Religious Beliefs in China. Confucianism and Taoism. Religion of ancient China Religion that originated in ancient China

Religion of Ancient China in brief

Ancient China is one of the most mysterious countries in the world. This is how she was thousands of years ago, and she has remained so now. It is strikingly different even from neighboring countries, and this difference can be traced literally in everything. The religion of Ancient China, summarized, can to some extent explain the reasons for the peculiarity of China.

The biggest difference between the Chinese and other peoples is that they are not mystical, but practical people. If the mythology of other countries is diverse and extensive, then in China, instead of myths, there were legends about just, virtuous rulers famous for their wisdom.

It is impossible to describe the religion of Ancient China briefly, you can only outline its main directions. It should be said right away that the peculiarity of the religion of China is that it is inextricably linked with philosophy. Those philosophical movements that found followers here became religions.

Since ancient times, China has developed a special system of worldview. The Chinese believed that the world consists of chaos, in which there are life-giving particles - tsy. They subsequently split into light particles - yang and heavy - yin. Heaven arose from light and light yang, and earth from dark yin. For the ancient Chinese, Heaven is the progenitor of all life on earth. Confucius wrote - “The people will perish without Heaven. His fate depends only on the grace of Heaven. " For a Chinese resident, Heaven is not a God or a deity to whom one can turn, argue, be angry with him or admire him. It is a cold and abstract entity, indifferent to people.

The religion of Ancient China, summarized, includes the following types:

Confuzanism is a special system of ancient traditions. The basic principles of this religion are humanism and duty. For the followers of Confucianism, careful observance of rules and rituals is very important. The founder is an official from the ancient Chinese family Kun Fu-tzu (Confucius in European).
... Taoism - this religion is based on the concept of Tao - a complex multifaceted concept. This is both the Path and the beginning of everything. For the followers of Taoism, the main goal in life was to merge with the Tao. This could be achieved by acting according to the laws of morality, meditating and giving up unnecessary material values. The founder of Taoism is a historical person - the archivist Lao-tzu. Although some researchers doubt its true existence. The principles of Taoism are very similar to Confucianism, and these religions have successfully competed with each other for a long time.
. Chinese Buddhism. The emergence of this religion in China was facilitated by the close proximity to India. It appeared in the 1st century BC, and by the 4th century AD. gained popular popularity. The ideas of Buddhism were close to the Chinese, and this religion quickly adapted in the Celestial Empire. The problems were that if for Indians asking for alms to a monk was not considered something shameful, then for the Chinese it was tantamount to shame, and in the very idea of \u200b\u200bmonasticism. Before that, China did not know such a way of life, and the refusal of a person from his own name when joining the monastic order of Buddhists was tantamount to abandoning his ancestors.
These are the three main religions in ancient China.

In China, in the XII-VIII centuries BC, a primitive ideographic writing was invented, improved and later turned into a complete hieroglyphic calligraphy, and also a monthly calendar was mainly compiled.

The peculiar Chinese culture reached a special flourishing since the transformation of China at the end of the 3rd century BC into a single powerful empire from the beginning of the Qin dynasty, and later - the Han dynasty

During the early history of the imperial era, ancient China enriched world culture with such important inventions as the compass and speedometer, seismograph, porcelain, typography, and gunpowder. It was in China that seaworthy devices were invented for the first time in the world - a tiller and multi-tiered sails, in the field of writing and printing - paper and movable type, in military equipment - guns and stirrups. In the 7th-10th centuries, mechanical watches, silk weaving, a drive belt and a chain transmission were invented.

In mathematics, an outstanding Chinese achievement was the use of decimal fractions and an empty position to denote zero, the calculation of the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter (the number e), the discovery of a method for solving equations with two and three unknowns. Even before the advent of XTV, the so-called "Pascal triangle" in China was considered an ancient way of solving equations.

The ancient Chinese were experienced astronomers, knew how to calculate the dates of the eclipse of the sun, observed spots on it, and compiled one of the world's first catalog of stars. The device known today as the Cardano gimbal (invented in Europe in the 16th century), in fact, should be called the Ding Huang gimbal (2nd Tue).

