1. Common Core Standards RS 5, 7, 9, WS 1, 4, 8
Aim: Does the Han Dynasty deserve to be called a “Classical” civilization?
Period 2: 600 BCE – 600 CE
NY State Standards 2
Common Core Standards RS 5, 7, 9, WS 1, 4, 8
Note: The AP Exam often focuses on comparing the Han and Roman Empires during the classical period.

2. Timeline of Chinese History so Far…
Shang Dynasty
Shang Dynasty 1650 – 1027 BCE
Earliest Chinese civilization by the Yellow River
Earliest form of Chinese writing
Zhou Dynasty
Zhou Dynasty 1027 – 256 BCE
Feudalism
Believed Emperors receive the Mandate of Heaven. If they lost it, then a new dynasty would take over (Dynastic Cycle).

3. I The Warring States 481 - 221 BCE
A) Starting in 481 BBC China consisted of 7 “Warring States”. The Kingdom of Qin, in the north, had advantages: cavalry (mounted soldiers on horseback), a favorable location (its territory was well guarded from the east by mountains and had easy access to the North China plain through the Yellow River passes). B) Literary works of philosophy and religion from this time are limited to mostly Taoism, Confucianism, and Legalism because the first Qin Emperor decreed all “unacceptable” writing be destroyed.

4. The Warring States 481 – 221 BCE

5. The Warring States Continued…
C) The Qin King Ying Zheng proclaimed himself Shi Huangti (first emperor) of China in 221 BCE. Shi Huangti used spies and bribery to prevent a grand alliance of the other 6 kingdoms against him. He created an army of 600,000 conscripted (drafted) peasants. He appointed his generals based on ability rather than family name. He used his cavalry and armored foot soldiers to outmaneuver the enemy's bulky war chariots. In less than a decade, he had conquered all 6 enemy kingdoms.
Shi Huangti

7. II Qin Dynasty 221 – 207 BCE
A) The Qin Dynasty was the first centralized Chinese government to be ruled by an emperor (Shi Huangti). B) Shi Huangti abolished the old feudal system, which had distributed most lands to powerful lords. Instead, he divided China into 36 districts, each governed by emperor appointed officials. Shi Huangti ordered all the royal families of the conquered 6 enemy kingdoms to move to his capital city of Xianyang to keep watch over them. C) The government was based on the philosophy of legalism. D) Began the Great Wall of China and the Grand Canal. E) There were peasant revolts due to the harsh rule. In 207 BCE, a peasant army led by Liu Bang in 206 BCE seized the Qin capital Xianyang, ending the rule of the Qin.

8. Qin Dynasty 221 – 207 BCE Continued…
Liu Bang
Epang Gong Qin Palace

9. The Terra Cotta Army
The first Qin Emperor, Qin Shi Huangti, had an “army” of life-size statues of soldiers, chariots, horses and weapons buried with him. Each statue’s face is different!

10. Legalism under the Qin
Under Legalism, farmers were freed from feudal serfdom, and Shi Huangti reduced the power of the aristocracy. Now, if a person did not behave according to the law then others were required to report him. If they did not do this, they were quartered or beheaded. Fear and control were the key features of legalism. Those who contributed the most to the state were highly rewarded while those whose lives were considered of no consequence were sent to work on Shi Huangti's building projects such as the Great Wall of China, the Grand Canal, and the roads. Scholarship was strongly suppressed and literacy denied to the majority of the populace. Shi Huangti believed that uneducated people were easier to control. This policy resulted in the burning of books and execution of scholars. Books were banned throughout the empire, as was teaching, except for subjects touching upon the re-written history of the Qin Dynasty, Legalism, or the personal glory of Shi Huangti. It was not until the later Han Dynasty that books were recovered from hiding and repaired, and literacy was again available to the people of China.

