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What happened to the Han Dynasty?

What happened to the Han Dynasty?. Most of the advances from the Qin-Han Era seem to have been lost Bureaucracy Importance of the scholars Reminded many of the time of the Warring States Non-Chinese nomads ruled A foreign religion, Buddhism, found many followers

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What happened to the Han Dynasty?

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  1. What happened to the Han Dynasty? • Most of the advances from the Qin-Han Era seem to have been lost • Bureaucracy • Importance of the scholars • Reminded many of the time of the Warring States • Non-Chinese nomads ruled • A foreign religion, Buddhism, found many followers • Trade, city life and technology declined

  2. Enter the Sui • Seemed at first to be just more warring factions • General Yang Jian – who becomes emperor Wen Di – conquers the Northern Wei and the Southern Chen and is able to reunite the core areas of Chinese civilization for the first time in 3+ centuries

  3. How did the Sui govern? • Emperors Wen Di and son Yang Di are remembered for their harsh rule • Forced many peasants to fight in the army or to work on public works projects to pay off debts

  4. Belief systems under the Sui • Wen Di, although Buddhist, encouraged the practice of Confucianism and Daoism as well. • Erected thousands of stupas across China to encourage Buddhism, yet understood the Chinese importance of Confucianism. • Respect for elders and traditions • Scholarship • Government trained officials

  5. How did the Sui affect daily life? • Built the Grand Canal which promoted trade by connecting the Yellow and Yangtze rivers • Helped rebuild the Great Wall that provided security from Northern raiders • Rice will replace millet as the staple food in China • Merchants in the South will use the canal to extent their business and influence into the North

  6. How did the Sui unite China? • Undertook extensive public works projects which reinvigorated the populous • Extended military control over large stretches of China • Sense of Nationalism

  7. Fall of the Sui • Yang Di pretty tyrannical • Murdered his father to take the throne • Overly fond of luxury and had thousands of peasant build palaces and canals • Built and extensive game park, but had to bring in the trees • Unsuccessful wars against Korea that almost defeats against the Turks force revolts against him • Assassinated by his own ministers in 618

  8. Enter the Tang • Rise to power: • 618, Li shi Min captured Changan and Luoyang • Will make himself emperor Dai Zong in 626 • Conquers deep into Asia and to Afghanistan; recruited Turkic soldiers; extended west into the Tibet, south to Vietnam, north to Korea

  9. How did the Tang govern China? • Under Wu Zhao, China’s only empress, the Tang ruled one of the most geographically extensive empires in Chinese history • Organized the government into departments, each with its own area • The Bureaucrats upheld Confucian ideals by acting as artists and politicians • Under Xuan Zong (713-756) Chinese painting and poetry reached a peak, but this will lead to the downfall

  10. Belief systems under the Tang • Empress Wu (690-705) supported Buddhism to the point of wanting to make it the state religion • Elites tend towards Zen (chan) Buddhism • Confucianism will still be encouraged due to the examination system • Emperor Wu Zong will suppress Buddhism (economic issues) to the point of open persecution.

  11. How did the Tang effect daily life? • Created the equal field system which limited the power of the rural aristocracy • Scholar class become the new ruling class • Land reforms gave some peasants a chance to gain wealth

  12. How did the Tang help unite China? • Emperors directly controlled the army and extended the boundaries • The equal field system benefited both the government and commoners

  13. The decline of the Tang • Xuan Zong became too interested in the arts, especially music. • After the death of his wife, became infatuated with a concubine, Yang Guifei. • She will put many members of her family into powerful positions – angers many of the elite. • Rebellion will occur, and outside forces will become threats.

  14. The Song Dynasty • Rise to Power: • Tai Zu emerged after 50 years of Civil War to found the Song Dynasty at Kaifeng • Will only rule on China’s provinces south of the Great wall • Will have to contain the many hostile ethnic groups clustered on China’s borders (Mongolians, Jurchens, Khitans) • Power will shift from the north to the south

  15. How did the Song govern China? • Mongolians and Manchurians harassed China’s southern border for 200 years • Song royal family was forced by Jurchen to establish a new capital at Hangzhou • Government officials came from southern China because the north was under foreign rule • Bureaucrats were selected according to their scores on the civil service exam despite economic status

  16. Belief systems under the Song • Revival of Confucianism ideas and values: Neo-Confucians • Believed that personal morality was the highest goal for humans • Virtue can be attained through book knowledge and observation as well as through wise men • Great emphasis on rank, obligation, deference and traditional rituals • This will reinforce class, age and gender distinctions

  17. How did the Song affect daily life? • Power of the merchant class rose as large-scale trade thrived • Cambodian strain of rice allowed farmers to double output • Technological advances produced new products

  18. How did the Song help unite China? • Moved the center of Chinese culture south to Kaifeng • Used meritocracy to make government efficient and reliable

  19. The Yuan Dynasty • Rise to Power: • Dynasty founded by Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan • Fought the Song for 40 years before founding China’s only foreign-ruled dynasty

  20. How did the Yuan dynasty govern China? • The Civil service system was maintained and staffed by Turks and Persians • A strict hierarchy of social service classes developed: • 1. Tax-free Mongols • 2. Non-Chinese civil servants • 3. Northern Chinese • 4. Southern Chinese

  21. Beliefs systems under the Yuan • Kublai Khan retained shamanism • Good and Evil spirits pervade the world and can be summoned and heard only through Shamans • The traditional Chinese belief systems were largely unaffected by Yuan rule • Under Kublai Khan’s encouragement the number of Buddhist monasteries increased

  22. How was daily life affected under the Yuan? • Yuan dynasty’s bloody wars of conquest led to the destruction of farmland • Also seized land for pastures – many Chinese starved and died • Kublai Khan maintained China’s roads and canals, but later Yuan emperors let them deteriorate

  23. How did the Yuan help unite China? • Retained civil service, but staffed it with foreigners • Allowed Chinese belief system to coexist with Mongol shamanism • Brought in more from the West due to the travels and stories of Marco Polo

  24. Homework • Read the chapter and add to your chart • Answer the following: • How did the examination system change from the Tang to the Song? The economy? • How did trade improve and change over time in China? • Describe the family unit and gender roles. • What can Neo-Confucianism be blamed for? • Describe the different forms of literature throughout the dynasties. • Describe Chinese painting.

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