Early Chinese Thought (Part 1) 1

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Early Chinese Thought (part 1) 1. Fall of the Western Zhou 2. Eastern Zhou period 3. Changes in the nature of state and ruler 4. New social forces and rise of the shi 5. Expansion of Zhou cultural world Western Zhou aristocratic lineage system patrilineage dynasty Son of Heaven (tianzi) Eastward migration of Zhou court 771 BCE invaders Luo Zhou rong 戎 "invaders" Timeline of Zhou dynasty (1045 – 256 BCE) Bronze Age ca. 2000-600 BCE Western Zhou 1045 – 771 BCE Eastern Zhou Classical Period 770 – 256 BCE ca. 600-200 BCE Early Imperial Period ca. 200 BC-AD 600 1. Fall of the Western Zhou 2. Eastern Zhou period 3. Changes in the nature of state and ruler 4. New social forces and rise of the shi 5. Expansion of Zhou cultural world Timeline of Zhou dynasty (1045 – 256 BCE) Bronze Age ca. 2000-600 BCE Western Zhou 1045 – 771 BCE Eastern Zhou Spring and Autumn period Classical Period 770 – 256 BCE (Chunqiu 春秋), 770-403 BCE ca. 600-200 BCE Warring States period (Zhanguo 戰國), 403-221 BCE Early Imperial Period ca. 200 BCE-600 CE Spring and Autumn Annals Chunqiu 春秋 chronicle of the state of Lu, 722-481 BCE Intrigues of the Warring States Zhanguo ce 戰國策 entries for 454-221 BCE Zuo Chronicle Zuo Zhuan 左傳 commentary on Spring and Autumn Annals Duke of Jin 晉文公 Chong'er 重耳（Double Ears） hegemon ba 霸 Major states of the Warring States Period 403-221 BCE ca. 400 BCE All-under-Heaven tianxia 天下 Qin 221 BCE Chariot burial Zhou Dynasty 1. Fall of the Western Zhou 2. Eastern Zhou period 3. Changes in the nature of state and ruler 4. New social forces and rise of the shi 5. Expansion of Zhou cultural world Major states of the Warring States Period 403-221 BCE ca. 400 BCE 1. Fall of the Western Zhou 2. Eastern Zhou period 3. Changes in the nature of state and ruler 4. New social forces and rise of the shi 5. Expansion of Zhou cultural world shi 士 class (man of service) traveling bravoes youxia 遊俠 1. Fall of the Western Zhou 2. Eastern Zhou period 3. Changes in the nature of state and ruler 4. New social forces and rise of the shi 5. Expansion of Zhou cultural world China Proper Central States zhongguo 中國 ca. 400 BCE Chu Chime Bell 10th c. BCE Hunan Province Bronze screen stand late Eastern Zhou Dynasty late 4th c. BCE Hebei province .

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Eastern Zhou Dynasty \(770 – 221BC\)
Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770 – 221BC) The long period during which the Zhou nominally ruled China is divided into two parts: the Western Zhou, covering the years from the conquest in c. 1050BC to the move of the capital from Xi’an to Luoyang in 771BC, and the Eastern Zhou, during which China was subdivided into many small states fro 770BC to the ascendancy of the Qin kingdom in 221BC. The Eastern Zhou period is traditionally divided into two: the Spring and Autumn period (770 – 475BC) and the period of the Warring States (475 – 221BC). These names are taken from contemporary historical documents which describe the periods in question. After the conquest of Xi’an by the Quanrong, the Zhou established their capital at Luoyang. No longer did they control their territory as undisputed kings, but now ruled alongside a number of other equally or more powerful rulers. In the centre and the north, the state of Jin was dominant, while the states of Yan and Qi occupied the present-day provinces of Hebei and Shandong repectively. Jin disintegrated in the fifth century BC, and three states, Han, Wei and Zhao, assumed its territory. In the west the Qin succeeded to the mantle of the Zhou, and in the south the state of Chu dominated the Yanzi basin. During the sixth and fifth centuries BC, Chu threatened and then swallowed up the small eastern states of Wu and Yue, as well as states such as Zeng on its northern boundary. Although for much of the period Chu was a successful and dominant power, in due course it fell in 223BC before the might of Qin, its rulers fleeing eastwards to Anhui province.
