2070 BC - 220 AD

LAND OF MANY DYNASTIES

 

It has generally been accepted that the Chinese `Cradle of Civilization’ is the Yellow River Valley which gave rise to villages sometime around 5000 BC. While this has been disputed, and arguments have been made for a more wide-spread development of communities, there is no doubt that the Henan province, in the Yellow River Valley, was the site of many early villages and farming communities. In 2001, archaeologists uncovered two skeletons “buried in a collapsed house, which was covered with a thick layer of silt deposits from the Yellow River. In the layer of deposits, archaeologists found more than 20 skeletons, an altar, pottery, and stone and jade utensils”. This site was only one of many prehistoric villages in the area.

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From these small villages and farming communities grew centralized government; the first of which was the prehistoric Xia Dynasty (2070-1600 BC). The Xia Dynasty was considered, for many years, more myth than fact until excavations in the 1960’s and 1970’s uncovered sites which argued strongly for its existence. Bronze works and tombs clearly point to an evolutionary period of development between disparate Stone Age villages and a recognizable cohesive civilization.

 

The dynasty was founded by Yu the Great who worked relentlessly for thirteen years to control the flooding of the Yellow River which routinely destroyed the farmer’s crops. He was so focused on his work that it was said he did not return home once in all those years, even though he seems to have passed by his house on at least three occasions, and this dedication inspired others to follow him. After he had controlled the flooding, Yu conquered the Sanmiao tribes and was named successor (by the then-ruler, Shun),  reigning until his death. Yu established the hereditary system of succession and, so, the concept of dynasty which has become most familiar. The ruling class and the elite lived in urban clusters while the peasant population, which supported their lifestyle, remained largely agrarian, living in rural areas. Yu’s son, Qi, ruled after him and power remained in the hands of the family until the last Xia ruler, Jie, was overthrown by Tang who established the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC).

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Tang was from the kingdom of Shang. The dates popularly assigned to him (1675-1646 BC) do not in any way correspond to the known events in which he took part and must be considered erroneous. What is known is that he was the ruler, or at least a very important personage, in the kingdom of Shang who, around 1600 BC, led a revolt against Jie and defeated his forces at the Battle of Mingtiao. The extravagance of the Xia court, and the resultant burden on the populace, is thought to have led to this uprising. Tang then assumed leadership of the land, lowered taxes, suspended the grandiose building projects begun by Jie (which were draining the kingdoms of resources) and ruled with such wisdom and efficiency that art and culture were allowed to flourish. Writing developed under the Shang Dynasty as well as bronze metallurgy, architecture, and religion.

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Around the year 1046 BC, King Wu, of the province of Zhou, rebelled against King Zhou of Shang and defeated his forces at the Battle of Muye, establishing the Zhou Dynasty (1046- 256 BC). 1046-771 BC marks the Western Zhou Period while 771-226 BC marks the Eastern Zhou Period. The Mandate of Heaven was invoked by the Duke of Zhou, King Wu’s younger brother, to legitimize the revolt as he felt the Shang were no longer acting in the interests of the people. The Mandate of Heaven was thus defined as the gods’ blessing on a just ruler and rule by divine mandate. When the government no longer served the will of the gods, that government would be overthrown. Further, it was stipulated that there could be only one legitimate ruler of China and that his rule should be legitimized by his proper conduct as a steward of the lands entrusted him by heaven. Rule could be passed from father to son but only if the child possessed the necessary virtue to rule. This mandate would later be often manipulated by various rulers entrusting succession to unworthy progeny.

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Under the Zhou, culture flourished and civilization spread. Writing was codified and iron metallurgy became increasingly sophisticated. The greatest and best known Chinese philosophers and poets, Confucius, Mencius, Mo Ti (Mot Zu), Lao-Tzu, Tao Chien, and the military strategist Sun-Tzu (if he existed as depicted), all come from the Zhou period in China and the time of the Hundred Schools of Thought. The chariot, which was introduced to the land under the Shang, became more fully developed by the Zhou. 

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During the Spring and Autumn Period (772-476 BC), the Zhou government became decentralized in their move to the new capital at Luoyang, marking the end of the `Western Zhou’ period and the beginning of `Eastern Zhou’. This is the period most noted for advances in philosophy, poetry, and the arts and saw the rise of Confucian, Taoist, and Mohist thought. At the same time, however, the different states were breaking away from central rule by Luoyang and proclaiming themselves sovereign. This, then, led to the so-called Warring States Period (476-221 BC) in which seven states fought with each other for control. The seven states were Chu, Han, Qi, Qin, Wei, Yan, and Zhao all of whom considered themselves sovereign but none of whom felt confident in claiming the Mandate of Heaven still held by the Zhou of Luoyang.

 

All seven of the states used the same tactics and observed the same rules of conduct in battle and so none could gain the advantage over the others. This situation was exploited by the pacifist philosopher Mo Ti, a skilled engineer, who made it his mission to provide each state with equal knowledge of fortifications and siege ladders in hopes of neutralizing any one state’s advantage and so ending the war. His efforts were unsuccessful however and, between 262 and 260 BC, the state of Qin gained supremacy over Zhao, finally defeating them at The Battle of Changping.

