The Dynastic Cycle and the Mandate of Heaven Dynasties of China The Dynastic Cycle and the Mandate of Heaven

The Dynastic Cycle There was a pattern to the rise and fall of all the Dynasties that ruled China. This is called the dynastic cycle.

A Cycle, A Circle When a new family overthrew the old dynasty and took the "Mandate of Heaven", this was the top of the circle. As the dynasty ruled for the first half of the circle, they were good and gave land to the peasants, and cut down taxes and corruption. This lasted through the first half of the dynasty (or circle).

Starting at the bottom half of the circle, the Emperor would become cut off from the peasants and people of China, and would no longer listen to them. Corruption would start in the outer provinces. There would be minor uprisings amongst the peasants, which would be put down, and land would be taken away from the peasants. Taxes would rise and become a burden on the people.

Towards the end of the dynasty, there would be a major natural disaster or series of disasters, which the emperor would not or could not address, and the people would be left on their own. At this time, one of the noble or rich families would start a major revolution, which would be supported by the people of China, and soon the old dynasty would be overthrown, bringing us back to the top of the circle. Then the circle would start again with a new dynasty.

The Mandate of Heaven The Mandate of Heaven was created as a form of justification by the Zhou Dynasty to overthrow the then current rulers, the Shang Dynasty (we’ll talk more about these two groups and the other dynasties soon). The Zhou people told the nobles of the time that they had gained the Mandate of Heaven. In essence, it stated that the gods chose the best people to be the rulers, and that if a ruler lost the Mandate of Heaven, they could be removed. The nobles may not have believed this, but they agreed that the Shang were bad rulers, and supported the Zhou.

The Mandate of Heaven in 3 Parts (1) The right to rule is granted by the gods. This gave the ruler religious power. (2) The right to rule is only granted if the ruler cares about his people more than he cares about himself. This gave the ruler secular power, or power over the people, and the right to decide what is good for the people, because the ruler must care about the people, or the gods would remove him as ruler. (3) The right to rule is not limited to only one dynasty or family. A dynasty can be replaced. This justified rebellion. When a new leader leads a successful rebellion, he must have the support of the gods, or he would not be allowed to rule, because it was the gods who chose the rulers.