CHINA CIVILIZATION CHINA 2500 B'C' 550 A'D'

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CHINA CIVILIZATIONCHINA2500 B.C. - 550 A.D.
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Early Civilization in China
Source http//faculty.mc3.edu/sblumm/234SYL.htm
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Early Civilization in China

• China isolated from the other civilizations by
  the western desert, Himalayas, and forests on the
  south. Only the northern frontier was exposed and
  that was blocked in the 3rd C BC when the great
  wall was built.
• China was one of the countries where economic
  activity first developed. As early as 5,000 to
  6,000 years ago, people in the Yellow River
  valley had already started farming and raising
  livestock.
• In the 21st century B.C., China established a
  slave society with the founding of the Xia
  Dynasty, thereby writing a finale to long years
  of primitive society.
• In 221 B.C., Qin Shihuang established China's
  first centralized autocracy, the Qin Dynasty,
  thereby ushering Chinese history into feudalism,
  which endured in a succession of dynasties until
  the Opium War of 1840.

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Origin of the Chinese Civilization

• The Chinese civilization began along the Huang He
  River. The Huang He begins in a plateau in the
  Himalayan Mountains. It travels for 3,000 miles
  across China. The Huang He started as a clear
  stream but picked up silt along its journey
  across China. During summer floods, this river
  spread enough silt on the land to create miles of
  fertile farmland.
• The Huang He is also known as the Yellow River.
  The river takes its name from the yellow soil
  washed down in its waters from the mountains.
  This yellow soil is loess. Loess was also blown
  by the wind and covered much of northern China.
• About 4,000 B.C., farming communities developed
  along the lower part of the Huang He. The Chinese
  civilization grew from these farming communities.

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Yellow River

• Yellow River - The Yellow River, or Huang He,
  received its name due to loess.  It was nicknamed
  the "River of Sorrows" because it often flooded
  and destroyed crops..

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Yangzi River

• Yangzi River - The Yangzi River Valley, along
  with the Yellow River Valley, supported the first
  people of the early Chinese civilization.

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Dynasty

• Hsia dynasty (2200-1700 BC)
• Shang dynasty (1700-1100 BC) -- Anyang, Xian,
  Luoyang
• Zhou (Chou) dynasty (1100-220 BC) -- Sian and
  Loyang
• Chin dynasty (256-205SM)
• Han dynasty (202SM-221M)
• Sui dynasty (589-618)
• Tang dynasty (618-907)
• Sung dynasty (960-975)
• Yuan/Monggol dynasty (1271-1368)

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Hsia dynasty (2200-1700 BC)

• Little written or archeological record
• Rule by tribal leaders
• Lived in walled towns
• Several capitals over their 500 year reign with
  Anyang being the most important

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Shang dynasty (1700-1100 BC)

• Society may have been matriarchal
• Most people were farmers
• Built houses on foundations of pounded earth
• Written language

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Zhou (Chou) dynasty (1100-220 BC)

• Feudal society developed with local lords giving
  allegiance (usually) to the Zhou emperor
• Zhou king maintained standing armies responsible
  to him alone
• Built parts of the Great Wall to protect the
  northern frontier
• Growth of a meritocracy of government bureaucrats
  but eventually fell into a hereditary appointment
  system
• Growth of artisans, especially in the use of iron
  
• Expanded to the Yangtze River valley
• Warmer climate
• Rice and tea
• Mulberry trees for silk

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Ch'in (Qin) dynasty (220-200 BC)

• Age of empire
• All of present day China united
• Western name for China taken from this dynasty
• Dynasty was short (20 years)
• Ruler took the name First Emperor
• Strong central government established
• Ordered all nobles to abandon their lands and
  move to his capital (Xian)
• Eliminated the feudal system and replaced it with
  a bureaucracy
• Set up governors over the various states but had
  strong central control who were appointed on
  merit, not heredity
• Established good communication by standardizing
  the written script, weights and measures,
  coinage, axle widths of carts, roads
• Completed the Great Wall

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Han dynasty (220 BC - 250 AD)

• A Golden age of China
• People in China today regard themselves as
  ethnically Hans
• The first Han emperor made few social changes
  except to relax the authority of the central
  government
• Further expanded the empire to include Korea,
  Viet Nam, and drove the Huns northward out of
  China
• Controlled trade over the Orient, including with
  Japan
• Adopted Confucianism as the official state belief
  but mingled it with strong influences from Taoism
  
• Promulgated that they ruled by Mandate of Heaven
• Emperor was the intermediary between the people
  and heaven
• If the emperor did not act well, heaven would
  withdraw and the empire would become a target for
  outside attack
• The Han period was one of the golden ages of
  Chinese civilization, with tremendous advances in
  the sciences, astronomy, technology, medicine,
  and the arts.