When creating blowing machines for metallurgy, the Chinese were the first to use the method of converting circular motion into linear motion, which was later used in Europe to operate steam engines. In China, a long tradition of biological plant protection arose - IV in descriptions of methods of using some insects to fight others belong.

Astronomy, knowledge of calendar calculations and astrological predictions, mathematics, physics and hydraulic engineering reached a high level in Ancient China. Serf building remained an important matter to protect the external borders of the empire from the invasions of warlike nomads. Chinese builders became famous for their grandiose structures - the Great Wall of China and the Great Canal, which connected Beijing and Hangzhou. The construction of the canal began as early as the 6th century BC, continued for two thousand years and was completed only in the 13th century. n. e.

This complex hydraulic structure over 1800 km long and 15 to 350 m wide with numerous devices for pumping and purifying water has become a real masterpiece of the world irrigation art.

In ancient China, a manual on pharmacology was first written, surgeries were performed with the use of narcotic drugs, and acupuncture and massage treatments were used. The ancient method of healing with the "root of immortality" - ginseng - is extremely popular in the world.

The peculiarity of the spiritual culture of Ancient China is largely due to the phenomenon known as "Chinese ceremonies": strictly fixed stereotypes of ethical and ritual norms of behavior and thinking, formed in compliance with the rules and regulations of antiquity. The specificity of the spiritual life of the ancient Chinese was precisely in the fact that the exaggeration in their consciousness of ethical and ritual values \u200b\u200bultimately led to their replacement of the religious and mythological perception of the world. This demythologization and, to a certain extent, the desacralization of ethics and ritual have shaped the uniqueness of Chinese culture. The place of the cult of the gods was taken by the cult of real clan and family ancestors.

However, those gods, the cult of whose honor has been preserved, became abstract deities-symbols without human features: Heaven, Heaven, Dao Heaven is the highest impersonal-naturalistic universality, absolutely indifferent to man Great Tao, the omnipotent creator of the world, is all-embracing and universal, formless and the nameless Law and the Absolute of life, inaccessible to the human senses, unseen and unheard of. Cognizing the Tao, understanding it with your mind, connecting with it - these are the key ideological principles and the ultimate life goal of the ancient Chinese.

Taoism is an ancient Chinese philosophical system (Tao - "way"), the founder of which is considered the semi-legendary Lao Tzu (VI century BC). The doctrine is based on the call to people to cast off the "shackles" of civilization and return to natural foundations, not to create their own laws, but to learn the laws of nature and merge into it, without separating oneself from other components (animals, plants, minerals, etc.). Taoism developed against the backdrop of continuous internal wars and environmental disaster that hit China in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. due to the predatory economic activity of Chinese farmers armed with tools, therefore Taoism called for the destruction of any statehood and promoted "uvei" ("non-action"), the maximum restriction of any human activity, a priori harmful to nature, and therefore to man himself. Over time, Taoism acquired the features of a real religion, which promoted the fusion of man with nature and has repeatedly been the ideological banner of anti-state peasant movements.

Confucianism, the ethical and political doctrine of the idealist philosopher Confucius, occupies a special place in Chinese spiritual culture.

Classical literature also developed under the influence of religious, ethical-philosophical, and socio-political views characteristic of ancient Chinese society. Even in the first poetry collection of Ancient China, the famous "Book of Songs", based on folk songs, ancient hymns, the feats of ancestors are sung.

"The Book of Historical Legends", which includes speeches and instructions, according to legend, belonged to the ancient kings and their advisers, under the influence of Confucianism turned into a collection of teachings and advice. Confucius himself is credited with the authorship of the book "Spring and Autumn", which most vividly reflected his concept of norms and rules of social structure.

In the II-III centuries, Buddhism penetrated into China, which influenced the traditional Chinese culture. This, in particular, manifested itself in literature, visual arts and especially in architecture (rock complexes like the temples of Ellora, graceful pagodas in the Indian style, cave temples of Dunhuang, reminiscent of the cave temples of Ajantya).

