Traditions & Encounters Notes
Chapter 8 – Unification of China
Confucius and His School
 Kong Fuzi (551-479BCE) – aka Confucius
o Lived during time of Buddha and Socrates
o First to address the political and social order of China
o Born an aristocrat
o Refused to compromise his belief in the interest of politics
o Traveled for 10 years to the courts of leaders in China seeking a political office
 No one wanted him because of his views
o He was an educator and political advisor who left his mark on Chinese society.
o His students combined his sayings and thoughts in a book called the Analects
 It greatly influenced Chinese political and cultural traditions
o Did not deal with philosophy or religion (even though it is considered a philosophy)
o Didn’t worry about the structure of government
o Believed political and social harmony came from the proper order of human relationships:
 Ruler to subject
 Father to son
 Brother to brother
 Friend to friend
 Husband to wife
o The best way to have a good government was to fill it with educated and devoted people called
junzi (which means superior individuals)
o They didn’t allow their personal feelings to influence their judgment
 Students of Confucianism studied the Book of Songs, Book of History, etc. for their practical use for
administrating and governing
o Those books became the core texts until the early 20th century for those that wanted a government
job
 Even more important than education was having high ethical standards
o Ren – an attitude of kindness and benevolence
o Li – a sense of propriety – treat others with respect and behave well yourself
o Xiao – filial piety – children respect parents and elders, look after them, then remember to honor
them when they are gone
 Confucius believed that if the people in the government possessed the qualities, then it would rub off on the
general population
 He also believed it would bring order and stability to China
 His beliefs and thoughts were in very general terms that people could use and apply forever
 Mencius (372-289BCE) – the most educated spokesperson for the Confucian school of thought
o Traveled during the time of the Period of Warring States
o Met with rulers and offered them ideas
o Placed emphasis on ren – the gov’t should be good and decent
o Have low taxes, avoid wars, support education, encourage harmony
o Many believed he was too optimistic
o His ideas influenced Confucianism in the long term
 Xunzi (297-237BCE) – another influential Confucian scholar
o His experiences led him to believe that humans were less than perfect
o Believed that people were basically selfish and would resist contributing to the good of society
o He placed emphasis on Li
o Wanted a clearly defined set of rules of conduct to set limits on people
o Believed they could be converted to be unselfish
Daoism
Many Daoists were critics of Confucianism
Developed during the late stages of the Period of Warring States
Founder was Laozi (born sometime in the 6th century BCE
But several more people contributed to the thoughts and ideas
Central concept is dao which means “the way” (of nature and the cosmos)
o Dao is the original force of the cosmos
o It is eternal and unchanging and governs the workings of the world
o Dao is a passive force – it does nothing, yet accomplishes everything
o Daoists believed it was pointless to waste time and energy on problems that did not have easy
solutions
o Daoists believed that you should reflect and be introspective to understand the natural ways that
govern the world and learn to live with them.
o Daoist thought is written down in the Daodejing (Classic of the Way and of Virtue) – allegedly
written by Laozi
o Daoists believe in wuwei – disengaging from the affairs of the world
o Do not get an education
o Do not strive to be rich or worldly
o Live simply and in harmony with nature
o Daoists believed the less government the better
o No kingdoms, just small, self-sufficient communities with no desire to conquer anyone else
 It was possible to practice both Confucianism and Daoism – Confucian by day, Dao by night
 Neither could solve the problems China had during the Period of Warring States
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Legalism
 Order only returned to China after the founding of Legalism
 Legalism more concerned with expanding and strengthening the state(empire)
 Emerged from ideas of men who were in politics during the late 4th centuryBCE
 Han Feizi – put together ideas from political thinkers in all parts of China
o Made a collection of powerful essays on statehood
o Believed foundations of a state’s power was agriculture and the military
o People were discouraged from being merchants, educators, artists (anything that didn’t directly
advance the interest of the government)
o Must have clear and strict laws
 Severe punishments even for minor things
o Collective responsibility – the family or community was expected to watch others and report bad
behavior
 Legalism brought an end to the Period of Warring States
The Qin Dynasty
 The dynasty that used Legalism to bring an end to the Period of Warring States
 Leader of Qin province let peasant cultivators move to sparsely populated areas, gave them plots and let them
keep some profits
o Greatly boosted agricultural production which brought more wealth
 Then he organized a powerful army with iron weapons and began conquering surrounding areas of China
 221BCE – the king of the Qin state declared himself First Emperor – Qin Shihuangdi
o His descendants would rule thousands of generations
o However, his dynasty would only last 14 years
o Would end because of civil disturbances
o He ruled through a central bureaucracy
o Divided China into administrative provinces/districts
o Appointed officers to enforce his policies throughout the land
o Had defensive walls built and linked existing sections together
o Confucianists and Daoists were very critical – would be executed if they publically opposed him.
