Political Organization in Early china

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Political Organization in Early china
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Xia Dynasty

• King Yu, founder of the dynasty, which was
  established around 2200 B.C.E.
• Capital city was believed to be Erlitou, but it
  is not quite certain
• Archeological discoveries of this dynasty have
  been recently made

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Shang Dynasty

• Unlike the Xia dynasty, many records have been
  discovered
• The rise of this dynasty is due to the
  technology.
• Along with the technology, the bronze metallurgy
  first went to China and India with the
  Indo-European immigrants.

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Zhou Dynasty

• rulers took the title son of Heaven, because it
  was thought that they served as a link between
  heaven and earth
• Marriages were also arranged to strengthen
  political allies
• Iron production expanded rapidly (Iron
  metallargy) they were not in control of the
  bronze production, and iron was inexpensive.

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Society And Family In Ancient China
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The Social Order

• Xia, Shang, and early Zhou ruled most royal
  positions.
• Resided in large, palatial compounds made of
  pounded earth.
• Bronze was mostly owned by the wealthy.

• Hereditary aristocrats from Shang and Zhou had at
  least elementary training, and had better
  standard of living then most.
• Worked at administrative and military tasks.

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Continued

• Had manuals of etiquette gulping down food,
  unpleasant noises, playing with food, etc

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Specialized Labor

• Small class of free artisans and craftsmen who
  served as modern day butlers.
• Did necessary jobs for the house and had a
  reasonably comfortable environment.
• Also consisted of Jewelers, bronze smiths, and
  others.

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Merchants and Trade

• Used horse-drawn chariots.
• Later used sea routes.
• King Yu, founder of Xia dynasty, invented the
  sails.
• Peasants and slaves took up much of the
  population. Used as warriors for battles,
  performed hard labor, and victims of sacrifice
  during funerary, religious, and other ritual
  observances.

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Family and patriarchy

• Early dynasties ruled their territories largely
  through family and kinship groups.

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Veneration of Ancestors

• Chinese families would believe in their ancestors
  presence and influence.
• Bury belongings with the dead.
• Offer sacrifices at the graves.
• Believed that a family could only prosper in all
  the people, present and past, worked
  cooperatively.

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Patriarchal Society

• Women played a larger role then the men.
• Not until later did the men focus on the society
  and also overthrew the womens rights and powers.

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Writing and Cultural Development of Early China
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Early Chinas Religious Viewpoint

• Did not support a class of priests like other
  civilizations such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, and
  India.
• Early China explained the world, people, and
  crafts origins in myths and legends.
• Believed in an impersonal heavenly power called
  Tian, which was responsible with giving and
  taking from rulers the mandate of heaven.

• Unlike other early societies, organized religion
  did not play an important role in China and was
  not structured or practiced on a large scale.
• Ancient China did not believe in a divine spirit
  that would intervene in human lives.

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Early Chinese Writing

• Most early Chinese writings were on silk or
  bamboo and corroded, but Oracle bones shed light
  on early Chinese text.
• Oracle bones were used by fortunetellers to
  forecast future omens by heating wide bones and
  examining the cracks that formed. Usually the
  oracle would write on the bones the answer they
  saw, and the events that followed.
• During the 19th century workers in the fields
  around Anyang found oracle bones and called them
  dragon bones.
• By the late 1980s oracle bones were examined by
  scholars and historians who found that the early
  Chinese writing is the direct descendant of
  modern characters. Over time the symbols have
  been simplified and stylized.

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Continued

• Literature only began expand during the Zhou
  dynasty where books were used and emphasized by
  rulers such as the Book of History which was a
  collective documentation of the Zhou states rule.
  
• Manners and Etiquette were accentuated in the
  Book of Rites.
• The Book of Changes was guide for diviners in
  foretelling the future.
• The most notable work was the Book of Songs,
  which was a collection of early Chinese poetry,
  music, and verses.
• After the Gin dynasty was victorious over the
  Warring States Period, the new emperor removed
  all literature that did not have an immediate
  conventional use in daily life, any writing that
  would encourage independence was banished and few
  text has survived from that period.

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Early Society in East Asia

• By Antonio Romero, Max Smiley, Juhi Israni, and
  Gabby Marchandis

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Nomadic Society

• Nomadic people were herders because of the steppe
  lands.
• Nomads exchanged products between Chinese
  Farmers.
• Nomads relied on grains and manufactured goods of
  the Chinese.
• Nomads did not follow the Chinese political or
  social traditions as they moved constantly,
  herding their animals.

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The Yangzi Valley

• The Yagnzi River was depended on for the growth
  of rice and other agriculture.
• The expansion of agriculture brought many
  cultivators and formed a new society

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Continued..

• Many were assimilated into Chinese agricultural
  society
• Some were pushed to hills and mountains
• Some migrated to Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand

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Continued

• The state of Chu in the central region of Yanzi
• Challenged the Zhou for supremacy
• Adopted Chinese political and social traditions
  and writing