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Ancient Chinese Civilization
Ancient China
Long distances and physical barriers isolated China from other ancient civilizations, leading the Chinese to believe that China was the center of the Earth and the sole source of civilization.
Ancient China Timeline
Neolithic ca. 12,000 – 2,000 B.C.
Xia ca. 2,100-1,800 B.C.
Shang 1,700-1,027 B.C.
The Zhou/Chou Dynasty c. 1044-256 BC
Warring Period 403 BC -221 BC
Qin Dynasty 221 BC–207 BC
Origins of the Chinese People
• According to legend, the Chinese people originated in the Huang He (Yellow River) valley created by the god, Pan Ku.
Origins of the Chinese People
Remains of Homo Erectus dating back 460,000 years have been found near Beijing. Several villages & farms from about 10,000 BC have been found by archaeologists in northern China.
THE XIA DYNASTY
little is known about the Xia Dynasty.
We know they made bronze, silk, fine pottery and bricks baked in ovens to build their homes.
Jue (Wine Vessel) in Xia Dynasty
THE XIA DYNASTY
They learned how to control floods and irrigate fields and had great engineering skills.
Floods were controlled by dredging out new river channels, which served both as outlets
for the torrential waters, and as irrigation
canals to distant farm lands
THE XIA DYNASTY
There are no written records although it is assumed that they had a writing system of some sort.
Brown-glazed flask with incised and cut-away design of peonies, Xia DynastyCollection of the National Museum of China.
Bronze Bell
Xia Dynasty
Xia Dynasty 2100 BC - 1800 BC
This first hereditary dynasty lasted some 300 years and tradition says it ended when a Xia ruler started mistreating the people and was overthrown
Last of the Xia rulers, King Jie with a halberd as symbol of oppression and sitting on two ladies as symbol for abuse of power.
Shang Dynasty 1700-1027 BC
Chinese contributions: writing
Shang inscriptions, used for divination purposes.
The questions or requests or wishes range widely, from “When will the drought end?” to “Will the king’s toothache be cured?”
Shang Dynasty: bronze age
Shang bronze vessel, originally used by the king for sacrificial food
Bell Ensembles
Shang Dynasty
The ``beast of gluttony'' design was the most prominent in vessels
Ancient Chinese Stone sculpture Shang Dynasty
• “Kneeling Prisoner,”
• Sonnenschein Collection at The Art Institute
of Chicago,
The Zhou/Chou Dynastyc. 1044-256 BCE
Ancient Chinese Form of Government
Early Chinese rulers promoted the idea that they ruled by the Mandate of Heaven.
Dynastic Cycle
The Chinese later expanded this idea to explain the Dynastic Cycle: When rulers became weak or corrupt, the Chinese believed, Heaven withdrew its support and gave it to another ruler.
Mandate of Heaven
The people would know when the Heavens were displeased with their ruler because there was: natural disasters (floods, earthquakes, drought, disease) and human made disasters (riots, invasion by bandits and rebellion).
Dynastic cycles
Mandate of Heaven• “Heaven has rejected and ended the Mandate of this great state of
Yin. Thus, although Yin has many former wise kings in Heaven, when their successor kings and successor people undertook their Mandate, in the end wise and good men lived in misery. Knowing that they must care for and sustain their wives and children, they then called out in anguish to Heaven and fled to places where they could not be caught. Ah! Heaven too grieved for the people of all the lands, wanting, with affection, in giving its Mandate to employ those who are deeply committed. The king should have reverent care for his virtue....Let the king reverently function in his position; he cannot but be reverently careful of his virtue. We cannot fail to mirror ourselves in the Xia [an earlier dynasty]; also we cannot fail to mirror ourselves in the Yin....We must not presume to suppose that the Yin received the Mandate of Heaven for a fixed period of years; we must not presume to suppose that it was not going to continue. It was because they did not reverently care for their virtue that they early let their Mandate fall. “
Ancient Chinese Astronomy
The Mawangdui silk, a 'textbook' of comets and
the various disasters 300 B.C.
May 2008• Chinese Flee Flood Threat From
Quake• “government officials said that
more than three million homes had been destroyed by Monday’s earthquake, and more than 12 million had been damaged. The government again raised the death toll, to nearly 29,000.
• The resulting humanitarian crisis is the largest in China in decades, and in the process of covering the developments, Chinese news organizations have been testing strict government censorship in new ways — and even winning some concessions. “ NYT
Warring States Period (403 BC – 221 BC)
The stronger states were waging war on the weaker, and consolidating their power
Different philosophies developed including Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism
Confucianism
• Confucius was born in 551 BCE
'Guide them by edicts (laws), keep them in line with punishments, and the common people will stay out of trouble but will have no sense of shame. Guide them by virtue, keep them in line with the rites, and they will, besides having a sense of shame, reform themselves.
Taoism or Daoism
• Lao-Tse (604-531 BCE) the founder of Taoism.
• Tao (pronounced "Dow") is basically indefinable.
• The path, or the way. • It has to be experienced. It
"refers to a power which envelops, surrounds and flows through all things, living and non-living. The Tao regulates natural processes and nourishes balance in the Universe. It embodies the harmony of opposites (i.e. there would be no love without hate, no light without dark, no male without female.)"
Legalism
emphasizes the need for order above all other human concerns
people need a strong government
punish harshly even the most minor infractions Hsün Tzu, philosopher
Warring States Period (403 BC – 221 BC)
Ended with Qin Dynasty.
Shi Huangdi unified China. Made himself the First Emperor of China!
Sun Wu
• Sun Wu wrote The Art of War which is recognized today as the most influential, and oldest known military strategy guide.
The Art of War
• one must avoid massacres and atrocities because this can provoke resistance and possibly allow enemy to turn the war in his favor
Qin Dynasty ruler: Shi Huangdi
• Qin Shi Huang* is important because he started nearly two millennia (2000 years) of imperial rule.
* Not always spelled the same
Qin Dynasty ruler: Shi Huangdi
• passed a series of major economic and political reforms.
Qin Dynasty ruler: Shi Huangdi
• He undertook gigantic projects, including building and unifying various sections of the Great Wall of China,
Qin Dynasty ruler: Shi Huangdi
• Qin made China have a uniform written language, allowing for greater communication and implementation of policies.
Qin Dynasty ruler: Shi Huangdi
• and a massive national road system, standardized the length of axles in carts so that they could all ride on the newly-built roads
Qin Dynasty ruler: Shi Huangdi
Built a city-sized mausoleum guarded by the life-sized Terracotta Army
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-PG_Ug3Ft4
Qin Dynasty ruler: Shi Huangdi
• all at the expense of numerous lives.
Qin Dynasty ruler: Shi Huangdi
To ensure stability, Qin Shi Huang outlawed and burned many books and buried some scholars alive