Ancient China: The Han Dynasty

At first the Former Han tried to bring about stability to an empire that was restless.

The point was to bring the autonomous kingdoms under its control.
The other issue was to subdue the powerful imperial consort families.
These families had dynastic ambitions of their own.
In 154 BCE the imperial forces defeated a rebellion by 7 powerful kingdoms.
They were ruled by the members of the Liu family.
They put a policy that all officials in the kingdom be reappointed by the central government.
This was so that a political balance be finally established.
On the borders of the empire, the nomads of the Xiongnu tribes continued to be a threat.
There was relative stability during the reign of Wu (Wudi) (r. 140-87 BCE).
It was there that an important change to the ideology of the empire took place.
Wudi made an important declaration.
It was that the Five Confucian classics be the basis of imperially sponsored scholarship.
He established an imperial academy.
This was to teach students who would later be hired into the bureaucracy.
Toward the end of the period there were a series of weak emperors.
This left the empire to be usurped by Wang Mang.
He established a short-lived Xin Dynasty (9-23 CE)

The Later Han Dynasty (25-220 CE)

The Xin Dynasty fell apart when the Yellow River changed its course and flooded the area.
This causes famine and social unrest.
This then resulted in a large-scale rebellion - the Xin collapsed.
In 25 CE Liu Xin ascended the throne as Emperor Guangwu (Guang Wudi)
The dynasty spanned 200 years.
But it was relatively weakened by
a) a series of underaged emperors.
b) ambitious regents gaining control of the court.
c) empresses and eunuchs who fought among themselves for power.
Eventually a large peasant rebellion uprising known as the Yellow Turbans appeared.
The last emperor Xian abdicated in 220 CE.

The Reign of Gaozu

Imperial Rule

Liu Bang reigned as Emperor Gaozu.
He rose from a peasant background, went up through military ranks with no formal education.
He did not have much patience with Confucian scholars.

Civil Society

After he began his reign he was able to understand the practicality of a Confucian education.
Soon he appointed a number of scholars to serve as bureaucrats.
Although he was an emperor, he did not follow the elaborate ceremonies of The Qin tradition.
He made court procedures more simple.
A new palace was constructed.
The Bureaucracy
A challenge that he faced was finding an adequate number of men to staff the bureaucracy.
In 196 BCE he urged qualified men to their qualifications to provincial offices.
This was to be reviewed.
He was seeking men who were capable, virtuous, and of good reputation.
Officials were to recommend such men that would fit the needs of the government.

The Consolidation of the Han

Gaozu was forced to recognize seven kings who were not members of the Liu clan.
No members of the imperial clan held the title of king.
These seven kings seemed to be a threat to the stability of the Han
During the next 8 years he had to rush their rebellions
By the time he died in 195 BCE, nine of his relatives held kingdoms.

The Threat of the Liu Clan

After his death the Han seemed to be under a threat again.
Gaozu's son reigned as Emperor Hui for only 8 years - he had started as a minor.
Meantime Gaozu widow, Empress Lu served as de facto ruler.
She appointed 4 of her nephews as kings.
This went against her deceased husband's rule.
The rule excluded from kinship all those who were not members of the Liu imperial family.
After Hui's death (188 BCE) Empress Lu installed two boys on the throne.
She claimed they were Hui's sons.
This enabled her to retain her position as ruler.
She enable as many Lu males as possible - this lifted her own power.
When she died in 180 BCE the Lu family rebelled.
Shortly after the Liu loyalists eliminated the rebels at the capital.
The imperial family tried to get support for the newly installed heirs.
In the early years Gaozu made efforts to gain the support of the people by
a) freeing slaves and granting amnesties.
b) doing away with mutilating punishment.
c) paying for the funerals and coffins of the fallen soldiers.
d) giving pardons to the criminals.
e) reducing and standardizing poll taxes.
f) placing granaries that could issue relief rations during time of need.
when she died in 180 BCE the Lu family rebelled.
Shortly after the Liu loyalists eliminated the rebels at the capital.
The imperial family tried to get support for the newly installed heirs.
In the early years Gaozu made efforts to get the support of the people by
a) freeing slaves and granted them amnesties.
b) doing away with mutilating punishments
c) he paid for the funerals and coffins of fallen soldiers.
d) he gave pardons to criminals.
e) he reduce and standardize poll tax.
f) place granaries that could issue relief in time of need.

