From Golden Era to First Emperor

Sage Kings

 Compassionate

 Wise

 Inventors

 Powerful

 Long-lived

 Prosperous

By living with the idea of the Sage kings, the people created a “government of merit”

3 Early Kingdoms

 Hsia [Xia] (2000 BC?- 1766 BC) Handed to next best rulers from last of Sage Kings.

Pottery, rumors

o switched from merit to bloodlines, passing the rule to some family member

 Shang (1766 BC – 1045 BC) Bronzes, ancestors, chariots, oracle bones, writing, strata

o Convened with the gods by using bones, specifically tortoise shells and ox

scapulae

 Chou [Zhou] (1045 BC – 223 BC) Texts, the Mandate of Heaven, dynastic cycle

o Brought about a combination of merit and bloodline

o Mandate of Heaven used as propaganda to explain why the new dynasty came to

power and why the poor should respect the ruler’s authority

o Dynastic cycle explained that dynasties always start out strong but gradually get

worse. So, you had to hold your bloodline accountable by using merit
Origins of Chinese Civilization

Mythical period or Golden Age

Early kingdoms

Consolidation under Ch’in/Qin Empire (221-206)

Development of bureaucracy and a pattern for the rest of the Imperial period (Han

Empire on: 206-1911)

Collapse of the Imperial System in the 1800s/early 1900s

Modern China (to present)