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Silk

Silk

:For other uses of the word, see Silk (disambiguation). Silk (disambiguation) Silk is a natural protein fiber that can be woven into textiles. It is obtained from the cocoon of the silkworm larva, in the process known as sericulture, which kills the larvae. The shimmering appearance for which it is prized comes from the fibres' triangular prism-like structure, which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles.

Early history

Silk was first developed in early China, possibly as early as 6000 BC and definitely by 3000 BC. Legend gives credit to a Chinese Empress Xi Ling-Shi. Though first reserved for the Emperors of China, its use spread gradually through Chinese culture both geographically and socially. From there, silken garments began to reach regions throughout Asia. Silk rapidly became a popular luxury fabric in the many areas accessible to Chinese merchants, because of its texture and lustre. Because of the high demand for the fabric, silk was one of the staples of international trade prior to industrialization.

Silk trade

Perhaps the first evidence of the silk trade is that of an Egyptian mummy of 1070 BC. In subsequent centuries, the silk trade reached as far as the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, Europe, and North Africa. This trade was so extensive that the major set of trade routes between Europe and Asia has become known as the Silk Road.

Secret

The Emperors of China strove to keep the knowledge of sericulture secret from other nations, in order to maintain the Chinese monopoly on its production. This effort at secrecy had mixed success. Sericulture reached Korea around 200 BC with Chinese settlers, about the first half of the 1st century AD in Khotan, and by 300 AD the practice had been established in India. Although the Roman Empire knew of and traded in silk, the secret was only to reach Europe around AD 550, via the Byzantine Empire. Legend has it that the monks working for the emperor Justinian were the first to bring silkworm eggs to Constantinople in hollow canes. The Byzantines were equally secretive, and for many centuries the weaving and trading of silk fabric was a strict imperial monopoly; all top-quality looms and weavers were located inside the Palace complex in Constantinople and the cloth produced was used in imperial robes or in diplomacy, as gifts to foreign dignitaries. The remainder was sold at exorbitant prices.

Wild Silks

"Wild silks" are produced by a number of undomesticated silkworms. Aside from differences in colours and textures, they all differ in one major respect from the domesticated varieties. The cocoons, which are gathered in the wild, have usually already been chewed through by the pupa or caterpillar ("silkworm") before the cocoons are gathered and thus the single thread which makes up the cocoon has been cut into shorter lengths. A variety of wild silks have been known and used in China, India and Europe from early times, although the scale of production has always been far smaller than that of cultivated silks. Wild silks are produced by caterpillars other than the mulberry silkworm (Bombyx mori). The term "wild" implies that these silkworms are not capable of being domesticated and artificially cultivated like the mulberry worms. Commercially reared silkworms are killed before the pupae emerge by dipping them in boiling water or they are killed with a needle, thus allowing the whole cocoon to be unravelled as one continuous thread. This allows a much stronger cloth to be woven from the silk. Wild silks also tend to be more difficult to dye than silk from the cultivated silkworm. There is ample evidence that small quantities of wild silk were already being produced in the Mediterranean and Middle East by the time the superior, and stronger, cultivated silk from China began to be imported. The beautiful and expensive golden-coloured "wild" silk called "Muga" is produced only in the Brahmaputra Valley — mainly Assam and adjoining parts of Burma. This silk has always been highly prized — not only for its beautiful natural golden sheen, which actually improves with aging and washing — but for the fact that it is the strongest natural fibre known. Garments made of it outlast those made of ordinary silk — commonly lasting fifty years or more. In addition, it absorbs moisture better than ordinary silk and is, therefore, more comfortable to wear. Nowadays, it is mainly sought after for the highest-quality saris given as presents to brides in India.

Europe

Venetian merchants traded extensively in silk and encouraged silk growers to settle in Italy. By the 13th century Italian silk was a significant source of trade. Italian silk was so popular in Europe that Francis I of France invited Italian silkmakers to France to create a French silk industry, especially in Lyon. The French Revolution interrupted production before Napoleon took power.

America

James I of England introduced silk growing to the American colonies around 1619, ostensibly to discourage tobacco planting. Only the Shakers in Kentucky adopted the practice. In the 1800s a new attempt at a silk industry began with European-born workers in Paterson, New Jersey, and the city became a US silk centre, although Japanese imports were still more important.

World War

World War II interrupted the silk trade from Japan. Silk prices increased dramatically and US industry begun to look for substitutes, which led to the use of synthetics like nylon. Synthetic silks have also been made from lyocell, a type of cellulose fibre, and are often difficult to distinguish from real silk.

Islam

In Islamic law, there is a prohibition upon Muslim men from wearing silk (as well as gold). While the command is given in the Quran without justification, many jurists believe the reasoning behind the prohibition lies in avoiding clothing for men that can be feminine or extravagant and luxurious. http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=61261

Animal rights

Silk has recently come under fire from animal rights activists who maintain that the common practice of boiling silkworms alive in their cocoons is cruel.

Other uses

In addition to clothing manufacture and other handicrafts, silk is also used for items like parachutes, bicycle tires, comforter filling and artillery gunpowder bags. Early bulletproof vests were also made from silk in the era of blackpowder weapons until roughly World War I. Silk undergoes a special manufacturing process to make it adequate for its use in surgery as non-absorbable sutures. Chinese doctors have also used it to make prosthetic arteries. Silk cloth is also used as a material to write on.

Stazione Bacologica Sperimentale

Stazione Bacologica Sperimentale is an Institute for Silkmoth Research in Italy. The oldest centre for such studies it was founded in 1871.

See also


- Rayon
- Silk Road
- Spider silk
- Jim Thompson, pioneer of Thailand's silk industry.

References


- Good, Irene. 1995. “On the question of silk in pre-Han Eurasia” Antiquity Vol. 69, Number 266, December 1995, pp. 959-968
- Hill, John E. 2004. The Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu. Draft annotated English translation.[http://depts.washington.edu/uwch/silkroad/texts/hhshu/hou_han_shu.html]
- Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE. Draft annotated English translation. Appendix E. [http://depts.washington.edu/uwch/silkroad/texts/weilue/weilue.html]
- Kuhn, Dieter. 1995. “Silk Weaving in Ancient China: From Geometric Figures to Patterns of Pictorial Likeness.” Science 12 (1995): pp. 77-114.
- Liu, Xinru. 1996. Silk and Religion: An Exploration of Material Life and the Thought of People, AD 600-1200. Oxford University Press.
- Sung, Ying-Hsing. 1637. Chinese Technology in the Seventeenth Century - T'ien-kung K'ai-wu. Translated and annotated by E-tu Zen Sun and Shiou-chuan Sun. Pennsylvania State University Press, 1966. Reprint: Dover, 1997. Chap. 2. Clothing materials.

External links


- Silkworm rearing (with photo journals): http://www.wormspit.com
- [http://www.isracast.com/tech_news/271204_tech.htm Scientists have successfully created artificial silk using genetically engineered spider proteins] Category:Textiles Category:Fibers Category:Silk ja:絹 simple:Silk

Silk (disambiguation)

Silk is a natural fibre and a textile woven from it. The word silk is also used as a name for:
- Spider silk, which is made by spiders to create webs.
- Silk (soy milk), A brand of soy milk.
- Silk (group), an R&B music group.
- Kheldar, a fictional character in The Belgariad and subsequent works by David Eddings.
- An informal name for a Queen's Counsel

Weaving

:In computer science, weaving describes the process of combining different aspects into a complete application. See Aspect-oriented programming. Weaving is an ancient textile art and craft that involves placing two sets of threads or yarn made of fiber called the warp and weft of the loom and turning them into cloth. This cloth can be plain (in one color or a simple pattern), or it can be woven in decorative or artistic designs, including tapestries. The majority of commercial fabrics are woven on computer-controlled Jacquard looms. In the past, simpler fabrics were woven on other dobby looms and the Jacquard harness adaptation was reserved for more complex patterns. The efficiency of the Jacquard loom makes it more economical for mills to use them to weave all of their fabrics, regardless of the complexity of the design. Handweaving, along with hand spinning, is a popular craft. Weavers use wooden looms to create rugs, fabrics, and tapestries. Fabric in which the warp and/or weft is tie-dyed before weaving is called ikat. Fabric decorated using a wax resist method is called batik.

