Ancient China

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

What was Ancient China?

The name “Ancient China” refers to the ancestral past of Chinese culture, one of the oldest of humanity. It is about a civilization that emerged in the eastern region of the Asian continent around 4,000 or 5,000 years ago although its oldest written documents come from around 3500 years ago. It is one of the few civilizations that lasted from Antiquity to the Contemporary Age.

Ancient China covered an immense territory in which different peoples lived. Beginning with the rule of the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), its history was especially influenced by the Han ethnic group, the largest of the fifty-six recognized Chinese ethnic groups, which currently comprises 92%. of China's population.

Ancient China encompassed at least two stages: a pre-imperial stage, made up of a succession of three ruling dynasties: Xia (2100-1600 BC), Shang (1600-1046 BC) and Zhou (1046-256 BC). C.); and an imperial stage, which began with unification under the Qin dynasty (221-206 BC) and continued with the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) and its successors.

Although imperial China lasted until 1912, the end of the ancient imperial era can be traced to the Mongol conquest of the 13th century.

It is believed that the name “China” comes from the transcription into Sanskrit (Cinema) from the name of the Qin dynasty (pronounced “chin“). This term was popularized through the Silk Road, even though the ancient Romans referred to China as Beings (“where silk comes from”). For a long time, China was known in the West as Cathaya term derived from the town of Khitan, established in northern China, and which was used by the traveler Marco Polo in his 13th century travel book.

Chinese prehistoric cultures

The first Neolithic human groups emerged around the valleys of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River between 6500 and 5000 BC. C. There is archaeological evidence that suggests a high level of sophistication in the agricultural culture of these populations, as is the case of the famous Neolithic settlement of Banpo, discovered in 1953 near the city of Xi'an.

Some of the prehistoric cultures of China were:

• Yangshao culture (c. 5000-3000 BC). It emerged in the Yellow River valley and was characterized by the cultivation of millet, the formation of villages and the production of a type of painted ceramics.
• Hongshan culture (c. 4700-2900 BC). It emerged in northeast China and was notable for the cultivation of millet, the carving of jade and some large buildings.
• Liangzhu culture (c. 3300-2300 BC). It was concentrated in the Lake Tai area, south of the Yangtze River, and excelled in jade work and constructions such as large residences, tombs, and workshops that suggest a certain level of political complexity.
• Longshan culture (c. 3000-1900 BC). It appeared around the middle course of the Yellow River and left evidence indicating that it was a hierarchical society, with walled settlements, abundant commercial exchange, intense agricultural work and frequent wars.

The dynasties of Ancient China

Around 2100 BC. C. the first dynasties emerged in China, which founded a dynastic tradition that led to the formation of an empire.

However, ancient Chinese mythological accounts considered China to have been previously ruled by eight mythical figures, known as the three augusts and the five emperors, of which there is no historical evidence. According to the most common version of the myth, these mythological rulers were:

• The three august: Fu Xi (the first man), Sui Ren (the inventor of fire) and Shen Nong (the inventor of cultivation).
• The five emperors: Huang Di (the “Yellow Emperor”), Zhuan Zu, Dì Ku, Di Yao and Di Shun.

The first historical dynasties of Ancient China succeeded each other from 2100 BC. approximately until the founding of the Chinese Empire in 221 BC. C..

The three ancient dynasties were:

• The Xia Dynasty (c. 2100-1600 BC). It was the first, and was made up of seventeen successive kings, although there are no contemporary written testimonies that allow corroboration. It is usually identified with the Erlitou archaeological culture.
• The Shang Dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BC). It was the second Chinese dynasty, but the first for whose existence there is contemporary written evidence. It spanned almost thirty successive reigns.
• The Zhou dynasty (c. 1046-256 BC). It was the last pre-imperial Chinese dynasty. It had two stages: Western Zhou (1046-771 BC) and Eastern Zhou (771-256 BC). It coincided with the era of the emergence of classical Chinese literature and thinkers such as Confucius, and with the first phase of construction of the Great Wall of China.

