Download China - World Civilization I

CHINA
The Triumph of the Qin and Han
Dynasties
Triumph of the Qin
• Objective: After centuries of political division and social disorder,
strong new dynasty, the Qin, reunited China at the end of the 3 rd
Century BCE. The Qin era brought the foundations of an enduring
centralized bureaucracy and completion of the Great Wall
Transformation of a “barbarian” land
A.Qin was located in Northwest fringe of former Zhou Empire.
B.From early 5th century BCE the Qin initiated several critical social and
political changes that increased tier agility to wage war against rivals.
C.Tool making was the key: Bronze and ironworking continued under the
Qin, also encouraged peasants to adopt new tools and more productive
cultivation techniques
D.Qin freed men and peasants from bondage to local lords allowing them
to claim their own land. This would increase the resource base upon
which the Qin political ambitions depended
E.Freed peasants undermined the support to vassal warriors, who originally
carried out local administration
F.Centralized Bureaucracy attempted.
G.Qin power and military prowess were increased by the many wars the
state fought first to survive, second to conquer China.
Transformation of a “barbarian” land
H.Qin conscripted the peasants they freed for military service,
making its armies larger than those of rival states
I.Bureaucracy of Qin meant that its forces were better supplied and
organized
J.Nomadic background of Qin elite ensured supply of able military
leaders
K.Military innovations, more receptive to them: Cavalry, crossbow,
L.Good leadership, free peasants who may have felt they had
something to fight for, made Qin armies famous for their ferocity
and speed
Legalist Sanction
A.4th century efforts of Qin rulers to break power of their vassals were
justified by the writings of several statesmen who became known as the
Legalists.
B.Recap; Legalists School of political philosophy was brought about by he
semi-legendary Shang Yang, who served a Qin ruler of the mid 4 th century
BCE. Founding the Legalist School, and writing The Book of Lord Shang :
where he argued that the power of China’s rulers should be absolute.
C.Major objective: to enhance the strength and wealth of the state. Shang
Yang argued that the people exited to serve the state, nothing to say of
the ruler’s duty to promote their welfare
D.Responsibility of the state with regard to people was to promote strict
laws with harsh punishments for offenders
E.Ruler’s rule may be absolute, but not above the law. Shang Yang once
had a crown prince punished for breaking the law, and he found he too
was subject to the laws at the end of his life.
Shi Huangdi, Emperor of China
A.Receptive to the legalist approach
B.Man of unbounded ambition, energy and physical courage, and a
megalomaniac who tolerated no challenges to his rule
C.Complaints from his officials were solved: buried 100 of the Shi alive
D.Harsh consequence for leaking information:
E.By 221 BCE, Shi Huangdi had complete work of predecessors
1. Unified china
2. Strengthened hold over his vassals, ordered regional fortresses destroyed, local
warrior weapons collected and melted
3. Created 36 provinces
4. Vassal overlords and regional commanders replaced by Qin bureaucrats
5. Surviving princes/aristocrats/wealth merchants ordered to live in capital Xianyang.
6. Emperor’s scribes developed a standard script for writing, coinage, and weights and
measures uniting the empire.
Shi Huangdi, Emperor of China
F.Huangdi’s great passion was building. His architects joined and
expanded the wall that had been built by northern kingdoms,
creating the Great Wall of China
G.Also other public works projects: canals, roadways, constructed by
forcibly recruited peasant laborers.
H.Death of Shi Huangdi could not stop his building. In preparing for
his burial, emperor order construction of tomb at Mount Li, which
was not uncovered until 1971. (army of clay soldiers)
I. Collapse of a Tyrannical, but Pivotal regime
A. Great resistance to the building and harsh rule of Legalist Adms.
B. The Shi were angered by the repression of any ideas that challenged those of
Legalists
Shi Huangdi, Emperor of China
I.
