Unit 7 Han Dynasty

The first source directly describes the story of the Qin Dynasty, and its subsequent rise from a group of lowly soldiers in the far-west of the old Zhou Kingdom to its unification of all the Chinese States to become the very first of the Chinese Empires. The mastermind of this unification was Ying Zheng, who would later give himself the title Qin Shi Huang-Di which translates to, “First Sovereign Emperor of Qin.” Ying Zheng, and his short-lived dynasty, would create the foundation of all Chinese administration and government structure for the next two-thousand years. This base included: the abolishment of the feudal system, centralization of state powers, a rigid system of laws, standardization of the writing system, and the creation of provinces

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.

From 600 b.c.e to 200 c.e 2 empires with distinct political, religious and social structures were formed in Han China and Classical Greece. The Han dynasty differed greatly with Classical Greece in how it governed, what they believed and its social structures which lead to it being able to sustain a much larger population and last for a much large period of time compared to classical; Greece.

In the Dynastic cycle, the Song and Tang Dynasties of ancient China showed similar periods of Prosperity but, also had some differences.

The Han dynasty Empire and the Roman empire stood large and mighty at the start of the Common Era, with the two kingdoms controlling an unprecedented mass amount of populations under their reign. Both kingdoms rose as predecessors from previous political systems that extended lands under one rule, with the Roman Republic expansion in Europe after the Punic wars and the Qin state achieving conquest over six other nearby states creating the first imperial China in east Asia. The heavy hand of the Qin dynasty and the assassination of Rome’s beloved general, Julius Caesar, by the Roman senate, threw both kingdoms into rebellion, ushering in centuries of imperialistic rule for both in their respective timelines. Both developed innovations in city development and Military conquest that nations looked to for millenniums to come.

First In the Dynastic cycle, the Han and Tang Dynasties of ancient China showed similar periods of founding. To begin with the Han dynasty was different. Economically the Han dynasty helped China grow a lot. Next the Han dynasty was very wise to keep some laws from the Qin dynasty which because they did that it helped them with their economic system.

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.

For decades people have been wondering if the Han dynasty was effective or not. The Han dynasty was the dynasty after the Qin dynasty. Unlike the Qin dynasty that only ruled a short time of fourteen years, the Han dynasty ruled over four hundred years. So with the evidence that I have read, I believe that the Han dynasty was an effective government for a number of reasons.

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.

Buddhism has been and still is important to the Chinese culture, affecting many traditions and ways of life. Many scholars and political figures have reacted differently to the affect of Buddhism and how it has spread through the 6 chinese dynasties, by believing its effect, disagreeing, and have no say.

Rome from 71 BCE to 476 BCE and Han China from 206 BCE to 220 BCE are two very well-known classical empires. These two empires have similarities and differences in their political systems, religion, and social structure. The romans had a democratic government whereas China had a singular ruler. Imperial Rome was monotheistic and Han China was polytheistic. While they both had similar class structures, China had a three tiered social system and the Romans only had two divisions in their class structure.

The Qing dynasty began to diminish in strength power and influence in the beginning of the 18th century due to an increase in internal conflict and pressure from foreign powers. The greatest challenge the dynasty faced was the lack modernisation. When Empress Cixi came into power she failed to develop the out-dated dynasty because of her conservative ideologies and she made every attempt to destroy those who did advocate for change. Her ruthless response to the self-strengthening movement and 100 days of reform program were clear indications of her disapproval towards modernisation. The dynasty’s unnecessary involvement in the Boxers rebellion further crippled the state. The Empress was a corrupt, conservative and power driven leader, her regime disempowered the dynasty and left it brittle and vulnerable consequently leading to its demise, therefore to large extent the Empress is responsible for the demise of the Qing dynasty.

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.

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).