Ancient China

1
Chapter 5
Early Society in East Asia
2
Geography of China
3
Satellite View of China
4
Chinas Provinces
5
ChinaAsias Superpower
6
China vs. the U. S. in Size
China
United States
7
Comparing China the U. S.
China United States
Size 3.7 million square miles 3.6 million square miles
Main physical barrier Himalayas Rockies
Main River Yangtze / East - West Mississippi / North South
Population East Coast East Coast
Connectivity problems North - South East - West
8
Pacific Rim of Fire
9
Bodies of Water
Amur River
Sea of Japan
Yellow Sea
Huang-He River
Yangtze River
Pacific Ocean
Xi River
SouthChinaSea
10
Chinas Climate Zones
11
Precipitation in China
12
Arable Land
13
Brown China vs. Green China
Wheat Dominant
Pasture and Oasis
Rice Dominant
Double-crop rice
14
China as of World Population
15
The Population of China
thousands
16
The Polluted Yellow River!
VOCABULARY Loess
17
The Yellow River

• Huang He
• 2,920 Miles Tibet to the Yellow Sea
• Deposits (loess) fertile, light colored soil
• No need for metal tools for generous harvests
• Periodic flooding Chinas sorrow

18
Prehistoric Society Yangshao

• 5000-3000 BCE
• Middle region of the Yellow River valley
• Banpo Village
• Found in 1952
• Painted pottery
• Bone tools
• Population increase necessitated organized
  authority

19
The Earliest Dynasties

• Xia
• C. 2200 BCE
• Legend -gt Founded by Yu
• Organized through village network
• Hereditary monarchy
• Flood control
• Rise of cities, bureaucracy, bronze weapons

20
Bronze Age Empires
21
Shang Dynasty - 1766-1122 BCE

• Bronze metallurgy
• State monopoly of copper tin ores.
• Horse-drawn chariots, other wheeled vehicles
• Large armies 3,000 13,000 strong
• Demand of agricultural tribute
• Political organization network of fortified
  cities, loyal to center
• 1000 cities
• Capital moved six times
• Impressive architecture at Ao (33 x 66 wall), Yin
• Other regional kingdoms coexist Sanxingdui

22
Shang Dynasty Burial Practices

• Hierarchical social structure
• Live burials alongside deceased member of ruling
  class
• Sacrificial victims, mostly slaves
• Wives, servants, friends, hunting companions
• Later replaced by statuary, often monumental

23
Shang Religion

• Animism The belief that spirits inhabit
  everything.
• Ancestor Worship
• Shang Di A god who controlled the forces of
  nature
• Oracle Bones

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Oracle Bones
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Oracle Bones and Early Chinese Writing

• Used for communicating with spirit world,
  determining future
• Question written on animal bones, turtle shells
• Then heated over fire, cracks examined for omens
• Early archaeological evidence of Chinese writing
• Evolution of Chinese script
• Pictograph to ideograph

26
Oracle Bone from Shang Dynasty
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The Evolution of Chinese Writing During
Pictographs
Semantic-Phonetics
28
Zhou Literature

• The reflections of Confucius
• Book of Changes
• Manual for divination
• Book of History (Zhou propaganda)
• Book of Etiquette (Book of Rites)
• Book of Songs (of Poetry or of Odes)
• Little survived
• Often written on perishable bamboo strips
• Many destroyed by Emperor of Qin dynasty in 221
  BCE

29
Axe Scepter 1100 BCE - Jade
Ceremonial Dagger 1028 BCE
30
ShangUrn
31
Shang Bronzes
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Ritual Wine Vessel Bronze, 13c BCE
33
Western Zhou1027-771 BCE
34
Zhou Dynasty, 1122-256 BCE

• No law codes rule by decree
• Mandate of Heaven
• Aggregation of villages opposed to Shang
  leadership
• Decentralization of authority
• Lacked organization efficiency
• Development of cheap iron weaponry ends Shang
  monopoly on Bronze
• Early money economy

35
Zhou Coins - Bronze
36
Tian Ming
The Mandate of Heaven

1. The leader must lead by ability and virtue.
2. The dynasty's leadership must be justified by
   succeeding generations.
3. The mandate could be revoked by negligence and
   abuse the will of the people was important.

37
A new dynasty comes to power. Son of Heaven
The emperorreforms the govt. makes it
moreefficient.
Start here?
Lives of common people improvedtaxes
reducedfarming encouraged.
Emperor isdefeated !!
The Dynastic Cycle
Problems begin(extensive wars,invasions, etc.)
Rebel bands findstrong leader whounites
them.Attack the emperor.
Taxes increasemen forced towork for
army.Farming neglected.
Poor loserespect for govt.They join rebels
attack landlords.
Govt. increasesspending corruption.
Droughts,floods,famines occur.
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• Heaven, unpitying, has sent down ruin on the
  Shang. The Shang has lost the Mandate, and we,
  the Zhou have received it. I dare not say that
  our fortune would continue to prosper, even
  though I believe that heaven favors those who are
  sincere in their intentions. I dare not say,
  either that it would end in certain disaster
• The Mandate of Heaven is not easy to gain. It
  will be lost when men fail to live up to the
  reverent and illustrious virtues of our
  forefathers.
• Duke of Shao, quoted in The Chinese Heritage

39
Early Ideology

• Yin and Yang
• Yin female, dark, weak, wet, passive
• Yang male, bright, strong, dry, active
• Balance of opposites

40
Zhou Contributions

• Aristocrats
• Feudalism
• Kings gt Local Lords gt Peasants
• Feudal Lords Gain Power
• Iron Age
• The First Bound Books
• Astronomers Study Planets Eclipses

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Decline of the Zhou Dynasty

• Decentralized leadership style allows for
  building of regional powers
• Increasing local independence, refusal to pay
  Zhou taxes
• Iron metallurgy allows for widespread creation of
  weaponry
• Northern invaders weaken Zhou dynasty, beginning
  8th c BCE
• Internal dissention the Period of the Warring
  States (403-221 BCE)

43

• China during the Period of the Warring States,
  403-221 BCE

44
Chung Kuo(The Middle Kingdom)
45
Social Order

• Ruling classes great advantage
• Palatial compounds, luxurious lifestyle
• Supported by agricultural surplus, tax revenues
• Defended by monopoly on bronze weaponry
• Hereditary privilege
• Support class of artisans, craftsmen
• Evidence of long-distance trade, merchant class
• Large class of semi servile peasants
• Slave class (mostly POWs)

46
Family and Patriarchy

• Devotion to family, ancestor veneration
• Family responsible for socialization of children
  and preservation of cultural traditions
• Connection of spirit world to physical world
• Ritual sacrifices
• Father ritual head of family rites (rather than
  priests)
• Earlier prominence of individual female leaders
  fades in later Shang, Zhou dynasties
• Genealogy

47
Nomadic Peoples of Central Asia

• Despite geographic boundaries, long distance
  trade exists while limited in scope
• Steppe nomads
• Poor lands for cultivation, extensive herding
  activities
• Horses domesticated c. 4000 BCE, bronze
  metallurgy in 2900 BCE
• Organized under charismatic warrior chiefs
• Extensive trade with sedentary cultures in China
• Tensions frequent raiding
• Ethnocentrism/Xenophobia

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The Yangtze River
49
Southern Expansion of Chinese Society

• Yangzi Valley
• Peaceful flooding
• Yangzi river Chang Jiang, long river
• Excellent for rice cultivation
• Irrigation system developed
• The State of Chu
• Autonomous, challenged Zhou dynasty
• Culture heavily influenced by Chinese