1. Chapter 3
China in Antiquity

2. Confucius and his disciples

3. I. The Dawn of Chinese Civilization
A. The Land and People of China
B. The Shang Dynasty (1500s-1000s B.C.E.)
1. Political Organization
2. Social Structures
3. The Shang Dynasty: China’s “Mother Culture”?

4. MAP 3.1 Neolithic China. Like the ancient civilizations that arose in North Africa and western Asia, early Chinese society emerged along the banks of two major river systems, the Yellow and the Yangtze. China was separated from the other civilizations by snow-capped mountains and forbidding deserts, however, and thus was compelled to develop essentially on its own, without contacts from other societies going through a similar process.
Figure 3-1 p66

5. The First Villages in Early China
The First Villages in Early China. Before the invention of writing systems, early humans sought to record events in their lives by means of pictures. Examples are the Neolithic cave paintings in France and Saharan Africa (see Chapters 1 and 8). Shown here at the right is a Neolithic cave painting of a village of stilt houses in Yunnan province in southern China. Stilt houses are still widely used in parts of southern Asia today as a means of protection against flooding. The smaller photo shows a housein Banpo, an early farming village in central China that was founded perhaps seven thousand years ago. Note that this house is enclosed by walls made of dried mud, a type of dwelling appropriate to a colder climate.
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6. The First Villages in Early China
The First Villages in Early China. Before the invention of writing systems, early humans sought to record events in their lives by means of pictures. Examples are the Neolithic cave paintings in France and Saharan Africa (see Chapters 1 and 8). Shown here at the right is a Neolithic cave painting of a village of stilt houses in Yunnan province in southern China. Stilt houses are still widely used in parts of southern Asia today as a means of protection against flooding. The smaller photo shows a housein Banpo, an early farming village in central China that was founded perhaps seven thousand years ago. Note that this house is enclosed by walls made of dried mud, a type of dwelling appropriate to a colder climate.
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7. Shang China
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8. Shell and Bone Writing. The earliest known form of true writing in China dates back to the Shang dynasty and was inscribed on shells or animal bones. Questions for the gods were scratched on bones, which cracked after being exposed to fire. The cracks were then interpreted by sorcerers. The questions often expressed practical concerns: Will it rain? Will the king be victorious in battle? Will he recover from his illness? Originally composed of pictographs and ideographs four thousand years ago, Chinese writing has evolved into an elaborate set of symbols that combine meaning and pronunciation in a single character.
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9. COMPARATIVE ILLUSTRATION The Afterlife and Prized Possessions
COMPARATIVE ILLUSTRATION The Afterlife and Prized Possessions. Like the pharaohs in Egypt, Chinese rulers filled their tombs with prized possessions from daily life. It was believed that if a tomb was furnished and stocked with supplies, including chairs, boats, chests, weapons, games, and dishes, the spiritual body could continue its life despite the death of the physical body. In the photo on the left, we see the remains of a chariot and horses in a burial pit in China’s Hebei province that datesfrom the early Zhou dynasty. The lower photo on the right shows a small boat from the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. The tradition of providing items of daily use for the departed continues today in Chinese communities throughout Asia. The papier-maˆcheｫ vehicle in the photo at the upper right will be burned so that it will ascend in smoke to the world of the spirits.
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10. COMPARATIVE ILLUSTRATION The Afterlife and Prized Possessions
COMPARATIVE ILLUSTRATION The Afterlife and Prized Possessions. Like the pharaohs in Egypt, Chinese rulers filled their tombs with prized possessions from daily life. It was believed that if a tomb was furnished and stocked with supplies, including chairs, boats, chests, weapons, games, and dishes, the spiritual body could continue its life despite the death of the physical body. In the photo on the left, we see the remains of a chariot and horses in a burial pit in China’s Hebei province that datesfrom the early Zhou dynasty. The lower photo on the right shows a small boat from the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. The tradition of providing items of daily use for the departed continues today in Chinese communities throughout Asia. The papier-maˆcheｫ vehicle in the photo at the upper right will be burned so that it will ascend in smoke to the world of the spirits.
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11. COMPARATIVE ILLUSTRATION The Afterlife and Prized Possessions
COMPARATIVE ILLUSTRATION The Afterlife and Prized Possessions. Like the pharaohs in Egypt, Chinese rulers filled their tombs with prized possessions from daily life. It was believed that if a tomb was furnished and stocked with supplies, including chairs, boats, chests, weapons, games, and dishes, the spiritual body could continue its life despite the death of the physical body. In the photo on the left, we see the remains of a chariot and horses in a burial pit in China’s Hebei province that datesfrom the early Zhou dynasty. The lower photo on the right shows a small boat from the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. The tradition of providing items of daily use for the departed continues today in Chinese communities throughout Asia. The papier-maˆcheｫ vehicle in the photo at the upper right will be burned so that it will ascend in smoke to the world of the spirits.
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12. II. The Zhou Dynasty A. Political Structures B. Economy and Society
1. The Mandate of Heaven
B. Economy and Society

