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Dongyi
The Dongyi or Eastern Yi () was a collective term for ancient peoples found in Chinese records. The definition of Dongyi varied across the ages, but in most cases referred to inhabitants of eastern China, then later, the Korean peninsula and Japanese Archipelago. Dongyi refers to different group of people in different periods. As such, the name "Yí" was something of a catch-all and was applied to different groups over time. According to the earliest Chinese record, the '' Zuo Zhuan'', the Shang dynasty was attacked by King Wu of Zhou while attacking the Dongyi and collapsed afterward. Ancient inhabitants of Eastern China Oracle bone inscriptions from the early 11th century BCE refer to campaigns by the late Shang king Di Yi against the ''Rénfāng'' (), a group occupying the area of southern Shandong and Jianghuai (northern Anhui and Jiangsu). Many Chinese archaeologists apply the historical name "Dongyi" to the archaeological Yueshi culture (1900–1500 BCE). Other ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shandong
Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural and religious center for Taoism, Chinese Buddhism and Confucianism. Shandong's Mount Tai is the most revered mountain of Taoism and a site with one of the longest histories of continuous religious worship in the world. The Buddhist temples in the mountains south of the provincial capital of Jinan were once among the foremost Buddhist sites in China. The city of Qufu was the birthplace of Confucius, and later became the center of Confucianism. Shandong's location at the intersection of ancient and modern north–south and east–west trading routes has helped establish it as an economic center. After a period of political instability and economic hardship beginning in the late 19th century, Shandong has experienced rapid growth in recent de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Four Barbarians
"Four Barbarians" ( zh, c=四夷, p=sìyí) was a generic term used in Ancient China, particularly by subjects of the Shang dynasty, Shang and Zhou dynasty, Zhou dynasties, referring to the various non-Sinitic peoples living outside the borders of the Huaxia civilization, who were pejoratively considered to be savage (pejorative term), savage barbarians by the agrarian society, agrarian Chinese people. Each was named according to a cardinal direction relative to China proper, China ''proper'': * The "Eastern Barbarians" or ''Dongyi'' (), referring to various peoples east of the Zhongyuan, Central Plain, particularly the Tungusic people, Tungusic and Koreans, Koreanic peoples from Northeast Asia; * The "Southern Barbarians" or ''Nanman'' (), referring to the Baiyue people from south of the Yangtze and the Burmic people beyond the Hengduan Mountains; * The "Western Barbarians" or ''Xirong'' (), referring to the highland peoples (especially the Qiang (historical people), Qiang) from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yueshi Culture
The Yueshi culture () was an archaeological culture in the Shandong region of eastern China, dated from 1900 to 1500 BC. It spanned the period from the Late Neolithic to the early Bronze Age. In the Shandong area, it followed the Longshan culture period (c. 2600–1900 BC) and was later replaced by the Erligang culture (identified with the historical Shang dynasty). Geographical range Yueshi culture sites have been found in Shandong, eastern Henan, and north Jiangsu province. It is named after the type site at Dongyueshi (East Yueshi) Village in Pingdu, Shandong. More than 340 Yueshi sites have been identified in Shandong, but this was still a considerable decline from the previous Shandong Longshan culture. Yueshi was contemporary with the Erlitou culture and the early Erligang culture, both located to its west. The Tai-Yi Mountains ( 泰沂山脉) region in central Shandong is the core area of Yueshi, but as the Erligang state (commonly identified with the early Shang dynas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beidi
The Di or Beidi (Northern Di) were various ethnic groups who lived north of the Chinese ('' Huaxia'') realms during the Zhou dynasty. Although initially described as nomadic, they seem to have practiced a mixed pastoral, agricultural, and hunting economy and were distinguished from the nomads of the Eurasian steppe who lived to their north. Chinese historical accounts describe the Di inhabiting the upper Ordos Loop and gradually migrating eastward to northern Shanxi and northern Hebei, where they eventually created their own states like Zhongshan and Dai. Other groups of Di seem to have lived interspersed between the Chinese states before their eventual conquest or sinicization. Name The ancient Chinese, whose Xia, Shang, and Zhou states flourished along the Fen, Yellow, and Wei valleys, discussed their neighbors according to the cardinal directions. The Four Barbarians were the Di to the north, the Man to the south, the Yi to the east, and the Rong to the west. These ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xirong
Xirong () or Rong were various people who lived primarily in and around the western extremities of ancient China (in modern Gansu and Qinghai). They were known as early as the Shang dynasty (1765–1122 BCE), as one of the Four Barbarians that frequently (and often violently) interacted with the sinitic Huaxia civilization. They typically resided to the west of Guanzhong Plains from the Zhou dynasty (1046–221 BCE) onwards. They were mentioned in some ancient Chinese texts as perhaps genetically and linguistically related to the people of the Chinese civilization. Etymology The historian Li Feng says that during the Western Zhou period, since the term ''Rong'' "warlike foreigners" was "often used in bronze inscriptions to mean 'warfare', it is likely that when a people was called 'Rong', the Zhou considered them as political and military adversaries rather than as cultural and ethnic 'others'." Paul R. Goldin also proposes that ''Rong'' was a "pseudo-ethnonym" meaning "belli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yi People
The Yi or Nuosu people (Nuosu language, Nuosu: , ; see also #Names and subgroups, § Names and subgroups) are an ethnic group in South China, southern China. Numbering nine million people, they are the seventh largest of the 55 Ethnic minorities in China, ethnic minority groups recognized by the Government of China, Chinese government. They live primarily in rural areas of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi, usually in mountainous regions. The Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture is home to the largest population of Yi people within China, with two million Yi people in the region. In neighbouring Vietnam, , there are 4,827 Lô Lô people (a subgroup of the Yi) living in the Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằng Province, Cao Bằng, and Lào Cai Province, Lào Cai provinces, in the country's north. The Yi speak various Loloish languages, closely related to Burmese language, Burmese. The prestige variety is Nuosu language, Nuosu, which is written in the Yi script. Locatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Di Yi
