Download Shang (1700

Shang (1700 - 1027 BCE)
• First recorded Dynasty (Xia - no written records)
• Ruled by aristocracy
• First Chinese cities, center of court life
• Developed writing, worked with bronze, created silk
• Honored ancestors, used oracle bones
• Shang tyrant emperor overthrown
Zhou (1027 - 250 BCE)
• Longest lasting Chinese Dynasty
• Beginning of Mandate of Heaven
• Early: Feudal system, lords had total authority
• Later: City-states
• Built roads, expanded trade, made agricultural advancements
• Taoism and Confucianism introduced
• Decline: Inefficient rulers can’t control fighting between city-states
• Period of Warring States
Qin (221 - 207 BCE)
• Qin She Huanshi - only emperor
• Adopted Legalism
• Developed highly centralized gov’t with bureaucratic administration
• Standardized currency, language, measurements, laws
• Built first Great Wall
• Brutal ruler - executed dissenters, burned books
• Many enemies, dynasty falls after his death
Han (202 BCE - 221 CE)
• Legalism replaced by Confucianism
• Introduced civil service examination (scholar gentry)
• Silk Roads developed, opens trade
• Buddhism introduced, paper invented
• Great increase in population, land holdings
Decline because of….
• Nomadic raiders
• Corruption, weak leaders
• Collapse of bureaucracy
• Warlords control china - no centralized government
• Non-Chinese nomads control much of China
• Buddhism becomes popular - Confucianism failed
Sui (581 - 618 CE)
• Completed Grand Canal
• High taxes, forced labor
• Military failures (couldn’t conquer Korea)
• Assassination ends dynasty
Tang (618 - 907 CE)
• High point of Chinese culture
• Rebuilt bureaucracy
– Examination system
– Confucian education
– Limited social mobility
• Buddhism supported, then oppressed
• Invention of movable print, porcelain, gun powder
Decline
• Weak emperors, nomadic incursions, economic difficulties
• Warlords take control
Song (969 - 1279 CE)
• Large centralized bureaucracy (Neo-Confucian)
• Mercantile class grows, increased trade
• Magnetic compass, growing sea power
• Weak military
Yuan (1279 - 1368 CE)
• Mongols conquer China
• Economic stability and prosperity
• China more open to trade and travel (Marco Polo)
• Ignored Chinese traditions, replaced bureaucrats with non-Chinese
• Unsuccessful attacks on Japan, corruption weakens dynasty
• Peasant rebellion ends Yuan