Ch5/Sec2: Han China
The Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.): unified the Chinese
 Emerged as the strongest state among warring states
 Adopted legalism as the regime’s official ideology  opponents
were harshly punished
 Established a highly centralized gov.’t w/ 3 divisions: civil, military,
and censorate (internal cops)
 Provincial & county gov.’ts below the central gov.’t (also had
censors, who reported directly to the king)
 Created a single monetary system
 Built a system of roads throughout the empire
 Expanded the empire to the south
The Great Wall:
- System of walls built by different rulers but connected by the Qin
- Goal: to keep the northern nomadic, warrior (cavalry) Xiongnu out of
China
The Fall of the Qin Dynasty: after the death of the Qin ruler, the Qin
Dynasty was overthrown  civil war followed  new dynasty was
established
The Han Dynasty (202 B.C.-A.D. 220): ruler Liu Bang, a.k.a. Han
Gaozu
 Adopted Confucianism as the official ideology of the empire
 Kept the three-part division of gov.’t, including the system of local
governments
 Introduced civil service exams & schools of public administration as
part of the merit system
 Created a large & efficient bureaucracy to keep up w/ the tripling
population
 Han Wudi expanded the empire to the South (N. Vietnam), Central
Asia, & North (Mongolia)
Society in the Han Empire:
- Great prosperity, except for peasants (land tax, military service,
forced labor)
- As the population increased, peasants had smaller & smaller plots 
eventually had to sell their land to large landowners, who
consolidated lands
Technology in the Han Empire:
- textile manufacturing
- water mills
- iron casting  invention of steel
- rudder for sailing  expansion of trade to SE Asia & the Indian
Ocean
- paper
Culture in Qin & Han China:
- Confucian schools
- Terra-cotta army: at the burial site of the first Qin emperor
(more than 6,000 soldiers, larger than life-size, 10 different
head shapes, hand-crafted)  guarded the emperor in the
afterlife