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Shi Huangti thus established the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) which is also known as the Imperial Era in China. He ordered the destruction of the walled fortifications which had separated the different states and commissioned the building of a great wall along the northern border of his kingdom. Though little remains today of Shi Huangti’s original wall, The Great Wall of China was begun under his rule.

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          "It stretched for over 5,000 kilometres (3,000 miles) across hill and plain, from the boundaries of Korea in the east to the troublesome Ordos Desert in            the west. It was an enormous logistical undertaking, though for much of its course it incorporated lengths of earlier walls built by the separate                        Chinese kingdoms to defend their northern frontiers in the fourth and third centuries." (Scarre and Fagan, 382).

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Shi Huangdi also strengthened the infrastructure through road building which helped to increase trade through ease of travel. He expanded the boundaries of his empire, built the Grand Canal in the south, redistributed land and, initially, was a fair and just ruler. While he made great strides in building projects and military campaigns, his rule became increasingly characterized by a heavy hand in domestic policy. Claiming the Mandate from Heaven, he suppressed all philosophies save Legalism (a Classical Chinese philosophy that emphasizes the need for order above all other human concerns) which had been developed by Shang Yang and, heeding the counsel of his chief advisor, Li Siu, he ordered the destruction of any history or philosophy books which did not correspond to Legalism, his family line, the state of Qin, or himself.

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This act, along with Shi Huangdi’s suppression of general freedoms, including freedom of speech, made him progressively more unpopular. The ancestor worship of the past, and the land of the dead, began to interest the emperor more than his realm of the living and Shi Huangdi became increasingly engrossed in what this other world consisted of and how he might avoid traveling there. He seems to have developed an obsession with death, became increasingly paranoid regarding his personal safety, and ardently sought after immortality.

 

His desire to provide for himself an afterlife commensurate with his present one led him to commission a palace built for his tomb and an army of over 8,000 terracotta warriors created to serve him in eternity. This ceramic army, buried with him, also included terracotta chariots, cavalry, a commander in chief, and assorted birds and animals. He is said to have died while on a quest for an elixir of immortality and Li Siu, hoping to gain control of the government, kept his death a secret until he could alter his will to name his pliable son, Hu-Hai, as heir. This plan proved untenable, however, as the young prince showed himself to be quite unstable, executing many, and initiating a widespread rebellion in the land. Shortly after Shi Huangti’ s death, the Qin Dynasty quickly collapsed through the intrigue and ineptitude of people like Hu-Hai, Li Siu, and another advisor, Zhao Gao, and the Han Dynasty began with the accession of Liu-Bang.

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With the fall of the Qin Dynasty, China was plunged into chaos. Two generals emerged among the forces which rebelled against the Qin, Prince Liu-Bang of Hanzhong and King Xiang-Yu of the state of Chu, who fought for control of the government. Xiang-Yu, who had proven himself the most formidable opponent of the Qin, awarded Liu-Bang the title of `King of the Han’ in recognition of Liu-Bang’s decisive defeat of the Qin forces in the final battle. The two former allies quickly became antagonists, however, in the power struggle known as the Chu-Han contention until Xiang-Yu negotiated the Treaty of Hong Canal and brought a temporary peace. Xiang-Yu suggested dividing China under the rule of the Chu in the east and the Han in the west but Liu-Bang wanted a united China under Han rule and, breaking the treaty, resumed hostilities.

 

At the Battle of Gaixia in 202 BC, Liu-Bang’s great general, Han-Xin, trapped and defeated the forces of Chu under Xiang-Yu and Liu-Bang was proclaimed emperor (known to posterity as Emperor Gaozu of Han). Xiang-Yu committed suicide but his family was allowed to live and even serve in government positions. Liu-Bang treated all of his former adversaries with respect and united the land under his rule. He pushed back the nomadic Xiongnu tribes, who had been making incursions into China, and made peace with the other states which had risen in rebellion against the failing Qin Dynasty. The Han Dynasty (which derives its name from Liu-Bang’s home in Hanzhong province) would rule China, with a brief interruption, for the next 400 years, from 202 BC to 220 CE.

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The resultant peace initiated by Liu-Bang brought the stability necessary for culture to again thrive and grow. Trade with the west began during this time and arts and technology increased in sophistication. The Han are considered the first dynasty to write their history down but, as Shi Huangti destroyed so many of the written records of those who came before him, this claim is often disputed. There is no doubt, however, that great advances were made under the Han in every area of culture. The Yellow Emperor’s Canon of Medicine, China’s earliest written record on medicine, was codified during the Han Dynasty. Gunpowder, which the Chinese had already invented, became more refined. Paper was invented at this time and writing became more sophisticated.  Liu-Bang embraced Confucianism and made it the exclusive philosophy of the government, setting a pattern which would continue on to the present day. Even so, unlike Shi Huangti, he practised tolerance for all other philosophies and, as a result, literature and education flourished under his reign. He reduced taxes and disbanded his army who, nevertheless, rallied without delay when called upon.