Buddhism, having existed in China for almost two millennia, has noticeably changed in the course of adaptation to a specific Chinese civilization in particular, on the basis of the synthesis of his ideas about alleviating suffering in this life and salvation, eternal bliss in the afterlife with Confucian pragmatism in China in the VI century, one of the the most interesting intellectual currents of world religious thought - Ch'an Buddhism, which later spread also in Japan, acquired a complete form of Zen Buddhism, is still very popular in many countries. The transformation of Buddhism turned out to be more significant in a peculiarly Chinese art based on original traditions. The Chinese never accepted the Indian image of Buddha, creating their own image.

Chinese art is characterized by calligraphy, poetry and painting, which form an inextricable triune system. It is this hieroglyphic code system with its linguistic and pictorial capabilities that allows, from the point of view of Chinese aesthetics, with the help of one tool - a brush - to combine three different types of art and, in aggregate, achieve the most complete and accurate transfer of them by artistic means of the surrounding harmony.

The first manifestations of civilization in China are usually attributed to the XIV century. BC. This is the beginning of the Shang (Yin) era. Then there was the Yin state in the middle reaches of the river. Yellow River. The state was headed by the hereditary monarch Wang, already property stratification, the beginnings of slavery, but the remnants of primitive communal relations remained. Then the lunar calendar appeared. Primitive religion as a cult of nature and the cult of ancestors began to transform into a systemic religion.

Each community had its own deity - Fundy, who was the patron and ancestor of the community, he supported the fertility of the land and the fertility of livestock. Local deities were headed by the supreme god Shanli. The trenches made sacrifices to their gods and ancestors, including human ones - by men from prisoners (women were left alive as labor). Human sacrifices were massive. In the Shan era, the idea of \u200b\u200bHeaven as a supreme being, the owner of everything that exists, arises.

In the XI century. BC. the state of Yin was conquered by the Zhou people.

The Zhou era lasted from the XI century. BC. Debt slavery had already appeared here, but the basis of social slavery was created by free communes, who received land from Van. The state consisted of separate kingdoms, which gradually gained independence and fought among themselves. By the end of the era, private ownership of land was established. The technology of land cultivation has significantly improved, handicrafts have become established, trade flourished. At this time, a specific ancient religion is produced.

In the Chzhous people there was the Foremother goddess from the Ram clan - Jian Yuan, then the Ruler-Millet ("Volodar-Grain") took her place.

When, as a result of the conquest of the Yin state and a number of neighboring tribes, the Zhou state was formed, a cult inter-tribal union arose, in which the common god Gun was worshiped.

Subsequently, within the lower and middle reaches of the Yellow River, an even more influential state with the same name Zhou grew up.

The cult of "The Rule of the Deity" - Heaven, appeared in it, and the Zhou became the "Son of Heaven" - Tian-tzu.

In the VIII century. BC. the center of the Zhou state moves to the east. Eastern Zhou is the period of existence of a number of fragmented independent states, there were about two hundred of them. A dozen of their most significant, including the Eastern Zhou, formed the nucleus of the state, which historical tradition considered the "central kingdoms" of the Universe (Celestial Universe - Zhong Guo).

Among the large number of the Zhong Guo kingdom, the Eastern Zhou played the role of a cult center, and the Zhou baths became nominal rulers. Religion during this period remained the cult of nature and the cult of ancestors, especially the royal ones.

From the V century. BC. and by the III century. BC. the period of "kingdoms leading the struggle" continues. The kingdoms of Qi, Chu, Qin, Jin, Han, Sui, W, Yue, Lu and others are fighting for dominance over one another.

It was at this time that the main philosophical and religious schools of China appeared, and the first of them was Confucianism.

But before setting out the history and essence of Confucianism, we will briefly consider the content and forms of the religion of Ancient China.

Religion was systematized to a certain extent from scattered religious ideas in the Zhou era. At the end of the XIX century. Iybulo was given the name of the ancient state religion, or sinism. But this name did not take root in Sinology, the religion of the ancient Chinese remained without a name, so let it be with us.

Ancient chinese religion

As in any religion, in the ancient Chinese religion we find primarily animistic ideas associated with the personification of natural and social forces. They found themselves in adoration of the sky, various spirits and souls of their ancestors.

