Download From Yao to Mao: A Thematic Overview of Chinese History

From Yao to Mao: A
Thematic Overview of
Chinese History
Prof. Shana J. Brown
Department of History
University of Hawaii
Tactics in studying Chinese
history…
• Appreciating the extraordinary degree of
geographical, cultural, linguistic, and ethnic
diversity
• Countering the myth of “eternal China” by
defining historical units and themes that
acknowledge growth, change, influences by
outside world
• Looking for historical themes that enrich our
understanding of contemporary problems,
without reducing them to stereotypes
China to the Modern Period
(5000 BC – 1308 AD)
True or false?
• China has always been ruled by ethnic Han
Chinese
• The geographical boundaries of China have
remained constant for thousands of years
• The cultural makeup of China shows
remarkable degrees of consistency
Early Cultures
Yangshao
(5000-3000 BC)
Pit houses; painted
pottery; domesticated
animals; sericulture?
Longshan
(3000 – 2000 BC)
Black pottery; divination on bones;
rammed-earth cities; rice
cultivation
Hongshan (3700-2250 BC)
Jade artifacts; temple and city
builders
Liangshu (3400 – 2250 BC)
Jade artifacts; slab tombs; silk and
lacquer production
Historiographical issues…
• What is the difference between a culture and
a dynasty?
• Why and how are these cultures and / or
dynasties defined as Chinese?
“Early Civilization in China:
Reflections on How it Became
Chinese”
• Hierarchical social distinctions
• Massive mobilization of labor
• Emphasis on the group, rather than the
individual
• Emphasis on ritual in all dimensions of life
• Formal boundaries and models
• Ethic of service, obligation, and emulation
• Little sense of tragedy or irony
Chinese myths of origins:
the sage kings
• More significant than
myths focusing on semihuman or divine figures
• Yao: 95-year reign
• Succeeded by son-in-law
Shun, who ruled for 40
years & established laws
and penalties
• Yu controlled floods and
thus improved agriculture;
founded first dynasty, the
Xia
The Shang (1600-1046 BC)
Shang culture & society
What’s wrong with the Shang?
Slave society; ancestor worship; corrupt rulers
The Zhou (1122-221 BC)
Zhou culture & society
• Zhou invade Shang
• Establish new dynasty, claim mandate of
heaven allows them to rule
• Duke of Zhou establishes proto-Confucian
ethical principals
Zhou feudalism and decline
• Feudal: central king &
subservient fiefdoms
• Central state loses
authority as kings become
corrupt
• Last Zhou king is defeated
by vassal, allied with
“barbarian” forces
• Fiefdoms devolve into
independent states
Warring States (481-221 BC)
• Age of Confucius and the
philosophers
• How to create effective
political & social
structures to attract
population, rule
effectively
• Government based on
moral persuasion and
elite cooperation, not
force
Empire unified under Qin
(221-206 BC)
• Qin Shi Huang built the wall
and burned the books; unified
the writing system
• Rise of Legalism as a political
philosophy
• Is tyranny the price of
efficient government?
Qin conquered by Han
(206 BC – 220 CE)
• Imperial rule
strengthened by
bureaucracy and
imperial
examination system
• Confucian texts
become orthodox
• Age of literature
and art