Download XI) The Chinese Empire

XI) The Chinese Empire
A) When we last left China they were in the over
700 year old Zhou dynasty – What’s a dynasty
again?
B) Towards the end of the Zhou dynasty though
the government started to fall apart as parts of
the government tried to take control away from
the king
C) Along came Confucius [also known as Kongzi
(KOONG-DZUH)] who would form a philosophy
known as Confucianism
1) he was born into a poor family in 551BCE
2) he became a teacher of:
a) history
b) music
c) ethics* – What’s that?
3) he believed that people were good at
heart as shown by the polite relationships
people have with others such as:
a) ruler and subject
b) father and son
c) husband and wife
d) older and younger brother
e) friend and friend
4) in order to make the most of these
relationships and to be a productive member
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of society, the key was to “know your role”
or duty in life – How?
a) by practicing good behavior (especially
towards one’s elder/ancestors – this idea
is also known as filial piety*)
b) you need to be loyal
c) you need to be consistent (act the same
all of the time)
d) you need to be aware of the past and
get a good education
e) if you wish to go against these ideas
you face the wrath of your elders or you
faced reciprocity* – or “doing unto others
as you would have others do unto you”
5) still Confucius wanted to do more so he
tried to help the government so he went
looking for a government job –
unfortunately no one would hire him
because he came from a poor family
6) eventually after 12 years though
Confucius returned back to teaching and
established schools to teach future Chinese
people how to be proper members of society
(and how to get a good government job)
a) he taught his students to always be
polite
b) he taught his students to respect
everyone’s individuality
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c) he taught them that anyone could
succeed (be they rich or poor) as long
as they had the skills to do the job right
– Why would Confucius argue that poor
people could do a job just as well as a
rich person?
d) to measure the success of his students
Confucius would give tests – those who
got the highest scores got the
government job
7) eventually Confucius would die in 479
BCE but...
a) his writings would be collected in a
book called the Analects
b) the Chinese bureaucracy (or divisions
of government) would use Confucius’ tests
to create civil service exams* to test
candidates for government jobs
1) these tests at first measured how well
you knew Confucius’ writings
2) today these tests are used to test
certain job skills in China (and other
parts of the world)
D) On the other hand there was Laozi (LOW-DZUH)
and his religion Taoism/Daoism that also started in
China
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1) according to legend he was born with white
hair and wrinkly skin (supposedly due to the fact
that he was carried in his mother’s womb for 62
years!)
2) in the 6th century he wrote a book called the
Dao DeJing
3) in the book, Laozi described how to follow
“the Dao” (or “way”)
4) And how do you follow the Dao? (or the
Laozi’s religion that grew out of it,
Daoism/Taoism)
a) Act in harmony and peace with nature and
accept all the changes that the earth presents
you
b) Keep your lives simple (don’t act – go with
the flow – relax) – How is this different from
Confucianism?
c) Discard/remove:
1) Desire
2) Impulse
3) Aggression
4) Formal structure (like a strict
government)
Removing these 4 things helps you become
more humble – what does that mean?
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5) Today many people associate the even older
symbol of the yin-yang (from the book I Ching)
with the religion of Taoism/Daoism
a) yin-cool, dark, female, submissive
b) yang- warm, light, male, aggressive
c) notice how both symbols are represented
equally – what do you think this means?
6) How do people who believe in Daoism/Taoism
worship? – Meditation and readings of the Dao
De Jing
E) Finally one group who thought that they had all
the answers to China’s problems were the Legalists
1) the founders of this philosophy (Hanfezi and
LiSi) believed that the government should rule
harshly with strict laws (laws=legal=legalist)
because they believed that all people were evil at
heart
a) those that were good citizens should be
rewarded
b) anyone who went against the government
though should be punished – for example, if
you’re out after curfew, you could get your
ears and nose chopped off
c) they also did not allow freedom of the
press – what does that mean?
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2) not surprisingly, the royal family of the Zhou
dynasty liked the Legalists – Why?
F) Eventually, the Zhou dynasty was replaced by the
Qin dynasty (221-206 BCE)
1) its first emperor of the dynasty, Shi Huangdi
(SIHR HWANG-DEE), first got all of the parts of
China together
a) he ordered that all of the rival noble
families to move to the capital city (so he
could keep an eye on them)
b) to satisfy the nobles thirst for more land
and power, he sent out the armies(using the
theories of Sun Tzu and his book The Art of
War) that expanded China’s boundaries all
the way down to present day Vietnam – see
pg. 100 Academic
c) to also help satisfy the nobles, he
murdered hundreds of the followers of
Confucius and burned his books – why
would nobles not like the ideas of
Confucius?
d) he then divided China and its newly
conquered parts into 36 districts that would
be controlled by government workers
e) Would Shi Huangdi agree with the
Legalists? Why or why not?
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2) under the emperor’s autocracy (or
government in which the ruler has unlimited
power) he tried to improve China’s economy and
safety
a) he built over 4,000 miles of roads (no
matter how many peasants were killed
working on it) which helped trade
b) he created one currency, a census (a
means for counting up all the people in a
country) law system, writing and system of
weights and measures that would be used in
all of China
c) he created new ways to irrigate fields so
they could grow more food (again, no matter
how many peasants were killed in the
process)
d) the emperor would go too far when he
ordered the expansion of the Great Wall of
China to protect China’s western borders
from invaders (more specifically a group of
nomads on horseback from the north)
1) it covered 1,400 miles of China’s
territory
2) every 200 to 300 yards, there was a
watchtower to look out for attackers
3) its over 25 ft. tall and is 15 to 30 ft.
across
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4) it was built by poor workers – What
do you think would happen to the
workers if they refused to work on the
wall?
5) those workers that died due to the
beatings, exhaustion, and/or starvation
were put into the wall
G) Finally, the poor people had had enough
1) when Shi Huangdi’s son took over, the
peasants, led by a man from the Han
province took over
2) thus started the Han dynasty
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