Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
endured until the second century A.D., when landlordism and foreign
depredations once again took their toll on Han prestige and power.
Incompetent emperors did not help the situation, and by 175 there
was widespread rebellion. The dynasty finally fell in 220, and from
this time until 589, China experienced chaos and internal division.
Indeed, the period of division endured for more than 350 years, longer
than the entire national history of the United States. Unlike the Roman
Empire, however, China finally pulled itself together again, and it has
almost always been unified ever since.
Confucianism as the State Ideology
During the earliest years of the Han, almost all government officials
were aristocrats from old-money families. Liu Bang realized the limits
of his education and knew he would need bright, educated men in
his government. Such men flocked into his government on the basis
of glowing letters of recommendation from prominent scholars
and officials who attested to their intelligence, industry, and moral
reputations.
After a few decades, the Han government was overwhelmed by
thousands of such letters praising their candidates to the skies. In 165
B.C. a Han emperor decided that he would administer examinations
to assess these candidates' cultural knowledge and their acquaintance
with Confucian doctrine—he had taken the first step toward establish-
ing the civil service examination system for aspiring government
employees.
Emperor Wudi took another important step toward this system by
proclaiming Confucianism the official state ideology and by founding
a national university where candidates could study for government
service. Wudi inherited the earlier Han emperors' strong distaste for
the Qin and its Legalist ideology and greatly preferred the moral
teachings of Confucius. Thus, the ideological legacy of this strong-
willed emperor endured for 2,000 years, until the last imperial dynasty
was overthrown in 1911. But even today, at the dawn of the new
millennium, aspects of Confucian thought (namely submission to
governmental authority) are still emphasized in the People's Republic
of China.
Sima Qian, China's greatest historian, produced his great work Shiji
(Records of the Grand Historian) during Wudi's reign. A Confucian
himself, Sima Qian attended to his writing with tenacious dedication,
and Wudi was probably a major cause of this dedication. During one
of Wudi's campaigns against the Xiongnu, a Han general was defeated
