Ancient China 3 thousand BC. Ancient China briefly and most importantly in facts, Chinese dynasties and culture

Country and population

Ancient Chinese civilization arose on the basis of Neolithic cultures that developed in the 5th-3rd millennia BC. e. in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. The Yellow River basin was the main territory for the formation of the ethnic community of the ancient Chinese, one of the centers of early world civilizations, which developed for a long time in conditions of relative isolation. Only from the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. The process of expanding the territory developed by the ancient Chinese begins. They gradually spread southward, first to the Yangtze basin area, and then further south. At the end of our era, the ancient Chinese state extended far beyond the Yellow River basin, although the northern border of the ethnic territory of the ancient Chinese remained almost unchanged.

Crossing the loess plateau, which lies at a level of 400-1500 m, from north to south, the Yellow River turns east, flows along the Central China Plain and flows into the Bo-hai Gulf. The course of the Yellow River in its lower reaches has moved repeatedly over the past millennia; The configuration of the coastline of the Bohai Bay also changed, continuously retreating under the influence of river sediments.

Several thousand years ago, the entire Yellow River valley was covered with forests, which have now been completely destroyed. The climate of this region consistently changed from higher to lower average annual temperatures with a general decrease in humidity levels. In the IV-II millennia BC. e. in the area of the middle reaches of the Yellow River there were elephants and rhinoceroses, tapirs and bamboo rats, and in the floodplains of the rivers there were extensive thickets of bamboo. In epigraphic monuments of the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. we find information about heavy precipitation - “long rains”, which occurred intermittently throughout the year.

Soft alluvial soils in the valleys of the Yellow River and its tributaries created very favorable conditions for farming. Therefore, until the 1st millennium BC. h. settlements were located in close proximity to river beds on low loess terraces, and large areas of the Central China Plain remained undeveloped. Floodplain farming tied people to the river, and this was fraught with serious danger. It is no coincidence that in early written records the ancient Chinese word “misfortune” was written with a hieroglyph depicting a spilled water element. Rising water levels in rivers constantly threatened with destructive floods, which people did not yet know how to deal with.

Significant changes occurred only from the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e., when the widespread use of iron tools allowed the ancient Chinese to go beyond the river floodplains. They learned to cultivate hard soils, which created conditions for a more even distribution of the population and the development of the entire territory of modern Northern China. Paleo-anthropological finds dating back to the Neolithic and Bronze Ages indicate that the Eastern Mongoloids predominated in this territory.

We do not have at our disposal and, presumably, never will have direct data on what languages were spoken by the people who inhabited the Yellow River basin in Neolithic times; one can only assume that the creators of the Yangshao painted ceramics culture (5th-4th millennium BC) were proto-Sino-Tibetans, who displaced and partially assimilated the more ancient Paleo-Asian population. Probably, the Yin ethnic community (2nd millennium BC) arose as a result of the mixing of one of the groups of Proto-Sino-Tibetans with tribes of southern origin. Another, more western group of Proto-Sino-Tibetans became the basis for the formation of the Zhou-Wu ethnic community. Based on the interaction between the Yin and Zhou people in the 1st millennium BC. e. In the middle reaches of the Yellow River, the ancient Chinese ethnic group took shape. Neighboring ethnic communities who spoke Paleo-Asian (in the north) and Austroasiatic (in the south-east) languages also took part in its formation.

Chronology and periodization

Like other countries of the ancient world, China did not have a unified chronology system. Since the 1st millennium BC. e. dates were designated by the years of the reign of the wang (supreme ruler), so establishing an absolute chronology sometimes encountered significant difficulties. Thus, modern researchers date the Zhou conquest, which led to the fall of the Yin state, in different ways: some historians date this event to 1122 BC. e., others - by 1066, 1050 or 1027 BC. e. Only from 341 BC. e. In the history of Ancient China, a completely reliable chronology begins.

From the 1st century n. e. The ancient Chinese began to use special signs of the sexagesimal cycle to designate years, which had previously served to name days. The sexagenary cycle, which has been used continuously in China ever since, has completely eliminated the possibility of any serious errors in dates. To clarify the chronology of an earlier period, new methods of calculating absolute dates are currently being used, in particular records of solar and lunar eclipses, etc.

Traditional Chinese historical science was characterized by the periodization of ancient Chinese history by dynasties. Thus, the era of the mythical “five emperors” was followed by the reign of the “three dynasties” (Xia, Shang-Yin and Zhou). According to tradition, the Zhou era is divided into two parts - Western Zhou (XI-VIII centuries BC) and Eastern Zhou (VIII-III centuries BC), including the Chunqiu and Zhanguo periods. The Qin Dynasty (III century BC) is replaced by the Han Dynasty, whose reign is also divided into Western and Eastern periods. Dynastic periodization cannot fully satisfy the requirements of a modern researcher. Therefore, we use archaeological periodization, dividing the stages of development of society according to the level of productive forces and the main material from which tools were made. Consequently, the era preceding the “three dynasties” should be attributed to the Neolithic, while from the Shang-Yin time, ancient Chinese society entered the Bronze Age. At the end of the Chunqiu period (VI-V centuries BC) in Ancient China they receive the spread of iron tools - the Age of Iron begins.

For us, of course, the most important thing is periodization, the main criterion of which is the socio-economic development of society. We highlight five main periods in the history of ancient Chinese society: 1. The decomposition of the primitive communal system and the emergence of class society and ancient states (II millennium BC). 2. Ancient China in the VIII-III centuries. BC e. 3. The first centralized state in China was the Qin Empire (221-207 BC). 4. Han Empire (III-I centuries BC). 5. Ancient China in the 1st-3rd centuries. n. e.

Sources of Ancient Chinese History

At the disposal of the researcher of the ancient history of China are extremely numerous and, for the most part, fairly reliably dated written monuments. These are historical works that are very diverse in their content and have come down to our time in the form of books. They constitute the first and main category of sources for the study of ancient Chinese history.

Among written sources, ancient Chinese chronicles are of great importance, primarily the Chunqiu chronicle, compiled in the kingdom of Lu and covering the events of the 8th-5th centuries. BC h. Significant commentary literature later arose around the text of Chunqiu, the authorship of which is traditionally attributed to the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius. One of these commentaries, Zuozhuan, is actually an independent chronicle of events that took place within the same chronological framework. This chronicle differs from “Chunqiu” in the incomparably greater detail of the narrative.

Another genre of ancient Chinese historical writings, represented primarily by the book “Shangshu” (“Shujing”), is closely related to the chronicles. This is a recording of the speeches of rulers and their entourage. Only part of the text of “Shangshu”, which has survived to this day, can be considered authentic (some chapters of this work are later interpolations).

A special place among the sources on the ancient history of China is occupied by the “Shits-zing” - a collection of songs, most of them of folklore origin. Not being a historical work in the narrow sense of the word, “Shijing” contains a variety of materials to characterize many important aspects of the life of ancient Chinese society in the first half of the 1st millennium BC. e.

In this regard, the works of ancient Chinese philosophers of the 5th - 3rd centuries are of great value. BC e., who, in polemics with their ideological opponents, constantly appeal to the events of the historical past.

In the 1st century BC e. In Ancient China, a historical work appears that had a decisive influence on the further development of historiography not only in China, but also in a number of other countries of the Far East. “Historical Notes” by Sima Qian (145-90 BC) is a general history of the country from ancient times to the 1st century. BC e. Sima Qian used a new principle of presenting historical events - biography. “Historical Notes” consists of five sections, three of them are built on this principle: “Basic Notes” - narratives about the most important acts of the rulers of various dynasties; “Histories of hereditary houses” - biographies of the largest representatives of the hereditary aristocracy: “Biographies” - biographies of historical figures. Sima Qian also included in his work “Treats,” devoted to certain aspects of social life, culture, science, and “Tables,” which discuss problems of chronology.

Sima Qian's historiographic method was used by Ban Gu (32-92), the author of Han History. However, Ban Gu's work is dedicated to the history of one dynasty - the Han, more precisely the Western Han (206 BC). Ban Gu is thus the founder of a new genre of Chinese historiography, called “dynasty histories.” These include, in particular, “History of the Later Han Dynasty,” written at the beginning of the 5th century. and covering the events of the 1st-3rd centuries.

At the beginning of the 20th century. In the historiography of China, a hypercritical approach to written ancient Chinese historical sources is becoming widespread. Emphasizing the need to identify the authenticity of ancient monuments and later distortions and insertions into them, supporters of this trend considered unreliable, for example, all information about the Shang-Yin era reported by Sima Qian, and argued “that the history of China begins with the Zhou era. The decisive argument that undermined positions of the hypercritical school, were the results of archaeological research begun in China in the second decade of the 20th century. In 1921, the Swedish scientist I. G. Anderson discovered traces of a Neolithic culture in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, which he named Yangshao. In 1928, " excavations of the capital of Shang-Yin near Anyang, which made it possible to obtain an idea of the level of productive forces, social organization and material culture of Ancient China in the 14th-11th centuries. BC uh,

A significant step forward in the archaeological study of the territory of modern China was made after the victory of the Chinese revolution, especially in the 50-80s. The use of the latest excavation methods (in particular, the opening of ancient settlements over large areas) has made it possible to enrich the source study of the ancient history of China with the most valuable data relating to all periods of ancient Chinese society from the Neolithic to the Han era. Among the most important achievements of Chinese archeology in recent years are the excavations of the early Shan city of Erlitou; finds of a large number of Zhou bronze vessels with inscriptions on them; discovery of rich burials of the 3rd century near Changsha. BC e., in which, due to the specific environmental conditions, a set of clothing, utensils, jewelry and works of art, as well as numerous inscriptions on wooden tablets and silk, were completely preserved.

For the study of ancient Chinese society, the Shan-Yin era, epigraphic sources are of exceptional importance, and among them, first of all, the so-called fortune-telling inscriptions of the 14th-11th centuries. BC e. They were first discovered by Chinese scientists in 1899. During excavations of the Ntan-Yin capital near Anyang, a large number of new inscriptions were found. Studying them, researchers found in epigraphic texts references to names and facts known from Sima Qian’s “Historical Notes”. In their content, the fortune-telling inscriptions reflect the social and political history of the Shang-Yin era.

No less valuable information is contained in epigraphic sources of the 10th-7th centuries. BC e. — Zhou inscriptions on ritual bronze vessels. The study of these monuments made it possible to establish the authenticity and reliability of a number of chapters of Shanshu, the text of which reveals stylistic similarities with the inscriptions on the vessels.

To III z. BC BC - 3rd century n. e. These include inscriptions that are very diverse in nature and content (mainly on wooden planks), among which are various categories of official documents (household lists, statements, deeds of sale, etc.)

Historiography

Traditional Chinese historical science is characterized by two features: first, the idea of the eternal and absolute superiority of Chinese culture over the culture of neighboring peoples; secondly, the identification of myth with historical fact, the consequence of which was the unlawful ancientization of the origins of statehood in China.

The hypercritical trend of Chinese historiography arose as a reaction to the shortcomings of traditional science, but its vice was the opposite extreme of judgment about the past. Only at the end of the 20s of the 20th century, as Marxist ideas spread in China, the prerequisites gradually emerged for the development of a truly scientific study of the ancient history of China from the standpoint of historical materialism. However, discussions about the nature of ancient Chinese society that took place in China in the 30s showed that many studies undertaken in those years were characterized by dogmatism in the interpretation of certain provisions of Marxist-Leninist theory. Characteristic in this regard are the early works of Guo Mozhuo, who absolutized theses about the unity of the world-historical process and therefore denied any specificity of ancient Eastern societies.

In the 40s and 50s, Chinese scientists successfully developed problems of the socio-economic history of Ancient China. The events of the Cultural Revolution interrupted these studies. Only in the late 70s were discussions about the nature of ancient Chinese society resumed, the publication of sources, and the creation of university courses on the ancient history of China.

The beginning of the study of China by Japanese scientists dates back to the Middle Ages. Over the past decades, all periods of ancient Chinese history have been equally studied in Japan. One of the most prominent specialists in this field, Kaizu-ka Shigeki, is the author of major studies concerning the formation and development of the ancient Chinese state. A large group of Japanese historians is working to study socio-economic relations during the Han era.

In Europe, a major contribution to the study of the history of Ancient China was made by the French Sinological school. At the beginning of our century, E. Chavannes undertook a translation (which, unfortunately, remained unfinished) of Sima Qian’s “Historical Notes”, and also published a corpus of stone bas-reliefs of the Han period, collected and studied by him during his stay in China. It should also be noted the research of one of the largest French sinologists A. Maspero, whose major work “Ancient China” had a noticeable influence on modern historiography. G. Billenstein in the 50s was one of the first to pay serious attention to the problems of demography in Ancient China.

In the United States, the study of Ancient China has developed significantly only in recent decades, with leading positions occupied by scholars of Chinese origin living in the United States. At the end of the 60s, the international “Society for the Study of Ancient China” was created in the USA, which has been publishing its own journal since 1975.

Russian sinology has a long tradition; its origins were in the first half of the 19th century. such a famous expert on the ancient history of China as N. Ya. Bichurin. Russian researchers were characterized by an interest primarily in the culture and ideology of the ancient Chinese, as well as an excellent knowledge of primary sources.

In Soviet historiography of the ancient history of China, three periods can be distinguished.

The first of them dates back to the late 20s - early 30s, when in the course of discussions about the problems of the social system of China, materials on ancient Chinese society were widely used. The weak point in these works was the lack of understanding of the primary sources.

The second period (40-50s) can be called essay. It was marked by the creation of the first summary works and university courses on the history of Ancient China.

During this period, the foundations were laid for the development of the Marxist concept of the history of ancient Chinese society. In particular, L. V. Simonovskaya proposed a periodization of the history of Ancient China, which stimulated further research in this area.

In the 60s, a qualitatively new stage in the study of ancient Chinese society by Soviet historians began. It is characterized by the appearance of a number of monographic studies devoted to certain periods of the history of Ancient China, as well as an in-depth analysis of specific aspects of the economy, social system, and ideology.

Soviet historians pay great attention to the study and translation into Russian of ancient Chinese written monuments. Here, first of all, it should be noted the multi-volume translation of Sima Qian’s “Historical Notes”.

Neolithic origins of ancient Chinese civilization

In the V-III millennia BC. e. In the middle reaches of the Yellow River, developed Neolithic cultures developed, the earliest of which was the Yangshao culture. The Yang Shao tribes, who inhabited the valley of one of the tributaries of the Yellow River and then spread to the west and east, lived in small villages in close proximity to the river floodplains. On fertile alluvial soils, the Yang Shao people cultivated chumiza. They raised pigs and dogs. The Yang Shao people achieved great mastery in the technique of making ceramics, fired in special ovens and decorated with brightly colored geometric or zoomorphic patterns.

In the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. e. noticeable changes occur in the distribution of Yangshao-type cultures. Painted ceramics are gradually disappearing, replaced by gray and black dishes made using a potter's wheel.

Cultures of this type, usually called Longshan, are characterized by further progress in agriculture. Stone tools are being improved, in particular, more productive types of reaping knives and sickles are appearing. Changes also occur in social relations: traces of property differentiation are discovered for the first time in Longshan burials.

Legends about the events of political history of the 2nd millennium BC. e.

According to the legends that have come down to us about the perfect rulers of antiquity, the wise Yao once ruled in the Celestial Empire. Having grown old, he chose the capable and energetic Shun as his successor. Under this ruler, a flood was sent down to the Celestial Empire. Shun announced that he would hand over the reins of power to the one who could save people from the flood. The great Yu managed to do this: he deepened the river beds and along them the water flowed into the sea. So Yu became the ruler. Yu's place was taken, contrary to tradition, not by some outsider who had proven himself through his work for the benefit of people, but by Qi, Yu's son. After this, supreme power began to be transmitted in the Middle Kingdom by inheritance. This legend, presumably, reflects certain historical facts: elected positions are gradually being replaced by hereditary power. Qi, the son of Great Yu, is considered the founder of the first ancient Chinese Xia dynasty. The “Historical Notes” of Sima Qian give the names of the rulers of this dynasty and the sequence of their occupation of the throne. However, the lack of reliable written sources does not allow us to resolve the question of what ancient Chinese society was like at that time.

According to legend, the last ruler of the Xia dynasty was distinguished by extraordinary cruelty, which antagonized the leaders of the subordinate tribes. The leader of one of these tribes, the Shan [named Tang], rebelled against the tyrant, overthrew him and united the Celestial Empire under his rule. [He began to be called Cheng Tan (“Tang the Creator”).] He was the first representative of the new Shang dynasty, which later became known as Yin (XVII century BC). According to Sima Qian, the Shang tribe repeatedly moved across the Central Chinese Plain. The last resettlement of the Shans occurred under the ruler Pan Geng in the 14th century. BC e., the center of the Shang territory became the area of modern An-yang. The capital, the Great Shan City, was founded here. From this second period of Shang-Yin history, dating from the 14th to 11th centuries BC. e., not only archaeological monuments, but also numerous epigraphic sources have reached us.

Development of productive forces in the 2nd millennium BC. e.

Many features of the material culture of the Shang-Yin period indicate its genetic connections with the Neolithic tribes that inhabited the Yellow River basin in the 3rd millennium BC. e. There are many similarities in Yin and Longshan ceramics. The nature of agriculture and agricultural implements have changed little over the course of several centuries. The main digging tool in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. What remained was a wooden spade - a two-pronged stick with a crossbar. However, at least three major achievements are inherent in the Shang-Yin era: the use of bronze, the emergence of cities and the appearance of writing. . The most ancient traces of bronze casting production can now be traced in settlements like Erlitou (first half of the 2nd millennium BC). In the late Yin, techniques for enriching copper ore, recipes for copper and tin alloys were known, and high-quality clay molds were used for casting. However, the technological achievements of that time almost did not affect the main sphere of social production - agriculture. Bronze was used in the Yin era mainly in two areas - for the production of weapons and ritual vessels for sacrifices.

In Yin times, adobe walls began to be erected, which surrounded all large settlements - places where crafts were concentrated; they can be considered cities. The city wall of the early Yin capital had a base no less than 6 m thick. Such a wall reliably protected the population of the city during hostilities. As excavations of the June capital near the city of Anyang showed, numerous palace and temple buildings were located on the territory of the city, erected on adobe platforms. These buildings were supported by powerful columns, which were installed on stone or bronze foundations. A network of drainage canals served to drain excess moisture in case of rain or floods. Workshops were located within the city wall - foundries, bone-cutting, pottery, etc.

