In order for any great civilization to flourish, a time of trials and tribulations needs to exist in order to set a foundation for what is successful and what constitutes failures. At times these learning’s may not always be as prosperous as expected however with time, civilizations grow to prevail as the Qin and Han dynasties showed in imperialist China for more than two millennia. In order to do so, the First Emperor of the Qin Empire, Qin Shi Huang in 221 BC, recognized that in order to have successful civilizations one needed to establish a vast working system such as those of the Greeks and Romans during the classical time period. Although this period did not have the longevity of other dynasties, it did however set the foundation for
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Though it can be argued that the Qin and Han dynasties had great growth and prosperity, it was not always a golden age. In order to recognize the benefits, one must also look at the negative to fully gauge the presence of these monarchial empires. An early Han scholar Jia Yi argued: “One who conquers the lands of others places priority on deceit and force, but one who brings peace and stability honors obedience to authority (Lewis, 70). This emphasizes that in order to gain control of the land, and its people, strict rules needed to be established as well as a sense of fear instilled into enemies that they would react with force if necessary in order to protect its assets. Consequently, through expansion these methods would also be used to take over nearby civilizations. “Armies were launched on massive, pointless expeditions to the south, north, and northeast where Qin wasted warfare and expansion strength when there were no useful worlds left to conquer (Lewis, 71).” Due to the issues that resulted from the expansion, and not always for strategic purposes, the north became known as the, “extreme yin (shady, dark, and cold), while the south is yang (bright, sunny, and hot) (Lewis, 13). Additionally, a related argument “describes the south as a zone of disease and death and then expands this poisonous atmosphere to include human nature and conduct (Lewis,
Though it can be argued that the Qin and Han dynasties had great growth and prosperity, it was not always a golden age. In order to recognize the benefits, one must also look at the negative to fully gauge the presence of these monarchial empires. An early Han scholar Jia Yi argued: “One who conquers the lands of others places priority on deceit and force, but one who brings peace and stability honors obedience to authority (Lewis, 70). This emphasizes that in order to gain control of the land, and its people, strict rules needed to be established as well as a sense of fear instilled into enemies that they would react with force if necessary in order to protect its assets. Consequently, through expansion these methods would also be used to take over nearby civilizations. “Armies were launched on massive, pointless expeditions to the south, north, and northeast where Qin wasted warfare and expansion strength when there were no useful worlds left to conquer (Lewis, 71).” Due to the issues that resulted from the expansion, and not always for strategic purposes, the north became known as the, “extreme yin (shady, dark, and cold), while the south is yang (bright, sunny, and hot) (Lewis, 13). Additionally, a related argument “describes the south as a zone of disease and death and then expands this poisonous atmosphere to include human nature and conduct (Lewis,