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After his death in 195 BC, the crown prince Liu Ying succeeded him and continued his policies. These programmes maintained stability and culture enabling the greatest of the Han emperors, Wu Ti (also known as Han Wu the Great, 141- 87 BC), to embark on his enterprises of expansion, public works, and cultural initiatives. He sent his emissary Zhang Qian to the west in 138 BC which resulted in the official opening of the Silk Road in 130 BC. Confucianism was further incorporated as the official doctrine of the government and Wu Ti established schools throughout the empire to foster literacy and teach Confucian precepts. He also reformed transportation, roads, and trade and decreed many other public projects, employing millions as state workers in these undertakings. After Wu Ti, his successors, more or less, maintained his vision for China and enjoyed equal success.

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Increase in wealth led to the rise of large estates and general prosperity but, for the peasants who worked the land, life became increasingly difficult. In 9 CE, the acting regent, Wang Mang, usurped control of the government claiming the Mandate of Heaven for himself and declaring an end to the Han Dynasty. Wang Mang founded the Xin Dynasty (9-23 CE) on a platform of extensive land reform and redistribution of wealth. He initially had enormous support from the peasant population and was opposed by the landowners. His programmes, however, were poorly conceived and executed resulting in widespread unemployment and resentment. Uprisings, and extensive flooding of the Yellow River, further destabilized Wang Mang’s rule and he was assassinated by an angry mob of the peasants on whose behalf he had ostensibly seized the government and initiated his reforms.

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The rise of the Xin Dynasty ended the period known as Western Han and its demise led to the establishment of the Eastern Han period. Emperor Guang-Wu returned the lands to the wealthy estate owners and restored order in the land, maintaining the policies of the earlier Western Han rulers. Guang-Wu, in reclaiming lands lost under the Xin Dynasty, was forced to spend much of his time putting down rebellions and re-establishing Chinese rule in the regions of modern-day Korea and Vietnam.

 

Even so, the emperor consolidated his rule and even expanded his boundaries, providing stability which gave rise to an increase in trade and prosperity. By the time of the Emperor Zhang (75-88 CE), China was so prosperous that it was partners in trade with all the major nations of the day and continued in this way after his death. The Romans under Marcus Aurelius, in 166 CE, considered Chinese silk more precious than gold and paid China whatever price was asked.

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Disputes between the landed gentry and the peasants, however, continued to cause problems for the government as exemplified in the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the Five Pecks of Rice Rebellion (both in 184 CE). While the Five Pecks of Rice Rebellion began as a religious conflict, it involved a large number of the peasant class at odds with the Confucian ideals of the government and the elite. The power of the government to control the people began to disintegrate until full-scale rebellion erupted. The rebel generals Cao-Cao and Yuan-Shao then fought each other for control of the land with Cao-Cao emerging victorious. Cao was then defeated at the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 CE and China divided into three warring kingdoms: Cao Wei, Eastern Wu, and Shu Han.

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The Han Dynasty was now a memory and other, shorter-lived dynasties (such as the Wei and Jin, the Wu Hu, and the Sui) assumed control of the government and initiated their own platforms from roughly 208-618 CE. The Sui Dynasty (589-618 CE) finally succeeded in reuniting China in 589 CE. The importance of the Sui Dynasty is in its implementation of highly efficient bureaucracy which streamlined the operation of government and led to greater ease in maintaining the empire. Under Emperor Wen, and then his son, Yang, the Grand Canal was constructed, the Great Wall was enlarged and portions rebuilt, the army was increased to the largest recorded in the world at that time, and coinage was standardized across the realm.

 

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Literature flourished and it is thought that the famous Legend of Hua Mulan, about a young girl who takes her father’s place in the army, was composed, or at least set down, at this time (the Wei Dynasty has also been cited as the era of the poem’s composition). Unfortunately, both Wen and Yang were not content with domestic stability and organized massive expeditions against the Korean peninsula. Wen had already bankrupted the treasury through his building projects and military campaigns and Yang followed his father’s example and failed equally in his attempts at military conquest. Yang was assassinated in 618 BC, which then sparked the uprising of Li-Yuan who took control of the government and called himself Emperor Gao-Tzu of Tang.

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The Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) is considered the `golden age’ of Chinese civilization. Gao-Tzu prudently maintained, and improved upon, the bureaucracy initiated by the Sui Dynasty while dispensing with extravagant military operations and building projects. With minor modifications, the bureaucratic policies of the Tang Dynasty are still in use in Chinese government in the modern day. Despite his efficient rule, Gao-Tzu was deposed by his son, Li-Shimin, in 626 CE. Having assassinated his father, Li-Shimin then killed his brothers and others of the noble house and assumed the title Emperor Taizong. After the bloody coup, however, Taizong decreed that Buddhist temples be built at the sites of the battles and that the fallen should be memorialized. Continuing, and building upon, the concepts of ancestor worship and the Mandate of Heaven, Taizong claimed divine will in his actions and intimated that those he had killed now were his counsellors in the afterlife. As he proved to be a remarkably efficient ruler, as well as a skilled military strategist and warrior, his coup went unchallenged and he set about the task of governing his vast empire.

