Anthropology 5 – Fall 2009
Review Scheet - China
China – Geography
- “Land of Many Rivers” over four million square miles
- isolated by ocean, deserts, and mountains most of its history
- river valleys mark out three major regions:
1) the valley of the Hwang Ho or Yellow River, in the north
2) the Yangtze Valley in the central area
3) the Hsi River other smaller rivers in the south which converge at Canton
- provided water for irrigation, served as a cheap and efficient transportation system
- like Egypt, early Chinese political organization was linked to irrigation agriculture
- China more homogeneous politically, racially, and culturally than any other area of comparable size
- today China (and traditionally) is 90% Han, speaking Mandarin, most Chinese in San Francisco are from south and speak Cantonese
Early Man in Far East
Homo erectus fossils c. 1 million B. P. and may have survived to as late as 30,000
- Zhoukoudian Cave dated 460,000 – 200,000 B. P. and site 1 km. south dated c. 700,000 B. P.
- bones from 40 individuals, thousands of animal bones and stone tools
- fossils lost during WWII (i.e., 7 December, 1944), US Marines were captured and fossils lost
Neolithic
- sea-levels rise and people are forced more inland, Japan becomes insular
- climate is warmer and moister than today, plants and animals were abundant
- north and south China have different agricultural economies
- north has dry, rainfall-supported farming of cereal crops (i.e., millet)
- south much warmer and more rain, winter less severe and hot summers, good for rice farming using irrigation to flood fields
- c. 7000 B. C. hunting and gathering transition into swidden agriculture
- pottery appears as necessity for storage of food surpluses, first pottery in found in Japan c. 10,000 B.C.
- earliest farming culture was Cishan c. 7000 B. C. noted for tripod ceramic vessels which transition into bronze technology
Yangshao Culture c. 6000 – 5000 B. C., north China
- early domesticates, indigenous (i.e., millet) and pigs, dogs, and some cattle, sheep, and goats
- hunting and fishing were still important
- clan based, tribal society, with central meeting hall
- Ban-po early village, 100 houses, semi-subterranean, 3-5 m diameter, floors 1 m deep, walls and floors
plastered with clay and straw, timber beams on stone bases, supporting a steeply pitched thatched roof
- one or two fire pits, modeled in clay in center, storage pits and animal pens interspersed among houses
- village surrounded with defensive wall and drainage ditch
- silk technology evidence spindle whorls, bone needles, and neatly sliced silkworm cocoons
- pottery was produced, cord-markings most prominent outside decoration, with painted zoomorphic and designs inside
- two burial practices:
1) infants and small children in large redwar pottery jars and interred near houses and
2) adults in cemetery outside of village walls, extended in pits 2 m deep, arranged in rows
Liangshu Culture c. 3300-2200 B. C., Yanzi delta area, south China
- ascribed status and hierarchy as evidenced by burials
- noted for Jade technology and first writing found on pottery shards, though different writing tradition also appears in Lung-shan culture
in the north
Lung-shan Cultures c. 2700 – 2000 B. C., Yellow River valley, north China
- immediate predecessor of the Shang Culture
- characterized by city-state societies based agricultural economy (i.e., millet and pig farming)
- cities walled, hang tu construction (i.e., rammed earth), violent period of warring chiefdoms
- hierarchy in status, bronze and jade objects are status and ritual symbols for the elite
- during this period traditional Chinese culture is first evident
- same cultural tradition over wide area indicates the constant and intensive interaction between the various urban states
tou and ting pottery types
- artifact types define cultural areas and interaction spheres
- ceramics, in particular, pottery vessels; types based on form and decoration of pottery
- food and wine vessels used in ancestor worship rituals based on clans and lineages; found with burials
- first indication of craft specialization with the introduction of improved kilns and the potter’s wheel
- other characteristics of Lung-shan culture include:
H. W. Schulz, CCSF, 10 February, 2001
stamped-earth construction was hallmark of Lung-shan culture
- technique: a ditch or area was excavated
- this filled with sterile dirt mixed with “dry ginger stones” to increase cohesive strength
- each layer (3 or 4 inches) of dirt was packed down by workers
- layers were very even and firmly compacted
2) construction of a public nature, e.g., defensive city walls
3) increase in warfare
4) evidence of copper objects, mostly trinkets and small tools
5) burial of ritual victims related to construction of chiefly or royal monuments
