Download China`s Empire

11/15/2011
The Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE)
 THE GOOD??
From 221 BCE to 220 CE
The Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE)
 THE BAD???
Summer 2011
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Summer 2008
March 2008
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The End of the Qin Dynasty
(just because it’s a great story)
 Qin Shi Huangdi feared death
 Elixir of life
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100s sent searching for the mountain of 8 immortals. They never returned.
No elixir = death.
 Several assassination attempts  slept in different rooms every night
& found body doubles!
 Died Sept. 10, 210 BCE after taking mercury pills created to achieve
immortality.
 Was two months away from the capital (Eastern China)
 Death was not known until he had returned.
 No will had been made.
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Fake will to keep eldest son off the throne (Confucianist leanings)
Will asked first son to commit suicide to honor his father.
 Second son became Er Shi Huangdi
 Revolts erupted quickly
 Imperial palace and state archives were burned
 Liu Bang’s army took the capital and started the Han Dynasty.
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The Former Han Dynasty (202 BCE – 2 CE)
 A Civil War followed the Qin Dynasty
First Emperor’s tomb
 Liu Bang (peasant) emerged as the first emperor (Emperor
Gao) of the Han Dynasty
 Government
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Kept Qin administrative structure
Combined Legalist methods with Dao philosophic ideals
Peace with northern border tribes (Xiongnu) by paying tribute and
marrying princesses to them.
Goal at this time: End harsh laws, wars, conditions of Qin dynasty,
external threats, and internal conflicts.
Taxes reduced.
 Military similar to Qin
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Standing army 300,000 to 1,000,000
All men 20-56 drafted – one year training/ one year battle
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The Former Han Dynasty (202 BCE – 2 CE)
Could be recalled at any time
The Former Han Dynasty (202 BCE – 2 CE)
Emperor Wu di
 Confucian State created (felt Daoism was not suitable)
Strongest Han Emperor: Emperor Wu or Wudi

7th
Emperor (141-87 BCE)
 Territorial expansion: much of Korea, Mongolia,
Vietnam, and Central Asia became part of China.
 Forced open a corridor through Gansu toward Turkestan
protected by 700,000 soldiers
 Silk Road Opened; Buddhism introduced
 Most Prosperous: agriculture, handicrafts, commerce,
population growth
 Combined Legalist methods with Confucian ideals.
 Started the elite Imperial Academy to teach future administrators the
Confucian classics (requirement)
 Only 50 men could attend at first, by later Han: 30,000 Men
 Civil Service exam lasted until 1905
 Confucian Scholars became part of the upper class (Meritocracy)
 Social hierarchy placed farmers below them, then artisans, then
merchants.
 Eventually the Han had conflicts with Confucian Scholars too
 Gov’t monopolies on salt, alcohol, etc. upset Confucian Scholars.
 First census of China
 History: importance of tradition!
 Sima Tan & Sima Qian
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Han Dynasty Terracotta Warriors
Emperor Jing di father of Emperor Wu
Influence of the Han Dynasty
 People of the Han/ 95% Han/ Han Chinese
From your outline & this ppt.… what was the Influence of the Han?
Make a P.E.R.S.I.A. chart!
One Han Invention not in your book
 Seismograph!
Political:
Economic:
Religious:
Social:
Intellectual innovations:
Artistic:
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The Interregnum (2-26 CE)
 Took place after 200 years of Han Rule
 Wang Mang
 Confucian scholar
 Wanted to create the perfect Confucian society.
 1 BCE appointed Regent to Emperor Ping (9 years old)
 Married his daughter to Ping and when Ping died (poisoned at age 13)
he claimed himself as emperor
 At first he was seen as a good ruler, then things changed!
 Angered Merchants and landowners with his idealistic policies
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Took their land to redistribute to the poor. Opened public granary.
The Later Han (26 – 220 CE)
 Capital moved to the South for protection
 Merchants and landlords became rich
 Peasants heavily exploited
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Lived as serfs
Hid from taxes and conscription in the estates of the wealthy
Landlord’s disloyalty hurt the empire as the tax and labor base
“disappeared”
Mistakes
 Invited barbarians to settle south of the Wall
 Dealt poorly with the Xiongnu leading to breakdown in diplomatic
 Men for Army; intermarriage to sinicize them.
relations
 2-5 CE: Yellow River (Huang He) changed course.
 Barbarians learned language, culture, administration,& military
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Peasants faced famines, epidemics, floods, and migration
Wang Mang was killed in a peasant rebellion.
techniques.
 Gave gifts of silk to barbarians so they would not invade.
The Later Han (26 – 220 CE)
 The End of the Han
 Peasant revolts began 184 CE: Revolt of the Yellow Turbans
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Started by a Daoist healer who claimed a new era would begin with
the fall of the Han
Suppressed but inspired other revolts
 Factions struggled for power in the palace
 1. Emperor (young Child; bureaucrats, advisors, palace guards)
 2. Eunuchs (2000 Castrated men, loyal to emperor and women of the
court)
 Murdered by the court
 3. Women of the court & their families (many wives and concubines;
fierce competition).
 220 CE: Last Han Emperor abdicated; land split among
rival landlords.
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