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Taizong followed his father’s precepts in keeping much of what was good from the Sui Dynasty and improving upon it. He ignored his father’s model of foreign policy, however, and embarked on a series of successful military campaigns which extended and secured his empire and also served to spread his legal code and Chinese culture. Trade flourished within the empire and, along the Silk Road, with the West. Rome having now fallen, the Byzantine Empire became a prime buyer of Chinese silk. By the time of the rule of Emperor Xuanzong (712-756 CE) China was the largest, most populous, and most prosperous country in the world. Owing to the large population, armies of many thousands of men could be conscripted into service and military campaigns against Turkish nomads or domestic rebels were swift and successful. Art, technology, and science all flourished under the Tang Dynasty (although the high point in the sciences is considered to be the later Song Dynasty of 960-1234 CE) and some of the most impressive pieces of Chinese sculpture and silver-work come from this period.

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Still, the central government was not universally admired and regional uprisings were a regular concern. The most important of these was the An Shi Rebellion (also known as the An Lushan Rebellion) of 755 CE. General An Lushan, a favourite of the Imperial Court, recoiled against what he saw as excessive extravagance in government. With a force of over 100,000 troops, he rebelled and declared himself the new emperor by the precepts of the Mandate of Heaven. Although his revolt was put down by 763 CE, the underlying causes of the insurrection, and further military actions, continued to plague the government through 779 CE.

 

The most apparent consequence of An Lushan’s rebellion was a dramatic reduction in the population of China. It has been estimated that close to 36 million people died as a direct result of the rebellion, either in battle, in reprisals, or through disease and lack of resources. Trade suffered, taxes went uncollected, and the government, which had fled Chang’an when the revolt began, was ineffective in maintaining any kind of significant presence. The Tang Dynasty continued to suffer from domestic revolts and, after the Huang Chao Rebellion (874-884 CE) never recovered. The country broke apart into the period known as The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907-960 CE), with each regime claiming for itself legitimacy, until the rise of the Song Dynasty.

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With the Song, China became stable once again and institutions, laws, and customs were further codified and integrated into the culture. Neo-Confucianism became the most popular philosophy of the country, influencing these laws and customs, and shaping the culture of China recognizable in the modern day. Still, in spite of advances in every area of civilization and culture, the age-old strife between wealthy landowners and the peasants who worked that land continued throughout the following centuries. Periodic peasant revolts were crushed as quickly as possible but no remedies for the people’s grievances were ever offered and each military action continued to deal with the symptom of the problem instead of the problem itself. In 1949 CE, Mao Tse Tung led the people’s revolution in China, toppling the government and instituting the People’s Republic of China on the premise that, finally, everyone would be equally affluent.

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RELIGION

Religious practices in ancient China go back over 7,000 years. Long before the philosophical and spiritual teachings of Confucius and Lao-Tzu developed or before the teachings of the Buddha came to China, the people worshipped personifications of nature and then of concepts like "wealth" or "fortune" which developed into a religion. These beliefs still influence religious practices today. For example, the Tao te Ching of Taoism maintains that there is a universal force known as the Tao which flows through all things and binds all things but makes no mention of specific gods to be worshipped; still, modern Taoists in China (and elsewhere) worship many gods at private altars and in public ceremonies which originated in the country's ancient past.

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The gods grew out of people's observance of natural phenomena which either frightened them and caused uncertainty or assured them of a benevolent world, which would protect them and help them succeed. As time passed, these beliefs became standardized and the gods were given names and personalities, and rituals developed to honor the deities. All of these practices were eventually standardized as "religion" in China just as similar beliefs and rituals were everywhere else in the ancient world. At the Neolithic site of Banpo Village in modern Shaanxi Province (dated to between c. 4500-3750 BC) 250 tombs were found containing grave goods, which point to a belief in life after death. There is also a ritualistic pattern to how the dead were buried with tombs oriented west to east to symbolize death and rebirth. 

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The Yangshao Culture was matrilineal, meaning women were dominant, so this religious figure would have been a woman based on the grave goods found. There is no evidence of any high-ranking males in the burials but a significant amount of females. Scholars believe that the early religious practices were also matrilineal and most likely animistic, where people worship personifications of nature, and usually feminine deities were benevolent and male deities malevolent, or at least more to be feared.

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By the time of the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC) these religious beliefs had developed so that now there was a definite "king of the gods" named Shangti and many lesser gods of other names. Shangti presided over all the important matters of state and was a very busy god. He was rarely sacrificed to because people were encouraged not to bother him with their problems. Ancestor worship may have begun at this time but, more likely, started much earlier.

Evidence of a strong belief in ghosts, in the form of amulets and charms, goes back to at least the Shang Dynasty and ghost stories are among the earliest form of Chinese literature.

 

Ghosts (known as guei or kuei) were the spirits of deceased persons who had not been buried correctly with due honors or were still attached to the earth for other reasons. They were called by a number of names but in one form, jiangshi ("stiff body"), they appear as zombies. Ghosts played a very important role in Chinese religion and culture and still do. The ritual still practiced in China today known as Tomb Sweeping Day (usually around April 4) is observed to honor the dead and make sure they are happy in the afterlife. If they are not, they are thought to return to haunt the living. The Chinese visit the graves of their ancestors on Tomb Sweeping Day during the Festival of Qingming, even if they never do at any other time of the year, to tend the graves and pay their respects. When someone died naturally or was buried with the proper honors, there was no fear of them returning as a ghost. The Chinese believed that, if the person had lived a good life, they went to live with the gods after death. 

