EARLY CHINESE CIVILIZATIONS

EARLY CHINESE CIVILIZATIONS

As in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus Valley, China’s early civilizations

followed the spread of agriculture along the river valleys. Most of the rivers in China

flow east to the Pacific Ocean, which meant China’s civilizations developed near the

east coast. The mountains to the west and the deserts to the north further isolated

China from outside influences.

The Impact of Geography

Dating back more than six thousand years, China has one of the world’s oldest

cultures. China also has the largest population of any nation and is made up of more

longer, flowing for about 3,400 miles (5,470 km) across central China before emptying

into the Yellow Sea. The densely cultivated valleys of these two rivers began to emerge

as one of the great food-producing areas of the ancient world. China, however, is not

just a land of fertile fields. In fact, only 10 percent of the total land area is suitable for

farming, compared with 19 percent of the United States. Much of the rest of the land

in China consists of mountains and deserts that ring the country on its northern and

western frontiers. This forbidding landscape is a dominant feature of Chinese life and

has played an important role in Chinese history. Geographical barriers—mountains

and deserts—isolated the Chinese people from peoples in other parts of Asia. In the

frontier regions created by these barriers lived peoples of Mongolian, Indo-European,

dry. In summer, the monsoons blow from the south across the seas, bringing rain. The

dry season alternating with wet monsoons creates significant temperature differences

in winter and summer. The Chang Jiang serves as a dividing line between the northern

region and the southern region of the country. In the north, winters are long and cold,

but the short summers are sunny and hot. In the center of the country, along the Chang

Jiang, there are four seasons, including hot summers and cold winters. The warmest

temperatures year-round are in the south, which has a subtropical climate with hot

summers and mild winters.

Historians of China have traditionally dated the beginning of Chinese civilization

to the founding of the Xia (SHYAH) dynasty over four thousand years ago. Little is

(AHN•YAHNG), just north of the Huang He in north-central China. Excavations reveal

huge city walls, royal palaces, and large royal tombs.

Political and Social Structure

The Shang king ruled from the capital city Anyang. His realm was divided into

territories governed by aristocratic military leaders, called warlords, but the king had

the power to choose these leaders and could also remove them. The king was also

responsible for defending the realm and controlled large armies, which often fought on

the fringes of the kingdom. The king’s importance is evident in the ritual sacrifices

undertaken at his death. Like rulers in Mesopotamia and Egypt, early Chinese kings

were buried in royal tombs accompanied by the corpses of their faithful servants.

The Chinese believed in supernatural forces from which the rulers could obtain

help in worldly affairs. To communicate with the gods, the priest made use of oracle

bones. These were bones on which priests scratched questions asked by the rulers,

such as: Will the king be victorious in battle? Will the king recover from his illness?

Heated metal rods were then stuck into the bones, causing them to crack. The priests

interpreted the shapes of the cracks as answers from the gods. The priests recorded

the answers and stored the bones. The inscriptions on the bones are a valuable source

of information about the Shang period. Remains of human sacrifices found in royal

tombs are evidence of human efforts to win the favor of the gods. The early Chinese

believed in life after death. From this belief came the veneration of ancestors

commonly known in the West as “ancestor worship.” The practice of burning replicas—

exact copies—of physical objects to accompany the dead on their journey to the next

world continues to this day in many Chinese communities. The early Chinese believed

it was important to treat the spirits of their ancestors well because the spirits could

bring good or bad fortune to the living family members.

Bronze vessels, used in ceremonies, have been found in tombs throughout the Shang

kingdom. More than ten thousand bronze objects survive and are among the most

admired creations of Chinese art. ✓Reading Check Identifying How did the Shang

rulers communicate with the gods? The Zhou Dynasty The concept of the Mandate of

Heaven began with the Zhou dynasty. HISTORY & YOU What are your government’s

Political Structure

The Zhou dynasty continued the political system of the rulers it had overthrown.

At the head of the government was the Zhou king, who was served by an increasingly

large and complex bureaucracy. The Zhou dynasty continued the Shang practice of

dividing the kingdom into territories governed by officials. The officials of these

territories were members of the aristocracy. They were appointed by the king and were

subject to his authority. Like the Shang rulers, the Zhou king was in charge of defense

and commanded armies throughout the country. The Zhou dynasty claimed that it ruled

China because it possessed the Mandate of Heaven. It was believed that Heaven—

which was an impersonal law of nature—kept order in the universe through the Zhou

king. The king was the link between Heaven and Earth. Thus, the king ruled by a

mandate, or authority to command, from Heaven. The concept of the heavenly

mandate became a basic principle of Chinese government.

The Mandate of Heaven, however, was double-edged. The king, who was

chosen to rule because of his talent and virtue, was then responsible for ruling the

divine being himself. In practice, each founder of a new dynasty would say he had

earned the Mandate of Heaven. Who could disprove it except by overthrowing the

king? The saying, “He who wins is the king; he who loses is the rebel,” sums up this

view. The Mandate of Heaven was closely tied to the pattern of dynastic cycles. From

the beginning of Chinese history to a.d. 1912, China was ruled by a series of dynasties,

which all went through a cycle of change. A new dynasty established its power, ruled

successfully for many years, and then began to decline. The government lost power,

which evolved into powerful states that challenged the Zhou ruler. In 403 b.c., civil war

broke out, beginning an age known in Chinese history as the Period of the Warring

States. By this time, warfare had also changed in China. Iron weapons, more powerful

than bronze weapons, came into use. Foot soldiers, or infantry, and soldiers on

horseback, or cavalry, made their appearance. The cavalry was armed with the

powerful crossbow, a Chinese invention of the seventh century b.c. Eventually, one of

the warring states—the Qin (CHIHN)—took control. The Qin created a new dynasty in

221 b.c.

