Andrew Ground

Fall, 2020

Dr. Jonathan Markley

History 461, Ancient China

Word Count: 4149

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Today, “China” is typically associated with the country of the People’s Republic of

China, but what constitutes the labels “China” and “Chinese” in the past three thousand years is a

question of identity, ethnicity, and culture of which only applies in specific instances. When

discussing the historical developments within the region of the modern country as “Chinese,” it

only applies when describing a persistent pattern throughout the dynasties, but dynasties

themselves should not be called “Chinese.” The historical developments of the region cannot be

called merely “Chinese” because it consists of more than just “ethnic Han.” These persistent

continuities such as institutions, customs, and intentional cultural conversion that have been

established throughout the course of Chinese history.

The diversity of China can be seen in it's variety of languages, peoples, and geography.

For each variation there are varieties in the modes of life and the cultures it produces1. In several

aspects, it is much like Europe in the sense that this diversity is the product of thousands of years

of conquest, invasion, and colonization by different groups. This can be seen in several distinctly

non-native or ethnic Han groups creating their own ruling dynasties. The difference between

China and Europe, in this respect, is in no small part due to the natural geographical features that

have carved out it's individual countries2.

Instances of agriculture in Asia, and in rest the world, cropped up independently of each

other. The practise of agriculture saw the creation of numerous materialistic cultures within the

modern boundaries of China. This includes the Yangshao, Peililgang, Dadiwan, Majiyayao, and

Cishan cultures which arose on the Yellow River and the cultivation of millet 3. North of the

Yellow River, many variants of millet were produced to sustain the developing societies while

places like Hongshan in the south, relied upon rice instead of a variety of millet. The Three Good

1
Gernet, Jacques. 1996. A History of Chinese Civilization. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 13
2
Gernet p. 7
3
Markley, Jonathen. 461 Fall 2020 China pre-history part 1. 8/27/2020 p. 7

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Emperors had a strong emphasis on the maintenance of agriculture and flood control. By

developmenting dikes, dams, and bronze tools that created a surplus of resources that eventually

led to an increase in populations along the Yellow River. In conjunction to these developments,

rituals were believed to influence the crop yield outcomes. A popular ceremony to bring luck for

a good harvest, even in modern times, was Zhengzhou’s grand ceremony around the Yellow

Emperor. This ceremony, and many others like it, is based off of the legendary rulers of ancient

China, that of Huang Di, along with Emperors Yao, Shun, and Yu. Built by the Ming dynasty in

1420 CE, the Altar of Xiannon in Beijing is a physical example of the importance of these

rituals. The Ming emperors performed rituals for the harvest in the spring, a practise that would

continue well into the Qing dynasty, in the 17th century, as attested to by the anonymous painting

of the Yongzheng Emperor, Aisin-Gioro In-Jen 4.

These ritual behaviors continued and are celebrated to this day, even though some of the

rituals changed in importance and religious or ceremonial meaning to the people of China5. This

ritual nature can be seen in stories of Emperor Yu’s appeasement of the Miao 6. The stories of

Yao, Shun, and Yu also represent the elements of declining virtue within a dynasty. When Yu’s

descendants become regarded as the Xia, they gradually decline with each generation becoming

less virtuous. This continues until their decadence becomes too much and the feudal lords

replace the last of the Xia with Tang of the Shang and later, with King Wu of the Zhou.

The strong written tradition in China has been a persistent facet since oracles used turtle

shells to divine the future. Beginning in the Zhou dynasty, Annals were used to record historical

events chronologically, the oldest dating to the 9th century BCE. This allowed the kingdoms and

duchies of the later Zhou and Warring States to keep records of what occurred in each season.

4
Markley, Jonathen. 461 Fall 2020 China pre-history part 2. 9/3/2020 p. 14
5
South China Morning Post
6
Markley, Jonathen. 461 Fall 2020 China pre-history part 2. 9/3/2020 p. 34

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The most famous of these would be the Annals of the Kingdom of Lu, the Spring and Autumn

Annals7.

