Asian Studies -Chapter 1

Earliest Asian - Homo Erectus (Erect Man) are: Java Man (1891) and Peking Man (1921)
dating around 1 million b.c.e.
300,000 b.c.e. Homo Erectus merged with later humanoid species.
❖ They use stone axes and have been treated as cannibals.
150,000 BCE - Homo Neanderthalensis became dominant in Eurasia and Africa
❖ They were superseded by Homo Sapiens around 70,000 – 20,000 BCE
Eskimos and American Indians share some physical characteristics with Asians since they
migrated to the new world via walking the land bridge in Bering Strait.
13,000 BCE – 6,000 BCE: Homo floresiensis aka Hobbits inhabited the island of Flores, east
of Java, Indonesia.
❖ Half the size of modern homo sapiens.
Paleolithic Period
❖ Lasted around 1 million to 25,000 BCE.
❖ People used fire, create shelters and fashion garments out of skins or furs, and
develops stone weapons (spears and axes).
❖ Develops skills and artistic traits as paintings were found in the caves of Spain and
Southern France.
❖ Land bridges are apparent in this period as Asians migrated to the New World
(Americas) via Bering Strait and they also reach Australia via mainland Asia land
bridges.

20,000 BCE to 3,000 BCE

❖ Forests replaced ice sheets
❖ Large mammals went extinct
❖ Humans adjust to the environment – develop bows and arrows for hunting and reside
in coastal areas to gather fish and clams.
Neolithic Revolution
❖ Saw the rapid improvement of stone tools.
❖ Clay and bones increase their importance.
❖ The end of the era marked the period of metallurgy, humans craft metallic tools, and
weapons.
❖ The term revolution is more appropriately applied to the beginnings of agriculture.
❖ Agriculture supports large settlements and populations.
❖ The elements of modern civilization became visible around 10,000 BCE to 4,000 BCE
10,000 BCE
❖ Appearance of stone mortars in milling the grains.
7,000 BCE
❖ Storage pits and clay pots were used to store grains and water.
❖ They cultivated wheat, barley, and peas thru purposeful selection.
❖ Sheep, goats & dogs were domesticated.

3,000 BCE
❖ Early cities in Mesopotamia and Indus became successful as elements of modern
society are evident.
4 earliest cradles of settled agriculture based on archaeological evidences.
❖ uplands of Southwest Asia near Tigris-Euphrates in Mesopotamia
❖ Nile Delta
❖ Coastal Peru
❖ Coastal areas of mainland Southeast Asia

The Neolithic Revolution ended when metallurgy was introduced. Copper was the first
metal to work since its abundant on the surface and doesn’t need a complex process.
Origins of Civilization in India
❖ India’s is the oldest still in continuous existence.
❖ About 3000 b.c.e. true cities had arisen in the Indus Valley.
❖ Consistent agricultural surpluses provided the basis for cities development (e.g. arts,
metallurgy & literacy.)
The Indus Civilization
❖ Three Chief Urban Centers – Kalibangan (oldest), Harappa & Mohenjo Daro.
❖ Agriculture is dependent on the irrigation of the Indus River.
❖ The silt was brought to the lowlands during Indus overflows.
❖ Indus alongside Saraswati river provides easy transport of goods.

Relations with Sumer

❖ Indus is an independent civilization, not an offshoot of Sumer since their scripts had
no resemblance to each other.
❖ at least 2500 b.c.e. there was trade between the two civilizations, and seals were used
to mark properties and goods. Port of Lothal was the trade center.
❖ Trading between Sumer (Dilnum) and Meluha (India).
❖ Flooding and silt deposition have carried away, buried, or drowned most of the
earliest levels of evidence.
❖ The term India is derived from Sanskrit Sindhu.
The Cities of Indus
❖ most remarkable thing about Indus Civilization was the planned layout of its cities,
including wells, a piped water supply, bathrooms, and waste pipes or drains in
nearly every house.
❖ Indians emphasized the importance of water in their religious festivities (bathing
and purification).
❖ Indian idea of reincarnation and the endless wheel of life were Harappan beliefs.
❖ Roots of Indian culture both traditional and modern can be traced from Indus
culture.
❖ Houses were uniformed, suggesting an absence of social distinctions.
❖ They built large public baths, granaries, and storehouses.
❖ They crafted toys that suggest a prosperous society due to their devotion to leisure.
❖ Cotton and Sugarcane were first processed here.
❖ The chief Indus food crop was wheat, probably derived originally from areas to the
west.
❖ Tools were made from bronze and stone but later on, iron was introduced.
❖ The ruins of Harappa were discovered by a British military engineer around the
1850s.
Decline and Fall
• Toward the end of the third-millennium b.c.e. the Indus civilization began to decline.
• port of Lothal was abandoned by about 1900 b.c.e
• Violence persists as headless and unburied corpses are evident
• Continued irrigation produces salt buildups that render the arable soil useless.
• Earthquakes change the river course which directly affects irrigation and water
source.
• When the Aryans arrived, they witnessed a decline in Indus cities.
• The descendants of the Indus civilization departed eastward in the Ganges and
southward in peninsular India.

