Let us look at another Neolithic culture that seemed to emerge in coastal China with the end of the Yangshao culture. Remember that the Yangshao were located on the upper Yellow River. This culture, called the Longshan Black Pottery Culture, after a principle site and their black pottery, seems to have originated in the Lower Yellow River towards the coast, in the present day province of Shantung. It then spread north, south, and eventually westward, poor Yangshao culture, doomed to subjugation. Its dates are roughly set at 2500-1000 BC. (Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, 1997: China, history of)
ÒAround the middle of the third millennium, the traditions among these people began to change. É Villages grew larger, more prosperous, and more socially organized. É Differences between rich and poor increased sharply. In the community livestock pens, other animals now joined the pigs; goats, sheep, cattle and chickens brought a pleasant variety to the diet of pork and millet. Longshan pottery took on a new and somewhat austere elegance.Ó (TimeFrame 3000-1500 BC, p147)
It was the Longshan culture that introduced the herding animals into northern China. Or more specifically, cattle were rare before they arrived and the herding animals, i.e. cattle, sheep and goats, were typical after they settled.
These herding animals came ultimately from the west and were not indigenous to China. This indicates the foreign origin of the Longshan culture, although the Longshan people were indigenous. Sometimes culture travels independent of peoples.
ÒMost of the domesticated animals appear to have been brought ultimately from the West, although chickens, pigs, and dogs could have been local domesticates in China.Ó (1997 Grolier Interactive Inc.: Neolithic Period, China)
Before the Longshan culture, we find mainly farm implements. After the Longshan culture we find weaponry, warfare and huge earth works as defense. Before the Longshan, the graves indicate very little stratification of society. After the Longshan arrival we find a clan set up with male leadership based upon his power in war.
The relatively peaceful life of the Yangshao culture all changes in classic style with the emergence, or arrival, of the Longshan culture. No longer is the pottery painted. It is just black now. No longer are the villages undefended. No longer is agriculture a primary pastime; now it is warfare.
ÒThe Longshan people seem to have adopted a more defensive posture than their predecessors. Besides the usual farm implements of flaked and polished stone, their artisans produced larger numbers of spear points and arrowheads. Around each settlement, the Longshan erected a massive barricade of stamped earth, which was probably intended as a lone of defense against attack. Armed conflict seems to have been an integral part of their culture.É The Longshan methods of burial suggest that another custom followed by these people was ancestor worship. É Clan leaders emerged, men successful in battle and dominant in village affairs. Degree of influence and wealth began to separate the Longshan people into social classes, with an aristocracy holding sway over the rest. Some men fought and plundered; others raised the animals and harvested the millet.Ó (TimeFrame 3000-1500 BC, p149)
Obviously a peaceful agricultural society based upon crafts has been transformed into a classic military aristocracy based on war and domination. There were even two classes of men: one who fought and the other who farmed. The methods of burial changed from outside the village to underneath and within the house, indicating possible ancestor worship.
The main question is: Did the Longshan people emerge from the Yangshao people or were they an alien culture that came to dominate from the outside? In the past a typical history of China treated this whole prehistoric development as an indigenous affair. The Yangshao people evolved from the indigenous Chinese who lived there. The Longshan culture was merely the next evolutionary step, a result of population pressures. They were the same Yangshao people dealing with growth. The stratification of society and growth in warlike behavior was a natural progression based upon manÕs natural greed and lust for power combined with shrinking resources.
Because of geographical separation, overlap, and distinct cultural differences, the idea that the Longshan is derivative from the Yangshao has been abandoned.
ÒThe Longshan is now known to have been concentrated along the Pacific coast of China, from Shandong to Taiwan. In several locations, Longshan artifacts have been dated as early as those of the Yangshao. Thus, the derivation of the Longshan from the Yangshao, as some had proposed, is now a subject of some debate. Ó (©1997 Grolier Interactive Inc. Chinese archaeology: Neolithic in China)
It is now thought that the Yangshao and Longshan are separate cultures emerging in separate geographic areas. Black pottery and painted pottery of the same date have been found at the boundary area of the two cultures, which further supports the theory of two cultures.
