Thematic Essay

Ancient China was a time filled with many unique customs and had a most fascinating culture. Some of the people lived like people in modern China, but some people did not. Customs have changed some but not very much. The people of China lead very interesting and difficult lifestyles.

Most Chinese people lived in country villages. Peasants going to town to sell their goods at market looked in awe at the town houses with their tiled roofs, and the busy teahouses (Williams, B., 1996, pg.27). For the people who lived in the countryside, their lives were ruled by family, the seasons, and the crops. In some areas the sound of a drum called the workers together and beat out a work rhythm. The drum could be heard from sunrise until dusk (Millar, H., 1996, pg.19). Poor people’s houses were made of mud and straw, while rich houses were wood and tiled (Kids Discover, April 1997, pg.7).

The center of a city found was roughly rectangular. An earth wall surrounded the city. The houses were laid out in parallel streets. Some of the important buildings, like temples and palaces, were on raised platforms (Caselli, G., 1995, pg.38). Towns and cities were built on a grid system and divided into sections called wards. Every ward was surrounded by walls and gates that were locked each evening. Usually wealthy people and government officials lived at one end of the town and poor lived at the other end (Cotterell, A., 1994, pg.40).

Every member of a peasant family had to work hard on the farm, especially at harvest time. Many peasant farmers had to give a large share of their harvest to a wealthy landlord, as well as pay tax to the emperor. If crops failed, the family was in danger of falling into debt and losing its land (Cotterell, A., 1994, pg.35). Peasant farmers provided the Shang with a constant food supply to support their armies (Williams, B., 1996, pg11). Poor people spend most of their time growing and preparing food, or doing heavy work, such as digging and carrying loads (Williams, B., 1996, pg.28). Horses and oxen were rare and expensive, so people often pulled the plows. Even a good harvest barely supplied basic needs (Millar, H., 1996, pg.19).

Most people of China were peasant farmers. Farmers were at the mercy of the weather because draught could plunge thousands into starvation (Williams, B., 1996, pg.10).

The family held Chines society together. Families in China usually included many generations living together—often under the same roof. Children were taught to respect their elders (Williams, B., 1996, pg.20).

Most farming villages had a simple, communal burial ground, where graves of ancestors were set out in neat rows. The Chinese honored their ancestors with many rituals and ceremonies (Williams, B., 1996, pg.11).

The Chinese took baths often. Common people paid a small fee to use a public bathhouse, while the rich had private bathrooms. They used hot water, which was sold on the streets. They were much more sanitary then other ancient civilizations. They also used toilet paper, which was not common in other cultures (Williams, B., 1996, pg.29).

In the beginning of the Shang Dynasty they used the shells of snails for money. But as the dynasty progressed, they started using bronze coins know as Knife money (www.penncharter.com/Student/China). Early Chinese coins had holes drilled in them so that they could be hung on strings. Before round or oval shaped coins came into use, the Chinese used coins shaped as knives or spades (Williams, B., 1996, pg.17).

Men were seen as superior to women. Parents believed they would become gods after they died if they had a son. They rejoiced when a son was born, but might kill a newborn female (Williams, B., 1996, pg. 21).

Upper-class women followed the painful custom of foot binding. Cloth strips were wrapped around a girl’s feet to bend her toes all the way under the arches, making her foot appear tiny. Over time, binding deformed the feet, and made it very difficult to walk. Small feet were considered delicate and feminine, and were thought to make a woman more eligible for marriage (Williams, B., 1996, pg. 21). Farm girls escaped the torture of foot binding because they were needed in the fields. The custom of foot binding died out in the early 1900s (Kids discover, April 1997, pg.6).

Ancient Chinese society was like a stepladder. On the top were the royal family and emperor. Just below were the civil servants. Then were peasants and craft people. Peasants were poor, but they were depended on to feed China. Next down were the merchants. Even thought they were rich, they made their money off others. On the very bottom were entertainers, soldiers, and servants. People on the bottom of the social ladder had a very slim chance to rise up (Kids discover, April 1997, pg.4).

One way you could tell social levels in Ancient China was clothing. Rich wore silk, and peasants would commonly wear a loose robe from a plant fiber called hemp (www.penncharter.com/Student/China).

Although fashions in men and women’s clothing changed over time, the fabric they were made of did not. The rich wore silk. It was a status symbol and in some dynasties, only the rich were allowed to wear it (Kids discover, April 1997, pg.6).

During some dynasties, strict rules governed what materials could be used for jewelry. Royals, the wealthy and civil servants could wear gold, silver, and jade. Those below on the social ladder had to be satisfied with copper and iron (Kids discover, April 1997, pg.6).

Belt hooks and plagues were the most important item of jewelry for men, while women decorated their elaborate hairstyles with beautiful hairpins or combs (Cotterell, A., 1994).

At a Chinese funeral, people wore white, The color of mourning. Children showed respect for their dead parents by fasting and wearing thick clothing. The dead were buried with food and drink to take to the next world to enjoy (Williams, B., 1996, pg.21).

When burying in Shang China, the tombs were shaped like crosses, and many humans and animals were sacrificed. Jewels and treasures were also buried (Williams, B., 1996, pg.8).

About 20 different kinds of sacrificial vessels were used by the Shang for ancestor worship. One of the most striking was a cup known as a jue. Wine was from its beak-like spout to honor the ancestral spirits (Cotterell, A., 1994, pg.11).

The Tang Chinese saw gods everywhere. Gods were part of the world, not outside or above. Tang people didn’t pour out their feelings in prayer to one all-powerful god (Millar, H., 1996, pg.30).

