Culture of the Chinese Civilization Before 1400 CE Essay

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Introduction

Chinese history is as old as the early dates of the evolution of mankind. The recorded origins of fire indicate that china was the first to use it around 1.3 million years ago. By the years 6000-5000 BCE the Chinese were practicing arts in form of doing carvings on the rocks that consisted of many different characters including subjects such as the sun and the moon. In China, there was the kind of political practice whereby the people were under dynasties, meaning that they were ruled by a single family until such a time that the members of the public would feel unsatisfied with the rule, leading to a coup (Townsend Para 13).

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Period’s description

In the Neolithic era, they started the domestication of plants and animals along the yellow river, whereas in the Yangtse, there was the practice of fishing and hunting. This was followed by the formation of towns in Yangtse together with the introduction of writing, carving, and weaving in the Bronze Age. During the Iron Age, there came to be the introduction of circular coins, and it is during this period that the issue of magnetism was discovered (Townsend Para 4).

At around 200 BC, there was the construction of the Great Wall of China, and improvement of the trade relations which involved Asia and the Roman Empire, and the use of architecture in the design and construction of the palace; the use of ink started at this time.

Later on, the powers of the Buddhist influence increased in china until the resurgence of the Confucians started undercutting the Buddhists. There was a start in the usage of tea and coal, discovery and large use of paints, and the use of poetry. Indeed, the first book was printed around 900 AD (Townsend Para 4).

During the classical renaissance in China, there was the introduction of paper money and the discovery of the compass enabled and helped in the exploration of unknown territories. This was later followed by the introduction of theatres specializing in opera together with the use of novels (Townsend Para 4).

The Chinese history up to the 15th century shows that they were leading in terms of development by having achieved things that other societies had never heard of. By the time China was using written notes, most of Europe was using the word of mouth.

During the Shang dynasty, there was an effort to document the past where they used animal skins and bones to keep forecasting records (Stearns, Adas, and Schwartz 64). In addition, there was widespread worship of many gods and ancestors as they believed that their parents once dead joined the league of the gods. Indeed, the ruler had to be appointed by the gods so that the people he was ruling over could exist in peace; if the ruler lost favor with the gods, he was removed from his position (Tsin Para 3).

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In the Neolithic period, the Chinese made painted and decorated pots of different designs. The nature of these decorations depended on the intended functions of the objects made and such decorations included the images of animals which at times were highly stylized (Boeree Para 4). Around the year 221 BC, there was noted the use of decorations in some of the technical bronze-made vessels. These decorations were made by the use of silver and sometimes gold. It was at this time that some of the writings that act as some of the pillars of the belief in the need union between nature and men were composed; these include the text called Daeojing (Anonymous Para 2; Boeree Para 5).

Stone sculptures are used as monuments in tombs and also in other places around 100 BC. The avenues to the royal tombs had stone monuments and this practice later spread elsewhere. On the issue of literature, there was a 166-chapter Shiji published around 80 BC. These were the records of history and the approach taken was to later be used as a measure of standard in all the works that dealt with history in the country backed by the government (Anonymous Para 8).

During the Han dynasty, there was sculpturing of real-life-sized images of men and horses, an example being the Han flying horse. This well illustrates the development of art in the early Chinese empire. Moreover, there was increased use of painting to communicate and store information as the use of brushes increased.

The Chinese literature from the early years is well developed as can be inferred from the books by Confucians who wrote four books. According to history, these books can be traced back to Confucius who wrote them around the fifth or the sixth century BCE. The discovery of a poetry book containing hundreds of poems written as early as the 9th century also showed the extent to which the literature had developed (Mastin Para 6).

The dynasties in china arose and fell due to the demographic changes brought about by the natural calamities. After the people’s numbers were reduced, there was prosperity as people had enough resources among themselves for self-sustenance. This sustenance enhanced population increase, thus weakening the government through refusing to pay taxes, and subsequently leading to its collapse (Townsend Para 13).

Conclusion

Chinese history, though not documented at first, had major developments with the advent of writing where there was the first recording on the bones and animal skins. The later discovery of paint and paper went a long way in ensuring that the history was well documented. Chinese also developed the art of making pots and weaving whereby the pottery was sometimes painted showing that the aesthetic value was very important even in those times.

The paintings were also done on the facing cliff which consisted of many figures. Moreover, the advent and use of writing enabled them to express themselves through the use of literature as seen in the advent of writing poems and novels. They also developed the act of acting towards the end of this period. In finality, sculptures and their use in the remodeling of the past times were used especially in the graves.

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Works Cited

Anonymous. “China, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.”. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. Web.

Boeree, George C. Early Chinese. . 2004. Web.

Mastin, Luke “Other Ancient Civilizations.” Classical Literature. N.d. Web.

Stearns, Peter N., Adas, Michael and Schwartz, Stuart B. World civilizations: the global experience. London, Longman. 2001.

Townsend, Robert B. “The Oldest Living Civilization.” The G.I Roundtable Series in Context. 2002. Web.

Tsin, Michael. “Timeline of Chinese History.” Timeline of Chinese History. Columbia University, East Asian Curriculum Project. N.d. Web.

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"Culture of the Chinese Civilization Before 1400 CE." IvyPanda, 19 Dec. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/culture-of-the-chinese-civilization-before-1400-ce/.

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IvyPanda. (2021) 'Culture of the Chinese Civilization Before 1400 CE'. 19 December.

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IvyPanda. 2021. "Culture of the Chinese Civilization Before 1400 CE." December 19, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/culture-of-the-chinese-civilization-before-1400-ce/.

1. IvyPanda. "Culture of the Chinese Civilization Before 1400 CE." December 19, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/culture-of-the-chinese-civilization-before-1400-ce/.


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IvyPanda. "Culture of the Chinese Civilization Before 1400 CE." December 19, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/culture-of-the-chinese-civilization-before-1400-ce/.

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