Ming Dynasty Essay

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 Next piece is an image form Guo Xi who was a master from the Northern

Three areas of philosophy emerged amidst the chaos and constant warring of the Zhou era. The three were called Confucianism, Daoism, and legalism. They were Chinese philosophies that were thought to be the best ways to rule and achieve order in the society. Confucianism believed that a ruler 's job was to set a good example, and not order. Since people were thought of as naturally good, they would following the right path based on their own conscience. Legalism was a more harsh way of ruling, led by Hanfeizi. They thought people were evil, and needed strict laws and punishment to keep them in line. Daoism was very different from either of the other two. It was led by Laozi, who taught that the best kind of government was one who governed

First, the Han Dynasty was more important to the development of China because it created the idea of a Civil Service Exam. The Han Dynasty readopted the idea of having families rulers after the Qin Dynasty strayed from the tradition; however, they kept the idea of bureaucrats from the Qin Dynasty. They used appointed government officials to oversee the day-to-day work of their government. This lead them to implement the Civil Service Exam. The exam was meant to help chose the bureaucrats for the government. It was a test centered around the ideas of Confucius and how to apply them to everyday life. By making this a normal part of Chinese society, the Han Dynasty was able to extend government official job opportunities to people of all social classes. In addition, because the exam gave these opportunities to all people, all people put more emphasis on

The Han China and Classical Athens’ culture also had a huge different to how the arts were created. The arts of the Athenians were more focus on themselves, the human body. For example, on the front cover page, there is a drawing or statue of a Greek man, the Greek man is standing in a weird position with his arms pointing down, there are a few lines emphasizing his muscles, torso, biceps, etc. (Front Cover). While the art of the Han China were more focus on the landscapes and scenes surround them, along with the serenity and balance of the world drawn on to canvases in great details (document L). In most paintings, the five Chinese elements called Wu Xing will most likely be included in the paintings; the five elements are wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Looking at Ch’iu Ying’s painting, you can clearly see the how Wu Xing is being presented in the painting, how the trees and mountains were presented in the background (document L). However, as you can see in the painting, there are only two men in the painting, this could mean that humans were inconsiderable in their arts (document L). As a conclusion, the two artistic styles were complete different from each other, the Han’s arts were more focus on nature in great details, while the Athenians’ art were more focus on the human body.

Within the years of 221-206 BCE, the Qin Dynasty rose as a superpower. During this time period, the Warring States Era, Chinese civilization was impacted tremendously in almost every aspect. These hallmarks in history vary from the spreading of Legalism to the birth of the Great Wall of China. Through these countless contributions, the Qin Dynasty was able to revolutionize the Chinese civilization in such a short period of time.

d. Contact with the West increased in the 17th century, but in the early 18th century, the Qing rulers restricted trade to land outside the walls of . The 1793 British mission to expand trade did not succeed, and the emperor Qianlong explained in a letter to George III that China British manufactured goods.

The Great Wall of Ancient China: Did the Benefits Outweigh the Cost? The Great Wall was built by the Qin and Han Dynasty in order to protect China from the Mongols. However, the benefits of building the Great Wall of China did not outweigh the costs for building the Great Wall. In accordance to Document C, the soldiers had to leave their homes and families in order to work on building the Great Wall. This supports the claim because the soldiers had to sacrifice their families when they had already been sacrificing their lives to fight for China.

The region of China is extensive and profound. “In China lay people did not belong to an institutionalized sect, nor did their religious life have anything to do with signing articles of faint. Religion in China was so woven into the broad fabric of family and social life that there was not even a special word for it until modern times, when one was coined to match the Western term” (Thompson, 1). In China, Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism are all blended. In the earliest period, Shang Dynasty (2000 BC), people in China had worshipped a lot of different gods (polytheism) such as weather god, river god. People in the Shang Dynasty believed that their ancestors become like gods after they died, so people worshipped their

Chinese Dynasties: 1. Shang: Also called Yin, dynasty that was China's earliest historically verifiable state 1766 B.C. to 1122 B.C. A. Reason's for Rise: Unlike the early accounts of history by the Chinese, there is archaeological evidence of the Shang, who built their cities in northern China around the eastern parts of the Yellow River. For this reason they are called the Yellow River civilization. They were a bronze age people; bronze-working seems to have entered China around 2000 BC (about one thousand years after its invention in Mesopotamia). B. Territorial Location & size at height of power (map): The Shang ruled the area from the North China Plain northward into present-day Shantung Province and westward to the tip of Honan

As many other countries around the world China has its long history of a struggle for equality and prosperity against tyrants and dictatorships. The establishment of People’s Republic of China in 1949 seemed to have put an end to that struggle for a better life. “The Chinese people have stood up!” declared Mao Tse-tung, the chairman of China’s Communist Party (CPP) – a leading political force in the country for the time. The people were defined as a coalition of four social classes: the workers, the peasants, the petite bourgeoisie and the national-capitalists. The four classes were to be led buy the CPP, as the leader of the working class.

There are ancient accounts about the history of a small kingdom along the Yellow River that existed from about 2,000 BC to 1,600 BC. The main ancient accounts are in the Records of the Grand Historian (史記) that were written between about 109 BC and 91 BC by Sima Qian and another textthat is called the Bamboo Annals (竹書紀年) that was a text that was said to have been buried with the King of Wei who died in 296 BC and was rediscovered in 281 AD during the Jin Dynasty. The text was written on flat pieces of bamboo, and this is why it is called the Bamboo Annals. Are these accounts accurate? It is said that the Xia Dynasty people didn't keep written records, but that their histories were passed orally. Archeologists

Before the Qin Dynasty, China was composed of a network of city states that were loyal to the Chinese king. The seven Warring States had their own institutions that were run by aristocrats. The Qin Dynasty took initiative to expand their territory and to unite the Chinese empire together. Through their ruthless military techniques the Qin Dynasty was able to conquer the city states in China. The Qin Dynasty ruled from 221 BCE – 206 BCE; during their regime, Emperor Qin’s primary goal was to unify the Chinese people. Even though the Qin Dynasty was a short-lived empire, it played a major role in unifying the Chinese empire and provided a foundation for succeeding regimes through a centralized government, standardized systems, and through infrastructure.

Confucius created a system of thinking called Confucianism. If only one word could be used to summarize the Chinese way of life for the last two thousand years, that word would be Confucian. No other person has had as great an effect on the life and thought of the Chinese people as Confucius. He is the most adored person in Chinese history. Confucius claimed no greatness, instead he looked to a past time that he saw as the golden age. He told one of his disciples, "I transmit but I do not create. I am sincerely fond of the ancient. I would compare myself to Old P'eng who was fond of talking about the good old days." Confucius was a transmitter of the wisdom of the past. From his study of Chinese tradition, he gathered the

China has about five thousand years history which is a very long period of time. Also, the Chinese civilization was growing with these periods of time and it will continues greater than ever. Many wars and unhappinesses were happening during this period. Although, the time has passed, the histories and the civilizations have not passed. These family virtues, serious, working attitudes, sense of justice and the great Confucian tradition have been deeply assimilated into the Chinese people. Some Chinese traditions are different from North American’s. The Chinese culture has many special characteristics which are very interesting for people to learn.