A History of China by Wolfram Eberhard (read a book .TXT) 📕

p. 11: This is a summary of my own theories. Concerning the Tungus tribes, K. Jettmar (Wiener Beiträge zur Kulturgeschichte, vol. 9, 1952, p. 484f and later studies) has proposed a more refined theory; other parts of the theory, as far as it is concerned with conditions in Central Asia, have been modified by F. Kussmaul (in: Tribus, vol. 1952-3, pp. 305-60). Archaeological data from Central Asia have been analysed again by K. Jettmar (in: The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Bulletin No. 23, 1951). The discussion on domestication of large animals relies on the studies by C.O. Sauer, H. von Wissmann, Menghin, Amschler, Flohr and, most recently, F. Han[vc]ar (in: Saeculum, vol. 10, 1959, pp. 21-37 with further literature), and also on my own research.

p. 12: An analysis of the situation in the South according to Western and Chinese studies is found in H.J. Wiens, China's March toward the Tropics, Hamden 1954. Much further work is now published by Ling Shun-sheng, Rui Yi-fu and other anthropologists in Taipei. The best analysis of denshiring in the Far East is still the book by K.J. Pelzer, Population and Land Utilization, New York 1941. The anthropological theories on this page are my own, influenced by ideas of R. Heine-Geldern and Gordon Luce.

p. 14: Sociological theory, as developed by R. Thurnwald and others, has been used as a theoretical tool here, together with observations by A. Credner and H. Bernatzik. Concerning rice in Yang-shao see R. Heine-Geldern in Anthropos, vol. 27, p. 595.

p. 15: Wu Chin-ting defended the local origin of Yang-shao; T.J. Arne, J.G. Andersson and many others suggested Western influences. Most recently R. Heine-Geldern elaborated this theory. The allusion to Indo-Europeans refers to the studies by G. Haloun and others concerning the Ta-Hsia, the later Yüeh-chih, and the Tocharian problem.

p. 16: R. Heine-Geldern proposed a "Pontic migration". Yin Huan-chang discussed most recently Lung-shan culture and the mound-dwellers.

p. 17: The original Chu-shu chi-nien version of the stories about Yao has been accepted here, together with my own research and the studies by B. Karlgren, M. Loehr, G. Haloun, E.H. Minns and others concerning the origin and early distribution of bronze and the animal style. Smith families or tribes are well known from Central Asia, but also from India and Africa (see W. Ruben, Eisenschmiede und Dämonen in Indien, Leiden 1939, for general discussion).—For a discussion of the Hsia see E. Erkes.

Chapter Two

p. 19: The discussion in this chapter relies mainly upon the Anyang excavation reports and the studies by Tung Tso-pin and, most strongly, Ch'en Meng-chia. In English, the best work is still H.G. Creel, The Birth of China, London 1936 and his more specialized Studies in Early Chinese Culture, Baltimore 1937.

p. 20: The possibility of a "megalithic" culture in the Far East has often been discussed, by O. Menghin, R. Heine-Geldern, Cheng Tê-k'un, Ling Shun-sheng and others. Megaliths occur mainly in South-East Asia, southern China, Korea and Japan.—Teng Ch'u-min and others believe that silk existed already in the time of Yang-shao.

p. 21: Kuo Mo-jo believes, that the Shang already used a real plough drawn by animals. The main discussion on ploughs in China is by Hsü Chung-shu; for general anthropological discussion see E. Werth and H. Kothe.

p. 22: For the discussion of the T'ao-t'ieh see the research by B. Karlgren and C. Hentze.

p. 23: I follow here mainly Ch'en Meng-chia, but work by B. Schindler, C. Hentze, H. Maspero and also my own research has been considered.

p. 24: I am accepting here a narrow definition of feudalism (see my Conquerors and Rulers, Leiden 1952).—The division of armies into "right" and "left" is interesting in the light of the theories concerning the importance of systems of orientation (Fr. Rock and others).

p. 25: Here, the work by W. Koppers, O. Spengler, F. Han[vc]ar, V.G. Childe and many others, concerning the domestication of the horse and the introduction of the war-chariot in general, and work by Shih Chang-ju, Ch'en Meng-chia, O. Maenchen, Uchida Gimpu and others concerning horses, riding and chariots in China has been used, in addition to my own research.

