The Significance Of The Dynastic Cycles

Dynastic cycles serve as measurements for Chinese history, with historical events often related to their dynasty. These cycles are often studied solely from a sociopolitical perspective, but studying the philosophical component, such as the Mandate of Heaven, is of equal importance. Considered to be of divine parentage, the mandate, the authority to rule being for those that Heaven deemed virtuous, was first used to justify the ruling of the Zhou kings. The mandate also explained that the first ruler of each dynasty was virtuous and that with each son, the ruler would become less so until the mandate was revoked. Zhong Wu Wang, the first Zhou king, employed this logic to explain his rise to power, arguing that the Shang lost the Mandate because
As emperor, Liu Bang was able not just to prove that he had the Mandate of Heaven, but explain that the Qin’s failure was because they never had the mandate. This application of the mandate helps shape the enduring legacy of the dynasties, as the Han is largely considered by modern Chinese as the beginning of their identity and culture and the Qin is remembered as an awful time controlled by an evil villain, the First Emperor. While the beginning of the mandate is associated with the Zhou, the idea of the ruler being ordained by heaven dates as far back as the Xia. Yu’s, the first emperor of the Xia, “succession to Shun” (Wills 8) was “the will of Heaven” (Wills 8) as was the rise of Yu’s son, Qi, following Yu’s death and the “descendents of Yu” (Wills 8) that would continue to rule for 400 years (Wills 8). The first dynasty provides evidence to how intrinsic the mandate was for dynastic rule as, even before the mandate was legitimized, the authority of rulers was derived from Heaven. The Mandate of Heaven is the philosophical aspect of dynastic cycles and is vital in understanding both the cycles as well as the legacies of
Oracle bones provide some of the earliest archaeological evidence of traditional Chinese culture. Characters written on the bones provide some of the earliest examples of Chinese writing. With a formal written language commonly accepted as a marker of a cohesive, developed society, oracle bones indicate the level of sophistication that existed in traditional China. Oracle bones, like all archaeological evidence, goes beyond just proving the sophistication of a society and are used to provide “reliable basis for some of the ancient stories,” (Wills 8) for example: the story of Yu. The existence of the Xia is hotly debated because of the lack of evidence; however, the discovery of oracle bones that are “from the Shang dynasty, about 1700-1100 BCE” (Wills 8) help to provide evidence that, at the very least, the Shang dynasty existed and, thus, it is likely that the Xia dynasty existed as well. While not conclusive, having archaeological evidence helps historians and archaeologists prove the extent to which stories of legend are based in fact. This evidence also helps to gain insight into the culture to which the archaeological evidence belongs to. Oracle bones were used in divination to connect rulers with