Thus, many specialized industries appeared, crafts were separated from agriculture.

Finally, an indication of society’s entry into a qualitatively new era is the emergence of writing.

The examples of Yin writing that have reached us are the oldest inscriptions in East Asia. They are represented by fortune-telling texts on animal bones and turtle shells. However, there is no doubt that other writing materials, in particular wooden planks, were also widely used in Yin times. At the court of the Yin ruler, there was, for example, the position of “zuotse” (literally, “making wooden slats for writing”). Thanks to the decipherment of inscriptions from the 14th-11th centuries. BC e. one can judge many important aspects of the life of Yin society.

Society and state in the Yin era

Based on the study of all types of sources, a picture emerges of the complex social structure of ancient Chinese society.

About the far-reaching social stratification of society in the XIV-XI centuries. BC e. and the formation of class relations are evidenced by Yin burials. At least four categories of burials can be distinguished: clearly distinguished by external features: size, nature and quantity of grave goods, etc.

The first category consists of the largest tombs excavated in the Anyang area. In the central burial chamber with an area of 400-500 square meters. m and a depth of 10 meters or more, an outer coffin was placed, in which another one was enclosed - an inner one. Bronze ritual vessels, jewelry made of gold and jasper, weapons, musical instruments, and vessels made of white kaolin clay were placed in the grave along with the deceased. Horse-drawn carts are also found in tombs. In burials of this category, the skeletal remains of people are always found, most likely servants or courtiers, who were forcibly buried along with the deceased.

The second category consists of burials with an average size of 20-25 square meters. m at a depth of 5-7 m. There are usually no human burials here, but the inventory is quite rich and varied: bronze vessels, jasper jewelry, weapons. The third category consists of burials in ground pits that barely contain the body of the deceased. As a rule, the inventory contains rough clay vessels and sometimes labor tools. Finally, the fourth category includes burials under the foundations of buildings or around large graves. Based on the nature of the skeletons and their location, it can be judged that people who died a violent death were buried in the graves of this category: beheaded or buried alive.

The graves of the first category obviously belonged to Yin rulers or their close relatives. Having much in common with the royal tombs of Sumerian Ur, these tombs clearly characterize the opposition of rulers to the bulk of the population. Rich burials of the second category are the graves of representatives of the ruling stratum of Yin society, who, due to their property status, nobility and social weight, occupy a special place in the social structure. The burials, modest in size and grave goods, belong to free community members. As for the burials of the last, fourth category, they buried people who did not have equal rights even with commoners, forced laborers, servants or slaves.

According to the ideas prevailing in Ancient China, “the main affairs in the state are sacrifices and wars.” Both were reflected in sufficient detail in the texts of Yin inscriptions on oracle bones.

One of the most important results of any military campaign was the capture of prisoners. The victorious commander returned to the Great Shan City, leading a crowd of captives. A special fortuneteller usually asked the deity a whole series of questions related to the further fate of those captured. He was interested in how many prisoners, when, in what way and to which of the deceased ancestors of the ruler should be sacrificed. During religious ceremonies in honor of one or another ancestor, up to several hundred captives could be sacrificed at the same time. There were many different methods of sacrifice - cutting off the head, drowning, burning at the stake, etc. This phenomenon was relatively widespread in archaic early class societies that had not learned to fully value slave labor and were afraid to leave prisoners of war - male - alive. A long study of fortune-telling texts showed that they do not contain any specific terms used to refer to slaves.

The Yin's ideas about the surrounding world and its population were clearly ethnocentric in nature. They believed that in the center of the Celestial Empire was the Great City of Shan - the residence of the ruler. Around it extend the territories that are part of the Yin state. They differ according to the countries of the world: western lands, southern lands, etc. Outside the lands live tribes that do not recognize the authority of the Yin ruler and are therefore hostile to him. However, there was virtually no clear boundary between lands and tribes. Any tribe that sided with the ruler of Yin automatically became part of the corresponding lands, and vice versa. The Yin state did not have any other system of territorial division other than the tribal one. It most likely arose as an alliance of tribes, one of which rose above the others and subjugated them to its influence.

The political unity of the Yin people was personified by the ruler, the Wang. There is a clear tendency towards the assertion of the sole power of the sovereign. Speaking about themselves, the Yin Wangs used the solemn formula: “I am the only one among people*. The power of the van was expressed in his right to give orders to any person located on his lands. Often the van personally led punitive campaigns against hostile tribes. If the tribe recognized the authority of the Wang, he granted his leader a title, indicating that the tribe was becoming a member of the Yin coalition. From now on, it could count on the patronage and protection of the van, who had to take care of all his subordinates. The leader of the tribe, who received the title from the van, was obliged to regularly appear in the Great City of Shan, send tribute there, and, if necessary, place his militia at the disposal of the ruler. If their territory was attacked, subordinate chiefs immediately reported it to the van. Wang was also the high priest. Only he could determine the will of the deity from the cracks in the oracle bone.

The Yin state reached its greatest power under Wang Wu Ding, who ruled in the second half of the 13th century. BC e. Under him, new palaces and temples were built in the Great Shan City. Wu Ding greatly expanded Yin territory. In the memory of his descendants he remained a powerful conqueror.

After Wu Ding's death, the Yin House fell into disrepair. The last ruler of Yin is depicted in written sources as an immoral tyrant who “was debauched and outrageous, not knowing how to restrain himself.” These messages most likely represent an attempt to substantiate and historically justify events dating back to the last third of the 11th century. BC e. and entered into historiography as the “Zhou conquest.”

The emergence of the Zhou state

The first information about the Zhou tribe appears in Yin epigraphic monuments from the reign of Wu Ding. At this time, the Zhou entered the sphere of political influence of the Yin as a subordinate territory. The strengthening of the Zhou people was marked by the fact that the Yin Wang officially awarded the leader of this tribe and his son the title of “Zhou Hou” (dependent ruler). But reports of military clashes between Yin and Zhou also date back to this time.

Gradually, a powerful coalition of Western tribes, led by the Zhous, takes shape. Having undertaken a campaign to the east, Wu-wan (“Martial Ruler”) defeated the Yin army (1027 BC). The Zhousians quite quickly assimilated the most important technical and cultural achievements of the vanquished, adopting, first of all, the technique of bronze casting. Before the conquest, the Zhousians practically did not know bronze. Now, having captured the Yin masters, they attracted them to their service. It is no coincidence that in appearance weapons, ritual vessels, metal jewelry of the Zhou people are difficult to distinguish from Yin products. The Zhou people learned from the Yin how to make and use war chariots - the main striking force of the army of that time. Light chariots with a drawbar, harnessed by a pair of horses, knew no barriers on the flat loess plains in the Yellow River basin and its tributaries. Such a chariot usually carried three warriors: a driver driving horses; an archer who hit the enemy with arrows; a spearman armed with a spear or halberd - a weapon of close and medium combat. Until the invention of crossbows, the ancient Chinese chariot of the Yin type remained a powerful means of attacking the enemy .

One of the most important borrowings of the Zhou people was the Yin script. There is reason to believe that before the conquest the Zhou people used their own writing system. It, apparently, was imperfect, and the Zhou people adopted the Yin letter. Zhou epigraphic monuments of the 11th–9th centuries. BC e. written in Yin characters, only partially modified over time.

After the final defeat of the Yin, the Zhou people carried out a series of measures known as “hereditary grants.” Their essence was that U-wan's relatives and some representatives of the nobility received ownership of the lands along with their population, and depending on the size of the grant, the new hereditary owners were assigned the appropriate title. In addition, many leaders of tribes that were previously part of the Yin coalition, but who supported the Zhou people during the conquest of Yin, were recognized as such rulers (Zhuhou). The population “bestowed” on one or another Zhuhou was calculated by the number of Zu, i.e., tribal groups living in the corresponding territory in Yin times. The total number of newly created or previously existing hereditary possessions recognized by the van was in the 11th century. BC e. at least 200-300.

In general, the Zhou conquest did not cause fundamental changes in the system of governance of the territories subordinate to Wang.

Socio-economic relations in the X-VIII centuries. BC e.

Social differentiation of Yin society, which can be traced in the materials of burials of the XSV-—XI centuries. BC e., was consolidated after the Zhou conquest in the system of social ranks.

The entire free population of Zhou was divided into five social groups, related to each other according to the principle of hierarchy, which was more clearly expressed in Ancient China than in other ancient Eastern societies. The group that occupied the highest rung in the hierarchical ladder was represented by the personality of a despotic ruler, “the only one among the people” - this is how the Zhou Wangs continued to call themselves, following tradition. The second group is the Zhuhou, the rulers of hereditary domains, representatives of the highest Zhou-wu aristocracy. The third is the dafu, the heads of those zu (ro before tribal groups), which together constituted the population of the hereditary domain of Zhuhou. The fourth group is the shi, the heads of large families that were part of one or another tzu. Finally, the fifth group is commoners.

Social rank, being an external manifestation of belonging to one of the five social groups, determined the totality of those material benefits that a given person could use. “Clothing depends on rank, and the consumption of wealth depends on the amount of remuneration corresponding to rank,” we read in. one of the sources of the Zhou time. — The quantities of drink and food, the cut of clothing, the number of livestock and slaves are different, there are prohibitions on the use of certain forms of boats, chariots and household utensils. During a person’s life, differences are observed in headdress, clothing, number of fields and size of the home; after death - in the size of the inner and outer coffin, shroud and grave pit.” The size of the dwelling and its decoration were strictly regulated: “The beams in the palace of the Son of Heaven (wan) are hewn, polished, inlaid with stones: in the Zhuhou palace - hewn, polished; in the house, dafu are simply hewn”, etc. The same applied to food: it was believed that a wang could eat the meat of ox, ram and pig, zhuhou - only beef, dafu - pork, shi - fish, and commoners had no the right to eat meat. Social differences were also reflected in the vocabulary of the ancient Chinese language - to denote one thing. and for the same concept there were different words used depending on the speaker’s belonging to a certain rank.

A person’s belonging to higher social groups was established depending on kinship: who the person’s father was, what kind of son in the family he was born. The eldest son inherited his father's rank, and all other sons descended one step lower.

The structure of social ranks was closely related in Zhou society to the system of land ownership and land use. All lands in the Celestial Empire were considered to belong to the Van.

Wang was the supreme owner of the Celestial Empire in the same sense of the word in which all the people in the Celestial Empire were his servants. But at the same time, “Wang considers Zhuhou to be his servant, Zhuhou considers Dafu to be his servant, Dafu considers Shi to be his servant,” etc. Therefore, the land tenure system in Zhou society was as hierarchical as the structure of social ranks. Thus, the supreme owner of all the land in the Celestial Empire, Wang “granted” to the highest aristocrats (zhuhou) the right of hereditary ownership of part of the lands of the Celestial Empire. The Zhuhou, in turn, recognized the rights of the Dafu to own part of the territory that belonged to them. Dafu did not cultivate the land themselves, but transferred it to the shi. Ultimately, the land was farmed by commoners. Although the despotic ruler, Wang, was considered the supreme owner of the land, in fact, representatives of various social groups had certain rights to it, and private property in the modern sense of the word did not exist in Zhou society.

In the XI-X centuries. BC e. a significant part of the prisoners were turned into slaves.

ANCIENT CHINA IN THE 8th-3rd centuries. BC.

Ethnopolitical situation on the Central China Plain

At the beginning of the 8th century. BC e. Clashes between the Zhou people and the Beetle tribes that inhabited the area of the upper reaches of the Yellow River became more frequent. By origin, the Rong were related to the Zhou people, but differed from them in their way of life and forms of economy. Decisive clashes with the semi-nomadic Rong tribes occurred during the reign of Yu-van (781-771 BC).

In 770 BC. e. the capital had to be moved east, to the area of modern Luoyang. Period VIII-III centuries. BC e. therefore called Eastern Zhou.

In the 8th century BC e. nomadic tribes, called di in ancient Chinese sources, are consolidated; they raid the Zhuhou possessions north of the Yellow River. At the beginning of the 7th century. BC e. They moved south, devastating the lands on the left bank of the Yellow River in its middle reaches. Di cross the Yellow River and attack the Zhuhou possessions in the immediate vicinity of the Zhou capital.

Even the most powerful kingdoms have to reckon with di. Some of the Chinese rulers prefer an alliance with the di, others are trying to use them in the fight against their opponents. So, in 636 BC. e. The Zhou Xiang Wang intended to provoke an attack on the kingdom of Zheng, which refused to obey him. But the Di took the side of Zheng and defeated the army of Wang, who was forced to temporarily leave the capital.

In the relations between the population of Ancient China and neighboring tribes, the discrepancy between political and ethnic relations is clearly evident. If in the Yin and early Zhou times the opposition between “us and them” was based solely on political criteria (those who recognized the authority of the Wang were included in “our” community, those who did not submit to his authority automatically became a “stranger”), then in the 8th-7th centuries. BC e. the idea of the existence of a certain cultural-genetic community of all “barbarians” arises. The ancient Chinese began to oppose themselves to the “barbarians,” denoting their community with the term huaxia (or zhuxia).

After the capital was moved to the east, the power of the van noticeably weakened. He still personifies the unity of the Celestial Empire, but practically often does not interfere in the relations between the Zhuhou, whose possessions are becoming more and more independent. The territory of the “capital region”—the domain of the Zhou ruler—is sharply reduced. Part of it was given away to neighboring kingdoms - Zheng, Jin, etc., and some areas were captured by the kingdom of Chu. The king's treasury is running low. Traditional tribute from Zhuhou begins to arrive increasingly irregularly. There comes a time when, after the death of one of the Zhou Wangs, his heir does not have the means to perform the rituals required by custom and the funeral is postponed for seven years.

The authority of the ruling house of Zhou was also adversely affected by internal strife, which flared up repeatedly in the 7th-6th centuries. BC e. Wang did not have the opportunity to prevent violations of the tradition-sanctioned order of succession to power and was forced to turn to the Zhuhou dependent on him for help.

The invasion of nomads on the Central Chinese Plain and changes in the relationship between the Van and the rulers dependent on him largely predetermined the essence of the new political situation that arose in the 7th century. BC e. and impossible in the previous time. One of the largest Zhuhou achieves a dominant position and becomes a “hegemon”. To achieve this goal, the exalted ruler used two standard slogans: “make everyone respect the van” and “repel the threat from the barbarians.”

Struggle for hegemony

The first ancient Chinese kingdom to achieve hegemony on the Central China Plain was Qi, located in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. King Qi was officially declared hegemon in 650 BC. e. at the Congress of Rulers (Zhuhou).

After his death, the Qi kingdom lost its position as hegemon. It soon becomes another large kingdom - Jin. The years of the greatest power of the Jin kingdom were the reign of Wen Gong (636-628 BC).

Wen Gong's fate is unusual. His mother was a woman from the Rong tribe. Having left the borders of his native kingdom because of rivalry with his brothers, young Wen Gong fled to the nomads of Di, among whom he spent many years. Thus, at the head of the unification of the ancient Chinese kingdoms was a man who, by origin and upbringing, was more of a “barbarian” than a Hu-Asya. This is how Wen Gong, in essence, remained in the memory of his descendants: he “walked in a shirt made of coarse material, in a sheepskin coat, tied his sword with a rawhide belt, and nevertheless extended his power to all the lands in the middle of the four seas.”

At the end of the 7th century. BC e. A split occurs among the nomads who captured the middle reaches of the Yellow River. This prompted Jin to intervene. In the spring of 594 BC. e. in an 8-day battle, Di's main forces were defeated. The captured nomads were partly included in the Jin army, partly turned into slaves. The dominance of the “barbarians” in a large area of the Yellow River basin, near the Zhou capital, was ended.

The rivalry between Jin and the southern kingdom of Chu constituted the main line of political history in the 7th-6th centuries. BC e. Expanding its territory at the expense of the small kingdoms between the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, Chu began to interfere in the relations between the main hereditary possessions on the Central China Plain. At the end of the 7th century. BC e. The ruler of Chu accepted the title of Wang - this was an open challenge to those kingdoms that fought for hegemony under the slogan of “respect” for the Zhou Son of Heaven. Chu Wang becomes the first hegemon not to recognize the supreme supremacy of Zhou.

Having defeated the Jin, Chu begins to dictate its terms to the ancient Chinese kingdoms. The Jin managed to achieve revenge only in 575 BC. e.

At the beginning of the 5th century. BC e. The struggle for hegemony intensifies between two kingdoms that previously took almost no part in political events: the kingdoms of Wu and Yue, which occupied lands in the lower reaches of the Yangtze. The bulk of the population here was significantly different from the “HuaXia people.” The inhabitants of Wu and Yue had the custom of tattooing their bodies and cutting their hair short, which sharply differed from the ancient Chinese. Fishing and marine crafts played a large role in their lives. In an effort to gain an additional chance in the fight against Chu, the ruler of Jin entered into an alliance with Wu and sent his military advisers there. However, even after this, the residents of Wu preferred combat tactics on water to chariots, where they felt more confident than on land.

In 493 BC. e. Ruler Wu defeated Yue, after which he undertook a series of campaigns to the north. Having defeated the Qi army and defeated Lu and Song, he in 482 BC. e. achieved recognition of Wu's hegemony. About ten years after this, it was Yue's turn, who defeated his rival's troops and subjugated most of the northern kingdoms. Yue's hegemony ends the Chunqiu period; with the division of the Jin kingdom into three independent states of Zhao, Wei, Han (403 BC), the Zhanguo (“Warring States”) period begins in the history of ancient Chinese society.

Shifts in the socio-economic structure of society

Zhanguo is an era of violent social upheavals, fundamental changes in many areas of social life in Ancient China. The prerequisite for this were important shifts in the development of productive forces: the spread of iron, the appearance of arable tools and draft animals, and the development of irrigation.

The draft power of cattle dramatically increased labor productivity. “Animals that served as sacrifices in temples now work in the fields” is how this important change in the state of productive forces is characterized by the author of one of the ancient Chinese works. If earlier irrigation work was carried out almost exclusively for the purpose of controlling floods (traces of drainage canals have been preserved in the Yin fortifications in Zhengzhou and Wuanyang), then as the cultivated areas expanded, canals began to be used on an ever wider scale for artificial irrigation.

