AP World History Traditions & Encounters Notes - Jones
Chapter 8 – The Unification of China
Confucius

_________________________ (551-479 B.C.E.)
o Master philosopher Kong

Aristocratic roots

Unwilling to compromise principle

Decade of unemployment, wandering

Returned home a failure, died soon thereafter

Teachings: ______________________________
Confucian Ideas

Ethics and politics
o Avoided religion, metaphysics

Junzi: “superior individuals”
o Role in government service

Emphasis on Zhou dynasty texts
o Later formed core texts of Chinese education
Confucian Values
 ____________
o Kindness, benevolence
 ___________
o Propriety, polite, decorum, modest behavior
 ___________
o Filial piety
 Traits lead to development of junzi
o Ideal leaders
Mencius (372-289 B.C.E.)
 Principal Confucian scholar
 Optimist, belief in power of ren
 Not influential during lifetime
o Considered prime exponent of Confucian thought since tenth century
Xunzi (298-238 B.C.E.)
 Career as government administrator
 Belief in fundamental selfishness of humanity
o Compare with Mencius
 Emphasis on li, rigid propriety
 Discipline
Daoism
 Critics of Confucianism
o Passivism, rejection of active attempts to change the course of events
 Founder: __________________ , sixth century B.C.E.
 The Daodejing (Classic of the Way and of Virtue)
 Zhuangzi (named for author, 369-286 B.C.E.)
The Dao
 “____________________” (of nature, of the cosmos)
o Water: soft and yielding, but capable of eroding rock
o Cavity of pots, wheel hubs: empty spaces, but essential
The Doctrine of Wuwei
 Attempt to control universe results in chaos
 Restore order by disengagement
o No advanced education
o No ambition
 Simple living in harmony with nature
 Cultivate self-knowledge
Political Implications of Daoism
 Confucianism as public doctrine
 __________________ as private pursuit
 Ironic combination allowed intellectuals to pursue both
Legalism
 Neither Confucianism or Daoism could solve China’s problems during the
Period of Warring States
 Legalism: Chinese philosophy that emerged during the Zhou Dynasty
 Legalism helped return order to China during the rise of the Qin Dynasty
o Emphasis on development of the state
o Ruthless, end justifies the means
 Role of law
o Strict punishment for violators
o Principle of collective responsibility
 Shang Yang (390-338 B.C.E.), The Book of Lord Shang
o Chief minister to the Qin duke
 Han Feizi (280-233 B.C.E.)
o Advisor at the Qin court
o Forced to commit suicide by political enemies
Legalist Doctrine
 Two strengths of the state
o Agriculture
o Military
 Emphasized development of peasant, soldier classes - ______________________
 Distrust of pure intellectual, cultural pursuits
 Historically, often imitated but rarely praised
Unification of China
 __________________________ develops, 4th to 3rd centuries B.C.E.
 Generous land grants under Shang Yang
o Private farmers decrease power of large landholders
o Increasing centralization of power
 Improved military technology
The First Emperor
 _________________________ (r. 221-210 B.C.E.) founds new dynasty as “First Emperor”
 Dynasty ends in 207, but sets dramatic precedent
 Basis of rule: centralized bureaucracy
 Massive public works begun
o Precursor to ____________________
Resistance To Qin Policies
 Emperor orders execution of all critics
 Orders burning of all ideological works
 Some 460 scholars buried alive
 Others exiled
 Massive cultural losses
Qin Centralization
 Standardized:
o Laws
o Currencies
o Weights and measures
o Script
 Previously: single language written in distinct scripts
 Building of roads, bridges
Massive Tomb Projects
 Built by 700,000 workers (for Qin Shihuangdi – died 210 B.C.E.)
 Slaves, concubines, and craftsmen sacrificed and buried
 Excavated in 1974, 15,000 terra-cotta sculptures of soldiers, horses, and weapons unearthed
The Han Dynasty
 Civil disorder brings down Qin dynasty (207 B.C.E.)
 _________________________ forms new dynasty: the Han (206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.)
o Former Han (206 B.C.E.-9 C.E.)
o Interruption 9-23 C.E.
o Later Han (25-220 C.E.)
Early Han Policies
• Liu Bang attempts to avoid the mistakes of previous 2 dynasties
– He avoids the tyranny practiced by the Qin Dynasty
– Wants to avoid anarchy of regional governors associated with the decline of the Zhou.
• He forges a middle path – a more balanced approach
– Created large landholdings to members of the imperial family
– But maintained centralized control over administrative regions
– Note: Later, after a failed rebellion, Liu Bang will take more central control
Han Centralization
 The “Martial Emperor”: __________________________ (141-87 B.C.E.)
 Increased taxes to fund more public works
 Huge demand for government officials, (Had been in decline since Qin persecution)
Confucian Educational System
 Han Wudi establishes an imperial university in 124 B.C.E.
 Not a lover of scholarship, but demanded educated class for bureaucracy
 Adopted Confucianism as official course of study
 3000 students by end of Former Han, 30,000 by end of Later Han
Han Imperial Expansion
 Invasions of Vietnam, Korea
 Constant attacks from ______________________
o Nomads from central Asia
o Horsemen
o Brutal: Maodun (210-174 B.C.E.), had soldiers murder his wife, father
 Han Wudi briefly dominates Xiongnu
Patriarchal Society
 Classic of Filial Piety
o Subordination to elder males
 Lessons for Women
o ___________________________ (45-120 C.E.)
o Education should be available to all children
Iron Metallurgy
 Expansion of iron manufacture
o Iron tips on tools abandoned as tools entirely made from iron
 Increased food production
 Superior weaponry
Other Technological Developments
 Cultivation of silkworms
o Breeding
o Diet control
 Other silk-producing lands relied on wild worms
 Development of _________________
o Bamboo, fabric abandoned in favor of wood and textile-based paper
 Crossbow trigger, horse collar, ship rudder
Economic and Social Difficulties
 Expenses of military expeditions, especially against _____________________
 Taxes increasing
 Arbitrary property confiscations rise
 Increasing _______________________________________
o Slavery, tenant farming increase
o Banditry, rebellion
Reign of Wang Mang (9-23 C.E.)
 Wang Mang regent for two-year old emperor (6 C.E.)
 Takes power himself (9 C.E.)
o Begins an _____________________________ for the Han Dynasty
 Introduces massive reforms
o The “socialist emperor”
o Land redistribution, but poorly handled
 Social chaos ends in his assassination, 23 C.E.
Later Han Dynasty (25-220 C.E.)
 Han dynasty emperors manage, with difficulty, to reassert control
 ______________________________________ , land distribution problems
 Internal court intrigue
 Weakened Han dynasty collapses by 220 C.E.