In the previous lecture,
I have suggested that the concept of harmony
is critical to understanding Confucian philosophy.
In fact, the concern with harmony can be traced to the very beginning of Chinese history,
and which is why we need to begin our discussion with
at least a cursory look at the world of ancient China.
Now, a proper study should really begin with the prehistoric period at
least to show how China evolved from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age,
and to show how advances in the material culture was
paralleled by breakthroughs in the intellectual arena as well.
Unfortunately, we won't have time to go into any detail here.
Let me simply make three points.
Agriculture first developed in China sometime between 10,000 and 5000 B.C.E.
Archaeological records indicate that tribal villages began to form around this time.
The early settlers had stone tools and they made potteries.
In addition to the cultivation of grains such as millet and rice,
they also had domesticated animals such as sheep, pigs, and silkworms.
You have to exercise your historical imagination here.
The small communities soon began to lived in walled villages,
they used more sophisticated tools and they began to put simple marks on their pottery,
which may have laid the foundation for the written Chinese language.
Now, by 1500 B.C.E.
or so, a major civilization then grew out of
this with a well-developed bronze technology and the written language.
Second, religious activities can also be traced to the Neolithic period if not earlier.
Principally, burial practices were developed from an early time.
Now, how do we know this?
In some of the ancient graves excavated, for example,
we find that the body was placed in a specific way,
facing a specific direction.
Burial objects have also been found such as drinking and eating vessels,
tools, animals, and in some cases,
the remains of other human beings.
All of these seemed to indicate that
the ancient Chinese had developed a belief in an afterlife.
I mentioned this because there is a religious dimension to early Chinese philosophy.
The root of ancestor worship, for example,
which is a key practice in Confucianism,
may perhaps be traced to this.
Our knowledge of Chinese prehistory is still quite scanty,
but it seems clear that Chinese culture and thought grew out of a long experience.
Third, according to Chinese historians,
the prehistoric period gave way to
the first political dynasty called the
Xia dynasty in the third and second millennium B.C.E.,
let's say roughly around 2000 B.C.E or so.
This claim, however, has not yet been confirmed by archaeological research.
One possible scenario is that there were several relatively big centers of civilisation,
especially along the Yellow River basin ruled by specific clans.
The Xia was perhaps one of them.
Whether it was a dynasty,
in the strict sense of the word, may be debated.
But, the Xia was mentioned in the Analects and that is why it is
important to our understanding of Confucian philosophy.
Another was named Shang,
also known as Yin because of is geographic location.
By 1500 B.C.E. or so,
the Shang proved to be the strongest and conquered the other centers.
The Shang dynasty is
the earliest Chinese political state affirmed by independent archaeological discovery.
Shang China was a high civilisation with an agrarian economic base.
Let me make three more points about the Shang state here.
First, it had a written language,
which is perhaps the distinguishing feature of any civilisation.
Language was and still is powerful.
Traditionally, knowledge of the written word,
that is to say education,
was a privilege accessible only to the ruling elite.
Chinese philosophy, like other aspects of Chinese culture,
came out of this tradition.
Besides its written language,
the second major characteristic of Shang civilisation is its Bronze technology.
Many bronze objects from this period have been discovered and some are truly,
truly beautiful, very sophisticated,
involving a unique bronze casting method.
The designs are intricate and the varieties are truly impressive.
For example, according to one classification,
there are twelve types of food vessels,
twenty-four types of wine vessels,
eight types of bronze musical instruments, and so on.
What do these material objects tell us about the society? Who made them?
Bronze is of course an alloy,
mainly copper and tin.
The ores have to be mined and then the objects made.
Some division of labor,
therefore can be inferred from these objects.
Also ask yourself this, who used them?
Probably not the miners or the craftsmen,
but those who ruled over them.
This suggests that the Shang was
a highly developed political state with a centralised government
headed by a king or lord in a stratified society made up of an elite aristocracy,
an artisan class, and others such as peasants, servants, and slaves.
And what were these objects used for?
This really points to the prevalence of rituals in early China.
How do we know this?
These bronze objects that are found in tombs,
often they are much larger than those used for practical purposes,
and the presence of lead in some of these objects,
which makes them softer,
would also suggest that they were not intended for practical use.
Third, rituals in religion are vitally important to
the Shang state and ritual has later become a key concept in Confucian philosophy.
For this reason, let me single out a few features about
Shang religion for yours attention in the next lecture.
Alan K. L. ChanToh Puan Mahani Idris Daim Chair Professor of Humanities & Social Sciences, Vice President (Alumni and Advancement)
