Chapter 3
China in Antiquity
The Qin and Han Empires
1. From their position in the valley of the Wei River that controlled access to the Yellow River plain, the Qin launched attacks on other states. By
221 B.C.E., Shih Huang-ti had defeated the states and proclaimed the Qin dynasty (221-206 B.C.E.). He was the first to call himself the equivalent of
a western emperor. Having conquered north China and the lands of the Yangtze, the Qin pushed south to the edge of the Red River and southeast
to the coast. To tie these lands together, the emperor ordered construction of a system of roads. To this end, carts using the roads were required to
have standard length axles so the ruts they made would he uniform. Administratively, the land of the Qin was centralized into thirty-six (later fortytwo) commanderies (provinces). These were further divided into districts.
2. In the north and northwest, the Qin faced a nomadic Hun people called the Xiongnu (Hsing-nu) who were troublesome in the lands south of the
Gobi Desert where for years the Chinese had been driving out the nomads and taking their pasture lands. In retaliation, the Xiongnu struck back at
the Chinese by raiding their towns and farms. Masters at fighting on horseback, the Xiongnu had significant advantages over the Chinese infantry
defending the frontier. To stop the raiders, states in the late Chou began erecting walls and fortifications. The Qin emperor had these joined into a
single Great Wall that stretched some 1400 miles from the Yellow Sea to central China. The Great Wall would he rebuilt of granite and extended
three thousand miles during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).
3. Near the Chou capital of Hao, a new capital, Hsienyang, was built in the Wei valley where access from the rest of China was limited to the narrow
strip of land between river and hills at the great bend of the Yellow River. Productivity of the valley was enhanced by an irrigation and transportation
canal.
4. A canal was dug linking a tributary of the Yangtze River with the Pearl River in the extreme south to facilitate bringing supplies to an army
campaigning there. Later, the Grand Canal linked the rice-growing Yangtze basin with northern China.
5. The death of the emperor in 210 B.C.E. was followed by factional rivalry and the overthrow of the Qin. The victor was Liu Bang (Liu Pang), a
commoner who founded the Han dynasty (202 B.C.E.-221 C.E.). The new capital was built at Ch'ang-an. Like their predecessors, the Han
aggressively expanded China's borders, especially Emperor Han Wudi (Han Wu Ti, 141-87 B.C.E.). In the south, Han armies brought the Red River
delta under control in 111 B.C.E. The armies similarly swept northeast into southern Manchuria and then to northern Korea in the last half of the
second century B.C.E. In the west, the Han armies penetrated as far as the Caspian Sea in 97 C.E. However, it was in central Asia the Han had
their most difficulty. The Xiongnu were still troublesome. The Han rulers tried pacification through gifts and titles but these failed as raids continued,
almost reaching Ch'ang-an. In 129 B.C.E., Han Wudi ordered armies against the Xiongnu. By 119 B.C.E., Xiongnu power south of the Gobi Desert
was broken. To hold the territory, Han Wudi sent 700,000 colonists and extended the Great Wall westward. Later, in 89 C.E., Han armies crossed
the Gobi Desert to defeat the northern Xiongnu. This defeat may have caused migration of the Xiongnu to the Russian steppes and eventually to
Europe in the fifth century C.E. as the Huns.
6. The Silk Road ran from Ch'ang-an and Luoyang west to Tunhuang (the last Chinese settlement) along the fringes of the Taklamakan Desert,
through the Pamir Mountains into the Indus valley, and then to the Arabian Sea. Goods such as silk would travel through the Persian Gulf or Red
Sea on its way to Rome. The trade through the desert wastes of Xinjiang province in China was primarily directed by Turkish speaking Uighurs
whose caravans of two humped camels carried goods between China, South Asia, and the Middle East. The best route of the Silk Road was north
of the Tian Sham (Heavenly Mountains) but because of banditry most of the caravans followed the southern route which passed the fringes of the
Taklamakan Desert to Kashgar and down the into northwest India.
The Qin and Han Empires
Question:
1. What was the impact of the Xiongnu on the rulers of China?
 Land and People
 Three Sovereigns
Fu Xi (Fu Hsi)
Shen Nong (Shen Nung)
Huang Di (Huang Ti)
 Chinese Civilization
Nomadic and agricultural people
Family
Writing
 Neolithic settlements
Yellow River valley
Yangtze River valley
 Qin (Ch’in) Empire
The Great Wall with tower, north of Beijing
Shang China
 Dawn of Chinese Civilization: The Shang Dynasty
 Xia (Hsia) Dynasty (?-1766? B.C.E.)
Yu
 Shang Dynasty (1766-1122? B.C.E.)
Political organization
 Centralized monarchy
 Bureaucracy
 Territories governed by aristocratic bureaucracy
 Oracle bones
 Shang Di
Social Structure
Bronze
 Zhou (Chou) Dynasty (1122?-221 B.C.E.)
Political organization, guo (kuo)
 Rites of Zhou

