The Zhou Dynasty: The Unification Of Ancient China

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.

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. After the Qin dynasty, the Han ruled China for four centuries, enacting numerous political changes and governing one of the most efficacious dynasties in Chinese history.

China’s Last Empire. The Great Qing. William T. Rowe. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009. 360 pages including Emperors and Dynasties, Pronunciation Guide, Notes, Bibliography, Acknowledgements, Index, Maps and Figures.

The Qin Dynasty was China’s first dynasty. A Dynasty is a line of hereditary rulers of a country. Because it was the first unified, multi-national and power-centralized state in China, it is considered to be one of the most popular Dynasties. The first person to call himself an emperor of the Qin Dynasty was Qin Shi Huang. The word ‘’emperor’’ has now been used for many thousands of years. His Dynasty was short lived and brutal, but gained many accomplishments. His reign lasted from 221 B.C to 210 B.C. From the way he treated his people to the way he ruled his country, his reign had an everlasting effect on Chinese history.

Between 100 CE and 300 CE, the Han Dynasty had set important cultural foundations, such as Confucianism, constant, which lasted even after the rule of the Dynasty due to literature. The cultural changes led to a period of peace and economic prosperity; however, the political changes, such as unequal control of land between the rich and poor, had resulted in the Empire’s collapse by 220 CE, and it led to the Three Kingdoms Period (ends in 280 CE). The interior government was corrupt because of the civil service exams and the outer court system. Wealthy people had taken advantage of their power in order to get power. The court systems and the elite class became more focused on the luxuries of ruling rather than the duties of ruling. Teachings

Han, China and Imperial Rome both had similarities and differences in terms of political control throughout the classical period. Both empires had major differences about their perspectives on what main element could hold their political jurisdictions together, Imperial Rome favored law codes since one would try to obey if they didn’t want to be punished for their actions whereas Han, China reinforced confucius teaching even though they had some laws as well because they thought virtues would guide everyone to follow the right path in the political system. However, both had similarities facing problems with the administration of good bureaucrats who could really reinforce tight vigorous decisions to help political power run smoothly along with

One of the difference between the Qin and the Han dynasty is that Qin dynasty practiced Legalism and the Han dynasty practiced Confucianism. For the Han dynasty, in Document 3, states that they had a exam system of giving opportunities for everyone across the dynasty who has outstanding moral and learning to have a chance to have a role in the government, which shows that the Han dynasty emperor gave more opportunities to the commoners. For the Qin in Document 2, says that the people follow the rules, and there are no trouble because the people understand what happens when they do not follow the rules, which leads to punishments. Which shows that the Qin dynasty had strict rules for people to just obey for the government and have no say. Taking

In the Classical Era, two influential empires emerged, Han China and the Roman Empire. Both were order-focused societies, which greatly supported the rise of these empires. However, Han China was built off the foundation laid by previous empires and already had a governmental precedent. In the end, both empires eventually fell due to a number of shared factors, one being the overextension of their land causing expenses to rise and borders to become vulnerable.

The government became a bureaucracy he strengthen the military, and made giant technological advances. Qin developed legalism forcing his power of the government on people, only forcing his power that enabled him to build his tomb. If his people did not follow these rules they would have been severely punished. Like other second wave civilizations China absorbed the religion of

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.

The Han did not directly use force to unify the peoples of China, but the rulers of this dynasty instead took advantage of what was accomplished by its forerunner the Qin Dynasty. The Qin fought to unify the warring states of China underneath a central government before the Han emerged upon the scene of the dying Qin authority. The short lived Qin Dynasty fell in 207 BCE, preparing the way for the Han Empire to arise quickly in 206 BCE. Brute force was used only to defeat those competing to assume the authoritative mantle of China.

Additionally, previous dynasties, like the Shang, Zhou, and Qin, created a bureaucratic precedent for a centralized government. Therefore, the Han

“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 causes and effects of the decline and fall of Han China during the classical era had similarities and differences when compared to the political, economic, and social causes and effects of the decline and fall of Rome during the Classical era.

The main theme that entangles itself in all of the source material is the idea of how governments should be run in such a powerful empire, such as Imperial Rome and the Han Dynasty. Starting with the first source, it is evident that the first Qin emperor believed that only the orthodox teachings should be tolerated, which meant that the works of the Five Classics and its teachings were to be extinguished. The next primary source serves as a supplement to explaining the fall of the Qin dynasty due to its warring ideas and Jia Yi argues that if Confucius teachings were implemented then the dynasty would have still been intact. The third source explains how the Qin dynasty was unjust in its equal appropriation of punishment against criminals regardless of motives or social class. Essentially, Dong Zhongshu believed that a dynasty could not be successful if it failed to establish a fair and righteous justice system for its citizens.