A Brief History of Humanity: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century

Chapter 13 The Wise Men of China

China, like India, implements a policy similar to "closed country", restricting exchanges with the Mediterranean region, sometimes without the slightest sign of communication, but it has not yet reached the point of complete isolation.Though Asia Minor served as a barrier between China and the Mediterranean, ideas and inventions continued to spread and exchange slowly.For example about the use of iron.After several centuries, the Hittites in Asia Minor passed on the iron smelting technology from the Mediterranean to China.However, it didn't take long before the Chinese were able to smelt a large amount of pig iron and introduced it to Rome.The Egyptians had already started carving stone statues thousands of years before the art of stone carving was introduced to India, and the art of stone carving was later introduced to China with Buddhism (probably the first time).Since the alphabet was introduced to India very late, it did not reach China.When the alphabet was introduced to China later, it was too late.It is impossible for the Chinese to give up their beautiful language, not to mention that Chinese is composed of countless symbols with shapes and specific meanings. It is an extremely complex and difficult to learn writing system.

East and West The ancient Near East and Far East have been communicating in science, belief, thought, etc., although not too frequently.However, we can see from it that human nature and interests are very similar.On this point, Kipling has a wrong understanding.He believes that the Eastern world is the Eastern world, and the Western region is the Western region, and the two will neither intersect nor overlap.No matter people living in the East or people living in the West, when facing eternity, their essence is still human.The Buddha's thoughts I mentioned earlier are similar to the philosophical thoughts of the Stoics, and such similar thoughts are not uncommon in human history.Undoubtedly, this similarity will also be seen in China.

In fact, in the past history of mankind, the East and the West have long met and interacted, and there are many similarities unconsciously.

[-]. Lao Tzu and Confucius

Lao Tzu Now, we usually only consider the similarities of great things, but often ignore the differences in details.Therefore, we always think that Lao Tzu, who was born in 604 BC, is the Chinese Gautama Buddha.Lao Tzu is the "Old Philosopher" in China.Lao Tzu was originally named Li Er.Like Gautama Buddha, he taught the world with the standard "way" or "law" of life.His teaching thought is almost the same as Buddhist thought and Stoic thought.They all believe that people can only be happy if they restrain their desires.But Lao Tzu's thinking was 50 years earlier than Buddha's, and 250 years earlier than Zeno of the Stoics.

Lao Tzu once said, "Therefore knowing enough is enough, always enough".The meaning of this sentence is that the tranquility of one's mind must not be destroyed by desire and passion. "Running and hunting makes one's heart mad, and rare goods make one's life difficult." It is not difficult to find that the Buddha and Zeno in the next century, and even the emperor and philosopher Marco Aurelius after the seventh century, they It coincides with Lao Tzu's aphorism.

When Lao Tzu was alive, he was just an insightful philosopher.As time passed, his status increased, even becoming a school of philosophy, then a legend, and finally a god.700 years after Lao Tzu died, people built a temple specially for him in order to worship him.Even later, witchcraft and old Chinese ghosts and gods got mixed up with his teachings.The religion of Lao Tzu and his disciples was later Taoism, "Tao" means way or way, and with their efforts, Taoism became one of the greatest religions in China.

Although Confucius and Laozi are famous, another young philosopher, Confucius, has a higher reputation than Laozi.

Confucius was born around 550 BC, almost at the same time as Gautama Buddha.He was the son of a brave military officer.Although Confucius' family was very poor when he was young, he was still a scholar-bureaucrat in essence, because the origin of his family background can be traced back to the noble family background and family status, and his ancestors were very noble.Like other scholar-bureaucrats of his time in China, he learned the arts of music, reading, archery, horseback riding, keeping dogs, hunting and fishing.He was also a man of high morals and wrote a book of etiquette on the rules of life for scholar-bureaucrats (junzi).

Confucius' precepts had a major impact on the Chinese concept of etiquette.When he was still alive, religious rituals and customs represented part of the mainstream moral concept.Confucius strictly abided by all kinds of moral etiquette and customs, and carefully carried out all ritual activities, such as sacrifices to various house gods and ancestors.He also respected the sacrifices of heaven and earth.He believes that the true respect for parents should be "property in life, burial in death, and sacrifice in sacrifice."

