Han China

1. Han China

2. Status of Peasants and Merchants

3. Status of Peasants • Consisted of most of Han China’s population • Occupied the lower stratum in the social structure • Poor economic conditions • Survived on sparse food and coarse clothing • Had to sell land at low prices or secure loans at high interest during emergencies • Often reduced to poverty • Became tenants of wealthy landowners • Exploited through high rents that were usually more than 50% of their harvest • Looked down upon, yet their work was considered productive and fundamental to society

4. Status of Merchants • Were banished to the frontier during the Qin Dynasty • Merchants’ status in Han China was a contradiction • As internal and external trade flourished, wealthy merchants commanded respect and influence • The state, deeply suspicious of the merchants’ wealth, sought to control and repress them • Two categories of Han merchants: • Small-scale urban shopkeepers who sold goods at shops in urban markets • Were enrolled on an official register and had to pay heavy commercial taxes • Had a very low social status and were often subject to additional restrictions • Not allowed to own land

5. Status of Merchants • The larger-scale itinerant traders who traveled between cities and to foreign countries • Did not have to register and often participated in large-scale trade with powerful families and officials • Owned large tracts of land • Had to compete economically with the emperor’s government-managed shops, which sold goods collected from the merchants as property taxes • Various edicts issued by the Han emperors prohibited them from many activities • Wearing silks and brocades • Riding in chariots • Carrying weapons • Owning land as property • Serving as officials • Forced to pay heavier poll and property taxes than others

6. Status of Merchants • Accumulated so much economic power that they could easily transgress regulations • Powerful merchants owned a large amount of land and associated with the nobility and high officials • Were part of a privileged group comparable in wealth to the ruling class • Some obtained political power and social position through the purchase of positions or bribery

7. Status of Merchants • As a result, authorities closely regulated urban market activities • Urban trading took place in government-controlled, walled markets • Officials decided which traders to let into the market and watched them from an observation tower located in the middle of the marketplace • Traders who sold the same goods had to be in the same location • Goods had to have price tags • Contracts had to be drawn for large purchases • Viewed as “parasites who produced nothing and earned their profits deceptively” by philosophers of all schools in the Warring States period

8. Gender Status

9. Gender Status • Boys were valued more than girls • However, they were typically both loved equally by parents • Women were expected to be loyal to their male superiors (all men, fathers, brothers, husbands, and adult sons) • In reality, some Han women were given more leeway with their husbands, and sons still listened to their mothers after their fathers passed away • Women’s work was deemed less important to the family’s prosperity and status • Women took care of household chores • Rear children • Weave clothes for the family • Cook and clean • Spinning and weaving • Singing and dancing

10. Gender Status • Peasant women worked in the fields and helped produce their family’s income and food • Some women took up sorcery as a profession to further support their family • More fortunate women became renowned medical physicians who provided services to the families of high officials and nobility • Female merchants dressed in silk clothes that rivaled even female nobles’ attire • Women were exempt from corvée labor (forced, unpaid labor)

11. Gender Status • Women were viewed as the moral foundation of society • Chastity was thought to be the root virtue for women from Han Dynasty onward • Respect and compliance were also important virtues for women • Marriages were usually arranged by parents and other family members • In elite households, marriages served to reinforce business and political alliances between families • Romantic or passionate love was not the ideal • Husbands and wives often behaved quite formally in other's presence

12. Patriarchal Family

13. Patriarchal Family • Oldest male (usually the father) was the head of the family • Families wanted a son • Female babies were murdered or let to die • Men were of higher importance because they could do better, more efficient work • Women usually received very little to no education • Women could not choose their own marriages • Women must have had consent on selling and purchasing household related things, including land • Women must have listened to their male superiors, no matter what they were told, or they could possibly be beaten or killed • Continued from previous societies, still present today

14. Mandate of Heaven

15. Mandate of Heaven • Traditional Chinese philosophical concept concerning the legitimacy of rulers, which dictates that a just ruler has divine approval • According to the political vision of Confucianism, only the virtuous are fit to receive the Mandate of Heaven • Around 1027 B.C., the Zhou overthrew the last Shang king and established their own dynasty • To justify their conquest, the Zhou leaders declared that the final Shang king had been such a poor ruler that the gods had taken away the Shang’s rule and given it to the Zhou • This justification developed over time into a broader view that royal authority came from heaven

