Page 64 - Mongolia & the Gobi Desert

Around 400 B.C., a new class of learned men began to form, giving rise to what is sometimes
called the Classic Age of Chinese thought. The most famous of these men was Confucius.
Confucius asserted that social harmony depends on each individual understanding and acting
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China’s development over the next 2,000 years than perhaps any other man, as Confucianism
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anything else, provided the basis for the long-standing unity of the Chinese people and the
relative stability of the dynastic system of government for nearly 40 centuries.

Another philosophy also rose to prominence in China around this time. Taoism promoted the
concepts of inner peace and harmony with nature. Practitioners sought mystical knowledge
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millions of Chinese as an alternative to the rigid precepts of Confucianism.

Around the 1st century B.C., Buddhism, which originated in India, found its way to China.
Whereas Confucianism and Taoism were more or less ethical guides, Buddhism was a proper
religion. To the follower of Buddha, life goes on in a series of reincarnations; it is a cycle of
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The Age of the Imperial Dynasties

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centralized political power and standardized language, laws, weights, measures, and coinage.
Unfortunately, he also suppressed learning and tried to destroy most religious texts. His
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power, the structure of the Imperial dynastic system, with its administrative divisions and
central bureaucracies, remained intact until the early part of the 20th century.

In 202 B.C., the Han rose to power. The next four centuries of Han rule were a time of great
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classics. They also advanced the teachings of Confucianism, with its strict adherence to the
class system. Both of these measures remained in force for nearly 2,000 years. Also during this
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Over the next several centuries, life in China continued much as it had during the age of
the Han. New dynasties rose to power, but the Imperial dynastic system, with its central
bureaucracy and administrative divisions, remained intact. More importantly, foreign
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agricultural, and Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism remained the prevailing philosophical
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