P.N.Stearns - Zhou (Chou) culture

Chapter 3

Asia's First Civilizations: India and China

A Bend in the River and the Beginnings of China. Chinese civilization took form during the mid-2nd millennium BCE along the Huanghe River. The Shang dynasty, founded by nomadic warrior peoples, expanded and improved earlier irrigation systems and developed the Chinese system of writing.

The north China plain had been occupied by humanlike creatures and humans from a very early date. It is the home of Peking Man, one of the earliest hominids. During Neolithic times the Ordos bulge of the Huanghe received migrants who worked its rich loess soil and utilized the abundant river water resources. By 4000 BCE the many sedentary communities formed two cultural complexes that laid the basis for the Shang. In the Yangshao culture (2500-2000 BCE) supplementary shifting cultivation aided a predominantly hunting and fishing society. The later Longshan culture (2000-1500 BCE) relied upon millet cultivation and was able to support large, permanent villages. Irrigation systems were vital to the growth of this agricultural society. The seasonal flow of the Huanghe, and the large amounts of silt in the water, requires the building and upkeep of great earthen dikes. The first rulers, like the mythical hero Yu, ruler of Xia, were associated with successful flood control.

The Warrior Kings of the Shang Era. Around 1500 BCE many small kingdoms, ruled by nomadic tribal groups coming from the north and west, emerged near the Ordos bulge. Semi-legendary accounts of earlier states, like Xia founded by Yu, lack archaeological verification. A distinctive Chinese culture emerged. Key features were cooking vessels and cuisine, use of cracked animal bones for divination, domestication of the silk worm, use of silk fabrics, and ancestor worship. One tribe, the Shang, became dominant and established the foundations of Chinese civilization. They were warlike nomads, ruled by strong kings, with advanced military techniques. The ruler was regarded as the intermediary between the supreme being and mortals; he held responsibility for the fertility of the state.

Shang (Yin) Society. The Shang (Yin) had a numerous bureaucracy in Anyang, the capital city, but most subjects were governed by vassal retainers recruited from the former ruling groups. The vassals depended upon the produce and labor of commoners to support their power and to provide tribute and soldiers for the king. Peasants worked land in cooperative teams and grew millet, wheat, beans, and rice. They lived in sunken homes of stamped earth. Some skilled artisans were prosperous and lived in large homes. The lowest societal group was the large slave population. Many artisans were slaves, but some skilled individuals were free and prosperous. The Shang ruling elite lived within walled towns in large compounds holding extended families. Elder males held absolute authority in their households. Marriage tradition was patrilocal. The majority of the population followed a different pattern. Commoner families lived in nuclear households, which probably were male dominated and patrilocal. (One major component is totally missing: the powerbase of the ruling elite, its traditions and place in society, completely missing from the Chinese annals, but known from later states in China dominated by the nomadic animal huusbandry tribes)

Shang Culture. Shang elites were preoccupied with rituals, oracles, and sacrifices. They joined the ruler in propitiating spirits to provide crops and offspring. Artistic expression peaked in bronze vessels used for offerings of grain, incense, wine, and animals. Human sacrifice occurred during ritual warfare and when war captives and servants were buried with the king and important officials. Shamans performed oracular functions for harvests, wars, journeys, and marriages. Readings were taken from animal bones and tortoise shells. They were drilled and seared, and the resulting cracks were interpreted. Patterns inscribed on the bones and shells formed the basis for a written language that provided the diverse peoples of the loess zone with a common culture. The initially pictographic characters evolved to convey complex ideas. By the end of the Shang period there were 3000 characters. The bones and bronze vessels on which the characters were first carved gave way to bamboo, silk, and wooden surfaces. In the 1st century CE they were replaced by the Chinese invention of paper. (All traditional cultural traits of the Yin, except for innovations, have very similar parallesls in the following Hunnic and Türkic societies extending to moderniity)

Writing and Chinese Identity. Writing became fundamental to Chinese identity and the growth of civilization. The written language made communication possible between the elite of the many different groups of the region and provided a foundation for the basic elements of the developing Chinese civilization.

The Decline of the Shang and the Era of Zhou Dominance. The Zhou, a Turkic-speaking nomadic people from central Asia, became vassals of the (pre-Yin) Shang. By the end of the 12th century BCE they seized power and established a (Yin) dynasty enduring until the 3rd century BCE (The closest phonetical approximation to the Chinese Zhou would be a truncation of the Assyrian Iskuza, Persian Saka, Greek Scyth, all thought to render the Türkic Ases; however, this identificastion does not have a documented anchor like the identificastion of the Huns with the Chinese Xiongnu/Xiong Nu/Hsiung-nu made by W.B. Henning in 1948). The first ruler, Wu (The closest phonetical approximation to the Chinese Wu would be a truncated Ulu/Ulug, “Great” in Türkic; the status of the Türkic tribes in the Zhou and Qin states can be compared with the status of the Hunnic tribes in the Former Zhao state, and the status of the Chunese Wu in Zhou with the status of the Shi Le in Former Zhao. The Türkic tradiition must have induced first Liu Yao, and then Shi Le to call his state Zhao, although the role of Ases in the Hunnic confederation has diminished to minor, and the Chunese historical tradition later appended periodization discriminants “Former” and “Later”to the name of the Zhao state. With the interruption of the Han state in 206 BC – 220 CE, the Türkic Zhou/Zhao lasted from 1100BC to 352 CE), greatly expanded the state's borders to the east and south. The new rulers had a more centralized government than the Shang. Their most powerful vassals were relatives or loyal allies who controlled other relatives under them in the hierarchy. A distinct class of scholar-administrators, the shi - men of service - took form. Vassal states were annexed and the Zhou rulers claimed ownership of all land. Vassals received land for their support; suspect people had to migrate to areas dominated by loyal subordinates.

