The Unification of China
Alfie Anthony N. Neodama
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynasties_in_Chinese_history
Qin • Shang Yang, a
famous stateman,
reformer,
military strategist
•
Dynasty His reform
included: to
encourage the
people who are
engaged in
farming to produce a
lot of grain and
can be exempted
[221-207 from corvee; to
grant titles and
fields according
to military
merits; to
abolish the privileges
BCE]
of old nobles
without military
merits.
• He assisted Qin
kings to
implement
reforms, establish
centralized and
bureaucratic
rule
https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-china/qin-dynasty
• 13-year old Ying Zheng became
a king and took the name Qin
Shi Huang Di (r. 221-207 BCE),
conquered 7 warring kingdoms,
and built the first empire in
China
• Divided the empire into
administrative provinces and
districts; disarmed regional
military forces; had a powerful
army with iron weaponry
• Roads, bridges, defensive walls,
• Standardized laws, currencies,
weights, measures, Chinese
scripts
• Executed critics (460 scholars)
while others were forced to join
army and dispatched to
dangerous frontiers, burnt all
books (philosophy, ethics and
history)
• Decline: millions of laborers
conscripted to work on public
works rebelled after the death of
the emperor
• Founded by Liu Bang who became
known as Emperor Gaozu of Han
• Han Wudi “Martial Emperor” [r. 141-
87 BCE]
• Administrative centralization and
imperial expansion
• Roads, canals,
• Levied taxes on agriculture,
trade, craft industries, liquor and
was state supervised
• 124 BCE- imperial university;
30,000 students by the later Han
• Challenge: Xiongnu, nomadic
people from steppes of Central Asia
10 Inventions • Invention of paper made
of hemp,
from China’s bark, textile fiber
• Suspension bridge
Han Dynasty • First to build derricks
and use
cast iron drill bits to
dig holes as
that changed deep as 4,800 feet deep
into the
Earth in search of
brine (salt
the World water)
• Wheelbarrow
• Seismograph (urn
equipped with
a pendulum)
• First blast furnace
which pumped
a blast of air into a
heated batch
of iron ore to produce
cast iron
https://www.history.com/news/han-dynasty-inventions#section_1
10 Inventions
from China’s
Han Dynasty
that changed • Adjustable wrench
the World • Moldboard plow
• Stirrup
• Rudder
https://www.history.com/news/han-dynasty-inventions#section_1
In 138 BCE, Zhang Qian was sent
on a mission by Emperor Wu. On
his way, he was captured by
Xiongnu, escaped, and reached
Afghanistan. After 13 years, he
came back to China. His
expedition us considered to be the
foundation of the first “Silk Road”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Qian
Decline and Fall of Han
Dynasty
Difficulties
• Expeditions against Xiongnu and the establishment of agricultural colonies in
Central Asia were expensive
• Economy was declining because of poor investments from aristocrats whose lands
and personal properties were confiscated to raise imperial funds
• The widening gap between the rich and the poor resulted to social tensions;
small
land owners were losing their lands to big landowners because of poor harvest,
high taxes, etc. Landless peasants became restive.
• Reign of Wang Mang, socialist emperor, mixed reactions over his policy of land
redistribution
Later Han at Louyang
• Civil disorders, Banditry and rebellions
• Factions among the imperial family members
• Bureaucrats and eunuchs sought to increase their influence; pursued self
interest
Tang Dynasty (618-
906 CE)
• Before Tang, there were The Three
Kingdoms and Sui Dynasty.
• Li Yuan, founder of the Tang Dynasty
• Golden age of Chinese arts and
culture
• Woodblock printing
• Calendars, children’s books, test
guides, charm manuals, dictionaries,
almanacs
• Spread of Buddhism
• Gunpowder
• Decline:
• Eunuchs assassinating one
emperor after another
• Chaos in the countryside
