assignment topic old china

Charles Lamb: Essays

By charles lamb, charles lamb: essays summary and analysis of "old china".

"Old China" opens with a bashful admission that Elia has an affection for old china. When he enters a new house, he always asks to see its china collection first. And while he is fixated on old china, he can't quite remember the first time that that he became aware of its existence.

He then goes on to describe the various scenes that one can find emblazoned in blue on a white background. Elia speaks in mystifying terms of figures floating above the ground in their depicted scenes, of men with women's faces, and of an illustration of a tea ceremony that concludes in a woman entering a boat with one foot stepping off a grassy riverbed.

One afternoon while Elia is drinking Hyson tea with his cousin Bridget, he remarks on china they're drinking from—a set he just bought recently. He reflects on their good fortune in recent years, and how they can afford such luxuries now. But Elia sees a look of disagreement on Bridget's face, and she launches into a monologue questioning the extent to which they can actually appreciate this china now that it's financially easily within reach.

She recalls a time from their past when they were poorer, when Elia held off on buying a new suit when his old one was looking shabby because he bought a book that Elia and Bridget had to rebind and repair. Now he never brings her any gifts, much less a dilapidated book. She recalls when they used to go for picnics and ask people to borrow a table cloth, and when they used to sit in the rafters when seeing a play, even though Elia would now only attend one sitting in the pit.

Bridget reminds him of the foods they used to eat that they considered luxuries, such as strawberries early in the season. Now, she says, anything they could treat themselves to above their typical means would be a greedy indulgence. She asks whether perhaps they were happier when they were poorer, if they could better enjoy those ephemeral pleasures, and whether they are now too easily satisfied by anything they can afford.

Elia responds that perhaps they were happier when they were poorer, but notes that they were also younger then. The fact that things were harder when they were younger should make them appreciate their current lot even more. Desiring those old, poorer days to return is a fantasy. Instead, Elia suggests, they should focus on the fantasy tableau portrayed in the china they're holding.

"Old China" is often considered something of a riddle amongst Lamb's essays, as it drifts into a memory in a similarly fluid manner that Elia drifts into the tea ceremony scene that he gazes at in the piece of china earlier in the story. In both the case of the scene in the china and his conversation with Bridget, drinking tea opens a door to a speculative kind of reflection. A parallel can be drawn here with the famous madeleine cookie that the protagonist of Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time tastes right before he's catapulted into a vast landscape of memory.

At the heart of the essay is a meditation on class. The essay begins with Elia speaking of the "great houses" he enters—meaning homes of the wealthy—and he is clearly infatuated with the material trappings of the wealthy's lifestyle. Bridget, on the other hand, invites him to remember a time when they couldn't even afford to buy a table cloth to throw a picnic with. This class discourse speaks to a tension in British life at the time just before the Victorian period when the gulf between the rich and poor was about to explode.

Additionally worth noting here is Lamb's use of ekphrasis, a literary device in which writing describes a piece of art. Here, the description of china both helps draw us into the essay by sparking our visual imagination and helps characterize Elia himself, as we learn about his fixation on the masculine/feminine dichotomy and the dandyish pleasure he takes from enjoying the finer things in life. The description of the scene in the tea cup also primes the reader for another kind of reflection, one equally rooted in a character's imagination.

Charles Lamb: Essays Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Charles Lamb: Essays is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Which quality Charles Lamb a romantic writer?

As a Romantic, Lamb brought a key innovation to the somewhat new form, inserting his own personally to give the essays a conversational tone. His essays showcase his passions and anxieties, imbuing the non-fiction form with a personal and literary...

What is the major theme of "Poor Relation" by Charles Lamb?

The major theme is that of the "poor relation"... their irrelevance and unpleasant place in one's life.

Explain the theme of the essay ''A Dissertation upon Roast Pig''.

The essay describes the discovery of the exquisite flavour of roast pig in China in a time when all food was eaten raw. This is really a light hearted theme speaking to how odd it is that humans eat cooked animals at all.

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Ancient China: Civilization

For the purposes of this article, Ancient China’s civilization refers to that period of Chinese history which began in the early 2nd millennium BCE, when a literate, city-based culture first emerged, to the end of the Han dynasty, in 220 CE.

By this time all the essential foundations of Chinese civilization had been laid down. As such, Ancient China was one of the most crucial periods and places in world history.  Its achievements can still be powerfully felt today, in a modern China and its world-wide influence.

Origin: legends

Origin: archaeology

Historical overview

Civilization

Further Study

History Atlas: Maps of Ancient China

Timeline of Ancient Chinese History

1766 BCE: traditional date for the founding of the first historic dynasty in China, the Shang dynasty

1122 BCE: Western Zhou dynasty founded after the overthrow of the last Shang king

771 BCE: Eastern Zhou dynasty period begins after the sack of the Western Zhou capital; the first phase is traditionally divided into two: the Spring and Autumn (771-481 BCE) and the Warring States (481-221 BCE) periods

551-479 BCE: Confucius , China’s preeminent philosopher, lives

221 BCE: The First Emperor , Qin Shih Huang, completes the conquest of all other Chinese states

202 BCE: The Han dynasty founded, after several years of chaos following the fall of the Qin

220 CE: the Fall of the Han dynasty is a convenient marker for the end point of the ancient period of Chinese history.

The Geography of Ancient Chinese Civilization

(For a more detailed description of the geography of China, and how it shaped its civilization, go to the “geography” section in the article The History of China .)

China is a vast country with a huge range of terrains and climates within it: mountains, deserts and coastlands and above all, the great river systems of China, the Yellow River to the north and the Yangtze to the south. All these have helped shape Chinese civilization.

The Yellow River region

The civilization of ancient China first developed in the Yellow River region of northern China, in the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE. This is a very fertile region; however the land needs irrigation to make the crops grow, and well-built river embankments to prevent catastrophic flooding.  

In ancient times, the main crop in northern China was millet, a food still grown in many parts of the world as a major crop.

This region is regarded as the Cradle of China’s Civilization. It was here that the earliest Chinese dynasties were based. Throughout the ancient period of China’s history it formed the heart of the Chinese world, and it was from here that Chinese civilization spread out across the rest of China.