The Aryans

❖ The word Aryan has 2 meanings – as a linguistic term and a group of people who
migrated to South Asia around 2,000 BCE.
❖ Aryans are illiterate, seminomadic tenders of animals, farmers of wheat, and raiders
of trade centers and cities.
❖ Sanskrit is the classical language of India.
❖ Mahabharata and Ramayana – epic poems of Aryans.
Aryan Domination

❖ Aryans utilized chariots in their battle as an advantage over peaceful Indian people.
❖ Arya means noble or pure in Sanskrit.
❖ About 1,000 BCE, they conquered most of India but fails to subdue the Dravidians of
the south.
❖ The system of Caste was created by Aryans to create the distinction between them
and the conquered populace
❖ The mountains and great distance protected the south from the Aryans.

Agricultural Origins in Southeast Asia

❖ early developments in Southeast Asia probably centered on root crops.

❖ All organic material rapidly decays in the humid, warm climate
❖ Rice cultivation first emerged along the Yangzi River around 8000– 7000 b.c.e and
spread southward.
❖ Around 8,000 BCE, a neolithic group called Hoabinhian lived in Northern Vietnam.
❖ Pigs, chickens, and water buffalo are natives of mainland SEA.
❖ Millet was the first cultivated cereal in SEA.
❖ About 1,000 BCE, rice became the dominant crop as inhabitants of river valleys
develop irrigation and flood management.
❖ Gender roles are Egalitarian (Equal), and patriarchal emerged when warfare
became common.

