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If there was no class lecture this
week, write a paragraph about
what you learned and/or questions
about what you didn’t understand.
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Topic:
China
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Notes: China: Dynasties of Power
Shang Dynasty 1700-1027 B.C.
 1700 years before Christ
 1000s slaughtered by royal decree
 1928 discoveries near Anyang
 Royal tombs w/ headless skeletons leading up
ramps age legends proved fact
 Bronze
 Oracle bones – tortoise shells with written
 Shang emperors claimed to rule with the authority
of gods and ancestors [Mandate of Heaven]
 Offered ancestors/gods meat and wine
in bronze ceremonial vessels
 Bronze casting [using clay molds]
becomes high art
 Fu Hao, the consort of Wu Ding, is given credit for
his many successes
 In peace she is a supporter of religion and art
 In war she is a victorious general
 When she dies he mourns her for the rest of his
life [reference Shah Jahan for Mumtaz Mahal]
 By 1000 BCE the Shang were weakened by a
fondness for alcohol.
 The high lead content of their bronze vessels may
also have played a part
Summary
Site at Sanxingdui
 Bronze human-form art sacrificed instead of
 people
One when reassembled was over nine feet tall
 Statues came with clothing and masks
Summary
Zhou /jō/
 Western Zhou 1027-771 B.C. E.
 Eastern Zhou 770-221 B.C E.
 1000 years before Christ
 300 years before Rome
 Capital at Xian
Emperor Wu
 first system of justice for the common man
example: a man convicted of slandering [speaking
false words about] his master was sentenced to
have his crime tattooed on his face but the
sentence was reduced to 500 lashes
and a fine of 500 pieces of bronze
Summary
Warring States Period Circa 481 – 221 B.C.E.
 Seven most powerful states fought for control with
armies numbering in the 1000s
 The crossbow and superior metal weapons date
from this period
 Psychological warfare was used
 Example: convicts were forced to commit suicide
in front of the opposing troops—the shock was
so great they were easily defeated by advancing
regular troops
 Beautiful bronze temple bells were created
using the Metal of enemy weapons
 Jade symbolized power and majesty of
noble ranks
Summary
Qin /chĭn/
221-207 B.C.E.
 The Qin are sometimes called the Ch'in, which is
probably where the name China originated.
 Their leader named himself the First Emperor,
 or Shi Huangdi [Qin Shi Huangdi]
 Developed agriculture on a massive scale: canals,
dams, and waterways transformed central China
 Min river diverted to create lush farms [the size of
Connecticut] fed civilian and military population
Qin Shi Huangdi
 As a prince, his advisors convinced him all the
land was his for the taking. He used his large
army (half a million soldiers) to unite China
 Soldiers could buy status with enemy heads
 Estimates are that 2/3s of the enemy population
of the opposing states was destroyed
China
 Once the entire population was under his
authority
he began to set a bureaucracy in place to govern
and began massive building projects
The Great Wall
 In response to the intrusions by the Xiongnu people
from the north, he ordered the building of a new wall
to connect the remaining fortifications along the
empire's new northern frontier. Transporting the large
quantity of materials required for construction was
difficult, so builders always tried to use local
resources. Stones from the mountains were used over
mountain ranges, while rammed earth was used for
construction in the plains. There are no surviving
historical records indicating the exact length and
course of the Qin Dynasty walls.
Folk Tale
Legend of Meng Jiang Nu
In the Qin Dynasty (221 B.C. 206 B.C.), a young man named
Fanqi Liang escaped from the Great Wall construction
site and hid in a private garden where he came across
the owner’s pretty daughter. They fell in love and got
married. Unfortunately, Fanqi Liang was found,
captured and returned to the construction site.
Meng Jiang Nü waited day and night for her
husband. Winter came but Fanqi Liang failed to return.
Meng Jiang Nü sewed some warm clothes to take to her
husband. She arrived at the construction site but Fanqi
Liang was nowhere to be found. She was then informed
that Fanqi Liang had died and his body was built into
the Great Wall. Meng Jiang Nü stayed by the wall and
