S09: Salt and Silk

• Founding of Han Dynasty: How to build an empire that lasts?
• Who were the “Xiongnu”? Han Expansion and Nomads in World History
• Salt and Iron debate: What should be the role of government?

• First Unified Empire: From Feudal Aristocracy to Centralized Bureaucracy
• Qin as a model for future Chinese dynasties: Emperorship, centralized bureaucracy, mobilizational power
• Qin as a cautionary tale: despite its greatness, the Dynasty lasted only fifteen years.
• The First Emperor’s legacy is shaped by Han (and later Confucian) historians who viewed him as a despot and may have exaggerated his ruthlessness.

• One of two peasant emperors of Chinese history.
• After the civil war with Xiang Yu, state granaries were depleted, and tax revenues were minimal.
• Freed individuals who had sold themselves into slavery and returned soldiers to civilian life.
• Reduced field taxes to one-fifteenth of the harvest to alleviate burdens on the population.

• For the first fifty years, semi-independent kings governed over half of the empire, but posed a threat to Liu Bang’s authority.
• What’s the root of imperial stability – bureaucratic order or blood ties?
• How can Liu strike a balance between imperial and regional powers, and between Zhou and Qin political paradigms?

• Return of Aristocracy: Regional kings could grant titles and territories to their sons, creating smaller secondary states.
• New generations of imperial offspring who became kings could receive a portion of the tax quota from their assigned territories, but did not receive actual land.
• Over the years, he worked to reduce their power: A truly unitary empire was established only after the defeat of these feudatories in 154 B.C.

• The security threat posed by the Qin’s expansion prompted scattered pastoral nomadic tribes to unite under a strong leader, known as the Chanyu.
• The Han Dynasty was established by Liu Bang in 206 BCE, around the same time the Xiongnu tribal confederacy formed in 209 BCE.
• Liu Bang sought to control former Qin territories while the Xiongnu aimed to reclaim their lost lands, leading to inevitable conflicts.

• The first significant clash occurred in 200 BCE when Liu Bang was surrounded in a battle near Pingcheng and ultimately negotiated with the Xiongnu.
• Heqin Agreement: In 202 BCE, a peace agreement called Heqin was formalized, involving annual tributes from China and the marriage of a Chinese princess to the Chanyu.

• King of Zhao defected to the Xiongnu Confederacy under pressure from the Han court in 201 BC.
• Liu Bang tried to punish him but fell into a trap set by the Xiongnu, resulting in heavy losses for his army.
• The Han court shifted to a policy of appeasement starting in 189 BC: sending a Han princess to marry the Xiongnu leader, known as the Shanyu, accompanied by substantial gifts.
• The policy effectively reduced Han to a tributary relationship with the Xiongnu.

• Who were the Xiongnu?
• What was their leader (chanyu) named Modu like?
• How were the Xiongnu different from the Han people?
• Based on the text, how should the Han Dynasty manage its relationship with the Xiongnu?

• Semiarid, with low humidity, located away from oceans, and often isolated by mountains.
• Steppes have hot summers and cold winters, with distinct seasons.
• Rainfall is critical; too little creates desert, too much creates savanna or forest.
• Rain failures lead to conflicts with sedentary communities.

• The Xiongnu had roots in an early Bronze Age civilization in the Ordos region, possibly contemporary with the late Shang dynasty (1200–1046 BC).
• The Xiongnu’s territory extended to the north of the Han Empire from Manchuria in the east to Central Asia and southern Russia in the west.
• It covered grass-covered hills and valleys along the Yellow River in present-day northern Shaanxi, Shanxi, and southern Inner Mongolia, known as the Ordos region.

• The Xiongnu society was less centralized than the Han, with various kings making independent decisions for their tribes while showing ceremonial loyalty to the Shanyu.
• Warfare for loot was a common aspect of life on the northern steppe.
• The Xiongnu not only attacking the Han but also engaging in conflicts among themselves.

Herodotus on Scythian rule in Media:

the whole land was ruined because of their violence and their pride, for, besides exacting from each the tribute which was assessed, they rode about the land carrying off everyone’s possessions.

Civilization Bias:

The Chinese and Romans as higher, civilized societies that were compelled to conquer the barbaric Scythians to claim their land.

