

4th civilization on the rise = Yellow River
Valley in China (Huang He River)
Oldest continuous civilization in the world

Three sovereigns
 Fu Xi Shen Nong Huang Di-

Yangshao and Longshan cultures develop
during Neolithic Age
 Developed along Yellow and Yangtze Rivers

Fertile fields surrounded by harsh deserts and
mountains
 Gobi desert, Tibetan Plateau, South China Sea
 Isolated China from the rest of the world except in
the North---invaders plague China when it was
not unified
1/3 mountains
Vast deserts – Gobi Desert
These factors isolated
China from other early
civilizations
 Prevented cultural
diffusion
 Promoted strong sense of
national identity



 1st
Dynasty
 Ruler was Yu
 Irrigated and drainage of river valleys


2nd dynasty
Political organization
 Agricultural society
 Ruled by aristocracy
 Bureaucracy
▪ Territories ruled by chieftains
 Defended the realm
▪ Buried with an army

Veneration of Ancestors
 Taking care of deceased, provide for afterlife
1st dynasty (line of rulers
who belong to the same
family) from which there are
written records in China
 Kings were also high priests

 Performed special ceremonies
for good weather, crops, etc.
 Had special powers to call upon
their ancestors
 Used oracle bones

Villages—clans—families
 Joint family traditions in china
▪ Limited number of family names

Social Class
 Landowner/Aristocrats/Chieftains(warrior)
 Merchants/artisans
 peasants

Bronze casting (pg. 71)
 Lost wax method
 Writing system that would become modern
Chinese writing system

Had a writing system
 Characters represented
objects, ideas, or sounds
 Had to memorize each
character to understand
script
 Few people could read &
write in ancient China



Produced some of the
finest bronze objects ever
made
Wove silk into beautiful
colored cloth for the
upper class
7 capital cities
 Palace and temple stood at
the center of each city

Collapsed under attack
 Shang Dynasty lacked strong
leaders
 1000 BCE = ruler from the
north named Wu marched in
his armies and killed the Shang
king
 Set up his own dynasty called
the Zhou Dynasty that ruled
China for 800 years
Transitions
From 1100 BCE until the 200s CE --> 3
great dynasties ruled China
= Zhou (JOH)
= Qin (CHIN)
= Han (HAHN)


Ruled China for more
than 800 years -- more
than any other dynasty
Zhou dynasty conquered
the Shang dynasty
 Claimed rule under
Mandate of Heaven
 Said Shang lost mandate
by ruling poorly

To control their land, the kings set up an
agricultural system in which nobles owned the
land & peasants worked it
 Kings gave their relatives city-states
 Each of these lords had total authority over their city
& had their own armies
 Eventually, the lords had more power than the king
 City-states warred with each other -- locked in a
struggle that ended the Zhou era

Longest dynasty in China’s History
 800 years
 Capital at Xian (west) and later Luoyang (east)


One Kingdom divided into territories ran by
officials
Extensive bureaucracy
 Ministries-rites, education, law, public works

“Mandate of Heaven”
 Gave Zhou kings the right to rule
 Heaven (impersonal law of nature not deity)
maintains order through the representative King
(not divine)

Social Class
 King-Nobles-Merchants/Artisans-Peasants-Slaves
▪ Well field system-Peasants work nobles land as well as their own

Agricultural developments
 Large scale irrigation, canal, and spillway projects to
modify the river flow (still used today!!!)
 Iron plows, fertilizer, collar harness, leave land fallow,
 wet rice cultivation and silk industry begins
 POPULATION BOOM!!!

Movement toward money economy
 Coins are on strings

Technological advances of
the Zhou Dynasty:
 Built roads & expanded




foreign trade
Formed cavalries = groups
of warriors on horseback
New weapon: the crossbow
Iron plows
Irrigation & flood-control
systems

China’s
population grew
quickly during
the Zhou
Dynasty

Early beliefs
 Monotheistic transcendent god
 Tian-Heaven- ordered law of nature
▪ Yin/yang----good/evil---male/female---sun/moon

Confucianism
 Confucius- pragmatic philosopher-skeptical
 There is an order to the universe and we must live in
harmony with it
 Concerned with human behavior
▪ In accordance with the Dao (Tao)
 Do duty to family/community
 Humanity- compassion and empathy (do unto others)
 Rule by merit- state philosophy later

Legalism
 Humans are evil and need to be controlled by a strong,
harsh government

Daoism
 Accept, be spontaneous, live in harmony with the doe


King loses power
Territories become powerful and war with
each other
 New war technology- iron weapons, foot soldiers,
Cavalry, crossbow

The state of Qin takes over everything


Conquered the
Zhou
“First Emperor”
= Qin Shihuangdi
 1st Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi

Political Structures
 Based on leagalism
 Highly centralized
 Bureaucracy divided into 3 ministries
▪ Civil authority
▪ Military authority
▪ Censorate (inspectors of efficiency)
 Two levels of administrative provinces and counties
▪ Merit system, recommendations
▪ Penal system to punish wrongdoing






Unified system of weights and measures
Standardized monetary system
Standardized characters of writing system
Ordered construction of roads
Effectively collected taxes and mobilized peasants
for public works
Reduced power of nobles
 Divided lands
 Directly taxed peasants
 Members of each clan required to live in capital of
Xianyang

Merchants viewed as parasites
 Private commercial activities restricted and
heavily taxed
 Some types of commerce monopolized by
government

Conquered more land southward to
Guangzhou
 Constructed canal systems for ease of transport

Xiongnu invasion threat
 Nomadic herder people to the north

Great wall of China
 Ordered by Qin Shi Huangdi

Eunuchs as attendants to reduce courtier influence
 Became advisor class to emperors
 Inner and outer court rivalries