Process

In general, weaving involves the interlacing of two sets of threads at right angles to each other: the warp and the weft. The warp threads are held taut and in parallel order by means of a loom. The loom is warped (or dressed) with the warp threads passing through heddles on two or more harnesses. The warp threads are moved up or down by the harnesses creating a space called the shed. The weft thread is wound onto spools called bobbins. The bobbins are placed in a shuttle which carries the weft thread through the shed. The raising/lowering sequence of warp threads gives rise to many possible weave structures from the simplest plain weave (also called tabby,) through twills and satins to complex computer-generated interlacings. Both warp and weft can be visible in the final product. By spacing the warp more closely, it can completely cover the weft that binds it, giving a warpfaced textile such as rep weave. Conversely, if the warp is spread out, the weft can slide down and completely cover the warp, giving a weftfaced textile, such as a tapestry or a Kilim rug. There are a variety of loom styles for hand weaving and tapestry. In tapestry, the image is created by placing weft only in certain warp areas, rather than across the entire warp width.

History

There are some indications that weaving was already known in the Palaeolithic. An indistinct textile impression has been found at Pavlov, Moravia. Neolithic textiles are well known from finds in pile dwellings in Switzerland. They are made of flax or tree bast, wool has only been attested since the Bronze Age. Plain weaves and tabbies predominate. Enslaved women worked as weavers during the Sumerian Era. They would wash wool fibers in hot water and wood-ash soap and then dry them. Next, they would beat out the dirt and card the wool. The wool was then graded, bleached, and spun into a thread. The spinners would pull out fibers and twist them together. This was done by either rolling fibers between palms or using a hooked stick. The thread was then placed on a wooden or bone spindle and rotated on a clay whorl which operated like a flywheel. The slaves would then work in three-woman teams on looms, where they stretched the threads, after which they passed threads over and under each other at perpendicular angles. The cloth was then taken to a fuller. Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) points to numerous Biblical references to weaving in ancient times: :Weaving was an art practised in very early times (Ex. 35:35). The Egyptians were specially skilled in it (Isa. 19:9; Ezek. 27:7), and some have regarded them as its inventors. :In the wilderness, the Hebrews practised it (Ex. 26:1, 8; 28:4, 39; Lev. 13:47). It is referred to in subsequent times as specially the women's work (2 Kings 23:7; Prov. 31:13, 24). No mention of the loom is found in Scripture, but we read of the "shuttle" (Job 7:6), "the pin" of the beam (Judg. 16:14), "the web" (13, 14), and "the beam" (1 Sam. 17:7; 2 Sam. 21:19). The rendering, "with pining sickness," in Isa. 38:12 (A.V.) should be, as in the Revised Version, "from the loom," or, as in the margin, "from the thrum." We read also of the "warp" and "woof" (Lev. 13:48, 49, 51-53, 58, 59), but the Revised Version margin has, instead of "warp," "woven or knitted stuff." The mechanization of weaving leading to an industry-scale operation took place in the Industrial Revolution in Britain. Numerous innovations took place taking the home-based artisan's activity from a labour intensive; man-powered undertaking to mass-production under the power of steam.

Weaving in Colonial America

Weaving was not allowed by the British in Colonial America. Colonists were supposed to send unfinished goods like cotton and flax to Britain and buy finished cloth back from England. Nonetheless, many people wove cloth in Colonial America. In Colonial times the colonists mostly used cotton and flax for weaving because the English would not send them sheep or wool. They could get one cotton crop each fall. Flax was harvested in the summer. In preparing wool for weaving, colonists would first shear the sheep with spring back clippers. This was done while keeping the sheep's feet from touching anything so it would not try to break free. They would try to cut the wool off the sheep in one big chunk because that way they would get long fibers. Sheep-shearing was done in the spring so that the fleece would regrow in time for the winter. After shearing, wool would be washed in hot water to get out the dirt and grease (lanolin), then carded, at which point it would be ready for spinning into yarn. Washing the wool was a delicate procedure, because they didn't want to agitate the fibres too much in the process, and end up with felt. If the wool was clean enough (little to no vegetable matter), they could wait until after it is spun to clean out the lanolin, at which point it is easier to clean because it is yarn. A card is a set of two brushes rubbed against each other with the fibre in the middle. The process of carding lines up all the fibres in the same direction, making the wool or cotton ready for spinning. Cotton was harvested from little stalks. The cotton boll is white, roughly spherical and fluffy. Its seeds had to be removed before carding, a difficult and time-consuming process. ( later a "cotton gin" was invented which took a lot of the work out of seed removal.) After carding it would be ready for spinning. Linen is made from flax fibre. To prepare flax for weaving, the stalks would be broken with beaten with a tool that looks like a paper cutter but instead of having a big knife it has a blunt arm, then a scutching tool (a blunt wooden knife) is used to scrape away pieces of the stalk, and then the fibre is pulled through a heckling comb to get it ready for spinning. A heckling comb is like a brush with metal bristles that you pull flax stalks through. After they spun the yarn, it would be dyed with berries, bark, flowers, herbs or weeds, often gathered by children. With the yarn made, they would prepare the loom. The strings on a loom run in two directions. The yarn that is attached to the loom is called the warp, and the woof or weft is woven through it. The woof is wrapped around the shuttle, and woven alternately over and under the warp strings. A plain weave was what most people liked in Colonial times. Almost everything was plain woven then. Sometimes designs were woven into the fabric but mostly designs were added after weaving. The colonists would usually add designs by using either wood block prints or embroidering.

See also


- Jacquard weaving
- Textile manufacturing terminology
- Weaving (mythology)
- Persian weave
- Knitting
- Basket weaving

External links


- [http://fiberarts.org/design/articles/loomshape.html Loom shaped clothing]
- [http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/weavedocs.html Resource collection]
- [http://www.yarnsplus.com/weave/index.htm Top ten chenille tips for weavers] Category:Weaving

Textile

:This article is about the type of material. Textile is also a jargon term used by naturists or nudists to describe a person who wears clothes. Textile is also a kind of ReStructured Text. A textile is any type of material made from fibers or other extended linear materials such as thread or yarn (1). Classes of textiles include woven, crochet, knitted, knotted (as in macrame) or tufted cloth, and non-woven fabrics such as felt. Materials such as fiberglass, which are made from fibers dispersed in a matrix of another material are considered composite materials rather than textiles. The production of textiles is an ancient craft, whose speed and scale of production has been altered almost beyond recognition by mass-production and the introduction of modern manufacturing techniques. However, a Roman weaver would have no problem recognizing modern plain weave, twill or satin. Many textiles have been in use for millennia, while others use artificial fibers and are recent inventions. The range of fibers has increased in the last 100 years. The first synthetics were made in the 1920s and 1930s.

Sources and types

Textiles can be made from a variety of materials. The following is a partial list of the materials that can be used to make textiles.

