The Unification of China Flashcards
Confucius Urges Harmony
China’s most influential scholar was Confucius (kuhn•FYOO•shuhs). Born in 551 b.c., Confucius lived in a time when the Zhou Dynasty was in decline. He led a scholarly life, studying and teaching history, music, and moral character. Confucius was born at a time of crisis and violence in China. He had a deep desire to restore the order and moral living of earlier times to his society. Confucius believed that social order, harmony, and good government could be restored in China if society were organized around five basic relationships. These were the relationships between: (1) ruler and subject, (2) father and son, (3) husband and wife, (4) older brother and younger brother, and (5) friend and friend. A code of proper conduct regulated each of these relationships. Children should practice filial piety, or respect for their parents and ancestors. Filial piety, according to Confucius, meant devoting oneself to one’s parents during their lifetimes. It also required honoring their memories after death through the performance of certain rituals. Wanted to reform Chinese society by showing rulers how to govern wisely. Impressed by Confucius’s wisdom, the duke of Lu appointed him minister of justice. According to legend, Confucius so overwhelmed people by his kindness and courtesy that almost overnight, crime vanished from Lu. When the duke’s ways changed, however, Confucius became disillusioned and resigned. Confucius spent the remainder of his life teaching. His students later collected his words in a book called the Analects. A disciple named Mencius (MEHN•shee•uhs) also spread Confucius’s ideas.
Confucius and the Social Order
End of the Zhou Dynasty, China moved away from its ancient values of social order, harmony, and respect for authority. Chinese scholars and philosophers developed different solutions to restore these values.
Confucius’ Idea about Government
Said that education could transform a humbly born person into a gentleman. In saying this, he laid the groundwork for the creation of a bureaucracy, a trained civil service, or those who run the government. According to Confucius, a gentleman had four virtues: “In his private conduct he was courteous, in serving his master he was punctilious [precise], in providing for the needs of the people he gave them even more than their due; in exacting service from the people, he was just.” Education became critically important to career advancement in the bureaucracy. Confucianism was never a religion, but it was an ethical system, a system based on accepted principles of right and wrong. It became the foundation for Chinese government and social order. In addition, the ideas of Confucius spread beyond China and influenced civilizations throughout East Asia.
Other Ethical Systems
In addition to Confucius, other Chinese scholars and philosophers developed ethical systems with very different philosophies. Some stressed the importance of nature, others, the power of government.
Daoists Seek Harmony
For a Chinese thinker named Laozi (low•dzuh), who may have lived during the sixth century b.c., only the natural order was important. The natural order involves relations among all living things. His book Dao De Jing (The Way of Virtue) expressed Laozi’s belief. He said that a universal force called the Dao (dow), meaning “the Way,” guides all things. Of all the creatures of nature, according to Laozi, only humans fail to follow the Dao. They argue about questions of right and wrong, good manners or bad. According to Laozi, such arguments are pointless, philosophy of Laozi came to be known as Daoism. Its search for knowledge and understanding of nature led Daoism’s followers to pursue scientific studies. Daoists made many important contributions to the sciences of alchemy, astronomy, and medicine.
Legalist Urge Harsh Rule
In sharp contrast to the followers of Confucius and Laozi was a group of practical political thinkers called the Legalists. They believed that a highly efficient and powerful government was the key to restoring order in society. They got their name from their belief that government should use the law to end civil disorder and restore harmony. Hanfeizi and Li Si were among the founders of Legalism. Legalists taught that a ruler should provide rich rewards for people who carried out their duties well. Likewise, the disobedient should be harshly punished. In practice, the Legalists stressed punishment more than rewards. For example, anyone caught outside his own village without a travel permit should have his ears or nose chopped off. The Legalists believed in controlling ideas as well as actions. They suggested that a ruler burn all writings that might encourage people to criticize government. After all, it was for the prince to govern and the people to obey. Eventually, Legalist ideas gained favor with a prince of a new dynasty that replaced the Zhou. That powerful ruler soon brought order to China.
