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RIVER DYNASTIES IN CHINA

RIVER DYNASTIES IN CHINA. (based on Ch.2, sec.4). Ancient China – Physical Geography. Natural Resources and Agriculture. North China plane (the Yellow River / North China Plane) = millet and wheat (loess) South China (the Yangzi River Valley) = rice Agriculture = collective labor.

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RIVER DYNASTIES IN CHINA

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  1. RIVER DYNASTIES IN CHINA (based on Ch.2, sec.4)

  2. Ancient China – Physical Geography

  3. Natural Resources and Agriculture • North China plane (the Yellow River / North China Plane) = millet and wheat (loess) • South China (the Yangzi River Valley) = rice • Agriculture = collective labor

  4. Xia Dynasty (2183-1752 BCE?) • Mythical?  Not enough evidence • Chinese vs. Non-Chinese interpretation • Shang Sources (Xia people – opposite)

  5. The Shang Dynasty(also known as the Yin Dynasty1750 BCE – 1045 BCE)

  6. The Shang Dynasty – Religious Beliefs

  7. Religious Beliefs (cont.) • Oracle Bones / Scapulimancy

  8. Examples of Inscriptions on Oracle Bones: • Crack-making on jiashen (day 21), Que divined: “Lady Hao’s (a consort of Wu Ding) childbearing will be good.” (Prognostication:) The king read the cracks and said: “If it be on a ding-day that she gives birth, there will be prolonged luck.” (Verification:) (After) thirty-one days, on jiayin (day 51), she gave birth; it was not good; it was a girl.

  9. Religious Beliefs (cont.)- Burial Tombs • Practiced Human and Animal Sacrifice (to appease an “angry ancestral spirit”) • Human sacrifice – mostly prisoners of war • Buried were the objects useful in the afterlife

  10. Religious Beliefs – Burial Tombs (cont.)

  11. Model Family = Model Society • Community (family) > individual • Respect / obedience for parents = respect / obedience to government • Men > Women (preference for boys over girls)

  12. Social Classes • Highly stratified society (by hereditary rank and occupation) KINGS (SCHOLARS? – probably not yet!) ARISTOCRATS (NOBLES) PEASANTS ARTISANS MERCHANTS

  13. Political control through direct confrontation and “tribute” Circles of civilized people Shang towns – square – Zhangguo – The Central Country (sinocentric view!!!) Shang Dynasty – Perception of the World (Us vs. Them)

  14. Ancient Chinese Characters – connections to modern Chinese Characters

  15. The Zhou Dynasty 1045 BCE – 221 BCE

  16. Zhou Dynasty – Accounts Vilifying the Shang • From Chinese sources on the last Shang king: “. . . [was] dominated by women, given up to sensual self-indulgence with his 'pools of wine and forests of meat,' oppressing the people with his taxes, carving open a pregnant woman to examine the fetus, and killing or imprisoning all who remonstrated against him. He was also famous for his great speed and strength and fond of battling wild animals, and he was a noted devourer of human flesh who fed several feudal lords to his court and even duped King Wen into eating his own son.”

  17. The Zhou Rule • “Feudal” system • More decentralized as the time went on • Zhou kings continued supremacy in sacrifice rituals (other kings claimed their connection to them) • Same culture, though different political territories • Education – luxury for the rich, until Confucius’ ideas become popular

  18. Zhou Dynasty - Feudalism • Exchange of land for loyalty (King grants pieces of land to his nobles (vassals) in exchange for loyalty)

  19. The Concept of Heaven • Gradually replaces Shangdi (Di) in the writings of Zhou aristocracy • Replaced with TIAN (English translation “HEAVEN”) • Heaven (in Chinese culture) – does NOT mean “a place to which one's soul goes, or a state of being one's soul attains, after death”

  20. The Dynastic Cycle and the Mandate of Heaven

  21. The Mandate of Heaven (cont.)

  22. The Warring States Period (480 BCE -221BCE)

  23. Qin Dynasty and Han Dynasty • See Textbook: • Qing Dynasty – Ch.4, sec.4 • Han Dynasty – Ch.7, sec.3

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