Animal origin


- Alpaca
- Thread
- Angora rabbit hair
- Camel hair
- Cashmere
- Mohair
- Silk
- Vicuña hair
- Wool: divided into woollen and worsted

Vegetable


- Bark cloth has various uses, and is used in sheets.
- Coir: the fibre from coconuts.
- Cotton
- Grass, rush and straw
- Hemp (mostly used in rope making)
- Jute
- Kapok
- Linen, made from flax
- Nettle: processed in a similar manner to flax.
- Ramie
- Seaweed: a water soluble fibre (alginate) is produced. This is used as a holding fibre in the production of certain textiles: when the cloth is finished the alginate is dissolved, leaving an open area.
- Sisal

Derived from plant products


- Paper
- Rayon
- Modal

Mineral


- Asbestos
- Glass fibres can be used in the manufacture of textiles for insulation and other purposes.
- Metal fibre, metal wire and metal foil have some uses in textiles, either on their own or with other materials (see, for example, goldwork embroidery).

Synthetic


- Acrylic fiber
- Lurex
- Spandex, tactel, lycra and other 'stretch' fabrics
- Nylon fiber
- Polyester fiber
- Polypropylene (comes under various common trade names such as Olefin or Herculon)

Production methods


- Braiding/Plaiting
- Crochet – usually by hand.
- Felt – fibres are matted together to produce a cloth.
- Knitting – by hand or on knitting machines (see stocking frame).
- Knotting, including macrame: used in making nets.
- Lace – again both hand made and machine made.
- Pile fabrics – carpets and some rugs
- Velvet, velveteen, plush fabrics and similar have a secondary set of yarns which provide a pile.
- Weaving – the cloth is prepared on a loom, of which there are a number of types. Some weaving is still done by hand, but the vast majority is mechanised.

Processes


- Carding
- Bleaching – where the natural or original colour of the textile is removed by chemicals or exposure to sunlight.
- Dyeing – adding colour to textiles: there is a vast range of dyes, natural and synthetic, some of which require mordants.
- Textile printing
- Embroidery – threads which are added to the surface of a finished textile for ornamentation.
- Starching
- Waterproofing and other finishings.

Uses

Textiles have been used in almost every possible context where their properties are useful. In cleaning
- Bags and other means of carrying objects
- Balloons, kites, sails, parachutes and other transport use. Early airplanes used cloth as part of the construction.
- Clothing
- Flags
- Furnishings, including towels and table cloths
- Geotextiles
- Industrial and scientific uses, including filtering
- Nets
- Rugs and carpets
- Tents
- Towels

See also


- Manufacturing
- Textile manufacturing terminology
- Timeline of clothing and textiles technology

External links


- [http://www.ianr.unl.edu/pubs/homefurnish/g1316.htm Carpet construction and texture]
- [http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/weavedocs.html Weaving document archive]
- [http://realmofvenus.renaissancewoman.net/seamstress/fabricglossary.htm A Glossary of Fabrics in sixteenth-Century Italy]
- [http://ozhanozturk.com/content/view/398/1/ The Anatolian art of hand-printed textiles ]

Reference


- [http://www.textilemuseum.org/PDFs/TextileTerms.pdf (1) glossary from the Textile Museum]
- [http://www.spacentime.net (2) Textile Machinery Consultant & Advisers]
- [http://www.hhtraders.com (3) Textile Machinery Dealer]
- ja:織物

Cocoon

Cocoon has a number of meanings. See
- Cocoon (silk)
- Cocoon (film)
- "Cocoon" a song by Björk from the album Vespertine
- "Cocoon" a song by The Decemberists from the album Castaways_and_Cutouts
- "Cocoon" an album by Alexis Strum
- Apache Cocoon (software)
- the original Japanese name of the Pokémon Kakuna

Silkworm


The silkworm (Bombyx mori, Latin: "silkworm of the mulberry tree") is the larva of a moth that is very important economically as the producer of silk. A silkworm's diet consists solely of mulberry leaves. It is native to northern China and Persia now known as Iran. The silkworm is so called because it spins its cocoon from raw silk. The cocoon is made of a single continuous thread of raw silk from 300 to 900 meters (1000 to 3000 feet) long. The fibers are very fine and lustrous, about 1/2500th of an inch in diameter. About 2,000 to 3,000 cocoons are required to make a pound of silk. Based on 2/3 of mile (1 km) per cocoon, ten unraveled cocoons could theoretically extend vertically to the height of Mt Everest. It is estimated that at least 70 million pounds of raw silk are produced each year, requiring nearly 10 billion pounds of mulberry leaves. According to E. L. Palmer (Fieldbook Of Natural History, 1949), one pound of silk represents about 1,000 miles of filament. The annual world production represents 70 billion miles of silk filament, a distance well over 300 round trips to the sun! Silkworms have a good appetite. They eat mulberry leaves day and night continuously. Thus, they grow very fast. When the color of their heads turn darker, it means that it is time for them to moult. After they moult about four times, their bodies turn slightly yellow and their skin becomes tighter, which means they are going to cover themselves with a silky cocoon. If the caterpillar is left to eat its way out of the cocoon naturally, the threads will be cut short and the silk will be useless, so silkworm cocoons are thrown into boiling water, which kills the silkworms and also makes the cocoons easier to unravel. The silkworm itself is often eaten. The adult moth has been bred for silk production and cannot fly. It is also called the silkworm-moth or mulberry silkworm.They have a wingspan of 2 inches and a white hairy body. Because of its long history and economic importance, the silkworm genome has been the object of considerable modern study.

History

In China, there is a legend that the discovery of the silkworm's silk was by an ancient empress called Xi Ling-Shi (). She was walking around when she noticed the worms. She used her finger to touch it, and wonder of wonders, a strand of silk came out! As more came out and wrapped around her finger, she slowly felt a warm sensation. When the silk ran out, she saw a small cocoon. In an instant, she realized that this cocoon was the source of the silk. She taught this to the people and it became widespread. There are many more legends about the silkworm. The Chinese jealously guarded their knowledge of silk. It is said that a Chinese princess smuggled eggs to Japan, hidden in her hair. The Japanese thus began their love affair with silk. It takes 2100 silk worms to make a single kimono.

Medical uses

Silkworm is the source of the traditional Chinese medicine "bombyx batryticatus" or "stiff silkworm" (). It is the dried body of the 4–5th stage larva which has died of the white muscadine disease caused by the infection of the fungus Beauveria bassiana. Its uses are to dispel wind, dissolve phlegm and relieve spasm.

Cuisine

In Korea silkworm pupae, boiled and seasoned, are a popular snack food. Category:Bombycidae Category:Silk ko:누에 ms:Ulat sutera ja:カイコ

Sericulture

Sericulture is the rearing of silkworms for the production of raw silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, Bombyx mori is the most widely used and intensively studied. According to Chinese records, the discovery of silk production from B. mori occurred about 2,700 B.C. Today, China and Japan are the two main producers, together manufacturing more than 50% of the world production each year.

