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The Neolithic Period lasted from about 10,000 BCE to 2,000 BCE. Before the Neolithic Period, most people were hunter-gatherers, meaning they relied on hunting and gathering to acquire food. But during the Neolithic Period, many people across the world started living in settled communities. They also began farming and raising animals to eat.
The first settlements in ancient China were on the North China Plain. The North China Plain is located south of the Gobi Desert, east of the Himalayan Mountains, and between the Yangtze (YAHNG-zuh) and Yellow Rivers.
Mountains, jungles, and deserts: China's diverse climates
The environment of the North China Plain was ideal for farming because the Yellow and Yangtze rivers provided fresh water for people and agriculture. But, present-day China extends beyond the North China Plain. Today, China is a large country that spans many different regions. These are some of present-day China's diverse regions:
The Himalayas are the tallest mountain range in the world. The Himalayas are not suitable for farming. They are located in these present-day areas: the Tibetan region of China and the countries of Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India. The tallest mountain in the Himalayas, Mount Everest, is on the border of China and Nepal. It is the tallest mountain in the world!
The Gobi Desert is a large desert covering parts of northern China and Mongolia. Many people who live in the Gobi Desert today are pastoralists, or people who raise animals and move with the seasons. Pastoralists in the Gobi Desert often live in homes called gers, shown here, which can be taken apart and moved.
The southwest area of present-day China is covered with a hilly, hot, and rainy jungle. This area is not suitable for farming.
Some of the northeastern area of present-day China is a taiga, or an environment with long, cold, snowy winters and short, cool summers. For most of the year, it is too cold to farm in the taiga.
For people in ancient Chinese communities, flooding around the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers was a common problem. So, some of the earliest Chinese myths have to do with floods and the emperors who tried to stop them.
The mythical Emperor Yu is famous for being the first to succeed in stopping a flood. Read the passage from an ancient Chinese text about Emperor Yu. Then follow the instructions below.
[After Emperor Yu stopped the Yellow River from flooding,] the land was made habitable, and the the affairs of the people were ordered. The soil was yellow earth, and its fields were of the very highest class.
habitable: fit to live in
yellow earth: fertile, clay-like soil
Tribute of Yu, Book of Documents
How did the Yellow River get its name?
Strong winds blow a yellow soil called loess (LOW-ess) into the Yellow River. Loess gives the Yellow River its yellow-orange color.
Sometimes, so much loess is blown into the river that the water level rises and causes flooding. When the flood waters recede, the fertile loess is left on the land. This process makes the area around the Yellow River good for farming.
How did people in ancient China stop flooding?
To prevent flooding, people in ancient China developed advanced technology, such as levees, or barriers that stop flooding.
The legend of Emperor Yu may hint at some of these early engineering feats.
The legend of Emperor Yu is a symbol of China's long tradition of creatively controlling rivers and flooding.
The climate around the Yangtze River was different from the climate around the Yellow River. The north was more dry, while the south received more rain. As a result, people in the two regions ate different types of food.
Have you ever tried millet?
Millet is a small, yellow seed grown in many parts of the world. It is often boiled, steamed, or made into thick soups. In ancient China, it was considered one of the five grains.
What are the five grains?
The five grains were the main part of people's diets in ancient China. Some people would offer the five grains to a god of the kitchen, known as Zao Jun (ZOW-jun). Some people believed that in exchange for the grain, Zao Jun would watch over their home and family.
The five grains are still a part of many Chinese diets today, although the exact grains are different than in the past.
Read the passage. Then answer the question below.
During the Neolithic Period, people in the North China Plain made many objects out of clay and stone. Archaeologists think that these objects were used mostly for daily tasks, such as preparing and cooking food.
Archaeologists have also found many objects made out of a stone called jade, which can be white, brown, orange, or green. Many jade objects don't appear to have a practical use, so archaeologists believe they may have been used in ceremonies.
What is jade used for today?
Jade is still a valuable stone. Today, it is used for luxury goods, such as vases, sculptures, and jewelry. But how are jade items made?
