MT1 Week4 China

Question 1

China

Answer 1

China is a vast area with significant variation in its physical geography

¨The areas that we will look at are two major river valleys
¡Huanghe (Yellow) River in the north
¡Yangtze River in the south

¨Both river valleys have evidence for the origins of agriculture and early state development

Question 2

The north: Huanghe River valley

Answer 2

¨Huanghe River flows through a region of loess soil deposited in the last ice age by glacial winds

¨These are dry and permeable soils

¨Region has cold winters

¨Early agriculture in this region based in drought resistant millet farming

Question 3

Peiligang Culture 7000-­5000 BC

Answer 3

¨Peiligang culture is the earliest known Neolithic culture in Huanghe River valley

¨Farmers had domesticated broomcorn and foxtail millets & Chinese cabbage

¨Foxtail millet probably domesticated by 10ky

¨Peiligang sites also have bones of domesticated pigs, dogs, fowl and they collected wild animals/plant foods

Question 4

Yangshao culture 5000-­3000 BC

Answer 4

Develops from the Peligang culture

¨Farmed foxtail millet, Chinese cabbage, silk, hemp, chestnuts, domesticated soybean

¨Pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, dogs

¨spatially planned communities

¨One village: Banpo with 100 houses, surrounded by ditch, with cemetery and pottery kilns located outside the ditch

Question 5

Yangshao Pottery

Answer 5

Yangshao is considered to be the roots of Chinese culture

¨They produced decorated pottery

¨Cooking vessels included steaming pots that are considered as evidence for the beginning of Chinese cuisine

¨Signs or marks on Yangshao pots – these are not viewed as a language but they might be maker’s marks

Question 6

The South: The Yangtze River Valley

Answer 6

¨The Yangtze River area is warmer and better watered with milder winters and hot summers

¨In this area rice was cultivated in waterlogged fields

¨Asian rice was domesticated in the middle Yangtze ~9,500 BC

¨Several early neolithic groups in this area but the most important evidence comes from site of Hemudu

Question 7

Hemudu (or Ho-­mu-­tu) 5000 BC

Answer 7

This is a wet site with excellent preservation

¨Evidence of rice-­paddy cultivation

¨Recovered a thick layer of rice from a broken granary, also water chestnuts, bottle gourds, acorns, sour jujubes, wild rice

¨Bones of domesticated water buffalo, dogs, pigs are found at this site

¨There were also flutes & a red-­lacquered wooden bowl

Question 8

Middle and Late Neolithic: multiple centers of complexity emerging

Answer 8

¨By 3500 BC farming was spread throughout many parts of China

¨Society’s were becoming more complex and hierarchical in organization

¨Separate centers of complexity:

¡Lower Yangtze Valley (Liangzhu)

¡Manchuria in Northeast (Hongshan)

¡Huanghe Basin (Longshan)

Question 9

Liangzhu 3300-­2200 BC

Answer 9

Early evidence of social hierarchy found in the Yangtze River Delta at Sidun

¨burial of individual under 20m high mound

¨Individual surrounded by 109 jade objects, including bi and cong

¨In historic times bi=heaven, cong=earth, but unclear what it meant or how it was used in ancient times

¨These were important items – often placed near stomach or chest

Question 10

Liangzhu jades

Answer 10

¨Jades carry motifs similar to Taotie designs found on later Shang bronzes

¨Bi and cong also spread to other parts of China – indicates extent of Liangzhu influence

¨Liangzhu was likely a powerful chiefdom or proto-­state

¨It is located outside of the Huanghe Basin but elements of this culture are found in the later Shang state

Question 11

Manchuria: Hongshan Culture

Answer 11

¨Hongshan culture (4000-­3000 BC)

¨Small scattered villages with ceremonial sites & elaborate burials

¨associated with fragments of clay statues some life-­size or larger

¨Niuheliang Temple: complete life-­sized clay female head, jade eyes found in cruciform structure 25m long with semi-­
subterranean chambers

¨Hongshan is a proto-­state

Question 12

Huanghe River Valley

Longshan 2700-­2000 BC

Answer 12

¨Northern China: Longshan (Lungshan) follows the Yangshao

¨Clear evidence of social ranking, unequal distribution of wealth, increased violence (fortified cities/skeletons with trauma)

¨increased political complexity

¨Craft specialization in pottery, copper/bronze, and jade

¨Larger villages with stamped-­earth walls

¨Many elements of Longshan are precursors to the Shang state

Question 13

Longshan horizon: political complexity

Answer 13

¨Interaction sphere of many independent polities

¨Interaction spheres stimulate spread of technology and shared ideology represented in shared material symbols

¨With time material culture becomes more homogenous

¨Different polities may unite into a state

Question 14

Longshan: pottery and ritual

Answer 14

¨Pedestal bowls (tou)