When Emperor Wu purged the great families of the Han bureaucracy, Confuciansm’s

connection to the Great Four texts and the Five Classics of the Zhou dynasty made them suitable

replacements. Confucianism filled a power vacuum and became an established pillar of the state

for not only the Han, but those of the following dynasties thereafter8. So is their prominence and

their association. For each dynasty, there is a history between the emperor, the ruling clan, and

the Confucian scholar officials. This ranges from the absolutist tendencies of the Ming dynasty,

where the founder was from a peasant background who took great lengths to recruit the literati

from the lower classes9, to the Qing, who made themselves patrons of intellectuals, and classical

works to appeal to many of these scholars refused to cooperate with the invaders10.

This expansion of the periphery into ethnic groups distinct from the original inhabitants

of the Yellow River can be seen in the case of Later Zhou and Warring States. The Central States

soon added several new states. The state of Qi had been allies of the Zhou against the Shang, the

Chu as middle Yangtze culture, and Qin as a semi-nomadic group that settled in the Wei River

Basin. Fifteen states of Zhou11 would appear repeatedly over the course of the following two

thousand years during pillars of disunity. Zheng, Wei, Song, Lu, Qi, Yan, Jin, Chu, and Wu as

names of the Central States became sources of legitimacy during periods of disunity. Even if

Chu, Wu, and Yue had never been a part of the Zhou hegemony system.

7
Gernet, Jacques. 1996. A History of Chinese Civilization. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press p. 85
8
“Cai Liang. Ph.D. Cornell University, 2007. - In the Matrix of Power: A Study of the Social and Political
Status of Confucians (Ru) in the Western Han Dynasty (206 Bce-8 Ce) p. 19
9
Gernet p. 393
10
Gernet p. 473
11
Markley, Jonathen. 461 Fall 2020 China pre-history part 2. 9/3/2020 p. 41

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Li Si’s response to the scholars' criticism using the past was to reduce the books available

to them. Following that, he infamously attributed the saying, “Burn the books, kill the

scholars”12. In the Han dynasty, Sima Qian represented a similar school of thought. More modern

examples include the controversy regarding Tian Xia, “All Under Heaven”13. The comparisons to

Mao Zedong and Qin Shihuangdi might have been thinly veiled through allegory on several

occasions, but as was the case of Sima Qian’s comparisons between Emperor Wu and the First

Emperor. Following this, a system where a history of a dynasty is only written by the succeeding

dynasty.

The Qin in their legalist philosophy created an early form of the state government.

Theorism of the state such as the legalist text of Shang-chun and Han Fei-tzu covering various

aspects to the running of the state. The prince is at the heart of the state with separate branches of

government with the most specific functions14. Politics as a function was theorized to only be a

body of positive means and strategies to ensure and maintain the power of the state. Through

shu, secret devices and stratagems, the head of state would know how to take advantage of shu,

favorable opportunities and situations15. The First Emperor had brought about the destruction of

the feudal system practised by the Zhou16. The emperor served as the head of state, absolute in

power, and had the ability to interact directly with the peasantry. Even after the Qin fell, the

system was maintained by the Han17. As a framework, the centralized state has been one of the

defining characteristics of Chinese history. This was due to the fact that many of the conquest

dynasties only adopted the laws of the sedentary societies, using their as opposed to

12
Markley, Jonathen. 461 Fall 2020 China pre-history part 2. 9/20/2020 p. 4
13
Markley, Jonathen. 461 Fall 2020 China pre-history part 2. 9/3/2020 p. 53
14
Gernet p. 90
15
Gernet p. 92
16
MacArthur, Mehr. p. 167 A Throneless King
17
Ess, Hans van. p. 252 “Emperor Wu of the Han and the First August Emperor of Qin in Sima Qian’s
Shiji,” January, 239–57.

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implementing their own customs and laws. The Qing, unlike the Yuan, had adopted autocratic,

centralization of the previous empire18.

The elements of a righteous and virtuous ruler can be seen in Jia Yi’s advice to Emperor

Wen of the Han. The utilization of this virtue and the imperial will19 , the Han would develop a

policy of cultural assimilation. A process of Sinicization towards the northern steppe peoples,

and among other groups, the dynasty create dependent kingdoms in northern and central Asia 20.

