Neolithic

Bi

• Jade disk that has a flat, circular body.

• Has a round hole at the center and a complex, openwork design on top.

• Almost translucent and in a pale greenish-white color

• Both front and back are carved identically

• Decorated with repeating raised dots, known as “grain pattern.”

• Symbols of heaven

• Han dynasty

• Artisans would extend the circular shape of the disk by adding fantastic serpentine creatures

• Both dragons and felines were considered auspicious symbols in the Han dynasty

• Dragons were believed to bring good luck and represent peace, courage, and wisdom. They came to be associated with imperial power.

• Extremely rare

• Similar disks have been found only in royal tombs

Cong

• A square outer section around a circular inner part, and a circular hole.

• The meaning and purpose of cong remain a mystery

• Face pattern → spirits or deities

• Tough and time-consuming to produce

  • It must be worked with a hard abrasive sand

Shang Dynasty

Fang Ding with Taotie Design

• Rectangular or square-shaped bronze vessel with four legs

• Typically features two hands on either side and a flat lid, though not all examples have lids.

• Used in rituals to hold food offerings, particularly meat.

  • To nourish the honor the spirits of deceased ancestors

• Symbols of power, authority, and status.

  • Owning one signified political and religious influence

• Taotie design consists of a frontal view of an animal’s face with prominent eyes, horns, and sometimes fangs

  • Its body is often abstract or missing

  • Symmetrical

  • Fills the surface of the bronze

• May represent a guardian or protective spirit

• Or mythological creature symbolizing balance between order and chaos

• Piece-mold casting

Qin Dynasty

Tomb of the Terracotta Soldiers, Army of the First Emperor (Qin Dynasty)

• Lishan, China

• Every figure is unique

  • Different shapes of tunics, features, and hairstyles.

  • Replicas of actual soldiers

  • Different roles in the army from archers to infantrymen to charioteers

• Start of construction → 221 B.C.E.

• Unification of the Qin Empire

  • King of Qin declared himself Emperor

• Over 700,000 convicts and forced laborers

• Weapons were real

• Pit 1: the main part of the army

• Pit 2: four sections

  • Section 1: archers and spearmen

  • Section 2: chariots (four horses, a driver, and two assistants each)

    Section 3 combines 19 chariots with 264 infantrymen as well as a small cavalry force at the rear.

  • Section 4: cavalry with 108 cavalrymen and a group of 6 chariots

    • Cavalry was a recent innovation

• Pit 3: smallest and most sparse

  • 22 armored infantrymen in its north wing and 42 in the south wing

  • Military formations in the others face east

• Originally brightly colored

Vocabulary

• Yellow River

  • Used for transportation, fishing, and agriculture.

  • The birthplace of Chinese civilization

  • Reliable source of water and life

  • Destructive flooding patterns

    • Drowning of people and the spread of disease.

  • Symbol of both sustenance and calamity

  • Yellow → power, royalty, and prosperity.

• Yangtze River

  • Used for transportation, irrigation, sanitation, industry, boundary-marking, and war.

    • Political and cultural boundary

• Bi

  • Flat, circular disc made of jade

  • Could represent heaven, sun, rank, and submission.

  • Could be used to ward off evil spirits

  • Could be used for sacrifices to gods and ancestors and funerary rites

  • Neolithic period to the Han dynasty

• Cong

  • Jade tube-shaped object with square corners

  • Maybe used for ritual purposes

  • May have represented wealth and social status

  • Found in the tombs of people who held important positions

  • Outer surfaces are sometimes decorated with mask-like faces, horizontal segments, lines, and other abstract designs.

  • Proportions vary, with some being squat and others taller.

  • Made from jade, but sometimes from stone.

  • Neolithic times

• Jade

  • Metamorphic rock that is soft, firm, and smooth, and can be carved into many shapes.

  • Can be white, green, cream, yellow, brown, gray, black, or mottled.

  • Associated with royalty, high status, purity, moral integrity, and indestructibility.

  • Believed to contain the essence of life, virtue, and eternity.

  • Used to make ornaments, ceremonial weapons, ritual objects, plaques, dragons, animal and human sculptures, and percussion instruments.

  • Believed to be powerful in death, protecting the body from decay.

  • Believed you can use it to communicate with supernatural forces.

