Chinese Civilization: Origin and
Development
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The Yuanmou Man (1.7 million years ago)
The Beijing Man ( 700,000-200,000 years
ago)
Yangshao Culture (5,000-3000 BC)
Banpo Culture
Hemudu Culture (5,000 -4,000 BC)
The Yuanmou Man
Human life has been found in Yunnan as early
as 1.7 million years ago, predating Beijing Man
of northern China by up to 1.5 million years.
The remains of "Yuanmou Man" (元谋人),
unearthed by railway engineers in the 1960s,
have been determined to be the oldest in China.
By the Neolithic period, there were human
settlements in the area of Lake Dian (滇池).
These people used stone tools and constructed
simple wooden structures.
These two teeth,
belonging to the same
male adult. These are
the earliest ape-man
fossils that have been
found in Yunnan,
China.
Beijing Man
The Peking Man is
believed to have led a
communal life in
caves some 700,000
to 200,000 years ago,
and be using crude
stone tools for a
living on foraging and
hunting.
The Yangshao Culture
Characteristics
of Neolithic Way of Life
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This kind of life is characterized by reliance
on farming for food, by the use of pottery,
and by the making of stone implements by
grinding.
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The best known Neolithic sites remain those of
the Yellow River valley. The first discovery was
made in 1920 by farmers of Yangshao Village in
northern Henan, near the great bend of the
Yellow River.
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Typically Yangshao Culture was one practiced
by settled farmers, living in villages sited in
the valleys of the Yellow River drainage system.
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They cultivated foxtail millet, and, to
supplement their diet they collected wild
grain and went hunting and fishing. They had
domesticated dogs and pigs and a few cattle,
sheep and goats, and they may have grown
hemp and raised silkworms.
The best known production of Yangshao culture
is its ceramics and in particular the painted
pottery used at meals and for rituals.
During the early Neolithic period
vessels were made using the coil
technique where ropes of clay are
circled on top of each other, pressed
together and the surface smoothed
over. To obtain the elegant shape,
two halves were made then joined
together while the clay was still
damp. A mix of fine clay and
natural pigments was painted
onto the vessels and the entire
surface was gently burnished to
shine the surface. This is the
earliest form of glazing (上釉).
Yangshao culture
of Neolithic age
period, Painted
pottery basin.
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Yangshao culture of
Neolithic age period,
Painted pottery basin
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Figures of birds and fish
are represented
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A matriarchal clan society featured the early phase
of the New Stone Age.
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The Yangshao Culture, which dates to 5,000 to
3,000 years BC, was the best representative of the
matriarchal clan society during its heyday.
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The Yangshao Culture falls into several types
dating to different periods. One is represented by
the Banpo Ruins in Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province.
Banpo Culture
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半坡文化三角纹钵
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The best known Yangshao
site is that of Banpo near
Xi’an in southern Shaanxi. It
was quite a large village,
containing perhaps one
hundred houses surrounded
by a ditch.
Unearthed in Qi’an. This
pottery is about 6,000 year’s
old.
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Excavations done so far on the ruins there
prove that the Banpo residents were able
to build residential buildings.
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They led a settled life in villages of fairly
large size, used pottery containers to cook
food or hold things with, and made pottery
swords for cutting.
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In one of the pottery jars excavated from
the Banpo Ruins, archaeologists found
cabbage, leaf mustard and other seeds.
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Many pottery vessels are painted in red
with brown or black motifs in shapes of
human figures or fish, and for this they are
referred to as Cai Tao or “painted pottery”.
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The Hemudu Culture on the lower reaches of the
Yangtze River dates to 5,000 BC to 4,000 BC.
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Its discovery at Hemudu Village, Yuyao County,
Zhejiang Province, east China, is equally important to
studies of the New Stone Age in China.
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Pottery ware unearthed here ---bowls, plates, basins,
jars, etc.--- are black in color and in shape that are
rarely seen in pottery artifacts belonging to other
primitive cultures identified in China.
Hemudu Culture
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A wealth of stone, bone and wooden articles
for daily use were also unearthed.
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Among these, structural parts of looms,
textile pieces made of plant fibers, painted
wooden bowls and ivory carvings testify to
how developed primitive production
techniques and handcraft skills had become.
Longshan Culture
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About 5,000 years ago, China entered the
patriarchal clan society. In the Yellow River
Valley, a typical example of this patriarchal clan
society was the Longshan Culture (from 3,000
years BC to 2,200 years BC), which was also
found in Zhejiang Province.
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Longshan culture.
BC .2800-1500
Hongshan Culture
(about 3,500 years BC)
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The Hongshan Culture ( about 3,500 years
BC) on the outskirts of Chifeng City, Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region, is unique
among those primitive cultures found so
far in China.
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Carved Chinese
Hong Shan Culture
Gink (怪人)
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A large altar, a fairy temple and a tomb of
piled up rocks are the most salient features
of Hongshan Culture.
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Carved Chinese Hongshan Culture Bird
Early Dynasties
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Yao was said to have devised agrarian calendars.
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Shun: a model ruler who continued Yao’s
practice and chose a paragon, a man named Yu.
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It was at this point Chinese history begins to
supplement the archaeological record,
because Yu was believed to have founded a
dynasty called Xia (夏, about 2205-1766 BC)
The Xia Dynasty (about 22-17 BC)
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In about 21st century BC, Xia Dynasty, China’s
first monarchical power, came into being in the
western part of what is now Henan Province
and the southern part of what is now Shanxi
Province.
Classical history works show that the Xia people
built water control projects and worked out a
calendar for farm work in different seasons of
the year.
The Shang Dynasty (about 16th –
11th BC)
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Shang Dynasty came into being in the northern
part of the Yellow River Valley, and had moved
its capital several times before it settled in Yin
or what is Anyang of Henan Province.
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In Anyang, archeologists have found the
foundations of scores of Shang rulers.
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Ideographs cut on
tortoise shells or animal
bones unearthed from
the Yin ruins. Those
oracle bone inscriptions
known as Jiaguwen (甲
古文), are in fact
Chinese characters in the
most primitive form
known to us.
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Bronze smelting techniques of the Shang period
were fairly sophisticated . Meat, grain and wine
vessels used by Shang rulers at sacrificial sites
were all made of bronze.
In the Shang and succeeding dynasties, there was
a wide spread use of bronze vessels in court
ceremonies, banquets and burials, etc. In other
words, bronze vessels were no longer used just as
containers. They symbolized the power and
positions of their owners.
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Shang Bronze Pitcher
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Shang Bronze Ritual
Vessels
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Shang Cauldron
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Bronze Ding from the
Shang Dynasty
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Cooking Tripod
The Zhou Dynasty
(11th century -256 BC)
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Western Zhou Dynasty
(1046 BC - 771 BC)
Eastern Zhou Dynasty
(770 BC - 256 BC)
Spring and Autumn Period
(770 BC - 476 BC)
Warring States
(475 BC - 221 BC)