Chinese Dynasties

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Chinese Dynasties

• Too Many Dynasties to Remember? Lets try a SONG!
• Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han
• Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han
• Sui, Tang, Song
• Sui, Tang, Song
• Yuan, Ming, Qing, Republic
• Yuan, Ming, Qing, Republic
• Mao Zedong
• Mao Zedong
• Lets try Frere Jacques
• http//rhs.rocklin.k12.ca.us/academics/socialscien
  ce/apwh/index.html

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Chinese Dynasties Shang through Qing-
sources Barrons, Earth and Its Peoples

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Chinese Dynasties Shang 1750 BCE 1027 BCE

• Shang (1750 BCE 1027 BCE)
• - confined area of northeastern China
• - Governance
• - King and adminstrators ruled over core
  area (Yellow River Valley)
• - Royal family and high-ranking nobility
  managed provinces further out. - More
  distant areas were administered by native
  rulers
• - The King would often travel from province
  to province to reinforce ties of loyalty
  (Bulliet 59)

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Chinese Dynasties Shang 1750 BCE 1027 BCE

• Shang (1750 BCE 1027 BCE)
• - Governance
• - King made himself indispensable
• -served as intermediary between the
  people and the gods.
• - Religion
• - Royal family worshipped ancestors, practiced
  divination
• - Sacrifice of animals and people used
• (Bulliet 59)

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Chinese Dynasties Shang 1750 BCE 1027 BCE

• Shang (1750 BCE 1027 BCE)
• - Governance
• - Frequent military campaigns
• - warrior aristocracy
• - most prominent class
• - frequent battles with barbarians
• - gave opportunity for brave
  achievements
• - many POWs used as slaves in capital
  city (Bulliet 59)

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Chinese Dynasties Shang 1750 BCE 1027 BCE

• Shang (1750 BCE 1027 BCE)
• - Trade
• - Far reaching trade networks
• - brought in ivory, jade, mother-of-pearl
• - May have traded with Mesopotamia (Bulliet
  59)

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Chinese Dynasties Shang 1750 BCE 1027 BCE

• Shang (1750 BCE 1027 BCE)
• - Bronze
• - Was a sign of authority
• - used in warfare and ritual
• - Artisans
• - who made bronze were well- compensated
  (Bulliet 59)

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Chinese Dynasties Shang 1750 BCE 1027 BCE

• Shang (1750 BCE 1027 BCE)
• Technology
• - horse-drawn chariot
• - may have borrowed from M. East
• - domestication of water buffalo
• - for labor
• - engineering
• - construction of cities, massive defensive
  walls made of earth, monumental royal tombs.
• - writing
• - pictogram and phonetic symbols that made up
  writing system a key to effective
  administration (Bulliet 60)

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Chinese Dynasties Zhou 1027 BCE 221 BCE

• Zhou (1027 BCE 221 BCE)
• - longest lasting and most revered of all
  Chinese dynasties
• - preserved Shang foundational culture while
  adding new important elements

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Chinese Dynasties Zhou 1027 BCE 221 BCE

• Zhou (1027 BCE 221 BCE)
• - Mandate of Heaven
• - Other elements of religion

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Chinese Dynasties Zhou 1027 BCE 221 BCE

• Zhou (1027 BCE 221 BCE)
• - Governance of early Zhou era
• - Western Zhou 11th 9th century BCE
• - sophisticated administrative system (Bulliet
  61)

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Chinese Dynasties Zhou 1027 BCE 221 BCE

• Zhou (1027 BCE 221 BCE)
• - Governance of early Zhou era
• - Western Zhou 11th 9th century BCE
• - Imperial official expected to model decorum
• - Highly decentralized as the Shang had been
• (Bulliet 62)

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Chinese Dynasties Zhou 1027 BCE 221 BCE

• Zhou (1027 BCE 221 BCE)
• - By 800 BCE Zhou power began to wane
• - Local rulers had more power and warred
  with each other.
• - Bureaucracy increased
• - wealth and power was justified by
  authoritarian political philosophies
  (Bulliet 62)
• Legalism

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Chinese Dynasties Zhou 1027 BCE 221 BCE