13. II. The Zhou Dynasty C. The Hundred Schools of Ancient Philosophy
1. Early Beliefs
2. Confucianism
3. Legalism
4. Daoism
5. Popular Beliefs

14. Bronze Axhead. This axhead, manufactured during the second millennium B.C.E., was made by pouring liquid metal into an ax-shaped mold of clay or stone. When it had cooled, artisans polished the surface to produce a sharp cutting edge.
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15. COMPARATIVE ILLUSTRATION Early Agricultural Technology
COMPARATIVE ILLUSTRATION Early Agricultural Technology. For centuries,farmers across the globe have adopted various techniques to guarantee the flow of adequate amounts of water for their crops. One of the most effective ways to irrigate fields in hilly regions is to construct terraces to channel the flow of water from higher elevations. Shown on the right is a hillside terrace in northern China, an area where dry crops such as oats and millet have been cultivated since the sixth millennium B.C.E. The illustration on the left shows a terraced hillside in the southwestern corner of the Arabian peninsula. Excavations show that despite dry conditions through much of the peninsula, terraced agriculture has been practiced in mountainous parts of the region for as long as five thousand years.
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16. COMPARATIVE ILLUSTRATION Early Agricultural Technology
COMPARATIVE ILLUSTRATION Early Agricultural Technology. For centuries,farmers across the globe have adopted various techniques to guarantee the flow of adequate amounts of water for their crops. One of the most effective ways to irrigate fields in hilly regions is to construct terraces to channel the flow of water from higher elevations. Shown on the right is a hillside terrace in northern China, an area where dry crops such as oats and millet have been cultivated since the sixth millennium B.C.E. The illustration on the left shows a terraced hillside in the southwestern corner of the Arabian peninsula. Excavations show that despite dry conditions through much of the peninsula, terraced agriculture has been practiced in mountainous parts of the region for as long as five thousand years.
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17. Lao Tzu and Confucius. Little is known about the life of Lao Tzu (shown on the left in the illustration), and it is unlikely that he and Confucius ever met. According to tradition, though, the two held a face-to-face meeting. The discussion must have beeninteresting, for their views about the nature of reality were diametrically opposed. Nevertheless, the Chinese have managed to preserve both traditions, perhaps a reflection of the dualities represented in the Chinese approach to life. A similar duality existed among Platonists and Aristotelians in ancient Greece (see Chapter 4).
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18. III. The First Chinese Empire: The Qin Dynasty
A. The Qin Dynasty (221‑206 B.C.E.)
1. Political Structures
2. Society and the Economy
3. Beyond the Frontier: The Nomadic Peoples and the Great Wall
4. The Fall of the Qin
5. Are All Hydraulic Societies Despotic?