ÒSpecimens of the Painted Pottery of the west and the Black Pottery of the east overlapped in the vicinity of Anyang.Ó(©1997 Grolier Interactive Inc. Chinese archaeology: Neolithic in China)
Another fact that supports this hypothesis is that the Longshan culture purportedly began in the lower Yellow River and moved northwest to supplant the Yangshao culture. It also spread up and down the coast of China to Manchuria in the North and Vietnam in the south. (TimeFrame 3000-1500 BC, p.147 & Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, 1997: China, history of)
It seems that this new culture emerged from the coast of China not from the upper Yellow River.
The next question that arises is: Did the Longshan culture come from outside the area or did it emerge locally. We have already mentioned that the culture seems to have originated on the lower Yellow River and spread outwards. Another fact that supports the theory of indigenous emergence is the fact that the Chinese language shows almost no influence from the languages of the nomadic cultures, the Altaic language group.
On the other side of the argument, i.e. that the Longshan were nomadic invaders from the outside, we find that prior to the Longshan there was no herding going on. There were no herds of cattle, sheep or goats.
[Speaking of the dawn of Chinese civilization] ÒThere were no herds of cattle, but domesticated dogs and pigs provided a supply of meat, which was augmented by wild game from the surrounding countryside.Ó (The Human Dawn, p. 115)
After the Longshan, we have all the herding animals included in the pen. Cows, sheep, and goats were not indigenous to North China, and had not been in evidence for thousands of years, since the dawn of Chinese civilization. Suddenly we have the classic herding animals along with the classic warlike nomadic culture.
Another piece of evidence for exterior influence is that the Longshan black pottery has precedents in Iran at an earlier time.
ÒAs in the case of the Yangshao red ware, there are close parallels with a similar black ware make in Iran at an earlier date, around 2000 BC in this case.Ó (Munsterberg, p 24)
Additionally the Longshan pottery shapes, which extend from northeast China to northern Malaya, resemble pottery shapes made 2000 years before in Western Asia.
ÒSeveral of the Longshan shapes, notably the wide dish, beaker and dish on a tall stem, resemble vessels in use from one thousand to two thousand years earlier in western Asian sites such as Tepe Hissar, Anau, and Susa, while in East Asia this type of pottery has been found in a huge arc stretching from north-east China down to Thailand and northern Malaya.Ó (The Arts of China by Michael Sullivan, University of California Press, 1973, p19-20)
Again this indicates a close connection with Indo-China, which continues throughout Chinese history, enriching its culture.
Furthermore the Chinese diet went through a change at this time, introduced from Manchuria. The Banpo people in the Yangshao were a small boned possibly from the vitamin deficiencies within their diet, i.e. its focus upon millet and swine. This changed with the introduction of soybean from Manchuria in the north around the 2nd millennium. (The Human Dawn, p 115) The soybean provided a balance nutritionally and agriculturally. The soybean was the perfect crop to alternate with millet, to maintain the fertility of the soil.
Lest we become too judgmental, let us look at the advantages of cultural invasion for the indigenous Chinese. First the sedentary agri-culture had a nutrient poor diet of millet and pork, which led them to be smaller boned and as a subsidiary effect, weaker and less able to defend themselves. The much more interesting diet of sorghum and the new herding animals must have been an overwhelming dietary introduction. It was more nutritionally complete as well as much better for the soil. Prior to the introduction of sorghum the Yangshao farmers were a little nomadic themselves, in that planting only millet strips the nutrients from the soil over the generations, forcing them to move on to better soil. Now they had a more interesting diet as well as a more ecological farming style. Hence we can safely say that the emergence of the Longshan culture brought the peaceful Upper Yellow River culture, the benefits of a balanced diet and improved agriculture.
