Chapter Seven:  China, The Rise to Empire

I.  Introduction

A.       Classical Civilizations: 500 BCE to 500 CE

1.      Greco-Roman

2.      India

3.      China

B.      Parallels of Chinese history to ancient Greece and Rome

1.      birth of Buddhism and revival of Hindu culture next book

2.      chapters 8, 9, and 14

II. Confucius and the Classics 

A.      Zhou dynasty began to disintegrate after 300 years

1.   yet trade and urban life flourished

2.   chopsticks, cast iron, square-holed coins, lacquer—

3.   all distinctively Chinese

4.   burst of creative and intellectual activity

B.      Mandate of Heaven

1.      natural order basis for spiritual life

2.      basis for political stability and social order

3.      know one’s place, essential to well-being of both individuall and community

4.      li – propriety, ritual, arrangement, proper performance, appropriate behavior, action in conformity with decorum

C.     Formative Teachings of Kong-fuzi (Confucius 551-479 B)

1.      self-educated local administrator

2.      teacher, social reformer

3.      force of teachings, transcribed after death

4.      concern proper behavior of individual in society

5.      human beings must heed mral order fixed in nature

6.      human character, not birth, determines worth, status

7.      importance of tradition, filial piet, respect, li

Reading:  Analects of Confucius

D.     Confucianism and Legalism

1.      turbulence, social upheaval

2.      competing schools of thought, speculation

3.      Mencius saw Confucius as civilizing force

4.      human beings born good, fall into evil only through neglect or abuse

5.      opposing body of thought:  Legalists

6.      nature of humankind inherently evil

7.      best state was one in which rulers held absolute authority to uphold strict laws, dole out punishment

8.      strong central authority, harsh punishment became

9.      basis for fundamental philosophy of China’s first empire

III.            The Chinese Rise to Empire

A.       The Qin Dynasty (221 – 206 B.C.E.)

1.      previous Qin (word China derived from this) dynasty

2.      result of 200 years of warfare; forced nobility to give up lands and relocate to capital at Xian

3.      China then organized into a network of provinces and districts governed by non-hereditary officials

a.      enforced laws

b.       collected taxes

c.       drafted men to defend newly annexed regions

B.      First Emperor appointed large, salaried bureaucracy

1.      centralized political power by administrative devices

2.      census, standardization of written language, creation of uniform coinage, system of weights and measures

3.      standardized width of axles for wagons

4.      silk industry

5.      protected peasant farmers but also taxed them without mercy

C.      Challenge of Central Asian Huns along Northern borders

1.      construction of Great Wall of China – 1500 miles long

2.      similar to Hadrian’s wall across Britain (73 miles long)

3.      discouraged raids of mounted men and wagons

4.      Great Wall required labor of 700,000 people

5.      Emperor’s tomb took 15 years, 21 square miles

6.      terra-cotta soldiers:  bodies alike, each face individual

7.      Legalists; burned copies of Confucian classics

8.      Loyal students of Sun Zi [The Art of War]

D.      The Han Dynasty [206 B.C.E. – 200 C.E.]

1.      Qin dynasty lasted only (fifteen)15 years

2.      Korea, Vietnam, and Japan affected by Han dynasty

a.      Chinese writing style

b.       Confucian precepts of filial piety and propriety

3.      Han era regarded as China’s “classical period”

4.      cartography, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, paper, block printing, seismograph, horse collar, wheelbarrow

5.      tripled size of empire inherited from the Qin

6.      equal to Rome in power and prestige, but much larger population

7.      exported silk, ivory, gems, spices in return for wool, linen, glass, metalware

8.      caravans across the Silk Road

9.      similar to Roman Empire in that burden fell on peasant farmers to provide warriors; land ownership moved into hands of large, wealthy landowners and farmers became tenant farmers or unfree peasants

(serfs, eventually in the west; tied to the land in the east)

IV.            The Literary Contributions of Imperial China

A.      Chinese Prose Literature

1.      high value on record keeping

2.      therefore histories, court chronicles important

3.      woman historian

B.      Chinese Poetry

V.               The Visual Arts and Music in Han China

A.      Ceramics

B.      Bronzes