p. 26: Concerning the wild animals, I have relied upon Ch'en Meng-chia, Hsü Chung-shu and Tung Tso-pin.—The discussion as to whether there was a period of "slave society" (as postulated by Marxist theory) in China, and when it flourished, is still going on under the leadership of Kuo Mo-jo and his group. I prefer to differentiate between slaves and serfs, and relied for factual data upon texts from oracle bones, not upon historical texts.—The problem of Shang chronology is still not solved, in spite of extensive work by Liu Ch'ao-yang, Tung Tso-pin and many Japanese and Western scholars. The old chronology, however, seems to be rejected by most scholars now.

Chapter Three

p. 29: Discussing the early script and language, I refer to the great number of unidentified Shang characters and, especially, to the composite characters which have been mentioned often by C. Hentze in his research; on the other hand, the original language of the Chou may have been different from classical Chinese, if we can judge from the form of the names of the earliest Chou ancestors. Problems of substrata languages enter at this stage. Our first understanding of Chou language and dialects seems to come through the method applied by P. Serruys, rather than through the more generally accepted theories and methods of B. Karlgren and his school.

p. 30: I reject here the statement of classical texts that the last Shang ruler was unworthy, and accept the new interpretation of Ch'en Meng-chia which is based upon oracle bone texts,—The most recent general study on feudalism, and on feudalism in China, is in R. Coulborn, Feudalism in History, Princeton 1956. Stimulating, but in parts antiquated, is M. Granet, La Féodalité Chinoise, Oslo 1952. I rely here on my own research. The instalment procedure has been described by H. Maspero and Ch'i Sz[)u]-ho.

p. 31: The interpretation of land-holding and clans follows my own research which is influenced by Niida Noboru, Kat[=o] Shigeru and other Japanese scholars, as well as by G. Haloun.—Concerning the origin of family names see preliminarily Yang Hsi-mei; much further research is still necessary. The general development of Chinese names is now studied by Wolfgang Bauer.—The spread of cities in this period has been studied by Li Chi, The Formation of the Chinese People, Cambridge 1928. My interpretation relies mainly upon a study of the distribution of non-Chinese tribes and data on early cities coming from excavation reports (see my "Data on the Structure of the Chinese City" in Economic Development and Cultural Change, 1956, pp. 253-68, and "The Formation of Chinese Civilization" in Sociologus 7, 1959, pp. 97-112).

p. 32: The work on slaves by T. Pippon, E. Erkes, M. Wilbur, Wan Kuo-ting, Kuo Mo-jo, Niida Noboru, Kao Nien-chih and others has been consulted; the interpretation by E.G. Pulleyblank, however, was not accepted.

p. 33: This interpretation of the "well-field" system relies in part upon the work done by Hsü Ti-shan, in part upon M. Granet and H. Maspero, and attempts to utilize insight from general anthropological theory and field-work mainly in South-East Asia. Other interpretations have been proposed by Yang Lien-sheng, Wan Kuo-ting, Ch'i Sz[)u]-ho P. Demiéville, Hu Shih, Chi Ch'ao-ting, K.A. Wittfogel, and others Some authors, such as Kuo Mo-jo, regard the whole system as an utopia, but believe in an original "village community".—The characterization of the Chou-li relies in part upon the work done by Hsü Chung-shu and Ku Chieh-kang on the titles of nobility, research by Yang K'uan and textual criticism by B. Karlgren, O. Franke, and again Ku Chieh-kang and his school.—The discussion on twin cities is intended to draw attention to its West Asian parallels, the "acropolis" or "ark" city, as well as to the theories on the difference between Western and Asian cities (M. Weber) and the specific type of cities in "dual societies" (H. Boeke).

p. 34: This is a modified form of the Hu Shih theory.—The problem of nomadic agrarian inter-action and conflict has been studied for a later period mainly by O. Lattimore. Here, general anthropological research as well as my own have been applied.

p. 36: The supra-stratification theory as developed by R. Thurnwald has been used as analytic tool here.

p. 38: For this period, a novel interpretation is presented by R.L. Walker, The Multi-State System of China, Hamden 1953. For the concepts of sovereignty, I have used here the Chou-li text and interpretations based upon this text.

