Main Points

History is Now

China was the fourth major civilization to emerge in history. While this makes it the youngest of the Formative Era civilizations, in some ways it was the most successful. Today, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and India all today study their history, but it is the history of an ancient and alien culture. Modern Egyptians do not worship the sun, modern Mesopotamians do not write cuneiform, and modern Indians do not speak that language of the Vedic Aryans. Successive invaders have changed the culture of the inhabitants in important ways despite attempts to hold onto their cultural heritage. On the other hand, despite its share of invaders, China enjoys a cultural heritage that modern Chinese can trace back into the archaeological record more than 4000 years ago.

Agricultural Revolution

The earliest roots of Chinese civilization go back all the way to 8000 BC when South China developed pottery, the first major civilization to do so. They possibly discovered the art on their own or they may have learned it from the Jomon culture of Japan who made the world's first pottery in 11,000 BC. In 6500 BC, agriculture began in South China as well, when rice was domesticated for the first time. Then in 3000 BC a technological explosion occured: the plow was developed, copper was smelted, and the Potter's wheel came into use. Soon after in 2700 BC, one of China's national treasures, silk, was manufactured for the first time.

Urbanization

Then in 1766 BC, China's first regional state was formed along the Yellow River in North China, the Shang Dynasty. Like so many early cultures the Shang succeeded because of effective chariots that allowed them to conquer the chiefdoms of the Longshan culture which preceded them. The Shang ruled unchallenged until around 1300 BC when attacks forced them to move their capital to An Yang; many Chinese dynasties would survive long after the peak of their power by exercising the same strategy of moving their capital to a more secure location. In the event, the Shang survived all outside threats for almost 200 years, but then were brought down from the inside.

The First States

In 1122 BC, a vassal of the Western marches, the Duke of Zhou, revolted against the Shang and threw them from power. In doing so he created the principle of the Mandate of Heaven, declaring that the Shang had fallen from grace and thus the gods had allowed them to be defeated. While partially a call to just rulership it also ingrained a strong flavor of "might makes right" into Chinese philosophy. The Mandate of Heaven was used by each usurping dynasty to justify its claim.

Ironically, therefore, it must be partly credited with maintaining the continuity of Chinese culture. No barbarian conqueror ever held power with any less legitimacy than the greatest of the native Chinese dynasties who had seized power in the same fashion. The fact that the forms of Chinese characters have changed but the script and language have remained fundamentally the same, speaks to the ability of the Chinese to accept even vehemently hated invaders and work with them over the course of the last 4000 years. Thus the Mandate of Heaven also partly explains why China enjoyed such unusually complete cultural domination over its conquerors.

The Zhou Dynasty is often cited as China's Golden Age. Culture and philosophy in particular flowered during this period, and wool was first manufactured in 1000 BC. Then the Shang pattern repeated; barbarian attacks forced the Zhou emperor to abandon his capital. The dynasty survived, but never really recovered. The dynasty moved to a more secure location, at Louyang in the East. 771 BC thus marks the break between the period of the Zhou emperor's greatest power, the Western Zhou Dynasty (1122 - 771 BC), and the period when the emperor gradually dwindled into a figurehead, the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (771 - 221 BC).

After 771 BC, the emperor was paid deference and respect, but the nobles who purportedly served him began to rule their lands largely as independent lords. A national council was maintained with the emperor overseeing; however, true power in the council was held by a hegemon, the lord with the most military power. While this marked a significant decentralization in Chinese power, the kingdom itself continued to thrive with a multitude of Chinese states striving to win prestige against not only the barbarians but each other. The competition of these states drove the most important developmental period in Chinese history, possibly in world history. It is therefore ironic, that while 771 BC marks a major weakening of Chinese power... it also marks the beginning of the Ancient Era in China.