The Qin and Han dynasties unify China and establish a centralized empire, which continually uses and develops through 20th century. The imperial structure draws on elements of both Legalist and Confucian thought. The Chinese empire is founded when the state of Qin unites the other six Chinese states, Han(the state), Wei, Zhu, Qi, Yan, Ji, in 211 B.C. and establishes a centralized system of government. The Han dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE) follows the short-lived Qin and rules China for about 300 years. The Han greatly expands the Chinese empire. The Han dynasty retains the centralized bureaucracy and unified political system of the Qin but adopts and grafts upon this the Confucian view that government should be run by educated, ethical men.…
First of all, every major nation during period 1200BCE and 220CE, Zhou, Qin, Han, established centralized government. This is crucial for Chinese history in that it is hard to find nations that established centralized government before these nations. Throughout the world, there were some centralized nations such as the Roman Empire of Mediterranean region in this era. However, these nations differed in how they had established centralized government. Zhou was able to establish initial centralized government mainly by mandate of heaven, which is the concept of king having both power and responsibility for ruling the nation. Qin established strong centralized government based on powerful military and strict legalism. Han established the most concrete centralization among these countries because instead of vassals or aristocrats, government officials of Han were sent to rule the provinces. Moreover, unlike Qin, Han adopted Confucianism instead of strict legalism. These nations endeavored to establish centralized government because it had advantages to the decentralized government in that the politic was stabled and there was less possibility of rebellion. Although these nations differed in how they established centralized government, kings and emperors of these nations had strong power compared to former…
Qin Dinasty was one of seven Kingdoms which fought to reign over the Chinese empire around the 300BC. At this period, the king of the Zhou Dynasty was always the leader of the empire, but he could no more make no decision. The dynasty of Qin is one of the briefest but also one of the most important Chinese dynasties. Its administration indeed corresponds to the implementation of the imperial order and opens the way to the powerful dynasty of Han. Towards the end of Zhou Dynasty, in this period so-called period "Warring States", it became evident that the old ritual order had gone out of use. Some of the numerous feudal States lords adopted new methods of government. Placed on the West of the Chinese world, the State of Qin put into practice…
The Unification of China, led by Qin Shi Huang – the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty – was a series of military campaigns launched in the late 3rd century BC. A part of a war called Warring States Period, the campaign was to unify all of what was Ancient China and to solidify Qin’s rule to all of it. But before the unification was achieved, the seven major states had their own customs and culture. Wu Qi, wrote a book entitled The Book of Master Wu wherein he declared that the government and nature of the people were reflective of the terrain where they live in.…
Legalism was a form of government with focus on greater efficiency and less adherence to tradition. Strict adherence to the letter of the law was made paramount. It was during this time that the great burning of books and massacre of many scholars were carried out as the Emperor believed that an uneducated population would be easier to control. Standardisation swept across many aspects of life under the Qin Dynasty.…
The Han dynasty mitigated the harshest aspects of Qin governance but kept Qin’s system of imperial bureaucracy. As mentioned above, early Han emperors reduced taxes, provided financial relief for the poor, and relaxed legal penalties; the dynasty had nothing to gain from revoking the ghastly memories of Qin. Qin remained an anathema to Han scholars as well. The scholar-bureaucrat, Jia Yi, despite his praise towards Shihuangdi for unifying China, denounced his dynasty for imposing terror upon people and warned that its fall resulted from its inhumane rule. As an expression of condemnation, moreover, the grand historian, Sima Qian, provided a gruesome account in his magnum opus, Shuji, of an incident wherein Shihuangdi burnt all philosophical texts of certain types under private possession and buried more than 460 scholars who opposed the edict. Han, however, had much in common with its infamous predecessor.…
Qin also had conquered other states and unified China with their organized armies equipped with iron weapons. Qin Shihuangdi established imperial rule, continued expansion on the Great Wall, buried 460 scholars alive, and burned all books exception to books with utilitarian value. Standardized laws, currencies, weights, measures and scripts were created. Han also, built an enormous government, taxes on agriculture, trade, and craft industries, imperial ownership on production of iron and salt. Invaded and colonized northern Vietnam and Korea.…