Mining for jade
For thousands of years, the Khotan (KO-tan) region of western China has been famous for its high-quality jade. People mine the jade along the White Jade River, which runs through the region.
More valuable than gold
Even today, people often sell their jade in local markets. The size, quality, and color of the jade determines how much it sells for. An ounce of high-quality jade is sometimes more valuable than an ounce of gold!
Some people buy jade from local markets to re-sell to artists. These artists then carve the jade into beautiful objects, like the vase shown here, and sell them all over the world.
A dynasty is a line of rulers from the same family, which is often called the royal family.
The Shang was the first dynasty in ancient China that historians are sure existed. The Shang dynasty lasted from about 1600 BCE to 1046 BCE.
The table below provides information about four kings of the Shang dynasty. These kings were representative of the larger Shang dynasty.
King or emperor?
The rulers of the Shang dynasty were called kings. But later Chinese rulers were called emperors. An emperor rules over an empire, or a large group of cities or territories controlled by one leader.
The Last Emperor of China
Until the early 20th century, different dynasties ruled China. The last emperor of China, Puyi, was part of the Qing (CHING) dynasty. Puyi was only two years old when he became emperor in 1908. He was emperor until the Qing dynasty ended in 1912, when Puyi was six years old. That was only about 100 years ago!
Historians use dynasties to break up periods of time in Chinese history. After the Shang, different dynasties ruled China until the beginning of the 20th century.
How did dynasties get their names?
Chinese dynasties took their names from places, such as the home region of the royal family, or from words with positive meanings. The Shang dynasty was named after a place, not after a family with the last name Shang. Leaders also took new names once they became emperor.
For example, one emperor shown was born as a poor farmer named Zhu Yuanzhang. When he declared himself the first emperor of his new dynasty, he took the name Hongwu, meaning "Vast Military." He named his dynasty Ming, which means "bright."
The Shang dynasty ruled during the beginning of the Bronze Age in ancient China. During the Bronze Age, people began to use bronze and other metals, such as tin, to make tools and other objects. The Bronze Age in China lasted from about 2000 BCE to 750 BCE.
The heaviest bronze object in the world!
A ding is a type of large bronze pot used in ceremonies. The Houmuwu ding is the heaviest bronze object ever found. It weighs over 1,800 pounds. That's about as heavy as ten adults!
This ding is named after the Queen Mother Wu, one of the 64 consorts, or companions, of the Shang king Wu Ding. Some archaeologists think that one of the Queen Mother Wu's sons made this ding in her honor.
Read the passage.
The Shang dynasty established its main capital city along the Yellow River. The king lived in a palace compound in the city center. Dwellings and burial sites for the king's followers were built around the royal compound. Shang aristocrats lived in large houses made of rammed earth. A wall separated these houses from the homes of common people.
Beyond the wall were workshops for making objects out of bronze, jade, and other materials. Most people, including farmers and some craftsmen, lived in small homes built partly underground. Building houses underground helped them to conserve heat.
compound: a group of buildings surrounded by walls
aristocrats: wealthy families with political power
rammed earth: a mixture of sand, gravel, and clay used for building walls
Rammed earth and the Great Wall
People in ancient China used rammed earth to build their walls. Rammed earth was later used to build the many walls that would eventually make up the Great Wall of China.
Rammed earth technology
Rammed earth is still used in buildings around the world today. To make rammed earth, people follow these steps:
mix sand, gravel, and clay
place the mixture in a wooden frame
ram, or pound, the mixture with a long pole
remove the wooden frame and repeat the process until the wall is complete
Making rammed earth can be tiring and difficult!
Archaeologists are still discovering new and surprising information about how people lived in ancient China. Read the passage about one important discovery.
Archaeologists used to believe that the Shang dynasty was the most powerful group in Bronze Age China. But recently, archaeologists have made many discoveries at Sanxingdui (san-shing-dway), a site over 800 miles away from the Shang capital.
Like the Shang, the Sanxingdui culture used bronze for weapons, tools, and elaborate statues. However, the culture was separate from the Shang dynasty and other cultures on the North China Plain. Based on objects and remains from the Sanxingdui site, archaeologists believe that the Sanxingdui culture was also very powerful.
