Download Chinese Dynasty notes - Per_ 7

1. Qin
 Qin Shihuangdi used a series of military campaigns that reunified China, and was labeled the
first emperor
 The Qin State had a very effective bureaucracy
 Developed Iron weapons
 Shihuangdi (meaning “first emperor”) adopted Legalism- philosophy based on clear rules
and harsh punishments
 Very brutal, for example scholars who opposed Shihuangdi were executed and their books
burned
 Started conquering a lot of territories pushing boundaries far south
 Pushed back the nomadic pastoral
 He was the one who ordered the Great Wall be created to keep out “barbarians”
 Hundreds upon thousand of laborers were recruited to construct the wall
 Emperor's burial place
 Created system of weights and measures, and currency, which standardized the length of
axles for carts
 Created a written Chinese language
 Legalism was brought to an end because of its brutality
 Han Dynasty emerged
2. Han
 Han Dynasty
 206BC-220AD
 Retained centralized features of Shihuangdi’s creations
 Moderated the harshness of his policies
 Replaced legalism with Confucianism as the governing philosophy
 Han dynasty rulers consolidated China’s imperial state and established the political patterns
that lasted into the 20th century
 Buddhism received little support from Han dynasty rulers
 Rulers used mandate of heaven to justify their positions
 Society was based on Confucianism
 Ideology that expressed the importance of leading by example and unequal relationships
 Ruled by Wudi from 141-87BC
 Established an imperial academy for training officials (curriculum based on writings of
Confucius)
 Civil service exam
 Contributed to urban air pollution, deforestation, soil erosion, which turned the Huang He
river yellow
 Wang Mang saw his reforms as recreating a golden age of long ago in which small scale
peasant farmers represented the backbone of Chinese society
 Government loans to peasant families
 Limits on the amount of land a family may own
 End to private slavery
 Unfortunately his measures were impossible to inforce
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Growing number of impoverished and desperate peasants, these conditions sparked
periodic peasant rebellion
Yellow turban rebellion—massive peasant uprising, with 360,000 armed followers, with the
unifying ideology of Daoism
Devastated the economy, weakened the state, contributed to the overthrow of the dynasty,
and eroded imperial authority
Dynasty began to collapse in the second and third centuries
This dynasty saw the initial flourishing of the silk roads
Smallpox and measles devastated the population of the empire
Slavery
Convicted criminals and their families were to sold to wealthy individuals as slaves
Impoverished peasants might sale their children as slaves
Not widespread and did not become a major source of labor
Sought to control the nomadic Xiongnu and to gain access to the powerful “heavenly
horses” that were so important to Chinese military
Entered a tribute system with them to stop them from raiding their towns
Merchants enjoyed a less favorable reputation than peasants
Often compared to the Roman Empire
About the same size of population
Covered about the same amount of land
Held about half the world’s population amongst the two of them
Both saw themselves in universal terms
Both were highly involved in trade via silk roads
This silk roads ended up contributing to the demise of both
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3. Sui
 The Sui Empire is a Chinese imperial state similar to that of the Han Empire
 The course of the empire was strategically similar to the Qin dynasty as well and they took in
some of Qin dynasty’s practices such as the mandate of heaven
 The mandate of heaven: belief that heaven granted emperors the right to rule
 The Sui was a single Emperor ruled empire
 The bureaucratic leaders were selected by class and their laws and political system was
influenced by Confucianism
 China regained its unity under the Sui dynasty (589-618)
 Under the reunification of China during the Sui dynasty the country’s canal system stretched
1,200 miles.
 The canals linked southern and northern China, both economically and pushed forward the
prosperity of the dynasty
 A military pursuit attempted to conquer Korea but ended up exhausting their resources
 Alienated many people
 Promoted the overthrow of the dynasty
4. Tang & Song
 -Built on Sui foundations of renewed unity
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 -Established patterns of Chinese life that endured into the twentieth century
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 -This era has been regarded as the golden age of arts and literature
 Not so golden for women; Song dynasty – Confucianism, foot binding
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 -Particularly in the Song Dynasty, Mel-Confucianism emerged
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 -Neo-Confucianism was an effort to revive Confucianism while adding a mix of Buddhism
and Daoism
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 -Tang and Song built state structures that lasted thousands of years
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 -six major ministries
 - Personnel, finance, rites, army, justice, and public works
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 -examination system was also revived and was made more elaborate
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 -it also facilitated the ability to print books for the first time in history
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 -Selecting officials on the basis of merit represented a challenge to established aristocratic
families' to hold on public office
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 -Education and the examination system grew far more rapidly than the number of official
positions
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 -These underlying cultural and political success was the "economic revolution"; population
growth
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 -population jumped from 50-60 million during the Tang to 120 million by 1200
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 -In urban areas, many people found their way into China
 - This made China into one of the more urbanized countries in the world
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 -Chinese cities numbered around 100,000 people while the Song capital, Hangzhou,
numbered around 1 million
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 -Specialized markets sold meat, herbs, vegetables, rice, books, and more
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 -Supplying these cities with food was made possible by the immense network of waterways
that stretched around 30,000 miles
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-Provided chest transportation system that bound the country together economically and
made China the "World's most populous trading area."
-Industrial production soared in China
- such as the iron industry, increasing output and employing hundreds of employers
dramatically
-This industry provided government with 32,000 suits of armor and 16 million iron
arrowheads annually
-Technological fields also prospered
- creating the printing press, the world’s first printable book, cheap books on religion,
agriculture, mathematics, and medicine
-An invention that influenced military was the Chinese creation of gunpowder
-The growing use of of paper money as well as financial instruments such as letters of credit
and promissory notes contributed to the commercialization of Chinese society
5. Yuan
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Mongols invaded China under the control of the song.
