Unit 3

Eunuchs

(castrated males) who served as personal attendants for himself and female members of the royal family.

Veneration of Ancestors

Though some of the human sacrifices discovered in the royal tombs were presumably intended to propitiate the gods, others were meant to accompany the king or members of his family on the journey to the next world. From this conviction would come the concept of veneration of ancestors (mistakenly known in the West as ''ancestor worship'') and the practice, which continues to the present day in many Chinese communities, of burning replicas of physical objects to accompany the departed on their journey to the next world.

What did merchants and artisans do in the Zhou dynasty?

Trade and manufacturing were carried out by merchants and artisans, who lived in walled towns under the direct control of the local lord. Merchants did not operate independently but were considered the property of the local lord and on occasion could even be bought and sold like chattels. A class of slaves performed a variety of menial tasks and perhaps worked on local irrigation projects. Most of them were probably prisoners of war captured during conflicts with the neighboring principalities.

Confucius Dao beliefs

Two elements in the Confucian interpretation of the Dao are particularly worthy of mention. The first is the concept of duty. It was the responsibility of all individuals to subordinate their own interests and aspirations to the broader need of the family and the community. The second key element is the idea of humanity, sometimes translated as ''human-heartedness.'' This concept involves a sense of compassion and empathy for others. ''Do not do unto others what you would not wish done to yourself.''

China money

With the development of trade and manufacturing, China began to move toward a money economy. The first form of money, as in much of the rest of the world, may have been seashells, but by the Zhou dynasty, pieces of iron shaped like a knife or round coins with a hole in the middle so they could be carried in strings of a thousand were being used. Most ordinary Chinese, however, simply used a system of barter. Taxes, rents, and even the salaries of government officials were normally paid in grain.

Five relationships

The son was subordinate to the father, the wife to her husband, the younger brother to the older brother, and all were subject to their king. The final relationship was the proper one between friend and friend. Only if all members of the family and the community as a whole behaved in a properly filial manner would society function effectively.

Dao

The key to proper behavior was to behave in accordance with the Dao (DOW) (Way). Confucius assumed that all human beings had their own Dao, depending on their individual role in life, and it was their duty to follow it.

Xiongnu

The main area of concern for the Qin emperor, however, was in the north, where a nomadic people, known to the Chinese as the Xiongnu had become increasingly active in the area of the Gobi Desert. By the end of the Zhou dynasty in the third century B.C.E., the nomadic Xiongnu had unified many of the groups operating in the region and began to pose a serious threat to the security of China's northern frontier. A number of Chinese principalities in the area began to build walls and fortifications to keep them out, but warriors on horseback possessed significant advantages over the infantry of the Chinese.

What was the late Zhou era like?

The period of the later Zhou, from the sixth to the third century B.C.E., was an era of significant economic growth and technological innovation, especially in agriculture(irrigation, food production)

What was the land ownership like in the Zhou dynasty?

The well-field system. The Zhou continued the pattern of land ownership that had existed under the Shang: the peasants worked on lands owned by their lord but also had land that they cultivated for their own use. The practice was called the well-field system because the Chinese character for ''well'' calls to mind the division of land into nine separate segments. Each peasant family tilled an outer plot for its own use and joined with other families to work the inner one for the hereditary lord.

Sima Qian

A Chinese scholar, astronomer, and historian; author of the most important history of ancient China, Historical Records????????

Hydraulic societies

A developed hydraulic civilization maintains control over its population by means of controlling the supply of water.

The Great Wall

A number of Chinese principalities in the area began to build walls and fortifications to keep them out, but warriors on horseback possessed significant advantages over the infantry of the Chinese. Qin Shi Huangdi's answer to the problem was to strengthen the walls to keep the marauders out.

Nu Wa

According to legend, Fu Xi's wife Nu Wa (noo WAH) assisted her husband in organizing society by establishing the institution of marriage and the family. Yet Nu Wa was not just a household drudge. After Fu Xi's death, she became China's first female sovereign

Mandate of Heaven

According to this concept, Heaven (now viewed as an impersonal law of nature rather than as an anthropomorphic deity) maintained order in the universe through the Zhou king, who thus ruled as a representative of Heaven but not as a divine being.

