall
700,000 people worked on project; 100,000 killed
QIN STATECRAFT
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Suppressing the resistance
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Bitterly opposed, was opposed by Confucian scholars
Buried 460 scholars alive because of their criticism against
the Qin
Burned all books except some with utilitarian value
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Standardization of laws, currencies, weights, measures
Standardized scripts: tried to create uniform language
Creates a uniform writing system but not language
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The tomb was an underground palace
Excavation of the tomb since 1974
Terracotta soldiers and army to protect tomb
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Massive public works generated ill will among people
Waves of rebels overwhelmed the Qin court in 207 B.C.E.
A short-lived dynasty, left deep marks in Chinese history
Policies of centralization
Tomb of the First Emperor
The collapse of the Qin dynasty
THE EARLY HAN DYNASTY
– Liu Bang
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A general, persistent man, a methodical planner
Restored order, established dynasty, 206 B.C.E.
– Han was long-lived dynasty
– Early Han policies
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Sought middle way between Zhou and Qin
Royal relatives were not reliable, returned to
centralized rule
– Martial Emperor (141-87 B.C.E.)
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Han Wudi ruled for 54 years
Pursued centralization and expansion
HAN STATECRAFT
Han centralization
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Adopted Legalist policies
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Built an enormous bureaucracy to rule the empire
Continued to build roads and canals
Levied taxes on agriculture, trade, and craft industries
Imperial monopolies on production of iron and salt
Established Confucian educational system for training
bureaucrats
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Confucianism as the basis of the curriculum in imperial university
Thirty thousand students enrolled in the university in Later Han
Han imperial expansion
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Invaded and colonized northern Vietnam and Korea
Extended China into central Asia
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Han organized vast armies to invade Xiongnu territory
Han enjoyed uncontested hegemony in east and central Asia
HAN SOCIAL STRUCTURE
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Patriarchal, patrilocal households averaged five
inhabitants
Large, multigenerational compound families also
developed
Women's subordination (Ban Zhao Admonitions for
Women)
Cultivators were the majority of the population
Differences apparent between noble, lower class women
Scholar bureaucrats: Confucian trained bureaucrats
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Scholar Gentry
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Merchants held in low social esteem
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Officials selected through competitive testing
Used to run the government in Early Han
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Confucian bureaucrats intermarried with landed elite
New class comes to dominate local, national offices
Strongest in late Han
TRADE AND COMMERCE
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Iron metallurgy: Farming tools, utensils, and
weapons
State monopolies on liquor, salt and iron
Silk textiles
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Paper production
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Invented probably before 100 C.E.
Began to replace silk and bamboo as writing materials
Population growth
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Sericulture spread all over China during the Han
High quality Chinese silk became a prized commodity
Traded as far a field as India, Persia, Mesopotamia, and
Rome
Increased from twenty to sixty million from 220 B.C.E. to
9 C.E.
Despite light taxation, state revenue was large
Silk Road established: horses for silk
HAN TROUBLES
Expeditions consumed the empire's surplus
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Raised taxes and confiscated land of some wealthy individuals
Taxes, land confiscations discouraged investment
Much of defense consumed on defending against nomads
Social tensions, stratification between the poor and rich
Problems of land distribution
Early Han supported land redistribution
Economic difficulties forced some small landowners to sell property
Some sold themselves or their families into slavery
Lands accumulated in the hands of a few
No land reform, because Han needed cooperation of large
landowners
The reign of Wang Mang
A powerful Han minister
Dethroned the baby emperor, claimed imperial title himself, 9 C.E.
Land reforms - the "socialist emperor"
Overthrown by revolts, 23 C.E.
Chinese Dynastic Cycle
Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han
 Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han
– Sui, Tang, Song
– Sui, Tang, Song

 Yuan,
Ming, Qing, Republic
 Yuan, Ming, Qing, Republic
– Mao Zedong, Deng!
– Mao Zedong, Deng!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqHR1uA
c_-Q&feature=player_detailpage
LOSS OF THE MANDATE
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The Later Han Dynasty (25-220 C.E.)
