foundations – unit i ancient india & china. pre-classical india harrapan – urban planning ...
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Pre-ClassicalIndia Harrapan – urban
planning Large Area Active trade with Sumer Strong Central Authority
(seals, weights/meas., irrigation, theocracy)
Social Structure – Dravidians relatively egalitarian, not as patriarchal
Slow decline – natural?, erosion?, salt in wells
Indo-European Arryans move in 1500 BC (rajahs, Sanskrit, iron)
China Huange-He – very isolated
(mts, deserts, flooding) Limited trade with SW Asia
and South Asia (especially bronze then iron for war)
Shang – dynasties, palaces, walled cities – aristocratic bureaucracy
Social Structure – stratified (elite to slaves), very patriarchal
Ancestor worship, oracle bones
Internal Change of Command w/mandate of heaven by Zhou (ca. 1027 BC)
Aryan Age of Decline
Rigveda describes the new dwellings as small hut dwellings clustered inside wooden palisades – suffers in comparison with Mohenjo-Daro during peak
Rigveda suggests “Aryans” were light-skinned favored over “dark-skinned” natives – prejudice in skin color still exists in India
Hinduism introduced – see constant upheavals in early centuries, possibly because only kshatriyas could fight – unlike China and Korea where peasants could.
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– Holy Books Vedas – four collections of hymns and religious
ceremonies Upanishads – commentaries on the Vedas
– Reincarnation Soul reborn a different form after death and
progresses through several existences on the wheel of life until reaching the final destination with the Great World Soul, Brahman
Karma – actions in this life; determines one’s rebirth in the next life
– Cosmic scale – Brahmins at the top; in animal kingdom the cow is at the top
Dharma governs karma Reincarnation provides compensation for those
lower on the ladder of life Multitude of gods (33,000) in Hinduism but only a
small number of primary gods– Trinity of gods (trimurti): Brahman the Creator,
Vishnu the Preserver, and Siva the Destroyer
Hinduism - basic tenents
Hinduism as a social concept
An issues of color– Varna (color or caste)– reflected informal division of labor and rigid social
classification for occupation and status• Brahmins – priestly caste• Kshatriyas – warriors • Vaisya (commoner) – merchant class• Sudras – peasants or artisans who were the bulk of the Indian
population• Pariahs (untouchable) – not considered part of the cast system;
groups outside of Indian society– Jati – kinship group, of a specific caste, living in a specific area, doing a
specific task Daily Life in Ancient India
– Family the basic unit of society, ancestors important– Father-son relationship, males inherit property– Woman is subordinate to men
• Sati – wife throws herself on the funeral pyre of her deceased husband
Becoming EmpireIndia Semi-nomadic Aryans – by
600 BC divide into 16 states, enslaved Dravidians; 500 BC Persian satrapy, 330-321 Alex the Great
Mauryan Empire (321-185 BCE), largest empire in India
Chandragupta & Ashoka The Arthasastra, a treatise on
politics– When law of dharma and
politics collide, the latter takes precedence
– Highly despotic gvmt. Provinces w/ governors
Public Works Economy – no more regional
payment to kings, national tax, single currency
Zhou China (1122 – 256 BC) Issues – flooding and northern
barbarians expanded territory to south,
feudal system (local warlords powerful)
Economy and Society “Well field system” – 9sq. Trade / manufacturing
– Silk, Iron introduced Agricultural advances
– Land fallow– wet rice
Money economy Writing evolving to
modern script
Chandragupta was surrounded by luxury, but
regime strictly ordered, only 4 ½ hours of sleep a day, route of progress marked off with ropes – anyone who set foot inside would be killed
Huge armies w/1000s of chariots and elephant-borne troops
Substantial bureaucracy, but network of spies
Converted to jainism – would not kill anything or possess property – ended up starving himself to death in jainist monastery in 297 BC
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•Buddhist after Battle of Kalinga, great stone builder (first since Harappa), capital with 4 lions in used as emblem of present government of India; sent missionaries as far as Egypt and Burma and Sri Lanka •Unify empire - created system of laws to protect sick, unarmed and helpless. Provided rest stops for travelers. Built hospitals, circuit magistrates for resolving disputes throughout empire •major change in Buddhism is that he rejects caste system
Ashoka(269-232 BC)
Towards CollapseIndia
Religious Changes – Chandragupta embraced Jainism, Ashoka converted to Buddhism– Mauryan Empire went
into decline after the death of Asoka
– Last Mauryan ruler overthrown, 183 B.C.E.