The mysterious giants of the Sanxingdui culture
Like the Shang dynasty, the Sanxingdui culture also made large, elaborate, bronze sculptures. Many of the sculptures are bronze heads with large eyes and broad noses.
Archaeologists aren't sure what these statues meant to people at the time because they haven't found any written records from the Sanxingdui culture. They don't even know if the people of the Sanxingdui culture spoke Chinese.
Archaeologists use ancient objects to learn how Shang people interacted with other communities. Read the passage.
The Shang royal family and aristocracy gained power by fighting wars and trading with people outside their territory. These interactions brought many new tools and ideas into Shang society.
One of these new imports was the chariot. A chariot is a wheeled cart pulled by horses. In the 20th century, archaeologists excavated several dozen chariots from Shang cities in the North China Plain. The oldest ones date to the 1200s BCE. These chariots look similar to chariots from Central Asia, which were made as early as 2000 BCE.
Archaeologists think that the first chariots in the North China Plain were brought there from Central Asia.
A Shang lineage was a group of relatives who all descended from a shared ancestor. The Shang royal family belonged to one lineage. Aristocrats, craftsmen, and some farmers in ancient China also belonged to lineages. People in the same lineage had the same last name and lived in the same area.
Archaeologists estimate that 150 lineages lived in the Shang capital city of Yinxu (YIN-shoo) at any given time. Each lineage had between 100 and 200 members.
People in Shang society offered gifts to the spirits of their ancestors. Read this selection from an ancient Chinese poem about ancestors.
O soul come back! Why should you go far away?
All your household have come to do you honor; all kinds of good food are ready:
Rice, broom-corn, early wheat, mixed all with yellow millet;
Bitter, salt, sour, hot and sweet: there are dishes of all flavors.
Ribs of the fatted ox cooked tender and succulent;
Stewed turtle and roast young goat, served up with yam sauce;
broom-corn: a kind of grain
succulent: juicy, tasty
Honoring the ancestors
In addition to offering special foods, people in the Shang dynasty often used decorated bronze containers to offer drinks to their ancestors.
The Shang king and members of the royal lineage often asked their ancestors for advice about the future. To do this, they would ask an oracle to perform a special ceremony. An oracle was a person who people believed could communicate with spirits.
In ceremonies, oracles used specially prepared bones and shells, which historians and archaeologists call oracle bones.
These bones and shells had cracks and carved symbols on their surfaces.
How did scholars discover oracle bones?
Wang Yirong, a Chinese paleographer, or scholar who studies ancient writing, discovered the first oracle bones. One famous story claims that in 1899 Wang bought fake "dragon bones" from a pharmacy. When he looked closely at them, he realized that some scratches on them looked similar to Chinese writing.
By looking closely and noticing the details, such as cracks and carved symbols, Wang had discovered the oldest examples of Chinese writing!
An important part of using oracle bones was carving information into the bone or shell. Often, an oracle would record the events that she or he had asked about. Sometimes, oracles would also record the outcome of the event after it had happened. The texts carved on oracle bones are some of the most important sources for scholars who study ancient China.
The following texts come from oracle bones found near the archaeological site of the Shang capital city of Yinxu (YIN-shoo).
How many oracle bones have been found?
Archaeologists have found over 100,000 pieces of oracle bones in China. One scholar estimated that 6 oxen and 13 turtles would have been killed every 10 days to produce this many oracle bones!
Preparing oracle bones for a ceremony was hard work. Craftsmen had to cut and smooth the bones to prepare their surface for writing. After the oracles and kings had made their predictions, they would throw away the bones in pits.
What else do oracle bones describe?
Oracle bones are the most important primary sources for studying the Shang dynasty. Primary sources are objects or documents from the time period being studied. These are some of the other topics carved on oracle bones:
royal activities
geography
agriculture
dreams
astronomy and the Shang calendar
birth and disease
weather
The script on the oracle bones is the earliest known version of Chinese characters. Unlike English, Chinese languages do not use an alphabet. Instead, they use a unique character or combination of several characters to represent a word.
