HIST 221 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Sima Qian, Red Eyebrows, Wang Mang
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China: Han-Tang Dynasties
How do ppl become haters?
Han Dynasty (201 BC-AD 9; AD 23-220)
I. Liu Bang = founder
A. born peasant
B. built capital (Chang’an, modern Xian)
C. how to prevent warring states reappearance?
1. vassal principalities in some areas
a. wartime allies demanded
2. successors reincorporated land under administrative guise of kingdoms
II. Gov
A. Ļ taxes on peasants
B. repeal Qin legalism
C. adopt Confucianism (Wudi, r. 140-86 BC)
1. Flexible philosophy to fit mood
D. Civil Service exams
1. Provincial officials ordered to find men of promise & send to capital (196 BC)
2. Exam (until 1905)
a. Knowledge of Confucian classics
b. 3 days; locked in room w/ chamberpot, bed, writing instruments
c. ca. 30 passed/yr
3. Scholar-bureaucrats
a. Leisure
i) 30 days off to visit parents, if +1000 miles
Watchdogs over unnecessary expenditure or expansion
b. Drama w/ eunuchs
i) inner court: eunuchs & family
ii)outer court: educated bur
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Eunuchs & History of Castration
I. Timeline
• Finger sacrifice 20,000 BC
• castrated cattle & sheep 4500 BC
• castrated humans in Uruk 4000 BC
• Hittite oath breakers 1700s BC
• Assyrians punished sodomy w/ castration 1200 BC
• Cybele cult (Turkey): priest self-castrate 415 BC
• Christian sect practiced self-castration AD 240
• Council of Nicaea condemned castration AD 325
• 1st human vasectomy 1894
• Freud formulated Castration Complex 1908
• 1st sex change 1952
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• Eunuchs slaves still sold in Afghanistan 1971
II. Sources of Eunuchs in China
A. POWS
B. pissed off emperor
1. Sima Qian (Historian)
a. non-history majors have chosen wisely
C. Parents
1. castrate young son
2. hope son gets job in palace
3. Italy 1700s
a. boys ca 8yrs. Hope to make mad bank singing opera
b. castrati choir sung in Sistine chapel until 1902
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbgCpmIuaNU (vocals 4:00-4:41)
D. voluntary
III. Procedure
A. Most societies remove testicles
B. China removed who-who dilly & testicles
IV. Why?
A. allow 1 dominant male to impregnate many females. Fight off intruder males
1. Mawlāy Ismāíl (Morocco 1700s) 700 sons survived infancy
2. Linked to royal courts
a. Persia, China, Rome, Egypt, Byzantium, Ottomans
V. Why eunuchs loyal?
A. cutter NOT master
B. life of luxury & leisure
VI. Famous castrations
A. Sima Qian (d. 90 BC)
1. General defeated & captured by Xiongnu
2. All court officials appeased emperor by saying general sucked. Execute him
3. Sima Qian: poorly-devised campaign & emperor didn’t provide enough support
4. Ultimatum: suicide or castration
B. Peter Abelard
VII. Why important
A. fidelity & the ideal male body
1. modify to improve: tattoo, piercings, breast augmentation
2. not self-inflicted: foot binding, castration
a. male body treated like animal (fix pets & livestock)
b. “being fixed” = being tamed, domesticated, dependent
3. what do men want from other men?
a. sterile & incomplete = the preferred man
b. non-threatening
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II. Expansion (141-87 BC)
A. Korea
B. N. Vietnam
C. central Asia
D. garrisons, merchants, settlers
III. Wang Mang (AD 9-23)
A. emperor’s regent
B. problem
1. peasants couldn’t pay taxes & enslaved
2. Ĺ tax-free noble estates
C. reforms
1. limit amount of land 1 family can own
2. tried to abolish debt-slavery
3. stabilize prices
a. gov buy & stockpile commodities when cheap
b. gov sell commodities when expensive at normal price
4. goal: recreate western Zhou. Archaizing
D. Yellow River changed course
1. famine
2. Red Eyebrows rebellion
3. troops cut up Wang Mang’s body & eat it. Head displayed in marketplace
E. Result
1. capital moved east (Luoyang)
IV. Downfall
A. consort families, eunuchs, scholars political games
1. no single consort family managed to established itself or avoid bloodshed
2. Confuc. Students & scholars denounced eunuchs. scholars persecuted (160s)
house arrest-death
3. +2000 eunuchs killed (189)
B. Famine
1. locust swarms & floods
2. +100,000 peasants left homes looking for food
C. Yellow Turban revolt (AD 184)
1. peasant movement b/c of famine
2. Daoist ideals of equality rampant among peasants
a. attacked gov officials
3. rural elites fought them
4. revolt quelled, but generals & governors already established themselves as regional
warlords
5. Han pwr crumbled
a. local governors & warlords took pwr
i) 3 emerged
D. Han failed agricultural policy led to downfall
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Han dynasty (201 bc-ad 9; ad 23-220: liu bang = founder. 30 passed/yr: scholar-bureaucrats, leisure, 30 days off to visit parents, if +1000 miles. Watchdogs over unnecessary expenditure or expansion: drama w/ eunuchs, inner court: eunuchs & family ii)outer court: educated bur. 1: eunuchs slaves still sold in afghanistan 1971. Sources of eunuchs in china: pows, pissed off emperor, parents, sima qian (historian, non-history majors have chosen wisely, castrate young son, hope son gets job in palace, italy 1700s http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=nbgcpmiuanu (vocals 4:00-4:41, boys ca 8yrs. Hope to make mad bank singing opera: castrati choir sung in sistine chapel until 1902, voluntary. Procedure: most societies remove testicles, china removed who-who dilly & testicles, allow 1 dominant male to impregnate many females. Fight off intruder males: mawl y ism l (morocco 1700s) 700 sons survived infancy, linked to royal courts, persia, china, rome, egypt, byzantium, ottomans.