The Yangtze Valley region

To the south, the great Yangtze valley , with its warm, wet climate, was the first area in the world where rice was grown, sometime before 5000 BCE.  

Rice is one of the most nutritious plants in the world. From this region rice cultivation spread far and wide across southern China and into south-east Asia.

For much of ancient times, the Yangtze region remained outside the Chinese culture area. However, from about 700 BCE, the kingdoms and peoples here began to be gradually absorbed into the Chinese world.

The Chinese only expanded into the mountains and coastland of southern China in the later ancient period, after the rest of China had been unified under the rule of emperors . It remained a largely frontier region until later centuries.

The Steppes of Central Asia

To the north and west of the Yellow River region are the wide plains of central Asia . This landscape here is generally unsuitable for farming, and the people have mostly followed a nomadic way of life as herders of cattle, sheep and horses.

Modern scholars believe that various cultural influences travelled along this route in ancient times to help shape China’s civilization. For example, skills in working with metals , and in particular, making bronze objects, seem to have come to China from the Middle East across central Asia. Later, the chariot also apparently arrived in China from the same direction.

The peoples of the steppe were tough warriors, and the mobility that their nomadic lifestyle gave them enabled them to raid swiftly into territory populated by more settled farming populations. They were a regular scourge to the Chinese in ancient times, as well as later.

Origins of Ancient China

The Xia Dynasty (2070 BCE – 1600 BCE) is the first dynasty in China to be described in ancient historical chronicles. The Records of the Grand Historian and the Classic of Rites say that Yu the Great, the founder of the Xia dynasty, was the grandson of Zhuanxu, one of the legendary “Five Emperors” who were the first rulers of China.

Yu was successful in stopping devastating floods and increasing the yields from farming (since the floods usually destroyed the crops), and the Xia tribe’s influence strengthened. He was made the leader of the surrounding tribes, and soon afterwards was sent with an army to suppress a tribe which was causing trouble on the kingdom’s borders. He won a great victory, which further strengthened his power.

Shun, the last of the “Five Emperors”, was getting old, and abdicated the throne in favor of Yu, whom he deemed worthy. Yu’s succession as the king marked the start of the Xia dynasty. Shortly before his death, instead of passing power to the person deemed most capable to rule (as had been the case in the past), Yu passed power to his son, setting the precedence for dynastic rule.

The archaeological evidence

Prior to the coming of cities and literacy (the hallmarks of Ancient Chinese civilization), major Stone Age farming cultures had been growing up in China since the 7th millennium BCE. One was located in the Yellow River region, the other in the Yangtze region.

The Yellow River region was the setting for the emergence of Chinese civilization into the light of history. By c. 4000 BCE, walled and moated towns had appeared. They continued to grow in size.

What looks very much like primitive Chinese characters had also appeared, inscribed on pottery. These characters became more complex as time went by. Other technical advances included the introduction of the potter’s wheel (sometime after c. 3500 BCE), and the production of high quality jade ornaments (after c. 2500 BCE). Finds of luxury grave goods and the remains of large and complex buildings show that a wealthy ruling elite stood out from the population at large.

Metallurgy reached China sometime around 2500 BCE, almost certainly from the Middle East via central Asia. At first this was restricted to copper work, but by c. 1800 BCE, knowledge of bronze casting had entered the Yellow River Valley.

At around the same time there was a dramatic increase in the size and density of some walled settlements in that region. These are the earliest-known cities in East Asia. The region had in fact seen the appearance of a fully urban, literate, Bronze Age civilization, and ancient China finally emerges into the full light of history with the first of its historic dynasties, the Shang .

Historical overview of Ancient China

Most of the history of Chinese civilization, including the ancient period, has traditionally been divided into dynasties  – lines of kings or emperors from a single family, following each other on the throne from generation to generation.

During much of the ancient period, what would later be known as “Chinese civilization” was only gradually spreading across the area which today we know as “China”. Thus the early dynastic rulers of China are known as kings, rather than emperors. It is only after the time of the First Emperor , who reigned over a united China from 221 BCE, that the imperial period of Chinese history began.

The early dynasties of ancient China

Archaeologists have uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs that point to the possible existence of the semi-legendary  Xia Dynasty  at locations cited in ancient Chinese historical texts. In 1959, a site located in the city of Yanshi was excavated containing large palaces which some archaeologists have identified as the capital of the Xia dynasty. Unlike the oracle bones of the Shang dynasty, there are no written records from the period to help confirm the Xia dynasty’s existence.

Through the 1960s and 1970s, archaeologists have continued to uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs at locations linked to the Xia in ancient Chinese historical texts. At a minimum, the Xia dynasty seems to have marked an evolutionary stage between the late neolithic cultures and the later Chinese urban civilization of the Shang dynasty.

The Shang dynasty period saw further strides in material culture, and some of the finest bronzes in world history were produced by Chinese craftsmen of the period. In due course, the Shang dynasty was succeeded by a new line of kings, of the Zhou dynasty .

Under the early Zhou (or “Western Zhou”) the cultural and political reach of ancient Chinese civilization expanded enormously. This, however, eventually resulted in fragmentation amongst numerous territorial princes. The authority of the Zhou kings declined, and the princes effectively became independent rulers.

The later Zhou (or “ Eastern Zhou “) dynasty period was characterized by constant warfare between increasingly large and powerful regional states. It was also a time when important innovations began to emerge, which were to characterize Chinese civilization down to the 20th century. It was at this time that the great philosophies which would shape the Chinese world, including Confucianism ,  emerged; and it was also the period to which the roots of that distinctly Chinese style of bureaucratic government  can be traced.

The imperial dynasties of ancient China

The final phase of ancient China’s history was characterized by the rise of strong, centralized states, which unified the Chinese people under a single imperial dynasty.

The Qin dynasty emerged when one of the states into which China was divided conquered all the others and unified China under its rule. Its king took the title Qin Shih Huang, “First Emperor”.

The Qin dynasty is famous for imposing a rigid unity on Chinese society, and in building an early version of the Great Wall of China . The Qin regime’s very rigidity, however, made it a short-lived dynasty. It was brought down by regional forces which it had failed to tame and by a peasantry which it had ruthlessly exploited.