Sky (Tian, \u200b\u200bTian, \u200b\u200bTe) is the main Chinese deity. This is not the spirit of the sky, not some kind of power, but the most living sky above us, it sees everything, knows everything, everything belongs to it, it guides everything. He is the Supreme Ruler, an adored material object, not a supreme being.

The ancient Chinese did not invest any views in understanding their deity of the sky. This is pure worship of the forces of nature.

Heaven does not give revelation, miracles, divine intervention in the actions of nature and man. But fate, Ming, is different for everyone and becomes known only when it is fulfilled. The sky can express its attitude to nature, to people because of the weather, natural phenomena, it can declare the loss of harmony between them and the earth. Then the emperor's business is to make a sacrifice, to regulate relations. If the sky is angry with the emperor, then it must be replaced.

The ancient Chinese concept of spirits (Shan) is already animism. There are a great many spirits, they are associated with objects of nature, each of them has its own Spirit. They exist together as a kind of corporation, and one should not address them alone, but all together. Since they personify specific things (mountains, rivers, fields, heavenly bodies, natural phenomena, etc.), their existence is territorially limited. The cult according to them is no longer carried out by the emperor, but by the local ruler.

Spirits exist under Heaven, are subject to it, but do not represent it. They are all good, there are no evil spirits. Evil does not come from evil spirits, but from the lack of goodwill of good spirits.

The cult of spirits was served by shamanism borrowed from the primitive religion. Shamans were experts in dealing with spirits, they knew when, where and how to make sacrifices to them, how to invite them to help and how to prevent evil. The existence and authority of the spirits was supported by the fact that the shamans knew traditional medicine, the physiology and psychology of clients.

The ancestor cult was the most deeply rooted. The ancient Chinese believed in the existence of a human soul after death. This is not a belief in personal immortality. It was the idea of \u200b\u200bprocreation as an eternal value.

The Chinese idea of \u200b\u200bthe other world retained the features of the primitive ideas about it. The other world was a natural continuation of earthly life. The deceased did not die completely. He demanded food and care in accordance with the status that he occupied in earthly life. He had to be taken care of as if he were alive, replacing real things and forms of care with the corresponding symbolic ones. This and. the cult of ancestors was supposed to serve. Therefore, in the ancient Chinese animism, there is no idea of \u200b\u200botherworldly retribution, the idea of \u200b\u200bhell and heaven. The Chinese man is not afraid of a future execution, but of the condemning thoughts of the ancestral spirits to which he is responsible. His current fate, real life depends on his ancestors. And one cannot be indifferent to this.

That is why each house had its own chapel or prayer house with tablets on which the names of ancestors were written. When a family gathers, the spirits of ancestors are also present. Then sacrifice is made to the spirits of the ancestors - direct or symbolic. Family members consume food, and ancestral spirits consume sacrifice. In honor of ancestors, speeches are spoken, in spells they express their requests or gratitude for help and the like. Such a cult has only a family character, it is carried out only by the husband and wife. Therefore, marriage is a religious act, it opens up the possibility of ancestor worship.

The emperor also honors his ancestors. And this respect already has not only a family, but also a public character, the Emperor makes sacrifices to his ancestors and all predecessors on the throne. They help not only him alone and his family, but the whole country as a whole, the entire people Hence their importance, scale, publicity.

Cult traditions arose in ancient China. Sacrifices were made to Heaven, spirits and ancestors for various reasons, even in the event of a change in the weather. These sacrifices were made not for the sake of ransom, but out of gratitude and devotion. There is nothing ascetic about Chinese rituals. The ceremonies are often accompanied by music. The victims are animals, plants, household items - it all depends on the reason for the sacrifices, on what they ask for. The petitioner himself, the head of the family, makes sacrifices, there are no specialists in sacrifices. But everything must correspond to the ritual, nothing can be rejected or simplified. In the eyes of the Chinese, sacrifice is the sum total of the relationship with the supernatural, and nothing can be neglected here.

The ancient Chinese religion was a significant flourishing of traditional magic: magicians, fortune tellers, fortune tellers, connoisseurs of recipes for miraculous elixirs, experts from good and evil, love and hate, life and death had unlimited scope for their activities. The magic of achieving immortality gained special scope. The search for the elixir of immortality was encouraged by almost all emperors of all dynasties. Why not make the wonderful imperial life unlimited, in which for the Son of Heaven there was never, nowhere, nothing denial? The inaccessibility of this dream is obvious. But these searches stimulated the creation of pharmaceutical discoveries, significant for ancient Chinese medicine.