• Zhou (1027 BCE 221 BCE)
• Legalism
• - idea that humans are essentially wicked and
  will behave in an orderly fashion only if
  compelled by strict laws and harsh
  punishments, administered by a powerful
  ruler.
• - every aspect of a human society needed to
  be controlled.
• - personal freedom needed to be sacrificed
  to the needs and demands of the state.
  (Bulliet 62)

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Chinese Dynasties Zhou 1027 BCE 221 BCE

• Zhou (1027 BCE 221 BCE)
• Confucianism
• Confucius (551-479 BCE)
• Mengzi (371-289 BCE) made teachings much
  better known
• - roots in earlier beliefs
• - veneration of ancestors
• - mandate of heaven etc.
• - each person has a particular role to play
  each persons conduct necessary to maintain
  the social order.
• - emphasized benevolence, avoidance of
  (Bulliet 63)

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Chinese Dynasties Zhou 1027 BCE 221 BCE

• Zhou (1027 BCE 221 BCE)
• Confucianism
• Later in the era of the early emperors
  became the dominant political philosophy.

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Chinese Dynasties Zhou 1027 BCE 221 BCE

• Zhou (1027 BCE 221 BCE)
• The Warring States Period (480-221 BCE)
• - saw the rise of Daoism the path
• - ideas of Yin and Yang also
• - social organization also changed
• - from clan-based to the three- generational
  family
• - grandparents, parents, children
• - also concept of private property
• - Land belonged to the men of the family
• -either divided equally among sons at
  fathers death or given to eldest son.
• (Bulliet 63)

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Chinese Dynasties Zhou 1027 BCE 221 BCE

• Zhou (1027 BCE 221 BCE)
• Classical ideas of family, property, and
  bureaucracy took shape during Zhou rule
• - The rise of competitive and quarrelling
  smaller states at the end of the Zhou period
  set things up for a strong central power to
  unify the Chinese lands.
• - commonalities in culture between the smaller
  states but also distinct cultural differences
  (similar in some ways to the different Greek
  city-states) (Bulliet 64)

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Chinese Dynasties Qin 221 - 206 BCE

• Qin (221 BCE 206 BCE)
• - Began long period of Imperial China that would
  last into the 20th century.
• Aggressive tendencies and disciplined way of
  life made it the premier power among the warring
  states in the early 3rd century BCE
• - Qin rapidly conquered their rivals and created
  Chinas first empire.
• - Empire was extensive basically the China of
  today much more extensive than the relatively
  compact zone in northeastern China of the Shang
  and Zhou
• - BUT at great human cost empire barely
  survived its founder (Shi Huangdi)
• (Bulliet 64, 160)

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Chinese Dynasties Qin 221 - 206 BCE

• Qin (221 BCE 206 BCE)
• - Leaders were able and ruthless men
• - drew on ideas of legalism
• - cracked down on Confucianism
• - worked to eliminate potential rivals
• - eliminated primogeniture
• - so land would be split up to several heirs.
• - why?
• - abolished slavery
• - wanted a free peasantry of small land owners
• - why?

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Chinese Dynasties Qin 221 - 206 BCE

• Qin (221 BCE 206 BCE)
• - Committed to standarization
• - with writing, weights, coinage, a uniform
  law code etc.
• - tried to eliminate individual version of
  these in each state.
• - Qin
• - built thousands of miles of roads
• - built canals
• - linked some walls as a barricade to
  foreigners (Bulliet 163-164)

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Chinese Dynasties Han 206 BCE 220 CE

• Han (206 BCE 220 CE)
• - Qin and Han
• - began the long history of imperial China that
  would last into the 20th century
• - remarkable achievement to consolidate these
  lands because they were quite diverse in
  topography, climate, plant and animal life
  and human population
• - there were great obstacles to communication
  and a uniform way of life more so than the
  Roman Empire experienced
• - there was no internal sea like the
  Mediterranean that the Romans had to help with
  transportation. (Bulliet 160)

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Chinese Dynasties Han 206 BCE 220 CE

• Han (206 BCE 220 CE)
• - Qin and Han
• - Key to empires
• -1) Agricultural production
• - the primary source of wealth and taxes that
  supported imperial China.
• (Bulliet 160)
• 2) Human labor
• - the other fundamental commodity
• - took advantage of this much as the Romans
  did
• - dependence on large population of free
  peasants to give taxes and labor to the
  state (Bulliet 161)

