ANC: Lesson - Yellow River: Early Dynasties - Government and Economy
Yellow River: Early Dynasties - Government and Economy
From Divination to Mandate
Previously, we talked about how the Yellow River civilization made advancements in technology. We can also note a change in viewpoint (religion) over time. From the earliest tools of divination (the oracle bones), the Shang dynasty started to write out questions and introduced ancestor worship. The early writing led to the Shang scholars keeping records. That ancestor worship linked people to kings and kings to gods. This connection leads to a concept called The Mandate of Heaven. The graphic below outlines these connections.
Early Dynasties: Government and Economy
The Yellow River dynasties were theocracies. In fact, according to early Chinese histories and legends, the founder of the Xia dynasty, Yu, was gifted the Mandate of Heaven (the ruler is favored by the gods) because he drained a Great Flood from the Yellow River. Similarly, when the Xia Dynastic leaders turned against their people, the founder of the Shang Dynasty, Tang, overthrew the Xia leader and offered his own life up to end a drought. The Shang Dynasty was granted the Mandate of Heaven. The Shang kings moved their capitals to be near the people, promoted agriculture, protected their people with bronze weapons, and in turn, earned tribute. This ushered in half a millennium of hereditary rule (leadership passed from father to son).
As you can see, the Mandate of Heaven is pretty important – only good, selfless leaders earn it, and their actions prevent natural disasters (which were under the control of the gods). The Zhou Dynasty leader, Wu, pushed the Mandate of Heaven even further. He was the first to use it to mean the divine right to rule and to explain political succession.
The plow head: both a great innovation and a source of division for the Yellow River Civilization
The Well-field System and the Warring States Period
It was very difficult for the Zhou dynasty to justify their leadership while the Yellow River Valley continued to experience dust storms, droughts, and monsoons. So, they came up with the well-field system. In this system, as laid out in the image, a single public plot was surrounded by eight private plots in a 3x3 grid.
Most local farmers grew wheat or rice. Neighboring families worked their own land as well as communal land gifted or taxed to the king. The land was only passed to the eldest son. The system broke down as local lords became greedy (and the plow opened new, unregulated farmland). Local lords grew powerful as the king became weak – they saw their own chance to claim the Mandate of Heaven.
This resulted in the Warring States Period (4th century BCE to the 2nd century BCE). Historians estimate nearly 1,000,000 people lost their lives in over 300 wars in the region. And, while it was a period of immense sorrow, it also brought about three of China’s most influential philosophies: Confucianism (emphasizing respect), Daoism (emphasizing inner peace), and Legalism (emphasizing strong laws). You will learn more about them in Module 2.
Practice Activity
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