So, the ancient Chinese religion, directly born from the primitive religion of their ancestors, followed the usual path for all religions: the transformation of the original personification of nature and society into polytheism, the unification of elementary fetishistic and magical techniques and actions into a religious cult. The statement that the ancient Chinese worshiped Shandi, the First Sovereign, outstanding of all spirits, and even with a hint that the ancient Chinese understood Shandi as the One God, can hardly be considered justified.

The history, culture, religion and traditions of the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire over the centuries aroused genuine interest in the citizens of European countries, because the original and rich culture of this eastern state was so different from the traditions and rules adopted in Western society. The originality and difference of the civilization and worldview of the Chinese from the worldview of Europeans is especially clearly visible in the comparison of the beliefs of the ancient Chinese and the religions of the tribes, whose descendants now inhabit the European part of Eurasia - Scandinavians, Rymians, Cimerians, Scythians, etc. philosophy, the search for a life path, the absence of complex cults and rigid rules and focus on.

Chinese civilization has a multi-thousand-year history, in which decline was not replaced by prosperity just once. Beautiful nature, which seems to have been created in order to contemplate its beauty, the class division of society, the tradition of respect for elders, bloody wars, the struggle of dynasties, great discoveries, the development of trade, the need for hard daily work - all these, at first glance, do not unrelated factors influenced the formation and development of philosophy and religion of ancient China.

Religion of the ancient Chinese before the second millennium BC

The ancient Chinese, who lived more than 4 thousand years ago, had beliefs somewhat similar to the beliefs of other ancient tribes. The first beliefs of the Chinese, of which later and, were based on totemism, and almost all Chinese tribes had their own totem. The deification of dragons in Chinese mythology and the belief in the power and protection of these mythical animals, which the Chinese have preserved to this day, take their roots precisely from those ancient times when many Chinese tribes considered a snake to be their totem. Over time, the patron serpent in the minds of the people was transformed into a flying serpent - a dragon. The popular Chinese legend about the magic bird fenghuang, a transformed swallow totem, has a similar origin. The dragon and fenghuang in the religion of the ancient Chinese were something like the supreme deities: the dragon identified the earth and the masculine, and fenghuang - the sky and the feminine.

According to the beliefs of the Chinese, everything around is chaos, in which there are particles of living energy TSI. TSY is of two types - YIN and YANG, YIN - dark, viscous and heavy particles, they are also the feminine principle and the embodiment of earth and water, and YANG - light and light particles, identifying light, sky and masculine principle. The ancient Chinese considered the sky to be the progenitor of all life on Earth, however, praying to Heaven, in their opinion, was meaningless - it was indifferent to human affairs. Also, the Chinese believed that the harmony of YIN and YANG is necessary for human life, and all misfortunes, cataclysms and are the consequences of the disharmony of these fundamental energies.

Pantheon of ancient Chinese gods

The religion of the ancient Chinese is characterized by such a phenomenon as euhemerization (humanization) of deities. Now no one can say for sure whether the Chinese deities had real prototypes - emperors, warriors, dignitaries and rulers, or the belief that the gods once lived on earth appeared among the Chinese after they believed in deities ... The most famous and revered in the religion of the ancient Chinese were the following deities:

- Guandi - the god of war and wealth, the patron saint of officials;

Zhu Shou - the deity of autumn and metals;

Leigun is the god of thunder;

Pangu - the first person born as a result of the interaction of the supreme forces of the universe of yin and yang;

Fusi is the ruler of the sky;

Nuiva is the ruler of the earth;

Shennong - the god of agriculture;

Yudi is the god-emperor of the universe.

The ancient Chinese erected temples to these gods and prayed for protection, however, unlike the ancestors of Europeans, the ancient Chinese were not fanatic in faith - there is no evidence in history that the Chinese made sacrifices to their deities or had any complex cults of worship. Since the religion of the ancient Chinese is based on philosophy, the gods in their view were something like helpers, patrons who, like people, obey the laws of the universe.