The expansion of the area of arable land, an increase in productivity, and a sharp increase in the total social product predetermined the crisis of the system of land ownership and land use that existed in Zhou China. XI-VI centuries. BC e. Previous forms of land ownership, based on a hierarchy of social ranks, are gradually becoming obsolete.

In the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. A new system of land ownership is being drawn up. The collapse of the previous land tenure system was associated with the emergence of private property based on the right to alienate land through purchase and sale. In this regard, in the 6th century. BC e. in a number of ancient Chinese kingdoms there was a transition to a completely new form of alienation of the produced product - a land tax. According to Sima Qian, the first land tax, calculated depending on the area of cultivated land, was introduced in the kingdom of Lu in 594 BC. e. Then such a tax began to be levied in Chu and Zheng.

Crafts and trade were undergoing qualitative changes at this time. In the social system of Zhou society at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. artisans were equal in status to commoners. The same was the situation for those involved in exchanges between certain related groups. These professions were hereditary: “Children of artisans become artisans, children of merchants become merchants, children of farmers become farmers.” The spread of iron tools and the general progress of technology stimulated the individualization of handicraft production and the growth of the well-being of individual artisans. This contributed to the large-scale use of slaves as a productive force in crafts and trade. As a result, individual artisans and merchants, who were nominally at the bottom of the social hierarchy, could actually turn out to be wealthier than some members of the nobility. Thus, the basic rule of the traditional social system was violated: whoever is noble is rich; whoever is ignorant is poor.

Ideological struggle in Ancient China in the VI-III centuries. BC e.

What are the ways and methods to govern the Celestial Empire in conditions when “you can be noble, but poor”? This question worried many thinkers of that time. Differences in the approach to solving this problem predetermined the emergence of several philosophical schools. Ancient Chinese philosophers were interested not so much in the laws of nature as a whole, but in socio-political and socio-ethical issues. It is no coincidence, therefore, that the rapid rise of philosophical thought in Ancient China is associated with the VI-III centuries. BC e., when changes in the social system urgently required an understanding of the most important principles that underlay the relationships between people in society. In the VI-V centuries. BC e. The greatest differences in the approach to solving these problems were found in the teachings of two philosophical schools - Confucians and Mohists.

The emergence of Confucian teachings played an exceptional role in the history of ideology not only in Ancient China, but also in many neighboring countries of East Asia.

The central place in the ethical and political doctrine of Confucius (Kong Qiu, 551-479 BC) is occupied by the doctrine of the “noble man” (jun zi). Confucius was alien to the ideals of the new social stratum of the propertied, striving for profit and enrichment. Contrasting them with the principles of morality and duty, Confucius turns to the orders of the past that he idealized. This is a deep contradiction in the system of views of the ancient philosopher. Confucian concepts of humanity (ren), loyalty (zhong), respect for elders (xiao), and adherence to the norms of relationships between people (li) represent positive universal values expressed through the categories of a historically doomed social system. Far from striving for personal well-being (“Eating coarse food and drinking only water;” sleeping with your elbow under your head is the joy in that! And wealth and nobility acquired dishonestly are like floating clouds for me”), finding satisfaction in in the very process of cognition of reality (“Learning and constantly repeating what you have learned - isn’t this joyful?”), Confucius at the same time expresses thoughts that are a call for the restoration of a bygone way of life. It is characteristic that Confucius approached the solution of political problems without making a fundamental differences between the state and the family. The application of the model of relationships between family members to the state meant the requirement to preserve inviolably those orders when “a ruler is a ruler, a subject is a subject, a father is a father, a son is a son.”

Another outstanding ancient Chinese thinker, Mo Tzu (Mo Di, turn of the 5th-4th centuries BC, approached the contradictions of his contemporary society from a different position. All social ills, in his opinion, stem from the “isolation”) preached Confucians. “Nowadays,” wrote Mo Di, “the rulers of kingdoms know only about love for their kingdom and do not love other kingdoms... Nowadays, the heads of families know only about love for their family, but do not love other families... If there is no mutual love between people, then mutual hatred will certainly appear.” Therefore, Mo Di puts forward the thesis about the need for “universal love,” which will allow us to restore order in the Celestial Empire.

Speaking against the family-related isolation of members of society, Mo Di sharply criticized the custom of transferring privileges and positions by inheritance. Calling to “honor the wise,” Mo Di attacked the hereditary nobility and considered it useful to have such a state of affairs when “an originally low person was exalted and became noble, and an initially beggar would be exalted and became rich.”

At the same time, in contrast to the Confucians, who attached great importance to the ritual side of human culture, Mo Di argued that culture is necessary only to provide a person with clothing, food and housing. Anything that goes beyond meeting basic human needs is unnecessary and even harmful. Therefore, in particular, Mo Di considered it necessary to abolish music that distracts people from creating material values.

A number of important provisions of Mohist teaching were borrowed by philosophers of the 4th - 3rd centuries. BC e., who created the “legist” school. If the Confucians saw a means of pacifying the Celestial Empire in improving the socio-ethical side of relationships between people, then the legalists considered the law to be such a means (hence the name of this philosophical school). Only the law, manifested in rewards and punishments, is able to ensure order and prevent unrest. Legalists compare the law to a tool with which a craftsman makes a product. Law is necessary primarily for the subordination of the people to the power of the ruler. It is no coincidence, the legalists emphasized, “even before, only those who saw their first task in establishing order in their own people could establish order in their own people, and those who considered it necessary to first defeat their own people defeated powerful enemies.” Legalists saw the ultimate goal of applying the law as ensuring the absolute power of the ruler.

If the Confucians advocated for a return to the ideal orders of the past, and the coins and legists advocated for the consistent destruction of the old system of social and government structure, then representatives of the Taoist school took a special and very unique position on this issue. Lao Tzu is considered the founder of this philosophical school, but we do not have reliable information about him. The authorship of Lao Tzu, who was supposedly an older contemporary of Confucius, is attributed to the “Treatise on Tao and Te” (“Daodejing”). Supporters of this teaching believed that everything in the world is determined by the existence of a certain “way” (Tao), acting against the will of people . A person is not able to comprehend this path (“The Tao that can be expressed in words is not the true Tao.”) Therefore, the best way not to make mistakes in governing the state is, from the point of view of Taoists, the “inaction” of the ruler, his refusal to actively interference in the predetermined course of historical events.

Shang Yang's reforms

In the 4th century. BC e. In many ancient Chinese kingdoms, socio-political reforms were carried out aimed at the final destruction of the outdated system of social relations. The initiators of these reforms were representatives of the legist school, most of whom sought not only to formulate their point of view on methods for solving the social problems of our time, but also to implement it in practice. Quite a lot of information has been preserved about one of them, Shang Yan, who achieved reforms in the kingdom of Qin (mainly from the “Historical Notes” of Sima Qian and the treatise “The Book of the Ruler of Shang,” attributed to Shang Yan).

Qin, the westernmost of all the ancient Chinese kingdoms, for a long time did not play a significant role in the struggle for supremacy on the Central Chinese Plain. Qin was it-. nomically weak kingdom and did not have a strong army. Its ruler accepted Shang Yang's proposal to carry out reforms that would lead to a strengthening of the state. By 359 BC. e. include the first decrees on reforms prepared by Shang Yang. They provided for: 1) the introduction of a new territorial division of the population into “heels” and “tens” of families connected by mutual responsibility; 2) punishment of those who had more than two adult sons who continued to live under the same roof with their parents; 3) encouragement of military merit and prohibition of blood feud; 4) encouragement of farming and weaving; 5) the elimination of the privileges of representatives of the hereditary nobility who did not have military merit.

The second series of reforms in Qin dates back to 350 BC. e. An administrative division into counties was introduced; residents of the Qin kingdom were allowed to freely sell and buy land; The system of weights and measures was unified.

The legalization of the purchase and sale of land, the abolition of the privileges of the hereditary aristocracy, the forced fragmentation of large families, the introduction of a single administrative division - all these measures dealt a decisive blow to the traditional system of social hierarchy. To replace it, Shang Yang introduced a system of ranks, which were assigned not on the basis of hereditary law, but for military merit. Later it was allowed to purchase ranks for money.

Although Shang Yang himself paid for his activities with his life, his reforms were successfully implemented. They not only contributed to the strengthening of the Qin kingdom, which was gradually emerging as one of the leading ancient Chinese states, but were of significant importance for the development of the entire ancient Chinese society.

Shang Yang's reforms undoubtedly met the needs of the progressive development of society. Having finally undermined the dominance of the old aristocracy, they opened the way to overcoming the contradiction between nobility and wealth: from now on, any member of society who possessed wealth had the opportunity to achieve an appropriate social position in society. TV reforms. BC e. were a powerful impetus for the development of private property and commodity-money relations. The bulk of farmers cultivating the land became small landowners after these reforms. At the same time, Shang Yang's reforms stimulated the development of slavery.

THE HAN EMPIRE IN THE 3rd CENTURY B.C.—I C. AD.

Domestic policies of the first Han emperors

One of the pressing problems Gaozu faced was that of rebuilding the country's economy. The wars of Qin Shihuang, the uprisings and punitive expeditions of the Qin authorities, and finally, the five-year devastating war between pretenders to the throne caused enormous damage to the economy. Irrigation structures were abandoned, and the fertile lands of the country's regions were catastrophically reduced. Hundreds of thousands of people died, even more fled from their homes and hid in the forests from the hardships of the time of troubles. Driving through the city of Quyni, Gaozu exclaimed: “What a county! I have crossed the entire Celestial Empire, but only in Luoyang have I seen so many people!” Meanwhile, in Quyni there were no more than 5 thousand households at that time, although at one time there were 30 thousand of them.

Gaozu saw a way out of this situation in a policy of concessions to the lower classes and easing the tax burden. In one of his first rescripts, the new emperor established that soldiers who came with him to the capital region and wished to stay there received plots of land and were exempt from labor duties for 12 years. Families with newborns were also exempt from duties. Residents who had previously left their homes were given back their fields and homes. Everyone who had to sell themselves into slavery during the famine was declared free. The land tax was significantly reduced - it now amounted to "/is part of the harvest. Gaozu's successors continued this policy, the land tax was set at "/is the harvest, and in the event of natural disasters taxes were not levied at all.

Another important problem of the first decades of the 2nd century. BC e. there was a question about methods of governing the country. Dreaming of seeing himself at the head of a unified empire, Gaozu nevertheless could not help but take into account the real situation in the country, which had just thrown off the oppression of the hated Qin dynasty. Therefore, he did not dare to completely restore the Qin administrative system. The seven largest military leaders who settled in the territory of some former kingdoms were awarded the titles of Vans, and after this, more than 130 of Gao-zu's associates received hereditary possessions and began to be called hou. Thus, the system of districts and districts created under Qin was restored only on part of the territory of the empire. By making a compromise, Gaozu managed to soften the contradictions between the military leaders of the anti-Qin coalition and achieve the unification of the country.

The result of the conclusion of the “horizontal alliance” was, in particular, that in 288 BC. e. The rulers of Qin and Qi agreed on a kind of division of spheres of influence: after defeating their opponents, the Qin ruler was supposed to take the title of “Western Emperor”, and the Qi ruler - “Eastern”.

For some time success accompanied the kingdom of Chu. Having defeated a number of small and medium-sized neighbors (Yue, Lu, etc.), Chu significantly expanded its territory. However, Qin had the last word. In 246 BC. e. Thirteen-year-old Ying Zheng ascended the throne. In 238 BC. e. he suppressed a conspiracy against his power and strengthened his position. Soon after this, Ying Zheng began active military operations against his neighbors. In 230 BC. e. The kingdom of Qin inflicts a decisive defeat on Han and seizes all of its territory. In 228-221. BC e. other kingdoms were also defeated (Zhao, Wei, Chu, Qi, Yan). By 221 BC. e. The process of unification of the country was completed.

Creation of a centralized state. Qin Empire

Accepting the title of Qin Shihuang (“First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty”), Ying Zheng solemnly declared in his highest rescript: “Our descendants will be named according to the order of succession - Ershi (“Second”), Sanyini (“Third”), and so on until tens of thousands of generations they will inherit endlessly.”

The ambitious dreams of Qin Shihuang were not destined to come true: after existing for only 14 years, the empire he created fell under the blows of a popular uprising. Nevertheless, a decade and a half of the existence of the Qin Empire is an entire era in the history of China. It was at this time that the centralized despotic state was created, which was the prototype of the subsequent Chinese empires of antiquity and the Middle Ages.

The defeat of the six kingdoms and the unification of the country's territory was only the first step towards the creation of a single state. No less important in this regard were the measures taken by Qin Shihuang, aimed at eliminating the consequences of political and economic fragmentation.

The country's territory was divided into 36 large administrative districts. Their borders were drawn in such a way that they did not coincide with the natural geographical boundaries and boundaries of the previous kingdoms. Each district consisted of counties, which, in turn, were divided into volosts, which included several communities.

The districts were headed by chiefs appointed directly by the emperor. Under the head of the district, there were district departments, which included officials subordinate to the central departments. The second person in the district was the commander of the troops stationed in the district. He received the same salary as the head of the district, which indicates his high position. The head of the district appointed the heads of the districts and their deputies.

Administrative power in the lower units of the territorial division of the country belonged to elected elders. Thus, at this level of the administrative system in the Qin Empire, communal self-government continued to exist.

The emperor was the sovereign hereditary ruler of the country. Only he had the right to call himself “We” and declare his will in the highest rescripts.

The emperor's assistants were his two advisers, who were directly responsible for the implementation of all imperial decrees. The central departments were subordinate to the advisers.

The military department was headed by the commander of all the armies of the empire. The heads of district military departments reported to him. There were also judicial and financial departments. It is characteristic that in the central apparatus of state power a special department served the personal needs of the emperor and his family.

Officials of the special department were in charge of storing the state archive and also carried out inspections of the districts.

Thanks to this, the emperor could monitor how conscientiously representatives of local authorities performed their duties.

Simultaneously with the reform of government, Qin Shihuang carried out some other measures to strengthen the empire. These include the introduction of uniform legislation. The basis of the criminal legislation of the Qin era was the surety system. In its most general form, it was first implemented by Shang Yang. However, in the Qin Empire, the duties of surety were assigned not to “heels” or “tens,” but to family members: “If one person commits a crime, then his entire family is punished.” Such punishment for the crime of a relative in the Qin Empire was usually transformation into state slaves. The surety system extended under Qin Shihuang only to commoners.

As for punishments for crimes, the provisions on them were mainly borrowed from the laws of Shang Yang and were characterized by extreme cruelty. Various types of capital punishment were used: quartering, chopping in half, beheading, strangulation, burying alive, boiling in a cauldron, piercing the crown of the head. The death penalty was imposed, for example, for horse theft. In addition, lighter punishments were also practiced - cutting out the kneecaps, cutting off the nose, castration, beating on the heels. Finally, those convicted of a crime could be sent to hard labor.

In the very first years of his reign, Qin Shihuang unified coins, weights and measures, and writing. The introduction of a unified system of weights and measures was necessary to establish taxation of the population. The monetary reform of Qin Shihuang also served the same purpose, as a result of which all non-Qin coins were withdrawn from circulation. These measures of Qin Shihuang finally broke the barriers that prevented the establishment of permanent economic ties between individual regions of the country.

Foreign Policy of Qin Shihuang

At the end of the 5th - beginning of the 4th century. BC e. In the forest-steppe zone on the territory of modern Inner Mongolia, tribes of nomads, whom the ancient Chinese called the Xiongnu, consolidated.

Having completed internal reforms, Qin Shihuak begins military operations against the Xiongnu. In 215 BC. e. An army of 300 thousand attacks the Huns and wins an important victory. A year later, the Chinese army managed to gain a foothold on the northern bank of the Yellow River. The result of the campaigns was the restoration of the previous border along the old wall built by the Zhao kingdom. After this, Qin Shihuang decides to build the Great Wall to secure the borders of the empire from attacks by nomads. He resettles residents of the interior regions of the country to the annexed territories. A total of 44 new counties were created along the Great Wall. Many years later, while traveling through these places, Sima Qian visited the Great Wall. He was struck by the scale of the work carried out by the hands of forced people: “They tore down mountains, filled up gorges, laid a straight path. How cheaply they valued the work of the common people." In the memory of the people, the construction of the Great Wall remained as a memory of a terrible tragedy.

After the successful completion of operations against the Yuennu, the emperor decides to begin a campaign of conquest against the Yue tribe, who inhabited the southeastern coastal regions. The war started in 214 BC. e., required a colossal effort and resources of the empire. The beginning of the campaign brought defeat to the Qin troops. The Qin soldiers were poorly oriented in the tropical forest, suffered from fever, and were constantly attacked by local residents, so that “during three years of war, the Qin warriors did not take off their armor or loosen the string of their crossbows.”

Tskn Shihuang had to announce additional mobilization. At the cost of enormous efforts, the army of conquerors crossed the mountain ranges and captured the territory of the Yue state formations - Nanyue (Nam Viet) and Aulak. New districts were created on their lands. However, the union of this territory with the Qin Empire was only nominal.

The aggravation of socio-political contradictions and the people's war at the end of the 3rd century. before. n. e.

In 227 BC. e., when the future Qin Shihuang was just beginning to implement his plan to defeat the Six Kingdoms, an attempt was made on his life, and only thanks to a happy coincidence of circumstances he managed to survive. Three years after the unification of the country, in 218 BC. e., an attempt was made on him again, also unsuccessful. There were attempts on Shi Huang's life in 216 BC. e. Apparently, this explains the morbid suspicion of the powerful monarch in the last years of his life. Since 212 BC. e. he did not stay for a long time in any one of his many palaces, he constantly changed residences, without warning even the highest dignitaries about this. Striving to become the owner of the Taoist elixir of immortality. Shihuang at the same time brutally dealt with the dissatisfied. He, in particular, ordered more than 400 Confucians suspected of inciting unrest to be buried alive.

Wars with neighbors and grandiose construction works (including the construction of a large number of imperial palaces) required additional revenues to the treasury. Under Qin Shihuang, the tax on peasants increases sharply; Thus, the land tax at that time amounted to 2/3 of the harvest. The birth of a boy ceased to be a joyful event in the life of a peasant family; the future breadwinner had to join the army or go to the construction of the Great Wall upon reaching adulthood. The discontent of the people was used by representatives of the old hereditary nobility, who did not give up the idea of reviving the orders of the past. Death of Qin Shihuang in 210 BC e. accelerated the brewing crisis of the empire.