Production

Silkworm larvae are fed cut-up mulberry leaves and after the fourth molt climb a twig placed near them and spin their silken cocoons. The silk is a continuous-filament fiber consisting of fibroin protein secreted from two salivary glands in the head of each larvae, and a gum called sericin, which cements the two filaments together. The sericin is removed by placing the cocoons in hot water which frees silk filaments and readies them for reeling. The immersion in hot water also kills the silkworm larva. Single filaments are combined to form yarn. This yarn is drawn under tension through several guides and wound onto reels. Finally, the yarn is dried, and the now raw silk is packed according to quality. Category:Silk Category:Agriculture ja:養蚕業

China

to protect the north from nomadic invaders and has been rebuilt several times since.]] China () refers to a number of states and cultures that have existed and are viewed as having succeeded one another in continental East Asia, dating back at least 3,500 years. China as it exists today has been variously described in different points of view as a single civilization or multiple civilizations, as a single state or multiple states, and as a single nation or multiple nations. With one of the world's longest periods of mostly uninterrupted civilization and the world's longest continuously used written language system, China's history has been largely characterized by repeated divisions and reunifications amid alternating periods of peace and war, and violent imperial dynastic change. The country's territorial extent expanded outwards from a core area in the North China Plain, and varied according to its moving fortunes to include multiple regions of East, Northeast, and Central Asia. For centuries, Imperial China was also one of the world's most technologically advanced civilizations, and East Asia's dominant cultural influence, with an impact lasting to the present day throughout the region. By the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, however, China's political, economic, and military influence declined relative to growing regional power Japan and the influence of Western powers. Semi-colonialism developed by the late nineteenth century in parts of China, and the country was invaded by the Empire of Japan during World War II. The imperial system in China ended with the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC) under Sun Yat-sen in 1912; however, the next four decades of ROC rule were marred by warlord control, the Second Sino-Japanese War (WWII), and the Chinese Civil War which pitted Chinese Nationalists against the Communist forces. After its victory in the Chinese Civil War, the Communist Party of China under Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, forcing the Republic of China (ROC) to retreat to the island of Taiwan, which it had governed since the end of World War II. Since then, the ROC has maintained administrative control over Taiwan, the Pescadores, several islands off the coast of Fujian province, and some islands in the South China Sea.

Terminology

"Zhongguo"

South China Sea China is called Zhongguo in Mandarin Chinese (Simplified: 中国, Traditional: 中國; also romanized as Jhongguo or Chung-kuo), which is usually translated as "Middle Kingdom", but could also be translated as "Central State" or "Central Country". Zhong (中) means "middle" or "center" while guo (国 or 國) means "country," "kingdom," "state," or "land", referring to the claim that China stood at the centre of that society's "known world", surrounded by lesser tributary states. The term has not been used consistently throughout Chinese history, however, and carries certain cultural and political connotations both positive and negative, some ideological, and early states considered part of Chinese history are not called "Zhongguo". During the Spring and Autumn Period, it was used only to describe the states politically descended from the Western Zhou Dynasty, in the Yellow River (Huang He) valley, to the exclusion of states such as Chu and Qin. The "Chinese" thus defined their nation as culturally and politically distinct from - and as the axis mundi of surrounding nations; a concept that continued well into the Qing Dynasty, although being continually redefined while the central political influence expanded territorially, and its culture assimilated alien influences. Thus Zhongguo quickly came to include areas farther south, as the cultural and political unit (not yet a "nation" or "country" in the modern sense) spread in a southerly direction, including the Yangtze River and Pearl River systems, and by the Tang Dynasty it even included "barbarian" regimes such as the Xianbei and Xiongnu. Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Tibet, and the island of Taiwan, over time, came to be dominated (to a greater or lesser extent) by, or officially ruled by, imperial China, and are often included as a part of Zhongguo, though acceptance or denial of such claims remains politically controversial, especially where Zhongguo means PRC. During the Han Dynasty and before, Zhongguo had three distinctive meanings: # The area around the capital or imperial domain. The Book of Poetry explicitly gives this definition. # Territories under the direct authority of the "central" authorities. The Historical Records states: "Eight mountains are famed in the empire. Three are with the Man and Yi barbarians. Five are in Zhongguo." # The area now called the North China Plain. The Sanguo Zhi records the following monologue: "If we can lead the host of Wu and Yue (the area of southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang) to oppose Zhongguo, then we should break off relations with them soon." In this sense, the term is synonymous with Hua (華) and Xia (夏). During the period of division after the fall of the Han Dynasty, the term Zhongguo was subjected to transformation as a result of the surge of nomadic peoples from the northern frontier. This was doubly so after the loss of the Yellow River valley, the cradle of Chinese civilization, to these peoples. For example, the Xianbei called their Northern Wei regime Zhongguo, contrasting it with the Southern Dynasties, which they called the Yi (夷), meaning "barbarian". The southern dynasties, for their part, recently exiled from the north, called the Northern Wei Lu (虏), meaning "criminal" or "prisoner". In this way Zhongguo came to represent political legitimacy. It was used in this manner from the tenth century onwards by the competing dynasties of Liao, Jin and Song. The term Zhongguo came to be related to geographic, cultural and political identity and less to ethnic origin. The Republic of China, as it controlled mainland China, and later, the People's Republic of China, have used Zhongguo as an entity existing theoretically to mean all the territories and peoples within their political control as well as those outside of it (people in the Republic of China on Taiwan now usually use Zhongguo to refer to the PRC and use Taiwan to refer to itself). Thus it is asserted that all 56 officially recognized ethnic groups are Zhongguo ren (中國人), or Zhongguo people. Their disparate histories are collectively the history of Zhongguo.

"China"

Song in ancient times, was the imperial capital of 13 different historical dynasties (including the Han and Tang dynasties) in China.]] English and many other languages use forms of the name China (and the prefix Sino-), which is believed to have derived from the name of the Qin dynasty that first unified the country, even though it is not completely resolved and the origins are still controversial to an extent [http://www.bartleby.com/61/80/C0298000.html]. Despite the fact that the Qin dynasty was short-lived and was often regarded as overly tyrannical it unified the written language in China and gave the supreme ruler of China the title of "Emperor", hence, the subsequent Silk Road traders would identify themselves by that name. Alternate theories on the origin of the word "China" exist. In any circumstance, the word China passed through many languages along the Silk Road before it finally reached Europe and England. The Western "China", transliterated to Shina (支那) has also been used by Japanese since the nineteenth century, and has since evolved into a derogatory term in that language. The term "China" can narrowly mean China proper, or, often, China proper and Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, and Xinjiang, a combination essentially coterminous with the 20th and 21st century political entity China; the boundaries between these regions do not necessarily follow provincial boundaries. In many contexts, "China" is commonly used to refer to the People's Republic of China or mainland China, while "Taiwan" is used to refer to the Republic of China. Informally, in economic or business contexts, "the Greater China region" (大中華地區) refers to Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Sinologists usually use "Chinese" in a more restricted sense, more akin to the classical usage of Zhongguo, or to the meaning of the "Han ethnic group", who make up the bulk of Mainland China. In many contexts it may be more appropriate to speak of "mainland China" (中國大陸,zhōngguó dàlù in Mandarin), especially when contrasting it with other, politically different regions like Hong Kong, Macau, and territories administered by the Republic of China (Taiwan).