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The spirits of these ancestors could help a person in life by revealing the future to them. Divination became a significant part of Chinese religious beliefs and was performed by people with mystical powers (what one would call a "psychic" in the modern day) one would pay to tell one's future through oracle bones. It is through these oracle bones that writing developed in China. The mystic would write the question on the shoulder bone of an ox or turtle shell and apply heat until it cracked; whichever way the crack went would determine the answer. It was not the mystic or the bone which gave the answer but one's ancestors who the mystic communed with. 

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There were over 200 gods in the Chinese pantheon whose names were recorded during and after the Shang Dynasty. The early gods, before Shangti, were spirits of a place known as Tudi Gong ("Lord of the Place" or "Earth God"). These were earth spirits who inhabited a specific place and only had power in that locale. The Tudi Gong were sometimes thought to be an important member of the community who had died but remained in spirit as a guardian but, more often, they were ancient spirits who inhabited a certain area of land. These spirits were helpful if people acknowledged and honored them, and vengeful if they were ignored or neglected. The Chinese concept of Feng Shui comes from the belief in the Tudi Gong.

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These local earth spirits continued to be venerated even after gods developed who were more universal. One of the first deities acknowledged who probably began as a local spirit was the dragon. The dragon is one of the oldest gods of China. Dragon images have been found on the Neolithic pottery at Banpo Village and other sites. The Dragon King known as Yinglong was god of rain, both gentle rain for the crops and terrible storms, also as Lord of the Sea and protector of heroes, kings, and those who fought for right. Dragon statuary and imagery is routinely used in Chinese art and architecture to symbolize protection and success.  

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Confucius' main interest was to figure out ways for the government to do a better job of taking care of the people. He lived in China during the 500's BC, under the Eastern Zhou dynasty. While he was in Zhou, Confucius may have gotten to know Lao Zu, who was later on the creator of the philosophy of Taoism. Lao Tsu believed that the way to happiness was for people to learn to "go with the flow." Instead of trying to get things done the hard way, people should take the time to figure out the natural, or easy way to do things, and then everything would get done more simply. This idea is called "wu-wei", which means "doing by not doing".

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Taoism is a philosophy or way of life that may have been started by a man named Lao Tsu (or Lao Tzu) who lived a little before Confucius, about 600 BC. Tao means the "way" or the "path". According to the traditional story, Lao Tsu worked as a librarian in the emperor's library (this was in the Eastern Zhou dynasty).

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In the 1st century CE, Buddhism arrived in China via trade through the Silk Road. According to the legend, the Han emperor Ming (28-75 CE) had a vision of a golden god flying through the air and asked his secretary who that could be. The assistant told him he had heard of a god in India who shone like the sun and flew in the air, and so Ming sent emissaries to bring Buddhist teachings to China. Buddhism quickly combined with the earlier folk religion and incorporated ancestor worship and veneration of Buddha as a god.

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Buddhism was welcomed in China and took its place alongside Confucianism, Taoism, and the blended folk religion as a major influence on the spiritual lives of the people. When the Han Dynasty fell, China entered a period known as The Three Kingdoms (220-263 CE) which was similar to the Warring States Period in bloodshed, violence, and disorder. The brutality and uncertainty of the period influenced Buddhism in China which struggled to meet the spiritual needs of the people at the time by developing rituals and practices of transcendence. The Buddhist schools of Ch'an (better known as Zen), Pure Land, and others took on form at this time.

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Buddhism introduced a new kind of ghost to China, the egui ("Hungry Ghost"), which became one of the most feared. The modern day Ghost Festival in China (also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival) grew out of this belief. Hungry ghosts were spirits of those who had been murdered, improperly buried, or had sinned and not been forgiven. They could also be people who had never been satisfied with anything in life and were no happier in death. People would leave food out for them during Ghost Month to appease them and went to the graves of their ancestors to sacrifice food so they would not become hungry ghosts.

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Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and the early folk religion combined to form the basis of Chinese culture. Other religions have added their own influences but these four belief structures had the most impact on the country and the culture. Religious beliefs have always been very important to the Chinese people even though the People's Republic of China originally outlawed religion when it took power in 1949 CE. The People's Republic saw religion as unnecessary and divisive, and during the Cultural Revolution temples were destroyed, churches burned, or converted to secular uses. In the 1970's CE the People's Republic relaxed its stand on religion and since then has worked to encourage organized religion as "psychologically hygienic" and a stabilizing influence in the lives of its citizens. 

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CULTURE

When the great empires formed, about 500 BC, people in China also began to trade a lot with other people all across Asia, along the Silk Road. Some of the traders went south to India, and some went along the northern Silk Road through Uzbekistan to the Persian Empire. China shipped silk, tea, and porcelain west to Central Asia, and imported horses, gold, silver, wool carpets, glass, and steel.