Confucius' Proverbs Like Buddha, Confucius paid more attention to human life than to ghosts and gods.He handed down many maxims, such as "Kong Duo hears and doubts, but be cautious about the rest, you will be few"; One of the oldest mottos is "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," but most of these adages have nothing to do with religion.

Confucius on the government Confucius had his own unique views on everything, even on the government.When we look at the time of Confucius, we find that the princes and other dignitaries lived in luxury and luxury, oppressed the common people, quarreled with each other, and waged destructive wars.Confucius believed (and taught) that evils like this could be corrected if the ruler treated his people as a father treats his children.

Confucius was really able to put his theories into practice when he was 51 years old, when he was elected as the prime minister of the central capital by Lu Dinggong.The State of Lu is now part of Shandong Province. Under Confucius' governance, local affairs became orderly. Therefore, he was soon promoted to Sikou, and he was in charge of the country's justice.He is said to have curbed almost all local crime.Because Lu Dinggong did not give Confucius the support he deserved, Confucius resigned from his official post and traveled around the world, where he was respected by the local people.However, his dream of reforming dynastic politics was dashed, and his hope that the feudal princes would stop fighting each other did not come true.

Confucius' Thought Confucius has the dual identity of an educator and a reformer. It is not easy to summarize his career.However, the following points should be noted: (1) If you look at him from the perspective of a political reformer, he is indeed a loser.Although he failed, his theory of establishing the lofty status of the king and his planning for managing the court had a great influence on later generations. (2) He attached great importance to ancient religious rituals, and through his careful and earnest efforts, these rituals finally became a part of his thoughts.Because of the fame of Confucius, as long as people mention Confucius, they will think of ancestor worship and reverence for traditional religions. (3) In shaping the character of the Chinese nation, his rules of etiquette, as well as his streamlined maxims in morality, have played a huge role. (4) He left behind a set of important books, which have been proven to be one of the most influential documents on later generations.

The Five Classics The books left by Confucius are called "Five Classics", edited by him and his disciples.These books are all-encompassing, much like encyclopedias of Chinese literature.The book contains legends and historical events of the past ages, beautiful poems, and the achievements of the wisdom of the people at that time.His almost conservative thoughts run deep throughout the whole text, and at the same time, these thoughts have also played a huge role in teaching Chinese people to abide by traditional morals.His works have been respected by people since they came out, and people often like to quote sentences from them.Confucius' works not only preserved traditional literature and learning, but most importantly, he left China with the greatest classic masterpiece.

[-]. Exchanges between China, India and the Near East
The "Silk Road" The Great Gobi Desert and the desolate Tibetan Plateau were the boundaries of ancient China's western land.However, around 120 BC, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty opened up a long "Silk Road" that enabled Chinese merchants to communicate with India, Persia, Syria and other places in the Far East.

The natural environment of the Gobi itself is bad enough, but there are also extremely fierce nomads who roam around on horseback. They are called Tatars or Turks by Europeans, and Xiongnu by Chinese.In order to keep them out of the country, China built the Great Wall.At that time, in order to enter China, the Xiongnu moved farther west and south, until they came to the foot of the Great Wall.The situation at that time was very critical. In order to jointly resist the Xiongnu, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian to lead 100 people to set off westward to find allies against the Xiongnu.Unfortunately, they were captured and held for ten years.Later, the group found a chance to escape, so they continued westward to the Oxus River (now the Oxus River), but they still failed to find an ally.Nevertheless, the trip is still of great significance.For example, they brought back the fast horses from Turkestan, and new plants like grapes. They also brought back good news that there are a lot of precious jade in the West.Besides that, they also brought back some fascinating stories, all about the mysterious legends of India and Persia.

A few years later, in order to expel the Xiongnu, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent a large army to cross the mountain road and track westward to the Tarim River Basin, and then to the Oxus River Basin.In 114 BC, Chinese caravans reached Turkestan and Persia along this road.Thus, this road became the famous "Silk Road" leading to the West.Since then, China has had commercial and cultural communication with India and the Near East.To a certain extent, the most important achievement of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was to open up this "Silk Road".