11. Great Wall of China
1. The Great Wall of China is a system of defensive walls and towers. It was built in stages between 476 BCE and 1644 CE to protect China from the Xiongnu, Mongols, and other “barbarian” invaders from the north. 2. The Great Wall winds up and down across deserts, grasslands, mountains and plateaus, stretching 5,500 miles from east to west. 3. It did not succeed in keeping out invaders. However, it has become a symbol of Chinese achievement. 4. While it was begun under the Qin Dynasty, the wall we see today was mostly built during the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644 CE).
The Great Wall of China is often called the “longest cemetery on Earth”, as over 1,000,000 workers died while building it. Archaeologists have even discovered human remains buried under sections of the wall.

13. Great Wall Watch Tower

14. The Grand Canal
The Grand Canal, about 1,200 miles in length, is the longest man-made waterway. It was begun under the Qin dynasty, but began to be linked together under the Sui.

15. III Han Dynasty 206 BCE – 220 CE

16. Han Dynasty Continued…
After 4 years of war between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, Liu Bang defeated his rival and established the Han Dynasty with Chang'an as its capital city in 202 BCE. Chang’an soon would become the eastern end of the Silk Road!
B) New Technologies: Pulleys and wheelbarrows were used to move goods. To pulverize ores and grains, they employed the water-powered trip-hammer and air was pumped into furnaces thanks to the aid of bellows. Paper was invented by drying pulverized wood pulp onto a screen (though it was mostly used to wrap fish during the Han Dynasty! Thousands of written documents survived on wood or bamboo rather than paper.) Han physicians developed acupuncture to alleviate pain and to treat various illnesses; needles are inserted into specific points on your body . 

17. Paper Making and Acupuncture

18. Han Dynasty Continued…
C) The Silk Road opened under the Han Dynasty. Emperor Wudi (156 BCE–87 BCE) sent diplomats to various rulers in Central Asia. This led to the exploration of trade routes that linked Chang’an to the Mediterranean in the west.
Increased cultural diffusion
Increased trade
Increased economic prosperity of China
D) China expanded! Emperor Wudi incorporated northern Vietnam, Inner Mongolia, southern Manchuria, and northern Korea into China. He also fought the Xiongnu barbarian nomads from the north instead of giving them “gifts” to keep the peace.
Emperor Wu

19. The Silk Road

20. Chang’an to Tiashan Corridor, Silk Road

21. Who were the Xiongnu?
The Xiongnu (possibly Huns) were a nomadic people from Central Asia, generally based in present day Mongolia and China. Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi built the Great Wall largely to keep the Xiongnu out of China. However, he was forced to “gift” them silk, rice, etc. to keep the peace. Under Han Emperor Wu, the Xiongnu were pushed north of the Caspian Sea.

22. Han Dynasty Continued…
F) Chinese calligraphy developed into an art. G) Emperor Wu made Confucianism the official state ideology, and built a Confucian Academy. In order to work in any level of the government bureaucracy, you had to pass a civil service exam based on Confucianism and Chinese history. The civil service exam allowed social mobility in imperial China. This was an example of a meritocracy (a government or the holding of power by people selected on the basis of their ability.)

23. IV Decline of the Han Dynasty
A) Emperor Wu died in 87 BCE, the Han Dynasty had been immersed in various political and social conflicts. The gap between rich and poor was already a serious problem. B) By the end of the 1st century CE, natural disasters such as tremors, and floods lead people to believe the Han had lost the Mandate of Heaven. In 9 CE Wang Man, a government official, proclaimed the beginning of a new dynasty called Xin “new”. He redistributed nobles lands which the nobles obviously were not happy about. When the Yellow River experienced terrible floods, a peasant rebellion was triggered. The angry mobs of hungry peasants smeared red paint on their foreheads. “Red Eyebrows”. In 23 CE the Red Eyebrows sacked Chang’an and cut off Wang Man’s head. Liu Xiu, a descendant of Liu Bang, reestablished the Han dynasty with a new capital at Luoyang. The Han reign in Chang’an is usually referred to as Western Han or Former Han, while the period in Luoyang is called Eastern Han or Later Han.