• The Scythian nomads controlled a vast area from northern China to the northern Black Sea region, originating in southern Siberia.
• They dominated the Eurasian steppe for centuries until being displaced by other nomadic tribes in the early 2nd century BCE.

• The Scythians established an innovative and stable government structure.
• They maintained large herds and had abundant supplies of leather, wool, and hair; they were their clothing, soft furnishings, and valuable trading resources with sedentary neighbors.
• This governance model ruled for several centuries, primarily maintaining peace until the conquests of Alexander the Great, who adopted and continued their military technologies and governmental structure.

• The Han recognized a bipolar world order, with the Xiongnu as a dominant power alongside the Han, and smaller polities in a state of subordination.
• The international relations system relied on treaties, annual payments, diplomatic marriages, and defined spheres of influence.

• The “Peace and Affinity” (heqin) policy was designed to create marriage alliances that would produce offsprings sympathetic to the Han Empire.
• But it did not ensure long-lasting peace.
• 166 BCE: Shanyu Laoshang overran the Han pass and reached 150 km from the Han capital.

Trade or Raid Hypothesis

• The Xiongnu needed Chinese agricultural products for survival and resorted to raiding if they couldn’t acquire them through trade.

“Triumph of virtue”

• Border markets were a strategy initiated by the Chinese to attract the Xiongnu, aiming for cultural assimilation rather than mere defense.
• The Xiongnu primarily took livestock and prisoners during raids, rarely seizing agricultural products like grain.
• Chinese policies were often designed to create dependency on Chinese goods and to distinguish between assimilated and non-assimilated barbarians.

The Kul Tigin inscriptions from the Second Kok Turk Empire (680–744 CE)

• Rare primary source from the pastoralists themselves
• Inscribed on stone pillars sticking out of the surrounding grasslands, written in a runic script
• Warned against Chinese assimilation schemes

Enticed by the sweet words and soft silk of the Chinese, many of you Turk people perished … Ill-intentioned people give counsel in this way, saying, ‘If you are far from the Chinese people, they give you poor quality silk; if you are near, they give you fine quality silk.’ In this way, ignorant people were taken in, moved near the Chinese people, and many of you perished.

• Sent on a diplomatic mission to Central Asia secure alliances with local states to unite against the Xiongnu Empire.
• Captured by the Xiongnu for ten years. This experience allowed him to learn the language, customs, and geography.

• After escape from the Xiongnu, extensive journey across Central Asia: Wusun (Kyrgyzstan), Dayuan (Ferghana), Da Rouzhi (Kushan), Bactriana (Afghanistan), and Sogdiana (Kazakhstan/Uzbekistan).
• Although Zhang Qian did not succeed in forging alliances against the Xiongnu, he returned to Chang’an in 126 BC with information that laid the groundwork for future interactions between Han and Central Asian states.

• A 2,000 km frontier against unexpected attacks
• Emperor Wu sought a decisive engagement to destroy the Xiongnu Empire
• The Han forces captured two kings and thousands of individuals and retook the Ordos region – for the first time since the Qin Empire’s collapse.

• To consolidate their hold on the Ordos, the Han relocated 100,000 farmers to the region.
• In the Jüyan River region, approximately 250 km long, the Han developed a society managed through a dual system of governance.

Four tiers

• 2 “Chief Commandants” (duwei) stationed in the main cities
• 7 commandants in fortresses
• 40 captains overseeing 260 watchtowers
• each tower guarded by two to five soldiers

• Land tax revenue was insufficient to meet the empire’s growing financial needs.
• In 119 B.C.E., Emperor Wu created government monopolies for the profitable sectors of salt and iron.
• The government used advanced technologies, such as blast furnaces, to produce iron and iron goods like farm implements, cooking pots, scissors, and weapons.

• Two teams: The Lord Grand Secretary and the Confucian literati
• Key question: What kind of society and economy do you want, and how would you achieve it?

• The Han dynasty moved away from the Qin model of universal military service and direct rule over the peasant population.
• Mass mobilization of peasants was effective until 154 B.C. but became unnecessary after internal conflicts ceased.
• The focus shifted to conflicts with the nomadic Xiongnu, for which infantry was impractical and hard to supply.
• The Han began to levy taxes to fund a professional standing army rather than relying on trained peasant soldiers.