CLASSICAL PERIOD
CHINA
1000 BCE ~ 500 CE
6th CENTURY BCE
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Confucius (Kung Fuzi)
o Lu – northeast China
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Zhou Dynasty
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PATTERNS IN CLASSICAL CHINA
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History as cycle not Western idea of steady progress from past to present
Dynasty
o Family of kings
o Dynastic decline
 Tax revenue decline
 Increase in social division
 Internal rebellion
 Invasion
 Emergence of new dynasties
 Family of general, invader, peasant rebel
 Dynasties (family of kings)
 Shang Kingdom (1500~1029 BCE)
 Zhou Dynasty (1029~258 BCE)
 Qin Dynasty (221~202 BCE)
 Han Dynasty (202 BCE ~ 220 CE)
Early Chinese Civilization
Classical Chinese Civilizations
OVERVIEW
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1st of the great classical societies
Qin & Han establish longest-lived civilization in world history
Agrarian base enable 1/5th of entire world population
World’s largest, best run bureaucracy in the world
China maintains clearest link to classical past
Intellectual Heritage
 Built on Huanghe traditions
 Dao (a way) Harmony of nature – every feature balanced by opposite (yin & yang)
 Provides unity among various schools of thought
 Stressed harmony amongst all aspects of life
 Region’s isolation limits learning from other cultures, also limiting invasions
 Encouraged intense, distinctive identity
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CLASSICAL PERIOD
1000 BCE ~ 500 CE
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CHINA
Zhou Dynasty
o Long but only flourished till 700 BCE
o Decline
 Political infrastructure
 Feudal system
 Regional disloyalty
 Unified opposition to central government
 Nomadic invasions
o Political System
 Lacked powerful government
 Alliance systems characteristic of agricultural societies
 Regional princes
 Noble families
 Gave large regional estates to families & supporters cuz lacked control
 Supporters gave tax & troops in exchange for land
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Along Huanghe (Yellow River) originally from the north
Displaced the Shang Dynasty but claim direct link to Shang rulers
Mandate of Heaven
 Heaven transfers mandate to Zhou rulers to rule over China
 “Sons of Heaven”
Rule through alliance systems (never powerful)
 More power to regional princes & noble families due to less direct control
 Feudal Period
 Support king in exchange for land
 Princes & nobles provide king w/ troops & taxes
 Vulnerable to regional disloyalty
Encouraged Cultural Unity
 Discourage primitive religious practices (i.e. human sacrifice)
 Oral epics & Stories
 Common cultural currency
 Linguistic unity
 Mandarin Chinese – standard spoken language
 Largest single group speaking same language at the time
 8th Century BCE – breakdown, political social turmoil begins
 Regional rulers form independent armies
 Emperors as figureheads
 402 ~201 BCE – Era of the Warring States
 Decline leads to rise of patchwork rival states ruled by nomadic
 Constant raids by nomadic peoples in N Chinese plains/farms
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CLASSICAL PERIOD
1000 BCE ~ 500 CE
CHINA
 Nomads capture existing states or create new dynasties
 Nomads eventually settle down and assimilate
 Clash between new nomadic states and existing noble lords
 Banditry rampant and commerce threatened
 Shi (emerging scholar-gentry) regard nomadic forces as uncouth
 Chinese expansion south and west
 Decentralization of government
 Periodic instability caused by inability of locals to defend themselves
 Communication & transport hindered
 Encourages settlers around Yangtze River (“Middle Kingdom)
 Rich agriculture (wheat & rice)
 Increased population growth
QIN DYNASTY
 Shi Huangdi (First Emperor)
 Becomes sole ruler of China
 Term “China” comes from dynastic name “Qin”
 Warrior vanquishes all rival states
 Tyrant – Brutal but effective
 Knew source of problem lied within regional power of aristocrats
 Order nobles to appear at his court
 Assume control of feudal estates
 Organize territory to bureaucrats appointed by emperor (non-aristocratic groups)
 Attacked formal culture – burned books – thinking subversive to his rule
 Downfall
 Attack on Intellectuals
 High taxes for military expansion & construction of Great Wall
 Death in 210 BCE
 Son less despotic but less capable
 2 peasants lead revolt and toppled Qin 207 BCE
 Shi Huangdi’s Accomplishments