The first shock that shook the Qing Empire was the uprising of the poor. The rebels, natives of the former kingdom of Chu, put forward the slogan: “Great Chu will be established!” Capturing one city after another, they dealt with Qin officials. Entire units of government troops began to defect to the side of the rebels. The elders of local communities elected one of the leaders of the uprising as king. This ended the first stage of the people's war (209-208 BC).

At its second stage, significant changes occur in the social composition of the rebels and their leadership. The rebels are led by those who join

uprising by representatives of the old nobility, who sought to take advantage of the uprising of the masses in order to restore their rights. One of the detachments of the anti-Qin army was led by a minor official, Liu Bang. In 207 BC. e. his detachment captured a key point on the way to the capital of the empire, Xianyang, and then, having defeated the remnants of government troops, captured the capital.

Fight between Chu and Han

The goal of the anti-Qin uprising was achieved. The territory of the empire was divided between the largest leaders of individual rebel groups. Liu Bang became known as the “Wang of Han,” and the leader of the other army became the “Wang of Chu.” Soon a fierce power struggle breaks out between the former allies.

At first, Xiang Yu had incomparably greater forces than his main rival. However, then Liu Bang, trying to attract the broad masses of the population to his side, invariably showed signs of respect to representatives of the local communal administration, while at the same time introducing strict discipline in his army and punishing anyone who was seen in looting or violence. In contrast, his opponent brutally dealt with not only captured enemy soldiers, but also the civilian population of those cities that resisted him.

Liu Bang's gradual advantage begins to emerge more and more clearly, and many of the commanders of the rebel detachments go over to his side. In January 202, Liu Bang won a decisive victory.

Liu Bang proclaimed the beginning of a new Hak dynasty and assumed the title of Emperor Gaozu. In historiography, the accession of this dynasty is dated in two ways - in some cases to the year 202, when Liu Bang defeated the “Wang of Chu”, in others - to the year 206, when he received the title of “Wang of Han”. One way or another, in 202, the short period of fragmentation of the country that followed the fall of the Qin Empire was completed. The Han Empire arose on the territory of Ancient China.

THE FIRST CENTRALIZED STATE IN CHINA - THE QIN EMPIRE (221-207 BC)

Prerequisites for the unification of the ancient Chinese kingdoms. Development of economic relations

In the 4th century. BC e. Objective prerequisites for the creation of a single ancient Chinese state are gradually emerging, and arguments are increasingly being made about the need to overcome internecine strife and unite the ancient Chinese states under the rule of one ruler.

One of these prerequisites was the development of commodity-money relations and the establishment of permanent economic ties between individual kingdoms.

In the IV-III centuries. BC e. Metal coins were already widespread - an indicator of the high level of development of private property and commodity economy. At the same time, in the territory of several large regions, the borders of which did not coincide with the borders of individual kingdoms, a spontaneous unification of the coin occurred. Thus, in the eastern kingdoms, a coin in the form of a knife is becoming widespread, in the northern kingdoms - in the form of a spade. However, the presence of customs barriers hampered the development of trade relations between individual kingdoms.

An extremely important prerequisite for overcoming political fragmentation was the further consolidation of the ethnic community of the ancient Chinese

As a result of the gradual assimilation of the “barbarian” population, who found themselves in the 7th-6th centuries. BC e. on the Central Chinese Plain, the ethnic identity of the Huaxia is increasingly beginning to be associated with the idea that the territory they inhabit is located in the center of the Celestial Empire. Such ethnocentric ideas were widespread among many ancient peoples; in Ancient China they led to the emergence of the concept of the “Middle Kingdoms”, around which live “barbarians of the four countries of the world.” At the beginning of the Zhanguo period, such kingdoms as Chu, Qin, Yan were not yet included in the “Middle” ones. Gradually, the process of consolidation of the ethnic community of the ancient Chinese leads to the creation of a cultural stereotype that spread to all the main kingdoms of Ancient China. A reflection of this was, in particular, the formation of a common literary ancient Chinese language, although numerous dialects continued to exist along with it.

The unification of the ancient Chinese kingdoms was prepared by the very logic of the political situation of that time. The desire to eliminate the independence of hostile kingdoms and absorb their territory meant in the future a further reduction in the number of independent political entities.

After the death of Gaozu (195 BC), the separatist tendencies of the rulers of the hereditary domains began to manifest themselves more and more noticeably. “The Celestial Empire,” wrote an eyewitness, “now resembles a sick man whose legs are swollen so much that they have become thicker than the waist, and his fingers are like thighs. It is impossible to move them, because every movement causes terrible pain... If you miss the moment now and do not treat it, the disease will be neglected and then even a famous doctor will not be able to do anything about it.”

Among all the Vans, Liu Bi, the ruler of the kingdom of Wu, stood out. In his possessions there were more than fifty cities, he minted his own coins, and he had rich salt mines on the seashore. In an effort to gain the support of the population, Liu Bn abolished taxes in his kingdom. In 154 BC. BC, uniting with six other hereditary rulers, Liu Bi assembled an army of 200,000 and moved it to the capital of the empire.

The "revolt of the seven vanir" ended in the complete defeat of the separatists. Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Han emperor deprived the rulers of the kingdoms of the right to appoint officials and forbade them to have their own army. But the most decisive step towards eliminating duality in the system of government of the country and strengthening centralized power was made by Wudi, whose reign (140-87 BC) was the period of the highest prosperity of the Han Empire.

"The Golden Age of Wu Di"

In an effort to solve the problem of hereditary possessions once and for all, Wu introduced a new procedure for inheriting the status of the Vans and the Khous. From now on, it was forbidden to transfer one's possession to the eldest son and was ordered to divide it among all sons. The results of this reform were felt very quickly. The sharp decrease in the size of hereditary possessions led to the fact that the Vanir were practically deprived of real power and the existence of their kingdoms no longer posed a threat to the empire.

At the same time, Wu carried out a number of reforms aimed at further centralizing the state apparatus. He restored the department of inspection, introduced under Qin Shihuang and abolished at the beginning of the Han. The inspectors' task was to directly monitor the activities of district officials. The system of appointing officials to positions has also undergone significant changes. The duties of district chiefs were now to systematically recommend candidates for bureaucratic positions from among the most capable young people. An academy was created in the capital, the graduates of which, as a rule, became officials. The changes also affected the competence of senior officials in the state apparatus. The rights of the first adviser were limited. The newly created imperial office allowed Wu-di to personally control the local situation and the activities of various parts of the administrative system in the country.

The general spirit of the measures by which Wu achieved the centralization of power in the empire was consistent with an attempt to unify ideology. The purpose of this step was very clearly formulated by the largest representative of the Confucian school of that time, Dong Zhong-shu: “Nowadays, scientists preach differently, and people interpret their teachings differently. The methods of a hundred sages are different, and the meaning of their teachings is also different—the emperor has nothing with which he could support unity... Everything that does not correspond to the “six arts” set forth in the teachings of Confucius must be eradicated. Heresy must be destroyed. Only after this will management become unified, laws will be clear, and the people will know what they must follow.

The adoption of Confucianism as a unified state ideology meant a rejection of the policy of the first Han emperors, whose ideological banner was Taoism with its call for the “inaction” of the ruler. But Confucianism of the Han era also differed significantly from that proclaimed by the founder of this teaching. Dong Zhong-shu and his like-minded people borrowed some provisions of legalism, primarily the thesis about the importance of law as a means of governing the country. Nevertheless, on many cardinal issues of the internal and foreign policy of the empire, the views of Confucians and Legalists still differed. The Confucians sought to keep Wu Di from the policy of territorial conquests: they believed that “barbarians” could not be true subjects, and their lands were unsuitable for cultivation. However, these arguments did not convince the emperor. Having achieved stabilization within the country, Wu Di turns his gaze beyond the borders of his state.

Nomads of Central Asia and the emergence of the Xiongnu power

In the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. In the steppe zone north of the main ethnic territory of the ancient Chinese - the Yellow River basin - a community was formed, the self-name of which became “Hun-nu”, or “Xiongnu”. The economic activity of the Huns was based on nomadic cattle breeding, which determined the characteristics of their culture and way of life. The need to constantly move long distances with livestock, “depending on the availability of grass and water,” led to the formation of a unique material culture of the Huns. The main element of their costume were trousers, necessary for horse riding, but until the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. completely unknown to the ancient Chinese. The Huns lived in a collapsible hut covered with felt. The diet consisted mainly of boiled meat and sour milk. With the development of social inequality and the emergence of a nomadic nobility, the Xiongnu began to feel the need for some items of prestigious consumption that they themselves did not produce. This circumstance was the main reason why the nomadic Xiongnu society was dependent on exchange with the farmers of the Yellow River basin. Sometimes such exchanges were peaceful, but more often they took the form of robbery and military raids.

By the 3rd century. BC e. The structure of the Xiongnu association gradually took shape, developing into a primitive state formation. It was headed by a ruler, the Shanyu, whose power had by this time become hereditary. Shanyu was subordinate to 24 leaders who owned a certain territory. There was a system of duties, the main one of which was the obligation of every man to perform military service. The Shanyu army consisted almost exclusively of cavalry units, which had an advantage over the heavy infantry of the ancient Chinese: avoiding a decisive battle, the Xiongnu inflicted unexpected blows on it and instantly disappeared, taking away prisoners and taking away booty.

The accession of the Han coincided with the advancement of the Shanyu Maodun, who managed to create a powerful nomadic power of the Xiongnu, which, despite the relative small population, became a force capable of resisting the ancient Chinese empire. In 200 BC. e. Gaozu tried to attack the Xiongnu, but was surrounded and only miraculously escaped capture. The Han emperors were forced to conclude a humiliating “union of peace and kinship” for them, paying off the raids of nomads with rich gifts and giving girls from noble families as wives to the Shanyu.

Foreign policy of the Han Empire in the 2nd-1st centuries. BC uh

Having strengthened his position, Wu-di decides to end this situation. He creates mobile cavalry units, which became the main force in the fight against the Xiongnu. Their own tactics of surprise attacks were used against the nomads. Military campaigns 127-119 BC e. brought the first victories to the Han troops. Using the “border districts” as a military base, Wu launched active operations against the Xiongnu. Thus, the nature of the war gradually changes: defensive at first, it becomes for the Han a means of capturing more and more new territories.

The first contacts of the Han with the countries of the “Western Territory” (as the territory of modern Xinjiang and Central Asia were called at that time) were also associated with military actions against the Xiongnu.

Preparing for war with the Xiongnu, Wu di sent in 139 BC. e. his ambassador Zhang Qian in search of the Massaget tribes, who were defeated by the Xiongnu and moved to the west. Zhang Qian returned to the capital after 13 years. without achieving your main goal. But the consequences of his journey were nevertheless quite significant. Thanks to Zhang Qian, the ancient Chinese discovered a hitherto unknown world: for the first time they received reliable information about Bactria, Parthia, Fergana and other states of Central Asia. After Zhang Qian's secondary voyage, the Han Empire established relations with many of these states. These connections had more than just political significance. They contributed to an intensive exchange of cultural achievements. It was at this time that some previously unknown agricultural crops (grapes, melons), musical instruments, and utensils penetrated into China from Central Asia. Later, Buddhism penetrated into China from India through the “Western Land”.

The wars of the Han Empire with the Yue tribes inhabiting the southeastern coastal regions required great effort. Using internal contradictions between the Yue tribes, Wu-di in 111 BC. e. threw his troops against them. The Han Empire managed to defeat the Nanyue and most of their lands were annexed to the empire.

The expansion of Han territory in the southwest was associated with attempts to find a route to India. While traveling around the “Western Land”, Zhang Qian learned about the existence of this large and rich country. From the stories of the merchants, he concluded that the Hindu state was located adjacent to the lands of the “southwestern barbarians.” This is what the ancient Chinese called the tribes that inhabited most of modern Yunnan and southern Sichuan. In the IV-III centuries. BC e. Several large tribal unions arise here, the most significant among which was the early state unification of the Dian. In 130 and 111 BC. e. Wu-di twice undertakes campaigns against the “southwestern barbarians.” And although the route to India was not found, large territories were annexed to the Han Empire.

Finally, the Korean Peninsula became another object of Han expansion during the reign of Wu Di. In 109 BC. e. The Han attacks the Joseon state from two sides: one army moves through Liaodong, the other through the Bahai Gulf. Han districts are created on the occupied lands.

So during the second half of the 2nd century. BC e. The Han state significantly expanded its borders. The Han Empire became one of the powerful states of the ancient world, along with Parthia and Rome.

The beginning of the crisis of the empire

Long wars with neighbors, especially with the Xiongnu, significantly affected the state of the country's economy. The need to constantly replenish the army distracted the most active part of the population from employment in the main sphere of social production - agriculture. The imperial treasury, which was significantly replenished by the end of the 2nd century. BC e., could not compensate for the costs of the war.

In order to obtain an additional source of income, Wu Di accepted in 120 BC. e. a proposal to introduce a state monopoly on the extraction of salt and the production of iron tools. Salt was, along with grain, the most important item of consumption in the widest strata of society; The demand for iron continuously increased due to the increasingly widespread use of iron tools in agriculture. Therefore, salt mines and metallurgical workshops provided significant income. After the introduction of the monopoly, special departments were created in most districts of the empire, which farmed out these enterprises to rich merchants and artisans. The costs of extracting and processing raw materials were borne by the farmer; the state supplied it with the necessary equipment and purchased finished products at fixed prices. This kind of monopoly provided income to the treasury, but had a negative impact on the range and quality of iron tools, on which, according to a contemporary, “the life and death of the farmer depended.” Therefore, soon after the introduction of the monopoly, many government officials began to speak out against it. In 81 BC. e. this issue became the subject of fierce debate at court. Its result was the abolition of the monopoly on the production and sale of wine, introduced earlier, in 98 BC. e.

One of the manifestations of Wu-di's expansionist policy in the first decades of his reign was the creation of a system of military settlements on the newly annexed lands. The soldiers who were on guard duty on the border had to simultaneously engage in farming in order to provide themselves with food. Documents discovered during excavations of one such military settlement [near Juyang (Edzineigol River basin)] testify to the hardships and difficulties that the settlers had to face. “It’s very hot here, there’s sand all around, and in winter there’s severe frost,” wrote one of them. In the inventories of the settlers' government property, cauldrons that have become unsuitable for cooking food and crossbows whose bowstrings constantly break appear every now and then; supplying the border areas with weapons and equipment was extremely difficult.

In 89 BC. e. a proposal was discussed to organize new military settlements far to the west. The rescript issued on this occasion by Wu Di represents a kind of summary of all the activities of this emperor for half a century. Rejecting the proposal to withdraw military settlements, Wu-di admits that his policy of conquest did not bring the desired results, but only “tired the Celestial Empire.” Wanting to “show his intention to give rest to the country,” Wu-di proclaims refusal of further military actions against the Xiong -well, and “deeply repents of past actions.”

Thus ended the “golden age of Wu”, when the Han Empire experienced the apogee of its political and economic power and again found itself in the second half of the 1st century. BC e. in a state of deep internal crisis. Assessing the contemporary situation, Sima Qian emphasized that the prosperity of the first years of Wu-di’s reign, when “the barns in the capital and on the periphery were full of grain,” inevitably and inexorably went to its opposite, to decline and disorder: “The country is tired of continuous wars , people are overwhelmed with sadness, supplies are depleted and cannot meet expenses.” Sima Qian gives an explanation for this in the spirit of ideas about the cyclical nature of history: “Things, having reached their limit, begin to decline, and their change is inevitable.”

Socio-economic relations at the turn of our era

The highest stratum of the ruling class of Han society was the titled nobility. During the Han era, there were a total of 20 ranks of nobility. Holders of the nineteenth and twentieth ranks received a certain number of households for “feeding”, from which they had the right to collect taxes in their favor. Persons who had the ninth or higher rank of nobility enjoyed a number of privileges (they, in particular, did not serve duties). The title of nobility could be granted by the emperor for services, it could be bought (in 18 BC, it was established that each subsequent rank of nobility cost 1000 coins; before that, the price of ranks was calculated in kind, in grain).

The most numerous and complex in social composition was the class of free commoners. These included, first of all, direct producers-farmers, among whom in the 3rd - 1st centuries. BC. there was a process of social differentiation. Small and medium-sized artisans and traders were also classified as commoners.

Slaves occupied a special place in Han society. Along with private ones, there were state slaves. If the main source of slaves of the first category were ruined commoners who sold themselves or their children for the sake of debts, then state slaves were replenished mainly at the expense of relatives of persons convicted of crimes. According to Han law, "the wife and children of a criminal are turned into slaves and branded." Children of slaves are considered slaves.

At the same time, in Han society it was relatively easy to move from one social stratum to another. A commoner who became rich had the right, under favorable conditions, to buy the rank of nobility and thereby join the privileged strata of society. Representatives of the nobility, having caused the displeasure of the emperor, together with their relatives could be turned into slaves. Finally, the slave could count on returning to the ranks of the free, which, at least theoretically, opened up the opportunity for him to achieve wealth and nobility. The most illustrative example in this regard is the career of the famous Han commander Wei Qing and his sisters. Their mother was a slave. However, Vzy Qing received the highest rank of nobility for his military services; his elder sister ended up in Wu-di's harem and then became empress; Wei Qing's second sister became the mother of a commander who was also awarded the highest rank of nobility; his third sister married one of the dignitaries.

The total number of slaves in Ancient China II-I centuries. BC e. It is not known for sure, but sources talk about slaves quite often. It is reported that under Wu-di, several tens of thousands of private slaves were confiscated from large merchants. Some noble dignitaries of that time owned several hundred slaves. A certain Zhang An-shih, for example, had 700 slaves, by exploiting whom he “was able to accumulate wealth.”

