In the Han empire, one way of dealing with the Xiongnu was appeasement. An early, disastrous, defeat at the hands of the newly formed, powerful Xiongnu caused the policy of appeasement, known as he qin, in which gold, silk, grain, and Chinese princesses were sent to the Xiongnu in exchange for the agreement of peace (Lewis 2007, 132). The tributes sent to the Xiongnu each year were extremely expensive, but they did not satisfy the Xiongnu chieftains. Consequently, the Xiongnu kept raiding, and peace was only resumed on the premise of higher payments (Lewis 2007, 136). The policy of appeasement was very detrimental to the Han. But if the Qin had not constructed the first Great Wall, then the Xiongnu would not have existed, and the Han would …show more content…
Even though the wall was easy to get through, it was still partially effective as a defense, but all of its effectiveness was lost if there were no guards on the wall (Turnbull 2007, 36). These guards were expensive, and villages had to be set up in order to support them with food and a place to live; the villages became a vital part of the Great Wall (Turnbull 2007, 11). The Great Wall also required constant maintenance or else it would crumble and fall; this required a long-term commitment and drained a lot of resources (Turnbull 2007, 10). The wall required lots of work, but it still remained ineffective. While the Great Wall was a good defense strategy in theory, the ineffectiveness of the Han and Qin Great Wall along with the need for maintenance, guards, and villages was very …show more content…
The process of building the Great Wall created problems because it made citizens unhappy, as shown when there was social unrest during the Qin dynasty because of high taxes and forced labor (Langmead and Garnaut 2017). The legacy of literature detailing the suffering caused by the Great Wall also shows the citizens unhappiness and how the Great Wall negatively affected the citizens of ancient China. While the Great Wall was meant to keep dynasties in power longer by controlling the nomads of the steppe (Turnbull 2007, 7), it brought about the ends of the Qin and Han for other reasons. The social unrest caused by the construction of the Qin Great Wall led to the downfall of the Qin dynasty (Langmead and Garnaut 2017), and the cash taxes of the Han dynasty to pay for the Great Wall and the Han’s new form of military to guard the Great Wall and push the Xiongnu back in order to build the wall caused peasants to become indebted to wealthy landlords who would buy the peasants’ grain or give them loans (Lewis 2007, 22). This decentralized the power of the Han and put it in landlords’ hands, which eventually led to the fall of the Han. The Great Wall did have some positive effects, though, like improving trade and allowing for the resettlement of people. Nomads could not as easily pillage communities, so they had to trade
The era of the Han dynasty in China, simply referred to as ‘Han China,’ was an extremely prominent one, with power that almost rivaled the Romans themselves. During this period of China, achievements and accomplishments reached new heights as the Silk Road opened, which allowed connection with the western world. However, even with all this, Han China still fell, thanks to opposing forces in the form of nomadic tribes, several natural disasters that were interpreted as angry messages from the gods, and internal/political unrest. During the Han dynasty and the opening of the Silk Road, there were several aggressive, nomadic tribes that centered around the Asian area.
Prior to the reconstruction, the pre-existing wall from the Qin dynasty was outdated and no longer suited as a defensive wall in its condition. Consequently, this represented a time period in which China had no defense system, and demonstrated the danger that the nomadic tribes were to the Chinese. Specifically, Han dynasty historian Sima Qian states that the wall was built “so that the barbarians no longer ventured to come south to pasture their horses and their men dared not take up their bows to vent their hatred.” The nomadic tribes, especially the Xiongnu, were still in massive conflict with the Han dynasty, and the danger that the Xiongnu posed to the Chinese only grew.
Qin Shi Huang-Di has left a large impact on China, and by extension the world, that has lasted many years. Qin created the foundation of the Chinese country of today. Some scholars even believe that without Qin Shi Huang-Di, there would be no China at all (Gracie). Qin’s impact on the world was the creation of an entire country, a pretty impressive feat. Especially in his time, when nothing like China had ever been created before, his unification and reformation of China into a lasting country is inspiring.
Did the Han rule an Effective Government In this Essay, I will be talking about why I think Han ruled an effective government. My three reasons are that they had useful farming inventions. My second one is will be about their army.
