Warring States – Qin Dynasty; LegalismXunziQin Shi HuangdiThe Qin DynastyHan DynastyXunzi

Idea of Heaven; anti-superstitionHuman nature is evil; role of ritualThe past is no better than the present

LegalismLord Shang

Abandon old precedentsCentrall appointed ministersSoldier-peasant subjects: Tax, military and labor serviceRegistering the landEliminating hereditary ranksRewards and punishmentsMutual surveillance

Reasons for Qin rise: Policies, geography

Han Fei (280-233)Rewards and punishmentsUniversal and rigid standardsSkepticism about affection and trust

From King/Wing to Emperor/HuangdiUnification, centralization, standardizationThe Great Wall, imperial tours

Han Dynasty 207 BCE – 220 CE

Fall of Qin: Evil Eunuchs & tyrannical laws or overreach

Han Dynasty 207 BCE – 220 CEOver 400 years of a single dynasty: hence “Han culture”At its height Han had around 60 mil. Population

130,000 bureaucratsAttempts solutions to several basic problems:

Managing successionBalancing military and economic pressuresManaging center and local relations/interestsSelecting and promoting officialsCoping with neighboring nomadic empiresThe body politic generally organized: SPAM

Sets grounds for several basic cultural foundationsFamily and gender roles more clearly codifiedEfforts at classification and synthesis of schools

Of thought attempted (ISMS)Confucian elite attitudes toward the government

Liu Bang 1st Han Emperor, GaozuRise from low postal service worker to EmperorConfucianism not yet prominent

Han system founded on Qin basisDivision into provinces/commandaries3 wings of bureaucracy: Civil, Military, InspectorateLegal system retained, but greatly simplifiedPeasant base: taxed in coin, military and labor service

Differences from QinKingdoms granted to allies, followed by a process of

Gradual re-centralizationLess reliance on legalism. Tendency towards combining ISMS into a synthetic whole (Salt and Iron Debates)

Continued cultural and administrative unification

Foreign Relations w/ the Xiongnu: Nomadic vs Agrarian systemsTools of diplomacy and expansion include: Tribute, trade, intermarriage, education, settlements

Emperor Wu (Han Wudi)Military expansionism and its consequencesWhere does the money for military expansion come from?

Taxes on peasants are lightSolution: Salt and Iron monopoliesThese policies are later debated in 81 BCE

Set precedent for fuure court policy debatesConfucian perspectiveLegalist perspective

Managing officials: Roots of the civil service exam systemImperial University established 124 BCE