Qin and Han Dynasties

Libertyville High School

The Qin (Chin) Dynasty (242-202 BC)

• Arose out of the Time of Warring States

• Took title of Shi Huangdi (First Emperor)

• Applied legalist philosophical methods to run state

Qin Dynasty• Strategy– Destroy power of other

warlords– “Strengthen the trunk,

weaken the branches”– Commanded nobility to live in

capital city– Confiscated lands, weapons

of nobility

Qin Dynasty• Silenced criticism– Murdered hundreds of

Confucian scholars– Burned books NOT about

medicine and farming

• Centralized government power– Massive forced labor on

road building project– Strict regulation of currency,

law – even length of wagon axis

Qin Dynasty: Results

• Unified virtually all of modern day China

• Building projects– Great Wall– Massive tomb

Great Wall of China• Zhou rulers had built many

small walls vs. nomads• Shi Huangdi was

determined to link walls• Built by forced labor of

100,000s of peasants– Choice: work or die– Many who died became

“fill” for wall– Over 1,400 miles long (long

way to go around!)

Huangdi’s Tomb

• Terra Cotta soldiers created to serve emperor in death– Individualized faces,

based on real soldiers of army

• Location lost until 1974

Fall of Qin Dynasty• Regime was horribly

unpopular– High taxes & repressive

government– Scholars were either killed or

forced into hiding– Poor were worked to death on

public projects

• Shi Huangdi died and a peasants revolt broke out; Han Dynasty set up in 202 BC

Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD)

• Considered the greatest period of Chinese history

• Liu Bang, a former Qin policeman, became leader of peasant revolt

• 202 BC: revolt successful, Bang set self up as emperor

Han Government

• Based on Confucian principles

• Goal was the unification of China

• Accomplishments– Lowered taxes– Established civil service

Han Officials (above); nobles (below)

Han Government• Civil service created– Jobs no longer depended on

who you knew– Initiated civil service exam,

based on Confucian ideas– Now, best person got job,

not best connected

• Today, Chinese refer to selves as “People of Han”

Han Technology• Paper, based on wood pulp

(105 AD)• Hydraulic power (bellows of

steel mill)• Steel, combining wrought

and cast iron• Scientific explanations of

lunar & solar eclipses

Silk Road

• From 138 BC, Han emperors ordered patrols of trade routes into Central Asia

• Began sending diplomats to other states

• Received envoys from Romans!

• Trade route reached Mediterranean shore

Fall of Han Dynasty

• Emperors became weak, disinterested in fairness

• Peasant rebellions, nobles joined in

• Han lost control• Civil war for next 350 years