– A number of new kingdoms sprung up
– Weakness of the Mauryas was glorifying warfare for the king and aristocracy
China
Luxuries and abuses lead to philosophers wanting political reform (Legalism, Daoism, Confucianism)
Longest lasting dynasty, but collapse into Warring States (221-202 BCE)
China during the Period of the Warring States 403-221 B.C.E.
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Axial Age of Religion Period from 800 – 200 BC when new
religions/philosophies found in Greece, China, and India.
Greece India China
Platonism Jainism
Buddhism
Confucianism
Daoism
Legalism
Similarities – quest for human meaning in life/government
Buddhism: Siddhartha Gautama (c. 560-480 B.C.E.)
– Born in foothills of the Himalaya Mountains, son of a kshatriya family
– Denied the existence of the individual soul Nirvana (release from the wheel of life) Bodhi (wisdom)
– Four Noble Truths – life is suffering; suffering caused by desire; end suffering by ending desire; end desire by avoiding extremes of a life of materialism
– Middle Path (Eightfold Path) Rejection of division of humanity into castes
All human beings can aspire to Nirvana as a result of their behavior in this life
Jainism:– Founded by Mahavira, contemporary of Siddhartha– Doctrine of extreme simplicity; keep no possessions and rely on
begging for a living – No killing (vegetarians)
New Belief Systems in India
Confucius (551-479 B.C.E.)– Interest is politics and ethics– If humans act harmoniously in accordance with the universe, all
affairs will prosper– Dao (The Way)
• Duty and Compassion / empathy for others– Analects– Rule by merit– Obedience to government and family (filial piety)– Education is key (emperor rules by example)
Mencius (370-29- B.C.E.)– Human beings are by nature good– Ruler’s duty is to rule by compassion
Legalism– Human beings are by nature evil and follow the correct path only if
coerced by harsh laws and stiff penalties; Only firm action by the state can bring social order
New Belief Systems in China – “Hundred School”
– Daoism Lao Tzu (Lao Zi) – supposedly an
elder contemporary of Confucius Dao De Jing (The Way of the Tao)
– Proper forms for human behavior (Action by inaction, laissez-faire – condemned government action)
– Nature takes its course- Many rites involved alchemy,
animism, elixir of immortality (some ideas imported from India)
•Political – Gupta (320 CE – 550 CE) Ruled through central gov’t allowed
village gov’ts power (more decentralized)/ Control based on local lords – paid tribute to keep autonomy
Advantageous alliances and military conquests created political stability
450 CE northern invaders brought empire to slow end (same Hunas – White Huns as the Xiongnu Huns from Mongolia to Caucasus from NW)
Key Difference: political diversity and regionalism
Economic - Gupta Very vigorous trade – surpassing Mediterranean and
Chinese – major middle men between East and West. Cotton was largest industry. In southern India there were small colonies of Romans, Jews, Arabs, and Nestorian Christians from Syria and Persia (gold, slaves, glass, Egyptian cloth, Chinese silk, SE Asian spices)
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Key Difference: merchants relatively high caste status
Key – page 79
Religious - Gupta
Hinduism restored as central religion Helped keep social order in a time of
decentralized political power
Social - Gupta No one language for all subjects! (promoted Sanskrit for
language of educated) Caste system encouraged tolerance allowing widely different
people to live next to one another peacefully but with separate social strictures.
Loyalty to caste superseded loyalty to any one ruler. Initial 5 castes divided into 300 jati (could lower in castes if marry lower or take on work deemed inappropriate for caste)
Outright slavery was avoided Rights of women became more limited as agricultural
technology developed (one code of law requested women to worship husbands as gods)
Key Idea: all classical societies (except perhaps Athenian) played down role of individual and emphasized role of state, group and family – few challenged this “natural order”
Social Strictures meant that political
regulation less necessary
Intellectual/Technological - Gupta Universities built (4000 students in Nalanda – one
of them Chinese Faxian) to teach religion, medicine and architecture
Medicine (religious prohibition on disection – but still bone setting, plastic surgery, inoculation against small pox, sterilization of wounds)
Mathematics - algebra, zero (may have come from China), decimal system and “Arabic” numbers, table of sines, square roots, negative numbers, computed value of pi
Key Difference: some technology developed for its own sake, Chinese mostly pragmatic development
Art/Literature - Gupta
Exquisite paintings (Ajanta caves)
plays of Kalidasa (comparable to Shakespeare)
Kama Sutra written now
The Qin and Han Empires
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China – Qin Dynasty, 221-206 B.C.E.
