china until han

8/8/2019 China Until Han

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/china-until-han 1/8

Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han (repeat)Sui, Tang, Song (repeat)Yuan, Ming, Qing, Republic (repeat)Mao Zadong!

China Through the Han Dynasty

A. Agriculturea. Nomadic people in Gobi desert who figured out how to get goods form place to place

played important role and made use of oasisi. Now people there are mostly Muslim

ii. Uighurs are Muslim and are descended from Mongols and bothered that there¶s been a massive migration

1. Not happy2. Uighurs had massive rebellion (people setting themselves on fire, etc.)3. Put down my Chinese gov

B. Origins of Chinese Civilizationa. Developed along a river valley (Yangtze and Huang Ho)

b. Neolithic Revolution = c. 7000 BCEc. Social differentiation by 3000 BCEd. Why did government evolve?

i. Yellow River (aka China¶s Sorrow)ii. Flooded

iii. When it deposited the silt, it would raise so high that the river would changecourse and flood other areas

iv. people forced to create large-scale building projects/irrigatione. Dynasties²Chinese history is divided by ruling families; power handed down from

power to son, or sometimes other (typically male) relativesi. Have general idea of what else was happening in world at time

ii. Xia: approx. 2200-1766 BCE

1. Not positive they existediii. Shang: 1766 BCE-1122

1. Bronze2. ~time of Hammurabi up to beginning of Hittites

iv. Zhou: 1122 BCE ± 256 BCE1. Only had effective gov control for short time2. For most of that long period, there wasn¶t much order/control

v. Qin: 221 BCE-207 BCE1. Short2. Period with the first Chinese emperor and reestablishment of centralized

power 3. **name is important

vi. Han: 206 BCE ± 220 BCE1. Golden Age2. Silk roads3. Long-distance trade flourished4. Around roughly the same time as Roman Empire5. Ends about 250 years before Roman Empire does

C. Early Politics/Societya. Shang

i. Able to exert force over larger areas because of better technology



ii. Bronze! (and war chariots)1. Had horses hooked up to chariots2. Comparisons with Middle East?

iii. Clearly drank iv. Foundations of Chinese statev. Able to control society through direct rule; sent out warriors

vi. Extensive system of public works projectsvii. Patriarchal family structure began

1. One of the keys in reinforcing patriarchal family structure was the practice of ancestor veneration²needed to keep your ancestors happyand ancestors can speak on your behalf

2. Father considered to be direct link to ancestor; led rituals3. Similar to Ancient Rome with patar familius4. Father had extensive control over family¶s affairs (like Rome) and could

potentially sell them into slavery, etc.viii. Writing**

1. Developed for a diff reason in China than in Mesopotamia2. Mesopotamia it was for trade

3. Here it was divination/telling the future in a political context4. Kings would ask shamens to put on animal mones and inscribe them with

symbol put bone on hot ___ look at how the bones crackeda. Origins of writing! b. Called orical bonesc. Eventually formed characters, which formed the basis of Chinese

language5. First transmitted language to the Korean and then to the Japanese

ix. Long distance trade b. Zhou (1122-256 BCE)

i. From Zhou we get the µMandate of Heaven¶ ±legitimacy1. As the Shang became less powerful/able to control, other rivals for

power emerged (i.e. Zhou)2. Zhou usurped Shang and needed a way to explain why this was

legitimate3. Enduring idea4. Important to associate it with Shang to Zhou5. Ties into Confucianism (later), which says that it is the duty of the ruler

to take care of his people/promote prosperity; if there is evidence of prosperity declining, that is the heavens saying that it is time for adifferent ruler

ii. Different means of controlling territory than the Shang did²Bureaucracy began1. Gov officials who work for you/king collect taxes, writing (scribes), etc.2. Zou recognized that they did need gov officials; there were educated men

who helped kings and dukes²origins of gov officials, but there weren¶tenough of them

3. King and dukes paid less attention to administering territory (taxes,collecting records, etc.) and paid more attention to fighting eachother

