ANCIENT CHINA

Hongshan

Liangzhu

Yangshao/Longshan

Sanxingdui

Central Plains of Yellow River

• Yangshao farming villages 5200-3000 BC

Marks on pots similar to later written characters

Kilns andcraftsmen

Yangshao/Longshan

Layout of the Jiangzhai settlement (Shi 2001:62),     one of few fully excavated Yangshao settlements .

Communal burial, lineages, elite tombs

Ban-po-ts’un

Longshan Culture, Yellow River

• between 3000-2000 BC, development of Longshan farming cultures, a patchwork of chiefdoms or small kingdoms

• critical role of religious personnel increased dramatically• use of divination to communicate with ancestors, including

early inscribed oracle bones• evidence of status differentiation in burials• craft specialization in jade-carving and ceramics and rare

copper and later bronze metallurgy; increased trade (interaction spheres)

• construction of “stamped-earth” town walls and fortifications – some fairly large (38 ha; 94 acres)

• also evidence of trauma in skeletons and increase in artifacts associated with armed conflict

• sacrificed adults and children• warring and trading elites trying to get upper hand

from Drennan and Peterson 2005

Hongshan platform with central burial at NiuheliangNortheastern China, 4700-2900 BC

Early Dynastic China in the Central Plains of Yellow River

• China’s first true urban civilization• Xia Dynasty (1700-1500 BC),

Shang Dynasty (1500-1045 BC), and Zhou Dynasty (1045-221 BC)

• marked by appearance of cities, states, and full-fledged writing

• The first dynasty of China, Xia, is mentioned in early historical sources, the Shi Ji (“Records of the Grand Historian”), written by Sima Quin (145-86 BC)

• It describes a remote period (Longshan), the early Xia dynasty, composed of many kings over two centuries, and later Shang Dynasty, including repressive government typical of early Chinese dynastic civilization

Palace compound atErlitou, Xia Dynasty

(1700-1500 BC)

Shang Capitals• The oracle bones suggest

multiple Shang capitals in middle Yellow River, 1500-1045 BCE , representing specific ruling lineages;

• ancient capital of Yin (Anyang), for instance, was ruled by 12 successive kings,

• throughout Chinese history the nobility lived apart from commoners, clearly expressed in noble/royal palaces and tombs located in city centers, commoners lived in outlying towns and villages (e.g., the forbidden city in Beijing).

Zhengzhou (Ao)

Central precinct

Palace of Ao

Ao, Zhengzhou, was discovered in 1955. The town had a massive earthen wall for defense, elite and worker houses in areas for specialized areas devoted to working bronze, clay and bone.

The oracle bone pit at Yinxu

Among the inscriptions on the oracle bones was the name of Wu Ding, once thought legendary, but now

documented as a real Shang king.

Oracle Bones

• Early symbols on turtle carapace from Jiahu (6500 BC)

• Between 2,500 -1900 BC, the practice of scapulimancy, became a hallmark of Chinese civilization and by Shang Dynasty developed into full-fledged writing system

• ox shoulder blades and turtle carapaces were cracked with hot metal and interpreted as messages from ancestors

• provides wealth of information about activities of early kings

• later, ideographic writing of Shang developed from this, marked on Bronze ritual vessels (Zhou dynasty), bamboo slips (Warring States period), and silk

This World Heritage site with numerous Shang palaces, religious structuresand ritual places, tombs, and workshops. Over 100,000 inscribed

oracle bones discovered in 1899.

Royal Tombs

• Each major ruler had a great cruciform burial tombs

• King in center and four cardinally oriented ramps leading down

• Elite buried with much wealth and sacrificial victims

Warlords• Early Chinese rulers

stayed in power by having a strong army

• kings were frequently at war defending their realm and conquering others

• through kinship obligation all subjects were expected to aid their kings

Burial remains of beheaded people sacrificed at death of

member of royal class

Human sacrifice common in Shang, including slaves or captives killed

or or buried alive as offerings. Even the living wives sometimes also joined their husbands, dogs, horses, and other animals were

also sacrificed.

