Chinese Dynastic Cycle Rise and fall of successive families of rulers that have the "Mandate of Heaven" Ch'in  

• A standardized system of written characters was adopted, and its use was made compulsory throughout the empire.
• To promote internal trade and economic integration the Ch'in standardized weights and measures, coinage, and axle widths.
• Private landholding was adopted, and laws and taxation were enforced equally and impersonally. The quest for cultural uniformity led the Ch'in to outlaw the many contending schools of philosophy that had flourished during the late Chou. Only legalism was given official sanction, and in 213 BC the books of all other schools were burned, except for copies held by the Ch'in imperial library.
• The First Emperor also attempted to push the perimeter of Chinese civilization far beyond the outer boundaries of the Chou dynasty. In the south his armies marched to the delta of the Red River, in what is now Vietnam. The center of Chinese civilization, however, remained in the Huang He valley.

Aside from the unification and expansion of China, the best-known achievement of the Ch'in was the completion of the Great Wall.
• The foreign conquests of the Ch'in, the wall building and other public works were accomplished at an enormous cost of wealth and human life.
• The ever increasing burden of taxation, military service, and forced labor bred a deep-seated resentment against the Ch'in rule among the common people of the new empire. In addition, the literate classes were alienated by government policies of thought control, particularly the burning of books. The successor of Shih Huang Ti came under the domination of a wily palace eunuch.
• A power struggle ensued, crippling the central administration, and the indignant population rose in rebellion.

Instability Provides stability by internally increases control through new procedures increases trade through building of new roads economic stability occurs externally protects from outside invaders Becomes prosperous and has period of growth in culture Becomes overconfident and roads and communication systems begin to decline, economic systems decline, susceptible to outside invaders Instability "Mandate of Heaven" passes to new dynasty Instability Provides stability   webmaster Killeen Harker Heights Connections