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Chinese Dynasties Han 206 BCE 220 CE

• Han (206 BCE 220 CE)
• - Han
• Human labor
• - in between growing seasons required
  every able-bodied man to donate one month
  of labor a year to public work projects
• - construction was done on palaces,
  temples, roads, canals, transporting goods
  etc.
• - Another obligation was two years of
  military service (Bulliet 161)

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Chinese Dynasties Han 206 BCE 220 CE

• Han (206 BCE 220 CE)
• - Han
• Human labor
• - in between growing seasons required
  every able-bodied man to donate one month
  of labor a year to public work projects
• - construction was done on palaces,
  temples, roads, canals, transporting goods
  etc.
• - Another obligation was two years of
  military service (Bulliet 161)

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Chinese Dynasties Han 206 BCE 220 CE

• Han (206 BCE 220 CE)
• - Han
• - continued structure and Legalist ideology
  but less harsh
• - mixed with form of Confucianism
• - emphasized the benevolence of the
  government and the appropriate behaviors in
  a hierarchal society.
• - Han structure became the standard

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Chinese Dynasties Han 206 BCE 220 CE

• Han (206 BCE 220 CE)
• - Han -
• - Gradually, but persistently the Han
  expanded at the expense of other ethnic
  groups.
• - As they expanded they brought their
  culture with them
• - ideas about family, Confucianism etc.
• - Chinese today refer to themselves
  ethnically as Han
• (Bulliet 161, 164)

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Chinese Dynasties Han 206 BCE 220 CE

• Han (206 BCE 220 CE)
• - Han captial Changan -
• - thriving city
• - 246,000 in 2 CE
• - filled with officials, soldiers,
  merchants, craftsmen and foreign
  visitors
• - high walls to protect government
  buildings
• - became a model for urban planning
• - some of city was planned

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Chinese Dynasties Han 206 BCE 220 CE

• Han (206 BCE 220 CE)
• - Han captial Changan -
• - thriving city
• - gap between rich and poor
• - government officials and merchants
  lived a very different life from the common
  man

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Chinese Dynasties Han 206 BCE 220 CE

• Han (206 BCE 220 CE)
• - Leadership and Mandate of Heaven
• - continued this idea
• - ruler was regarded as a divinity his word
  was law to a much higher degree than in Rome.
• - However, the Chinese believed there was a
  strong tie between heaven and the natural
  world
• - THEREFORE, floods, earthquakes, droughts etc.
  were seen as a due to the emperors
  mismanagement and a reason for him to be
  replaced. (Bulliet 165)

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Chinese Dynasties Han 206 BCE 220 CE

• Han (206 BCE 220 CE)
• - Leadership
• - Emperor lived secluded life with wives,
  children, servants, courtiers etc.
• - Central government rarely came in contact
  with the common man
• - local officials would have contact
• - Local officials were often gentry
• - moderately wealthy, educated men who
  were desired by emperors to weaken the
  rich, powerful rural aristrocrats.
• - gentry were generally efficient, respected,
  and responded quickly to the needs of the
  people

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Chinese Dynasties Han 206 BCE 220 CE

• Han (206 BCE 220 CE)
• - Leadership (Bulliet 165 - 166)
• - System was set up
• 1) to train officials (gentry) to be
  intellectually capable and morally
  worthy to serve.
• 2) to measure an officials performance with a
  code of conduct.
• - According to tradition an Imperial University
  trained the would-be officials and had more
  than 30,000 students. Some scholars doubt
  this however.
• - In theory any man could advance in this
  system. In practice, the sons of gentry had a
  distinct advantage to receive the necessary
  training.

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Chinese Dynasties Han 206 BCE 220 CE

• Han (206 BCE 220 CE)
• - Leadership (Bulliet 165 - 166)
• - When emperor died, his most favored wife
  got to choose the next emperor from among
  the males of his ruling clan.