Tomb of Fu Hao

Fu Hao Tomb

• Fu Hao mentioned in oracle bones as consort of Shang ruler Wu Ding. She was also a military leader, presided over important sacrificial ceremonies and controlled her own estate. Her tomb contained:

– 468 bronze objects (130 weapons, 23 bells, 27 knives,

4 mirrors, and 4 tigers or tiger heads) – 755 jade objects – 63 stone objects – 5 ivory objects – 564 bone objects (500 hairpins and 20+ arrowheads)– 11 pottery objects – 6,900 pieces of cowry shell

Bronze, the wealth of kings and nobles

Sanxingdui, southwestern China(Yangzi) – 1700-1200 BCE

The agency of things: wealth & personification

Larger than Life Bronzes

Sanxingdui was a walled city 450 ha (1112 acres),

with surrounding occupied area at least 15 square km

Changjiang culture, 1700-1200 BC, was a complex state society that rivaled the Shang culture in SW China

Craftspeople made spectacular bronze sculptures, such as trees and heads

Sanxingdui, discovered in 1987, reached its apogee ca. 1300-1200 BCE, with 400 ha of walled city

.

˜2000 m

The city was partitioned into religious, residential and industrial neighborhoods, with major tombs on several terraces along the central axis. Canals were constructed for irrigation, inland navigation, defense, and flood control. The city was divided into residential, industrial and religious districts organized around a dominant central axis. It is along this axis that most of the pit burial have been found on four terraces.

IMPERIAL CHINA

• The first empires, the Zhou, were fairly decentralized

• The unification of China in the Qin (Chin) dynasty was a radically different form of empire-building, establishing a new trajectory of centralized, authoritarian rule that continued throughout later Chinese history.

Zhou Dynasty, 1045-221 BCE

• Western Zhou Dynasty (1045-771 BC): The Shang Dynasty ended in 1045 BC, when the powerful and ambitious king of the state of Zhou sent his chariots and Tiger warrior infantry north to defeat the Shang

• To legitimize their rule after overthrow of Shang rulers, Zhou emperors introduced the idea of a “mandate from heaven” (king was considered son of heaven), which legitimized political overthrow

• Zhou was a decentralized feudal state, divided into fiefs governed by leaders chosen from among the king’s relatives and allies

• Only the royal capital was directly controlled by Zhou emperor;

• Eastern (late) Zhou Dynasty is divided into two periods: the Summer and Autumn period (770-481 BC) and Warring States Period (480-221 BC), when emperor’s authority waned and feudal rulers essentially became leaders of independent states, waging constant war against one another

1500-1045 BCE

206 BCE – 220 CE221-206 BCE

770-221 BCE1045-771 BCE

Silk manuscript fromlate first millennium BCE

The Qin Empire and Unification

• Qin Shi huangdi, “August emperor of Qin,” unified China after a series of ruthless military campaigns (221 BC)

• Ascended throne in 246 BC at age of 13, conquered the Zhou Dynasty, and then continued campaigns throughout China

• immense burial mound begun soon after his ascension 1000 ft. on a side, 140 ft. tall

• work - conducted by over 700,000 conscripts (based on written records) - intensified after unification in 221 BC

• regiment of terra cotta soldiers at the mounds side

Confucius (551-479 BC) strongly disapproved of the absolutism and self-interest of rulers during the Warring States period

Buddhism in imperial China by Qin empire, but apparently suppressed by emperor, Qin Shi Huang Di

Siddhārtha Gautama (Buddha), 563-483 BC?

1) Mausoleum2) Terra Cotta army3) Bronze Chariots

6) Kiln9) builder’s cemetery

1914

Beijing meansNorthern capital

Many secondary states developed through trade, benefiting from their location between East and West, such as Khotan along the Silk Road in Tarim Basin