Lecture 5: Ancient China

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Lecture 5: Ancient China Topics: Developments after 2000 BCE Rise and collapse of empires China from 1554 to 206 BCE Questions: How does China’s earliest history compare to that of S.W. Asia? Shang Dynasty (approx. 1500-1045 BCE) Q. What do oracle bones tell us? Divination Religious functions of king Deities Ancestor worship (esp. royal ancestors) Worries about weather & harvest Warfare Q. What do they not tell us? Characteristics of Shang society King religious (divination & intercession) military legal/admin (labor mobilization & coercive power) Cities form around palaces walls of pounded earth Ancestor worship ritual offerings divination Main resource/technology = bronze weapons (incl. chariot harnesses) ritual vessels cast Writing Early Dynastic Mesopotamia & Shang China Accumulation of surplus Social inequality Functional specialization Political/religious authority king’s religious, military, & administrative functions monumental architecture/population density = palaces landed aristocracy bronze Civilization = shared (complex) culture similar social, political, religious characteristics across a geographic space & down through time China’s is the oldest, continuous civilization Expansion of Shang culture to rest of today’s China Succession of Dynasties Culture not static Political authority not uncontested Zhou Dynasty (1045-221 BCE) Outsiders move in! Overthrow Shang (from west) Introduce “Mandate of Heaven” (tianming) to legitimize power Move capital east to Luoyang in 771 BCE Power increasingly weak & fragmented Shi Qiang bronze pan (10th c. BCE) China’s Ancient Dynasties Shang 1554-1045 BCE Western Zhou 1045-772 BCE Mandate of Heaven Eastern Zhou: * 772-476 BCE capital moves east “Spring and Autumn” Eastern Zhou: smaller states in 476-221 BCE “Warring States Period” competition Qin 221-206 BCE unification Eastern Zhou Fragmented power States in competition War Taxes (new resource base) Elites in competition New men Rely on ministers (new specialists) Social mobility Commercialization Urbanization Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE) End “Warring States” period Unification of China Administrative reforms Standardization New title: Emperor Terrracotta warriors, Tomb of First Emperor of Qin.

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