Section 1 Geographic and Cultural Influences
Peking man turns up as a fire-user about 600,000 years ago and Neanderthals traces in all three river valleys. It has been argued that people in China were clearing forests to make fields as far back as 10,000 BCE. The ground around the Yellow River shows evidence of agriculture from about 5,000 BC.
Over the centuries China has included Tibet, Xinjang, Mongolia, Manchuria, and northern Korea. China contains many climates and many regions. The north looks bare and dust-blown, scorching and arid, while the south is always green humid and used to floods. China proper includes three rivers: the Huang He, Chang Jiang, and Xi. It is isolated by mountains, deserts (Gobi Desert creates a barrier between northern China and southern Mongolia), great ranges, and plateaus from the civilizations of India and the west. Along the north and northwest nomadic and semi nomadic people who traded with Chinese at times attacked and were considered barbarians. A case can be made that the Chinese were probably the least influenced of all other Ancient civilizations.
The Huang He River (Yellow River) is prone to devastating and unpredictable floods, which led to its nickname “China’s Sorrow.” Farmers built dikes but that only slowed the rivers flow and deposited silt on the river floor, which caused the river to rise. The Chang Jiang River, or Yangtze River, (3rd largest in the world) cuts a deep channel through its valley and is navigable. The Xi River is also navigable making it commercially important.
China was regarded as the only civilized land and was called Zhongguo “Middle Kingdom” and even outsiders were absorbed into China’s population over time.
Section 2 The Shang Dynasty
In about 2200 BCE the legendary Xia Dynasty founded by Yu, who initiated flood-control projects, organized large-scale public works, and set up formal government, is said to have been the foundation of hereditary monarchial rule in China. Evidence has been discovered that indicate a society of people existed, who could have been Xia.
These people existed and developed improved methods of agriculture and may have used written symbols. They however could not control floods and didn’t know how to deal with droughts. About 1750 and 1500 BCE invaders called the Shang took control of the Huang He River valley. They introduced simple irrigation and flood-control systems which in turn allowed them to control the region’s people. The Shang established China’s first historic dynasty.
The Shang moved their capital several times (defensive or to avoid floods). They created a complex bureaucracy – a government organized into different levels and tasks. A hereditary king ruled. The army used chariots and bronze weapons. They gained territory and spread their culture.
The economy was based on agriculture (millet and rice) and domesticated animals: pigs, chicken, and horses. Shang Chinese knew how to raise silkworms. They spun thread from the silkworm’s cocoons and wove silk cloth from the thread. Artisans worked in bone, ivory, and jade. They made pottery and glazed it making it more durable. They used two calendars one based on the sun and the other on the moon. They added days to the lunar calendar to make up the 365 days in a year.
During the Shang people developed a belief in animism – the belief that spirits inhabit everything – and ancestor worship. Chinese worshipped the dragon, which became the symbol of Chinese rulers, and gods of the wind, sun, clouds, and moon. They held great religious festivals for plentiful harvests. They also believed in Shangdi, a great god who controlled human destiny. Chinese prayed to ancestors to intercede with the gods. Priests used to write questions on oracle bones and interpret them after heating the bone (early form of writing).
The Chinese of the Shang developed a written language at first these characters were pictographs, or drawings of objects. Later Chinese developed ideographs many of which consist of two parts – a signifier, or idea sign, and a phonetic sound sign. Each character had to be memorized and for many centuries the ability to read and write was limited to a small number of specialists (clerks, scribes, and teachers who generally served rulers.) They wrote characters in lines from top to bottom and beginning on the right side. Eventually writing became an art form: calligraphy.
About 1200 BCE herders settled along the borders of Shang China. During the 1100s BCE the Shang almost continuously battled these warlike neighboring states. Extended military efforts exhausted the Shang Dynasty. The last Shang king, Di-xin could not protect the kingdom’s northwest borders. In about 1050 BCE a people called Zhou (Joh) formed alliances with nearby tribes and overthrew the dynasty claiming Shang were unfit to rule.
Section 3 The Zhou, Qin, and Han Dynasty
The Zhou Dynasty ruled from about 1050 BCE to about 256 BCE. Zhou granted territories to members of the royal family and allies. Rulers of each territory had to give military services and tribute to the Zhou kings. Zhou rulers believed that the god of Heaven determined who should rule China, known as the “Mandate of Heaven.” New dynasties claimed that the old dynasties lost the Mandate of Heaven.
Spring and Autumn Period (778 – 403 BCE) and Waring States Period (403 – 221 BCE)
By 700s BCE Zhou kings were losing control as local leaders fought among themselves. Also attacks from outsiders eventually destroyed the Zhou capital in 771 BCE, but they established a new capital. China enters a time of disunity where many independent states adopted Legalist philosophies as the basis for their rule from 403 to 221 BCE. As these states fought their resources were drained except for that of Qin because of their location on the western frontier of then China allowing them to emerge victorious.
Qin Dynasty
The Qin Dynasty came to power in 221 BCE. The ruler Cheng established a new dynasty and gave himself the title Shin Huang Ti, “first emperor.” The western name China is derived from Qin. Under this dynasty China was unified; measures, currency, laws, and language were standardized; roads and defensive walls were built. Later dynasties also built walls and refortified existing walls. (The Great Wall we see today was built during the Ming Dynasty) The capital was Ch’angan.
The king maintained power by establishing an autocracy (emperor held total power). Cheng suppressed and even executed scholars who criticized the government. Qin began building defensive walls along their borders made of compressed mud. Millions of people were forced to work on these public projects (palaces, walls, roads, and tomb). His harsh rule led to the discontent of the people which resulted in a revolt and Liu Bang, a Qin general, overthrew the empire and founded a new dynasty known as the Han.
Han Dynasty
Many Chinese today call themselves “People of Han” The Han Dynasty was the longest lasting Chinese dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE).
Early Han (206 BCE – 9 CE)
China’s borders expanded to include present day Manchuria, Korea, Southeast Asia (Vietnam). The Han ruled an area larger than the Roman Empire. Under Han rule a civil service system based on examinations was instituted and an imperial university to train people for government service is established.
The government begins to regulate prices to balance surpluses or shortages and enforcing laws. The government also exercised control over the building of public buildings and the production of iron, salt, and liquor. China experienced peace and trade prospered along the famous Silk Road, a trade route stretching from China across central Asia to the Mediterranean region where jade and silk were sold to wealthy Greeks and Romans returning to China with gold, silver, and wool. China’s population grew to about 50 million during this time.
China’s policy of expansion led to battles with nomadic Xiongme, but the Han conquered everyone they challenged. Han rule however is interrupted from within when the emperor is overthrown by a noble (9 – 24 CE)
Later Han (25 – 220 CE)
Though the imperial family regained power this period is marred with issues: land distribution, private armies, unrest, and economic decline. Taoist ideas of equal rights and equal land spread and peasants band which leads to the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Warlords take advantage and three are successful in controlling China ushering the Three Kingdoms Period.
Test - 9/28/10
Test - 9/28/10
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