Ancient China

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Ancient China
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Geographic and Cultural Features

• Physical setting
• Intersecting mountain ranges
• Qinling Shandi
• Marks boundary between Northern and Southern
  China
• Separates valleys of 2 greatest rivers
• Huang He and Chang Jiang (Yangtze)
• Boundary between 2 major agricultural areas
• North wheat
• Center and South rice
• Political division
• China Proper the heart of China
• Stretches from the seacoast inland
• Includes valleys of the Huang He, Chang Jiang,
  and Xi Jiang
• Outer regions Mongolia, Tibet, Xinjiang,
  Manchuria and Korea

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Rivers of China
Huang He River

• 3 main rivers
• Huang He yellow river
• 2,900 miles
• Empties into Yellow Sea
• Climate long, cold winters and short, hot
  summers
• Loess
• Worlds muddiest river
• Early farmers built earthen dikes
• Caused river to deposit silt on river bottom
• Over years, river level reached tops of dikes and
  flooded
• Nicknamed Chinas Sorrow
• Chang Jiang
• Located in Central China
• 3,434 miles
• Commercial waterway
• Xi Jiang
• Located in Southern China
• 1,200 miles
• Commercial waterway

Huang He
Chang Jiang
Xi Jiang
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Isolation

• Developed in isolation from civilizations of
  India and the West
• Distance, mountains, deserts
• Developed and retained culture
• North and Northwestern borders of China had
  contact with nomadic people
• Traded with Chinese
• Attacked on occasion
• Chinese called them barbarians and considered
  them inferior
• Zhongguo Middle Kingdom
• Chinese regarded themselves as only civilized
  culture
• People could only become civilized by adopting
  Chinese language and customs

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Dynastic Cycle

• 1st stage founding of the dynasty
• Defeat of military rivals in battle
• Individual leader gains control
• Right to rule became hereditary within leaders
  family
• New Dynasty emerged
• 2nd stage period of internal peace, expansion
  and great power
• Collected taxes and labor services
• Used wealth to build infrastructure, support
  education snf the arts and to enhance its
  prestige
• 3rd Stage period of regression
• Marked by a period of decline
• Rulers cared more about luxury than people they
  ruled
• Government raised taxes, created hardship on
  people
• Stopped maintaining infrastructure
• Became unable to defend frontiers
• Chaos, rebellion and invasion by nomadic people
• End of dynasty emergence of new

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Shang Dynasty

• Began along the Huang He between 1750 B.C and
  1500 B.C.
• Lasted until about 1122 B.C.
• Invaders to China
• Created bureaucracy - King owned land in the
  empire
• Used war chariots and bronze weapons to maintain
  power

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Shang Culture

• Economy and Handicrafts
• Based on agriculture
• Millet, barley and rice
• Pigs, and chickens for meat
• Used horses for labor
• Learned to raise silkworms weave silk into
  thread
• Artisans
• Crafted jewelry from Jade, ivory and bone
• Established foundation for Chinese ceramic art
• Used Kaolin fine white clay
• Glazed pottery to give it a shiny durable finish
• Bronze casting

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Astronomy and the Calendar

• 2 calendars
• Moon (Lunar calendar)
• Record private and public events
• Shortest period was 10 days (3 periods made a
  month)
• Year consisted of 12 months
• Priest astronomers employed by governments added
  days to make it 365
• Sun (Solar Calendar)
• Solar terms to define significant agriculture
  events
• 4 during Shang, 24 now

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Shang Language, Writing, and Religion

• Many Chinese dialects existed
• Assign special character to each word of their
  language (ideographs)
• 2 parts signifier and phonetic sign
• Calligraphy artistic form of writing used by
  Chinese
• Religion combined Animism belief that spirits
  inhabit everything, and ancestor worship
• Also worshipped gods of wind, sun, clouds and
  moon
• Religious festivals in Spring and Autumn
• Shang Ti principle god, responsible for destiny
  and controlled forces of nature
• Intercession of ancestors to appeal to Shang Ti
• Sacrifices to please ancestors
• Priests
• Worked as priest-astronomers
• Foretold futures
• Wrote questions on oracle bones
• shoulder bones of cattle, bottoms of tortoise
  shells heated
• Used patterns of cracks in bones to interpret
  answers to questions

