Ancient China

Government and Law

Textbook Questions

The Mandate of Heaven was the origin of the myth that China’s first ever ruler was the son of the sky god, and an earthly mother. His children were the emperors, and were classified as the Sons of Heaven, and they had the right to rule from the highest spiritual power. Though, they would only have this power as long as they ruled well. Though it's similar to the divine right of kings concept in Europe, it's not exactly the same, since China has their own set of religions and gods.

Rule based on birth is the idea that the rulers of the world should be immediately nominated to rule simply because they were related to the past ruler. Rule based on merit is arguably the opposite, and is where rulers are nominated to position based on skill and experience.

Legalism was the belief that the general public weren’t smart and educated enough to make their own decisions to do with their leadership and their ruler, so they gave the ruler absolute power. Totalitarian governments have the belief of centralized power, which is very similar to the Chinese Legalism government ideologies.

Han Feizi (the leader of the Han Dynast) believed that the only way society could become stable is if there was a total ruler that had absolute power, but they also wanted to revise the law code to fit the current state of China. Though it was based on Legalism, Confucianism was a high rival to their type of government.

Confucianism

Confucius was a philosopher and teacher in Ancient China, and he believed in the worship of ancestors and virtues centred around humanity in order to live a peaceful life. Some important aspects of Confucianism include:

  • Having a good moral character
  • Humaneness
  • Ritual
  • Filial piety

Family Life & Women

For every 100 women, there are approximately 104.7 men in China. This is because of the One Child rule implemented in 1980. Because boys held so much more family dominance and they would be able to inherit their family’s success, many women who carried girls killed their babies, had abortions, etc. for the chance to have a boy to carry on the family line. Though this rule was abolished finally in 2016, the ratio from men to women is different from many other countries because of it.

Many things that the Chinese Communist Party did for women can be seen as both good and bad things. They outlawed concubinage, child and arranged marriage, etc., but sent those young girls to work in factories with outlandish working conditions during the Communist Revolution. These efforts also didn’t change or help domestic burdens such as housework and childcare

The Silk Road

Kashgar: The central trading point where the East and West Silk Roads met. Most goods travelling to the west were sent by yaks and not camels. Silk, cotton, leatherwear, and pottery were exported directly.

Chang’an: The Eastern departure point of the Silk Road with direct access to the South China Sea. Famously exported silk, but also paper, rice, perfumes, camphor, and medicinal drugs.

Damascus: The last stop on the trip to make imports and trades in the Mediterranean. Exported silk, dried fruits, grains, almonds, and products made from ‘Damascus Steel’.

Rome: Considered the ‘final destination’ for many imports and exports across the Silk Road. Boats would be taken from Damascus to deliver to Rome and Venice. Wools, gold, and silver were exported from Rome.

Silk: originated from Chang’an, and is also where it would begin the journey along the Silk Road towards the Mediterranean.

Spices: Spices often originated from south China and Indonesia, and made their way up to the Silk Road, then West.

Wine: Zhang Qian is believed to have bought the first portion of wine to trade on the Silk Road, but it was never in particular abundance.

Gold & Silver: Gold & Silver came from the West and moved towards the East, unlike most traded objects on the Silk Road. They were most often made by people living in the capital or royalty.

Buddhism: Buddhism came from the bottom of India to China and lower Asia through the Silk Road in the 1st-2nd century CE. This religion encouraged the commerce and investment sides of the Silk Road trading, importing, and exporting systems.

The Last Dynasties

Though every other aspect of it seemed amazing, the Song Dynasty’s military lacked in strength and discipline. Many of the other nations surrounding Ancient China preceded their military, and at the end of the Song Dynasty, the Mongol armies had succeeded their military enough to invade and establish the Yuan dynasty.

The Mongols were an ethnographic tribal peoples from Central Asia, and came from the area we now know as Mongolia. They had such a strong military that they invaded many Asian nations across their rule, including Ancient China.

The Mongols rebuilt many Chinese cities, repaired canals, extended the Grand Canal, and expanded trading in China exponentially, leading the country to become one of the most important states in the Mongol Empire. But, they also had left destruction and loss in their battle for power against the Song Dynasty. Big portions of the state were depopulated, the economy was in ruins, and the Mongols discriminated heavily against the Chinese; they were unable to get government jobs, and were punished severely for infractions. 

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, Europeans were regularly sailing to China for trade. During the Ming Dynasty:

  • The Great Wall was completely rebuilt.
  • People who wanted to work for the government had to take lengthy exams.
  • Emperor Hongwu hired a secret police force to spy under suspicion people wanted to dethrone him.

  1. Describe the various conflicts that weakened the Qing dynasty.

    1. Opium Wars

The Opium Wars occurred when the British began to sell opium in China, and when the Chinese became addicted, the government made them illegal. Britian continued to smuggle them in, and a war broke out after the Chinese government boarded British ships and pushed their opium in the ocean. The British defeated the Chinese, and Christianity was legalized.

  1. Interracial Discrimination

The Manchu people were held to a much higher standard than the Han Chinese (the majority), and the two groups were not allowed to marry. This law was met with a lot of discontent, and many rebellions began because of it.

  1. Boxer Rebellion

The Boxer Rebellion was a peasant rebellion in Ancient China, and the conflict ended in a protocol being written after 100,000+ people died.

  1. Fall of The Qing

War with Japan, international rebellions, natural disaster, the Boxer Rebellion, interracial discrimination, and the Opium Wars all left the Qing Dynasty in famine and with a poor economy. In 1911, revolution overthrew the Qing, who had a six-year-old emperor named Puyi, and the throne was given to the Republic of China in 1912.

  1. Foreigners were often controversial in China. Research and briefly describe what the ‘Canton System’ and the ‘Treaty Ports in China’ were.

The Canton System was a trading system between the Chinese and foreign merchants, often British. All foreign trade became confined strictly to Canton, and any foreign traders travelling into China had to follow a series of strict regulations from the Chinese Government. The Treaty Ports in China were Canton, Amoy ,Foochow, Ningpo, and Shanghai. These were the regions open to foreign trade in China.

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