Culture in ancient CHINA

One of the oldest and most interesting civilizations It is China, being a huge nation that for centuries had a culture very different from that of the others. Due to our Western perspective, we do not usually know in depth the cultures of the ancient civilizations of the East and, to change this, in a Teacher we offer you a summary of culture in ancient china.

Index

1. Origin of Ancient China
2. ancient chinese language
3. Ancient Chinese art
4. Social structure of Ancient China
5. Main subcultures of Ancient China

With the name of ancient china we refer to an indeterminate past of Chinese culture, long before it existed as we know it today. chinese civilization arises in the eastern part of the Asian continent around 6000 years ago, or at least that is what its oral tradition costs us. For this reason, it is one of the few cultures that has been continuously preserved from ancient times to the present, since although it has evolved and changed,

Ancient China encompasses an enormous amount of peoples and civilizations because for centuries the population has been changing, but still its history is mainly focused on the Han ethnic group, being the most numerous and dominant of all existing Chinese peoples, currently occupying 92% of the Chinese population. Part of this is because this ethnic group consolidated its dominance during the Han dynasty, which is considered the golden period of its history.

Even so, China has existed since long before the Han, since in 5000 B.C. c. we have evidence of the existence of towns around the Yellow River Valley. It is these peoples who formed what we now know as Ancient China, beginning a long process that created one of the major cultures in history.

Here we discover what are the ancient chinese civilizations.

One of the most important cultural elements of any region is language, since without it a region cannot prosper, nor can a sense of a common language be created to help in the evolution of culture.

At the moment, The language of China is Mandarin Chinese. but this version of the language of the Chinese nation has not always been like this, since centuries ago the Chinese language was something different from the current one, being very interesting to know its evolution to understand how the culture of China.

The previous language of China was known as classical chinese or literary chinese, being the most used language in the passage of China, but also currently occupying as a kind of cultural language within the tradition. The influence of this language was so great that it even influenced other nearby regions, being able to find part of its main characteristics in regions such as Japan, Korea or Vietnam.

We must understand that ancient chinese was not the same during all the centuries in which it worked, since it was changing throughout the dynasties, therefore that we can say that the first type of classical Chinese was very different from the one that reached the last dynasties.

In recent times, ancient Chinese ceased to be used by the people, becoming closer to the role of the scribes, scholars or those more versed people, who used it to differentiate cultural texts from those who did not were.

In unProfesor we discover the major Chinese dynasties.

Every great cultural civilization has a powerful art, serving to show a society through elements such as painting, sculpture or architecture. For this reason, when talking about the culture of any region, it is very important to comment on what its main artistic disciplines were like, being key to understanding China in this case.

The main elements in Chinese art were porcelain and silk, being two very important materials in China, and therefore occupying an important role in their art:

• Porcelain was created during the Chang Dynasty., but it began to be produced in greater quantity when the Tang took power.
• Besides, silk was obtained from the cultivation of worms and began to be used in China almost in the 3000 years a. C., passing over time to be one of the most relevant goods of the nation for its trade with other very distant regions. In a Teacher we discover you what was the silk road.

Already entering the artistic disciplines we know that Chinese traditional painting is born at the beginning of its civilization, and at first they were just simple line drawings. As early as the Tang dynasty, important paintings depicting natural elements such as flowers or birds, which over time became directly representations of gigantic landscapes. In general, we can say that the flowers, birds and landscape were the three great elements of ancient Chinese painting.

Changing art, we should talk about chinese architecture, which maintains the main elements that are usually seen in eastern cultures. Chinese architecture is characterized by always use wood for the structures. Over the centuries, Chinese architecture has evolved in terms of the different types of constructions created, but always keeping wood as a common element. The idea is that the wood represents the nation itself, being something straight, resistant, and that it maintains its essence for a long time.

