to the best information, the expensive paper made of silk was in existence when the brush was invented. The invention of convenient writing materials and the simplification of the characters, marked the beginning of literary advancement in China.
Another characteristic of the age was the ascendency that had been attained by the teachings of Xunzi. Almost all the statesmen who adorned the court of Shi Huangdi were people of that school. They believed that the nature of human was bad and that peace and order were the result of fear. Human should be awed into submission, or there would be lawlessness. For the many unjust and cruel laws and acts of tyranny with which the name of Shi Huangdi is closely associated, he in reality was not so much to blame as was the spirit of the age.
The same motive that led to the building of the splendid palaces, and to the erecting of huge and costly stone monuments, was responsible for the meting out of the severest sentences on the least show of offense. It was to impress the people at large with the greatness of the emperor and to make them stand in awe of him. If those measures succeeded in arousing the fear of the people, they also served to alienate their love, for the death of Shi Huangdi was followed almost immediately by the breakup of the unity once the pride of his reign.
Another characteristic of the age was the regard in which a merchant or trader was held. He was no better than a criminal. The first batches of men sent to work on the Great Wall and to serve on the southern frontier consisted of criminals and merchants. At a later date this punishment fell upon those whose fathers were known to have been merchants.
6.i. End of Qin Dynasty: Shi Huangdi desired to leave his throne to his first son Fu Su. Unfortunately, this son, who had been banished beyond the Great Wall because he had had the audacity to remonstrate with the all-powerful emperor on the policy of his government, was not present at the time of his father's death.
Worse still, the decree of succession fell into the hands of Li Si [Buck-Wiseman], the prime minister, and Zhao Gao [Howland-Esposito], a eunuch, who were devoted friends of the emperor's second son, Hu Hai. The death of Shi Huangdi was kept a secret until the imperial party reached Xianyang. A false decree was then promulgated in the name of the deceased Emperor. In accordance with this Fu Su (together with Meng Tian) was put to death, and Hu Hai ascended the throne under the name of Er Shi, or Second Emperor.
Er Shi proved a worse tyrant than his father, whose vices he inherited but without his greatness. During his short reign, Zhao Gao became the real power after Li Si's execution (208 BC). A story which is familiar to every Chinese schoolchild well shows the position this eunuch occupied in the government. One day, so the story runs, Er Shi showed his courtiers a picture of a deer. 'It's a horse,' cried Zhao Gao, and none of the crowd had the courage to contradict him, for the eunuch was more powerful than the sovereign.
Rebellion was rife throughout the empire. In less than two years the descendants of the earlier Six States had planted small kingdoms alongside those of other rebel leaders. Er Shi in 206 BC was murdered by Zhao Gao, and Shi Huangdi's grandson was placed on the throne. He gave himself up to Liu Bang-- the first general who entered the Land Within the Pass, and afterwards the founder of the Han Dynasty--and brought with him the jade seal of state. He had been on the throne for less than 200 days; but in this brief time, however, he had succeeded in punishing Zhao Gao [Howland-Esposito] for the murder of his uncle.
7. The Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD)
7.1. Struggle between Chu and Han
The Qin empire, as we have seen, ended in 206 BC. From 206 to 202 BC, there was actually no emperor in China; and the principal event in this period of anarchy, was what we call the Struggle between Chu and Han. It was a continuous conflict between Xiang Yu [Gregoire-Marco] and Liu Bang [Rucker-Lewis], the former a native of Wu, and the latter of Pei. Both of them had been lieutenants under King Huai of Chu. This King was a descendant of the old ruling house of the state of Chu, and during the troubles attending the breakup of the Qin empire, he setup a kingdom on the ruins.
Through his valor and military renown, Xiang Yu [Gregoire-Marco] was made Commander-in-Chief not only of the forces of Chu, but also of the contingents from each of the other states. Although he had by far the stronger army, yet the honor of capturing the capital of the Qin empire belonged to Liu Bang. According to the promise of King Huai of Chu, Liu Bang, the first general to enter the capital, should have been made ruler of Guanzhong (Within the Pass), a strategic base; but it was here that the jealousy of Xiang Yu appeared. The latter on his arrival at the capital, took the royal power into his own hands and began to appoint feudal lords without referring them to the King. Instead of the whole of Guanzhong [Land Within the Pass], he gave Liu Bang only a portion of it, called Hanzhong [Hanthamton] (or Within Han), with the title of King of Han. As to himself, he preferred Guanzhong, and at once assumed the title of King of Western Chu.
Liu Bang [Rucker-Lewis] did not like the manner in which he was treated, but policy required him to accept less than his due. The circumstances, however, were by no means entirely unfavorable to him. Xiang Yu soon withdrew his army to the east, and his absence from Guanzhong permitted Liu Bang to gather strength.
When Liu Bang felt himself strong enough to appeal to arms, hostilities broke out between the two rivals. For a time victory was on the side of Xiang Yu, who made prisoners of Liu Bang's father and wife. But about 202 BC, fortune deserted Xiang Yu, and he at once sued for peace. Meanwhile King Huai of Chu had been murdered, presumably by the agents of Xiang Yu.
Peace was at length concluded, and the Great Canal, by mutual consent, was made the dividing line between the kingdoms of Chu and Han. Assuming that war was at an end, Xiang Yu, in good faith, returned to Liu Bang his father and wife, and began to retire into the south.
In so doing, he had evidently overestimated the character of his rival. As soon as he departed, Liu Bang pursued him with the flower of his army. At Huaixi, the two armies met. The battle that ensued was a severe one and ended in the complete overthrow of Xiang Yu, whose once powerful army was now reduced to a few followers. To avoid falling into the hands of his enemy, he killed himself while crossing the river O Jiang. His death left Liu Bang in undisputed possession of China.
7.2. Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-24 AD)
7.2.a. Accession of Liu Bang: When Liu Bang took the throne, the famous city of Changan [Annapolis] in the west became for the first time the capital. The new dynasty he thus founded was the Han Dynasty, in memory of whose greatness, the Chinese of north China still call themselves 'the Children of Han.'
To his credit, most of the unjust laws of the preceding dynasty were repealed, though Liu Bang did nothing to exalt his own position. 'I have never realized the dignity of an emperor, until today,' exclaimed he; and this is sufficient to give us an idea of the character of his court. He revived the ancient law authorizing the conferring of a posthumous name on the emperor. As his temple names Gao Su, or 'Supreme Ancestor,' we shall thereafter speak of him by this name.
7.2.b. Revival of feudalism: We must not think that Gao Su ruled as large an empire as that of Shi Huangdi (The First Emperor). The provinces south of the Great River were virtually independent, and his authority was by no means supreme in the north, where the many feudal states gave nothing more than nominal submission at best. These feudal states maybe divided into two classes; those held by members of his house, and those held by others. The latter were the outgrowth of the previous
