ancient china

History

2022

We explain what Ancient China was, its origin, culture, economy, contributions and other characteristics. Also, what dynasties ruled it.

Chinese culture is one of the few that has been preserved from ancient times to today.

What was Ancient China?

The name "Ancient China" refers, in a very imprecise way, to the ancestral past of the Chinese culture, one of the oldest of humanity. It is an Asian civilization that emerged in the eastern region of the continent, around 5,000 or 6,000 years ago (according to their own oral accounts), although their oldest written documents come from about 3,500 years ago. It is one of the few cultures which has been preserved uninterruptedly since the Antiquity remote to the contemporary era.

Despite the fact that Ancient China covered an immense territory in which different peoples and civilizations lived, its history focuses mainly on the Han ethnic group, the most numerous and dominant among the fifty-six recognized Chinese peoples, to which 92 % of the current population of China and 20% of the current world population. This group ethnic it consolidated its dominance during the so-called Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD), considered the golden and foundational period of Chinese identity.

The ancient history of China, however, is much earlier. The first known human groups to populate its territory arose in the vicinity of the Yellow River Valley around the year 5000 BC. c.There is archaeological evidence that suggests a high level of sophistication in the agricultural culture of these ancient populations, as is the case of the famous Banpo Neolithic farmhouse, discovered in 1953 near the city of Xi'an. The three great prehistoric civilizations that emerged in this period were:

  • The Hongshan civilization (c. 4700-2900 BC). It was a civilization that created great architectural works and carved jade, but left no evidence of a centralized political unit.
  • The Liangzhu civilization (c. 3400-2000 BC). It was a civilization that was concentrated in the Tai or Taihu Lake area, intensively worked jade, and developed more complex political systems and the first features of unified cultural practices.
  • The Longshan civilization (c. 3000-1900 BC). It was a civilization close to the middle course of the Yellow River, which left important evidence of having been a hierarchical society, with abundant commercial exchange, intense agricultural work and wars frequent.

The dynasties of ancient China

The Great Wall of China was built by two different dynasties.

Around 2000 B.C. C. the first known dynasties arose in China, which founded a central imperial tradition in the coming history. The first known was the Xia dynasty, but according to Chinese mythological accounts, Ancient China was previously ruled by three augusts and five mythical kings, for whom there is no historical evidence. These mythological rulers were:

  • An august celestial or Jade Emperor (Suiren), an earthly august (Fuxi) and an august human (shennong).
  • King Huángdì (known as the "Yellow Emperor"), King Zhuanxù, King Dìkù, King Tángyáo and King Yúshùn.

The different dynasties of the so-called Ancient China succeeded each other from 2000 BC. C. approximately, until the foundation of the Chinese Empire.The three ancient dynasties were:

  • The Xia dynasty (c. 2070-1600 BC). It was the first of the Chinese dynasties, made up of 17 successive kings.
  • The Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BC). It was the second Chinese dynasty, but the first of whose existence there is written evidence. It spanned nearly 28 successive reigns.
  • The Zhou dynasty (c. 1046-256 BC). It was the last pre-imperial Chinese dynasty and the longest of the three. It coincided with the era of the rise of classical Chinese literature and thinkers, such as Confucius, and the building of the Great Wall of China.

These three dynasties were followed by two periods of internecine warfare and decentralization of power, known as the Spring and Autumn Period (771-476 BC) and the Warring States Period (476-221 BC). ). These periods of political chaos ended with the rise of the Qin dynasty (221-206 BC), the first of the imperial dynasties to restore order and replace the notion of "kings" with "emperors" with religious attributes. . To this first imperial dynasty they continued:

  • The Han dynasty (206 BC-220 BC). Starring the Han ethnic group, it was an era of great splendor for Chinese culture, and culminated in a new period of chaos, in which three different kingdoms clashed and which is known as the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280 AD). C).
  • The Jin dynasty (266-420 AD). The Jin managed to temporarily reunify China, but fell to the nomadic peoples of the north, who divided the empire again into sixteen different kingdoms, giving rise to the period known as the Sixteen Kingdoms (304-439 AD).
  • The Sui dynasty (581-618 AD). A new Chinese reunification took place under the command of the northern peoples, who imposed a new dynasty after defeating the weak Cheng dynasty of southern China.In this stage, great engineering works were carried out, such as the Grand Canal and the expansion of the Great Wall of China, and the influence of the buddhism.
  • The Tang dynasty (618-907 AD). This is considered the culminating point of the formation of Chinese culture and a time of splendor, despite the fact that the rule of the Tang was interrupted by the rise to power of one of Emperor Gaozong's concubines, who went from being empress widow to proclaim her own dynasty, the Zhou dynasty, trying to revive the splendor of past ages. The new dynasty lasted only 15 years, because at the age of 80, Empress Wu Zétian was removed from power and the Tang returned to rule the empire. However, the Tang once again fell from power and China plunged back into a period of chaos and internecine strife known as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907-960 AD).
  • The Song dynasty (960-1279 AD). The last reunification of Ancient China was carried out by the Song, who were the first to implement a permanent army equipped with weapons of gunpowder. During this period the Chinese population doubled and revolutionary scientific and technological advances were achieved.

General Characteristics of Ancient China

China was an economic and military power for most of its history.