The frontier markets along the Great Wall and “Obliteration through Virtue”, it would be

possible to undermine the fundamentals of a different society and use them to the interests of the

empire. This intentional cultural conversion can be seen as becoming another habit of a greater

“Chinese” identity, emulated by later generations21. In a contemporary sense, the Modern “Silk

Road” Project by the People’s Republic of China is to expand its commercial hold throughout the

former Soviet states of Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in order to assert it’s control over

neighbors22. This can be seen even in countries without a physical border to China. In Confucian

institutes abroad, in no small way are they used to push Chinese propaganda and surveillance

throughout academic communities23.

The Sogdians, through the Silk Road, influenced the different dynasties of China from

18
Gernet p. 473
19
Markley, Jonathen. 461 Fall 2020 China pre-history part 2. 9/3/2020 p. 34
20
Gernet p. 133
21
Markley p. 23, Peace and Peril; The term "Heqin", or literally he 和 "peace/harmony/concord" and qin 親
"relationship" was conceived to be a means to achieve lasting peace, but it was never effective. Its origins
lie in the efforts of Gaozu, the founder of the Han Dynasty, and his minister Liu Jing. The emperor tried
and failed to deal with the Xiongnu militarily, personally suffering a defeat at Pingcheng. Raiding
continued after this, and two years later Liu Jing was dispatched to enter into negotiations with the
Xiongnu. A Han princess was to be sent to wed the Chanyu, and tribute was to be paid in the form of
luxury goods such as silk fabrics and gold. The dispersal of these high value goods may well have
strengthened the position of the Xiongnu central leadership, because the frontier does appear to have
gone quiet for a number of years, but as a long-term solution, despite the repeated dispatch of princesses
and goods, raiding never stopped for any extended period.
22
Shephard, Wade. Another Belt And Road Project Bites The Dust As China's New Silk Road Continues
To Struggle." Forbes. February 26, 2020.
23
Myre, Greg. "As Scrutiny Of China Grows, Some U.S. Schools Drop A Language Program." NPR. July
17, 2019.

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the Late Han to the Tang. The ethnic group that inhabited the Silk Road influence China over the

centuries, with its largest impact culminating in the An Lushan Rebellion 24. The nations and

societies of China, India, Rome, and Persia all connected through Transoxiana25. Emperor Wu in

his imperial ambitions initiated the policy of sending gifts to those foreighn courts down the Silk

Road. Before the Tang, Turkish dominance of Transoxianna saw the increased use of the

Sogdians as merchant middlemen. During the Tang, Samarkand became important for breeding

horses, trade goods, and entertainment26. Under the Tang, the Sogdians established their own

state in Lop-Nor, centered around Hami27 would appear in the military and civil structure of the

Tang. Resettled in the Six Hu Prefectures following their defeat by the Turks, and thousands of

families were transferred to Changan which became a major center for merchants, emissaries,

missionaries, and monks of Central Asia 28. The ministers favored the northern generals and the

ones of foreighn descent. Put in charge of three military areas, he was able to successfully march

on Chang'an and Luoyang. The An Lushan Rebellion 755-763 CE, dealt a mortal wound to the

Tang dynasty as, even as it eventually established itself, it would eventually succumb to the

period of the Five Dynasties from 907 to 960 CE. With the declining power of the Tang came

with it, the loss of influence and prestige of the Sogdians. Despite this, the lasting impact of the

Sogdians, however, were the faiths they transmitted. These faiths included Zoroastrianism,

Manichaeism, Nestorian Chistianity, but that faith which endured the longest and enjoyed the

most prominence was Buddhism29.

During the intermingling of faiths there exists in Buddhism some correlations to

Zoroastrianism. The time of the Sixteen Kingdoms was a period of confusion where
24
Wright, Clair Research Report; The Sogdian Influence in Ancient China p. 17
25
Wright p. 3 & 5
26
Wright p. 12
27
Wright p. 13
28
Wright p. 14
29
Wright p. 8 & 9

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Tibeto-Burman, Altaic, and Turkic tribes ruled the Yellow River and northward. This

development, along with their adoption of Buddhism as a faith, distinguishes them from the