- archaeological evidence of violence and for ritual on an institutional basis means a society featuring sharp political and economic
divisions, i.e., class stratification, this is supported by the mortuary evidence
6) regional world view
- cosmology - the way things are
- mythology - how things have come to be
Governments of China
- China as a National State has changed many times over the centuries
- several periods it was ruled by non-Chinese peoples
- territory included changed often; enlarged mostly over time
Three Dynasties Period - first Chinese civilizations
Xia (Sh ya) Dynasty
Shang (Sh ong) Dynasty
Zhou (Jo) Dynasty
- these early societies are not distinct in culture, rather share the same cultural traditions, i.e., material culture, social organization, and
ideology, distinction based on kinship and regional affiliation
- during the nearly 2 millennia there was constant vying for power among these states and their neighbor trend: increasing larger states
and thus reduction of the number of states this period is characterized by ritual and warfare
Xia (Sh ya) Dynasty (c.2000 – 1750 B. C.)
- little is known about this culture and it is difficult to distinguish it from the later Shang culture in the early period, it is rather an early
manifestation of the Shang culture
- first phase of Chinese Bronze Age
Shang
- first Chinese civilization, appearance of urban centers, capital was present-day Anyang (ahn’yong), known as Yinxu (i.e., EEN-shoo),
only 5% excavated
- Shang is derived from the Lung Shang in northern China plain
- 29 emperors ruled during this period and there were 5 different capital cities with Anyang the last and most important in modern
archaeology
Social organization:
- clans and lineage are the most important social groups determining political and economic status
- state political system, marked by a highly developed social structure and class stratification
- ruler of the state commanded armies in battle, but his political power was not extensive
- war was conducted by the nobles, using horse drawn chariots
- distant parts of empire were controlled by strong nobles
- ruler’s most important function was high priest (see religion section below)
- family life was matriarchal, in contrast to patriarchal pattern which later developed
- religion was concerned with fertility rites supposedly affecting the soil and vegetation
- shamans were integral part of religious ideology, emperor was high shaman
- alcohol consumption was extensive and very important in rituals to attract spirits of dead to sanctify the burial of dead
- most of bronze technology was concerned with producing drinking and food vessels used in these rituals
- Confucius philosophy changed these drinking habits
- ruler was high priest of official religion (most important person), two primary god were worshiped
1) supreme deity (i.e., Shang-ti) a god of vegetation
2) mother goddess, the earth, who bore the plants and animals procreated by Shang-ti
- homage was paid to ancestors in order not to offend the spiritual world
- advice of these illustrious dead was sought by means of divination
H. W. Schulz, CCSF, 10 February, 2001
oracle bones used, either ox scapula or bottom of tortoise shells which were carefully scraped and had oblong (c. 1cm) carved into it in a
line and then hot poker applied to cause cracks on surface which were read and interpreted
- some features of the period establish basic elements of later Chinese civilization, e.g.,
- agrarian lifem the raising of silkworms for raw silk;
- creation of splendid bronze vessels and art objects
- the development of writing system, of 4500 known characters, only 2000 identified
- advanced writing, use of pen and ink
- materials: bamboo and wooden tablets and silk fabrics, pottery vessels, jade
- scribes kept detailed records of royal court and state business
Bronze metallurgy
- inscriptions on bronze ritual vessels, musical instruments, weapons
- Chinese surpass everyone in bronze art and workmanship – see The Avery Brundage Collection - Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
- used to make ritual food and drink vessels used in ancestor worship
- while musical instruments and weapons, utilitarian tools, including knives, sickles, hoes, were made of stone, shell, wood, antler, bone
- lost wax process used extensively to create elaborate objects
- sophisticated technology developed out of earlier knowledge of pottery manufacture
calendars
- for the Shang they were related to agriculture, ritual and ancestor worship
- two calendars:
1) mainly agricultural based on lunar month of 28 day, corrected by extra short month like a leap year
2) based on solar year and used to calculate ritual practices
Collapse of Shang dynasty
- over thrown by Zhou, a warlike power
Anyang (ahn’yong) Yinxu (i.e., EEN-shoo)
- one of most extensive sites excavated in China, last capital of the Shang c. 1300 B.C.