History

:Main articles: History of China, History of the Republic of China (1912–1949; 1949–Present on Taiwan), History of People's Republic of China (1949–Present) History of People's Republic of China China was one of the earliest centers of human civilization. Chinese civilization was also one of the few to invent writing independently, the others being ancient Mesopotamia (Sumerians), India (Indus Valley Civilization), the Mayans, and, some hold, Ancient Egypt—though it may have been learned from the Sumerians. The first dynasty according to Chinese historical sources was the Xia Dynasty. Until scientific excavations were made at early bronze-age sites at Erlitou in Henan Province, it was difficult to separate myth from reality in regard to the existence of the Xia Dynasty. But since then, archaeologists have uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs that point to the possible existence of the Xia dynasty at the same locations cited in ancient Chinese historical texts. However, the first confirmed dynasty is the Shang, who settled along the Huang He river, dating from the 18th to the 12th centuries BC. The Shang were in turn invaded by the Zhou (12th to 5th centuries BC), whose centralized authority was slowly eroded by the ceding of state-like authority to warlords ruling small states; eventually, in the Spring and Autumn period, many strong independent states, in continuous war, paid but nominal deference to the Zhou state as the Imperial centre. They were all unified under one emperor in 221 BC by Qin Shi Huang, ushering in the Qin Dynasty, the first unified centralized Chinese state. This state, however, did not last for long, as it was way too authoritarian, destroying many sources of competition for power that were also sources of good governance and development, such as scholars and intellectuals. After the fall of authoritarian Qin Dynasty in 207 BC came the Han Dynasty which lasted until 220 AD. A period of disunion followed again. In 580, China was reunited under the Sui. Under the succeeding Tang and Song dynasties, China reached its golden age. For a long period of time, especially between the 7th and 14th centuries, China was one of the most advanced civilizations in the world in technology, literature, and art. The Song Dynasty fell to the invading Mongols in 1279. The Mongols, under Kublai Khan, established the Yuan Dynasty. A peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Mongols in 1368 and founded the Ming Dynasty, which lasted until 1644. After the Ming dynasty, came the Qing (Manchu) dynasty, which lasted until the overthrow of Puyi in 1911. Oftentimes regime change was violent and strongly opposed and the ruler class needed to take special measures to ensure their rule and the loyalty of the overthrown dynasty. For example, after the foreign Qing (Manchus) conquered China, because they were ever suspicious of the Han Chinese, the Qing rulers put into effect measures aimed at preventing the absorption of the Manchus into the dominant Han Chinese population. However, these restrictions proved ineffective against the assimilation of Manchus into the Chinese identity and culture. In the 18th century, China achieved a decisive technological advantage over the peoples of Central Asia, which it had been at war with for several centuries, while simultaneously falling behind Europe in that respect. This set the stage for the 19th century, in which China adopted a defensive posture against European imperialism while itself engaging in imperialistic expansion into Central Asia. See Imperialism in Asia. However the primary cause of the decline of the Chinese empire was not European and American interference, as the ethnocentric Western historians would lead many to believe. On the contrary it was a series of internal upheavals. Most prominent of these was the Taiping Civil War which lasted from 1851 to 1862. The civil war was started by an extremist believer in a school of thought partly influenced by Christianity who believed himself to be the son of God and the younger brother of Jesus. Although the imperial forces were eventually victorious, the civil war was one of the bloodiest in human history - costing at least twenty million lives (more than the total number of fatalities in the First World War). Prior to this conflict a number of Islamic Rebellions, especially in Central Asia, had occurred. Later, a second major rebellion took place, although this latter uprising was considerably smaller than the cataclysmic Taiping Civil War. This second conflict was the Boxer Rebellion which aimed to repel Westerners. Although secretly supporting the rebels, the Empress, Ci Xi, aided foreign forces in suppressing the uprising. Ci Xi, 1949.]] In 1912, after a prolonged period of decline, the institution of the Emperor of China disappeared and the Republic of China was established. The following three decades were a period of disunion — the Warlord Era, the Sino-Japanese War, and the Chinese Civil War. The latter ended in 1949 with the Communist Party of China in control of mainland China. The CPC established a communist state—the People's Republic of China—that laid claim to be the successor state of the Republic of China. Meanwhile, the disorganized and potentially corrupt ROC government of the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan, where it continued to be recognized as the legitimate government of all China by the Western bloc and the United Nations until the 1970s, when most nations and the UN switched recognition to the PRC. The United Kingdom and Portugal transferred their colonies of Hong Kong and Macau on the southern Chinese coast to the PRC in 1997 and 1999, respectively. China used in a modern context often refers to just the territory of the PRC, or to "Mainland China" (the territory of the PRC excluding Hong Kong and Macau). The PRC does not recognize the ROC, as it claims to have succeeded the ROC as the legitimate governing authority of all of China including Taiwan. On the other hand, the ROC—while never formally renouncing its earlier claims or changing official maps that show its territory as including both the modern-day PRC, Mongolia and Tibet—has moved away from this former identity representing its rule over all of China, and increasingly identifies itself as Taiwan. The PRC has historically resisted the ROC's identification of itself as Taiwan, especially in light of the movement supported by residents of Taiwan and others who advocate Taiwan's identity as an independent political entity. Significant disputes persist as to the nature and extent of China, possible Chinese reunification and the political status of Taiwan.

Chinese Pre-history

Archeological evidence suggests that the earliest occupants in China date as long as 2.24 million to 250,000 years ago by an ancient human relative (hominin) known as Homo erectus. One particular cave in Zhoukoudian (now known as Peking) has fossilised evidence dating to 300,000 and 550,000 years old. Evidence of primitive stone tool technology and animal bones in association to H. erectus have been studied since the late 18th century to 19th century in various areas of Eastern Asia including Indonesia (in particular the Island of Java) and Malaysia. Originally it is thought that these early hominis first evolved in Africa during the Pleistocene. It is thought that human evolution first took place in Africa expanding 7 million years. By 2 million years ago the first wave of migration from the species in association with H. erectus settled into various areas in the Old World. Fully modern humans (homo sapiens) are believed to originally have evolved roughly 200,000 and 168,000 years ago in Ethiopia or Southern Africa (ei. Homo sapiens idaltu). By 100,000 to 50,000 years ago modern human beings settled in all parts of the Old world (including the New World, Americas 25,000 to 11,000 BCE). By less than 100,000 years ago all proto-human populations disappeared as modern humans took over or drove other human species into extinction. It remains a controversial subject to whether fully modern humans evolved from separate H. erectus populations (known as "multiregional") as some evidence in ancient bones show a transitional change from H. erectus to H. sapiens having archaic features. However it is now more widely accepted that all modern humans genetically share a direct ancestor, a female nicknamed "Mitochondrial Eve" from Eastern Africa 150,000 years BCE. This model is known as Mitochondrial Eve Hypothesis. The earliest evidence examples of fully modern humans in China come from Liujiang, China where a cranium dates 67,000 years BCE. Another is a partial skeleton from Minatogawa being just 18,000 years old.

