Download or read book The Government of the Qin and Han Empires written by Michael Loewe and published by Hackett Publishing. This book was released on 2006-09-15 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this concise volume, Michael Loewe provides an engaging overview of the government of the early empires of China. Topics discussed are: the seat of supreme authority; the structure of central government; provincial and local government; the armed forces; officials; government communications; laws of the empire; control of the people and the land; controversies; and problems and weaknesses of the imperial system. Enhanced by details from recently discovered manuscripts, relevant citations from official documents, maps, a chronology of relevant events, and suggestions for further reading keyed to each topic, this work is an ideal introduction to the ways in which China’s first emperors governed.
Download or read book The Establishment of the Han Empire and Imperial China written by Grant R. Hardy and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 2005-03-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Han Dynasty created a Chinese empire that endures to this day.
Download or read book The Early Chinese Empires written by Mark Edward Lewis and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2010-10-30 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 221 bc the First Emperor of Qin unified the lands that would become the heart of a Chinese empire. Though forged by conquest, this vast domain depended for its political survival on a fundamental reshaping of Chinese culture. With this informative book, we are present at the creation of an ancient imperial order whose major features would endure for two millennia. The Qin and Han constitute the "classical period" of Chinese history--a role played by the Greeks and Romans in the West. Mark Edward Lewis highlights the key challenges faced by the court officials and scholars who set about governing an empire of such scale and diversity of peoples. He traces the drastic measures taken to transcend, without eliminating, these regional differences: the invention of the emperor as the divine embodiment of the state; the establishment of a common script for communication and a state-sponsored canon for the propagation of Confucian ideals; the flourishing of the great families, whose domination of local society rested on wealth, landholding, and elaborate kinship structures; the demilitarization of the interior; and the impact of non-Chinese warrior-nomads in setting the boundaries of an emerging Chinese identity. The first of a six-volume series on the history of imperial China, The Early Chinese Empires illuminates many formative events in China's long history of imperialism--events whose residual influence can still be discerned today.
Download or read book The Culture of the Qin and Han Dynasties of China written by Vic Kovacs and published by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. This book was released on 2016-07-15 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dynasties of ancient China ruled the country for centuries. The contributions of the leaders and people of this time have a legacy that can still be seen in Chinese culture today. This title begins with background information on China before the Qin conquest and ends with the end of the Han Dynasty in AD 220. Readers learn about life in Chinese cities and the countryside, as well as important social studies topics such as religion, class structure, education, family life, food, and clothing. By the end of this title, readers will understand how cultural life in Han China set a pattern that is still seen today.
Download or read book Empires of Ancient Eurasia written by Craig Benjamin and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-05-03 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduces a crucial period of world history when the vast exchange network of the Silk Roads connected most of Eurasia.
Download or read book Fiscal Regimes and the Political Economy of Premodern States written by Andrew Monson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-04-23 with total page 603 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inspired by the new fiscal history, this book represents the first global survey of taxation in the premodern world. What emerges is a rich variety of institutions, including experiments with sophisticated instruments such as sovereign debt and fiduciary money, challenging the notion of a typical premodern stage of fiscal development. The studies also reveal patterns and correlations across widely dispersed societies that shed light on the basic factors driving the intensification, abatement, and innovation of fiscal regimes. Twenty scholars have contributed perspectives from a wide range of fields besides history, including anthropology, economics, political science and sociology. The volume's coverage extends beyond Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Near East to East Asia and the Americas, thereby transcending the Eurocentric approach of most scholarship on fiscal history.
Download or read book Early China written by Li Feng and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-12-30 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A critical new interpretation of the early history of Chinese civilization based on the most recent scholarship and archaeological discoveries.
Download or read book China s Last Empire written by William T. Rowe and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2010-02-15 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a brisk revisionist history, William Rowe challenges the standard narrative of Qing China as a decadent, inward-looking state that failed to keep pace with the modern West. This original, thought-provoking history of China's last empire is a must-read for understanding the challenges facing China today.