Peoples and Early Kingdoms of Southeast Asia

❖ Categorized as two: peninsular and insular
❖ Peninsular SEA is the mainland while the Insular SEA refers to island chains and
archipelago.
❖ the Philippines, Indonesia, and the Malay Peninsula were settled by Malays
❖ Migrations began around 2,500 BCE.
❖ South China are much closer to mainland SEA in terms of language and culture before
Northern China united all provinces and became a single state.
❖ 500 – 300 BCE, Dong-son era, known for their bronze metallurgy and drums.
❖ In basic social structure, the SEA retained its culture and values such as high status
for women, village organization, an art form, etc.
Prehistoric China
❖ The emergence of a distinct Chinese civilization was archaeologically documented on
the Huang He River in Northern China but Southern China developed earlier due to
its ties with the mainland SEA.
❖ High humidity, ample rainfall, and high temperatures are the causes of the scarcity of
archaeological evidence in Southern China.
❖ The agricultural advantage of North China was loess deposits on the banks of the
Yellow River that renders the soil arable.
 ❖ North China produces pottery much earlier than the South but the transition from
hunter-gatherer to agricultural was a slow one.
❖ The early crop plant of North China was millet.
❖ Dependence on millet suggests that agriculture in the north was an independent
development rather than a diffusion from the South.
❖ The Banpo people belonged to an early stage of what is called the Painted Pottery
culture, or Yangshao that lasted around 1500 BCE.
❖ Longshan Culture (Black Pottery) merged with other painted pottery cultures and
created towns that produces the first North China bronze ornaments and weapons.
❖ A tradition that links Longshan culture and Shang was the use of animal bones for
religious purposes.
Korea
❖ Millet, pigs, sheep, and goats spread from North China to Korean Peninsula around
2000 BCE.
❖ The fall of the Shang dynasty around 1,100 BCE allows refugees to introduce bronze
metallurgy in Korea.
❖ Rice adapts to colder climates due to purposeful selection.
❖ Korean ancestors are migrants from the north (Siberia) bringing them the Altaic
language that proves distinction with Sino-Tibetan China.
❖ Early Koreans are tribal people that were adept at fishing, hunting, and gathering.
They started producing pottery as early as 6,000 BCE.
❖ 2 myths that describe the establishment of the Korean State: Founded by a demigod
or the royal Shang refugees.
❖ In 300 BCE, iron was introduced to Korea. Chinese controls northern Korea from 200
BCE until its withdrawal after the fall of the Han Dynasty (200 CE).
Japan
❖ An island country with 4 main islands.
❖ Around 6,000 BCE, the Jomon people (cord-patterned pottery) resides in Japan as a
hunter-gatherer tribe.
❖ Just like Korea, Japanese ancestors are also Altaic-speaking people that entered Japan
around 300 BCE.
❖ In 300 BCE, the Yayoi culture dominates the country, they practiced agriculture by
cultivating rice with the help of irrigation.
❖ The existence of Chinese artifacts in Yayoi areas depicts that there’s a trade between
the 2 communities.
❖ Yayoi people use bronze and iron. Bronze was predominantly used as ceremonial or
ornamental.
❖ In the 5th century, iron became a key player in transforming their agriculture,
ornaments, and weaponry.
Early Asian Commercial and Cultural Networking
• The spread of paleolithic and neolithic cultures can be categorized into 2:
independent or thru exchanges.
• Independent parallel development is evident in early Harappan cities and exchanges
in most of East & South-East Monsoon Asia.
 Asian Studies - Chapter 2
Hinduism
• Oldest of all major world religions.
• Practiced by more than 800 million people.
• Dharma – duty
• Samsara – endless cycle of life.
• Sadhu – holy man
• Upanishads – a vedic text that tells the nature of universe and morality.
• Rig Veda – 4 varnas: Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra.
• Karma – consequence of our actions.
• All life is sacred.
• Bhagavad Gita – Hindu’s main ethical text.
Reincarnation

• Moksha – Hindu’s enlightenment

• Autumn festival – Diwali
• Spring Festival – Holi
• Kumbh Mela – religious event every 12 years.
• Hinduism’s acknowledgment of the bad as well as the good things of life may perhaps
have made things easier or psychologically healthier for its followers, who accept the
tragedies and sufferings of life without feeling that they are somehow being punished
or picked on
Jainism and Buddhism in India and Buddhism’s Spread Eastward
• Jainist and Buddhist separates to Hinduism as they don’t believe in panoply of
gods, caste system and dominance of the priests.
Jainism
• Mahavira – founder (great hero)
• Ahimsa – non-violence
• Majority are merchants
Buddhist
• Assert the 4 basic truths
• Believes in the power of eightfold paths
• Tripitaka – Buddha’s accounts were recorded here
• Buddhism became powerful when they converted Emperor Ashoka who spreads
Buddhist teachings to his people.
• Buddhism was extinguished from its birthplace since it was absorbed by greater
Hinduism followers.
Theravada Buddhism
• “way of the elders”
• Dominant in mainland SEA
• Known for its traditional practice of monastery service and yellow robes
• Revered Buddha as a teacher, not a God.
Mahayana Buddhism
• The greater vehicle.
• Buddha was revered as God here.
• Boddhisatvas – saintly beings
• Dominant in East Asia.
• Lamaistic Buddhism consider using relics and prayer wheels in their devotion.
• Spread thru Silk Road.
Confucianism
• Is a philosophy, not a religion
• The absence of religious ordain and rituals consider it as a form of belief (philosophy)
• Most East Asian practice the belief of Confucianism than tenets of major religions
Confucius and Mencius
• Confucius – son of minor official
• He became a teacher & political adviser that searches for the suitable ruler
• Mencius – his later follower sought means in restoring social order and harmony.
The Confucian View
• Society is imagined as a set of relationships
• They practiced patriarchy wherein men hold the power and authority
• Force and law are no substitutes for or guarantees of individual virtue or social
harmony
• They believed in self-cultivation (self-development)
• Neo-confucianism – developed by philosopher Zhu Xi
• Confucians believe in collective effort, hardwork and education.
Daoism
Dao – the way
Dao De Jing