S1 - Early China Terms to Know Flashcards
Shang Dynasty
One of the oldest Chinese Dynasties
Had control over the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers
* Yellow River (North)
- Drained by the river
- Colder, flatter, more arid
- Wheat, millet
- Soil was loess - soil deposited by the wind (fertile)
- Floods (fertile soil)
- Drought was another problem
* Yangtze River (South)
- Floods
- Lush soil
- Well-suited for rice cultivation
* Boats were the preferred transportation
* Agriculture independently developed sometime after other places
* China was isolated and developed culture all on its own
- Most consistent cultural characteristics
Significance of War and Writing
- Made possible a bureaucracy capable of keeping records
- Made correspondence between military leader and kings
- Helped continuation of early Chinese society
Role of Kings
Kings were high priests (same as other civilizations)
Logographic Writing
- Kept business records + govt records
- Propaganda - controlled society
- Promoted ppl to become literate
- Silk production - major part of the economy
Zhou Dynasty
In about 1050 B.C.E. the Zhou rose against the Shang and defeated them in battle. Their successors maintained the cultural and political advances that the Shang rulers had introduced. Used the Mandate of Heaven to justify their rule, and proposed the Dynastic Cycle.
New weaponry/Fighting Tactics
- New tech for war
- Crossbow - 350 BCE
- Allowed for people to shoot farther than a horseman carrying a light bow.
- Soldiers began wearing armor and helmets to defend against crossbows.
- Crossbow - 350 BCE
- Intro of Calvary
- No need for chariot riding aristocracy
- Calvary developed to defend against crossbow
- Acquiring and pasturing horses was a key component to the success of militaries.
Mandate of Heaven
developed by Zhao to rationalize taking over shang + used throughout history
The theory that Heaven gives
the king a mandate to rule
only as long as he rules in the
interests of the people.
Positive and Negative outcomes of Mandate of Heaven (MoH)
- Shou kings were no longer just and moral, so heaven gave the power to rule to Zhao
- RATIONALIZED the Zhao taking the power
- the early Zhou rulers set up a decentralized feudal system
- ruled by trusted fam/subordinates
- individual regions were governed by ppl and eventually gained more power than the overarching king
- power was inherited a lot of times
- When king was assassinated → central power didn’t recover
Warring States Period
- 403 BCE - 221 BCE
- Chinese states fought until only the state of Qin was left standing.
Confuicianism (ren, gentleman, Filial Piety)
Confucius was the founder of Confucianism.
The Five Relationships:
* husband <-> wife
* Elder <-> younger
* Ruler <-> subject
* Parent <-> child
* Friend <-> friend
* only equal relationship
Confucian ideas spread most after the death of Confucius.
* ren: The ultimate Confucian virtue; it is translated as perfect goodness, benevolence,
humanity, human-heartedness, and nobility.
* gentleman: (junzi) to mean a man of moral cultivation rather than a man of noble birth.
* Filial Piety: sacred duty to repay parents and ancestors.
Daoism (why it rejects Confucianism)
- Striving to make things better makes them worse
- Go beyond everyday concepts and let your mind wander freely
- Natural order identified as way of Dao
- Laozi and Zhuangzi - books on Daoism
- Laozi
- All worldly desires given up
- Zuanghzi questioned whether life is better than death and if we should fear death
- Denies the knowledge conveyed in words
- Response and rejection of Confucianism.
Legalism (why it rejects the other two)
- Need for rigorous laws
- Argued that strong government depend not on the moral qualities of ruler but on establishing respected laws and procedures
- Laid basis for China’s bureaucratic government
- Outlawed possession of arms
- Checked nobility by making them live near capitol
- Burned Confucian books
- Held entire family groups accountable for the mistakes of one individual.
Buddhism in China
- Began to spread to Central Asia under Ashoka in India
- Influenced by Iranian religions to be more devotional on deified Buddha
- No forced conversions
- Emphasis on kindness, clarity, eternal bliss
- Posed no threat to social classes (appeal for India)
- Monasteries ran kid schools, traveler hotels
- Wealthy supported the monasteries →largest landlords
- Opposition
- Economic impact of giving ppl free stuff (funding monasteries, free labor, etc.)
- Buddhism being foreign weakened it → more xenophobia
- Persecution of 845: destroyed monasteries + sent Monks + nuns to regular life
- Ban lifted after few years but damage had been done Buddhism never fully reemerged in China
- Adopted in some way by Korea, Japan, Vietnam, expanded into Southeast Asia
How should an orderly society be run based on the above philosophies?
- Confucianism: government is supposed to be ruled with people’s best interests.
- Daoism: Go beyond everyday concepts and let your mind wander freely. All worldly desires given up.
- Legalism: Legalist laws designed to constrain and regulate common ppl. No value in intellectual debate or private opinion → leads to weakness and disorder. No limits on ruler and their actions
Qin Dynasty - Unification, Legalist
- Ended warring states period
- Officials conquered new territory
- Census (count) of population
- Script, measurements were standardized
- Coins were minted
- Infrastructure
- Great Wall of China built
- More roads built
- Ppl didn’t like being ruled severely so after the emperor died, the Han took ove
