alluvium a loose aggregation of particles of soil, sand, clay or gravel which is alternately eroded and deposited by the actions of a river or other flowing body of water; alluvial soils are often highly fertile and can contain ores of precious metals such as gold and silver.
cult the ceremonial practices relating to the worship and service required by a deity or deities. This can involve specific rituals that have to be performed regularly, the erection of buildings to ‘house’ the deity, votive offerings of objects or goods and the sacrifice of animals or even humans. Participation in cultic practices might be limited to certain sectors of society as a means of establishing hierarchies of status, and control of the cult in the ancient world was frequently a prerequisite of political power.
feudalism a system of social organization, prevalent in medieval Europe, which involved the granting of land by a noble landowner or monarch in exchange for military support from the grantee. The person holding the land was known as the lord’s vassal, and the relationship was contractually agreed through the swearing of an oath. The system extended downwards in turn to the peasants or serfs, who worked the land on behalf of their lord in return for his protection.
floodplain the region adjoining a river that is inundated when the river bursts its banks, for example during periods of heavy rainfall or as a result of snowmelt. Floodplains are characteristically fertile and form rich ecosystems, and the floodplains of rivers such as the Nile, Indus and the Yellow river were the cradles of early civilizations.
monsoon a seasonally reversing wind that carries a large amount of moisture inland during the warmer months when the land temperature rises relative to that of the sea. As this air rises the moisture precipitates to generate extended periods of rainfall. During the cooler months the cycle reverses, and a period of drought ensues.
rammed earth a building technique whereby walls are built by compacting layers of earth into an externally supported wooden frame.
Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history between 771 BCE and 475 BCE, corresponding roughly to the first part of the Eastern Zhou dynasty, when the authority of the Zhou extended over a smaller area than hitherto, and a number of smaller fiefdoms became increasingly independent. The period takes its name from the Spring and Autumn Annals, a chronicle of Lu state during this time which tradition attributes to Confucius.
tributary system practice whereby states wishing to trade with China were obliged to recognize Chinese superiority and preeminence in the region, and to send tribute ‘missions’ to the Chinese court. These involved the performance of particular rituals and the provision of gifts or hostages as a means of acknowledging the superior status of China.
Warring States period following on from the Spring and Autumn period, 475 BCE to 221 BCE, roughly corresponding to the second part of the Eastern Zhou dynasty. As the Zhou weakened, various smaller states struggled for supremacy, and various alliances and wars took place, culminating in the victory of Qin state and the unification of China under Emperor Qinshihuang in 221 BCE.
The history of ancient China was profoundly shaped by its environment, a unique combination of long, sinuous rivers and short-lived but recurrent monsoons. Each summer, the East Asian and Indian summer monsoons brought copious rainfall pouring down into the rivers. But decadal cycles between disastrous floods and extreme droughts caused by abnormal monsoon activities posed a great threat to the society. This changeable water regime was so significant to farmers that, beneficial as the Yellow river has been, it has also been characterized as ‘China’s tribulation’. To avoid disastrous floods, the Bronze Age peoples often established their permanent settlements along small or medium-sized rivers. Erlitou, the earliest Bronze Age urban centre, was built on the terrace of the ancient Yiluo river, which undergoes active alluvial processes. Part of the site is covered by alluvial deposits or cut by recent river channels. Active alluviation, on the other hand, also promotes the formation of riverine wetlands, which offered the Erlitou people rich natural resources. By the Spring-and-Autumn and Warring States periods, large irrigation canals had been dug in north China to direct river water to farmland. But it is not until the Han period that we see the great migration of farming villages to the floodplains of the lower Yellow river, a process that had mixed results.
Although the Egyptian type of floodplain cultivation likely did not happen until the Han period, rivers fed by monsoons played a critical role in the ebb and flow of Bronze Age cultures.