The Chinese had many gods, each which was in charge of a specific thing. Here is a small sample. Cai-Shen is the god of prosperity. Jian-Lao is the god of Earth and permanence. Lei-Zi is the goddess of thunder. Niu Wang is the guardian of cattle. Tai-Sui-Xing is the sea god and the god of ocean winds. Pa is the god of drought. Sun-Pi is the god of cobblers (www.penncharter.com/Student/China).

The Chines made the Yin-Yang because they believed that the world was controlled by two forces, which they named Yin and Yang. These two forces came together in the Yin-Yang sign, and made a whole circle. This represents all aspects in life (www.penncharter.com/Student/China). In nature the two forces of Yin and Yang existed in a delicate state of balance. The Chinese believed that the disruption of this balance by humans caused natural disasters like floods (Cotterell, A., 1994, pg.38).

In Imperial China, religious beliefs were divided into the three ways of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Though its history, China has been tolerant of all religions; few people were persecuted for their beliefs (Cotterell, A., 1994, pg.26).

By the Tang dynasty, most of Chinese society had incorporated the ideas of Confucius—the importance of virtue, loyalty, and rules of behavior. Children understood these concepts when they were barely old enough to talk (Millar, H., 1996, pg.48).

The Shang people, especially the emperor, relied on their oracles for advice on building, warfare, planting crops, and even favorable times to hunt. The cracked bones had a “code” with a message (Williams, B., 1996, pg.6-7).

It was perfectly normal to think that the emperor could control the weather and make crops grow. To the Chinese, their ruler wasn’t exactly a god, but was something more than a human. He and his government formed a bridge between heaven and earth (Millar, H., 1996, pg.19).

The emperor was a remote figure, for officials and generals always surrounded him, in his walled capital city. In the royal court, he was treated with god-like reverence (Williams, B., 1996, pg.34).

Words had a central place in this culture, much as the emperor did in the government. The Chinese don’t use letters to form words. They write with symbols, we call them characters, but the Chinese called them zi. Many of the characters now started out as pictures thousands of years ago (Millar, H., 1996, pg.21).

In China, writing started during the Shang period. It took the form of ideograms. The first inscriptions were made on the shoulder blades of pigs and oxen, or on shells or tortoises (Caselli, G., 1995, pg.38).

The first Chinese books made of paper were rolled into long scrolls. They were usually handwritten by scholars. As in modern China, the text was written in vertical columns and read from right to left (Cotterell, A., 1994, pg.25).

Calligraphy, poetry, and painting were known as the “three perfections”. The combination of these arts was considered the height of artistic expression (Cotterell, A., 1994, pg.30).

A major factor in Shang economy was Bronze. After Shang craft workers found that mixing tin and copper made this precious metal, China was never the same. They used it to trade only in China’s boundaries because mountains made borders that prevented realization of other civilizations (www.penncharter.com/Student/China).

For the Chinese, art could be enjoyed in private or as part of a public ritual. They loved poetry, pictures, folktales, music, and dance. Everyday objects of clay, metal, and jade were shaped with great care. Artists painted many animals, including humans (Williams, B., 1996, pg.22).

Chinese music used a 5-tone scale instead of an 8-tone scale. Music was played at court and in city streets. Drums, gongs, and pipes were common instruments (Williams, B., 1996, pg. 23).

Both rich and poor people flavored their food with a wide variety of herbs and spices. To save fuel, food was chopped into small pieces and cooked quickly in an iron frying pan called a wok for a few minutes only. Many foods were also steamed and stewed (Cotterell, A., 1994, pg.44).

For poor people, daily meals were simple. The main foods were rice, millet, vegetables, and beans. If they ate meat, it was probably a chicken or a wild bird. Wealthy people had a wider choice of foods, with many kinds of meat such as pork, lamb, venison, duck, goose, pigeon, and dogs. Rich people also had vegetables, fruits, rice, and noodles on their plates often (Williams, B., 1996, pg.23).

People usually drank tea, and seldom drank water without boiling it. Another popular drink was rice wine (Williams, B., 1996, pg.24).

The Chinese believed that their diet should be linked to how they felt. A cook might change the menu depending on the family’s health, or even if the weather changed (Williams, B., 1996, pg.23).

There was not enough good pasture to keep cows, so milk products like butter, were sparse (Williams, B., 1996, pg.10).

The Chinese calendar was based on the moon, and divided years into groups of twelve, each named after an animal. The most important festival each year was the Chinese New Year, a spring festival during which offerings were made to the spirits (Williams, B., 1996, pg.21).

Chinese New Year was a time of excitement for the Chinese people. Although the famed Dragon Dance did not come around until the Song dynasty, the Chinese had many unique ways of celebrating the festival. The Lion dance is a toned down version of the Tiger Dance, but it is still a beautiful sight (www.penncharter.com/Student/China).

Ancient China’s culture was very interesting, yet it was sure to be a very harsh lifestyle for most people. In Ancient China, many new ideas came up, especially in the areas of the arts and in religion. Development in these areas led to many fascinating customs and a unique way of life.

Bibliography

Ancient China (April 1997). Kids Discover Magazine.

Ancient China 6th grade project [Online].

Available http://www.penncharter.com/Student/China/

Caselli, G. (1995). The First Civilizations. New York: Peter Bedrich Books.

Cotterell, A. (1994). Ancient China. New York: Alfred A. Knoff, Inc.

Millar, H. (1996). China’s Tang Dynasty. New York: Benchmark Books.

Williams, B. (1996). Ancient China. New York: Penguin Group.