Political history

Before unification by the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC, "China" did not exist as a coherent entity. The Chinese civilization consisted of a patchwork of several states, each ruled by a king (王), duke (公), marquess (侯), or earl (伯). Although there was a central king who held nominal power, and powerful hegemons sometimes held considerable influence, each state was ruled as an independent political entity. This is also the time of the beginnings of Confucian philosophy and that of many other philosophies that greatly influenced Chinese philosophy-political thought. This ended with the Qin Dynasty unification, during which the office of the emperor was set up, and a system of bureaucratic administration established. After the Qin, China experienced about 13 more dynasties, many of which continued the extensive system of kingdoms, dukedoms, earldoms, and marquisates. The territory varied with several expansions and contractions depending on the strength of each emperor and dynasty. However the emperor had ultimate, supreme, and unquestionable authority as the political and religious leader of China. The emperor also consulted civil and martial ministers, especially the prime minister. Political power sometimes fell into the hands of powerful officials, eunuchs, or imperial relatives, often at the expense of a child heriditary emperor. This happened especially since the emperor often was many layers of power removed from the outside world, making him susceptible to manipulation because his sources for information could manipulate that information causing him to make incorrect decisions, especially when their age at becoming emperor often had no bottom limit, with rule passing heriditarily but also given "in trust" to another relative. Political relations with dependencies (tributary kingdoms) were maintained by international marriages, military aids, treaties, and gifts. (see section "Geography, Political" below for examples), Luoyang, Chang'an (today's Xi'an), Nanjing, and Beijing are the four cities most commonly designated as capitals of China over the course of history. Chinese was the official language, though periods of Mongol and Manchu conquest saw the arrival of Mongol and Manchu as alternate official languages. On January 1, 1912, the Republic of China (ROC) was established, signaling the end of the Manchu-dominated Qing Empire. Sun Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (KMT or Nationalist Party), was proclaimed provisional president of the republic. However, Yuan Shikai, a former Qing general who had defected to the revolutionary cause, soon forced Sun to step aside and took the presidency for himself (formally it was a negotiation where Sun agreed to step aside for what was then perceived as a strong reformer, Yuan). Before long, Yuan attempted to have himself proclaimed emperor of a new dynasty; however, he died soon of natural causes before fully taking power over all of the Chinese empire. After Yuan's downfall, China was politically fragmented, with an internationally-recognized, but virtually powerless, national government seated in Beijing (thus failing to fit the definition of a state). Warlords in various regions exercised actual control over their respective territories. state In the late 1920s, the Kuomintang, under Chiang Kai-shek, was able to reunify the country under its own control, moving the nation's capital to Nanjing and implementing "political tutelage", an intermediate stage of political development outlined in Sun Yat-sen's program for transforming China into a modern, democratic state. Effectively, political tutelage meant one-party rule by the Kuomintang with heavy Leninist influences. Ironically, both the Kuomintang and the CCP have heavy Leninist influences. In 1947, constitutional rule was established, but because of the ongoing Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China (CPC), many provisions of the 1947 ROC constitution were never put into actual practice on the mainland. By early 1950, the CPC had defeated the Kuomintang on the mainland, and the ROC government retreated to the island of Taiwan. Beginning in the late 1970s, Taiwan began the implementation of full, multi-party, representative democracy in the territories still under ROC control (i.e., Taiwan Province, Taipei, Kaohsiung and some offshore islands of Fujian province). Today, the political scene in the ROC is vibrant, with active participation by all sectors of society. But rather than the usual conservative-liberal policy distinctions that are the hallmarks of most democracies around the world, the main cleavage in ROC politics is the unification with China in the long-run vs. formal independence issue. However, Greens are generally more liberal (i.e. more environmentally friendly) and Blues are generally regarded as more conservative. environmentally friendly Meanwhile, Mao Zedong, the leader of the communists, proclaimed the People's Republic of China (PRC) on October 1, 1949 in Beijing, saying China had stood up. From the beginning, the PRC has been a dictatorial one-party state under the Communist Party. However, post-1978 reforms have led to the relaxation, in varying degrees, of party control over many areas of society. Nonetheless, the Communist Party still has absolute control over political aspects of society, and it continuously seeks to eradicate threats to its rule. Examples of this include the jailing of political opponents and journalists, general control of the press, regulation of religions and other non-party organizations, censorship of the press, literature and film, and suppression of independence/secessionist movements. In 1989, a popular demonstration held in Beijing at Tiananmen Square was violently put to an end by the Chinese government. Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989 The attempted eradication of the Falun Gong movement is also held by its supporters to be motivated by fear of Falun Gong's growing influence. Today, however, there is much more freedom in intellectual thought in non-political areas and propaganda, while still continuing, has lessened.

Territory

Historical overview

propaganda The Zhou Dynasty, which preceded the unification of China by Shi Huangdi, was originally the region around the Yellow River. Since then, the territory has expanded outward in all directions, and was largest during the Tang, Yuan, and Qing dynasties. The Qing Dynasty included parts of modern Russian Far East and Central Asia (west of Xinjiang). Xinjiang Along with provincial administrators, some foreign monarchs sent envoys to offer gifts to the Emperor of China and the Emperor returned compliments to them. The Chinese thought that the barbarians attached themselves to the virtue of the Emperor, while the foreign governments sometimes disagreed. Since the end of the 19th century, China has tried to reinterpret this relationship as suzerainty or suzerainty-dependency, but this no longer has any real conception in modern international political theories. The Qing Empire reduced the territorial value of the Great Wall of China as a barrier of China proper after they merged their homeland (Manchuria) north of the wall with China proper south of it. In 1683 after the surrender of the Kingdom of Tungning established by Koxinga, Taiwan including the Pescadores became a part of the Qing Empire, originally as one prefecture, then two, and later a province. Taiwan was subsequently ceded to Japan after the first Sino-Japanese War in 1895. At the end of the second Sino-Japanese War in 1945, Japan relinquished the sovereignty of the island in the San Francisco Peace Treaty, and the Republic of China took over. Since then, the de jure sovereignty of Taiwan has been under dispute between the PRC, and the now democratic ROC and Taiwan independence supporters.

Historical political divisions

Historically, top-level political divisions of China have altered as the administration changed. Top levels included circuits and provinces. Below that, there have been prefectures, subprefectures, departments, commanderies, districts, and counties. Recent divisions also include prefecture-level cities, county-level cities, towns and townships (see below for examples). Historically, most Chinese dynasties were based in the historical heartlands of China, known by the politically-correct term of China proper (since it doesn't include places it doesn't control, such as Mongolia or Taiwan). Various dynasties also exhibited expansionism by engaging in incursions into more peripheral territories like Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Xinjiang, and Tibet. The Manchu-established Qing Dynasty and its successors, the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China cemented the incorporation of these territories into China. These territories are separated by borders that are vague at best, and do not correspond well to contemporary political divisions. China proper is generally thought to be bounded by the Great Wall and the edge of the Tibetan plateau; Manchuria and Inner Mongolia are found to the north of the Great Wall of China, and the boundary between them can either be taken as the present border between Inner Mongolia and the northeast Chinese provinces, or the more historic border of the World War II-era puppet state of Manchukuo; Xinjiang's borders correspond to today's administrative Xinjiang; and historic Tibet is conceived as occupying all of the Tibetan Plateau. China is also traditionally thought of as comprising North China (北方) and South China (南方), the geographic boundary between which north and south is largely generalized as Huai River (淮河) and Qinling Mountains (秦岭).

Geography and climate

Qinling Mountains
China within East Asia. ([http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/reference_maps/pdf/asia.pdf PDF])
China is composed of a vast variety of highly different landscapes, with mostly plateaus and mountains in the west, and lower lands on the east. As a result, principal rivers flow from west to east, including the Yangtze (central), the Huang He (central-east), and the Amur (northeast), and sometimes toward the south (including the Pearl River, Mekong River, and Brahmaputra), with most Chinese rivers emptying into the Pacific. Most of China's arable lands lie along the two major rivers, the Yangtze and the Huang He, and each are the centers around which are founded China's major ancient civilizations. In the east, along the shores of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea are found extensive and densely populated alluvial plains; the shore of the South China Sea is more mountainous and southern China is dominated by hill country and lower mountain ranges. To the west, the north has a great alluvial plain, and the south has a vast calcareous tableland traversed by hill ranges of moderate elevation, with the Himalayas, containing the highest point Mount Everest. The northwest also has high plateaus among more arid desert landscapes such as the Takla-Makan and the Gobi Desert, which has been expanding. Due to a prolonged drought and perhaps poor agricultural practices, dust storms have become usual in the spring in China. Dust blows all the way to southern China, Taiwan, and has even been measured on the West Coast of the United States. United States native to the bamboo forests of central and southern China.]] During many dynasties, the southwestern border of China has been the high mountains and deep valleys of Yunnan, which separate modern China from Burma, Laos and Vietnam. The climate of China varies greatly. The northern zone (within which lies Beijing) has a climate with winters of Arctic severity. The central zone (within which Shanghai is situated) has a generally temperate climate. The southern zone (within which lies Guangzhou and other southern provinces) has a generally subtropical climate. The Palaeozoic formations of China, excepting only the upper part of the Carboniferous system, are marine, while the Mesozoic and Tertiary deposits are estuarine and freshwater or else of terrestrial origin. Groups of volcanic cones occur in the Great Plain of north China. In the Liaodong and Shandong Peninsulas, there are basaltic plateaux.