Zhou Feudalism. Formal oaths of allegiance and regularized fief-granting procedures transformed the Shang vassal system into a more genuine feudal order. Zhou rulers granted fiefs in return for loyalty and military service. The system worked under strong rulers, but weakness at the royal center facilitated rebellion.

Changes in the Social Order. The continuance of the feudal system was undermined by two developments. The 1st was the elaboration of the concept of the Mandate of Heaven. King Wu (1046-1043 BCE), when the Shang were conquered, claimed that they had lost the Mandate of Heaven to him. The appeal to a supernatural source of authority enhanced the capacity of rulers to become absolutist, authoritarian, kings. But, if rulers failed to govern effectively, they might lose the mandate, making it legitimate for subjects to rebel and replace the dynasty (That Türkic tradition endured into the Islamic era; it actually continued through the Islamic era; it was first enshrined in the American Constitution). The 2nd development weakening feudalism was the emergence of a professional bureaucracy that provided an alternative to the use of military vassals. They were educated men, known as shi, who kept records, ran departments, and organized rituals. They were supported by land grants or regular salaries. By the middle of the 8th century BCE some of the shi gained considerable influence with rulers and powerful vassals. They were the forerunners of China's later important scholarly governing class (In the west, a parallel development occured within the Parthian state, with Persian “shi”).

New Patterns of Life. During the early dynasty the Zhou conquerors lived separately from the subjugated indigenous people (That tradition of the nomadic masters endured into the Late Middle Age; it was partially driven by the nesessity to stay with the army, which for the horse nomads was synonymous with the nomadic tribes; the nomadic army was in essence a nomadic militia, the unhappy tribes could melt away, reducing the power of the rulers). The rulers' palace in the twin capitals of Xian and Loyang was the locale for annual critical sacrifices for fertility. Zhou vassals lived away from the capitals in walled garrison towns laid out on a grid pattern. Servants, artisans, and slaves lived in or near the garrisons. The great majority of the population, peasants, producing millet, wheat, and rice, lived and worked in villages. Iron farm implements and extended irrigation systems increased productivity, but most of the surplus went to the ruling elite. The peasants' many obligations also included forced labor on roads and irrigation projects, and military service. Peasants living away from their lord's direct influence escaped many such burdens and were in effect free cultivators (This treatment of the subjugated masses as human chattel, and of the commanding methods that treat human chattel as herding the horse cattle herds, endured into the Late Middle Age; it was universally supplanted, in the east as well as in the west, by the “shi” technique of cultivating the masses, supplanting the Mandate of the Heaven with benevolent patronizing).

Migrations and the Expansion of the Chinese Core. Improved agricultural technology stimulated population growth in Zhou lands and caused extension of cultivation to the south and east. Migrants moved down the Huanghe valley and beyond, eventually into the Huai and Yangtze river basins, and replaced non-Chinese inhabitants who were hunters and gatherers and shifting cultivators. By the close of the Zhou era the region that became the heart of Chinese civilization was permanently occupied.

Cultural Change in the Early Zhou Period. The Zhou strengthened male dominance within Chinese society. Males probably secured increased authority by their control of the ceremonies of ancestor veneration which became the central foci of religious observance. Human sacrifice ended and philosophical speculation remained a distant 2nd to elaborate rites and ceremonies designed to win divine blessing. Emphasis on correct ritual performance led to concern among the elite for refined manners and proper decorum (This scenario played out from Yellow Sea to Mediterranian. The Türkic nomadic tribes were coming into symbiotic coexistence with their sedentary subjects as matrilineal matriarchal society, where the state and its people belonged to the maternal dynastic tribe, and the maternal half of the dynastic union was granting military executive power to the paternal half, retaining the control of the state with the male head of the maternal dynastic tribe. All of the agricultural societies that became Türkic subjects were patriarchal societies; the nomadic/sedentary unions were diluting and dismissing the predominance of the maternal dynastic tribe, replacing it with the conventional patriarchality of the sedentary people. That process was revolutionary in nature, and it brought about social upheavals and convulsions in every case. The resisting force was driven more by tradition then the forfeiture of the maternal dynastic line. Much of the history was driven by that change, but because the history was largely written by the patriarchal victors, the motivation of the events stays mostly outside of the purview of the authors, who observe the effects and miss the causes. A typical revolutionary/counterrevolutionary jaxtaposition was exemplified in the Ashina Bilge Kagan/Yuеzhi Ashtak Tonyukuk inscriptions, which emphasized that the people were on the Tonyukuk side).

The End of the Early or Western Zhou. The Zhou were in decline by the 8th century BCE. Vassals defeated and killed the ruler in 771 BCE. The state broke apart, and Xian was abandoned. A less powerful Zhou dynasty for another five centuries ruled from Loyang over a continually shrinking domain. Several competing kingdoms emerged during the long period of chaos and societal suffering. The chaos and suffering prompted a reaction among the shi that altered the course of Chinese civilization.

