History of China (eBook)

The Legend of P’an Ku

From out of the chaos, the deep profoundness of the origin of life, rose Nu Kua Shih. It is said in the ancient texts that she took yellow clay in her hands and molded a man and a woman. It was up to them to keep their world healthy and whole. But they didn’t always perform well, and their failure to protect the earth had ramifications. 

In the world, which was composed of China, repairs were needed because of flooding. The people believed that this flooding was caused by Huang Di, the mythical “Yellow Emperor,” who was displeased when his people misbehaved. The Yellow Emperor was so named because he was made of the soil, which had a distinctive yellow tinge. When the wise Nu Kua Shih saw that, she took mercy upon the people and stopped the floods. Thus, the land was saved from total destruction. China has two great rivers, the Yellow River and the Yangtze, and even to this day, flooding is a perennial problem because of the periodic flooding of those rivers.

The descendants of the first ancient people of China were farmers who dwelt in city-states. Emigration was forbidden, as their leaders realized that strength resided in numbers. Defense depended upon the population, and so did the cultivation of crops. There were peasant farmers, but there were also higher-class farmers who ran estate-like farms. Later on, the peasants worked outside walled cities, and the inner areas fostered merchants, scholars, and artisans.

The first dynasty of China was called the Xia dynasty. The foundations of the Xia lay in myths, so some scholars believe that this dynasty might not have existed at all. The establishment of the Xia dynasty is credited to a man named Yu the Great. Although Huang Di was said to have curbed the floods of the Yellow River, the Xia people believed that Nu Kua Shih was the one who actually stopped the floods, and so, they deified her.

The Xia dynasty is believed to have ruled between 2100 and 1600 BCE, if it even existed at all. The problem of its authenticity lies in the fact that are no contemporary written records of it; in fact, the earliest mention of it dates to around the 13th century BCE.

Shang and Zhou

Around 1600 BCE, the Shang dynasty came about. It had a vassal state called the Zhou. The staple food for the people of the Shang and the Zhou was rice, an ideal crop for a country that is covered in water. According to an ancient legend, rice was discovered when a dog ran through the floodwaters with mysterious seeds attached to his tail. When the people were starving, they heated the seeds in water. The seeds then expanded and became soft enough to eat. The rice saved the people, and they considered it a gift from Huang Di. The people grew rice in paddies, and they created terraces for the rice to prevent erosion. The original rice they grew was a variety of long-grain brown rice.

The upper classes enjoyed meat from cows, chickens, pigs, sheep, and deer. The lower classes and the slaves mostly lived on fish. It is interesting to note that the Chinese developed their traditional method of cutting food up into small tasty bits in ancient times. As early as the year 1000 BCE, during the Zhou dynasty, they mastered the techniques of stir-frying, steaming, and deep-frying food. It was felt that cooked food was the mark of civilization.

During the Shang dynasty, a script was developed, which consisted of a series of pictographs. In a short period of time, many of these “pictures” became less complex and more symbolic. They even had symbols to indicate phonetic pronunciation to help avoid confusion. The inscriptions spoke of births, harvests, wars, human sacrifices, and threats of war from neighboring tribes. Archeologists and linguists have isolated as many as 3,000 characters from the writings discovered from the Shang dynasty.

The great philosopher Confucius was born in 551 BCE during the Zhou era. His beliefs have inspired people for generations. The Confucian code taught obedience to proper authorities and added much to promoting a sense of self-generated integrity to the people.

Other aspects of culture of this time can be found in the various decorations they created. Most of the Shang dynasty took place during the Bronze Age, and as such, they used bronze for bowls, incense containers, ceremonial masks, wine vessels, and weapons. As the Shang dynasty faded away, so, too, did the use of bronze. Iron metallurgy wasn’t fully developed until the 10th and 9th centuries BCE. As soon as that occurred, iron quickly replaced bronze for use in warfare because bronze could easily be broken in battle.