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The Spring and Autumn Period & the Warring States Period
http://www.purpleculture.net CHINESE MUSIC Pentatonic scale friend Zhong Ziqi by Playing “Sanfen Sunyi” method It is the collective name of This was one of the ancient five musical scales: do, re, mi, the Qin have their roots in this Chinese Lü generation sol and la. All the traditional methods. Guan Zhong in the Chinese scale forms included period, which fully reflects the Spring and Autumn Period the said five scales. Various improved musical instrument invented the Sanfen Sunyi modes might be formed Method that was used to based on each tone that is playing and composing skills figure out the length of Lü considered the principal tone for the pentatonic scale. The in a sequence of music tones and the enhanced music same or similar Lü generation consisting of the pentatonic methods also appeared in scale. According to the scale appreciation skills as well. As for ancient Greek and Arabic names of the principal tones, countries. Based on length modes could fall into different playing the ancient qin, ancient of the vibrating bodies, categories, such as do-mode, qin players also attributed the Sanfen Sunyi method re-mode, mi-mode, sol-mode included two aspects: “sanfen and la-mode. superb qin performance to true sunyi” and “sanfen yiyi.” Cutting one-third from a and deep feelings. According certain chord meant “sanfen sunyi,” which could result in to historical records, the singing of famous musician the upper fifth of the chord Qin Qing in the Zhou Dynasty could “shock the trees tone; And increasing the chord by one-third meant and stop clouds from moving,” and the singing of the “sanfen yiyi,” which generated the lower quarter of the folk singer Han E could “linger in the mind for a long chord tone.
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Chapter Three – the Zhou Dynasty and the Warring States
CHAPTER THREE – THE ZHOU DYNASTY AND THE WARRING STATES THE OVERTHROW OF THE SHANG As our archaeological record has proven, outside of Shang territory there existed a myriad of other kingdoms and peoples – some were allied to the Shang, others were hostile. Between the Shang capital at Anyang and the territory of the Qiang peoples, was a kingdom named Zhou. A nomadic peoples who spoke an early form of the Tibetan language, the Qiang tribes were often at war with the Shang kingdom. Serving as a buffer zone against the Qiang, this frontier kingdom of Zhou shared much of the Shang’s material culture, such as its bronze work. In 1045 BCE, however, the Zhou noble family of Ji rebelled against and overthrew the Shang rulers at Anyang. In doing so, they laid the foundations for the Zhou dynasty, China’s third. In classical Chinese history, three key figures are involved in the overthrow of the Shang. They are King Wen, who originally expanded the Zhou realm, his son King Wu, who conquered the Shang, and King Wu’s brother, known as the duke of Zhou, who secured Zhou authority while serving as regent for King Wu’s heir. The deeds of these three men are recorded in China’s earliest transmitted text, The Book of Documents.The text portrays the Shang kings as corrupt and decadent, with the Zhou victory recorded as a result of their justice and virtue. The Zhou kings shifted the Shang system of religious worship away from Di, who was a personified supreme first ancestor figure and towards Tian, which was Heaven itself.
