User:Cr15
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Heritage Christian School is located in port macquarie NSW. and this is a sample of work by the bestest student Chris Martin.
Overview of the Qin and Han Dynasty.
Contents |
[edit] Expansion of the Qin Empire
The expansion of the Qin Empire was a rough road and all began during the warring states period, the warring states period was a time of civil unrest; it lasted from 480BC to 221BC. The warring states consisted of seven major states that continually battled for supremacy of china, these states were Han, Yan, Wu, Chu, Shi, Qi and Zhao but as it turned out there was another state that was just as powerful, but was overlooked as it was not seen as a threat, this state was Qin. The warring states saw Chinas metallurgy skills improve, as bronze weapons were replaced with iron ones.
But I’m sure your wondering how Qin became so powerful well it all began in 361BC with Shang Yang, Shang Yang left his position in Wei to become an advisor in Qin, he changed the states legal system and turned the entire state around. He divided the military into ranks, making soldiers strive to be better at what they do to become higher ranked. Qin had much wasted land, so Shang went about starting new settlements and this encouraged the population to grow. Shang also burnt confusion books to curb the philosophies influence.
In 350BC Shang noticed that manpower was very low so he encouraged immigration from other states, and he encouraged peasants to join the military, this weakened Qin rivals at the same time expanding its own military. He forced children to marry at young ages and passed tax’s to encourage them to have multiple children.
Shang was despised by nearly all of the officials and after the emperor’s death the next emperor order that he be executed, Shang ran away and tried to hide in a hotel but Ironically, the hotel owner refused because it was against Shang Yang's laws to admit a guest without proper identification, and he was executed by being pulled apart by 4 chariots.
In 475BC the state of Qin was ruled by Qin shi Huangdi. Shi Huangdi ruled with an iron fist and he controlled everything and everyone in his empire. Shi Huangdi also spared no expense on his military. With the practices that had been in place from Shang, it was easy enough for Qin to conquer all 7 states. Although along the way there were many assassination attempts on his life and the most commonly known was by Yan in 227BC, the prince of Yan sent an assassin by the name of Jing Ke, Jing Ke was unsuccessful and the Qin Empire conquered all 7 states to become the first offical ruling dynasty. Qin's conquest of China In 230 BC, Qin conquers Han.
In 222 BC, Qin conquers Yan and Zhao.
In 221 BC, Qin conquers Qi, completing the unification of China, and ushering in the Qin Dynasty.
[edit] King Zheng’s use of terror
King Zheng or Shi Huangdi used terror tactics in order to control his subjects through China; Zheng followed the policy of ‘supporting his rule with all the resources under heaven’. This policy manifested itself in four main ways: • Excessively heavy taxation • Wasting human labor for projects to glorify himself • Controlling peoples thoughts and minds by blocking all avenues of free thinking • Brutal torture under harsh law and punishing even the offenders’ family and neighbors.
During the reign of king Zheng china had a population of approximately 10 million, and Zheng had his court draft over 2 million people to perform forced labor.
[edit] Abolition of Confucianism
‘The records of the grand historian’ state that after the unification of china in 221BC, Qin shi Huangdi’s Prime Minister Li Si when about suppressing freedom of speech and political opinions. This was done to control people from speaking up against the emperor or singing false praise. However this was not the first time Qin had been in contact with Confucianism, Shang Yang the man who was responsible for Qin becoming the most powerful nation, banned Confucianism in 356BC.
In 213BC in an attempt to suppress thoughts, Li Si had the works from ‘the hundred schools of thought’ burnt and banned, these included many books on Confucianism. Li Si however had the books on legalism, medicine, divination and agriculture spared, as he believed the kingdom needed these. Any citizen who was seen discussing these banned books or practicing Confucianism was executed along with their entire family.
Qin shi Huangdi was deceived by two Confucian alchemists while he was seeking prolonged life. Shi Huangdi was so angered by this he had 460 confusion scholars buried alive. But according to the record of Wei Hang, shi Huangdi had another 700 confusion scholars buried alive. It was at this point that Shi Huangdi completely abolished Confucianism and anything associated with it.
