> Thuja (deren! besmon Pass, Lid Epp, Wt oN, B64 ANCIENT RIVER CIVILISATIONS ae ThAncient Civilisations 1 Age (when men practise farming and potter New Stone Age, and we of copper Bronze Age Iron Age ‘The earliest civilizations were chose of Exypt, Mesopotamia sand. Novth India. We do aot know very much stout th gin of the others 2. Of all the civilizations famous in the Ancient World, the Chinese has survived the lon The Early Legends China isa vast countey on the other side ofthe world. Tt is about forty times the size of this country, and today a quarter of the world’s population live there. Its peopte have a yellow think, than any other people you know, Theie laws, custom metimes ther behaviour, are very different from ours The Chinese belong to very old country, much alder than other country in the world today, This dace nat mean that Yow wil ce rom the chart thatthe peplsofEgypn, Mes pots, sd nara India were arn avanceo hein th sent worktThese peopis became sed much ey that itoaay they gave up their le of wanderng and Shing sted downto hep tah oer toro fo and make d decay : The Chinese became sted mach ae, But, once mae cir setlements never broke up. Tei lation as lasted without break unl te preset oxy hey mee ot able ott thet cust propery the people of ancient China fille the gap by leg thei magination work ely on what they svt ad land inthisRulers must attend to the well-being oftheir people the wh binted duty, th he batance of and conten. IC any file to do so upset, the rhythm of life disturbed. Then the evi always lurked behind the gods, took their revenge The gods were themselves a likely a the rulers of ancient China spent more time try arrls of the god, ad win their four, than at the practical es of thei subjects Serifces were offered again and again, But nd, and the golden age did not retura. So treating dheir subjects With Ute reqpect, of ner ‘hey sud, natural disasters were punishments ini sds on men, high and low, for neglecting some of der of thing. ts that filled the minds ofthe Our ih Believe thar there was a there no need 6 expt others savage. One mood is wot more unusual cha Like the rest of us, the Chinese have fry they live in, by the be fits bestowed by isasters nlite So, before we tll the cople of ancient China, let us take a ook att th the balance. For a long time, the Chinese liked to place the blame for their misfortunes on the conflict between Vin and Yang, which had somehow been acre in the gokden age. "Tey came to believe that it could be averted in the future, and disaster for themelves prevented, only through sucrifice. So sing their Wedo not he pat. So ‘wy things are not what they used some kind another 2 The Land of China In some ways nature has been very kind to China, The country is large one an has wider extremes of elimate than we a than any part of this countey. Even 30, the country is largel spared the very worst weather, like the deep freeze of Siberia 2 ntey posse natural boundaries, which men found very dificult of transport In the east les the Pacific Ocean, the lagest foean in the word, occupying almast one half of che world’s he west and south, 8 and Tibet, including the formidabl are the high Himalaya range. The mo the north sireteles the immense, uninviting Gobi desert in Monat a large pat of China today. Bu, fot do so, ‘Their land was unsuitable for farming. ‘The peoples, although akin to the Chinese, were not really of the fame race; they developed the The Chines and Inner Moagolia—foem have usually treated the people of these Kontier areas as outsider, (Today they call them “minority groups Th Heaven had deliberately con tuived to keep them isolated frm the rest ofthe word. In thie yes this proved that their country wat meant to be the centre they called thee enuntry “the mide Kingdom’), ad that they were superior to her peopteThen they bul ober embeckmens ater tack best CHANGES IN THE COURSE : < a OF THE YELLOW RIVER danger of bursting te banks water ev above the an England ts banks has gone on filly. During the last fou has done countryside the rich, tore fertile wind and wate re oredep tavesdwellings have been cut out oftoes is yellowish-brown in colour, and xo Fine tha you can rub it between your fingers and not feel or se any grit. Ie ety porous, The sil is very frie fit well-watered, but without rain or Hoodwater it soon turns to dus. The harvest therefore, is always at the mercy of the weather. The climat fof north China isnot as proditabl as itis in tit country. Rain tsually comes in the summer months. Sometimes there is too tnuch of it that leads to flooding. At other times, there i a0 Tie: that results in drought Both Hooding and drought have fen led to famine and death ona large scale The constant threat of drought encouraged the Chinese build canals, many of them in the valley of the Yangtze, to iigat the porovs wil ofthe inland districts during the months fof light rainfall. They buil system of canals on the pattern of the five fingers ofthe hand, and then repeated the pattera fo tach ofthe ingers, and soon, In this way, the ever water an its ich, allevial mud were spread over large ateas of land that herwise would have remained parched and barren. Newly ited. land enormously increased the amount of food Apuct fiom inrgation, the Chinese discovered another way of making the fields more productive, They so0a learnt chat the soil feeds on waste products of any kind, animal and vegetable, They even preserved