The Han dynasty

The next of these unifying dynasties, however, would rule China for some 400 years.  This was the Han dynasty , arguably the most important of all China’s dynasties.

Under the Han emperors the Chinese became so used to being ruled as a single nation that to this day they call themselves the Han people.

It was under the Han that Confucianism triumphed to become the ruling ideology of China. At the same time, an empire-wide bureaucracy, staffed to a large extent by officials recruited and promoted on merit, and imbued with Confucian thought, came to govern China. Even the examination system for recruiting officials, which would come to play such an important role in Chinese life. can trace its roots back to this period.

The end of ancient China

The Han dynasty lasted until 220 CE, when it broke up into several successor states. Thus began a period of weakness for China, when no single dynasty was able to establish its rule over the whole country for several centuries. This opened the way for non-Chinese peoples from surrounding regions to establish their own states within China.

This was a dark period in Chinese history, but by no means as dark as the period which followed the collapse of the western Roman empire in Europe. Society was disrupted, trade declined and many cities shrank, but even in barbarian-occupied areas, administrations staffed by Confucian-educated officials continued to govern. Chinese civilization was preserved intact until, a few centuries later,  new dynasties would once again rule the whole of China.

The Civilization of Ancient China

The Confucian bureaucratic state which governed China for more than two thousand years of history first evolved in Ancient China. All of the key governing institutions of imperial China came into being at this time.

The Emperor

China’s pre-20th century state was associated above all else with the rule by emperors – monarchs who ruled the whole of China, and often neighboring regions as well. They belonged to different dynasties , lines of rulers who followed each other on the throne from generation to generation.

China’s history is traditionally divided into such dynasties, and this was just as true of ancient China as later periods, as we see in the historical summary above.

As we noted, the early rulers, of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, styled themselves “kings”. From the late 3rd century BCE, however, the monarchs of the Qin and Han dynasties ruled over a united China, and as a result they styled themselves “emperors”. In this they were followed by rulers of China until the end of the last imperial dynasty, in the early 20th century CE.

The Mandate of Heaven

Chinese rulers bore the title “Son of Heaven”. They claimed to be Heaven ’s representatives on Earth. Emperors were viewed as sacred figures: to disobey them was to disobey Heaven.

The concept of the “Son of Heaven” was closely linked to the idea, very influential in Chinese history, of the “ Mandate of Heaven ”. By this, a dynasty received divine authority to rule. However, it was believed that if emperors ruled badly or unjustly, their dynasty was liable to lose this mandate. In these circumstances, it was legitimate for rebels attempt to replace the dynasty with a new one, which (by dint of successfully seizing the throne) had shown that it now enjoyed the Heaven’s favor.

Emperors were surrounded by courts.  These consisted of the royal family and its attendants, as well as ministers and officials responsible for helping the emperor in governing the huge country.

The court was housed in the royal palace, located in the capital. It was the political center of the state, and what went there ultimately affected the entire empire. In particular, the decline of dynasties – the Han dynasty is a very clear example – can often be traced to events at court.

The Civil Service

The ancient period of China’s history saw the emergence of one of the most impressive governing institutions in world history,  the Chinese  civil service . This astonishing organization pre-dated Western civil services by some two thousand years.

The roots of Chinese bureaucracy go back to the later Zhou dynasty , when the territorial princes were centralizing the government of their states. It came to maturity under the Han dynasty . During Han times, the civil service became a huge organization, employing many thousands of officials. It was responsible for keeping law and order, collecting taxes, maintaining irrigation systems and flood defenses, and a host of other tasks to do with keeping China governed effectively.

More remarkably still, the Han dynasty inaugurated a revolutionary new system of recruiting public officials – by examining candidates for public posts. The examination system  was established one of the most revered institutions in Chinese history.

Ancient China saw the transformation of armed forces from feudal forces based around aristocratic warriors, in Shang and early Zhou times, to mass armies composed largely of infantry troops, in the late Zhou, Qin and Han periods. These armies were made up of different kinds of recruits: long service, professional soldiers, peasant conscripts, and non-Chinese tribesmen.

(The balance between these different types changed from period to period, as is detailed in the section on defense in The State in Ancient China .)

The Great Wall 0f China

The defenses of China never relied solely on military manpower, however. In the 5th and 4th centuries BCE, the northern and western border states most exposed to raids by steppe nomads had begun to build long walls made of beaten earth to help keep these raids out. After the unification of China under the Qin, the new imperial regime merged these walls into a single system of defense . These walls were he ancestors of the famous Great Wall of China , refurbished into its present form under the Ming dynast y, in the 15th century CE.

Economy and Society in Ancient China

During the ancient period, the Han (as the Chinese would later call themselves ) spread, through settlement and the assimilation of indigenous peoples, across northern China and down into the Yangtze region (this process is covered in the article  Society in Ancient China ). Population censuses began being taken during the Han Empire, which record a population of about 50 or 60 million. This makes it, along with the Roman Empire , the largest state in the Ancient World.

Even by the end of the Han dynasty the heart of Chinese civilization lay in the Yellow River region of northern China. It was here that the two capital cities, first Chang’an, and then Louyang, were located. The Yangtze region, and even more the far south and southwest, remained under-populated frontier regions inhabited largely by non-Chinese peoples.

While the great majority of people remained engaged in agriculture and lived in farming villages, the ancient period saw towns and cities spread across China. Most of these were administrative centers, where provincial officials were based along with their staffs. Many were tiny by modern standards. The Han censuses show only twelve cities of more than 50,000 inhabitants; most of the rest would have been far smaller. Nevertheless, the capital of Han China was always among the largest cities in the world – at times, THE largest. Chang’an, the capital  of the early Han emperors, had a quarter of a million inhabitants, and the later Han capital, Louyang, half a million.

Farming and farme rs

Ancient China’s economy and society was based on agriculture. The vast majority of Chinese families lived in small farming villages, dotted across intensively cultivated landscapes.

Chinese agriculture possessed, from ancient times, its own characteristics. Almost everywhere, it was dependent on the careful and unremitting management of water: to irrigate the fields of millet in North China, keep back the river floods near the great rivers, and swamp the paddy fields of southern China.

