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