Two periods of internecine warfare and decentralization of power occurred during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, known as the Spring and Autumn Period (771-476 BC) and the Warring States Period (476-221 BC).). These periods of conflict ended with the rise of the first imperial dynasty.

The imperial dynasties were:

• The Qin dynasty (221-206 BC). It was the first imperial dynasty. He unified China and replaced the title of king with that of emperor.
• The Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). It was an era of splendor for Chinese civilization, which adopted Confucianism as its official ideology and extended its borders to much of what is now China. However, it culminated in a period of chaos in which three different kingdoms clashed and is known as the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280 AD).
• The Jin dynasty (265-420 AD). The Jin managed to temporarily reunify China, but fell to the nomadic peoples of the north, who divided the empire into sixteen separate kingdoms (AD 304-439).
• The Sui dynasty (581-618 AD). A new Chinese reunification occurred under the northern Sui dynasty, after defeating the southern Chen dynasty in 589. During this stage, great engineering works were carried out, such as the Grand Canal and the extension of the Great Wall of China, and it expanded the influence of Buddhism.
• The Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). This era is considered of great importance for Chinese culture, as it involved a flourishing of arts, technology and commerce. Despite this, Tang rule was interrupted by the rise to power of Emperor Gaozong's consort, Wu Zetian, who after the emperor's death established her own dynasty, the Zhou dynasty. This dynasty lasted only 15 years, since at 80 years of age the empress was removed from power and the Tang returned to rule. Two hundred years later, the Tang lost power again and China plunged into a period of chaos and internal strife known as the Period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (AD 907-960).
• The Song dynasty (960-1279 AD). The next reunification of Ancient China was led by the Song, who were the first to implement a standing army equipped with weaponry that used gunpowder. During this stage, the Chinese population doubled and revolutionary scientific and technological advances were achieved. The Song dynasty fell to the invasion of the Mongol Empire, which founded a ruling dynasty of foreign origin in China, the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368 AD).

Characteristics of Ancient China

Broadly speaking, Ancient China had the following characteristics:

• It was one of the oldest civilizations in history emerged around the Yellow River valley around 2100 BC. C., although with a prehistory of Neolithic populations that emerged between the 7th and 6th millennia BC. c.
• It was an agricultural civilization especially dedicated to the cultivation of rice and millet, and presented an important ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity.
• It was characterized by the succession of great ruling dynasties organized as hereditary monarchies, in which political power was centralized, although there were also periods of instability, internal struggles and decentralization of power.
• It was the most influential culture of the Asia ancient creator of a writing model using pictograms and logograms that was adopted and adapted by neighboring cultures, such as Japanese or Korean. In addition, it was an economic and military power for most of its history.
• The Han ethnic group was the predominant one in the politics of Ancient China, despite the ethnic diversity that characterized the region.

Geographic location of Ancient China

The territory of Ancient China did not always have the same borders. Some dynasties ruled over a more limited territory to the east of China while others extended their domination to a large part of current Chinese territory. However, Chinese culture expanded and maintained a certain unity despite territorial changes and political fragmentations.

Broadly speaking, Ancient China once extended from the border with the Gobi Desert in the north to the present-day South China Sea in the south (including part of the Indochina Peninsula), and from the East China Sea in the south. east to the mountains of Tibet and Turkestan in the west. It also occupied the island of Hainan and expanded its influence to regions of present-day Korea, Burma, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand, where tributary states of China were sometimes formed.

Sociopolitical organization of Ancient China

Like most large agricultural societies of antiquity, Chinese society was organized into clearly differentiated social strata. These strata were the ruling dynasty, the military aristocracy, the officials and scholars, the merchants and artisans, and the peasantry.

During the Shang dynasty, monarchs were in charge of rituals and ancestor worship. During the Zhou dynasty, the idea of ​​the “mandate of heaven” was introduced (the ruler had divine favor as long as he ruled correctly). Furthermore, the social order of the non-aristocratic strata was defined in four categories of people, known as the “four occupations”: officials (shi), farmers (nong), the artisans (gong) and merchants (shang).

