Outline Lecture Twelve—Imperial Unification and Bureaucracy

I) The Momentum Towards Unification a) Formation of a “Distinctly” Chinese Identity i) Practical need for political unity? b) Why the state of Qin? i) Logistical advantages of the Qin (1) Geographical location (2) Simple agrarian economy ii) Legalist state (1) Strong laws as deterrence against crime (2) Provided a relatively stable and orderly society iii) The personal ambition of Ying Cheng (Qin Shi Huangdi) (1) Personal background (2) Unified China in 221 B.C.E. (3) Title of “Emperor” or Huang Di 帝

II) The Qin Record (221-206) a) Totalitarian “police-state”? i) Persecution of Confucians ii) Burning of books in 213 b) Imperial infrastructure i) Egalitarian Measures ii) Standardization iii) Great Wall c) Contradictions of the Qin State i) The terracotta soldiers—epitome of organization and rationality (1) Raw power and efficiency of Qin’s centralized bureaucracy (2) Yet at what cost? ii) The Totalitarian Paradox (1) Insistence on rational order/ irrational excess

III) Managing an Empire: Han Bureaucracy a) Chronology of the Han Dynasty i) Former Han (207 B.C.E. to 8 C.E.) ii) Wang Mang Interlude iii) Later Han (25 C.E. to 220 C.E.) b) Legacy of the Han i) Han founded by a commoner, Liu Bang ii) Extension of China’s frontiers (show map) c) Han Bureaucracy: A Confucian-Legalist Experiment i) Confucian Ideology/Legalist Statecraft (1) Synthesis during the robust reign of Emperor Wudi (141-87) (2) Adopted the Legalist system (a) “Ever-Level Granary” or “Equal Market System” (b) Equal tax system (3) Confucianism as state ideology (a) Bureaucracy run by officials steeped in Confucian doctrines ii) Problematic Union of Confucianism and Legalism? (1) Debate on Salt and Iron (a) Financial crisis vs. Confucian Ethics (2) The Tragic Example of the Grand Historian, Sima Qian (145-90 B.C.E.) (a) Author of Shiji or Historical Records (b) Defense of the frontier general Li Ling (c) Tragic collision of Confucian humanism with Legalist statecraft

IV) The Constraints of Han Confucianism a) Two-tiered peasant based society i) Gentry ruling over peasants ii) Failure of the “horizontal tax” system—“inelastic regional quota” (1) Yellow Turban Revolt in 184 b) Han Confucian—Theory of correspondence i) “Magical pseudo-science” used to rationalize the hierarchy of power and society c) Female Casualties of Han Patriarchy i) “Three submissions” ii) The Case of Ban Zhao (Pan Ch’ao) (45 C.E. to 120 C.E.?) (1) Personal backgroundSister of the great historian, Ban Gu (2) Ban Zhao’s “Admonitions for Women” Nu-Jie (a) Reading Ban Zhao “against the grain” (b) Sound and realistic advice on how to survive and prevail in an oppressive and unforgiving patriarchal society