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What kind of ruler �is responsible for this?

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What kind of ruler �is responsible for this?

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Did �Emperor Shi Huangdi �improve China?

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Unification of China

Qin 221 – 207 BCE

Han 206 BCE – CE 220

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Warring States

  • Xia 1994 - 1523 BCE
  • Shang 1523 - 1111 BCE
  • Zhou 1111 - 221 BCE
  • Spring & Autumn 770 - 476 BCE
  • Warring States 475 - 221 BCE
  • Qin (Ch’in) 221 - 206 BCE
  • Han 206 BCE - 220 CE

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Warring States

  • Spring & Autumn - country divided into many small states/kingdoms
  • Warring States - 7+ small kingdoms
    • one of most fertile / influential periods in Chinese history
    • saw rise of many of great philosophers
      • Lao Tzu, Confucius, Mencius, Han Feizi
    • establish many government structures & cultural patterns which characterize China for next 2,000 years.

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Warring States

  • Through intrigue and conflict, �two states, Qin and Chu, eventually emerge supreme.

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  • Qin finally defeated all the other states and established the first unified Chinese empire in 221 bc.

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Qin Dynasty: Rise to power

230 BCE final campaigns of the Warring States period

  • Hán in 230 BCE.
  • Zhao in 228 BCE (took advantage of natural disasters)
  • Yan in 226 BC
  • Wei in 225 BC
  • Chu in 223 BC(largest state and greatest challenge)
  • Qi in 221 BC

For the first time, all of China was unified under one powerful ruler.

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Qin Dynasty: Rise to power

221 BCE proclaimed himself the "First Emperor" Shǐ Huángdì

Made the He Shi Bi into the Imperial Seal, known as the "Heirloom Seal of the Realm"

Inscribed: "Having received the Mandate from Heaven, may (the emperor) lead a long and prosperous life." The Seal was later passed from emperor to emperor for generations to come.

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Qin Dynasty: Rise to power

  • Emperor Qin Shihuangdi
    • Powerful army & effective iron weapons (Disarmed regional military forces & fortresses)
    • Centralized rule
      • Administrative provinces and districts
      • Bureaucracy
      • Legalism

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  • Agricultural productivity
    • Private plots generous profits

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Qin Centralization

  • Infrastructure
    • roads, bridges, defensive walls (Great Wall)
      • Protective/Defensive walls built and joined together to protect against invaders from North
    • Built by conscripts

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  • Standardized …
    • laws, currencies & weights
    • Chinese script across linguistic boundaries
    • currency and economic integration

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1500 miles long

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Average 25 ft height

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15 to 30 ft thick at the base -12 ft at the top

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Guard stations and watchtowers are placed at regular intervals

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The eastern part of the wall is earth and stone faced with brick

In the west it is merely a tamped earth mound.

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Qin Rule

  • Suppressed all dissent
    • The Burning of the Books
    • Harsh Ruler

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  • Foundation of political and cultural unity BUT no universal acceptance of government
    • Civil insurrection at its end!

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Terracotta Warriors

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Made to be buried with Shi Huangdi

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Said to commemorate (remember) both his great power and the great army that was used to unify China

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Mandate of Heaven

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Mandate of Heaven

Originated in the Zhou Dynasty

1046-256 BCE

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Mandate of Heaven

Determines whether an emperor of China is sufficiently virtuous to rule.

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If he does not fulfill his obligations as emperor, then he loses the Mandate and thus the right to be emperor.

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Mandate of Heaven

  • Heaven grants the emperor the right to rule.
  • Since there is only one Heaven, there can only be one emperor at any given time.
  • The emperor's virtue determines his right to rule.
  • No one dynasty has a permanent right to rule.

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Mandate of Heaven

Signs the Mandate has been lost:

  • peasant uprisings
  • foreign invasions
  • famine
  • environmental problems
    • drought or floods or earthquakes

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Mandate of Heaven

Justified rebellion against an unjust, tyrannical, or incompetent ruler.

If a rebellion was successful in overthrowing the emperor,

  • it was a sign he had lost the Mandate of Heaven
  • the rebel leader had gained it.

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Mandate of Heaven

Zhou leaders claimed that the Shang emperors had become corrupt and unfit, so Heaven demanded their removal.

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Mandate of Heaven

While the end of the Zhou dynasty began the Warring States Period (475-221 BCE), the Qin Dynasty began in 206 BCE and the cycle continued throughout the history of China.

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BCE Dynastic China

  • Xia 1994 - 1523 BCE
  • Shang 1523 - 1111 BCE
  • Zhou 1111 - 221 BCE
  • Spring & Autumn 770 - 476 BCE
  • Warring States 475 - 221 BCE
  • Qin (Ch’in) 221 - 206 BCE
  • Han 206 BCE - 220 CE

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Mandate of Heaven

China’s Last Emperor,�Pu Yi.

Qing Dynasty

Abdicated in 1912.

Born 1906, Died 1967.

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Han: Rise to Power

  • Mandate in 206 BCE
    • Liu Bang restored order
    • policy of centralization
  • Han Wudi 141BCE -87 BCE
    • Enormous bureaucracy
    • Imperial expansion
      • Invasion of Northern Vietnam and Korea

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Han Rule

Bureaucracy

  • modeled after Legalist Qin, but less harsh
  • Civil Service Exam: Imperial exam to select people for state bureaucracy (Social Mobility?)

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Taxes on agriculture, trade and craft industries → Roads & canals to facilitate communication & trade

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Monopolies on iron and salt production

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Han Advancements

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  • Expand Iron production
  • Shipbuilding
  • Wheelbarrows
  • Paper production
  • Medicine - acupuncture
  • Arts – jade, ivory, bronze
  • Sericulture (Silk)
  • Silk Road, contact with other Empires

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Acupuncture & Nervous System

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Mankind: Silk Road

​

Crash Course: Silk Road

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Silk Road Quiz

  • What is the Silk Road?
  • Why was Silk valued in Europe?
  • What other commodities (raw materials, goods) were traded?
  • How did the Silk Road affect Buddhism?
  • How did the Silk Road affect people, both average people and wealthy ones?

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Han Decline

  • Social Tensions – widening gap between rich and poor
  • Political Failure Failed Land Distribution: Wang Mang
  • Later Han Dynasty
    • Yellow Turban Uprising (internal rebellion)
    • Outside invasions (Huns)

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Schools of thought: Impact on Classical China

Confucianism

Han Dynasty

State Philosophy

Benefits?

Drawbacks?

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Legalism

Qin ShiHuangdi – first emperor of China

Benefits?

Drawbacks?

Daoism

Government?

Popular religion

The Arts

Private Lives

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Drawing Conclusions

  • How do the empires of India compare with those of China?
  • How does your understanding of Classical China reinforce the characteristics of the Classical Age?
  • What individuals of Classical Age had the biggest impact on China’s development?