The Shang dynasty lasted until around 1046 BCE, when another group conquered it and established the Zhou (pronounced JO) Dynasty. The territory claimed by each dynasty is shown on the following maps.
Ancient China was ruled by dynasties. A dynasty is a line of rulers from the same family, which is often called the royal family. Starting in 1046 BCE, rulers from the Zhou (pronounced JO) dynasty claimed to have something called the Mandate of Heaven. A mandate is the authority to act in a certain way.
What did "heaven" mean in ancient China?
People in ancient China did not think heaven was a place where people went after they died. Instead, heaven was a general force, like the universe or cosmos.
The "Son of Heaven"
A ruler in ancient China was often called the "Son of Heaven." This title showed that the ruler claimed the Mandate of Heaven.
Why did the Zhou leader think he had the Mandate of Heaven?
Leaders could also claim the Mandate of Heaven when they saw a rare astronomical event, such as a comet or meteor shower. Many historians think that King Wen, who founded the Zhou dynasty, believed he had inherited the Mandate of Heaven for this reason.
Before he established the Zhou dynasty, Wen had been a local leader in the Shang dynasty. One night in May of 1059 BCE, Wen saw the five major planets of the solar system—Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus, and Mercury—close together in the sky. This grouping of planets happens only a few times every thousand years.
Wen claimed that this grouping of planets was a sign that he and his community had inherited the Mandate of Heaven. Seven years later, his troops successfully conquered the Shang dynasty and established the Zhou dynasty.
The first Zhou king claimed the Mandate of Heaven to convince others to follow him. He also gave many lords, or people with wealth and power, their own regions to rule. Lords ruled their land with the help of lower-ranking aristocrats. Lords and lower-ranking aristocrats had power over farmers, craftsmen, and enslaved people.
Zhou farmers and "big rats"
Historians have learned about Zhou social classes from a collection of poems called the Book of Songs. Many poems in this book describe how some farmers and craftsmen felt about more powerful people. In the poem below, farmers address a "big rat," who is most likely a lord:
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.
The first Zhou king conquered a large amount of territory. In order to rule such a large territory, the king gave pieces of land to his lords. Lords controlled their local regions, but they still paid taxes and pledged allegiance to the Zhou king. As long as the lords served the Zhou king, they were allowed to keep this land. This period of the Zhou Dynasty, known as the early Zhou period, lasted from 1046 to 771 BCE.
After several hundred years, Zhou lords became so powerful that they no longer wanted to serve the king. Lords began to claim land for themselves and fight other lords for land and for power. Historians call this time the period of Warring States. During the Warring States period, some lords annexed, or took over, other lords' land. These lords became the rulers of large states.
The world beyond the Warring States
As the Warring States expanded, Chinese people moved north, south, and west. When people moved to these new areas, they encountered new animals and people.
People wrote stories about what they had found. Sometimes, people recorded real animals, but other times, people told tales of mystical creatures. Many of these stories and drawings are recorded in an ancient Chinese book called the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
This table shows some of the differences between warfare during the early Zhou period and during the Warring States period.
The Art of War
Armies in the Warring States period were often looking for new advantages. So, many people began to write books about military strategy.
A man named Sunzi (SOON-zuh) wrote a famous book of military strategy called The Art of War. In The Art of War, Sunzi gives advice about how to win conflicts. Sunzi often claims that the best way to win is to not fight at all! Many people still look to The Art of War for advice today.
The frequent battles of the Warring States period pushed people to invent new weapons. Historians often look to the weapons themselves to learn how battles were fought.
What other weapons were invented?
Texts from the Warring States period describe many strange weapons. For example, some texts claim that soldiers would strap spears onto animals, such as oxen, and would then light the animals' tails on fire! The angry animal would then charge at the enemy's troops. This drawing shows an artist's imagining of this weapon, which he calls the "fire ox."
Historians are not sure how often, if ever, armies used a weapon like the "fire ox." But stories about weapons like this show that armies tried many tactics to win battles.
The frequent warfare of the Warring States period was both constructive and destructive. Constructive means useful. Destructive means damaging.
How do scholars learn about changes in the Zhou dynasty?