Demographics

Shandong.]] Over a hundred ethnic groups have existed in China. In terms of numbers, however, the pre-eminent ethnic group in China is the Han, which is a group so diverse in its culture and language that some conceive of it as a larger overarching group bringing together many smaller, distinct ethnic groups sharing common traits in language and culture. Throughout history, many ethnic groups have been assimilated into neighbouring ethnicities or disappeared without a trace. Several previously distinct ethnic groups have been Sinicized into the Han, causing its population to increase dramatically; at the same time, many within the Han identity have maintained distinct linguistic and cultural traditions, though still identifying as Han. Many times in the past millenia many foreign groups have, in turn, shaped Han language and culture, for example the queue is a pig tail hairstyle strictly enforced by the Manchurians on the Han populace. The term Zhonghua Minzu is sometimes used to describe a notion of a "Chinese nationality" transcending ethnic divisions. The government of the People's Republic of China now officially recognizes a total of 56 ethnic groups, of which the largest is the Han Chinese. China's overall population is 1.3 billion. With the global human population currently estimated at about 6.4 billion, China is home to approximately 20%, or one-fifth of the human species, homo sapiens. The lack of birth control and promotion of population growth during the rule of Mao Zedong resulted in a demographic explosion, culminating in over 1.3 billion people today. As a response to the problems this is causing, the government of the PRC has enacted a birth control policy, commonly known as the One-child policy. The Han speak several mutually unintelligible tongues, classified by modern linguists as being separate languages, but regarded within the Chinese languages as "dialects" or "local languages" (topolects) within a single Chinese language (the word for "area languages" has an implication of dialect rather than a separate language, although on the basis of use, these topolects can be found to be separate and mutually unintelligible, and are so classified by many linguists). The various spoken varieties of Chinese share a common written standard, "Vernacular Chinese" or "baihua", which has been used since the early 20th Century and is based on Standard Mandarin, the standard spoken language, in grammar and vocabulary. In addition, another, more ancient written standard, Classical Chinese, was used for writing Chinese by the literati for thousands of years before the 20th Century. Classical Chinese is no longer the predominant form of written Chinese, though it continues to be a part of high school curricula and is hence intelligible to some degree to many Chinese people. Other than Standard Mandarin, spoken variants are usually not written; the exception is Standard Cantonese, which is sometimes written as Written Cantonese in informal contexts. Written Cantonese.]]

Culture

Religion

The major religions of China are:
- Taoism - exact numbers unknown
- Buddhism - exact numbers unknown [about 8%]
- Christianity - 2 to 4% (this is a Western number, the Chinese official number is much smaller than 1%)
- Islam - 1% to 2%
- Falun Gong - exact numbers unknown (claim not to be a "religion", though from a scholarly perspective is a spiritual practice, claimed numbers of followers of the Falun Dafa are also regarded as unreliable) While the People's Republic of China is officially atheist it does allow religion under strict supervision. Historically, Taoism and Buddhism has been the dominant religion of Chinese societies, and continues to be so in Chinese societies outside of direct PRC control. In recent years, Falun Gong, a spiritual practice drawing upon Buddhism and Taoism, has attracted great controversy after the government of the People's Republic of China labeled it an evil cult and began an attempt to eradicate it. The Falun Gong itself denies that it is a cult or a religion, even though there is solid evidence that determines Falun Gong as a rather" abormal" cult, several members have been seen to burn themselves alive even before the Chinese government has reacted to Falun Gong, unfortuantely, most people are oblivious of this fact and even a majority of members are oblivious to this. The Falun Gong says that it has approximately 70-100 million followers, which is a bit higher than estimates by outside groups, though exact numbers are unknown. They regularly protest against their suppression, both domestically and internationally.

Arts, scholarship, and literature

Falun Gong.]] Chinese literature has a long and prolific continuous history, in part because of the development of printmaking during the Song Dynasty. Before that, manuscripts of the Classics and religious texts (mainly Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist) were manually written by ink brush (previously scratching shells) and distributed. Academies of scholars sponsored by the empire were formed to comment on these works in both printed and written form. Members of royalty frequently participated in these discussions. Tens of thousands of ancient written documents are still extant and more, from oracle bones to Qing edicts, are discovered each day, which had been formally ground up for use in Chinese medicine. oracle bones For centuries, opportunity for economic and social advancement in China could be provided by high performance on the imperial examinations. This led to a meritocracy, though in practice this was possible only among those who were not female or too poor to afford test preparation, as doing well still required tutorship. Nevertheless it was a system distinct from the European system of blood nobility. Imperial examinations required applicants to write essays and demonstrate mastery of the Confucian classics. Those who passed the highest level of the exam became elite scholar-officials known as jinshi, a highly esteemed socio-economic position. Chinese philosophers, writers, and poets have been, for the most part, highly respected, and played a key role in preserving and promoting the culture of the empire. Some classical scholars, however, were noted for their daring depictions of lives of the common people, often to the displeasure of authorities. (See List of Chinese authors, and List of Chinese language poets). The Chinese have created numerous musical instruments, such as the zheng, xiao, and erhu, that have spread throughout East and Southeast Asia, and especially areas under its influence. The sheng is the basis for several Western free-reed instruments. Chinese characters have had many variants and styles throughout the Chinese history, and were "simplified" in the mid-20th century on mainland China. Calligraphy is a major art-form in China, above that of painting and music. Because of its association with elite scholar-official bosses, it later on became commercialized, where works by famous artists became prized possessions. The great variation and beauty in the Chinese landscape is often the inspiration for great works of Chinese art. See Chinese painting for more details. Calligraphy, sushi, and bonsai are all millennia-old art that later spread to Japan and Korea.

Science and technology

Korea In addition to the cultural innovations mentioned above, technological inventions from China include:
- Compass
- Block Printmaking / Printing Technology
- Paper
- Asian abacus
- Gunpowder
- Crossbow
- Stirrup
- Lacquer
- Rudder
- Seismograph
- Silk
- Porcelain
- Paper money
- The Glider
- The Hot air balloon
- Fireworks
- Parachute Other areas of technological study:
- The main applications of mathematics in traditional China were architecture and geography. Pi (π) was calculated by 5th century mathematician Zu Chongzhi to the seventh digit. The decimal system was used in China as early as 14 Century BC. "Pascal's" Triangle was discovered by mathematician Liu Ju-Hsieh, long before Pascal was born.
- Studies in biology have been extensive, and historic records are consulted even today, such as pharmacopoeias of medicinal plant<

3000 BC

(31st century BC - 30th century BC - 29th century BC - other centuries) (4th millennium BC - 3rd millennium BC - 2nd millennium BC) ----

Events


- 3000 BC - Djer, second pharaoh of Egypt, started to reign.
- 2999 BC - Djer, second pharaoh of Egypt, died.
- 2925 - 2776 BC - First Dynasty wars in Egypt
- ca. 2920 BC - Djet, third pharaoh of Egypt.
- 2900 BC - Beginning of the Early Dynastic Period I in Mesopotamia.

