1. Why has China seen a constant cycle of unifying dynasties separated by times of civil war and chaos?
2. How did problems related to land ownership and the tax burden on the peasantry influence both the rise and the fall of China’s medieval dynasties?
3. To what extent did China’s imperial exam system bring about the selection of officials based on merit, and how did that exam system help China’s rulers promote a more centralized and unified state?
4. Why was Confucianism such a dominant way of thinking among China’s educated ruling elites in these centuries?
5. What has been the appeal of Buddhism to many Chinese, and why was it regarded with suspicion at times by some of China’s rulers?
6. In what ways was China’s “medieval” period a time of dynamic technological and economic change and development?

• Han Dynasty
(202 BCE–220 CE): growth and expansion
• Mandate of Heaven
• Medieval China’s three dynasties:
• Sui (580–618)
• Tang (618–906)
• Song (960–1127)
• Recovery and a time of great glory and development
Zhang Qian, explorer during the
Han dynasty, travels west

• The Han Dynasty ended in 220 CE
• Strong regional states replaced the
Han Dynasty
• “Period of the
Three Kingdoms”
Map of the Three Kingdoms

• People longed for centralized government
• Taoism
• Political instability did not result in a loss of culture
Taoist and alchemist Tao Hengjing

1. Explain the concept of the “Mandate of Heaven.”
What sorts of things do you think would have to happen for people to speak of a Chinese dynasty as having lost the Mandate of Heaven?
2. The Han Dynasty is often compared with the Roman
Empire, which existed at the same time. In what ways were the fall of these two great empires similar? How did they differ with regard to what followed?

• After the fall of the Han, warlords ruled China
• In 581, Yang Jian seized power and changed name to
Emperor Wendi
• Reunited north and south to restore the empire
• Reestablished Confucianism
Emperor Wendi

• Land reforms improved position of the peasants
• Higher status for the militia
• Improved currency system
• Unification facilitated trade
• Strengthened governmental centralization
Portrait of Emperor Wendi

• Repair projects
• The Grand Canal
• Large labor force
• Costs: financial and in human lives

• Peasant rebellions
• Failed military campaigns
• Financial problems
Yang Di, the last major Sui emperor