The main features of ancient Chinese civilization are the following :
1. Administrative system: The belief of divinity in the king prevailed in ancient China. The king was considered as son and representative of god. There was the Prime minister and a grand council of four ministers for the help and advice of the emperor, whose president was the heir prince. Chinese empire was divided in several parts. There was a public service commission for selection of administrative officers in China.
2. Social life: The ancient Chinese society was divided in mandarin, farmer, businessman, craftman, intellectuals, slaves and soldier class. People could achieve high status through education. Combined family system was in practice.
3. Economic life: The main occupation of Chinese was agriculture. Major crops included millets, wheat, rice, soyabeen, tea, green vegetables and fruits. Irrigation was done by canals. Sheep, pigs, cows, dogs were their pet animals. The people used to make paper. They used to import gold, silver, ivory, opium, yam, etc. and export of iron products, silk, pottery and other handicrafts.
4. Religious life: The ancient Chinese worshipped nature. They worshipped sun, sky, earth and rain. In China, the king was considered to be the son of god. They believed in magic tantra, sacrifice, etc. Later, the religious beliefs of the Chinese people were influenced by Confucius’ monotheism and Taoism of Laotse and later by Buddhism.
5. Language and literature: The ancient Chinese rulers finalised the script : Chinese script was one in the whole country but there was a lot of diference in regional languages (dialects) The Chinese script made significant contribution in bringing unity throughout China. After the Chinese script was coded and development of the language and invention of paper, high class literature was written in China.
6. Knowledge and Science : There was remarkable progress in the field of knowledge and science in ancient China. The invention of paper, printing press, ink, gunpowder, silk, compass, water clock, water mill, earthquake instrument and kite were first made in China. In mathematics, Chinese people knew the use of decimals, but they did not have knowledge of zero. Earthquake science was also developed here.
7. Art: China’s wall is a world famous specimen of ancient Chinese architecture. The palaces and pagodas were built in the cities of ancient China. In China, painting was considered as part of calligraphy (ornamental writing). The painters here liked making pictures of natural scenes rather than human figures. The famous painter was Kani-Chi.