Although hard evidence of waterway transportation in the Bronze Age is lacking, the migration and expansion of society in central China undoubtedly benefitted from rivers. Panlong City was a Shang military outpost built right next to the Fuhe river, which connected to the Yangtze river. It is thus very likely that the Shang arrived via the rivers. Some Eastern Zhou bronze vessels have inlaid decorative motifs illustrating scenes of water battles. The boats shown were big enough to accommodate tens or hundreds of people.
DAYU (GREAT YU)
c. 2200–2100 BCE
Legendary founder of the Xia dynasty, a hero of the Xia tribe who tamed the floods.
Yijie Zhuang
Fluctuations in the water supply meant the Bronze Age Chinese were at the mercy of floods or drought.
Due to the lack of contemporary written documents, no clear picture can be drawn about land ownership in early Bronze Age China. During the late Shang period, the oracle bone inscriptions unearthed at Yinxu indicate the existence of land that belonged to the Shang king, with labourers being summoned to work on the land. In the Zhou period, every square inch of the land, in theory, belonged to the Zhou king personally. The king gifted parcels of land to the Zhou elites to reward them for service or to ensure their loyalty. However, a regional ruler could also claim ownership of the land in the state that he ruled. Especially during time of war, land could be seized from a conquered state without consultation with its nominal owner. On the other hand, bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou period indicate that land could be exchanged among elites or used as compensation, though it was not yet considered private property. From the late Western Zhou period onwards, a series of economic reforms, including reforms to land ownership, started to take place. The reforms initiated by Shang Yang in the 4th century BCE were among the most significant of these. However, whether land actually became private property as a result of these reforms is still a matter for debate.
Inscriptions on bronze wares dating to the Western Zhou period have shed light on land ownership of that time.
A bronze plate with Sanshi inscriptions is one of the most significant textual documents regarding land ownership during the late Western Zhou period. It was unearthed during the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1736–95 ce) at Fengxiang, Shaanxi province. The plate has a text of 357 Chinese characters. The inscriptions on it document a land compensation made by Ze state to its neighbouring San state, where the plate was almost certainly cast. The King of Zhou is also mentioned in the inscriptions.
SHANG YANG (LORD SHANG)
c. 390–338 BCE
Statesman in the state of Qin, whose reforms contributed greatly to the phenomenal rise of the Qin state.
Li Zhang
In the Western Zhou dynasty, the Zhou king, in theory, owned every inch of the land.
The earliest record of the population of China was drawn up around the Western Han period (206 BCE–8 CE). According to the written record, the number of households at that time amounted to 12,233,062, and the population was 59,594,978. The population before then can only be roughly estimated, based on archaeological excavations at settlements and rare records in historical documents. During the early Bronze Age, the population of the Erlitou site at its peak might have been 18,000–30,000. Based on the number and size of settlements, the total population during the early Shang period might have been around 4,000,000 to 4,500,000. The number might have risen to around 7,800,000 during the late Shang period. According to historical documents, a census was conducted during the Western Zhou period. Unfortunately, no record of the population from that time has been preserved. The population grew during the Eastern Zhou period. Based on the number of military personnel, the population during the Warring States period might have reached 20,000,000. However, none of the figures given above can be taken as anything more than an estimate of the population of Bronze Age China.
Due to the lack of contemporaneous historical documentation, estimates of the Chinese population in the Bronze Age have to be based mainly on archaeological finds and educated guesswork.
Judging from archaeological discoveries and written records, the ancient city of Linzi was one of the largest and richest cities in China during the Eastern Zhou period, and was famous for being one of the most populous cities of the Warring States. The ancient city of Linzi covered an area of more than 20 sq km (7.5 square miles) in total. From the account of the traveller Su Qin, there were up to 70,000 households in Linzi during the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE.
Li Zhang
A model of Linzi, which was thought by contemporaries to be one of the most populous cities in the Warring States.
