Center of the Known Universe. Economic Center. Geographi

1
??

• China
• Zhong guo/ Jung Kuo
• Middle Kingdom

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Middle Kingdom

• Center of the Known Universe
• Economic Center
• Geographic Center
• Cultural Center
• Scientific Center
• Political Center

3
Demography

• Population
• 1,319,175,332
• Estimate Jan. 2007
• Religion / Philosophy
• Secular Communism
• Confucianism
• Buddhism
• Daoism
• Islam
• Christianity

4
Major Historical Achievements

• Great Wall
• Civil Service
• Bureaucracy
• Political theory and practice
• Theories of War and Peace
• Early Written Language
• Rich Literature
• Philosophy / Religion
• Daoism
• Buddhism

• Science and Technology
• Bronze
• Steele
• Printing
• Fireworks
• Rice Agriculture
• Noodles
• ETC..

5
Language

• Pictographs
• Idiographs
• Monosyllabic
• Written
• Concise
• Universal
• Spoken
• Prolix
• Tonal
• Dialects

6
Chronological History

• History VS Archeology
• Shang Dynasty
• 1523-1027 BC (BCE)
• Writing system (1300 BC)
• Oracle bones
• Centralized government

7
Zhou Dynasty

• 1027-221 BC
• Early Zhou 1027-771 BC
• Overthrow of the Shang
• What to do with the Shang Nobility???
• -- the answer depends on culture

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Early ZhouMandate of Heaven ?? (Tienming)

• Tien rules fates of dynasties
• Tien willed fall of Shang
• Tien willed success of Zhou
• Floods, famines, natural disasters, and political
  upheaval demonstrate Tiens displeasure
• Justify revolt and revolution

9
Ancient Chinese Concept of the Human Soul

• Po
• Animal Soul (physical body)
• Dies, returns to earth
• Should be respected
• Hun
• Spiritual Soul (spirit)
• Lives on in the location of its life
• Happy guardian spirit
• Unhappy malicious ghost
• Fate depends on memory and care by descendents

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Ancient Chinese Concept of the Human Soul

• Consequences
• Reverence for ancestors
• Ceremonies
• Ancestor Veneration (worship?)
• Elaborate genealogical records
• Gentry tied to land

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Ancient Chinese Concept of the Human Soul

• Consequences continued
• Little emigration
• Little voluntary migration
• Need to produce a son
• Tempers genocide after revolution
• Zhou do not destroy Shang nobility so they wont
  be haunted by their ancestors

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Social Science and Religion

• Rules for social science analysis of religion
• Suspend judgment
• Try to understand what others believe
• Try to see HOW those beliefs motivate behaviors
• Dont ask if it is true or logical. Social
  science cant assess that.
• Avoid judgmental language primitive,
  superstitious, stupid
• Understanding others beliefs need not threaten
  your own.

13
Ancient Chinese Religious Beliefs and Practices

• Animism
• All objects have spirits
• Spirits have human characteristics
• From Pocahontas But I know every rock and tree
  and creature has a life, has a spirit, has a
  name.

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Ancient Chinese Religious Beliefs and Practices

• Shamanism
• Animistic religion with a special mediator or
  Shaman to help make peace between the human world
  and the spirit world.
• Medicine man
• Mystic
• Witch doctor

Xi Wang Mu Queen Mother of the West
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Early Zhou

• Tien as Patron Diety
• Mandate of Heaven as Justification
• No Priestly Class
• King intermediates between gods (esp. Tien) and
  human world
• If the gods are unhappy, it is the kings fault

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Transition to Later Zhou(Eastern Zhou) 771-221 BC

• Decay and corruption at the center
• Kings Favorite loved the Signal Fires
• The King
• who cried wolf
• 771 BC transfer
• capital east to
• Luoyang

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Later Zhou

• Political Structure loosened
• Provinces have great autonomy
• Central Government weaker
• More flexibility for
• Innovation
• Creativity
• New philosophy

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Later Zhou and Philosophy

• Confucianism
• Kung Fu Zi (Confucius) 551-479 BC
• Taoism (Daoism)
• Laozi (Lao Tzu) 500s BC
• Art of War
• Sunzi (Sun Tsu)
• Philosophy of Love and Brotherhood
• Mozi (Mo Tzu) 470-391 BC
• Legalism, 300s BC
• Han Fei Zi, 200s BC

Mozi
Han Fei Zu
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Philosophical Advances Elsewhere

• Buddha 566- 480 BC
• Enters China _at_ meridian
• Plato 427-347 BC
• Socrates 469-399 BC
• Isaiah 700s BC
• Jeremiah 600s BC

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Confucianism

• Confucius a real, historical person
• Minor Official and Scholar in Lu
• Left no personal Record
• Known mostly through the Analects
• Set out to outline a system for
• Good government
• Good family life
• Social Harmony

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Confucianism

• Religion or Philosophy?
• God??
• Nature IS the divine
• After life?
• Probably, but not a focus. Order this life well
  and the next will care for itself
• What is a Good life?
• To live in harmony with true nature
• Requires that we understand true human nature

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Confucian Virtues(Note a bit different from
your notes)

• Ren Humanity
• Li Propriety, ritual decorum
• Yi Uprightness, integrity
• Zhi Knowledge
• Xin Honesty
• Zhong Loyalty, constancy
• Xiao Filial Piety (especially later,
• neo-Confucianism having to do with family)
• Missing Virtue?
• Courage, Valor, Bravery

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Confucianism

• Five Relationships
• King -- minister
• Father -- son
• Husband -- wife
• Older brother -- younger brother
• Friend -- friend