In the 1st century BC e. The slave trade was widespread. “Nowadays,” the source says, “there are markets where they sell slaves, placing them in the same pen with cattle.” The transaction for the purchase and sale of slaves was formalized by an official document, similar in form to bills of sale for real estate. The text of one bill of sale for a slave, dated 59 BC, has survived. e.: “In the third year of the reign of Shen-jue, in the first moon, on the fifteenth day, Wang Zi-yuan, a man from Tzu-chung county, bought from the woman Yang Hui from Anzhili of Chengdu county the slave Bian-liao acquired during the lifetime of her husband . We agreed on a price of 15 thousand coins. The slave is obliged to unquestioningly perform all the types of work indicated below... In case of disobedience, the slave may be punished with one hundred blows...”

It should be noted that slave prices at this time were very high. The elderly Bian-liao was sold for 15 thousand coins; a young slave cost the same amount. An adult slave cost 20 thousand coins, and an adult slave - 40 thousand (at about the same time a horse could be bought for 4 thousand, a bull for 1.5-4 thousand coins).

In the Han Empire there were two main taxes - land and poll. The reduction in land taxes in the early Han played a positive role in the country's economic recovery. However, in the 1st century. BC h. the situation has changed. As land ownership concentrated in the hands of large landowners, a relatively low land tax turned out to be beneficial primarily for wealthy owners. On the contrary, the poll tax, the main burden of which fell on the ordinary farmer, was continuously increasing. Unlike the land tax, the poll tax was paid not in grain, but in money. The poll tax was usually imposed on the entire population of the empire between the ages of 7 and 56. However, under Wu-di it began to be charged to children starting at the age of three. For the poorest part of the population this was an unbearable burden.

Commoners not only paid taxes, but also had to serve military and labor service between the ages of 20 and 56. Officials and nobles were exempt from duties; they could be bought off. For those who did not have sufficient funds to pay off their labor, serving their labor often led to ruin.

Legalization of the purchase and sale of land in the 4th century. BC e. led to the fact that the community members turned, for the most part, into small landowners. In Han times, the community had already ceased to be a subject of land ownership, although it continued to impose certain restrictions on the free alienation of land. As Han deeds of land show, the seller and buyer had to obtain consent to the transaction from members of the community, which was expressed in the custom of “treating” witnesses.

Property stratification among small landowners led to landlessness of a significant part of the peasants. Having lost his own land, the peasant was forced to rent it from large landowners on extremely unfavorable terms: rent was half the harvest in the Han era. Wage labor is also becoming more widespread. Ruined farmers often fell into slavery. At the same time, there was a process of concentration of land ownership in the hands of large rich people. Even Dong Zhong-shu, in his report to Emperor Wudi, strongly advised to limit privately owned lands in order to give them to those who did not have enough land, and thereby prevent the accumulation of land. Similar proposals were repeatedly made later. In 6 BC. e., for example, it was proposed to introduce restrictions on the private ownership of land and slaves. The maximum norm for the area of private land was set at 30 qin per person (1 qin = 4.7 hectares); the number of slaves should not exceed 30 for commoners, 100 for representatives of the nobility, and 200 for the highest aristocracy. This project was not implemented because it encountered resistance from large landowners. By the beginning of the 1st century. n. e. the growth of large land ownership continues to be one of the most pressing social problems.

ANCIENT CHINA IN I-III centuries. n, e.

Exacerbation of social contradictions and popular uprisings in the 1st century.

At the end of the 1st century. BC e. Social contradictions in the country sharply worsened. For the first time during the existence of the Han Empire, peasants began protesting against the ruling class in certain regions of the country. Bands of robbers numbering up to several thousand people attacked district towns, seized arsenals, and killed local officials.

In an atmosphere of increasing internal crisis of the empire, Wang Mang, a relative of the emperor on the female line, captured in 9 AD. e. throne and announced the beginning of a new dynasty. Following this, he carried out a series of reforms, the main of which was the reform of land and slavery.

In an effort to resolve the contradiction between the accumulation of land in the hands of individual owners and the ruin of the poor peasantry, Wang Mang declared all lands in the country the property of the emperor and prohibited their purchase and sale. According to Van Man's rescript, the empire introduced a system of “well towns” that supposedly existed in ancient times: each family was now supposed to own a small plot of land. The slave trade was prohibited. The purchase and sale of people, the rescript said, is an action that “contradicts heavenly virtue and human morality, violates the institutions of Heaven and Earth, offends human dignity... Therefore, from now on, slaves will be called private slaves; trading in them is prohibited."

Van Mang's reforms, designed, according to their initiator, to solve the pressing problems of his contemporary society, were doomed to failure from the very beginning. They were a utopia that did not take reality into account at all. With the help of one legislative act, erase the entire path traversed by ancient Chinese society over half a millennium, and return to the order of the Zhou era idealized by the Han Confucians in the 1st century. n. e. it was impossible.

Just three years after the start of the reforms, Wang Mang was forced to give in to the rich landowners who showed desperate resistance to him, and allow the purchase and sale of land and slaves. But this could no longer strengthen his shaky position. Wide sections of the population, embittered by the abuses of officials and the instability of the economic situation in the country, opposed Wang Mang.

The political crisis of the empire was aggravated by the natural disasters that struck the country in 14 - first an unprecedented drought, and then locusts that destroyed the remains of crops. Hunger began. In several parts of the country, huge crowds of starving people moved along the roads in search of food. Peasant uprisings break out one after another.

In 18, a certain Fan Chun led a group of starving peasants in Shandong (Taishan District), which soon grew into an army of ten thousand, called the “red-browed”. Fan Chong introduced strict discipline: whoever killed a person without permission was sentenced to death, and whoever wounded someone had to pay the victim. Gradually, Fan Chong's peasant army becomes the master of the situation in several districts of the country.

In 22, Wang Mang was forced to send an army of one hundred thousand to suppress the uprising of the “red-brows”. But in the decisive battle, government troops were defeated. After this, the army of the “red-brows” significantly expanded the territory of its operations, capturing a number of areas in the middle reaches of the Yellow River.

At the same time, another hotbed of popular uprising emerged in the south of the country. The rebels settled in the Lü-linshan mountains (modern Hubei province), which is why they began to be called the “Lü-lin army,” literally “the army of the green forest.” In 23, the rebels defeated Wang Mang's troops and moved west. Soon the capital was captured and Wang Mang was killed.

In 24, one of the leaders of the “green forest” uprising, Liu Xuan, declared himself emperor and settled in Chang-an. The red-browed army was also moving towards the capital at this time. In 25, the “red brows” captured Chang'an and Liu Xuan committed suicide. Then Liu Xiu, who commanded a detachment of the “green forest army,” moved to the capital. The "Red Brows" were forced to leave the capital and return to Shandong. On the way, they were surrounded by Liu Xiu's men and suffered heavy losses. Fan Chong and his comrades fell in battle. In the same year 25, Liu Xiu declared himself emperor and moved the capital to the east, to Luoyang. This is how the Later, or Eastern, Han Dynasty arose.

Internal politics of the Eastern Han in the 1st-2nd centuries.

Comparing the nature, driving forces and consequences of the first major peasant wars that shook China on the threshold of the early Middle Ages, one can find that if they developed successfully, they ended with the overthrow of the existing dynasty and the accession of a new one, and the successors one way or another returned to the system of oppression that existed under them. predecessors. But it would be a mistake to deny the historical significance of these uprisings. Their most important direct impact on the development of ancient Chinese society was that the new rulers, who came to power on the crest of a popular uprising, were forced, at least at first, to make concessions to the people, reducing taxes and easing the burden of duties. A direct consequence of this was the restoration and development of productive forces in agriculture, which was the basis of the country's economy. The history of the Eastern Han Empire was no exception in this sense. The first emperor of the new dynasty, Liu Xiu, who took the title Guan Wu-di, began his reign with events very reminiscent of the activities of Gao-zu two centuries earlier.

During the reign of Guan Wu-di (25-57), old irrigation canals were restored and new ones began to be built, which led to increased productivity and made it possible to develop previously uncultivated lands. In the south of the country, where slash-and-burn agriculture was recently used, draft arable tools with iron tips are beginning to be used. Intensive development of the areas of the Yangtze basin is one of the important new features in the country's economy in the 1st and 1st centuries.

The period of Guan Wu-di's reign was marked by a number of measures aimed at reducing slavery in the empire. In 31, Guan Wu-ti issued a rescript according to which all those converted into slaves in the period immediately preceding the restoration of Han were declared free and had the right to remain with the owner or leave him at their own discretion. If the slave owner prevented this, he was prosecuted under the “law on the sale of people into slavery.” In 37, the release of all those who had been sold into slavery during the previous five years was announced.

As is clear from the text of these rescripts, at that time there was a law prohibiting the sale of people into slavery. In addition, under Guan Wu-di, those slave owners who branded their slaves were brought to justice, and branded slaves were freed and became commoners. In 35, the law was repealed, according to which a slave who injured a free man was subject to the death penalty.

Back in the 2nd century. BC e. Dong Zhong-shu proposed to deprive slave owners of the right to kill their slaves at will. Apparently this proposal was accepted. In any case, in 35 Guan Wu-di ordered not to reduce the punishment for those who killed a slave.

Foreign policy of the empire

The first period of the reign of the Eastern Han dynasty was marked by the restoration of previously existing but then interrupted relations with neighboring countries. Trade with the “Western Region,” which was of great importance for the country’s economy, practically ceased at the beginning of the 1st century, when many states located on the territory of modern Xinjiang again fell under the political influence of the Xiongnu.

In the middle of the 1st century. The Xiongnu are experiencing a serious internal crisis, as a result of which they find themselves divided into two parts. The southern Xiongnu recognize the authority of the Han Empire; the northern ones continue to confront it as a significant hostile force.

In 73, the northern Huns were defeated and thus their influence on the states of the “Western Territory” was weakened. It was to this period that the beginning of military and diplomatic activity in the “Western Region” of one of the outstanding politicians of the Khak era, Ban Chao, dates back. Having been appointed viceroy of the emperor in areas that recognized dependence on the Han, Ban Chao established connections with many large states of Central Asia. In 98 Ban Chao sent his subordinate on an embassy to Rome. This expedition ended in failure: Parthian merchants, not interested in establishing direct trade relations between the Han and Roman empires, deceived the ambassadors, intimidating them with the difficulties of sailing the Persian Gulf.

In the I-II centuries. The Han Empire had constant diplomatic and trade ties with Parthia. Occupying important trade routes, Parthia acted as an intermediary in China's trade with Western countries. Chinese goods, primarily silk, came to Rome through Parthia. From the country of Arshak, as the ancient Chinese called Parthia, many merchants constantly came to the capital of the Han Empire, Luoyang.

The defeat of the northern Huns, after which they, according to the chronicler, “disappeared to God knows where” (in fact, at the end of the 1st century, the Huns moved westward and after some time, mixing along the way with Finno-Ugric tribes, they reached Europe, where they were known as the Huns), did not bring the desired peace to the Han Empire. The lands of the Huns were captured by the Syakbi tribes. These proto-Mongol tribes carry out devastating raids on the border areas of the empire. By the middle of the 2nd century. the territory of a number of northern districts became part of the possessions of the Xian-bi ruler. The Xianbei also attacked the western borders of the Han Empire.

In the II century. On the northwestern borders of the country, a new dangerous enemy appears - the Qiang tribes, who originally lived between the Yellow River and Lake Kokunor, and then moved to the east. The Qiang attacked a number of Han districts, and in 140 they burned the suburbs of Chang'an. The wars with the Qiang, which continued with varying success for many decades, were very difficult. The turning point in the course of hostilities came only in the 60s of the 2nd century, when large koyati-ngents of the subjugated Qiang were resettled to the interior regions of the empire.

Demographic and ethnic processes in the I-II centuries.

As evidenced by the earliest census of the population of the Han Empire that has reached us, in 2 AD. e. its total number was about 60 million people. The Central China Plain was especially densely populated (the population density here was close to modern). At the same time, in the province of Fujian and in most of Guizhou, there was no ancient Chinese population at all: local tribes lived here, preserving their traditional culture. The population of the empire was distributed very unevenly on its territory, not only in numbers, but also in its composition. The “inner districts,” i.e., the lands of the former kingdoms of the Zhanguo era, corresponding to the territory of the Han Empire before the start of Wu’s conquests, were inhabited by the ancient Chinese themselves. As a result of the creation of “border districts”, significant groups of the ancient Chinese population were resettled to the newly annexed lands. However, they did not form a continuous mass here, but were located mainly around administrative centers. Finally, the Han Empire nominally included territories that recognized their dependence on it; .there was either no ancient Chinese population at all, or it was represented only by soldiers of the military units stationed there.

After a sharp decline in the country's population at the beginning of the 1st century. it reached the level of the end of the Western Han era only in the 2nd century. Census data dating back to 140 indicate significant shifts in the demographic structure of the empire. Firstly, the population of the northwestern regions of the country decreased by about 6.5 million people, the northeastern regions - by almost 11 million. At the same time, the total population in the Yangtze basin increased by about 9 million people. Over the past century and a half, there has been a significant movement of population to Sichuan and the northern part of Yunnan, where at that time about 2 million ancient Chinese already lived. The density of the ancient Chinese population increased sharply along the highways connecting the modern Hunan province with Guangdong. However, in the coastal areas in the south of the empire, no increase in the ancient Chinese population was recorded. The territory of Fujian still remained a “blank spot” on the map of the Eastern Han Empire.

The increase in the number of ancient Chinese in the south of the empire was accompanied by an increase in their cultural influence on the local population. At the same time, when exploring the southern regions, the ancient Chinese inevitably adopted many features of the culture of the local tribes. It is no coincidence that, for example, in the dwellings of the Han population in the south of Guangdong we can trace features that are completely uncharacteristic of the original ancient Chinese type (for example, pile buildings).

The situation was different in the northern regions of the empire. The policy of the Eastern Han in relation to its northern neighbors was characterized by the resettlement of individual groups of nomads who recognized the power of the Han emperor to the border areas.

After the southern Xiongnu recognized the power of the Han, large groups of them were relocated to the border districts in order to protect the borders of the empire from outside attack. In the II century. The Xiongnu already constituted the majority of the population of some of these districts.

The increase in the number of the Xiongnu and Qiang, who lived interspersed with the ancient Chinese, resulted in the beginning of the process of “barbarization” of the population of the northern part of the empire. At the end of the 3rd century. Even in the territory of the former capital region near Chang'an, of the total population, which by that time amounted to about 1 million people, the Qiang and Xiongnu accounted for more than half. The gradual assimilation of the ancient Chinese who lived in the Yellow River basin by former nomads was reflected in the change in the lifestyle and customs of this part of the population of the Han Empire. So back in the 2nd-3rd centuries. The ground was prepared for the invasion of the north of the country by the “barbarians,” which subsequently led to the division of China into North and South, which lasted for almost three centuries.

Social relations in the I-II centuries.

In the I-II centuries. the process of concentration of land ownership and ruin of small landowners is becoming increasingly widespread. Increased differentiation among the free peasantry was fraught with serious social consequences. The state gradually lost control over the peasant, who was the main taxpayer and the basis of the economic strength of the empire: having lost his land, yesterday's owner increasingly found himself dependent on large landowners.

Having come to power, Guan Wu-ti began with an audit of household lists of taxpayers. This measure was directed against the “strong houses” - powerful clans interested in ensuring that the state could not control their tenants.

Rental relations, which became widespread already in the 3rd - 1st centuries. BC e., were originally “free” in nature. The tenant was obliged to pay a high rent to the land owner, but this did not affect his legal status: he remained personally free, paid a poll tax to the state and served government duties. But by the end of the 1st century. BC e. and especially in the first centuries of the new era, the situation begins to change. Landowners seek to “shelter” tenants and prevent them from paying taxes to the treasury. Because of this, the social position of the tenant begins to change: he falls into the bonds of personal dependence on the landlord. The process of forming relationships of personal dependence was closely related to the preservation of the clan organization in Han China. According to tradition, the head of the clan, who was in most cases the head of the richest family, was supposed to provide protection to his relatives. This further increased the dependence of the impoverished clansmen on their powerful relatives, from whom they had to rent land.

In this struggle, the “strong houses” gradually gain the upper hand: in 280 the state was forced to recognize the right of landowners to the peasants dependent on them.

With the growth of “strong houses” in Han China, a new type of rural settlement appeared - an estate owned by a large landowner and representing a self-sufficient economic and, to a certain extent, social unit.

What characterized such an estate can be judged by the example of the wealthy landowner Fan Chong, who was the maternal grandfather of the founder of the Eastern Han dynasty. The Fan family owned three hundred qings of land (about 1,500 hectares), and its property was valued at many hundreds of thousands of coins. The matter was set up in such a way that all costs were recouped within a year. Fan Chong's estate had its own irrigation system. In addition to arable farming, he was engaged in growing mulberries and lacquer trees, and also raised fish in ponds and kept livestock. Thanks to this, “any desire could be satisfied” at the expense of his own household. The owner of the estate was also the head of a clan that united three generations of relatives. Custom demanded unquestioning obedience from the younger members of the clan, so “children and grandchildren came every morning and evening to express their respect” to the owner of the estate. During the “red-browed” uprising, the Fan family estate was turned into a fortified camp, behind the walls of which the owners waited out the troubled time.

The daily life of a large estate is described in detail in the work of Cui Shi, an author of the 2nd century. On the estate, according to him, they not only produce grain, but also grow vegetables (onions, wild garlic, garlic, ginger, pumpkin) and fruits. In spring, all the women are busy collecting mulberry leaves and raising silkworms. Then the slaves unwind the cocoons, weave, dye the fabrics, and sew clothes. Under the supervision of a cook, slaves make wine, vinegar, hot sauces, and dry fruits. At various times of the year, medicinal herbs are collected in the vicinity of the estate. The draft animals and tools belong to the owner of the estate, so in late autumn, after completing field work, ralas, hoes and sickles are collected and inspected, and the strongest bulls are selected that can be used for plowing next year. The estate not only provides the owner with everything necessary, but also gives him the opportunity to show favors to younger relatives, which further strengthens their dependence on the head of the clan. Finally, the estate has its own armed detachment, capable of protecting the estate from outside attack. Military training for the guards is carried out regularly: in the second month they learn to shoot “in case of unforeseen circumstances”, in the third month they repair the outer wall of the estate “so that they don’t steal hay in a hungry spring”, in the ninth month they prepare to repel attacks by the “poor rabble”.

