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Chapter 5
Ancient Civilizations of India and China
5.1 The Indus Valley People
Goals
Discuss the development of cultures in the Indus Valley.
Identify characteristics of Harappa and Mahenjo-daro.
The earliest culture to develop in the subcontinent of India appeared in the Indus Valley
around 3000 B.C.E. Its people supported themselves by farming, growing grain, rice, and
cotton. The two main centers were Harappa and Moenjodaro, which became large urban
settlements with imposing public buildings and elaborate drainage systems. Around 1700
B.C.E., their civilization went into decline, as a result in part of the arrival of a new
people, the Aryans.
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5.2 The Aryans
Goals
Discuss the development of Aryan culture.
Discuss the role of Hinduism in Aryan culture.
Identify the distinguishing features of Hinduism.
The founders of the culture we think of as Indian were the Aryans, a people whose origin
is uncertain and who brought to India two of its most vital aspects: a religion (Hinduism)
and its language (Sanskrit). The Hindu religion, as it developed, acquired a mass of
deities and legends, but its basis remained, and remains to this day, the sacred texts of the
Vedas, which were first written down around 1000 B.C.E. Over time, Hinduism evolved
into a complex philosophical vision of life, which aims to distinguish between the
illusions of everyday life and the ultimate reality. One way to achieve this reality is by
yoga, a renunciation of worldly pleasures. Another is by fulfilling the requirements of
one’s caste, or destiny, and living according to one’s duty (karma) [link to glossary].
Aryan society was divided into castes [link to glossary] (social classes) of which the
priestly caste was the highest.
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5.3 Buddha
Goals
Identify significant events in the life of the Buddha.
Discuss the role of Buddhism in Aryan culture.
Identify the distinguishing features of Buddhism.
Distinguish between Hinduism and Buddhism.
At the end of the 6th century B.C.E., the figure known to posterity as Buddha inspired a
new approach to life that emphasized the more austere aspects of Hinduism. Buddhism
claimed that human suffering came from indulgence in superficial pleasures. Whereas
Hinduism taught that life consisted of an endless series of deaths and reincarnations, the
Buddha taught that renouncing all worldly ambitions and satisfactions could break this
cycle. In this way it was possible to achieve nirvana [link to glossary], the ultimate
freedom and release from the ego. The truth came not from external ritual or ceremony
but as a result of personal internal meditation. Thus, while Hinduism encouraged its
followers to enjoy the pleasures of life permitted to them by their caste, Buddhism
viewed life pessimistically and emphasized the rejection of the world in favor of spiritual
redemption.
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5.4 King Ashoka
Goals
Identify significant events in the life of Ashoka.
Discuss the role of Ashoka in Aryan culture.
Discuss the role of Ashoka in the popularity of Buddhism.
The spread of Buddhism owed much to Ashoka, the 3rd-century B.C.E. Indian ruler who
abandoned his early military campaigns (supposedly horrified at the human suffering
they caused), gave up traditional Hindu beliefs, and converted to Buddhism. Under his
rule, Buddhism became the predominant religion in India, although, like Buddha himself,
Ashoka encouraged religious tolerance.
Ashoka’s reign strengthened the influence of Buddhism in two important ways: he
established a standard edition of Buddhist texts—the Canon—and encouraged Buddhist
missionaries to spread the master’s teachings outside India. As a result, Buddhism
became widespread throughout Southeast Asia, most notably in China.
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5.5 Hindu and Buddhist Art
Goals
Discuss the development of the art of the Indus Valley.
Identify characteristics of Hindu art.
Identify characteristics of Buddhist art.
Distinguish between Hindu and Buddhist art.
Most Indian art of the period of Ashoka and his successors was religious in inspiration.
Hindu artists depicted their gods, in their various incarnations, as representative of all
aspects of life, and Hindu myths often stressed sensual elements: sexual union served as a
symbol of union with the divine. By contrast, Buddhist art aimed to inspire spiritual
meditation and a rejection of worldly values.
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5.6 The Gupta Empire
Goals
Discuss the development of Indian culture during the Gupta Empire.
Discuss Hinduism’s role as the dominant religion in India.
Discuss development of Indian art.
Discuss development of Indian literature.
Discuss development of Indian science.