Along the "Silk Road", more than a dozen Chinese caravans go to the Western Regions through this trading route every year, and exchange the silk and iron bars they carry for precious gems, jade, amber, coral and glass.Obviously, Chinese merchants generally did not trade directly with the Greeks and Romans, but transported their goods to the Near East through intermediaries—Turkestan or Persia, or by land through Persia and Mesopotamia, or Down the Indus River to the Arabian Sea, and then ship the goods from the Arabian Sea to Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.

Chinese silk shipped to Syria would be dyed purple there and embroidered with gold thread.They were then resold by Syrian merchants to rich men in Greece and Rome.This form of trading was very popular in Rome during the time of Augustus the Great.However, the next emperor, Tiberius, tried unsuccessfully to ban the expensive new fabric from wealthy Romans.Some Romans also believed that Roman money had poured into the Chinese market in order to buy Chinese silk.

Nevertheless, this trade has never stopped and continued to heat up.In order not to benefit Persia, the middleman, many Romans tried their best to deal directly with the Chinese. This is probably one of the reasons for the war between Rome and the Persian Parthian kings.To this end, they made various attempts.For example, find out a direct sea route to China.According to historical records, in 166 AD, a Syrian ship arrived in China, but it was not accepted by people because of the long voyage.In order to go to China, the envoys and some travelers sent by the Roman Empire sometimes took the risk of crossing Central Asia by land, but the journey was too far.So Rome and China still had to go through middlemen Persia and India for most of their trade.

A Valuable Secret Due to the distance, China and Rome rarely traded directly, let alone interacted with each other between these two great empires.While the Romans were desperate to know how to make silk, they didn't get it until the time of Justinian the Great.Justinian sent two monks to China.Around A.D. 551, they brought back a hollow cane containing silkworm eggs—certainly more valuable than their weight in gold, as they symbolized the rise of the silk industry in Asia Minor and Europe.

[-]. Buddhism in China and beyond
An Emperor's Dream If China's communication with Rome is mostly indirect and insignificant, then its connection with India is direct and effective.In the 1st century AD, Buddhism was introduced to China. It is said that it may have been introduced by Indians who came to China to do business, or it may have been introduced in a more dramatic way as described in Chinese history books.

According to Chinese records, Emperor Han Ming of China once dreamed of a golden man who told him that his dream was a divine order to send envoys.So Emperor Han Ming sent an envoy to India, and successfully brought back a white horse loaded with some Buddha statues and many Buddhist scriptures.Around AD 67, Emperor Ming of Han built a Buddhist temple in the capital and translated Buddhist scriptures into Chinese, making Buddhism part of the state religion of China.

Slow growth Over the centuries in Chinese history, Buddhism has been regarded as a foreign religion several times.Buddhist monks are all missionaries from India, while Chinese who are passionate about Buddhism go to India, which they regard as a "holy land", to worship.From the 4th century AD to the 10th century AD, the flow of Buddhist worshipers continued to flow from China to India.Several pilgrims also wrote travelogues which help to improve our understanding of the history of Buddhism in India and also bring us interesting facts about India that have never been recorded in Indian literature.

In China, Buddhism gradually merged with Chinese customs, and at the same time, it also merged with other Chinese beliefs and spread widely until it finally became one of the main beliefs of the Chinese people.

Buddhism outside China The Chinese civilization spread widely along with the Buddhist apostles, such as Korea, Japan, Tibet, Mongolia and Annan (now Vietnam), which is also a major influence of Buddhism on China.In the 6th century AD, Buddhism was introduced to Japan from China through Korea. The monks who spread Buddhism returned to China to find some skilled Chinese craftsmen and brought them to Japan to build temples and carve Buddha statues.From then on, Japan began to imitate Chinese architecture, sculpture style and painting art, as well as Chinese writing system.At one time, there was an upsurge of learning about China, and they greatly admired and imitated Chinese philosophy and literature, as well as dance and war weapons.But they are not just imitating, but are good at modifying and perfecting Chinese art to make it suitable for the needs of their local people.For example, in order to make Chinese characters more suitable for their native syllables, they initially borrowed Chinese ideographic characters and simplified those more complex ideographic characters, so that Chinese characters are more suitable for Japanese characters.