Oracle Bones

Among the finds were thousands of so-called oracle bones, ox and chicken bones or turtle shells that were used by Shang rulers for divination and to communicate with the gods. They describe a culture gradually emerging from the Neolithic to the early Bronze Age. As the inscriptions on the oracle bones make clear, the Shang ruling elite believed in the existence of supernatural forces and thought that they could communicate with those forces to obtain divine intervention on matters of this world. In fact, the main purpose of the oracle bones seems to have been to communicate with the gods.

Yellow River (Huang He)

Around the eighth millennium B.C.E., the early peoples living along the riverbanks of northern and central China began to master the cultivation of crops. A number of these early agricultural settlements were in the neighborhood of the Yellow River, where they gave birth to two Neolithic societies known to archaeologists as the Yang- shao (yahng-SHOW [''ow'' as in ''how'']) and the Longshan (loong-SHAHN) cultures

What occurred with the importance of family in the Qin dynasty?

But the efforts of the Qin to eradicate or at least reduce the importance of the family system ran against tradition and the dynamics of the Chinese economy, and under the Han dynasty, which followed the Qin, the family revived and increased in importance.

Classes of Shang Dynasty

By Shang times, the classes were becoming increasingly differentiated. It is likely that some poorer peasants did not own their farms but were obliged to work the land of the chieftain and other elite families in the village. The aristocrats not only made war and served as officials, but they were also the primary land- owners. In addition to the aristocratic elite and the peasants, there were a small number of merchants and artisans, as well as slaves, probably consisting primarily of criminals or prisoners taken in battle

rice cultivation

By the late Zhou dynasty, the cultivation of wet rice had become one of the prime sources of food in China. Although rice was difficult and time-consuming to produce, it replaced other grain crops in areas with a warm climate because of its good taste, relative ease of preparation, and high nutritional value

How was food production a success?

By the mid-sixth century B.C.E., the introduction of iron had led to the development of iron plow- shares, which permitted deep plowing for the first time. Other innovations dating from the later Zhou were the use of natural fertilizer, the collar harness, and the technique of leaving land fallow to preserve or replenish nutrients in the soil.

How did the Zhou dynasty decline? How did the period of warring states begin?

By the sixth century B.C.E., the Zhou dynasty began to decline. As the power of the central government disintegrated, bitter internal rivalries arose among the various principalities, where the governing officials had succeeded in making their positions hereditary at the expense of the king. As the power of these officials grew, they began to regulate the local economy and seek reliable sources of revenue for their expanding armies, such as a uniform tax system and government monopolies on key commodities such as salt and iron. A century later, the Zhou rulers had lost all pretense of authority, and China was divided into a cauldron of squabbling states, an era known to Chinese historians as the ''Period of the Warring States''

Political organization in the Shang Dynasty

China under the Shang dynasty was a predominantly agricultural society ruled by an aristocratic class whose major occupation was war and control over key resources such as metals and salt.

Terra Cotta Army

Chinese archaeologists sent to work at the site discovered a vast terra-cotta army that they believed was a recreation of Qin Shi Huangdi's imperial guard, which was to accompany the emperor on his journey to the next world.

The three sovereigns

Chinese society was founded by a series of rulers who brought the first rudiments of civilization to the region nearly five thousand years ago. Fu Xi, Shen Nong, and Huang Di. Although there is no clear evidence that the ''three sovereigns'' actually existed, their achievements do symbolize some of the defining characteristics of Chinese civilization: the interaction between nomadic and agricultural peoples, the importance of the family as the basic unit of Chinese life, and the development of a unique system of writi ng.

Confucius philisophical beliefs

Confucius's interest in philosophy, then, was essentially political and ethical. The universe was constructed in such a way that if human beings could act harmoniously in accordance with its purposes, their own affairs would prosper. Much of his concern was with human behavior.

