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Western Han Section 1: Introduction Week 8 Making empire Last: Western Han Section 1: Introduction 1. Making Empire Last: Western Han Given that the Qin Dynasty failed so utterly and so quickly, it looked to many people that the kind of empire it had created-- a centralized, bureaucratic empire, where one family held the throne and sent officials out to the countryside to govern on its behalf-- looked to many that was an utter failure, that the only possibility would be to return to the Zhou model. And yet it turns out that in Chinese history, the Qin model of centralized, bureaucratic empire was successful. It was the Han Dynasty that followed the Qin that made it work, that succeeded, that showed that a centralized bureaucratic empire could be a success, could last. I want to approach the issue of how the Han established its empire and how it made it last on three fronts-- first, what might be called court politics, an understanding of what happens at court in terms of the people that make decisions, the rivalries among them. The second approach I'm going to take is to talk about fundamental institutional tensions that have to be resolved or balanced in some way in order to make a polity endure. And these tensions are not just limited to China. We can think about them-- and in fact, we'll ask you to think about them-- in terms of your own countries as well. The third approach I'm going to take is by looking at questions of ideology. Once you have such a powerful center, when resources are flowing to the imperial center, how do you set about to constrain and limit the autocrat, the August Thearch, the Huangdi, the emperor? 2. Historical Overview The earlier years of Han faced continual threats at home and abroad. The Han administration system was a compromise between the Qin centralized bureaucracy and Zhou feudal system. Half of the empire were divided into kingdoms ruled by princes who constantly struggled for power with the central court. The largest revolt of the princes took place in 154 BCE, nearly sounding an early end for Han. To the north, the Xiongnu took advantage of Han's internal unrest and engaged in constant raiding. After a humiliating defeat in 201 BCE, the Han began to adopt conciliatory foreign policies, including the practice known as marriage alliance, or heqin, where Liu princesses are sent to be married to Xiongnu leaders along with lavish gifts. Emperor Wu, or Wudi, who reigned from 141 to 87 BCE, was the great-grandson of Liu Bang, turned the tide on many fronts. He greatly curtailed the territories of the feudal princes and concentrated power in his own hands. He engaged in aggressive expansionist policies, campaigning against the Xiongnu and sending expeditions every direction from Central Asia to Vietnam. Under in his reign in the year of 108 BCE, the Han territory reached its maximum. In order to fund his campaigns without raising taxes, Emperor Wu took over the minting of coins, implemented state monopoly on major industries, as well as commercial taxes on private business. Unprecedented amount of coins were in circulation. At last, Emperor Wu made Confucianism into a state-sponsored ideology. And from this point on, Confucian classics, such as the Book of Odes, or Shijing, and the Book of Documents, Shangshu, became the core texts for the education of government officials. In 9 CE, a powerful minister named Wang Mang put himself on the throne, ending the first half of the Han Dynasty, now known as Western Han, and founding short-lived Xin Dynasty. Wang Mang attempted to reconstruct the ideal state of Zhou as described in Confucian classics but completely failed. Section 2: Court Politics 1. Court Politics Let's begin with the whole question of court politics. I'm going to sit down, relax a bit, and take you through a whole series of events that mark the Han Dynasty. Because the Han Dynasty begins in a rebellion against the Qin. Eventually, there's going to be usurpation. And there's going to be an interregnum with something called the New Dynasty. And then the Han Dynasty will be restored. The former Han Dynasty, capital at Chang'an, the Eastern Han Dynasty, capital at Luoyang, marks this period. The Han Dynasty lasts, if we put all those two sides together, lasts about 400 years. Let's talk about court politics and why it's so attractive. In some ways because the kind of intrigue that goes on in court politics with backroom deals between people, all of the sort of things we cynically expect of people. People are competing with each other. All sorts of things happen. And sometimes, and particularly in the Han Dynasty, bloody things happen. The winner takes all and the loser loses his head. Let's consider some examples, beginning with the Qin. Why does the Qin fall? And there are lots of explanations. It depends on your stand, right? Some people would say it's because the emperor kept seeking the drugs of immortality. He sent expectations to what he thought was the land of the fairies, the land of the immortals to get their drug. Some say it's the fault of his son, the second emperor, who listened too much to the chief eunuch, who was persuaded that he should never appear in public. No one should ever see him. For Confucians, perhaps, it was the fact that books that talked about antiquity were burned and that scholars were buried alive. When we look at the Han, it was not without its problems, not without its successes. Liu Bang, when he's victorious, gathers his chief allies around him and says to them why do you think we were successful? And they say to him, you sire, you were such a great leader, such a great commander. It was you. And he says no, it wasn't me at all. Han Xin, he says, you're much better at leading in war than I am, leading in battle. Xiao He, you're much better at logistics than I am. Zhang Liang, you're a better strategist than I am. However, I'm good at managing men. And that, he was. Now Liu have may have been good at managing men, but he was not so good at managing his wife. Empress Lu came from a more prestigious family that him and probably never let him forget it. And along the way, Liu Bang started to acquire concubines. And it became clear that he favored a particular concubine and her son. And Empress Lu saw that her own son, who was the heir apparent, was about to be supplanted. She maneuvered against the concubine and prevented that from happening. But once Liu Bang, known now to us posthumously as Emperor Gaozu, died, she saw that that concubine and her clan were exterminated, and that the children that were threats to her own son were killed, and that she would rule through over her weak son, the heir apparent, as he assumed the emperorship. Well, in the end her dominance of the government lasted to her death in 180 BC, at which point the Han house, so to speak, came back and reestablished itself. The house of Liu, the Han imperial house, is threatened a generation later by a revolt from some of their own members, the kings of the Eastern Kingdoms, descendants of the first emperor of the Han. The story goes that Jing Di, Emperor Jing, when he was still heir apparent, is having a game of liubo-- you can see this game here-- liubo, with the heir apparent of one of the Eastern kings. And he gets so mad at him that he picks up the heavy stone board and throws it at him and kills him. And the Eastern king never forgave him. And when Jing Di, or Emperor Jing, takes the throne, the Eastern king plots with his allies in the East to overthrow him. Now, that revolt was eventually put down. And the Han Dynasty reaches a height of power under Emperor Wu, who dies in 87 BC. But two generations later, almost three generations later, the Han Dynasty falls to the usurper Wang Mang. Wang Mang revolts and usurps the throne in 9 AD. We have here a really good example of court political thinking or this personalization of politics that is so much part of court politics. And it's in the form of an opera. It's called the Beheading in the Sutra Hall . And want to show you a clip. And as you watch, I'll tell you what it's about. You see the actor with all the flags poking our from his back, meaning that he's a general. In this case, the general is a man named Wu Han. And he was a general serving Wang Mang. And so Wang Mang gave him his daughter to wed. Wu Han's mother at that point tells him something she had not told him his whole life. She says son, your father was killed by Wang Mang, who you now serve. Now, his daughter, the princess, has become your wife. She must be killed to revenge your father. Wu Han is distraught. How is he going to choose between the wife he loves and his responsibility towards his mother? Doesn't he have a responsibility to avenge his father? Isn't his family more important than his service to the state? He tells his wife and she realizes what his duty is.
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