Chapter 5 - Imperial China

     By 221, the Qin Dynasty (I apologize now if I spell it "Quin" and I don't catch it) conquered all of China. Shi Huangdi, the "First Emperor", as he liked to be called, burned books written by Confucius and all who opposed him. He attacked nomads in the north, who formed the Xiongnu Confederacy (they threatened China for years). Shi Huangdi made military service compulsory, and when he died, was buried with a terracotta army numbering in the thousands.
     Gaozou, the first Han emperor, took over after a rebellion. He gave land grants to the people, and appeased the Xiongnu with gifts (they later disintegrated in the mid 1st century). His son Wu took over and laid the foundation for the Silk Road (they'll be coming up later). He also started a salt, iron and alcohol monopoly and adopted Confucianism. His astrologer, Sima Qian, is considered the father of Chinese history -  he stated writing history down and recorded a lot of what we know about early China.
     The Chinese had a patriarchal society, and women were usually discouraged from doing much of anything substantial. Their situation differed by status, but overall, they had less freedoms than Roman women in the same time period. Beneath the wealthiest aristocrats, there was the gentry, a class that the Emperor chose his administrative officials from. They were well educated and respected for their wisdom. A 2-year military service was made mandatory in the Han Dynasty.
     The capital in the Qin & early Han Dynasties was Chang'an, in central China. It is still around (going by Xi'an now), but it is no longer the magnificent city it was in early imperial China. The aristocrats focused on entertainment there, and tiger fights were never missed.
     China at this time gained a wealth of knowledge - they studied astrology, made roads and canals, invented the watermill to assist in building and grinding plants, invented paper, and in the first century, started studying Buddhism, which originated in India four hundred years before.
     In 9 CE, Wang Mang seized power and started to better the economy, but was stopped by a flood of the Yellow River that was so destructive that the river paved a new path through the empire. After the Uprising of the Red Eyebrows, the Han were back in control, but their corrupt government, combined with economic problems and disloyalty in the military caused their collapse. General Cao Cao (pronounced "tsow tsow") officially ended the Han empire near 220 CE.  This threw China into a period of political fragmentation and pushing the heart of the Chinese culture towards the Yangtze River area.
    
     Thanks to everyone who used this site when we had to do Cornell notes (eew!) in class the past few days, and to those who used it as a source in their essays. Here is a panda for all of your good work... keep it up!