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Chinese Dynasties Han 206 BCE 220 CE

• Han (206 BCE 220 CE)
• - Technology
• - Iron Qin may have been first to take
  advantage of this as Chinese metallurgists
  were ahead of other areas.
• - Crossbow
• - watermill power to use with grindstone.
• - advanced horse collar
• - allowed horse to breathe better and carry
  heavier loads.
• - Roads and waterways
• - helped with transportation and
  trade. (Bulliet 166-167)

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Chinese Dynasties Han 206 BCE 220 CE

• Han (206 BCE 220 CE)
• - Decline
• - Several reasons
• 1) Harder and harder to provide adequate
  protection versus nomadic invaders
• - this led to local nobles, merchants,
  and/or warlords offering their protection
• 2) military conscriptions system broke down
• 3)corruption, inefficiency

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Chinese Dynasties Han 206 BCE 220 CE

• Han (206 BCE 220 CE)
• - Decline
• - All of these reasons led to political
  fragmentation.
• - This fragmentation lasted until the rise of
  the Sui and Tang in the late 6th and 7th
  centuries. (Bulliet 168)
• - For good comparison of Roman and Han
  Empires read pgs. 168-170

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Chinese Dynasties Han 206 BCE 220 CE

• Between Han (206 BCE 220 CE) and the Sui (589
  CE 618 CE)
• - Power vacuum
• - small kingdoms
• - some used Chinese style governance
• - others affected by Tibetan, Turkish or
  other regional cultures. Buddhism
  sometimes legitimized these rulers.
  (Bulliet 276)

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Chinese Dynasties Han 206 BCE 220 CE

• The Sui (589 CE 618 CE)
• - In a span of less than 40 years, the Sui
  reunified China
• - Confucianism was the central ideology.
• - However, there was a strong Buddhist influence
  and also a wide variety of other contributing
  religious beliefs as well. (Bulliet 276)

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Chinese Dynasties Han 206 BCE 220 CE

• The Sui (589 CE 618 CE)
• - built Grand Canal 1,100 miles long
• - irrigation systems in Yangzi River Valley
• - waged massive military campaigns against
  Korea, and Japan.
• - Perhaps moved too fast became overextended
  led to downfall. They could not sustain these
  efforts.

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Chinese Dynasties Han 206 BCE 220 CE

• The Tang Empire (618 CE 907 CE)
• - maintained the eastern borders established by
  the Sui and expanded westward into Central Asia,
  under the leadership of brilliant Emperor Li
  Shimin (Bulliet 627-649)
• - avoided overcentralization by allowing local
  nobles, gentry, officials, and religious
  establishments to exercise significant power.
• - Tang were heavily influenced by Central Asian
  expertise but also by Chinese traditions
• - Tang were descendants of Turkic elites and
  Chinese officials who had intermarried with the
  Turks.

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Chinese Dynasties Han 206 BCE 220 CE

• The Tang Empire (618 CE 907 CE)
• - Tang were heavily influenced by Central Asian
  expertise but also by Chinese traditions
• - Tang were descendants of Turkic elites and
  Chinese officials who had intermarried with
  the Turks.
• - This combination of knowledge proved very
  valuable
• example Warfare
• - the Tang combined Chinese weapons
• (crossbow and armored infantrymen) with
  Central Asian expertise in horsemanship and
  the use of iron stirrups.
• - The result From 650-750 CE, Tang armies were
  the most formidable on earth. (Bulliet 278)

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Chinese Dynasties Han 206 BCE 220 CE

• The Tang Empire (618 CE 907 CE)
• - Role of Buddhism
• - Buddhism had played a large role in
  northern China and Central Asia after the
  fall of the Han.
• - Buddhism gave a spiritual function to kings
  and emperors bring humankind into the
  Buddhist realm
• - Mahayana Buddhism encouraged the
  translation of Buddhist scriptures into
  other languages.

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Chinese Dynasties Han 206 BCE 220 CE

• The Tang Empire (618 CE 907 CE)
• - Role of Buddhism helped make Tang
  cosmopolitan
• - Buddhism became an important ally of the
  early Tang imperial family.
• - asked for prayer and expected monetary
  contributions.
• - in return, monasteries received tax
  exemptions land and other privileges.
• - As Tang expanded, Buddhism became even more
  important
• - Changan became the center of continent-wide
  system of communication
• - Buddhist Central Asians, Vietnamese,
  Japanese, and Koreans all regularly visited
  the capital Changan
• - they left with Tang cultural ideas and
  contributed their own.