Qin Dynasty Imperialism

Imperialism is the act of creating an empire, through extending a country’s power by force or forming international relations. In many cases, the imperializing country reaps the financial benefits and extracts resources/raw materials from the country that is colonized, leaving the natives with little to no resources and without the ability to advance or develop. When, one country enters another and takes over, it silences the people living there, and takes away their right of saying how their country should be governed. This lack of listening by the colonizers usually has disastrous results: destroyed economies, lives lost, and broken alliances, like the relationship between the British and the Chinese from the early 1700s until around 1912.

The Qin dynasty created the first unified Chinese empire. They did this by utilizing a legalistic approach to government. The Qin believed that the nature of mankind is inherently evil and only through a strict code of laws with severe punishment could the government achieve reliability and stability. Because the emperor feared the people and the inherent rights and privileges established with the teachings of Confucus, he ordered all books on Confucianism burned and beheaded everyone opposed to the government including their families. All weapons owned by private citizens were confiscated; the metal from these weapons were used to cast the gigantic metal statutes and bells that adorned the imperial

Whereas the expectation to serve in the military and fight for the empire was generally enforced upon soldiers of Han China through the urging of the state, this social responsibility was ingrained into Roman soldiers through a culture of warrior ethos. Although the Han Dynasty moved away from many of the strict Legalistic regulations and punishments of the Qin Dynasty, it still integrated some Legalist institutions into Confucian doctrine. One such convention was the expectation for commoners to serve as either farmers or warriors in order to support the state. As explained by Lord Shang, a prime minister of the Qin Dynasty in the mid-fourth century in The Book of Lord Shang, “The means whereby a country is made prosperous are agriculture and war… That is called “wearying the people.” Soldiers of the Han Dynasty served mainly due to the obligation enforced upon them by the government for the purpose of “wearying the people” – in other words, the Han government wanted to limit education and thought and limit the people to war and agriculture in order to limit possible rivalries and opposition to the government. Contrastingly, the warriors of the Roman Empire upheld a powerful warrior ethos that heightened their sense of honor and ultimately produced the immense power of the Roman army. As Polybius, a prominent historian of Roman society, explains,

The law in which the Qin constructed was harsh and unjust. They abolished the Zhou-ist feudal system, replacing it with controlled local administration. The term in which this practice is called is Legalism; the belief in which people are born with evil tendencies. The government demanded total subordination of the people to the ruler. Although there is no commonly recognized founder, there is one person who is credited for the establishment of Legalism: Shang Yang, an important statesman during the Warring States Period for the Qin. “The policies and measures initiated by Shang Yang were all designed to strengthen the state at the expense of the common people and the nobility, to subjugate the society under state domination.” Through

Even though the Qin dynasty was seen as barbaric and brutal, the Han did implement some of the old Qin institutions into their new government. One of these institutions were the Commanderies. These were administrative divisions of land in which a governor would be appointed by the government and run it as the government or emperor wants it to be ran. This is institution is very useful for knowing how many people you have. When war comes and you need to draft able bodied men to go fight, you will know just how many you will be able to get. Another reason would be for tax purposes. It is also very useful to regulate the trade and growing of certain crops. Even more in depth than that the government can control what the children in the commanderies are taught and what propaganda they are seeing. Qin law is another thing that the Han used from the former dynasty. One example of this practice was the fact that women could bring up cases against men even though the women did not have the same rights as men. Punishments were also

Imperialism is a important period for China because it protected natural resources, and gave the economy a boost it needed. The European countries were looking to exploit the vast natural resources China had and without a strong government and no political power they could have gotten walked all over. From there this boosted the economy to the point where they could produce materials the European countries were looking for. They also had the ability to sell the natural resources straight up which brought more money into the nation. With the boost in the economy education and culture were able to flourish throughout which led to a positive influence for the future. Imperialism created many great things in China and resulted in them flourishing into a powerhouse.