Collapse of a Tyrannical but Pivotal Regime
C. Efforts at thought control – book burning
D. Peasants alienated by Qin’s demands for taxes and labor for public works projects
E. Great Revolt of 207 BCE: lead by peasants conscripted to work on a building project,
just 3 years after the death of Shi Huangdi
F. Qin rule over China lasted for only a few decades but accomplished many things
1.
Under Shi Huangdi – united China, governed with centralized bureaucracy and staff
2.
Strengthening of Shi supporters who provided the social and political bonds that would hold
China together
3.
Public works – grid of roads and canals
4.
Great wall, reinforced divisions between nomads of central/north Asia from the farmers of
the South
5.
Improved communications and unified currency enabling merchants to establish interregional
markets and promoted the interdependence of different geographic areas of China.
Han Dynasty
A.Built on the foundations of Qin, The death of Shi Huangdi and
subsequent leaders incapable to rule led to widespread rebellion after his
death
B.As rebellion grew, Vassal chiefs fought former Qin bureaucrats for local
control,
C.Liu Bang was the unlikely winner of these many sided power battles
D.Liu Bang did not have the life of a ruler of China: born peasant, lazy in
youth, undedicated, and jobless, obtains a position as village headman.
E.In confusion following the fall of the Qin, or disintegration, he built up a
following of soldiers, ex-bureaucrats, and disgruntled peasants
F.While he was not much of a general, nearly lost all his battles, he
managed to win the last battle for control of China
G.In 202 BCE after years of campaigning and negotiation, Liu Bang
proclaimed himself the new Emperor of china, founding the Han Dynasty,
which would last for
Han Dynasty
I.
Consolidation and Control
A. Appeared that the new emperor, whose official name was Gaozu, would restore the
system of vassalage in the Zhou era
B. He had raised many of his followers to the nobility, rewarded them with large estates
C. Once loyal followers were not above using the domains granted to build up an
independent sphere of power
D. Liu Bang, thought to be illiterate, would rely on Shi advisors and strengthen efforts
at bureaucratic centralization and focused on enhancing their training and
responsibilities.
II. Successors
A. Han Wudi: would take up centralization
B. The larger fiefs granted to the highest nobles were broken up by royal decree that
demanded the domains of the vassals to be divided between all their sons at the
time of their death, rather than pass to the eldest son.
C. Regular government appointees, regional governors and district magistrates,
expanded their authority at the expense of local lords.
D. When a noble died without a legitimate offspring, his estates were confiscated by
the central government
Han Dynasty
III. Han Expansion
A. Used military might to expand the empire and neutralize external
threats
B. Most formidable were the Huns who lived north of the Great Wall
C. Other emperors had attempted to by them off, by the time of Han Wudi,
it was clear that major expeditions would be necessary, the emperor’s
forces defeated the nomads and annexed their lands north and west of
the Great Wall.
D. In he East, the northern parts of Korea were conquered in 108 BCE, to be
ruled by the Chinese for over 400 years
E. In the South, Han China extended into the mountainous interior and
down the coast of the South China Sea to Vietnam
F. The peoples and ethnic groups either submitted to Han rule and
assimilated to Chinese civilization, or migrated further south into
modern Burma, Thailand and Laos.
Han Dynasty
IV. Revenge of Shi Bureaucrats
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Followers of Confucianism and shi principles, despised the legalists, Lui Bang
and successors banned the works of legalists, and members of the school
were hounded form court and killed in some cases.
Qin harsh laws were replaced by milder laws of the Han. Legalist ideas were
eventually blended into the mix of philosophies and religious beliefs that
came to make up China’s official ideology
Confucianism in its variations became the dominant thought system in
Chinese civilization. It full ascendancy was delayed in the early Han era by
the suspicions of rulers, like Liu Bang
By the end of 2ndcentury BCE, Shi scholars/officials and Confucian ideas they
championed had won a prominence they would enjoy for the next 2000
years
Knowledge of Confucian teachings became essential to employment and
promotion within Han Government. This was further institutionalized by the
founding of an imperial university in Xian. In 124 BCE, (30,000 students)
Han Dynasty
V.
