Transcript Ancient China

Ancient China
The Yellow River Valley
Ancient
River Valley Cultures
Source:
Bronze Age Empires
Source:
Geography
Modern China
China vs.
the U. S.
in Size
China
3.7 mil sq miles
0
250
500
1,000
1,500
United States
3.6 mil sq
miles
SOURCE: Topic 5: “The Awakening Giant” by Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue, Dept. of
Economics & Geography, Hofstra University.
Miles
2,000
Satellite View of China
Percentages of
Different Landforms
Arable Land
Population
Density
2012
520 people
per.sq. mile
How would you characterize
the geography of China?
In
what way is the geography of
China similar to the other innovative
sites?
In what significant way(s) is it
different?
What predictions can you make
about the development of China?
What features will be most significant in
the development of Ancient China?
Tarim Basin
endorheic basin
(350,000 sq mi).
Gobi Desert
Huang He
Himalaya Mountains
Yangzi
Pacific Ocean
Southeast Asian
Jungle
Monsoon Precipitation Patterns
Prehistory: China
Peking Man
700,000yrs old?
Where did Chinese culture begin?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qie8SekyM1E&feature=related
Yangshao
Yangshao
Yangshao Period
5000BCE?
Matriclan
Painted
Pottery
Culture
Longshan Pottery
Longshan
Longshan Period
2500BCE?
Black Pottery Period
Bronze
Patriarchy
Cultural Origins of
later Chinese
Dynasties
Development of a Complex
Society and State
Urban Revolution
China’s Innovative Civilization?
What we Know…
 Yellow River
– Millet (grain)

Shang Civilization
– Oracle Bones
– Burial
– Religious beliefs

Zhou Civilization
– Sima Qian (Han
Records)
What we don’t know…
Did Qian’s
‘mythological kings’
exist??
Was the Xia Dynasty
the forerunner of the
Shang?
How early did Chinese
Civilization take root?
The XSZ Project
Chinese Antiquity?
Xia Archeological Dig?
Shang Dynasty
Shang Dynasty
1750 BCE – 1050BCE
•Eastern Yellow River :
Anyang & Zhengzhou
•7 different successive capitals (30 Kings)
•Cities:
•ruler’s palace in center
•surrounded by houses of artisans
Archeological Evidence Suggests…
 Bronze
Age (weapons, fittings for chariots &
harness)
 Tools were of stone & wood (No ploughs –
hoes, sickles)
 Massive
public works projects (walls- 27 ft high)
 Sacrifice
– including human
 Oracle Bones – divination (turtle shells)
Earliest writing – bamboo strips too
 Veneration
of Ancestors- Highly ritualized
 Shang-Ti (Supreme god over lesser gods)
Historians’
conclusions
 Shang King – considerable power
– Clans – warrior families
– Civilization held together by force
– Noble Families – Noblewomen exercised power
– Merchant & artisan class – jade, silk, pottery
 Little
diffusion of culture beyond Shang
cities
 Deterioration gave way to Zhou dominance
http://www.world-heritage-site.com/2011/10/30/yin-xuvideo-gallery/
"Oh! of old the former kings of Xia cultivated
earnestly their virtue, and then there were no
calamities from Heaven. The spirits of the hills and
rivers alike were all in tranquility; and the birds and
beasts, the fishes and tortoises, all enjoyed their
existence according to their nature. But their
descendant did not follow their example, and great
Heaven sent down calamities, employing the agency
of our ruler- who was in possession of its favoring
appointment.”
ZHOU
Zhou Dynasty: 1050-256
 originally
Semi-nomadic
 West of Shang
 Gained allegiance of discontented states
– Feudal System with vassal states
 Zhong
Guo “Middle Kingdom”
 T’ien Ming “Mandate of Heaven”
 Western Zhou (1050 – 771BC)
Western Zhou (1050 – 771BC)
at Xi’an
 Adopted much of Shang civilization
(writing, ritual, artisans, gods)
 Assimilation as opposed to force
 Capital
– Banned sacrifice
– Promoted diffusion in and around the cities –
except for living quarters remained separate
Later Periods: Eastern Zhou
Capital
at Loyang
Spring and Autumn Period (771-401 BC)
Warring States Period (401-256 BC)
"The Period of The Hundred Schools"
(551-233 BC)
– Creative Period…
Creative Period
 unprecedented
era of cultural prosperity
– reform and new ideas - attributed to the
struggle for survival
– skilled, literate officials and teachers
 increasing
economic production to ensure
a broader base for tax collection
– commerce was stimulated through the
introduction of coinage and technological
improvements
Zhou Dynasties’ Innovation

Advances in farming/food production
– Ox-drawn ploughs
– large scale water projects for flood control and
irrigation, canals

Continued advances in weaponry/artisanry
– Cross-bows
– Iron metallurgy
– Lacquer-ware

Prose, poetry, literature
– (I Ching, Book of Songs)

Law and Government
– Codified law
– Shi – men of service (bureaucracy)

money economy – facilitate exchange and
economic growth
Hundred Schools Period

School of the Literati (Confucianism)
– Confucius, Mencius

School of Law (Legalism)
– Xun Zi, Han Feizi

Daoism (Taoism - Daoism)
– Lao Zi, Zhuang Zi

Sun Tzu The Art of War
What does the language of these texts tell us
about early Chinese beliefs and values?
Confucius, The Analects
What the superior man seeks is in himself;
what the small man seeks is in others.
 By nature, men are nearly alike; by
practice, they get to be wide apart.
 To see what is right and not to do it is want
of courage.
 Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a
night without moon and star.
 I hear and I forget. I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.
 The scholar who cherishes the love of
comfort is not fit to be deemed a scholar.

Lao-tzu, The Way
 Seek
not happiness too greedily, and be
not fearful of happiness.
 A journey of a thousand miles begins
with a single step.
 He who knows others is wise;
He who know himself is enlightened.
 To have little is to possess.
To have plenty is to be perplexed.
 People are difficult to govern because
they have too much knowledge.
Cultural Impact of Geography???
Material force moves and flows in all
directions and in all manners. Its two
elements unite and give rise to the
concrete. Thus the multiplicity of things
and human beings is produced. In their
ceaseless successions the two elements
of yin and yang constitute the great
principles of the universe.
Source : Chang Tsai, Cheng-meng, Ch.1, in Wing-Tsit Chan,
Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 30
“When the sun goes the moon
comes; when the moon goes the
sun comes. The sun and moon give
way to each other and their
brightness is produced. When the
cold goes the heat comes; when
the heat goes the cold comes. The
cold and heat give way to each
other and the round of the year is
completed. That which goes
wanes, and that which comes
waxes. The waning and waxing
affect each other and benefits are
produced.”
-Ti Ching
Sun Tzu, The Art of War



All war is deception.
He who is prudent and lies in wait for an
enemy who is not, will be victorious.
All men can see these tactics whereby I
conquer, but what none can see is the
strategy out of which victory is evolved.
What is significant???
How did the Ancient River
Valley sites of China work
to develop the roots of
Chinese Culture?