4. Gov officials laid off (i.e. Confucius²gov official for a duke who didn¶tget paid began formulating system for a diff type of gov)

iii. Size²too big to rule effectively1. Vassal-patronage system



2. Feudal system²first and foremost is a decentralized gov; hard for top(king) to control things below b/c king doesn¶t have man power tocontrol, so he appoints his most loyal supporters to control parts of land(dukes); Duke is supposed to be loyal/obedient to King, collect $$ andsend taxes to king, and if king is in need of help duke sends troops

a. Duke further subdivides own territory and gives power to

warriors that report essentially to the duke (earls)²dukes rule asmini-kings

b. Within their territories, dukes controlled everything(administered law/order/justice, raised armies, etc.)

c. Called a vassal patronage systemd. System of hierarchy and patronage and reciprocity (king gets

loyalty of person below him and help if he is attacked, inexchange duke gets to rule his territory as he wants); lordvassal(same titles further down you go; work for guy above you

e. BAD²duke has too much power/fundamentally ignored andsometimes even rebelled

3. Zhou kings also moving into area of someone else, and Zhou didn¶t have

resources to defend against those attacksc. Evolved into µEra of the Warring States¶ (403-221 BCE)

i. Chaos prompted a number of thinkers to think about how to restore harmony1. Confucius, etc.

ii. Main concerns of political traditions were how to achieve individual personaltranquility amidst chaos

1. Will also see this in other ancient society, like Greece (Alexander empire breaks²development of philosophies cynicism, etc.)Plato, Aristotle

2. What is best form of gov3. How to individuals achieve tranquility

D. ³Confucianism 101´a. founder: Kong Fuzi (551-479 B.C.E.)

i. about same time Buddha livedii. also around same time Persian empire is coming to its height

iii. Confucius one of the officials that wanted to work for a duke during era of thewarring states

iv. dukes spent more money on fighting each other and then had less time/interest inactual governance

v. Confucius found it hard to find a jobvi. He himself never wrote anything down

b. Text: Analects i. Collection of main texts/sayings of Confucius

c. Believesi. Thought humans were fundamentally good and you can cultivate this goodness

through educationii. Gov, etc. education, but also moral education

iii. Thought those that were most educated were the ones that were best to lead thesociety

1. There should be an elite of well educated men that would provide theking of options of how to govern

d. Stability = englihtened leadership by morally strong elitese. Superior individuals cultivated through educationf. Values



i. ii. 5 relationshps²all have sense of hierarchy and reciprocity

1. older brother younger brother iii. relationship between father and son is like the relationship between a ruler and

his sujects²rulers are like fathers and the king¶s policies should be in the interestof the people, and in exchange people need to provide him with loyalty

iv. benevolence by gov officialsv. hierarchy²obedience to superiors

1. filial piety²family is root to society as a whole; strong loyalty to thefamily, and by extension, to the ruler

2. things like ancestor veneration fit into society very well3. went with preexisting norms nicely

vi. courtesy in social interactions1. be involved in community a lot, and because of this you need to treat

others with kindness, etc.vii. past tradition should guide behavior

1. gradualist kind of philosophy2. use what you know in order to determine what you¶re going to do in the

future3. bad: not a lot of leeway in change in culture; things tended to stay the

same if nothing had been wrong with it in the past; harder to see the badconsequences of the past until things were in the past; hard to innovate

4. but provided stabilityg. adopted as official philosophy as the Han dynasty, and influential in dynasties after that

until end of the Qing dynasty, which ended in 1911h. activism in public affairsi. importance placed on meritocracy j. optimism about human naturek. status of merchants?

i. BOTTOM because they don¶t actually produce anything

ii. They are the middle maniii. Called merchants parasitesiv. Even if you have a lot of money, you do not have a high social status

E. Daoisma. Founder: Laozi (6th c. BCE?)

i. Accredited with being the founder, but not sure if he existed because there is astory about his birth where his mother was pregnant for 30-50 years and when heis finally born, he is already wise and old, etc.