The traditional system of sociopolitical organization is usually considered feudal since it was based on a hierarchy of lineages and power was exercised by landowners. However, the formation of the empire under the Qin dynasty established a centralized government regime.

Beginning in the imperial era, Ancient China was governed by a centralized monarchy headed by the emperor and the empire was divided into 36 provinces, governed by civil and military governors. Furthermore, the administration of the State was in charge of an efficient bureaucracy, whose officials had to pass rigorous exams and evaluations. Beginning in the Han Dynasty, Confucianism became the official ideology of the Chinese State.

Ancient Chinese Culture

Ancient Chinese culture was responsible for many innovations in the field of technology. Furthermore, it was a culture with a lot of diversity due to the different ethnicities that made it up, which was manifested in gastronomy, language and rituals.

However, in moments of greater centralization, such as the rise of the Han and Tang dynasties, a more or less common Chinese identity took hold, associated with the doctrines of Confucianism (later also Neo-Confucianism) and taoism.

In religious matters, The Chinese people professed their own traditional and syncretic religion (i.e., it incorporated aspects of various religions and beliefs), and many of its aspects survive today. The cult of ancestors played a very important role, as well as the connection with divinities or elements of nature and shamanic or divination practices.

Buddhism came to China from India and also played an important role in traditional Chinese culture, making contributions in areas such as medicine, literature, philosophy and politics. During the Tang dynasty the Chinese variant of Buddhism known as Chan Buddhism or Zen Buddhism was born.

Another aspect of ancient Chinese culture was its gastronomy, especially the use of rice which was one of its unifying elements, cultivated in China since the Neolithic. For its part, ancient Chinese architecture evidenced an aesthetic view 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

Ancient China was a mainly agricultural civilization, which also practiced from very early times the trade and livestock. In addition, he developed his own techniques for working with jade and metallurgy, especially iron. Among its main products were rice and tea, and later silk, a product that allowed the Chinese to trade through the so-called Silk Road with Persians, Indians, Arabs and even with the West.

On the other hand, imperial Chinese culture developed a model of bureaucracy that allowed efficient collection of taxes and a detailed record of official activities. There were officials in charge of collecting tribute, officials dedicated to war decisions, and a wide network of imperial messengers, which allowed the empire to effectively manage its information and resources.

Inventions and contributions of Ancient China

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

• The paper. The first signs of paper manufacturing were discovered in China, dating back to the 2nd century BC. C., long before the date established for the invention of the technique of making paper with cellulose pulp by the imperial advisor Cai Lun (50 BC-121 AD). Already in the 3rd century AD. C. paper had begun to displace other traditional writing supports throughout China, such as strips of silk or bamboo.
• The printing. Although the modern printing press was created by Johannes Gutenberg in the 15th century, documents printed using a system of wooden seals dating from the 6th or 7th century and an artisanal movable type printing press from the 11th century were found in China. With these systems, religious texts, imperial edicts, calendars and books on various topics were printed.
• The gunpowder. The manufacture of explosives had many uses in Ancient China, such as the production of fireworks for celebrations or their military use in incendiary bombs, cannons or various weapons to launch projectiles. The first manuscripts with the formula for making gunpowder date back to the Song dynasty, although there is evidence of its use some centuries earlier.
• paper money. The first culture to use banknotes with monetary value was the Chinese culture during the Song dynasty, although its antecedents were a bill of exchange used by merchants during the Tang dynasty. The banknotes were known as “jiaozi” and were issued by the State through its various factories, which employed hundreds or thousands of workers. This was a reflection of the immense economic power of Song China.

References

• Blunden, C and Elvin, R. (1994). China. ancient giant. Folio.
• Chang, K. C. (2009). Art, myth and ritual. The path to political authority in ancient China. Katz.
• Franke, H. et al. (2023). China. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/China
• Gernet, J. (2018). The Chinese world. Criticism.
• Mark, J.J. (2012). Ancient China. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/china/