Architecture and Fine Arts The spread of Buddhism in China and surrounding areas has had a major impact on fine arts and architecture.Magnificent monasteries and majestic and beautiful pagodas and temples dotted all over the place, which directly stimulated garden design, and were also very effective for the rapid development of sculpture and painting.For example, in the sculpture of Buddha statues, the Chinese absorbed the Hellenistic artistic tradition brought by the Indians from the West, but they did not blindly imitate it. They absorbed the essence in their own unique way and modified it, unexpectedly producing a kind of Chinese art is different from Indian art and has distinct characteristics.Most of the sacred and beautiful Chinese Buddha statues in bronze, pottery or stone that you see in our museums today were made during the early years and after the introduction of Buddhism to China.

[-]. China

In the last years of the Zhou Dynasty, in the era when rites and music collapsed and Confucius lived, Qi, Qin, Jin, Chu and other fairly large feudal states occupied almost the entire China, and these vassal states ruled the Principality, Bo State, Nan State, etc. Countless small countries.The small country is controlled by the feudal system, maintaining the traditions of the Zhou Dynasty.The so-called feudal system is layer upon layer enfeoffment, and the rulers of male, uncle, public and other small countries should be loyal to their respective princes or leaders, and princes or leaders should finally be loyal to their emperors.But in fact, the princes are not united, and they continue to fight for their own self-interest.This is exposing the true meaning of feudalism in China at that time.Feudalism has been maintained in China for hundreds of years. As time goes by, the feudal system is full of disadvantages and gradually declines.In 249 BC, the ruler of Qin, one of the frontier principalities, completely overthrew this declining dynasty, the Zhou Dynasty.

"First Emperor" After a long battle, there was a prince who was outstanding among the competing kings and defeated other vassal states in succession. He won the title of emperor in 221 BC, and he named himself "Qin Shihuang". "The first" is exactly the connotation of the first emperor, and he was the first real emperor.He is the veritable Chandragupta of China, who used force to conquer different regions and groups and unified control; it was he who ended the feudal system at that time, re-divided 36 counties, and then newly established county guards and county lieutenants. He replaced the previous duke, and he appointed and supervised the counties himself; it was he who led the elite troops to expand the empire's sphere of influence to the south, and successfully acquired four new counties south of the Yangtze River; it is also because of him that Chidao and Canal It has also been built, water and land transportation has been facilitated, and all parts of China have been closely integrated.All these actions remind us of Darius in Persia, and Caesar in Rome.

Roads and city walls Since then, Chinese settlers have brought Chinese civilization into the "barbarian" areas south of the Yangtze River, making them gradually part of a complete China.At the same time, in order to resist the invasion of the northern "barbarians", that is, the Xiongnu, the first emperor waged a thorough war with the Xiongnu and won a major victory.In order to prevent them from invading China again, he ordered people to build a Great Wall.The Great Wall starts from the Yellow Sea in the northeast, crosses the bend of the Yellow River, and ends outside the mountains in the northwest.Although the Great Wall was originally built of earth, it was undoubtedly a real and real barrier to those barbarian horsemen who invaded from the north.This is an important factor why the nomads in Central Asia would rather seek a way out to the west than go south into China.Probably because of this reason, the barbarian invaders reluctantly parted ways, migrated from Asia, abandoned China, and went straight to Europe.

Later, successive dynasties extended and reinforced the Great Wall.In modern times, the Ming Dynasty rebuilt the Great Wall with stones, and the Great Wall, one of the wonders of the world, was born.