The Han central government was weakening internally with the corruption of the eunuchs which added to the peasants’ resentment towards the government. Following the fall of the Qin Dynasty and the emergence of the Han, the harsher aspects of Qin rule were softened by the more humane morality of Confucianism, but many of the empire-building systems of the Qin were retained. The new dynasty emphasized the Confucian precept that

The Qin Dynasty had really big area, and also had Huns came into the Qin area to invade, so if they wanted to rule a big country, they needed a perfectly strict legal system. Firstly, the Qin emperor needed to rule the thought. So the Qin government burned books. In the Qin Dynasty, they had a philosophy called legalism. Legalism is the belief in a strong government with complete control over every aspect of the people’s lives(Peralta).

The Han Empire used many of the Qin-dynasty organizational techniques. (Hansen, p 126.) The founder of the Han dynasty was Liu Bang. Liu created a new nobility. Liu gave his sons and brothers the title of king and the lands that they needed and named his most important followers to the rank of marquis. (Hansen, p 132-133.) The government during the Han Empire consisted of one branch split into three parts with the collection of taxes, one army, and government officials. Another important person during the Han Empire was Sima Qian who was a Grand Historian in China. Sima Qian traveled throughout China collecting historical records and devoted himself to writing the history of the Han

He strictly enforced laws code with harsh punishments as well as rewards. The austere rules secured imperial peace but did not last very long. Confucianism took over, dominated in the successive Han dynasty. Confucius promoted education, leading to a meritocrat government in which governors had to pass the civil service exam, rather than aristocracy where the ruling position passed down from fathers to their sons. Confucianism also taught people to obey and venerated the superior or the emperor.

“If imperialism is not banished from the country, China will perish as a nation. If China does not perish, then imperialism cannot remain,” this is what military leader Chiang Kai- Shek said when foreign imperialism was introduced to China. This is one example in history where imperialism has had a negative effect on a country; however, there are many other examples like the Great Game, the Scramble for Africa, and the annexation of Hawaii. In all of these historical events, the mother country claimed or tried to claim other countries for their own benefit.

In the “ Records of the Grand Historian, Sima Qian” Li Si states, “ however, the empire is at peace, all laws and order come from one single source, the common people support themselves by farming and handicrafts, while students study

Legalism is a philosophy that dates back to the fourth and third centuries BCE. Of the many philosophies among the Hundred Schools of Thought developed during the Zhou Dynasty, it was the philosophy of Legalism that rose to unite the different dynasties during the Warring States Era. Legalist ideology, which was implemented in the government of The Qin Dynasty was used to create a strong government that took control and led the people. As China developed in the 20th and early 21st century, the government took the word “control” to a whole new level utilizing its Legalist ways to regulate what its people could and could not say in the media and to block vital information from them. What was at first a way to unite China’s people, evolved into

Imperialism in the 19th century essentially made the Qing Dynasty into a puppet state through various means. Economically, many of the foreign powers were violating the Qing's dynastic sovereignty through the use of the opium trade (Green). Some Foreigners powers had imperialistic intentions to acquire land from China through land leases These leases essentially made the Qing Empire a weakened state at the mercy of the foreign powers with the unfair treaties. Culturally, the Qing was at the mercy of the foreign missionaries as well due to these unfair treaties which allowed them to freely enter the country to convert people. This essay will look at the effects of imperialism upon the Qing Dynasty through the usages of the opium trade, unfair

To start with, I would like to introduce more about Han Fei, whose status in China is as important as Machiavelli’s in the western country. Before the Qin Dynasty, Confucianism was the mainstream and most of the people followed its rules of humanity. Han Fei, however, thought that Confucianism is too ideology and could be beguiling. He believed that selfishness and greed are the essences of human 's characters, which means that between people, there is nothing but self-interest. Hence, Han further developed a complete opposite point of view, which is the doctrine of Legalism. The core of Legalism is the importance of the law; assuming that