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Mandate of Heaven and the Dynastic Cycle

Mandate of Heaven and the Dynastic Cycle. Mandate of Heaven. The belief that heaven granted a ruler a mandate or ‘ divine right to rule ’ Linked Power and Responsibility In exchange for loyalty, the ruler must maintain order Rulers need Mandate of Heaven to rule

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Mandate of Heaven and the Dynastic Cycle

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  1. Mandate of Heaven and the Dynastic Cycle

  2. Mandate of Heaven • The belief that heaven granted a ruler a mandate or ‘divine right to rule’ • Linked Power and Responsibility • In exchange for loyalty, the ruler must maintain order • Rulers need Mandate of Heaven to rule • If lost, the people were allowed to rebel.

  3. Accomplishments • Est. a strong, central government • Bring peace and order • Give land to peasants • Build roads, defensive walls and irrigation systems • Support education and arts

  4. Failures & Losing the Mandate • Allow Corruption • Lose military power • Raise taxes • Spend $ on luxuries • Fail to reinforce walls, and irrigation • Harsh ruler

  5. Problems: Sign the Mandate is Lost • Chaos • Floods • Invasions • Peasant rebellions • Poor harvests

  6. Dynastic Cycle • A strong leader emerges and establishes a new dynasty • Claims mandate • Cycle begins again

  7. During times of Chaos, Chinese philosophers tried to find ways to guide human behavior and ensure order in society • 3 Philosophies Developed in China • Confucianism • Daoism (Taoism) • Legalism

  8. Confucianism • Founder: Confucius • (Master Kong) • Dates: 551 B.C • Writings: The Analects • Teachings: • 5 Relationships must govern society “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do”

  9. 5 Relationships • Ruler and Ruled • Father and Son • Older Brother and Younger Brother • Husband and Wife • Friend and Friend • Superior sets example and cares for inferior • Inferior shows respect to superior

  10. Confucius • Filial piety: the duty and respect that children owed their parents • Education and Morality • Society more important than individual I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

  11. Daoism • Founder: Lao Zi • Dates: 551 B.C • Writings: “The Way of Virtue” • Teachings: • Stressed the link between Nature and People • People should do nothing contrary to nature, live according to the Dao “the Way”

  12. Daoism http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-zD-RohzNY

  13. Yin and Yang: Forces in Nature are to balance each other • Yin: female, passive, earthy • Yang: male, active, heavenly

  14. Daoism • Water as symbol of Tao • Govt. should have fewer rules • “Reveal thyself, embrace original nature, do not be selfish, curtail desire”

  15. Legalism • Founder: Han Feizi • Writings: Han Feizi • 300-200 B.C. • Teachings: • People acted out of self interest • People only respond to rewards and punishments, not good examples

  16. Legalism • Harsh Laws and Strict Rulers are necessary to get things done • Laws more important than rulers • Example: Shi Huangdi used Legalism to unite China and create the Great Wall

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