MT1 Week4 China Flashcards

Question

Anyang (Yin)

Answer 1

¨Large ceremonial and administrative center with royal residences, meeting halls, temples built on rammed earth platforms ¨Elite/noble houses & large buildings are surrounded by burials of animals, chariots, human sacrifices and pits of oracle bones ¨The palace is 60m long ¨Surrounded by craft workshops and pit house residences of commoners

Answer 2

Multiple palace temple complexes near Anyang (different kings shifted residences) ¨This one was Huanbei ¨It was intentionally burned down by its ruler after less than 50 years ¨Rammed earth wall around the complex, then inside is the palace complex (2 parts) ¨60 buildings, lots of human sacrifices ¨Main one is largest building of its time in China (palace/temple) –no more than 3 stories ¨Buildings are aligned 13 degrees east of north

Answer 3

¨Ritual complex about 1 hectare in area that was part palace and part temple ¨Timber-frame buildings with wattle and daub walls and thatched roofs ¨Shang rulers were ritual specialists and intermediaries between ancestors, gods and their subjects ¨Most oracle bones come from this site ¨Bones were found in caches or archives ¨This center was a place of regular divination ¨Large numbers of human sacrifices in the foundations

Answer 4

¨Bronze, bone and pottery ¨Bone pins and tools of animal and human bone

Answer 5

¨1200 graves, most are small ¨11 large graves required enormous labour to build ¨8 of these have a cruciform plan with ramps covered in human sacrifices (looted in antiquity) ¨Central wood structure for main burial (red & black lacquer) ¨bronze vessels & other bronze objects, shell, bone and stone objects including jade, stone sculptures placed with the dead ¨Royal tombs were also surrounded by animal sacrifices ¨Up to 400 human sacrifices in these graves

Answer 6

11 of the burials fit well with the 11 Shang kings recorded as having ruled Anyang (last one was burned by Zhou) ¨Recently more large burials were found at another site called Xibeigang ¨Possible that the others are queen’s tombs but this is unclear

Answer 7

This is the tomb of Lady Fuhao ¨Fuhao is often mentioned in oracle inscriptions ¨1 ot 60 wives of King Wu-Ding and she was the greatest general of the Shang in her day ¨Led major military campaigns on behalf of the king and acted as his stand-in for state functions ¨Tomb discovered in 1976 intact ¨Body in lacquered wooden coffin, 440 bronzes, weapons, 590 jades, stone, ivory goblets, turquoise

Answer 8

¨Chariots, drivers and horses slaughtered and placed in pits near rulers’ tombs for use in afterlife ¨Drivers were slaves or individuals of low status ¨Chariot introduced from Near East 1300 BC ¨Chariot and bronze-tipped arrows instrumental in warfare until Qin-Han period when archers were replaced with infantry ¨Important role of warfare was to take slaves for labour & sacrifice

Answer 9

¨Oracle bones were used in earlier societies e.g. Longshan but oracle bones with inscriptions are from the Shang ¨Older records may be on perishable material ¨Shang oracle bones used 5000 symbols, basis of Chinese characters ¨King posed questions to ancestors about the future (divination) ¨guided decisions of rulers of states ¨Writing may have developed to record divinations

Answer 10

Scapula or tortoise shell (plastron) was cleaned, smoothed, soaked ¨Wrote questions to gods/ancestors on front ¨Depressions carved in one side ¨hot metal rod applied to depression on other side to create cracking pattern ¨Recorded interpretation of outcome ¨Read by professional class of shaman (ancestors ’spoke’ in cracking sounds when the bone cracked)

Answer 11

¨By Shang times, divination was under bureaucratic control of King & it legitimated the king’s actions ¨Diviners recorded information of astronomical phenomena ¨King needed ancestral guidance to rule the court ¨Other writing media probably included strips of bamboo tied together with strings (character for book in Shang is bundle of tied sticks) and writing on silk (do not preserve or were burned)

Answer 12

¨Rigid classes, sumptuary laws (e.g. who could own bronzes) ¨King was divine ruler, absolute power ¨Only king could interact with ancestors on behalf of people ¨Feudal tributary system for taxes, labour, militia ¨Taxes paid by lower classes to upper classes who lived lavish lifestyle

Answer 13

Court on earth organized like god world (Heaven or ‘tian’) ¨Tian translates as sky, day, transcendent deity ¨Celestial pole at center of heaven (axis mundi) ¨universe revolves around this pole ¨Lord on High (Shang-di) lives at center of tian where he commands nature and the ranked subordinate supernatural entities just at the Shang king did from his palace

