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Advantages and disadvantages of royal prerogative
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Both sources remark the emperor’s role in government and his characteristics. The first source, The Great Tang Code, states laws and regulations of Tang empire. These rules dates back to Western Zhou dynasty, where the rulers felt the urge to state their own laws. The significance of this source is based on it’s policies and the knowledge of right and wrongs of Tang empire gained by it. The next source is first hand written by emperor, as a guidance for next kings. It is significant in order to understand what the emperor thought was wrong or he did wrong. At the same time, he did right or thought he did it right. The source, emphasize military, cultural and strategic actions. The source states that the king is receives Heaven’s will and acts …show more content…
This shows that government is relied on king and spiritual belief, stops the plot and rebel against the country. In addition, the source provides significant statement which is different than other countries. “The woman has her husband’s house; the man has his wife’s chamber; and there must be no defilement on either side.” This part of code introduces new regulation, women and men had equal rights in marriage, at least they both should not cheat. The idea, strongly suggests and makes us think that different than other states, in Tang women had almost equal rights as …show more content…
The rulers should not burden everything alone and their family should help them. this indicates that in past rulers had difficulties facing problems alone and the advice for later on rulers is to have their family help them. For the sake of country, emperor should listen to advices of high officials and does not have a direct link to information. The king in Tang was obligated to listen and could not do anything he wishes. It means, previous kings might have done as they pleased and it affected the country badly. Later source tells us demanded characteristics of an emperor; generous, majestic, disciplined and thoughtful. The emperor is not someone that will only rule, he is expected to be a father of the country. Rather than a dictator, the demanded emperor is wise and kind man. He is also expected to be wise enough to choose right person for its task. The clever idea of helping emperor to rule the country was successful during Zhou dynasty. “Formerly when the Zhou dynasty was at its height, the empire was divided among the royal clan. Nearby there was Jin and Zheng to help; far off there was Lu and Wei”. This strategy was helpful one and we can conclude that government depended on royal family alone. Although, emperor had to listen to his advisers, the royal family was the only rulers. Nevertheless, since humans are greedy if you
Almost any place that you live in, you will find that there is some sort of government set up there. A government is basically a form of system of rule, by which state, community, etc. is governed by. Although, most places do have a government set up, the type of government in which they have differ from each place. One of the most popular forms of government that is used often today would be democracy; this means that the government is ruled by the people. Monarchy is another one that you should be aware of because it is one of the oldest forms of government and it is still used today in some places. A monarchy government consists of the rule
Since the emperors were the leaders they were in charge of the whole empire, so it means they made most of the decisions for the empire. When the soldiers had asked if they could set aside the armor the emperor should be thinking about how that would affect the empire but instead thought about the soldiers and allowed this. If they wouldn't have allowed it then the army wouldn't have gotten lazy and weak and they would have been able to defend the empire properly. So that means that most of those invasions wouldn't have happened in the first place. Also in the Background Essay it states that the leaders were more focused on getting their way instead of focusing on debate and compromise. So they had less interest in focusing on the more important things that will help the
Since the introduction of Buddhism into China, it was not well received by the population as its foreign beliefs clashed with pre-existent principals of Confucianism and Taoism. On top of that, it was alienated by the Confucianism-based government in the late Han Dynasty. All in all, Buddhism was not a common nor a popular religion throughout China at first. Nevertheless, this all changed after the rise of the Tang Dynasty. There is no doubt that Buddhism and the Tang administration under Wu’s reign formed a critical symbiotic relationship with one another. Buddhism played a pivotal role in justifying Empress Wu’s rule. She enthroned herself as the monarch of China, an extraordinarily difficult achievement for a woman in a male-dominant society, by associating herself with Buddhism: proclaiming herself as the Maitreya and that she will bring an utopian era for the Chinese. (Smarr, 17 Feb. 2012) At the same time, Buddhism benefitted handsomely from government support, as monasteries are exempted from tax and that they are financially supported by the state, as seen in A Pilgrim’s Visit to the Five Terraces Mountains, which ultimately resulted in the substantial growth in attraction of Buddhist converts and Buddhism itself. Wu’s extensive support of the religion with ostentatious gifts and donations contributed to the rapid proliferation of Buddhism. Evidently, the mutually benefitting relationship between Buddhism and the state are crucial to each other’s survival during Wu’s sovereignty, but to what extent did her financial support (donations to monasteries) of Buddhism bettered the government overall?
The Chinese Tang dynasty was the second major unified dynasty of China, and it ruled from 618-907. The Tang built upon the foundation laid by the predecessors, the Han. The religion of China, Confucianism, held the greatest influence on gender. Confucianism’s primary beliefs were based
There is no simple answer to this question, especially with the convoluted and entwining relationship between Buddhism and Wu, so we focus on how the religion assisted Wu in grasping power and its indispensable role in the Chinese economy. The close connection between government and religion is not a new concept to the Tang era as it has been well-established prior to its time, and it even survived long after. In the case of Buddhism and Empress Wu, the religion played a pivotal role in justifying her rule, which could explain her special interest in it. Among the Buddhists followers, she was identified as the bodhisattva Maitreya, which helped her gain a sense of legitimacy to her reign, especially in a male-dominant society (Smarr Feb. 17 2012). The association of Buddhism with Wu helped spur Wu’s benevolent policies towards the religion, who benefitted handsome...