Their social position and economic condition of farmers has been different at different time. In early times, under the Shang and early Zhou , they were serfs, semi-servile bondsmen tied to their particular lords. From middle Zhou times, as the old feudal aristocracy disappeared, more and more of them became free owners of their small farms. Later again, in later Han times, their status  declined again .

Whatever the farmers’ condition, as the centuries went by Chinese agriculture became more and more productive. New crops  and the spread of iron tools and new techniques  led to more intensive farming. From later Zhou times, government became active in promoting agriculture, especially by bringing new land under irrigation , These various factors resulted in  population growth.

Trade and industry in Imperial China

As agriculture became more productive and population increased, trade and industry also grew. The introduction of coinage  in later Zhou times facilitated trade, and technological innovations such as the development of steel-making contributed to industrial expansion.

Another major factor was state intervention. Under the Qin and Han, the  standardisation in such things as weights and measures and road building would have had a major impact.

International trade

International trade first gained prominence under the Han dynasty. By gaining control over the eastern steppes of central Asia, the Han enabled the Silk Road , that great trade route across Asia to the Middle East and Europe, to become established. At the same time, the conquest of south China opened up the maritime trade to south east Asia. Although the south remained an underpopulated frontier zone in ancient times, a few important ports were established on the coast. It was in this period that Canton began its long history as a center of international commerce.

Merchants and craftsmen in Chinese society

Craftsmen must have formed a privileged class in early China. Their products, including some of the finest bronzes ever produced, must have been highly valued by the ruling elite in Shang and early Zhou times, and this must have conferred a certain status on their makers.

In middle and later Zhou times, merchants became more influential as a class, and the economic expansion under the Han dynasty  especially benefitted the urban classes. Government policies designed to keep merchants in their place could not halt them from growing in numbers and wealth.

The Ruling Classes

The societies of early China, under the Shang and early Zhou dynasties, were dominated by an hereditary feudal aristocracy . Later, however, the position of this group declined, and a new social class emerged, that of the gentry – small landowners who provided rulers with their growing number of officials. By the time of the Qin and Han dynasties, a career in government was effectively open only to members of the gentry class.

By mid-Han times, however, a new super-elite of great landowners was emerging, its members enriched by holding high office. This new class would dominate Chinese society and politics in the centuries that followed.

In pre-modern China, the family was of almost sacred significance, an attitude giving rise to, and reinforced by, the practice of ancestor veneration .

The existence of ancestor veneration is attested in the earliest texts from ancient China, the Shang dynasty oracles , and throughout China’s long history the rise and decline of “higher” religions and modes of thought – Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism and so on – never undermined the practice, which might with some justification be thought of as the basic sacred tradition of China.

Women had a subordinate place in the Chinese family from ancient times.  Their duty was to obey, first their fathers, then their husbands, and then, after their husbands’ deaths, their eldest sons. This should not be exaggerated, however: children of both sexes were taught to obey and respect their parents.

Culture in China

Ancient beliefs and practices.

It seems clear that many of traditional Chinese religious and philosophical ideas and practices  were already present when written records begin, and probably for long before. Such elements as divination, ancestor veneration, feng-shui , the Dao and the supreme god Di are all evidenced in the Shang oracle bones inscriptions.

Zhou Schools of Thought

It was in mid- and late-Zhou periods , however, that the schools of thought developed which were so profoundly to influence Chinese thinking down to the 20th century. Four of these stand out as by far the most influential.

Confucianism

This taught that people must accept their place in society if society is to be harmonious. However, social relationships should be reciprocal. Thus, while a son should obey his father, the father should act considerately towards the son. ( More on Confucianism )

The Daoists believed that a person must live in accordance with the flow of nature; trying to change the way things are is futile.( More on Daoism )

The philosopher Mozi (c. 468-382) believed that anything that helped people’s welfare and contributed to peace was good; anything that did not was bad. People should practice universal love, and not live selfishly. ( More on Mohism )

The legalists said that the most important thing was that the state should be strong. To achieve this, all people should obey the ruler and his officials without question. For his part, the ruler should do whatever it takes to strengthen the state, whether it is immoral or not. ( More on Legalism)

Throughout China’s long history these philosophical strands have never been mutually exclusive. Many educated Chinese have been Confucians in public life, Daoists in the privacy of their own homes, and when serving in an official post have happily pursued Legalist policies. The different philosophies have also deeply influenced each other so that, for example, the dominant of the three, Confucianism, has had strong Daoist and Legalist elements within it.

At first, though, these four schools seem to have regarded themselves as exclusive rivals for people’s allegiances. The Qin dynasty came to power through the application of Legalist principles, and sought to eliminate all other schools of thought. After that dynasty fell, however,  the Han dynasty enshrined Confucianism as the official ideology of the state. As such, it was probably forced to take in ideas from other schools, particularly Legalism and Daoism, in order to remain relevant to the needs of government and officials.

In late Han times and after, Daoism , and even more, Buddhism , came to prominence. Buddhism was the first belief-system from outside China to have a widespread impact on the Chinese people.

Apart from works on divination and religious rites, literature in Ancient China really got going in mid-Zhou times – the time of Confucius and other philosophers.

A number of works, dating to Zhou and Han times, gained the status of “ Classics “, and came to be viewed almost as religious texts. They embodied the foundations of Confucian thought, and would have a profound influence on Chinese civilization.

Works of history

The other major strand of Chinese prose literature was history. The Han historian Sima Qian (c. 145-87 BC) set the standard for historical writing for the next two thousand years. Henceforth, history would be a major feature of Chinese literature.

So far as poetry was concerned, here again the Han period set in place foundations which would be followed and elaborated upon for hundreds of years. Two strands became popular: the first,  Shih, consisted of short poems written in a compact, spare style; the second, Fu consisted of longer, more ornate verses. The interaction between these two styles would give a particular character to Chinese verse, reflecting a varying mix of the discipline of Shih  with the expressiveness of Fu.

Apart from the beautiful  bronzes dating to Shang and early Zhou times, few works of art have come down to us from Ancient China. Nevertheless, wonderful small clay models of houses, horses and people designed to be placed in graves show that Han artists strove for realism as well as lively movement. Also,  writings from the Han period mention lively paintings adorning the walls of fine houses.