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China Philosophy and Religions
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Confucianism

• Believed that human beings were basically good
  and that society should be adapted to their
  goodness
• The status of a person should be decided upon
  merit and not birth
• Each person had a role to fill and they should
  fill it to the best of their ability with a
  special emphasis on graciousness and moderation
• Inner virtues which must be possessed
• jen love of humanity
• chih inner integrity
• I righteousness
• chung loyalty
• shu altruism
• Outer virtues
• wen culture
• li proper decorum or ritual
• Taught that the family is the basic unit of
  society and that within the society male was
  superior to female, and age to youth.
• Adapted as the official credo of the state by the
  Han dynasty (100 BC)

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Taoism

• Lao-Tzu (Old Master) (5th C BC -- contemporary
  with Confucius and Buddha)
• Wandering teacher
• Wrote a book called the Tao Te Ching (Book of
  Taoist Teachings) which outlined his teachings
• The Tao means the Way (similar to the Force in
  Star Wars)
• Yielding overcomes force
• Accommodates himself to nature as water does
• Water doesn't resist but is so powerful that
  eventually opposition is worn away (The soft
  yield of water cleaves the obstinate stone)
• Develops an intuitive life that is at peace with
  nature

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Yin and Yang

• Yin (female, dark, earth, water action, strongest
  in autumn and winter)
• Yang (male, light heaven, aggressive action,
  strongest in summer)
• All people have both the yin and the yang but can
  favor one or the other
• Strong feeling of acceptance (He who feels
  punctured must have been a bubble)
• Taoist art often reflects the yin and the yang
  with opposite colors melding together in
  something like water flowing through a crevasse
  or a bird flying into a woods.

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Legalism

• Legalists stressed strength, not goodness, as a
  ruler's greatest virtue, while Daoists, who
  rejected the everyday world, believed that the
  best government was the one that governed least.

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Feng Shui

• Feng Shui (also known as "geomancy") is an
  ancient Chinese art used to promote such things
  as health, happiness and prosperity. The words
  literally mean 'wind' and 'water'.
• Feng Shui, also called the Chinese Art of
  Placement, is a technique that is thousands of
  years old for bringing balance to one's home,
  business and the land that surrounds them. It
  looks at many areas of one's life (health,
  wealth, family, relationships, career, friends,
  fame, children, and knowledge) to determine
  blockages within the home or business, that might
  cause some type of problem, and then at the
  different types of "cures" that can be used to
  alleviate the problem.

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• Early Chinese rulers promoted the idea that they
  ruled by the Mandate of Heaven. The Chinese later
  expanded this idea to explain the dynastic cycle
  When rulers became weak or corrupt, the Chinese
  believed, Heaven withdrew its support and gave it
  to another ruler.
• Chinese religious practices centered on the
  veneration of ancestors and the belief that the
  universe was balanced between two opposing
  forces, the yin and the yang.

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Three Schools of thought in China

• Confucius, China's most influential philosopher,
  taught that harmony resulted when people accepted
  their place in society. Confucianism stressed the
  values of filial piety, loyalty to superiors and
  respect for inferiors, honesty, hard work, and
  concern for others.
• Chinese rulers based their government on the
  Confucian model, which taught that the best ruler
  was a virtuous man who led by example.

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China Science Technology
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Science Technology

• Medicine
• Mathematic
• Astronomy

• Paper
• Printing
• Compas
• Gun Powder
• Calendar
• Seismoscop
• Silk

Chinese Cannon From 1368
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The Four Great Invention

• gunpowder,
• paper making,
• printing and the
• compass

Compass
Early Paper Money From China
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Astronomy

• Ancient Chinese astronomers diligently observed
  solar eclipses, and made scrupulous records,
  maintaining continuity of the recording. For
  instance, the Spring and Autumn Annals record 37
  solar eclipses during a period of 294 years --
  from 770 to 476 BC .
• China also compiled a huge amount of records on
  meteoric showers. The Bamboo Annals records a
  meteoric shower in 2133 BC in today's Henan
  Province. This is the first mention in the world
  of a meteoric shower.
• discover sunspots, Chinese astronomers had
  already accumulated a large amount of records on
  sunspots. Now it is known that the earliest
  records of sunspots were made in 28 BC by Chinese
  astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of
  the Western Han Dynasty.
• phenomena concerning the sun, such as solar
  prominences and coronas.