p. 40: For the introduction of iron and the importance of Ch'i, see Chu Hsi-tsu, Kuo Mo-jo, Yang K'uan, Sekino, Takeshi.—Some scholars (G. Haloun) tend to interpret attacks such as the one of 660 B.C. as attacks from outside the borders of China.

p. 41: For Confucius see H.G. Creel, Confucius, New York 1949. I do not, however, follow his interpretation, but rather the ideas of Hu Shih, O. Franke and others.

p. 42: For "chün-tz[)u]" and its counterpart "hsiao-jen" see D. Bodde and Ch'en Meng-chia.

p 43: I rely strongly here upon O. Franke and Ku Chieh-kang and upon my own work on eclipses.

p. 44: I regard the Confucian traditions concerning the model emperors of early time as such a falsification. The whole concept of "abdication" has been analysed by M. Granet. The later ceremony of abdication was developed upon the basis of the interpretations of Confucius and has been studied by Ku Chieh-kang and Miyakawa Hisayuki. Already Confucius' disciple Meng Tz[)u], and later Chuang Tz[)u] and Han Fei Tz[)u] were against this theory.—As a general introduction to the philosophy of this period, Y.L. Feng's History of Chinese Philosophy, London 1937 has still to be recommended, although further research has made many advances.—My analysis of the role of Confucianism in society is influenced by theories in the field of Sociology of religion.

p. 45: The temple in Turkestan was in Khotan and is already mentioned in the Wei-shu chapter 102. The analysis of the famous "Book on the transfiguration of Lao Tz[)u] into a Western Barbarian" by Wang Wei-cheng is penetrating and has been used here. The evaluation of Lao Tz[)u] and his pupils as against Confucius by J. Needham, in his Science and Civilization in China, Cambridge 1954 et seq. (in volume 2) is very stimulating, though necessarily limited to some aspects only.

p. 47: The concept of wu-wei has often been discussed; some, such as Masaaki Matsumoto, interpreted the concept purely in social terms as "refusal of actions carrying worldly estimation".

p. 49 Further literature concerning alchemy and breathing exercises is found in J. Needham's book.

Chapter Four

p. 51: I have used here the general framework of R.L. Walker, but more upon Yang K'uan's studies.

p. 52: The interpretation of the change of myths in this period is based in part upon the work done by H. Maspero, G. Haloun, and Ku Chieh-kang. The analysis of legends made by B. Karlgren from a philological point of view ("Legends and Cults in Ancient China", The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Bulletin No. 18, 1946, pp. 199-365) follows another direction.

p. 53: The discussion on riding involves the theories concerning horse-nomadic tribes and the period of this way of life. It also involves the problem of the invention of stirrup and saddle. The saddle seems to have been used in China already at the beginning of our period; the stirrup seems to be as late as the fifth century A.D. The article by A. Kroeber, The Ancient Oikumene as an Historic Culture Aggregate, Huxley Memorial Lecture for 1945, is very instructive for our problems and also for its theoretical approach.—The custom of attracting settlers from other areas in order to have more production as well as more manpower seems to have been known in India at the same time.

p. 54: The work done by Kat[=o] Shigeru and Niida Noboru on property and family has been used here. For the later period, work done by Makino Tatsumi has also been incorporated.—Literature on the plough and on iron for implements has been mentioned above. Concerning the fallow system, I have incorporated the ideas of Kat[=o] Shigeru, [=O]shima Toshikaza, Hsü Ti-shan and Wan Kuo-ting. Hsü Ti-shan believes that a kind of 3-field system had developed by this time. Traces of such a system have been observed in modern China (H.D. Scholz). For these questions, the translation by N. Lee Swann, Food and Money in Ancient China, 1959 is very important.

p. 55: For all questions of money and credit from this period down to modern times, the best brief introduction is by Lien-sheng Yang, Money and Credit in China, Cambridge 1952. The Introduction to the Economic History of China, London 1954, by E. Stuart Kirby is certainly still the best brief introduction into all problems of Chinese Economic history and contains a bibliography in Western and Chinese-Japanese languages. Articles by Chinese authors