Click here for the start of a sequence of maps showing the  history of Ancient China

For a sequence of maps showing ancient China in the broader context of East Asian history:  history of East Asia

Themed articles:

The State institutions in Ancient China

The Economy of Ancient China

Society in Ancient China

Thought and Culture in Ancient China

Also, the article on  The Origins of Civilization  has a small section dealing specifically with China.

The broader regional context is covered in  The history of East Asia .

Dynasties in Ancient China:

Shang dynasty China

Zhou dynasty China

Qin dynasty China

Han dynasty China

Divided China

Sources on Ancient China

The main sources I have used for the history of ancient China are:

Hucker, C.O.,  China’s Imperial Past,  Stanford, 1975 – the most informative of the books I have used, and very readable.

Roberts, J.A.G.,  The Complete History of China , Sutton, 2004 – also a very good introduction, and also highly readable.

Eberhard, W.,  A History of China , Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1977 – very useful to be read in conjunction with other general histories, but to be used with caution – it embodies some sociological models which have been ditched in recent years.

An even older book, but enormously informative and insightful, is Fitzgeralds, C.P.,  China: A Short Cultural History , Barrie & Jenkins, 1953 (despite the title, not  that  short – 624 pages).

A recent book which has been well received is Keay, J.,  China, A History , 2010. (I haven’t yet read this, but I have read his  India, A History,  which is good).

Loewe, M.,  Crisis and Conflict in Han China , Allen & Unwin, 1975, offers a brilliant insight into the workings of Han government.

A lavishly illustrated work on archaeology for the general reader which includes good sections on China, is Renfrew, C. (ed.),  Past Worlds: The Times Atlas of Archaeology , Times Books, 1995, p. 92-3, 146-7, 190-5

A work on general archaeology aimed more at students, but eminently readable and with very useful coverage of ancient China and the roots of Chinese civilization, is Scarre, C. (ed.),  The Human Past , Thames & Hudson, 2005, p. 234ff., 552ff.

If you want a quick introduction to the archaeology of ancient China, try the small but beautifully illustrated handbook by Debaine-Francfort, C.,  The Search for Ancient China , Thames & Hudson, 1999.

For an insightful look at government in ancient China, see Finer, S. E.,  The History of Government, I, Ancient Monarchies and Empires , OUP, 1999, p. 442ff.

The Ancient History Encyclopedia has a very useful series of pages on  Ancient China : start at the general Ancient China page and follow the appropriate links.

The British Museum’s website  Ancient China  is a wonderful teaching resource.

Wikipedia’s coverage of  Ancient China  is as usual vast, and is particularly useful if you want to chase down a specific topic (though coverage of some topics can be a bit patchy).

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Home Lessons Ancient History Ancient China Lesson Plans for Middle School Students Ancient Chinese Legacies

Ancient Chinese Legacies

This lesson plan, “Ancient Chinese Legacies”, delves into the Great Wall of China and Terracotta Warriors. The aim is to educate students on the significance of these legacies and how they impacted ancient Chinese culture. This lesson can be applied to both online and traditional classroom settings. Students will participate in a research task of their choice and engage in a comparison exercise to further understand the importance of each legacy.

China’s Great Wall is an iconic piece of history that has been admired for centuries. Built to protect against invasions, it spans thousands of miles across China’s northern borders. On the other hand, the Terracotta Warriors symbolise China’s artistic excellence and technological advancements in ancient times.

Through this lesson plan, students will have the opportunity to learn about the history and significance of these legacies, including the motivation behind their creation and the impact they had on Chinese culture. The research task will allow students to delve deeper into their chosen legacy and present their findings to the class.

The comparison exercise will further enhance their understanding of the two legacies as they examine their similarities and differences. This will allow for a more comprehensive analysis of the significance of each legacy.

In conclusion, this lesson plan on Ancient Chinese Legacies is an excellent tool to help students learn about the Great Wall of China and the Terracotta Warriors. It will enable students to engage in research and comparison exercises to enhance their understanding of ancient Chinese culture. It is suitable for online and traditional classroom settings, making it a versatile and valuable resource for educators.

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Shang Dynasty

By: History.com Editors

Updated: June 22, 2023 | Original: December 13, 2017

The Shang Dynasty is the earliest ruling dynasty of China to be established in recorded history, though other dynasties predated it. The Shang ruled from 1600 to 1046 B.C. and heralded the Bronze Age in China. They were known for their advances in math, astronomy, artwork and military technology.

Beginning of the Shang Dynasty

The earliest written records in Chinese history date back to the Shang Dynasty, which, according to legend, began when a tribal chief named Tang defeated the Xia Dynasty, which in 1600 B.C. was under the control of a tyrant named Jie.

This victory is known as the Battle of Mingtiao, fought during a thunderstorm. Jie survived the battle but died later of illness. Tang is known for establishing a low number of drafted soldiers in the army and for beginning social programs to help the kingdom’s poor.

Shang Dynasty Achievements

People of the Shang Dynasty are believed to have used calendars and developed knowledge of astronomy and math, thanks to inscriptions on tortoise shell that have been unearthed by archaeologists.

The Shang calendar was at first lunar-based, but a solar-based one was developed by a man named Wan-Nien, who established a 365-day year through his observations and pinpointed the two solstices.

Shang Dynasty artisans created sophisticated bronze works, ceramics and trinkets made from jade. Unlike their Bronze Age counterparts, artisans during the Shang Dynasty used piece-mold casting as opposed to the lost-wax method. This meant that they first made a model of the object they wanted to create before covering it in a clay mold. The clay mold would then be cut into sections, removed and re-fired to create a new, unified one.

By 1200 B.C., Shang armies were equipped with horse-drawn chariots. Before that, there is evidence of bronze-tipped spears, halberds (pointed axes) and bows.

The language of the Shang Dynasty is an early form of modern Chinese. Chinese characters first appeared during the Shang Dynasty inscribed on cattle bone and tortoise shells. There is evidence of two numerological systems, one based on numbers from one to 10 and the other from one to 12.

Shang Cities

During the Shang Dynasty, there were several large settlements, including Zhengzhou and Anyang, though these are not believed to be as densely urban as Mesopotamian settlements during the same time.

Anyang became the capitol around 1300 B.C. under King Pan Geng and at the time was called Yin. Zhengzhou is renowned for its walls, which ran for four miles and were 32 feet high and 65 feet thick.

