POLITICS AND SOCIETY
POLITICS DURING THE DYNASTIES
ZHOU DYNASTY
The Zhou dynasty ruled through alliances with regional princes, rather than having a centralized government. This caused problems with rule that they could not control. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, there was a feudal system, in which peasants worked on the lands of the lords. Ironically, the Zhou dynasty ruled from walled cities instead of castles. There was a clear hierarchy in social class, peasants of course being at the bottom. After the Western Zhou Dynasty had moved East, there was an even larger hierarchy/social class because merchants and traders became very popular middle-class people.
QIN DYNASTY
The Qin dynasty was brief in duration (221-206 BCE) but very important in Chinese history. The Qin dynasty was characterized by its strong central government and cruel ruler, Shi Huangdi. In only 9 years in successive wars from 230 to 221, the Qin conquered every other region of the former Zhou Empire. Then the Qin conquered outlying regions to the south all the way to Vietnam and to the north towards Korea. They had the biggest empire in the region's history until then.The society was very centralized to the point that every dissenter against the rule of the court was killed, tortured, or sent for forced labor, and most literature was destroyed. The people were enslaved for wars and great construction projects. The absolute power that the emperor and staff wanted for themselves corrupted them, and the dynasty quickly ended in assassinations and foolish policies and the people rebelled. During the Qin dynasty, Shi Huangdi built the first Great Wall.
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HAN DYNASTY
The Han Dynasty kept the centralized government system of the Qin Dynasty, but lessened Shi Huangdi's brutality. The Han Dynasty had service examinations and bureaucracy. At the end of the Han period two percent of the population represented the bureaucrats. Government sponsored irrigation, canal systems, taxed subjects, and required an annual labor for every male peasant. Brutal punishment for disobedience. Single law code. Appointed officials for central authority. Government allowed peasant polytheism because they didn’t see it as a threat to their government