Although the Zhou dynasty ruled more than 2,000 years ago, scholars can use different kinds of primary sources, such as written texts and archaeological objects, to understand the positive and negative effects of frequent warfare.
The Warring States period caused widespread destruction, but it also pushed people to develop new ideas about how society should be organized and ruled. The people who wrote these ideas are called philosophers, and their ideas are called philosophy.
A "golden age" of Chinese and Greek Philosophy
Many scholars think the time between the 6th and 3rd centuries BCE was a "golden age" of philosophy in both ancient Greece and ancient China. Even though Chinese and Greek philosophers did not know about one another and lived far away from each other, they both wrote important ideas at the same time!
Is "Confucius" a Chinese name?
No! Confucius is a name made up by Europeans, who first learned about Chinese philosophy about 500 years ago, long after Confucius had died.
In the 16th century, Jesuits, who were a group of Catholic priests from Europe, came to China. The Jesuits were impressed with Chinese philosophy. To honor these philosophers, Jesuits gave three Chinese philosophers new names that were easier for Europeans to pronounce. Jesuits gave Kongzi the name "Confucius," Mengzi the name "Mencius," and Mozi the name "Micius." Only these three Chinese philosophers received European names!
Philosophies known as the "hundred schools of thought" developed in the period from around 600 to 221 BCE. The "hundred schools" weren't actual school buildings but were groups of people who taught similar ideas.
Where was Confucius from?
Confucius, known in Chinese as Kongzi, was born in the town of Qufu (CHOO-foo) in the state of Lu. Confucius grew up in the state of Lu but traveled to other states to spread his ideas.
Scholars aren't sure exactly where Confucius lived. But many people today visit a house known as the Kong Family Mansion to learn more about him. The mansion was built for Confucius's family in 1038 CE, almost 1,500 years after Confucius died. Confucius's descendants lived in this house for almost 1,000 years.
World Heritage Site
Today, the Kong Family Mansion is a World Heritage Site. A World Heritage Site is a natural or human-made place with special historical or cultural value to humankind. The United Nations has agreed that these sites should be protected.
Read the passage about Confucius.
Confucius inspired many students to follow his teachings. At first, students spread Confucius's teachings orally, or through speech. Later, these students wrote down memories of their conversations. This collection of conversations is called The Analects.
Confucius's students wrote The Analects on bamboo strips. Hundreds of years later, people began to record The Analects in manuscripts, or by hand-writing them on paper. Hundreds of years after that, people also began to print The Analects in books.
Printing The Analects
The Analects were first printed using a method called woodblock printing. In woodblock printing, Chinese characters and words are carved in relief, meaning that the wood is carved away from the characters. The raised characters are then painted with ink and pressed onto paper.
The oldest printed book
The oldest printed book ever found was made with woodblock printing! The book is a Buddhist text that was written in Chinese in 868 CE. This book was hidden in a cave in western China until the year 1900, when a Hungarian explorer named Aurel Stein found it. The environment of the cave kept thousands of ancient documents dry and safe!
Read the passage from The Analects.
Then answer the question below.
[A man] asked about [good] governance. The Master [Confucius] said, "Provide a leading example to your officers. Pardon minor offences. Raise up the worthy."
offences: things that are wrong or hurtful
worthy: people who deserve praise or respect
Great rulers of the past
Confucius taught that good rulers were fair and just. He claimed that past rulers of China, known as the sage kings, were examples of good rulers. Some of these kings were real, but others were most likely legends.
In The Analects, Confucius expressed his feelings about one of the sage kings, the legendary Emperor Yao:
The Master [Confucius] said, "Great indeed was Yao as a sovereign! How majestic he was! It is only Heaven that is grand, and only Yao corresponded to it. How vast was his virtue! The people could find no name for it. How majestic was he in the works which he accomplished!"
Confucius taught that constant warfare existed because people had stopped following rituals. Rituals are predictable actions that people do at certain times. Confucius believed that rituals were important both on special occasions and in everyday life. He believed that doing proper rituals helped people to live more moral lives, made society orderly, and prevented warfare.
What were Confucius's most important rituals?
