1.     Education: important because it was by studying the classical texts that a person could learn about and begin to emulate the actions of the most virtuous figures of past ages.

2.     Ritual: important because it was a physical acting out of the best practices of earlier.

3.     Relationships: in which there was a clear distinction between superior and inferior were valued, since in these the responsibilities of each side were clear.

                                               i.         Confucius saw political relationships as familial relationships writ large, meaning, for example, that rulers should behave toward those they governed the way that fathers should behave toward their children.

                                              ii.         He emphasized four relationships: the former is supposed to protect the latter.

1.     Ruler and minister.

2.     Father and son

3.     Elder brother and younger brother

4.     Husband and Wife.

                                            iii.         He presented his views as providing a blueprint that, if followed by a just ruler, would guarantee that a state would have order within its own borders.

(2070-1600 B.C.E.)

Viewed as a mythical entity because there is little reliable evidence to show that it even existed.

(1760-1122 B.C.E.)

rituals of state included the use of oracle bones, which contain writing that can be linked to the characters that were used in classical texts and then eventually became the building blocks of modern Chinese.

(1046-256 B.C.E.)

Early years in power Confucius extolled as a perfect time.

The leader of the rebelion that toppled the Qin became the first Emperor of the Han Dynasty, which would transform China into a much larger country and, as we have seen, would be the first to give the ideas of Confucius a central part in state ideology.

The Han grand historian Sima Qian, China's first great writer of history and someone often still considered the preeminent Chinese chronicler, repudiated the activities of the Qin.

The Han left in place basic elements of the political system that China's first emperor had created including the use of a civil bureaucracy differentiated from the military, a key Qin innovation.

The majority of the PRC is dubbed the Han.

An enduring feature of the Chinese imperial system was the special status of the emperor as both religious and political ifgure, a man who performed ritual functions as an intermediary between Heaven and the human world.

The Mandate of Heaven postulates that heaven would bless the authority of a just ruler, but would be displeased with a despotic ruler and would withdraw its mandate, leading to the overthrow of that ruler. The Mandate of Heaven would then transfer to those who would rule best. Due in part to the Mandate of Heaven, Chinese emperors were considered 'god-like', as rulers sent from heaven.

China's Imperial System

The successor to the empoeror was not necesarily his eldest son. As a result, intense political maneuvering before and immediately after a ruler's death was common. 

The most powerful people in china other than the ruling family, were either scholars or eunuchs which included ministers of state, provincial governors, and the local magistrate.

(1644-1912)

engaged in many decades of imperial expansion after taking power.

Put in place most of the borders of the PRC.

Set up dual-track official system in which some posts were reserved for ethnic Manchus, while other were given to members of the Han ethnic group.

Maintained special troops composted of only people who traced their descent to the northern Steppes.

(960-1279)

oversaw the institutionalization of the civil service system but also governed during a period of rapid economic development so dramatic that some scholars locate the start of "modern" China in that period.

(1368-1644)

larger domain than the Song but didn't control Tibet or Xinjiang.

(1271-1368)

Under Kublai Khan and other rulers of this dynasty, Confucian exams were suspended

Britain wanted Chinese Tea.

China wanted opium.

Started trading but became a massive addiction problem in China

The Qing introduced strict laws against buying and selling opium. Western traders were always finding new ways to get the drug into China, and the demand constantly grew.

War broke out in 1839, and the Qing forces quickly suffered a series of military defeats. In order to stop the Western iron Ships from heading toward the Chinese Capital, the Qing signed a treaty very favorable to the foreigners.

Effects: economically; costly for Qing

politically; raised doubts among some as to whether the dynasty had a firm hold on the Mandate of Heaven.

psychologically; the war undermined the longstanding notion that China was the most advanced and powerful country in the world.

(1796-1804)

Linked to Maitreyan Buddhism.Its followers believed that a new age was about to begin and that those adhering to the faith would fare well in the coming order.

Began with tax protests in a poor mountainous area.

A potent addition to the mix was anti-Manchu sentiment and Han chauvinism- a belief that control of China should be returned to members of the main Chinese ethnic group.

The dynasty surpressed the rebellion, they spent roughly five years revenue on military campaigns against the rebels.

Millenarian insurrection.

Movements leader was Hong Xiuquan, His visions convinced him that he was Christ's younger brother and was destined to expel the Manchus from China and transform it into a Christian Land.

 About 20 million people died, mainly civilians, in one of the deadliest military conflicts in history.

Which country would control Korea.

The Qing was defeated.

The Opium War undermined the notion that the Qing governed the world's most powerful empire; this latest war demonstrated that it was no longer even the dominant regional power.

Conservatives within the dynasty fought back against the effort to radically reshape China's political and educational institutions, which was known as the 100 days Reform of 1898, and the emperor was placed under house arrest.

Their supporters were not just members of the ruling family but also some diehard Confucian scholars, 

Argued that the West and Japan might have superior armed forces but that Chinese institutions were better, since they were rooted in superior values.

(1899-1901)

Began with bands of young men attacking Chinese Christians and foreign missionaries in North China.

Took on new dimensions in the summer of 1900, when these insurgents held western and Japanese residents of Beijing hostage for fifty-five days.