In Depth: The Legacy of Asia's First Civilizations. The region where the Shang and Zhou polities emerged became the center of a civilization continuing until today.. The system of writing became a major factor in the evolution of Chinese civilization. The continuity of Chinese identity strongly influenced the civilizations of Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Chinese technological innovation was comparable, on a global scale, to that of Mesopotamia. The Indus valley civilization, Harappa, collapsed, and, although much was lost, influences persisted as the core of Indian civilizations passed to the east and south.

Conclusion: Beginnings and Transitions. The arrival of the (chariot-riding, not mounted riding) Aryans in India and the decline of the Zhou in China were key transition phases in the development of each civilization. Harappan civilization disappeared, but the Zhou represented a continuation of Chinese civilization. The Chinese were the most adept of all early civilizations in absorbing and assimilating invaders while keeping their own identity.

Part II

The Classical Period in World History

Summary. Classical civilizations, building upon the achievements of earlier river-valley civilizations, took shape in Asia, North Africa, and southern Europe, between 1000 and 500 BCE. They endured until the 5th century CE. Dramatic innovations occurred, especially the formation of political empires and new philosophical and religious thinking. Many other regions, either not connected or only later in contact with classical centers, also produced important developments. In the Americas new civilizations took form; other areas developed more advanced agricultural techniques. After 1000 BCE the world was divided into three main parts; one where the roots of civilization were well established; another where complex societies were first forming; and a third where forms of organization were built around nomadic economies (True, but funny definition: comparing apples and oranges, we select grapes. Obviously, if degree of civilization is a criteria, the economy is an attribute, and the three types of production, the sedentary agricultural, sedentary hunting-gathering, and nomadic horse husbandry may be found at every stage of civilization, and vice-versa, the three stages of civilization may be found in every of the three economic systems. The stages of civilization is a process; the economic system is a system of production defined by environment and technical level; while retaining the basic and defining mode of production, societies advance from less to more developed civilizations. After 1000 BCE the world was divided into three main parts; one where the roots of civilization were well established; another where complex societies were first forming; and a third where complex societies were yet to be formed. Simple, and no grapes).

The Boundaries of Classical Civilizations. Classic civilizations developed larger geographic range, forming more complex political institutions, commercial networks, and cultures than their ancestors. New civilization centers emerged in India, China, the Middle East, and the eastern Mediterranean. Both nomadic groups and previously uninfluenced agricultural peoples in Asia, Europe, and Africa began to learn what civilization involved (Considering the number of innovations that animal husbandry nomads brought to the "civilization centers", who was teaching and who was learning is a mute question, and both agricultural and animal husbandry previously uninfluenced peoples were learning some and teaching some). The classical period ended between the 3d and 6th centuries CE. Internal decay and invasions from Central Asia (of equally or more civilized people, if the respect for women and absence of slavery is one of the civilization criteria) destroyed great states from China to Rome. The reworking of surviving civilization patterns triggered another new period in world history after 500 CE. (Creating barbaric sedentary states based on slavery and incredible exploitation of defenseless people, and caused by the exploitation needs for the roads, fortresses, encircling walls, palace castles, enforcement system, and creation of ideological justification for the violence are portrayed with a quasi-religious zeal of conquistadors and crusaders as apotheosis of the ancient civilizations, while the peaceful decentralized sedentary civilizations of India and Greece are ignored, and the nomadic civilizations are treated with negative, and utterly uncivilized cockeyed attitude. The so-called Classical great barbaric civilizations of antiquity bankrupted themself by using a disproportionately large part of their GNP for forced exploitation of their population, and rotted form inside)

Regional Integration in the Classical Period. Each classical civilization was distinctive, but each had to integrate politically large territories, extend common culture, and expand commerce. The Mediterranean, under the Greeks and Romans, became a single economic region allowing local areas to profit through specialization. In China and India similar regions appeared. (The Middle Asia connected and brought elements of civilization to all of them, it was an equally important civilization center, and should not have been ignored; it were Phoenicians who not being rated Classical brought trade specialization and alphabet to the Mediterranean world; it was barbaric Rome that violently destroyed Phoenician civilization) Cultural integration through philosophy and religion emerged in the three classical centers, and in Persia. Enduring styles in art and architecture appeared. The new civilizations' geographical scope allowed important contacts resulting in cultural borrowing and diffusion. During this era the great monuments of thought, politics, and art that developed provided the foundations for most later civilizations (As a metter of fact, these processes went on before, during, and after first barbaric empires, and it is doubtful whether the empires were more beneficial then destructive).

Chapter 4

Nomadic Challenges and Sedentary Responses

CHAPTER SUMMARY

By the close of the second millennium BCE civilizations existed in all continents except Australia and Antarctica. Their peoples occupied a very small portion of the earth, but comprised 90% of human population. They were separated from each other by thousands of miles and by non-civilized groups. Most of the earth was occupied by migratory peoples who practiced shifting cultivation, nomadic herding, or hunting and gathering. They did not produce their own civilizations, yet many influenced the development of civilizations. Often nomadic peoples served as links rather than barriers to civilization. At times the invasions of migratory peoples were destructive factors for early civilizations. Examples are the invasions of the Aryans in Harappa and the incursions of the Chichimecs in Mesoamerica. But they could lead to the formation of even stronger civilizations. Examples are the Hittite invasion of Mesopotamia or the rise of the Zhou in China.

Visualizing the Past: Varieties of Human Adaptation and the Potential for Civilization. Ecologists divide human adaptation to environmental conditions into two extreme types, the niche and the holding. In the former humans occupy niches in an overall ecosystem; in the latter humans transform natural environments. Intermediary forms between the two are common. Examples of the various approaches - wet rice agriculture, hunting and gathering, dry farming, shifting cultivation, and pastoralism - are given in the accompanying map.

