Qin and Han Dynasties Libertyville High School. The Qin (Chin) Dynasty (242-202 BC) Arose out of the...
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Transcript of Qin and Han Dynasties Libertyville High School. The Qin (Chin) Dynasty (242-202 BC) Arose out of the...
Qin and Han Dynasties
Libertyville High School
The Qin (Chin) Dynasty (242-202 BC)
• Arose out of the Time of Warring States
• Took title of Shi Huangdi (First Emperor)
• Applied legalist philosophical methods to run state
Qin Dynasty• Strategy– Destroy power of other
warlords– “Strengthen the trunk,
weaken the branches”– Commanded nobility to live in
capital city– Confiscated lands, weapons
of nobility
Qin Dynasty• Silenced criticism– Murdered hundreds of
Confucian scholars– Burned books NOT about
medicine and farming
• Centralized government power– Massive forced labor on
road building project– Strict regulation of currency,
law – even length of wagon axis
Qin Dynasty: Results
• Unified virtually all of modern day China
• Building projects– Great Wall– Massive tomb
Great Wall of China• Zhou rulers had built many
small walls vs. nomads• Shi Huangdi was
determined to link walls• Built by forced labor of
100,000s of peasants– Choice: work or die– Many who died became
“fill” for wall– Over 1,400 miles long (long
way to go around!)
Huangdi’s Tomb
• Terra Cotta soldiers created to serve emperor in death– Individualized faces,
based on real soldiers of army
• Location lost until 1974
Fall of Qin Dynasty• Regime was horribly
unpopular– High taxes & repressive
government– Scholars were either killed or
forced into hiding– Poor were worked to death on
public projects
• Shi Huangdi died and a peasants revolt broke out; Han Dynasty set up in 202 BC
Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD)
• Considered the greatest period of Chinese history
• Liu Bang, a former Qin policeman, became leader of peasant revolt
• 202 BC: revolt successful, Bang set self up as emperor
Han Government
• Based on Confucian principles
• Goal was the unification of China
• Accomplishments– Lowered taxes– Established civil service
Han Officials (above); nobles (below)
Han Government• Civil service created– Jobs no longer depended on
who you knew– Initiated civil service exam,
based on Confucian ideas– Now, best person got job,
not best connected
• Today, Chinese refer to selves as “People of Han”
Han Technology• Paper, based on wood pulp
(105 AD)• Hydraulic power (bellows of
steel mill)• Steel, combining wrought
and cast iron• Scientific explanations of
lunar & solar eclipses
Silk Road
• From 138 BC, Han emperors ordered patrols of trade routes into Central Asia
• Began sending diplomats to other states
• Received envoys from Romans!
• Trade route reached Mediterranean shore
Fall of Han Dynasty
• Emperors became weak, disinterested in fairness
• Peasant rebellions, nobles joined in
• Han lost control• Civil war for next 350 years