Education, Examinations and Shi Dominance
A. Students at imperial university were expected to master law and a
choice of specialized field, (history, astronomy, music) memorization
was principle
B. Chinese examinations marked beginning of the first professional civil
service in human history.
C. First Exams were confined to the upper levels of government, local and
regional exams were later established to identify local talent
D. Theoretically, any Chinese man could take them, but no one could hope
to pass them without a proper education, thus it was left to upper
classes who could afford an education
1. On occasion a particularly bright child form a peasant household would be
adopted by a shi or landlord family and given the support to do well on exams
and advance in the government
Han Dynasty
V.
Education, Examinations and Shi Dominance
E.
Opportunities for government positions were limited by the fact that
only a small % of jobs were allotted through examination
F. The remaining jobs were appointed, a man’s chance of winning an office
relied on personal links to the emperor
G. Few offices were earned by passing exams. But the Han system
nurtured the idea.
VI. Scholar-Gentry
A. There were three social strata that came to be recognized by those who
wrote the official documents and histories
1. The literate shi
2. Ordinary but free subjects
3. Underclass, called the “mean people”
Han Dynasty
VI. Scholar-Gentry
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
The Shi, who ranged from the powerful families that served the imperial
household to local tutor and petty clerks stationed in the provinces
Common people, groups we would identify as separate classes. Peasants,,
even these groups varied in wealth and social status. Some controlled large
amounts of land, lived in extend family compounds, and tried to provide
their sons with the education that would elevated the family to Shi status.
Local landlord families were linked by marriage or the success of their sons
to the shi. This gave rise to new class configuration
The Scholar-Gentry: superseded the shi, their dual label suggest they up
held their position through landholdings
Wealth fro landholding was used to educate the brightest sons and increase
the family fortunes by winning lucrative admin. Positions
Scholar Gentry, in town or country, lived in large walled compounds. Often
of stucco, and often separate unites of each unit of the extended family.
Surviving clay figurines of gentry home show that they were multiuser
structures with stucco or wooden walls and tiled roofs.
Han Dynasty
VI.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
Class and Gender roles
Women during the Han in the scholar-gentry, did have more freedom and status than in
later periods of Chinese history
Marriages, arranged among elites, family alliances, not romantic
Father paid a dowry to family of his son-in-law, and woman went to her husband’s house
to live, bride could rely on her powerful relatives to ensure that she was well treated in
her new home.
Bride often could take along her servants, even a sister as live-in companion
Women were still subdominant to men, Family households were run by the older men,
although women could inherit, male children normally received the greater share of the
family property.
Political positions reserved for men, women could have influence from behind throne, this
merely confirmed what Confucians though about women’s unfitness for politics
Women from peasant families were expected to cook, clean house, and work long hours in
the fields.
Women of the Scholar-gentry could be expected to the demands and criticisms of the
domineering mother-in-law's
At all class levels, women were expected to marry, and their most vital social function
remained the bearing of children preferably boys
Han Dynasty
VII. Peasant Life
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
Ordinary frames held varying amounts of land, but few produced more than
they needed to live an pay taxes.
Moderately prosperous farmers sold their surplus to traders or their agents,
or in a local town market.
Most peasants who had a decent sized plot of land lived well.
Most peasants had little or no land of their own and were forced to work for
landlords in order to earn a meager living. And peasants with plots that
were too small to support their families complained to Han officials that
they did no have enough husks and beans to eat and that their coarse
clothing was not in good conditions
Those who worked the land of others as tenants or landless laborers were
even more miserable.
Inventions
1. Shoulder collar, wheelbarrow
2. Expanded irrigation networks, improved iron tools, new crop patterns/
Han Dynasty
VIII. Capital at Xian
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
Urban growth most noticeable social development
Basic feature of Chinese Imperial cities from this time forward, laid out on a
grid, Great roadways that gave access to and defined the main quarters of
the cities. City was protected by long earth and brick walls, with towers and
gates at regular intervals
Population from 250,00-100,000, includes people living outside the walls in
neighboring villages
Emperor lives in an inner or Forbidden City, with only his family, servants,
and closest advisors permitted to enter.