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Burned all books on philosophy, education, ethics, history, etc.
 Allowed books that concerned practical matters to exist
 Many hid books until his dynasty fell
He standardized laws, currencies, weights and measures
Standardized the use of a common script (writing)
Spoke different languages, but used same script to write them.
He was ruthless, but one of the most significant figures because he unified China and set the
precedent for centralized rule
15,000 terra cotta soldiers put in his tomb to protect him
Revolts began the year after his death
Early Han Dynasty
 Liu Bang restored order by 206BCE
o Surrounded himself with good advisors and a loyal army
o Dynasty was one of the longest and most influential – 400 years
o Former Han (206BCE-9CE) and Later Han (25-220CE)
o Continued using centralized rule
o Gave a lot of land to family members
o Divided empire into administrative districts governed by officials
 Han Wudi – one of the most successful of all Han emperors
o Called the “Martial Emperor”
o Ruled 54 years and expanded his territory
o Huge bureaucracy – kept provinces and officials
o Built more roads, canals, etc.
o Put taxes on agriculture, trade and crafts
o Established monopolies on production of iron and salt
o He needed qualified people to meet all of his goals
o No one was educated enough
o He established the imperial university in 124BCE to help prepare young men for service in the
government
 Confucianism was the basis for the curriculum
o However, he relied on Legalism to run the state
 But continued Confucian traditions
o Invaded and controlled North Vietnam and Korea
o Confucianism followed the armies to the new colonies
o Greatest challenge was from the nomadic Xiongnu (central Asian steppes)
 They were great archers on horses
 Kept raiding wealthy Chinese areas
 Han Wudi finally decided to attack with 100,000 troops
 Brought much of their territory under his control
 Sent Chinese cultivators into the area and eventually it turned Chinese
Productivity and Prosperity During the Former Han
 Patriarchal household averaged five people
 Sometimes aristocrats had more and lived in compounds
 Began emphasizing filial piety and female subordination
 Classic of Filial Piety – children should obey their parents
 A female, Ban Zhao, wrote a treatise that said women should be humble, obedient and devoted to her husband
 All this was the foundation for a stable society
 Most were peasants who worked in the country growing grains and veggies
 During Han times, peasants began using iron tools which led to increased agricultural production which
equaled larger population which meant the surplus of food allowed other Chinese to move to manufacturing
and trade.
 Textile production – especially sericulture (silk) expanded rapidly during the Han to most parts of China
o When trade routes were established, silk became China’s main export
o Silk very valued in Persia, India, Mesopotamia and Rome
o Silk and other products to export led to the creation of the silk roads
 Han craftsmen also invented paper
Economic and Social Difficulties
 Had general prosperity throughout the empire
 Then they began to have economic and social difficulties
 Han Wudi and his expansion efforts was expensive
o Took up most of the surplus wealth
o So he raised taxes and took land from the wealthy (saying they had violated some law)
o This discouraged the investment in manufacturing and trade
 Big contrast between rich and poor
o Wealthy wore silk, leather shoes, gold and jade jewelry
o Poor wore hemp clothing and sandals
o Wealthy ate variety of foods
o Poor had rice, grain, maybe some veggies or meat
 By 1st century BCE – peasants began to organize rebellions
o Their problems were brought on by bad harvests, high taxes, and huge debt
o Many were forced to sell their land or give it up to cancel out their debts
o Sometimes had to sell self or family into slavery
o This helped increase the size of the land held by the rich
o Landless peasants then turned to banditry and sometimes rebellion
 The Han leaders did not try to reform the landholding system for fear of losing the support of the rich
 6CE – a two year old inherited the throne
 Wang Mang served as a regent for the young king
o Many thought he was more capable than the Han leaders and urged him to seize the throne and
power
o In 9CE, he claimed the mandate of heaven and power passed to him
o Began a series of reforms – has been called the “socialist emperor”
o He limited the amount of land a family could have
o Ordered officials to break up land and redistribute it to the peasants
o Did this without good preparation and communication and the result was confusion and chaos
o During the next years, there were poor harvests and a famine which brought revolts against him
o In 23Ce – a group of landlords and desperate peasants ended his life
The Later Han Dynasty
 Within two years, the Han returned to power, but to a very weakened empire
 Regained control of the central government and had to reorganize the bureaucracy
 Kept the Ziongnu in submission and controlled the silk roads
 However, they did not do anything about the continued problem of too much land being in the hands of the
wealthy
 So the revolts and rebellions by the peasants continued
 Yellow Turban Uprising
o Rebels wreaked havoc on the empire in the late 2nd century CE
o Rebellions continued to weaken the state into the 3rd century
 Groups of imperial family members, Confucian scholar bureaucrats and court eunuchs began to try to increase
their influence and destroy their rivals
o Sometimes they even went to war against each other
 The central government finally fell and for the next four centuries, China would remain divided into several
large regional kingdoms