The Mandate of Heaven

Not only does the Mandate of Heaven give dynasties reasons to rule, but also gives them reasons not to.

The best way to understand The Mandate of Heaven is in a cycle . Below, is an easier way to understand the process!

The End

At the end of the Han Dynasty, courtiers started to fight for power among themselves. By the courtiers fighting for individual power causes the Han rule to decrease. By the Dynasty beginning to collapse caused movements like the Taoist rebels and Yellow Turbans to rebel. This is a perfect example of what the Mandate of Heaven is truly all about.

History

The Chou went on to say that the gods had sternly told them that for as long as they were ruling, they must put others first and not be anywhere close to selfish. If they became selfish, then the gods would apoint a different ruling family .

In order for to be sure that they had the Shang people's full belief, they added in a couple more details that the "gods" had mentioned to them.

During the time period of the Shang dynasty, the Chou tribe overthrew their rule. In order to convince the Shang people that the Chou had the right to rule, they told them that the gods from heaven said it was the Chou's time to rule.

Examples

Fun Fact:Tia Ming means Mandate of Heaven in Chinese!

Many Emperors began to use the Mandate of Heaven to:

Bibliography

Bc, 211. "ANCIENT CHINA TIMELINE." Blue.butler.edu. Web. 11 Jan. 2012. http://blue.butler.edu/~jfmcgrat/china/timeline.htm.

"Confucius." Valdosta Museum and Lowndes County Historical Society. Web. 10 Jan. 2012. http://www.valdostamuseum.org/hamsmith/LIhome.html.

Halsall, Paul. "Chinese Cultural Studies: Selections from the Shu Jing (The Classic of History)(6th Cent. BCE)." ITS Public WEB Computer Labs. Web. 8 Jan. 2012. http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/texts/shu-jing.html.

ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting. Image Shack. Web. 9 Jan. 2012. http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/520/1103zp8.jpg/sr=1.

"The Mandate of Heaven - Ancient China for Kids." Ancient China for Kids - Stories, Games, Dynasties, Geography, Daily Life, Religion, Inventions, and More! Web. 8 Jan. 2012. http://china.mrdonn.org/mandateofheaven.html.

"The Mandate of Heaven- A Essay on Chinese History, Dreamwriter Dreamwriter." Dreamwriter | Savanahs Personal Blog of Essays, Short Stories and ArtDreamwriter | Savanahs Personal Blog of Essays, Short Stories and Art. Web. 8 Jan. 2012. http://wordwhittler.com/the-mandate-of-heaven.

"Mandate of Heaven." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 8 Jan. 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandate_of_Heaven.

For example, if the emperor began to think about only himself and not his people,"the gods" in heaven would have to summon a new ruler.

• convince citizens that emperors have the right to rule
• an excuse for rulers to gain more power

Mandate of Heaven: A theory that allowed one with power the right to rule from a heavenly source.

The Mandate of Heaven

Four Principles

One

1.The right for a ruler to gain power is determined by Heaven

Two

2.Since there is only one heaven, there is only one ruler

Three

3.The Ruler's virtue determines his right to rule

Four

4. Not just one dynasty is limited to the right to rule