The Qing Dynasty, which had vacillated between viewing the insurgents as bandits to be suppressed and loyalists to be praised, threw their support behind the Boxers.

An international force of soldiers marching under eight flags lifted the siege.

It ended in September 1901, when the Qing Dynasty, which had been allowed to return to Beijing after a brief period of exile in the north, signed a treaty known as the Boxer protocol. 

The motivation was to rid China of Christianity, which the Boxers blamed for all the ills that had recently befallen the country.

Majority of victims were Chinese Christians, not foreigners.

Political struggle, linked to the anti-Confucian New Culture movement.

Named for the date in 1919 when a rowdy protest was held in what would later become Tiananmen Square, the specific trigger for it was the way that China was treated during the Paris Peace Conference after WWI.

On May 4th, 1919, students rampaged through Beijing calling for Shandong's return to Chinese control and the dismissal from office of three officials viewed as corrupt and pro-Japanese. 

Due in part to the traditional high regard in which scholars were held, members of all urban social classes joined the protests.

Reached its peak in Shanghai in early June with a general strike that paralyzed China's main financial and commercial center.

Its inspirational role for Chinese activists was crucial, not just because of the appeal  of its ideals on social equality but also because of the fact that it occured in a country that was a late-comer to industrialization and was seen as backward.

Russia alone seemed to have found a recipe to help remake a country domestically and increase its international prestige.

The Communist party did not have much of an impact on Chinese politices until Sun Yat-sen invited the CCP to join the Nationalists in a "united front" that would try to both unseat the warlords and fight foreign encroachments

Members of the fledgling CCP accepted the invitation readily; even a young Mao, would hold positions in both parties for a time.

First major mass movement, (1924-1927), later became known as the "First United Front" to differentiate it from a second collaboration between the Nationalists and Communists, broke out in 1925.

Anti-imperialist struggle, spread from being a single city protest to being a national one and culminated in a general strike that paralyzed Shanghai.

The propaganda and mobilization work done by activists brought many new converts into both the Nationalist and Communist organizations, making the latter, for the first time, a force to be reckoned with on Chinese Politics.

This development paved the way for the end of the Warlord Rule ofter the Northern Expedition.

Launched in 1926 from Sun's southern power base in Guangdong Province.

A joint army of Nationalists and Communists, led by Chiang Kai-shek, marched northward toward Beijing and, beginning in 1926, waged a series of battles against the armies of regional militaristsin which the Nationalists were victorious. In 1927, Chiang, took the nearby city of Nanjing and proclaimed it the real capital of the republic.

Often called "Generalissimo" because of his role as leader of the Northern Expedition forces and his military background and bearing.

He proved very affective at forming alliances that helped him navigate the factional politics of the Nationalist Party.

In April 1927, with the help of the Green Gang, he carried out a vicious purge of Communist Party members in Shanghai, imprisoning and killing some of the very people who had helped deliver the Chinese-run parts of the city to the Northern Expedition forces.

Felt that the Japanese were only a "disease of the skin" while the communists were a "disease of the heart".

Chiang Kai-shek's "White Terror" purges almost succeeded in eliminating the Communist Party in 1927. 

Some members of the organization avoided detection and operated underground cells within cities held by the Nationalists, while others escaped to rural Communist base areas.

Chiang tried to get rid of these and to escape this fate the CCP abandoned its temporary headquarters in the southern province of Jiangxi and began a torturous march Northward.

The communists set up a new base area in Shaanxi Province.

The journey involved 86,000 people, who traversed six thousand miles in just over a year. Only 8000 survived.

It was during this epic exodus that Mao consolidated his position as supreme leader of the party, thanks in part to his vision of guerrilla warfare as the way to fight the Nationalists being endorsed as the best military strategy to pursue.

The period of Japanese occupation, which began with Japan taking over parts of Manchuria in 1931.

The Rape of Nanjing, late 1937 and 1938. An estimated 200,000 and 300,000 Chinese were killed and 20,000 women were raped by Japanese soldiers.

The Japanese invasion in general and the Rape of Nanjing in particular continue to bedevil Sino-Japanese relations.

Many factors contribute to Mao's defeat of Chiang.

• the way WWII played out fostered an image of the communists as devoted patriots.
• Many Chinese felt that the Communists were more committed to fighting imperialism than the Nationalists.
• Civil War broke out within months of Japans mid-1945 surrender and lasted until 1949 when Mao's Red Army, known as the Peoples liberation Army (PLA), took control of key cities, including Shanghai and Beiping, which they changed back to Beijing, signaling it was once again China's capital.
• Promised redistribution of land.
• Soviet backed the communists.

Initially treated simply as the products of the most influential Chinese interpreter of Marxism.

Then treated as Holy Scripture, studied compusively, memorized, and used as the final arbiters of morality and immorality.

This contributed to and was an expression of MAo's general elevation to godlike status.

Covered a wide spectrum of issues, crafted theoretical texts that endorsed his modification of marxism relating to the revolutionary potential of peasants, wrote poems in classical style, and stressed the importance of guerrilla warfare as a method for numerically and militarily weaker groups to attain power.

Critic of Western Imperialism and devoted much of his writing to denouncing the Soviet Union.