Compare And Contrast The Ancient Chinese Dynasties

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The Ancient Chinese Dynasties The three dynasties that will be compared in this essay are the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Qin Dynasty, and the China Tang Dynasty.

The Western Zhou Dynasty lasted from 1046 B.C to 771 B.C. The capital city was in Haojing, now in the southern part of Xian, Shaanxi Province. This dynasty includes the reigns of 13 emperors, and played an important role in the development of China. What was originally a dependency of the Shang, the Zhou developed under the rule of King Wen and King Wu. In 1046 B.C, King Wu defeated the Shang and established the Zhou. The agriculture in the Western Zhou developed into a higher level, because the tools were now made of bronze. Because slaves existed back then, the handicraft and production of bronze were increasing. During the later period of this dynasty people were beginning to grasp …show more content…

The civilization was very centralized to where every person who didn’t follow the law was killed, tortured, or forced to work on big projects and slaves were forced to fight wars. The absolute power that the emperor had corrupted him, causing him to be hated and a target for assassins. The people ended up rebelling against the emperor and overthrowing the throne. The Qin is well known for the construction projects they started and finished. Such things as the Great Wall of China, and the Qin Mausoleum, which contains the Terracotta Warriors, were the products built by millions of slaves. The Qin Mausoleum is a huge tomb complex, made for their emperor, which was constructed near modern day Xi’an. The Qin people conquered all of the other states and surrounding regions. In 269 the Qin took massive casualties when a Zhou general defeated, not one, but two Qin armies. Though the Qin Dynasty only lasted 15 years, they destroyed more than half of the Zhou population and much of the culture, literature and scholars of the Zhou