Han Society and Achievements

1. Han Society and Achievements Chapter 15 Section 3

2. Han Society • A time of innovation & economic development • Trade flourished, more craftsman & merchants • Country was more unified, continued to use Qin policies to standardize life (like currency) • Society based on Confucianism, valued mental work. Scholars highly valued.

3. Confucius had little respect for merchants so they fell low on the social order. • Merchants couldn’t wear nice clothes or own land, their kids couldn’t become officials. • Slaves were at the bottom. Committing a crime, sold into slavery if in debt.

4. Family • Family loyalty & respect for elders were key values! • Ancestor worship continued. • Han legal code enforced Confucian ideals. • Parents reported disrespectful children. • Adult children punished harshly, younger were exempt.

5. Women’s Roles • Status was lower than men. • Stayed home caring for home, kids, and elderly • Ban Zhaowas a woman who received good education – believed women deserved education and equal statues of men

6. Economic Life • Farmers backbone of economy • Made up 90% of population • Grew wheat, millet, barley, beans, rice and some fruit or bamboo • Silk important trade: • Women tended silkworms and wove silk

7. Industry • Iron production – for making tools & weapons • Salt mining • Turned Wudi into state monopoly – helped support military adventures

8. Controlling Production and Prices • Monopoly kept merchants from becoming powerful • Producers of salt & iron became wealthy dangerous to emperor • Emperor worried farmers would leave fields &work for producers &China would run out of food • Cause starvation • Han made policies to control prices • Harvest good government would buy extra; bad crops sold back grain to keep prices lower and avoid shortage • Greed & poor quality tools made by government caused problems

9. Han Achievements:China’s Traditional Arts • Painting – colorful murals • Sculptures – made in stone, clay, and bronze • Poets – wrote about Chinese countryside • Confucius believed music was good for spirits • Created band and music and dancing were common at festivals and ceremonies • Garden design arranged plants, rocks, and water • Calligraphers expressed emotions in the way they painted Chinese characters • Lacquerware – bushed lacquer on wood or metal objects to create hard finish – sometimes add color

10. Advances in Science • Astronomers studied sky and made precise calculations of the length of solar year • Doctors developed theories to explain and treat illness • Acupuncture one herbal medicine treatment

11. Chinese Inventions • Seismometer – metal jar that dropped small ballswhen a tremor from an earthquake was felt • Wheelbarrowappeared about 100 BC to help move heavy loads, often called “wooden ox” • Paper – first made from rags and bark • Used durable wood and silk to write important things – way to make cheap books – new ideas spread quickly