b. Main text is Daodejing (Dao = the ³way´)c. Values

i. Would be better to reteat from human society, which would always be wroughtwith inequality/meanness; Retreat to simple life to achieve harmony with nature

instead of through human contact; also meant that you should renounce govservice (best gov is no gov; OPPOSITE of Confucianism) harmony between people is achieved through sense of passivity (masksincredible power; like water: when water runs over a stone, the stone erodes, butwater itself is very soft); find opposites in ature and find how they can be morecomplements to each other (yin and yang)

ii. Renounce politics, activismiii. Introspection, passivity, balance

d. Influential in art among elites



i. Not a lot of ideas took hold, but some didii. Harmony in nature

iii. People liked the aesthetic qualities of simplicity in natureiv. When you look at Chinese landscape paintings, the grandeur of nature is

emphasized and usually monochromatice. Lower classes attracted to supernatural aspects

i. People were convinced that you could create elixirs and do things like turn basemetal into gold

ii. Alchemists²first ones were daoistsf. Daoists created gunpowder by accident

i. Not meant for warfareii. Didn¶t happen in warfare until later

F. Legalisma. Founders: Shang Yang (390-338 BCE) and Han Feizi (280-233 BCE)

i. Han Feizi worked for huang di b. No main textc. Goal of rler = strengthen and enrich the state; everything else is subordinate to that goald. Values

i. Strict application of laws will ensure stabilityii. People exist to serve interests of state

iii. No one above the law (even the king)iv. Collective responsibility for behavior

e. During Qin dynasty, Confusianism was very looked down uponi. Anything that challenged Legalist philosophy was burned

f. Harsh, but built up country quickly because everyone working for same goal (whether they liked it or not)

G. Qin Dynasty (221-207 BCE)a. Shi Huandi²very brutal but very effective

i. Dynasty lasted only 20 years people exhausted/fed up with brutality fastii. Reunified China under one ruler and named himself emperor²first emperor of

china1. Improved infrastructure (build roats, etc.)2. Helped standardized currency, weight, etc. and written language so

everyone would write the samea. Standardize weights important so everyone could be equal and

there would be confidence in trade, which would increase trade b. Like the Persians! (Darius)

iii. Made capital at Xianiv. When he died, had giant tomb erected with thousands of troops

1. Archers, infantry, cavalry, horses, chariots, etc.2. Individualized faces and such3. Terra Cotta Warriors

H. Han Dynasty (206 BCE ± 220 CE)a. Era = ³Classical China´ b. Founder = Liu Bang

i. Retained central administration of Qinc. Han Wudi (141-87 BCE) = by far most powerful/influential emperor

i. Only important nameii. Helped set a lot of precedents for later empires

iii. Responsible for vastly expanding Chinese territory



1. Meant moving into areas into Korea, Indochina, Central Asia (vs.Xiongnu)

a. Xiongnu is the Chinese variant of the Huns b. Most famous Hun: Attila

i. Getting married to German princessii. Wanted an alliance

iii. There was a party night after wedding and Atilla had acerebral hemorrhage and wife woke up in morningcovered in his blood

2. Good for China in that it set the stage for Chinese influence to expandthroughout the region; helped trade, too

3. Bad: conquering and maintaining such a huge territory is very expensive(to administer it and keep troops on borders so you don¶t lose it)

a. Contributed to its downfall/weakened itiv. Promoted idea that government should be active in economy, judicial affairs,

agriculture, etc.v. Helped institute examination system to select/train gov officials

1. Students would study analects, and through studying those texts would

absorb the information and would take a set of national exam to restatewhat he says and apply what they learned

2. Lots of levels of these tests3. Passing tests took a lot of study/dedication/talent4. Exams lasted days

vi. Specializedexams for gov officals1. Based on Confucian texts2. Growth of new class = scholar-bureaucrats (aka Mandarins, aka scholar

gentry²denoted fact that many scholars married into elite families)3. In theory, meritocracy because you had to pass tests/work hard, etc., but

it was very time-consuming and expensive to be able to pass these testsand studywealthy were the ones who were able to have someone not

work to go study and also had the benefit of test prepvii. Gov jobs were good/nice; also didn¶t have to pay taxes, and that extended to you

and to your entire familyfamilies would strategize and spent all resourceseducated one person who they thought was most likely to pass