Daoism

Daoism does not anguish over the underlying meaning of the cosmos. Rather, it attempts to set forth proper forms of behavior for human beings here on earth. In most other respects, however, Daoism presents a view of life and its ultimate meaning that is almost diametrically opposed to that of Confucianism. Whereas Confucian doctrine asserts that it is the duty of human beings to work hard to improve life here on earth, Daoists contend that the true way to interpret the will of Heaven is not action but inaction. The best way to act in harmony with the universal order is to act spontaneously and let nature take its course. it comprised a variety of rituals and behaviors that were regarded as a means of achieving heavenly salvation or even a state of immortality on earth. Daoist sorcerers practiced various types of exercises for training the mind and body in the hope of achieving power, sexual prowess, and long life. It was primarily this form of Daoism that survived into a later age.

Zhou dynasty economy

During the late Zhou, economic wealth began to replace noble birth as the prime source of power and influence. Tools made of iron became more common, and trade developed in a variety of useful commodities, including cloth, salt, and manufactured goods. Silk, Jade

Qin State

Eventually, the relatively young state of Qin (CHIN), located in the original homeland of the Zhou, emerged as a key player in these conflicts(period of warring states). By the mid-fourth century B.C.E., it had become a major force in the contest for hegemony in late-Zhou China by adopting a number of reforms in agriculture, government administration, military organization, and fiscal policy. As a result of policies put into effect by the adviser Shang Yang (SHAHNG yahng) in the mid-fourth century B.C.E., Qin society was ruled with ruthless efficiency.

How is the king viewed?

Evidence from the oracle bones also suggests that the king was already being viewed as an intermediary between heaven and earth.

Han Dynasty

Followed the Qin dynasty

Silk road

Fragments have been found throughout Central Asia and as far away as Greece, suggesting that the famous Silk Road stretching from central China westward to the Middle East and the Mediterranean Sea was in operation as early as the fifth century B.C.E.

What did the emperor do for aristocrats and peasants?

He also attempted to eliminate the remaining powers of the landed aristocrats and divided their estates among the peasants, who were now taxed directly by the state. He thus eliminated potential rivals and secured tax revenues for the central government. Members of the aristocratic clans were required to live in the capital city at Xianyang, just north of modern Xian, so that the court could monitor their activities. Peasants were not completely advantaged though because the central government could now collect taxes more effectively and mobilize the peasants for military service and for various public works projects

What was heaven to them?

Heaven was not a vague, impersonal law of nature, as it was for many Confucian and Daoist intellectuals. Instead, it was a terrain peopled with innumerable gods and spirits of nature, both good and evil, who existed in trees, mountains, and streams as well as in heavenly bodies. Another aspect of popular religion was the belief that the spirits of deceased human beings lived in the atmosphere for a time before ascending to heaven or descending to hell. During that period, surviving family members had to care for the spirits through proper ritual, or they would become evil spirits and haunt the survivors.

Why did the golden age(the period of the early Zhou dynasty) fall?

In any case, the golden age did not last, whether because it never existed in practice or because of the increasing complexity of Chinese civilization. Perhaps, too, its disappearance was a consequence of the intellectual and moral weakness of the rulers of the Zhou royal house.

How were villages organized in the Shang dynasty?

In the Neolithic period, the farming village was apparently the basic social unit of China, at least in the core region of the Yellow River valley. Villages were organized by clans rather than by nuclear family units, and all residents probably took the common clan name of the entire village. In some cases, a village may have included more than one clan.

How did the Shang dynasty end?

In the eleventh century B.C.E., the Shang dynasty was over- thrown by an aggressive young state located to the west of Anyang, the Shang capital, and near the great bend of the Yellow River as it begins to flow directly eastward to the sea. The new dynasty, which called itself the Zhou (Chou), sur- vived for about eight hundred years, making it the longest- lived dynasty in the history of China. According to tradition, the last of the Shang rulers was a tyrant who oppressed the people, 3 leading the ruler of the principality of Zhou to revolt and establish a new dynasty.

How was the king supposed to rule?

It was his duty to appease the gods in order to protect the people from natural calamities or bad harvests. But if the king failed to rule effectively, he could, theoretically at least, be overthrown and replaced by a new ruler. As noted earlier, this idea was used to justify the Zhou conquest of the Shang.

