Introduction to the History of Asian Art Islamic, Buddhist, and Hindu Cultures

Introduction to the History of Asian Art Islamic, Buddhist, and Hindu Cultures

Question 1

Achievements of the Shang Dynasty

The Shang Dynasty is one of the oldest Dynasties in China after the Xia Dynasty. The Shang leader, Tang, took over after overthrowing Xia leader, Jie. The Shang Dynasty reigned from c.1600-1046BCE. Since many historians still question the existence of the Xia Dynasty (c.2700-1600BCE), the Shang Dynasty is believed to the first Dynasty in ancient China (Tregear, 1968). The Shang Dynasty came at a time when the economy was stable. As a result of the economic stability enjoyed during the era of the Shang Dynasty, a lot was accomplished, including cultural advancements, including bronze castings, writing, calendar, and religious rituals.

The Shang Dynasty was overthrown by the Zhou, who was then defeated by the Qin Dynasty, who founded current China. It is worth noting that before the Zhou and the Qin Dynasties, the Chinese culture had already been formed (Tregear, 1968). This means that if historians were to disregard the existence of the Xia Dynasty, the Shang Dynasty was responsible for developing the Chinese culture. Even if the Xia is to be recognized as the first Dynasty and as the origin of the Chinese Culture, then it was during the Shang Dynasty that the culture was developed given the cultural advancements that took place.

The first king of the Shang was King Tang, who set a substantial foundation of government (Sullivan, 2008). The king ruled with people’s interest in his heart and set a good example of leadership that other succeeding leaders followed. He instituted a government that worked for the people, unlike the previous government that worked against them. Tang reformed tyrannical government policies established under Xia’s leadership and abolished the excessive taxes that were imposed on people (Tregear, 1968). He ruled according to the “mandate of heaven,” therefore establishing a stable government (Tregear, 1968). He established a number of social programs that were mainly targeted to fight poverty.

Economic stability is a significant achievement of the Shang Dynasty, where King Tang made good use of the fertile alluvial soil of the Yellow River to grow surplus food. The food gave people energy, who, in turn, provided labor for building the Grand Canal, the great wall, and many cities. During this time, the chines used bronze to make vessels, statues, and weapons. The remains of bronze foundries were discovered in Erlignang in 1925, indicating the Shang military used bronze to craft and decorated their weapons. Other achievements include religion, calendar, music, and writing (Tregear, 1968).

Writing

Writing in ancient China developed during the Shang Dynasty out of a practice by fortune tellers, where they used Oracle Bones to interpret the future (Tregear, 1968). Writings were done in the form of carvings on Oracle bones, which were turtle shells or even animal bones. The fortune-teller used Oracle bones to make divinations about the future. (Tregear, 1968) For example, if a lady wanted to know if she will be married, the fortune teller would carve “yes” on one side of an Oracle Bone and “No” on the other side. These were not necessarily words; they could be symbols or pictograms. The fortune-teller would then burn the bone until it cracked and interpret the crack. Although this was not a definite form, the carvings of words on the Oracle Bones marked the invention of writing.

A much more recognizable form of writing had emerged by c.1250 BCE, where an archaic readable form of Chinese Script was discovered in the city of Anyang around the same period (Tregear, 1968). The invention of a recognizable and readable form of writing was used to record observations (Tregear, 1968). For example, scientific observations such as eclipses and other celestial events were recorded. Writings such as the I-Ching and the Oracle Scripts are dated back to this time (Tregear, 1968). The invention of writing also led to advancements in mathematics, including the discovery of odd and even numbers.

Bronze Vessels

The Shang Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty are generally referred to as the “Bronze Age of China” since bronze played a significant role in the material culture of the time (Sullivan, 2008). Bronze was used to make ritual vessels. These vessels were decorated with sophisticated carvings of images that depicted animals. The vessels also had a geometric design, and the animal image carvings on them were called Taotie Motifs (Sullivan, 2008). Some of the animal images used to decorate bronze vessels included birds, dragons, tigers, and others. These bronze vessels were used as a sign of royalty, just like gold. However, their primary use was to perform rituals by the ruling elite. The bronze vessels used for this purpose included wine jugs, water containers, and food dishes. They were used to heat and also serve food drinks during burial rituals.

The decline of the Shang Dynasty as a result of poor leadership of its last king, Xin (Tregear, 1968). The emperor forgot to prioritize the interests of the people and satisfied his own desires. Upon their death, all the kings of the Shang Dynasty were buried with bronze vessels, weapons, and jade (Tregear, 1968). The bronze vessels were first filled with food and wine to nourish the departed on his journey. The royals were also buried with their servants and entertainers (Tregear, 1968). This indicates that the Shang royals were abiding by the interests of their ancestors. It also indicates the strong convictions of the tyrants to their cultural beliefs and practices. Being buried with their treasures and servants was an indication of continuity of life after death; they needed all these objects and servants to live well in the afterlife and avoid disturbing the living.

