Ancient China

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Ancient China

• Early Imperial Period

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Warring State Period

• 5th century B.C.E. to 221 B.C.E.
• Fengjian (well field system) leads to
  independence of the Zhou provinces.
• The Zhou emperor becomes merely a figureheadhas
  no power whatsoever.
• Seven warlords of provinces battle each other for
  the Mandate of Heaven.
• Construction of walls to keep out invaders.
• Qin becomes the dominant province.

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Political map of Warring States Period imposed on
topographical map of China. Where is Qin and why
strategic aspects might have helped it rise above
the other states?
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Qin Dynasty

• Qin establishes next dynasty (221 -206 B.C.E.)
• Begins Chinas imperial period that lasts until
  1912 C.E.
• First emperor Qin Shi Huangdi.
• Territorial expansion
• Transformation of politics
• Legalism

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Qin Shi Huangdi

• Created highly centralized and bureaucratic
  state.
• Three main branches of bureaucracy
• Civil authority
• Military authority
• Censorate
• Harsh penal codes for lazy administrators.
• Eunuchs as advisors and male overseers.
• Emergence of a new social hierarchy

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Social Classes

• Four main social classes in China.
• Scholar-administratorappointed to high offices
  in government (later through success in the civil
  service examination).
• Peasanttended the land and agriculture, could
  move up or down in ranks.
• Artisanprovided services to top two classes.
• Merchantdespised group seen as non-essential.

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Who is missing?

• Militarysoldiers played a key and honored role
  in parts of China.
• Archery and other skills part of education.
• Soldiers held suspect in culture that idealized
  harmony.
• Priestsformal worship consisted of state and
  ancestral rites not requiring a priesthood.
• Emperor acted on behalf of state.

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Legalism

• Under Qin Shi Huangdi, early philosophical
  teachings were restricted or banned (Confucianism
  and Daoism).
• Legalism becomes state ideology.
• Argued that humans were essentially evil.
• Would be good only if forced to follow harsh
  laws.
• No such thing as moral core.

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Trinity of Legalism

• Fa (? law) Law must be clearly written and made
  public. Law rules the state, not the ruler.
  Punishment and reward.
• Shu (? method) Secrecy and tactics. People
  should not be able to become favorites of the
  emperor.
• Shi (? legitimacy) Position of the ruler and
  not the ruler himself that holds power.

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Frontier Invaders

• Qin Shi Huangdi and latter rulers faced invasion
  from the northwestbarbarians.
• Chinese referred to them as Xiongnu, Europeans
  referred to them as Huns.
• Skilled horsemen
• Qin solution was to build a large wall that
  stretched 4000 miles from Central Asia to the
  Yellow Sea.

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Ruins of the original Great Wall near Dunhuang,
China.
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Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huangdi featuring 6000
terra-cotta statues.
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Fall of the Qin

• Legalism resulted in massive military expansion,
  but ineffective during peace time.
• Opposition brutally silenced, philosophical books
  and treatises were burned.
• Qin Shi Huangdis death in 210 B.C.E. resulted in
  factionalism and division.
• Qin Dynasty replaced by Han Dynasty.

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Han Dynasty

• Han Dynasty emerged in 202 B.C.E. and lasts 400
  years.
• Confucianism becomes the official state ideology.
• Incorporates parts of Vietnam, Mongolia, Korea,
  and Central Asia into the empire.
• Aspects of Chinese culture we discussed earlier
  have now materialized and becoming ingrained in
  China.

Liu Bang, Han Gaozu
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State Confucianism

• Merger of Confucianism and Legalism.
• Bureaucracy kept intact officials appointed by
  examination in 165 B.C.E.
• Aristocratic families maintained much power.
• Imperial court divided into factions.

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Examination System

• First held during Han Dynasty usually held once
  a year.
• Children educated to pass these exams on the
  Confucian classics.
• Good scores equaled a government job even
  peasants could worked their way up.
• Peasants, however, often could not afford the
  educate their children for these exams.
• Exams later caused controversy in China.

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Modern civil service examination held at
Sungkyunkwan University, S. Korea, 2005. They
are tested not only on the Confucian Annalects
but also English and Chinese, software knowledge,
and cyber etiquette.
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Silk Road

• International trade increases dramatically during
  Han period.
• Stretched from Xian (Changan) to the eastern
  Mediterranean.
• Leads to the importation of Buddhism into China.
• Contacts with Western Europe in the European
  Medieval period.
• Leads to Renaissance in Europe in 1500s.

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Map of Silk Road
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Silk Road travelers.
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Decline of Han Hegemony

• Han power declines around 190 C.E. with last Han
  emperor, Xian.
• 184 -205 C.E., empire weakened by Yellow Turban
  Rebellion.
• Peasant uprising caused by famine and floods.
• Leaders were Daoist, advocated equal rights for
  all people and equal distribution of land.
• Power of empire falls into hands of provincial
  governors turned warlords Han Dynasty collapses
  in 220, leading to Three Kingdoms Period in
  Chinas history.