...c. 4). This is an example of one of the seven unequal relationships in Confucianism. Much of the social structure of classical China was based on Confucian ideals (Doc. 3). In Greece the relationship between a husband and wife also very unequal due to her young age and lack of education. Alone a woman had no political rights and limited legal powers therefore is was necessary for a husband to provide for his wife much like a father would (Doc. 6) A woman would learn house hold management and eventually produce heirs. These two similar systems of social roles was not a benevolent system. It did not take into account the welfare of individuals, particularly woman who had little power to leave in a bad marital situation. However by insuring that people know their place, which kept them in line, classical societies were more prosperous and able to run more smoothly.
Today we can look around ourselves and see thousands of technical innovations that make life easier; But if we take a step back and ask ourselves “How?” we will soon realize that most often, these technological advancements did not just “poof” into existence, but are usually the outcome of building upon yesterday’s technology. If we follow this cycle back into time, we can attribute almost any modern day invention to an ancient civilization during its golden age. China was no exception. China’s Song and Tang dynasties fostered scientific advances comparable to Rome’s during its Pax Romana. The most significant and impacting of these were the development of primitive gunpowder and porcelain of the Tang and paper money, and the magnetic compass of the Song Dynasties. Although these may seem very far off, if you look hard enough, you can see traces of their impacts in society today because most of the advancements today we owe to them.
In the patriarchal, Confucian influenced, Han dynasty, a woman’s role and social status was far from equal to that of a man. In Ban Zhao’s work Lessons for a woman she depicted the role of a woman, as a lower-class member of society. Hidden beneath the stereotypes of what a woman was supposed to be, Ban Zhao was a rarity of her time as she excelled as a historian and teacher.
Chen, Jo-shui. "Empress Wu and Proto-feminist Sentiments in T'ang China." In Imperial Rulership and Cultural Change in Traditional China, edited by Frederick P. Brandauer and Chün-chieh Huang. 77-116. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994.
Common in premodern China was the heavy discrimination of women and a strict social role that they were obligated to follow in order to survive. Women were assigned a limiting job at birth: be a good and faithful wife. For thousands of years, women were portrayed more as employees of their husbands than lovers or partners, and this is prevalent in imperial Chinese literature.
In this initial chapter, Huang provides an anecdotal history of some of the events that occurred, and includes within it a discussion of the set up of the leadership, the repercussions that occurred in the event of certain actions, including the prospects of an audience with the emperor. Huang reviews these issues as he considers that actions taken by the Wan-li emperor, who was only twenty-four in 1587 and who had been a veteran of ceremonial proceedings, and considers his history as an element of understanding the progression of leadership. Huang outlines the reconstruction of the court under Wan-li who came into power at the death of his father and the seemingly insignificant actions taken by the emperor, from his marriage to the redecorating of the court. Within the scope of this discourse, Huang is able to disclose the excesses of the emperor, and consider the implications of the bureaucratic system that he devised as an extension of this excess (13).
During rule of Wanli Emperor, Ming was in a chaotic state, no matter in politics, military, society, or natural conditions. The centurial governors were corrupt. Being trusted by the Wanli Emperor, eunuchs were extraordinary powerful and; some of them had more influence than the government officials. Some officials wanted to be promoted so that they colluded with eunuchs to let the eunuchs delay, or intercept memorial to the throne, which are deleterious for them so that the emperor failed to know the real situation they were facing. Also, the government was poor after the battles in Ningxia, Korea, and Panzhou; the emperor decided to add the taxes to support financial crisis. Yet, the late Ming Dynasty encountered the extremely cold climate, and drought; there was a lack of food for the huge population from the earlier prosperous generation. It is said in that duration, people had neither food in their mouth, nor cloths on their body. Therefore, many people became bandits to survive and support their family, which became one of the most important problems. Facing such chaos, people, who built up the base of the whole country, gathered. T...
Confucius was one of the first men to have different ideas on how rulers should go about their ruling of people during the Zhou Dynasty. “Its career as a prominent tradition in China began with its adoption by the Han dynasty, and virtually every East Asian regime of the past thousand years or more has endorsed Confucianism as its official ideology.” Confucius believed that rulers should rule in a manner that is beneficial to the people being governed and in a way that is morally right and traditionally acceptable (for the time). Confucius spent most of his time with a group of followers, in search of a ruler who would follow his teaching and take his advice. (web.cn.edu)(patheos.org 1)
The early part of the novel shows women’s place in Chinese culture. Women had no say or position in society. They were viewed as objects, and were used as concubines and treated with disparagement in society. The status of women’s social rank in the 20th century in China is a definite positive change. As the development of Communism continued, women were allowed to be involved in not only protests, but attended universities and more opportunities outside “house” work. Communism established gender equality and legimated free marriage, instead of concunbinage. Mao’s slogan, “Women hold half of the sky”, became extremely popular. Women did almost any job a man performed. Women were victims by being compared to objects and treated as sex slaves. This was compared to the human acts right, because it was an issue of inhumane treatment.
Kingston uses the story of her aunt to show the gender roles in China. Women had to take and respect gender roles that they were given. Women roles they had to follow were getting married, obey men, be a mother, and provide food. Women had to get married. Kingston states, “When the family found a young man in the next village to be her husband…she would be the first wife, an advantage secure now” (623). This quote shows how women had to get married, which is a role women in China had to follow. Moreover, marriage is a very important step in women lives. The marriage of a couple in the village where Kingston’s aunt lived was very important because any thing an individual would do would affect the village and create social disorder. Men dominated women physically and mentally. In paragraph eighteen, “they both gav...