19. MAP 3. 2 China During the Period of the Warring States
MAP 3.2 China During the Period of the Warring States. From the fifth to the third centuries B.C.E., China was locked in a time of civil strife known as the Period of the Warring States. This map shows the Zhou dynasty capital at Luoyang, along with the major states that were squabbling for precedence in the region.
Figure 3-2 p80

20. MAP 3.3 The Qin Empire, 221–206 B.C.E. After a struggle lasting several decades, the state of Qin was finally able to subdue its rivals and create the first united empire in the history of China. The capital was located at Xianyang, near the modern city of Xian.
Figure 3-3 p81

21. IV. Daily Life in Ancient China
A. The Role of the Family
B. Lifestyles
C. Cities
D. The Humble Estate: Women in Ancient China

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23. The Heartland of Ancient China
The Heartland of Ancient China. The Yellow River valley and its neighboring regions have always been viewed as the heartland of ancient Chinese civilization. Rich clay soils, known to geologists as loess and carried southward by the winds from the vast Gobi Desert, created a thick blanket of rich loam in which to plant the grain crops that sustained the Chinese people. Even the walls of the village shown in the larger photograph are constructed of this rich yellow earth. The hills in the background are pockmarked with cave dwellings (smaller photo) that have housed the local inhabitants since prehistoric times.
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24. The Heartland of Ancient China
The Heartland of Ancient China. The Yellow River valley and its neighboring regions have always been viewed as the heartland of ancient Chinese civilization. Rich clay soils, known to geologists as loess and carried southward by the winds from the vast Gobi Desert, created a thick blanket of rich loam in which to plant the grain crops that sustained the Chinese people. Even the walls of the village shown in the larger photograph are constructed of this rich yellow earth. The hills in the background are pockmarked with cave dwellings (smaller photo) that have housed the local inhabitants since prehistoric times.
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25. V. Chinese Culture A. Metalwork and Sculpture
1. Bronze Casting
2. The First Emperor’s Tomb
B. Language and Literature
C. Music

26. A Shang Wine Vessel. Used initially as food containers in royal ceremonial rites during the Shang dynasty, Chinese bronzes were the product of an advanced technology unmatched by any contemporary civilization. This wine vessel displays a deep green patina as well as a monster motif, complete with large globular eyes, nostrils, and fangs, typical of many Shang bronzes. Known as the taotie (TOW-tee-YUH [‘‘ow’’ as in ‘‘how’’]), this fanciful beast is normally presented in silhouette as two
dragons face to face so that each side forms half of the mask. Although the taotie presumably served as a guardian force against evil spirits, scholars are still not aware of its exact significance for early Chinese peoples.
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27. The Tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi
The Tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi. The First Emperor of Qin ordered the construction of an elaborate mausoleum, an underground palace complex protected by an army of terra-cotta soldiers and horses to accompany him on his journey to the afterlife. This massive formation of six thousand life-size armed soldiers, discovered accidentally by farmers in 1974, reflects Qin Shi Huangdi’s grandeur and power.
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28. The Tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi
The Tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi. The First Emperor of Qin ordered the construction of an elaborate mausoleum, an underground palace complex protected by an army of terra-cotta soldiers and horses to accompany him on his journey to the afterlife. This massive formation of six thousand life-size armed soldiers, discovered accidentally by farmers in 1974, reflects Qin Shi Huangdi’s grandeur and power.
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29. Pictographs in Ancient Cultures
Pictographs in Ancient Cultures. Virtually all written language evolved from pictographs— representations of physical objects that were eventually stylized and tied to sounds in the spoken language. This chart shows pictographs that originated
independently in three ancient cultures and the stylized modern characters into which the Chinese oracle pictographs evolved.
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30. Music in the Confucian Era
Music in the Confucian Era. According to Confucius, ‘‘If a man lack benevolence, what has he to do with music?’’ The purpose of music, to followers of the Master, was to instill in the listener a proper respect for ethical conduct. Foremost among the
instruments in the Confucian era were bronze bells. Shown here is a collection of bells dating from the Zhou dynasty. At the left, a performer is playing a stringed instrument, one of many types of instruments that eventually replaced the bell in
popularity. The performer in the center is striking the bells with a wooden mallet.
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