Crown prince Fusu, shi Huangdi’s son, believed that the because the country was so newly unified and not all its enemies had been defeated that such hearse penalties on those who respected and followed Confucius would cause an uproar among the people. However he was unable to change his father’s mind, so hi Huangdi continued to treat his people cruelly.
After the downfall of the Qin dynasty the Han dynasty revived Confucianism.
[edit] Downfall of the Qin dynasty
The downfall of the Qin dynasty was due to many things. Shi Huangdi ruled with an iron fist, he suppressed people’s thoughts and opinions by burning books and burring people alive. However not all he did was bad, he unified language, measurements and weights. Although in the end it seems the bad outweighed the good. The people were on the verge of revolt as Shi Huangdi’s new laws alienated many people especially the land aristocracy, as he had taken their land away from them. Not to mention the building projects that called for heavy taxation and forced labor that were made purely to please his ego.
As time went on Shi Huangdi became fearful of threats and assassination attempts on his life and he lived in fear away from the people, but at the same time he craved immortality, on a trip to the east of china in July of 210BC in the search for an elixir to prolong his life, he died but his death is still a mystery.
After Shi Huangdi’s death Li Si and Zhao Gao took over control of the government and covered up his death. Li Si and Zhao Gao upped the anti on the Chinese citizens and increased the crime penalties. The penalties became extremely strict on the lower administrations, and because of this, regional administration kept secret revolts and uprisings in their territories for fear of punishment. Shi Huangdi also confiscated all the weapons in china to help prevent uprisings.
When Qin Er Shi took the throne after Shi Huangdi, he had member of the royal family, government officials and their families, all executed as he saw them as a threat. Zhao Gao became power obsessed and didn’t want to share the power with Li Si, so he convinced Er Shi that Li Si was working against him and that he should be killed. Er shi did so and the people became even more enraged.
After all this the territorial uprisings became so severe that they could not be kept a secret any longer.
Chen Sheng was a military captain and was assigned to protect the northern border from the Xiongnu or modern day Mongolians, because of a storm they were unable to reach there post on time and in china at this time if you were unable to get to your post on time you were executed. Cheng and his men knew that they were doomed so they lead a rebellion against the Qin Dynasty. Cheng only had 900 men however so he went from town to town and gathered the citizens that were angry against the Qin and built a big enough army to rebuild the Dynasty of Chu. Liu bang was a prison guard and one day he released all his prisoners and became a fugitive himself. After Cheng had started his rebellion Liu bang was invited to join and aid them, he accepted and became extremely powerful as a military captain. In December of 207BC after much battling the last Qin ruler surrendered. And the Qin dynasty fell.
[edit] Terracotta soldiers
The terracotta soldiers are a collection of 8,099 life-size terracotta figurines. During the reign of Qin Shi Huangdi, he had his top military officers and soldiers replicated in terracotta. Shi Huangdi believed that by having these statues buried with him they would protect him from his many enemies, and do his duties in the afterlife. Much like the chapatti’s in ancient Egypt.
Each terracotta soldier is different in design, each soldier has different facial features, there are all of varying heights, and there are many different poses. The soldiers were brightly colored when they were first made but time and oxygen plus natural and has worn away the paint enamel.
50 years after the death of Shi Huangdi there was a peasant uprising and many of the statues were destroyed. However this was not the only thing that caused great damaged to the tomb, when the terracotta warriors were first built they were buried in vaults and had a wooden roof erected over the top of them, some time after the uprising this roof caught fire and collapsed on top of the statues destroying many. After this fire the statues were lost and forgotten.
In 1974 Chinese farmers were irrigating their crops when one found a terracotta head buried in the ground. After this many archaeologist were called out and even today they still are as there are ever more finds in and around the terracotta soldiers and the mausoleum of Shi Huangdi.
The discovery of the terracotta army has helped our understanding of the rules of warfare in ancient china. Books such as: • Master Suns – art of war • Master Wu’s – art of war • Sun Bin’s – art of war
Are understood more clearly now as we have a real example of the military formations.
The terracotta soldiers were equipped with over 10,000 bronze weapons ranging from swords to bill hooks and axes to crossbows; these bronze weapons show the amazing metallurgical skills of the Qin dynasty.
