Chinese culture has been constantly evolving since the dawn of history. It includes nearly all aspects of human experience—ideas, philosophy, education, religion, literature, art, language, astronomy, geography, science, technology, publishing, printing, exhibitions, cultural relic collection, fashion, food, lifestyles, travel, values, trends, and ethnic customs.
China, one of the major strands of human civilization, is a long-established, stable, and diversified country. Its well-recognized pluralism comes from its assimilation with, rather than annihilation of, different cultures. Its invention and popularization of printing, as a world first, made possible the propagation of its own culture to neighboring countries and the rest of the world easily. Since its earliest days as a distinct civilization, China has focused heavily on scholarship and the establishment of certain enduring educational systems, such as its own imperial examination system—most prominent in the age of Confucianism—which in turn promoted the sustained social development of Chinese culture.
1.1 The Pre-Qin Period: The Budding Stage of Chinese Culture
1.1.1 Pre-Xia Culture
The era of pre-Xia culture refers to the extended period of maturation before the Qin and Han dynasties more effectively formed the foundation of the Chinese culture that we have to come to appreciate in more modern times. During this early period, China experienced a transition from a relatively primitive society to that of a feudal and self-sustaining agricultural and hierarchical society.
Before the emergence of separate states, there were three clans in the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins. These were referred to as the Huaxia, Barbaroi, and Miaoman. However, with increasing productivity and innovation, these three tribes began to pursue their societal ambitions and dealt with conflicts through a spate of brutal wars.
This regressive development first saw the Huaxia clan, having successfully won several convincing major battles against the other clans, become pre-eminent, such that the Yellow Emperor’s armies conquered and enslaved the Miaoman clan and, through the endeavors of several generations of Huaxia emperors (Yao, Shun, and Yu) in a successive string of victories, consolidated their dominance among China’s major ethnic groups and other, minority groups of that period. Hence the term huaxia became a historically accepted descriptor to refer to individuals of ancient “Chinese ethnicity,” and the Yellow Emperors came to be regarded as the primary cultural ancestors of most Chinese, both at home and abroad.
1.1.2 Culture of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties
China’s recorded history is considered today to have commenced during the Xia Dynasty (2100–1600 bc), followed by the Shang (1600–1046 bc) and later the Western and Eastern Zhou dynasties, with the latter consisting of the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 bc) and the Warring States period (475–221 bc). These were all critical periods in the development of China’s iconic cultural history. It should be noted that these three dynasties covered a span of over 1800 years. During this extended period of succeeding dynasties, the Huaxia peoples formed a relatively stable and sophisticated community. They established China’s first system of slavery, which marked the beginning of its switch from barbarism to more cultivated ritualistic practices. The Shang Dynasty is regarded by historians as the high point of China’s slave-holding society, which gradually came to an end during the Western Zhou Dynasty with the emergence of a more agrarian, feudalistic system of governance.
1.1.2.1 Rites and Music
As mentioned above, China’s notable propensity for ritualistic ceremonies first emerged during the Xia Dynasty and was later refined during the Shang and Zhou dynasties. Drawing on this wealth of precedent, the Duke of Zhou, the chief assistant to the king, perfected and promoted political and cultural patterns such as the nine-square field system, the system of enfeoffment, patriarchal clans, and detailed ritual systems, which is referred to today as the splendor of the Western Zhou period. Such culture-driven mindsets covered politics, ways of thinking, family life, and education.
Literature flourished during this period, as is recorded in Rites of Zhou (Zhou Li 周礼), Etiquettes and Ceremonies (Yi Li 仪礼) and the Book of Rites (Li Ji 礼记). Hence it can be said that the establishment and consolidation of China’s ceremonial culture, as we understand it today, was largely formulated in the course of the Zhou Dynasty, and over the next 3000 years became the accepted cultural pattern pursued by later monarchs in the Qin and Han dynasties.
1.1.2.2 Religion and Belief
The system of rule by divine right was prevalent in ancient China for millennia. Likewise, belief in the gods is recorded repeatedly in ancient classics such as The Book of Documents (Shang Shu 尚书), The Book of Songs (Shi Jing 诗经), and others. The worship of ghosts and gods was most prominent in the Shang Dynasty, when people would consult with the gods through means of divination on literally every decision they made, both critical and trivial. Most of the nearly 100 000 oracle bones found in Yin Dynasty ruins are records of sacrifice and divination.
1.1.2.3 Birth of Chinese Character Writing
China’s unique character-style writing has a long history. The oracle inscriptions found in the Yin ruins are considered the first Chinese characters that have been re-discovered to date. In the sixteenth century bc, the Shang Dynasty established an unprecedentedly powerful system based on slavery, which over time put an end to their nomadic ways. This in turn created a less nomadic cultural focus, and they chose the city of Yin as their established capital. As their way of life became more settled, a more complex and civilized set of cultural values developed. The appearance of oracle inscriptions marked the maturity of Chinese characters as a form of writing. This in turn initiated great advances in the natural sciences and scholastic thinking.
During the Shang Dynasty, with the improvement of casting techniques, bronze wares became a commonly manufactured item, with stylish characters called epigraphs carved into them. During the Zhou Dynasty, the forms of such inscriptions underwent many changes, and the typeface was gradually fixed and increasingly standardized. Such developments then paved the way for the unification of Chinese characters, which had come to full fruition by the time of the Qin Dynasty.
1.1.2.4 Bronze Wares
An important development during the Xia Dynasty was the emergence of the smelting and casting of metal wares in bronze wares. In the later Shang and Zhou dynasties, such materials were mainly used for sacrificial vessels and weapons. For example, the tripod symbolized the monarchy and hierarchy in sacrifices. This sophisticated manufacturing technique is exemplified by the Simuwu Cauldron, created during the late Shang Dynasty (1600–1046 bc), which weighed in excess of 800 kilograms.