theie own manue and put i Ihackeinto the lanl o make it move fertile What crops have the Chinese grown? On the North China Plain, millet and soya beans have been the main erops. a the valley of the Vangtze and the Wea Rivers, riechas been grow, ainly because both sun and rain are more abundant there than in the north, but also because, ofall crops, rice ceturns the heaviest yield per acte. This ie very important because, although the Yangtze valley was not the fst region 10 be Settled by the Chines, it has since become the most densely populated area of the whole country TThe people who lived in the river valleys of China were acutely awace that theis food and livelihood depended on the behaviour ofthe rivers, They held the Yellow River and eh Yangtze in awe, but they did not worship them in the sam way a the Egyptians worshipped the Nile nd the Ladians the Ganges. More often than not, they regarded the river god dlemons, They had sense enough to se thatthe river di ot act of their ova accord, and responded only to the acti the wind and ran, So they appealed for aid directly to Heaven, ‘he Ind of the weather In spite of their belie in the gous, the early Chinese were practical people. They knew that they could not take their ives or their ood for granted. Yet they did not mercy sit low aud hope fr the best. They took a ele interes in their surroundings. Four hundeed years before Chest, chey prov duced a handbook recording simple facts about rivers, the tveither, the Lind and its prodets, This information was well for farmers, soldiers, and government officials alike. hit interest deepened with the years, Two hundred years Inter, hey were engaged in the making of maps. Lang before that, his practical see made them judge their rulers in part b their creatnent of dhe waterways-—tivers and canals If che king kept them in good order, he was praised for is wicom Ihe allowed thent to fall into disrepair, he was condemn his fl Tis time now to go buck to the beginning and alist stages inthe long history of the Chinese peopl5 The Great Philosophers and themselves at heart? Dothtid not mean by worse. And their evil influence made the community ous, he made a mistake in thinking that be able to join their rank, T48 OF course, Confacius’s world was a man's world: ‘Women and people of low bith are verw hard to deal wich, Ifyou a iendly with them, they get out of hand, and Ifyou keep your distance, they resent it) (Confucius hirsel’ was certainly married, but we know nothing of his wife, One story is that she divorced him! fucius wanted evervbody. cegarlles of clas to show 1 manners and behave properly, For ths parpose, he drew Up long lists of halGforgotten rues that had once been followed in feudal houstholds. These gules laid down in detail the proper dres, food, and conduct to ft every posible situation inp. The keynote of thee rules war good taste. Clothes hal tobesober, for bright colours were the marka'a shallow rind People must not eat or drink too much, and food had to be oaked to perfection. Confucius rfused to eat food that did not have the right colour or smell His ober taste extended to rmusic. He denounced the ‘modern light me preferred the soletnn, stately tunes of od The cules of conduct. (eventually there were over throe thousand of them) were a guide to how people should behave at court, inthe street, at home, Wherever they were men ha to be polite and dignified. ‘There was no place lar fivaliy or anger. Above all, hey were expected to act with the respect ‘due to age and rank, Old age was held to bea sign of wisdom, owing was very important 1 ook the place ofshaking hands, hich is our form of greeting. There were many kinds of bow, Aepending on the rank and importance of the people con cerned, To some your hands together and bowed Irom the waist. To an elder pereon, you based fom the hip. Yous knelt to your ancestors and to those tec in authority over you, Finally, those who temtered the king’s presence had to perforin the ceremony of ‘the three kneelings and nine knocking> Trsde the Early, twas the duty of parents to bring up their sr own age and standing, you clasped childcen to show special consideration for their elders and betters But there were proper forms of addres, with set ase and gestures, for people ofall ages. Younger brother bust not take libeeties with elder ones. Wives must deer to Mest porn ere the lt beeen iden and as a mark of respect, aad be very earful mot spel owt of urn. They addeeed ther ater as ‘Sit, an eontoned thet hey were unworthy of him. They constantly assured eno hee desire to homone him and serve him. They were expected wo behave “in sucha way hat your father ae ther hve no i never to let te family down, It they Led w live up ta thes parent expectations they would eng hate not any tn themselves and their parents but on the family ancesore in everyday life. Somewhere in many houses there. hung row pieces of wood, on which were written the names of the dead stretching back over the generations. The spirits of the dead were supposed to make thie hore in thes fables. In front af them, once a year, offerings of food and dvink were placed in memory ofthe departed. The dead were held in such respect that it was comsidered bad taste to call them by their ows names in conversation, Instead, members of the family talked about ‘our departed father" ot ‘our lat uncle Confucius sometimes wondered whether it was good « pay attention tothe spirits. He