The Rise and Spread of Pastoral Nomadism. Nomadic herders were widely distributed by 1500 BCE. They inhabited the plains of central Eurasia, Sudanic and East Africa, Arabia, and highland South America, lands lacking rainfall sufficient for sedentary farming.

The Horse Nomads. The first known nomadic peoples were horse-using ~~Indo-Europeans~~ Sredni Stog-Andronovo-Afanasievo Türks; they threatened the civilizations of the Middle East and Indus River valley. The Hittites and Hyksos established empires; the Greeks settled where they migrated. Subsequent incursions included the Scythians and Kushans. The Aryans invaded northwest India. Later the Hsiung-nu (Huns) devastated China, India, and the Roman Empire. The early Indo-Europeans used their horses to draw war chariots. When bridles and stirrups were developed the nomads rode horses. (Indo-Europeans, bridles and stirrups are all incorrect. Nomadism appeared simultaneously with mounted riding and herds of horses. Carriages were invented earlier, pulled by oxen. Switch to horse draft necessitated modification of the carriages to spoked wheels. Chariots were one of these modifications to enable horse draft. Chariots became popular among sedentary people, who did not have a tradition of mounted riding. The horse nomads had to ride horses out of necessity, with or without bridles and stirrups, without mounted riding the horse husbandry is impossible. Mounted riding also brought about cavalry, which gave the nomadic riders immediate military supremacy over infantry troops of the sedentary agricultural and hunter-gatherer societies, and made the whole Eurasia accessible for exploitation. The meat diet radically changed the physique of the horse husbandry people, first of the Sredhi Stog-Andronovo-Afanasievo Türks, and then other peoples who adopted horse nomadism. The expansion to China via Middle Asian steppes was but a small chapter in the overall picture. The Arian path to India is highly controversial, and it is well known that Arians did not bring the horse culture to India. The West Europeans received elements of the horse culture with many invasions of the Kurgan Culture mounted nomads. The Hyksos came as formed cavalry, and installed themselves as rulers exactly like Zhous did in China. The Hittites came nothing like a cavalry, technologically they were not much different from the Anatolian Hatti, and like in India, the did not bring the horse culture to Anatolia) The continuing migrations had a major impact on the rise and fall of civilized states.

The Reindeer Herders of the North. The Lapps migrated across the tundra of northern Europe from the late Paleolithic era. By the early Neolithic era they had tamed reindeer. Their isolation resulted in a very limited impact upon civilization (Domestication of reindeer was limited to use of the animals for transportation only in polar climate, which confined nomadism. Reindeer can't be used for mounted riding).

The Camel Nomads. In Egypt, the Arabian peninsula and Sudanic Africa the use of camels from the 2d millennium BCE permitted the development of trading systems and facilitated war-making (and allowed to subjugate neighboring sedentary people and establish the Arab Caliphate, unknowingly emulating the Yin, Zhou, and later polities created by horse nomads).

The Cattle Herders. Along the upper Nile River and in the plains of eastern and southern Africa, regions where climate and disease prevented horse breeding, societies based on cattle herding emerged. Their isolation from civilized centers postponed their major impact in Africa until a later era (African domestication did not extend to a use of the animals for transportation, which precluded nomadism. The African domestication must be rated as sedentary. Domestication is not the same as nomadism).

Nomadic Peoples of the Americas. In the Americas pastoral nomadism was not important until Europeans introduced animals after 1492 CE. Only in the highlands of the Andes, through llamas and alpacas, did pastoralists have a limited role. Thus, the nomads of the Americas, as the Aztecs, were unable to emulate the conquests of other nomadic peoples (American domestication did not extend to a use of the animals for transportation, which precluded nomadism. The American domestication must be rated as sedentary. Domestication is not the same as nomadism).

Nomadic Society and Culture. The social systems, attitudes, and material culture of pastoral nomads are shaped by the migratory patterns dominating their existence. They must regularly move in their harsh environment to feed and water herds. The nomads attempt to follow regular movement patterns, but prolonged drought can force changes. Incursions into the regions of other groups can provoke conflict and even elimination of one party.

Societies Oriented to Domesticated Animals. Survival depends on the well-being of the livestock who supply nomads with meat, dairy products, hides, and other necessities of daily life. Religious rituals based on animal sacrifice are vital. The size of a herd determines one's wealth and status. Camels and horses carry trade goods and provide mobility for warfare. The material culture of nomads was dominated by animals herded and hunted. Artwork, largely utilitarian because of frequent movement, depicted stylized animals. Often the creature was a clan or tribal totem. Housing was movable and clothing, made from skins or wool, was adapted to both their animals and environment. Trousers were an invention of Central Asian horse nomads, as were the stirrup, bits and reins, and the saddle.

Courage Cultures and Nomadic Patriarchy. Nomadic cultures, existing in harsh environments, are shaped by intermittent violence and the struggle for survival. Courage cultures, dominated by strong and warlike males bound by powerful ties of loyalty, result. A premium is placed on personal honor and physical courage. Most nomads live in small kin-related bands which occasionally unite into larger groupings. Violence among clans was endemic and was a major barrier to cooperation (What about Patriarchy? The nomads of the Eurasian steppes carried their Matriarchy into the 2nd Millennium AD, and its elements are detected even in the modern societies. The local decay of Matriarchy happened with adoption to the sedentary traditions of China, Greece, etc., but it held societies together in the areas outside of later influences of Islam and Christianity).

