Unification of China

Zhou • Feudalism

• Nobles, lords, allowed to use land that belonged to king

• Owe loyalty and military to king

• Lords began to think of themselves as independent kings

• “Warring States Period”

“Warring States Period”

Qin Dynasty

• Legalist

• Shi Huangdi – “First Emperor”

• Stopped Battles

• Defeated Invaders

Shi Huangdi

• “Strengthened trunk, weakening branches”

• All nobles must live in capital

• Murdered Confucian scholars

• “Useless” Books burned

Autocracy

• Gov’t has unlimited power and uses it whenever they want

Centralization

• Highways – 4,000 mi long

• Unification of everything– Writing, law, currency, weights and measures– Irrigation projects– Trade increases– Taxes increase, repressive gov’t

Great Wall

• Work on Wall or Die

Fall of Qin

• Shi Huangdi’s son Weaker

• Han Dynasty took over

Terra Cotta Soldiers

Confucius – born 551 BC

• Zhou – Decline

• Studied, taught hist, music, morals

• Time of Crisis and Violence

Confucius

• 5 Basic Relationships

• Ruler and Subject

• Father and Son

• Husband and Wife

• Older Bro and Young Bro

• Friend and Friend

Confucius - Filial Piety

• Respect for parents and ancestors

• Devote life to parents

• Honor them after death

Confucius

• Wanted rulers to govern wisely

• Became Minister of Justice– Crime went away– Analects

Confucius – Gov’t

• Edu is key to becoming gentlemen

• Bureaucracy – Trained civil service…many different officials

• Ethical System– Right vs. Wrong

Daoism

• “The Way”• Of creatures, humans fail to

follow “the way”• Natural order, more

important than social order• Universal force guides all

things• Humans should live simply

and in harmony with nature

Legalism

• Highly efficient and powerful gov’t

• Rich rewards for carrying out duties well

• Disobedient Punished

• Controlled Peoples ideas and actions

• Can’t criticize gov’t

I Ching

• Book that helped people live happy lives

Yin and Yang

• 2 Powers represent natural rhythms of life

• Yin-cold, dark soft, mysterious

• Yang – warm, bright, hard, clear

• Together - Harmony