 Extend Chinese territory south (Hong Kong)
 Great Wall
 prevent invasion from the north and expansionist drives
 Over 3000 miles
 Largest construction project in human history
 Done through forced labor
 Single Law Code for Whole Empire
 Centralized Authority – Direct Appointment by Central Authority
 Delegation of roles to ministers
 Appointment of Governors
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CLASSICAL PERIOD
1000 BCE ~ 500 CE
CHINA
 Governors name officials for smaller regions
 Uniform tax system
 National Census
 Tax Revenues
 Labor service
 Standardized Coinage, Weights & Measures
 Uniform Written Script
 Advanced Agriculture
 New irrigation projects
 Promote manufacturing (notably silk cloth)
HAN DYNASTY
 Consolidation of Chinese Civilization - Lasts more than 400 yrs
 Largest, most effective and most enduring bureaucracy (pre-industrial)
 Expansion
 Korea
 Indochina
 Central Asia
 Retains centralized administration of Qin
 Reduce brutal repression of Qin
 Attack continues on warrior-landlords
 Professionalization of Chinese administration
 World’s 1st civil service examinations
 Formal training of Confucian philosophy
 “sons of Han” – self identity critical to survival of Chinese civilization enduring war, foreign invasion and
internal division
 Wu Ti (140~87 BCE)
 Most famous Han ruler
 1st Civil Service tests
 Classic Chinese literature
 Law
 Scholar-Bureaucrat
 Upper classes – only ones who had time to learn
 Occasionally recruited from lower ranks
 Check on upper-class rule/limit arbitrary power
 Had power to control whims of single ruler
 Invasions by the Huns
 Nomads from central Asia
 220 ~ 589 CE in state of chaos
CHINESE POLITICS
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CLASSICAL PERIOD
1000 BCE ~ 500 CE
CHINA
 Largest political system in classical world
 Most tightly governed people in the world but by no means direct control (communication & transportation)
 Periodically broke down
 Periodic rebellions
 Gangs of criminals – harsh punishments
 Strong local units never disappear
 Respect for those in power
 Military & Judicial Systems
 Local government authorities usually handle judicial – crime & legal disputes
 Torture & executions
 Active Government involvement in economy
 Organize production of iron & salt
 Standardize currency, weights & measures to facilitate trade
 Sponsored public works (Irrigation & Canals)
 Regulate agricultural supplies(grain & rice) for hard times to limit civil unrest
 Mandatory taxes & annual labor
 Tightly knit patriarchal families
 Family power enhanced by ancestral veneration (worship)
 Village authority more powerful than families
 Regulate property
 Coordinate planting & harvest
 Great landlords provide courts of justice & organize military troops
CHINESE RELIGION
 Polytheism - China did not produce a single system of beliefs
 Focus on spirits of nature persist among peasant class
 Sought blessings of conciliatory spirits by creating statues/emblems/decorations
 Symbolic power of dragons (fear & play – divine forces of nature)
 Gradually accepted Confucian values urged by upper classes
 Dao
 Maintaining proper balance between heaven & earth
 Rituals carefully constructed to unify society and prevent individual excess
 Military training – archery
 Ancestral veneration & special meals
 Use of chopsticks encourage code of politeness (end of Zhou)
 Tea (elaborate rituals developed later)
CONFUCIUS
 Lu Kingdom in NE China
 Quest to become chief advisor to ideal monarch – never found him
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CLASSICAL PERIOD
1000 BCE ~ 500 CE
CHINA
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Era of the Warring States – centuries immediately after his death
Restore centralized control, peace & order
Numerous disciples
Analects (5th Century BCE) compiled by disciples
Political & Social philosophy laid foundations for the greatest and most enduring of all civilizations (2000 yrs +)
to 20th Century CE
 Influence spreads throughout Japan, Korea, Central Asia, Vietnam
 Limitations
 Reluctance to explore mysteries of life or nature (deprivation of spirituality)
 Harsh/menial existence of peasant class needed more
 Accepted by upper class who alone had time/resource to pursue education/rituals
 Ritual/self-control/politeness did spread to other classes however
 Confucianism primarily a system of ethics emph. personal restraint that is socialized
 Idealized strong rulers & consolidation of political power
 Scholar-gentry bureaucracy: Rule by highly educated & exclusively male elite
