Transcript WHAP Ch 2-3x

Chapters 3 and 4: Classical Civs
China and India
Introduction
• China – longest-lived civilization in history
– Isolated
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Couldn’t learn from other cultures
Rare invasions
Distinctive identity
Relatively little internal chaos with decline of Shang dynasty
– Intellectual Theory
• Harmony of nature – yin & yang – balance
• Seek “Dao” – the way
– Avoid excess
– Appreciate balance of opposites
– Humans part of world, not on outside – like Mediterranean
– Bottom-line: government, philosophy, economic
incentives, the family, & individual blended to make a
harmonious whole.
Patterns in Classical China
• Pattern of Rule
– Dynasty – create strong politics, economy
– Dynasty grew weak, taxes declined
– Social divisions increased
– Invasion/internal rebellion
– New dynasty emerges
• Zhou Dynasty follows Shang – 1029 to 258 BCE
• Zhou Dynasty
– Started decline in 700 BCE
– Ruled w/local princes – alliance system
• Successful in agricultural communities (ex: feudal Europe)
• Princes received land for troops/tax
– Eventually local leaders ignored central govt
– Contributions
• Extended territory to “Middle Kingdom” – hard for
transportation and communication; hard to govern.
• Mandate of Heaven – Sons of Heaven – emperors live
affluent life
• Greater Cultural unity
– Banned human sacrifice
– Standardized language was Mandarin
• Confucius – wrote about political ethics
– 402-201 BCE: Era of the Warring states
• Qin Dynasty – China’s namesake
– Qin Shih Huangdi – first emperor – brutal leader
• Undid power of regional leaders
• Nobles brought to emperor’s home
• Officials selected from nonaristocratic groups –
allegiance (owe him for their power)
• Extended territory south
• Built great wall – 3000 miles
• Ordered a national census – data for tax revenues and
labor service
• Standardized coinage, weights, and measures
• Burned books, attacked culture – thinking hurts his
autocratic rule
• Downfall of Shi Huangdi – unpopular
– High taxes
– Attacks on intellectuals
– Killed men, punished brutally
– Died in 210 BCE – revolts break out
• Qin dynasty lasted from about 220 to 200 BCE.
• Han Dynasty – 202 BCE to 220 CE
– Kept centralized power of Qin, but sought to reduce
repression of the period.
– Extended borders
• Opened trade to India and Mediterranean
• Wudi– period of peace – similar to Rome’s “Pax Romana”
– Most famous Han ruler
– Examinations for bureaucracy
– School to train men of exceptional talent
• Advancements
– Formal training
– Supported Confucianism
» Shrines built to worship Confucius
– Invasions
• Huns – led to decline
– 220 CE – 589 CE: China is in a state of chaos
Political Institutions
• Strong Central Government
– Qin stressed unquestioned central authority
– Han – expanded bureaucracy
• Political framework
– Strong local units remained, but power diminished
• Relied on patriarchal families
• Ancestor worship linked families
• Village leaders helped coordinate farming/harvesting
– Single law code
– Universal tax system
– Central authority appointments
• Huge Bureaucracy – 130,000 involved
– Civil Service tests
– Scholar bureaucrat
– Not exclusively upper class rule
– Rulers could be controlled by bureaucrats
• Tightly governed people
– Rules administered by trained scholars
– Father had unquestioned power
– Harsh punishments put down rebellions
• Government Traditions
– Not heavily militaristic
– Promoted intellectual life (not during Qin dynasty)
– Active economy
• Organized production of iron/salt
• Han tried storing grain for bad harvests
• Sponsored public works – canals/irrigation
• Technology
– Torture and execution used to keep obedience
– Taxed
– Annual labor
• Invaders
– Huns – couldn’t create a better system, so kept
bureaucrats
Religion and Culture
• People not united by religion
• Religion – in relation to politics
– Earthly life/obedience is more important than
speculating about God
– Harmonious earthly life; prevent excess
– Traditions
• Ancestor ceremonies
• Special meals
• Politeness at meals – tea ceremonies/chopsticks
• Confucius – The Analects
– Political virtue and good government
• Secular views, not religious
– Respect for superiors regardless
– Respect for tradition
– Leaders should behave modestly without excess
• Work hard as a leader and lesser people will serve
superiors
• “When the ruler does right, all men with imitate his selfcontrol”
– Govt used to maintain order
– Careful socialization of children
– Lacks spiritual side
• Legalism (Qin times)- pragmatism
– Better govt is one that rules by force
– Human nature evil – needs restraint
• Polytheistic beliefs
– Spirits of nature
– Ancestors
– Dragons – fear plus playful respect
• Daoism – upper class wanted spirituality
– Nature has divine impulse that directs life
– Understanding comes from withdrawing and
thinking of “way of nature”
– Espoused humility and frugal living
• Intellectual
– Five Classics
• Speeches, songs, poems, etiquette, political materials
• Poetry mark of an educated person
– Art form
• Calligraphy
• Chinese artists, pottery, carved jade
• No monumental buildings – except palaces/Great Wall
– No singular religion
– Confucianism against temples soaring to heaven
– Science
• Calculated motion of planets 1500 years before Copernicus
• Medicine – anatomical research – proper hygiene for longer
life.
