Classical China (1000 BCE - 600 CE)

Classical China
1000 BCE- 600 CE
(Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han)

• “Golden Age”
• Chinese culture long lasting
• Overview
• longest-lived civilization in history
• relatively same today as Classical China
• Ethnocentric
• isolationism
• Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Mongalia developed from China
• Intellectual Theory
• balance vs. excess
• humanity is part of the world, not on it
• opposite to Western culture
• individual not as important as group

• Dynastic History
• Cycle
• New dynasty come to power
• emperor reforms government to be more efficient
• common people life improves, taxes , farming
• problems begin
• taxes , men forced into army
• government spending , corruption
• droughts, floods, famine
• poor respect for the government, people join rebels and attack land lords
• rebel band finds leader
• overthrow current leader

• Zhou Dynasty (1027-402 BCE)
• create “Middle Kingdom”
• had nominal control over territory
• achievements
• “Middle Kingdom” between heaven and barbaric hell
• feudalism & manorialism
• “land for loyalty”
• peasant provides goods for lord to gain protection
• contribution
• bronze
• coins
• cultural unity
• Mandarin languages
• Confucius teachings
• Era of Warring States (401 - 201 BCE)
• ***POLITICAL CHAOS = GROWTH OF RELIGION***
• Confucianism
• Legalism
• Daoism
• Zhou Collapse, small states develop
• Qin Dynasty

• Qin (Chin) Dynasty (221 -206 BCE)
• provide political structure for China
• namesake for China
• Qin’a = land of the Qin
• centralized political power
• Shi Huangdi
• brought nobility to live with him
• rebellion
• officials from lower classes
• loyalty to him only because he gave them power
• built the Great Wall
• innovations
• national census
• standard weights & measurements
• uniform written language
• pictographs common (abstract ideas)
• UNIFY STATES AS WHOLE
• Terra Cotta Army
• in Shi Huangdi’s tomb
• each soldier individual/different because each was a replication of a member in the army
• needed power to be able to organize such a huge project
• individual “tomb” for each
• buried beneath dirt and rock

• Han Dynasty (202 BCE - 220 CE)
• ethnic origins (largest)
• most successful in Classical Period
• achievements
• strong central government with bureaucracy
• Civil Service Exam
• bureaucracy of 130,000
• promote Confucianism as official religion
• no persecution
• Silk Roads
• expand trade with India & Mediterranean
• GOLDEN AGE
• wealth & stability
• Invasion of the Huns (200 CE)
• destroy Han Dynasty

• Themes in Classical China
• Politics
• centralizing force in society, NOT RELIGION
• huge bureaucracy
• Mandarins rise up in system
• scholar gentry
• strict government control
• not heavy militaristic - no huge need
• promoted intellectual life
• government active in economy
• storage of goods
• invaders couldn’t create better system for governing
• kept bureaucrats

• Religion & Culture
• people not united by religion
• state was center of power and development
• religious beliefs
• respect for superiors
• dragons
• harmony
• ancestor worship
• Confucianism
• social order = highest virtue
• social respect must be shown for superiors and elders
• 5 relationships
• group > individual
• tradition is all that is important
• 5 Principal Relationships
• Ruler - Subject
• Father - Son
• Husband - Wife
• Older Brother - Younger Brother
• Older Friend - Younger Friend
• patriarchal system
• Legalism
• govern through law
• principals
• human nature is naturally selfish
• intellectualism and literacy is discouraged
• law is supreme authority and replaces morality
• the ruler must rule with a strong punishing hand
• war is the means of strengthening a ruler’s power
• repressive
• Daoism
• spirituality
• dao (tao) = the way, all of life, harmony
• 1st cause of the universe, force through all of life
• believers goal is to become one with Dao/nature
• wei wei = “let nature take its course”
• “the art of doing nothing”
• “going with the flow”
• man is unhappy because he lives according to man-made laws, customs, and traditions that are contrary to the ways of nature
• ***ALL RELIGIONS BLEND***

• Intellectual Achievements
• Five Classics (= educated mass)
• speeches
• songs
• poetry
• etiquette
• politics
• calligraphy
• represent idea, not sound
• abstract
• science - practical work
• movement of planets
• medicine
• anatomy
• hygiene
• BODY IN BALANCE

• Economy & Society
• Class
• Mandarins
• educated bureaucrats & landowners
• educated for any who could pay
• peasantry
• own land collectively
• “Mean People”
• traders, porters
• lowest class
• Silk Road
• source of luxury goods
• Agriculture Technology
• salt mining
• paper money
• water power
• Father unquestioned leader
• no wrong can be done by parents

• Chinese “Wholeness”
• society, culture, religion, politics all reinforce each other
• group > individual
• isolation & common culture
• many people
• homogeneous society
• fueled ethnocentrism
• general tolerance of Daoism & Confucianism for each other
• tight state control

• Global Influence
• 20% of world’s population
• very heavy influence
• technology
• water mill
• porcelain
• paper money
• 2000 year reign
• large bureaucracy
• state control