 Rank not solely determined by birth
 Education accessible to all talented & intelligent members of society
 Emphasis still on obligations & desirable qualities of upper class
 Addressed all aspects of Chinese life
 Family unit as extension of entire society
 Force alone cannot conquer unrest, but through kindness and protection of interests
 People taught to emphasize personal virtue
 Reverence for tradition – solid political life a natural result
 Respect for social superiors and proper hierarchy – obedience & respect
 Rulers must balance this hierarchy with modesty, not abusing power and excesses
 People will imitate the ruler thus only a virtuous man is worthy of rule
 Respect for parents
 Benevolence - compassion for children & inferiors
 Self-Control
 Humble & sincere (hypocrisy & arrogance will breed rebellion)
 Not be greedy – happiness through doing good, not for individual gain
 Eager for service and anxious to learn
 2 Most important but not only philosophies (Confucianism & Daoism)
 Notable Division
 Confucianism vs. Daoism – tolerated each other but at times hostile w/ mutual disdain
 Confucians view Daoists as superstitious and overexcited
 At times, Daoist religion inspired attacks on established govt. in the name of mysterious divine
will
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CLASSICAL PERIOD
1000 BCE ~ 500 CE
CHINA
 Confucianism (Zhou) - political & social
 Disagreed vigorously with Daoists (emphasis on mysteries/magic)
 Saw little reason to challenge its influence however
 Humans as essentially good but also believed in stern punishment
 Presumed guilty when arrested
 Torture before trial
 Alternate torture and benevolence
 Daoism (Zhou) “the way of nature” - religious
 More religious philosophy than Confucianism (spiritual alternative)
 Durable division in religious/spiritual culture in China
 First appealed to upper class because of elaborate spirituality
 Many emperors favor Daoism (religious solace)
 Otherworldly emphasis pose little political threat
 Persuaded Daoist priests to include expression of loyalty to emperor in temple services (Han
onward)
 Heightened compatibility with Confucianism
 Belief in nature’s harmony + nature’s mystery
 Secret rituals
 Own code of ethics – humility & frugality
 Political activity & learning irrelevant to good life
 Conditions of the world as unimportant
 Stress harmony with mysterious life force
 Became increasingly formal (later Han onward)
 Never widely exported
 Later joined with Buddhism (India) after collapse of Han
 Laozi (Lao-tsu) 5th Century BCE
 Nature contains divine impulse that directs all life
 True human understanding comes from withdrawal from the world & contemplating this life
force
 Legalism (Qin/Early Han)
 Pragmatism
 Disdain Confucianism in favor of authoritarian state of rule by force
 Human nature as evil, requiring restraint & discipline
 Army should rule and people labor
 Ideas of pleasures dismissed as frivolity
 Never popular as Confucianism but nonetheless entered political tradition combined with Confucianism
(strong-arm tactics)
LITERATURE
 Five Classics (Early Zhou)
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CLASSICAL PERIOD
1000 BCE ~ 500 CE
CHINA
 Blends easily with Confucian value of literature & art
 Edited during time of Confucius
 Basis for civil service exams
 Historical treatises/speeches/political materials
 Discussion of etiquette & ceremonies
 Poetry
 Chinese language melodic w/ variant pronunciations of same basic sound
 This language promotes outpour of poetry
 Ability to learn/recite poetry mark of educated Chinese
 Reinforce Confucian emphasis on human life w/ ranging subjects
 Classic of Songs
 Over 300 poems
 Love / joy / politics / family life
 Basis of literary tradition – mastering these early works
SCIENCE
 Chinese Science
 Practical rather than imaginative theorizing
 Accurate 365.5 day calendar
 Medicine
 Precise anatomical knowledge
 Hygiene to promote longer life
 Seismograph
 Register earthquakes (Han)
 Mathematics
 Practical
 Mathematics of music – advanced acoustics
 Astronomy
 Purpose to make celestial phenomena predictable
 Wider interest in ensuring harmony between heaven & earth
 Movement of planets Saturn/Jupiter calculated 1500 years before Europeans
ART
 Chinese Art
 Largely decorative
 Stress careful detail and craftsmanship
 Paintings
 Silk screens
 Bronze, Jade, Ivory carvings
 Pottery
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CLASSICAL PERIOD
1000 BCE ~ 500 CE
CHINA
 No monumental buildings
 Except Great Wall
