Download Chinese Dynasties: Qin and Han

Chinese Dynasties: Qin and Han
WHI: Ch. 3 pp. 98-103
Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC)
Qin = China
 Featured strong central
government oriented
around the emperor
 Shi Huangdi was the
first supreme emperor
– Harsh code of laws
– Built Great Wall of
China (4,163 miles)
– Persecuted followers
of Confucius and
Laotzu
– Censored literature
Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC)
 400-200B.C. China is in civil war
 Qin Shihuangdi
– Takes the throne of Qin Dynasty at 13 (246B.C.)
– 221 B.C. defeats last rival and starts a new dynasty with
himself as emperor
– Legalism is adopted as regime’s (govt. in power)
official ideology
• Censorship
• Confucianism outlawed
– Books burned
– 460 Scholars killed
Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC)
 Government Changes
– Shih Huangdi ruled a highly centralized state.
• Divided into 3 parts; civil division, military division, and
censorate (inspectors who checked on govt. officials to make
sure they were doing their jobs)
– Divided into provinces/counties
• Officials appointed by emperor, executions occurred
• Reduces aristocracy's power
– Divides land and gives to peasents
• Had to pay taxes based on land ownership
Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC)
 Standardized (Centralized, unified)
– Monetary system
– Roads
– Weights and measures
– Currency
– Writing system
Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC)
 Xianyang: capital city
 Great Wall:
– (Most of today’s wall built 1500 years later.)
– Loose stone, sand, rubble
– 1500 miles long Northern border
– Xiongnu:
• Nomadic people from Gobi desert (pre-Mongol culture)
• Herded sheep and goats
• Rode on horseback with bow and arrow: feared
Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC)
 Emperor dies in 210 B.C.
– Dynasty overthrown four years later
• Did not like
– Censorship of speech, harsh taxes, & forced labor
 Terra Cotta Soldiers
– Discovered in 1974 while digging a well
– Found Clay life size (slightly larger) soldiers
– Found burial pits, one with 6,000
– Guarded Emperor Shih Huangdi’s tomb
Han Dynasty (202 BC-220
AD)
 Liu Bang (Gaozu)
– Was a peasant
– Founded Han Dynasty
– Discarded Legalism and adopted Confucian
principles of government
– Encouraged agriculture
Han Dynasty (202 BC-220
AD)
Civil Service:
Government officials chosen on the basis of
merit rather than birth
– Civil service exams were introduced along with
schools to train candidates
– Exam tested knowledge of Confucianism,
Chinese history, law
Population: 60 million
Han Dynasty (202 BC-220
AD)
 Wudi:
– Added southern
regions and
westward into
central Asia
– Drove Xiongnu
back
– Maintained
peace
Han Dynasty
 Free Peasant Problems:
– Free peasants suffered due to demands on
them like military service and forced labor.
– Free peasants eventually were forced to sell
land and become tenant farmers, paying
high rents.
Han Dynasty (202 BC-220
AD) (Very successful dynasty)
 Most successful
emperor was Wu Di:
He extended the
empire into Vietnam
and Korea.
 Cultural Advances:
yoke, paper,
dictionaries, history,
trade (silk road)
 Technology: textile
manufacturing (silk),
water mills, iron
casting (steel),
rudder and fore and
aft rigging on ships
(heavy cargoes)
 Yoke
 wooden beam
 used between a pair of
oxen to allow them to
pull a load
 can be used to help
plow fields
 A fore-and-aft rig
 sailing rig consisting
mainly of sails that are
set along the line of
the keel rather than
perpendicular to it.
Han Dynasty (202 BC-220
AD)
 Fall:
– Weak rulers, much spending
– Aristocratic power and corruption increased
– Nomadic raids from the north
– Peasant uprisings
– 220 AD Empire
– Civil war for 400 years
– The End
 F – AB
 G - AC
 H – AD
 I - AE
 J - BC