Mandate of Heaven

Dao, The Way

Right of Revolution
 Economy and Society

Well field system

Commerce

Slaves

Agricultural advances

Silk

Money economy
Hundred Schools of Ancient Philosophy
 Shang Di
 Yang (sun) and Yin (moon)
 Yi Jing (I Ching), Book of Changes
 Confucius (551-479 B.C.E.)
 Analects
 Dao (The Way)
 Rule by merit
 Mencius (370-29- B.C.E.)
 Legalism
 Daoism
 Lao Tzu (Lao Zi)
 Nature takes its course
China during the Period of the Warring States
 Rise of the Chinese Empire: Qin and Han
 Period of Warring States, 403-221 B.C.E.
 Qin Dynasty, 221-206 B.C.E
Qin Shi Huangdi (221-206 B.C.E)
Legalism
Administration
 commanderies
 counties
Centralized control
Military expansion
Xiongnu (Hsiung-nu) nomadic people
 Great Wall
Fall of the Qin
The Han Dynasty
 Han Dynasty (202 B.C.E.-221 C.E.)
Liu Bang (Liu Pang), Han Gaozu (Han Kao Tsu)
 Integration of Confucianism and Legalism
Society and Economy
 Peasants
 Trade and manufacturing
 Silk Road
 Guangzhou (Canton)
Fall of the Han
 Wang Mang, 9-23 C.E.
 Cao Cao (Ts’ao Ts’ao)
Ruins of Jiaohe, Turphan depression. Han dynasty
outpost in Central Asia
The Western terminus of the Great Wall at Jiayugan
Trade Routes of the Ancient World
1. The oceanic trade of Asia was conducted primarily by the Indians who sailed the South China Sea and Gulf of Tonkin. Nevertheless, during the
Han the Chinese also became increasingly involved in the ocean trade. Especially important was the invention of the rudder as well as fore and aft
sails that permitted Chinese ships to sail into the wind. These vessels carried goods throughout Southeast Asia and into the Indian Ocean. By the
first century C.E., Chinese sailors had mastered the monsoon winds of the Indian Ocean that blow from the southwest in the summer and the
northeast beginning in October.
2. The conquest of northern Vietnam resulted in Chinese and foreign merchants setting up trading stations. Moreover, new routes were opened from
southwestern China to the Bay of Bengal utilizing the river systems of Vietnam and Burma. In this and other trade, the Chinese generally had an
advantage due to the high price commanded by the main export, silk. Gold and precious stones were usually used to pay for the silk.
3. The Mauryan road system that ran the length and breadth of India provided a sound base for trade. Both China and Rome had a high demand for
such goods as jewels and semiprecious stones, sandlewood and teak, cotton and silk textiles, and spices. Roman trading communities were
established in the Tamil south. The demand for the Indian luxury goods by the Romans resulted in the influx of gold coins, silver, perfume, slaves,
glass, and Egyptian cloth. In southern India there were small colonies of Romans, Jews, Arabs, and Nestorian Christians from Syria and Persia.
4. The Silk Road ran from Chang'an and Luoyang west along the fringes of the Taklamakan Desert, through the Pamir Mountains into the Indus
valley, and then to the ports on the Arabian Sea. Goods such as silk would travel through the Persian Gulf or Red Sea on its way to Rome. The
trade through the desert wastes of Xinjiang province in China was primarily directed by the Turkish speaking Uighurs. The Uighur caravans of two
humped camels carried goods between China, South Asia, and the Middle East. The best route of the Silk Road was north of the Tian Sham
(Heavenly Mountains) but due to banditry, most of the caravans followed the southern route that passed the fringes of the Takiamakan Desert to
Kashgar and down the into northwest India.
5. Han emperor Wudi opened the Silk Road to Parthia. An elaborate network of roads linked Parthia to China in the east, eastern India, and
southern India. The Roman eastern provinces were tied to this network through Seleucia on the Euphrates River.
Questions:
1. What were the implications of the trade along the Silk Road?
2. How did the goods traded affect the economies of India, China,
Persia, and Rome?
Trade Routes of the Ancient World
 Daily Life
 Family
filial piety
five relationship
 Housing
 Cities
 Women
 Chinese Culture
 Metalwork and sculpture
Bronze
Lacquerware and ceramics
Terra-cotta army
 Language and Literature
Writing, Cang Jie
 ideographic and pictographic
literary Chinese
 Music
 sheng