The Han Dynasty, the second imperial dynasty of Ancient China, was prosperous and innovative. The scientific development was extremely advanced for the time, and inventions such as the seismometer, sundial, and wheelbarrow greatly improved Ancient Chinese life (Cartwright “Achievements”, 2017). However, perhaps the most important invention of the Han Dynasty was paper. Paper affected countless areas of Ancient Chinese life by transforming the way information and art were recorded, consumed, and stored.
While the origins of paper are unknown, its predecessors were flawed and in need of a replacement. The invention of paper is attributed to Cai Lun, a Han government worker, who created the first “true” paper in AD 105 (Greenling 2017, 51). However,
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Former Encyclopædia Britannica editor Kenneth Pletcher described the record keeping of the Han administration, “Han administration required detailed record keeping, which generated a proliferation of documents. Official returns were sometimes kept in duplicate, and each agency kept running files to record its business” (Pletcher 2010, 79). Bulky bamboo or expensive silk were impractical for this kind of meticulous record keeping, but official documents were recorded and stored easily because of the invention of paper. The Han government had also taken an interest in “literary accomplishment” and “scholastic competence” for the Ancient Chinese people, likely as a result of the invention of paper (Pletcher 2010, 79). Alexander Monro wrote about how the books of Han Dynasty “became the guiding stars of Chinese education, governance, and philosophy” (Monro 2016, 44). The four classic texts, the Shijing, the Shujing, the Yijing, and the Chunqiu, were of such extreme importance to the Han government that in order to make an argument before the throne, a “statesman would [have to] find a relevant quotation from these works” (Pletcher 2010, 79). The four texts were also probably carved into stone and copied by using the stone rubbing method as mentioned before, giving the general public access to
The Han dynasty collapsed in 220 CE bringing with it a great deal of destruction. Buddhism, which was founded in India in the 6th century BCE, made its way to China in the first century. As it traveled it gained many followers and popularity, especially with the lower classes of the Chinese Dynasties because they were greatly disrespected. Buddhism rejected the idea of the social classes thus appealing to the impoverished. Many people accepted Buddhism, however some used it as the basis for many political and social injustices. Furthermore, a group of people remained indifferent and tried to unite the two groups.
The first document is a letter written by Chinggis Khan in 1219 Common Era (C.E.) to Changchun. In this letter, Chinggis writes to him requesting a meeting with him. However, he also critiques on how his empire is better than China. He states that China has been abandoned by the heaven because of the state of luxury China has been living. Further, this has a negative impact on China’s society and believes that if they leave luxury behind the Chinese would be able to live in a better state and conquer more land. A theme explored in this document is how ruler uses techniques to expand their lands.
The Next piece is an image form Guo Xi who was a master from the Northern
Additionally, there were other distinct viewpoints, such as the different prespectives of the authors. There were two different views, one was a philosopher’s viewpoint and another was a government official’s viewpoint. To begin with, the Han philosophers and government officials always had a positive perspective. For instance, in document three, it mentions “Later on, the pestle and the mortar were cleverly improved in such a way that the whole weight of the body could be used, thus increasing the efficiency ten times.” The Chinese appear to note that innovation is of extraordinary advantage; subsequently they’re continuously making technological advancements. This Philosopher had Confucian beliefs, which swayed his judgement because Confucianism
Using the information within document #3 and document #1 it can accurately be assumed that the Han dynasty was for the development of technology as in both these documents they show the government allowed and encouraged the development of technology.
Huan Guan’s advancements seem incredibly useful to Han China. However, the accuracy of this document may be questioned due to the fact that this is the government writing about themselves. The fact that, in the document, the government continues to unnecessarily describe how great of a leader Tu Shih was, which may be true, but not pertinent information to his technological
Donald trump, the president of the United States. The Han and Qin dynasties, leaders of ancient China. Both from two different countries, and have different backgrounds, but both have the same goal, to build a wall. BUt was the Great Wall of China worth it, and is the border wall worth it.
