China 221 BCE-Turning Points: The Unification Of China
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Chinese History Assignment
China 221 BCE - turning point
The first Chinese Empire was formed from the unification of state of Qin with other Sates in China states in 221 BCE to establish a centralized organization of government. The founding of the Qin dynasty not only brought the unification of the China but also redefined China as a country. Before the Qin dynasty, China was under based on clan ties and lineage but transformed into a centralized government in 221 BCE.
The period was coming with the establishment of the Qin Dynasty also marked a turning point in the Chinese cultural history. After the bloody wars marking the unification of China, the country moved social, political and intellectual unification …show more content…
(Hist 254, Lecture 2). With the power army and intellectual team, the First Emperor of Qin defeated the regionalism of Zhou feudal system and replaced it with a bureaucratic system. Under the new system, the centralized government held direct control over thirty-six commanders.
Other reforms that took place under the Qin Dynasty include standardization of weights and measures, laws and regulations, length of carriage axles, and written characters. The period represented the Chinese territory unification into a centralized state formed by an absolute monarch. The era was marked by intense competition between states, which necessitated the move towards centralization of power and the militarization of Chinese society.
The concentration of power and rise of larger powers brought the larger powers into direct contact, which set the stage for the third century BCE. Thus, the rulers capitalized on strengthening their economic and military power. The rulers appreciated and sought advice from educated people who had insight in the arts of governing and warfare, which created demand for experts in these arts.
The first Chinese Emperor, Ch’in Shih Huang-ti, ruled from 221-206 BCE and laid down the groundwork for the formation of the Chinese imperial structure and commenced the building of the Great Wall to tighten its security (Hist 254, Lecture 2). The Emperor advocated for the state order Legalist proposals and founded a centralized bureaucracy and comprehensive law codes that outlined specific punishments for every crime. The unified political system and centralized bureaucracy that Qin started was upheld by the emperors who came after him such as in the Han dynasty.
Confucian classics had formed the base of education in the early dynastic China. However, the Qin dynasty attempted to remove all traces of Confucian doctrine and replace them with Legalist concepts (Ebrey 22). The trend towards the Legalist concepts was reversed by the Han dynasty. The revolution involved a shift towards the thinking that study of philosophy and history were the most important aspects towards the promotion of sound government.
Overthrow of the last Shang King
The overthrow of the Shang Dynasty, In 1046 BCE, by the Zhou Dynasty took place at the Battle of Muye and was justified through the Mandate of Heaven.
The Zhou fashioned the Mandate of Heaven, which brought the idea that there could only be one legitimate ruler in China and the leader possessed the blessings of the gods. Scholar believed that the Xia Dynasty was a creation of the Zhou to support their claim of the Mandate of Heaven that there had always been one ruler in China.
The Shang political structure was an expansion of the former multi-village political units of the Longshan era. The Shang Kings possessed absolute power over their Kingdom, but their authority over vassal states was comparative to their capacity to coerce. The empire was built around a feudal structure with the Shang King being the overload (Hist 254, Lecture 2). The king was the most powerful of the Lords, but he had to call his vassals to offer additional foot soldiers and chariots.
The Zhou had the support of the Chinese people because the final King of Shang Dynasty had been cruel and spent the states money on gambling and drinking and ignored the state. The Zhou founded authority be forming alliances with regional nobles and formed the dynasty with the capital as …show more content…
Fenghao.
The defeat of the Shang Dynasty changed China from the worship of Shang to the worship of Tian ("heaven") and created the Mandate of Heaven. The legitimate ruler established by the Mandate of Heaven reigned as the "Son of Heaven" and had the gods’ approval. The mandate believed that once a ruler lost the approval of the gods, he started a downfall.
The philosophical and religious literature that turned out to be the foundation of Chinese religious and social belief emerged from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The Zhou era also marked the rise of Confucian literature, Daoism, Legalism and various other philosophical schools.
The creation of unified China came from the need for the Zhou people to fashion the image that China had been unified with a single ruler. Most scholars also believe that the idea of a Unified China was the idea of the Zhou. The Zhou were pushed by the need to erase the numerous small states of prehistoric China and replaced them with the Xia Dynasty to make the Mandate of Heaven look valid. The Xia Dynasty creation was to prove that they had been and would always be the only rulers of China.