Nomad Hospitality: Legends and Realities. The periodic violence partially was offset by hospitality. Harsh environments made hospitality vital to survival. It became one of the most valued of nomad values (This Marxistic dialectical reasoning following the principle that envirinment determines consciousness for some reasons has not been applied to explain the notorious violence and exploitation within the Classical civilizations. In all Classical societies violence and exploitation was endemic, but they are not famous for their hospitality).

Cultures Made for War. The limited labor required for herding left males free to train for war. Boys (and girls) learned mounted ride and use of bows and arrows at an early age. Nomadic mobility allowed them to escape the armies of sedentary peoples. Their skills gave nomads a reputation for ferocity with sedentary rivals (To demoralize an opponent before a fight is a battle half won, nowadays this is a credo of the whole military theory and practice, called awe in the 21st century. As a rule, the nomadic armies were a small fraction of the sedentary armies, they had to use brains to compensate for numerical inferiority).

Family Ties and Social Stratification. Males dominated gender relationships through their control of herds and role in warfare. Inheritance was through the male line and marriage patterns were patrilocal. Marriages were primarily alliances between families. Some brides, as dowries were argued over, were treated as property. Polygamy was common. In some nomad societies women held important positions, but in most cases a woman's life was dominated by domestic labor and producing children, preferably sons. Pastoral groups were marked by social stratification and dependence. Individual households and kin groups controlled more herds and pasturelands than others. Wealthier kin groups became patrons of the less fortunate, receiving in return assistance in livestock care and warfare. Nomadic societies offered little other opportunity for occupational specialization. Only shamans were distinguished from the rest of the population. (Generally incorrect, as a result of projecting sedentary psyche to nomadic societies: the male dominatioin, inheritance, patrilocality, dowries, polygamy, preferably sons are all gibberish, and fall at a first glance.)

Nomads and Civilization. Although civilized peoples portrayed nomads as cruel barbarians, they had a complex relationship with sedentary groups. Contacts between nomadic and other peoples often were peaceful and mutually beneficial. Each group needed the products the other produced (Another mitigated gibberish: at all times nomads were sheltering refugees from the sedentary societies, who were praizing the civility of the nomads in copmparison with their own tribesmen. Famous authors wrote panegrics to the ability of the nomads to rule the sedentary societies; China, India, Persia, Arab caliphate, Rus are a few examples).

Nomads as Mercenaries and Empire Builders. Despite the positive nomadic contributions to civilization, settled peoples usually regarded them with fear and hostility. Sedentary societies, to counter potential dangers, often paid tribute or hired nomads as mercenary warriors. The relationship might be dangerous. Overly powerful mercenaries attacked their employers, looted their territories; some nomadic groups overthrew dynasties (Yin and Zhou). The Hyksos interrupted the development of Egyptian civilization in the 2d millennium BCE (Not interrupted, but changed). The Aryans hastened the end of Harappan civilization (Aryans were not nomads, nor mercenaries, nor build empires, between migrants and horse nomads is a big difference). Other nomadic invaders captured civilizations. Most ruled through the institutions of the conquered, often being gradually absorbed into the indigenous culture. Others, like the 13th century CE Mongol conquerors of China, attempted to reject absorption (The question of absorption always had two conflicting views, but resistance was futile, absorption was needed for effective control. In Persia and Rus, the alien elite went as far as to concost a mythological history, playing on the patriotism of the indigenous masses. Political and religious fabrications prolifirated).

Soft Living and the Lure of the Desert and Steppe. Nomads usually remained antagonistic to the “soft living” of urban peoples. Muslim historian Ibn-Khaldun theorized that dynasties founded by nomadic warriors decline to weakness within three or four generations (I.e. the rulers wanted to retain effective mounted army, but the masses wanted the ease and money of city life. Throwing in one bag masses and rulers garbles the picture).

In Depth: Nomads and Cross-Civilization Contacts and Exchanges. Nomads have played a critical role as agents of contact between different centers of civilization. They pioneered the routes linking the civilized cores of Eurasia. The most famous were the silk routes running from China to the Middle East and Europe. The actual trade was controlled by urban merchants along the routes, but nomads in return for payment provided protection and supplied transport animals. The trade routes were primary channels for contacts between civilizations, allowing Buddhism and Islam to spread peacefully. Hellenistic art styles, inventions (like paper-making by the Chinese), military technologies, epidemic diseases, and food crops similarly dispersed widely.

Conclusion: Nomads and the Pattern of Global History. Nomads have been unable to create civilizations of their own because of their harsh home environments and limitations of life-style. They lacked the productive economic base possessed by sedentary peoples. When empires were forged through conquest of civilized cores, the dynasties were usually short-lived and dependent upon the skills of the conquered peoples. Thus nomadic peoples impacted civilizations, but lasting creative contributions usually are made by sedentary civilizations. (Or at least self-admirably says so this sedentary historian. The reality was the opposite. Nomadic civilizations were always complex, covering various climatic and geographical niches, which defies the premise of "harsh home environments". The productive efficiency of the animal husbandry has not been met by the sedentary societies until the emergence of the 20th century machinery. The nomadic dynasties were the longest-living on record, and that includes Xia, Yin, Zhou, Siyavush, Ruric, Chingizids, and many others. The empire elites developed from the nomadic elite, including the literate, religious, and bureaucratic elites, they were the brainpower of the empires that used their indigenous subjects for mass production, and depended on the skills of the conquered peoples exclusively for massive tasks. Thus, the "lasting creative contributions" are mass-produced by the sedentary subjects)