Three religions of ancient China

In the second millennium BC, the formation of religious and philosophical movements began, and before the beginning of our era the ancient Chinese were: Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. These three religions have a lot in common - the absence of a deity, which requires worship, a philosophical assessment of the world, and, most importantly, the orientation towards self-development and self-improvement of a person.

The second religion of ancient China, which formed around the third century BC and is widespread to this day, is taoism - a religious and philosophical teaching about the spiritual path of man. The founder of Taoism is considered Lao Tzu, who formed the doctrine of Tao - the beginning of all living things and the great path that every person must pass in order to merge with the Universe and become part of Tao himself. According to the teachings, this goal can be achieved without doing evil, adhering to strict moral standards and moderation in one's own desires, and regularly engaging in meditation.

The last belief included in the triad of religions of ancient China is the teachings of Kun Fu-tzu - confucianism ... The adherents of this religion, which originated in the fifth century BC, are sure that the goal of every person's life is to create good for other people; humanism, philanthropy, justice, respect for elders - these are the traits that everyone who calls himself a follower of Confucius should possess. Probably, when drawing up the dogmas of his teaching, Confucius relied on ancient traditions and the faith of his ancestors, because the religious and philosophical trend he founded has some features of the cult of the ancestors, the cult of the earth and reverence for Heaven as the creator of all life on earth.

Compass, gunpowder, dumplings, paper (including toilet paper and paper money), silk and many other things from our life, what do they have in common? As you might guess, they all came to us from ancient China. Chinese culture and civilization has brought to mankind a great many of the most useful inventions and discoveries. And not only in the material sphere, but also in the spiritual sphere, because the teachings of the great Chinese philosophers and sages, such as Kun-Tzu (better known as Confucius) and Lao-Tzu, remain relevant at all times and eras. What was the history of ancient China, its culture and religion, read about all this in our article.

History of ancient China

The emergence of the civilization of ancient China falls on the second half of the 1st millennium BC. e. In those distant times, China was an ancient feudal state called Zhou (after the ruling dynasty). Then the state of Zhou as a result disintegrated into several small kingdoms and principalities, which continuously fought with each other for power, territory and influence. The Chinese themselves call this ancient period of their history Zhanguo - the era of the Warring States. Gradually, seven main kingdoms emerged, which swallowed up all the others: Qin, Chu, Wei, Zhao, Han, Qi and Yan.

Despite the political fragmentation, Chinese culture and civilization actively developed, new cities appeared, crafts and agriculture flourished, and iron replaced bronze. It was this period that can be safely called the golden age of Chinese philosophy, since it was at that time that the famous Chinese sages Lao Tzu and Confucius lived, on which we will dwell in more detail a little later, as well as their numerous students and followers (for example, Chuang Tzu) who also enriched the world's treasury of wisdom with their thoughts and works.

Again, despite the fact that the Chinese civilization at that time consisted of seven fragmented kingdoms, they had a common essence, one language, one tradition, history, religion. And soon one of the strongest kingdoms - Qin, under the rule of the harsh and warlike emperor Qin Shi Huang, managed to conquer all the other kingdoms, re-unite ancient China under the banner of a single state.

True, the Qin dynasty ruled a united China for only 11 years, but this decade was one of the greatest in Chinese history. The reforms carried out by the emperor affected all aspects of Chinese life. What were these reforms of ancient China that so influenced the life of the Chinese?

The first was the land reform, which dealt a devastating blow to communal land tenure; for the first time, land began to be freely bought and sold. The second was the administrative reform, which divided the entire Chinese territory into administrative centers, they are also counties (xiang), at the head of each such county was a state official who, with his own head, was responsible to the emperor for order on his territory. The third important reform was the tax reform, if earlier the Chinese paid a land tax - tithe from the harvest, now the fee was charged depending on the cultivated land, which gave the state an annual constant income, regardless of crop failure, drought, etc. All risks associated with crop failures now fell on the shoulders of the farmers.