The rituals that people followed in Warring States China were different from the ones that people follow today in the United States. Many of Confucius's most important rituals involved music. Confucius believed that listening to some types of music could help people lead more peaceful and moral lives.
According to the Book of Rites, an important ritual text, music should be performed during these occasions:
ceremonies to honor Heaven
rituals to honor ancestors
diplomatic meetings
Confucius taught that a peaceful society should have five basic types of relationships. In each of these relationships, there was one person who was more powerful than the other. But both people in the relationship had responsibilities to one another.
One of Confucius's most important ideas was that children should respect and care for their parents. This idea is called filial (FIH-lee-al) piety (PIE-eh-tee).
How did children show filial piety?
A painting from a Confucian book called The Classic of Filial Piety, from the 4th century BCE illustrates some of the ways in which children cared for or showed respect for their parents.
The child is bowing before the parents.
The parents are seated higher than the children, on a platform.
The children are bringing the parents special containers with food and drink.
Many of Confucius's followers, known as Confucians, taught that humans were naturally good. But, if people experienced hardship, such as poverty or hunger, they could become immoral and greedy. The following passage comes from Mencius, one of Confucius's most famous followers. Read the passage.
Everyone has a heart that is sensitive to the sufferings of others. Suppose someone suddenly saw a child about to fall into a well: everyone in such a situation would have a feeling of alarm and compassion—not because one wanted to get in good with the child's parents, not because one wanted fame among their neighbors and friends, and not because one would dislike the sound of the child's cries. . . . This sense of compassion is the seed of humanity.
alarm: worry
compassion: sympathy for the suffering of others
humanity: being human
Who was Mencius?
Mencius was one of Confucius's most well known followers. Mencius taught many of his own students. Many people also studied Mencius's own writings.
Mencius taught that humans are naturally good. But, if people lived in difficult situations, they could become bad. So, he taught that good rulers were responsible for keeping society peaceful. If society was peaceful, people would remain good.
Read the text.
Many people objected to the ideas of Confucius and his followers. They thought they had better ideas about how to end war and establish peace. One important thinker was a man named Mozi (MOH-zuh), who lived from ca. 470 to 391 BCE.
Historians do not know much about Mozi. His last name, Mo, means "ink." This was an unusual name at the time. But, criminals and enslaved people often had their faces tattooed.
Who was Mozi?
The name Mozi literally means "Master Ink." But, historians don't know much about Mozi's life. This is some information that scholars know about Mozi:
Mozi may have been born in the state of Lu, like Confucius, or the state of Song.
Mozi may have studied with a Confucian teacher when he was young.
Mozi traveled the Warring States to spread his ideas.
Mozi's students recorded his philosophy in a book called The Mozi.
Read the passage about Mozi and his followers, and use it to answer the question below.
Like Mozi himself, many of Mozi's followers came from the lower classes of society. These groups of people suffered greatly during the frequent battles and long sieges, or attacks on cities, of the Warring States period. Many of these men had also been forced to fight as soldiers in large armies, which had been a dangerous and scary experience. So, they wanted to end warfare and suffering.
Did Mozi and his followers actually build walls?
Yes! Mozi and his followers were well known for building strong, defensive walls. Mohists also worked on these projects:
strengthening walls to prevent tunnels from being built underneath
digging special canals to prevent flooding
inventing devices that could emit smoke and block the invading army's sight
designing fortified carts, or "tanks"
building special screens that could be lit on fire to block invading troops
Read the passage.
The followers of Mozi were known as Mohists. Like Confucians, Mohists wanted peace. But, Mohists disagreed with Confucians about how different groups in society should relate to each other. Confucians taught that a peaceful society should have five basic types of relationships. But Mohists thought that everyone should treat every person equally. So, people should treat their families in the same way that they treat strangers. Mohists believed that treating everyone equally would benefit the most number of people.
Why did Mozi want everyone to be treated equally?
Mozi thought that treating people differently often led to war. According to Mozi, people loved their own families, so they would not fight against them. But, because people did not love strangers, they were willing to fight and kill them in battles. Mozi taught that if people could treat strangers in the same way that they treated their families, then they would not fight them.