Chapter 5

Unification and the Consolidation of Civilization in China

Chapter Summary. The Zhou dynasty in the 8th century BCE lost control of its vassals. Internal political disorder was increased by nomadic pressure. The unstable times eventually led to the emergence of a more complex classical society. Political stabilization began in the 3rd century BCE with the victories of Shi Huangdi of the Qin dynasty. Unwise policies by the Qin rulers caused revolts ending with the emergence of the Han dynasty in 207 BCE. The Han, ruling over 400 years, reestablished and expanded the extent of Chinese civilization and created a lasting sense of Chinese identity. They founded an enduring bureaucracy whose members, the shi, were a major influence on social and cultural development (Transition from Zhou/Qin to Han needs to be understood from the historical background of not only the Zhou/Qin, but the Han also. In the polyethnic Zhou, the Han existed for 196 years as a de-facto independent state, 403-207 BC, under its own ethnically Chinese dynasty, and had a developed native bureaucracy to rule the incipient Han empire. Though the Han dynasty was intricately connected with Zhou dynasty, its powerbase was in the ethnic revolt against the foreign domination, it was a national-liberation war of the 1st millennium BC).

Note that the territory north-west of the fortified border is populated by numerous nomadic tribes of the Hunnic circle

Philosophical Remedies for the Prolonged Crisis of the Later Zhou. The continuing disorder marking the decline of the Zhou dynasty prompted debate over appropriate remedies. The warfare awarded societal value to military skills and depressed the worth of the shi. Aristocratic power grew while the shi fell to minor occupations. Rituals and court etiquette were replaced by rough nomadic manners. Warfare consumed state resources and public works, including dikes and canals, were ruined. Peasants were taxed heavily and conscripted into the military. The need for military materials stimulated commerce, helping the growth of a prosperous merchant class with an important role in society. By the end of the Zhou period China supported larger urban centers than any other contemporary civilization (Chinese annals, prepared by shi, expressed the shi point of view. Numerous ethnological tendencies were left unrecorded. The "rough nomadic manners" in the court rituals is the least important symptom of the Turkification of the state, which hide many other, more important processes that can be guestimated from the analogous processes in similar developments, like in Later Han, Later Zhou, Toba Wei, Ming, and Qing in China, numerous Türkic dynasties in Danube Bulgaria, Selcuks in Persia and Greek Anatolia, Mongols in Middle Asia, to name the most prominent states. Probably, the closest analogues are the Later Zhou and Mongols in Middle Asia, where the fields of the peasants were replaced with pastures of the horse husbandry. An important component of the ritual transgressions which caused bitter ulcers among the Chinese literati was the Türkic gender equality, with associated pre-eminence of the female dynastic tribe in the selection of the leader; the levirate that required that younger brothers married widows of their older brothers, and in extreme cases married widows of their father, except for their own mother; the right of the wife to have and live in her own household and possess independent means of existence; the gender equality in the ritual events, and the lateral succession system. The shi led a multi-century war against gender equality, not only in the educational system, but also politically. The note on the urbanization of the society seems to contradict the other negative postulates of the authors on the impact of the nomads on settled civilizations. Many cultural innovations were brought over with the inflow of the nomads, among them the spread of iron, monetary knives and subsequent coinage, introduction of standing cavalry, state horse farms, military strategies, and so on).

Confucius and the Restoration of the Shi. By the 5th century BCE thinkers, including Confucius, sought ways to create a stable society and political structure. Confucius, a member of a poor shi family, became a traveling teacher whose political and philosophical ideas attracted followers. He was a social philosopher concerned with the need to reestablish order and harmony in China; he thought that achieving order depended upon rulers accepting the advice of superior men - women were excluded - who were awarded power because of their moral excellence. Such men, recruited from the shi, gained wisdom through education and, in principle, could be from any social class.

Confucian Thought and Social Ideals. Confucius thought that superior men should rule to serve the interests and welfare of the entire society. In return the common people should respect and support their ruler’s superior status. Social harmony depended upon everyone accepting their social place and performing its required tasks. Society was held together by personal ties of loyalty and obedience that made state intervention minimal.

The Confucian Gentleman. Confucius thought that the superior man defended his decisions against all opposition. Rulers should receive deference, but the shi should criticize them for neglecting their subjects’ welfare. The shi gentleman was a generalist equally accomplished in public and private aspects of life. With such men, said Confucius, China would be peaceful and tranquil.

The Heirs of Confucius. The most important division among Confucius's disciples was between Mencius and Xunzi. Mencius believed that humans were good by nature and that government should develop that goodness. He stressed the consent of the common people was the basis of political power, and that they had the right to overthrow oppressive rulers. Xunzi thought that humans by nature were lazy and evil, thus requiring a strong and authoritarian government. Education could improve people, he thought, but he rejected the idea that government was based on their consent. The later Legalist school of thought embraced his views.

Daoist Alternatives. The philosopher Laozi offered an alternative to Confucianism. Although he urged rulers to cultivate patience, selflessness, and concern for the welfare of all creatures, Laozi thought that a strong state and absolute ethical prescriptions were not significant in solving human suffering. Laozi instead advocated a retreat from society into nature where individuals could attune with the Dao, or cosmic force. Some of his followers, particularly among the shi, followed Laozi's stress on meditation. Others mixed his ideas with magic and eroticism and sought immortality.