Administration Functions

The Han managed its large population through a bureaucracy.
The bureaucracy appointed officials with a wide spectrum of responsibilities.
some of their duties were as follows:
a) they collected taxes at the local level.
b) they kept census records and records of land use.
c) they drafted men to military and labour services.
d) they investigated crimes and headed lawsuits.
e) they officiated over religious ceremonies.
f) they recommended candidates for the civil service positions.
g) they maintained records and submitted reports to the central government.
There were three branches of government:
1) the Censorate
2) the Civil
3) the Military
The Censorate was to supervise the officials.

Provincial Government

In 202 BCE Gaozu re-organized the administration units of the empire.
He did this by adopting the Qin Dynasty unit of the commanderie.
He made it to be under the control of centrally appointed non-hereditary governors.
In the east and north the unit of government was to be the kingdom.

The Weakening of the Kingdoms.

After the fall of the Qin the kingdoms were re-established during the civil wars.
This was when rebels set themselves up as kings.
This took place in regions associated with the pre-imperial states.
These areas were larger in size than the area organized into commanderies.
They also controlled natural resources that had great value.
Gaozu knew they posed a threat to the stability of the empire.
The only way to get their loyalty was to honour them as kinships to the Liu family only.
By 196 BCE only one remained in control of their kingdom.
The other kingdoms remained under the control of the male relatives of the imperial Liu family.
After Gaozu death the policy of giving kinship only to the Liu family members was ignored.

Four men of the Lu family were made kings by Gaozu's widow, Empress Lu.
They were eliminated after their failed attempt at overthrowing the Liu family.

Emperor Wendi (180-157 BCE) & Emperor Yangdi (157-140 BCE)

Under their reign the autonomy of th kingdoms and their lack of connection with the reigning emperor continued to threaten the stability of the empire.
During Wudi's reign the number and size of the kingdoms would be drastically diminished.
They had ceased to be a threat.
A large number of kingdoms were eliminated or reduced in size after rebellious outbreaks.

Emperor Jingdi greatly weakened the political power of the kingdoms.

The Commanderies

By 108 China was divided into 84 commanderies and 18 small kingdoms.
This was in addition to their capital.
The Donghai commanderie was one of the largest of the former Han
It was divided into 38 sub-units in the form of counties, nobilities and estates.
Bamboo texts uncovered in 1993 showed a population of 1, 397, 343 individuals.
They were governed by 2,203 officials of the 130,205 officials of the central and provincials government.
As kingdoms ended the commanders required an increase in officials.
The government needed to find a system to recruit and train men to fill the bureaucracy.

Tasks of Officials:

a) administrating the staff.
b) disseminating information from the central government.
c) advising on imperial policy
d) filling, duplicating & forwarding records.
e) writing reports on taxes, the population, and disbursements of funds.

Tasks of Officials of the Commanderies:

a) respond to local emergencies (floods, earthquakes)
b) report on cases of official corruption
c) make legal decisions
d) appoint others to administer mining or textile production.

Recruitment:

general officials were recruited from local populations.
these served as low-level clerks for the commanders.
the most talented were used in office based on their qualifications - "the flourishing talent."
they were interview at the capital.

The Reign of Wudi (141-87 BCE): Military Expansion & Trade

The reign of Emperor Wudi began during a time of prosperity & colonial expansion.
This increased the Han empire to its largest extent ever.
It was gained at the expense of human lives & resources.
The frugal reigns of Emperor Hui, Empress Lu and Emperor Wendi increased the treasury.

The Rise of Revenue

Emperor Wudi raised additional funds by
a) raising poll taxes
b) adding a new sales tax
c) imposing taxes on property
d) creating government monopolies on salt, iron, and alcohol.
The taxes were
a) used to generate revenue mostly for military operations
b) used for public services (construction of roads and waterways)
c) used as revenues to create a bureau to control profiteering in grain.
The bureau managed the transport of grain to areas of suffering from shortages.
Currency was controlled only by the government.
Previously people were allowed to mint their own copper coins.
Emperor Wudi prohibited private maltase.
officials titles were also sold for money.
all of these measures ushered in a period of prosperity.

Foreign Policy

From the 4th century BCE Xiongnu nomads had been a problem for China.
they were mobile, excellent horsemen who lived in tents.
They would launch fierce attacks and quickly retreat.
The threat from these nomads increased in 209 BCE.
It was when a new leader Maodun united these scattered tribes into a confederacy.In 200 BCE they attacked and defeated Han troops with an army of 300,000 men.
Gaozu decided to sign a peace treaty with them.
This was because he had to deal with domestic issues.
This is often called a treaty of appeasement or in the Chinese manner, "peace and friendship."
Gifts are sent in exchange for the promise not to attack.
The gifts are generally wine, silk, rice and the offer of a princess in marriage
This was usually to a son of a Xiongnu leader.
But in 133 BCE emperor Wudi attacked the Xiongnu for four reasons:
a) in order to extend his territory
b) in order to fortify garrisons on the frontier
c) in order to open up new commanderies in conquered .
d) in order to control trade routes in the western part of the empire.
Emperor Wudi also extended his empire to the southeast and Korea.
In 108 BCE Korea was divided up into 4 commanderies.