And without a doubt, the most important in those turbulent times was the military reform, which, incidentally, preceded the unification of China: first the Qin, and then the general Chinese army was rearmed and reorganized, cavalry was included in it, bronze weapons were replaced with iron ones, the long riding clothes of the soldiers were replaced shorter and more comfortable (like the nomads). The soldiers were divided into fives and tens, linked to each other by a system of mutual guarantee, those who did not show proper courage were subjected to severe punishment.

This is approximately what the ancient Chinese warriors, the terracotta army of Qin Shi Huang, looked like.

Actually, these measures of the reformer Qin Shihawandi helped make the Qin army one of the most combat-ready in ancient China, defeat other kingdoms, unite China and turn it into the strongest state in the East.

The Qin dynasty was replaced by the new Han dynasty, which strengthened the cause of its predecessors, expanded Chinese territories, and extended Chinese influence to neighboring peoples, from the Gobi Desert in the north to the Pamir Mountains in the west.

Map of ancient China during the Qin and Han times.

The time of the reign of the Qin and Han dynasties is the period of the greatest flourishing of ancient Chinese civilization and culture. The Han dynasty itself lasted until the 2nd century BC. That is, and also disintegrated as a result of the next troubles, the era of Chinese power was again replaced by an era of decline, which was again replaced by periods of take-off. After the fall of Han, the era of three kingdoms began in China, then the Jin dynasty came to power, then the Sui dynasty, and so many times, some imperial Chinese dynasties replaced others, but they all failed to reach the level of greatness that was during the ancient Qin dynasties and Han. Nevertheless, China has always experienced the most terrible crises and troubles in history, like a Phoenix, rising from the ashes. Yes, and in our time we are witnessing the next rise of Chinese civilization, because even this article you probably read on a computer or phone or tablet, many of the details (if not all) of which are made, of course, in China.

Ancient China culture

Chinese culture is unusually rich and multifaceted; it has enriched the global culture in many ways. And the greatest contribution here, in our opinion, is the invention of paper by the Chinese, which in turn actively influenced the development of writing. In those days, when the ancestors of many European peoples still lived in semi-dugouts and could not even think of writing, the Chinese were already creating vast libraries with the works of their learned men.

The writing technology of ancient China also underwent considerable evolution and appeared even before the invention of paper, at first the Chinese wrote on bamboo, for this, bamboo trunks were split into thin plates and hieroglyphs were applied on them with black ink from top to bottom. Then they were fastened with leather straps along the upper and lower edges, and a bamboo panel was obtained, which could be easily rolled up. This was the ancient Chinese book. The advent of paper made it possible to significantly reduce the cost of book production, and make the books themselves available to many. Although, of course, ordinary Chinese peasants at that time remained illiterate, but for government officials and even more so for aristocrats, literacy, as well as mastery of the art of writing, calligraphy was a mandatory requirement.

Money in ancient China, as well as in other civilizations, at first was in the form of metal coins, however, in different kingdoms, these coins could have different shapes. Nevertheless, over time, it was the Chinese who were the first, however, already in a later era, to use paper money.

We know about the high level of development of crafts in ancient China from the works of Chinese writers of those times, as they tell us about ancient Chinese artisans of various specialties: casters, carpenters, jewelry craftsmen, gunsmiths, weavers, ceramics specialists, builders of dams and dams. Moreover, each Chinese region was famous for its skilled craftsmen.

Shipbuilding was actively developing in ancient China, as evidenced by the well-preserved model 16 of a rowing boat, a junky, which was discovered by archaeologists.

This is what an ancient Chinese junk looks like.

And yes, the ancient Chinese were good navigators and in this business they could even compete with the European Vikings. Sometimes the Chinese, as well as the Europeans, undertook real sea expeditions, the most ambitious of which was the voyage of the Chinese admiral Zheng He, who was the first Chinese to swim to the shores of East Africa and visited the Arabian Peninsula. For orientation in sea travel, the Chinese were helped by a compass, invented by them.

Philosophy of ancient China

The philosophy of ancient China stands on two pillars: Taoism and Confucianism, which are based on two great Teachers: Lao Tzu and Confucius. These two areas of Chinese philosophy complement each other harmoniously. If Confucianism defines the moral, ethical side of the social life of the Chinese (relationship with other people, respect for parents, service to society, proper upbringing of children, nobility of spirit), then Taoism is rather a religious and philosophical teaching on how to achieve inner perfection and harmony with the outside world and at the same time with itself.

