Ancient China
Geography of China
• Natural barriers kept China
isolated from other civilizations,
with the Pacific to the east and
the Taklimakan desert and
plateau of Tibet in the west
• Huang He and Yangtze rivers
China’s Heartland
• Plain between two rivers was
China’s heartland, where 90% of
arable land lies
• China remained a center of
civilization throughout its history of
expansion and decline
• They viewed outsiders as
barbarians
• Their own name for China was the
Middle Kingdom because they saw
it as the center of the civilized
world
Environmental Challenges
• Civilization emerged along the
Huang He
• Huge amounts of loess, fertile soil,
blown from the winds of the
western deserts helped
• Flooding unpredictable
• Huang He earned the nickname
“River of Sorrow” due to the
terrible flooding
• Were occasional invasions from the
west and north
• Few contacts with outsiders, so
developed on their own
Civilization Emerges in Shang Times
• Humans have inhabited China
for about a million years even
though civilization began there
later
• Homo erectus skeleton found
near Beijing. Known as “Peking
man”. Shows settlement of river
valley about 500,000 years ago
First Dynasties
• Xia dynasty was begun by an
engineer and mathematician
named Yu around 2000 BCE but
there are no written records of
this time so little is known
• Shang Dynasty 1532-1027
• First family to leave written
records
• Built elaborate tombs and palaces
Early Cities
• Anyang was one of the capitals of the
Shang
• Built of wood
• Evidence of social classes because of
different housing for rich and poor
• Shang surrounded cities with huge
earthen walls for protection
• The building of those walls
demonstrates that the Shang could
organize labor to build it
• Walls needed because they were
waging war; also, chariots developed
(probably through contact with the
west)
Social Classes
• Sharply divided between nobles
and peasants
• Ruling class of warriors headed by
a king
• Noble families owned land
• Tribute send to king
• Farmers tilled the land with
rudimentary tools (bronze was too
precious for agriculture and would
only be used for weapons and
ceremony)
Origins of Chinese Culture
• Group more important than the
individual
• Duties to two authorities: family
and king or emperor
Family and Society
• Chief loyalty in life was to family
• Respect for one’s parents was
the most important virtue
• Men superior to women
• Girls had arranged marriages
and could only improve status by
bearing a son
Religious Beliefs
• Family linked to religion
• Ancestor worship because they
thought ancestors controlled your
fortune
• These spirits were not gods but
through the spirits the Shang
consulted the gods
• Supreme god, Shang Di, and lesser
gods
• Used oracle bones and shells to
consult the gods
Development of Writing
• Earliest evidence of writing comes
from oracle bones
• Each character is an idea rather than a
sound
• No links between spoken language
and written language
• Advantage= all people could learn the
same system of writing even if their
spoken language was different. This
will increase the unity of the people.
• Disadvantage- it was too complex for
ordinary people to learn, so only
nobles’ children were literate
Shang Technology and Artistry
• Bronze working was the leading
craft used for religious rituals
and royal power
• Silk cloth from a silkworm’s
cocoon
Zhou Dynasty
• Zhou overthrow Shang in 1027
• They maintain the culture of the
Shang but bring new ideas,
especially related to governance
• Introduce Mandate of Heaven
Concept:
• Royal authority came from heaven
• Bad leaders can be overthrown
• This justified the overthrow of the
Shang
• Explanation for rebellion, civil war,
and the rise of a new dynasty
• Dynastic Cycle is the pattern of rise,
decline, and replacement of dynasties
Feudalism
• Because they controlled such vast
territory and they needed to control it,
they devised a system called feudalism,
where nobles or lords are given land that
belongs to the king in exchange for loyalty
and military service
• Local lords lived in small towns and
submitted to the strength of the Zhou
rulers
• Over time they grew stronger and
expanded their territory
• They gained the allegiance of the people
in that territory
• Eventually they would amass enough
power to challenge the status quo
Technology and Trade
• Warfare common but produced a
lot of technology
• Roads, canals, coined money
• New class of civil servants
• Use of iron- developed furnaces to
produce cast iron (this wouldn’t be
done in Europe until the Middle
Ages)
• Used for weapons and agricultural
tools
• Iron stronger than bronze, so superior
• Led to more agricultural productivity
Warring States Period
• Zhou ruled from 1027-256 BCE
• First 300 years good but then attacks from
nomads begin about 771 BCE, when northern
nomads take the capital city and murder the
monarch
• Royal family flees and sets up new capital at
Luoyang but is severely weakened
• Local lords grew in military power and began
fighting each other and could no longer be
controlled by the emperor= warring states
period
• Warfare also changed
• Crossbow introduced
• Peasant foot soldiers replaced chariots
• Traditional values declined during this time