I Ching and Yin and Yang
People with little interest in the philosophical debates of the Confucians, Daoists, and Legalists found answers to life’s questions elsewhere. Some consulted a book of oracles called I Ching (also spelled Yi Jing) to solve ethical or practical problems. Readers used the book by throwing a set of coins, interpreting the results, and then reading the appropriate oracle, or prediction. The I Ching (The Book of Changes) helped people to lead a happy life by offering good advice and simple common sense. Other people turned to the ideas of ancient thinkers, such as the concept of yin and yang—two powers that together represented the natural rhythms of life. Yin represents all that is cold, dark, soft, and mysterious. Yang is the opposite—warm, bright, hard, and clear. The symbol of yin and yang is a circle divided into halves, as shown in the emblem to the upper right. The circle represents the harmony of yin and yang. Both forces represent the rhythm of the universe and complement each other. Both the I Ching and yin and yang helped Chinese people understand how they fit into the world.
The Qin Dynasty Unifies China
In the third century b.c., the Qin Dynasty (chihn) replaced the Zhou Dynasty. It emerged from the western state of Qin. The ruler who founded the Qin Dynasty employed Legalist ideas to subdue the warring states and unify his country.
New Emperor Takes Control
221 b.c., after ruling for over 20 years, the Qin ruler assumed the name Shi Huangdi (shihr-hwahng•dee), which means “First Emperor. The new emperor had begun his reign by halting the internal battles that had sapped China’s strength. Next he turned his attention to defeating invaders and crushing resistance within China to his rule. Shi Huangdi’s armies attacked the invaders north of the Huang He and south as far as what is now Vietnam. His victories doubled China’s size. Shi Huangdi was determined to unify China. Shi Huangdi acted decisively to crush political opposition at home. To destroy the power of rival warlords, he introduced a policy called “strengthening the trunk and weakening the branches.” He commanded all the noble families to live in the capital city under his suspicious gaze. This policy, according to tradition, uprooted 120,000 noble families. Seizing their land, the emperor carved China into 36 administrative districts. He sent Qin officials to control them. To prevent criticism, Shi Huangdi and his prime minister, the Legalist philosopher Li Si, murdered hundreds of Confucian scholars. They also ordered “useless” books burned. These books were the works of Confucian thinkers and poets who disagreed with the Legalists. Practical books about medicine and farming, however, were spared. Through measures such as these, Shi Huangdi established an autocracy—a government that has unlimited power and uses it in an arbitrary manner.
A Program of Centralization
Shi Huangdi’s sweeping program of centralization included the building of a highway network of more than 4,000 miles. Also, he set the same standards throughout China for writing, law, currency, and weights and measures—even down to the length of cart axles. This last standard made sure that all vehicles could fit into the ruts of China’s main roads. Under Shi Huangdi’s rule, irrigation projects increased farm production. Trade blossomed, thanks to the new road system. Trade pushed a new class of merchants into prominence. Despite these social advances, harsh taxes and repressive government made the Qin regime unpopular. Shi Huangdi had unified China at the expense of human freedom.
Great Wall of China
Scholars hated Shi Huangdi for his book burning. Poor people hated him because they were forced to work on the building of a huge defensive wall. Earlier, Zhou rulers had erected smaller walls to discourage attacks by northern nomads. Shi Huangdi determined to close the gaps and extend the wall almost the length of the empire’s border. Enemies would have to gallop halfway to Tibet to get around it. The Great Wall of China arose on the backs of hundreds of thousands of peasants. The wall builders worked neither for wages nor for love of empire. They faced a terrible choice: work on the wall or die. Many of the laborers worked on the wall and died anyway, victims of the crushing labor or the harsh winter weather.
The Fall of the Qin
Qin Dynasty lasted only a short time. Though fully as cruel as his father, Shi Huangdi’s son proved less able. Peasants rebelled just three years after the second Qin emperor took office. One of their leaders, a peasant from the land of Han, marched his troops into the capital city. By 202 b.c., the harsh Qin Dynasty gave way to the Han Dynasty, one of the longest in Chinese history.