Broadly speaking, Ancient China was characterized by:

  • It was one of the oldest and earliest civilizations of Antiquity, arising around the Yellow River Valley and the Yangtze River Valley, around the 5th millennium BC. C. From its origins it was an intensely agricultural civilization and presented an important diversity ethnic, linguistic and religious.
  • It was characterized by large and extensive monarchies hereditary, known as "dynasties", in which political power was centralized, generally followed by periods of instability, internal struggle and decentralization of power.
  • It was the most influential culture of the Asia ancient, creator of a model of writing through pictograms that was adopted and adapted by neighboring cultures, such as the Japanese or the Korean. It was an economic and military power for most of its history.
  • The name "China" comes from the Sanskrit transcription (China) from the name of the Qin dynasty (pronounced “chin”), by the ancient Persians. This term was popularized through the Silk Road, even though the ancient Romans referred to China as beings (“where does silk come from”). Also, for a long time, ancient China was known in the West as Cathay, a term derived from the Chinese town of kitán, which the traveler Marco Polo would have reached in the 13th century.
  • Despite the ethnic diversity that characterizes the region, the history of Ancient China is largely the history of the Han people, the most predominant in the entire region.

Geographical location of Ancient China

The territory of Ancient China became much larger than that of present-day China.

The territory of Ancient China became much larger than that of present-day China. It stretched from the Gobi desert and the Mongol lands in the north, to the present-day China Sea in the south and much of the Indochina peninsula, and to the mountains of Tibet and Turkestan in the west. The islands of Taiwan and Qiongzhou were part of its territory, and the regions of Korea, Burma, Laos, Tonkin, and Siam were tributary states under its influence.

Sociopolitical organization of Ancient China

Like most of the great rural societies of antiquity, Chinese society was organized in social classes very well delimited, which distinguished between the aristocracy ruling military and the peasantry.The traditional system of socio-political organization was feudal, since power was exercised by landowners, something that changed with the rise to power of the Qing dynasty and the formation of the empire.

However, during the heyday of the Zhou dynasty, a non-feudal social system was established that recognized four categories of people, known as "the four occupations": warriors (shi), the farmers (nóng), the artisans (gong) and merchants (shang).

However, from the imperial era, Ancient China was governed by the absolute monarchy: was abolished feudalism and divided the empire in 36 different provinces, governed by civil and military governors, and the State was controlled through an efficient and early bureaucracy, which subjected state officials to rigorous examinations and evaluations. From the Han dynasty, moreover, Confucianism was the official state ideology.

Culture of Ancient China

Buddhism played a key role in shaping traditional Chinese culture.

Chinese culture was often among the most advanced in the ancient world, especially in the realm of technology and innovation. From its beginnings it was an immensely diverse culture, since each of the 58 towns that made up the nation housed a gastronomy, a language and some rites individuals.

However, in its moments of greatest centralization, such as the rise of the Han and Tang dynasties, a more or less common identity was forged, associated with the doctrines of Confucianism (or neo-Confucianism, later) and the Taoism of Lao-Tsé. .

In religious matters, the Chinese people professed their own traditional and syncretic religion, much of which survives to this day. In it, the worship of ancestors played a very important role, as well as the connection with minor deities and shamanic practices.

Buddhism entered China from early times and also played a key role in shaping traditional Chinese culture, making contributions in areas such as medicine, literature, the philosophy and the politics. This is how the Chinese variant of Buddhism was born, during the Tang dynasty, known as Chan Buddhism or Zen Buddhism.

Another very diverse aspect of ancient Chinese culture was its gastronomy, in which rice was the main unifying element: a food that had been cultivated in China since Neolithic times.

For its part, the old architecture China showed a similar aesthetic look, in which pagodas and symmetry predominated, as well as the influence of the philosophy of feng shui in the design of buildings and the great imperial gardens.

Economy of Ancient China

Silk made it possible to trade with Persians, Indians, Arabs, and even the West.

Ancient China was an eminently agricultural civilization, which knew in very early times the trade and the cattle raising, and who developed his own techniques for working with jade and metallurgy, focusing above all on iron. Among their main products were rice and tea, and later silk, a product that allowed them to trade abundantly and successfully through the so-called Silk Road, with Persians, Indians, Arabs and even with the West.

On the other hand, the imperial Chinese culture developed a model of bureaucracy that allowed efficient data collection. taxes and a reliable record of official activities. There were officials charged with the collection of tribute, officials dedicated to the art of war, and a vast network of imperial couriers, allowing the empire to effectively manage its information and resources.

Inventions and contributions of Ancient China

Ancient paper objects dating back to the 2nd century BC have been discovered in China. c.

Numerous inventions and contributions to humanity are attributed to Ancient China, among which the following stand out:

  • Paper. Ancient paper objects dating back to the 2nd century BC have been discovered in China. C., long before the established date of "invention" of the technique of manufacturing paper with cellulose pulp by the eunuch and imperial adviser Cai Lun (50 BC - 121 AD). Already in the third century AD. C. paper had displaced other traditional writing media throughout China, such as silk strips or bamboo sheets.
  • The printing. Although the printing press as we know it was created by Johannes Gutenberg in the 15th century, documents printed using a system of wooden stamps dating back to the 6th or 7th century have been found in China. With this system, not only texts (such as announcements or imperial edicts) were printed, but also calendars and bound pamphlets.
  • The gunpowder. The manufacture of explosives had many uses in ancient China, such as the manufacture of fireworks for celebrations, or military weapons such as incendiary bombs and, later, projectile weapons with gunpowder, such as cannons. The first gunpowder-making formula manuscripts date from the Song dynasty, although there is evidence of its use several centuries earlier.
  • The paper money. The first culture to use banknotes was China during the Song dynasty. The banknotes were known as Jiaozi and issued by the State through its various factories, which employed more than a thousand workers. This was a reflection of the immense economic might of Song China.
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