Each palace included audience halls banquet rooms, large gardens and fish
ponds, and luxurious living quarters for the emperor, his wife and
concubines, and their children
Forbidden city surrounded by administrative buildings and the palaces of
the most powerful aristocratic and scholar-gentry households.
Cities throughout the empire grew and became major trade centers
Imperial Crisis
A. 2 centuries the han maintained hold on a unified Chines e empire. End
of the 1st century BCE problems centering on the court threatened to
bring an end to Han rule
B. After han Wudi, the quality of the emperors declined markedly,
successors had neglected the duties of government, like monarch of
other late dynasties indulged heavily in the pleasures of food, drink,
and concubines.
C. Hold of the emperors over state affairs weakened the powerful families
of their wives who sought to take charge of imperial administration
D. 6 CE, the only male heir of the han dynasty was a small child, giving one
of these families, the Wang, the opportunity to seize the throne.
E. With initial support of the scholar-gentry and the general populace, an
ambitious nephew of the Empress Dowager Wang, Wang Mang,
proclaimed himself emperor in 9 CE
F. But his reforms rapidly alienated the very groups that he ahead
originally supported. Attempts to exhort control over the land
ownership angered the Scholar-gentry. In 22 CE, the hapless Wang
mang was overthrown and the Han dynasty was restored.
Later Han
IX.
Restoration of Han
A.
B.
1.
2.
Later han ruled unified China for next 200 years
Internal rebellions/ and nomads were suppressed
The last centuries of Han saw little innovation and creativity of the early centuries
Major breakthroughs in art, and government would have to wait until the Tang
C. Han saw steady period of decline, han rulers were plagued struggles between actions
at the court, which had been transferred form Xian eastward to Loyang.
D. Challenges from the families of the emperors’ wives continued, but were complicated
by the growing power of the Eunuchs, men who were reliable guardians of the
emperor’s wives and concubines.
E. Eunuchs had increased their power after the restoration, they gain substantial power
as the palace administrators and inner advisors of later emperors.
F. In the last decades of eh han empire, these emperors attempted to use the eunuchs to
check the power of their wives' families.
G. The three way struggle between the Scholar-gentry, families of the ruler’s wives, and
the eunuchs would rip apart the court.
H. Divisions at the center of the empire weakened the ability to stop nomadic incursions
and remedy the worsening conditions of the people
I. The dynasty was officially overthrown in 220 CE
Classical China and the World
X.
Qin and Han dynasty
A. Established the basic components of the longest lived civilizations in
history. Chin also became one of the most creative influential
civilizations of all human history.
B. Strength of its agrarian base allowed China to carry about 1/5 of the total
human population from the last centuries BCE to the present
C. Productivity o its peasants had made it possible for some of the world
largest cities to flourish in China, and nurtures the largest most creative
elites in history.
D. Chinese pioneered the development of basic technologies that were
disseminated over Eurasia, paper, compasses (for communication and
travel), water mills that provided sources of power and food processing,
porcelain, which elevated dining to unparalleled levels of elegance and
opened up exciting possibilities for artistic expression
Classical China and the World
X.
Qin and Han dynasty
D. Trade in silk and though the luxury products generated a network of
roads throughout Asia knows as the Silk road. Under the han, the
Chinese government actively encouraged trade with regions to the
west.
E. Improved roads in China and the Middle east encouraged trade. One
Chinese emissary Zhang Wian, actually traveled to western India.
F. Until well after the Han, no one seems to have traveled all the way from
China to the Mediterranean or vice versa. But the trade was lively
spurring attention also to sea routes into the Indian Ocean
G. Silk road trade was important enough gain the attention of upper
classes and government circles, and provide an initial framework on
which global trading patterns would later elaborate.