HIST-UA 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Filial Piety, Han Feizi
Document Summary
Social structure: scholars, merchants, craftsmen, farmers, slaves. Had a pictograph form of writing (each character=idea not sound) Oracle bones predict the future and help rulers govern. Vassals were nobles who carried out emperors orders. Zhou dynasty ended because nobles were too greedy and wars broke out and people got stuck in the middle-many were unhappy meaning the dynasty lost the mandate of heaven. Dynasty cons: corruption can easily arise, loyalty will fade, royalty is prone to attack from others, no checks and balances, hard to implement change. Zhou dynasty ending (feudalism-system of give and take b/w leader and nobles bad because didn"t maintain loyalty and caused nobles to become greedy) Everyone is evil and greedy and need to be punished and kept in line. People should be loyal to government over family. Was successful because people in society would comply with rules out of fear. Was also unsuccessful because rebellion is likely to break out when people are unhappy.
