Shi HuangdiOne Bad Dude…

“First Emperor”

• Centralized power with the help of Legalist advisors

• Followed teachings of Hanfeizi who thought, “the nature of man is evil, his goodness is acquired

• Greed is motive for most actions• Only way to achieve order was to pass strict

laws and impose harsh punishments

Complete Authority

• Tortured, enslaved, and killed those who opposed him

• Ordered widespread book burnings• Forced individuals to work on government

projects• Divided China into 36 military districts

Changes

• Created a system of standard weights and measures

• Created uniformity in Chinese writing

• Repaired roads and canals to improve transportation

Great Wall of China

• Most remarkable and costly achievement• Ordered the walls of individual feudal states

joined together• 25 feet high topped with a brick road• Hundreds of thousands worked on the project• Many died• Important symbol

Emperor Wudi

Emperor Wudi

• Most famous Han Emperor

• Strengthened the government and economy

• Hired Confucian scholars

• Improved canals and roads

Expansionism

• expanding a country’s territory by increasing the amount of land under Chinese rule

• Added lands in Manchuria, Korea, northern Vietnam, Tibet, and Central Asia

The Silk Road

The Silk Road

• Network of trade routes

• Stretched for 4,000 miles, linking China to the Middle East

• Goods were moved in stages from one trader to another

Civil Service System

• officials in the government should win their positions by merit, rather than family ties

• Work your way up

• Confucian teachings about the superiority of men prevented women from taking the civil service exam, so women were excluded from government jobs

Han Empire Overthrown

• Warlords local military rulers began to take over

• Heavy taxes and debt made the peasants revolt

Achievements of Han Golden Age

Acupuncture

• Acupuncture doctors insert needles into the skin at specific points to relieve pain or treat various illnesses

• Discovered how to make paper out of wood pulp

• Used to think that comets and eclipses showed heaven’s anger, were able to prove this wrong

Ban Zhao

Ban Zhao

• First known woman Chinese historian

• Wrote Lessons for Women

• Carefully spells out the proper behavior for women and men

• Favored equal education for boys and girls, but stressed that women should be obedient, respectful, and submissive