Finally, we must talk about the sculpture, which in the case of ancient China is characterized by the use of stone, by its appearance in the imperial tombs and for depicting large animals both real and mythological, which were thought to protect the tombs. Huge statues can still be found throughout China to this day, said to carry spirits that can attack evil souls.

In unProfesor we discover the main Chinese musical instruments.

The next step to talk about the culture of Ancient China is to comment on its social structure, since it is essential to understand the different social classes that make up a culture to understand it. Therefore, the social structure of Ancient China is as follows:

• At the top of the social pyramid was the emperor, since he was considered the intermediary between gods and men, and therefore having a power above that of any other. The emperor got his position by birth, there being no type of democratic system for his election, the idea is that the The gods had chosen an ancestor of the emperor to rule, and therefore all of his lineage had the right to occupy the throne. The only way to change the emperor was the end of the dynasty and the birth of another, when another royal family was in power.
• Below the emperor were the mandarins, also called as bureaucrats or ministers. They were the officials in charge of maintaining the administration of all of China. Among its main functions were to organize and govern the entire empire, from the collection of taxes to the construction of public works.
• The royals had a middle position, since they did not have the power of the emperor or the mandarins, but they had complete freedom to carry out the actions they wanted without responsibility. We do not know for sure what their occupation was in Chinese society, since some sources say that they were great artists, and others that they occupied management positions, so we don't know if there were cases where the royal family held mandarin positions, or if the entire royal family held these mandarin positions. posts.
• Below these social classes were the military, the big merchants and the clergy. The three groups were highly valued by society, understanding that they were all necessary, but they were below the emperor and the mandarins, since they did not have political power. Contrary to other cultures, the clergy did not have a higher relevance than the rest, they were considered cultured people related to the gods, but they were still on the same level as the great businessmen.
• Finally, in the lower area of ​​the pyramid we find the peasants, artisans and small merchants. These groups worked in the most difficult areas of all Chinese society, being highly valued even though their work was essential. Obviously it was almost impossible for a person to climb from this ladder to the next, there being only the possibility that a small merchant could grow enough to become a great merchant, although in a society as closed as that of ancient China this was a very rare and unusual case.

To continue with this summary of the culture of ancient China, we must talk about the main subcultures of Ancient China, since that Chinese culture was so broad that within it there were numerous subcultures, many of which are very interesting to learn about.

The main Chinese subcultures are the following:

• Hui culture: A culture closely related to Islam, being the only case of a Chinese culture adapted to this religion. During ancient times, a group of Muslims inhabited the region, uniting their beliefs with those of ancient China. We are not sure at what point a large enough group of Muslims could enter to transform an entire culture, but it is still part of the vast Chinese culture.
• Peking Culture: By many it is considered as the origin of the culture of ancient China, although it seems to be a subculture born when the emperors placed the capital in the region.
• Shandong culture: A culture that is believed to have its origin in Neolithic times. It is closely related to the religions of China, and especially to Confucianism, for This is considered one of the most important subcultures of all those that have made up the ancient China.
• hokkien culture: A subculture heavily influenced by the Japanese, with its own dialect that is said to be very difficult to imitate. They were known for being a culture with great naval power compared to other regions, this being possibly the reason that It made for such remarkable communication between the Japanese and this culture, even though they were separated by a sea current.
• Huizhou culture: A culture known for having one of the 8 main Chinese cuisines and for having a variety of the Chinese language that is only spoken in the region.
• Hubei Culture: One of the main cultural centers of China, it is said to be the origin of important games such as Dou dizhu.
• Wuyue Culture: It is a culture characterized by being delicate, elegant and refined, so it is often thought that it maintains much of the original attributes of ancient Chinese culture.

If you want to read more articles similar to Culture in ancient China - summary, we recommend that you enter our category of History.

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Fairbank, J. K. (1997). China: a new story. Andres Bello.
Chang, K. c. (2009). Art, myth and ritual: the path to political authority in ancient China. Katz Publishers.