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Microscopic Study of Chinese Bronze Casting Moulds from the Eastern Zhou Period
Journal of Archaeological Science 40 (2013) 2402e2414 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jas Microscopic study of Chinese bronze casting moulds from the Eastern Zhou period Siran Liu a,b,*, Kai Wang a, Quanfa Cai c, Jianli Chen a,** a School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China b UCL, Institute of Archaeology, United Kingdom c Henan Provincial Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics, China article info abstract Article history: Piece mould casting technology, as a hall mark of the central plains of China during the Bronze Age, has Received 13 February 2012 attracted scholars’ interest globally. Bronze ritual vessels found in this area were produced in large Received in revised form quantities and generally cast with the moulds composed of three or more sections. This enormous 16 November 2012 industry certainly required workers to have had professional knowledge to ensure the success of every Accepted 17 November 2012 single cast. Mould making technology was one of its most important parts. This research looks into the microstructure of bronze casting moulds of the Eastern Zhou period, which was a rarely studied topic in Keywords: previous research. Through comparison with local pottery, it is shown that casting moulds in this period Mould Bronze casting were produced with quite specialized sand-rich material, and clay was only a minor component. It is ﬁ Microstructure then discussed how this unique material can be bene cial to the bronze casting process and how this SEM technology was integrated as a crucial part of the Chinese bronze casting system.
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Where Was the Western Zhou Capital? a Capital City Has a Special Status in Every Country
Maria Khayutina [email protected] Where Was the Western Zhou Capital? A capital city has a special status in every country. Normally, this is a political, economical, social center. Often it is a cultural and religious center as well. This is the place of governmental headquarters and of the residence of power-holding elite and professional administrative cadres. In the societies, where transportation means are not much developed, this is at the same time the place, where producers of the top quality goods for elite consumption live and work. A country is often identified with its capital city both by its inhabitants and the foreigners. Wherefore, it is hardly possible to talk about the history of a certain state without making clear, where was located its capital. The Chinese history contains many examples, when a ruling dynasty moved its capital due to defensive or other political reasons. Often this shift caused not only geographical reorganization of the territory, but also significant changes in power relations within the state, as well as between it and its neighbors. One of the first such shifts happened in 771 BC, when the heir apparent of the murdered King You 幽 could not push back invading 犬戎 Quanrong hordes from the nowadays western 陜西 Shaanxi province, but fled to the city of 成周 Chengzhou near modern 洛陽 Luoyang, where the royal court stayed until the fall of the 周 Zhou in the late III century BC. This event is usually perceived as a benchmark between the two epochs – the “Western” and “Eastern” Zhou respectively, distinctly distinguished one from another.
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china cover_correct2pgs 7/23/04 2:15 PM Page 1 T h e A r t a n d A rc h a e o l o g y o f A n c i e nt C h i n a A T E A C H E R ’ S G U I D E The Art and Archaeology of Ancient China A T E A C H ER’S GUI DE PROJECT DIRECTOR Carson Herrington WRITER Elizabeth Benskin PROJECT ASSISTANT Kristina Giasi EDITOR Gail Spilsbury DESIGNER Kimberly Glyder ILLUSTRATOR Ranjani Venkatesh CALLIGRAPHER John Wang TEACHER CONSULTANTS Toni Conklin, Bancroft Elementary School, Washington, D.C. Ann R. Erickson, Art Resource Teacher and Curriculum Developer, Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia Krista Forsgren, Director, Windows on Asia, Atlanta, Georgia Christina Hanawalt, Art Teacher, Westfield High School, Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia The maps on pages 4, 7, 10, 12, 16, and 18 are courtesy of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The map on page 106 is courtesy of Maps.com. Special thanks go to Jan Stuart and Joseph Chang, associate curators of Chinese art at the Freer and Sackler galleries, and to Paul Jett, the museum’s head of Conservation and Scientific Research, for their advice and assistance. Thanks also go to Michael Wilpers, Performing Arts Programmer, and to Christine Lee and Larry Hyman for their suggestions and contributions. This publication was made possible by a grant from the Freeman Foundation. The CD-ROM included with this publication was created in collaboration with Fairfax County Public Schools. It was made possible, in part, with in- kind support from Kaidan Inc.
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Where Is King Ping?