Warfare Warring States eras
The last two hundred years during the Chou dynasty was marked by so much turmoil that it was labeled as the ‘the Warring States Era’. The warfare during this era caused the larger states gobbled, the smaller states. The trend was opposite to the previous Spring and Autumn Era, where the Chou empire was fragmenting into many states. The period marked a change of the rules of war in China. In the Spring and Autumn era, the Chou states engaged in regular warfare and political battle (Hist 254, Lecture 3). In the Warring States Era, the war became rude and marked a change in the rules of war.
During the Spring and Autumn era, the war had become more of a game for the Chou principles. The people signed treaties, made negotiations, confirmed and broke treaties, but rulers, who were from the same class and families fought politely following the set rules of war. However, during the Warring States era the states fought in the war to win, conquer and vanquish. They did not enter the wars for the sake of the battle itself but to increase their power and expand their land holdings (Ebrey 142). The practices involved enslaving and slaughtering their subjects. The practice marked the replacement of the warrior culture with the power culture.
The territorial states developed administrative systems to replace systems that worked to replace methods that favored only the smaller states. The wars at that period were not caused by diplomatic or territorial frictions between the seven states but emerged from one state to the other as they attempted to conquer each other and control all states.
The states that were more rooted in tradition eventually failed because they could not quickly adapt the war technology. The other states conquered, dominated and swallowed up their neighbors to expand their territories (Hist 254, Lecture 2). The readiness to adopt the new technology led to their success as the ‘civilized states’ failed due to their unwillingness to adopt the same technology. Therefore, the mechanism led to a further centralization of China. Alliances were unsuccessful in neutralizing the military threat in the eras.
The warring period was marked with intensive warfare military and bureaucratic reforms and consolidation with the more powerful ruling the large territories and sought to build their powers and destruction Zhou court's prestige (De Grazia 15). To signify the shift, the rulers in the major states did away with their feudal titles, except the Chu states, and favored the King title and declared equality the Zhou rulers.
The regular warfare and war led to the development of political and social models that founded the various philosophical doctrines referred to as Hundred Schools of Thought, with Mohism being the most notable of them.
Mohism led to the adoption of the belief that rulers depended on the environment. Therefore, the rulers remained cautious and protected their surroundings. Despite that he was a great tactician, Mozi advocated against warfare and defended the smaller states of Song from the Chu state.
PART 2
Xun Zi’s philosophy
Xun Zi and Confucianism
Xun Zi belief on learning aligned with Confucianism which learning is difficult. Further, he believed that ethics are immaterial in the context of the active rule and that the paramount government is founded on authoritarian control (Hist 254, Lecture 3). Xun Zi distinguished himself for the interpretation of human nature, believing that human nature is inherently evil but using culture it can be domesticated.
Xun Zi and Legalism
Legalism belief aligned with Xun Zi on the absolute authority of the ruler and that state enforced Laws could rein in the selfish desires of subjects and officials. Also, the also agreed with Zun Zi that appointment and promotion in their envisioned state could be would be founded on demonstrated results such as grain harvested (Hist 254, Lecture 3). Legalism also believed that Human are evil and that the condition could be manipulated by rulers to their advantage. Further, he believed on rewards and punishments for the corresponding behaviors.
I believe that Xun Zi was a Confucian philosopher, who was the link and balance between nature and humans.
Sun Zi’s Art of War
Sun Zi’s ideas on The Art of War is a trait of exploiting human behavior in conflict, especially in war. The Art of War ideas are
• Mutual philosophy – Sun Zi believed that shared ideas and identification bring people together into a useful unified team.
• Environment – The environment conditions, surrounding, affects the plans an individual executes. The conditions are too general and broad to be controlled by people, and this brought the idea of heaven. The examples include shopping season, Economic cycle and zeitgeist.
• Situation – Situation is similar to the idea of the environment but of smaller scale, which people can control with the appropriate knowledge.
• Leadership – Leadership enables people to execute good plans with the help of perception, emotional intelligence, foresight, and objectivity.
• Art – The ability and skill to execute strategy, where Preparation and coordination are critical.
The ideas are relevant to modern conflict just like they were in the feudal conflict because they are applicable in areas such as conflict, economics, and
management.