Under this line of reasoning the cultural invasion, instead of coming across the Pass, as the Yangshao people probably did, probably came down from Manchuria, across the much less imposing lowlands of the coast. One question that needs to be addressed is why the Longshan culture did not start in Manchuria, but instead spread to Manchuria from China in the south. Remember that the nomadic or agri-cultures by themselves do not produce a stratified civilization. It is the nomadic culture overlaid upon the agri-culture that produces civilization, as we know it. Hence the Manchurian nomads come raiding from the north into the lower Yellow River. After a few raiding trips they gradually decide to stay as a military aristocracy with their warlike customs, intermixing with the local cultures. The smaller indigenous people become the peasants who tend the land. In general the larger invaders become the men who fight and rule.
How are these seemingly contradictory data pieces to be dealt with? In Chinese history, we frequently will see Chinese on the outskirts transformed by battling nomadic warrior cultures from the boundaries. We will see that the Chou dynasty Å 1000 BC, the ChÕin dynasty Å 200 BC, and the ChÕing Dynasty Å 1700 AD, all emerged from the outskirts of China to rule the country. They were each Chinese or considered themselves Chinese. Even the Mongol Yuan Dynasty Å 1200 AD, adopted Chinese culture, while elsewhere they obliterated the indigenous cultures including the great Persian Empire.
Hence the border Chinese have always been prone to the warlike mentality of the nomads whom they must defend themselves from. While self-contained the Chinese, a practical people, have always been extremely open to outside influence. Traditionally they copy from the outside and then make it their own. They have always been a self-confident culture, which is open to improvement and refinement.
Hence the new question is not whether they arose locally or externally, but which border culture challenged the Chinese enough to cause a transformation of their society.
The Chinese language itself is evidence for local indigenous development. But we must remember that China is a big country. We have already seen two independent cultures emerging from different areas of China. Talking about historical Chinese development as a whole is like talking about the US historical development as one. In both cases the country developed as a series of expansions. In China this occurred from the north while in the US the expansion occurred from the East. In both cases this center of spreading has also determined where the power center is. Thus another key question will be what part of China did the development occur?
Although it really doesnÕt matter for the overall thesis of this paper, we will put out the idea that the north-eastern coastal Chinese, on the lower Yellow River Plain, in defending themselves from the nomadic Manchurian culture to the north became transformed from an egalitarian agricultural society to a stratified agricultural culture. For defense they began building earth walls around their communities. Furthermore in the centuries that transpired[1] they acquired Mongolian sorghum, the herding of new animals, i.e. cattle, goats and sheep, and a new hierarchical structure. In order to provide effective defense, the strong men became more important, providing both strength and necessary leadership in battles. Unfortunately, inevitably, as always, evermore, they then used these effective defensive and offensive techniques against their Chinese neighbors to the south and west, who in turn became militarized in defense, spreading the military culture on the perimeters. The Chinese, always experts at reproduction, copied the nomadic Manchurian culture as well as copying and improving on their own adaptations.
The agricultural Chinese percolated northward running eventually into the nomadic cultures on their perimeter. The nomadic cultures many times just raided the agricultural compounds and didnÕt really stay. Hence the Chinese communities, like the European communities under Viking attack much later, became defensive compounds.
If these nomadic raiders stayed becoming rulers of Chinese communities, they used these defensive compounds to defend themselves from the next wave of invaders. With each new invading wave these perimeter cultures became more and more militarized for practical reasons. The nomadic raiders being few and the agricultural Chinese being many, eventually the nomadic raiders became assimilated as they frequently do[2].
These probably left their nomadic heritage behind, becoming agriculturized. These early transitional communities still maintained their agricultural basis, but now for defense became a stratified society.
A constant throughout history seems to be that whenever there is military pressure, stratification occurs. And further whenever stratification occurs men rise up in status and women go down. The converse is also true. Whenever military pressure lessens, so does stratification, womenÕs status rises and menÕs status as men lowers. The manÕs status lowers until it reaches womanÕs status at its lower limit.[3]
To reiterate the Chinese inhabitants on the frontier came into contact with Manchurian nomadic cultures, mixing cultures but not languages. Eventually while the more numerous Chinese won out linguistically[4], they were forever tainted culturally. The warrior culture of the Longshan spread up and down the coast of China, while the Yangshao culture continued on the upper Yellow River.
