Essential Questions
• How did Shi Huangdi treat people who
opposed him?
• Under the Chinese civil service system, who
could become government officials?
• Summarize the differences in how Confucius,
the Legalists, and Daoists viewed government.
• Explain Yin and Yang.
• Explain Legalism.
Classical China
Three Schools of Thought Notes
Confucianism - Founder
• Confucius
– Lived from 551 to 479
B.C.E. which was during
the Zhou dynasty
– Lived in eastern China
Confucianism – Main Beliefs
• Social order, harmony, and good government
could be restored if society was organized
around five basic relationships:
–
–
–
–
–
Ruler and subject
Father and son
Husband and wife
Older and younger brother
Friend and friend
Confucianism – Main Beliefs
• Children should practice filial piety, respect
for their parents and elders
– Still part of the general idea in Chinese culture
today
Confucianism - Effects
• Creation of a bureaucracy, a trained civil
service, in China
– Education became important to career
advancement
• The Analects was a collection of Confucius’
teachings and sayings
• Spread beyond China, influenced
civilizations all over East Asia
Daoism - Founder
• Laozi
– Believed to have lived in
the 6th century B.C.E.
Daoism – Main Beliefs
• Natural order is more important than the
social order
• Human beings should live simply and in
harmony with nature
• True harmony comes from balancing the
opposite forces of nature
– Yin = “shadow” and Yang = “sunlight”
• Everyone must discover the Dao, “the way”,
for themselves
Daoism - Effects
• Daoists made
contributions to
astronomy and medicine
• Influenced Chinese
thought, writing, and art
• Encouraged rulers to rule
less harshly
Legalism - Founder
• Hanfeizi
– Lived from 280 to 233
B.C.E. which was the end
of the Zhou dynasty
Legalism – Main Beliefs
• Highly efficient and powerful government
is the key to social order
• Governments should control thinkers and
their ideas, and enforce strict laws with
rewards for good behavior and harsh
punishments for bad behavior
• Rulers should have absolute power and be
backed by the military
Legalism - Effects
• The Qin dynasty seized control of China
and admired Hanfeizi’s writings, they
adopted strict Legalist ideas
• Many people were put to death for
disloyalty and other crimes
Classical China
Chinese Empires Notes
Qin dynasty - Leaders
• Qin Shihuangdi, “First Emperor of Qin”
– Used Legalist ideas to control warring states
and unify China
– Used military might, spies, bribery, and
alliances to conquer rival states
– The Qin dynasty collapsed shortly after he died
• Li Su, the prime minister
Qin dynasty – Life in the empire
• Divided territory into 36 districts
– Each had three officials who governed:
• One controlled the army
• Another controlled the laws and agriculture
• The third reported to the emperor
• Murdered hundreds of Confucian scholars
and burned “useless” books
• Standardized writing, law, money, weights,
and measure to make trade easier
Qin dynasty – Great Wall of China
• Built to protect the Qin dynasty from
attacks by northern nomads
• Took 10 years to construct the 1,400 miles
of wall
• Made of layers of earth pounded into
wooden frames that held everything
together
• 300,000 men built it, some soldiers and
some peasants who were forced to work
Han dynasty - Leaders
• Liu Bang
– A rebel who had gained control of the Han
kingdom and conquered the Qin army
• Empress Lü
– Took over control when Liu died in 195 B.C.E.
– She was one of his wives
Han dynasty – Government
• Established a centralized government, a
central authority controls the running of a state
• Hundreds of commanderies, local officials of
provinces, reported to central government
• Lowered taxes, softened harsh punishments,
moved away from Legalism
• Civil service system, civilians obtain
government jobs by taking examinations
Han dynasty - Accomplishments
• Paper was invented in 105 B.C.E., this made
books cheaper and education spread
• More efficient plow, iron tools, the
wheelbarrow, watermills to grind grain
• Government had monopolies on salt mining,
iron forging, coin minting, alcohol brewing
– Monopoly: complete control over the production
and distribution of certain goods
Han dynasty - Accomplishments
• Doctors discovered a type of wine that
could be used as an anesthetic
• Invented the seismography, which detects
earthquakes, and the magnetic compass
Han dynasty - Decline
• The gap between rich and poor increased
due to land taxes
• A series of inexperienced emperors replaced
one another from 32 B.C.E. to 9 C.E.
• In 220 C.E. the Han dynasty dissolved into
three rival kingdoms