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The young obeyed their parents without a
fuss. This was important part of ancestor worship. Even a wealthy
noble with many servants might patch his father's robe with his
own hands. Children looked forward to the day when they would be
parents, and their children would honor them.
The role of the woman was to be gentle, calm,
respectful, and to obey her husband. In ancient China, home and
family were so important that they were nearly sacred.
Shang & Chou
kings and nobles: The rich lived in large
homes and palaces made of mud and wood. They had tall
bronze candlesticks. They used bronze drinking cups. (Shang
leaders were famous for their drinking bouts.) They loved to hunt.
Their bronze weapons were decorated with elaborate designs.
Horseback riding was very popular, both as a sport and, in late
Chou times, as a method of war. (Chariots had not worked very well
as the landscape was rather bumpy and rugged.)
The nobles wore elaborate gowns of silk
and lived in large, brick homes with tiled roofs. They were
lavishly decorated and furnished. Jugs of wine lined the walkways.
The air was scented with flowers in the gardens and spices from
pots of food steaming on stoves.
They were buried in lavish tombs.
Unlike the ancient Egyptians, the Shang and Chou were buried with
living people. In their tombs, archaeologists have found
entire chariots, objects of art, and the remains of guards and
dogs who accompanied kings to their graves.
Warriors:
The leaders of different clans were
continually waging war with each other. Warriors were knights
in bronze armor who went to battle in horse-drawn chariots made
of wood and bronze. They wore bronze helmets, and carried daggers,
spears, and axes. Each chariot had a driver, a spearman, and an
archer. Behind them, came the foot soldiers, who were usually
peasants, forced to leave their fields. Foot soldiers wore tunics
and trousers.
Farmers: Most
people were farmers (peasants). Their life was very hard.
Farmers lived in nearby villages. Their homes were very simple. In
the summer, peasants lived on the land near their fields. Summer
homes were made of bamboo branches. In the winter, they moved to
their permanent homes in the villages. Winter homes were drafty,
one room houses with thatched or tile roofs, dirt floors and no
furniture. The walls were made of mud. Doors faced south. Each
family had their own winter home.
They farmed small plots of land with
primitive stone and wood tools. They did not own the land. They
worked the land assigned to them by the royals and the nobles.
They had to give the nobleman part of the food they grew. They
were also expected to give gifts to the nobleman of wine or silk.
They worked without pay on the noble's house, roads, and bridges.
They pretty much worked all the time.
Their
gods were the gods of nature, the river god, the rain
god, the earth god. They believed in many gods, but the most
powerful was the sky god, T'ien, the king of gods. To the
peasants, T'ien was more brilliant and more powerful than any
earthbound king.
As in Xia times, the earliest times, each
year they celebrated the Spring Festival. Several villages would
gather for the Festival. Unlike the nobles, marriages were rarely
arranged. Boys and girls met each other at the Spring Festival.
This is when young boys and girls found husbands and wives. Girls
were about 15 years old when they married. Boys were about the
same age, or a little older.
It was during Shang times that the Spring
Festival evolved into what we call today Chinese
New Year.
Merchants and Craftsmen: Since this group
did not produce food and were not part of the nobility, they were
outside the class structure. Like slaves, they were hardly
considered men. In times of war, when the city was attacked, they
were not taken inside the protective walls, but were left to fend
for themselves as best they could.
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