Sword and Book Although the first emperor should be loved by the people in many ways, unfortunately, when he was in power, the people were afraid and dared not speak; when he passed away, the people hated and could not speak.In China's traditional impression, Shi Huangdi has always been regarded as a bloodthirsty and cruel tyrant.Part of the reason why he is unpopular is that he tried to destroy Confucianism by burning books and burying Confucianism.He once ordered the burning of all Confucian classics and all documents that scholars regarded as life in the past except books on practical subjects such as agriculture and medicine. Hundreds of Confucian scholars who tried to save the collection were beheaded or exiled.

When the first emperor was in power, he ruled cruelly and oppressed the angry people who dared not speak.But when the news of his death came in 212 BC, years of pent-up anger finally erupted, and rebellions ensued, killing his sons at the hands of the rebels.

After the death of Qin Shihuang in the Han Dynasty, wars broke out one after another. A talented adventurer who was born as a farmer quickly defeated many of his opponents, ended the war, unified China, and established himself as emperor in 206 BC, establishing the Han Dynasty. .He and his descendants have sat firmly in the country for more than four centuries.They ushered China into a "golden age" of territorial expansion, cultural development, and commercial prosperity.

New Books and Old Books The literary development of the Han Dynasty was even more brilliant.One of the reasons is the invention of paper and a new type of brush. The small brush can present Chinese characters on paper with great dexterity, which naturally injected new vitality into the literature of the Han Dynasty.Another reason is that Qin Shihuang's edict prohibiting ancient books was completely abolished, hidden manuscripts were rediscovered, many copies were copied, and many new books were actively written by literati.In order to study Chinese literature, an emperor of the Han Dynasty founded Taixue and set up a competitive civil service examination system - the examination system.Since then, family status is no longer a stumbling block to promotion of official positions and social status. Officials are selected from among those who rank among the best in the classics examination.The works of Confucius and his disciples are regarded as holy books and classics.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and the "Silk Road" Several emperors in the early Han Dynasty not only devoted themselves to the revival of Confucian culture, but at the same time, they did not diminish their imperial ambitions of expanding the country and promoting the development of the commercial economy.Among them, the one with the most outstanding political achievements is none other than the well-known Chinese Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty.Although Americans may be unfamiliar with this name, it is natural to say that his historical status can be compared with Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Charlemagne.During his long reign from 140 BC to 86 BC, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty vigorously conquered the area south of the Yangtze River and incorporated part of Korea into his territory.And his greatest contribution is to open up a "Silk Road" connecting the Eastern and Western worlds.

The fall of the Han Dynasty In 220 A.D., the once glorious Han Kingdom came to a tragic end.After that, the Three Kingdoms ruled the roost and divided China equally.This reminds us of Alexander and his empire mentioned earlier.China has begun a long era of war.In the northern counties, the barbarian invaders had already established themselves as kings and occupied about half of the northern part of the country. Due to the loss of the northern part of the country, the capital was forced to move south to Nanjing on the Yangtze River.This is a dark age, and the spread of Chinese culture has not been affected by this, but has spread to North Korea and Japan.In the 5th century AD, the compass was used as a compass to guide the way forward for Chinese sailors in the ocean.

The revival of the Tang Dynasty From 618 to 907 AD, the second "Golden Age" in Chinese history came, and the great revival under the rule of the Tang Dynasty once again proved the vitality of the Chinese Empire.Not only regained the lost territory, but also added many foreign territories.The power of China at this time made other countries admire it, and Persia, Constantinople, and Muhammad sent envoys to meet the great powers of the Celestial Dynasty.Business flourished, Arab merchants came to China by boat to buy silk, and other foreign merchants also met with Chinese merchants in Central Asia Minor to exchange items.Literature, too, was revived, with sculpture, painting and poetry flourishing.

Chinese printing Although the Chinese have tried to print some pictures and scriptures with woodblocks since the 1st century BC, the first large-scale use of book printing technology was after the 10th century AD.At that time, due to the attention of the emperor, a new version of the Confucius classics and two major encyclopedias were all compiled and copied.

If China and Europe had been in close contact, printing could have spread to the West in the 10th or 11th century AD.However, due to limited conditions at that time, Europe had to wait until the 15th century AD to adopt this epoch-making great invention.

(End of this chapter)