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People first used cowrie shells for money in China as early as 1800 BC, under the Shang Dynasty. People used cowrie shells for money all across Asia, and in Africa too. Cowrie shells were rare enough to be valuable, and small enough to carry conveniently. But later, when it was hard to get enough cowrie shells, people in China switched to using metal imitations of cowrie shells, and then metal strings of beads called cash.

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In the Han Dynasty, people in China began running businesses digging deep pits to get salt to sell. Most of the men who worked in the mines were probably slaves. Around the same time, Chinese silk workers developed steel sewing needles so they could sell fancy embroidered silk cloth. Then Chinese traders began to sell a new Chinese invention, paper, on the Silk Road too.

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As the Silk Road continued to bring imports to China, gradually people in China began to make some of these things for themselves. By the 400's AD, Chinese manufacturers were blowing their own glass. About 1200 AD, with the encouragement of Kublai Khan, they were growing their own cotton, and spinning thread much faster on the new spinning wheels. By about 1100 AD, under the Song Dynasty, there was such a shortage of silver for coins that people in China started to use the world's first paper money.

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People in China generally wore tunics (like long t-shirts). Women wore long tunics down to the ground, with belts, and men wore shorter ones down to their knees. Sometimes they wore jackets over their tunics. In the winter, when it was cold, people wore padded jackets over their tunics, and sometimes pants under them. In early China, poor people made their clothes of hempor ramie, which is a plant like nettles. Rich people wore silk. Most people in China, both men and women, wore their hair long. People said that you got your hair from your parents and so it was disrespectful to cut it.

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In the Song Dynasty, about 1100 AD, a fashion started at the emperor's court for women to bind their feet. Women thought that to be beautiful they needed little tiny feet, only about three inches long. They got these tiny feet by wrapping tight bandages around the feet of little girls, about five or six years old. The bandages were so tight they broke the girls' toes and bent them underneath their feet and then they had to walk on them like that. The girls spent most of their time crying for two or three years and then the feet stopped hurting so much. Women with bound feet couldn't walk very well at all, and when they had to work in the fields often they would crawl. Some of the earliest versions of the story of Cinderella come from Song Dynasty China. In these versions, the point of the story is that the Prince loves Cinderella because she has the smallest feet of any girl in the kingdom, so the slipper will only fit her.

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People in China were using written numbers by about 1500 BC, in the Shang Dynasty. This is about two thousand years later than people began to write numbers in West Asia, and more than a thousand years later than people began to write numbers in India. Nobody knows whether people in China thought of the idea to write numbers for themselves or learned it from people in West Asia or India. Chinese people counted in base ten, like people in India. But the Chinese system was more efficient. In China, people wrote the number 465 like this: 4 times the symbol for hundreds plus 6 times the symbol for ten plus 5. This way of writing numbers made it easier to do addition and multiplication than the West Asian system, which used base 60.

 

For calculating, Chinese people used number rods: they arranged short bamboo rods in patterns, with the numbers from 1-10 represented by horizontal rods, while the tens place had vertical rods, and the hundreds were horizontal again (6-9 are upside-down versions rather than really horizontal). There was no mark for zero, but you left a space, and having two horizontal or two vertical places next to each other showed that there was a space left.

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About this time, in the early Han Dynasty, Chinese scholars began to write math textbooks. Silk Road traders and Chinese government administrators used these math books - they needed to know how to keep accounts, survey land, and generally run the government. The earliest Chinese mathematical textbook is called the Nine Chapters; it includes a chapter on how to solve simultaneous equations (more than one algebraic equation at the same time). After the fall of the Han Dynasty in the 200's AD, the Chinese mathematician Liu Hui calculated the volume of a cylinder. By 450 AD, Zu Chongzhi built on Liu Hui's work to figure out what pi was to seven decimal places, and to calculate the volume of a sphere (as Archimedes had done 700 years earlier).

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Under the Song Dynasty, there were many math colleges or institutes in China. In the 1200's, the mathematician Qin Jiushao worked on solving quadratic equations like x2 + 2xy + y2, cubic equations with x3 and on up to tenth order (x10) (which again had been done by Euclid about 1400 years earlier, or maybe even earlier by Pythagoras). Qin Jiushao also brought the use of zero from India to China, just about the same time that it first reached Europe.

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About this same time, people in China began to use the abacus. Nobody knows whether the abacus was invented in Iran or in China. If you knew how to use it, the abacus was very fast, almost like a modern calculator. Eventually most people in China stopped using the counting rods and started to use the abacus instead.

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Ancient Chinese writing evolved from the practice of divination during the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC). Some theories suggest that images and markings on pottery shards found at Ban Po Village are evidence of an early writing system but this claim has been challenged repeatedly. Ban Po was occupied c. 4500-3750 BC and was discovered by workmen digging a foundation for a factory in 1953 CE. Ceramic shards uncovered at the site have been classified into 27 distinct categories of image/sign which suggest to some scholars an early language. The opposing view is that these images are simply marks of ownership, comparable to making an X on a document to sign one's name, and cannot be considered an actual written language. These symbols are thought to be family or clan emblems that identify the ownership or provenance of the pottery or jades.