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Mathematic

• Zu Chongzhi (420-589) made outstanding
  contributions to mathematics, he was the first
  person in the world to bring the calculation of
  the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its
  diameter to the seventh decimal place, between
  3.1415926 and 3.1415927 .
• Zu put dozens of his writings on mathematics into
  a book titled The Art of Mending .

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Medicine

• The Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine The
  theories it expounds, namely, about the organs of
  the human body, the "five elements" (metal, wood,
  water, fire and earth), and the internal organs,
  sense organs and brain waves interacting with
  each other, are unique in the world, and laid the
  foundations of traditional Chinese medicine.

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Five Elements

• Wood
• Fire
• Earth
• Metal
• Water

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Treaties on Febrile and Other Diseases

• epidemic cholera, malaria, pneumonia, flu and
  other infectious diseases. The "other diseases"
  mentioned the internal, surgical and
  gynecological ailments.
• traditional Chinese medical theory and principles
  of treatment, laying the foundation for treatment
  based on differential diagnosis.

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Revised Materia Medica

• This was the first reference book on pharmacy
  ever revised under the auspices of a government
  in the world. Consisting of 56 volumes and
  lavishly illustrated, it has entries on 850 kinds
  of drugs.

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• Acupuncture and moxibustion are other forms of
  treatment discovered by the Chinese in their long
  fight against diseases

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Silk Road

• The routes all started from the capital in
  Changan, headed up the Gansu corridor, and
  reached Dunhuang on the edge of the Taklimakan.
  The northern route then passed through Yumen Guan
  (Jade Gate Pass) and crossed the neck of the Gobi
  desert to Hami (Kumul), before following the
  Tianshan mountains round the northern fringes of
  the Taklimakan. It passed through the major oases
  of Turfan and Kuqa before arriving at Kashgar, at
  the foot of the Pamirs.
• the Silk Road was not a trade route that existed
  solely for the purpose of trading in silk many
  other commodities were also traded, from gold and
  ivory to exotic animals and plants. Of all the
  precious goods crossing this area, silk was
  perhaps the most remarkable for the people of the
  West.

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Great Wall

• The Great Wall of China The Great Wall of China
  crosses five provinces and two autonomous
  regions. Work on the Wall started 2000 years ago
  when China was united in the Qin Dynasty (221-207
  BC). The Wall was built to keep the northern
  invaders out, but over 1000 years later the
  Mongols did invade...

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Great Tomb

• more than 6,000 full-size soldiers made from
  terra cotta, all standing in formation, many with
  their horses ready for battle. 
• The Terra Cotta Army was built as a way of
  creating an illusion of strength and manpower.
  It was believed that as enemies approached, they
  would be overwhelmed with the powerful army
  supporting Emperor Qin and turn away. It took
  more than one million workers to create the army
  and to lay your eyes on the masterpiece is
  indescribable. 

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The Great Tomb

• Pit One  - army troops and chariots
• Pit Two  - army troops, cavalries, and chariots
• Pit Three  - command headquarters of Emperor
  Qin.

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LAW GOVERNMENT

• its institutions are likewise autocratic in form,
  but democratic in operation. The philosopher,
  Mencius (372-289 B.C.), placed
• people first,
• the gods second,
• and the sovereign third,
• in the scale of national importance and this
  classification has sunk deep into the minds of
  the Chinese during more than two thousand years
  past.

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• Each of the great dynasties has always begun with
  a Penal Code.
• It was introduced to replace a much harsher code
  which had been in operation under the Ming
  dynasty, and contains the nominally immutable
  laws of the empire, with such modifications and
  restrictions as have been authorized from time to
  time by Imperial edict.

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ISLAM IN CHINA
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History Background

• The Ancient Record of the Tang Dynasty describes
  a landmark visit to China by Saad ibn Abi Waqqas
  (ra), one of the companions of Prophet Muhammad
  (s) in 650 C.E. This event is considered to be
  the birth of Islam in China. The Chinese emperor
  Yung-Wei respected the teachings of Islam and
  considered it to be compatible with the teachings
  of Confucius. To show his admiration for Islam,
  the emperor approved the establishment of China's
  first mosque at Ch'ang-an

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• Muslims virtually dominated the import/export
  business in China during Sung Dynasty (960 - 1279
  CE). The office of Director General of Shipping
  was consistently held by a Muslim during this
  period.
• During the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644 CE), a
  period considered to be the golden age of Islam
  in China, Muslims fully integrated into Han
  society by adopting their name and some customs
  while retaining their Islamic mode of dress and
  dietary restrictions.