¨Cooking pots (ting) with solid and hollow legs

¨Ceramics are highly burnished, wheel-­made, thin walled (eggshell) black wares

¨Fired at 1200ºC

¨Longshan is also called ‘black pottery culture’

¨Finely made black wares were used as elite grave goods -­forerunners of the Shang bronzes

Question 15

Longshan communities

Answer 15

¨Defensive rectangular walled communities

¨Construction technique called hang tu (rammed earth)

¨Rammed earth walls were up to 10 meters thick and several meters high

¨Spread layer upon layer of loess soil and pounded it with wooden poles

¨Defensive structures had guardhouses of sun dried brick at the entrance

Question 16

Longshan burials

Answer 16

¨Stratified social classes (high, medium, low with further stratification within each of these classes)

¨Highest status: wooden coffins, jade ornaments, ceremonial weapons, fine pottery

¨Evidence of widespread violence

¨At Ch’enh tzu-­yai (Jiangou), 6 individuals in one house scalped, many men, women, children decapitated and thrown down a well

Question 17

Scapulamancy

Answer 17

¨This is a ritual practice to predict the future

¨In Shang times questions were posed to the deities & ancestors

¨These were written on the shoulder blade of an ox or on a turtle shell

¨Hot metal rod was applied

¨Pattern of cracking determined the answers to the questions

¨Answers were also recorded on the bone/shell

¨However, there are no inscriptions on Longshan oracle bones –just the cracking

Question 18

What type of polity built these structures?

Answer 18

¨Unclear if rammed earth enclosures are evidence for an early state

¨They required organized workforce to construct

¨Inside the walls there were craft areas and houses

¨Later in Longshan, settlements have rammed earth platforms that might be foundations for palaces/elite residences

¨Human sacrifices were found in the foundations

Question 19

Taosi

Answer 19

Most important Longshan site

¨280 hectares enclosed with rammed earth wall

¨Elite residences are separated from commoners by dividing walls

¨Taosi had a 3 tiered class system and a 3-­tiered settlement hierarchy

¨Taosi was abandoned at the end of third millennium BC (as were others)

¨Archaeology indicates that the Longshan was a period of warring elites

¨During this period there is a shift in ritual vessels from pottery to copper or bronzes

¨Prefigures the Shang state

Question 20

Origins of the Chinese State

Answer 20

By 2500 BC large urban centers existed n many parts of China (found in recent surveys)

¨In this period there is the emergence of the Chinese style of architecture, art, ideology, writing, cuisine

¨Hierarchical society with marked social differences

¨Longshan is followed by Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties between 2000-­ 250BC (called the Three Dynasties)

¨Known from archaeology/some historic documentation

¨None of these unifies the large number of competing states in China

¨That happens under Qin, much later

Question 21

Xia state 2070-­1600 BC (poorly understood)

Answer 21

¨Founded by Yu the Great

¨Exact location and time of Xia state is unclear

¨Histories written during the Han dynasty pieced together the history of early states, but there is some confusion

¨There is no evidence for the Xia dynasty (nor of the Shang conquering the Xia) in Shang oracle texts

¨’Xia’ sites cannot be distinguished from Shang based on material culture

¨Many believe it is mythical, others that it is real

¨If real, then it was located in Huanghe Valley with its capital at Erlitou

¨Your text blends them together – I will separate them for
now….but it is a controversy

Question 22

Erlitou

Answer 22

¨True city (20,000 people)

¨Similar to other cities of this period and different from Longshan centers:

¡These were elite centers with palace enclosures surrounded by clusters of low-­status villages and workshops

¡Long-­distance exchange for precious materials

¡Bronze is restricted to these centers

¡Centers are found over wider area of China

¨Focus of the state was on ritual & warfare

Question 23

Erlitou – capital of Xia?

Answer 23

¨Erlitou has 2 rectangular palaces built of rammed earth (walls and platform)

¨Interior space is laid out in a highly regulated pattern oriented on the cardinal directions

¨Human sacrifices (one with hands bound behind back) are buried in the foundations

¨Bronze and turquoise workshops under elite control inside the complex

¨Bronzes, turquoise and jades were all items of political power

¨high degree of social stratification

¨Suddenly declines

Question 24

Shang dynasty 1600-­1046 BC

Answer 24

¨Develops in north in the same area as the Yangshao

¨First documented Chinese state (written records)

¨7 capitals in middle Huanghe River valley & all have the same layout

¨China’s first urban civilization

¨1st capital at Ao (buried under modern Zhengzhou)

¨There is archaeology of the royal compound and 33’ tall town wall

Question 25

Anyang (Yin)

Answer 25

¨Large ceremonial and administrative center with royal residences, meeting halls, temples built on rammed earth platforms