Significant persons

Inventions, discoveries, introductions


- The shekal was introduced in Mesopotamia as a monetary and weight unit, see ancient weights and measures. Category:30th century BC

Xi Ling-Shi

Xi Ling-Shi or Xilingshi, (), is a legendary Chinese empress—wife of the Yellow Emperor. According to tradition, discovered silk and invented the silk loom in the 28th century BC. Xi Ling-Shi discovered silkworms while on a walk investigating damage to the emperor's mulberry trees. However there are different accounts of exactly how she discovered that silkworms made silk. One account says that she used her finger to touch a worm causing a strand of silk come out, as the silk continued to come out she wrapped it around her finger; when the silk ran out she saw a small cocoon and realized that this cocoon was the source of the silk. Another says that she found silkworms eating the mulberry leaves and spinning cocoons. She collected some cocoons, and then sat down to have some tea. While she was sipping a cup of tea, she dropped a cocoon into the steaming water. A fine thread started to separate itself from the cocoon. Xi Ling-Shi found that she could unwind this soft and lovely thread around her finger. She persuaded her husband to give her a grove of mulberry trees, where she could domesticate the worms that made these cocoons. She is attributed with inventing the silk reel, which joins fine filaments into a thread strong enough for weaving. She is also credited with inventing the first silk loom. It is not known how much, if any, of this story is true, but historians do know that China was the first civilization to use silk. Xi Ling-Shi shared her discoveries with others and the knowledge became widespread. Category:Chinese folklore

Culture

:For other uses of Culture or Cultures, see Culture (disambiguation) The word culture, from the Latin root colere (to inhabit, to cultivate, or to honor), generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. Different definitions of "culture" reflect different theoretical orientations for understanding, or criteria for valuing, human activity. Anthropologists most commonly use the term "culture" to refer to the universal human capacity to classify, codify and communicate their experiences symbolically. This capacity is a defining feature of the genus Homo.

Defining culture

Different definitions of culture reflect different theories for understanding - or criteria for valuing - human activity. Sir Edward B. Tylor wrote in 1871 that "culture or civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society", while a 2002 document from the United Nations agency UNESCO states that culture is the "set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group, and that it encompasses, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs". http://www.unesco.org/education/imld_2002/unversal_decla.shtml UNESCO, 2002 While these two definitions range widely, they do not exhaust the many uses of this concept - in 1952 Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of more than 200 different definitions of culture in their book, Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions [Kroeber and Kluckhohn, 1952].

Culture as civilization

Many people today use a conception of "culture" that developed in Europe during the 18th and early 19th centuries. This idea of culture then reflected inequalities within European societies, and between European powers and their colonies around the world. It identifies "culture" with "civilization" and contrasts the combined concept with "nature". According to this thinking, one can classify some countries as more civilized than others, and some people as more cultured than others. Thus some cultural theorists have actually tried to eliminate popular or mass culture from the definition of culture. Theorists like Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) or the Leavises regard culture as simply the result of "the best that has been thought and said in the world” (Arnold, 1960: 6), thus labeling anything that doesn't fit into this category as chaos or anarchy. On this account, culture links closely with social cultivation: the progressive refinement of human behavior. Arnold consistently uses the word this way: "...culture being a pursuit of our total perfection by means of getting to know, on all the matters which most concern us, the best which has been thought and said in the world". http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/nonfiction_u/arnoldm_ca/ca_all.html Arnold, 1882 In practice, culture referred to élite goods and activities such as haute cuisine, high fashion or haute couture, museum-caliber art and classical music, and the word cultured described people who knew about, and took part in, these activities. For example, someone who used 'culture' in the sense of 'cultivation' might argue that classical music "is" more refined than music produced by working-class people such as punk rock or than the indigenous music traditions of aboriginal peoples of Australia. People who use "culture" in this way tend not to use it in the plural as "cultures". They do not believe that distinct cultures exist, each with their own internal logic and values; but rather that only a single standard of refinement suffices, against which one can measure all groups. Thus, according to this worldview, people with different customs from those who regard themselves as cultured do not usually count as "having a different culture"; but class as "uncultured". People lacking "culture" often seemed more "natural", and observers often defended (or criticized) elements of high culture for repressing "human nature". From the 18th century onwards, some social critics have accepted this contrast between cultured and uncultured, but have stressed the interpretation of refinement and of sophistication as corrupting and unnatural developments which obscure and distort people's essential nature. On this account, folk music (as produced by working-class people) honestly expresses a natural way of life, and classical music seems superficial and decadent. Equally, this view often portrays non-Western people as 'noble savages' living authentic unblemished lives, uncomplicated and uncorrupted by the highly-stratified capitalist systems of the West. Today most social scientists reject the monadic conception of culture, and the opposition of culture to nature. They recognize non-élites as just as cultured as élites (and non-Westerners as just as civilized) - simply regarding them as just cultured in a different way. Thus social observers contrast the "high" culture of élites to "popular" or pop culture, meaning goods and activities produced for, and consumed by, non-élite people or the masses. (Note that some classifications relegate both high and low cultures to the status of subcultures.)

Culture as worldview

During the Romantic era, scholars in Germany, especially those concerned with nationalist movements - such as the nationalist struggle to create a "Germany" out of diverse principalities, and the nationalist struggles by ethnic minorities against the Austro-Hungarian Empire - developed a more inclusive notion of culture as "worldview". In this mode of thought, a distinct and incommensurable world view characterizes each ethnic group. Although more inclusive than earlier views, this approach to culture still allowed for distinctions between "civilized" and "primitive" or "tribal" cultures. By the late 19th century, anthropologists had adopted and adapted the term culture to a broader definition that they could apply to a wider variety of societies. Attentive to the theory of evolution, they assumed that all human beings evolved equally, and that the fact that all humans have cultures must in some way result from human evolution. They also showed some reluctance to use biological evolution to explain differences between specific cultures - an approach that either exemplified a form of, or legitimized forms of, racism. They believed that biological evolution would produce a most inclusive notion of culture, a concept that anthropologists could apply equally to non-literate and to literate societies, or to nomadic and to sedentary societies. They argued that through the course of their evolution, human beings evolved a universal human capacity to classify experiences, and to encode and communicate them symbolically. Since human individuals learned and taught these symbolic systems, the systems began to develop independently of biological evolution (in other words, one human being can learn a belief, value, or way of doing something from another, even if the two humans do not share a biological relationship). That this capacity for symbolic thinking and social learning stems from human evolution confounds older arguments about nature versus nurture. Thus Clifford Geertz (1973: 33 ff.) has argued that human physiology and neurology developed in conjunction with the first cultural activities, and Middleton (1990: 17 n.27) concluded that human "'instincts' were culturally formed". People living apart from one another develop unique cultures, but elements of different cultures can easily spread from one group of people to another. Culture changes dynamically and people can (must?) teach and learn culture, making it a potentially rapid form of adaptation to change in physical conditions. Anthropologists view culture as not only as a product of biological evolution but as a supplement to it, as the main means of human adaptation to the world. This view of culture as a symbolic system with adaptive functions, and one which varies from place to place, led anthropologists to conceive of different cultures as defined by distinct patterns (or structures) of enduring, arbitrary, conventional sets of meaning, which took concrete form in a variety of artifacts such as myths and rituals, tools, the design of housing, and the planning of villages. Anthropologists thus distinguish between material culture and symbolic culture, not only because each reflects different kinds of human activity, but also because they constitute different kinds of data that require different methodologies. This view of culture, which came to dominate between World War I and World War II, implied that each culture had bounds and demanded interpretation as a whole, on its own terms. There resulted a belief in cultural relativism; the belief that one had to understand an individual's actions in terms of his or her culture; that one had to understand a specific cultural artifact (a ritual, for example) in terms of the larger