1. The history of Chinese dynasties have been bloody with
power hungry rulers. They were known to even kill their
relatives as in the case of the emperor Shi Huangdi.
Most emperors were set on uniting all of China, and
though some did, it came with the cost of human life.
Though many rulers had different views, the different
dynasties each contributed to what China is today.

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Q uic kT im e™ and a
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Throughout Chinese history, there were many dynasties
and rulers. Two dynasties in particular made a great
impact on Chinese life. These dynasties were the Qin
and the Han. Despite the fact that they were both
successful empires, they were governed very differently
and had different belief systems. The way the empires
were run made a great difference to the extent and length
of their success. The Qin believed in a Legalistic way of
ruling, and the Han taught Confucianism. Though both
dynasties added greatly to what China would become,
the Han endured longer.

3. • The first emperor of the Qin Dynasty named
himself Shi Huangdi, which literally means “First
Emperor.”
• Shi Huangdi created an autocracy in China
 Autocracy – Government has unlimited power
• Under the Emperor’s rule peasants were forced to
work against their will
• Huangdi cost his people their freedom in order to
unite China

4. • The Qin put into action a Legalist form of
government
 Legalist rulers would reward people who did what
they were supposed to do, and do it well
They would severely punish people who were
disobedient

5. • The Qin divided their territory up into 36 commanderies (click here for a list of the Qin commanderies)
 Commanderies – A province
• Each commandery was divided into smaller
counties
 Had peasants build a network of highways
through China

7. • Built the Great Wall of China
 Built by thousands of peasants
 Built with earth, stones, and wood frames
 Later modifications were made during the Ming
Dynasty
 The Great Wall is a set of walls, not one
complete structure
 Built to keep enemies out and the Chinese
people in

8. • Established Chinese:
 Writing
 Law
 Currency
• Created irrigation
projects and systems
• Before Huangdi died, he built an elaborate tomb
guarded by over 6,000 terra-cotta warriors
Huangdi’s terra-cotta army

9. • The Han Dynasty was split into two periods
 Former Han – 206 BC to 8 AD
 Later Han – 25 to 220 AD
• The first emperor of the Han Dynasty was Liu
Bang
• Bang established a centralized government
• Bang’s government was a bureaucracy
• The Han dynasty was not as hash on it’s people as
the Qin

10. • The government used some of
Confucious’ ideas (click here to
learn more about
Confucianism)
• Some government jobs
included a examination for the
applicants to test their
knowledge of Confucianism
• They used Confucian scholars
as court advisors Confucius

11. • The capital region was called Sili

13. • The Han invented paper 105 AD
• Some of their other inventions included:
 Collar Harnesses
 Two-bladed plows
 Wheel barrows
• Government created monopolies for the mining of
salt, iron forging, coin minting, and alcohol brewing

14. Q uic kT im e™ and a
de c ompre ss or
are ne e ded to se e t his pi c ture .
Q uic kT im e™ and a
de c ompre ss or
are ne e ded to se e t his pi c ture .
During the Tang and Song Dynasties, China experienced
a period of great progress.They became more
technologically advanced, wealthier, and created a better
system of government and leadership that worked. The
majority of citizens living in China during these two
dynasties were content, because everyone got what they
deserved. The great progress in these two dynasties
were greatly affected by the emperors ruling during this
time period. China might not have experienced a golden
age if they had different emperors in power.

15. • A general orginally named Li Shimin
• Killed his rival brothers and forced his father, the first Tang Emperor, to
give him the throne
• When Li Shimin became emperor he took the name Tang Taizong
• Tang Taizong means “Great ancestor”
• Military campaigns extended to Manchuria, Vietnam, and the Aral Sea
• Reformed China’s government organization and law code
• Taizong’s government organization and law code became a model for
the rest of East Asia

16. • Chinese Empire is expanded
• Taizong’s armies reconquered the northern and western lands
China lost during the dynasties after the Han Dynasty
• Korea went under China’s influence
• Roads and canals started by the Sui were expanded
• Taxes were lowered
• Land was taken from the wealthy and given to the peasants
• Foreign trade and advancements in agriculture were promoted
• China’s bureaucracy was restored through the revival of the civil
service examination system

