The Imperial Order and Han Syntheses

In the Beginning

In 202 BC, Gaozu, then the "King" of Han, defeated his main rival and secured his rule, thus beginning the Han Dynasty. The "iron" fist of Qin Shihuangdi had created an Empire out of the Warring States, but he could not make the people "like" his rule. The tenants of legalism, by which he ruled his Empire, were harsh and unyielding. While he lived, the people submitted, but only a man like the First Emperor of Qin could rule this way, and his successors were nothing like him. This was good for Gaozu and he was able to capitalize on the discontent of the people. Gaining an Empire, he soon discovered, was actually the easy part. The difficulty was holding on to it once he had it.

Before long, the new Han Dynasty leaders discovered that not all of the Qin ideas were "bad". Centralized control, officials appointed by the government based on merit(not family relationship)- thus making it possible to replace them if necessary, and the standardization (script, roads etc) were all essential to the management of a large, diverse Empire. The Han government needed to maintain the useful aspects of Qin rule without losing the support of the people. In short, they needed a new style of government. The Zhou style of government didn't give the government enough strength to rule and the Qin style would just cause another uprising. What to do?

The Han government found their answer in the writings of Confucius. The kind of orderly society Confucius had envisioned would permit the country to heal while providing a "new" sytem of Government. By itself, however, Confucianism could not hold the people together, unless they felt like it. What they needed was a compromise, one that would give the government total control over the Empire, while allowing the people to feel free so they would not try to seize control of the government. The result was a synthesis of the two government systems. A blending of Qin ideas and Han.