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Ancient china social hierarchy
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During the Ming and Qing Dynasty, under the circumstance of which the absolute monarchy reached its peak progressively, two trends of thoughts appeared in China: Firstly, the old personnel selection system (Imperial Examination System) appeared be so rigid that the authority of intellectuals and social elites was challenged and questioned by the masses; secondly, the evaluation of merchant class from officials to civilians was gradually changed due to the growth of commerce in China – the highly developed agriculture and handicraft industry leads to abundant resources in the society, that trend laid the foundation to the exchange of goods. “Wu Jingzi: From The Scholars – Fan Jin Passes The Juren Examination” is an excerpt from Rulin Waishi, …show more content…
The story of Fan Jin reveals the difficulty of social mobility. By depicting Fan’s twenty-four-year in taking the basic examination and his personal poverty, the author indicates how hard it can be for a low-level people to achieve his success. Additionally, the description of people around Fan Jin vividly demonstrates the contempt for people who are without power and wealthy and the adulation to people who are with wealth and political rights. Last, but not least, Wu obtains a strong desire to irony the imperial examination system. Therefore, he describes the mental disorder of Fan Jin in order to depict the nature of the examination – to let people have more knowledge or to let people have psychiatry- and the content of exanimation in order to reveal the useless of the personnel selection …show more content…
Secondly, the existence of merchant may maintain the stability in border areas (South-East). And the oversea trade is also an extremely part of the tribute system that can display China’s powerfulness. Lastly,the author calls for lax of business environment and tax policy with the expectation of trade
...when Qing China had become one of the world’s largest empires and was prosperous. The two Edicts begin by expressing the ways in which Qianlong was lenient and hospitable with Lord Macartney and his party. There are also sections that commend the king on his humility of his actions and requests. However, the remainder of the document proceeds to list the demands that Qianlong was presented with and the reasons why each were denied. This rejection of demands was likely a way to protect China from the British Empire, who was known to colonize other nations.
Chapter 4: China's Qing Dynasty & Its Collapse." East-Asian-History Home. Penn State. Web. 06 Apr. 2011..
The Chinese possessed strong beliefs about astrology, so when it was prophesised that a women ruler would soon ascend the throne word quickly spread throughout the common people. It was predicted that within 30 years this woman known as ‘The Prince of Wu’ would rule over China. Whether or not Empress Wu’s rise to power was due to ‘heaven ordained fate’, she fulfilled the prophecy and became China’s first woman ruler in the 7th century. Historians, scholars and common people alike have long debated Wu’s reign. She is commonly referred to as an evil usurper due to the way she took power. However whether she fully deserves this reputation is to be examined. As the only female Chinese ruler, Wu challenged traditional gender roles and legitimized herself as a leader at a time when women were not meant for such positions. Empress Wu came to power through self-determination and a remarkable gift for politics. Once on the throne, she kept her power by all means necessary, often those means being murder and betrayal. Some of her actions were undoubtedly cruel. However once she was established as an empress conducted a mostly peaceful and prosperous reign. Empress Wu was by definition a usurper of the Chinese throne however not necessarily an evil one. She was manipulative and ruthless yet brilliant and exceptionally gifted. Her rise to power through sheer determination is to be commended despite the harsh tactics she used along the way.
The Civil Service Exam played a major role in both the societies of Han China and the Republic of Rome as it provided their citizens a way to progress in life, economically and socially. Both civil service exams in the Republic of Rome and the Han Dynasty in China were open to all citizens, with some exclusions to the impoverished, giving them the chance to move up the socioeconomic ladder in society. The Roman civil service exam prepared their citizens for utilitarian careers and trades in fields such as carpentry, smithery, construction, etc. A relatively high number of people who took the Roman civil service exam passed in proportion to all of the participants. However, this was very different from the Imperial Examinations under the Han Dynasty, where the examination, prepared citizens exclusively, for a career in the government. Also, the Han civil service exam was much more rigorous, with higher demands of the people who took the exam, resulting in only a minuscule fractio...
Chapter 1: The Wan-Li Emperor, begins by explaining the major premise of the work: The concept of looking at a single year in the history of the leadership of China and evaluating the implications for understanding other aspects of history, including the decline of the Ming Dynasty. 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.
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...
During the history of ancient China, around 500 B.S.Ec., the Chinese begin to go through a crisis. The original order established in the civilization was long gone, and a change was needed. Something had to be done, in order to get the order restored in china. Chinese thinkers looked for ways to change their empire in order to reestablish order to their empire. In the chaotic China civilization, several different answers arouse to solve the problem, which ultimately changed China for the better. The three primary solutions were the concepts Legalist, Confucianism, Daoism.
It is thus rational for us to question the validity of preconditions upon which these ideas were acquired and the legitimacy of the ideas; and later but more importantly, how did the Legalists become the only classical thoughts had its teaching adopted as the sole official doctrine of a regime ruling all China and bring about the unification of China; and lastly, the association of the all-too-soon collapse of the ephemeral Qin Dynasty and the Legalists thoughts.