17. • Arrived at Tang Taizong’s court to become a secondary wife to
the emperor
• After Taizong’s death, Wu Zhao became his son’s favored wife
• She became the emperors chief wife, also known as an
empress
• When the emperor became sick, Empress Wu virtually ruled
china on his behalf
• After the emperor’s death his two sons held the throne
• Empress Wu took over the throne at age 65 because her sons
were unable to rule China properly
• Empress Wu lost power at age 85

18. • Established during the Han Dynasty, but failed to work
• Schools were opened around China
• Schools taught poetry, confucianism, and other subjects
• Schools were open to all of China’s citizens, but only the
wealthy could afford to attend these schools
• After attending school, students would take an examination
• A high score on the exam made you a scholar-official
• Men who had political connections received high positions as
scholar-officials without passing the exam

20. • Porcelain
-Invented in the late 700’s
-White ceramic made out of a mineral and special clay that can
only be found in china
• Mechanical Clock
-invented in the 700’s
-A clock who’s movements were regulated by running water;
machinery
• Gunpowder
-Invented during the 800’s
-A mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter; which made an
explosive powder
• Block Printing
-Created during the 700’s
-One block on which a whole page is cut

21. • Tang rulers had to bring back high taxes on the peasants to afford military
expansion
• Taxes caused citizens trouble and did not help pay for the government
• When famine took over China, peasants traveled the countryside in bandit
gangs
• 751, Arab armies conquered the Chinese at the Battle of Talas
• Frequent border attacks and internal rebellions weakened the power of the
government
• 907, Chinese rebels destroyed the Tang capital and killed the last Tang
emperor

22. • Founder of the Song dynasty
• His real name was Chao K’uang-yin
• Reunited the majority of China after the Five Dynasties
period
• Ruled China from (960-979)
• A leading general during the Chou Dynasty

23. • 1100’s, after the decline of the Tang, Manchurian people
called the Jurchen invaded the part of China which was
under the rule of the Song
• The Jurchen forced the Song to move south towards the
Huang-He
• 1126-The Song established a new capital at Hangzhou
• The southern part of China became very prosperous and
wealthy under the Song’s ruling

24. • Upper class made up of educated scholar-officials and their families
• This upper class was called the gentry
 Members of the gentry wore their finger nails up to 2 inches to
show that they did not do any physical labor
 Their fingernails did not interfere with their daily tasks such as
calligraphy, painting, or writing poetry
• The middle class was made up of merchants, shopkeepers,
artisans, minor officials, and others
• Below the middle class were the peasants
• Peasants were the largest class
• Peasants worked for the wealthy land owners

25. • Women of wealthy families became even less important to the
prosperity and status of a family
• Wealthy women began the custom of foot binding
• A women’s foot was bound very tightly so that it would not grow
• This broke the women’s arch and curled every toe but the big toe
• This was called a “lily-foot” it made the women crippled for the rest
of her life
• Small feet were considered admirable by the men
• With bound feet, a women was entirely dependent on her husband
• Peasant women however still continued to labor and earn food and
income for their family

26. • The official state philosophy of china during and after the Song
dynasty
• A revival of Confucianism, but a more rational and practical variation
of it
• Zhu Xi, a philosopher during the Song dynasty, was a main
developer of Neo Confucianism
• The two main principle schools of thought were
 The Lixue (school of principle)-represented by zhu Xi
 The Xinxue (school of mind)-represented by Lu Xiangshan and
Wang Yangming

28. • Movable Type
-Invented in 1040
-An arrangement of individual characters into
frames, which are then used again many times
• Paper Money
-Invented in the 1020’s
-A paper currency which was started by the Song
government to replace the old strings of metal cash used
by the merchants

29. • Magnetic Compass
-Invented in the 1100’s
-Used for navigation
-A magnetized needle which floated and always
pointed north-south
-Existed in China many centuries before sailors
adapted it to use while they were at sea

30. The main goal of all emperors of past dynasties was to
unite China and make it a big and powerful nation. Each
emperor had to fight for their position as ruler of China.
The emperors of past dynasties such as the Qin, Han,
Tang and Song all contributed to the large and
wealthy country China is today. China grew, prospered,
and became very technologically advanced due to the
emperors’ additions and amendments to the Chinese
laws and culture.

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Beck, Roger B., Linda Black, Larry S. Kreiger, Phillip C. Naylor , and Dahia Ibo Shabaka. World History: Patterns of
Interaction. USA: Rand MacNally, 2003. (281-291)
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