12 August 2014

Chinese HeritageGEK 1007

Gregoryscott.gregory@nus.edu.sg

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