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Bell Ringer. What was the Mandate of Heaven? What was the main goal of Confucius? What is a meritocracy?. CH 7: Imperial China & Political Development. China: The Beginning. China would become united in 221 BCE by Prince Zheng of the Qin Dynasty.
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Bell Ringer • What was the Mandate of Heaven? • What was the main goal of Confucius? • What is a meritocracy?
China: The Beginning • China would become united in 221 BCE by Prince Zheng of the Qin Dynasty. • Prince Zheng would become China’s first emperor
Dynasties • China’s rule will be marked by Dynasties, or by which family is in charge. • Qin: 221-206 BC • Han: 206BC-220 CE • Period of Chaos: 220-581 • Sui: 589-618 • Tang: 618-907 • Period of Chaos: 907-960ish • Song: 960-1279 • Yuan (Mongols): 1297-1368 • Ming: 1398-1644
Mandate of Heaven • The Chinese believed that Dynasties ruled by the Mandate of Heaven • Floods, drought, famine, earthquakes, plagues, etc were signs Heaven was displeased
Han Dynasty • The Han Dynasty will rule China for close to 400 years, but eventually fall. • China would be run by a bureaucracy, a complex system of governments. • If bureaucracies are honest & hardworking, they are very successful. By 220 CE the Han bureaucracy was corrupt and dishonest. • This led to high taxes which upset the people
Taxes drove many into poverty. • Workers were forced to labor on public projects. • Bandits were common, and led to warlords that fought the emperor. • Farmers lost their land, and later rebelled. • China would fall into a period of chaos
Return to order • A nomadic group would claim control for 29 years, known as the Sui Dynasty. • Heavy taxes would cause them to fall to the Tang dynasty. • They would strengthen and fix the central government of China, and rule for over 300 years.
The Han dynasty had relied on the aristocracy, ruling class & nobles, to run the government. • They used civil service exams which determined who was qualified. (Who?) • The Tang would re-introduce these exams. • The exams could be taken by anyone, but were extremely difficult people normally needed tutors. The aristocracy were the few who could afford it.
Song Dynasty • The unfairness of the system led to peasant rebellions, and the Song Dynasty would take over. • The Song kept the exams, but used a meritocracy, rule by officials of proven merit.
The Exams • The Exams were based on the teachings of Confucius. • A Confucian scholar would create the Four Books in 1190. This would become the basis of all civil service exams. • The Exams would be opened up to anyone in society, and even lower class people could attend state schools to study for the exams. • If you passed the local exam, you could take the national exam.
Participants would be locked into rooms when they took the exams, and someone would re-write all their answers so cheating was next to impossible. • Only a small portion passed the exams. • After three years on the job you could be promoted.
Mongol Rule • Kublai Khan (Genghis’ Grandson) would take over China and form the Yuan dynasty. • The Mongols distrust the Chinese, and don’t want them running their government, so they end the exam system. • Many Mongols were uneducated or illiterate, so Chinese were still needed. • After a period of time the continued shortage of officials would make the Mongols put the exams back in place. • They were still selected who could take the exams.
Ming Dynasty • The Chinese would rebel against the Mongols, and the Ming Dynasty would take over. • Though the exam system will benefit China it limited them in some ways. • People with science, math, or engineering knowledge were kept out of government. • Merchants were also considered the lowest level of society.