Confucianism, Daoism, Former Han dynasty, Xin Dynasty

• Confucianism

  • Kong Fuzi (551-479 B.C.) Northern China.

  • He believed the best way to promote good government was to fill official positions with people who were well educated and very conscientious.

  • he concentrated on the formation of the Junzi- superior individuals who did not allow personal interests to influence their Judgements

  • Among qualities that were also important to Confucius was an attitude of kindness and benevolence which he called “ren”

  • sense of propriety called “li” - people treat other individuals with courtesy showing special respect and deference to elders and superiors.

  • Confucius also emphasized filial piety which obligated children to parents, and other family elders and to support their elders in old age and to remember them and other ancestors after their deaths called “xiao”

  • Two of Confucius followers were Mencius and Xunzi

    • Mencius (372-289) became the principal spokesperson for Confucian school. Thought Ren should especially be observed.

    • Xunzi (298-238) served many years as government administrator.

    • less optimistic view of human nature than Mencius.

    • emphasized “li”

• Daosim

  • Laozi - Founder of Daoism

  • Daodejing (Classic of the Way and of Virture) (book)

  • Wuwei means avoiding active involvement in worldly affairs, rejecting ambition and advanced learning, and instead living simply and in harmony with nature.

  • wuwei taught the less government, the better

• Legalism

  • Shang Yang- most notable of the Legalist

    • It was legalist methods that put an end to the Period of the Warring States and brought about the unification of China.

  • Legalism enforced harsh punishments, even for small crimes, and held entire families or communities responsible for one person’s violation.

Qin Dynasty (from 221-207 B.C.)

• Qin rulers - finally they had brought China for the first time under a single state.

• Qin Shihuangdi proclaimed himself the First emperor of this dynasty (221-210 B.C.)

• Centralized burearcracy

• Under Qin Shihuangdi the centralization of the empire occurs - regional states became weaker

• He standardized Chinese script

• Qin Shihuangdi responded to this criticism with executions of those that criticized his policies as well as burning of books of philosophy, ethics, history and literature. He destroyed many books of the Zhou dynasty.

• one of the most important figures in Chinese history of establishing a precedent for centralized imperial rule

• Buried near his tomb was an army of life-sized pottery figures to guard the meporer in death-the famous terra cotta army.

• Qin dynasty only lasted 14 years, revolts began the year after his death, leading to the dynasty being overthrown.

Unification of China

Former Han Dynasty (206-9 A.D)

• Emperors of the former Han Dynasty ruled from Chang’an

• Han dynasty left as its principal political legacy a tradition of centralized imperial rule

• The greatest emperor of the Former Han Dynasty was Han Wu who became known as the “martial emperor” and ruled the throne for 54 years.

• Han Wudi, although relying on Legalist principles, ensured long-term survival of the Confucian tradition by establishing it as the official imperial ideology

• han Wudi also pursued a policy of imperial expansion

  • He invaded northern Vietnam and Korea and subjected them to han rule.

  • his greatest foreign challenge was from the Xiongnu (superb horsemen who raided villages and trading areas )who were nomadic people from the steppes of central Asia

• Han Wudi invaded central Asia with a vast army and brought much of the Xiongnu Empire under Chinese military control which led to uncontested hegemony for the Former han in both East Asia and central asia

• Hegemony- cultural military superior over evb else

• because Han Wudi defeated the Xiongu, he is largely responsible for bringing about the Pax Sinica which greatly increased trade along the Silk Roads

• Under Han Wudi, hegemony for the Former han dynasty was achieved (after he had defeated the Xiongnu)

• the single most sought after commodity in ancient China that everyone wanted

  was silk

  ▪ the one commodity that the Former Han dynasty always sought from nomadic

  tribes was horses

• Hans craftmen also invented paper

  • thus during the Former Han dynasty, three major that occurred were:

    1) rapid growth in the production of iron

    2) widespread manufacture of silk

    3) invention of paper

• the problem of land distribution was largely responsible for. the collapse of the Former Han dynasty

  Xin dynasty (9-23 A.D)

• In 9 A.D. Wang Mang seized the throne and displaced the Former han dynasty.

  • thus Wang Mang ended the Former Han dynasty and ruled between the Former Han dynasty and the Later Han dynasty

• He ordered the breakup of large estates and redistributed them to the peasants. Because of these reforms, he is known as the “socialist Emperor”

  Later Han Dynasty (25-220 A.D)

• Did not solve land distribution problems that weakened the Former Han.

• Power struggles between imperial family, Confucian bureaucrats, and eunuchs weakened the government.

• These divisions even led to civil wars.

• By the early 3rd century A.D., the central government collapsed.

• For almost four centuries, China was divided into regional kingdoms