Zhang Qian

At this time Zhang Qian explored the far west on two separate occasions.
This was in 139 BCE and in 115 BCE.
The first time he headed a diplomatic mission with 100 men.
This was in search of the Yuezhi people who lived to the west of the Xiongnu.
They had been traditional enemies of the Xiongnu.
He wanted to form an alliance with them against the Xiongnu.
On his way he was captured by the Xiongnu and taken prisoner for 10 years.
He finally escaped and instead of returning to China he continued on his mission.
He did find the Yuezhi but they refused to to go back with him.
They did not want continue their battles with the Xiongnu
Zhang Qian had travelled all the way to Bactria, present-day Afghanistan.
When he returned to China he informed the Emperor of what was "out there,"

Emperor Wudi began to
a)build more walls in the northeast.
b) regulate illegal border crossings in both direction.
c) provide a route along which trade goods could be safely transported.

West of the Wall, people travelled along the Silk Road
This was to the north and south of the Taklamakan desert.
Here the Chinese relied upon diplomatic relations with various people.
These were for those who could secure for them a safe passage of caravans.

Foreign Trade

The reason to explore the outer regions of the empire was for
a) border security.
b) foreign conquest.
c) foreign trade.

When Zhang Qian had been in Bactria he had found Chinese goods there.
Silk was traded between the Chinese and the Romans.
But these two empires never dealt with each other.
Silk was traded along the Silk Road and into other routes that connected the 4 empires.
Wudi had mde gains in expanding through these military expeditions
The cost in human lives and resources was staggering.
For example, in one year (119 BCE) 100,000 horses were killed in battle.

Cultural Revival

The reign of Jingdi (157-141 BCE) is a period of a prosperous and expanding empire.
It was also a period when the first signs of literature and scholarship emerges.

The Silk Road

The Silk Road was a trade network.
It linked China and the Roman world.
What travelled along its path were
a) luxuries & goods.
b) knowledge & beliefs.

Background

Silk was first cultivated in China.
The silk was first cultivated early in the mid-third millennium BCE.
According to legends the art of turning the cocoon of the silkworm was discovered by the wife of the mythical Yellow Emperor (c. 2070 BCE)
The story is that, as she was doing tea under the shade of the mulberry bush a cocoon fell into her cup.
She looked at it , then unravelled it.
So, traditionally the task of silk production was entrusted to women.
They carefully guarded the state secret.
To reveal to someone how the procedure works resulted in punishment by death.
Centuries later this would result in a vast trading network.
This linked China to the Roman world.
In the 19th century the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen looked for a word to describe the trade routes that transported silk & other luxuries between the Far East and the Mediterranean since the 1st century BCE.
He called it the "Silk Road" (Seidenstrabe in German).

Beyond the Wall

The Chinese did not make any effort to sell silk outside of its Middle Kingdom until the right moment.
The perfect time was after the 1st Emperor Qin She Huangdi.
The first phase would be the start of the Great Wall.
He wanted to end the incursions of the nomadic Xiongnu tribes.
By itself, the wall was not sufficient over a period of time.
So, Wudi took another approach.He tried to form an alliance with the Yuezhi, enemies of the Xiongnu, sending Zhang Xian on a mission that failed.

Knowledge of the West

Zhang learnt a great deal about India & the Parthian empire (northeast of Iran).
In the Ferghana valley he saw horses larger than those in China.
He saw that they would be better for the military.
He also made contact with the remnants of the Hellenistic culture.
It had been established by Alexander the Great.
This was the first contact between China & the Indo-European society.
He saw there was a widespread desire for silk.
When he returned the Han Dynasty saw the advantage of trading for the horses using silk.
This would eventually put China in the market with the Roman world.

The Route

The capital Chang'an was the starting point.
The road is not a straight highway, but a network of roads.
From Chang'an one branch goes south to the mouth of the Ganges river in India.
The luxury items travelling west were
a) jade
b) turtle shells,
c) bird feathers
d) sllk
By 102 BCE the Chinese controlled traffic along the Silk Road all the way to Ferghana.
Merchants generally travelled along short sections, trading to one town, which would travel it to the next town.
The Dunhuang Oasis was the main Chinese customs post.
Traders going west often waited a few days to pay their custom exit duties.
Soldiers carefully searched their baggage to make sure no one tried to smuggle silk worms.

