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The Foundations of Early Chinese Civilization: Geography, Dynasties, and Philosophical Thought

Early Chinese civilizations were significantly shaped by their geography, with mountains and deserts creating natural barriers. The Shang Dynasty featured religious beliefs centered on ancestral spirits and human sacrifice. The Zhou Dynasty's Mandate of Heaven justified kings' authority, emphasizing duty to maintain the gods' favor. Philosophical schools emerged, including Confucianism, focused on social harmony, and Daoism, advocating for spontaneity in alignment with nature. The Qin Dynasty centralized power and constructed the Great Wall, while the Han Dynasty introduced advanced technologies, including textile and metal innovations.

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The Foundations of Early Chinese Civilization: Geography, Dynasties, and Philosophical Thought

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  1. Early Chinese Civilizations

  2. Geography of China Mountains and deserts served as barriers that separated Chinese people from other Asian people.

  3. Shang Dynasty • Religious beliefs: • rulers believed they could communicate with the gods to get help with their affairs • strong belief in life after death • human sacrifice • spirits of ancestors could bring good or evil

  4. Zhou Dynasty • Mandate of Heaven: • belief that kings received their authority to command, or mandate, from Heaven • it was the king’s duty to keep the gods happy, failure to do so would lead to decline and new dynasty would take over

  5. Dao: The proper “Way”

  6. Chinese Philosophies • Confucianism: • Concerned with human behavior-proper way to behave was in accordance with the Dao • View of the Dao-Duty and humanity

  7. Duty • Five Constant Relationships-parent and child, husband and wife, older and younger siblings, older and younger friends, and ruler and subjects • Allpeople had to subordinate their own interests to the broader needs of the family and the community. • “Work Ethic”-If each individual worked hard to fulfill his or her duties, then the affairs of society as a whole would prosper as well.

  8. Humanity • a sense of compassion and empathy for others • “Do not do unto others what you would not wish done to yourself” • “Measure the feelings of others by one’s own” • “Within the four seas all men are brothers”

  9. Daoism: • inaction rather than action • The best way to act in harmony with the universal order is to act spontaneously and let nature take its course by not interfering with it.

  10. Legalism: • “School of Law” • proposed that human beings were evil by nature • believed a strong ruler is required to create an orderly society

  11. Qin Dynasty • Changes in Chinese Politics: • Legalism was adopted as the regime’s philosophy • anyone who opposed the regime was punished or executed • centralized state

  12. Great Wall of China • created to protect against nomadic invaders from the north • linked existing walls together to create “The Wall of Ten Thousand Li” • present wall was ordered 1,500 years after the first Qin Emperor

  13. Han Dynasty • New developments in technology: • advances in textile manufacturing • water mills for grinding grain • iron casting • steel paper • rudders • fore-and-aft rigging for ships

  14. Purpose of the terra-cotta figures: they were a re-creation of Qin Shihuangdi’s imperial guard and were meant to be with the emperor on his journey to the next world

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