The Triumph of the Qin and the Establishment of Imperial Unity. The western state of Qin, led by Shi Huangdi, one of the many competing rivals striving to supplant the Zhou, unified China at the end of the 3rd century. Qin rulers had nomadic origins and were regarded as barbarians by other Chinese (We can safely stipulate that Zhou and Qin belonged to the same Türkic nomadic root, and that many ills ascribed to the late Zhou successfuly blossomed at Qin, and that includes nomadic cavalry that helped Qin to unite the Chinese realm).

The Transformation of a "Barbarian " Land. The Qin rulers introduced critical reforms strengthening their state. The Qin produced better metal weapons and tools. Peasants were freed from bondage to lords and allowed to hold land. The change weakened vassal warriors and allowed the Qin to employ shi in a loyal bureaucracy. Freed peasants enlarged armies made more efficient by shi management. The nomadic heritage of the Qin helped in military tactics, especially in the use of massed cavalry and the crossbow.

The Legalist Sanction. The political centralization of the Qin was supported by statesmen known as Legalists. Shang Yang and other thinkers argued that the power of rulers should be absolute, but that they subject to the law. Legalists considered that people existed to serve the state, and that strict laws and harsh punishments were required. Legalist disciples served Shi Huangdi. They utilized Xunzi's thought about the evil nature of humans to increase the authoritarian status of the ruler and constructed rigorous law codes to enforce absolutism.

Shi Huangdi, Emperor of China. In 221 BCE Shi Huangdi unified China under the rule of the Qin. He ordered all regional fortresses and the weapons of local warriors destroyed. Formerly independent states were replaced by provinces ruled by bureaucrats. Surviving aristocrats and rich merchants had to live in the capital, Xianyang. State officials developed a standard script, coinage, and weights and measures. Shi Huangdi expanded earlier constructions to create a defensive barrier against nomadic invaders, the Great Wall. Other projects, also employing forcibly recruited peasants, included canals and roadways.

The Collapse of a Tyrannical but Pivotal Regime. Shi Huangdi's harsh policies created opposition among both the shi and peasantry. All but a few state-approved books were ordered destroyed. Building projects stimulated a rising which ended the dynasty in 207 BCE. Despite its short rule the Qin marked a watershed in Chinese history. Shi Huangdi unified China and ruled it through a centralized bureaucracy. The power of the feudal aristocracy ended. The building of roads and canals, the shelter of the Great Wall, and a unified currency all helped to hold the territory together. A sound foundation was ready for the succeeding Han dynasty (Shi Huangdi and his Legalists formalized treatment of polyethnic masses as conquerred chattel, to be used for pleasure and convenience of the ruler and his ambitions, extending the tradition of the nomadic conquerors to the indigenous rulers. In the Chinese history, that tradition perpetuated to the present time, defined the nature of the Chinese state, and projected an image of China to the outside world. With the loss of its foreign-conquest charachter, this tradition reversed the direction of conquest, introducing a recurring policy of expansion and subjugation of the former masters as an overriding thrust of the state. On the other end of the Hunnic state, this same tradition made the same turnaround, and produced Russia with its policy of expansion and subjugation of the former masters. In both cases, the Legalists furnished an ideological justification for authoritarism and reverse colonization).

In Depth: Sunzi and the Shift from Ritual Combat to "Real" War. The development of classical civilizations, with their agricultural surpluses, increased populations, and improved technologies, advanced the business of making war. More people fought and suffered during hostilities. In most contemporary civilizations warfare was little organized and subject to ritual rules. Duels between warrior champions were important. Change came during the late Zhou period, and Sunzi, an advisor to a ruler produced a great classic of military theory, The Art of War. He argued that wars should be fought to increase the power of the state, and should be waged with great efficiency. The result was a transformation in the tactics of warfare. The Greeks of the same era independently developed similar patterns.

The Han Dynasty and the Foundations of China’s Classical Age. The Han era, a time of great creativity and innovation, emerged from the disorder following the collapse of the Qin. Liu Bang, a peasant village headman leading an army of soldiers, bureaucrats, and peasants, became its first ruler in 202 BCE.

The Restoration of Imperial Control. After a brief return to the vassalage system, Liu Bang, officially known as Gaozu, relied on the shi to create a more centralized administration. Subsequent rulers continued his policies by weakening the position of landholding aristocrats and granting greater authority to appointed officials.

Han Expansion. Han military might enlarged their empire and strengthened its borders. The Hsiung-nu (Huns) nomads initially were defeated, but they later returned to raiding China when rulers were weak. Han armies extended Chinese rule to northern Korea and southward into Vietnam. Many of the conquered peoples assimilated to Chinese civilization.

The Revenge of the Shi. The Legalists, influential under the Qin, were replaced by Confucians. By the end of the 2nd century BCE the shi were preeminent among ruling classes. Confucianism became the dominant thought system in Chinese civilization for the next 2000 years. Knowledge of Confucius's teachings was required for employment in government service; an imperial university was founded to train future officials.

Education, Examinations, and Shi Dominance. Confucian classics were the centerpiece of the educational system. An examination process was established for entering the bureaucracy. Since education was expensive the system effectively excluded almost all peasants and served the shi and landholders. Even though many political positions remained essentially hereditary or appointive, the Han had initiated the concept of a professional civil service where holding office depended more on merit than birth.