The Qing Dynasty prospered well into the 20th century despite the numerous problems the administration faced. However, during the early days of the 20th century, civil disorders continued to grow in such unmanageable factions that the administration was pushed to do something about it. The high living standards of the previous century had contributed to a sharp increase in China’s population, there was approximately 400 million people living in China around the nineteenth century. This spike increased population density, it also created a surplus of labour shortages, land shortages, inadequate food production and several famines. As an attempt for a solution, Empress Dowager Cixi proclaimed a call for proposals for reform from the generals and governors. There were three reform movements between 1860-1911, “ the Qing court and Chinese provincial officials had tried to adapt a wide range of Western techniques and ideas to China’s proven needs: artillery, ships, the telegraph, new schools, factories, chambers of commerce and international law” (Spence, 234). The first reform being the Self-strengthening Movement the second was the Hundred Days Reform and the last is regarded as the Late Qing reform. These three reforms were similar in the fact that the main objective was to strengthen China. However, there were multiple reasons for the failed plans of the reforms. Analyzing certain individuals and events during the late Qing dynasty will help determine if the Manchus would have been viable leaders for modern China.
The way the Chinese have conceived of their past, and of themselves, was profoundly shaped by the Shiji. The Shiji, or Historical Records, was a monumental work composed of 130 chapters written during the Han dynasty by Sima Qian. It presented the past from several perspectives: a chronological narrative of political events; topical accounts of key institutions; and biographies of individuals that Qian saw as important. The political narrative began with the Yellow Lord and continued through the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, down to the Han dynasty and Emperor Wudi of Sima Qian's day. Chronological charts with genealogical data and information on government posts came next, such as the calendar, state ritual, the construction of waterworks, and government finance. Thirty chapters were devoted to the ruling houses of the states of the Zhou period, recounting the reigns of successive rulers. These were supplemented by seventy chapters on other important individuals, including not only great officials and generals, but also people not associated with the government, both the famous and infamous including: philosophers, poets, merchants, magicians, and even rebels. Even non-Han people along the frontiers were described in narrative accounts. The emergence of a unified empire out of the warring States of pre-Qin China, the consolidation of the former Han, and the relations between the empire and the surrounding people groups were major themes in the Shiji. Qian’s records also offer insights through his role as a historian and his attempt to resolve a life changing experience he distinguished in his own life. Equally important, Sima Qian, by writing so well on so much, had a profound impact on Chinese thinking about government, pers...
In this essay, I will look at the outpouring of thought, art and literature during the early empire. More so though, I will focus on what factors led to this renewed focus on culture in the early empire. It would seem that there were several factor which would lead to this renewed interest in culture in early China, but the most significant of these factors would be the re-establishment of a strong central government. This re-establishment of a strong central government laid the foundation for cultural growth. It brought with it prosperity to China, through improved infrastructure, such as the canals and graineries. As a result of these improvements, China flourished both economically, militarily and of course culturally. We first must look at some of the history of the centralization of China, which occurred, then was destroyed and then once more established. First by the Han Dynasty, then latter by the Sui and the T'ang
In realising that foreign investments are the key source of the nation’s economic rise, the Chinese government has given special preferences to foreign investors (Financial Express, 2006). This is mostly done through reduction of most favoured nation (MFN) tariff rate. In India, on the other hand, fair competition exists between domestic and foreign investors. Although the Indian government states that it aims to reduce its MFN tariff rate, which currently doubles the rate in China, to other ASEAN country levels, it is in reality a big challenge because a large portion of the nation’s tax revenue comes from customs tariffs (Henley, 2004).
I was unsure what to post until I saw this this video on the fourth of July. The video is ridiculous. You have a lady who took it upon herself to chastise a heartbroken Oklahoma City Thunder fan who placed tape on the name Durant and wrote the word TRAITOR on the tape. He did this after learning that their superstar, Kevin Durant is leaving the team to sign with the San Francisco Golden State Warriors. The lady who took offense with the guy wearing traitor on his back argued that KD made OKC and that he should respect his decision and respect him as a man. First off, the man who decided that he would put tape on his jersey and make up a sign showing his displeasure of Durant leaving the Thunder is what I call a super fan. A super fan is one of those types that really believe that they are part of the team forgetting of course that they own no stake in the team nor can they hire or fire coaches nor sign and trade players. These super fans will use the word “we” instead of “they” when referring to the team. This super fan
China’s economical strength comes from its international trades as the economy has grown to a rate of 10.3% in 2010. It has become the world’s largest exporter in the global economy. In the area of trade, three major strengths of China are 1) it is the single most important challenge for the European Union (EU) trade policy, 2) China is the second trade partner behind the U.S., and 3) it is the EU’s biggest source of imports by far with the dramatic increase in the EU-China trades over the recent years. The EU exports of goods to China were 113.1 billion Euros and in imports was 281.9 billion Euros in 2010. The service exports were 18 billion Euros and in imports were 13 billion Euros in 2009. China has also established trades with Australia. Recently, the two countries have been cooperating and assisting each other in industries such as agriculture, energy and minerals as they continue their free trade agreements (Jia Qinglin).
The purpose of this paper is to tell the history of the Ming Dynasty’s impact on the Chinese Empire, and to explain why the Chinese Empire was in fact an empire.