Download or read book Rome and China written by Walter Scheidel and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-02-05 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Transcending ethnic, linguistic, and religious boundaries, early empires shaped thousands of years of world history. Yet despite the global prominence of empire, individual cases are often studied in isolation. This series seeks to change the terms of the debate by promoting cross-cultural, comparative, and transdisciplinary perspectives on imperial state formation prior to the European colonial expansion. Two thousand years ago, up to one-half of the human species was contained within two political systems, the Roman empire in western Eurasia (centered on the Mediterranean Sea) and the Han empire in eastern Eurasia (centered on the great North China Plain). Both empires were broadly comparable in terms of size and population, and even largely coextensive in chronological terms (221 BCE to 220 CE for the Qin/Han empire, c. 200 BCE to 395 CE for the unified Roman empire). At the most basic level of resolution, the circumstances of their creation are not very different. In the East, the Shang and Western Zhou periods created a shared cultural framework for the Warring States, with the gradual consolidation of numerous small polities into a handful of large kingdoms which were finally united by the westernmost marcher state of Qin. In the Mediterranean, we can observe comparable political fragmentation and gradual expansion of a unifying civilization, Greek in this case, followed by the gradual formation of a handful of major warring states (the Hellenistic kingdoms in the east, Rome-Italy, Syracuse and Carthage in the west), and likewise eventual unification by the westernmost marcher state, the Roman-led Italian confederation. Subsequent destabilization occurred again in strikingly similar ways: both empires came to be divided into two halves, one that contained the original core but was more exposed to the main barbarian periphery (the west in the Roman case, the north in China), and a traditionalist half in the east (Rome) and south (China). These processes of initial convergence and subsequent divergence in Eurasian state formation have never been the object of systematic comparative analysis. This volume, which brings together experts in the history of the ancient Mediterranean and early China, makes a first step in this direction, by presenting a series of comparative case studies on clearly defined aspects of state formation in early eastern and western Eurasia, focusing on the process of initial developmental convergence. It includes a general introduction that makes the case for a comparative approach; a broad sketch of the character of state formation in western and eastern Eurasia during the final millennium of antiquity; and six thematically connected case studies of particularly salient aspects of this process.
Download or read book Daily Life in Ancient China written by Muzhou Pu and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-21 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book employs textual and archaeological material to reconstruct the various features of daily life in ancient China.
Download or read book The Government of the Qin and Han Empires written by Michael Loewe and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this concise volume, Michael Loewe provides an engaging overview of the government of the early empires of China. Topics discussed are: the seat of supreme authority; the structure of central government; provincial and local government; the armed forces; officials; government communications; laws of the empire; control of the people and the land; controversies; and problems and weaknesses of the imperial system. Enhanced by details from recently discovered manuscripts, relevant citations from official documents, maps, a chronology of relevant events, and suggestions for further reading keyed to each topic, this work is an ideal introduction to the ways in which China's first emperors governed.
Download or read book The Cambridge History of China written by John King Fairbank and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1978 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: International scholars and sinologists discuss culture, economic growth, social change, political processes, and foreign influences in China since the earliest pre-dynastic period.
Download or read book Records of the Grand Historian of China written by Qian Sima and published by New York, Columbia, U. P. This book was released on 1961 with total page 584 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Empires and Exchanges in Eurasian Late Antiquity written by Nicola Di Cosmo and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-04-26 with total page 1284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Empires and Exchanges in Eurasian Late Antiquity offers an integrated picture of Rome, China, Iran, and the Steppes during a formative period of world history. In the half millennium between 250 and 750 CE, settled empires underwent deep structural changes, while various nomadic peoples of the steppes (Huns, Avars, Turks, and others) experienced significant interactions and movements that changed their societies, cultures, and economies. This was a transformational era, a time when Roman, Persian, and Chinese monarchs were mutually aware of court practices, and when Christians and Buddhists criss-crossed the Eurasian lands together with merchants and armies. It was a time of greater circulation of ideas as well as material goods. This volume provides a conceptual frame for locating these developments in the same space and time. Without arguing for uniformity, it illuminates the interconnections and networks that tied countless local cultural expressions to far-reaching inter-regional ones.