The Emergence of the Scholar Gentry. Three main social strata gained official recognition: the shi, ordinary free subjects, and an underclass (the "mean people"). Each had many occupational and status divisions. Local landlord families increasingly were linked to shi by marriage to create a new class, the scholar-gentry. It controlled both land and office-holding and had a base in towns and rural regions. Scholar-gentry families lived in large, comfortable, extended family compounds. Some families played major roles in society for millennia.

Class and Gender Roles in Han Society. Women, especially from higher social classes had more freedom in Han times than under later dynasties. Marriages were arranged as alliances between important families. A bride entered her husband's household (i.e. clan), but powerful relatives ensured good treatment. Widows were permitted to remarry. Upperclass women often were educated. Extended family living was not common among the peasantry; women worked in households and in town markets. At all levels, however, women were subordinate to men. Their most vital social function was to produce male children. Elder males dominated households and males received the greater share of family property. Political positions were reserved for males (It took 400 years of Chinese dominance to wipe out gender equality almost completely).

Peasant Life. Few peasants produced more than what was required for subsistence and taxes. With a large enough holding they might sell any surplus and live well. Poorer peasants with little or no land labored for landlords in conditions of poverty. Technological development eased labor burdens through inventions, as the shoulder horse collar and wheelbarrow; other improvements included iron tools, irrigation networks, and cropping patterns. Peasants remained liable to conscription for public works or military service. Population pressure was relieved by movement into uncultivated hill and forest regions, or to newly conquered lands in the south. Some peasants turned to banditry or became beggars. Many, for economic and physical protection, formed secret societies which might, in stressful times, provide a basis for rebellion.

The Han Capital at Xian. The urban growth of the Zhou era continued under the Han. Xian, the model for later imperial cities, was laid out on a grid pattern, with roadways defining its major quarters. Walls with towers and gates encircled the city. About 100,000 people lived within the walls, with an equal or larger number residing nearby. The imperial family lived in a "forbidden city" separate from the rest of the inhabitants. The complex was surrounded by administrative buildings and residences of the scholar-gentry and aristocrats (The layout of the Türkic settlements was always circular and concentric, with open air toilet outplaces outside of the settlement circle. Mobility ensured acceptable sanitary. The layout was regimented and rigid, the relative position was a permanent place in a portable world. The permanent settlements were frozen calques of the mobil cities. The grid layout of the Han capital was a serious advancement from the previous patterns).

Towns and Traders. China then probably had the world's most urbanized civilization. There were many towns with populations over 10,000. Most were walled, and many were administrative centers. Others were centers for mining, industry, or commerce. Trade expanded under the Han by land and sea routes into central Asia, south China, southeast Asia, and India. Large firms controlled and grew wealthy from the trade. They also profited from lending and investing in mining and other activities. Despite their wealth, merchants were barred, because of scholar-gentry influence, from gaining political power or social status (This is another Chinese-type social revolution, since traders were always valued in the Türkic society, and are known to be emissaries of the Türkic Kagans to the thrones of Byzantine and Persia. Archeologically, the trade influence is documented in the Türkic South Siberian kurgan burials reaching from Europe to China, and positively dated by 6th c. BC at Pazyryk, and by 11th c. BC at Anchin-chon).

A Genius for Invention and Artisan Production. The Han significantly advanced the Chinese aptitude for invention, becoming the most technologically innovative of all classical civilizations. Innovations included the introduction of the brush pen and paper, watermills powering mills and workshops, rudders, and compasses. Improved techniques appeared in mining, silk making, and ceramics. The advances led to the growth of a mostly urban artisan and manufacturing class. Artisans, although relegated by the scholar-gentry to a social status inferior to peasants, surpassed them in living standards (Actually, the earliest reference to a specific magnetic direction finder device is recorded in a Song Dynasty book dated to 1040. A small overshoot that does not change the picture).

The Arts and Sciences of the Han Era. Art was largely decorative and geometric. Calligraphy was a highly praised form. Painting was less developed than under later dynasties, but bronzes and ceramics established a lasting standard. Work in the sciences focused on practical applications. Astronomers developed a 365.5 day calendar and calculated planetary movement. Medical advances came in disease diagnosis, herbal and drug remedies, and acupuncture. In mathematics the practical focus led to discoveries in acoustics and measurement standards.

Imperial Crisis and Han Restoration. The successors of Han Wudi were not efficient rulers, losing control of affairs to the families of emperor's wives (Here it goes, the suppressed gender takes over the first Chinese Chinese Empire, in a Türkic fashion. There must be something going that the shi scholars could not find in the official daily records, and either did not see, or did not want to record. A peculiar Chinese shyness). The Wang family seized power in 9 CE. Emperor Wang Mang's reform efforts alienated the scholar-gentry and peasants. In 23 CE he was overthrown and the Han dynasty was restored.

The Later Han and Imperial Collapse. The restored dynasty did not reach the peak attained by earlier rulers. Political decline was continuous. Central authority crumbled as court factions, the scholar-gentry, emperor's wives, eunuchs, and regional lords dueled for power. The dynasty ended in 200 CE.

Conclusion: An Era of Accomplishment and Affluence. The Han dynasty established a cyclical pattern of dynastic succession and overthrow enduring until the 20th century. A core of lasting Chinese cultural values emerged: political unity, rule by an emperor and a professional bureaucracy, and scholar-gentry dominance. Cultural differences persisted between the legacies of Confucius and Laozi, and an elite-mass gap continued because only a very few became literate. Still, the Han presided over the development of one of the most creative civilizations in world history. The basic components of the lasting and influential Chinese civilization had been established.