Notes on Qin and Han Dynasties

Qin Dynasty
● 300 BCE Qin Dynasty takes over Zhou
● Shi Huang Di founded the Qin dynasty
● Divided China into 36 districts
● Murdered confucius followers - probably followed legalism
● Unify China!
○ Roads
○ Writing, Laws, Currency
○ Irrigation
○ This meant many taxes and no rights
● Great Wall built - workers worked to death
● Shi Huangdi dies and son takes power
● Peasants revolt
● 202 BCE Han Dynasty takes over
● Terra Cotta soldiers
○ 8099 Soldiers protect Shi Huangdi’s tomb
Han Dynasty
● 202 BCE - 202 CE by Liu Bang
● Centralized gov’t
● No more legalism
● Peace
● Wudi: “Martial Emperor” - Expanded the empire through war
● Boundaries are what China is today
● Divine Authority - Gods chose the emperors
● Complex bureaucracy
○ 18 ranks of civil servants
○ Taxes for army
○ People gave crops in return
● Social ladder
○ Emperor
○ Kings + Governors
○ Nobles and State Officials
○ Peasants (farmers)
○ Artisans and Merchants
○ Soldiers
○ Slaves
● Technology
○ Paper, plow, mills, expanded wall
● Commerce: Monopoly over silk road
● Assimilation (learn) of culture
● 100 BCE peasants revolted lead by Wang Mang, but it failed
● Han re-established
● 220 CE Han divided into 3 rival kingdoms