What about Religion?

As new evidence begins to surface about ancient China, new understandings emerge regarding the development of this ancient society. Author K.C. Chang utilizes classic texts and archeological findings to present an argument for China’s initiation as one founded on political pursuit. After presenting his position, I will reconsider the role of religion as presented in relation to political authority and social organization.

As K.C. Chang writes on China’s original development, he argues for a non-Western perspective in understanding this stage. He argues that gaining political power is the central force behind China’s emergence. Analyzing families and villages, morality, religion, art and writing in pre-historic and early historic China, Chang argues the alignment in each centered on political authority. Within a clan could be several lineages, but certain lines held greater precedence. If a person established another settlement, the founder’s lineage determined its status. Chang argues the motive behind founding new settlements banked on gaining political power. The poem quoted from the Shih ends noting the new armies which now march out to war; consequently, the reference to war, as a crowning result of raising the new town’s gates, indicates the connections between power, war and the new community. New settlements gave founders political power. While family ancestry played an important factor, Chang notes the importance of morality in bringing someone to power. Another critical link to gaining and maintaining power centered on communication with the heavens which contained, “all the wisdom of human affairs.” Kings utilized oracle bones for divination to gain wisdom as they ruled. Deities and ancestors were invoked for the purpose of maintaining effective power. Chang examines ancient art to reveal the relationship between animals and humans in the role of ritual. While the earliest written characters may only indicate family lineage, the oracle bones, from the Shang period, along with future historiographers’ records evidently progressed due to rituals for the goal of increasing and facilitating political rule. Ultimately, Chang makes a case on the driving force of politics in the ancient land of China.

While K.C. Chang focuses on the importance of politics behind the ancient peoples, I believe religion could carry equal or greater weight. As the author made the case for political power as the driving motivation for this culture, right alongside it was the role of religion. The two are closely linked; consequently, it raises the question: what if religious adherence was really the shaping force? All people have a set of beliefs that guide their actions; the religious faith of ancient Chinese ancestors may have placed value on certain acts. If we accept Chang’s evidence for the establishment of family bloodlines, their origins are noteworthy. According to myths, both the Hsia and Chou trace their lineage to encounters with the “Supreme God”. In the second version of the Hsia origin myth, their ancestor’s grandfather angers the “Supreme God” and is left to die. Out of his body emerges Yu, whose son Ch’i begins the Hsia line. The Shang’s myth is even more forthright in saying Shen Min came from the “Supreme God” and fathered Hou Chi. The starting point for any family line depended on a link to “divine descent.”

The influence of religious practice traces far into ancient pre-history. Chang notes there is no political power visible in the Yang-shao periods. Yet archeologists discovered a pottery piece with a human face and a fish at each ear for this period. It strikes a similarity with figure 28, showing a shaman with two snakes from each ear. The Lung-shan culture practiced scapulimacy, a type of divination. The myth in Kuo Yu describes the functions of shamans and the resulting benefits: “the spirits sent down blessings on the people, and accepted from them their offerings. There were no natural calamities.” Since the myth places such importance on communicating with heaven, it indicates the relevance of the religious beliefs. The account in Tso Chuan recounts how the blessing of heaven depended on the virtue of the Hsia, Shang and the Chou cultures. Notably, it also presents the role of religious items in bringing heaven’s blessings. While there is no direct proof for shamanism during the Shang period, the fact that rulers placed such value in gaining wisdom both from ancestors and Ti, the “Supreme God,” through the oracle bones reveals the leverage their beliefs swayed.

While family bloodlines determined the rightful heir to power, Chang highlights the secondary prerequisites that could qualify someone else. The Tso Chuan myth points out the importance of virtue in determining which group ruled. Chang also notes the “Huang Yi” poem where “God” grants the Chou power because the earlier rulers displayed character flaws. The rules for new rulers and their practices focus on maintaining the set belief system. Chang writes these secondary requirements grew from the complication of tracing bloodlines; if so, the type of secondary requirement chosen indicates the importance of morality. The first thing a new town needed was a temple. Figure 17 on the establishment of temples in a settlement shows the importance of the leader’s temple. The established religious practices directed these rulers with political authority. The Li Chi quoted, “[Rituals]…are not a thing coming to a man from without; it issues from within him….When the heart is deeply moved, expression is given to it by ceremonies…only men of ability and virtues can give complete exhibition to the idea of [rituals].” If a man was not virtuous and naturally observing religious practices, he could not be a ruler. Practicing rituals was integral to ruling. Even during the Eastern Chou period with the debate on whether meritocracy or bloodlines should determine who ruled, the connection to religion remains. Lineage was based on divine descent and the system of meritocracy depended on morality which is inextricably linked to religion. This determination could be a Western interpretation tying true morality to religion; however, the Li Chi quote above, indicated the same perspective. Only those with virtue could practice truly practice rituals.