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• Anti-Muslim sentiments took root in China during
  the Ch'ing Dynasty (1644 - 1911 CE), which was
  established by Manchus who were a minority in
  China. Muslims in China number more than 35
  million, according to unofficial counts. They
  represent ten distinct ethnic groups. The largest
  are the Chinese Hui, who comprise over half of
  China's Muslim population. The largest of Turkic
  groups are the Uygurs who are most populous in
  the province of Xinjiang, where they were once an
  overwhelming majority.

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Sung Dynasty (960 - 1279 CE

• The Muslims who immigrated to China eventually
  began to have a great economic impact and
  influence on the country. They virtually
  dominated the import/export business. Indeed, the
  office of Director General of Shipping was
  consistently held by a Muslim during this period.
  ,
• they were recognized as being fair, law-abiding,
  and self-disciplined. Thus, there is no record of
  appreciable anti-Muslim sentiment on the part of
  the Han (Chinese) people.

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Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644 CE

• the Muslims had maintained a separate, alien
  status which had its own customs, language, and
  traditions and was never totally integrated with
  the Han people. Under the Ming Dynasty, generally
  considered to be the golden age of Islam in
  China, Muslims gradually became fully integrated
  into Han society.

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Ch'ing Dynasty (1644 - 1911 CE),

• The rise of the Ch'ing Dynasty (1644 - 1911 CE),
  though, changed this. The Ch'ing were Manchu (not
  Han) and were a minority in China. They employed
  tactics of divide-and-conquer to keep the
  Muslims, Han, Tibetans, and Mongolians in
  struggles against one another. In particular,
  they were responsible for inciting anti-Muslim
  sentiment throughout China, and used Han soldiers
  to suppress the Muslim regions of the country.

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Sun Yat Sen

• proclaimed that the country belonged equally to
  the Han, Hui (Muslim), Man (Manchu), Meng
  (Mongol), and the Tsang (Tibetan) peoples. His
  policies led to some improvement in relations
  among these groups.

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Communist Rule

• the Muslims, as well as other ethnic minorities
  found themselves once again oppressed. They
  actively struggled against communists before and
  after the revolution. In fact, in 1953, the
  Muslims revolted twice in an effort to establish
  an independent Islamic state in regions where
  Muslims were an overwhelming majority. These
  revolts were brutally suppressed by Chinese
  military force followed by the liberal use of
  anti-Muslim propaganda.

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Muslim in China Today

• Today, the Muslims of China number some 20
  million, according to unofficial counts. The
  government census of 1982, however, put the
  number much lower, at 15 million. These Muslims
  represent ten distinct ethnic groups. The largest
  are the Chinese Hui, who comprise over half of
  China's Muslim population and are scattered
  throughout all of China. There is also a high
  concentration of Hui in the province of Ningsha
  in the north.
• After the Hui, the remainder of the Muslim
  population belong to Turkic language groups and
  are racially Turks (except for the Mongol Salars
  and Aryan Tajiks). The Turkic group is further
  divided between the Uygurs, Uzbeks, Kazakhs,
  Kirgiz, Tatars and Dongshiang. Nearly all of the
  Turkic Muslims are found in the western provinces
  of Kansu and Xinjiang. The largest of these
  Muslim groups are the Uygurs.

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Group Discussion

• What does "Chinese" mean? Or who are Chinese?
• What has made China or Chinese culture survive as
  a unified country and culture for over five
  millennia? (Perhaps you may also wonder why the
  other three of the four ancient civilizations did
  not continue as Chinese civilization has done.
  Indeed, this question can also be understood as
  one to question who we are and what attitude or
  worldview we hold toward ourselves and the
  other.)
• What is the purpose of walls? Why did the Chinese
  construct them? How important is it that the
  Great Wall of China has survived through the
  centuries and remains standing today? To what
  extent does it serve as an icon for China?
• Analyze the impact of the Great Wall(s) of China
  on the course of western civilization. How would
  the world be a different place if the Chinese had
  not constructed their walls?

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References

• http//home.cfl.rr.com/crossland/AncientCivilizati
  ons/Ancient_China/ancient_china.html
• www.newton.mec.edu/Angier/DimSum/Silk20Rd.20Maps
  .html -
• www.engr.sjsu.edu/pabacker/history/china.htm -
• http//www.terragalleria.com/asia/china/kunming/pi
  cture.chin4914.html
• http//www.crystalinks.com/chinarticles.html
• school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/greatwal
  l
• http//scnc.hps.k12.mi.us/hwms/encyclopedia/conte
  nt/ancientchina.htm
• http//www.asianartmall.com/clay.html