wept for days and nights. Deeply moved by the girl’s
bitter weeping, a 400 kilometer section of the Great Wall
collapsed and exposed the bones and bodies of many
dead men. Meng Jiang Nü cut her fingers and dripped
her blood on the dead until her blood flowed into one.
Knowing that this was her husband, she buried him
and then drowned herself.
This is a wide spread legend about the Great Wall.
Plays and operas based on the story have been popular
through the ages in all parts of China. Temples have
been built in her memory.
Reflect on the story – How does Meng Jiang Nü compare with Penelope?
Bureaucracy
 Feudal Landed Nobility eliminated – private armies
disbanded
 Remaining nobles required to live at court [not
unlike France under Louis XIV – le Roi du Soleil]
 Political enemies purged
 All power and financial capacity controlled by the
Central government
 Built 5000 miles of roads [all a standard width]
 Used civil service exam for placement and
promotion
Standardization
 Road and axel width [so all used the same ruts]
 Passports within and from outside the empire
 Currency [round coins with square holes]
 Written language
Censorship
 Scholars were thrown in a pit [buried alive] and
their books burned for disagreement with
imperial policy/point of view
Reflection – how are these reforms still affecting China today?
Tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi
 Qin Shi Huangdi designed a massive structure
that may have required the labor of 700,000
convicts and took years to complete
 One of the first projects the young king
accomplished while he was alive was the
construction of his own tomb.
 In 215 BCE Qin Shi Huang ordered General
Meng Tian with 300,000 men to begin
construction.
 Other sources suggested he ordered 720,000
non-paid laborers to build his tomb to
specification.
 The main tomb containing the emperor has
yet to be opened and there is evidence suggesting
that it remains relatively intact.
 Sima Qian's description of the tomb includes
replicas of palaces and scenic towers, 100 rivers
made with mercury, representations of 'the
heavenly bodies', and crossbows rigged to shoot
anyone who tried to break in.
 Modern archaeologists have located the tomb,
and have inserted probes deep into it. The
probes revealed abnormally high quantities of
mercury, some 100times the naturally occurring
rate, suggesting at least part of the legend can
be trusted.
 Secrets were maintained, as most of the
workmen who built the tomb were killed.
 Qin Shi Huangdi died in 210 B.C. E.
 15 years of chaos and a change in
dynasty followed
Summary
Han Dynasty
206 BCE – 220 CE
Emperor Wu Di
 sent an embassy [ led by Jhang Chen] to
negotiate with his Northern neighbors
—treaties designed to pit one against another
 Chen was captured, escaped west and reached
Afghanistan—amazed to find Chinese goods
(especially silk) in the markets there
 Chen returned (after being given up as dead)
10 years later to report his findings
Silk Road
 – goods traveled between China and Rome
 The second Roman Emperor (Tiberius) set
legal limits on the amount of silk any one
Person/family could own
Changsha Mawangdui Han Tomb
 Discovered 1971
 Packed in clay and (5 tons) of charcoal
 Grave goods


100 silk garments (one
weighs 2 ounces)
included such weave types
as sha, luo, jiun, min, qi,

lacquer ware & dishes

musical instruments

furniture

military impliments
 Lady Xin Zhu
 Suffered tuberculosis, ruptured disk, parasites
Died at @ age 50 of a heart attack
Reflection – what did researchers learn about Han China from the tomb?
The Terracotta Army
 Qin Shi Huangdi commanded an army of clay
Soldiers to guard his tomb (4 pits to the East)
 1000’s of artisans worked for decades to complete
The replica of the Qin army (600,000 soldiers)
 Though the bodies were mass produced, every
head is unique—sculpted to be the twin of a
particular soldier
 Soldiers were placed in
battle formation
 38 column marching order
 Side and rear guard faces
outward from the
larger formation
 Each soldier is armed with
working weapons
metal pieces were chrome plated to resist
corrosion (10,000 retrieved thus far)
 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and
150 cavalry horses
 Some figures were damaged in the riots after
The death of Qin Shi Huangdi and not all of the
Soldiers still have their weapons
Summary
Reflection
– What lessons about modern China can be learned from looking at ancient China?