Chapter 3 - Ancient China
The Dawn of Chinese Civilization
• The Land and People of China
– Legend: Chinese society was founded by a
series of rulers who brought “civilization”
– 7000s B.C.E. agriculture began, particularly near
the Yellow and Yangtze rivers
• The Yangshao and Longshan Neolithic cultures
– Only 12 percent of China is arable
– China isolated by Gobi Desert, Central Asia, and
Tibetan plateau
– Agrarian China vs. Asian nomads
©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.
Shang China
The Shang Dynasty
• 1500s–1000s B.C.E., replaced
the Xia dynasty
• Political Organization
– Capital was at Anyang
– Oracle bones earliest surviving
writing, a way to communicate with
the gods
– Chariot warfare
• Chariots perhaps through IndoEuropean contacts
• Ritual sacrifices were performed
at death of Shang kings
• Lead to the custom of
veneration of ancestors
The Shang Dynasty
• Social Structures
– Farm villages were the
basic social unit
• Clans rather than nuclear
families
• Some class differentiation:
aristocratic elite, peasants, a
few merchants, slaves
Aristocratic Elite
peasants
merchants
• Bronze casting
slaves
The Zhou Dynasty (1000s–200s
B.C.E.)
• Political Structures
– Capital near present-day
Xian and a second capital
near modern Luoyang
– More extensive and
complex bureaucracy than
Shang
– The Mandate of Heaven
• Heaven: an impersonal
law of nature rather than
anthropomorphic deity
• King not divine but ruled
as representative of
Heaven
– Kings were chosen
because of their talent
and virtue
The Zhou Dynasty (1000s–200s
B.C.E.)
– If the king did not rule effectively, he lost the
Mandate of Heaven and could be replaced by
a new king/dynasty
• Zhou began to decline by 500s B.C.E.
The Zhou Dynasty (1000s–200s
B.C.E.)
• Economy and Society
– The “well field system”:
peasants had own lands but
also cultivate their lords’ land
– Merchants were not
independent but under
control of local lords
– Late Zhou saw considerable
economic and technological
growth, including massive
water control projects, iron
plowshares, the collar
harness, natural fertilizer
– Development of extensive
trade in silk, to as far away
as Greece
– Development of a money
economy
The Zhou Dynasty (1000s–200s
B.C.E.)
• The Hundred Schools of Ancient
Philosophy
– Early Beliefs
• Under Shang, the belief in one transcendent god,
known as Shang Di
• Evolved into Heaven, an impersonal symbol of
universal order
• Two primary forces of yang (light/male) and yin
(dark/female)
The Zhou Dynasty (1000s–200s
B.C.E.)
Quotes
• Confucianism
– Confucius/Kung Fuci/Master Kung (b. 551
• Before you embark on a
B.C.E.)
journey of revenge, dig
– Analects, conversations between
two graves.
Confucius and his followers
• Everything has its
– Ethical politics
beauty but not everyone
– Act in accordance with the Dao (the way),
sees it.
similar to dharma in India
• He who will not
– Subordinate individualism to broader
economize will have to
needs of family and community
agonize.
– Human-heartedness: “Do not do unto
• It does not matter how
others what you would not wish done to
slowly you go as long
yourself”
as you do not stop.
– Merit should decide, not heredity
• Study the past if you
• Led to practice of selecting officials
through a civil service exam
would define the future.
– Mencius (370–290 B.C.E.): humans were
by nature good
The Zhou Dynasty (1000s–200s
B.C.E.)
• Legalism
– Humans by nature are evil,
and must be coerced by laws
and punishments
• Daoism (Lao Tzu/the Old
Master)
– Dao De Jing (The Way of the
Tao)
– Like Confucianism, this life
and not the cosmos is the
focus
– Unlike Confucianism, inaction
rather than action, act in
harmony with nature
– Chinese landscape painting
often a reflection of Daoism
• Popular Beliefs
– Belief in numerous gods and
spirits of nature, both good
and evil
©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.
China during the Period of the
Warring States
The Rise of the Chinese Empire:
The Qin and the Han
• Decline of the Zhou: Warring States Period
– State of Qin won out, becoming the first
unified government of China in 221 B.C.E.
