Download Imperial China

Imperial China
Unit 11
Previously in China
• Zhou ruled China since the
early 1100s BCE, declined
around 400 BCE and began
the warring states period.
• Warring states period: several
small states battling for
control.
• Qin (CHIN) rose to power on
China’s western frontier.
• Chinese historian: swallowing
them up “as a silkworm
devours a mulberry leaf”.
The Qin Dynasty
• In 221 BCE the last rival fell and the Qin
become the first dynasty to unify Chinese
empire.
• Qin Shi Huang China’s 1st Emperor.
• Made sense out of the chaos.
Harsh Qin Rule
• Two advisors: Hanfeizi and Li Si
• Founded the school of legalism (taught
that a powerful and efficient government
was key to maintaining order and control
over an empire)
• Reject Confucianism
• Rulers should be strong and govern
through force b/c people were naturally
bad
• Built a strong centralized government
• Took the land of rival nobles and forced
them to move to his capital.
• Confiscated all personal weapons and
Suppressed criticism (burned books)
• divided China into 36 districts
The Qin Dynasty
Qin Reforms
• Policies unified and strengthened China
• Standardized laws, writing, coins and weights and
measures
• Other: building projects, improved irrigation system,
roads and canals (taxes and forced labor)
Qin Growth and Defense
• Fierce tribal nomadic warriors to the north.
• Built the Great Wall of China for defensive purposes.
(later lengthened and rebuilt)
• Fought armies to the south and subdued them as far as
Vietnam.
Qin dynasty crumbled after Shi Huangdi’s death
• Peasants and nobles rebelled
• Liu Bang defeated the Qin forces and founded the Han
dynasty
The Han Dynasty
• Ruled from 206 BC to AD 220
• Model for later dynasties
• The main population of China still calls
itself the Han people.
Restoring Control
• Ruled with the
• also maintained some Legalist
policies
mandates of heaven
• Continued strong centralized
• Softened the harsh
government
policies and lowered
• Expanded the bureaucracy:
taxes
an organized a body of
• Practical and effective appointed officials who
ruler
oversaw the government
• Brought back
Confucianism
• Liu Band had no
education
• Appointed confusion
scholars to advise
him.
Empress
• Liu Band died and one of his wives took control
while her son was too young to rule.
• The son died and she put numerous infants
named emperor to maintain power
• Empress Lu died in 180 BCE and officials and
princes had the entire Lu family murdered.
• This often became common in Chinese courts
and made it difficult to rule effectivly
The Greatest Han Emperor
• Wudi ruled from 141 to 87 BC
• Greatest of all Han rulers
• Promoted economic growth, new roads and
canals, monopolies (salt, iron, alcohol, silk)
• Took away land from large landowners and
placed limits on merchants to decrease their
power.
• Confucianism became the government
philosophy
• Developed a civil service system (candidates
for government jobs had to pass an exam in
the Confucian classics)
• Only the wealthy could afford schooling and
wealthy remained in power
Expansion under Wudi
• Known as the Martial Emperor (for
expanding the empire by force.
• Threat: Xiongnu nomands (lived in
the grasslands, horse skills and
fierce warriors)
• Gifts and marriages to keep
peace but had to use force to
protect China from raids
• Military colonized parts of Korea,
Manchuria, Vietnam and Central
Asia ( established trade routes
with markets as far as the Roman
Empire.)
Han Decline
• Crisis in 9 CE when Wang Mang (rebel) seized
throne
• AD 25 Han regained control of throne and
started the Later Han dynasty
• Problems: weak rulers and gap b/t rich and poor
(taxes rose to cover costs, people lost land, less
people to tax, taxes rose more)
• Revolt in 184 by the Yellow Turbans (Daoists)
which threw the empire into chaos.
• led to warlords taking over and the Period of
Disunion began(lasted for 350 years)
Resources, The Silk Road,
and the Poor
• Arable land and climate of China made rice
growth capable,
• rice is a labor-intensive crop causing large
portions of the population [think 90% of the
people] were locked into the peasantry.
• Chinese had natural resources like jade and silk
that are highly scarce and in high demand.
• only a limited number of artisan and merchant
jobs could be sustained
• even with the wealth which flowed into China
along the Silk Road most members of ancient
Chinese civilization continued to be peasants.
Trade
• Basis of economy: agriculture
Han Products
• Ironwork: armor and swords
• Artisans: pottery, jade, bronze objects and
lacquerware
• Prized product: silk
Growth of Trade
• Zhang Qian: tales led to increase of trade
• Silk Road