Do not do to other people what you do not want them to do to you... - Confucius.

Allowing great malice - you gain an excess of malice. You calm down - doing good. Lao Tzu.

These lines of two great Chinese sages, in our opinion, perfectly convey the essence of the philosophy of ancient China, its wisdom for those who have ears (in other words, this is briefly the most important of it).

Religion of ancient China

Ancient Chinese religion is in many ways connected with Chinese philosophy, its moral component comes from Confucianism, mystical from Taoism, and also much borrowed from Buddhism, the world religion, which in the 5th century BC. That is, it appeared in the neighboring one.

According to legend, the Buddhist missionary and monk Bodhidharma (who is also the founder of the legendary Shao-Lin monastery) was the first to bring Buddhist teachings to China, where it fell on fertile soil and flourished, in many ways acquiring a Chinese flavor from a synthesis with Taoism and Confucianism. Since then, Buddhism has become the third integral part of China's religion.

Buddhism also very well influenced the development of education in ancient China (a commoner could become a Buddhist monk, and as a monk it was already necessary to learn literacy and writing). Many Buddhist monasteries simultaneously became real scientific and cultural centers of that time, where scholarly monks were engaged in rewriting Buddhist sutras (while creating extensive libraries), taught people to read and write, shared their knowledge with them, and even opened Buddhist universities.

Shao-Lin Buddhist monastery, and it is from here that oriental martial arts originate.

Many Chinese emperors have patronized Buddhism by making generous donations to monasteries. At some point, ancient China became a real stronghold of the Buddhist religion, and from there Buddhist missionaries carried the beacon of Buddha's teachings to neighboring countries: Korea, Mongolia, and Japan.

Ancient Chinese art

The religion of ancient China, especially Buddhism, largely influenced its art, since many works of art, frescoes, sculptures were created by Buddhist monks. But in addition to this, a special and peculiar style of painting has formed in China, in which great attention is paid to landscapes and the description of the beauty of nature.

Like, for example, this painting by the Chinese artist Liao Songtang, painted in the original Chinese style.

Ancient China architecture

Many ancient Chinese buildings, created by talented architects of the past, still inspire our admiration. The luxurious palaces of the Chinese emperors, which, above all, were supposed to focus on the high position of the emperor, are especially striking. In their style, grandeur and splendor are mandatory.

Chinese Emperor's Palace, Forbidden City, Beijing.

The palaces of the Chinese emperors consisted of two sections: ceremonial or official, and everyday or residential, where the private life of the emperor and his family took place.

Buddhist architecture in China is represented by numerous beautiful pagodas and temples built with Chinese splendor and grandeur.

Chinese pagoda.

Buddhist temple.

• Ancient China is the birthplace of football, as Chinese historians believe, since this ball game was mentioned in ancient Chinese chronicles that date back to 1000 BC. e.
• It was the Chinese who were among the first inventors of the calendar, so around 2000 BC. That is, they began to use the lunar calendar, mainly for agricultural work.
• Since ancient times, the Chinese have revered birds, and the most respected are the phoenix, crane and duck. Phoenix personifies imperial power and strength. The crane symbolizes longevity, and the duck symbolizes family happiness.
• The ancient Chinese had legal polygamy, provided that the husband was wealthy enough to support several wives. As for the Chinese emperors, sometimes there were thousands of concubines in their harems.
• The Chinese believed that during the practice of calligraphy, the human soul is improved.
• The Great Wall of China, a grandiose monument of Chinese construction, is included in the Guinness Book of Records for many parameters: it is the only structure on earth that can be seen from space, it was built 2000 years - from 300 BC. That is, until 1644, and more people died during its construction than anywhere else.

Ancient China, video

And in conclusion, an interesting documentary about ancient China.

When writing the article, I tried to make it as interesting, useful and high-quality as possible. I would be grateful for any feedback and constructive criticism in the form of comments to the article. You can also write your wish / question / suggestion to my mail [email protected] or Facebook, sincerely the author.