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The Warring States Period (453-221)
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The Zhou Dynasty Around 1046 BC, King Wu, the Leader of the Zhou
The Zhou Dynasty Around 1046 BC, King Wu, the leader of the Zhou (Chou), a subject people living in the west of the Chinese kingdom, overthrew the last king of the Shang Dynasty. King Wu died shortly after this victory, but his family, the Ji, would rule China for the next few centuries. Their dynasty is known as the Zhou Dynasty. The Mandate of Heaven After overthrowing the Shang Dynasty, the Zhou propagated a new concept known as the Mandate of Heaven. The Mandate of Heaven became the ideological basis of Zhou rule, and an important part of Chinese political philosophy for many centuries. The Mandate of Heaven explained why the Zhou kings had authority to rule China and why they were justified in deposing the Shang dynasty. The Mandate held that there could only be one legitimate ruler of China at one time, and that such a king reigned with the approval of heaven. A king could, however, loose the approval of heaven, which would result in that king being overthrown. Since the Shang kings had become immoral—because of their excessive drinking, luxuriant living, and cruelty— they had lost heaven’s approval of their rule. Thus the Zhou rebellion, according to the idea, took place with the approval of heaven, because heaven had removed supreme power from the Shang and bestowed it upon the Zhou. Western Zhou After his death, King Wu was succeeded by his son Cheng, but power remained in the hands of a regent, the Duke of Zhou. The Duke of Zhou defeated rebellions and established the Zhou Dynasty firmly in power at their capital of Fenghao on the Wei River (near modern-day Xi’an) in western China.
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Spring and Autumn China (771-453)
Indiana University, History G380 – class text readings – Spring 2010 – R. Eno 1.7 SPRING AND AUTUMN CHINA (771-453) The history of the Spring and Autumn period was traditionally pictured as a narrative in which the major actors were states, their rulers, and certain high ministers and colorful figures. The narrative generally was shaped by writers to convey ethical points. It was, on the largest scale, a “true” story, but its drama was guided by a moral rationale. In these pages, we will survey the events of this long period. Our narrative will combine a selective recounting of major events with an attempt to illustrate the political variety that developed among the patrician states of the time. It embeds also certain stories from traditional sources, which are intended to help you picture more vividly and so recall more easily major turning points. These tales (which appear in italics) are retold here in a way that eliminates the profusion of personal and place names that characterize the original accounts. There are four such stories and each focuses on a single individual (although the last and longest has a larger cast of characters). The first two stories, those of Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin, highlight certain central features of Spring and Autumn political structures. The third tale, concerning King Ling of Chu, illustrates the nature of many early historical accounts as cautionary tales. The last, the story of Wu Zixu, is one of the great “historical romances” of the traditional annals. It is important to bear in mind that the tales recounted here are parts of a “master narrative” of early China, crafted by literary historians.
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China's Dynastic History
A Learning Resource Report Reading Materials for Participants of The International Forum December 2003 China – A Selection of Dynastic Histories In April 2004, The International Forum will travel through three cities of historical significance in China. Beginning in Shanghai, one of the younger cities in China – it grew to prominence during the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and during the Republic of China (1911-1949). Now it is the key financial center under the People’s Republic. The City of Hangzhou, south west of Shanghai, was the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) until it fell to the Mongols in 1276. The city of Wuhan dates back to the Shang Dynasty (3,500 years ago) and it was part of the Chu during the Warring States Period (476 BC-221 BC) and during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) it became a busy trading port on the Yangtze River. Chinese civilized history is re-told through its dynasties – a reminder that nothing remains the same and that everything has a rise and fall, a birth and death. The account of China’s history follows a cyclical pattern with the rise and fall of each dynasty, unlike western history which is re-told in a fairly linear progression from the Ancient Greeks onward. The attached reading chronicles parts of China’s history from the Shang Dynasty through the forming of the People’s Republic. It is a brief overview and a simple introduction designed to peak your interest, yet not tell the whole story. _______________________________________________________ This material is provided for the participants of The International Forum and is to be used for learning purposes only.
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