Non-monarchic rule failed in ancient China due to the entrenchment of bureaucratic imperial structures
the verdict
INSUFFICIENT LEANING
refutedsupported
the weight of evidence
3 sources for · 0 against
AS REPORTEDno primary record reached; this is what the reporting says
Available historical sources touch upon the absence of non-monarchic rule and the growth of centralized imperial administration in ancient China, but they offer only partial support for the specific causal claim regarding bureaucratic structures.
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is divided into 33 province-level divisions, including two special administrative regions. Beijing is the capital, while Shanghai is the most populous city by urban area. Its geography features the Central Plain, major rivers such as the Yangtze and Yellow River, deserts, subtropical and temperate forests, platea
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is divided into 33 province-level divisions, including two special administrative regions. Beijing is the capital, while Shanghai is the most populous city by urban area. Its geography features the Central Plain, major rivers such as the Yangtze and Yellow River, deserts, subtropical and temperate forests, plateaus, and mountain ranges such as the Himalayas. It is the world's second-most populous country after India, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion (17% of the world's population), across an area of 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), making it the third-largest country by area.
Humans first arrived in China during the Paleolithic. By the 2nd millennium BCE, dynastic states had emerged. 221 BCE, China was unified under the Qin and the succeeding Han dynasty, ushering in two millennia of imperial rule across periods of unity and division. Its achievements include the Silk Road and the invention of gunpowder, paper, printing, and the compass. After increased Western political, economic, and philosophical influence, the 1911 Revolution overthrew the empire and established the Republic of China (ROC). The Warlord Era and Chinese Civil War followed, interrupted by the Second Sino-Japanese War, which ended in a Chinese victory. In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forced the ROC's retreat to Taiwan and proclaimed the PRC, although both sides still claim political legitimacy. CCP attempts to advance communism faltered through famine and political turmoil. The reform and opening up that began in 1978 moved China towards a socialist market economy, spurring economic growth.
The PRC is a unitary state with the CCP as its sole ruling party. It is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and a member of many multilateral organizations. China is the world's largest manufacturer and has the second largest economy by nominal GDP. International organizations have criticized the PRC, alleging authoritarianism and human rights abuses. Possessing a large military and nuclear stockpile, China has been described as a superpower due to its influence in…
# Why did non-monarchic rule meet with so little success in ancient China?
Tags: political-history, government, ancient-china, philosophy, medieval-china
- Score: 14
- Views: 1778
- Answers: 6
- Answered: yes
- Asked by: lins314159 (4599 rep)
- Asked: 2011-10-14
- Edited: 2020-03-02
- Site: history
## Question
In the ancient world, the states around the Mediterranean were ruled by various forms of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy, each of which had varying levels of success. Meanwhile, in China, monarchy appears to be the only form of government that was ever in practice, or at least the only one that had any measure of success.
Are there any examples in ancient China of aristocratic or democratic rule being used or at least considered? What were the circumstances in China that made it more suited to monarchic rule than non-monarchic rule?
## Answers
### Answer by Anixx (score: 13 [ACCEPTED])
In the ancient world, democracy or oligarchical republics existed only in city-states because it was unfeasible to conduct elections in a large country and potentially could lead to a civil war between the cities.
In China there were no city-states, therefore elections were just n
Chapter 7 Rule by Impersonal Standards in the Early Empires: Ideas and Realities | Springer Nature Link
# Chapter 7 Rule by Impersonal Standards in the Early Empires: Ideas and Realities
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Dao Companion to China’s fa Tradition
## Abstract
The paper analyses the application of impersonal standards in the administration of the Qin and Han empires (221 BCE–220 CE). It demonstrates that standardization was not limited to the improvement of government apparatus. Rather, impersonal standards were an instrument of a comprehensive social reform that enacted core precepts of the fa tradition such as meritocracy, centralization of authority, and totality of monarchical power. Unlike the ideologies of bureaucratizing state reform in early modern Europe, standardization policies as they were developed by the Warring States period (453–221 BCE) statesmen and carried out in the early empires were aimed at the entire society, not just its government. The paper also discusses the alternative approaches to the administration that came to challenge the rule by impersonal standards during
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