Rise of the Yellow Turbans and the Fall of the Han Empire

The rise of the “strong houses” was associated with an intense political struggle that broke out at court in the 2nd century. One of the public groups, called “scholars,” criticized the court nobility from the standpoint of Confucianism. Eunuchs close to the emperor spoke out against the “scientists”. In 169, the struggle between the two camps reached its climax. Emperor Lingdi, incited by the eunuchs, ordered the arrest of the most active “scientists”. Repression fell on the students of the capital's academy, which was a stronghold of the Confucians. More than a hundred people were killed, and everyone who was somehow involved in the group of “scientists” was prohibited from entering public service. Only in 184, after the start of the “Yellow Turbans” uprising, Emperor Ling Di declared an amnesty for all repressed “scientists”.

In the conditions of the socio-economic and political crisis experienced by the Han Empire in the 2nd century, Taoist ideas found support among the broad masses of the poor peasantry. In the I-II centuries. Taoism, which arose as a philosophical doctrine, gradually transformed into a religious and mystical system of views. Secret sects emerged in various parts of the country, preaching the inevitability of the speedy implementation of the “path of great prosperity.” The leader of the largest of these sects was Zhang Jiao, who received the title of “the great wise and kind teacher.” Using traditional medicine, Zhang Jiao practiced healing, to which he owed much of his popularity among the poor. Zhang Jiao's supporters preached that "the blue sky is already dead, a yellow sky must appear to replace it." In Han times, chronology was carried out in sixty-year cycles, with the next cycle supposed to begin in the 17th year of the reign of Emperor Lingdi (184). The beginning of the prepared uprising was timed to coincide with this time.

In the early spring of 184 the uprising broke out simultaneously in different parts of the empire. The rebels tied yellow scarves around their heads - a symbol of a new era of great prosperity (hence the name of this popular movement “yellow armbands”). An army of forty thousand was sent to suppress the uprising, but the main role in defeating the rebels was played by detachments of large landowners. After the death of Zhang Jiao (autumn 184), the movement lost its unified leadership. In October 184, in Guangzong (modern Hebei province), the rebels were defeated. As a result of the massacre carried out after this, at least 80 thousand people died.

Despite the defeat of the main forces of the rebels, in 185 the uprising broke out with renewed vigor. The Black Mountain army creates a base on the northern bank of the Yellow River, in close proximity to the capital. However, the inconsistency of the actions of individual groups leads to the fact that government troops manage to break them up piece by piece. In 188-207. Scattered rebel actions did not stop in the country, which were suppressed with incredible cruelty. But the Han Empire was never able to recover from the blow dealt by the uprising.

After the death of Emperor Ling-di in 189, a conspiracy was organized in the capital against the all-powerful clique of eunuchs. Dong Zhuo speaks against Yuan Shao, one of the leaders of the conspiracy. He enthrones the young son of Emperor Ling-di to the throne and moves the capital to Chang'an and seizes power in the country. In 192, Dong Jo was killed. This was followed by a fierce struggle between the military leaders who rose during the suppression of the Yellow Turban uprising. Civil strife leads to the collapse of a single empire. On its ruins in the 3rd century Three independent states emerge - Wei, Shu and Wu.

CULTURE OF ANCIENT CHINA

Mythology and religion

Today we can judge ancient Chinese myths only by those traces that have been preserved in later monuments, mainly from the 6th century. BC e. According to their content, these myths are divided into several groups, or cycles.

Among the cosmogonic myths that interpret the emergence of nature and man from a state of initial chaos, two main concepts are presented - division and transformation. According to the first of them, inanimate things and living beings arose as a result of the division of chaos into two primary elements - the light (male) principle of yang and the dark (female) principle of yin. The second concept assumes the emergence of all things as a result of transformation. Thus, man was created from clay by a goddess named Nu Wa. According to another version of the same myth, Nu Wa herself turned into objects and creatures filling the world.

A large group consists of myths about natural disasters and heroes who saved people from them. The two types of disasters that appear most often are floods and droughts. In some myths, the flood appears as a certain initial state, in others the flood was sent by Heaven as a punishment to people. The drought turns out to be the result of the appearance of ten suns at the same time, incinerating crops and threatening the death of people. The Great YU saved people from the flood, and Shooter I from the drought, shooting down all the extra suns with his bow.

Myths about ancient heroes reflect the desire of the ancient Chinese to find the personified “authors” of the most important technical achievements of ancient times. Among them are those who taught people to make fire by friction; first built a hut from branches; invented methods of hunting and fishing; made the first agricultural tools and taught people to eat cereals; discovered a way to steam grain, etc. It is characteristic that many of these cultural heroes were depicted by the ancient Chinese in the form of half-humans, half-animals: with the body of a snake, with the head of a bull, etc., which is undoubtedly a reflection of ancient totemistic ideas.

An independent cycle consists of myths about the first ancestors. All of them were born as a result of an immaculate conception - the ancestor of the Yin people accidentally swallowed the egg of the sacred Purple Bird, the mother of the first Zhou person stepped on the footprint of the Giant, etc. These details of the myths about the first ancestors are closely related to the widespread ideas that once “people they knew only the mother and did not know the father” - a relic of the original matrilineal filiation in the minds of people.

The Yin's ideas about the other world were a mirror reflection of the law and order that existed on earth. Just as in the Celestial Empire the supreme power belongs to the Wang, the Yin believed, so in heaven everything and everyone submits to the Supreme Deity<Ди). Ди всемогущ — это он оказывает людям благодеяния или карает их несчастьем, он дарует им урожай, посылает засуху, от него зависит дождь и ветер. Ближайшее окружение Ди. составляют усопшие предки вана, являющиеся его «слугами». Предки вана выполняют различные поручения Ди, они же передают ему просьбы вана о ниспослании благоволения и помощи. Поэтому, принося жертвы своим предкам, ван мог умилостивить их и благодаря этому заручиться поддержкой Верховного божества. Функции вана как верховного жреца как раз и заключались в том, что он мог осуществлять общение со своими предками, являвшимися посредниками между миром людей и миром богов.

In the early Zhou period, this system of religious ideas did not undergo any significant changes. Later, a gradual process of separation in the consciousness of people of the world of ancestors from the world of gods occurs, which leads to the separation of the cult of ancestors from the cult of the Supreme Deity. As a result, the functions of the intermediary pass to the priest or priestess - a person who has the ability to deal with spirits and gods.

The emergence and spread of Confucian teachings contributed, on the one hand, to the strengthening of the cult of ancestors, and, on the other, to the transformation of ideas about Di into the cult of Heaven. After the transformation of Confucianism into the official state ideology, his interpretation of the meaning of these cults became canon.

Along with this, folk beliefs developed during the Han period, revealing significant Taoist overtones. In the II-III centuries. Buddhism penetrates into China. According to legend, the first Buddhist sutras were brought to China on a white horse; In memory of this, the Buddhist “White Horse Temple”, which has survived to this day, was built near Luoyang. The translation of the sutras into Chinese and the spread of Buddhism in China date back to the 4th-6th centuries.

Writing

The earliest monuments of ancient Chinese writing are the Yin fortune-telling inscriptions of the 14th-11th centuries. BC e. The emergence of this writing system should be dated back to a much earlier time, since the Yin writing appears to us in a fairly developed form. From a typological point of view, there are no fundamental differences between the Yin writing and modern hieroglyphs. Like the modern Chinese, the Yin used signs that recorded those or other units of language primarily in terms of their meaning. The vast majority of Yin signs were ideograms - images of objects or combinations of such images that convey more complex concepts. In addition, signs of another type were already used in Yin writing, absolutely predominant in modern Chinese hieroglyphs : one element of such a sign indicated reading, the other - an approximate meaning.This category of Yin signs is typologically close to those ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, which, fixing the sound of a word, had an additional semantic determinant.

Yin characters are characterized by three features that distinguish them from modern Chinese characters. Firstly, each elementary sign was an image of the outline of an object, indecomposable into its component parts. Secondly, there was great variety in the spelling of the same sign. Third, the orientation of the sign relative to the direction of the line has not yet stabilized.

Thanks to the borrowing of Yin writing by the Zhou people, its development was not interrupted in the 1st millennium BC. e. Significant changes occur in it only in the 2nd-1st centuries. BC e., when, after the unification of local variants of hieroglyphs, a new style of writing signs appeared. The hieroglyphs of this time had already completely lost contact with their original outlines. The writing of the Han period is, in principle, almost no different from the modern one.

The transformation of the writing of signs was largely due to the evolution of the materials used for writing. In ancient China, writing was usually done on long, thin strips of wood or bamboo, which were then connected with a cord or belt. They wrote in ink with a brush, and erroneously written characters were cleaned up with a metal knife (hence the common name for writing instruments - “knife and brush”). Since the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. the ancient Chinese also wrote on silk (examples of such “silk” books were found in Han burials). At the turn of the new era, paper was invented and came into use in China. In the first centuries of the new era, paper replaced all old writing materials.

Literature

Examples of the most ancient poetic works have come down to us in inscriptions on bronze vessels of the 11th-6th centuries BC. The rhymed texts of this time show a certain similarity with the songs included in the Shijing.

"Shijing" is a true treasury of ancient Chinese poetry. This monument includes 305 poetic works, grouped into four sections (“Morals of the Kingdoms”, “Small Odes”.

"Great Odes" and "Hymns"). The lyrical folk songs included in the first section of Shijing amaze with their sincerity and sincerity. The works included in the second and third sections have different stylistic features. These are mostly original poems, the main themes of which are service to the ruler, military campaigns, feasts and sacrifices. The fourth section contains samples of solemn temple chants in honor of the ancestors and rulers of the past.

The traditions of “Shijing” were inherited by the authors of poetic works of the 4th century. BC e., which have reached our time in the form of texts on stone pedestals, shaped like drums, which is why the inscriptions on them received the name “texts on stone drums.”

The Zhanguo era was a time of rapid growth of ancient Chinese culture. In the 4th century. BC e. In the kingdom of Chu, the outstanding poet Qu Yuan lived and worked, whose works vividly reflected the contradictions of his contemporary society. The figurative power of Qu Yuan's poetic gift, the expressiveness of his verse and the perfection of form place this poet among the brightest talents of antiquity.

Folk poetry also fed the work of Han poets. The works of the most famous of them, Sima Xiang-zhu, were included by Sima Qian in the biography of this poet. Poems attributed to Sima Qian himself have also reached us, although the question of their authorship continues to remain controversial.

Art

Ancient Chinese poetry is inseparable from music. It is no coincidence, in particular, that the name of the poetic genre sung (hymns) goes back to the word “bell”. The nature of the accompaniment determined the poetic features of other genres. Music, poetry, dance - in the syncretic unity of these three cultural phenomena, Confucians saw the expression of genuine norms of relationships between people. “Words can deceive, people can pretend, but music cannot lie”—this is how the ancient Chinese defined the social function of music.

Ancient Chinese musical instruments were divided into three main groups: strings, winds and percussion. This set of musical instruments continued to exist during the Han period for the performance of traditional "refined" music. Along with him in the I-II centuries. Completely new musical instruments, mainly borrowed from neighboring peoples, are also spreading in China. Many of them came to China from Central Asia.

In ancient times, a set of construction techniques began to take shape in China, which later gave characteristic features to the palace and temple architecture of the Han era.

The basis of the structure of the ancient Chinese building was not the walls, but the frame pillars, which bore the main weight of the roof. Without pillars and beams connecting them, a building cannot exist at all - this idea is reflected in numerous metaphors and comparisons found in ancient Chinese written monuments (“For the kingdom of Zheng, you are like a beam in the roof,” says a dignitary of this kingdom to one of the courtiers, “if If the beam collapses, then the legs will crumble."

Was the building erected on an elevated level? platform, hence the typical ancient Chinese expressions “to go up to the palace”, “to go down from the palace”, etc. The walls were usually built from compacted clay (brick began to be used in construction from the 2nd - 1st centuries BC). The roof was covered with tiles, and the end decorative tiled discs were fixed along the facade, which in Han times were decorated with hieroglyphic inscriptions with wishes of happiness, prosperity and wealth.

The capital of the empire, Chang'an, one of the largest cities of the ancient world, was an example of Han urban planning. It was surrounded by a wall with twelve gates. The tallest buildings were the imperial palaces. The palace premises were not concentrated in one place, but were located in different parts of the capital. They were connected by covered passages and hanging galleries, along which the emperor and his retinue could move from one palace to another without fear of the idle gaze of commoners. Near the palaces were buildings of administrative institutions painted yellow (in Han times, red was the symbol of the emperor, yellow - the official office). Not only these buildings, but also the houses of many wealthy citizens were two-story.

“It is difficult to depict dogs and horses because people constantly see and know them well, so a violation of the likeness can be immediately detected. It is much easier to portray spirits. Spirits do not have a definite shape, they cannot be seen and therefore are easy to draw,” said one of the Chinese philosophers. His contemporaries quite often depicted dogs with horses and spirits - this is evidenced by numerous frescoes and bas-reliefs known to us thanks to excavations of burials. These works of fine art, however, date back to a slightly later time, but are based on the tradition that developed during the Zhanguo period.

Particularly noteworthy is the development of portraiture during the Han period. Among the most significant and currently known works of this genre is a fresco discovered in 1957 in a Han burial near Luoyang. It depicts a dramatic episode of internecine struggle at the end of the 3rd century. BC e, when the future founder of the Han dynasty fell into a trap set by his rival, and remained alive thanks to the resourcefulness of his comrades. The unknown artist skillfully conveyed the individual traits of the participants in the feast. It is interesting to remember what the author of “Historical Notes” wrote about one of them: “Judging by his actions, I thought that he should be tall and courageous in appearance. What appeared to my eyes when I saw his image? In appearance and facial features, he looked like a charming woman!”

The fact that in Han times there was a custom of decorating palace premises with portrait frescoes is evidenced by numerous sources; The names of some famous artists of their time have also been preserved. It was said about one of them that he mastered the art of portraiture to such an extent that he could convey not only the beauty of a face, but also the age of a person. Once the emperor ordered him to paint portraits of the concubines from his harem and deigned with his attention only those of them who looked the most attractive under the artist’s brush. Many concubines bribed the artist to embellish them somewhat; only Zhao-jun did not want to commit deception, and therefore the emperor never saw her. When it was necessary to send the bride to the Xiongnu shangoi, the emperor decided to choose Zhao-jun for this. Before the wedding train departed, Zhao-jun was received by the emperor, who suddenly discovered that she was in fact the most beautiful of all his concubines. The angry emperor ordered the execution of the artist who embellished mediocrity and thereby left true beauty in the shadows.

Natural science knowledge

An indicator of the general rise of the culture of Ancient China during the Zhanguo era was also the development of scientific knowledge, especially mathematics. Progress in this field of science is determined by its applied nature.

Compiled in the 2nd century. BC e. The treatise “Mathematics in Nine Books,” like Euclid’s “Elements,” contains a compendium of mathematical knowledge accumulated by previous generations of scientists. This treatise contains rules for working with fractions, proportions and progressions, the Pythagorean theorem, the use of the similarity of right triangles, solving a system of linear equations, and much more. “Mathematics in Nine Books” was a kind of guide for surveyors, astronomers, officials, etc. For a researcher of the history of Ancient China, this book, in addition to its purely scientific significance, is valuable because it contains reflections. realities of the Han era: prices for various goods, crop yields, etc.

The development of mathematics was closely related to the significant achievements of the ancient Chinese in the field of astronomy and the calendar. In Sima Qin’s “Historical Notes,” one of the chapters in the “Treatises” section is specifically devoted to the problems of celestial bodies. A similar chapter is contained in the “Han History” of Ban Gu, where the names of 118 constellations (783 stars) are given. Much attention was paid at this time to observations of the planets. In the 1st century BC e. The ancient Chinese knew that the orbital period of the Tree Star (Jupiter) was 11.92 years. This almost coincides with the results of modern observations.

In 104 BC. e. the length of the year was calculated to be 365.25 days. The calendar adopted this year was used until 85 AD. e. According to this calendar, the year consisted of 12 months; an additional month was added in a leap year, which was established once every three years.

The solar-lunar calendar of the ancient Chinese was adapted to the needs of agricultural production. The calendar was given considerable attention in those scientific treatises that summarized the most important achievements of agricultural technology.

Medicine developed very significantly in Ancient China. Ancient Chinese doctors back in the 4th-3rd centuries. BC e. began to be used, a treatment method that later became widely used in traditional Chinese medicine - acupuncture. Extremely interesting are the manuscripts of medical writings recently found in one of the Han burials of the early 2nd century. BC e. They include a treatise on dietetics, a manual on therapeutic exercises, a manual on treatment using the moxibustion method, and, finally, a collection of various recipes. The latter contains 280 prescriptions intended for the treatment of 52 diseases (including convulsions, nervous disorders, fever, hernia, helminthic diseases, women's and children's diseases, etc.). Among the recommended remedies, along with medicines containing a total of more than two hundred ingredients, cauterization and acupuncture, some magical techniques are also mentioned. For example, to heal from tumors, it was proposed that on one day at the end of the month, rub an old broom over the tumor seven times, and then throw the broom into the well. Noteworthy is the fact that in later medical writings of the Han period, magical treatment methods are practically no longer mentioned. By the 3rd century. refers to the use of local anesthesia during abdominal operations by the famous doctor Hua Tuo.

In the history of others non-Eastern countries The Ancient Far East occupies a very important place. Ancient Chinese class society and statehood were formed somewhat later than other civilizations of Ancient Western Asia, nevertheless, after their emergence, they began to develop at a rapid pace and high forms of economic, political and cultural life were created in Ancient China, which led to the formation of the original socio-political and cultural system.

The history of ancient states that arose in East Asia in the 2nd–1st millennia BC. e., convincingly testifies to the operation of the law on the unity, diversity and diversity of the ways of the formation and development of class societies. Having emerged in the Yellow River basin during the decomposition of tribal relations, the ancient Chinese class society and state developed over the centuries in conditions of relative isolation from other civilizations of the Ancient East. This determined the significant originality of many specific forms of ancient Chinese society and culture.

An important feature of the socio-economic development of Ancient China is the complex nature of the regulation of the course of the Yellow River, the openness of the borders of the agricultural regions of China for numerous border nomads, the isolation and difference of a number of regions of China, which were fertile ground for political and cultural separatism. These features made it difficult to form a centralized state and at the same time gave rise to particularly harsh forms in the struggle for the creation of state centralization.

