Title: Chapter 3 - Ancient China
1Chapter 3 - Ancient China
2The Dawn of Chinese Civilization
- The Land and People of China
- Legend Chinese society was founded by a series
of rulers who brought civilization - 7000s B.C.E. agriculture began, particularly near
the Yellow and Yangtze rivers - The Yangshao and Longshan Neolithic cultures
- Only 12 percent of China is arable
- China isolated by Gobi Desert, Central Asia, and
Tibetan plateau - Agrarian China vs. Asian nomads
3Shang China
4The Shang Dynasty
- 1500s1000s B.C.E., replaced the Xia dynasty
- Political Organization
- Capital was at Anyang
- Oracle bones earliest surviving writing, a way to
communicate with the gods - Chariot warfare
- Chariots perhaps through Indo-European contacts
- Ritual sacrifices were performed at death of
Shang kings - Lead to the custom of veneration of ancestors
5The Shang Dynasty
- Social Structures
- Farm villages were the basic social unit
- Clans rather than nuclear families
- Some class differentiation aristocratic elite,
peasants, a few merchants, slaves - Bronze casting
6The Zhou Dynasty (1000s200s B.C.E.)
- Political Structures
- Capital near present-day Xian and a second
capital near modern Luoyang - More extensive and complex bureaucracy than Shang
- The Mandate of Heaven
- Heaven an impersonal law of nature rather than
anthropomorphic deity - King not divine but ruled as representative of
Heaven - Kings were chosen because of their talent and
virtue
7The Zhou Dynasty (1000s200s B.C.E.)
- If the king did not rule effectively, he lost the
Mandate of Heaven and could be replaced by a new
king/dynasty - Zhou began to decline by 500s B.C.E.
8The Zhou Dynasty (1000s200s B.C.E.)
- Economy and Society
- The well field system peasants had own lands
but also cultivate their lords land - Merchants were not independent but under control
of local lords - Late Zhou saw considerable economic and
technological growth, including massive water
control projects, iron plowshares, the collar
harness, natural fertilizer - Development of extensive trade in silk, to as far
away as Greece - Development of a money economy
9The Zhou Dynasty (1000s200s B.C.E.)
- The Hundred Schools of Ancient Philosophy
- Early Beliefs
- Under Shang, the belief in one transcendent god,
known as Shang Di - Evolved into Heaven, an impersonal symbol of
universal order - Two primary forces of yang (light/male) and yin
(dark/female)
10The Zhou Dynasty (1000s200s B.C.E.)
- Quotes
- Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig
two graves. - Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees
it. - He who will not economize will have to agonize.
- It does not matter how slowly you go as long as
you do not stop. - Study the past if you would define the future.
- Confucianism
- Confucius/Kung Fuci/Master Kung (b. 551 B.C.E.)
- Analects, conversations between Confucius and his
followers - Ethical politics
- Act in accordance with the Dao (the way), similar
to dharma in India - Subordinate individualism to broader needs of
family and community - Human-heartedness Do not do unto others what
you would not wish done to yourself - Merit should decide, not heredity
- Led to practice of selecting officials through a
civil service exam - Mencius (370290 B.C.E.) humans were by nature
good
11The Zhou Dynasty (1000s200s B.C.E.)
- Legalism
- Humans by nature are evil, and must be coerced by
laws and punishments - Daoism (Lao Tzu/the Old Master)
- Dao De Jing (The Way of the Tao)
- Like Confucianism, this life and not the cosmos
is the focus - Unlike Confucianism, inaction rather than action,
act in harmony with nature - Chinese landscape painting often a reflection of
Daoism - Popular Beliefs
- Belief in numerous gods and spirits of nature,
both good and evil
12China during the Period of the Warring States
13The Rise of the Chinese Empire The Qin and the
Han
- Decline of the Zhou Warring States Period
- State of Qin won out, becoming the first unified
government of China in 221 B.C.E.
