Transcript HIS 105 Chapter 7

HIS 105
Chapter 7
China’s First Empire
China
Qin and the Legalists
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Innovative and ruthless
Controlled area around the Wei, Yellow, and
Yangtze Rivers
Passed harsh laws that gave stability and
order
Shi Huangdi
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Came to the throne in 246 B.C.E. at the age of
13
Liked Legalist approach
Became vigorous, ambitious, intelligent, and
decisive
In 232 B.C.E., at age of 27, he unified China
In 221 B.C.E. he gave himself the title of
Emperor
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Shi Huangdi had all the protective walls in the
north connected into one Great Wall of China
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It extended 1400 miles from the Pacific Ocean
into central Asia
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Public Works Projects:
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Built canals
Built roads
Built palaces
All built using forced labor
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Shi Huangdi was a strong Legalist
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Passed strong laws
Enacted harsh punishments
Burned Confucian texts
Repressed ideas
Death to those who arrived late for work
Many peasants and shi revolted
Within months, the Qin fell
Accomplishments of the Qin
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Road system
Canals
Great Wall
Improved communications
Unified currency
Great Wall
Changes in Warfare
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Traditionally, a combination of ritual and
brawl
Could only fight at certain times of the year
A ruler announced his intention to attack well
in advance
Priests tried to predict the outcome before the
fight
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Battles were duels of the well-trained in the midst of
the not so well-trained
Duelists followed rules
The defeated were given great respect
Death of a commander meant the end of the fight
Most battles of Shang and Zhou were fought this
way
This style was criticized
The Art of War by Sunzi
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A classic of military science
Sunzi was an advisor to a warring monarch
He opposed ritualized war
Said war should not be a macho contest
War should only be fought to increase
territory, wealth, and power
Fight quickly with little damage
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He praised generals who could win without
battles, were good at organization, supplying
what was needed including spies, propaganda,
and psyching out the enemy
Fighting should be done under a chain of
command
Sunzi’s tactics are still studied today
Sunzi
Han Dynasty
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Ruled China for 400 years
After Qin fell, a rebel general of peasant birth
gained control of China
He became the first emperor of the Han
dynasty
His name was Liu Bang and his official name
was Gaozu
He reigned from 206 -195 B.C.E.
Liu Bang
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He and his successors tried to avoid using the
tactics of the hated Qin
They :
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Made punishments less severe
Reduced taxes but had a large cash reserve
Had strong central government
Improved the economy
Filled the granaries
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Early Han rulers have been singled out as
Model Sage Rulers
Liu Bang was succeeded by Han Wudi
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He took the throne at the age of 16 in 140 B.C.E.
and remained for 54 years
Had strong central government
Was daring, vigorous, and intelligent
Also suspicious and vengeful
Han Wudi
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Broke the feudal system in China – domains had
to be divided among sons; if there were no sons,
the government took the estate
Expanded China’s borders into northern Vietnam,
across Manchuria, and into northern Korea
Defeated the Hsiung-nu, nomads from the north
on the other side of the Great Wall, and took their
pasture land
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The Han banned the works of the Legalists and tried
to have a milder regime
Confucianism became the dominant thought system
in China and lasted for 2,000 years
Knowing Confucian teachings was a pre-requisite
for employment
A University at Xian taught Confucianism and began
turning out bureaucrats in 124 B.C.E.
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You needed money to attend
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This created divisions within society
Peasants could go to the university if they found
sponsors
Students who passed exams competed for a small
number of government jobs
Beginnings of civil service and stratification
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Educated shi
Ordinary but free subjects
The underclass called mean people
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In upper classes, arranged marriages worked
to increase land holdings or prestige
This gave rise to the scholar gentry who were
higher than the shi because they also had land
Lived a very good life
Women
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Arranged marriages
Love didn’t enter into it
Woman’s father paid a dowry to the family of
the groom
Her powerful relatives could ensure she
received good treatment after she moved in
with her husband’s family
She could take along a servant or her sister
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Widows could remarry
All women could participate in family
ceremonies
During the Han, women were poets and
historians
ALL women were subordinate to men
Households run by older men
Male children inherited more than women
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Politics were for men; although, women could
have an influence
Mothers ruled over daughters and daughtersin –law
Women in peasant households worked in the
fields
All women were expected to marry and have
children, male children
Peasants
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Worked in fields
Made enough to pay taxes and live a meager life
Had little
Those who worked other’s land were worse off
Had new devices to help with work: shoulder collar
for horses, wheel-barrow, new cropping patterns
They also had to donate a certain number of days per
year to work on public works projects
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Peasants were also drafted into the army
Many joined secret alliances which offered
them help during hard times: Ex.- the Red
Eyebrow
Secret societies also helped start and spread
rebellion
Xian
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Imperial capital
Laid out on a grid pattern
Protected by fortification wall
Population: 100,000 lived within the walls
and 150,000 living outside of the walls
Emperor lived in the inner forbidden city
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Had palaces, towers, gateways, audience halls,
banquet rooms, gardens, and fish ponds
Xian
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Emperor lived there with his wife, his
concubines, and his children
There was also a zoo
Invention and Artistry
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China already had
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Huge irrigation systems
Canals
Massive fortification walls
New cropping techniques
During the Han Dynasty, China became the most
technologically advanced of all the classical
civilizations
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Had brush pen and paper came into use during
the 2nd century B.C.E.
Developed water mills to grinding grain and
rudders and compasses for ships
Had new mining techniques
Developed refined silk making
Created lacquer ware and porcelain
Arts and Sciences
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Art showed great skillcalligraphy became an
art form
Bronzes, ceramic figures, and vases were
created to a high standard
Had jade and ivory carving
In the sciences, there was an emphsis on the
practical
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By 444 B.C.E. – had an accurate calendar of
365.5 days
Plotted movement of planets
Viewed sunspots
Used astronomy for predictions
Invented seismographs
Improved ability to diagnose diease
Used acupuncture
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In math, they focused on how things worked:
in music and acoustics
Had standard measures for distance, volume,
and weight
Decline
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Han Dynasty began its decline by the end of the 1st
century B.C.E.
Han Wudi was their last powerful leader
His successors neglected their duties and indulged
themselves
9 C.E. there was an attempt to change the family in
power, and Wang Mang came to power but only
until 23 C.E. when the Hans were restored
Wang Mang
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This later Han Dynasty lasted another 200 years
The later Han went through a steady decline
The capital was moved to Loyang
Rulers were challenged by the families of their wives
and by eunuchs
Eunuchs increased in number and in power
They were used to keep in check the power of their
wives’ families
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So there was a 3-way contest for power: the
scholar gentry -- wives’ families – eunuchs
These divisions weakened the empire
Dynasty was overthrown in 220 C.E.
This began 400 years of turmoil that would
only end with Sui Dynasty at the end of the
6th century C.E.
Accomplishments of Han
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Philosophically – Confucius, Mencius, Laotsu, Xunzi, and the Legalists
Art
Sciences and Math
Spread of Buddhism
Han rule seemed to have established the basic
parts of civilization that would last for
thousands of years