Xia Dynasty

Legend maintains that the founder was a ruler named Yu, who is also credited with introducing irrigation and draining the flood- waters that periodically threatened to inundate the North China plain.

Patriarchy in Ancient China

Male dominance was a key element in the social system of ancient China. As in many traditional societies, the male was considered of transcendent importance because of his role as food procurer or, in the case of farming communities, food producer. In ancient China, men worked in the fields and women raised children and served in the home. This differential in gender roles goes back to prehistoric times and is embedded in Chinese creation myths. Men were permitted to have more than one wife and to divorce a spouse who did not produce a male child. Women were denied the right to own property, and there was no dowry system in ancient China that would have provided the wife with a degree of financial security from her husband and his family.

What did confucius think of government positions?

Perhaps his most striking political idea was that the government should be open to all men of superior quality, not limited to those of noble birth.

Yin and Yang

One of the earliest ideas was that the universe was divided into two primary forces of good and evil, light and dark, male and female, called the yang and the yin, represented symbolically by the sun (yang) and the moon (yin).

How did bronze casting fall?

One reason for the decline of bronze casting in China was the rise in popularity of iron. Ironmaking developed in China around the ninth or eighth century B.C.E., much later than in the Middle East, where it had been mastered almost a thousand years earlier. Another reason for the deterioration of the bronze-casting tradition was the development of cheaper materials such as lacquerware and ceramics.

Yangtze River

Similar communities began to appear in the Yangtze valley in central China and along the coast to the south. The southern settlements were based on the cultivation of rice rather than dry crops such as millet, barley, and wheat (the last was an import from the Middle East in the second millennium B.C.E.), but they were as old as those in the north.

How did the Qin dynasty fall?

The Legalist system put in place by the First Emperor of Qin was designed to achieve maximum efficiency as well as total security for the state. It did neither. By ruthlessly gathering control over the empire into his own hands, Qin Shi Huangdi had hoped to establish a rule that, in the words of Sima Qian, ''would be enjoyed by his sons for ten thousand generations.'' In fact, his centralizing zeal alienated many key groups. Landed aristocrats and Confucian intellectuals, as well as the common people, groaned under the censorship of thought and speech, harsh taxes, and forced labor projects. Shortly after the emperor died in 210 B.C.E., the dynasty descended into factional rivalry, and four years later it was overthrown.

What was the Qin dynasty like politically?

The Qin dynasty transformed Chinese politics. Philosophical doctrines that had proliferated during the late Zhou period were prohibited, and Legalism was adopted as the official ideology. Those who opposed the policies of the new regime were punished and sometimes executed, while books presenting ideas contrary to the official orthodoxy were publicly put to the torch, perhaps the first example of book burning in history.

How did the Qin dynasty treat peasants?

The Qin dynasty was equally unsympathetic to the mer- chants, whom it viewed as parasites. Private commercial activities were severely restricted and heavily taxed, and many vital forms of commerce and manufacturing, including mining, wine making, and the distribution of salt, were placed under a government monopoly.

Bronze in the Shang Dynasty

The Shang are perhaps best known for their mastery of the art of casting bronze. Utensils, weapons, and ritual objects made of bronze have been found in royal tombs in urban centers throughout the area known to be under Shang influence.

Ruling in the Shang Dynasty

The Shang king ruled with the assistance of a central bureaucracy in the capital city. His realm was divided into a number of territories governed by aristocratic chieftains, but the king appointed these chieftains and could apparently depose them at will. He was also responsible for the defense of the realm and controlled large armies that often fought on the fringes of the kingdom.

What political system did the Zhou use?

The Shang practice of dividing the kingdom into a number of territories governed by officials appointed by the king was continued under the Zhou. At the apex of the government hierarchy was the Zhou king, who was served by a bureaucracy of growing size and complexity. It now included several minis- tries responsible for rites, education, law, and public works. Beyond the capital, the Zhou kingdom was divided into a number of principalities, governed by members of the hereditary aristocracy, who were appointed by the king and were at least theoretically subordinated to his authority.

Where was the Zhou located? What did it result in?

