Essays

The Zhou, Qin and Han Dynasties:

Zhou

Facts; the Zhou are believed to have been Turkic-speaking peoples from Central Asia and their second capital was built in the Wei Valley. (West of the Yellow River)

King Wu, their leader overthrew the Shang and adopted some Shang’s culture, but extended Chinese rule beyond the boundaries of Shang

On their capital (Wei Valley), the royal families got huge tracts of lands and the rest of the people living in this are were peasants who lived in villages and tilled the land in the well-field system.

Well-field system: each of eight households cultivated one of eight plots that were arranged around a central plot and a well

Males: Role of males as the head of the family, clan and dynasty increased as the patriarch played the key role in celebration of religious ceremonies designed to win the blessings of the ancestors or heaven

Shi: In the central core regions, the king began to use educated and salaried officials called shi to help them administer the kingdom.

China gradually became a land of independent kingdoms. During the Warring States (400-332 B.C.E) the Zhou fell*

Qin

Facts; Shi Huangdi claimed to be the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty

Power- they increased their power due to:

~They conscripted peasants they had freed in battle into military service
~Superior bureaucracy ensured well-supplied and well-organized forces
~Receptive to military innovation
~First state to use cavalry

They extended their power as far as Hong Kong and invaded Vietnam

Centralization: Li Si (prime minister) centralized Chins. He ordered the nobility to leave their lands, and then Li Si divided the lands into smaller units. Provinces were rules by governors and officials.
Xiongnu- To protect his empire from northern nomads and the Xiongnu, Li Si created the Great Wall of China (1400 mi West)

Shi Huangdi: unpopular ruler because he ruled China using a legalist system (strict laws with harsh punishments) and he burned all books that supported Confucianism

*Liu Bang, an official of the Qin defeated the Qin successor and established the Han Dynasty (207-210 C.E)*

Han

Han: their distinct classical character was achieved by institutionalizing the most effective civil service bureaucracy. The scholar-bureaucrats, the mandarins ran the state, provided its creative genius and a reverence for education

Confucianism philosophy shaped the political, economic, social and cultural framework of China. Called the “Son of Han”

Wudi (Liu Bang’s successor): moved towards bureaucratic centralization by requiring that domains of vassals be divided among heirs and not passed on by perpetuity.

Replaced legalism with Confucianism: knowledge of Confucianism teaching became essential for employment in the administrative hierarchy. Established universities at Changan (124 B.C.E)

Class system:

Foreign Policies: two patterns of dealing with the nomads

- Used military force against them and defend the Great Wall of China (like the Qin did)
- The emperor presented gifts and treated them equal (arranged marriages)

Art, Science and Technology:

-Development of the ridge-and-furrow system to plant seeds in the ridges along the furrows that collected water.
-Daoism became popular
-Ts’ai Lun (science) invention of paper (105 C.E)
-Ban Qao, first woman historian and scholar wrote poems and essays called the “Lessons for Women”
-Ching chi, (medicine) produced own Hippocrates