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ANCIENT CHINA

ANCIENT CHINA. DIVINATION AND ORACLE BONES. Ancient China. geographically isolated Huang He (Yellow River) and Chiang jiang (Yangtze) rivers flood quite often long rivers fertile soil. Xia Dynasty (4000 years ago). Ruler: Yu Beginning of Chinese civilization

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ANCIENT CHINA

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  1. ANCIENT CHINA DIVINATION AND ORACLE BONES

  2. Ancient China • geographically isolated • Huang He (Yellow River) and Chiang jiang (Yangtze) rivers flood quite often • long rivers • fertile soil

  3. Xia Dynasty (4000 years ago) • Ruler: Yu • Beginning of Chinese civilization • No written records – existence is by legend!

  4. The Shang Period 1750 – 1027 BCE • Ruler: Wu Ding • Developments: impressive cities & mastery with the art of bronze casting • Farming society ruled by a king and an aristocracy • Ancestor worship developed • Divination practiced

  5. Beliefs during shang period • Shang Royal family worshipped spirits of male ancestors. • Believed ancestors were interested in fortunes of descendants and had special influence with gods. • SHANG rulers used DIVINATION to determine will of gods • made ritual sacrifices to gods and ancestors in order to win favour. • burials of kings also included sacrifices (animals AND humans)

  6. Divination • Definition: • Techniques for ascertaining the future or the will of the gods by interpreting natural phenomena such as in early China, the cracks on oracle bones or, in Ancient Greece, the flight of the birds through sectors in the sky

  7. Let’s Read an excerpt • P.42-43 Divination Practices

  8. Divination Clip • From 10:50 in “First Dynasties” lecture from Mexico State University. • What can we learn from this practice?

  9. example • Following is a partial translation of the left-hand side of an oracle bone. • [Preface:] Crack making on gui-siday, Que divined: • [Charge:] In the next ten days there will be no disaster. • [Prognostication:] The king, reading the cracks, said, "There will be no harm; there will perhaps be the • coming of alarming news." • [Verification:] When it came to the fifth day, ding-you, there really was the coming of alarming news from • the west. ZhiGuo, reporting, said, "The Du Fang [a border people] are besieging in our eastern borders and • have harmed two settlements." The Gong-fang also raided the fields of our western borders.

  10. Interpret one oracle bone text

  11. CRASH COURSE

  12. The Zhou Period (1027 -221 BCE) • Developments: longest lived dynasty (800+ years); claimed the Mandate of Heaven • Emperors called themselves “Sons of Heaven” • Linguistic unity • Daoism & Confucianism - related to politics • Trade expanded to distant regions • Set up an agricultural system (nobles & peasants) A.K.A. feudalism

  13. The Mandate of Heaven • -propagandists for the new Zhou regime (ruled by Wu) justified the take over from Shang with the Mandate of Heaven • -Chief diety was referred to as Heaven • -Monarch was the son of heaven • -Rule was the “Mandate of Heaven” • -Proof of divine favour was prosperity and stability of the land • -If the leader did not act accordingly, his right would be withdrawn • -New dynasty committed to just rule would take over • Zhou rule moved away from divination and bloody rituals and eventually gave way to rise of other philosophies

  14. DOCUMENT BASED QUESTION • Let’s take a closer look at the Mandate of Heaven

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