Confucian administration used by the Han since the reign of Emperor Han Wu-Di. The works

and teachings of Buddhism in China were created through struggle, due its opposition of several

traditional customs of the sedentary population. Despite this, the faith came under the patronage

of the non-Sinicized peoples of the Five Hu. As with Buddhism, there came the ability to

spiritually enforce their authority with the claim of reincarnation. The resistance, instead of

entirely being overcome, instead came to accommodation. The Bodhisattva served as a

modification to Buddhism. A tenet of the newer schools that incorporated the figures of local

beliefs into the system of belief30, they served as an alternative to the older, pre-established

schools31. While central Asians appeared to have been transmitters of Buddhism, the original

intent of the Chinese were to learn how to achieve Budhist knowledge of elixers and practices

that could extend life32. Buddhism became then included into Neo-Taoist thought and used as a

way to innovate on pre-established traditions33.

The religion was distinctly favored during the period of the Five Hu and especially

beneath the Tang. Budhist monasteries had even been responsible for the enthronement of Wu

Chao following the death of Tai-tsung34. Liu Pingchung of the Chan sect of Buddhism oversaw

the movement of the Mongol capital at Kharakhorum to Khanbaliq. The Tibetan sect of

Buddhism had recognized the rule of the Yuan dynasty in a similar way as the Budhists schools

of the 5th century had legitimized the rule of the Five Hu. This history between the Tibetan sect

of Buddhism and the regimes of China is used by the modern People’s Republic to justify their

30
DeBarry p. 7
31
DeBarry p. 8
32
DeBarry p. 9
33
DeBarry p. 11
34
Gernet p. 257

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ownership of Tibet35. However, the relation between the Tibetans, Dali Lama, and the regimes of

China has it’s issues. It cannot be accurately stated that Tibet has been a part of the Chinese state

since the Yuam. The acknowledgements of dynastic legitimacy in exchange for Tibetan self-rule

cannot be claimed in modern instances, as the spiritual head of Tibetan buddhism does not

acknowledge the People’s Republic.

In 618 CE, Li Yuan, formerly a commander of the Tai-yuan garrison, allied with Turkish

tribes and marched on Changan, disposing of Emperor Yang, the second and last emperor of the

Sui36. What followed in the Tang dynasty was a time regarded as a second golden age in the

history of China. As the Tang rose to prominence and became a prominent dynasty they

incorporated Confucian aspects of established Chinese society, but not completely. Records

display those sedentary Han gentry complaining about how the older sons wore Turkic clothing,

spoke a Turkic language, and kept Turkic company 37. Issues of traditional Han dress and

administration plagued the early Tang and those heirs who represented their pastoral and

nomadic heritage were quickly purged. Despite this, the Tang appeared to be a sinicized dynasty,

maybe not wholly, but enough to appeal to attain a kind of legitimacy that afforded the traditional

place of a “Son of Heaven”. But this was while they maintained certain customs and traditions of

their society. Sanping establishes that while there was strife and turmoil experience by other

northern dynasties and in the south, the practise of dizhang primogeniture was largely absent

with succession more characteristic of Turo-mongol traditions and method of fratricide and

filicide used in the Ottoman empire38. Described as Tanistry succession. But the Tang of the

35
Tibet Becomes Part of China 700 Years Ago, People’s Daily, 2001; “Sapan's letter calling all sect
members to obey orders of the Yuan Dynasty was recently placed on the top protection list of the Tibet
Museum. The words of "Paying tributary sincerely and quite willing to be loyal subjects" can be clearly
seen”
36
Gernet p. 237
37
Chen, Sanping. Succession Struggle and Ethnic Identity of the Tang Imperial House p. 394
38
Chen p. 389

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Tarbo-Chinese held with it numerous retired emperors39.

Following the Tang, the Liao dynasty would establish itself in the north following the

period of Five Dynasties. The Khitans were descendants of Hsien-Pei of the 4th century CE and

had been a subject steppe people of the Tang who lived as nomadic cattle-breeders within

western Liao. An area with Mongol, Turkic, and Han, in Western Liao, the Khitan were exposed

to the institutions of these other groups. Between 924 and 1004 CE, they had attacked the other

Tang successor states and established themselves between Manchuria, eastern Mongolia, and in

the area of Peking “North Capital” they renamed it “Nanking”, their “Southern Capital”

Reaching the Yellow River valley, they forced the Song to sign the Treaty of Shan-yuan. The

dynasty collapsed between 1124-26 due to natural disasters, an unstable ruling family, and an

increasingly passive attitude brought on by the Buddhist policy of “ahimsa”40.