- Shang Dynasty had 29 rulers and capital moved 5 times, these were large ceremonial and administrative centers
- city layout was grid system with streets, houses, buildings aligned to cardinal directions
- all Shang architecture was constructed with perishable materials, only foundations remain, reconstruction based on images on bronzes
- fired bricks and tiles appear during Zhou dynasty
- clearly defined ceremonial core, inhabited by a royal household
- nonresidential buildings: meeting halls and temples, ancestor worship is more personal than public
- note mix of aristocratic and common residents, industrial areas, different residential plan then previous societies, industry included:
- pottery kilns, bone and stone workshops, bronze foundries
- ceremonial core surrounded by service area and pit-houses of commoners
- 53 rectangular structures built on top of stamped-earth platforms
- also 2 multi-story towers and 2 independent altars
- royal place was the largest structure (i.e., 195ft. long)
- sacrificial burials associated with all ceremonial and palace buildings
- common residents are mixed among buildings - servants’ quarters
- ceremonial compound surrounded by stamped-earth wall
- royal cemetery with 13 large royal tomb, total of 1200 graves, most small
- tombs were cruciform plan, largest 35-40’ deep, with wooden burial structure in center
- shaft graves some had 4, 2 and 1 ramps slopping down into central tomb chamber
- some had 4 ramps aligned to cardinal directions, as long as 130’
- human sacrifice to ancestors was major part of the religious ideology
Shang burials
- Shang kings were buried with:
- horse-drawn chariots
- large quantities of luxury items, including: bronze vessels, shell and bone ornaments, jade ornaments and statues, and pottery vessels
- royal tombs surrounded by 1200 small burial pits, these are thought to be sacrificial burials with no grave goods
- common for sacrificial remains (heads, torsos) within shaft grave
- sacrificed monkeys, deer, horses and elephants were also buried in cemetery
- one undisturbed tomb had over 200 bronze ritual vessels
- human sacrifice was extensive, why is not known, similar to Aztecs in scale and behavior (i.e., constant
war, mainly for captives for sacrifice
H. W. Schulz, CCSF, 10 February, 2001
chariot
- chariot burial with horses in place
- warfare was mostly conducted elites using chariots, , who based part of their power on this service
- chariots had their origins in southwestern steppe region of Eurasia; diffusing into both Mesopotamia and China
- earliest evidence at Anyang c. 1300 B.C.
- often buried in pits at mouth of shaft graves
- chariot armies had a short lived period
- infantry armies and mounted cavalry c. 600 B.C.
- appearance of infantry armies is a response to northern invaders who fought on foot or were cavalry
Commercial activities
- markets and a merchant class develop during late Zhou dynasty, i.e., c. 600 B.C.
- stimulated by the development of iron metallurgy
- minted coins were introduced c. 600 B.C.
