Page 70 - South Korea & Japan: Temples, Shrines & Seaside Treasures

By 1500 B.C., the Chinese had already made great advancements in the areas of science and
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bronze castings. However, the majority of the Chinese people still made their living from a
combination of hunting and agriculture. The peasants owned the land on which they farmed,
but owed military service to the nobles. As in all agricultural societies, the family was the
dominant social unit. Often, large extended families lived together under one roof, and groups
of families living in the same geographical area sometimes adopted common surnames and
formed clans.

The Classical Age

Around 400 B.C., a new class of learned men began to form, giving rise to what is sometimes
called the Classic Age of Chinese thought. The most famous of these men was Confucius.
Confucius asserted that social harmony depends on each individual understanding and acting
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China’s development over the next 2,000 years than perhaps any other man, as Confucianism
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anything else, provided the basis for the long-standing unity of the Chinese people and the
relative stability of the dynastic system of government for nearly 40 centuries.

Another philosophy also rose to prominence in China around this time. Taoism promoted the
concepts of inner peace and harmony with nature. Practitioners sought mystical knowledge
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millions of Chinese as an alternative to the rigid precepts of Confucianism.

Around the 1st century B.C., Buddhism, which originated in India, found its way to China.
Whereas Confucianism and Taoism were more or less ethical guides, Buddhism was a proper
religion. To the follower of Buddha, life goes on in a series of reincarnations; it is a cycle of
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The Age of the Imperial Dynasties

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centralized political power and standardized language, laws, weights, measures, and coinage.
Unfortunately, he also suppressed learning and tried to destroy most religious texts. His
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power, the structure of the Imperial dynastic system, with its administrative divisions and
central bureaucracies, remained intact until the early part of the 20th century.

In 202 B.C., the Han rose to power. The next four centuries of Han rule were a time of great
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classics. They also advanced the teachings of Confucianism, with its strict adherence to the

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