How Government and the Han Synthesis Shaped the Han Dynasty
by Paloma A.
The Ancient Han dynasty was a bureaucracy; there were emperors who had central control. [1] The emperors often used scholars as advisors, and trained them in an university. [2] Much of the government structure comes from the Qin dynasty, which came before the Han. [3] The Han synthesis was a main part of establishing the Han government, because it incorporated philosophies such as Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism into the way that the emperors ruled. Confucianism gave the Han emperors the Confucianist Classics, which were a group of texts that became a foundation of the education system. [4] The Han dynasty also kept the idea that family was a strong value from Confucianists. Legalism gave the Han dynasty ideas of absolute control by the emperor, and the establishment of six ministries: appointments, revenue, ceremonies, punishments, and war[5]. Han rulers learned creative expression and ideas that war leads to suffering from Daoism[6]. There was also a thought that non- action, which is from Daoism, was the way to help the people correct themselves[7].
__________________________ [1]totallyhistory.com, Han Dynasty Government, 2012 [2]Ellis, Elisabeth Gaynor, and Anthony Esler, Prentice World History, 2009, pp103-107 [3]totallyhistory.com [4]Teiser, Stephen F.,Living in the Chinese Cosmos, 2007 [5]Ellis, Elisabeth Gaynor, and Anthony Esler, 252-265 [6]ibid [7] Laozi, Daodejing IMAGE
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