The Qin Dynasty And Its Impact On The Culture Of China Essay

Emperor Qin was a great leader in my opinion because he was a very capable man who had a massive influence over China. Although he was also a man indulged with power, he built many fascinating structures including the Terracotta Army, and after creating the Qin dynasty made many revolutionary and positive impacts in his society.

As an uniformed China was his ultimate goal, he standardized currency, weight, measures, and writing script. He was able to construct a highway system and repair The Great Wall. Legalism also helped build a strong army, an efficient bureaucracy, a compliant populace, and showed the importance of a strong central government. Ultimately though, the harshness of Legalism is what killed the Qin empire. Thousands who fled from punishment under the Qin Dynasty revolted after King Zheng’s and his heirs deaths. Army generals defected and former nobles raised armies. Eventually, a man of modest background, Liu Bang, became the new emperor of

China has changed in certain ways and remained the same in others from the early Golden Ages to the late 1900s. China has experienced a series of cultural and political transformations, shaping the lives of many Chinese citizens. Culturally, the country’s art and literature hardly changed for almost eight hundred years. Along with their culture, China remained politically the same from the beginning of the Golden Ages all the way until the 1800s. On the other hand, China’s government and society were restructured after new leaders took over. From a monarch to total communism, China’s society had a multitude of new ideas and policies they had to adapt to.

The idea of ruling a powerful government based on the principle of using two conflicting ideologies at the same time appeared foreign to most dynasties of early China. In early Chinese times, after the Period of the Warring States, two ideologies emerged: Legalism and Confucianism. Legalism stressed a strong central government that expressed harsh laws while Confucianism had a decentralized government, placing trust in conscientious and learned individuals to work together to solve political issues. These two schools of thought were in stark contrast to each other and, up until the Han dynasty, had never been combined with each other through government policy. The Qin dynasty, for example implemented a strict Legalist government while the

Despite being the shortest ruling dynasty at fifteen years, the Qin dynasty served a vital role in the development of China’s civilization (51). The Qin dynasty was prefaced by a period of instability caused by an ineffective political system and war between several regions all vying to overtake the others. After the Qin kingdom rose as the victor, King Cheng established for himself the title of Shi huangdi, or emperor, and looked to create a political system that would prevent the empire from fragmenting again. To achieve such a centralized government, Shi Huangdi sacrificed his people’s intellectual freedom and lives and produced a connected and standardized China, whose efficiency and strength still impacts the vision

From 600 BCE to 600 CE, China experienced changes in its political system in terms of the dissimilar ruling styles of different leaders, the rule under Legalism, and the influence of philosophical thinking like Daoism. These changes, influenced by aspects of the world and its own region, shaped China into its Classical state. In contrast, the concept of the Mandate of Heaven, the civil service system, and the significance of unity through a strong central government remained constant throughout China’s Classical period. These continuities followed through, staying essentially the same as an important part of China’s identity.

Legalists are in favor of an authoritarian state that is ruled by force. It claims that the supreme ruler is much more important than the ruled and that individuals must conform to standards of the authority. During the Qin Dynasty, which ruled China from 221 B.C.E. to 207 B.C.E, Qin Shi Huangdi was able to unite China after the Warring States Period by adopting legalism as a ruling philosophy. “Qin Shi Huangdi was a brutal ruler of China, but effective

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

Additionally, literature was discouraged under Legalism because they were believed as poisons to the mind. The Legalists believed this way because not all the information in books contains the truth. Agriculture and war were promoted on the other hand, because it would carve a rich and powerful empire (Walker 39). Many argue that the harshness of Legalism caused the downfall of the Qin Dynasty. However, it was one of the main reasons by the Qin Dynasty stood as the strongest among the Chinese states and possibly in the world. The reason why is because harsh punishments encouraged good conduct and discipline. When this is brought upon, there will be more room to contribute to society and there will be fewer worries about crimes being committed. In addition, the conduct and discipline was a plus for the military. By doing what they are told, the military can execute their job perfectly. All in all, Legalism flourished the Qin Dynasty; it did not cause it to go downhill.

Qin Shi Huangdi, the first Qin emperor, was a proactive and ambitious emperor who implemented a central bureaucratic system that oversaw the evolution and unification of China at the cost of public sentiment. The Qin Dynasty is considered among the most influential dynasties as it laid the foundation for the massive cultural and economic development of China that took place during the Han Dynasty, but it also failed to achieve many of its pro-commoner ideological goals. In fact, socioeconomic disparity was not alleviated and despite the notion of enriching the lives of the common people, it was under Qin rule in which public resentment of the authoritarian government peaked as there were countless peasant revolts against the iron-handed bureaucratic rule of China. Because a paranoid emperor alone wielded political clout and influence, the tumultuous few years of Qin reign was rife with paranoia and suspicion among the masses. Although the Qin Dynasty is seldom thought as possessing the same glaring discrepancy between ideology and state that the Communist regime in post-World War II China had despite the similarities, the failure of the flawless egalitarian state models in socioeconomic and political aspects during the Qin Dynasty mirrored the developments in early Communist China.

The Qin and the Han dynasties are both equally important in China’s history. Each dynasty started out with a smaller piece of land than which they ended with, both also had it’s own idea on expansion and isolation of the boarders.The Qin dynasty in 15 years, managed to unite the 7 warring states. They segregated themselves from foreigners and the population had no free will because the if their actions would not help the emperor then they would be punished. The Han dynasty lasting 426 years manage to conquer more land expanding to the size of present day China and farther. Citizens were happy with their lives, so the dynasty had more time to focus on expansion and development of the land. Although the Qin and the Han are different in how they

The Qin and Han dynasties changed many things regarding how China was governed. Like when Qin Shi Huang standardized the units of measurement, currency, and the width of roads to ease trade within his country, strengthening the unity between areas. Another change is the Han dynasty’s usage of education. They let all boys receive an education to a certain extent, however, if they wanted to further their education more they would have to travel to the capital. One of the several changes Qin Shi Huang changed how dictators controlled China in many ways how he distributed his land and power. Many of the changes he implemented were used by Chinese rulers for over 2000 years, these changes created a lasting effect on how China was ruled. The Qin

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

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.

The Chinese Empire was large and controlled most of Asia at one point in time. One of the dynasties that ruled the empire was the Ming Family. Ruling from 1368-1644, almost three hundred years, the Ming Dynasty impacted Chinese history very much.