Anyang is believed to be the city that Shang kings ruled from for more than two centuries, with altars, temples and palaces located at the center. Surrounding the political center were artisans comprising an industrial area of stone carvers, bronze workers, potters and others, and then small housing structures and burial sites.

Shang Dynasty Religion

Much of the history of the Shang Dynasty has been deciphered from oracle bones found in Anyang, which present a kingdom at war, with narratives of shifting alliances with other powers.

Prisoners of war were used as slaves or sometimes slaughtered for sacrifice. Within the religion, sacrifice was practiced, sometimes in large groups.

Within Shang culture, the king also functioned as a priest. It was believed that ancestors communicated through the god Di, and the Shang king led in the worship of Shangdi, considered the supreme ancestor, as well as communicating with the other ancestors. The wishes of the ancestors were received by a group of mystics and then interpreted by the king.

Shang Graves

In the first half of Shang rule, royal burials included the burial of subordinates in the chambers alongside their ruler. By the end of the dynasty, the number of bodies in each burial had risen. One grave in Anyang dating to around 1200 B.C. housed the unnamed ruler’s cadaver accompanied by 74 human bodies as well as horses and dogs.

Shang rulers would even send out hunting parties to capture members of primitive tribes to the northwest to use as sacrificial bodies in royal burial sites.

The Anyang grave of Lady Hao from around 1250 B.C. features not only 16 human sacrifices, including children, but a large number of valuable objects, including ornaments and weapons made from bronze and jade, stone sculptures, bone hairpins and arrowheads and several ivory carvings. The grave also includes 60 bronze wine vessels with images of animals.

Lady Hao is believed to be the wife of King Wu Ding, who ruled for 59 years. Bone inscriptions reveal that she lead several significant military campaigns in her life.

Fall of the Shang Dynasty

The Shang Dynasty came to an end around 1046 B.C. The final king in the Shang lineage, King Di Xin, was considered a cruel leader who enjoyed torturing people, leading to calls for the end of his rule.

Entrusted with an outpost to protect the western frontier of the kingdom, the Zhou army, lead by King Wu, marched on the capitol city. Di Xin armed nearly 200,000 slaves to supplement the defending army, but they defected to the Zhou forces. In what is known as the Battle of Muye, many Shang soldiers refused to fight the Zhou, some even joining the other side.

Di Xin committed suicide by setting fire to his palace. The incoming Zhou dynasty would rule for 800 years, though the Shang Dynasty had left an indelible mark on the timeline of Chinese history .

Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Patricia Buckley Ebrey . The Dynasties of China. Bamber Gascoigne . Early China: A Social and Cultural History. Li Feng . Early China and the Shang Dynasty: Columbia.edu . Shang and Zhou Dynasties: The Bronze Age of China; The MET .

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Ancient China - A Collection of Culture

Image gallery.

In this gallery, we showcase some of China 's historical landmarks. China is one of the oldest cultures in the world, beginning over 7000 years ago with the Chinese "Cradle of Civilization " in the Yellow River Valley of Henan Province. The culture of ancient China set the foundation of development that continues today and has influenced many others.

Among their many cultural contributions is The Great Wall of China , begun in 221 BCE and now one of the New Seven Wonders of the World (as of 2007), and the formation of the Silk Road which opened up relations with the West, in 130 BCE.

China's ancient history is a magnificent backdrop for the evolution of the culture continuing into the present day. Millions of people per year travel internationally to view ancient sites in the country such as Banpo Village as well as more recent creations, such as Mao's Garden, Yuantong Temple , and of course, The Great Wall of China.

Yuantong Temple

View Full-Size Image

The Buddhist temple in Kunming, Yunnan province, China was first built in the late 8th and early 9th century CE, restored and expanded several times since.

Images in this Gallery

Questions & answers, where does the name china come from, what is banpo village, what was the first dynasty of china, can the great wall of china really be seen from space, external links, license & copyright.

Imperial China's Dynasties

From the mythic origins of the Chinese dynasties to the eventual fall of the last imperial house, Chinese emperors have long fought to maintain control over one of the most enduring empires on Earth. The rise and fall of various imperial families oversaw waves of innovation and cultural advancement.

Anthropology, Social Studies, Ancient Civilizations, World History

Terracotta Warriors

Qin Shin Huang unified China, becoming the nation's first emperor. He was buried with almost 8,000 life-size statues known of as the terracotta warrior army.