16. Mandate of Heaven • Mandate of Heaven • A divine commission given to a nobleman worthy enough to serve as the Son of Heaven • The Son of Heaven rules China (the entire civilized world as far as the Chinese were concerned) as the emperor • He serves to unite Heaven and Earth by fulfilling the will of Heaven in this world through benevolent leadership and the performance of the proper rituals and sacrifices • His success was based on the opinion of the gods • If the gods became unhappy with an emperor’s rule, they would send signs to the Chinese people • The emperor would lose the Heavenly Mandate and was usually overthrown

17. Mandate of Heaven • Emperor Han of Wudiwas the first emperor of the Han Dynasty to reign under the Mandate of Heaven • Reigned for 54 years • Expanded the borders of China into Vietnam in the south and Korea in the north • Westward expansion influenced what became the Han Empire • 220 B.C.E. - Han Dynasty lost its Heavenly Mandate • Began nearly 400 years of political chaos

18. Confucianism and the Examination System

19. Confucianism • Considered a philosophy and even, arguably, a religion   • Based mainly on the teachings and beliefs of Chinese sage Confucius • Teaching and ideas of Confucius that are known today are actually just the recollections of his students and disciples • Qin Dynasty suppressed Confucianism by burning Confucius’ books • Emperor Wu of Han organized China as a Confucian state • Used Confucianism mixed with Legalism • All other ideologies were banned • Everyone was forced to learn the teachings of Confucianism • As a result, the Han Dynasty established and improved the system of ruling the land by morals and ethics

20. Examination System • An attempt to recruit men on the basis of merit rather than on the basis of family or political connection • Was an outgrowth of Confucianism • Before Confucianism, people were given positions based on whether or not they were competent enough to do the job • Emperor Wu of Han started an early form of the imperial examinations • Local officials would select candidates to take part in an examination of the Confucian classics • New officials were selected through these examinations • Connections and recommendations remained much more influential than the exams in terms of promoting people during the Han Dynasty • Imperial exams later became main system through which new officials were chosen

21. Development/Fall of Han Dynasty

22. Development/Fall of Han Dynasty • The Han Restore Unity to China • Two powerful leaders: Xiang Yu (aristocratic general) and Liu Bang (Xiang Yu’s general) • Fought battle and Liu Bang won • Liu Bang became 1st emperor of the Han Dynasty • Han Dynasty- ruled China for more than 400 years; divided into 2 periods • Former (Western) Han: ruled for about 2 centuries • Later (Eastern) Han: ruled for almost another 2 centuries • One of the greatest periods in entire history of China - Chinese people still call themselves the “People of Han” • Han Dynasty was named after the principality, which was itself named after Hanzhong - modern southern Shaanxi

23. Development/Fall of Han Dynasty • Liu Bang established centralized government (central authority controls the running of a state), and he lowered taxes and softened harsh punishments • Local provinces = commanderies • Liu Bang died in 195 B.C. – son became emperor (in name) • Real emperor = Empress Lu (Liu’s wife) • Died in 180 B.C. and people who remained loyal to Liu Bang’s family executed Lu’s family • Emperors chose favorite among wives as empress and one of her sons as successor • Wudi- “Martial Emperor” – reigned from 141 to 87 B.C. and he expanded the empire through war • Xiongnu (first enemies) – nomads known for deadly archery • Empire tried bribing them to get them to leave, but they just accepted the bribes and grew stronger • Wudi sent more than 100,000 soldiers to fight and they made allies of their enemies • Colonized Manchuria and Korea; at the end of his reign, empire expanded to nearly the bounds of present-day China

24. Development/Fall of Han Dynasty • A Highly Structured Society • Emperor = link between heaven and earth; • people believed if he did his job well the empire would have peace and prosperity, and if he didn’t do his job well there would be earthquakes, floods and famines • Han bureaucracy – imperial army paid for with taxes • Peasants owed govt. a month worth of labor or military service every year – paid for roads, canals, irrigation ditches, and Great Wall • Civil service: govt. jobs that civilians obtained by taking examinations • Confucianism: teachings of Confucius, who lived 400 years before – practice -“reverence, generosity, truthfulness, diligence, and kindness”

25. Development/Fall of Han Dynasty • Han Technology, Commerce, and Culture • Paper was invented in 105 A.D. – cheaper than silk  spread education and helped advance govt. (more convenient for record keeping) • Collar harness for horses  horses could pull much heavier loads • Plow with two blades, improved iron tools, wheelbarrow, and used water mills to grind grains • Agriculture became most important and most honored occupation (so many people to feed) • Monopoly: when a group has exclusive control over the production and distribution of certain goods • Monopolies on mining of salt, forging of iron, minting of coins, and brewing of alcohol • SILK was a valuable item of trade – had massive silk mills to make luxurious cloth and Chinese culture expanded among silk roads because of worldwide demand for silk