Han looked to past for methods; Romans used pragmatism to define methods 4. Both became models for later imperialists II. The Qin dynasty A. Administration and control 1. Political organization and control a. Commanderies with civilian and military governors b. Registration of males for army and public labor c. Control by censorship d. Standardized weights, measures, currency 2.…
The Qin dynasties powerful centralized government unified China by building a highway network that extended for 4,000 miles, and by setting a universal standard throughout China for writing, law, currency, weights, and measures. These two very important advancements were a lethal part of the unification process of the Qin dynasty. While the Han dynasty, also maintained the centralized bureaucracy of the Qin dynasty, and furthermore enhanced the ideals of it’s dynasty due to their Confucian philosophies. The Han dynasty also utilized a part of the feudal system, but their previously established centralized government was all that was needed to maintain the unification of China throughout their reign. On the other hand, the feudalistic government system of the Zhou dynasty did not consist of a strong centralized government.…
Han looked to past for methods; Romans used pragmatism to define methods 4. Both became models for later imperialists II. The Qin dynasty A. Administration and control 1. Political organization and control a. Commanderies with civilian and military governors b. Registration of males for army and public labor c. Control by censorship d. Standardized weights, measures, currency 2. Legalism a. Stability through strict law and punishment b. Group responsibility for individuals 3.…
The doctrine of Legalism that guided the Qin dynasty, the first unified dynasty after the Warring States period, emphasized strict adherence to a legal code and the absolute power of the emperor. This philosophy, while effective for expanding the empire in a military fashion, proved unworkable for governing it in peacetime. The Qin Emperor presided over the brutal silencing of political opposition, including the event known as the burning of books and the burying of scholars.…
The idea of ruling a powerful government based on the principle of using two conflicting ideologies at the same time appeared foreign to most dynasties of early China. In early Chinese times, after the Period of the Warring States, two ideologies emerged: Legalism and Confucianism. Legalism stressed a strong central government that expressed harsh laws while Confucianism had a decentralized government, placing trust in conscientious and learned individuals to work together to solve political issues. These two schools of thought were in stark contrast to each other and, up until the Han dynasty, had never been combined with each other through government policy. The Qin dynasty, for example implemented a strict Legalist government while the Zhou dynasty applied a decentralized Confucianist government, which, as with the Qin dynasty, did not last long. As opposed to the Qin and Zhou dynasties, the combination of Legalist and Confucianist values led to a successful government in the Han dynasty because it gave way to a strong central government along with a rise in cultural and intellectual thinking while also checking each of the ideologies to prevent one from becoming too dominant.…
During the warring states period, there were various people jockeying for power, but there was no central government. Then, afterwards the Qin dynasty took over and instituted a strong, centralized government. Thereafter, the Han dynasty took power and then went from a strong rule like the Qin, to a looser rule that followed some principles from Confucianism. After the Han, the three kingdoms period caused a return to divided rule.…
Human beings exhibit little reverence for the sanctity of their flesh. In our eternal quest for aesthetic perfection, bodies are twisted, molded, plucked and burned in order to live up to unobtainable ideals. Unfortunately, though human desires can be appeased, they are never satisfied, and beauty is no exception. To quote Legal Professor Deborah L. Rhode: “Desires, expectations, and standards of comparison increase as rapidly as they are satisfied.” (Rhode 30) Undeniably, the female body is overwhelmingly and disproportionately subjected to such modifications, due in no small part to the pervasive desires of patriarchies perpetuated through history. This beauty mandate has left innumerable women aching for perfection in an era where the feminine…
In this essay I will describe the three main religions of Ancient China. Although they are not that much alike they do have some similarities. There were three major religions in ancient china, Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism.…