1.1.2.5 Astronomy and Calendar
Chinese astronomy was fairly well developed in the Xia Dynasty. The first calendar of China, the Xia Xiao Zheng, was invented at this time and further matured in the Shang Dynasty. The calendar of the Shang Dynasty was divided into a solar calendar and a lunar one. Hence during the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 bc) and the Warring States period (475–221 bc), the twenty-four solar terms gradually evolved and are still in use today.
1.1.3 The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period
Great unrest seized China during this time, with slavery per se giving way to a much more hierarchically based system known as feudalism. In this context Chinese civilization attained unparalleled prosperity and saw rapid growth in productivity; different concepts, theories and principles appeared and this is called by later historians a period of the Contention of the 100 Schools of Thought.
Furthermore, China’s agrarian economy underwent drastic changes as the nine-square field system fell into disuse and much greater emphasis was placed on private land ownership. In the closing days of the Zhou Dynasty, each principality scrambled for supremacy. In order to secure greater civic stability and moral loyalty, dukes and princes paid large amounts of money to recruit celebrated scholars for their advice and overall administrative skills. This then created the rise of a scholarly class gentry to serve as advisers and administrators, and through intense wars and acquisitions, the common person’s isolated and static life structure underwent major changes, with political pluralism furnishing the already diverse Chinese culture with a new landed class and the first liberation of thought in the history of China. Representative works of this period, such as the compilation of great works entitled The Book of Songs (Shi Jing 诗经), and The Songs of Chu (Chu Ci 楚辞), fostered a vibrant new literary tradition.
1.1.3.1 The Hundred Schools of Thought
The Hundred Schools of Thought is a general term to refer to a variety of schools of thought in the pre-Qin period. This was the golden age of Chinese culture, when numerous original thinkers produced a gold mine of brilliant and creative ideas.
Confucianism, represented by Confucius and Mencius, is a school that attaches great importance to kinship and human relations, and to seeking success in the secular world. As the founder of Confucianism, Confucius first presented the concept of virtue or benevolence (Ren 仁) as a philosophical category, which constitutes the core and the highest state of Confucius’ political and social views.
Other important contributions made by Confucius are the concepts of propriety or rites (Li 礼) and the rectification of names (Zheng ming 正名). He insisted on the management of state affairs by rites, and held that:
Confucius was also the initiator of private education in ancient China. He initially taught students and promoted educational ideas such as “making no social distinctions in teaching” and “teaching students in accordance with their aptitude.” Later, Mencius put forward the theory of the goodness of human nature, and of morality as inherent in the nature of human beings. Furthermore, he argued that morality develops for the better or the worse only due to one’s own efforts and the influence of one’s surroundings—not unlike modern-day parlance, which states that it is the environment around us that fashions our history and our way of thinking. Confucianism, the cornerstone of Chinese social conventions and theories in the feudal era, was a watershed phenomenon that commenced in the Han Dynasty. It was transformed by the ruling class of successive dynasties and became mainstream thinking among China’s feudal society for a period of over 2000 yearsIf names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things. If language be not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried on to success.1
Mohism is named after Mo-tse. It advocates concepts such as universal love and non-offense, benevolence and justice, which are directly opposite to the Confucianist idea of rites and its conservative political beliefs. Its aim was to realize political and economic equality through preaching, which reflects a strong sense of grassroots appeal, and to establish a unified, fair, and reasonable society free of violence against the weak, insult to the poor, prejudice toward the down-and-outs, and cheating of the less intelligent.
Hence, in direct contrast to Confucianist practices, during the settling down period, two notable men, Lao-tse (fifth century bc) and Chuang-tzu (third century bc), emerged as champions of Taoism. Their ethics stood for governance through non-interference, following nature, and wanting less. The first to present the philosophical theory of Tao, Lao-tse put his ideas into a small book, The Tao Te Ching.
Furthermore, this dynamic period also saw the emergence of the legalists, of whom the most prominent were Shang Yang (390–338 bc; born Wei Yang) and Han Feizi (Hán Fēi; c. 280–233 bc).
This sectional group supported a system of feudalism in place of the system of patriarchies and rites, which promoted a political ideology based on law, statecraft, and dynastic power. Such an approach to life was presented as justified based on the belief that humans, when left to their own devices, were inherently evil by nature and therefore required containment and punishment in order for a society to be well ordered and subservient to its divine lord and master. Other schools made contributions to the prevailing debates of the period as well. One specific example is the book entitled Art of War written by Sun Tzu (Sun Zi 孙武). Sun Tzu’s perfect application of military dialectics and his considered strategic thoughts have been admired by many generations since. One of his most famous sayings is undoubtedly:
There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare.
1.1.3.2 Literary Classics
The Book of Songs and The Songs of Chu
The Book of Songs is a collection of poetry of the pre-Qin period, generally referred to as ballads (Feng 风) and laments (Sao 骚). Its genre is that of realistic poetry, while The Songs of Chu ushers in the age of romanticism. Both have been handed down and have served as inspiration for poetry in later ages. The Book of Songs is regarded as the first such collection of poetry in Chinese literary history, and categorizes 305 poems into three parts: Feng (ballads), Ya (odes), and Song (hymns).
A new style of poem was developed by Qu Yuan during the Warring States period (475–221 bc). After his death, a considerable number of writers favoring this poetic style emerged, promoting romanticism and the first era of “belles-lettres” poetry in China. It has been suggested that Qu Yuan is equally as popular as Homer and Da...