The westward journey splits into three main routes.
That's two northern roads and one southern road.
These roads meet at Kashgar, then traders crossed the Pamir Mountains, descending into the Ferghana valley.
Here merchants wait to to trade.
Traders including the Sogdians (from Samarkand & Uzbekistan)
They became the most prominent of the middle men.
Further west, the Parthians held the routes that entered in modern day Iraq nd Iran.
This included Turkmenistan, containing the trading city of Merv.
Parthian kings were responsible for creating caravans.
This allowed the traders to travel with camels to Ctesiphon (near Bagdad)
They then crossed the desert areas of Syria, reaching the Mediterranean.
goods were then shipped to Rome from Ports like Tyre & Antioch.
Rome developed a love/hate relationship with silk.
They often fought with the Parthians who displayed silk during battle.
Since the Roman defeat at the Battle of Carrhae, silk both troubled and delighted the Romans.
A century after the battle, silk became popular.
This popularity for a foreign item was criticized by Roman moralists.
The amount of money leaving Rome to India, China, and Arabia was a problem.
Women were highly blamed for their want of luxuries.

History of the Silk Road

In 220 CE, the Han Dynasty collapsed.
During the next centuries, the monopoly on silks, cultivated by the Han, fell apart.
Silk production started outside of China; it had been smuggled out of China.
This was around the 6th century.
Silk left China and arrived in Rome.
during that time it would pass through a number of cultures, languages, and climates.
The silk had become a strong connection between various cultures.
Ideas also travelled along the Silk Road.
soon Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam would travel along that route.
It would shape soc the poetry alludes to through antiquity or flights to the sky etc ...
iety & people over time.
After China's growth resumed during the Tang period, the road was given a boost.
This was because there was a renewal for luxury goods in the West.
This would now include silver-making techniques, chairs, and ceramics.
To protect renewed trade the Tang tried to protect itself - it expanded westward.
At the time Christians were moving eastward along the Silk Road.
Islam, at this time, began to rise in the Arabian peninsula
In the 8th century Muslims began arriving in China.
In 750 CE, the Muslim Abassid troops clashed with the Chinese at the Battle of Talas.
This stopped China's westward expansion.
It turned out that Chinese prisoners taught them to make paper.
This would be disseminated through the Muslim world and into Southern Europe.
It would have an impact on Europe.

Poetry

There is no surviving Chinese poetry between the 4th century BCE and Wendi's reign (180-157 BCE)
But suddenly a new poet emerges who employs a new literary form called the "fu" or the "rhapsody"
Sima Xiangru (179-117 BCE) is the originator of this new form.
The subject matter of this poetry is usually grandeur of the capital with its hunts, rituals, palaces along
with the beauty of the natural world and the fantasy type of travels in which the poetry alludes to through antiquity or flights of fancy.
the tone is
bombastic,
offering dazzling descriptions of exotica
making use of onomatopoeia, alliteration and assonance.

History

The first history book to cover all of China's past was the Records of the Grand Historian.
It was written by Sima Qian (c. 145-86 BCE)
It was the first history book written by a known author.
It provided a model for all dynastic histories.
Sima Qian is also known for being involved in dispute with Emperor Wudi
Sima Qian went against Wudi when he wanted to punish an army general.
The General had surrendered to the Xiongnu, though it was not his fault.
Wudi responded to the criticism by offering Sima Qian two options: death or castration.
He chose castration in order to continue the histories that had been started by his father.

Confucian Revivalism

The Han had to void the errors of the Qin
They concluded that there was a need to increase the bureaucracy with men of learning.
In 136 BCE Emperor Wudi established an academy staffed with scholars.
They specialized in the 5 Confucian classics.
Those who specialized in other texts were excluded.
In 124 BCE a small number of qualified students were placed in the academy.
Towards the end of the Former Han, the number of students in the academy rose to 3,000.
From that point the Confucian classics remained the cornerstone of education until 1911.

Han Thought

Confucian learning increased and moved forward during the Former Han.
But the period was a mix of Daoists, Confucianists, Legalists, and correlative cosmological thought.
The idea was that the emperor should promote the moral development of the population.
The elevation of Confucianism as the state ideology ushered in a feeling of optimism.
Two projects emerged:
a) morally informing the population.
b) connect it to a program of social reform.

