Answer: LOOK BELOW
Explanation:
The Qin (221- 206 BCE) and subsequent Han (202 BCE- 220 CE) dynasties unify China and establish a centralized empire, which endures and evolves down through 20th century. The imperial structure draws on elements of both Legalist and Confucian thought. (Note: the Western word for “China” probably comes from the Romanized spelling of Qin, which is pronounced and also spelled “Ch’in,” while the Chinese refer to themselves as “the people of Han.”)
The Chinese empire is founded when the state of Qin unites the other Chinese states in 221 BCE and establishes a centralized system of government; Qin Shi Huangdi (Ch’in Shih Huang-ti), or the First Emperor of Qin, rules for a very short time (221-206 BCE) but lays the foundation for China’s imperial structure and begins construction of the Great Wall for defense to the north. At his death, an army of life-sized terra cotta warriors is buried near his tomb. (These terra cotta warriors were first discovered in 1974 and have been the subject of exhibitions, magazine articles, and books since that time.)
The Qin follows the Legalist proposals for state order and establishes a centralized bureaucracy and a finely detailed law code with specified punishments for each crime.
The Han dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE) follows the short-lived Qin and rules China for 300 years. The Han greatly expands the Chinese empire. The Han dynasty retains the centralized bureaucracy and unified political system of the Qin but adopts and grafts upon this the Confucian view that government should be run by educated, ethical men.
The Emergence of “Confucianism” in the Han Period
[This section is excerpted from faculty consultant Stephen F. Teiser’s essay in Living in the Chinese Cosmos]
Under the Han, the codification of Confucian texts takes place. “Through the interpretation of the scholar Dong Zhongshu, who lived during the Han dynasty from around 179-104 BCE, Confucianism became strongly linked to the cosmic framework of traditional Chinese thought, as the Confucian ideals of ritual and social hierarchy came to be elaborated in terms of cosmic principles such as yin and yang.”
It was only with the founding of the Han dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE) that Confucianism became “Confucianism,” that the ideas associated with Kong Qiu’s name received state support and were disseminated generally throughout upper-class society. The creation of Confucianism was neither simple nor sudden, as the following three examples will make clear.
The Classical Texts. In the year 136 BCE the classical writings touted by Confucian scholars were made the foundation of the official system of education and scholarship, to the exclusion of titles supported by other philosophers. The five classics (or five scriptures, wujing) were the Classic of Poetry (Shijing), Classic of History (Shujing), Classic of Changes (Yijing), Record of Rites (Liji), and Chronicles of the Spring and Autumn Period (Chunqiu) with the Zuo Commentary (Zuozhuan), most of which had existed prior to the time of Kong Qiu. Although Kong Qiu was commonly believed to have written or edited some of the five classics, his own statements (collected in the Analects [Lunyu]) and the writings of his closest followers were not yet admitted into the canon.
State Sponsorship. Kong Qiu’s name was implicated more directly in the second example of the Confucian system, the state-sponsored cult that erected temples in his honor throughout the empire and that provided monetary support for turning his ancestral home into a national shrine. Members of the literate elite visited such temples, paying formalized respect and enacting rituals in front of spirit tablets of the master and his disciples.
