In bountiful places all over the world during the Post-Classical era, between the sixth and thirteenth century, there were many innovations. Especially in China when the three prodigious dynasties thrived; the Sui, Tang, and Song. The Sui, Tang, and Song bestowed numerous changes, along with continuity. Two of the most evident changes during this dynasties were technology and the repercussion of Confucianism and Buddhism on the empires. There was many continuities within the government, structure and culture. During 581 and 1279, China saw the advances in technology in Confucianism, while controlling alike government, structure, and culture.
Different periods throughout China’s history have different names, known as dynasties, for the diverse positions within its society. Theoretically, all of the periods are similar, with the government and military officials ranking high in the hierarchy, and the average everyday people being under regular Chinese law. Throughout China’s history, the society has been organized into a hierarchic system of socio-economic classes, known as the four occupations. The four occupations system seems to have become distorted after the commercialization of Chinese culture during the Song Dynasty. Even though the social rankings within the country are not as predominant as they once were, the people living within the country still know their “place” within the society.
The Yuan dynasty also known as the Mongol dynasty, was considered a brief irrelevance in China’s long history. There are many arguments to say that the Yuan dynasty did in fact make its mark on China’s history. Whereas others argue that the Yuan dynasty was in fact, a irrelevance in China’s history that does not need to be as noted as other dynasties of greater importance. The Yuan dynasty came to pass after the Song dynasty was destroyed by the Mongols river battles and sieges against them. This was only the start of the Mongols reign and need of power.
China, up until the Qin Dynasty, consisted of independent states controlled by kings fighting each other for land and power. This time period was called The Era of Warring States, which lasted two hundred years. After this time, the Qin Dynasty rose to power. They conquered all other dynasties, and established a centralized government, unifying China for the first time. The dynasty that succeeded the Qin, the Han, continued the centralized government and they started a westward expansion that would encourage trade and cultural diffusion. The Qin and Han Dynasties were similar in that they both believed in a strong centralized government, which strengthened and unified their empires, but they differed in that the Qin followed the strict Legalism while the Han followed the more flexible Confucianism, and the way they interacted with outsiders; the Qin tended to be more defensive of outsiders while the Han were more interactive and wanted to build relationships with foreigners.
In the mountains of Shaanxi, China, farmers came across one of the most significant archeological findings of all time. Hidden under what was thought a mountain, was the discovery of Emperor Qin Shihuangdi’s tomb. The significance of the tomb shows Qin’s power he possessed over his people. Inside were over 8,000 Terra Cotta clay soldiers along with horses, carts, merchants, weapons and chariots made from different medal. In all, over 700,000 people were used to build the tomb and it was built in just 38 years. This discovery reveals an immense amount of information about early Chinese civilization.
The Ming and Qing dynasties were two of many dynasties in China. They were also in fact, the last two dynasties. The Ming dynasty ruled from 1368-1644, and the Qing empire ruled from 1644-1912. Both dynasties had long lasting eras of power because of strong framework from influential leaders. The Ming dynasty had Zhu Yuanzhang who was a successful war leader. The Qing had Hung Taiji and Li Zicheng who were key instruments in taking over the Ming dynasty and Beijing. Both dynasties had eventful paths to power, many achievements while in power, and a particular decline in power.
The Han Dynasty was known for their span over four centuries, their inventions, history, and as the Golden Age. The Han Dynasty is said to be the Golden Age because they were considered to be the ones that had the most scientific improvements and brought back learning to China. They were also considered to be the establishers of most of the Chinese culture today, that some people even created a word denoting someone that is ethnically Chinese as “Han.” The Han Dynasty had a substantial importance to how the Chinese culture is shaped today by both positive and negative improvements during 206 BCE-220CE. First of all, we need to learn a little about the Han Dynasty and how they came to be. The Han Dynasty, though corrupted by deadly dramas within the imperial court,
“All the peasants and soldiers to the wall.” Imagine being a laborer and having to contribute in the construction of the wall. During the Qin and Han dynasties, the Great Wall of China was built. The continuous wall protected the dynasties from the Mongols. The benefits of the wall did not outweigh the costs because of the soldiers , the economy that went down, and the forced labor from peasants and laborers.