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The Mongols were far less violent and more concerned to accommodate locals.
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In the end this achievement persuaded some Chinese that the Mongols had attained the
Mandate of Heaven.
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Mongols gave themselves a Chinese dynastic title (yuan).
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They changed the capital from Karakorum to khanbalik present day Beijing.
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The Mongols made use of Chinese administrative practices, taxation techniches and
postal
system.
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China's Mongol ruler was Khubilai Khan, grandson of Chinggis Khan.
- With his policies he improved roads, built canals, lowered some taxes, patronized scholars
and artists, limited death penalty and torture, supported peasant agriculture and prohibited
Mongols from raising their animals on farmers lands.
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Mongol Khans made use of traditional confusian rituals supported the building of
Daoist
temples and were attracted to Tibetan form of Buddhism.
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Mongol rule was still harsh, exploitive, foreighn, and resented.
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Mongols did not accomodate every single aspect of chinese culture.
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Animals roamed freely in large open areas in the capital, Beijing.
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Mongols ignored civil service exam and relied heavily on foreighners to serve as officials,
while kepping the top decision making posts to themselves.
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Few mongols learned chinese.
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Mhemongol lad discriminated against chinese, reserving the most severe punishments
for them.
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Intermarriage between chinese and mongols was discouraged and mongol writing kept
secret.
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More equality among Mongol women -they hunted and foot binding was not practiced.
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Women advisers common, one of Kubilai Khan's advisors, Chabi, encouraged agriculture
as a means of tax revenue --she also urged Kubilai to emulate the best qualities of previous
Chinese dynasties to succeed.
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Mongol rule in trying out was brief lasting little more than a century.
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Mid 14th century: factionalism, rapidly rising prices, furious epidemics of the plague,
and growing peasant rebellions all ened up forcing Mongols out of China.
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1368: rebel forces triumphed and thousands of Mongols returned to their homelands in
the steppes
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They remained a periodic threat to China for centuries until the Ming Dynasty followed
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The Ming Dynasty practiced confusian valies and restrictive gender practices and an
effort to wipe out all traces of Mongol impact.
6. Ming
 China recovered during this dynasty
 The early decades
the use of Mongol names and dress, while promoting Confucian learning and orthodox
gender roles, based on earlier models from the Han, Tang, and Song dynasties.
 Emperor Yongle:
 sponsored an enormous Encyclopedia of some 11,000 volumes.
 work sought to summarize all previous writing on history, geography, philosophy, ethics,
government, etc.
 Yongle relocated the capital to Beijing.
 Yongle ordered the building of the Temple of Heaven, where subsequent rulers performed
Confucian-based rituals to ensure the well-being of the Chinese society.
 reestablished civil service exam
 created highly centralized gov
 power concentrated in the hands of emperor
 cadre of eunuchs(castrated men) loyal to emperor
 tried to repair damage of Mongols
 restored millions of acres for cultivation
 rebuilt canals,reservoirs, and irrigation works
 planted a billion trees to try to reforest China
 economy rebounded
 China recovered to be one of the most prosperous of worlds major civilizations
 undertook the largest and impressive maritime movement
 300 ships
 some 27,000 crew members
 led by Zheng he
 Voyages abruptly stopped for many reasons
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Death of Emperor Yongle
Waste of resources because China was the self-sufficient “middle kingdom”
Their real danger was the nomadic barbarians threatening them
Viewed voyages as projects of court enuchs, whom officials despised
Private merchants and craftsmen continued to settle/trade with Philippines, Japan, Taiwan,
South East Asia without the help of the government
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7. Qing
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Weak Ming dynasty overtaken by Manchus (foreign & nomadic origin)
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Last dynasty in Chinese history
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Enlarged territory
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Incorporation of non-Chinese ppls
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Qing rulers sought to maintain ethnic distinctiveness
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Forbade intermarriage
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But still mastered Chinese language and Chinese bureaucratic techniques
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Rulers reinforced Confucian gender roles (honor loyal men)
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Trade, tribute, warfare ensured that China already knew of such foreigners
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Eight-year military effort of expansion:
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Brought huge regions under Chinese control
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Security concerns, not economic need
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Creation of new state among western Mongols known as Zunghars
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Expansion viewed as a defensive necessity
Eastward expansion of Russian Emp also seemed threatening; resolved diplomatically
thru Treaty of Nerchinsk (China-Russia boundary)
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Qing campaigns against Mongols made China a Central Asian empire:
eyes
The Chinese rarely referred to themselves as an empire; more of a “unification” in their
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Chinese takeover of Eurasia was still a conquest nonetheless:
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Made use of China’s powerful military tech
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Area was ruled separately from China thru Court of Colonial Affairs
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Chinese made use of local nobles (Mongol aristocrats, Muslim officials):
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To save $$$
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Native officials sometimes abused authority by demanding extra taxes
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Many imitated the Chinese officials
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Qing officials did NOT want to assimilate local ppl into Chinese culture:
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Tolerance for other cultures (Tibetan, Mongolian, Muslim)
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People of noble rank and monasteries were excused from taxes of commoners
Bc many Mongols were recruited into military, officials feared “soft and civilized”
Chinese ways would erode fighting spirit of Mongols
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Opium trade:
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Britain began to sell opium to China
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Many Chinese became addicted (affected work/family responsibilities)
Qing emperor, trying to block trade, started Opium War between Brit and China; Brit
won and war ended w/ unequal Treaty of Nanjing (Hong Kong became a British colony)
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Foreign spheres of influence drawn up in China
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Long-term effects of Qing dynasty:
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Created borders of contemporary China
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Postrevolutionary China:
Western-educated elites (NOT PEASANTS) overthrew Qing rule; under the Guomindang
(Nationalist Party)