Ancient China

Pre-Axial Chinese Religion
Did not develop religion as a separate realm of human concern
Rites, rituals, ethics that bound the Chinese people were cultural phenomena (daily routine)
Chinese approach toward ultimate reality stressed NATURE
No clear creator outside nature
Chinese thought always emphasized people (family and community)
Peasant Heritage
Numerous festivals timed by agricultural calendar
Politically: single empire; emperor until 1911
Language diversity (Mandarin in north and Cantonese in the south)
Natural disasters: floods, earthquakes, famines, epidemics)
Invasions: Mongols and Manchus
Reverence of ancestors
Axial Age: Six Schools
Period of Warring States
Divination (Yin-Yang; Feng-Shui)
Confucianism
Daoism
Legalism
Mohism
School of Names

Chinese Syncretism: Confucian by day, Daoist by night
The Nature of the Cosmic Order
Nature of the cosmos and the role of humans within it: wide-ranging debates
Universe is divided into 2 primary forces: opposed but complementary Yin: Shadow, passive, docile, gentle Yang: Sunshine, vigorous, hard, hot
Interaction of these 2 forces brings change
Yin-Yang
Herbal medicine and acupuncture
Feng-Shui

Yin = darkness, cold, female (death) 2 shorter lines
Yang = light, heat, male (life) single unbroken line

Union of complementary basic forces
Role of culture = preserve balance
Emphasized in everything, from cooking to art
Proper balance = proper relationship
Yin and Yang: Representation of celestial phenomena
Book of Changes: I Ching
Everything in the universe is governed by the principles of yin and yang
8 trigrams: images of all that happened on earth and in heaven
I Ching
Oldest of the Chinese classics
System of philosophy and cosmology
Dynamic balance of opposing forces
Acceptance of the inevitability of change
64 Line arrangements that explain the nature of human endeavors
Confucianism
Confucius (551-479 B.C.E.)
Interest is politics and ethics
If humans act harmoniously in accordance with the universe, all affairs will prosper
Dao (The Way)
Analects
Rule by merit

Ideal person: junzi
Virtuous
Li: Manners (relationships)
Ren: humanity or benevolence
Improvement of society: responsibility of the ruler

If we do not understand life, how can we understand death?

Ancient Philosophy

Mencius (370-29- B.C.E.)
Human beings are by nature good
Ruler’s duty is to rule by compassion
Responsible monarchy
Daoism: Zuangzi, Lao Zi
Dao De Jing (The Way of the Tao)
Proper forms for human behavior
Nature takes its course

Religion or philosophy?

Do not honor the worthy, and people will not compete
Do not value rare treasures, and people will not steal
Legalism

Human beings are by nature evil and follow the correct path only if coerced by harsh laws and stiff penalties
Only firm action by the state can bring social order
Shang China

The Dawn of Chinese Civilization
Land and People
Civilization in the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers
Importance of geography
At least 8 different ecosystems ranging from semi-tropical (5 ft rain/yr) to desert-like northwest
Neolithic Settlements
Before 5000 BCE
Archeological evidence
Rice, lotus, millet, wheat
Domesticated dogs, pigs, cattle
Geometric designs on pottery
Oracle bones

The Dawn of Chinese Civilization
Well-organized political systems and dynatic rule began with the Xia (Hsia) dynasty

Founded by Yu, who introduced irrigation and drainage

Shang dynasty, c. 16th century B.C.E.
The Shang Dynasty
Predominantly agricultural society
Ruled by aristocratic class of warriors
Used two-horse chariots
Central monarch
Territorial control not extensive
Territories governed by aristocratic bureaucracy
King intermediary between heaven and earth

Social Structures
Clans
Bronze casting
Burial mounds

Writing system: pictographs
Writing on bones

The Zhou Dynasty (1027-221 B.C.E.)
Political Structures
Political system similar to Shang dynasty
Apex is the king served by a bureaucracy
Ministers for rites, education, law and public works appointed

Economy and Society

Peasants worked on their own land and the lord’s land

Trade and manufacturing
Economic growth
Large scale water projects

Agricultural advances
Iron plows, natural fertilizer, collar harness and leaving the land fallow
Cultivation of rice
Population growth
Silk production
Money economy

Period of the Warring States
The Qin (221-206 BCE)
Qin Shi Huangdi
Legalism adopted
Highly centralized state
Reforms
Aggressive foreign affairs
Great Wall of China
Fall of the Qin

Tomb built over 11 years
About 8,000 terracotta soldiers
Each soldier is 5 or 6 ft. tall
Facial expressions of each soldier
Excavated in the 1970s
Main tomb still to be excavated

The Qin and Han Empires
Han Dynasty (202 B.C.E.-221 C.E.)

Liu Bang
Commoner of peasant origin
Abandoned the Legalistic system

Confucianism and the State
State Confucianism: Integration of Confucianism and Legalism
Political structure
Civil service exams

The Han Dynasty
Chinese Mummies

Best preserved bodies in the world
1971, Changsha
Han Dynasty Era Tomb

Xin Zhui, wife of marquis of Dai

Age : 50 years
Died around 170-150 BCE
Autopsied by pathologists
Maoist China

Skin was supple
Limbs moved

Type A blood ran in all her veins

All internal organs were intact

Body was wrapped in layers of silk cloth

How was the body so well preserved?

Depth of tomb?

Mysterious liquid?
Arteries were clogged

Rich diet
She loved food

Obese

Dinner sets

Baskets of food
Takla Makan Mummies
Tarim Basin

White woman with blonde hair? Found in 1989
Tocharian: Indo-European?
Beauty of Loulan
Society and Economy in the Han Empire

Peasants
Free peasantry, taxes, military service, forced labor
Farm plots reduced to about one acre per capita
Forced to sell to large landowners, thus becoming tenants
Trade and manufacturing
Problems for merchants
Government directed trade and manufacturing
Silk Road
Guangzhou (Canton)

Decline and Fall of the Han

Wang Mang, 9-23 C.E.
Reformist, seized power
Xin dynasty proclaimed in 9 C.E.
Collapsed when Wang Mang killed in 23
Cao Cao (Ts’ao Ts’ao)

Daily Life in Ancient China
Chinese Culture
Language and Literature
Writing
Ideographic and pictographic
Common written language
Chinese Literature
Metalwork and sculpture
Bronze
Clay molds produced work of clear line and rich surface decoration
Gave way to iron casting
Terra-cotta army from Qin Shi Huangdi and later of the Han

Trade Routes