HISTORY
ANCIENT CHINA
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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Nothing. There is nothing anyone can do.
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If a ruler governed poorly, heaven withdrew its support and the ruler lost power.
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The ruler must undergo a rigorous training course to get better.
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The ruler must meditate and ask the heavens for answers.
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Detailed explanation-1: -If a king ruled unfairly he could lose this approval, which would result in his downfall. Overthrow, natural disasters, and famine were taken as a sign that the ruler had lost the Mandate of Heaven. The Chinese Character for “Tian ‘’.
Detailed explanation-2: -According to this doctrine, heaven (, Tian) bestows its mandate on a just ruler of China (the “Son of Heaven"). If a ruler was overthrown, this was interpreted as an indication that the ruler was unworthy and had lost the mandate.
Detailed explanation-3: -Signs that a particular ruler had lost the Mandate of Heaven included peasant uprisings, invasions by foreign troops, drought, famine, floods, and earthquakes. Of course, drought or floods often led to famine, which in turn caused peasant uprisings, so these factors were often interrelated.
Detailed explanation-4: -If the emperor and his government failed to govern responsibly, mistreated the people or abused their power, their authority to rule could be withdrawn. According to contemporaries, some of the signs that Heaven had withdrawn its mandate included natural disasters such as floods, droughts, famines or pandemics.