Could you live like Mozi?
Many people think that Mozi's idea of treating everyone equally sounds good, but it would be difficult to live in real life.
What do you think?
Could you treat a stranger the same way that you treat your best friend?
Should parents treat their own children the same as strangers' children?
Do you think that treating everyone equally would make the world a better place?
What happened to Mozi's ideas?
Although Mozi is less famous than Confucius, people in China today continue to study Mozi's ideas. Because of Mozi's engineering accomplishments and his focus on being fair and rational, some people think of Mozi as an early Chinese scientist!
To honor Mozi, the Chinese Academy of Sciences nicknamed a satellite after him. On August 16, 2016, China launched the world's first quantum communications satellite, known as Mozi, into space!
Many people in ancient China wanted to escape from the constant warfare that surrounded them. Some of these people followed a philosophy called Daoism and became known as Daoists. Daoists were sometimes hermits, or people who choose to live away from society and be close to nature.
Were all Daoists hermits?
Not all Daoists in the Warring States period were actually hermits. But Chinese artists have often shown Daoists' respect for nature in their paintings.
In a painting of Mount Lu, the person, footbridge, and house are very small. The mountains and trees are very large.The difference between the tiny person and the huge mountains represents the Daoist idea that people are only one small part of nature.
Daoists thought that living in nature brought people closer to the Dao, which means "the way" in English.Many historians attribute the first Daoist text to a man known as Laozi (LAOW-zuh). Read the passages about Laozi.
Using sources from ancient historians
Scholars today still think books written by ancient historians are very useful.
Ancient historians could have had these advantages:
reading other ancient books that have since been lost or damaged
having eye-witness accounts of events
talking with people at the time
But ancient historians could have had these disadvantages:
being paid by someone to write the history, so their account was biased, or one-sided
focusing on powerful people, such as kings, rather than ordinary people
mixing up myths and facts in the same story
Even though modern historians do not think Laozi was a real person, they attribute a text to him called the Dao De Jing (DOW duh jing). It is still read by people all over the world. Read the passage from the Dao De Jing.
Then answer the question below.
Make the state small and the people few. . . . Although there are boats and carriages, they will not be ridden. Although there is armor and weapons, they will not be used. . . .
They will think that their food is sweet, their clothes are beautiful, and their homes are comfortable, and their customs happy.
Though neighboring states are in sight of one another and the sounds of the roosters and dogs heard by one other, the people of one will never visit the other, even as they grow old and die.
Laozi's legacy
We don't know if any rulers actually enacted Laozi's ideas. But people around the world still read Laozi's text, the Dao De Jing, also known as the Tao Te Ching.
People have interpreted the Dao De Jing in many ways, but many people believe that its lessons can help people to live simpler and happier lives.
Confucians and Mohists labeled actions as "good" or "bad" and told people what they should and should not do. But, Daoists usually did not give universal rules.
Daoists often used stories about animals to express their opinions about human society. Read the passage from Zhuangzi, a famous Daoist writer from the Warring States period.
If people sleep in the damp, their backs hurt and they wake up half paralyzed. But is this true of an eel? If they live in the trees they shake with fear. But is this true of a monkey?
damp: slight wetness
paralyzed: unable to move
This passage expresses the Daoist idea of relativity.
Zhuangzi dreams of butterflies
Zhuangzi often wrote stories about animals to express opinions about human society. In one famous story, Zhuangzi wrote that he was dreaming about a butterfly. But when he woke up, he didn't know if he was dreaming about the butterfly or the butterfly was dreaming about him! Many artists across East Asia have painted scenes from this story.
Imagine that you are a ruler in the Warring States period. You are looking for a philosophy that will make your state strong. So, you ask a Confucian, a Mohist, and a Daoist to answer the following question:
I want to prevent people in my state from stealing. What should I do?
Lasting influence across the world
People continue to study Confucianism, Mohism, and Daoism in China today. These philosophies have shaped societies, governments, and educational systems around the world. Today, many people visit temples like these to perform rituals and honor the legacies of these philosophers.
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