Download Qin vs. Han

Nicholas Bryant
Mr. Kilbourn
Global History I H
9 December 2011
Qin Dynasty Contributions vs. Han Dynasty Contributions
The two first Chinese dynasties were both important in China’s development. The Qin
united China for the first time in its history and the Han built off of it and made many
developments in education and sciences. Despite Shi Huangdi of the Qin dynasty’s hard rule, he
left the greater contribution.
Before he rose to power, Shi Huangdi resided and ruled a small feudal state that was
isolated from other feudal states so it was harder to be attacked. While the other states weakened
each other, his territory’s army grew stronger than other states until he decided to invade the
nearby states. Gradually, over the course of two decade he gained control of all the inhabited
territories in China. They were now unified by one ruler but were isolated outside of that. Shi
Huangdi standardized weights and measurement for the empire. The currency was changed to a
universal iron Qin coin. Each state had developed their own form of written language so the
people of each territory could not communicate over long distances. His form of rule was very
strict following legalist beliefs. The government imposed strict laws that lead to, if broken, harsh
punishment. The government in China today uses a similar form law enforcement with the
slightest rule breaking leads to strict chastising or punishment. He jailed, tortured or killed those
who opposed his idea of ruling. He buried Confucian scholars alive and burned their religious
texts and left only one about science and farming. This resulted in the only philosophy known to
the people was legalism which believed people were naturally evil and only a strict government
could keep order. Gradually, Shi Huangdi became more enigmatic later in his life and
disappeared to the entire population and he died in 210 BC. Shortly afterwards, the dynasty fell
and peasants gained control to begin the Han dynasty. Of the ten years Shi Huangdi maintained
rule, his greatest contribution was unification of territory, currency, weights, measures, and
written language, but he failed to unify them in thought.
After overthrowing what remained of the Qin dynasty, Liu Bang, the leader of the
rebellion, rebuilt a new government from the pieces of Shi Huangdi’s administration. It was
much less strict than the previous government and was built off education and accountability;
both of which are important in Confucianism. In fact many officials in the meritocracy were
Confucian scholars trained at a university built by the government.