Early Imperial China

Qin(221- 206

BC)

Han(206 BC – 220 CE)

Three Kingdom

s(220 – 280)

Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC)

In 221 BC, Qin Shihuangdi became the first man to control all of China. He called himself Emperor, because he did not want to be called king as all other rulers before him had been called.The Qin Dynasty only lasted for 15 years, but many changes occurred in that short period of time.

Qin was originally named Ying Zheng. He gave himself the name Qin Shihuangdi, which means “First August and divine Emperor”

Bureaucracy

Qin was a harsh leader, and did not trust his people. He believed that people were basically bad, and that it was necessary to strictly control them. It was illegal to say anything bad about Qin’s government. If you did, you would be thrown in prison.

It was also the law to spy on each other! If you turned in a neighbor, you were rewarded. If not, you were executed.

To help control the people of China, Qin developed a system of bureaucracy.

Bureaucracy is a type of government with fixed rules and procedures. Qin divided the empire into 36 provinces. Each province was divided into 2 districts.

Changes Under Qin

• Ownership of land: Qin took land away from the nobles because he did not want them to have power and rise up against him.

• Standardization: All of China was unified by one system of weights, measures, written language, money, and laws.

• Law Code: Qin created a law enforcement group to enforce laws• Jobs: all peasants were assigned a job of either silk maker or farmer. If they

tried to do anything else, they were sent away to work on the Great Wall.• Great Wall: Qin used slave labor to link together all of the old packed-earth

defensive walls into one great wall (later, during the Ming dynasty, it became the huge masonry construction that it is today)

• Censorship: Qin destroyed books, especially those by Confucius. Over 400 scholars who refused to turn in books were either buried alive or sent to work on the wall.

• Public Works: Because he was able to force people to work, he was able to create a large infrastructure of roads and canals.

During Qin’s reign, Qin ordered the construction of a mausoleum, created to accompany the first emperor into the afterlife. More than 700,000 laborers worked on the project.

Work was halted on the project in 209 BC – a year after Qin’s death in 210 BC – due to uprisings by the people.

This mausoleum, nicknamed the “Terra-Cotta Army”, was discovered by workers digging a well outside the city of Xi’an, China, in 1974.

The Terra-Cotta Army

Authorities dispatched government archaeologists to the site, where they found thousands of clay soldiers in underground corridors. In some of the corridors, clay horses and chariots can also be found.

The Han Dynasty

(206 BC – 220 CE)After Quin’s death in 210 BC, Quin’s son became Emperor but he did not rule for long.People in the countryside revolted against the cruel Qin government. A peasant who led that revolt became the new Emperor. His name was Liu Bang (later called Han Gaozu). He established a dynasty that was much different from the Qin dynasty.

Han GaoZu made Confucianism the central governing principle of Han rule.

Confucius, who lived during the Eastern Chou dynasty, believed in a harmonious relationship between ruler and subject.

The administrative model perfected by GaoZu was one that every successive dynasty would copy.

Arts and SciencesThe Han people worked hard to replace the literature destroyed during the Qin dynasty, especially the writings of Confucius.

Scroll painting began during this time. Craftsmen perfected their skills in jewelry making and jade carving.

Acupuncture and paper were invented during the Han dynasty.

They also invented an instrument that would tell them when an earthquake was happening.

Iron was used for making cast iron objects and plows.

Emperor Wudi, one of the emperors who succeeded Han Gaozu, started a system of public schools.

He agreed with Confucius that the key to good government was education.

Schools were established in each province. These schools were for boys only.

Education

The Silk Road

The Silk Road was not actually a single route; rather, it was a name that was given to any route that led across China into Rome.The Silk Road extended to the farthest reaches of the Han Empire. It was extremely dangerous to travel along the Silk Road: there were always bandits and pirates, and many parts traversed desolate deserts and treacherous mountains.Romans sent out parties of soldiers to follow the Silk Road, in order to find the traders and the people who were making the silk. Most of the soldiers never returned.

Three Main Routes of the Silk Road

Northern Route – Westward to the Black Sea

Central Route – Westward to Persia, the Mediterranean Sea, and Rome

Southern Route – Westward to Iran (Persia) and India

Although it is debated, many historians consider the Han Dynasty the first golden age of China.

However, toward the end of their rule, the center had lost so much control of their provinces that it collapsed.

Contributing factors were a population shift from the Yellow River in the North to the Yangzi in the south, and the fact that they were unable to control barbarian tribal raiders from the north.

The Silk Road Papermaking Iron technology (cast iron) Plow (kuan) Glazed pottery Wheelbarrow Seismograph Compass Ship’s rudder Stirrups Drawloom weaving Hot Air Balloon Chinese Examination System Decorative Embroidery

Contributions of the Han Dynasty

The Three Kingdoms(220-280 CE)

At the end of the Han Dynasty, numerous conflicts occurred between political rivals. As a result, the empire was divided into three separate kingdoms: Wu in the south, Wei in the north, and Shu Han in the west.

WuThe Wu Kingdom occupied the Yangzi Valley in the southeast, as well as most of the south. The Wu Kingdom was established by Sun Ch’uan. The Wu Kingdom was ruled by a succession of four emperors, and lasted for 52 years. It had the longest history of the Three Kingdoms.People of the Wu Kingdom cultivated grain, and bred pigs and buffalo.

Shu Han

Shu Han was ruled by Liu Bei. It was the smallest and the richest of the Three Kingdoms. Many of the Shu peoples were wealthy merchants, who traded with Tibet and India.

Tomb of Liu Bei

WeiThe Kingdom of Wei is considered the most powerful of the three kingdoms. It was ruled by the Ts’ao family.

One of the Wei Dynasty’s most prominent figures was Cao Cao, a military leader whose aim was to unify all of China – a goal that was never recognized. He was also a poet whose poems began a new style of Jian An literature.

Contributions of the Three Kingdoms

The most significant contribution of the Three Kingdoms era was the spread of Buddhism during this period. Because Buddhists were craftsmen and artists, they were responsible for the creation of numerous elaborate temples and monasteries.

Vocabulary• Qin Dynasty• Han Dynasty• Three Kingdoms• Bureaucracy• Confucianism• Qin Shihuangdi• Han Gaozu• Emperor Wudi• Silk Road• Wu• Shu Han• Wei• Cao Cao

Works Cited

www.dynastiesofasia.com/asian-history-references/threekingdomswww.historyforkids.org/learn/chinawww.travelchinaguide.com/intro/historyhttp://condensedchina.com/china2.htmlwww.cucas.edu.cn/HomePage/2009-05-25http://china.mrdonn.org/han.htmlhttp://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/archaeology/emperor-qin/