The continuity of development of the ancient Chinese people and culture, the strong continuity of traditions are reflected in the ethnic self-name of modern Chinese - Han, which goes back to the name of the ancient Chinese empire; Many features of modern culture have their roots in early historical eras.

At the same time, it would be a mistake to exaggerate the degree of isolation of Ancient China and other East Asian states from the centers of ancient Eastern civilizations that existed simultaneously with them. Starting from the last centuries BC, the Han Empire established intensive contacts with the Western countries of the Ancient East. Ancient Chinese silk fabrics, paper, and lacquerware penetrate through the Great Silk Road into Central Asia and the countries of the Middle East. Through Parthian and Syrian merchants, the ancient Chinese became acquainted with glass and glaze. Having adopted Buddhism from India through the countries of Central Asia and East Turkestan, China became an intermediary in its penetration into Korea and Japan.

The original writing system, rich literature, and subtle and expressive art of Ancient China had a significant influence on the cultural development of the neighboring peoples of East Asia. At the same time, the emergence of the ancient Chinese culture itself was unthinkable without various contacts and mutual influences with other states and nationalities of the Ancient Far East, from which the ancient Chinese population borrowed and creatively reworked many cultural achievements.

Along with the ancestors of modern Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, and Vietnamese, those ancient peoples of Asia who had already disappeared from the ethnic map of the world by the beginning of our era made their contribution to the development of world culture. These include, in particular, the ancient Xiongnu (Huns), who for centuries not only were an important political force in Ancient East Asia, but also had a cultural influence on their neighboring agricultural peoples.

Chinese civilization arose at the turn of the 3rd-2nd millennium BC. As elsewhere, the first form of statehood here was noms. They appeared in the pool

rivers Yellow River, their population was mainly engaged in agriculture, the basis of which was flood and atmospheric irrigation.

In the 18th century BC. on the territory of China, among the many city-states, the city stands out Shan, headed a fairly large association of nomes. The ruler of Shan (the later name of this state is Yin) bore the title vana, his power was limited by the council of the nobility and the people's assembly. The state had professional troops who used bronze weapons, bows, spears and war chariots.

Bronze vessel dating back to the Zhou Dynasty

At the end of the 2nd millennium BC. The Shang state ceased to exist - it was captured by the Zhou tribes who had previously lived in the Wei River basin.

The state created by these tribes Western Zhou became the largest in China at the turn of the 2nd-1st millennium BC.

At the head of the state was a van - a ruler who was considered the son of Heaven, a mediator between gods and people. However, the wang's power was limited by his council, which included senior officials who headed the complex bureaucratic apparatus of the state. The land was nominally considered to belong to the state, there was also a direct royal fund, and the distribution of land holdings to the nobility was quite widely practiced.

Ancient Chinese coin

hoe-shaped

From the middle of the 9th century. BC. An internal crisis begins in Western Zhou, and the central power of the Vanir weakens. At the beginning of the 8th century. BC. with the increasing pressure of the northwestern nomadic tribes, the territory of the state is reduced, the capital is moved to the east. Western Zhou receives a new name - Eastern Zhou - and becomes one of many independent kingdoms.

From VIII to V centuries. BC. There are five major political centers in China: Eastern Zhou, kingdoms Qin, Chu, Wu And Yue. The dominant position in them belonged to the hereditary aristocracy.

In the middle of the 1st millennium BC. China is undergoing important changes in all areas of life. At this time it is being mastered iron smelting, which creates conditions for the development of crafts and agriculture.

Emperor Qin Shi Huang

In connection with the active creation of irrigation systems in the Yellow River basin and the upper Yangtze, cultivable lands are expanding. In some kingdoms, the purchase and sale of land is officially permitted, and large market-oriented private farms are created. The coin form of money and debt slavery are spreading, and private individuals are beginning to more actively use slave labor.

The changes also affected the sphere of religious and philosophical thought. In the VII-VI centuries. BC. arose Taoism, founded by the legendary sage Lao Tzu, calling on everyone to follow Tao- the law of existence of the Universe. A little later, in the VI-V centuries, the famous Kung Tzu (Confucius) opened the first private school in China. He taught that each person occupies a certain place in society and must fulfill his duties, respect his elders in age and position, and adhere to the principle “What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others.” Confucius is the creator of one of the first mature philosophical concepts and the founder of Confucianism, an ideological movement that has existed for more than two millennia.

In the political sphere in China in the mid-1st millennium BC. significant changes are also taking place. From the 6th century BC. rulers for

Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang

Undermining the influence of the nobility, they are trying to rely on personally loyal service people, introducing a new system of official remuneration: instead of distributing land, salaries are paid.

In the 5th century BC. there is a consolidation of the states located on the territory of China: instead of about two hundred, among which there were five strongest, less than thirty remain and the seven most powerful states stand out (Qin, Yan, Chu, Wei, Zhao, Han, Qi), in which the centralized political-administrative system. For example, in the kingdom Qin in the 4th century BC. reforms are being carried out that have approved uniform legislation and legal proceedings. The pledge and purchase of land were legalized, restrictions on the size of plots were abolished, all previous hereditary titles were abolished, new ranks of nobility were introduced for personal merit, etc. After these reforms, the Qin kingdom became a powerful power and turned into a military-bureaucratic despotism similar to the states of the Middle East region.

Qin Wang in 221 BC united most of China, adopted a new title - emperor and went down in history as Qin Shi Huangdi. He is known for creating a system of centralized power, initially based on legalism. Qin Empire existed for a very short time (until the end of the 3rd century BC), but laid the foundations of a unified centralized China. At this time, the Qin principles of government were spread throughout the country, a military-bureaucratic empire was created, and campaigns of conquest were organized in South China and North Vietnam. In the north of the country, to protect against the nomadic tribes of the Huns, they are building The great Wall of China.

The great Wall of China

The history of Ancient China dates back to the distant past: several thousand years ago, great China was already formed. There were both ups and downs.

The periodization of Ancient China is due to the change of dynasties, which ultimately create this very history. Let's look at it.

Periodization of Ancient China

All these dynasties are also divided into several groups.

Stages of periodization of the history of the state in Ancient China:

1. The first people in the Neolithic era.

2. The period with the first three dynasties, when China was fragmented, there was no empire as such.

3. Traditional China and empire.

This is where all of old China ends, the dynasties as such cease to rule and the last stage begins, covering only the 20th and 21st centuries.

However, Ancient China refers to the period before the beginning of the Middle Ages, it ends with the Han Dynasty. The entire period of the existence of Ancient China can be expressed as the construction of the foundation for a great state, for the kind that it is now.

Let us briefly consider below the history of civilization and the periodization of Ancient China, social and government systems, as well as the philosophy of that time and great inventions.

The beginning of the story

It is known that the first ancestors of the Chinese lived 400 thousand years ago during the Neolithic era. The remains of Sinanthropus were found in a cave near Beijing. The first people already knew coloring and some other skills.

In general, the territory of China is convenient for life, so history goes back to such a distant past. The soil is fertile, and the steppe itself is surrounded by the sea and mountains, which could protect people from enemy attacks. This convenient location attracted the first residents, who were the ancestors of today's Chinese.

Scientists also know that there were two cultures after Sinanthropus: Yangshao and Longshan. There were probably more of them, but they mixed with each other. Only two have been archaeologically confirmed.

The Yangshao culture existed 2-3 thousand years BC. People of that period lived over a vast area from Gansu province all the way to southern Manchuria. It is known that they could make beautiful colored pottery.

Longshan was located mainly in the territory of Shandong province. In central China, both cultures overlapped each other. People also mastered the skill of processing ceramics, but their main pride was the ability to make various objects from bone. On some of them, which were found by scientists, scraped inscriptions were found. This was the first prerequisite for writing.

Further, we can conditionally distinguish several stages in the periodization of the history and culture of Ancient China. The first three dynasties belong to the stage before the formation, then there are many dynasties during the period of the Empire, and the last stage is the system without dynasties and modern China.

Xia Dynasty

The first known dynasty in the chronology and periodization of Ancient China is its founder was Yu, and it existed from 2205 to 1557 BC. According to some theories, the state was located in the entire east of Northern China or only in the north and center of Henan province.

The first rulers coped with their tasks of governing the state quite well. The main asset of the Xia era is the calendar of that time, which Confucius himself later admired.

However, a decline occurred, and it was caused by pressure from the clergy, and the spiritual rulers soon began to neglect their duties as the clergy. Calendar dates began to get confused, the periodization of Ancient China was confused, the social and political structure was lame. Emperor Li of the Shang state took advantage of this weakening and began the subsequent dynasty.

Shang-Yin Dynasty

The reign period begins in the 18th or 16th century BC. e. according to different theories, and ends in the 12th or 11th century BC. e.

In total, this dynasty has about 30 rulers. Li Tang (the founder of the dynasty) and his tribe believed in totemism. They adopted the custom of telling fortunes with bones from the Longshan culture, and they also used turtle shells for fortune telling.

During the reign of Shang-Yin, a centralized policy of governance reigned, led by the emperors of the dynasty.

The end of the period came when the Zhou tribes overthrew the ruler.

Zhou Dynasty

The Zhou are the last powerful dynasty of the first stage in the periodization of the history of the state of Ancient China before the formation of the Chinese Empire, which existed from the 9th to the 3rd centuries BC.

There are two stages: Western and Eastern Zhou. Western Zhou had its capital Zongzhou in the west, and its domains covered almost the entire Yellow River basin. The essence of the politics of that time was that the main emperor ruled in the capital, and his entourage (usually relatives) ruled over many fiefs into which the state was split. This led to civil strife and power struggles. But in the end, the stronger possessions enslaved the weaker ones.

At the same time, China defended itself from constant attacks by barbarians. This is why the ruler moved from the western capital to the eastern capital of Chengzhou in the state of Loyi in 770 BC, and the period of history of ancient China called Western Zhou began. The ruler's move meant a conditional renunciation of power and government.

All of China was split into several kingdoms: Yan, Zhao, Song, Zheng, Lu, Qi, Chu, Wei, Han, Qin, and into many small principalities, which the larger kingdoms conquered over time. In fact, some kingdoms were much more powerful in politics than the kingdom where the main ruler of Zhou was located. Qi and Qin were considered the most powerful, and it was their rulers who made the greatest contribution to politics and to the fight against barbarians.

Separately, it is worth highlighting the kingdom of Lu from these kingdoms. Education and writing reigned there, although politically Lu was not strong. It was here that Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, was born and lived. The end of the Zhou period is usually considered to be the year of the philosopher's death in 479 BC. Confucius wrote the history of Western Zhou in the chronicle Chunqiu. Many events of that time are known only thanks to these records. It is also known that Taoism began to penetrate into China during this period.

The end of the dynasty was when all the kingdoms fought among themselves for power. The most powerful won - Qin with the ruler Qin Shi Huang, who after the conquest was able to unite all of China and started a new dynasty. And the ruler of Zhou himself lost the status of a heavenly mandate.

Qin

Since the ruler of Qin united all of China, a new stage in the history and periodization of Ancient China began. The era of fragmentation gave way to the era of imperial rule with united parts of the entire state.

The era did not last long. Only from 221 to 207 BC, but it was Qin Shi Huang (the first emperor) who made a special contribution to the culture of Ancient China. During this period, the Great Wall of China was built - a special treasure of the state, the greatness of which is still amazing. Ruler Qin Shi Huang carried out many reforms. For example, monetary and judicial reform, and also writing reform. Under him, the construction of a unified road network began.

Despite all the advantages, historians highlight significant disadvantages, which were the reason that the Qin period did not last long. Qin Shi Huang was a supporter of legalism. Legalism is a philosophical school of that period, the essence of which was very harsh measures for people and punishments for any offenses and more. This influenced such a sharp leap in the form of victories over various tribes and the rapid construction of the Chinese Wall in order to protect against barbarians and enemy captivity. But it was precisely cruelty that led to people’s dislike and a sharp change of dynasties immediately after the death of Qin Shi Huang.

Han and Xin

The Han Empire lasted from 206 BC to 220 AD. It is divided into two periods: Western Han (from 206 BC to 9 AD) and Later (Eastern) Han (25-220 AD)

The Western Han had to deal with the devastation that followed the Qin period. Hunger and mortality reigned in the empire.

Ruler Liu Bang freed many state slaves who had become involuntary prisoners under the Qin for offenses. He also abolished harsh taxes and harsh penalties.

However, in 140-87 BC. e. the empire returned to despotism, as under the Qin ruler. The ruler of the Wu Di dynasty again introduced high taxes, which were levied even on children and the elderly (this led to frequent murders in families). By this time, the territories of China had expanded greatly.

Between the Western and Eastern Han was the Xin Dynasty, led by the ruler Wang Mang, who managed to overthrow the Eastern Han. He tried to strengthen his power by introducing many positive reforms. For example, a certain territory of land was assigned to each family. If it was higher than required, then part of it was given to the poor or people without land.

But at the same time, there was chaos with officials, because of which the treasury was empty, and taxes had to be greatly increased. This was a reason for people's dissatisfaction. Popular uprisings began, which also served as an advantage for the representatives of Wang Man, who was killed during the uprising called “Red Eyebrows.”

Liu Xiu was nominated as a candidate for the throne. He wanted to reduce people's hostility to government by lowering taxes and freeing slaves. The Western Han period began. This time also made a significant contribution to history. It was then that the Great Silk Road was established.

At the end of the second century, unrest broke out again among the people. The “Yellow Turbans” uprising began, which lasted almost 20 years. The dynasty was overthrown, and the period of the Three Kingdoms began.

Although the Han period was a period of growth, at the end of the era after the Twenty Years' War, a constant struggle began between the generals of the dynasty and other leaders. This led to further unrest in the empire and deaths.

Jin

The Jin era and subsequent periods can already be attributed to the Middle Ages, but let’s look at the very first dynasties to understand what the policies of Ancient China led to and how the rulers had to eliminate the consequences.

The population after the Han wars decreased several times. There were also cataclysms. Rivers began to change their courses, thereby causing floods and economic decline. The situation was aggravated by constant raids by nomads.

Cao Cao, who ended the Yellow Turban Rebellion, unified the fragmented north of China in 216. And in 220, his son Cao Pei founded the Wei Dynasty. At the same time, the states of Shu and Wu arose. And so the period of the Three Kingdoms began. Constant wars began between them, which aggravated the military-political situation inside China.

In 249, Sima Zhao became the head of Wei. And his son Sima Yan, when his father died, took the throne and founded the Jin dynasty. First, Wei conquered the state of Shu, and then Wu. The period of the Three Kingdoms came to an end, and the Jin era began (265-316). Soon the nomads conquered the north, and the capital had to be moved from Luoyang to southern China.

Sima Yan began to distribute land to his relatives. In 280, a decree was issued on the allotment system, the essence of which was that every person was entitled to a plot of land, but in return people had to pay the treasury. This was necessary to improve relations with ordinary people, replenish the treasury and improve the economy.

However, this did not entail an improvement in centralization, as expected, but vice versa. After the death of Sima Yan in 290, a struggle began between the owners of large estates - the relatives of the deceased ruler. It lasted 15 years, from 291 to 306. At the same time, in the north of the state, the positions of the nomads were strengthened. Gradually they settled along the rivers, began to grow rice and enslave entire settlements of people.

During the Jin period, as is known, the religion of Buddhism began to strengthen. Many monks and Buddhist temples appeared.

Sui

Only in 581, after a long period of unrest, did Zhou Yang Jiang manage to unite the north, fragmented by nomads. The reign of the Sui Dynasty begins. He then captures the state of Chen in the south and thereby unites all of China. His son Yang Di became involved in wars with some nations in Korea and Vietnam, created the Grand Canal to transport rice, and improved the Chinese Wall. But the people were in difficult conditions, which is why a new uprising began, and Jan Di was killed in 618.

Tian

Li Yuan founded a dynasty that lasted from 618 to 907. The empire reached its peak during this period. Li's rulers improved economic ties with other states. Cities and their numbers began to increase. We began to actively develop agricultural crops (tea, cotton). Especially in this regard, Li Yuan's son, Li Shimin, stood out, whose politics reached a new level. However, in the 8th century, the conflict between the military and the authorities at the center of the empire reached its peak. In 874, the Huang Chao War began, which lasted until 901, due to which the dynasty ended. In 907-960, the Chinese Empire was fragmented again.

State and social systems of Ancient China

The periodization of all periods of Ancient China can be considered as stages of history similar to each other in their structure. The social structure is based on collective farming. The main activities of people are cattle breeding and crafts (which were developed to a high level).

At the top of power was the aristocracy, below were slaves and peasants.

The ancestral heritage was clearly expressed. During the Shang-Yin period, each of the ruler's relatives was given a special title depending on how close they were. Each title provided its own privileges.

During the Yin and Western Zhou periods, land was issued only for use and farming, but not as private property. And from the Eastern Zhou period, land was already distributed for private ownership.

Slaves were first public and then became private. Their category usually included prisoners, very poor community members, vagabonds and others.

In the stages of periodization of Ancient China's social and state structure, one can highlight the fact that in the Yin era, the brother of the deceased ruler first inherited the throne, and in Zhou the title passed to the son from the father.

Under the ruler, a palace system of government reigned.

It is worth highlighting separately, speaking about the periodization of the history of the state and Ancient China: law already existed, but at the initial stage it was strongly intertwined with religious principles and ordinary ethics. Patriarchy reigned, elders and fathers were revered.

In the V-III centuries BC. e. law was an integral part with cruel punishments, while there was already legalism. And during the Han Dynasty, people again returned to Confucianism and the idea of harmonious inequality of people depending on rank.

The first written sources of law date back to approximately 536 BC.

Philosophy

The philosophy of Ancient China is very different from the philosophy of any other European countries. If Christianity and Islam have God and life after death, then in Asian schools there was the principle of “here and now.” In China, they also called for kindness during life, but simply for harmony and well-being, and not under fear of punishment after death.

It was based on the trinity: heaven, earth and man himself. People also believed that there is Qi energy, and there should be harmony in everything. They distinguished the feminine and masculine principles: yin and yang, which complemented each other for harmony.

There are several main philosophical schools of that time: Confucianism, Buddhism, Mohism, Legalism, Taoism.

Thus, if we summarize what has been said, we can conclude: already before our era, Ancient China formulated a certain philosophy and adhered to some religions, which are still an integral part of the spiritual life of the population in China. At that time, all the main schools changed and only sometimes overlapped depending on the stage of periodization.