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Overthrown of Wang Mang restores Han
New Han much weakened
Rule often through large families, gentry
Rise of Eunuchs in government as new source of power
The Yellow Turban Uprising (Daoist Revolt)
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Rulers restored order but did not address problem of
landholding
Yellow Turban uprising inflicted serious damage on the Han
Collapse of the Han
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Factions at court paralyzed the central government
Han empire dissolved
China was divided into regional kingdoms
Chinese Dynasties ("Vogue" by
Madonna)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N
IC4zom3w0g&feature=player_detailp
age
CHINESE POPULAR RELIGION
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Customary beliefs and practice
– As old as civilization in China
– Never encouraged/discouraged by state
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Syncretic in nature
– Will absorb many different traditions
– Blends all major ideas, philosophies
– Exists in harmony with official philosophies, faiths
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Believes gods, spirits (shen) influence family, world
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Power over world affairs
Deceased members of community, family
Deified figures of history, literature
Spiritual embodiment of nature, geography
Maintenance of family shrines, community temples
– Prayers, supplications
– Food offerings
– Shamanism and divination are practiced
HOUSEHOLD & PUBLIC RITUALS
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Household Rituals
– Always performed by males
– Expression of Confucian filial piety
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Domestic altar
Names of deceased, icons
– Worship of the stove god
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Public Rituals
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Oversees family’s moral conduct
Reports on family to heaven
Preserve social harmony, local identity
Local earth god protects area from spirits
City god important; has temple at center of city
Physical, public processions, offerings
Supreme Deity and Influence of Daoism
– Shangdi (Ruler on High)
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Cannot be addressed directly
Shang kings called up other spirits to address Shangdi
– Later called Tian or Heaven
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Rulers called Son of Heaven
Empire is his favorite government
Mandate of Heaven is an off-shoot of this idea
JUNZI
FILIAL PIETY
REN
LI
CONFUCIUS’ SEARCH FOR ORDER
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Confucius (551-479 B.C.E.)
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Confucian ideas
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A strong-willed man, from an aristocratic family
Traveled ten years searching for an official post
Educator with numerous disciples
Sayings compiled in the Analects by disciples
Fundamentally moral and ethical in character
Restore political and social order; stress ritual
Formation of junzi - "superior individuals"
Edited Zhou classics for his disciples to study
The key Confucian concepts
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Ren - a sense of humanity
Li - a sense of propriety
Xiao - filial piety
Cultivating of junzi for bringing order to China
5 Relationships and filial piety as basis of society
LATER CONFUCIANS
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Mencius (372-289 B.C.E.)
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Principal spokesman for the Confucian school
Believed in the goodness of human nature
Government by benevolence, humanity
Xunzi (298-238 B.C.E.)
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Served as a governmental administrator
Cast doubt on the goodness of human nature
Harsh social discipline to order to society
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Stress moral education, good public behavior
LEGALISM
– Legalism
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The doctrine of statecraft
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Promoted a practical and ruthlessly efficient approach
No concern with ethics and morality
No concern with the principles governing nature
Doctrine used by Qin dynasty
– Shang Yang (ca. 390-338 B.C.E.)
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A chief minister of the Qin state
His policies summarized in The Book of Lord Shang
Was executed by his political enemies
– Han Feizi (ca. 280-233 B.C.E.)
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Student of Xunzi, became the most articulate
Legalist
A synthesizer of Legalist ideas
Forced to suicide by his political enemies
LEGALISM IN PRACTICE
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The state's strength
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Agriculture
Military force
Discouraged commerce, education, and the
arts
Harnessing self-interest of people for needs
of state
Called “carrot and stick” approach in west
Called for harsh penalties even for minor
infractions
Advocated collective responsibility before law
Not popular among the Chinese,
Chinese used legalism if state threatened
Legalism still doctrine common to China
“the way”
Nature
Wuwei
DAOISM
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Prominent critics of Confucianism
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Laozi and Zhuangzi
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Laozi, founder of Daoism; wrote the Daodejing
Zhuangzi, Daoist philosopher, wrote Zhuangzi
Philosophical Daoism
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Preferred philosophical reflection and introspection
Understand natural principles, live in harmony with them
Dao - The way of nature, the way of the cosmos
Opposites in balance, complementary
An eternal principle governing all workings of the world
Passive, yielding, does nothing , accomplishes everything
Tailor behavior to passive, yielding nature
Ambition, activism brought the world to chaos
Popular Daoism
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A folk or religious form of Daoism; not philosophical
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Emerged at end of Han Dynasty
Seek to master forces of natural, spiritual world
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People venerated the immortals or saints
Symbolized prosperity, happiness
Many saints were patrons of certain occupations
Gods associated with natural cycles, agriculture
Daoist priests were shamans, performed exorcisms
Many deities including immortals
DAOIST WUWEI
– The doctrine of wuwei
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Disengagement from worldly affairs
Called for simple, unpretentious life,
living in harmony with nature
Advocated small state, self-sufficient
community
– Political implications
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Served as a counterbalance to Confucian
activism
Individuals could live as Confucians by
day, Daoists by night
Generally Daoism flourishes when
society at peace, prosperous