CLAS-110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Buddhist Philosophy, Emperor Wu Of Han, Qin Shi Huang
Document Summary
He undermined the hereditary aristocracy and created a new one based on military merit. Implementing some of the early ideas of legalism: 2. He introduced a universal draft beginning at approximately age 15: 3. The ruler granted peasants ownership of the plots they tilled (thus undermining the wealth of the nobility): 4. The peasants then paid their taxes directly to the state, thus increasing its wealth and power. Zheng was king (wang) of the qin from 247 bc, but in 221 declared himself shi. Huangdi (first august supreme ruler) over a much larger unified territory. This began a series of reforms: reinforced his capital at xianyang. Each of these territories was given a leader appointed by the king. Took away a lot of the power from the nobility. Was kind of replaced with the military; there were 20 different ranks within society, and whatever rank you were in determined the kind of lifestyle you would lead.
