Download Imperial China -- Qin to Ming Dynasties

Qin [Ch’in] Dynasty, 221206 B.C.E.
 Established China’s first empire
 Shi Huangdi (221-206 B.C.E)
 Legalist rule
 Bureaucratic administration
 Centralized control
 Military expansion
 Book burnings  targeted
Confucianists
 Buried protestors alive!
 Built large section of the Great Wall
Shi Huangdi’s Terra Cotta Army
The Great Wall with Towers
The Eastern terminus of the Great Wall, Shanhai
Pass
Han Dynasty, 206
B.C.E.-220 C.E.
 “People of the Han”  original Chinese
 Paper invented [105 B.C.E.]
 Silk Road trade develops; improves life for many
 Buddhism introduced into China
 Expanded into Central Asia
Chang’an
The Han Capital
Emperor Wudi, 141-87
B.C.E.
 Started public schools.
 Colonized Manchuria,
Korea, & Vietnam.
 Civil service system
 bureaucrats
 Confucian scholar-gentry
 Revival of Chinese
landscape painting.
Trade Routes of the Ancient World
Sui Dynasty, 581-618
C.E.
 “Land Equalization” System  land
redistribution.
 Unified coinage.
 Grand Canal constructed.
 Established an army of professional
soldiers.

People were overworked and
overtaxed!
The Grand Canal
The Grand Canal
Today
Tang Dynasty, 618-907
C.E.
 Imperial examination system perfected.
 Liberal attitude towards all religions.
 Spread of Buddhism in China
 Golden Age of foreign relations with
other countries.

Japan, Korea, Persia
Tang Government
Organization
Tang Dynasty, 618-907
C.E.
 New technologies:
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Printing  moveable print
Porcelain
Gunpowder
Mechanical clocks
 More cosmopolitan culture.
 Reestablished the safety of the
Silk Road.
 Tea comes into China from Southeast Asia.
Empress Wu Zetian,
624-705
 The only female Empress in China’s




history who ruled alone.
Searched for outstanding individuals
to attract to her court.
Construction of new irrigation
systems.
Buddhism was the favored state
religion.
 Financed the building of many
Buddhist temples.
BUT… She appointed cruel and sadistic
ministers to seek out her enemies.
Foot-Binding in Tang
China
 Broken toes by 3 years of age.
 Size 5 ½ shoe
on the right
Foot-Binding in Tang
China
Mothers bound their daughters’ feet.
Foot-Binding in Tang
China
 For upper-class girls,
it became a new
custom.
The Results of FootBinding
Song [Sung] Dynasty,
960-1279 C.E.
 Creation of an urban, merchant, middle class.
 Increased emphasis on education & cheaper
availability of printed books.
 Magnetic compass
makes China a great
sea power!
Rice Cultivation Began Under the Song
Mongolian Steppes
Xinjiang Region – Typical Uygher [Mongol]
“Yurt”
Mongol Invasions
The MONGOLS
[“Golden Horde”]
 Temujin --> Genghis Khan [“Universal Ruler”]
1162 - 1227
 from the steppe [dry, grass-covered plains
of Central Asia]

The MONGOLS
[“Golden Horde”]
 Genghis Khan’s Tax Laws:
 If you do not pay homage,
we will take your prosperity.
 If you do not have prosperity,
we will take your children.
 If you do not have children,
we will take your wife.
 If you do not have a wife,
we will take your head.
 Used cruelty as a weapon  some areas never
recovered from Mongol destruction!
The Extent of the Mongol Empire
Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty,
1279-1368 C.E.
 Kublai Khan [r. 1260-1294]

Pax Mongolica [“Mongol Peace”]
 Tolerated Chinese culture
but lived apart from them.
 No Chinese in top govt. posts.
 Believed foreigner were more
trustworthy.
 Encouraged foreign trade &
foreign merchants to live and work
in China.
 Marco Polo
Marco Polo (12541324)
 A Venetian merchant.
 Traveled through Yuan
China: 1271-1295
 “Black Stones” [coal]
 Gunpowder.
 Noodles.
Marco Polo’s Travels
Yuan Dynasty, 12791368 C.E.
 The Black Plague was spread by the
Mongols in the mid-14c.
 Sent fleets against Japan.
 1281  150,000 warriors
 Defeated by kamikazi [“winds of the gods”]
 Kublai Khan experienced several
humiliating defeats in Southeast Asia
late in his life.
China’s last native imperial dynasty!
The Forbidden City: China’s New
Capital
Revived the Civil Service Exam
Ming Cultural Revolution
 Printing & Literacy
 Culture & Art
 Cheap, popular books:
 Increased literacy
leads to increased
 woodblock printing.
interest in cultural
 cheap paper.
expressions, ideas,
 Examination system.
and things:
 Leads to explosion in
 Literature.
literacy.
 Painting.
 Leads to further
 Ceramics.
popularization of the
 Opera.
commercial market.
Ming Silver Market
 Spanish Silver Convoys

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Triangle route:
 Philippines to China to Japan.
Silver floods Chinese Market:
 Causes devaluation of currency & recession
 Adds to reasons for Chinese immigration
overseas.
 Reduces price of Chinese goods in Europe
 Increases interest in Chinese culture & ideas in
Europe.
Helps fund conquest of New World
Encourages Europeans in conquest & trade.
Ming Emperor Tai Zu (r.
1368-1398)
Admiral Zheng He
(Cheng Ho)
 Ming “Treasure Fleet”
 Each ship 400’ long & 160’ wide
1371-1435
Admiral Zheng He
(Cheng Ho)
 China’s “Columbus?”

 1498 --> Da Gama reached Calcutta, China’s favorite port.
Ming Painting and
Calligraphy, early 16c
Imperial China’s Impact on
History
 Removed religion from morality.
 Beginnings of political philosophy
through which a ruler must prove
he/she is legitimate.

Mandate of Heaven
 Secular law.
 Valued history  The Dynastic Cycle