ANCIENT DYNASTIES OF CHINA
Geography and First Dynasty
• Long rivers, fertile soils, temperate climates, and isolated valleys
• Two major rivers
– Chang Jiang – also called the Yangzi
– Huang-He – also called the Yellow River or the River of Sorrows
• Isolation due to mountains, hills, and desert = protects from invasion
• Xia Dynasty is considered to be the beginning of Chinese civilization
– However people can’t find evidence that it actually existed
Shang Dynasty 1766 – 1122 BC
• Farming society ruled by an aristocracy whose major concern was war
– Aristocracy = an upper class whose wealth is based on land ownership
• Strong monarchy
– The king surrounded himself with a court
• Court = gathering of wealthy nobles
– Divided his kingdom into territories and appointed governors to rule them
• The king also had a large army
• Kings were buried in royal tombs along with their valuable possessions and sacrificed prisoners of war
and servants
• Belief in the afterlife
• Shang religion centered on the idea of ancestor worship called veneration of ancestors
– Wanted to keep the family spirits happy
• Used oracle bones to ask questions of the gods
– Wrote questions on bones, inserted a hot piece of metal into the bone until it cracked, and then
read the cracks to get an answer
• Shang achievements
– Development of Chinese writing
• Used picture symbols
– Came up with a precise calendar
• Decline of the Shang dynasty
– Armies from a nearby tribe called the Zhou invaded and established a new ruling dynasty
Zhou Dynasty 1100 – 256 BC
• Longest-lasting dynasty in Chinese history
• Two periods:
– Western Zhou – peaceful period, many cultural achievements
– Eastern Zhou – time of conflict, moved the capital
• The king was the head of the gov’t and was seen as a link between heaven and Earth
– Had a large and complex bureaucracy
– Territories governed by members of the aristocracy appointed by the king
• The Zhou dynasty claimed it ruled China because it possessed the Mandate of Heaven
– Gods gave “permission” to rule China
– Idea that gods would support a just ruler, but would not allow anyone corrupt to hold power
– The Shang were overthrown because they had lost the favor of the gods
• Set up a “right of revolution” which led to dynastic cycles
– Described the rise and fall of dynasties in China
• Family was the basic social and economic unit
• Achievements
– Development of two Chinese philosophies = Confucianism and Daoism
– Learned how to use iron
– New weapons, such as the catapult and first cavalry
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– Introduced coins to China and began to use chopsticks
Decline of the Zhou dynasty
– Clan leaders rose up against the king
– Warring States Period (403-221 BC)
• A number of small states, headed by nobles, fought each other for land and power
• A new dynasty defeats all the others
Qin Dynasty 221 – 206 BC
• Defeated chief rivals to become the new dynasty
– First to create a unified Chinese empire
– The word China is derived from the Qin
• Ruler Qin Shi Huangdi became the “first emperor”
– Two chief advisors: Hanfeizi and Li Si
– Regime = the gov’t in power
• Shi Huangdi adopted Legalism as the official ideology to build a strong centralized gov’t
– Took away land from rival nobles and made them live at the capital
– Seized all private weapons
– Burned books that contradicted Legalist thinking
– Confucian scholars were tortured or killed
– Anyone who opposed the policies of the new regime were imprisoned, tortured, or killed
• The central bureaucracy was divided into three parts
– Civil division, military division, and the censorate
• Reforms
– Standardized laws, coins, weights, and measures
– Expanded the network of roads and canals
• A nomadic people in the Gobi desert called the Xiongnu threatened China
– To deal with the threat and to keep them out of China, Shi Huangdi had workers join the separate
defensive walls in northern China
– This united wall became the Great Wall of China
• Decline of the Qin dynasty
– People unhappy: forced labor, high taxes
– 206 BC a peasant rebel leader named Liu Bang defeated the Qin forces and founded the Han
dynasty
Han Dynasty 206 BC – 220 AD
• Model for later Chinese dynasties, the main population of China still calls itself the Han people
• Founded by peasant rebel leader Liu Bang who takes the name Han Gaozu
• Exchanged Legalism for Confucianism and appointed numerous Confucian scholars
• Kept the bureaucracy and strong centralized gov’t from the Qin dynasty
• To create a regular system for new officials, the civil service exam was introduced
• These officials gained gov’t jobs based on merit, how well they did on the test
• A school was established to train candidates for the exam
• Students were expected to learn the teachings of Confucius
• The dynasty reached its height under Han Wudi, who ruled from 141-81 BC
• He promoted economic growth
• Established Confucianism as China’s gov’t policy
– Dealt with Xiongnu by launching an aggressive military campaign against them
– Expanded the Chinese empire through warfare
• Known as the Martial Emperor
• Colonized parts of Korea and Manchuria
• Achievements
– Invented papermaking
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Iron plow and wheelbarrow
Seismograph – earthquakes were sign’s of heaven’s disapproval
Compass, sundial, watermill, and ship’s rudder
Acupuncture = inserting fine needles into the skin at specific points to cure disease and relieve
pain
Silk Road
– Road that linked China to Rome, was 4,000 miles long
– Traded in luxury goods such as silk, spices, teas, and ivory
– Dangerous due to geography and bandits
Women
– “raising daughters is like raising children for another family”
Decline
– 9 AD Wang Mang – rebel seizes the throne for a few years
– 184 a Daoist sect called the Yellow Turbans rebelled
– Period of Disunion, lasts for 350 years
• Power in the hands of local warlords, no central gov’t
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