The Han Dynasty in China and the Roman Empire shared many similarities and differences when it came to political rule and the nature of their political authority. The most significant difference between the two is how the Han dynasty enacted policies that were shaped to counter the wrongdoings of the previous Qin dynasty, whereas the Roman Empire enacted policies shaped to create and promote peace and stability. The difference in the two empire’s coming to power was to account for their variance in political rule.
In order to understand the similarities of how order was in the Han Dynasty and Roman Empire from 300 BCE to 300 CE, the beginnings of each empire should be understood. Before the Han Dynasty rose, the Qin Dynasty, which overtaxed their citizens and regulated their laws by censoring education (burning books). The Roman Empire started out as a city-state which began to conquer neighboring regions, such as Italy, and expanded through warfare. However, from 300 BCE to 300 CE, the Han Dynasty and Roman Empire both created order in society by having an agrarian economy, ideologies, and establishing an authority that shaped social structures.
The Chinese development of technological advances, allowed the era of the Tang, and the Song dynasty to bring about a social, political, and urban change. The Chinese found new techniques in Agriculture and farming rice. This allowed for more growth and spreading of population in the regions. As the population grew, people were interest in new jobs and careers in the markets. So, they sought out jobs such as shop sellers, blacksmiths, metallurgy, fishing, and government work. The developmental jobs and task created allowed for income and market economy to expand for china. They went further as to trade on land or sea throughout the eastern hemisphere. To travel they needed a ship or a boat to trade long distantly over sea. The increase production of trade allowed for China to make a social change.
There where many factors that led China to political unification in contrast to India. One factor is, dynasties such as the Zhou Dynasty who kept the same political system as its predecessors, where India had changed many things and continued to change political and social systems. India was very fragmented in political unification because, India was and still is a land of diversity. Ancient India was also not as organized as Ancient China in ruling. When the Zhou kingdom had started to end and break apart into many powerful states a “relativity young state of Qin located in the original homeland of the Zhou, emerged as a key player in conflicts”(p. 78) that would eventually bring down the Zhou Dynasty and give way to the Qin Dynasty where it was ruled with ruthless efficiency(p.79).
The Qin dynasty succeeded the Warring States Period (475 BCE - 221) (Britannica, Warring States, 2014, 2018), and the Spring and Autumn Period (770–476 BC) (Britannica, Spring and Autumn Period, 2017, 2018). During the Warring States and Spring and Autumn Periods, there was a massive power vacuum and several different states were locked in a struggle for control over China. The most prominent state during the Warring States Period was the Qin state, they revised the governing methods of the once influential state of Zhou. They made changes to land distribution, power distribution, education of the common folk, trade, and units of measurement throughout China. The changes made by Qin Shi Huang are what made him successfully unify China.
Qin Shi Huang-di is often regarded as a great leader within history. However, he was also paranoid and got rid of anyone who disagreed with him, but without Qin, there might be no China. Furthermore, despite his mixed reputation today, he brought six warring kingdoms together to form the basis of a country that has lasted to this day, an impressive feat that was a huge turning point in Chinese history. Qin’s effect on China and by default, on the other countries of the world was enormous. In fact, his dynasty, the Qin dynasty, even gave China its name (“Shi Huangdi Becomes Emperor”). His influence on the world has lasting impacts even today, though it has been over two thousand years since he lived. Qin Shi Huang-Di was a cruel but effective
The early Ming Dynasty was a period of cultural restoration and expansion. Under a series of strong rulers, China extended its rule into Mongolia and Central Asia. The Ming even briefly conquered Vietnam, which after a thousand years of Chinese rule had reclaimed its independence following the collapse of the Tang dynasty in the tenth century”(Duiker 336) .The Ming dynasty also known as the Empire of the Great Ming was described as of the greatest and famous eras that bought stability in human history. Emperor Hongwu born Zhu Yuanzhang (1368 -1398) was the founder and first emperor of the Ming Dynasty of China despite his lowly birth as the son of a hired laborer from one of the poorest parts of China”(Menzies 45). In the middle of the 14th century, with famine, plagues, and peasant revolts sweeping across China, Zhu Yuanzhang rose to command the force