Chapter 3 China in Antiquity

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Chapter 3China in Antiquity
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The Qin and Han Empires 1. From their position
in the valley of the Wei River that controlled
access to the Yellow River plain, the Qin
launched attacks on other states. By 221 B.C.E.,
Shih Huang-ti had defeated the states and
proclaimed the Qin dynasty (221-206 B.C.E.). He
was the first to call himself the equivalent of a
western emperor. Having conquered north China
and the lands of the Yangtze, the Qin pushed
south to the edge of the Red River and southeast
to the coast. To tie these lands together, the
emperor ordered construction of a system of
roads. To this end, carts using the roads were
required to have standard length axles so the
ruts they made would he uniform.
Administratively, the land of the Qin was
centralized into thirty-six (later forty-two)
commanderies (provinces). These were further
divided into districts. 2. In the north and
northwest, the Qin faced a nomadic Hun people
called the Xiongnu (Hsing-nu) who were
troublesome in the lands south of the Gobi Desert
where for years the Chinese had been driving out
the nomads and taking their pasture lands. In
retaliation, the Xiongnu struck back at the
Chinese by raiding their towns and farms. Masters
at fighting on horseback, the Xiongnu had
significant advantages over the Chinese infantry
defending the frontier. To stop the raiders,
states in the late Chou began erecting walls and
fortifications. The Qin emperor had these joined
into a single Great Wall that stretched some 1400
miles from the Yellow Sea to central China. The
Great Wall would he rebuilt of granite and
extended three thousand miles during the Ming
dynasty (1368-1644). 3. Near the Chou capital of
Hao, a new capital, Hsienyang, was built in the
Wei valley where access from the rest of China
was limited to the narrow strip of land between
river and hills at the great bend of the Yellow
River. Productivity of the valley was enhanced
by an irrigation and transportation canal. 4. A
canal was dug linking a tributary of the Yangtze
River with the Pearl River in the extreme south
to facilitate bringing supplies to an army
campaigning there. Later, the Grand Canal
linked the rice-growing Yangtze basin with
northern China. 5. The death of the emperor in
210 B.C.E. was followed by factional rivalry and
the overthrow of the Qin. The victor was Liu
Bang (Liu Pang), a commoner who founded the Han
dynasty (202 B.C.E.-221 C.E.). The new capital
was built at Ch'ang-an. Like their predecessors,
the Han aggressively expanded China's borders,
especially Emperor Han Wudi (Han Wu Ti, 141-87
B.C.E.). In the south, Han armies brought the
Red River delta under control in 111 B.C.E. The
armies similarly swept northeast into southern
Manchuria and then to northern Korea in the last
half of the second century B.C.E. In the west,
the Han armies penetrated as far as the Caspian
Sea in 97 C.E. However, it was in central Asia
the Han had their most difficulty. The Xiongnu
were still troublesome. The Han rulers tried
pacification through gifts and titles but these
failed as raids continued, almost reaching
Ch'ang-an. In 129 B.C.E., Han Wudi ordered
armies against the Xiongnu. By 119 B.C.E.,
Xiongnu power south of the Gobi Desert was
broken. To hold the territory, Han Wudi sent
700,000 colonists and extended the Great Wall
westward. Later, in 89 C.E., Han armies crossed
the Gobi Desert to defeat the northern Xiongnu.
This defeat may have caused migration of the
Xiongnu to the Russian steppes and eventually to
Europe in the fifth century C.E. as the Huns. 6.
The Silk Road ran from Ch'ang-an and Luoyang west
to Tunhuang (the last Chinese settlement) along
the fringes of the Taklamakan Desert, through the
Pamir Mountains into the Indus valley, and then
to the Arabian Sea. Goods such as silk would
travel through the Persian Gulf or Red Sea on its
way to Rome. The trade through the desert wastes
of Xinjiang province in China was primarily
directed by Turkish speaking Uighurs whose
caravans of two humped camels carried goods
between China, South Asia, and the Middle East.
The best route of the Silk Road was north of the
Tian Sham (Heavenly Mountains) but because of
banditry most of the caravans followed the
southern route which passed the fringes of the
Taklamakan Desert to Kashgar and down the into
northwest India. Question 1. What was the
impact of the Xiongnu on the rulers of China?
The Qin and Han Empires
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• Land and People
• Three Sovereigns
• Fu Xi (Fu Hsi)
• Shen Nong (Shen Nung)
• Huang Di (Huang Ti)
• Chinese Civilization
• Nomadic and agricultural people
• Family
• Writing
• Neolithic settlements
• Yellow River valley
• Yangtze River valley
• Qin (Chin) Empire

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The Great Wall with tower, north of Beijing
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Shang China
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• Dawn of Chinese Civilization The Shang Dynasty
• Xia (Hsia) Dynasty (?-1766? B.C.E.)
• Yu
• Shang Dynasty (1766-1122? B.C.E.)
• Political organization
• Centralized monarchy
• Bureaucracy
• Territories governed by aristocratic bureaucracy
• Oracle bones
• Shang Di
• Social Structure
• Bronze

