Ch 4 - Imperial China - 221 B.C.E. - 220 C.E.

1. Ch 4 - Imperial China - 221 B.C.E. - 220 C.E.

2. Before the Han The 4 River Valley Civilizations Yellow River Valley Civilization Shang: 1523-1028 The evolution of Chinese writing during the Shang oracle bones From Pictograph to Characters Zhou Dynasty: 1027 - 256 Mandate of Heaven

3. China’s Dynastic Cycle

4. A review of Chinese civ. up to this point: • Shang Dynasty - Rulers and family patriarchs were interested in consulting the ancestors for guidance and made use of oracle bones. Shamans, individuals who claimed the ability to contact the ancestors read the crack formed on the oracle bones when heated. More than 2,000 characters in the Chinese writing have been identified by scholars as having come from these oracle bones. • Zhou Dynasty - • Mandate of Heaven • growing number of professional bureaucrats, or shi - men of service, the best-educated men in the empire, served as scribes, clerks, advisors and overseers in the king’s court and other parts of the government • importance of rituals to show respect for elders and rulers

5. Zhou Dynasty 1027 - 256 Warring States Period 475 - 221 B.C.E. Confucius 551 - 479 B.C.E. • Confucianism: • replace chaos of his time with harmony and order • The idea of reciprocity should organize society. Reciprocity is the giving and taking of people within the 5 basic relationships of society. People are either the superior or inferior person in each of these relationships: • parent and child • sovereign and minister • husband and wife • older and younger brother • friend and friend Kung Fu-tzu • Significance - will promote a strict hierarchy in society.

6. Other ideologies that developed during the Era of Warring States:Legalism and Daoism Legalism - Han Fei Zi Daoism - Laozi or Lao Tzu human nature is bad so a strong state is needed human nature is good so a centralized state is not needed

7. How did Qin gov’t rule China? • government - Legalist not Confucianist: book burning • government imposed the following from peasant population: • main tax - percentage of harvest • a labor tax - building public projects • military service - conscription • standardized weights, measures and coinage • created a uniformed legal code • created a common writing system • built roads like....? and canals to connect rivers

8. What steps did Qin rulers take to control the aristocracy? • abolished primogeniture laws • abolished slavery = free peasants to serve the state • How were the free peasants now serving the state? • paid taxes • provided labor or serve in the military

9. Let’s review Confucianism: • filial piety • order and harmony in family = order and harmony in the state (government) • superior vs. inferior roles • bureaucracy + education = good bureaucrats • The Analects later compiled by Mencius

10. Qin Dynasty 221 - 206 B.C.E. • China’s 1st empire • Shi Huangdi founder • adopts Legalism Terra-Cotta Soldiers

11. Han Dynasty: 200 B.C.E. - 220C.E.Look for: • Political system: centralized, emperor rules with help of his bureaucracy • Expansion • Technological Advances • Social and Economic Changes

12. Government: Emperor: link between heaven and earth - divine power Emperor Wu or Wudi or Wu Ti r.141 - 87 B.C.E. sets up a meritocracy Chinese bureaucracy Bureaucracy - civil servants - create the scholar-gentry class or shi civil service exam based on Confucius writings

13. Chinese Emperor • Emperor lived in seclusion, many wives and concubines • aligns himself with the gentry class to weaken the aristocracy • creates the gentry-scholar class

14. Chang’an - present-day Xi’an • cosmopolitan • courtiers, officials, soldiers, merchants • protective wall • point where Silk Road began

15. Expansion: • China doubles in size under rule of Wu: • expands west to Central Asia • expands east to Korea • expands south to Vietnam

16. Expansion under rule of Wudi141 - 87 B.C.E. Korea Central Asia Why? Silk Road capital Vietnam

17. Technology = horse collar and cavalry steel weapons and tools crossbow silk paper - Why? Confucian emphasis on learning

18. Economy Chang’An • agriculture - main activity • trade = Silk Road • luxury goods • monopolized by government

19. Chinese Society during Han rule landowning aristocracy + educated bureaucrat or the scholar-gentry during Han Dynasty laboring masses: peasants and urban artisans mean people - unskilled or without meaningful skills like performing artists, had to wear identifying green scarves, included household slaves What about them merchants? Confucian emphasis on learning and political service led to the view that merchants were not good people since they had devoted their lives to making money. So, there will be a gap between the wealth of merchants and their low prestige in the Chinese Confucian society.

20. Collapse: External Threat of nomadic invasions at the borders Cost of defending the north and nw border How did China deal with the threat of nomadic groups on their frontier? (book lists 5)

21. Collapse - internal reasons: • power of aristocracy = unequal distribution of land • peasants = unrest, Yellow Turban Rebellion 184 C.E. led by Daoists • strongmen in countryside = tax revenues conscription = reliance on mercenaries spread of epidemics = population Inefficient rulers, corrupt officials lose control of the gov’t. 220 C.E. Fall of Han Empire

22. Use Imperial Parallels in Bulliet textbook pages 146-147 to compare Rome and Han • Similarities or Differences on the following? • their social norms • their economy • rulers’ way of controlling the aristocracy • rulers’ way of conquering and overcoming challenges of running the empire • technological developments • the role of urban centers • reasons for the collapse of their empires • impact of the collapse of their empires on the region