Economy and Society
• Class – social status passed from one
generation to the next
– Upper class literate, wealth, culture – denied to
peasants
– Land owners make up 2%
– Peasants make up the rest
– Property Owned communally
• Trade
– Luxury items
• Silk, jewelry, leather goods, furniture – via Silk Road
– Carried by merchants – who were considered lower than
peasants because they were prioritizing money-making.
• Confucius prioritized learning/political service
• Technological Advance
– Progressed technologically due to isolation
– Necessity is the mother of invention.
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Ox-drawn plow/collar for animals
Iron mining – pulleys and winding gear
Production methods advanced; water powered mills
Paper invented – needed for bureaucracy
• Family life
– Father is the unquestioned leader
– There are no wrongdoing parents
• Law courts do not punish parents for disciplining their
children, regardless of harm/death
– Strict control of emotions
– Women gain power through sons
– Power is to oldest son, boys over girls
• Practice known as primogeniture
How Chinese Civilization Fits Together
• China’s politics and culture mixed readily – especially
around Confucian bureaucracy.
• Isolation – can’t learn from outsiders
– Buddhism – embraced by the population
• Common Cultural Unity
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Bureaucracy
Confucianism
Clear hierarchy
Views on etiquette
• Daoists and Confucianists tolerated
– Confucianist see Daoists as superstitious
• Justice
– Presumed guilty until proven innocent; tightly governed.
China: Global Connections
• Heavy influence on the world
– 1/5 of population supported by peasants
– Created technologies shared with the world
• Power – water mill, porcelain, paper, compass
Ch. 4 – Classical India
• Intro
– India focuses on religion and social structure
• Compared to China’s focus on politics and
philosophies
• Has a less organized political structure than China
• Both agricultural societies, patriarchal, and trade
The Framework for Indian History
• Closer to other civilizations
– Influenced by Middle East/Mediterranean
– Persian Empires spilled over; as well as
Alexander the Great’s Greek empire
– Forced to react and adapt
• Topography (the land)
– Passes through the Himalayas linked India
– Political unity was difficult – greater diversity
• River Civs
– Indus and Ganges
• Separate regions contributed to
– Economic diversity
– Racial & language differences
• Climate
– Unstable due to monsoons
– Positive: helped with agriculture that fed a large
population
• Formative Period – Vedic and Epic Ages
– Aryan migrants – hunting/herding peoples
– Knowledge passed down through epics written in
Sanskrit – the Vedas
• Mahabharata
• Ramayana
• Upanishads
– Aryans settled and made tight-knit villages
• Patriarchal
• Social classes
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Warrior/governing – Kshatriyas
Priests – Brahmins
Traders/farmers – Vaisyas
Common laborers – Sudras
Untouchables – garbage collectors, butchers, grave diggers,
etc.
• Social groups became hereditary
– Can’t marry between castes – punishable by
death
– Broken into smaller subgroups
• Aryans brought polytheistic religion
• Upanishads – epic poems
– Sacred animals – monkeys/cattle
– Rituals and sacrifice
– Brahmin class enforced rituals
– Unifying divine force, seek union with this force
Patterns in Classical India
• Formative phase of India was from 1600 BCE600 BCE
– 16 major states existed; some monarchies, some
republics
• All dominated by warriors/priests
– Eras often crated as reaction to invaders
• Mauryan Dynasty
– Chandragupta Mauryan 322 BCE – unified the
subcontinent
• Maintained large armies
• Developed bureaucracy
• Highly autocratic
– Ashoka (grandson) –lavish lifestyle
• Influenced by nature/spiritualism
• Bloodthirsty methods of expansion
• Converted to Buddhism and spread Buddhism
throughout empire.