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Once writing was developed by the Chinese it had a significant impact on the culture. Ebrey writes, "In China, as elsewhere, writing once adopted has profound effects on social and cultural processes(26)." The bureaucracy of China came to rely on written records and, culturally, expression of personal thoughts and feelings was made possible through poetry and prose, creating some of the greatest literature in the world.

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Whatever the obscure initial phase of written Chinese was, its appearance during the Shang dynasty already exhibited sign of a very complex system. The earliest form of Chinese writing is called the oracle bone script, used from 1500 to 1000 BC. This script was etched onto turtle shells and animals bones, which were then heated until cracks would appear. By interpreting the pattern of the cracks, Shang court officials would make divinations of future events, hence giving the name "oracle bones" to these animal bones. 

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The rough translation of this text is "on day hsin mao, it is divined on this day hsin that it will rain or not rain." This is actually fairly typical of the content of oracle bones, in that the priest will carve both positive and negative outcomes of the divination onto the bone, and depending on how the cracks appear one of the outcomes will be chosen as the augury.

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From these early beginnings, Chinese script evolved. These scripts were:

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Jiaguwen - the earliest form of writing on Oracle bones used c. 1600-1000 BC. This script was pictographic, meaning the inscription represented an object linked to a concept. 

Dazhuan - known as Greater Seal script, developed c. 1000-700 BC. This was also a pictographic script but had many more characters and was more refined. The images were inscribed on bronze and probably wood.

Xiaozhuan - known as Lesser Seal script, developed c. 700 BC and is still in use today. This script was less pictographic and more logographic, meaning the symbols represented concepts themselves, not objects.

Lishu - known as Clerk Script, was developed c. 500 BC and used during the Qin Dynasty (221 - 206 BC) and Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 CE) extensively. Lishu grew out of the need for complete documentation of government affairs and, as the name indicates, was used by clerks in their work in governmental bureaucracy. Sentences were written on bamboo scrolls tied together with string.

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Chinese script was adopted by Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, and became the basis for Khitan Script (Mongolia), Jurchen Script (of the Manchus), and the Yi Script of the indigenous people of Yunnan Province which differs from traditional Chinese script. It further influenced other nations of the region as seen in the Tangut Script of Tibet. Script enabled the Chinese, and then those of other nations, not only to communicate and keep records but also to create some of the most memorable works in world literature. 

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MUSIC

Traditional Chinese music can be traced back 7,000 - 8,000 years based on the discovery of a bone flute made in the Neolithic Age. In the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, only royal families and dignitary officials enjoyed music, which was made on chimes and bells. During the Tang Dynasty, dancing and singing entered the mainstream, spreading from the royal court to the common people. With the introduction of foreign religions such as Buddhism and Islam, exotic and religious melodies were absorbed into Chinese music and were enjoyed by the Chinese people at fairs organized by religious temples.

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Instruments

Eight thousand years ago, people in central China delighted to the airy timber of tonally precise flutes. Made from the wing bones of red-crowned cranes, these remarkable Neolithic end-blown flutes, the world’s oldest playable instruments, are witnesses to a dynamic musical tradition that was astonishingly sophisticated both acoustically and musically. Unearthed in Jiahu, Henan Province, in 1986 and preserved in the Henan Provincial Museum, Zhengzhou, the flutes, known as gudi, possess five to eight perfectly spaced and fastidiously drilled finger holes. These rare instruments clearly document the maker’s hand in applying acoustic accuracy in the service of music. It is believed that the flutes played a role in ritual as music was often connected to cosmology and the stability of the state.

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In the period between 3,500 and 2,000 years ago, Chinese rulers constructed elaborate tombs containing weapons, vessels, and remains of servants and, in some cases, full ensembles of musical instruments such as stone chimes (known today as qing), ovoid clay ocarinas (xun), and drums. In addition to these instruments, Shang-dynasty finds (ca. 1600–1046 BC) include beautifully decorated dual-toned bronze bells with and without clappers (ling and nao), barrel-shaped drums (gu), and bronze drums. Hints as to the use of these instruments were inscribed on small pieces of bone (oracle bones) dating from the fourteenth to the twelfth century BC. These pictographs make reference to ritual dance and music, and those depicting instruments are easily equated with modern Chinese characters.

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Zhou-dynasty (1046–256 BC) musical ensembles contained highly complex and varied instruments. Orchestras consisting of exceptionally decorated instruments, notably one discovered in 1978 in the tomb of the Marquis Yi of the former Zeng state (Hubei Province, 5th century BC), reveal an astonishing understanding of the interplay between physics, acoustics, metallurgy, and design. Some 125 instruments, including sets of tuned bells and stone slabs suspended from ornate tiered stands, transverse flutes (chi), bamboo panpipes, mouth organs producing several pitches at once (sheng), zithers (qin and se), and drums comprise an ensemble that was the most sophisticated and complex of its time.

