Bell Ringer

• What was the Mandate of Heaven?

• What was the main goal of Confucius?

• What is a meritocracy?

CH 7: Imperial China & Political Development

China: The Beginning

• China would become united in 221 BCE by Prince Zheng of the Qin Dynasty.

• Prince Zheng would become China’s first emperor

Dynasties

• China’s rule will be marked by Dynasties, or by which family is in charge.

• Qin: 221-206 BC• Han: 206BC-220 CE• Period of Chaos: 220-

581

• Sui: 589-618• Tang: 618-907• Period of Chaos: 907-

960ish• Song: 960-1279• Yuan (Mongols):

1297-1368• Ming: 1398-1644

Mandate of Heaven

• The Chinese believed that Dynasties ruled by the Mandate of Heaven

• Floods, drought, famine, earthquakes, plagues, etc were signs Heaven was displeased

Han Dynasty

• The Han Dynasty will rule China for close to 400 years, but eventually fall.

• China would be run by a bureaucracy, a complex system of governments.

• If bureaucracies are honest & hardworking, they are very successful. By 220 CE the Han bureaucracy was corrupt and dishonest.

• This led to high taxes which upset the people

• Taxes drove many into poverty.

• Workers were forced to labor on public projects.

• Bandits were common, and led to warlords that fought the emperor.

• Farmers lost their land, and later rebelled.

• China would fall into a period of chaos

Return to order

• A nomadic group would claim control for 29 years, known as the Sui Dynasty.

• Heavy taxes would cause them to fall to the Tang dynasty.

• They would strengthen and fix the central government of China, and rule for over 300 years.

• The Han dynasty had relied on the aristocracy, ruling class & nobles, to run the government.

• They used civil service exams which determined who was qualified. (Who?)

• The Tang would re-introduce these exams.

• The exams could be taken by anyone, but were extremely difficult people normally needed tutors. The aristocracy were the few who could afford it.

Song Dynasty

• The unfairness of the system led to peasant rebellions, and the Song Dynasty would take over.

• The Song kept the exams, but used a meritocracy, rule by officials of proven merit.

The Exams

• The Exams were based on the teachings of Confucius.

• A Confucian scholar would create the Four Books in 1190. This would become the basis of all civil service exams.

• The Exams would be opened up to anyone in society, and even lower class people could attend state schools to study for the exams.

• If you passed the local exam, you could take the national exam.

• Participants would be locked into rooms when they took the exams, and someone would re-write all their answers so cheating was next to impossible.

• Only a small portion passed the exams.

• After three years on the job you could be promoted.

Mongol Rule• Kublai Khan (Genghis’ Grandson) would

take over China and form the Yuan dynasty.

• The Mongols distrust the Chinese, and don’t want them running their government, so they end the exam system.

• Many Mongols were uneducated or illiterate, so Chinese were still needed.

• After a period of time the continued shortage of officials would make the Mongols put the exams back in place.

• They were still selected who could take the exams.

Ming Dynasty• The Chinese would rebel

against the Mongols, and the Ming Dynasty would take over.

• Though the exam system will benefit China it limited them in some ways.

• People with science, math, or engineering knowledge were kept out of government.

• Merchants were also considered the lowest level of society.