Daoists and socio-political order
The rejected civilization and termed it as the problem that resulted from the arrogance of Mankind in his attempt to bring simulated order on nature. Daoists claimed that harmony could only be restored by the collapse of civilization and adopting simplicity. Daoism is also connected with the search for immorality. As Daoism evolved, some of its sections offered the believers long life, immunity from physical injury or disease and superhuman powers (Hist 254, Lecture 3). Daoism required minimizing institutions and laws, which meant that the society was headed to the ancient simplicity where the natural forces interaction would not be affected by human interruption (De Grazia 18). Further, Daoism rejected social relation in favor of individualism and quietness as they searched for individual harmony in the wake of warfare and bloodshed. Thus, Daoism discouraged social interactions, imposing law and order and encouraged simplicity and individualism to escape the continued warfare. The moves affected interaction of human beings, socially, and affected the political organization of the society by encouraging simplicity.
The Daoist’s loved to use water as an analogy for Daoism because water flows naturally, without awareness, downriver (which is a principle of tao). Though the water may be blocked along the way, it just finds its way around the object blocking it. Water acts with wu wei, without motive (Hist 254, Lecture 3). The water analogy supports the Daoists claim that man must position his will in harmony with the natural universe. A person going against the harmony of the natural environment would be going ‘against the flow of life’.
Inner Asian nomads
The Inner Asian empires are the empires elected by horse-riding, bow-wielding, nomadic people in Eurasian steppe, and lived from the classical antiquity (Scythia) to the start of the modern era (Dzungars). The inner nomadic Asians established a capital city in the conquered state and exploited the commercial and bureaucratic resources of the society that was not nomadic.
The Inner Asian nomads, during the Qin, started to collide with the expanding Chinese empire. The warriors were viewed as an opposition to the civilization of the settled Chinese (Hist 254, Lecture 4). The inner Asian nomads wanted to attack and control China and were establishing themselves along the Chinese border.
The Inner Asian nomads did not have advanced weaponry but had the bows and their type of advanced weaponry, the mounted archery. Their pastoralism life gave them horses to supply all the people with mounts and defeat all-Calvary armies, and enough to conduct hit-and-run exploits and also offered them logistics freedom.
Works Cited
De Grazia, Sebastian. "Masters of Chinese political thought: from the beginnings to the Han Dynasty." (1974).
Ebrey, Patricia B. Chinese Civilization and Society: A Sourcebook. New York: Free Press, 1981. Print.
The Heritage of World Civilizations, Volume 1: Books a La Carte + New Myhistorylab. Pearson College Div, 2011. Print.
Instructor
Course
Date
Chinese History Assignment
China 221 BCE - turning point
The first Chinese Empire was formed from the unification of state of Qin with other Sates in China states in 221 BCE to establish a centralized organization of government. The founding of the Qin dynasty not only brought the unification of the China but also redefined China as a country. Before the Qin dynasty, China was under based on clan ties and lineage but transformed into a centralized government in 221 BCE.
The period was coming with the establishment of the Qin Dynasty also marked a turning point in the Chinese cultural history. After the bloody wars marking the unification of China, the country moved social, political and intellectual unification …show more content…
(Hist 254, Lecture 2). With the power army and intellectual team, the First Emperor of Qin defeated the regionalism of Zhou feudal system and replaced it with a bureaucratic system. Under the new system, the centralized government held direct control over thirty-six commanders.
Other reforms that took place under the Qin Dynasty include standardization of weights and measures, laws and regulations, length of carriage axles, and written characters. The period represented the Chinese territory unification into a centralized state formed by an absolute monarch. The era was marked by intense competition between states, which necessitated the move towards centralization of power and the militarization of Chinese society.
The concentration of power and rise of larger powers brought the larger powers into direct contact, which set the stage for the third century BCE. Thus, the rulers capitalized on strengthening their economic and military power. The rulers appreciated and sought advice from educated people who had insight in the arts of governing and warfare, which created demand for experts in these arts.
The first Chinese Emperor, Ch’in Shih Huang-ti, ruled from 221-206 BCE and laid down the groundwork for the formation of the Chinese imperial structure and commenced the building of the Great Wall to tighten its security (Hist 254, Lecture 2). The Emperor advocated for the state order Legalist proposals and founded a centralized bureaucracy and comprehensive law codes that outlined specific punishments for every crime. The unified political system and centralized bureaucracy that Qin started was upheld by the emperors who came after him such as in the Han dynasty.
Confucian classics had formed the base of education in the early dynastic China. However, the Qin dynasty attempted to remove all traces of Confucian doctrine and replace them with Legalist concepts (Ebrey 22). The trend towards the Legalist concepts was reversed by the Han dynasty. The revolution involved a shift towards the thinking that study of philosophy and history were the most important aspects towards the promotion of sound government.