 Due to absence of single religion
 Upper class Confucianism discourage monuments /temples towering up to heaven
 Calligraphy
 Precision and geometric qualities of many symbols in writing
CLASS SYSTEM
 Slavery
 Existed prior to Zhou dynasty
 Few household slaves
 Did not depend on slave labor for production – number relatively few
 Class System
 Difficulty of becoming literate evidence of social gap between classes
 Wealth and cultural opportunities denied to common people
 Social status passed down from one generation to the next through inheritance
 Unusually talented individuals granted access to education and rise to bureaucracy
 1. Upper Class
 2% of entire population controlled large landed estates
 Educated bureaucrats & aristocracy (mandarins)
 2. Peasants
 Laboring masses, urban artisans, merchants & performing artists
 Merchants – wealth of merchants not determinant of social status; money making lives scorned
 Provide dues & service to lords
 Some had control of their own land – granted some economic independence
 Depended on intense cooperation (esp. southern rice region)
 Property characteristically owned by village or extended family rather than individuals
 3. “Mean” People
 Rough transport and other menial / unskilled jobs
 Lowest social status
 Punished more harshly for crimes committed
TRADE
 Trade
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Increasingly important during Zhou and especially Han
Food exchange in wheat & rice regions
Copper Coins facilitate trade
Commercial visits to India
Trade never becomes focal point of society although important
Chinese merchants & Asian nomads facilitate trade and disseminate Chinese inventions
Silk Road
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CLASSICAL PERIOD
1000 BCE ~ 500 CE
CHINA
 Network of roads through central Asia
 Chinese silk unusually high quality
 Han actively encourage trade w/ regions west – improvement of roads
 Focused on luxury items for upper class
 Silk, jewelry, leather goods, furniture
TECHNOLOGY
 Technology
 Agricultural implements
 Ox-drawn plows (300 BCE) – increase productivity
 New Collar for draft animals (Han) – pull plows or wagons w/out choking
 Other civilizations develop centuries later
 Iron Mining
 Pulleys & Winding Gear – bring materials to surface
 Iron tools
 Invention of Paper - communication
 Invention of Compass - communication
 First Water-Powered Mills – further gains in manufacturing
 Further gains in manufacturing & food processing
 New source of power
 Lamps
 Porcelain – elevated dining & elegance
 Production Methods in Textile & Pottery highly developed in comparison to others
FAMILY ORGANIZATION
 Family Organization
 Tight family organization solidify social/political views
 Family as training ground for principles of authority and restraint
 Stress importance of unity – little friction in existing social organization
 Strict control of emotions
 Strict Hierarchy
 Father
 First Son (Primogeniture)
 Younger Sons
 Mother
 Daughter
 Patriarchal
 Children and wives obedient to father and husband
 Women
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CLASSICAL PERIOD
1000 BCE ~ 500 CE
CHINA
 Subordinate to men but with clearly defined roles
 Sometimes gain power through sons and mother-in-law to younger women
 Mencius (Confucian philosopher) considerably influenced by mother
 Stress authority to extreme
 Parents unpunished for harsh punishments / murder of children
 Children harshly punished for retaliation against parents
AS A WHOLE
 Primary reliance on agriculture
 Agricultural base w/ some trade
 Limited expansion of cities and manufacturing
 Workforce mostly manual labor based
 Output of tools, porcelain and textiles increase
 Farming technology increase population
 Better tools & seeds enable more to be fed w/ smaller amounts of land
 View of World
 Society as a Whole - Technology, religion, philosophy, political structure intertwined
 Confucianism supplement bureaucracy politically and socially
 Art and literature add to common culture
 Government involvement in economy – taxes
 Practicality of science to determine how nature works
 Theme of unusual isolation – exists to this day
 Evolved with little outside contact – large island w/ surrounding barbarians
 Felt outsiders had nothing to offer except invasion
 Proud of distinct culture and its durability
 Did not need or desire to learn from other cultures
 Missionary spirit foreign concept
 Buddhism a notable case of cultural diffusion (Han decline onward)
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