Culture of Ancient China: heritage, crafts and inventions

To this day, the Great Wall of China is considered one of the greatest assets of China. The most amazing thing here is that they were built under the control of the first emperor of Ancient China, Qin Shi Huang from the Qin dynasty. It was then that legalism and cruelty reigned towards the people who, under fear and pressure, built these truly great structures.

But great inventions include gunpowder, paper, printing and the compass.

It is believed that paper was invented by Cai Long in 105 BC. e. Its production required a special technology, which is still reminiscent of the current papermaking process. Before this period, people scraped writing on shells, bones, clay tablets and bamboo rolls. The invention of paper led to the invention of printing in a later period of our era.

The first semblance of a compass appeared in Ancient China during the Han Dynasty.

But there were countless crafts in Ancient China. Several thousand years BC. e. Silk began to be mined (the extraction technology of which remained secret for a long time), tea appeared, and pottery and bone products were made. A little later, the Great Silk Road appeared, they made drawings on silk, sculptures from marble, and paintings on the walls. And also in Ancient China, the well-known pagodas and acupuncture appeared.

Conclusion

The social and political structure of Ancient China (periodized from the Neolithic era up to the Han Dynasty) had its disadvantages and advantages. Subsequent dynasties adjusted the way politics was conducted. And the entire history of Ancient China can be described as periods of prosperity and decline, moving in a spiral. Moving upward, so the “bloomings” became more and more improved and better each time. The periodization of the history of Ancient China is a voluminous and interesting topic, which we discussed in the article.

At the beginning of the 8th century. BC e. Clashes between the Zhou people and the Rong tribes, who inhabited the area of the upper reaches of the Yellow River, became more frequent. By origin, the Rong were related to the Zhou people, but differed from them in their way of life and forms of economy. Decisive clashes with the semi-nomadic Rong tribes occurred during the reign of Yu-van (781-771 BC).

In 770 BC. e. the capital had to be moved east, to the area of modern Luoyang. Period VIII - III centuries. BC e. therefore called Eastern Zhou.

In the relations between the population of Ancient China and neighboring tribes, the discrepancy between political and ethnic relations is clearly evident. If "in the Yin and early Zhou times the contrast between "us and them" was based solely on political criteria (those who recognized the power of the wang were part of "our" community, those who disobeyed his authority automatically became a "stranger"), then in the 8th-7th centuries BC .the idea arises of the existence of a certain cultural-genetic community of all “barbarians.” The ancient Chinese began to oppose themselves to the “barbarians,” denoting their community with the term huaxia (or zhuxia).

According to the ideas of the ancient Chinese, this distinction was based on kinship relationships. It was believed that the inhabitants of the kingdoms located in the middle reaches of the Yellow River were related to each other, so even if one of them opposed the Zhou Wang, it did not cease to be Huaxia. Accordingly, a political union with the “barbarians” did not mean that they ceased to be such. This enduring difference between the Huaxia and the “barbarians” is clearly expressed in the following words of a famous figure of the 7th century. BC e. Guan Zhong: “Barbarians are jackals and wolves, they cannot make concessions. Zhuxia are relatives, and they cannot be left in trouble!”

Struggle for hegemony

The first ancient Chinese kingdom to achieve hegemony on the Central China Plain was Qi, located in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. King Qi was officially declared hegemon in 650 BC. e. at the Congress of Rulers (Zhuhou).

After his death, the Qi kingdom lost its position as hegemon. It soon becomes another large kingdom - Jin. The years of the greatest power of the Jin kingdom were the reign of Wen Gong (636-628 BC).

Having defeated the Jin, Chu begins to dictate its terms to the ancient Chinese kingdoms. The Jin managed to achieve revenge only in 575 BC. e.

Shifts in the socio-economic structure of society

The first mentions of iron are found in ancient Chinese texts of the late 6th century. BC e. In particular, the chronicle “Zozhu-an” reports that in the kingdom of Jin in 513 BC. e. an iron tripod with the text of laws was cast. The earliest archaeological finds of iron tools date back to the 5th century. BC e. In the 4th century. BC e. Iron tools are becoming quite widespread in agriculture.

The use of draft arable tools such as the rala with an iron tip made a genuine revolution in agricultural technology. With the help of such tools, it turned out to be possible to cultivate not only floodplain lands, but also hard soils on high coastal terraces. The draft power of cattle dramatically increased labor productivity. “Animals that served as sacrifices in temples now work in the fields” is how this important change in the state of productive forces is characterized by the author of one of the ancient Chinese works. If earlier irrigation work was carried out almost exclusively for the purpose of controlling floods (traces of drainage canals have been preserved in the Yin fortifications in Zhengzhou and Wuanyang), then as the cultivated areas expanded, canals began to be used on an ever wider scale for artificial irrigation.

The expansion of arable land, increased productivity, and a sharp increase in the total social product predetermined the crisis of the system of land ownership and land use that existed in Zhou China in the 11th-6th centuries. BC e. Previous forms of land ownership, based on a hierarchy of social ranks, are gradually becoming obsolete.

Ideological struggle in the VI-III centuries. BC e.

The emergence of Confucian teachings played an exceptional role in the history of ideology not only in Ancient China, but also in many neighboring countries of East Asia.

The central place in the ethical and political doctrine of Confucius (Kong Qiu, 551-479 BC) is occupied by the doctrine of the “noble man” (jun zi). Confucius was alien to the ideals of the new social stratum of the propertied, striving for profit and enrichment. Contrasting them with the principles of morality and duty, Confucius turns to the orders of the past that he idealized. This is a deep contradiction in the system of views of the ancient philosopher. Confucian concepts of humanity (zhen), loyalty (zhong), respect for elders (xiao), compliance with the norms of relationships between people (li) represent positive universal values expressed through the categories of a historically doomed social system. Far from striving for personal well-being (“Eating coarse food and drinking only water, sleeping with your elbow under your head—there is joy in this! And wealth and nobility obtained through dishonest means are like floating clouds for me”), finding satisfaction in the process itself knowledge of reality (“Learning and constantly repeating what you have learned - isn’t this joyful?”), Confucius at the same time expresses thoughts that are a call for the restoration of a way of life that has become a thing of the past. It is characteristic that Confucius approached the solution of political problems without making a fundamental distinction between the state and the family. Applying the model of relationships between family members to the state meant the requirement to preserve inviolably those orders when “a ruler is a ruler, a subject is a subject, a father is a father, a son is a son.”

Another outstanding ancient Chinese thinker, Mo Tzu (Mo Di, turn of the 5th-4th centuries BC), approached the contradictions of his contemporary society from a different position. All social ills, in his opinion, stem from the “separateness”) preached by the Confucians. “Nowadays,” wrote Mo Di, “the rulers of kingdoms know only about love for their kingdom and do not love other kingdoms... Nowadays, the heads of families know only about love for their family, but do not love other families... If there is no mutual love between people, then mutual hatred will certainly appear.” Therefore, Mo Di puts forward the thesis about the need for “universal love,” which will allow us to restore order in the Celestial Empire.

Speaking against the family and kinship isolation of members of society, Mo Di sharply criticized the custom of transferring privileges and positions by inheritance. Calling to “honor the wise,” Mo Di attacked the hereditary nobility and considered it useful to have such a state of affairs when “an originally low person was exalted and became noble, and an initially beggar would be exalted and became rich.”

A number of important provisions of Mohist teaching were borrowed by philosophers of the 4th-3rd centuries. BC e., who created the “legist” school. If the Confucians saw a means of pacifying the Celestial Empire in improving the socio-ethical side of relationships between people, then the legalists considered the law to be such a means (hence the name of this philosophical school). Only the law, manifested in rewards and punishments, is able to ensure order and prevent unrest. Legalists compare the law to a tool with which a craftsman makes a product. Law is necessary primarily for the subordination of the people to the power of the ruler. It is no coincidence, the legalists emphasized, “even before, only those who saw their first task in establishing order in their own people could establish order in their own people, and those who considered it necessary to first defeat their own people defeated powerful enemies.” Legalists saw the ultimate goal of applying the law as ensuring the absolute power of the ruler.

If the Confucians advocated for a return to the ideal orders of the past, and the coins and legists advocated for the consistent destruction of the old system of social and government structure, then representatives of the Taoist school took a special and very unique position on this issue. Lao Tzu is considered the founder of this philosophical school, but we do not have reliable information about him. The Treatise on Tao and Te (Daodejing) is attributed to the authorship of Laozi, who was supposedly an older contemporary of Confucius. Supporters of this teaching believed that everything in the world is determined by the existence of a certain “way” (Tao), acting against the will of people. Man is unable to comprehend this path (“The Tao that can be expressed in words is not the true Tao”). Therefore, the best way not to make mistakes in governing the state is, from the point of view of Taoists, the “inaction” of the ruler, his refusal to actively intervene in the predetermined course of historical events.

Shang Yang's reforms

In the 4th century. BC e. In many ancient Chinese kingdoms, socio-political reforms were carried out aimed at the final destruction of the outdated system of social relations. The initiators of these reforms were representatives of the legalist school, most of whom sought not only to formulate their point of view on methods for solving the social problems of our time, but also to implement it in practice. Quite a lot of information has been preserved about one of them, Shang Yan, who achieved reforms in the kingdom of Qin (mainly from the “Historical Notes” of Sima Qian and the treatise “The Book of the Ruler of Shang,” attributed to Shang Yan).

Qin, the westernmost of all the ancient Chinese kingdoms, for a long time did not play a significant role in the struggle for supremacy on the Central Chinese Plain. Qin was an economically weak kingdom and did not have a strong army. Its ruler accepted Shang Yang's proposal to carry out reforms that would lead to a strengthening of the state. By 359 BC. e. include the first decrees on reforms prepared by Shang Yang. They provided for: 1) the introduction of a new territorial division of the population into “heels” and “tens” of families connected by mutual responsibility; 2) punishment of those who had more than two adult sons who continued to live under the same roof with their parents; 3) encouragement of military merit and prohibition of blood feud; 4) encouragement of farming and weaving; 5) the elimination of the privileges of representatives of the hereditary nobility who did not have military merit. The second series of reforms in Qin dates back to 350 BC. e. An administrative division into counties was introduced; residents of the Qin kingdom were allowed to freely sell and buy land; The system of weights and measures was unified.

Shang Yang's reforms undoubtedly met the needs of the progressive development of society. Having finally undermined the dominance of the old aristocracy, they opened the way to overcoming the contradiction between nobility and wealth: from now on, any member of society who possessed wealth had the opportunity to achieve an appropriate social position in society. Reforms of the 4th century BC e. were a powerful impetus for the development of private property and commodity-money relations. The bulk of farmers cultivating the land became small landowners after these reforms. At the same time, Shang Yang's reforms stimulated the development of slavery.

Chinese ancient civilization is about 5000 years. Found ancient sources prove that China is no less 3500 years. For several centuries after the death of the first emperor, China was torn apart by war. By 626 BC. The country has once again entered a golden age. Power passed to the first emperor of the dynasty Tan - Taizong . To the capital of the empire, which moved to Chang'an, merchants arrived along the Great Silk Road. Markets were bustling all over the city. Different religions coexisted peacefully. For the first time, ordinary people, and not just nobles, could hold government positions. Everyone who expected to get a place in the civil service had to pass an exam. The population worked in the production of salt, paper, and iron. Arts and crafts flourished. Peasants sold their goods on the streets, and many were drafted into the army.

First Emperor

Before 221 BC China was divided into several kingdoms, each with its own ruler, which fought among themselves for more than 250 years. The state won Qin(from this word comes the name of China in European languages). Its ruler took the title Qin Shi Huang, which means "first emperor of Qin". He ascended the throne at just 13 years old. A brilliant commander and politician, he swept away anyone who stood in his way. Because of his tough temperament he was nicknamed " Qin tiger". Qin He ordered books that contradicted his ideas to be burned, and dissenting scientists to be thrown into a pit. But the emperor was afraid to die. In his magnificent palace there were more 1000 bedrooms, and every night he changed his sleeping place, fearing to be killed in his sleep.
Qin Shi Huang sought to maintain the unity of the empire. He removed the previous rulers from power, settling them in the capital Chang'an, re-divided the country into regions and appointed his own officials. On his instructions, a network of roads and canals was built. To secure the northern border, the emperor ordered the construction of a gigantic structure - the Great Wall of China, part of which has survived to this day. The emperor undertook to restore the strength and wealth of the country after long wars. Writing was unified. All products, even bricks, had to have the name of the manufacturer: the craftsmen could be punished for poor work. The length of the cart axles had to be the same, corresponding to the rut cut out on the roads. Chinese kingdoms minted their own coins. At Qin Shi Huang all the coins were round, with a hole for a cord.
Despite all efforts, the empire collapsed soon after his death Qin Shi Huang, V 210 BC

the great Wall of China

For a long time, China was threatened by the nomadic tribes of the Xiongnu (Xiongnu, or Huns) who lived to the north of it. Local rulers tried to protect themselves by building large walls. IN 214 BC the emperor ordered to connect them into one gigantic border wall more than 3460 km. The construction was supervised by a military commander Meng Tian, who sent officials to monitor the work. The wall was built by thousands of peasants. Overseers with a whip constantly monitored the pace and speed of work. Soldiers guarded the construction site from enemy attacks. Cold, dampness and dangerous working conditions killed people. The dead were buried right where they fell.

The workers used simple tools - picks, shovels, baskets and wheelbarrows. To lift huge cobblestones, slabs and stones, scaffolding made from tied bamboo poles was used. The mound of stones and earth was covered with stone slabs.

The height of the wall was 9 meters, and the width is such that a chariot could drive along it. Watchtowers were built in the upper parts of the fortification. Slit-like openings were also constructed in the wall for shooting from bows and crossbows.

Ultimately it was believed that Great Wall has a silhouette Chinese dragon head to the west and tail to the east.

Capital of China - Chang'an

During the Tang dynasty Chang'an became the largest city in the world. Chang'an means " forever safe". The city was home to more than a million permanent residents and many foreign merchants, travelers and scientists. The clothes were made of colored silk. Only the emperor could wear yellow clothes. The emperor's palace, surrounded by a high wall, was located in the northern part of the city. Musicians and dancers. Houses made of wood were varnished. Roof tiles were constructed on the roofs of the houses.

Life of the rich nobility

The rich lived large. Wealthy families had beautiful houses of 2-3 floors. Lush silk robes, luxurious feasts at which servants served pork or venison dishes and drinks made from millet and rice. Long hours were devoted to enjoying music and poetry, playing chess and cards. Homes were decorated with luxury items made of gold and silver, jade and porcelain. Lacquerware and painting on silk were popular. Noble Chinese moved around the city in a stretcher - a palanquin.

Great inventions

The Chinese were great inventors. In 2nd century BC they invented paper, and later printing using wooden stamps. They also constructed an instrument to determine the strength of earthquakes. During the Tang Dynasty, mechanical water clocks, a magnetic compass, paper playing cards and fine porcelain appeared. Gunpowder was invented, which was used to set off fireworks. The Chinese invented printing. The pages were connected into a long strip, the book was rolled up like a scroll.

The Great Silk Road

The Tang emperors encouraged trade. Caravans of camels and horses carried silk, porcelain, salt, tea and paper along the Great Silk Road, which was more than 7000 km. It connected China with the Mediterranean and went through Central Asia, Persia, and Syria. The Chinese bought furs, horses, gold, and spices from their neighbors. Fur products were brought from the north.
The journey along the Great Silk Road was long. Merchants set off in caravans. We set up camp for the night. The Great Silk Road was named so because of the enormous importance of the silk trade.

Craft and art of China

The Chinese have learned to extract salt from underground salty waters. The brine was raised to the surface and sent through bamboo pipes into vats where the water evaporated. In the 2nd century BC. paper began to be made in China. Pulp was made from mulberry wood and dried on wooden frames. Buddhist monks first brought tea bushes from the Himalayas, which they soon began to grow. Farmers plowed the fields before planting millet and grew rice. Irrigation made it possible to develop new lands for crops .About 6th century BC. The Chinese learned to make silk from silkworm cocoons. Craftsmen learned to build blast furnaces and smelt steel. Their weapons and tools became stronger. Road workers compacted the earth to build a road.
Was very popular in China calligraphy- the art of beautiful writing. Artists decorated ceramic dishes with colored glazes. The outlines of the superb beautiful rock scenery in South China have become a favorite subject of painters and artists.

Philosophy and the path of knowledge

The Chinese have never believed in one God. They deified nature, worshiping the spirits of mountains, rivers and trees. They also developed two religious and philosophical schools, indicating the norms of human relations. These are the teachings of Laozi (Taoism) and Confucius (Confucianism). The basis of Taoism is the belief in harmony with nature. Confucians placed their faith in virtue, family, and social stability. However, when in 1st century BC. was borrowed from India Buddhism, it has spread very widely. Monk Xuan Zang returned to India with Buddhist treatises for his learned brethren in 629. Pilgrims walked to the sacred “Caves of a Thousand Buddhas”. More than in 1000 caves there were wall paintings, Buddhist sculptures and an extensive library.
Taoist sages contemplated the symbol Yin Yang. The Chinese believed that yin and yang have great power with the universe, and their balance ensures the harmony of the world.
The Chinese believed that in the human body there is a network of pathways through which energy flows. Needles inserted into special points affect the flow of energy and heal diseases. This treatment method is called

Since ancient times, the Chinese have buried their dead along with items for the afterlife. In the graves of rulers they find not only food, drinks and personal property, but also the bodies of servants who were supposed to remain in eternal service to their master. The Chinese revered their dead ancestors, believing in their help and protection.
Princess Dou Wan buried in a robe made of pieces of jade joined with gold. Jade was supposed to protect her body from decay.
Buried in the emperor's tomb was a life-size replica of his army, made from terracotta: 7,500 infantry, archers, officers, chariots and horses. The crossbows were cocked to fire during the robbery attempt. There were models of palaces, and channels filled with mercury driven by wheels, depicting a river Yangtze. Thousands of people worked to create this. IN 1974 The tomb was accidentally discovered by workers digging a well.
Imperial tomb with " terracotta army"built on Mount Li. The bodies of the figures were made separately, then the head and arms were attached. Inside the tomb, in the underground corridors, row after row stood warriors and horses. The face of each warrior was different from the other.