¨Elite/noble houses & large buildings are surrounded by burials of animals, chariots, human sacrifices and pits of oracle bones

¨The palace is 60m long

¨Surrounded by craft workshops and pit house residences of commoners

Question 26

Palace-­Temple Complex

Answer 26

Multiple palace temple complexes near Anyang (different kings shifted residences)

¨This one was Huanbei

¨It was intentionally burned down by its ruler after less than 50 years

¨Rammed earth wall around the complex, then inside is the palace complex (2 parts)

¨60 buildings, lots of human sacrifices

¨Main one is largest building of its time in China (palace/temple) –no more than 3 stories

¨Buildings are aligned 13 degrees east of north

Question 27

Ritual center at Xiotun near Anyang

Answer 27

¨Ritual complex about 1 hectare in area that was part palace and part temple

¨Timber-­frame buildings with wattle and daub walls and thatched roofs

¨Shang rulers were ritual specialists and intermediaries between ancestors, gods and their subjects

¨Most oracle bones come from this site

¨Bones were found in caches or archives

¨This center was a place of regular divination

¨Large numbers of human sacrifices in the foundations

Question 28

Anyang workshops

Answer 28

¨Bronze, bone and pottery

¨Bone pins and tools of animal and human bone

Question 29

Anyang Royal burials

Answer 29

¨1200 graves, most are small

¨11 large graves required enormous labour to build

¨8 of these have a cruciform plan with ramps covered in human sacrifices (looted in antiquity)

¨Central wood structure for main burial (red & black lacquer)

¨bronze vessels & other bronze objects, shell, bone and stone objects including jade, stone sculptures placed with the dead

¨Royal tombs were also surrounded by animal sacrifices

¨Up to 400 human sacrifices in these graves

Question 30

Shang kings

Answer 30

11 of the burials fit well with the 11 Shang kings recorded as having ruled Anyang (last one was burned by Zhou)

¨Recently more large burials were found at another site called Xibeigang

¨Possible that the others are queen’s tombs but this is unclear

Question 31

Lady Fuhao’s burial

Answer 31

This is the tomb of Lady Fuhao

¨Fuhao is often mentioned in oracle inscriptions

¨1 ot 60 wives of King Wu-­Ding and she was the greatest general of the Shang in her day

¨Led major military campaigns on behalf of the king and acted as his stand-­in for state functions

¨Tomb discovered in 1976 intact

¨Body in lacquered wooden coffin, 440 bronzes, weapons, 590 jades, stone, ivory goblets, turquoise

Question 32

Chariot burials

Answer 32

¨Chariots, drivers and horses slaughtered and placed in pits near rulers’ tombs for use in afterlife

¨Drivers were slaves or individuals of low status

¨Chariot introduced from Near East 1300 BC

¨Chariot and bronze-­tipped arrows instrumental in warfare until Qin-­Han period when archers were replaced with infantry

¨Important role of warfare was to take slaves for labour & sacrifice

Question 33

Shang oracle bones

Answer 33

¨Oracle bones were used in earlier societies e.g. Longshan but oracle bones with inscriptions are from the Shang

¨Older records may be on perishable material

¨Shang oracle bones used 5000 symbols, basis of Chinese characters

¨King posed questions to ancestors about the future (divination)

¨guided decisions of rulers of states

¨Writing may have developed to record divinations

Question 34

Scapulimancy

Answer 34

Scapula or tortoise shell (plastron) was cleaned, smoothed, soaked

¨Wrote questions to gods/ancestors on front

¨Depressions carved in one side

¨hot metal rod applied to depression on other side to create cracking pattern

¨Recorded interpretation of outcome

¨Read by professional class of shaman (ancestors ’spoke’ in cracking sounds when the bone cracked)

Question 35

Shang Kings’ concerns

Answer 35

¨By Shang times, divination was under bureaucratic control of King & it legitimated the king’s actions

¨Diviners recorded information of astronomical phenomena

¨King needed ancestral guidance to rule the court

¨Other writing media probably included strips of bamboo tied together with strings (character for book in Shang is bundle of tied sticks) and writing on silk (do not preserve or were burned)

Question 36

Shang society

Answer 36

¨Rigid classes, sumptuary laws (e.g. who could own bronzes)

¨King was divine ruler, absolute power

¨Only king could interact with ancestors on behalf of people

¨Feudal tributary system for taxes, labour, militia

¨Taxes paid by lower classes to upper classes who lived lavish lifestyle

Question 37

Shang court and tian

Answer 37

Court on earth organized like god world (Heaven or ‘tian’)

¨Tian translates as sky, day, transcendent deity

¨Celestial pole at center of heaven (axis mundi)

¨universe revolves around this pole

¨Lord on High (Shang-­di) lives at center of tian where he commands nature and the ranked subordinate supernatural entities just at the Shang king did from his palace