The Longshan pounded earth for dwellings, as did the Shang – using piled up earth as a defensive measure. We donÕt know whether they were defending themselves from wild animals or wild people. But these rings of earth became huge in the next culture and ultimately culminated in the Great Wall to keep the wild barbarians out.
Another important link between the Longshan and the Shang is ancestor worship (Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, 1997: China, history of), a distinctly aristocratic, conquering custom, unlinked to the purely agri-culture of the preceding Yangshao.
ÒA third [similarity between the Longshan and the Shang] is the practice of divination by means of a crack pattern produced by the application of a hot point to scraped bone.Ó (A History of Far Eastern Art, 1973, p.23)
Both Longshan and Shang cultures practiced this unique style of divination. Furthermore this type of divination presumably led to the development of Chinese ideograms, which are the basis of Chinese writing. This was a very important link between the Longshan and Shang cultures.
As we shall see the Shang dynasty which followed the Longshan culture was, in some ways, more a continuation and evolution of Longshan culture rather than a shift. Even the capital of the first legendary dynasty, the Xia, was located at a Longshan cultural center.
ÒApparently the XiaÕs imperial capital, at Erlitou in southern Shaanxi belonged to the final stages of Longshan culture and shared most of its perils and advantages.Ó (TimeFrame 3000-1500 BC, p.150)
[1],We must always remember that a century is a long time. From the beginning of the Yangshao, approx. 5000 BC, until the peak of the Longshan, approx. 2000 BC, is 3000 years, Three thousand years ago, 1000 BC, is prehistoric in England; the Celts had not even arrived yet. The point is that a lot of transformation can occur in that much time.
[2]In more modern times, we see a similar phenomenon in the British Isles. The French speaking Normans conquered the English in 1066 AD, by 1450, less than four centuries later the Norman rulers could no longer speak French. Earlier than that in approximately 400 BC the Kurganized Celts came over from Europe to establish themselves as the overlords of the indigenous population. While they brought their warlike attitude they adopted the local structure. They did not come as an invading culture. They came just as invaders. Possibly they came as a raiding party, leaving their women behind and married local girls. There is certainly plenty of precedent for that. One of the most famous examples of that is Marc Antony and Cleopatra.
[3]To moderate this statement, we are talking about men and women in the same family. Wives of the powerful ruling culture usually have more status than poor men from the dominated culture, while simultaneously having less status than their powerful husbands. They dominated, dominate in turn.
[4]Again looking at the British Isles for an example. From Roman pressure the diverse Celtic and Pictish tribes coalesced into bigger and bigger defensive units, eventually called kingdoms. Those local Celtic kings in contact with the Romans began adopting Roman customs and airs. In modern day Scotland the Scots and Picts amalgamated into one country, not through conquering as is sometimes suggested, especially by the Celtic Scots, but through intermarriage. Over only about four centuries the customs of the Scottish Celts and Picts were so intermixed as to call themselves Scots against the English down south. The historians trying to sort things out cannot find a homogeneity that they can safely call Pict or Scot in the later centuries of the first millennium, while there were major differences when the Irish raiders first arrived in Dalraida about 400 AD. The eastern Picts had already had to adopt a defensive posture against Scandinavian attack centuries before the Picts of the West. The Picts of the West maintained a peaceful agri-culture much later, but were then submerged by their aggressive neighbors to the south and east. The point being made here is that these aggressive cultures mixed customs and cultures gradually, each adopting much of the other, while simultaneously submerging the existing peaceful cultures. Additionally the languages of the Picts and Celts stayed separate. While many place names still have Pictish roots, Pictish has completely died out replaced by the Gaelic of the Celts. In a similar way the English language of the south has remained separate from Gaelic, while becoming over the centuries the dominant language of Scotland. While Gaelic is making a comeback, it is still a secondary language for most Scots except in the remote areas.