The people of the ancient Shang and Zhou dynasties mostly settled between the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers. The Yellow River was aptly named, as it does have a yellow tinge due to the sediment it picks up on its way to the sea.

The Battle of Muye

The ruler of the Zhou, King Wu, was looked upon as the chief leader of the Chinese people. In the year 1046 BCE, Di Xin, the ruler of the Shang, strongly craved the throne and even told his people that he had the Mandate of Heaven, the idea that a ruler was selected by the deities to lead the people. Natural disasters were seen as a definitive sign that a ruler had lost the Mandate of Heaven. However, when it came to war, when one side won, everyone accepted the belief that the Mandate of Heaven was on the winner’s side.

According to legend, the people of the Shang were displeased with Di Xin after he married an evil woman named Daji. Di Xin, they said, became ruthless after he married her. At the Battle of Muye, located in eastern China, the warriors used pikes, spears, crossbows, and halberds. Chariots were also used, and the craftsmen designed special war chariots that were pulled by two horses and manned by two warriors.

Battles were fought in strict formation, and it was dishonorable to take advantage of an opponent’s mishaps, like a broken chariot wheel. Battlefields were designated in advance, and they were placed at a distance from villages so the civilian population would be protected.

The Battle of Muye was bloody, and Di Xin had many defections from among his army, which included both soldiers and slaves. Because he lost the confidence of his people, he lost the throne, and the Shang dynasty ended with him. In the ancient narrative, the Commentary of Zuo, it says, “Calamity shall arise when officials lack credibility. Without supporters, one is sure to perish.” After the battle, it is said that Di Xin adorned himself with jewels and set himself on fire. The Zhou then became the ruling dynasty in China, with Wu as its first king.

Societal Structure

King Wu set up a feudal structure in the country. It separated the people into classes:

1. The king
2. The royal household and its courtesans
3. The sheriffs
4. The soldiers
5. The common people
6. The slaves

When Wu died, his oldest son, Cheng, hadn’t come of age yet (he would have been around thirteen years old_, so China was run by a regent, his uncle Duke Wen. Over the years, the various village complexes battled against one another to gain greater control. There was also an impetus to use stronger weapons, and the workers started using bog iron taken from the swamps. It was melted in furnaces and molded to create iron swords and even farming implements.

Jealousies and hegemony predominated during the Warring States period, which took place between 475 and 221 BCE. When the Zhou dynasty began to fall in the 5th century, they had to rely on armies from their allies. These states saw a chance to become the one true power of the Chinese people, and constant wars broke out between them, with alliances shifting often. Once the Jin state was broken up, three major competitors emerged—the Zhao, Wei, and Han states. Over time, though, seven states fought for the control of China: Qin, Han, Wei, Zhao, Qi, Chu, and Yan. This will be touched on a bit more in the next chapter with the rise of the Qin state and dynasty, but suffice to say, there was a lot of turmoil between the seven states.

Culture

While warriors were competing for political dominance, philosophy flourished among the people.

Confucius, who lived from 551 to 479 BCE, inspired the masses with his humanistic approach to life. He eschewed scrupulous adherence to a list of rules and regulations and instead favored a philosophy that was practical and compassionate. He was, however, very demanding in terms of respect for authority. He believed in loyalty to the state and to one’s parents. The cultivation of virtue was vital to a successful life, as was unselfishness.

Taoism came into being when it was promoted by Laozi in the 4th century BCE. He taught a belief in the “Way,” which is a harmonious process of living. It means that one needs to traverse the “path” of righteousness and free oneself from selfish desires. In a harmonious society, unhappiness results from wanting that which one cannot have. Unlike Confucius, Laozi didn’t stress obedience but taught that one should live a life that was natural, one that coincided with the tempo of life.

The early priests were often fortune-tellers. They used small animal bones that would be thrown into a fire until they cracked. When that happened, the oracle presented his or her answer to questions their clients asked. The bones they used for divination were called “oracle bones.”

The use of Tao Te Ching, an important text in Taoism, has a divination function and is still...