Question 2

Chinese Attitudes on the Dead

Concerning death, the Chinese culture referred to it as ‘misfortune,’ and it is a topic that was highly avoided (Sullivan, 2008). It was a forbidden word, and its synonyms were not welcomed in happy occasions like marriage ceremonies. Similarly, the culture did not permit talking about the dead since it was believed that mentioning the dead could cause bad luck. Seeing or touching a coffin or a dead body in ancient Chinese would bring misfortune. At the same time, some Chinese believed that one should not talk about death in the presence of a dying person since it would cause quick death to the sick person.

There were also believes that the family of the deceased should not attend ceremonies months after they buried the dead to avoid causing misfortunes (Sullivan, 2008). All these believes and practices indicate that the Chinese were negative towards the dead and treated death as a misfortune (Tregear, 1968). They never welcomed stories about death or the dead and never wanted to be associated with such. They never wanted to be associated with the dead, and they escorted them to the next life, never to return again. For this purpose, certain burial practices were carried out to support the departed soul on the journey to the afterlife and to sustain the soul there.

It was believed that upon death, the soul separated with the body and traveled to the afterlife (Tregear, 1968). The departed spirit had to be sent off well and nourished on the way. It was to be taken good care of so as not to return and disturb the living. During the Han Dynasty, human sacrifice had stopped where the dead used to take their servants with them and be buried in big tombs. The ritual of human sacrifice was replaced with pottery and other miniature models to represent the servants, entertainers, and attendants of the deceased. By accompanying the dead with goods, they used in their lifetime in addition to specially prepared buried objects was a way of ensuring they were satisfied in the afterlife and would not return to bother the living (Tregear, 1968). This way, they would stay away from the living. In addition, they used certain coverings on corpses to create a boundary between the dead and the living.

During the Han Dynasty, corpses were prepared for burial. The most common preparation practice was covering the face or head of the corpse with different coverings. These coverings were made of unique and valuable materials. One good example of coverings used to cover the head of the corpse were jade coverings. Another common type of face-covering used in the Han Dynasty was the mianzhou, which was a wooden box that covered the faces of the corpse (Tregear, 1968). The reason for covering the face of the corpse was to help draw attention to the face of the corpse. Most importantly, they were made to protect the face of the deceased. Also, the jade coverings and the mianzhou were used to separate the dead from the living (Sullivan, 2008). They created a boundary that the dead would not cross over to bother the living.

Some of the Han dynasty burial rituals that signified this was the preparation of burial goods that would be placed in the deceased’s tomb. The dead were buried with most, if not all, of their wares and artwork that they owned when they lived. There were other burial goods used in the Eastern Dynasty that were made only for the purpose of burial and never existed during the life period of the deceased (Tregear, 1968). These burial goods included artworks, stylistic goods, and wares that were put in the tomb together with the corpse. These materials prepared for burial were not accepted near the person before death, as this was considered a taboo (Sullivan, 2008). Other materials that were used by the deceased during his lifetime and were put in his tomb included utensils and wares. The jade burial suits were famous burial objects during the Han Dynasty.

Other burial goods included miniature ceramic towers, miniature models of water wells, pigsties, pestling shops, pigsties, and firm fields with domestic animals (Tregear, 1968). These objects were used to provide a good afterlife for the deceased, so they may not return to the land of the living. The departed soul was supplied with food and wine to nourish it on the way to the afterlife. Other burials goods were used to offer the life that the deceased had before departing. All these objects ensure the dead was satisfied in the afterlife and did not return to bother the living.

Most of the burial practices have changed over time, with current Chinese society practicing quite different burial practices while some ancient rituals remain (Sullivan, 2008). The rituals of offering food and drinks to the spirits have influenced many burial rituals in the current Chinese civilization. Burial practices changed from human sacrifices to go with the dead, to the use of pottery and miniature models representing people (Sullivan, 2008). Today, these ideas on ancient burial rituals are still present today, but the luxury burial good is represented by the burning of papers in Chinese funerals (Sullivan, 2008). The respect given to the dead in ancient China still remains an important burial practice in modern China.

References

Sullivan, M. (2008). The Arts of China, Revised and Expanded. Univ of California Press.

Tregear, M. (Ed.). (1968). Arts of China: Neolithic Cultures to the T’ang Dynasty: Recent Discoveries.