The Rise of the Chinese Empire:
The Qin and the Han
• The Qin Dynasty (221–206
B.C.E.): Qin Shi Huangdi,
the First Emperor
– Political structures: Legalism
was the official ideology
– Books burned
– Territory expanded, all the
way to Vietnam
The Rise of the Chinese Empire:
The Qin and the Han
– Highly centralized state with harsh
punishments
– Society and the Economy
• Unified weights and measures, standardized the
monetary and writings systems
• Reduced power of the aristocracy
– Aristocrats were required to live in capital of Xianyang
– Government was anti-merchants
The Rise of the Chinese Empire:
The Qin and the Han
• Beyond the Frontier: The Nomadic Peoples and
the Great Wall of China
– Threats from the northern nomadic Xiongnu, possibly
related to the Huns
– Qin solution: build a wall—the Great Wall—at great
cost
• The Fall of the Qin
– Rivalry between “inner” and “outer” courts
(bureaucracy vs. imperial family and eunuchs)
– Government too oppressive
– First Emperor condemned, but Legalism set pattern of
succeeding dynasties
The Glorious Han Dynasty (202
B.C.E.–221 C.E.)
• Founded by Liu Bang, took title of Han Gaozu
– Maintained the Qin’s centralized political institutions,
but less harsh
• Confucianism and the State
– Government was a despotism, capital at Chang’an
– State Confucianism
• Civil service examinations,165 B.C.E.
– Most were still from aristocratic families
– Factionalism at court still a problem
– Aristocratic families remained powerful in spite of
imperial despotism
The Glorious Han Dynasty (202
B.C.E.–221 C.E.)
• Society and Economy in the Han Empire
– Population increased from 20 million to 60 million
• Agricultural improvements barely kept up with population rise
– Expansion of trade, all the way to the Roman Empire
• State controlled much trade and manufacturing
– New technologies, including water mills, iron casting,
paper, rudder
• Expansion Abroad
Trade Routes of the Ancient World
The Glorious Han Dynasty (202
B.C.E.–221 C.E.)
• The Decline and Fall of the Han
– Wang Mang declared the Xin (New) dynasty,
9–23 C.E., but was killed
– Recovery under the later Han, but the dynasty
disappeared by 220s C.E.
©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.
The Han Dynasty
Daily Life in Ancient China
• The Role of the Family
– Central to Chinese society, not least because
of rice cultivation
– Filial piety and the five relationships
– Government attempted to impose control
through the Bao-jia system of mutual control
and surveillance by five or ten families
Daily Life in Ancient China
• Lifestyles
– Houses of tile and brick for the elite, but mud, thatch, and
wooden planks for peasants
– Staple foods were millet in the north and rice in the south
• Cities
–
–
–
–
Most Chinese lived in the countryside
First towns were forts for the aristocracy
By Zhou era, larger towns for trade and commerce
Chang’An covered 16 square miles
• The Humble Estate: Women in Ancient China
– Female subservience the norm, both philosophically and in
practice
Chinese Culture
• Metalwork and Sculpture
– Bronze Casting under the Shang dynasty
• Bronze vessels both for use and for ritual
– Iron by 800s B.C.E.; Chinese cast iron was
better than West’s wrought iron
• The First Emperor’s Tomb, discovered in
1974 near Xian
– Thousands of terra-cotta warriors
Chinese Culture
• Language and Literature
– Writing based on pictures/ideas
(ideographs/“characters”), not on phonetic symbols
• Became the written system for an expanding Chinese
civilization even though spoken languages were often
mutually unintelligible
– Earliest surviving was from Zhou, written on silk or
strips of bamboo
– Confucian Classics: The Rites of Zhou, Analects, Way
of the Dao, The Book of Songs
• Primary purpose was moral and political
Chinese Culture
• Music: aesthetics, but also to achieve
political order and refining the human
character
– Flutes, stringed instruments, bells and
chimes, drums and gourds
Discussion Questions
• What was the Mandate of Heaven? How did it
shape the goal and priorities of Chinese
government?
• What factors contributed to economic growth
during the Zhou period? What role did the
government play in promoting growth?
• What values are expressed in Confucianism?
How were those values manifested in Chinese
society?
• What were the most important accomplishments
of the Han dynasty? What led to the dynasty’s
demise?