Question 38

Shang King

Answer 38

¨Earthly representative of Shang-­di

¨King’s role was to please forces of nature through regular sacrifices of wine and grain in bronze vessels

¨work, wars, all sacrifices were timed with changes of seasons and celestial movements

¨If Shang-­di was not pleased then harvests would fail

¨Palace was center of the state (axis mundi)

¨Unusual events (meteor shower, eclipses were signs of Shang-­di’s displeasure)

Question 39

Written records of the state

Answer 39

¨Written records also record aspects of history/society

¨Before Shang dynasty there were ~750 independent fortified city states

¨Some shared common culture (referred to as ethnic groups)

¨These states were not unified until Qin Dynasty (~221 BC)

Question 40

Shang bronzes

Answer 40

Hallmark of Shang is its bronze vessels

¨Peak of bronze casting

¨Ritual bronze vessels for preparing grain-­based drink and food (never meat) as offerings to the royal ancestors

¨Death of a royal elite involved ritual feasting for the royal ancestor spirits

¨Ritual bronzes were then placed in deceased’s tomb

¨Feasting only for royal burials

¨only royal dead became spirits

¨Bronzes replace the earlier Longshan pottery forms placed in the grave

Question 41

Production of bronzes

Answer 41

¨Ceramic piece molds that fit tightly together

¨Involved several specialists

¨Large workshops attached to palace
¨More decorated, the more valuable (style indicated status)

¨King distributed bronze to aristocrats for weapons, chariots and vessels

¨Bronze weapons found in chariot burials

Taotie masks in foreground, spirals in background (mythical beast, ancestor spirits?)

¨Ritual Bronze vessels were large, thick and numerous (they were the medium used to interact with ancestors)

¨Took large quantity of bronze out of circulation

¨Bronze controlled by king and only produced in palace precinct

¨vessels in tombs represent command over valuable commodity, labour, surplus and ritual authority

Question 42

Symmetry

Answer 42

Shang had an appreciation of symmetry (order and harmony)

¨Tombs and temples were square or oblong and oriented to cardinal directions

¨Bronzes were symmetrical

¨Inscribed messages on bronzes and tortoise shells were repeated on right and left sides

¨World perceived as square, wind blew from 4 quarters

¨4 groups of foreigners lived on their borders

¨Literature, art, architecture in elements of other symmetrical arrangements

Question 43

Vessel typology

Answer 43

Strict typology for food and wine vessels by shape that were used for specific ritual functions

¨Owning these vessels was key criteria for claiming and maintaining elite status

¨Strict sumptuary laws of who could own which type(s) of vessel(s)

¨By Zhou times cooking cauldron (ting) was symbol of the state and ownership of ting was essential to maintain kingly status

Question 44

Chinese cuisine

Answer 44

¨Cuisine is closely tied to social identity
¨4000 year old millet noodles recovered from sealed earthenware bowl

¨Oracle bones in Shang times recorded details of how food was to be prepared and cooked

¨Barbarians were those who did not know how to prepare and to consume food in the customary manner

Question 45

Sanxingdui: Kingdom of Shu

Answer 45

¨Early city with defensive rammed earth wall and with buildings

¨2 sacrificial pits filled with bronzes, ivory, jades

¨Objects in 2 categories

¡1. bronze ritual vessels & other objects in Shang style

¡2. locally produced objects with an emphasis on the human form

¨The importation of Shang bronze ritual vessels in other states indicates the wide esteem held of the Shang by other rulers

Question 46

Xin’gan tomb, Jiangxi Province

Answer 46

¨Site south of Yangtze River

¨Tomb is second richest Bronze Age tomb (next to Fuhao’s tomb) c. 1400 BC

¨356 pottery vessels, 50 bronze vessels, 4 bronze bells, 400 bronze weapons and tools, 150 jades

¨Some of the bronzes have taotie masks similar to Shang bronzes, others are in a local style

¨Probably part of the regional state of Wecheng

Question 47

Shang in Context

Answer 47

¨Shang was influential and powerful but it was not alone

¨Archaeologists now view the Bronze Age and state formation in China as multi-­centered – with Shang as only one of its players

Question 48

End of Shang 1046 BC

Answer 48

Shang ruler overthrown by vassal from Wei River valley called Wu Wang

¨Wu Wang establishes the Zhou dynasty which we will discuss later!

Question 49

Summary

Answer 49

Origins of agriculture in river valleys is often productive enough to support urban living

¨Floodplains are rich in soil but poor in other materials that need to be obtained through exchange

¨Agricultural surplus, exchange and the production of specialized craft all fall under a bureaucracy in large populations

¨While initially villages seem peaceful, elites eventually conquer others….but is this to acquire more land, or to control trade routes?

¨All of these early states have common elements but not necessarily a similar pathway to statehood…