Unified China

Religion, Ethics, Philosophy

Confucius: Valued Social Order

In a time of upheaval and uncertainty, Confucius taught the value of stability

Emphasized proper behavior in relationships-Ruler and Subject-Father and Son-Husband and Wife-Older Brother and Younger Brother-Friend and Friend

Study the past if you would define the future

Filial Piety

• Children must respect and honor their parents and ancestors, even after death.

• Ceremonies should be performed to venerate their ancestors.

The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.

Bureaucracy

• Trained Civil Servants who run the government

• Must pass a test to get the job

• Promotes Education (for those who can afford it)

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.

Daoism: “The Way”

• Accept the natural order of things

• People can do little to influence fate.

“Struggle is pointless; harmony is acceptance”

• Government should not interfere with people’s lives.

When there is no desire, all things are at peace.

Laozi

Legalism: (Don’t you do it! Don’t even think it!)

• Government is the source of order• Those who perform their duty should be rewarded;

those who are disobedient should be severely punished.• The government should control people’s thoughts as

well as their actions.• All materials that might encourage disobedience should

be destroyed.

We’ll know

The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat.

I Ching: The Book of Changes

• People cast coins and matched the results with the corresponding oracles found in the I Ching book (divination).

• Most advice very vague, positive common sense solutions

The superior man thinks always of virtue; the common man thinks only of comfort.

Yin and Yang

• seemingly opposite or contrary forces are interconnected & interdependent

• Describes many natural dualities (such as light and dark, high and low, hot and cold, fire and water, life and death) as complementary (instead of opposing) forces interacting to form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the parts.

• good-bad distinctions and other moral judgments are perceptual, not real; so, yin-yang is an indivisible whole.

When a wise man points at the moon, the imbecile examines the finger

Qin Dynasty: Shi Huangdi (1st Emperor) • Used legalistic methods to

unify China• Doubled the size of territory

controlled by China• Required all his nobles to

live in capital city. Why?• Qin is pronounced “chihn,”

which is the origin of “China.”

• Murdered hundreds of Confucian scholars, “useless” books burned.

Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous

Autocracy

• A government with unlimited power

• “Centralization” Standardized writing, laws, currency, weights & measures

• Constructed roads & irrigation projects and the Great Wall

• Paid for with high taxes• Qin Dynasty (221 BCE-207 BCE)• Replaced by the Han Dynasty

(206 BCE– 220 AD)

Never give a sword to a man who can't dance

Great Wall of China

• Built between 220–206 BC by Qin Shi Huang.

• measures 8,850 km (5,500 mi) long

• 25,000 watchtowers• protected China’s

northern frontier until the 13th century ADroads were made for journeys not destinations

The Terracotta Army

• Collection of terracotta (masonry) sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China.

• They were buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE to protect the emperor in his afterlife.

• The figures vary in height according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals. The figures include warriors, chariots and horses, as well as 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots and 770 horses A man without a

mustache is a man without a soul