Ancient China

One can first look at the geography of China. The main characteristic that China had in common with other Agriculture based countries, is that the Yangtze River was like the Nile River. Both rivers produce fine silt that is ideal for planting crops such as wheat and rice.

During the Ancient China period, the Empower would be the leader who would lead his country more as a Despotic Dictator rather than an Enlightened Monarch in the way of life for his people. This becomes evident when one looks at the emperor’s un-surpassing power in both the economic and agricultural management standpoint.

Deposition could have first occurred in the in the Hsia Dynasty (2200-1750 B.C) when Yao the Emperor, needed a successor to control the floods that burdened his people. His successor would soon become Shun. Shun was picked by Yao because of his filial piety to live in harmony. Although Shun can be credited for enlightened leadership qualities in reality he was a very harsh leader to his people. Punishments included using the whip, stick, and fines for punishments instead of have the offenders be dealt with without Corporal Punishment. Alternatives to Corporal Punishment could have included fines, community service work such as community farming or short term jail time

Shum’s leadership was very enlightened, but at the same time he was ultimately the ruler who could put them to death if they disagreed with his leadership. After Shun, his successor was Yu, who founded the Hsia Dynasty, the first Dynasty.

This was the first part of where Oriental Control and Despotism meet. Although water control was limited Yu lead a large expansionism flood control and irrigation by using thousands of Chinese people. During the Hsia Dynasty, Emperors employed mass labor on the people of China. The tasks were broken into four primary groups. These types of work included working for the military, farming, construction workers, and textile labor.

Textile labor included tasks like weaving silk threads by hand to make fine clothes for royalty. Other tasks included public works such as walls, large construction, and enlarging of canals for Agriculture. In this period casualties were very nigh if you were selected to be in the military because it was not uncommon to have mass warfare killing hundreds of thousands of people in one single battle. Common soldiers were simply treated as pawns by military leaders.

The Shan Dynasty occurred during (1750-1040 B.C). Although the Shan Dynasty believed in resonance, he was ruthless when it came to battle. Shan often made a whole family fight in battles because he believed they would fight better with each other. His philosophy also employed through Ying and Yang. Shan believed that women should have a lesser role in society than men. This was evident in all aspects of life. Women were not respected as equals and as such did not have the same opportunities.

After this period was the Chou Dynasty (1040-256 B.C). During this period Chou would try to repair the country from the corrupt Shang Dynasty. Chou would try to employ a feudal system but would eventually lead into the Warring States Period (403-221 B.C). During this period corrupt emperors caused the country fell apart into a chaotic and constant warlike period.

This was followed by the Enlightened Qin Dynasty, who unified the country and built the Great Wall of China. Although this has been called the greatest man made structure this period eventually fell due to exhausted people.

Even though the country of China had enlightened ideas through Confucius and other religious leaders, China was Despotism rather than an Enlightened Monarchy because of how the emperors treated the people and their way of life.