- spade- and knife-shaped coins and stamped metal plates most common
- most common metal was gold, but also silver, copper and lead
- some gold plates had 2 to 16 individuals stamps on them were important indicators of economic change, i.e., from elites in prestige
exchange system to widespread market transactions
Zhou (Jo) dynasty
- related in their culture to the earlier Yangshao, over threw the Shang in 1028 BC with the help of barbarians from the north
- it was a continuation from the Shang dynasty culture
- period marked by political change and upheaval, with warring states and shifting capitals
- consolidation of states into fewer and larger units
- declined power as it shifted outward to feudal lords and then to ministerial lineages
- warfare and human sacrifice were in service of their ancestors
- inscriptions on bronzes used in ceremonies had details for and by whom the sacrifice was given and in commemoration of what event
- during the Late Zhou period the creation of infantry armies constituted a major advance in state organization, i.e., the elites lost power
and prestige
social structure is based on hierarchical network of large lineages
- distance away from main male line of descent determined relative political status and access to power
- each walled town was occupied by members of a particular lineage by late period Zhou
- in later periods females lost all status and became virtually property of their husband’s family, they were not allowed to learn to read or
write (note in Jinagyong region they developed a cryptic writing system Nu Shu in order to communicate with each other)
Nu Shu, meaning female writing, they used poems, stories and songs, often sewn into textiles
- characters based on traditional Chinese, but altered to make new meanings and written in a wispy, graceful slant
urbanism developed greatly, some cities with 270,000 residents
iron metallurgy by 600 B.C. was practiced, iron agricultural tools were in use
- developed the two distinct iron technology, i.e., cast iron and wrought iron which are distinguished by the amount of carbon they
contain (high and low, respectively)
- blast furnaces were developed by 300 B. C., i.e., 1200 years before in West
- the carbon content of iron is significant in two ways: 1) carbon added to the furnace lowers the melting point of the ore and 2) it makes
the iron brittle but the carbon iron must be cast in moulds rather than forged into shape
other developments during the Zhou dynasty
- a single system of measurement was adopted across most of China
- large irrigation works were constructed
- wet-rice irrigation became important
Confucius
- late Zhou period, he lived 551 to 478 B. C., born in Qufu (Chu-fu), province of Lu
- Confucius is latinization of the honorific title Kong Fuzi or “Revered Master Kong”
- Chinese socio-political evolution was heavily influenced by the teaching of Confucius, he preached order, obedience, and family ties
- significant social change was occurring at this time, kinship ties began to diminish, territorial units and
bureaucracies gained power and dukedoms were divided into armed camps often at war with each other and among themselves
- he briefly served as functionary in the service to the duke of Lu, then, he traveled for a decade espousing his values, finally, retiring to a
small cottage in Qufu, after his death the cottage was converted to a temple, his family benefited with titles and honors, and the temple
grew to a complex covering 49 acres in the heart of Qufu
- during the Han dynasty his teaching became the core of the empire’s official ideology
- he espoused the idea that the purpose of government was to make people happy, and that leaders should rule by moral example rather
than force
- he believe that government should be administrated only by the best educated
- every man had a duty to stand up for what he knew was right, no matter the consequences
- heavy emphasis on devotion to parents and by extension, to one’s social superiors
H. W. Schulz, CCSF, 10 February, 2001
- Red Guards and the cultural revolution sacked the great temple, only barely being stopped from destroying the complex and mansion
- Note: difference between technological development in the East and West (i.e., science, exploration and discovery, hegemony and
colonization)
1) Chinese belief in Che, i.e., the life-force in most things, could not conduct scientific research, etc.