Everything in this pre-dynastic period centered on the established religious practices. If verifying a family lineage required a link to the divine, cultures far into 5000 B.C. hint at early shaman practices, and the authority to claim power rested on virtue, the established religion played a determining role in the society. While Chang presents the cultures’ components as legitimizing and driving towards exercising political authority, I would argue this drive grew out of adherence to the established faith. Religion was the driving force, the guiding hand which delineated the progress and direction of the culture: a direction which developed politically. Faith being so fundamental to life gave those closest to its observance, power. It is similar to the Roman Catholic popes during the early middle ages. The popes held both spiritual and political clout and the farther a member advanced in the Church the more authority he possessed. What we see in early pre-dynastic China is a combination of church and state. To understand this establishment and system, one must think in these terms and outside of today’s secular society which seeks to separate and privatize religion from the civic world.

In order to gain political power due to divine descent and adherence to virtue, people had to revere these ideas. Because the religion’s precepts were valued, followers were honored and attained political power. Due to ancestry, came the organization of state seen in the Western Chou where family members headed the levels of government. Thus an important inquiry is, how did the family line begin and its’ reverencing? If one had a strong tie to divinity, then one’s line was more powerful. Thus, it was religion which directed the evaluation of a lineage and led to a government system based on bloodlines. Religion also directed the system of meritocracy due to its influence on people to value morality, virtue and righteousness. This is evidenced by the Eastern Chou’s Shi class that received specific instruction on the three named areas. A counter thought to consider is the dominance of family ancestry. If familial connection and ancestry worship were essential, it raises the question if it was religion that placed such value on familial groupings or if it was a sociological development validated by religion. In a biological sense, the family unit was from the beginning, so an argument can be made that religious ideals were then affixed to this tradition. In order to determine the answer, one would need to determine the time religion began. Was it inborn in each human? Did it develop through social interaction? Society is composed of individuals, thus religious or spiritual affects would need to begin at the individual level. Thus, the intricate interweave of religious ideas and familial connection could have developed together. Certain concepts evident in these pre-dynastic cultures provide direction. In the Shu, one of the anonymous classic texts, it says,

Anciently, men and spirits did not intermingle.…there were certain persons…so perspicacious…that enabled them to make meaningful collation of what lies above and below.…therefore the spirits would descend into them….as a consequence, the spheres of the divine and the profane were kept distinct. The spirits send down blessings on the people, and accepted from them their offerings.

The quote, though written during the Western Chou period, reveals the presence of spirits in ancient days along with mankind. These spirits set the rules only descending on those worthy and accepting offerings as long as each sphere was respected. It would indicate religion played a critical part in directing social organization and values.

To conclude, K.C. Chang wove together a powerful argument for ancient China in determining the area’s progression into civilization. Utilizing evidence and classic texts, he examined important social aspects and their role in encouraging the pre-dynastic cultures’ development through the pursuit of political power. While his argument is cohesive, one element stands out as a possible alternative approach to uncovering the driving factor in this society. Religion holds a dominant function in the access to and direction of political authority. With spirituality rising from an individual and therefore present in pre-historic times may be the ultimate force molding and prodding ancient China toward civilization.