Overthrow of the last Shang King
The overthrow of the Shang Dynasty, In 1046 BCE, by the Zhou Dynasty took place at the Battle of Muye and was justified through the Mandate of Heaven.
The Zhou fashioned the Mandate of Heaven, which brought the idea that there could only be one legitimate ruler in China and the leader possessed the blessings of the gods. Scholar believed that the Xia Dynasty was a creation of the Zhou to support their claim of the Mandate of Heaven that there had always been one ruler in China.
The Shang political structure was an expansion of the former multi-village political units of the Longshan era. The Shang Kings possessed absolute power over their Kingdom, but their authority over vassal states was comparative to their capacity to coerce. The empire was built around a feudal structure with the Shang King being the overload (Hist 254, Lecture 2). The king was the most powerful of the Lords, but he had to call his vassals to offer additional foot soldiers and chariots.
The Zhou had the support of the Chinese people because the final King of Shang Dynasty had been cruel and spent the states money on gambling and drinking and ignored the state. The Zhou founded authority be forming alliances with regional nobles and formed the dynasty with the capital as …show more content…
Fenghao.
The defeat of the Shang Dynasty changed China from the worship of Shang to the worship of Tian ("heaven") and created the Mandate of Heaven. The legitimate ruler established by the Mandate of Heaven reigned as the "Son of Heaven" and had the gods’ approval. The mandate believed that once a ruler lost the approval of the gods, he started a downfall.
The philosophical and religious literature that turned out to be the foundation of Chinese religious and social belief emerged from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The Zhou era also marked the rise of Confucian literature, Daoism, Legalism and various other philosophical schools.
The creation of unified China came from the need for the Zhou people to fashion the image that China had been unified with a single ruler. Most scholars also believe that the idea of a Unified China was the idea of the Zhou. The Zhou were pushed by the need to erase the numerous small states of prehistoric China and replaced them with the Xia Dynasty to make the Mandate of Heaven look valid. The Xia Dynasty creation was to prove that they had been and would always be the only rulers of China.
Warfare Warring States eras
The last two hundred years during the Chou dynasty was marked by so much turmoil that it was labeled as the ‘the Warring States Era’. The warfare during this era caused the larger states gobbled, the smaller states. The trend was opposite to the previous Spring and Autumn Era, where the Chou empire was fragmenting into many states. The period marked a change of the rules of war in China. In the Spring and Autumn era, the Chou states engaged in regular warfare and political battle (Hist 254, Lecture 3). In the Warring States Era, the war became rude and marked a change in the rules of war.
During the Spring and Autumn era, the war had become more of a game for the Chou principles. The people signed treaties, made negotiations, confirmed and broke treaties, but rulers, who were from the same class and families fought politely following the set rules of war. However, during the Warring States era the states fought in the war to win, conquer and vanquish. They did not enter the wars for the sake of the battle itself but to increase their power and expand their land holdings (Ebrey 142). The practices involved enslaving and slaughtering their subjects. The practice marked the replacement of the warrior culture with the power culture.
The territorial states developed administrative systems to replace systems that worked to replace methods that favored only the smaller states. The wars at that period were not caused by diplomatic or territorial frictions between the seven states but emerged from one state to the other as they attempted to conquer each other and control all states.
The states that were more rooted in tradition eventually failed because they could not quickly adapt the war technology. The other states conquered, dominated and swallowed up their neighbors to expand their territories (Hist 254, Lecture 2). The readiness to adopt the new technology led to their success as the ‘civilized states’ failed due to their unwillingness to adopt the same technology. Therefore, the mechanism led to a further centralization of China. Alliances were unsuccessful in neutralizing the military threat in the eras.
The warring period was marked with intensive warfare military and bureaucratic reforms and consolidation with the more powerful ruling the large territories and sought to build their powers and destruction Zhou court's prestige (De Grazia 15). To signify the shift, the rulers in the major states did away with their feudal titles, except the Chu states, and favored the King title and declared equality the Zhou rulers.
The regular warfare and war led to the development of political and social models that founded the various philosophical doctrines referred to as Hundred Schools of Thought, with Mohism being the most notable of them.
Mohism led to the adoption of the belief that rulers depended on the environment. Therefore, the rulers remained cautious and protected their surroundings. Despite that he was a great tactician, Mozi advocated against warfare and defended the smaller states of Song from the Chu state.