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Zhou Dynasty

• Conquered Shang dynasty in 1122 B.C.
• Dynasty lasted approximately 900 years
• Continued many aspects of Shang culture
• Rulers called themselves Sons of Heaven
• Mandate of Heaven gods determine who should
  rule China
• Keep gods contented
• Perform rites to ensure the fertility of the soil
• Control the rivers
• Expansion of internal trade
• Use of copper coins as money
• Use of Iron
• Transformed agriculture
• Iron tools and plows
• Cultivated new lands
• Built canals, dikes and reservoirs for irrigation
• No centralized form of government
• Granted territories to members of royal family
  and allies
• Military service and tribute to Kings
• Positions were hereditary

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Qin Dynasty

• Came to power in 221 B.C.
• Shi Huangdi first emperor
• Suppressed scholars who criticized his regime
• Banned and burned books
• Capital Xian (Chang-an)
• Only lasted until 206 B.C.
• Unified China under strong central government for
  first time in history
• Established autocracy emperor held total power
• Created first Chinese empire
• Standardized weights, measures and coinage
• Established a uniform system of writing
• Conquered central part of southern China
• Divided China into military districts
• Code of Qin uniform system of laws
• Implemented single system of taxation
• Built wall along northern and northwestern
  frontiers
• Great Wall of China 1500 miles long
• Forced labor for public works
• Discontent spread quickly

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Han Dynasty

• 202 B.C. 220 A.D.
• Liu Bang commoner who rose to become a great
  general and overthrew Qin Dynasty
• Centralized government
• Less oppressive than Qin
• Maintained power for 4 centuries
• Wu Di
• longest ruling Han emperor
• 140 B.C. to 87 B.C.
• Established capital at Chang-an (Xian)
• Extended territory to Manchuria and Korea, into
  Southeast Asia and West to Central Asia
• Civil Service administered day to day business
  of government
• Examination system for recommended candidates
• Imperial university for training
• Remained important to Chinese government until
  1900s A.D.
• Leveling economic policy
• Government agents able to even out effects of
  years of surplus and shortages of prices
• Pax Sinica
• Chinese Peace
• military conquests and establishment of military
  colonies

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Philosophies

• Dualism of Nature
• Yin female, dark and passive
• Yang male, bright and active
• Yin and Yang do not conflict with one another,
  they depend on one another, maintain balance
• Confucianism
• Kong Fuzi, a.k.a. Confucius
• 551 B.C. to 479 B.C.
• Teacher
• The Analects ideas and teachings of Confucius
• Not a religious prophet
• Taught about 1) importance of family, 2) respect
  for elders, 3) reverence for the past and ones
  ancestors
• Wanted to end political disorder
• Every person should accept appropriate role in
  society and perform duties of that role
• government should be virtuous
• Influence on later Chinese beliefs

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Philosophies, contd

• Daoism
• Laozi
• Dao - Way of Nature
• Indescribable force that governed the universe
  and all of nature
• Withdraw from world and contemplating nature
• People should not strive for riches or power
• Harmony with Dao by being quiet, thoughtful, and
  humble
• Shunned politics advised people not to seek
  power or material wealth
• Encouraged artistic expression
• Appeal to poor and artists and poets
• Daoism and Confucianism complemented each other
• Legalism
• Concerned with politics
• Believed in power and harsh laws
• View people as selfish and untrustworthy
• Peace and prosperity achieved by threats of
  punishment
• Buddhism
• Missionaries from India brought Buddhism to China
  during Han dynasty
• After collapse of Han dynasty, many peasants
  converted to Buddhism