Photograph by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

Myth or reality? Chinese archaeologists recently unearthed what may be evidence supporting the existence of one of the Chinese empire ’s 4,000-year-old creation myths . The Xia dynasty was the first of many ancient Chinese ruling houses, thought to exist from around 2070 B.C.E. until 1600 B.C.E. Yet the actual existence of this dynasty and culture has been debated. Many researchers have seen the Xia dynasty as a semi-mythical period of rule, invented by the later Zhou dynasty to justify their overthrow of the Shang dynasty, who allegedly overthrew the Xia dynasty. The first Xia king, Yu, is said to have repaired the damage caused by a major flood, and this is how he achieved the Mandate of Heaven (divine right to rule). While this was commonly dismissed as a creation myth, excavations by University of Peking archaeologists have found evidence of large-scale floods from around the Xia time period, thus possibly confirming part of the Xia dynastic story. The Xia dynasty brought about what would become the foundation of Chinese rule, namely that of familial succession , with sons following fathers to the throne. The Xia dynasty was overthrown in 1600 B.C.E. by the first Shang leader. Given that the existence of the Xia dynasty is debated, the Shang dynasty is sometimes seen as the first of the China’s dynasties. The Shang rulers maintained control for around 600 years, and during this period of cultural and economic stability, Chinese culture and innovations flourished. This period saw the invention of writing, and many later historians viewed it as a “Golden Age.” In 1046 B.C.E., the Shang king was overthrown by the Zhou king, ending the Shang dynasty. The longest of the ancient China’s dynasties was the Zhou dynasty, which ruled from 1046 B.C.E. to 256 B.C.E. The Zhou period is divided into two eras: Western Zhou (1046–771 B.C.E.), with the capital at Haojing, and Eastern Zhou (770–256 B.C.E.), where the capital was moved to Luoyang due to conflict. The Zhou dynasty saw a flourishing of some of ancient China’s most influential writers and philosophers, such as Mozi, Confucius, and the first writings about Taoism. However, this stability would not last, and the period from 476 to 221 B.C.E. was known as the “Warring States Period” where the seven regions controlled by the Zhou began serious infighting. Ultimately, the Qin armies would emerge victorious, overthrowing the Zhou leaders. “China” and the Terracotta Warriors The Qin dynasty (221–206 B.C.E.) and the first Qin leader, Qin Shin Huang, mark the first use of the term “emperor” regarding the dynastic leader. While this imperial reign lasted for only two emperors and 15 years, it began some of the most influential programs across the ancient world. The Qin empire marked a period of Chinese unification, where surrounding territories were brought under the rule of the emperor. Qin Shin Huang embarked on an authoritarian government augmented with significant infrastructural development, and began work on what would become the Great Wall of China. Qin Shin Huang died in 210 B.C.E. and was buried in a mausoleum with a massive terracotta warrior army consisting of almost 8,000 statues to serve the emperor in death. The Qin dynasty is also thought to be the origin of the European name for China. Qin Shin Huang was succeeded by his son, Qin Er Shi, whose reign lasted for only three years before he was unseated in 206 B.C.E. due to his unpopularity. The leader of the rebels, Liu Bang, became the first emperor of the Han dynasty. The Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.) marked another Golden Age of China. During this time, the Silk Road (a trade route from Asia to the Mediterranean and East Africa) became established by Han emperors and trade flourished. The historian Sima Qian wrote extensively during this period, and Confucianism became the official state religion. In 220 C.E., the last Han emperor was deposed, which ushered in a period known as the Three Kingdoms. The next 300 years between 220–589 C.E. saw no major dynastic houses establish themselves over China. The Three Kingdoms was a period between 220–280 C.E. where the region was divided between the rulers of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Dong Wu. The region further fractured into the Northern and Southern territories between 386 and 581 C.E. In 581 C.E., the short-lived Sui dynasty emerged to unify the Northern and Southern territories before being overthrown by the Tang dynasty in 618 C.E. The Tang dynasty enjoyed significant stability and is often described as the greatest of the dynasties. Beginning in 690 C.E., China’s only empress regent, Wu Zetian, reigned for 15 years, instituting many reforms before being forced to abdicate in 705 C.E. Mongol Takeover A period of warring followed the Tang dynasty, and in 960 C.E., the Song dynasty came to power. During the Song dynasty, the first paper money in the world was issued. The Song dynasty lasted until 1279 C.E. when it was defeated by the Mongols under the leadership of Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan. The conquest of China by the Mongols marked the greatest reach of the Mongol Horde, who then ruled China as the Yuan dynasty from 1279 C.E. until 1368 C.E. During the Mongol rule of China, Marco Polo, the Venetian merchant, visited and wrote extensively about his travels along the Silk Road. The Yuan dynasty was deposed in 1368 C.E. by the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, who set up a stable, yet autocratic , state. The Ming emperors oversaw extensive building and repair along the Great Wall of China in an effort to preserve their crumbling borders. The invading forces of the Manchu people from the northern border eventually ended the Ming dynasty in 1644 C.E. and ushered in the Qing dynasty. The Last Emperors The Qing dynasty marks the last of the Chinese emperors, ruling from 1644 C.E. to 1911/12 C.E. The Qing were Manchu people rather than Han Chinese. The Manchu are a nomadic ethnic minority with their own language and customs coming from what is now northeastern China. During the Qing period, Chinese territory reached its greatest extent. While the Qing empire was relatively stable, the 19th and 20th centuries brought China into increasing conflict with Western powers, and in 1911 C.E., the last of the Chinese emperors, Puyi, abdicated in favor of a republican government.

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Historically, the Great Wall of China was built to fortify China ’s northern border. The Great Wall has been the site of multiple battles and skirmishes between the Chinese and various peoples across history, including the Xiongnu during the Qin dynasty , the Khitans during the Song dynasty , and the Mongols during the Ming dynasty .

How long is the Great Wall of China?

The total length of all sections of the Great Wall of China ever built adds up to about 21,196 kilometers (13,171 miles), including overlapping sections that were rebuilt. The wall constructed during the Ming dynasty , the most well-preserved section, is about 8,850 kilometers (5,499 miles) long.

How old is the Great Wall of China?

Historians usually consider the defensive walls built during the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BCE) and the Warring States period (475–221 BCE) to be the first sections of what would eventually become the structure known as the Great Wall of China, putting the wall at almost 3,000 years old.

You typically can’t see the Great Wall of China from space. A popular myth, the claim was disproved when astronauts stated that the Great Wall of China was not visible with the naked eye from the Moon . Due to its coloration and pollution , the structure is only sometimes visible from low orbit and the International Space Station .

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Great Wall of China , extensive bulwark erected in ancient China , one of the largest building-construction projects ever undertaken. The Great Wall actually consists of numerous walls—many of them parallel to each other—built over some two millennia across northern China and southern Mongolia . The most extensive and best-preserved version of the wall dates from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and runs for some 5,500 miles (8,850 km) east to west from Mount Hu near Dandong , southeastern Liaoning province, to Jiayu Pass west of Jiuquan , northwestern Gansu province. This wall often traces the crestlines of hills and mountains as it snakes across the Chinese countryside, and about one-fourth of its length consists solely of natural barriers such as rivers and mountain ridges. Nearly all of the rest (about 70 percent of the total length) is actual constructed wall, with the small remaining stretches constituting ditches or moats. Although lengthy sections of the wall are now in ruins or have disappeared completely, it is still one of the more remarkable structures on Earth . The Great Wall was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.

Did You Know? The Great Wall of China is considered one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. Can you name the other six?

Large parts of the fortification system date from the 7th through the 4th century bce . In the 3rd century bce Shihuangdi (Qin Shihuang), the first emperor of a united China (under the Qin dynasty), connected a number of existing defensive walls into a single system. Traditionally, the eastern terminus of the wall was considered to be Shanhai Pass ( Shanhaiguan ) in eastern Hebei province along the coast of the Bo Hai (Gulf of Chihli), and the wall’s length—without its branches and other secondary sections—was thought to extend for some 4,160 miles (6,700 km). However, government-sponsored investigations that began in the 1990s revealed sections of wall in Liaoning, and aerial and satellite surveillance eventually proved that this wall stretched continuously through much of the province. The greater total length of the Ming wall was announced in 2009.