PART 2
Xun Zi’s philosophy
Xun Zi and Confucianism
Xun Zi belief on learning aligned with Confucianism which learning is difficult. Further, he believed that ethics are immaterial in the context of the active rule and that the paramount government is founded on authoritarian control (Hist 254, Lecture 3). Xun Zi distinguished himself for the interpretation of human nature, believing that human nature is inherently evil but using culture it can be domesticated.
Xun Zi and Legalism
Legalism belief aligned with Xun Zi on the absolute authority of the ruler and that state enforced Laws could rein in the selfish desires of subjects and officials. Also, the also agreed with Zun Zi that appointment and promotion in their envisioned state could be would be founded on demonstrated results such as grain harvested (Hist 254, Lecture 3). Legalism also believed that Human are evil and that the condition could be manipulated by rulers to their advantage. Further, he believed on rewards and punishments for the corresponding behaviors.
I believe that Xun Zi was a Confucian philosopher, who was the link and balance between nature and humans.
Sun Zi’s Art of War
Sun Zi’s ideas on The Art of War is a trait of exploiting human behavior in conflict, especially in war. The Art of War ideas are
• Mutual philosophy – Sun Zi believed that shared ideas and identification bring people together into a useful unified team.
• Environment – The environment conditions, surrounding, affects the plans an individual executes. The conditions are too general and broad to be controlled by people, and this brought the idea of heaven. The examples include shopping season, Economic cycle and zeitgeist.
• Situation – Situation is similar to the idea of the environment but of smaller scale, which people can control with the appropriate knowledge.
• Leadership – Leadership enables people to execute good plans with the help of perception, emotional intelligence, foresight, and objectivity.
• Art – The ability and skill to execute strategy, where Preparation and coordination are critical.
The ideas are relevant to modern conflict just like they were in the feudal conflict because they are applicable in areas such as conflict, economics, and
management.
Daoists and socio-political order
The rejected civilization and termed it as the problem that resulted from the arrogance of Mankind in his attempt to bring simulated order on nature. Daoists claimed that harmony could only be restored by the collapse of civilization and adopting simplicity. Daoism is also connected with the search for immorality. As Daoism evolved, some of its sections offered the believers long life, immunity from physical injury or disease and superhuman powers (Hist 254, Lecture 3). Daoism required minimizing institutions and laws, which meant that the society was headed to the ancient simplicity where the natural forces interaction would not be affected by human interruption (De Grazia 18). Further, Daoism rejected social relation in favor of individualism and quietness as they searched for individual harmony in the wake of warfare and bloodshed. Thus, Daoism discouraged social interactions, imposing law and order and encouraged simplicity and individualism to escape the continued warfare. The moves affected interaction of human beings, socially, and affected the political organization of the society by encouraging simplicity.
The Daoist’s loved to use water as an analogy for Daoism because water flows naturally, without awareness, downriver (which is a principle of tao). Though the water may be blocked along the way, it just finds its way around the object blocking it. Water acts with wu wei, without motive (Hist 254, Lecture 3). The water analogy supports the Daoists claim that man must position his will in harmony with the natural universe. A person going against the harmony of the natural environment would be going ‘against the flow of life’.
Inner Asian nomads
The Inner Asian empires are the empires elected by horse-riding, bow-wielding, nomadic people in Eurasian steppe, and lived from the classical antiquity (Scythia) to the start of the modern era (Dzungars). The inner nomadic Asians established a capital city in the conquered state and exploited the commercial and bureaucratic resources of the society that was not nomadic.
The Inner Asian nomads, during the Qin, started to collide with the expanding Chinese empire. The warriors were viewed as an opposition to the civilization of the settled Chinese (Hist 254, Lecture 4). The inner Asian nomads wanted to attack and control China and were establishing themselves along the Chinese border.
The Inner Asian nomads did not have advanced weaponry but had the bows and their type of advanced weaponry, the mounted archery. Their pastoralism life gave them horses to supply all the people with mounts and defeat all-Calvary armies, and enough to conduct hit-and-run exploits and also offered them logistics freedom.
Works Cited
De Grazia, Sebastian. "Masters of Chinese political thought: from the beginnings to the Han Dynasty." (1974).
Ebrey, Patricia B. Chinese Civilization and Society: A Sourcebook. New York: Free Press, 1981. Print.
The Heritage of World Civilizations, Volume 1: Books a La Carte + New Myhistorylab. Pearson College Div, 2011. Print.