Early Society in East Asia: CHAPTER 5 LECTURE NOTES - TRADITIONS AND ENCOUNTERS 6TH EDITION - AP World History

THE YELLOW RIVER

• AKA Huang He
• 3,000 mi = Tibet --> Yellow Sea
• Deposits fertile, light-colored soil
  • As glaciers rescinded during the ice age, soil comes down with water, has lots of nutrients/minerals
• Periodic flooding: "China's sorrow"
  • Because the river had soup-like consistency 
• irregular times

PREHISTORIC SOCIETY: YANGSHAO (5,000-3,000 BCE)

• Middle region of the Yellow River valley
  • Had regionalized government
    • Oversee small section with a strong centralized govt that oversaw commerce/trade
  • Tech advanced
• Banpo village
  • Painted pottery
  • Use of kilns
  • Ability to develop clay from the Earth
  • Created different types of artistic craftsmen who are using that paint/pottery
• Bronze tools 
  • Combo of copper/tin
  • AKA alloy

THE EARLIEST DYNASTIES

• Xia (ca. 2,200 BCE) 
  • Organized through village network
  • Hereditary monarchy
    • Ruled by one leader but is passed through the family, usually father to son 
  • Was given commands by bureaucrats who were taking the words/decrees of the leader
  • Flood control
• Shang (1,766-1,122 BCE)
• Zhou (1,122-256 BCE)

SHANG

• Bronze metallurgy 
  • State monopoly
• Horse-drawn chariots, other wheeled vehicles (like carts) 
  • Important in warfare because it can move troops very quickly across battlefields/disorientate enemies due to speed
• Large armies
  • Used to grow influence and dominate foreign land
• Political organization = network of fortified cities, loyal to center
  • 1,000 cities
  • The capital moved 6 times because of economic, political/military reasons 
  • Impressive architecture of AO (wall = organization)
  • Yin (tombs = similar to Egypt with sacrificial remains) 
• Other regional kingdoms coexist = San Kingdui

SHANG DYNASTY BURIAL PRACTICES

• Hierarchal social structure
  • Leader at the top --> generals --> other important people 
• Burials alongside dead member of ruling class
  • Sacrificial victims, mostly slaves
  • Wives, servants, hunting companions
  • Later replaced by statuary, often monumental 
    • Like statues, gravestones
  • Moved away because it was difficult to convince people to kill themselves for someone of power

ZHOU DYNASTY

• No law codes = rule by decree
  • No written down laws people can read/told to understand
    • Instead they have messengers gather the people in crowds to explain the rulings
    • "Mandate of Heaven" = leader must be a conduit/connection to the spiritual realm/Earth
• Aggregation of villages opposed to Shang leadership
  • Decentralization to authority
    • Regional leaders seen as more of the authority
    • Taxes were too high because it was a large dynasty at the time

DECLINE OF THE ZHOU DYNASTY

• Decentralized leadership style allows for building of regional powers
  • Increasing local independence, refusal to pay Zhou taxes
• Iron metallurgy allows for widespread creation of weaponry
• Northern invaders weaken Zhou dynasty, beginning 8th cent. BCE
• Internal dissension = Period of the Warring States (403-221 BCE) 
  • People fighting everywhere for power, control etc.
  • Qin vs Wei vs Zha vs Chu vs Ha vs Song vs Lu vs Yan vs Zhao vs Qi

SOCIAL ORDER

• Ruling classes great advantage
  • Palatial compounds, luxurious lifestyle 
  • Support by agricultural surplus, tax revenues
  • Defended by a monopoly on bronze weaponry 
• Support class of artisans, craftsmen
  • Receive support from ruling classes to create bowls, pots, walls, metals, etc. 
• Evidence of long-distance trade, merchant class
  • Connect China/India
• Large class of semiservile peasants
• Slave class
  • Jobs that the other classes didn't do 
  • Menial labor
• Large class of semi-serville peasants
  • Couldn't leave the land 
  • Grow crops for slaves 
  • In service of the community

FAMILY/PATRIARCHY

• Devotion to family, ancestor veneration
• Connection of spirit world to physical world
  • Being devoted = structure of good luck and fortune 
  • Ritual sacrifices
    • Bury tools/goods/items, later leave food/drinks at grave
• Father ritual head of family sites
  • China didn't have a priest class
• Early prominence of individual female leaders fades in later Shang, Zhou dynasties 

ORACLE BONES/EARLY CHINESE WRITING

• Used for communicating with spirit world, determining future
  • Question written on animal bones and turtle shells
  • Take a hot tool from the fire, crack, examined for omens
• Early archaeological evidence of Chinese writing 

EVOLUTION OF CHINESE SCRIPT 

• Pictograph (represents object) --> ideograph (represents idea)

ZHOU LITERATURE

• The reflections of Confucius 
  • Focuses on familial piety, order, tradition, etc.
  • Seen as frugal with wisdom and is now a widely known philosopher
• Book of Change = manual for divination
  • Tells how to do oracle bones, understand gods
• Book of History = Justified Zhou state
  • Explained how the Zhou were so great/powerful
• Book of Etiquette (Book of Rites)
• Book of Songs (Poems)
• Little survived
  • Often written on perishable bamboo strips
  • Many destroyed by emperor in Qin dynasty in 221 BCE

NOMADIC PEOPLES OF CENTRAL ASIA 

• Steppe nomads --> moved frequently
  • Poor lands for cultivation, extensive herding activities
  • Horses domesticated c. 4,000 BCE, bronze metallurgy in 2,900 BCE
• Extensive trade with sedentary cultures in China
• Tensions: frequent raiding 
  • Do it whenever they're running low on supplies, raid villages, caravans, etc. 

SOUTHERN EXPANSION ON CHINESE SOCIETY

• Yangzi Valley
  • Yangzi River: Chang Jiang, "long river"
  • Excellent for rice cultivation
  • Irrigation system developed
• The State of Chu
  • Autonomous, challenged Zhou dynasty
  • Acts on it, didn't need any other groups to support it
  • Culture heavily influenced by Chinese