– Qin Shi Huangdi (221-206 B.C.E.) founder• Unified the Chinese state; built a road system
(4000 miles); canal system (1200 miles from Yangzi to Canton), Great Wall (mostly Ming dynasty – instead he used trade, diplomacy and warfare to control nomads) standardized currency and written language.
• Feared subversions – banned books
Political – Han (202 BC – 220 CE)
Territorial expansion to central Asia (Korea, Indochina) – especially under Emperor Wu Ti (140-87 BCE)
•Govt. bureaucracy grew stronger (effective admin. – postal service, tax collecting)•Main goal – unification of China
Political – Han (202 BC – 220 CE)
Chinese civil service exam – open to everyone, but only wealthy could afford to prepare
Time of peace, govt. sponsored canals, irrigation Collapse due to high taxes, internal power struggle and
outside invaders – broke into Three Kingdoms (also inroads of Buddhism challenged Confucian government) [Parallels the inroads of Visigoths and Christianity into Europe]
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Economic - Han High taxation system – over time emperors would give
passes on land tax to retainers and maternal family of emperor – progressively smaller proportion of the land was expected to pay a progressively larger amount of revenue.
Only 10% of population lived in cities State monopoly on trade of salt and iron (so little profit in
trade), government set commodity prices and collected commercial taxes (black market merchants grew rich especially in gold and silk trade across Silk Road)
In order to pacify nomadic chieftains gave lavish gifts – expense caused peasant revolts
Increasing interest in ocean trade – rise of rudder and sails, conquest of Vietnam to establish ports
Trade was primarily directed by the Turkish speaking Uighurs. The Uighur caravans of two humped camels carried goods between China, South Asia, and the Middle East. Due to banditry, most of the caravans followed the southern route that passed the fringes of the Takiamakan Desert to Kashgar and down the into northwest India. Expanded under Wu TI.
Religious - Han
Revived Confucian doctrine – saw usefulness of Confucian emphasis on political virtue and social order.
Legalism saw growth as well, but never as wide spread – Confucian veneer combined with strong-armed tactics.
Confucian scholars disagreed with Daoist beliefs in mysteries and magic – but saw little reason for challenging it.
Social - Han Landowning aristocracy and educated
bureaucracy (Mandarins) – could participate in service to ancestors, hunting, warfare – privilege of eating meat
Laboring masses, peasants, urban artisans (force corvée in military and building)
Mean people – performing artists, merchants (punished more severely)
Household slaves (not a large group)
Social (Gender) - Han• Strong patriarchal laws (women had
power only indirectly – emperor’s widow had power to appoint husband’s successor from clan)
Chinese women suffered infanticide more, according to law father could sell children into slavery or execute them, secondary wives or concubines could be added to family especially if wife had no male heir;
had no economic independence, her labor brought no income, universally illiterate (farm women)
women were yin (dark, weak, passive) – men were yang (bright, strong, and active)
How sad it is to be a woman!! Nothing on earth is held so cheap. Boy stand leaning at the door Like Gods fallen out of Heaven. Their hearts brave the Four Oceans, The wind and dust of a thousand miles. No one is glad when a girl is born: By her the family sets no store. When she grows up, she hides in her room Afraid to look at a man in the face.
- Fu Xuan(c. 3rd Cent. CE)
Demographic - HanStrength of agrarian base has allowed China to carry about 1/5th of total human population from last centuries of BCE to present day.
6/7 of population lives on 1/3 of cultivatable land (2000 sq/mile in certain valleys), can not afford land for pasturage – only 2% of total (US – 1/2 of land); Rice growing is labor intensive – must be done by hand – so high population needed
Demographic Changes - Han
As land-hunger and pressure from the Xiongnu and the Tibetans on the northern border forced migration from the densely populated northeast, and as techniques for rice cultivation in the humid basin of the Yangzi improved, the lands to the south were mastered, and population clusters developed along the river valleys.
Intellectual/Technological - Han
Very practical Water-powered mills, iron mining (for iron
plow – 300 BCE) Paper (important for expanding bureaucracy) Chinese astronomy – to make celestial
phenomena predictable (wanted harmony btw heaven/earth)
Seismography Anatomical research, anesthesia,
acupuncture, hygiene Mathematics of music for acoustics abacus was so practical for general
accounting – not for algebra limited the development in other mathematical skills
No real monumental buildings except Great Wall –lack of unified religion discouraged notion of temples, built palaces
Art is based more on landscape than humans (no anthropomorphic gods, emphasis on group over individual)
Jade carving, silk Despite many ethnic
minorities – strong cultural unity (nationalism) to combat sense of “barbarians” in north.
Art/Literature - Han