There were two main ideologies at the time of the Qin and Han dynasty: Legalism and Confucianism. Both these ideologies had promising outlooks at first, as they led to fairly stable governments for a short period of time, but that was until they both started showing major flaws. Those flaws, including total control and community punishment for the Legalism; The Confucian educational system and factionalizing for Confucianism. These flaws eventually led to the total dismemberment of the respective empires.
Many elements of legalism made the Qin dynasty possible, but two in particular were especially beneficial. The legalist at the time of the Qin dynasty thought that those who were fit to rule, should rule; no person should rule simply because their father had done so. “In keeping with Legalism, Qin officials recognized no hereditary titles, not even for members of the ruler’s family” (Hansen, p. 76). Also, Legalist claimed that all power went to the authority figure (Johnson, “Imperial Unity in China”). This meant that the power could be tightly controlled and there was little chance for those …show more content…
The emperor of the time, Wu, needed a way to educate the people working for his empire, so he created the Imperial Academy (Hansen, p. 80). This Imperial academy adopted the Confucian educational system in which a student had to pass a number of exams and requirements, all involving Confucian texts, in order to work for the government. This created a government of educated individuals exclusively. As the empire was expanding into new lands, this same educational system, along with Confucian ideas and values, were being spread to the conquered lands, and would eventually rule them (Johnson, “Imperial Unity in China”). More land leads for more farming and more people, which leads to a larger government in which to rule and
Many elements of legalism made the Qin dynasty possible, but two in particular were especially beneficial. The legalist at the time of the Qin dynasty thought that those who were fit to rule, should rule; no person should rule simply because their father had done so. “In keeping with Legalism, Qin officials recognized no hereditary titles, not even for members of the ruler’s family” (Hansen, p. 76). Also, Legalist claimed that all power went to the authority figure (Johnson, “Imperial Unity in China”). This meant that the power could be tightly controlled and there was little chance for those …show more content…
The emperor of the time, Wu, needed a way to educate the people working for his empire, so he created the Imperial Academy (Hansen, p. 80). This Imperial academy adopted the Confucian educational system in which a student had to pass a number of exams and requirements, all involving Confucian texts, in order to work for the government. This created a government of educated individuals exclusively. As the empire was expanding into new lands, this same educational system, along with Confucian ideas and values, were being spread to the conquered lands, and would eventually rule them (Johnson, “Imperial Unity in China”). More land leads for more farming and more people, which leads to a larger government in which to rule and