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Chapter 8 Unification of China. Qin & Han Dynasties. Qin [Ch’in] Dynasty, 221-206 B.C.E. Established China’s first empire Shi Huangdi (221-206 B.C.E) Legalist rule Bureaucratic administration Centralized control Military expansion Book burnings targeted Confucianists
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Chapter 8 Unification of China Qin & Han Dynasties
Qin [Ch’in] Dynasty, 221-206 B.C.E. • Established China’s first empire • Shi Huangdi (221-206 B.C.E) • Legalist rule • Bureaucratic administration • Centralized control • Military expansion • Book burnings targetedConfucianists • Buried protestors alive! • Built large section of the Great Wall
Shi Huangdi unites China!! • Shi Huangdi introduces: • standardized laws • Currencies • Standardized weights & measures • Uniform script (spoken different, written same)
Shi Huangdi’s Terra Cotta Army terra cotta
Han Dynasty, 206 B.C.E.-220 C.E. • Liu Bang led peasant revolt against the Qin • Expanded into Central Asia
The Han Dynasty • More relaxed Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) replaced “tyrannical” Qin rule. • Han Wudi promoted more centralized rule, established university based on Confucianism, invaded Vietnam, Korea. Pottery model of a palace of a Han Dynasty tomb. Photo by Professor Gary Lee Todd, 2007.
Emperor Wudi, 141-87 B.C.E. • Started public schools. • Colonized Manchuria, Korea, & Vietnam. • Civil service system • bureaucrats • Confucian scholar-gentry
Han Economics • Iron manufacturing helps food production, military. • Silk Road trade develops; improves life for many
Han Artifacts Imperial Seal Han Ceramic House
Wang Mang ”The Socialist Emperor” • Military Expenses cause tax increase, dissent. • Wang Mang deposes boy emperor, institutes massive social reforms. His 14-year reign ended in assassination. Wang Mang promoted land redistribution, other reforms.
Han Gender Roles • Patriarchal society promotes female subservience. During the Han Dynasty, the Chinese invented the paper-making process.
"Even though you sleep intimately on the same bed and use the same cover with him, you must treat your husband as if he were your king or your father.” -Confucian marriage manual
Admonitions for Women, Madam Ban Zhao, Female Confucian philosopher and historian, (ca. 45-116 CE): • "Let a woman modestly yield to others; let her respect others; let her put others first, herself. last." "Lay the (girl) baby (at birth) below the bed to plainly indicate that she is lowly and weak, and should regard it as her primary duty to humble herself before others." "A husband can marry twice, but his wife must never remarry. Just as Heaven cannot be disobeyed, so the wife cannot keep away from her husband." "As Yin and Yang are not the same nature, so man and woman have different characteristics....Man is honored for strength; a woman is beautiful on account of her gentleness."
Civil Service under the Han • Over 130,000 employees • 18 ranks of employees • Civil service exams • Confucian principles described the qualities that emperors wanted in civil servants • Wudi set up a Confucian-themed school • Formal examinations in Confucianism, history, law, and literature for civil service positions • Theoretically a merit-based system • But poor could not afford to educate their children • In effect until the downfall of China’s last dynasty in 1912
Review Questions • What dynasty preceded the Han? • Who founded the Han dynasty? • Imagine that you are a Chinese soldier relocated to former Xiongnu lands. What might your life be like? • Explain how the civil service system both was and was not a merit-based system. • Describe Chinese technological advances under the Han.
John Green’s Crash Course: Mandate of Heaven and Confucianism • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylWORyToTo4