Download Unification and the Consolidation

Unification and the
Consolidation
Of Civilization in China
Pre-requisite Knowledge
• Xia – legendary first Chinese dynasty
• Shang – established by local peoples
– ruler was considered to have divine right
– Religion was animistic, polytheistic
– Shaman used oracle bones to predict future
– They did believe in an afterlife and buried
items with dead rulers
– They also believed in ancestor worship
More Pre-requisite Info
• The Zhou replaced the Shang
• They were nomadic people from central Asia
who came in, settled and took power.
• The Zhou introduced the Mandate of Heaven
which stated that if an emperor was not doing
his job well, there would be floods and famine
and he would fall out of the graces of the gods.
People then could overthrow and establish a
new government. The victors would be the ones
that the gods were behind.
Zhou Continued
• The Mandate of Heaven set up the
dynastic cycle.
• Dynastic cycle – a group fights to gain
power, works very hard to prove
themselves and gain respect, has respect
and good control, begins to become
corrupt and loses respect, period of decay
and challenges, dynasty falls to new
group.
End of Zhou
• The Zhou empire did have a central
emperor, but the real power was
decentralized and with local lords.
• The Zhou empire was the longest running
empire.
• Due to weak rulers toward the end, the
regional lords began to ignore the central
government.
End of Zhou continued
• It slowly disintegrated into a “warring
states period” whereby regional lords
fought each other to consolidate power
and become the next emperor of a more
centralized system.
Break down of Zhou…
Led to
• The establishment of many small
kingdoms ruled by former vassals
• Incursions of nomadic peoples who lived
on the borders of China
• A period of internal warfare which
stimulated intellectual formation of new
concepts of political and social
organization.
Warlords
• Assumed regional power and fought
amongst each other for control of China
• Took away the power of the shi and the
commoners
• Many bureaucrats were out of work and
became teachers
• Dikes, bridges and roads fell in disrepair
• Agricultural output decreased
• Various kingdoms became increasingly
dependent on trade
• Merchants found profit from the
breakdown of public order
• Oddly enough, the failure of centralized
government during the Zhou did not slow
urban development in China
Confucius
• Was born into a poor shi family in the middle of
the sixth century B.C.E, thus became a scholar /
philosopher in search of the ideal ruler.
• He never found the ideal ruler, but he taught his
philosophies about creating an orderly society to
those who would eventually write the philosophy
down
• His collection of sayings is known as the
Analects.
Analects
• Harmony could only be achieved if rulers
would accept the advice and
administration of the shi.
• Superior men equipped to lead China
were educated men.
• Such superior men were given power to
ruler in order to preserve harmony among
all classes.
Confucian Social Order
•Is all about the nature of relationship.
• every relationship save one has a superior and an
inferior
•The superior is responsible for the moral and social
education of the inferior
•The inferior must learn from and respect the superior.
•there are five categories of relationships
•Son to father
• younger brother to older brother,
•wife to husband,
•subject to ruler and
•friend to friend.
Superior Man
•The superior man ( a member of the shi) was
deferential to his ruler, but not afraid to criticize
erroneous decisions.
•The shi was superior because of his intellect and
the fact that he observed proper rituals and social
decorum was equally gifted as an administrator,
engineer, poet and artist.
•He exercised authority because of his
demonstration of moral rectitude, cultural
achievement and knowledge.
Reciprocal responsibility
• The superior man is expected to use his intellect
and skill for the good of the group.
• The emperor deserves respect through the
Mandate of Heaven, and therefore
• The emperor also has the responsibility of
leading well and providing a stable empire for
his people.
• This reciprocal expectation is present for all five
of the inferior / superior relationships.
Filial Piety and the Li
• As long as the inferiors are paying respect
to their superiors, filial piety…
• And good moral values, the li, are met by
all…
• there will be harmony in the kingdom.
Students of Confucius
• Two men became the disciples of Confucius
who interpreted the philosophy differently
• Mencius – believed that humans are naturally
good and therefore the government must rule by
the consent of the people.
• Xunzi – believed that humans are naturally lazy
and evil, so an authoritarian government was
needed to keep order.
• The philosophy of legalism grew from these
ideas.
Laozi and Daoism
• He believed the way to find order was to
retreat from society and seek a oneness
with nature.
• He believed that the answers to man’s
problems could be answered by studying
the natural course of things.
• He believed that man creates more
problems by trying to control nature.
• He believed that natural prosperity is
achieved by the small local farmer who is
most in touch with his land.
• He believed that centralized bureaucrats
were too removed from listening to the
land, that their policies did not nurture.
Instead, they stifled production.
• He believed central governments should
allow farmers to have more autonomy.
• Laozi advocated meditation to get in touch
with nature.
• The meditation was acceptable to the shi,
but the masses were more drawn to magic
and potions.
Legalism Wins in Qin
• The warlord of the state of Qin, Shi
Huangdi, consolidated power in 221
B.C.E.
• He chose to use a strong centralized state.