After the collapse of Ashoka’s empire, India split into a series of local states, until it
became united again in C.E. 320 under the rule of Gupta emperors. Hinduism regained its
position as the dominating religion in India, and art, literature, and science flourished.
The Gupta court became a center of learning and culture, and commerce developed with
China and other parts of Southeast Asia. Shortly before C.E. 500, however, the invasion
of the White Huns from Central Asia caused the collapse of Gupta power, and India once
again fragmented into separate local kingdoms. Only with the arrival of Muslim rule—
almost a thousand years later—did India reunite under a central authority.
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5.6 Early China: The Shang Dynasty
Goals
Identify major contributions of the Shang Dynasty to Chinese culture.
The first organized urban society in China came under the rule of the Shang Dynasty (c.
1600–1100 B.C.E.). Trade and commerce began to develop, a system of writing was
invented, and craftsmen achieved a high standard of workmanship in bronze.
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5.8 The Chou Dynasty (c. 1100–221 B.C.E.)
Goals
Identify major contributions of the Chou Dynasty to Chinese culture.
The Chou rulers, who replaced the Shang Dynasty around 1100 B.C.E., served as the
coordinators of a series of regional kingdoms rather than as a central governing authority.
In a system that somewhat resembles the feudal system [link to glossary] of Medieval
Europe, the Chou ruler relied on the support and military resources of the nobles who
ruled the local kingdoms. Over time, this support fluctuated and eventually collapsed: the
end of Chou rule is known as the “Period of the Warring States” (403–221 B.C.E.).
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5.9 Confucianism and Taoism
Goals
Discuss the development of Confucianism.
Discuss the development of Taoism.
Distinguish between Confucianism and Taoism.
The two schools of philosophy that have influenced Chinese culture for much of the past
twenty-five hundred years developed around 500 B.C.E., toward the end of the Chou
Dynasty. Confucianism, an essentially optimistic system of belief, argued that those who
were naturally virtuous should, while behaving with loyalty and respect, help to govern
their country by maintaining their independence and criticizing their rulers if necessary:
the government served its citizens, rather than the reverse. Taoism, by contrast, taught
that humans should withdraw from culture and society, devote themselves to meditation,
and, like water, adapt themselves to natural forces.
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5.10 The Ch’in, Han, and T’ang Dynasties
Goals
Identify the major contributions of the Ch’in Dynasty to Chinese culture.
Identify Shih Huang-ti’s contributions to Chinese culture.
Identify the consequences of “Burning of the Books.”
Identify the major contributions of the Han Dynasty to Chinese culture.
Identify the major contributions of the T’ang Dynasty to Chinese culture.
The disorder of the latter part of Chou rule led finally to the brief Ch’in Dynasty (221–
202 B.C.E.). Shih Huang-ti, the Ch’in leader, forcibly united the warring kingdoms,
removed the regional noble rulers from power, created a centralized state with an
imperial army, unified a writing system, and standardized weights and measures.
Through a policy known as the “Burning of the Books,” he eliminated philosophical
writings he viewed as dangerous (including Confucian texts). So cruel was his reign that
it barely survived his own death in 210 B.C.E.
The succeeding dynasty—that of the Han emperors (202 B.C.E.–C.E. 221)—sought to
establish a compromise between central government and local independence. During the
first two centuries of their reign, China prospered, the arts flourished, and the
philosophical teachings banned under the Ch’in Dynasty returned to circulation.
However, as their authority began to wane, under challenge by the regional states, China
once again fell into chaos. Order was only restore under the T’ang Dynasty (C.E. 618–
906), which saw an artistic and cultural revival often known as China’s Golden Age.
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5.11 The Arts in Classical China
Goals
Discuss the development of Chinese literature during the Han and T’ang Dynasties.
Discuss Buddhism’s influence on Chinese literature.
Recognize Li Po’s contributions to Chinese literature.
Under the Han and T’ang Dynasties, China enjoyed a cultural revival. A standard body of
literature, the Five Classics, circulated widely. Among the new subjects to inspire writers,
painters, and sculptors was Buddhism, which spread throughout China following its
introduction in the 1st century C.E. Li Po became the most important poet of the T’ang
Dynasty and one of the best loved of all China’s writers.
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