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Is it any wonder why today’s China has little love for the West?
To say Westerners have not always given China its due would be a massive understatement. Some of this lack of recognition results from ignorance and some from racism. Levi Seeley in his History of Education (1904) managed both in one paragraph:
The civilization of the ‘Celestial Empire’ has certainly contributed but little to the advancement of the world. Were it not that this nation furnishes a most striking illustration of false methods, the study of Chinese education might be omitted without loss.
For some reason, Seeley then saw the need to illustrate these ‘false methods’ and so he devotes a full nine uncomplimentary pages to the ‘Celestial Empire.’ However, over the centuries, China has been the wellspring of big ideas, many of which the West claims as its own. Other Chinese breakthroughs may have happened concurrently with other early civilizations.
(Rather Complicated) Writing Begins
The earliest beginnings of Chinese writing were a mystery until 1899, when the Yüan River flooded. The floodwaters receded, revealing animal bones bearing inscriptions etched in ancient Chinese characters. Study of these ‘oracle bone inscriptions’ has shed new light on China’s ancient history, revealing the development of writing in China around 1200 BC, during the Shang Dynasty.
While the possibility exists that writing in Sumeria and Egypt influenced the Chinese invention, there is no support for such a hypothesis. There is some evidence to suggest that writing in China began even earlier than 1200 BC, as pottery exists from an earlier period bearing writing-like marks. However, the evidence is inconclusive.
As the name suggests, oracle bones were bones used for predicting the future, and the script engraved on them is the precursor to modern Chinese script. In fact, they provide the first mention of ‘school’ in Chinese literature:
“Is it auspicious for the children to go to school? Will it rain on their way home?”
Definitive proof that even in 1200 BC, fretting, overprotective parents would use the latest technology to protect their poor little darlings. Of course, not all uses of the oracle bone ritual were so frivolous, and the royal court became a virtual post office for divine revelations from the honored ancestors. The gatekeeper for these messages from beyond was, of course, the Shang emperor.
Word of Mouth
The origin story of the Shang Dynasty will sound somewhat familiar to fans of Thoth. Legend has it that the wife of Emperor Ku somehow contrived to swallow an egg that was dropped by a blackbird, resulting in the miraculous birth of her son Xie. This singled out Xie as someone special. For his role in helping Yu the Great control a flood, he was given control of the region of Shang, and the Shang Dynasty was born.
Perhaps there was an ancient meme that required legendary characters to have their parents impregnated by random things being introduced into their mouths. The idea that at least two mythical characters were inseminated in this way displays something of an oral fixation.
That, and a woeful ignorance of human reproductive biology. In 1112 BC, the emperor Wu-yi made the mistake of mocking the gods and not long after was killed by a bolt of lightning. It was all downhill for the Shang Dynasty from there. |
