Monday, Jan 8
Topic: The Han Dynasty
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Who Said It? Someone from “the West” or “the East?”
Quote | Western | Chinese |
“Take from man his selfish tendencies and he can have nothing to seduce him from the practice of virtue. Or subdue those tendencies through education, instruction or restraint, and virtue remains without a competitor.” | | |
“Government can be successfully administered only when it is in accord with the people’s will. When a government fails it is because it opposes the people’s will.” | | |
“If politicians were less blinded by ambition . . . they would realize that political authority has its main source of power in the citizen’s hearts, and that in the maintenance of government nothing can replace public morality.” | | |
Take good care of your people. If your people don’t like you, you are nothing.” | | |
“Law does not come from the heaven . . . It develops in society, and resides in the people’s hearts.” | | |
“[Subjects held in fear by a tyrant are like water] which, having once found an outlet, flows out with all the more force if it has previously been contained by force.” | | |
Quote | Western | Chinese |
“Take from man his selfish propensities and he can have nothing to seduce him from the practice of virtue. Or subdue those propensities by education, instruction or restraint, and virtue remains without a competitor.” | Jefferson (3rd US President) | |
“Government can be successfully administered only when it is in accord with the people’s will. When a government fails it is because it opposes the people’s will.” | | Guanzi (Chinese philosopher) |
“If politicians were less blinded by ambition . . . they would realize that political authority has its main source of power in the citizen’s hearts, and that in the maintenance of government nothing can replace public morality.” | Rousseau (French philosopher) | |
Take good care of your people. If your people don’t like you, you are nothing.” | Nootka chief | |
“Law does not come from the heaven . . . It develops in society, and resides in the people’s hearts.” | | Shenzi (Chinese philosopher, & hyena in the Lion King |
“[Subjects held in fear by a tyrant are like water] which, having once found an outlet, flows out with all the more force if it has previously been contained by force.” | Thomas Aquinas | |
The Han Synthesis
Frescoes of Confucius & Laozi
Promoting Stability: The Three Good Emperors
Emperor Wu (141-87 BCE)
Expansion under Emperor Wu
The Great Wall & Routes to the West
Tim McNeese, The Great Wall of China, Lucent Books, Inc., 1997. Once Wu Di (Emperor Wu), the sixth emperor of the Han dynasty, established peaceful relations with the nomadic Xiongnu people of the north after conquering them and turning them into tribute states, Wu Di used the Wall to expand China's influence in the world through trade with other nations. He extended the Wall three hundred miles to the west and added a chain of watchtowers that followed the famed Silk Road that served as China's link to trade with the west…Thousands of soldiers protected the merchants and caravans traveling along the trade routes. This helped increase China’s prestige and desires to trade with China. Emperor Wu also also sent an ambassador named Zhang Qian to the Western Regions to open trade routes between East and West along the Silk Roads and to create political protectorates by securing allies. |
Fortifying the Western Regions & Commanderies
Ruins of a Han watchtower (beacon tower) along the Silk Roads (central Asia)
Zhang Qian’s Mission to the Western Regions
“All the barbarians of the distant west craned their necks to the east and longed to catch a glimpse of China…After Zhang Qian achieved honor and position by opening communication with the lands of the west, all the officials and soldiers vied to become envoys.” The Records of the Grand Historian
Tributes to the Han Dynasty
Rise of the Han & the Silk Roads
Great Wall regions
CENTRAL ASIA
Roman Empire
Parthians, Bactrians, Kushans
The Tea-Horse Trade
Trade Cities
Dunhuang
Silk Production
kept silk production a secret under threat of death (until the Byzantines got some smuggled silkworms in the 6th century CE)
Used as currency
Silk was used for clothing (it’s breathable), armor (when tightly woven it’s highly protective, and absorbs sweat), furniture, and art.
Silk Production
The Han Economy
Conquering “Others”: Han & Rome
Tribute & client states
Spread culture, influence, assimilation