12 August 2014 Chinese Heritage GEK 1007
12 August 2014
Chinese HeritageGEK 1007
Your TAs
???!
???
Module Notes
Syllabus has been updated! Readings!
Requirements:!
Participation 50%!
Group presentation in tutorial!
Post two critical questions to IVLE by 8:00pm night before tutorial!
In-class quiz x2 20% (10%+10%)!
Short paper 30%!
Notes
Critical Questions
Should not have a simple, "factual" answer.!
"What poems did Li Bai write?"!
Not simple opinion.!
"What story is your favorite?"!
Question authors' points of view.!
"The author says xyz... But did she consider 123?"!
Contrast one author against another, if authors disagree.
What is Chinese Heritage?The roots of the tradition
Fact vs. Fiction
The Great Wallas an example
Great Wall Fictions
Monolithic and ancient!
Sealed off the nation from outsiders!
Can be seen from outer space
Great Wall Facts
Not a continuous wall!
Built at different times in history!
Cannot be seen from space
Ripley's Believe it or Not, 1932
The Mightiest Work of Man the only one that would be visible to the human eye from the moon!!
The word peace is a pig under a roof! !
He laughs when he is sad and cries when he is glad!
Great Walls
Qin Dynasty 221-207BC Western Han 202BC-9AD Ming 1368-1644
Fictions about China
Monolithic and unchanging, like Great Wall!
The Dynasty model!
Mandate of Heaven allows for dynastic turnover
The Handoff
The Dynastic Handoff
Traditional history-book style!
From dynasty to dynasty!
From emperor to emperor!
Mandate of Heaven
The beginnings of the cycle.
Emperor Yao
Beginnings of Classical history!
ca. 23rd? c. BCE!
Wise and virtuous ruler!
Chose Shun as his successor
Shun
Not Yao's son!!
Co-ruled with Yao for 30 years!
Ruled after Yao's death for 50 more!
Renowned for his filial piety!
Chose Yu as his successor
Yu the Great
Tamed disastrous floods!
Chosen by Shun to lead!
Founded Xia Dynasty
Xia Dynasty's Collapse
Last ruler, Jie!
Liked his ladies!
Alcohol lake and meat tree!
Shang rises against Xia
Shang Dynasty
1766-1045BC!
Corrupt King Zhu !
Zhu conquest of Shang in 1045BC
Zhou Dynasty
1045-256BC!
Forces of King Wen and King Wu, led by Jiang Ziya, 1045BC!
Golden Age of Sagely Rule
Eastern Zhou
Zhou was weakened around 770!
Moved capital to Luoyang!
Lasted until 256BCE
Qin Dynasty
State of Qin swallowed up all others!
Founded Dynasty in 221BCE!
Qin Shihuang, "First Emperor"!
Ended in 206BCE
Facts of Chinese history
Messier, more fragmented!
Not necessarily a single story!
Open to outside influence!
For early China, archaeological finds
"The Losers of History"
Sanxingdui1300-1100BC, Sichuan area
Other early cultures....
Early Cultures
Little is known about them!
Debate on Xia's existence, origins of bronze cultures!
None were strong enough to control all of China!
No written record
Heritage and Wen ()
Wenxue "Literature"!
Wenhua "Culture"!
Wenming "Civilization"!
Originally, "Patterning"!
The beginning of Chinese heritage
Written Tradition
History slowly emerges from myth and legend!
Western Zhou Bronzes!
Book of Changes ~900BCE?!
Book of Songs ~1000-600BCE?!
Book of Documents ~600BCE?
Zhou bronzes
Used in ancestor worship rituals, covenants!
Writing on vessels and bells for ancestors!
Sometimes details match ritual or historical records!
However, not purely historical
Book of Changes
Reveals movings of cosmos!
Used in divination!
Yin and Yang lines!
Throw coins or sticks to determine lines of hexagram!
Text very difficult to interpret
Book of Songs
According to legend, collected by officials!
View of everyday life in Zhou era!
Supposedly edited by Confucius from 3000 to 306 of the best poems
"Big Rat, Big Rat"
Big rat, big rat,Do not gobble our millet!Three years we have slaved for you, Yet you take no notice of us. At last we are going to leave you And go to that happy land; Happy land, happy land, Where we shall have our place.
Book of Documents
Collection of historical records, speeches of major figures!
Begins with Yao, Shun, and Yu!
Supposedly compiled by Confucius
The "Pan-Asian" Heritage
The Spread of Chinese LanguageLiterary Sinitic
!
Of the people of Chu, there was one who sold shields and spears.!
Ch rn yu y dn y mo zh....
!
Ch rn yu y dn y mo zh....!
!
So hito ni tate to hoko to o hisagu mono ari
Literary Sinitic
The Take-Away
Like the Great Wall, China has a complex history!
Chinese heritage: a written record of wen!
History and literature!
Remarkable continuity!
However, leaves some things out!
Chinese heritage spread throughout Asia via writing
http://www.yellowbridge.com/mysticism/i-ching-wizard.php