References
Bodde, Derk. “Myths of ancient China.” In Mythologies of the Ancient World. Ed. Samuel N. Kramer. New York: Doubleday. 1961. Quoted in K.C. Chang, Art, Myth, and Ritual: The Path to Political Authority in Ancient China. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University, 1983), 45.
Chang, K.C. Art, Myth, and Ritual: The Path to Political Authority in Ancient China. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University, 1983.
Karlgren, Berhard. The Book of Odes. 189-190. Stockholm: Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities. 1974. Quoted in K.C. Chang, Art, Myth, and Ritual: The Path to Political Authority in Ancient China. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University, 1983), 18, 20.
The Chinese Classics. Vol. 5. 293. Translated by James Legge. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1872. Quoted in K.C. Chang, Art, Myth, and Ritual: The Path to Political Authority in Ancient China. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University, 1983), 95-96.
Li Ki. In The Sacred Books of the East. Vol. 27. Translated by James Legge (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1885), Quoted in K.C. Chang, Art, Myth, and Ritual: The Path to Political Authority in Ancient China. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University, 1983), 41.
Thompson, Roger R. “Chinese History to 600 A.D.” Lecture, Western Washington University, Bellingham WA, July 1, 2009.
Sources of Illustrations
Ch’i-yun, Jen. Chiao Miao Kung Shih K’ao. Quoted in Ling Shun-Sheng, “Chung-kuo tsu-miao chih ch’i-yuan.” Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica 7. 1959. Cited in K.C. Chang, Art, Myth, and Ritual: The Path to Political Authority in Ancient China. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University, 1983), 40.

Hsi-an Pan-p’o. Peking: Science Press. 1962. Cited in K.C. Chang, Art, Myth, and Ritual: The Path to Political Authority in Ancient China. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University, 1983), 114.
Shan Hai Ching Ts’un. 1895 ed. Cited in K.C. Chang, Art, Myth, and Ritual: The Path to Political Authority in Ancient China. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University, 1983), 71.

K.C. Chang, Art, Myth, and Ritual: The Path to Political Authority in Ancient China. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University, 1983), 16.
Ibid.
Chang, 18.
Berhard Karlgren, The Book of Odes, (Stockholm: Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, 1974), 189-190, quoted in Chang, 18, 20.
Ibid, 33.
Derk, Bodde, “Myths of ancient China,” in Mythologies of the Ancient World, Ed. Samuel N. Kramer (New York: Doubleday, 1961), quoted in Chang, 45.
Ibid, 48, 51.
Ibid, 85, 90-91.
Ibid, 10, 12.
Bodde, 399, quoted in Chang, 10.
Karlgren, quoted in Chang, 12.
Ibid, 33.
Ibid, 112.
Hsi-an Pan-p’o (Peking: Science Press, 1962), cited in Chang, 114; Chang, 114.
Shan Hai Ching Ts’un, 1895 ed., cited in Chang, 71, 73.
Ibid, 114.
Bodde, quoted in Chang, 44.
The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, trans. James Legge, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1872), 293, quoted in Chang, 95-96.
Chang, 54.
Legge, 293, quoted in Chang, 95-96.
Karlgren, 194, quoted in Ibid, 33-34.
Ibid, 33.
Ibid, 37.
Jen Ch’i-yun, Chiao Miao Kung Shih K’ao, as quoted in Ling Shun-Sheng, “Chung-kuo tsu-miao chih ch’i-yuan,” Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica 7 (1959), cited in Ibid, 40.
Li Ki, in The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 27, trans. James Legge (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1885), quoted in Chang, 41.
Chang, 41.
Roger R. Thompson. “Chinese History to 600 A.D.” (lecture, Western Washington University. Bellingham WA. July 1, 2009.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Bodde, quoted in Chang, 44; Thompson, 7/1/09.
Thompson, 7/1/09.

Chinese History

I am taking an Ancient China course which has proven detailed, through, engaging and fascinating. Reading through what seems like a tome of information I found a quote that reveals the truth for all of mankind. Every culture, despite its rituals and religions, in the end must face this reality:

Nineteen Old Poems:
Through the ages mourners in their turn are mourned,
Neither sages nor worthy can escape.
Seeking by diet to obtain immortality,
Many have been the dupes of drugs.
Better far to drink good wine,
And clothe our bodies in silk and satin.

What did these men do?

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
MASSACHUSETTS: John Hancock, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Robert Treat Paine
RHODE ISLAND: Elbridge Gerry, Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
CONNECTICUT: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
NEW YORK: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
NEW JERSEY: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
PENNSYLVANIA: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
DELAWARE: Ceasar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
MARYLAND: Samuel Chase, Thomas Stone, William Paca, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
VIRGINIA: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
NORTH CAROLINA: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
SOUTH CAROLINA: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Authur Middleton
GEORGIA: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Barton, David: Documents of Freedom. Aledo, TX : WallBuildersPress, 2002, S. 11