Social Structure

During the Zhou dynasty, the basic features of Chinese economic and social life

began to take shape. The Zhou continued the pattern of land ownership that had

existed under the Shang. The peasants worked on lands owned by their lord. Each

peasant family farmed an outer plot for its own use and then joined with other families

to work the inner one for their lord. A class of artisans and merchants lived in walled

towns under the direct control of the local lord. Merchants did not operate freely but

economic and social unit. However, the family there took on an almost sacred quality

as a symbol of the entire social order. What explains the importance of the family in

ancient China? Certainly, the need to work together on the land was a significant factor.

The Zhou continued the pattern of land ownership that had existed under the Shang.

The peasants worked on lands owned by their lord, but they also had land of their own,

which they farmed for their own use. In ancient times, farming required the work of

many people. Children were essential to the family because they worked in the fields.

head of the family. More broadly, the term describes a system in which every family

member had his or her place. This concept is important in Confucianism, as you will

see later in this section. Male supremacy was a key element in the social system of

China, as it was in the other civilizations of the time. The male was responsible for

providing food for his family. In ancient China, men worked the fields and were the

warriors, scholars, and government ministers. Women raised the children and worked

in the home. Although women did not hold positions of authority, some did influence

politics. This was especially true at the royal court, where female members of the royal

family played a part in court affairs.

Zhou Accomplishments

The period from the sixth to the third centuries b.c. was an age of significant

economic growth and technological change, especially in farming. For thousands of

years, farmers had depended on rainfall to water crops such as rice and millet. By the

sixth century b.c., irrigation was in wide use. Large-scale water projects were set in

motion to control the flow of rivers and spread water evenly to the fields.

Changes in farming methods also increased food production. By the mid-sixth

century b.c., the use of iron led to the development of iron plowshares to plow land

that had not been farmed previously. This increased the land available for growing

crops. Because of advances in farming tools and practices, China’s population rose

of the most important items of trade in ancient China was silk. Chinese silk fragments

from the period have been found throughout central Asia and as far away as Athens,

Greece—clear indications of a far-reaching trade network.

Perhaps the most important cultural contribution of ancient China to later

By Shang times, the Chinese had developed a simple script that is the ancestor of the

primarily pictographic and ideographic in form. Pictographs are picture symbols, or

There was a sound associated with each Chinese character when a speaker

ideographs and adopted phonetic symbols representing speech sounds, such as the

Roman alphabet. The Chinese, too, eventually began to attach phonetic meaning to

some of their symbols. However, although the Chinese language has evolved

continuously over a period of four thousand years, it has never entirely abandoned its

original format.

Confucianism

Confucius was known to the Chinese as the First Teacher. Confucius is the

westernized form of Kongfuzi [KUNG•FOO•DZUH], meaning “Master Kung,” as he

was called by his followers. Confucius was born in 551 b.c. He hoped to get a job as

a political adviser, but he had little success in finding a patron. Upset by the violence

and moral decay of his era, Confucius traveled around China in an attempt to persuade

political leaders to follow his ideas. Few listened at the time, but a faithful band of

widely accepted. Confucius’s interest in philosophy was political and ethical, not

that people had to subordinate their own interests to the broader needs of the family

and the community. Everyone should be governed by the Five Constant Relationships:

younger friend, and ruler and subject. Each person had a duty to the other. Parents

should be loving, and children should revere their parents. Husbands should fulfill their

duties, and wives should be obedient. The elder sibling should be kind, and the

younger sibling respectful. The older friend should be considerate, and the younger

friend deferential. Rulers should be benevolent, and subjects loyal. Showing the

importance of family, Confucius said: “The duty of children to their parents is the

foundation from which all virtues spring.” The Confucian concept of duty is often

expressed in the form of a “work ethic.” If each individual worked hard to fulfill his or

her duties, then the affairs of society as a whole would prosper as well.

As Confucius stated, “If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty

the nation, there will be peace in the world.” Above all, the ruler must set a good

example. If the king followed the path of goodness, then subjects would respect him,

then they will be faithful to him. Let him advance the good and teach the incompetent;

then they will eagerly seek to be virtuous.” The second key element in the Confucian

“When the Great Way was practiced, the world was shared by all alike.” Confucius,

however, was not just living in the past. Many of his key ideas looked forward. Perhaps

his most significant political idea was that the government service should not be limited

to those of noble birth but should be open to all men of superior talent. This concept

of rule by merit was not popular with the aristocrats who held political offices based on

their noble birth. Although Confucius’s ideas did not have much effect in his lifetime,

they opened the door to a new idea of statecraft that would later be put into widespread

Daoism

Daoism was a system of ideas based on the teachings of Laozi (LOW•DZUH).

ideas of Daoism, as interpreted by its followers, are straightforward. Daoism, like

Confucianism, does not concern itself with the meaning of the universe. Rather, it sets

forth proper forms of human behavior. Daoism is also quite different from

Confucianism. Followers of Confucius believe that it is the duty of human beings to

work hard to improve life here on Earth.

Legalism

A third philosophy that became popular was Legalism. Unlike Confucianism or

Daoism, Legalism proposed that human beings were evil by nature. Legalists were

referred to as the “School of Law” because they rejected the Confucian view that

government by “superior men” could solve society’s problems. Instead, they argued

for a system of impersonal laws. The Legalists believed that a strong ruler was

required to create an orderly society. Confucius had said, “Lead the people by virtue