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In addition to the royal and ritual instruments found in tombs, many types of instruments serving popular and folk traditions existed, and of these, only vague written references or visual iconography survives. Significantly, instruments such as the harps, lutes, and drums depicted in the caves at Dunhuang and other oasis towns in Central Asia were making their way into China from the south and west as trade began along the routes that would become the 

Silk Road.

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From the earliest historical periods, particularly in ritual music from the Bronze Age onward, bells have been an essential component of instrumental ensembles in China. The earliest known bronze bells, from the Shang dynasty, are the type called nao, in which the mouth of the bell faces up, and seem to have been played singly or in sets of three or five. After the tenth century, during the Zhou dynasty, sets of bells of the zhong type, suspended from a wood frame, were used.

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Both the zhong and the nao are struck externally and, thanks to their unique construction, are capable of producing two accurately tuned tones of intervals sounding a major or minor third. Both types are expertly cast, with sides that flare from the crown to the mouth, which is elliptical in cross section and concave in profile. Such a shape, used for small animal bells since 1500 BC, provides one tone when struck in the center and another when struck on the side. The earliest evidence of a chromatic scale is a set of ten nao from the tenth or eleventh century BC, unearthed in 1993 in Ningxiang, Hunan Province. The handle-like stem projecting from the crown helps to secure the bell to a frame. Tuned bells ranged greatly in size; some were only about nine inches tall, while the largest found to date is about 40 inches tall and weighs 488 pounds.

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​In the Song Dynasty, original opera such as Zaju and Nanxi was performed in tearooms, theaters, and showplaces. Writers and artists liked it so much that Ci, a new type of literature resembling lyrics, thrived. During the Yuan Dynasty, qu, another type of literature based on music became popular. This was also a period when many traditional musical instruments were developed such as the pipa, the flute, and the zither.

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Horse-Headed Fiddle

The Horse-headed fiddle is a bowed stringed-instrument with a scroll carved like a horse's head. With a history of over 1,300 years, it even influenced European string music when Marco Polo brought one back from his travels through Asia. Its wide tonal range and deep, hazy tone color express the joy or pathos of a melody to its fullest.

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Lute (Pipa)

Originally named after the loquat fruit, the earliest pipa known was found to have been made in the Qin Dynasty (221 BC – 206 BC). By the the Tang Dynasty (618 CE - 907 CE), the pipa had reached its summit. It was loved by everyone, from the royal court to the common folk, and it occupied the predominant place in the orchestra. Many well known writers and poets created poems and mentioned it in their works. Bai Juyi, the master poet, vividly depicted the performance like this: rapid and soft notes mingled were just like big and small pearls dropping onto the jade plates.

 

Afterwards, the pipa underwent improvement in playing techniques and structure. Players then changed from holding the pipa transversely to holding it vertically, and from using a pick to using the fingers to pluck the strings directly. In modern times, the volume and resonance has also been improved. The traditional work 'Spring Moonlight on the Flowers by the River', which has a history of over one hundred years, has brought harmony and a sense of beauty to untold numbers of people.

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Erhu

The erhu can be traced back to proto-Mongolic instruments introduced to China more than a thousand years ago. It is believed to have evolved from the Xiqin (奚 琴). The xiqin is believed to have originated from the Xi people of Central Asia, and have come to China in the 10th century.

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When playing, the player usually stands the Erhu on his lap, and moves the bow across the vertical strings. The well-known music 'Two Springs Reflect the Moon' was created by the blind folk artist Liu Yanjun, also named A Bing by the people. Though he could not see anything of the world, he played his Erhu using his heart and imagination. 

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Tradition

Confucius is said to have lived between 551 BC – 479 BC. He is credited for setting the tone for much traditional Chinese music for thousands of years. It is thought that he was a prominent music teacher and a talented musician who was able to play several instruments expertly. He also was China's foremost social philosopher. In Confucian teachings, the purpose and role of music are laid out and the qualities of "good music" are defined.

 

Perhaps for other people around the world, music was meant mainly for amusement and entertainment. But during the time of the Zhou Dynasty about 500 BC and afterwards, music had the crucial role of an important pillar of society.

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Confucius taught that:

          “To educate somebody, you should start with poems, emphasize ceremonies, and finish with music.”

 

Musical knowledge was a matter of higher learning. It is said that he thought of the six most important subjects to study, studying music was second in importance only to the study of ritual or public ceremonies. He ranked music higher than the other four necessary subjects (archery, chariot-riding, calligraphy or writing, and computation or mathematics).

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Music was so important because the ideal society was to be governed by rites, ritual and ceremonial functions, but not by law or raw power. In a culture where people function according to ritual and ceremony, music is used to help conduct and govern them. Music wasn’t really entertainment, but a means for musicians to accomplish political and social goals. Music was ultimately a means for optimizing social utility or happiness.

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To establish peace and initiate proper conduct, it was important that the music be generally simple, induce tranquility, and facilitate the appropriate conduct in the ceremonial context. The instruments should be played with correct technique as a model for proper behavior.

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In official functions, to produce the proper respect for the authority and an optimal audience response, music should have a “magnificent beginning,” be “harmonic” and “clear,” have an easy structure, and be “smoothly continuous.” Confucius' aesthetic standard for music has influenced China for the last two millenniums.

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