Zhou Gong (Duke of Zhou, c. 1100 BCE) was the brother of the first king of the Western dynasty, King Wu. He assisted his father and brother in launching the war against the Shang dynasty. He also established the political and economic institutions of the Zhou dynasty and fixed new standards for religion, marriage, family, morality and other aspects of society. ‘Zhou’ was his title. He was also honoured as ‘Yuan Sheng’, the first saint in Chinese history, with his influential philosophy being considered the foundation of Confucianism.
King Cheng was very young when his father, King Wu, died. His uncle, Zhou Gong, assisted King Cheng as regent. An armed rebellion was staged by two other brothers of King Wu and a son of the last king of the Shang in the east during Zhou Gong’s regency. He led an army to suppress the rebellion and subsequently built Chengzhou, another capital city, in order to control the eastern territories. When King Cheng came to adulthood, Zhou Gong handed power back to him and retired to Chengzhou.
Zhou Gong was often called ‘the king’ and issued decrees as a king according to pre-Eastern Han (c. 100 BCE) records. But after the Eastern Han dynasty, some historians claimed that Zhou Gong was just a regent and had never become king. It was considered dishonourable for a high-ranking minister and assistant to a king to claim the throne, according to the moral values of that time. As a model of Confucianism, Zhou Gong should not have overstepped his authority. Some thought that Zhou Gong was forced to hand over power to his nephew and that he went east not to counter the insurgency, but as an exile.
However, the archaeological evidence suggests a simpler picture. Inscriptions on late Western Zhou bronzes record that Zhou Gong indeed had great power, but his name was never included in the lineage of Western Zhou kings. Newly discovered bamboo slips state that Zhou Gong went east for three years to suppress a rebellion, which is consistent with the content of poems about him that circulated for 2,000 years.
Chao Tang & Yijie Zhuang
Zhou Gong, Duke of Zhou was a powerful statesman and brother of King Wu, the founder of the Zhou dynasty. He was influential in consolidating the institutions of the Zhou dynasty.
The Bronze Age cities prior to the eastern Zhou were extremely volatile. Often driven by economic needs, control of key natural resources (ore, salt, etc.) and military expansion, these cities were situated in strategically important locations and moved after resources became exhausted. According to Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian, the Shang moved their capital at least five times, which is attested by the discovery of two early Shang cities, Zhengzhou and Yanshi. The hoards of valuable bronze vessels discovered at Zhengzhou possibly capture a moment when the Shang elites had to abandon their city under extreme circumstances. The final move to Yinxu in the reign of Pan Geng inaugurated the Shang’s golden age. They first built the city on the north bank of the Huan river, but soon moved it to the south bank. Yinxu was a cult centre. Located at its core are ancestral temples, elite tombs and other ritual-related buildings. These were surrounded by bronze foundries, workshops and residential buildings. The Zhou, after their conquest of the Shang, built two capitals: western Zongzhou and eastern Chengzhou. This dual-capital system worked for almost 300 years until the eastern migration of the Zhou royal house. Cities of regional states flourished thereafter, with the focus switching from politics to economic production, opening a new era of urbanization.
As a result of constant political competition and economic development, the Bronze Age cities of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties experienced dramatic changes in terms of planning and functions throughout the period.
Drainage became an increasing challenge to the cities. In Qufu City in Lu state in present-day Shandong province, which covered an area of 10 sq km (4 square miles), immense labour was invested in laying drainage pipes (made of stone and bricks) across the city. These pipes survived intensive ploughing in historical times. In Qin Yong City, an ancestral temple was surrounded by a rectangular-shaped stone drainage ditch called ‘Sanshui’.
SIMA QIAN
c. 145 or 135–86 BCE
Han period historian, author of the enduring masterpiece, Records of the Grand Historian.
PAN GENG
c. 1300 or 1290–1260 BCE
Legendary king of the Shang, best known for having moved the Shang capital to Yinxu.
