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Classical China Notes
I. Three Schools of Thought
a. Confucianism
i. Founder – Confucius
1. Lived from 551 to 479 B.C.E. (Zhou dynasty) in eastern China
ii. Main Beliefs
1. Social order, harmony, and good government could be restored if society was
organized around five basic relationships:
a. Ruler and subject
b. Father and son
c. Husband and wife
d. Older brother and younger brother
e. Friend and friend
2. Children should practice filial piety, respect for their parents/elders
iii. Effects
1. Creation of a bureaucracy, a trained civil service, in China
a. Education became important to career advancement
2. The Analects was a collection of Confucius’ teachings and sayings
3. Spread beyond China, influenced civilizations all over East Asia
b. Daoism
i. Founder – Laozi
1. Believed to have lived in the 6th century B.C.E.
ii. Main Beliefs
1. Natural order is more important than the social order
2. Human beings should live simply and in harmony with nature
3. True harmony comes from balancing the opposite forces of nature
a. Yin – “shadow” and Yang – “sunlit”
4. Everyone must discover the Dao, “the Way”, for themselves
iii. Effects
1. Daoists made contributions to astronomy and medicine
2. Influenced Chinese thought, writing, and art
3. Encouraged rulers to rule less harshly
c. Legalism
i. Founder – Hanfeizi
1. Lived from 280 to 233 B.C.E. (the end of the Zhou dynasty)
ii. Main Beliefs
1. Highly efficient and powerful government is the key to social order
2. Governments should control thinkers and their ideas, and enforce strict laws with
rewards for good behavior and harsh punishments for bad behavior
3. Rulers should have absolute power and be backed by the military
iii. Effects
1. The Qin dynasty seized control of China and admired Hanfeizi’s writings, they
adopted strict Legalist ideas
2. Many people were put to death for disloyalty and other crimes
II. Qin dynasty
a. Important Leader(s)
i. Qin Shihuangdi, “First Emperor of Qin”
1. Used Legalist ides to control warring states and unify China
2. Used military might, spies, bribery, and alliances to conquer rival states
3. The Qin dynasty collapsed shortly after he died
ii. Li Su, the prime minister
b. Life in the Qin Empire
i. Divided territory into 36 districts
1. Each had three officials who governed:
a. one controlled the army
b. another the laws and agriculture
c. a third reported to the emperor
ii. Murdered hundreds of Confucian scholars and burned “useless” books
iii. Standardized writing, law, money, weights, and measure to make trade easier
c. Great Wall of China
i. Built to protect the Qin dynasty from attacks by northern nomads
ii. Took 10 years to construct the 1,400 miles of wall
iii. Made of layers of earth pounded into wooden frames that held everything today
iv. 300,000 men built it, some soldiers and some peasants who were forced to work
III. Han dynasty
a. Important Leader(s)
i. Liu Bang
1. A rebel who had gained control of the Han kingdom and conquered the Qin army
ii. Empress Lü
1. Took over control when Liu died in 195 B.C.E., was one of his wives
b. Government
i. Established a centralized government, a central authority controls the running of a state
ii. Hundreds of commanderies, local officials of provinces, reported to central government
iii. Lowered taxes, softened harsh punishments, moved away from Legalism
iv. Civil service system, civilians obtain government jobs by taking examinations
c. Accomplishments
i. Paper was invented in 105 B.C., this made books cheaper and education spread
ii. More efficient plow, iron tools, the wheelbarrow, watermills to grind grain
iii. Government had monopolies on salt mining, iron forging, coin minting, alcohol brewing
1. Monopoly –complete control over the production and distribution of certain goods
iv. Doctors discovered a type of wine that could be used as an anesthetic
v. Invented the seismograph, which detects earthquakes, and the magnetic compass
d. Decline
i. The gap between rich and poor increased due to land taxes
ii. A series of inexperienced emperors replaced one another from 32 B.C.E. to 9 B.C.
iii. In 220 C.E. the Han dynasty dissolved into three rival kingdoms