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The Political

The Sources

the Neolithic culture of China developed than the civilizations in the middle east

Is the Chinese civilization influences from the middle east?

Is the Chinese civilization derivative?

Findings

  1. similar patterns
  2. populations movement

How many cultures that contributed into the Chinese civilization

This suggests that Chinese civilization is decentralized, which supported the legitimacy of warlords at the time

New Paradigm

Neolithic culture develops in different areas

not one chain of development

rise of different cultures in different areas

different influence on the formation of the Chinese civilization

Xia Dynasty

2070 - 1600 BCE

Lack of imperial timeline (only know the first and last ruler)

Sima Qian

Han Dynasty

Wrote The Records of Grand Historian

Claimed that Xia was a centralized state in the Northern Chinese Plain and surrounded with other civilizations with inferior technological and political development

Shang Dynasty

1764 - 1122 BCE

First with archaeology findings (oracle bones)

Oracle Bones

Turtle plastrons and animal bones

With characters inscribed onto it

Interpretation of it was first drill hole and then heat up and interpret based on the cracks

Once dug and sold as Dragon Bone, which were used as Herbal Medicines

Mainly in AnYang

Stats

  • 150,000 fragment
  • 50,00 pieces
  • 1000 oracle bone characters

Suggestions that the Shang Dynasty have writing

Suggests that the Shang people’s attention to the weather, military, and child birth

Potteries

The six steps of the Bronze making process

  1. Make a full clay model of the vessel, then fire it

    The model is fired to make it strong/durable with a hard surface.

  2. Form the outer mold in “pieces” by pressing clay onto sections of the fired model

    Small clay slabs are applied over different areas, producing multiple mold sections (“piece mold”).

  3. Create the surface decoration on the model so it transfers into the mold pieces

    The decoration is incised/engraved into the model, so when each clay piece is pressed on and removed, it picks up both shape + decoration (so the final bronze is integrally cast, not cold-worked much afterward).

  4. Fire the mold pieces, then reassemble/bind them so they still fit precisely despite shrinkage

    Firing shrinks clay, so fitting the pieces back together accurately is a major difficulty; then they’re bound together.

  5. Add an inner mold (core) and use bronze “chaplets” to space the core from the outer mold

    Without a core, you’d get a solid casting; chaplets hold the inner mold away from the outer mold, defining the wall thickness.

  6. Invert the whole assembly and pour in molten bronze (so bubbles rise to a hidden area)

    It’s upside down, so bubbles migrate to places you won’t see (e.g., underside/legs), giving better casting results.

May be of different shape/animal

TaoTie (饕餮)

A motif on the potteries

A face that never captures the essence of an animal

Developed from only eyes and curves to facial features that stand out from the background

Periphery

Central South China

more bronze artifacts

notion of central state/outlying civilization

regional contacts and cultural borrowings

present of a highly developed regional bronze culture