Summary and Comments on "History of China 02: From City States to China, Shang and Zhou, Spring and Autumn Warring States" - Recommended for learning about the period when Qin Shi Huangdi, Confucius, and the Hundred Families of the Zhu Zi were born.
Introduced here is "History of China 02: From City States to China, Shang and Zhou, Spring and Autumn and Warring States" written by Takao Hiramatsu, published by Kodansha in 2005.
Let's take a quick look at the book.
The Rise and Fall of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties in a Period of Endless UpheavalFirst Written Shang and Zhou: The Falsehood of the Spring and Autumn Warring States
The Ideals of King Wen, King Wu, and the Duke of Zhou? Meng Taikun, Su Qin, and Su Dai's joint rule?The three dynasties of the Xia Shang and Zhou dynasties and the Spring and Autumn Warring States have been described in historical books and commentaries since the Han Dynasty. However, they have been restricted by the preconceptions and common sense of later generations, and even content that did not exist in the first place has been added to them. What was added? Where are the facts hidden? ...... This project explores the "facts we can understand" based on historical books of the Warring States period and traces the path of the search for facts.
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In this book, you will learn about the period leading up to Qin Shi Huangdi's unification of China. The world described in the popular manga "Kingdom" is based on this very period.
This period is also an important time for the study of Chinese thought and religion, with Confucius and the Hundred Schools of Confucius. Ideas and culture cannot exist apart from the historical background. This book is ideal for learning the general history of China at that time.
And in the first half of the book, something interesting is suddenly said. As mentioned in the book introduction above, there are "understandable periods" and "unknowable periods" in Chinese history. Let's take a look at that part of the book. It is a bit long, but it is an important point, so I will read it carefully.
The Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties discussed in this book are "unknowable" periods. In contrast, the following Spring and Autumn period is an "understandable" period. So, what is "understandable" and what is "unknowable"?
The Spring and Autumn period is a period in which we can "understand" how the "great powers" rose and fell in the cultural regions that had existed since the Neolithic Age. In contrast, the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties are periods in which we do not know.
So, why do we "get it" and why don't we "get it"?
This is because it involves the presence or absence of Chinese characters. Chinese characters were used in the Shang dynasty. They are the so-called Kouki and Yin gold scripts. There are traces of Chinese characters brought to other city-states as well, but they do not seem to have taken root.
During the Zhou Dynasty, each country was given bronze vessels with Western Zhou gold inscriptions cast into them. However, as a result of this casting technique being monopolized by the Zhou Dynasty, each country could not cast its own writing. Foreign scripts were not necessarily an object of interest, and even if a country had been interested in them, it would not have used them without permission.
Where there are Chinese characters, records are kept in those characters. However, where there are no kanji, no records are kept. This is a matter of course. Therefore, records of the Shang and Zhou dynasties are limited to Shang and Zhou.
The Zhou Dynasty gave each country a bronze vessel with an inscription. The inscriptions would mention the countries. So, compared to the Shang dynasty, the circumstances of each country were left behind. However, the inscriptions are very detailed and refer to the circumstances of each country from the standpoint of the Zhou Dynasty.
Because of the above circumstances, the situation of each country other than Shang and Zhou is "unknown" during the Shang and Zhou dynasties.
We cannot explain as if we "understand" when we "do not understand. In the time of the "Historiography," there must have been more "facts" before our eyes than we have, but it is one thing to use invented "facts" and quite another to "understand" them, such as the part explaining the history of the world since time immemorial. (omitted).
During the so-called Xia Dynasty that preceded the Shang Dynasty, writing has not yet been discovered. Therefore, there are many aspects of this period that can only be described as "unknowable.
However, during the Spring and Autumn period, Chinese characters spread and took root in many countries. This period was not a time of warfare, but rather an epoch-making period in the history of the development of Chinese characters, as it marked the formation of a broad Chinese character sphere.
Therefore, during this Spring and Autumn period, a relatively large amount of material remains to tell the history of each country. As a result, we can now "understand" the circumstances of each country much better.
The ensuing Warring States period will be a more "understandable" period.
So, what do we "understand"? Why do we "understand"?
During the Warring States period, the bureaucratic system took root on the basis of the changes in social structure brought about by the spread of iron tools. For each cultural region, one, two, or three territorial states were formed, each with a bureaucrat dispatched from the center to govern the former "country.
Writing was transformed into a tool to support the bureaucratic system. The legal system that supported this system, the so-called Ritsuryo, was also gradually put in place.
With writing as its tool, various records have been left behind. The first history books in Chinese history were also created. They were developed for each territory and state. Therefore, we can refer to records of various characters from various points of view. This period was an era in which various things became more "understandable".
This period was a major milestone in the history of the development of Chinese characters, as the Chinese characters that took root in the Spring and Autumn period were transformed into a tool for document administration. This is not an era that should be described as one of warfare.
Kodansha, T. Hiramatsu, History of China 02: From City States to China, Shang and Zhou, Spring and Autumn and Warring States, p. 36-38.
History was written because of the existence of Chinese characters, and where there were none, history could never have been written in the first place. History that is not written is ignored, and the history of only Shang and Zhou is woven.
It may sound obvious, but this is a surprising blind spot. The side with the letters can weave history from an overwhelmingly superior position.
And the spread of Chinese characters throughout China during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods paved the way for governing by a bureaucratic system, which made it possible to operate a nation on a larger scale. It is interesting to note that it was against this background that Qin Shi Huangdi was able to achieve the unification of China.
It is also important to note that the expansion of written culture led to a rapid expansion of knowledge accumulation and dissemination. It was this background that led to the birth of many brilliant minds such as Confucius and Shuji Hyakka. It was very interesting to learn the connection between the existence of Chinese characters and history, thought, and culture.
Another thing I would like to mention is the spread of ironware, as mentioned in the quote above.
In our blog, we have introduced many books on ancient India, and the spread of ironware played an important role in ancient India as a turning point for the birth of thought and culture. This historical background is also significant in the birth of the Buddha. For more information on the historical background of ancient India, please refer to Dr. Gen Nakamura'sAncient India.is recommended. It is one of the best books to learn about the lives of people at that time and the great historical trends. It was a stimulating read that made me feel the similarities between ancient India and China.
It is a masterpiece that is worth taking the time to face, even though it is a rather strenuous work as an introduction to Chinese history. It is a masterpiece that is well worth taking the time to read.
The above is "History of China 02: From City States to China, Shang and Zhou, Spring and Autumn Warring States" - recommended for learning about the period when Qin Shi Huangdi, Confucius, and Zhu Zhi Hundred Families were born.
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