If you look at the facts and research, it's clear the benefits did outweigh the costs. In conclusion, the Great Wall of China is now an amazing historical place to visit that gets almost 1,000,000 people per year to visit. Those are my reasons on why the benefits outweighed the
I will also list some facts about the Great Wall of China to prove that it was not worth it. I think that the Great Wall was not worth it because a lot of people died or starved to death. They also lost a lot of time in their life trying to build the wall. One thing that proves it's not worth it is that they didn't get paid anything for building the wall.
1) Thesis: During the Han Dynasty, techonogy was almost exclusively viewed positively, while in the Roman Empire, the attitude regarding technology varied. 2) Group 1: In the Han China, technology was seens as a way to improve the quality of goods and improve the lives of the general population. a) Doc 2: A Han government official by the name of Huan Guan wrote that the govt. monopoly on iron should be lifted so that families with pride in their work could be able to construct weapons, rather than have prisoners with no regard for the quality of the weapons construct them. b) Doc 4: In a government sponsored history of the early Han Dynasty, an annonymus source writes about Tu Shi and how he “destroyed evil doers” (Doc 4) and “wished to save their
The ruler Han Gaozu changed many laws and polices and “promoted the welfare of its subjects”(p.81) unlike the ruler Qin. After the Han Dynasty there was not another great dynasty four hundred years later after the fall of the Han
The Chinese development of technological advances, allowed the era of the Tang, and the Song dynasty to bring about a social, political, and urban change. The Chinese found new techniques in Agriculture and farming rice. This allowed for more growth and spreading of population in the regions. As the population grew, people were interest in new jobs and careers in the markets. So, they sought out jobs such as shop sellers, blacksmiths, metallurgy, fishing, and government work.
The Great Wall:Did the benefits outweigh the costs? “The great wall is also known as the longest graveyard. ”Emperor Qin had believed China needed more protection so he built a great wall,which was finished being built by several dynasty’s to pass. Despite the losses of the workers lives the great wall benefited China by providing protection,glorifying China, and helped the trading system.
Obvious negative effects of the invasions were immediately evident such as death counts and destroyed property. But slowly peace was restored as the Mongol rule spread to much of the known world. Needed changes began occurring such as the Silk Road was reopened by the Mongols. The Mongols introduced gunpowder and the importance of written language. They contributed considerable to the commerce of both China and the Middle East as they once again began trading and exporting their goods and
The Great Wall of China: Did the Benefits Outweigh the Cost? The Qin and Han dynasty built the notorious wall we know today as The Great Wall of China. Although, The Great Wall of China has many benefits, but it does come with some costs. The benefits of the wall are great I do not think they out weigh the costs.
The Qin and Han employed different philosophies on how to run their dynasties. The Qin used controlling Legalistic ideas while the Han used the relationship building Confucianism. The Qin and Han had a different relationship with outsiders because the Qin preferred to keep foreigners out while the Han wanted to build a relationship with them. The Qin and the Han each contributed to the growth of China’s culture and expansion. The developments in trade, foreign relations, and building expansive building projects in the Qin and Han Dynasties effected the design of every dynasty
During the era of classical societies, the Han and Roman empires were two vast cosmopolitan societies which dominated regions all throughout Eurasia. In regards to the fall of the Han and Roman empires, both were similar in that they fell victim to internal government decay, but different in that Rome fell to foreign invasions, while Han suffered from rebellions of their own people. The Han and Roman empires were similar in their fall in that they both suffered from internal decay, specifically of their governments. In the Han empire, land distribution problems that were originally sought to be fixed by the “Socialist emperor” Wang Mang allowed large landowners to become even more influential than they previously were.
The Han Dynasty in China and the Roman Empire shared many similarities and differences when it came to political rule and the nature of their political authority. The most significant difference between the two is how the Han dynasty enacted policies that were shaped to counter the wrongdoings of the previous Qin dynasty, whereas the Roman Empire enacted policies shaped to create and promote peace and stability. The difference in the two empire’s coming to power was to account for their variance in political rule. After the Qin dynasty, the Han ruled China for four centuries, enacting numerous political changes and governing one of the most efficacious dynasties in Chinese history.