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Chinese Dynasties The Zhou Dynasty • The Zhou dynasty took over after the Shang dynasty and ruled China longer than any other dynasty. The Mandate of Heaven • The Zhou kings said they had the mandate of heaven. • The mandate of heaven was a belief that heaven gave power to the king, and no one rule without heaven’s permission • If the king was bad, heaven would send another leader. Zhou Social Structure • The kings gave land to the lords, people with high respect and wealth. • The lords paid taxes and gave soldiers to the king when he needed them. • The lords also gave small pieces of their land to peasants (farmers) • The peasants would farm a little piece of land for themselves and some more land for the lord. Zhou Social Structure • For a long time, this system of ruling worked well for China. The kings had the lords control land and other people. • After a while, though, the lords started to become very powerful, and they didn’t want to follow the king’s orders anymore. • The lords were not loyal to the king anymore; they quit sending soldiers to help the king fight invasions. The Decline of Zhou power • Invaders attacked the capital city and the Zhou soldiers lost the battle • The lords began fighting each other and soon all of China was fighting wars with their neighbors. This time of fighting was called the Warring States period. • Large families began breaking up into groups and fighting each other • Some sons and fathers were even fighting and killing one another • China had no main ruler and was just a big mess! • This chaos and disorder led to the creation of Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism The Qin Dynasty • The Warring State period went on for a long time, but finally the Qin people united China under their control. The Qin Dynasty • The first emperor of the Qin Dynasty was Shi Huangdi • Shi Huangdi was a Legalist and made very strict rules • He burned all books that disagreed with Legalism • Shi Huangdi also had his armies take over more land to make China bigger The Qin Dynasty • Shi Huangdi took away all power from the lords. He made himself the only person with absolute, total power. • He divided China into districts and each district had a governor. • Each district was divided into counties that also had leaders chosen by the king. Qin Achievements • Shi Huangdi made a new money system so that everyone in China would have the same kind of money • He also had more road and canals built, which helped travel in China The Great Wall of China • Shi Huangdi wanted to make sure no one could invade China, so he had the Great Wall of China built to keep invaders out. • Actually, parts of the wall had already been built hundreds of years earlier, Shi Huangdi just had the parts joined together to create one BIG wall The Decline of Qin Dynasty • After Shi Huangdi died, many other people claimed to have the mandate of heaven. • The capital was attacked and the new emperor surrendered. • There was no leader again, and everyone in China started fighting each other again.