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* Along with Africa, China is one of the most ancient sites of human habitation. Even today, China continues to yield much archaeological material from Stone Age cultures.
* Complex of developments in stone-tool technology, food production and
storage, spread of settled agricultural communities, and social organization--often
characterized as the "Neolithic Revolution"--was progressing in
China by at least 6000 B.C. (Neolithic ["New Stone"] Age dates
roughly from 10000 to 5000 B.C.).
* Neolithic farming techniques (originating in Middle East about 6500
B.C.) seem to have spread slowly across Asia, where they met and mingled
in Yellow River Valley with "monsoon" agriculture from Asia.
* Archaeological remains from ca. 2000 B.C. (painted pottery) may suggest
links between China and Middle East/Eastern Europe (until at least 1700
B.C.), when barbarian presence would have made such contacts unlikely. Such
influences, however, are hotly debated by scholars.
* Even if such tenuous connections did exist, Chinese culture always
exhibited strong independence, developing its own characteristics:
* Chinese "Neolithic Culture" is not one homogeneous entity;
rather, it is a mosaic of as many as thirty regional cultures (appearing
between 10000 - ca. 3000 B.C.), most distinguished by different pottery
styles. Two of the most famous are Yangshao ("painted pottery")
and Lungshan ("blackware").
* Archaeological remains--mostly goods buried in graves--suggest that,
by mid- to late- Neolithic era (ca. 7000 to 2500 B.C..):
* 3000 - 2000 B.C.: appearance of increasing warfare; complex urban settlements;
intense status differentiations; growth of religious and administrative
hierarchies that controlled massive mobilization of workers for public works
(building of cities and irrigation projects) and warfare. Casting of bronze--complex,
sophisticated process even today unequaled in workmanship--is this culture's
greatest technical achievement.
* This gradual shift into the Bronze Age (ca. 3500 - 2500 B.C..) ushers
in era of China's "legendary" Three Dynasties--Hsia
(Xia), Shang (also known as Yin), and Chou (Zhou).
* Although Shang bronzes survived, historians possessed written records
from only the Chou dynasty. Documented information about Hsia and Shang
dynasties was sparse and of doubtful historical value.
* Chinese historians (one from as early as 2nd century B. C.) wrote about
Hsia and Shang dynasties. But modern scholars regarded such accounts, written
1000 to 2000 years after the ages they supposedly chronicled, as pious fables.
* In the 1970s, however, archaeologists uncovered six settlements full
of artifacts, soon identified by scholars as sites of Hsia culture. Other
major excavations (1928-37, 1950-59), as well as ancient writing on "oracle
bones," have also provided invaluable information about Shang dynasty.
Such discoveries suggest that "myth" may have a firmer basis in
fact than historians are willing to admit.
* In order to span these gaps in its history, China thus offered many
"myths" about the origins of its culture.
* One notable legend (recorded ca. 1000 B.C.) tells of Yu, the "Chinese
Noah," who drained away the great flood, making China habitable. Yu
also established the first Chinese dynasty--Hsia--probably ca. 2205
- 1766 B.C. Ancient records, now regarded as at least partially accurate,
list seventeen Hsia kings.
* Hsia dynasty replaced by Shang (ca. 1766 - 1123 B. C.--but actual
dates are disputed). Twenty-eight Shang rulers listed in several ancient
documents, twenty-seven of whom have been authenticated by inscriptions
on "oracle bones." Much of what now makes up modern-day China
was ruled by Shang.
* Horse-drawn chariot, originating in Caucasus mountains of Eurasia,
appears ca. 1200 B.C. (may suggest contact with Indo-Europeans).
* First Chinese writing appears around 1400 - 1200 B.C. Principles of
written language established in Shang period retained until modern times.
* Age of Shang aristocratic: noble warriors exploited peasant classes.
* Religion of Shang--mixture of ancestor and nature worship. Gods connected
with great forces of nature--rivers, wind, earth, sun--as well as with specific
locales. But spirits of ancestors seem to have been more important in daily
life than gods.
* Shang King was ruler of patriarchal state where royal authority was
embedded in kinship ties. Thus, political administration based on kinship
alliance, king's gifts of land/serfs to kinsmen, generational status, and
personal charisma. Ties of affection, obligation, servitude more important
than any other. Political state also religious--king a prophet, seer, priest.
Everything held together by pervasive sense of social obligation.
* Shang dynasty played important part in development of Chinese civilization.
But classical period of Chinese history, when ideas that would remain basic
to Chinese life for over 2,000 years first took definite form, came only
after Shang overthrow.
* In First Millenium B.C., invaders from west--Wei River Valley--established
new dynasty: Chou (ca. 1123 - 249 B. C.--dates disputed).
* Chou dynasty composed of several eras:
* Under Chou, Chinese literature first took shape. Three of these ancient
classics remain:
* Early Chou instituted several political theories that influenced China
down to 20th Century:
* From this political theory grew a complementary cosmology (so Emperor
could learn "Heaven's will":
* Early Chou state was feudal monarchy, arranged hierarchically:
--Victorious Emperor parceled out conquered territory among relatives/allies. They, in turn, divided their lands among noble followers. Nobles lived in fortified enclosures (some later developed into cities), surrounded by farmland which supported nobles' domain.
--Each noble had duty to support immediate superior in war and assist him in court rites/ceremonies.
--Eldest sons of chief nobles often sent to school in capital where future emperor was also educated. Over ten-year schooling period, emperor formed intimate relationships with some of his future vassals.
* After destruction of Western Chou, however, feudal system disintegrated,
and individual state bureaucracies took its place. In the end, four powerful
states contended for ultimate sovereignty. Prolonged period of internal
disorder, "Era of Warring States," followed.
* Amid this chaos, it was natural for educated classes to long nostalgically
for "good old days"--when there was central authority, order,
stability, and peace.
* From such nostalgia grew great intellectual ferment, in which many schools of thought competed for philosophical mastery. Eventually, the thought of Confucius (ca. 551 - 479 B.C.)--as expressed in Analects--became dominant social/cultural force, one that continues to influence China today.
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