24. Wang Man
Liu Xiu

25. Decline of the Han Continued…
C) Thousands of members of the Confucian academy protested against the government corruption. In 184 CE a large peasant uprising “Yellow Scarves Rebellion” threatened the Han. A warlord named Dong Zhou seized control of the imperial capital in 190 CE and placed a child, Liu Xie, as the new ruler. Liu Xie was a member of the Han family, but real power was in the hands of Dong Zhou. Dong Zhou burned Luoyang to the ground. War weakened the Han; Liu Xie abdicated in 220 CE. Wars continued; China would not unify for another 350 years. In 560, there were four kingdoms in the area. This was called the Southern and Northern Dynasties era (420–589). One of the four kingdoms of this era was called the Northern Zhou. The Northern Zhou controlled a big inland region that reached from Mongolia and down into the southwest. It was far from the sea. In 581, the Sui Dynasty began when a member of the ruling clan of Northern Zhou killed about 60 of his brothers and relatives and made himself the emperor of his kingdom.

26. V The Sui Dynasty 589 – 619 CE
A) The Sui linked the Grand Canal, increasing trade. They also expanded the Great Wall. B) Emperor Wen was a Buddhist and tried to spread Buddhism. He made Luoyang his capital.

27. Luoyang Buddhas

28. VI The Role of Women
A) As the Han state official ideology was Confucianism, women were deemed inferior to men.
“A bride serves her husband, Just as she served her father. Her voice cannot be heard Nor can her body or shadow be seen. With her husband's father and elder brothers she has no conversation.” - Confucius
B) Ban Zhao (c. 45–120) was the first woman historian of China. While she called for a woman’s obedience, she also argued for a woman’s education.
“… now that he [my son] is a man and able to plan his own life, I need not again have concern for him. But I do grieve that you, my daughters, just now at the age for marriage, have not at this time had gradual training and advice; that you still have not learned the proper customs for married women. l fear that by failure in good manners in other families you will humiliate both your ancestors and your clan. I am now seriously ill, life is uncertain... At hours of leisure I have composed… these instructions under the title, "Lessons for Women."
Succeed in pleasing the one man and you are forever settled.Fail in pleasing the one man and you are forever finished…

29. The Role of Women Continued…
As Yin and Yang are not of the same nature, so man and woman have different characteristics. The distinctive quality of the Yang is rigidity; the function of the Yin is yielding. Man is honored for strength; a woman is beautiful on account of her gentleness… A woman ought to have four qualifications: (1) womanly virtue; (2) womanly words; (3) womanly bearing; and (4) womanly work. Now what is called womanly virtue need not be brilliant ability, exceptionally different from others. Womanly words need be neither clever in debate nor keen in conversation. Womanly appearance requires neither a pretty nor a perfect face and form. Womanly work need not be work done more skillfully than that of others. To guard carefully her chastity; to control circumspectly her behavior; in every motion to exhibit modesty; and to model each act on the best usage, this is womanly virtue. To choose her words with care; to avoid vulgar language; to speak at appropriate times… may be called the characteristics of womanly words. To wash and scrub filth away; to keep clothes and ornaments fresh and clean… and to keep the person free from disgraceful filth, may be called the characteristics of womanly bearing. With whole-hearted devotion to sew and to weave; to love not gossip and silly laughter; in cleanliness and order to prepare the wine and food for serving guests, may be called the characteristics of womanly work…”

30. Silk Screen of Women, Han China

31. Focus Questions
Fill in your civilization chart for the Qin, Han, and Sui dynasties.
Describe the role of women in the Han Dynasty. Cite evidence from Confucius and Ban Zhao to support your answer. (Approx. 2 paragraphs)
2. Read the quote below. Do you agree or disagree and why?
“The West inherited its traditions from the Romans and the Greeks, while China inherits from the Han.” -Liu Qingzhu, director of the Institute of Archaeology in Beijing

32. Key Vocabulary Acupuncture Qin Dynasty Chang’an Qin Shi Huangdi
Civil service exam
Red Eyebrows
Confucianism
Silk Road
Eastern Han
Sui Dynasty
Emperor Wen
Taoism/Daoism
Emperor Wu
Wang Man
Great Wall of China
Warring States
Han Dynasty
Western Han
Legalism
Xiongnu
Liu Bang
Yellow Scarves Rebellion
Liu Xiu
Ban Zhao
Luoyang
One Hundred Schools of Thought