2) isolation and maintaining the status quo
Zheng He’s Admiral for Emperor Zhu Di’s Armada – A.D. 1405 – 1433
- treasure ships were wooden 400’ long with 9 masts, dwarfed those of contemporary European ships
- hundreds of smaller cargo, war, and supply ships bore tens of thousands of men
- first voyage in A.D. 1405-07, 317 ships with 28,000 men sailed on a trading mission and established the Ming’s dynasty’s Indian Ocean
trade links
- after Zhu Di’s death, a policy change ended the trade expeditions due to pressure from land invasions by Mongols, by sea from Japanese
pirates, and from tributary empires local warlords
Warring States period - dated 770 – 221 BC, often divide into two periods
- by the end of Zhou period most states were only nominally controlled by Zhou rulers
- at first wars were small scale and prestige was important and demonstrated by how many chariots one could field
- during later phase iron weapons were introduced and chariots were abandoned in favor of cavalry and infantry
economic development
- c. 600 B.C.E. farming began to make real progress in the flood plain of the Yellow River
- involved extending agricultural operations into semi-arid environment of the loess soils shifting from millet to rice as staple crop vast
labor for construction of dikes, canals, and reclamation of swamp and marsh lands (p99)
Qin (Ch’in) Empire (221-206 B.C.)
- first centralized imperial government in China
- unified China into a single kingdom in 221 B.C.
- first emperor of China
- much of the Great Wall of China was built during the rule of this dynasty, but the wall found today is a product of 15 th century Ming
Dynastic, prior it was not as sophisticated
Han Empire (202 B.C.-A.D. 220)
- unified and expanded its national territory; administrative consolidation and centralized control
- promoted literature and the arts
tomb of Emperor Qin
- period of terracotta warriors at Xi’an
- tomb pattern: truncated, four-sided pyramid mound surrounded by a wall
- a temple where the cult of the dead ancestors was observed
- reigning emperor would visit tombs of ancestors on specified occasions
- some tombs were enormous: 750ft. square and 150ft high
- emperors devoted one-third of their revenues to construction
- nine emperor tombs located, these surrounded by smaller burial mounds of consorts, courtiers, retainers
- each imperial tomb had a living settlement attached with several thousand individuals, who care for and worshiped at the tomb
- whole arrangement very similar to Egyptian pyramid cemeteries
- none of the actual imperial tombs has been excavated, only other building in tomb complex or tombs of lesser royal personages
- legend has it that Qin’s tomb has a model of Xi’an with mercury rivers
- tomb is booby-trapped, e.g., crossbows at entrances
Han burials
- capital city was Chang’an, expansion of aristocratic burials
- Qin (chin) first emperor of China
- Qin built most of the “Great Wall” by linking existing wall fortifications built by Zhou rulers
- it extended 5000 km
- burials contain both luxury and everyday objects, including terracotta models of building, e.g., farmsteads; models of domestic animals
and agricultural equipment; and scenes from court and country life are depicted in relief on molded bricks
Terracotta warriors – found in burial complex for emperor’s after life, he was responsible for 100’s of thousands of deaths, all who were
waiting for him in the afterlife, thus he had to be prepared
- all had bronze weapons (looted)
- they were massed produced, made in sections and then assembled
- each was individualized and thought to reflect individual soldiers
- first flush toilet found in a tomb (note: not this one)
Barbarians and their influence on development of Chinese civilization
- the Eurasian steppe, like the North American prairie and the African savannah, is a series of broad, arid stretches of grassland suitable
for the grazing of large ungulates
- this area is not suitable for broad based agriculture, but supports herd animals
- simple pastoralism can be integrated with settled village life if forage can be provided from harvest by-products or by transhumance
H. W. Schulz, CCSF, 10 February, 2001
- but nomadic pastoralism requires a continuously shifting pattern of settlement with domestic animals serving as draught or pack
animals and as mounts
- this secondary use of domestic animals for their labor, milk, and wool, beyond their provision of meat, horn, bone, tusks and teeth for
food and tools, constitutes the “secondary products revolution” after initial domestication
- critical to this subsistence economy is the invention of transportation, i.e., carts and horses that could carry groups and their possessions
in the constant searching out of sufficient pasturage for large herds
- Last point on China: why Europe and China developed differently, e.g., exploration of world, industrial revolution,
2 primary factors:
1) rigid traditionalism
2) cosmology (i.e., animism vs. rationalism and empiricism
H. W. Schulz, CCSF, 10 February, 2001