Confucianism & Han Policy

Confucian thinkers like Dong Zhongshu wanted to correct the mistakes of The Qin.
But at this point it was limited.
The Confucian tutors were appointed to dedicate themselves to the education of the youth.
To change the morals of the population required the example of the emperor and his officials.
The whole idea was
a) to forge an era of great peace or great harmony.
b) staffing a complex bureaucracy.
Early on there arose questions about the origin & control of evil in the behaviours of people.
There was little support for the views of Mencius.
He regarded human nature as essentially good.
Xunzi had said that goodness was the end product of the accumulation of deeds and habits.
They grappled with the idea that human nature is essentially evil.
Eventually they drew the conclusion that humans are malleable.
This meant that they were incomplete at birth but could be transformed through education.

From Legalism to Confucianism

In the first half of theFormer Han men with various perspectives were Legalists.
But theConfucian reforms were also carried out for pragmatic reasons.
It was not until the reign of Emperor Yuandi (r. 48-33 BCE) that a form of Confucian idealism had prevailed.
It had earlier been promoted by philosophers such as Dong Zhongshu (c. 179-104 BCE)
This led to Confucian projects such as educational reforms.

Reformers & Modernists

During the reign of Xuande (74-48 BCE), Yuande and Chengdu (33-7 BCE) Confucian advisers advocated a reformist agenda.
This entailed a codification of the practices of the former sage-rulers and formalized Confucian education.
this was contested with the modernist perspective which favoured laws & religious conventions of the Legalists, as it was practiced by The Qin.

Correlative Cosmology

Confucianism had already absorbed ideas not originally associated with itself.
This was cosmological speculation.
The theory is based on the belief that the three spheres of Heaven, Earth and Man are interrelated by way of a primal substance - qi.
All things move in accordance with nature's patterns.
These patterns are Dao's expressions; how the ado expresses itself.
The patterns are the changing of the seasons and other such observed phenomena.
This would be the waxing and the waning of the two primordial principles - Yin & Yang.
Or, the cycles of the Five Phases - Fire, Earth, Water, Metal, & Wood.
It became imperative to align one's life with these natural cycles.
One had to work with them rather than against them.
The results would be health, good fortune and fertility.
Eventually the system of correlative thought led to outlandish beliefs or superstitions.
Another form of correlative cosmology is called Huang-Lao thought.
It is expressed in texts such as the Huainanzi.
The idea is to combine together or synthesize
a) the cosmologies of Yin - Yang
b) The Five Agents.
c) the dao
It was the ruler of Huainan, a kingdom in modern Anhui, that commissioned it.
It is dated around 139 BCE.
It brought together a variety of explanations on how the universe worked.
This was a view understood by the Daoist scholars.
The project indicates the popularity of Daoist thought at the time.
The Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu, author of the treatise on the obligations of the ruler, also wrote an influential work on portents.
He claimed they were Heaven's threats - a warning of Heaven's displeasure.
This was to provide officials with a pretext for making individual criticisms of the throne.
It was Dong Zhongshu who synthesized
a) the concepts of the five elements.
b) the Yin/Yang forces.
c) the principle of dao.
This was to form a cosmological theory.
At the same time Sima Qian was working on the Shiji, the Historical Records.
This was a comprehensive survey of the history of China which had been started by his father.
After Wudi's death there were a series of disputes that were damaging to the dynasty.
Wudi's successor was a minor and power was held by a group of three led by Huo Huang.
He held power throughout the reign.
He had a role in the selection of one of Wudi's grandson to become Emperor Xuandi.
This did not weaken the empire.
Emperors rarely played an active role in the administration of the state.
But the excessive influence of a great family was a threat.
Huo Guangdi won praise for supporting the interest of the common people.
But his wife was gradually disliked for having murdered the empress.
She then had her daughter nominated empress in her place.
After Huo Guangdi's death in 68 BCE, the emperor ordered the elimination of the leading members of the Huo family.
The dynasty did resolve some stability during the long reign of Xuandi from 74 to 49 BCE.
The threat of invasion from the frontiers had declined.
In 60 BCE the rivalry between the Xiongnu leaders broke up their power.
It ended their threat.
By now trade had developed along the Silk Road.
It stretched all the way to the West.
After Xuandi's death the decline of the dynasty continued in great fashion
His successor either suffered from bad health or came to the throne as minors.
The court was open to being criticized.
This was because of its extravagance and excessive influence of the eunuchs.
Economic problems emerged which were blamed on the government.
The government was incompetent.
It could not reverse the concentration of land-holding.
They could not deal with tax evasion by landlords.
The defence against the flooding of the rives was neglected.
In 30-29 BCE the banks of the Yellow River burst and there was tremendous flooding.

Ancient China

Friday, October 1, 2021

The Han Dynasty

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