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• Zhou (Chou) Dynasty (1122?-221 B.C.E.)
• Political organization, guo (kuo)
• Rites of Zhou
• Mandate of Heaven
• Dao, The Way
• Right of Revolution
• Economy and Society
• Well field system
• Commerce
• Slaves
• Agricultural advances
• Silk
• Money economy

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• Hundred Schools of Ancient Philosophy
• Shang Di
• Yang (sun) and Yin (moon)
• Yi Jing (I Ching), Book of Changes
• Confucius (551-479 B.C.E.)
• Analects
• Dao (The Way)
• Rule by merit
• Mencius (370-29- B.C.E.)
• Legalism
• Daoism
• Lao Tzu (Lao Zi)
• Nature takes its course

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China during the Period of the Warring States
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• Rise of the Chinese Empire Qin and Han
• Period of Warring States, 403-221 B.C.E.
• Qin Dynasty, 221-206 B.C.E
• Qin Shi Huangdi (221-206 B.C.E)
• Legalism
• Administration
• commanderies
• counties
• Centralized control
• Military expansion
• Xiongnu (Hsiung-nu) nomadic people
• Great Wall
• Fall of the Qin

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The Han Dynasty
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• Han Dynasty (202 B.C.E.-221 C.E.)
• Liu Bang (Liu Pang), Han Gaozu (Han Kao Tsu)
• Integration of Confucianism and Legalism
• Society and Economy
• Peasants
• Trade and manufacturing
• Silk Road
• Guangzhou (Canton)
• Fall of the Han
• Wang Mang, 9-23 C.E.
• Cao Cao (Tsao Tsao)

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Ruins of Jiaohe, Turphan depression. Han
dynasty outpost in Central Asia
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The Western terminus of the Great Wall at
Jiayugan
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Trade Routes of the Ancient World 1. The oceanic
trade of Asia was conducted primarily by the
Indians who sailed the South China Sea and Gulf
of Tonkin. Nevertheless, during the Han the
Chinese also became increasingly involved in the
ocean trade. Especially important was the
invention of the rudder as well as fore and aft
sails that permitted Chinese ships to sail into
the wind. These vessels carried goods throughout
Southeast Asia and into the Indian Ocean. By the
first century C.E., Chinese sailors had mastered
the monsoon winds of the Indian Ocean that blow
from the southwest in the summer and the
northeast beginning in October. 2. The conquest
of northern Vietnam resulted in Chinese and
foreign merchants setting up trading stations.
Moreover, new routes were opened from
southwestern China to the Bay of Bengal utilizing
the river systems of Vietnam and Burma. In this
and other trade, the Chinese generally had an
advantage due to the high price commanded by the
main export, silk. Gold and precious stones were
usually used to pay for the silk. 3. The Mauryan
road system that ran the length and breadth of
India provided a sound base for trade. Both
China and Rome had a high demand for such goods
as jewels and semiprecious stones, sandlewood and
teak, cotton and silk textiles, and spices.
Roman trading communities were established in the
Tamil south. The demand for the Indian luxury
goods by the Romans resulted in the influx of
gold coins, silver, perfume, slaves, glass, and
Egyptian cloth. In southern India there were
small colonies of Romans, Jews, Arabs, and
Nestorian Christians from Syria and Persia. 4.
The Silk Road ran from Chang'an and Luoyang west
along the fringes of the Taklamakan Desert,
through the Pamir Mountains into the Indus
valley, and then to the ports on the Arabian Sea.
Goods such as silk would travel through the
Persian Gulf or Red Sea on its way to Rome. The
trade through the desert wastes of Xinjiang
province in China was primarily directed by the
Turkish speaking Uighurs. The Uighur caravans
of two humped camels carried goods between China,
South Asia, and the Middle East. The best route
of the Silk Road was north of the Tian Sham
(Heavenly Mountains) but due to banditry, most of
the caravans followed the southern route that
passed the fringes of the Takiamakan Desert to
Kashgar and down the into northwest India. 5.
Han emperor Wudi opened the Silk Road to Parthia.
An elaborate network of roads linked Parthia to
China in the east, eastern India, and southern
India. The Roman eastern provinces were tied to
this network through Seleucia on the Euphrates
River. Questions 1. What were the implications
of the trade along the Silk Road? 2. How did the
goods traded affect the economies of India,
China, Persia, and Rome?
Trade Routes of the Ancient World
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• Daily Life
• Family
• filial piety
• five relationship
• Housing
• Cities
• Women

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• Chinese Culture
• Metalwork and sculpture
• Bronze
• Lacquerware and ceramics
• Terra-cotta army
• Language and Literature
• Writing, Cang Jie
• ideographic and pictographic
• literary Chinese
• Music
• sheng