once asked, “Til you have learnt ro serve men, how can you serve ghosts? But he wanted ancestor-worship to conti led the living that they were Finks in along chain seething back nthe distant past. T people understood argh Wey Nou it they dived to thove who had lve bel alow their example. Ancest for another reson, tering ‘and would want toJere either clever enough t0 und or keen to fol ime, the Chinese believed chat, inthe same way that Confucius wat nt called L But hie Tutt, power, knowledge, education, laws gol m Here is 2 collection of Tac of Life Wealth and p ngs taken from ‘The Way 1 Taw and compulsion ind compulsion men would dwell in reilly echo SN eam he Je nga, Lae ee Sea aa RR SE 7ound up completely with the workings of nacure. They oft men to farsake nature, a8 chey believed that it was wrong dil when they lived in tows sad eared thee Biving in trade Trying to live apart fom nature was seking for trouble “That which is under heaven i ike a holy ves, dangerous to ‘Whatever’ men did wo defeat ber fr, Seomed to be: ‘Nothing s weaker than water. Bue when it ‘What, hen, should men do? They should eave th el attend the sacriices, and be Nature wo They should work in the tent to live simply, without pomp or show. Some Tadiss went further than this, and decided to live alone as hermits on he ills andi the wood “Most of them, however, wante though they hated laws, they were ready to follow a ruler because, when men forsook the false gods of ehvilisation, they ‘would then need soaieone to win the favour of the true gods But kings should “rule a cowstry as they would cole a fish They should not tn cople ether by pre flats or by feeding them that is, leave i lone as mach a8 possible fection oftheir to win the loyalty or tending to take at interest in their about their own. The rulers of the golden age had understood thi: “Ta the days ofl, those who practised Tay with success didnot, by means of it align the people, buton the contrary nore kiowledge people have, the harder they are t rule” and bad. Unlike Confucian sinit had coon forthe expression of feeling and allowed men's ‘aginaton to wander frely. Eis followers were often vlerant and peaceful, and in favour of moderation and compromise. The best of them, living belbre Chiat, believed in the power of fove and iui. They knee that foree would never triumph, ‘Gn the other hand there were others who went around with rug ea make ther ignorant, The Taoinm was a misture of go a slighty superior smile on thei lips, aad sneered at other people's achievements, And letting the imagination wander Taoism got mised up with Moi, another teacher of the same period, wa less anxious than the others to look back to the past. He fad some ideas tha were really new. He agrecl with che Taoist that extrava ld be eut out. Men should be content 1 have only food and elothing as they really needed, They should ‘ot make surplus goods to sll ata profit. Moneymaking led to shappiness ic appealed co men’s wort instincts Tie should be made mace. simple worship and other sac snd often meaningless. They should be eut or dome aveay wit altogether as the continual fighting that upsct Mo i most of all He hated war rather than take part in ic He was much more truly religious than Contac, and be, too, had ideas that were very like those of Christians later on. He believed that dhe universe was governed all ound. Ancestor Jal ceremonies were to complicated by a Being sho loved all men equally. Men ought to respond not jest members oftheir families, but all men, rich and poot Unlike many men living atthe ti seemed inevitable, Mi to this love by loving one anothe fiend and foe when war and suffer TS believed that men were thie ‘masters, avd could, if they shed, make themselves better andl happier, ‘Mo Ti was widely admired in his lifetime. But his followers Aid not keep up his high standards, and lite remained of bi teaching ator time except some fragment af his books, Another group of thinkers at chis time, called the Realist, They obtained positions of power fast of alin the state of Chin, and, then, on tefl ofthe Chow dynasty, throughout the whole of China, The Realist ehonghe of themselves as hardheaded, no nonsense men. Only thre ‘ings mattered: esto all, power for themselves, then farming and wat. 8What a king needed 3 military ail, He noed not be wiser or beter than ther men, {his officials, His fit concern must be to keep aay ald be gh sariical rites, but by hal work, Lee to sinine. Adequate supplies of food sw ded, not the peasants would be ile. They must be fotced to work bard Severe laws and heavy punishments are what the people hate but they are the only means by which order ean prevail The Realists thought that i as a mistake fr a prosperous country not to make war. A ruler shoul! aim to make hisstate country supreme and expand it frontiers Only farmers and soldiers were useful. Everybody elie Should be directed on to the land ar into the army. Book leaming was expecially dangerous, beesuse it gave men ideas f their own. Their real duty was simply to obey the king mmands. Even handbooks on farming and wat were not necessary, since the king was the f This sad to thnk that uch cold caleulating men, perhape the east worthy of the Chinese piles sucess than the rest. Their vietty gives us a good idea of how desperate things were at the end of the Chow dynasty. Chin rule reunited China, but iedid so atthe cost ofstrangling many of her eivlied ways,