From the modern province of Heilongjiang, the Jurchens originated as a tribe of Tungus.

The Liao would end up losing their dynasty to the Jurchens in 1122 CE. The Jin dynasty endured

to 1234 CE, during their reign there was a cycle begun with the persecution of sedentary peoples

and Confucian civil servants. Following this was an adoption of some of the methods and

practises of previous dynasties. On the full adoption of the practises and methods of the previous

dynasties, there was a counter-force of ethnic pride amidst members of the dynasty. The presence

of sinicized Khitans and large Chinese populations as the political system, administration

organization, economy, were all Chinese in character and their assimilation was at a the rapid

pace at which this happened. The process of Sinicization would only be encouraged by placing

former Song officials in charge of the administration. The rapid pace at which this happened can

be seen in Emperor Shih-tsung's attempt to resurrect the original Jurchen identity. In 1173, the

39
Chen p. 194
40
Gernet p. 354

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Jurchen language was made compulsory in the recruitment of old tribes from Manchuria41. Their

replacements, the Yuan saw a similar cycle take place. Following Kubali, succession between

emperors was based around if a ruler was Sinicized and pro-Confucians or ethnic Mongol.

Ayurbarwada(Renzong) ruled from 1311-1320 and had been a patron of the Han arts and restored

some of the Confucian civil service system. His heir, Shidebala was assassinated by Yesun

Temur for supporting Sinicized policies. Followed by Toghon Temur, he banned the Chinese

from learning Mongolian and suggested massacring the general population42. People such as

Yehlu Chutsai, a Khitan aristocrat, were able to convince the Mongols of the value of the

sedentary Han and the adoption of Chinese law, and re-introduction of Chinese institutions43.

In the view of the Mongols, the Jurchens and Khitans were considered the same as the

sedentary peoples their dynasties had come to rule. The Mongol dynasty, the Yuan, actively

refused to adopt Confucian bureaucracy, ways of administration, and had only been narrowly

been convinced to not slaughter the entire sedentary inhabitants of the northern Chinese plain

along the Yellow River. Instead, the Mongol aristocracy tax-harvested the population, devastated

the agricultural production of their territory, and paid little attention to the upkeep of dams, dikes,

and canals44. The “Sinicized”, in this case, would be treated the harshest in terms of legal penalty

and forbidding intermarriage. Discrimination against their subjects as attested to the Interrupted

Labours45 put them in a hierarchy composed of the ethnic Mongols, non-Sinicized

peoples(semujen), and Sinicized peoples(hanjen)46. The non-Sinicized peoples were composed of

a great variety, among them were Turks, Tanguts, Tibetans, Iranian Saratauls, and Russians.

41
Gernet p. 359
42
Markley, Jonathan. 461 Fall 2020. The Yuan Dynasty 1271-1368 11/16/20 p. 22
43
Markley, Jonathan. 461 Fall 2020. The Yuan Dynasty 1271-1368 11/16/20 p. 15
44
Gernet p. 368
45
Gernet p. 368
46
Gernet p. 369

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Cities took on the character of having separate districts for each group: northern Chinese,

southern Chinese, Mongols, “and foreigners''. Regardless of how the Khitans and Jurchens may

have seen themselves, along with any differences between lifestyles of their descendents, to the

conquerors, they were deemed fit to be only be abused by the ruling ethnicity of the dynasty.

The Mongols, as an ethnic group and dynasty both followed and departed from the

Jurchens and Khitans. Chengis Khan died before the Mongols capitulated the Song dynasty, and

it would only be later thereafter the Yuan Dynasty was proclaimed. Following the death of

Mongke in 1258, the senior commander of China, Kublai took charge of the khanate. Perhaps

one of the few Mongols to have gone “native”. Having Chinese and Uigher tutors might have

made him more sympathetic to the hanjen. He had moved the capital to Beijing and began the

construction of Khanbaliq, the winter capital. In 1271, the Yuan Dynasty was proclaimed, along

with the reinstatement of the Mandate of Heaven, Kublai being it’s emperor and Son of Heaven.