• Taotie

  • Mythical creature and a zoomorphic mask

  • Represented gluttony and was used to warn against greed

  • Beast with large eyes, a gaping mouth, and a curled upper lip with exposed fangs.

  • Shang dynasty

• Oracle Bones

  • Used for divination and provide important information about the Shang Dynasty

  • Writing questions on bones and heating them to see how they cracked

    • Cracks were interpreted as answers to the questions

  • Animal bones, such as turtle shells and cattle scapula.

  • Shang Dynasty

  • Provide insight into the ancient Chinese understanding of diseases, agriculture, weather, military decisions, and health and well-being.

• Daoism

  • Chinese philosophy and religion

  • Belief in living in harmony with the universe, or dao, and a rejection of human ideas and standards that lead to violence, ignorance, and unnecessary worldly goals.

  • Dao: The underlying order that governs the universe, which can be translated as "way", "guide", or "road"

  • Influenced the development of practices such as meditation, astrology, qigong, feng shui, and internal alchemy.

• Confucianism

  • Social and ethical philosophy that influenced Chinese society and government for centuries

  • Based on the idea that there was a natural order in the universe

  • Emphasized the importance of social harmony, which could be achieved by respecting social mores and hierarchies.

  • Devotion to family is the foundation of all other relationships

  • education was important for developing a virtuous character

  • Rituals were designed to create a sense of community and a respectful attitude

• Li

  • The central concept can be translated as "ritual", "propriety", "etiquette", or "ritual propriety".

  • Standard of conduct based on traditional forms.

  • Emphasize respect for others and piety through ceremonies and rules of conduct

  • Markings in jade, the grain in wood, and the fiber in muscle.

• Dao

  • “The way" or "a path"

  • The natural order of the universe

  • The belief that people should live in harmony with this natural order and that human actions should be in line with the flow of nature

  • The belief that nature, not people, controls how things change, and that humans and their rules are less important.

• Warring States

  • A time in ancient China when several small kingdoms fought each other for control of the territory

  • The establishment of territorial states led by monarchs and their officials

  • The rise of many great philosophers

  • Led to improvements in tools and craft skills

    • Metalworking and the use of iron

  • Improved efficiency in agriculture helped to meet the large supply needs of the large armies

  • Produced more skilled artworks, mastering difficult materials like jade and lacquer.

  • The Qin state was victorious in the Warring States period and established the first unified Chinese state.

    • The first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, connected the fortifications built during the Warring States period to create the Great Wall of China.

• Clerical Script

  • Style of Chinese writing that was used for official documents, public monuments, and private correspondence

  • Simplified version of seal script

    • Wider than seal script and modern standard script, and have a flat appearance.

    • Angular turn strokes, and has more prominent modulated and tapered strokes than seal script.

    • Simplified complex characters to make writing faster

      • Important for record-keeping and bureaucratic tasks.

  • Evolved from the Warring States period to the Qin dynasty, and matured during the Han dynasty.

• Fu Hao

  • "Lady Hao"

  • Military general, high priestess, and wife of King Wu Ding during the Shang dynasty.

    • One of the most important female military commanders, warriors, and ritualists in ancient China's history.

  • First recorded Chinese woman warrior

    • Led Shang armies against the Qiang, Yi, and Tufang tribes.

  • Presided over important sacrificial ceremonies

  • Controlled her own estate

  • Contained many artifacts, including:

    • Over 200 bronze ritual vessels

    • Over 130 weapons

    • The remains of six sacrificial dogs

    • The skeletons of 16 human slaves

    • The tomb's contents and discovery confirmed Fu Hao's importance in ancient China.

• Qin Shi Huangdi

  • "First Emperor"

    • Qin → name of native state

    • Shi → "the first"

    • Huang → "August" and reference to the name of three mythical kings

    • Di → "divine ruler"

  • First emperor of a unified China

    • Established after the state of Qin conquered all other states at the end of the Warring States period

  • Standardized weights, measures, coinage, and the writing system.

  • Began construction on the Great Wall of China to protect the nation

  • Divided the state into provinces and prefectures, and appointed officials to govern them.

  • Discouraged philosophy and history, and executed or buried alive scholars who criticized the government.

  • Commissioned the construction of an elaborate tomb for himself, which included thousands of terracotta soldiers to protect him in the afterlife.