26. Development/Fall of Han Dynasty • The Han Unifies Chinese Culture • Assimilation: process of making conquered people part of the Chinese culture • Sent Chinese farmers to settle newly colonized areas, people intermarried, and local schools taught people Confucianism • Recording China’s history • SimaQian – Grand Historian for compiling a history of China from ancient dynasties to Wudi in the book Records of the Grand Historian • Ban Biao – wrote History of Han Dynasty with help from son Ban Gu and daughter Ban Zhao • Ban Zhao also wrote Lessons for Women, teaching women to be humble and obedient but also industrious • Confucian teachings said that women had to devote themselves to their families – duties in home and work on fields of family farm • Upper-class women sometimes became empresses and some gained education and lead lives apart from families

27. Development/Fall of Han Dynasty • The Fall of the Han and Their Return • Economic imbalance caused by customs that allowed the rich to gain more wealth at the expense of the poor • Generations of farmers inherited small plots – made it hard to raise enough food to sell/feed family  debt to landowners with high interest rates • Landowners took possession of land that farmers couldn’t pay off • Landowners didn’t pay taxes, so land left for govt. tax decreased • Less money coming in  govt. pressed harder to collect money from small farmers • Resulted in gap between rich and poor • B.C. 32 – 9 A.D. – one inexperienced emperor replaced another; deceiving plots, revolts, and unrest  CHAOS

28. Development/Fall of the Han Dynasty • Wang Mang – took imperial title in 9 A.D. and overthrew Han (ending Former Han) • Minted new money, set up public granaries to feed the poor, & took large landholdings from rich  angered powerful landholders & caused inflation • 11 A.D. – great flood – left 1,000s dead & millions homeless • Peasants & wealthy revolted & killed Wang Mang in 23 A.D. – new member of old imperial family took power and began Later Han • In the first decades, Later Han was prosperous, but soon fell in 220 into 3 rival kingdoms

29. Development of the Silk Road

30. Development of the Silk Road • Acted as a land bridge between the east and west • At the time of the Han Dynasty, trade along the Silk Road enlarged contact between China, South Asia and the Mediterranean world • Han Empire expanded westward as far as the TarimBasin, making possible relatively secure caravan traffic across Central Asia • As Han armies pushed into the TaklaMakan Desert, roads became more secure and the traffic exploded • This was the real beginning of the Silk Road • These roads developed greatly because they were easier access to other parts of the world that did not involve climbing through mountains

31. Development of the Silk Road • Bandits soon learned of the precious goods travelling up the Gansu Corridor and skirting the TaklaMakan, and took advantage of the terrain to plunder these caravans • Caravans of goods needed their own defense forces • Was an added cost for the merchants making the trip • Han Dynasty set up the local government at Wuleiin order to protect the states in this area • Not far from Kuga on the northern border of the TaklaMakan • About 50 states at the time • Developed into center of Hui He kingdom

32. Development of the Silk Road • Most significant commodity carried along this route was not silk, but religion • Buddhism came to China from India this way, along the northern branch of the route • This restored China to the state it had been in during the Han Dynasty, with full control of the western regions, but also including the territories, Tibet and Mongolia • Led to the exchange of knowledge, culture, religion, and technology between the East and West (cultural diffusion) • Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Manichaeism, and Zoroastrianism were among the faiths that spread along the route • Algebra, astronomy, Arabic numerals, medical techniques, architectural styles, and a host of primarily Chinese techniques and inventions, e.g., printing and papermaking, spread from East to West • Various construction techniques, seafaring methods, medicinal plants and poisons, cotton cultivation, and horse-related items such as saddles and stirrups spread from West to East

33. Development of the Silk Road • Policing the route, which took caravans to the farthest extent of the Han Empire, became a big problem • After the Western Han Dynasty, successive dynasties brought more states under Chinese control • Experienced influences from the Indian sub-continent • Included Buddhist art work, examples of which have been found in several early second century tombs in present-day Sichuan province • The Astana tombs have turned up examples of silk cloth from China, as well as objects from as far afield as Persia and India • Where the nobles of Gaochang had been buried

34. Diffusion of Chinese Culture to SE Asia, Japan and Korea Sinicization - a process whereby non-Han Chinese societies come under the influence of dominant Han Chinese state and society