Answer 14

¨Earthly representative of Shang-di ¨King’s role was to please forces of nature through regular sacrifices of wine and grain in bronze vessels ¨work, wars, all sacrifices were timed with changes of seasons and celestial movements ¨If Shang-di was not pleased then harvests would fail ¨Palace was center of the state (axis mundi) ¨Unusual events (meteor shower, eclipses were signs of Shang-di’s displeasure)

Answer 15

¨Written records also record aspects of history/society ¨Before Shang dynasty there were ~750 independent fortified city states ¨Some shared common culture (referred to as ethnic groups) ¨These states were not unified until Qin Dynasty (~221 BC)

Answer 16

Hallmark of Shang is its bronze vessels ¨Peak of bronze casting ¨Ritual bronze vessels for preparing grain-based drink and food (never meat) as offerings to the royal ancestors ¨Death of a royal elite involved ritual feasting for the royal ancestor spirits ¨Ritual bronzes were then placed in deceased’s tomb ¨Feasting only for royal burials ¨only royal dead became spirits ¨Bronzes replace the earlier Longshan pottery forms placed in the grave

Answer 17

¨Ceramic piece molds that fit tightly together ¨Involved several specialists ¨Large workshops attached to palace ¨More decorated, the more valuable (style indicated status) ¨King distributed bronze to aristocrats for weapons, chariots and vessels ¨Bronze weapons found in chariot burials Taotie masks in foreground, spirals in background (mythical beast, ancestor spirits?) ¨Ritual Bronze vessels were large, thick and numerous (they were the medium used to interact with ancestors) ¨Took large quantity of bronze out of circulation ¨Bronze controlled by king and only produced in palace precinct ¨vessels in tombs represent command over valuable commodity, labour, surplus and ritual authority

Answer 18

Shang had an appreciation of symmetry (order and harmony) ¨Tombs and temples were square or oblong and oriented to cardinal directions ¨Bronzes were symmetrical ¨Inscribed messages on bronzes and tortoise shells were repeated on right and left sides ¨World perceived as square, wind blew from 4 quarters ¨4 groups of foreigners lived on their borders ¨Literature, art, architecture in elements of other symmetrical arrangements

Answer 19

Strict typology for food and wine vessels by shape that were used for specific ritual functions ¨Owning these vessels was key criteria for claiming and maintaining elite status ¨Strict sumptuary laws of who could own which type(s) of vessel(s) ¨By Zhou times cooking cauldron (ting) was symbol of the state and ownership of ting was essential to maintain kingly status

Answer 20

¨Cuisine is closely tied to social identity ¨4000 year old millet noodles recovered from sealed earthenware bowl ¨Oracle bones in Shang times recorded details of how food was to be prepared and cooked ¨Barbarians were those who did not know how to prepare and to consume food in the customary manner

Answer 21

¨Early city with defensive rammed earth wall and with buildings ¨2 sacrificial pits filled with bronzes, ivory, jades ¨Objects in 2 categories ¡1. bronze ritual vessels & other objects in Shang style ¡2. locally produced objects with an emphasis on the human form ¨The importation of Shang bronze ritual vessels in other states indicates the wide esteem held of the Shang by other rulers

Answer 22

¨Site south of Yangtze River ¨Tomb is second richest Bronze Age tomb (next to Fuhao’s tomb) c. 1400 BC ¨356 pottery vessels, 50 bronze vessels, 4 bronze bells, 400 bronze weapons and tools, 150 jades ¨Some of the bronzes have taotie masks similar to Shang bronzes, others are in a local style ¨Probably part of the regional state of Wecheng

Answer 23

¨Shang was influential and powerful but it was not alone ¨Archaeologists now view the Bronze Age and state formation in China as multi-centered – with Shang as only one of its players

Answer 24

Shang ruler overthrown by vassal from Wei River valley called Wu Wang ¨Wu Wang establishes the Zhou dynasty which we will discuss later!

Answer 25

Origins of agriculture in river valleys is often productive enough to support urban living ¨Floodplains are rich in soil but poor in other materials that need to be obtained through exchange ¨Agricultural surplus, exchange and the production of specialized craft all fall under a bureaucracy in large populations ¨While initially villages seem peaceful, elites eventually conquer others….but is this to acquire more land, or to control trade routes? ¨All of these early states have common elements but not necessarily a similar pathway to statehood…

MT1 Week4 China Flashcards

(49 cards)