Early Chinese History

1. Early Chinese History John Ermer Miami Beach Senior High School World History

2. The Huang He River Valley • China = isolated by natural barriers • Himalaya mountains in Southwest • Pamir Mountains, Tian Mountains, Gobi Desert in West • Mongolian Steppe to the Northwest • Pacific Ocean to the East • Minimal contact w/ rest of Asia = distinct development • Various climate zones (Subarctic to Subtropical) • Loess deposits create fertile agricultural lands • Colors the Yellow River • Northern China farms millet and wheat • Southern China farms rice

4. Shang Dynasty (1750-1027 B.C.E.) • Neolithic Chinese (Xia Dynasty) • Silk production, pounded earth walls, pottery, livestock, grain • Enters Bronze Age c. 2000 BCE (later than W. Asia) • Earliest written records in China—pictograms & phonetic • Warrior culture, military campaigns against nomads • POWs taken as slaves to Shang capital • Decentralized political system, clan leaders rule locally • Cities were administrative/religious centers—fengshui • Most common people lived in farming villages • Divination and sacrifice • Bronze = sign of authority

5. Shang Artifacts

7. Zhou Dynasty (1027-221 BCE) • 1027: Last Shang king defeated by Zhou leader, Wu • Zhou adopt many Shang cultural elements, add new ones • The Mandate of Heaven • Decline in divination, priestly power, sacrifice • Continued decentralization of political power • 800 BCE: Shift from Western capital to Eastern capital • Zhou power destabelized, local leaders increase power, war • 480-221: Warring States Period • Long protective walls, mounted soldiers, steel production • Legalism

9. Chinese Society: Confucianism & Daoism • Aristocrats seek to influence Zhou leaders • Kongzi “Confucius” (551-479 BCE) is such an aristocrat • Governments = family, hierarchy, human goodness, anti-Legalist • Ren (familial benevolence) = moral government • Daoism founded by Laozi, “follow the path (dao)” • Accept the world as is, follow natural path • Clan-based kinship replaced by three-generation family • Women subordinate to men, Confucius equates to commoners • Monogamous marriage, but men allowed concubines • Yin and Yang = different roles for women and men

11. 230-221 BCE: King Zheng of Qin defeat the Warring States • King Zheng assumes Zhou Dynasty’s Mandate of Heaven • Declares self Shi Huangdi “First August Emperor” (like Augustus) • Establishes capital in Xianyang • Qin administrative system: commanderies & counties • Commanderies ruled by civilian and military governors • All male citizens register with imperial clerks for conscription and taxes • Establishment of standard weights and measures, coinage minting • Qin emperors expand into Korean peninsula & Vietnam • Han idea of “grand unity” justifies expansion, oppression of rebel states • Qin officials Han Fei & Li Si espouse Legalism • Citizens organized into mutually responsible groups • Free labor preferred over slaves, high tax base = wealth • Economic regulation, agricultural surplus, high level of regional trade China: Rise of the Qin Dynasty

13. Nomadic warrior peoples on frontier • Xiongnu people especially troublesome for Qin • Qin emperors push on, build defensive wall • Wall allows for the colonization of Inner Eurasian Steppe • Constant warfare burdens Qin tax base • Dissention among nobles & conscripted workers • Chief Master Li Si executed, Xiang Yu leads rebellion • Third Qin Emperor surrenders to Han forces • Xiongnu Confederacy reconquers Steppes • Xiang Yu commits suicide, feudal lords war • Han prince Liu Bang declares himself Han emperor • Rules with Confucian philosophy, moral value The Qin Decline

14. Xiongnu Areas

15. Han rulers keep Qin bureaucratic system • Army of 50,000+ crossbow armed soldiers • Western/Former Han Dynasty (206 BCE-9 CE) • Territorial expansion, economic prosperity • Dynastic Cycles • Families compete for power, claim authority of past dynasties—mandate of heaven • Dynasties rise and fall according to the cycle • Imperial continuity through multiple dynasties until 1911 The Han Dynasty; 206 BCE-220 CE

17. World’s most centralized bureaucracy • Regional administrators played active role in local affairs • Removal of princes, management of aristocrats • Governor-Generals appointed during crisis/famine • Bureaucratic schools breed government officials • Imperial University started by Emperor Wu (136 BCE) • Rational thought brings diagnoses of body function, link between weather and disease, invention of magnetic compass, making of paper • Confucian thought dominates education of the elites • Balance between emperor’s power and bureaucracy • Honor tradition, emperor’s responsibility, respect history’s lessons Han Power

18. Han unite various groups who once warred • Allowed former Qin lords to reacquire power • Status of scholars rises in society—masters • Emperor Wu est. state monopolies to pay for wars • Minting of standard copper coins, The Silk Road • Han cities designed in grid, wide avenues • Palaces become forbidden inner cities • Large building projects aggrandize imperial power • Patriarchal family, women worked/respected • Public entertainment, gambling, debauchery • Funerary rites important to rich and poor Han Social & Economic Order

20. Free peasantry=base of society • Farmers honored, merchants controlled • Scholar officials protect moral authority • Top of society=imperial clan and nobles • Merchants begin to espouse Daoist ideas to improve position • Emperor Wu turns Confucian philosophy into the state religion, Confucius=divine/demigod • Astronomical omens • Chinese not as religious/otherworldly as Romans Han Social Structure & Religion

21. Creating stability for improving trade • Standing army of 1,000,000; 10,000 Imperial Guard • Emperor Wu conquers Korea and Sichuan • Emperor Wu sends expeditionary forces to battle the Xiongnu and their horsemen • Xiongnu tribes split; southern tribes conquered • Northern Xiongnu pushed westward, threaten Rome (Huns) • Retreat of Nomadic peoples=paxsinica Expanding Han Rule

22. “China’s Sorrow” natural disaster • Economic problems, political instability • The usurper Wang Mang (9-23 CE) • Later Han emperors justify anti-reformist rule • Elites reform tax code, benefit • Government no longer controls economy • Increased social inequality, rebellion • Confucius replaced by Laozi & Yellow Emperor as model citizen—rise of Daoism • The Yellow Turban rebellion • Buddhism arrives—millenarian movement • Han fall=three competing states (Wei, Shu, Wu) Declining Han Power