Document 2, talks about the creation of the pestle and the mortar by, Huan Tan. The pestle and mortar were tools created to ease people in their work and make their lives easier, it states, “efficiency was increased ten times.” This later became a more useful tool as through the initiative of using animals and water to aid in this the overall work results and efficiency were increased astronomically. This shows an overall positive viewpoint on technology as it glorified and encourage the production and search for new innovations of Han technology. Seeing this, a relevance to other civilizations such as the earlier Zhou dynasty in China.
Document 1 emphasizes the importance of inspections for their waterways and the engineering of buildings, but document 2 could be inadvertently interpreted as negative about technology. The Han official writing this document is expressing his concern about the government not producing good enough tools, and that the government is responsible for the quality of tools. Han China thought that the government was responsible for maintaining technology, but in addition to that, they were also responsible for producing it to increase the quality of life. Document 3, written by Haun Tan an upper-class Han philosopher, wrote how the mythical Emperor Fuxi invented the pestle and mortar to eventually increase efficiency a hundredfold. Document 4, from History of the Early Han Dynasty
Huan Guan, a Han government official, says that tools given from the government to the laborers were not very functional in the sense to help the laborers do their work (document 2). This is seen as an inconvenience to the laborers because they aren’t able to keep up with their work-load, when using tools that don’t work as well as they would have hoped. Huan Guan, also says that the tools made by the laborers perform better than those provided by the government/state. The attitude that comes off of document two, is that Huan Guan just wants the laborers to have the best materials they can, even with the iron and salt trades. The third document is written by Huan Tan, who is an upper-class Han philosopher, who praised Fuxi. Fuxi is a mythological wise emperor, who developed the pestle and the mortar which were eventually developed to be powered by water and animal power (document 3). Huan Tan’s attitude towards this improvement is that it is a good thing, that should be recognized and that it is extremely beneficial to the society. In the fourth document, it is taken from the History of the Early Han Dynasty, written in about 200 C.E. The focus of this document is on the invention of a water powered tool, which was to benefit the laboring peoples. This was invented by Tu Shih, governor of Nanyang in about 31 C.E., this caused for the invention to be popular and widely used (document 4). The sixth document solely focuses on the architecture of Rome and how it was used throughout the city. It was written by Plutarch, a Greek-born Roman citizen, about Roman political leader in the second century B.C.E., Gaius Gracchus. It describes how Gaius Gracchus was anxious about road building and how he paid attention to detail, throughout the city. Gaius Gracchus developed the columns along the road, the columns served as mile markers (document
view. Document seven, as used before, was written by a Ming dynasty court official, states
The Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire were considered two of the most powerful empires in the ancient world. Although both dynasties had different ideas about how technology should be utilized, the Han Dynasty and Roman Empire used technology to make their states more advanced. In the documents, the Han Dynasty’s attitude towards technology was aimed towards the needs of individual people while the Romans were focused on large innovations to benefit their entire empire. First, the Han Dynasty’s attitude towards technology can be characterized by helping individual people be more efficient in their labor.
The Han dynasty was a golden era for China. It saw the greatest land confiscation of the nation’s history and economic success. In this paper I will be focusing on the structure of the national government, the monopolizing of iron and salt, the Yumen Pass and the Yellow Turban rebellion. Join me as we take a trip back in time to visit a time in Chinas history that is highly revered.
Document 2 shows an official’s distress in the decrease of quality in the tools that were used by the working class. Han Guan, a Han government official is concerned that the tools were decreasing in quality and slowly became scarce due to the increase in price and many common people could no longer afford them. The Han dynasty wanted its working class to be provided with decent quality tools in order to carry on their jobs efficiently and produce better results. Doc. 3 tells the story of a mythical emperor who had invented a mortar and pestle paired with water and animal power and “the benefit was increased a hundredfold.” This shows that higher classes of the Han dynasty admired efficiency in their labors and would do anything with their technology to increase its productivity. Doc. 4 states that “Tu Shih loved the common people and wished to save their labor.” Governor Tu Shih invented a water-powered blowing-engine which, “allowed people to enjoy great benefit for little labor.” These documents emphasize that the Han dynasty did everything to increase efficiency and productivity for its working
2. Albert M. Craig, William A. Graham, Donald Kagan, Steven Ozment, Frank M. Turner. “China‘s First Empire”. The Heritage of World Civilizations. 1: 1152 (2007, 2005, 2002) Pearson Education, Inc. New