• Improved trade and road network
– Kushans – outside invaders
• Convert to Buddhism, but bad b/c now it’s unpopular
since invaders have adopted it.
• Guptas – 320 CE
– No powerful individual rulers
– Negotiated with local princes and intermarry
with their families
• Expands influence without fighting
– Two generations of political stability
– Overturned in 535 CE by Huns (nomadic warriors)
• Shifted between widespread empires and small
kingdoms
Political Institutions
• How did they maintain power?
– Mauryan – military power
– Gupta
• Negotiation
• Appointed by gods
• Allowed local rulers to have autonomy
– No single language imposed
• Golden Age
– Spread laws
– Supported university, arts, literature
• However – not an elaborate political culture
– Little political theory
– Kautilya – minister to Chandragupta – guide on
how to maintain power
– Political service is not valued
– Buddhist leaders not interested in political affairs
• Why limitations?
– Caste system regulated all aspects of life
• Political laws were unnecessary
– Most rigid social structure of all classical civs
• No slavery; untouchables were not owned
• Hinduism
Religion and Culture
– Origins in Vedic and Epic ages
– No single founder/no central holy figure
• Grew gradually, sometimes in reaction to other religions like Buddhism and Islam
– Brahmanism
• Under Brahman leadership, ideas about the gods become more
elaborate.
• Upanishads stressed connecting to divine essence and letting go of
shallow worldly concerns
– Options for good life
• Meditation/self-discipline (yoga)
• Others wanted rituals – cremation, prayers, sacred cows, refrain from
beef
• Some believed in lesser nature gods
• Symbolic sacrifices might assist in reincarnation
– Obligations
• Serve family
• Earn money
• Serve in army when necessary
• Bhagavad Gita
– Classic hymn about a warrior who must battle
with his own relatives
• No strict ethical codes like 10 Commandments
• Why did Hinduism spread?
– Incorporated previous religion
– Caste system – gave people hope for a better life ahead
• Buddhism (same root principles of Hinduism)
– Siddhartha Guatama – the Buddha
– Searched for truth, found it, accepted a lot of Hinduism, but:
• Disagreed with caste system
• All worldly desires hurt you
• If you destroy yourself, you can reach nirvana – self control/regulate
life
• Denied importance of priests
– Spread by group of monks
– Literature
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Not a lot of political theory; more of human life
“law of love” – Kamasutra
Epics
Romantic adventure – separated/reunited
– Science
• Supported university – astronomy and medicine
– Math
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Concept of zero and decimal system
Negative numbers
Square root
Pi
– Art
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Lively
Not realistic like Greeks
Appreciation of nature
Joy of life themes and celebrate religion
– Tone
• Not rational like in West (greco-roman)
• Concentration was NOT on politics like China
• Economy and Society
– Caste system
• Different punishments for different crimes
• Villagers RARELY had contact with higher caste
– Family life based on hierarchy
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Wife worships husband as god
Women lost power as male power expanded
Could women advance spiritually if not reincarnated as man?
Arranged marriages were solid economic links
– Economy
• Stronger steel than the West (until recently)
• Textiles – cotton cloth, calico, and cashmere
• Trade! Cotton, silks, dyes, drugs, gold, ivory
• Indian Influence
– Indian Ocean –dominated by Indian merchants
and missionaries, was the most active link among
cultures. (Mediterranean was close second)
– Effect on other areas
• Married into royal families
• Temples and Indian art constructed in other areas
around South/SE Asia
• Buddhism spread through Asia
• Affected China through Buddhism and art
• China and India (#22 on RSG is answered here)
– India vs. China: Differences
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Art – lively vs. restrained
Primary religion vs. separate religions and philosophies
Emphasis on Caste vs. Political structure
Different emotional reactions vs. restrained behavior
Expanded cultural influence via trade vs. new territory
Land ownership consistent vs. tried take over more land for
power
– India vs. China: Similarities
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Large peasant classes
Close-knit villages
Patriarchal
Merchants take secondary role
– But more sea trade for India