Classical Civilizations: China WH008 Activity Introduction Ladies and gentleman, coming to the ring tonight is something classic... (music plays) No, no it s better than classical music. I m talking about, are you ready for this?! The one the only Classical Civilizations of China! (cheers) Reading Passage Introduction Yes indeedy-doo! Today s the day to start learning about China during the classical era! But before we get ahead of ourselves, I think we need to talk a bit about civilizations that emerged during this classical era. You see, the classical civilizations are uh, very im-por-tan-tay, because they laid much of the groundwork for many of our present-day cultures. No really, I m serious about this. Even though they came into existence about two thousand years ago give or take a few hundred years--- many of their contributions have remained invaluable. Not sure what I m talking about? Well, read this interesting little passage to get the goods on the Classical civilizations.
Video 1 Greetings. I am Lu Gong, a dedicated scholar of one of the greatest philosophers China has ever known. K ung fu tzu --also known as Confucius. Now, I understand that you are learning about classical China. Well, it just so happens that I myself lived during that era. I was born in two-twenty-three B.C.E. and I bore witness to many happenings. You see, I came into this world around the end of the Zhou dynasty. Little did my family know how radically things would change only two years after my birth. Allow me to explain. The Zhou Dynasty, as you may already know, lasted nine centuries. It was a very impressive dynasty; however, it suffered from one major flaw. It had a disorganized and decentralized government. By this I mean that the power was dispersed amongst aristocratic rulers throughout China. As a result, the Zhou kings had difficulty keeping reign over the happenings of their kingdoms. Over time, as the dynasty grew bigger, things fell into greater disarray and China went into a period known as the era of warring states. This was a time when many of the regional rulers of the dynasty went to war with one another. It was a very chaotic time. Finally, in two-twenty-one B.C.E., a regional ruler overthrew the last Zhou ruler. This regional ruler renamed himself Qin Shih Huangdi, which means the first emperor, and he changed things dramatically. Instead of following the example of the Zhou Dynasty, Shih Huangdi created an incredibly strong and centralized government to control all of China.
He worked vigorously to reduce the power of the regional aristocratic rulers, so that all of the political power in China would be concentrated under him. His centralized government was incredibly rigid and organized under the principles of Legalism. Although Shih Huangdi succeeded in taking control of all of China, his methods of attaining and sustaining his power were extremely brutal. He launched attacks on anyone whose thoughts differed from his own. Among his targets were thinking men; intellectuals and scholars like myself. Luckily, I was just a young boy during his reign, but sadly, my father was not. He was a very bright scholar who studied the philosophies of Confucius. For this, he lost his life under Shih Huangdi s regime. You see, the emperor particularly disliked Confucians since our beliefs threatened to undermine his legalist system of government. The emperor discovered people like my father by employing thought police; these were people who arrested anyone who tried to promote ideas different than the government s ideas. These policemen tortured and killed people who challenged the government they also burned their books. It pains me to think of the great works we lost during the Qin dynasty. Video 2 Now, as I have mentioned, Shih Huangdi was a very brutal ruler... So brutal that it was once said of him that he killed men as though he thought he could never finish, he punished men as though he were afraid he would never get around to them all. Despite Shih Huangdi's cruelty and paranoia, some rather impressive things came out of the Qin Dynasty. For instance, the government created a stable system of currency and promoted trade, which greatly improved China s economy. The dynasty was responsible for creating a uniform Chinese language that everyone would learn and use. In addition, the
government constructed new roads, bridges, and canals, and undertook one of the most impressive public works projects in China s history, the building of the Great Wall. It must also be mentioned that it is from the Qin dynasty that the modern-day nation of China received its western name. Eventually, in two-ten B.C.E. Shih Huangdi died, and the peasants that he over-taxed and over-burdened for years revolted. This revolt lasted until two-oh-two B.C.E., when one peasant leader defeated all the others and founded a new dynasty, the Han. The Han dynasty employed the same centralized governmental system as the Qin dynasty, but it was not nearly as paranoid or brutal. We Confucianists could return to our studies without worry. The Han dynasty was a very ambitious one, which defined itself through conquests and expansion. Its economic system, like that of dynasties that had come before, was largely dependent upon agricultural production. Trade in Han China, however, was fueled by the upper classes desire for luxury goods like silk, jewelry, and furniture. And like most agricultural societies, it developed a rigid social hierarchy that consisted of a small percentage of nobles, landed gentry, and educated bureaucrats at the top. Under them were the peasants, who were made up of farmers, artisans, and merchants. Under the peasants was another group known as the mean people. They performed the crudest and most unskilled jobs. There were slaves at this time, but they were rather few in number. Although the Han dynasty was one of the greatest in the history of China, it did not last forever. It came to end around two-twenty C.E., and although I did not live to witness the fall of Han my great, great, great, great granddaughter did. I will go and find her for you, so she may tell you the rest of the story.
Video 3 Hello. I am Pan Chao, the great, great, great, great granddaughter of Lu Gong. I too was a scholar in a time when very few women in China were educated. Luckily for you, my brother and I were historians who together chronicled the history of the Han dynasty. Now, as my revered ancestor has already told you, during its height, the Han dynasty experienced great prosperity, territorial expansion, and cultural development. The time of peace under the leader Wu Ti was much like that of another classical civilization with whom China traded, the great Roman Empire! For it too flourished under a period of peace known as the Pax Romana and benefited from gains of military conquest. Expansion for the Han Dynasty, however, came with its challenges. One way the dynasty dealt with these challenges was by NOT establishing the worship of any particular deity or deities as the state religion. The empire was very good at being open to the different practices of people from newly conquered territories, while at the same time establishing certain rituals that people throughout the empire were encouraged to engage in, such as the veneration of ancestors and special eating and tea-drinking ceremonies. These practices created common customs that tied the various regions of the empire together. Although the Qin dynasty had persecuted those who followed the ways of Confucius, the rulers of the Han dynasty encouraged its subjects to follow Confucian philosophy. You see, the Han used the teachings of Confucius to establish respect for the social hierarchy and to promote order throughout the empire. Although the Han Dynasty was nowhere near as rigid or as brutal as the Qin Dynasty, it did have a system of punishment in place for those who disobeyed Han s strict code of laws. Much like the Roman practice of crucifixion, the Han Dynasty employed the use
of public torture and execution in an attempt to discourage others from engaging in civil disobedience. Another aspect of the Han Dynasty that tied the empire together was its incredibly extensive bureaucracy. Its bureaucrats were extremely well trained and stationed throughout the empire. As a matter of fact, the bureaucratic system that emerged during the Han Dynasty survived all the way into the twentieth century. The Han dynasty, however, did not survive into the twentieth century. It began to experience serious problems after its first two centuries. You see, the once-strong central government had overextended and collapsed under the weight of its past territorial ambitions and poor leadership. Soon the threat of invasion by the Huns in central Asia became all too real. The Han dynasty's end came around two twenty C.E., sending China into a period of instability and uncertainty that lasted for more than three hundred years. I hope this information shall be useful to you thanks for listening. Reading Passage Introduction I imagine you ve got quite a bit of information about classical China swishing around in that ol head of yours you might even feel a little overwhelmed by it all! But don t worry, because I ve got just the thing to put classical China in perspective. It s a reading passage entitled uh Classical China in Perspective. (beat) So read now and thank me later! P.S., a thoughtful card and a box of chocolates will do