History of construction

The Great Wall developed from the disparate border fortifications and castles of individual Chinese kingdoms. For several centuries these kingdoms probably were as concerned with protection from their near neighbours as they were with the threat of barbarian invasions or raids.

About the 7th century bce the state of Chu started to construct a permanent defensive system. Known as the “Square Wall,” this fortification was situated in the northern part of the kingdom’s capital province. From the 6th to the 4th century other states followed Chu’s example. In the southern part of the Qi state an extensive perimeter wall was gradually created using existing river dikes, newly constructed bulwarks , and areas of impassable mountain terrain. The Qi wall was made mainly of earth and stone and terminated at the shores of the Yellow Sea . In the Zhongshan state a wall system was built to thwart invasion from the states of Zhao and Qin in the southwest. There were two defensive lines in the Wei state: the Hexi (“West of the [ Yellow ] River”) and Henan (“South of the River”) walls. The Hexi Wall was a fortification against the Qin state and western nomads. Built during the reign of King Hui (370–335 bce ), it was expanded from the dikes on the Luo River on the western border. It started in the south near Xiangyuan Cave, east of Mount Hua, and ended at Guyang in what is now the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Henan Wall, built to protect Daliang (the capital, now Kaifeng ), was repaired and extended in King Hui’s later years. The Zheng state also built a wall system, which was rebuilt by the Han state after it conquered Zheng. The state of Zhao completed a southern wall and a northern wall; the southern wall was built mainly as a defense against the Wei state.

After administrative reorganization was carried out by Shang Yang (died 338 bce ), the Qin state grew politically and militarily to become the strongest among the seven states, but it was frequently raided by the Donghu and Loufan, two nomadic peoples from the north. Therefore, the Qin erected a wall that started from Lintiao, went north along the Liupan Mountains , and ended at the Huang He (Yellow River).

In the Yan state two separate defensive lines were prepared—the Northern Wall and the Yishui Wall—in an effort to defend the kingdom from attacks by northern groups such as the Donghu, Linhu, and Loufan, as well as by the Qi state in the south. The Yishui Wall was expanded from the dike of the Yi River as a defense line against Qi and Zhao, its two main rival states. It began southwest of Yi City, the capital, and ended south of Wen’an. In 290 bce the Yan state built the Northern Wall along the Yan Mountains, starting from the northeast in the area of Zhangjiakou in Hebei , passing over the Liao River , and extending to the ancient city of Xiangping (modern Liaoyang ). This was the last segment of the Great Wall to be erected during the Zhanguo ( Warring States ) period.

In 221 bce Shihuangdi , the first Qin emperor, completed his annexation of Qi and thus unified China. He ordered removal of the fortifications set up between the previous states because they served only as obstacles to internal movements and administration. In addition, he sent Gen. Meng Tian to garrison the northern border against incursions of the nomadic Xiongnu and to link the existing wall segments in Qin, Yan, and Zhao into the so-called “10,000- Li Long Wall” (2 li equal approximately 0.6 mile [1 km]). This period of construction began about 214 bce and lasted a decade. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and conscripted workers laboured on the project. With the fall of the Qin dynasty after Shihuangdi’s death, however, the wall was left largely ungarrisoned and fell into disrepair.

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Tributes paid to ‘Old Dry Keith’ who went viral in China for his bland sandwiches

24 September 2024, 12:46

By Asher McShane

Tributes have been paid to a British man who became an internet sensation in China because of his ‘dry and bland’ sandwiches.

Listen to this article

Adored by millions, Keith Brown, aka ‘Old Dry Keith,’ was a star on the Chinese version of TikTok, after he went viral for making his favourite ‘white person’s food’ like ham and tomato sandwiches or eggs on toast.

His lunches attracted millions of viewers each day from China, who watched aghast at his plain lunches. His food choices even sparked a trend in China of people copying him and trying to create their own ‘dry lunch’.

His account, ran by his Chinese wife “Jane” Zhang Jian, reached over one million followers on the Douyin platform.

At the height of his online fame, some Chinese supermarkets even created a ‘dry shopping area’ with Keith-style ingredients including bread.

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Kieth’s wife received an outpouring of support after she announced his death following a battle with bone cancer.

The couple met in Malaysia in 2007. Zhang, 49, originally from north-east China, started posting videos of him as she struggled to adapt to her new life in the UK.

Videos of him quickly took off in China.

In one clip, after Keith was unable to find avocado to go with his smoked salmon, Chinese writer Zhou Zhiruo wrote: “We watch him struggling to saw apart two slices of dry bread, as hard as weapons-grade steel, slicing off a few thin streaks of yellow from a block of hardened butter that has not yet completely thawed, and then placing two slices of pre-smoked salmon on top.

|This vision is enough to make ordinary people think of the lunch they just hurriedly swallowed, and feel empathy and sadness. 

“He is just like all those of us who have to pay our credit card bill but our salary hasn't arrived, or have to go to a meeting but find that their mobile phone battery is at 10 per cent. He bravely faces all of life's blows.”

Keith’s wife told The Times: “I was quite surprised by how popular Keith became in China.

“It’s not that I didn’t expect people to like him, but I wasn’t prepared for how it would turn out.”

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Ai's energy demands are soaring – can labour’s clean power vision keep up, no more 'treasury brain': rachel reeves signals new economic era in conference speech, pensioners out in the cold – but banking hubs offer a glimmer of hope, the uk seems obsessed with focusing on inflation, whereas the fed is dealing with labour market issues & growth, autumn chill hits uk economy: why government policies are fuelling consumer pessimism, robert jenrick says english identity is 'under threat' but his arguments don’t hold water, writes former minister john denham, the mayor must not rush through his oxford street scheme, writes westminster business council, abortion buffer zones show silent prayer is already on trial, tackling uk ill health is vital to economic growth—it's time for radical reform, more topics.

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War in Ukraine

Cost of living crisis, immigration, crime & police.