The Super Summary of World History - Alan Dale Daniel [68]
From 2500 BC, large parts of China were unified under various dynasties starting with the Yao, which lasted two hundred years. Approximately 1994 BC, the Xia clan managed to gain control of enough of China to qualify as a dynasty. Xia’s dynastic reign ended by 1600 BC with the inception of the Shang dynasty. The Shang lasted six hundred years before its overthrow by the Chou (also Zhou) in 1050 BC.
Together, the Shang and Chow dynasties established the fundamental patterns of Chinese life that would prove to be so enduring. The institutions established by the Shang and continued by the Chou would become the same institutions used by Imperial China for two thousand years. The Chou established a strong unified central government that was able, by using clans and the family unit, to run the nation. This strong central governmental control continues in China until this very day. The Chou divided the country into landowning nobility and a peasant underclass. One had to be a recognized member of a clan to be a noble. The peasants could not be members of a clan; thus, welding the peasants in place as workers of the land—and nothing else.
After the fall of the Chou dynasty in 480 BC, China entered into the Warring States Period until 221 BC. During the Warring States Period, philosophy, technology, and the arts flowered. It was during this time of disarray that Sun Tzu wrote the famous Art of War that is still widely read today. Sun Tzu thought the greatest victories came without fighting. The goal was to bend your adversary to your will, and if accomplished without loss of life, then one had shown himself to be the greatest of generals (note the difference in the Chinese mind, very different from the west). Nevertheless, it was a period of extensive warfare and chaos failing to advance the overall society.
In 221 BC the Qin (also Chin, for which the nation was named) dynasty began after this clan was able to conquer and again reunite China under one ruler. The Qin had been fighting the nomads in the northern areas of China for years, and they put this knowledge of warfare to use in conquering the feudal states of the Warring States Period. After the conquest, the Qin dynasty started construction on The Great Wall to keep the nomads from the north out of China.[76] The Qin established a total dictatorship, created one language for the entire nation, and required one system for weights and measures. Using harsh laws, the Qin oppressed the people. By murdering intellectuals with different ideas they instilled fear to maintain their rule. This harsh treatment led to discontent and rebellion.
Figure 23 Jin (North) and Song(South) Dynasties 1142 AD
In 206 BC the prosperous Han dynasty began and lasted four centuries until AD 220. The greatest ruler of the Han, Emperor Wu, started the civil service system in China wherein individuals were chosen for government jobs by testing rather than heredity. This fundamental change ensured a quality bureaucracy for China. The civil service system was part of a centralized government that was the norm in China since the Qin. The Confucius system and the civil service fit together well, as Confucius had taught that each person had his place in a great web of relationships and obligations. This web of relationships started in the home where each individual had a place with specific obligations, such as children to parents, and wives to husbands; then on to the larger world of peasants to local officials, local officials to regional officials, and so on, which then expanded out