35. Diffusion of Chinese Culture to SE Asia, Japan and Korea • During the Taika, Nara, and Heian periods, Japanese borrowing from China peaked, although Shinto views on the natural and supernatural world remained central • From the seventh to the ninth centuries • The Taika reforms of 646 revamped the administration along Chinese lines. • Intellectuals and aristocrats absorbed Chinese influences. • The common people looked to Buddhist monks for spiritual and secular assistance and meshed Buddhist beliefs with traditional religion • The Taika reforms failed due to resistance from aristocratic families and Buddhist monks • The aristocracy returned to Japanese traditions; the peasantry reworked Buddhism into a Japanese creed; and the emperor lost power to aristocrats and provincial lords

36. Diffusion of Chinese Culture to SE Asia, Japan and Korea • Despite following Chinese patterns, the Japanese determined aristocratic rank by birth, thus blocking social mobility • The aristocrats dominated the central government and restored their position as landholders • The emperor gave up plans for creating a peasant conscript army and ordered local leaders to form rural militias • Court culture flourished at Heian • The basis of life was the pursuit of aesthetic enjoyment and the avoidance of common, distasteful elements of life • Poetry was a valued art form, and the Japanese simplified the script taken from the Chinese to facilitate expression • An outpouring of distinctively Japanese poetic and literary works followed

37. Diffusion of Chinese Culture to SE Asia, Japan and Korea • Koreans descended from hunting and gathering peoples of Siberia and Manchuria • By the fourth century B.C.E., they were acquiring sedentary farming and metalworking techniques from China • In 109 B.C.E., the earliest Korean kingdom, Choson, was conquered by the Han, and parts of the peninsula were colonized by Chinese • Korean resistance to the Chinese led to the founding in the north of an independent state by the Koguryopeople • It soon battled the southern states of Silla and Paekche • Sericulture spread to Korea through the Silk Road • After the fall of the Han, an extensive adoption of Chinese culture—Sinification—occurred • Buddhism was a key element in the transfer • Chinese writing was adopted, but the Koguryo ruler failed to form a Chinese-style state

38. Diffusion of Chinese Culture to SE Asia, Japan and Korea • Tang Alliances and the Conquest of Korea • Continuing political disunity in Korea allowed the Tang, through alliance with Silla, to defeat Paekche and Koguryo • The Chinese received tribute from Sillaand left to govern Korea • Sinification: The Tributary Link • Under the Silla and Koryo (918-1392) dynasties, Chinese influences peaked and Korean culture achieved its first full flowering • The Silla copied Tang ways, and through frequent missions, brought Chinese learning, art, and manufactured items to Korea • The Chinese were content with receiving tribute and allowed Koreans to run their own affairs

39. Diffusion of Chinese Culture to SE Asia, Japan and Korea • The Sinification of Korean Elite Culture • The Silla constructed their capital, Kumsong, on the model of Tang cities • The aristocracy built residences around the imperial palace • Some of them studied in Chinese schools and sat for Confucian exams introduced by the rulers • Most government positions were determined by birth and family connections. • The elite favored Buddhism, in Chinese forms, over Confucianism • Koreans refined techniques of porcelain manufacture, first learned from the Chinese, to produce masterworks

40. Bibliography • Knapp, Keith N. "Merchants and Trade in Qin and Han China." ABC-CLIO EBOOK COLLECTION. ABC-CLIO, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. • Liang, Cai. "Social Structures of Han China." ABC-CLIO EBOOK COLLECTION. ABC-CLIO, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. • Smits, Gregory. "Chapter Eleven: Women & Men in Society." N.p.: n.p., n.d.N.pag. Making Japanese. Web. 31 Oct. 2012. <http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/ g/j/gjs4/textbooks/PM-China/ch11.htm>. • Dennerline, Jerry. "Confucianism." New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Ed. Maryanne Cline Horowitz. Vol. 2. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005. 433-440. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 31 Oct. 2012. • Elman, Benjamin A. "Examination Systems, China." New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Ed. Maryanne Cline Horowitz. Vol. 2. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005. 758-761. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 31 Oct. 2012. • "Confucianism." Encyclopedia of Modern China. Ed. David Pong. Vol. 1. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2009. 347-351. Gale World History In Context. Web. 31 Oct. 2012. • Ching, Julia. "Confucius." Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Lindsay Jones. 2nd ed. Vol. 3. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. 1933-1937. Gale World History In Context. Web. 31 Oct. 2012.

41. Bibliography • "Han Dynasty." NewWorldEncyclopedia.com. New World Encyclopedia, 3 Apr. 2008. Web. 31 Oct. 2012. <http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Han_Dynasty>. • "The Spread of Chinese Civilization: Japan, Korea, and Vietnam." Wps.ablongman.com. Pearson, n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2012. <http://wps.ablongman.com/long_stearns_wcap_4/18/4648/1190119.cw/i ndex.html>.