14The Rise of the Chinese Empire The Qin and the
Han
- The Qin Dynasty (221206 B.C.E.) Qin Shi
Huangdi, the First Emperor - Political structures Legalism was the official
ideology - Books burned
- Territory expanded, all the way to Vietnam
15The Rise of the Chinese Empire The Qin and the
Han
- Highly centralized state with harsh punishments
- Society and the Economy
- Unified weights and measures, standardized the
monetary and writings systems - Reduced power of the aristocracy
- Aristocrats were required to live in capital of
Xianyang - Government was anti-merchants
16The Rise of the Chinese Empire The Qin and the
Han
- Beyond the Frontier The Nomadic Peoples and the
Great Wall of China - Threats from the northern nomadic Xiongnu,
possibly related to the Huns - Qin solution build a wallthe Great Wallat
great cost - The Fall of the Qin
- Rivalry between inner and outer courts
(bureaucracy vs. imperial family and eunuchs) - Government too oppressive
- First Emperor condemned, but Legalism set pattern
of succeeding dynasties
17The Glorious Han Dynasty (202 B.C.E.221 C.E.)
- Founded by Liu Bang, took title of Han Gaozu
- Maintained the Qins centralized political
institutions, but less harsh - Confucianism and the State
- Government was a despotism, capital at Changan
- State Confucianism
- Civil service examinations,165 B.C.E.
- Most were still from aristocratic families
- Factionalism at court still a problem
- Aristocratic families remained powerful in spite
of imperial despotism
18The Glorious Han Dynasty (202 B.C.E.221 C.E.)
- Society and Economy in the Han Empire
- Population increased from 20 million to 60
million - Agricultural improvements barely kept up with
population rise - Expansion of trade, all the way to the Roman
Empire - State controlled much trade and manufacturing
- New technologies, including water mills, iron
casting, paper, rudder - Expansion Abroad
19Trade Routes of the Ancient World
20The Glorious Han Dynasty (202 B.C.E.221 C.E.)
- The Decline and Fall of the Han
- Wang Mang declared the Xin (New) dynasty, 923
C.E., but was killed - Recovery under the later Han, but the dynasty
disappeared by 220s C.E.
21The Han Dynasty
22Daily Life in Ancient China
- The Role of the Family
- Central to Chinese society, not least because of
rice cultivation - Filial piety and the five relationships
- Government attempted to impose control through
the Bao-jia system of mutual control and
surveillance by five or ten families
23Daily Life in Ancient China
- Lifestyles
- Houses of tile and brick for the elite, but mud,
thatch, and wooden planks for peasants - Staple foods were millet in the north and rice in
the south - Cities
- Most Chinese lived in the countryside
- First towns were forts for the aristocracy
- By Zhou era, larger towns for trade and commerce
- ChangAn covered 16 square miles
- The Humble Estate Women in Ancient China
- Female subservience the norm, both
philosophically and in practice
24Chinese Culture
- Metalwork and Sculpture
- Bronze Casting under the Shang dynasty
- Bronze vessels both for use and for ritual
- Iron by 800s B.C.E. Chinese cast iron was better
than Wests wrought iron - The First Emperors Tomb, discovered in 1974 near
Xian - Thousands of terra-cotta warriors
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26Chinese Culture
- Language and Literature
- Writing based on pictures/ideas
(ideographs/characters), not on phonetic
symbols - Became the written system for an expanding
Chinese civilization even though spoken languages
were often mutually unintelligible - Earliest surviving was from Zhou, written on silk
or strips of bamboo - Confucian Classics The Rites of Zhou, Analects,
Way of the Dao, The Book of Songs - Primary purpose was moral and political
27Chinese Culture
- Music aesthetics, but also to achieve political
order and refining the human character - Flutes, stringed instruments, bells and chimes,
drums and gourds
28Discussion Questions
- What was the Mandate of Heaven? How did it shape
the goal and priorities of Chinese government? - What factors contributed to economic growth
during the Zhou period? What role did the
government play in promoting growth? - What values are expressed in Confucianism? How
were those values manifested in Chinese society? - What were the most important accomplishments of
the Han dynasty? What led to the dynastys
demise?