Peasant unrest
 Censorship- thoughts, speech
 Harsh taxes
 Forced labor projects


Absolute rule did not work but did influence later
Chinese governments
Factional rivalries led to overthrow of Qin



Ruled China for more than
400 years until 220 AD
Used same forms of
centralized power as the
Qin, but not as harsh
Rivaled Roman Empire in
its power & achievement



Greatest and most Durable Dynasty
Advanced Chinese Civilization
Founder Han Gaozu (peasant origin)
 Consolidated power
 Promote welfare of subjects
 Kept the political structure of the Qin but without harsh
policies
 Used Confucian principles in government

Reached its peak during the
reign of King Wudi
 Extended the empire
 Sent armies against nomadic
invaders
 Interested in the West -especially the Roman Empire

State Confucianism
 Integration of Legalist and Confucian Principles

Han Government
 Retained tripartite division of Bureaucracy
 Provinces and and district setup
 Merit system though civil service examination
▪ Academy set up to train candidates
▪ From aristocrats and wealthy families

Population increase
 Need efficient bureaucracy
 Factionalism undermined their efforts

Oriental Despotism
 Hydraulic society
 Central governments develop after irrigation and
canal systems

Free peasantry
 Low taxes
 Required military services
 forced labor 1 month per year
 Land allotment reduced so they became Tenant
farmers
▪ High rent, empowers landed nobles

Expansion of Trade
 Domestic and foreign
▪ India & the Mediterranean
▪ The Silk Road
▪ Sea Trade from ports like Guangzhou
 Distrust of merchants continues
▪ Could not seek office
▪ Restricted residence choices
 State manufacturing
▪ Weapons, shipyards, mines
▪ Silks and glazed pottery

Trade routes to the West developed
 Major trade route = Silk Road
 Linked East & West
 Allowed traders to exchange Chinese silk for
Middle Eastern & European products

New Technology
 Textile manufacturing
 Water mills
 Iron casting (led to steel)
 Rudder and aft-rigging ships
▪ Heavy cargo thought the sea


Chinese Peace = 400 year period
of prosperity & stability
China fed its population by storing
grain during times of plenty &
selling it when harvests were poor





Veterinary medicine
Complex irrigation systems
Advancements in fertilizing crops
New canals
Better roadways








Silk
Paper
Gunpowder
Wheelbarrow
Printed books
Suspension bridge
Compass
Iron drill bits

Territorial Expansion
 Continued expansion and consolidation
 Han Wudi
▪ Added through modern Vietnam
▪ Conquered west to Caspian Sea
 Hampered by Xiongnu invaders
▪ Almost too the capital at Xian

Han power declined & dynasty fell apart
after Wudi’s reign ended

Wang Mang, a Reformist takes over
 Rulers had been frivolous for decades
 Tries to take over nobles land to save peasants
▪ Reinstitute the well field system
 Nobles fill power vacuum
▪ They plot his downfall, assassinate him
 The Han take back power but the powerful nobles are
too much for weak rulers
▪ Peasant unrest
▪ Great General Tsao Tsao tries and fails to unite

China is in a state of Anarchy for 400 years

Family!!!
 Basic economic and social unit, the social order
▪ Neolithic times- clan, veneration of ancestors
▪ Zhou times- family agriculture, needs kids to do work
and loyalty to family becomes more important than to
the community

Filial piety
 Submit desires to patriarchal head
 Five relationships
▪ Son to father
▪ Wife to husband
▪ Younger brother to older brother
▪ Friend and friend



Stable family system = efficient government
Family loyalty=threat to centralizing monarch
Bao-jia system
 governments tried to break up clan system by
creating groups of ten families
 To exercise control and surveillance

Houses
 Elites- tile worked houses
 Poor-mud, wood planks, thatch, or loss (cave dwelling)
 Little furniture

Food
 Millet and rice
▪ Wheat, barley, soybeans, mustard greens, bamboo shoots
▪ Stir frying in wok
▪ Fruit a luxury
 Ale, but drunkenness was frowned upon


Mostly rural
Cities play administrative and economic role
 Regional markets
 Manufacturing center
 Walls with moat

Major cities
 Chang’an

Metalwork and Sculpture
 Pottery at Longshan and Yangshao
 Bronze casting
▪ Lost wax method
 Iron working
▪ Blast furnace
▪ Cast iron vessels and agricultural tools
 Laquerware and ceramics
▪ Polished lacquered wood
▪ Glazed porcelain pottery and dishes

Tomb of Shi Huangdi
 Terra cotta army
▪ Horses, chariots, soldiers, seven thousand bronze weapons, six
thousand figures
▪ High-quality, Life-sized, finely textured, fired and painted

Historical implications
 Qin advancement from human sacrifices of Shang
 Qin burden of work on the peasants
 Pattern for successors
The Qin Dynasty (cont.)
• In 1974, farmers digging a well near Xi’an
unearthed a pit of more than 6000 clay soldiers.
•
Each figure exhibits the represents Qin
Shihuangdi’s real soldiers.

Writing
 Ideographic and pictographic characters
▪ Has never been fully lost but phonetics has had an impact
 An art form
 All languages used the same writing system
 Vehicle for Chinese cultural transmission from border to
border

Literature
 Written on silk/bamboo
 Historical records
▪ Rites of the Zhou
 Philosophical treatises
▪ Analects and The way of the Tao
 Poetry
▪ The Book of Songs and Song of the South
 Confucian Classics
 Sima Qian and Ban Gu


Ascetic pleasure, means of achieving political
order, refining the human character
Instruments
 Flutes, stringed instruments, bells, chimes, drums,
and gourds
▪ Instrument of choice:
 Early music was ceremonial but later it became
entertainment