Yijie Zhuang
Cities were located to protect trade routes or natural resources, and often moved to suit changing conditions.
The use of earth and perishable wood, rather than stone, as the primary building material is a feature distinctive to traditional Chinese architecture. A mature rammed-earth technique was developed to construct the foundations and walls of buildings. This technology relies on enormous labour investment to pile up and compress layers of earth into an externally supported wooden frame. The Shang produced bronze construction parts and used them to connect wooden partitions in palaces. This technique was quickly adopted by the elites in other areas. A hoard discovered at Yong City in Qin state featured numbers of these bronze construction elements. The Zhou began to use hollow bricks and tiles on an impressive scale. The construction of palaces became a means to showcase the taste and status of the residents. Walls made of hollow bricks were carved with beautiful motifs and painted with murals. Roofs were built using eaves tiles and complicated wooden brackets to create an overhanging section to throw rainwater clear of the building. This feature was soon developed for purely aesthetic display, a tradition that can still be seen in the Forbidden City. Floors were made of stones and bricks to guarantee domestic hygiene. Palaces were used by the elites for meetings and as ancestral temples, while commoners lived in primitive subterranean houses.
An array of new architectural techniques were invented in the Bronze Age, driven by the need of the elites to build colossal, solemn and awe-inspiring buildings.
The largest palace discovered at Erlitou is 10,000 sq m (12,000 square yards) in area, and would have required 1,000 labourers working for 200 consecutive days to build. Some archaeologists think its domestic space was undivided, while others reconstruct it as being composed of 24 rooms aligned in three parallel rows, though ‘rooms’ might simply mean divided space without any actual walls. Most notable are the sacrificial pits discovered in the courtyard. One has at least three human skeletons forming a circle, all of whom had suffered violent death.
YONG CITY & THE QIN STATE CEMETERY
Yijie Zhuang
Ancient Chinese buildings were built with a wooden skeleton, and while carved bricks and tiles were used for decorative partition walls, the load-bearing timber frame remained the basis of Chinese architecture for millennia.
As successful as the Shang were, they had only loose control of the different regional powers. Through the establishment of a tributary system, they distributed highly valuable bronze vessels to their allies in different regions and received resources in return. They built military outposts as far afield as the central Yangtze river, but for most of the period they were busy fighting rebellions. The situation did not change much after the Zhou’s conquest of the Shang. In fact, the state became even more precarious immediately after the death of King Wu. This crisis provided an opportunity for the strong leadership of Zhou Gong, the brother of King Wu. Besides establishing two capitals to consolidate the regime and crush the rebels, he sent kinsmen and relatives of the royal Ji lineage to strategic locations to create 71 regional states. This system resembled feudalism, but differed from the medieval Europe feudo-vassalic system in that there was no intimate personal relationship between the Zhou king and the regional rulers. A state bureaucracy was also developed: under the Zhou king was the Grand Protector; the Royal Household was in charge of royal affairs, whereas supervisors of land, construction and horses, and scribes took control of state-related business. This highly organized and effective system was mimicked by regional states and set the scene for later Chinese bureaucratic development.
From the tributary system to the feudal system, an effective means of state management was gradually established over time. The development of the Western Zhou state bureaucracy was influential throughout Chinese history.
Located in present-day Beijing, Yan was one of the earliest states established by the Zhou. Inscriptions on the Ke lei vessel discovered in an elite tomb here document for the first time the establishment of a regional state (the tomb was probably that of its founder). The inscriptions tell how the king commanded Ke to become the ruler of Yan.
RITUAL VESSELS & THEIR DISTRIBUTION
KING WU
reigned c. 1046–1043 BCE
First king of the Zhou dynasty of ancient China.
ZHOU GONG (DUKE OF ZHOU)
fl. c. 1100 BCE
The younger brother of King Wu.
KE
c. 10th century BCE
Oldest son of Zhou Gong and first ruler of Yan state.
Yijie Zhuang