But despite whatever sympathies and tendencies Kublai had, when he died, he would be buried

in the steppes. Following his death, the political situation, politics alternated between the

steppe-oriented and those who favored Sinicization.

The Mongol regime had spared craftsmen and priests, converted the tilled land into

pasture47. The north had been made into a land of small farmers and officials displaced by the

conquerors while the literate and educated would be located in the south with it’s concentration

of wealth. The state craftsmen who had been taken as spoils of war were guarded, and

maintained hereditary positions. Harsh treatment towards it’s subjects, rampant corruption, and

growing instability among ruling elites bred a wealth of political and religious secret societies48.

These sects include the White Lotus, White Cloud, and more importantly, Red Turbans, along

47
Gernet p. 364
48
Gernet p. 373

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with the Maitreya(Mi-le) messiac cult. Simultaneously, the south became a focal point of the

Yuan dynasty where, in the subsequent downfall of the Yuan, hatred of the wealthy and hatred of

the invader became synonymous as the disparity between the rich and poor dramaticized49. The

Ming initially had few civil servants and had to manage a population far greater than the

specialists they had available to them.

The foundation the Manchu dynasty founded on, that of brutality, would come full

circle50. By the time of the 20th century, it is clear that many of the People’s Army and the

Communists considered the Qing to be of a separate race. Not only were they separate from

them, in the memories of these men specific episodes from the Manchu conquest became of

particular note to them. As did the case of Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, and Li Hongzhan. These

generals were the ones who put down the Taiping Rebellion and were responsible for the

Tongzhi Restoration.

Identities change. Cultures shift and others fade as nations sunder from threats internal

and threats external. The modern government of mainland China, the Communists fought for

power in the guise of a foreighn philosophy devised by a German political theorist and historian.

that they applied to their situation as they took control from the Nationalists. The label of

“hanjen” was given to the sedentary societies of the Central Plains by the Mongols in the 13th

century. “Han”, as an ethnonym was given to the sedentary societies by the Five Hu In the 5th

century when they came to rule over the sedentary societies of the Central Plains51. It was an

invention of the steppe peoples applied to their subjects whose value was in the goods they

49
Gernet p. 371
50
The Search for Modern China: a Documentary Collection p. 197; “When I closed my eyes I could see
the cruel and bestial faces of the Tartars and could hear the miserable cries of millions of Han people who
were treated worse than chickens or dogs. Invol, untarily, I began grinding my teeth and swore that I
would take revenge ro wipe out this humiliation and restore the freedom of our race”
51
Elliot, Mark. "NEW SCHOLARSHIP." Hushuo 胡說: The Northern Other and Han Ethnogenesis| China
Heritage Quarterly.

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crafted and their agricultural yields. As was the case with the Five Hu, Khitans, Jurchins, and

Manchus, it was far simpler and effective for these groups to be ruled by their past laws and

former officials. This effective adoption ultimately resulted in the loss of the ruling group’s

language and culture52. In this sense, any question regarding how appropriate it is to call the

history of this region as “Chinese” is to acknowledge that by the processes of these two modes of

life, pastoral and sedentary, interacting, it has culminated in the identity of the modern Chinese

nation. Even by labeling them as “pastoral” and “sedentary” are atrocious simplifications of the

groups that inhabit and have inhabited the People’s Republic of China. The artificial face of

cultural homogeneity in the People’s Republic is remarkably false over the groups that inhabit or

the regions they govern. Because they are the product of this history, the identifier of “China”

and “Chinese” can be appropriately applied to persistent institutions and customs because of

cultural conversion and the assimilation of non-Han groups into wider society.

52
Leibold, James. "NEW SCHOLARSHIP." In Search of Han | China Heritage Quarterly. “...most Chinese
scholars view Han as an innate, fixed and firmly bounded identity—an ancient yet evolving group which
can be traced directly back to the very roots of Chinese soil, civilization and blood”

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3276800.” 2007. Early China 31: 294–294. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0362502800001905.

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Pegasus Books : Distributed by W.W. Norton.

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