Di Yi (), personal name Zi Xian (), was a king of the Shang dynasty from 1101 BC to 1076 BC. His capital was at Yin. Records According to the ''Bamboo Annals'', in the third year of his reign, he ordered Nanzhong(南仲) to fight Kun Barbarians and built Shuofang (, roughly modern Ordos in Inner Mongolia) in the middle of Kun territory after winning a battle. He also fought the ''Renfang'' according to oracle bone records (see the Dongyi), The king was the older brother of Jizi and Bigan. Sons * Weiziqi (), Di Yi's eldest son. After the Shang succumbed to the Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ) was a royal dynasty of China that existed for 789 years from until 256 BC, the longest span of any dynasty in Chinese history. During the Western Zhou period (771 BC), the royal house, surnamed Ji, had military ..., he was awarded the state of Song. * Weizhong (), Di Yi's second son, the second ruler of Song. * King Zhou of Shang, Di Yi's youngest son, the la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle Kingdom (China)
The names of China include the many contemporary and historical designations given in various languages for the East Asian country known as in Standard Chinese, a form based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin. The English name "China" was borrowed from Portuguese during the 16th century, and its direct cognates became common in the subsequent centuries in the West. It is believed to be a borrowing from Middle Persian, and some have traced it further back to the Sanskrit word () for the nation. It is also thought that the ultimate source of the name China is the Chinese word , the name of the Qin dynasty that ultimately unified China after existing as a state within the Zhou dynasty for many centuries prior. However, there are alternative suggestions for the etymology of this word. Chinese names for China, aside from , include , , and . While official notions of Chinese nationality do not make any particular reference to ethnicity, common names for the largest ethnic group i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhou Dynasty
The Zhou dynasty ( ) was a royal dynasty of China that existed for 789 years from until 256 BC, the longest span of any dynasty in Chinese history. During the Western Zhou period (771 BC), the royal house, surnamed Ji, had military control over territories centered on the Wei River valley and North China Plain. Even as Zhou suzerainty became increasingly ceremonial over the following Eastern Zhou period (771–256 BC), the political system created by the Zhou royal house survived in some form for several additional centuries. A date of 1046 BC for the Zhou's establishment is supported by the Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project and David Pankenier, but David Nivison and Edward L. Shaughnessy date the establishment to 1045 BC. The latter Eastern Zhou period is itself roughly subdivided into two parts. During the Spring and Autumn period (), power became increasingly decentralized as the authority of the royal house diminished. The Warring States ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shi (personator)
The ''shi'' () was a ceremonial " personator" who represented a dead relative during ancient Chinese ancestral sacrifices. In a ''shi'' ceremony, the ancestral spirit supposedly would enter the descendant "corpse" personator, who would eat and drink sacrificial offerings and convey messages from the spirit. James Legge, an early translator of the Chinese classics, described ''shi'' personation ceremonies as "grand family reunions where the dead and the living met, eating and drinking together, where the living worshipped the dead, and the dead blessed the living." In modern terms, this ancient Chinese ''shi'' practice would be described as necromancy, mediumship, or spirit possession. Word The word ''shi'' 尸 "corpse; personator; inactive; lay out; manage; spirit tablet" can be discussed in terms of Chinese character evolution, historical phonology, semantics, and English translations. Characters The modern character 尸 for ''shi'' "corpse; personator" is a graphic simplif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nanman
The Man, commonly known as the Nanman or Southern Man (, ''lit. Southern Barbarians''), were ancient indigenous peoples who lived in inland South and Southwest China, mainly around the Yangtze River valley. In ancient Chinese sources, the term Nanman was used to collectively describe multiple ethnic groups, probably the predecessors of the modern Miao, Zhuang, and Dai peoples, and non-Chinese Sino-Tibetan groups such as the Jingpo and Yi peoples. It was an umbrella term that included any groups south of the expanding Huaxia civilization, and there was never a single polity that united these people, although the state of Chu ruled over much of the Yangtze region during the Zhou dynasty and was partly influenced by the Man culture. Etymology The early Chinese exonym ''Man'' () was a graphic pejorative written with Radical 142 , which means "worm", "insect" or "vermin". Xu Shen's (c. 121 CE) ''Shuowen Jiezi'' dictionary defines ''Man'' as "Southern Man are a snake race. &# ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oracle Bone
Oracle bones are pieces of ox scapula and turtle plastron which were used in pyromancya form of divinationduring the Late Shang period () in ancient China. '' Scapulimancy'' is the specific term if ox scapulae were used for the divination, ''plastromancy'' if turtle plastrons were used. A recent count estimated that there were about 13,000 bones with a total of a little over 130,000 inscriptions in collections in China and some fourteen other countries. Diviners would submit questions to deities regarding weather, crop planting, the fortunes of members of the royal family, military endeavors, and similar topics. These questions were carved onto the bone or shell in oracle bone script using a sharp tool. Intense heat was then applied with a metal rod until the bone or shell cracked due to thermal expansion. The diviner would then interpret the pattern of cracks and write the prognostication upon the piece as well. Pyromancy with bones continued in China into the Zhou dynasty, bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