The Zhou located their capital in their home territory, near the present-day city of Xian. Later they established a second capital city at modern Luoyang (LWOH-yahng), farther to the east, to administer new territories captured from the Shang. This established a pattern of eastern and western capitals that would endure off and on in China for nearly two thousand years.

How did chinese geography affect it?

The geographic barriers served to isolate the Chinese people from advanced agrarian societies in other parts of Asia.

Analects

The ideas of confucius. In conversations with his disciples contained in the Analects, Confucius often adopted a detached and almost skeptical view of Heaven.

Bronze

Various bronze vessels were produced for use in preparing and serving food and drink in the ancestral rites. Later vessels were used for decoration or for dining at court. The method of casting used was one reason for the extraordinary quality of Shang bronze work. Bronze workers in most ancient civilizations used the lost-wax method, in which a model was first made in wax. After a clay mold had been formed around it, the model was heated so that the wax would melt away, and the empty space was filled with molten metal.

The Hundred Schools of Ancient Philosophy

a wide-ranging debate over the nature of human beings, society, and the universe.

filial piety

called on all members of the family to subordinate their personal needs and desires to the patriarchal head of the family. More broadly, it created a hierarchical system in which every family member had a place

Rites of Zhou

one of the oldest surviving documents on statecraft, the Zhou dynasty ruled China because it possessed the mandate of Heaven. Later Chinese would regard the period of the early Zhou dynasty, as portrayed in the Rites of Zhou (which, of course, is no more an unbiased source than any modern government document), as a golden age when there was harmony in the world and all was right under Heaven.

Period of Warring States

small principalities into which the Zhou kingdom had been divided began to evolve into powerful states that presented a potential challenge to the Zhou ruler himself. At first, their mutual rivalries were held in check, but by the late fifth century B.C.E., competition intensified into civil war, giving birth to the so-called Period of the Warring States. New forms of warfare also emerged with the invention of iron weapons and the introduction of the foot soldier. (cavalry)

Chinese Written Language

the Chinese had developed a simple but functional script. Like many other languages of antiquity, it was primarily ideographic and pictographic in form. Symbols, usually called ''characters,'' were created to represent an idea or to form a picture of the object to be represented. The Chinese language, however, has never entirely abandoned its original ideographic format, although the phonetic element has developed into a significant part of the individual character.

Lao Tzu

the Daoist school was founded by a contemporary of Confucius popularly known as Lao Tzu

Qin Shi Huangdi

the First Emperor of Qin. A man of forceful personality and immense ambition, Qin Shi Huangdi had ascended to the throne of Qin in 246 B.C.E. at the age of thirteen.

Legalism

the Legalists argued that human beings were by nature evil and would follow the correct path only if coerced by harsh laws and stiff punishments. They rejected the Confucian view that government by ''superior men'' could solve society's problems and argued instead for a system of impersonal laws.

Political Structure of Qin

the Qin was a highly centralized state. The central bureaucracy was divided into three primary ministries: a civil authority, a military authority, and a censorate, whose inspectors surveyed the efficiency of officials throughout the system. Below the central government were two levels of administration: provinces and counties. Positions were appointed by court, not inherited.

Diffusion Hypothesis

the Yellow River valley was the ancient heartland of Chinese civilization and that techno- logical and cultural achievements gradually radiated from there to other areas in East Asia. Here, it was thought, occurred the first technological breakthroughsToday, this diffusion hypothesis, as it is sometimes called, is no longer so widely accepted. The remains of early agricultural communities have now been unearthed in the Yangtze River valley and along the southern coast, and a rich trove of bronze vessels has been discovered in grave sites in central Sichuan (suh-CHWAHN) province

What did the chinese do about their writing system?

the languages spoken in various regions of the country differed from each other in pronunciation and to a lesser degree in vocabulary and syntax; for the most part, they were (and are today) mutually unintelligible. The Chinese answer to this problem was to give all the spoken languages the same writing system. Although any character might be pronounced differently in different regions of China, that character would be written the same way.

What were things that Qin Shi Huangdi did?

unified the system of weights and measures, standardized the monetary system and the written forms of Chinese characters, and ordered the construction of a system of roads extending throughout the empire.