Three Dynasties and the Rise of Civilization in China

1
Three Dynasties and the Rise of Civilization in
China

• Xia, Shang and Zhou
• 4,400-2,256 years ago (2200-256 BC)
• The Path to Political Authority through
• Status in hierarchically organized clans and
  segmentary lineages
• Exclusive access to heaven and heavenly spirits
• A network of regional polities with significant
  resources
• Merit of living rulers
• Writing to establish position in the kin system
  and record ancestral wisdom
• Wealth and its aura
• Military apparatus

2
Sources of Evidence Xia, Shang Zhou

• Contemporary texts on ritual bronze vessels,
  animal shoulder blades and turtle shells
• Recorded oral tradition--the Confucian classics
• Poetry from central China (Chu) philosophical
  works--The Confucian Analects and several
  ancient books on bamboo strips
• Artifacts in stone, clay, wood, bamboo, silk and
  bronze
• Settlement information
• Testable theories of cultural systems

3
Xia, Shang and Zhou

• Xia 4400-3750 y.a. (2200-1750 B.C.)Ssu Clan
• Founded by Great Yu, 17 king reigned for 14
  generations
• Shang 3750-3100 y.a.Tzu Clan
• Founded by Hsieh, reigned for 13 generations
  before overthrowing Xia then, 31 kings reigned
  for another 18 generations
• Zhou 3100-2256 y.a.Chi Clan
• Founded by Hou Chi, reigned 15 generations prior
  to over-throwing Shang (ca. 3540 y.a.), then 39
  kings reigned across 32 generations
• Zhou remained the fictive leader of many powerful
  states by 2770 y.a. was a lesser state 2580
  y.a. was incorporated by Chin 2256 y.a. but
  continued in name to 2221 y.a.

4
Clans Lineages, Towns New Communities, and
Political Relationships in the Three Dynasties

• Three clans founded the Three Dynasties and
  dominated China over 2000 years.
• Each clan was stratified and consisted of
  stratified lineage groups.
• New communities formed through the process of
  BENEFICEterritorial grants to the rulers
  relatives including human labor military
  forces.
• Benefices formed new (junior) lineage lines,
  beholden to the ruler and of lesser status.
• The geographic focal point of benefices was the
  planned, walled town--an administrative center
  with ancestor temples, palaces, markets, etc.
• Many towns existed, linked in political
  hierarchies according to the relations of their
  leaders.

5
Moral Authority and Coercive Power During the
Three Dynasties

• Many clans claimed divine descent--hence the
  concept of Heavens Mandate or deservedness to
  rule.
• A new dynastic founder also claimed rule based on
  merit--backing up the claim through military
  support of the lineages.
• The lineage was the focus for control--at the
  lowest level 100 households were led by a male
  who managed their military and civic duties at
  the highest level the state was led by the ruler
  who was the supreme head (father) of all
  lineages.
• Rituals (li) in ancestral temples codified rules
  of behavior--the ruler performed rituals for all
  the people, and so on the lowest lineage head
  performed rituals for the group.

6
Shamanism, Divination, Ritual and Political
Authority during the Three Dynasties

• The king inquired into many future events,
  thereby serving the people well through this
  gained wisdom.
• The act of prognostication required special, rich
  clothing, dancing, music, feasting, animal
  sacrifices and bronze ritual vessels (courting
  the ancestors).
• Evidence of divination through scapulamancy is
  ancient6,000-7,000 y.a.well before the Three
  Dynasties.
• Palace archives for Late Shang record questions
  asked and answers given by heaven to the king,
  through an ancestor.
• The king in essence replaced the neolithic
  shamans in mediating between heaven and earth.

7
The Role of Writing in Political Authority During
the Three Dynasties

• 88 symbols are known neolithic village pottery,
  beginning 8,000 y.a., including many identical
  with early Chinese characters.
• The distribution of symbols in sites suggests
  they were emblems of leading families, lineages
  or clans.
• Power of the written word is associated with
  knowledge and wisdom--the ancestors assisted the
  king in divining from heaven.
• Knowledge and wisdom of past experience is
  associated with predicting contemplated actions.
• The written word is to sanctify the ruler and his
  political authority.

8
Bronze as a Medium of Political Authority in the
Three Dynasties

• Bronze ritual vessels were used during divination
  rituals.
• Bronze ritual vessels were a form of wealth,
  validation of power, and recorded history.
• Designs of animal go-betweens on bronzes, and
  elaborate cast ritual objects, symbolize power.
• The Nine Bronze Tripods were symbolic of
  legitimate dynastic rule and were said to have
  been transferred from Xia to Shang to Zhou.
• Bronzes were also symbols of wealth power in
  the narrower sense--the vast technology and labor
  associated with them (mining, smelting,
  transporting, alloying, casting and finishing,
  etc.).

9
The Rise of Political Authority During the Three
Dynasties 1 Neolithic Foundations

• How did the 7 inter-related factors that enabled
  political power to concentrate in the hands of a
  ruling elite come to be, historically?
• Yangshao neolithic villages are planned and
  segmented into unilinear kin groups marks on
  pottery reinforce the evidence for clans and
  lineages and painted pottery depicts shaman-like
  characters and their animal helpers.
• In Dawenkou sites we find scapulamancy, the wheel
  for finishing pottery, non-utilitarian pottery
  shapes from industrial specialization, large and
  rich tombs indicating increasing wealth and
  social differentiation, lineage cemeteries, jades
  and other forms of wealth, and the authority to
  commandeer labor to construct large tombs etc.
• In later neolithic sites we see clay ancestor
  tablets, walled towns, armed conflict, ritual
  objects and pottery with animal masks, and
  evidence of inter-regional trade in goods for the
  high status individuals.