Confucius introduced his ideas to China at the end of the Zhou Dynasty (551-479 B.C.)

The Confucian code of behavior revolved around five relationships: 1) ruler and subject, 2) parent and child, 3) husband and wife, 4) sibling and sibling, and 5) friend and friend. Confucianism taught that these relationships would be harmonious if the people involved were loyal, courteous, sincere, and respectful and obedient to those in authority.

Filial respect – repaying a parent’s kindness during their lifetime and beyond – provides and foundation for a good society.

Confucianism taught that if a ruler lived according to strong virtues, the ruler’s subject would follow the example and a harmonious, stable society would be possible.

According to Confucius, a better government will develop if its officials are required to earn their jobs through education and talent.

Because of their devotion to learning, scholars should be considered the highest members of society; merchants, because they produce nothing themselves, should be considered the lowest members of society.

A person should be less concerned with finding personal happiness that with the survival welfare of his or her family as a whole. Even marriages should be considered something that serves the interests of the family as a whole, rather than those of individuals.

Buddhism, which originated in India around 530 B.C. with the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, was introduced to China during the Han dynasty (206 BC to 200 AD) by missionary monks.

The form of Buddhism practiced in China was Mahayana Buddhism; its believers thought that the Buddha was a savior and that people could find salvation through faith in his words alone. 

Numerous Buddhist temples were built in China to provide a place for priests, monks, and nuns to study Buddhist scriptures and conduct worships services for believers.

Statues and artwork of the Buddha were used to decorate shrines and temples, to display his life and teachings, to inspire his qualities in the believer, and to allow worshippers a place to make offerings of food and flowers.

Another sect of Buddhism, called chan, developed in China during A.D. 600s and stressed the value of meditation in a simple, cross-legged position without the study of scriptures.

The Chinese believed that the emperor was given the authority to rule from Heaven.  The emperor was expected to rule fairly.

Chinese emperors exercised their powers through a bureaucracy, a system in which government workers were appointed to and trained for specific jobs.

China was divided into provinces, where governors appointed by the emperor carried out the emperor’s rule.  

Government officials were employed after taking a civil0service examination and promoted based on their scholarly talent (learnedness).

The main duties of provincial officials included collecting taxes, recruiting workers for government projects, and maintaining domestic peace. 

The wealthy enjoyed special privileges, such as not having to pay high taxes.

Peasants were expected to pay part of their crops as taxes to the government or devote their labor to public work projects, such as constructing dams or rebuilding canals.  

Palaces, temples, and other large buildings in China were built on raised stone platforms.

Wooden columns, made from the trunks of large trees supported strong wooden brackets.  These brackets were designed to distribute the weight of buildings’ heavy tile roofs.

Thin, flexible walls of brick or plaster were built between the wooden columns so they wouldn’t collapse during earthquakes.

Roofs were a prominent feature of most buildings.  Some buildings even had double and triple roofs with eaves (overhangs) that swept upwards in graceful curves.

Pagodas – towers with roofs curving upward at the division of each of several stories – were designed as symbols of faith in the greatness of the Buddha.

Many temples and palaces were covered with vermilion (a bright red paint).

Buildings were often surrounded by walls, which enclosed courtyards and garden as well as the buildings themselves.

The Chinese believed that cities were symbols of the physical universe and each person’s place in it.  Cities were square and faced south, a direction associated with strength and the positive forces of nature.

The central and southern parts of a city were occupied by imperial palaces, along with the houses of nobles and government officials.

Artisans lived and worked in the northern and western parts of the city; merchants, because of their low social status, usually lived outside the city walls.

Large earthen and stone walls provided protection from outside attack.

Buddhist temples and shrines were scattered throughout all major Chinese cities.

The Tang capital of Chang’an was a checkerboard of intersecting streets wide enough to allow travelers to move about easily.

Written Chinese does not use an alphabet.  Instead, characters (symbols) are used to express objects and ideas.  

Each character is made up of one or more basic strokes.

The Chinese language has more than 30,000 different characters.  

Each Chinese character has a different sound and meaning.

The characters use mostly straight lines so they can be written with a brush. 

Characters are drawn from top to bottom and from left to right.

No person could be considered well-educated without being skilled at painting.

Ink or water color painting was often done on long horizontal scrolls of paper or silk.

Landscape paintings were greatly admired.  Artists also painted pictures of flowers, bamboo, birds, and other aspects of nature.

Artists tried to paint the ideal world of nature, rather than an exact representation of what they saw.

The use of monochromes, where one color is used in several shades, was popular with Chinese artists.

The subject matter of paintings reflected the life of the Buddha or his teachings.

There were two major types of music in China: court music, which was played during military and civil ceremonies and at banquets, and folk music.

Instruments were classified by the material from which they were made.  They were called the earth, stone, metal, skin, wood, bamboo, gourd, and silk instruments.

Men and women from Indonesia, Korea, and India came to the Tang dynasty court to learn how to sing, dance, and play instruments for court occasions.

Some popular instruments played in court music were the chin (a zither, or long, wooden instrument with strings), the pipa (a lute, or stringed guitar-like instrument), and the sheng (a mouth organ).

Chanting was taught in Buddhist monasteries.  The rhythm and scales of Buddhist chants were often used in court music.  The music of chants, as with other forms of Chinese music, were written on paper using symbols borrowed from the Chinese written language.

Music was written in a seven-tone scale