1. Wealthy people who didn¶t care before about education now had scholarsmarry into the family

2. Wealthy paid least taxes peasants paid more and mored. Social structure

i. Patriarchal family structures emphasized/reinforced by Confucianism1. Ban Zhao¶s Admonitions for Women: says how women should behave in

Confucian ideas; daughter-in-law was at the very bottom of the peckingorder; when couple got married, would usually go live with husband¶s

family and new wife had to obey mother-in-law above alla. Self sacrifice of a women b. Confucianism fit in well with ancestor venerataion/family as the

microchasm of societye. As Han gets wealthier/increases contact with other societies, this changes the wealth of

merchantsrising merchant class, so they have more economic power, but merchantsaren¶t of a very high social status at hall according to Confucian ideas merchants nothappy

f. Technology fueled trade



i. Han has practical innovationii. Value in Chinese society back to Emperor Yu (from reading)

iii. Helped fuel prosperity because goods produced in China were valued very highlyin world markets (i.e. silk, paper)

1. Silk²everyone bought it2. China has a monopoly on the product of silk and tried hard to keep it that

way, but they lose their monopoly3. Gunpowder²invented during the Han (Daoists trying to make elixer of

life)a. More for entertainment (i.e. fireworks) b. Automens and west Europeans converted its use to warfare

g. Decline of Hani. Han Wudi had expanded empire a lot²brought new opportunity for trade,

expanded tax base, but very expensive to conquer/maintain troopsii. High tensions b/w rich and poor

1. Eventually fewer and fewer people with any major source of income paying taxes, even with increasing population (people, usually wealthy,figured out how to get away from taxesmuch heavier burden on

peasants)lots of peasants fell into death; with any kind of disaster, theydidn¶t have the ability to save so had to sell land or themselves

2. Accumulation of land ownership in few hands3. Peasant banditry and belleion

a. Yellow Turban Rebellioni. Yellow was reserved for the emperor and referenced the

yellow river (symbolic cover)ii. Yellow turbans were interested in magical Daoism and

some thought that it would protect them against gov(even arrows, etc.)

iii. But showed how bad things had gotteniii. Court infighting

1. Scholar-bureacrats, imperial family, eunuchsa. Scholar bureaucrats²wanted more power; led wealthy/lavish

lives b. Eunuchs²special advisors/body guards; castrated could guard

royal women and since they couldn¶t have children, less likely to be corrupt

i. But in reality were often involved in scandals, etc., to get power

c. Distractions from gov and real problemsiv. Pressure from nomadic invaders on frontier

1. With declining Han, invaders knew they could get thingsI. Main Themes

a. Overriding desire for stability and do so in large by cultural assimilationi. If everyone shares same values/uses same writing system less possibility of

fragmentationii. Over time, you have assimiliation of behaviors of nomadic people of people who

come to china and China who influences others (two-way street) b. Patriarchal order of society

i. Veneration of ancestorsii. Took shape during ancient, but continued into later years

iii. Later zhou/era of the warring states²philosophies arose



c. Major philosophies and traditions took shape approx. 620-220 BCEi. Nneed to explain political/social

d. -----POWERPOINT ONLINEe. Qin/Han

i. Both focused on centralizing power w/ the emperor to avoid powers thathappened in Zhou

ii. Expansion of bureaucracyiii. Cultural and economic intergration of very large territory (i.e. Q: standardization

of weights; H: less coercive mean)iv. Overall Political culture estabilished

f. Han:i. Conquest and expansion emphasized; to outlying areas precedent for China to

become engine of econmic growthii. Economic growh tand tarde

iii. Intense cultural achievement and flowering²some of greatest Chinese poetrywritten during this period

1. Lots of scholar-bureaucrats cuz important to be smart and an artistiv. Beginnings of dominance to scholar-bureaucrats

1. Becomes most prestigious2. Supposed to always be honest/looking out for best interest of state and

people, but don¶t always do thatv. Population growth already over 100 million

1. Helpful to Chinese economy, but also brings problemsvi. Economic disparity between elites and commoners

china until han

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