• He made this choice out of need to get
control over a land that for many years
had been in virtual chaos, and to make
sure he maintained control.
• Since the Qin had been nomads, they had been
seen as culturally crude and well stocked in
military technology.
• The Qin was also interested in freeing the
peasantry.
• The Qin established a shi bureaucracy, which
helped undermine the vassal warriors.
• Conscription of the freed peasants increased the
size of the Qin armies.
The Legalist Goal
• The goal of the rulers was to enhance the
power and wealth of the state.
• The state was required to enact strict laws
creating social harmony.
Shi Huangdi – Emperor of China
• He was a megalomaniac who tolerated no
hindrance to his establishment of an
absolutist state.
– Regional aristocracies and their forts were
destroyed
– 36 provinces were created
– Standardized scripts, coinage, weights and
measures were developed by the central
government.
• Ordered the construction of the Great Wall
of China to protect against northern
nomads.
• Ordered the construction of many canals
and roads, built with conscript labor.
Decline of the Qin
• Harsh rule of the legalist bureaucrats
• Overextension of the economy in
grandiose construction schemes
• Repression of other schools of shi
• The emperor’s ruthless conscription of
peasant labor led to rebellion
Legacy
• The Qin dynasty was brief, but left a lot of
important foundations.
• The Qin created a centralized government
staffed by educated bureaucrats and
largely independent of the militarized
aristocracy.
• The infrastructure built allowed for an
integrated Chinese economy.
The Han Dynasty
• The Han rapidly replaced the Qin so unity
was not disrupted.
• The Han period would produce the chief
elements of Chinese culture
– Prosperity
– technological innovation
– commercial advance
– Integration Confucian ideas
Liu Bang
• First ruler of the Han Dynasty – 202 B.C.E.
• Former peasant and village headman
• He and his successors had to fight against
regional attempts to decentralize.
– Broke the authority of the regional aristocracy
– Elevated the position of appointed regional
governors and district magistrates.
– Under Han Wudi, the demise of regional
aristocracy was completed.
A Change of Philosophy
• Liu Bang and later Han emperors rid the
legalists from office.
• Confucian scholars took over the imperial
bureaucracy.
• Confucianism was somewhat challenged
by some Han ruler’s attraction to Daoism.
• But by the end of the second century
B.C.E., Confucian scholars were dominate
in the court.
Emergence of the Scholar Gentry
• Confucian classics became the primary
feature of Chinese instruction first century
B.C.E.
• Exams open to all, but only the wealthy
could afford to prepare
• Only a small number of government jobs
were awarded as a result of competitive
examination – In most cases appointment
was based on the emperors favoritism.
Power of the Shi
• Local landed families tended to ally with
the shi through marriage or the education
of their sons.
• The Scholar-gentry was a class of landed
bureaucrats.
• The families wealth was evident by their
walled compounds, clothing , size and
style of the family’s horse drawn carriage,
and the deference paid by others.
Class and Gender
• Women of elite families may have had a
more prominent social position during the
Han period than in later Chinese history.
• They participated in family rituals, were
often literate, and permitted to re-marry if
their husband died.
• However, they were subordinate to men.
• Did not hold political positions.
• Most vital role was to produce male
children.
Peasant Life
• Some peasants owned their own land, but
most worked for a large land holder and
made barely enough to survive.
• Even in times of surplus, urban dwellers
and elite consumed most of it.
• Peasants were required to devote some
days each year to public works and could
be conscripted into imperial armies.
• Some resorted to banditry, vagabond or
moved to new lands south of China
Secret Societies
• Organizations of peasants that provided a
sense of security and financial support.
• In times of social stress, these societies
could play political roles.
Trade
• Long-distance trade was established to
the frontiers.
• Large mercantile companies controlled
trade with distant regions.
• Many merchant families became
increasingly wealthy under the Han, but
remained low on the social hierarchy.
• The scholar-gentry was responsible for the
political limitations of the merchant class.
Technological Innovations
• Brush pen and paper
• Watermills for grinding, rudders,
compasses and new mining techniques.
Han Art
• Largely decorative
• Calligraphy became an art form
• Ceramics were high quality
Science
• Practical applications
• Astronomers developed an accurate
calendar, calculated movements of Saturn
and Jupiter, and observed sunspots.
• Acupuncture
• Acoustics
• Accurate weights and measures
Crisis and Restoration
• By the end of the first century B.C.E. leadership
declined.
• Powerful court families attempted to seize
control.
• Wang Mang proclaimed himself emperor in 9
C.E. taking advantage of a Han child emperor.
• His attempt at reform alienated his former
supporters, including the shi.
• In 23 C.E. a rebellion replaced the Han to the
throne.
200 more years of the Han
• Text book Assignment
– Read 83-86 do Q 1-3 on page 86
– Read 122-124 do Q 1-2 on page 124
– Read 131-132 do Q 1-3 on page 132
– Read 134-135 do Q 3 on page 135
– Read 138-140 do Q3 on page 146
• Due Wednesday April 30