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Confucian Classic Literature

• FIVE CLASSICS
• Book of Changes Yi Jing (Daoism)
• Book of History Shu Jing (Documents)
• Book of Odes/Songs Shi Jing
• Book of Ritual Li Ji
• Spring and Autumn Annals Chunqui
• FOUR BOOKS
• Great Learning Da Xue
• Mean Jung Yung (moderation)
• Analects Confucian Sayings
• Mencius

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Confucianism

• Major Goal
• Social and political harmony achieved through
• Knowledge
• Correct exercise of the major virtues
• Correct application of the 5 relationships
• Proper organization of government both in the
  kingdom and the family
• Core Assumption
• People can learn to behave well

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Daoism

• Laozi (Lao Tzu) 500s BC
• Legendary, possibly mythilogical
• Monk, author of core text
• Generally depicted riding an ox
• Dao De Jing core Daoist text
• The Way or the Way of Virtue
• Nature is the ultimate
• Harmony with nature is the highest virtue
• Nature is conceived differently from Confucianism

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Daoism

• Human goal is harmony with nature
• Meditation is key
• Principle of inaction can enlighten the soul
• Seek for emptiness
• Emphasizes harmony
• Self discipline
• Ties to martial arts and
• physical self-mastery

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Daoism

• Yin and Yang
• Symbol of natural duality
• All things have a dual nature
• Male-Female Light-Dark Good-Evil
• Heaven-Earth Hot-Cold Birth-Death
• Nothing is complete without its opposite
• Balance of the duality is the goal

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Fengshui

• Geomancy
• Wind and Water
• Nature has its own energy
• flow which affects our environment
• Human lives and structures find harmony and
  increased success if arranged to compliment the
  natural flow of energy

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Mozi (Mo Tzu) 470-391 BC

• Philosophy of Love and
• Brotherhood
• Love your neighbor
• Seek reconciliation as top priority
• Forgive his errors
• Peace and mutual respect are paramount
• War is simply brigandage on a large scale

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Sun Tsu

• Sunzi
• 5th century BC
• The Art of War
• Book of military strategy and philosophy
• Know your enemy, watch him and let him show you
  his weakness
• Still in common use today in military colleges

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Legalism (300s BC)

• Governing philosophy (similar to Machiavelli in
  Europe)
• Emphasized rule of law
• Laws must be strict and violations severely
  punished
• No individual rights
• Morality less important than stable power
• King/emperors power to be maintained with
  violence
• Strong totalitarian tendency
• Most famous proponent Han Fei Zi (about233 BC)
• Adopted by the Chin Dynasty (221-206 BC)

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Buddhism

• Gautama Siddhartha
• 500 BC in India
• A prince of Warrior Caste
• Miraculous birth (pictured)
• Spoiled, pampered, indulged
• At 29, on excursion sees sick man, lame man,
  decaying corpse, and ascetic monk
• Depressed by realization that suffering is
  inevitable and tries to discover a solution
  through ascetic life (self-deprivation,
  self-mortification)
• Nearly dies from excessive fasting, etc.

34
Buddhism

• Abandons ascetic life and
• pursues instead the
• Middle Way
• Middle way is the balance between self-indulgence
  and self-mortification
• Path of moderation
• Sitting under a bodhi tree is struck with
  enlightenment

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Buddhism Four Noble Truths

• To exist is to suffer
• Desire or craving is the cause of suffering
• To end suffering, one must extinguish desire

4. Desire can be extinguished through the 8-fold
path to enlightenment
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Buddhism 8-Fold Path

• Right Views
• Right intention
• Right speech
• Right action
• Right livelihood
• Right effort
• Right mindfulness
• Right concentration

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Buddhism Nirvana

• Through enlightenment one can end desire and
  suffering
• Supreme liberation is called Nirvana
• Nirvana is the ending of desire and thereby the
  end of suffering
• Sometimes described as the state of not existing
• Nirvana is generally NOT considered a place like
  heaven, rather it is a state of enlightenment
  or non-existence

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Buddhism core practices

• A correct life for Buddhists involves
• Meditation
• Kindness and love to others
• Bodhisattva vow to patiently assist others to
  find peace and enlightenment, no matter how
  difficult
• Avoiding injury to others human or animal
• Vegetarianism some sects
• Avoiding alcohol some sects
• Celibacy for monks some sects

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Buddhism cannon scripture

• Tripitaka (3 baskets)
• Sutras
• sermons attributed to Buddha and recorded by
  followers
• Sastras
• later treatises by later monks and enlightened
  ones
• Vinyas
• monastic rules

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Buddhism great division

• Therevada (Hinayana) common in Southeast Asia
  Thailand, etc.
• More contemplative
• Work out your own enlightenment through
  meditation.
• There is no help, youre on your own

41
Buddhism great division

• Mahayana Common in China, Japan, Korea.
• Bodhisattvas
• Enlightened souls who choose to stay and help out
  others
• In ways parallel to Saints in Catholicism
• Bodhisattvas can intervene and achieve miraculous
  things
• Mahayana followers need less meditation because
  they get more help from bodhisattvas
• Bodhisattvas have favorite causes like saints
• Some even oversee heaven-like places, the
  Western Paradise

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Later Zhous demise

• Disorder or loose government of Later Zhou
  devolves into Warring States Period
• Autonomous smaller regions emerge as largely
  independent nations
• Periodic war ensues
• One among the several emerges to establish a new,
  far more centralized dynasty
• Chin Dynasty emerges as the first Chinese
  Empire 221 BC