Download or read book The Han Dynasty written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-04-29 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes ancient accounts *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading Even before the first Chinese dynasty, complex societies inhabiting the area now known as China organized into settlements, and the most important settlements were protected by rammed earth walls. The first dynasty, the Shang (1600-1050 BCE), built large walls as early as around 1,550 BCE. Differing from later walls, which were built along a strategic defense line, these walls were built to enclose the settlements and areas. The Shang would eventually be conquered from the west by the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BCE), which developed a complex system of government. In fact, it was the Zhou system's decline that Confucius (551-479 BCE) witnessed and drew from greatly for his political philosophy. The Zhou also created walled cities, and it was at this time that the first major conflicts with northern tribesman, the Xianyun, were recorded As the newly independent states vied for supremacy in a state of constant warfare, northern barbarians were also a constant menace. Eventually, the Chinese succeeded in eliminating many of those on their immediate northern border, but it was a bittersweet victory because it meant there was no longer a buffer between China and the even fiercer Mongols further north. This new proximity led to increased cultural exchange, as well as the Chinese adoption of nomadic fighting techniques. Ultimately, it was the wall of the state of Qi that was the first to earn the name great (literally: long) wall, because the state of Qin proved most adept at the new warfare and conquered all the others. It was this dynasty that unified the kingdoms under the name of China, but put simply, the Qin were a war machine. They defeated the Mongols north of the border and expanded their control there, while also fighting expansionary wars in all directions. The first Qin emperor died 11 years into his reign and was buried with the famous Terracotta warriors: These soldiers and equipment, all carved out of stone and other materials, formed an imperial army that would accompany the emperor into the afterlife. After the emperor's death, rebellion and strife took hold of the empire, and soon a new dynasty, the Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE), was founded. The previous emperor, Meng Tian, was forced to commit suicide, and the Han dynasty became known for maintaining a long period of wealth and prosperity during which Confucianism and other major intellectual trends in China flowered. However, they had trouble with the nomads in the north too, and after suffering decisive military defeats, the Han decided that only through a policy of peace and reconciliation could they manage relations with the Xiongnu. They offered material goods and marriages, and the border was secured, but walls were also still obviously necessary. Ultimately, the massive investment in military expansion and conquest reaped great rewards for the Han, but all came at a very dear cost to the empire. As a result of their growing militarism, the trend of using diplomacy slowly fell out of favor around the start of the 1st century CE, but even when the old structure of peace and diplomacy with the northerners was reinstated, the Xiongnu were asked to submit to a nominally inferior position in their relationship with China. It appeared to be a compromise that would benefit both sides, but soon afterward, a Han regent usurped power and the kingdom fell into civil war. The dynasty recovered at the time, but never fully, and it continued on the path of steady decline. The Han Dynasty: The History and Legacy of Ancient China's Most Influential Empire examines how the Han dynasty took control of China and the impact of their reign over several centuries.
Download or read book Philosophers of the Warring States A Sourcebook in Chinese Philosophy written by and published by Broadview Press. This book was released on 2018-11-30 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Philosophers of the Warring States is an anthology of new translations of essential readings from the classic texts of early Chinese philosophy, informed by the latest scholarship. It includes the Analects of Confucius, Meng Zi (Mencius), Xun Zi, Mo Zi, Lao Zi (Dao De Jing), Zhuang Zi, and Han Fei Zi, as well as short chapters on the Da Xue and the Zhong Yong. Pedagogically organized, this book offers philosophically sophisticated annotations and commentaries as well as an extensive glossary explaining key philosophical concepts in detail. The translations aim to be true to the originals yet accessible, with the goal of opening up these rich and subtle philosophical texts to modern readers without prior training in Chinese thought.
Download or read book The History of the Former Han Dynasty written by Ku Pan and published by . This book was released on 1955 with total page 563 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
