Life Characteristics of Early Humans in Ancient China

The early human beings in ancient China were divided into three stages: primitive society, slave society and feudal society.

Characteristics of life in primitive society:

1. Based on kinship relations, the population was very small, and economic life was distributed in an egalitarian way.

2. The control of the society is based on tradition and patriarchy without customary law and governmental authority.

3. In a typical primitive society, there are no dedicated leaders. People of the same age and sex have equal social status. Disputes, if any, are mediated according to traditional norms, which are generally observed.

4. Subsistence Some are based on hunting and gathering economies, while others are based on fishing or simple natural agriculture. Tribal organization is a feature of some primitive societies, but not all.

5. Primitive societies are divided into primitive groups, clan communes, or three phases of primitive groups and blood families.

The characteristics of life in slave societies:

1. Under slavery, prisoners of war were no longer killed but turned into slaves, preserving a large amount of labor. Labor is the human factor in the productive forces. The preservation of a large number of laborers makes it possible to create more wealth for the society, which is conducive to the economic development of the whole society.

2. Slaves were regarded as the property of slave owners and could be bought and sold, and slave owners could force slaves to work, and labor activities had to be slave-dominated, unpaid, and without personal freedom.

3. Slave owners possessed a large number of means of production and a large number of slaves, and by concentrating them in their own estates and workshops, they had the possibility of organizing production on a larger scale, thus increasing productivity and completing huge projects.

4. Large landowners evolved into feudal lords, and slaves and freedmen were transformed into serfs. The feudal mode of production, which was dominated by the exploitation of serfs, gradually replaced the slave-possession-dominated mode of production.

5. A large number of slaves carried out simple division of labor in large-scale production work, which made the division of labor between different sectors and within the same sector more and more fine-tuned, the labor skills and proficiency of the workers were constantly improved, and the productivity of the labor force was also rapidly increased. This all contributed to the further increase in the level of social productivity.

The characteristics of life in feudal society:

1. In feudal society, the landlord class ruled over the other classes on the basis of feudal land ownership.

2. The forms of feudal land ownership varied, and were realized through contractual leases, payment of rent, and employment of tenants.

3. Economically, private land ownership dominated.

4. In political culture, a highly centralized authoritarian system was practiced.

5. Culturally, Confucianism was the centerpiece.

6. In terms of social structure, it was a patriarchal hierarchy combining clan power and regime.

Expanded Information:

A Brief History of Chinese Society from Ancient Times to the Present Day

(1) Primitive Society

1. China is the birthplace of human civilization, and the Chinese nation is the only one of the world's four great civilizations that has not interrupted its cultural history.

2, China's primitive society from the Yuanmou people 1.7 million years ago, up to the 21st century BC Xia Dynasty was established, after a long period of time.

3. According to archaeological excavations, fossils and cultural relics of primitive human beings belonging to the stage of apes have been found in many places in China. According to the physical development, the primitive people within our country have gone through three stages of development: the upright ape, the early homo sapiens and the late homo sapiens.

(B) slave society

1, China's slave society began in the 21st century BC the establishment of the Xia dynasty, to the end of the Spring and Autumn period, *** after 1500 ~ 1600 years.

2. The Shang and Zhou periods are the earliest period of written history in China.

(C) Feudal society

1, China's feudal society is a long period, starting from the period of the Warring States and ending with the Opium War in 1840, a period of more than 2,300 years.

2. Semi-colonial and semi-feudal society is the history of semi-colonial and semi-feudal society from the Opium War in 1840 to the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China*** and the State of China in 1949.

3, after the opium wars, the western powers in order to seize more rights and interests in China, following the first opium wars, and has launched the second opium wars, Sino-French wars Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War Eight Allied Forces invaded Beijing and other wars of aggression.

And take advantage of the status of the victorious countries and the Qing government signed a variety of unequal treaties, from the hands of the Qing government plundered a large amount of China's wealth, land and other rights and interests, so that China has been reduced step by step to semi-colonial semi-feudal society.

Source: Baidu Encyclopedia - Primitive Society

Baidu Encyclopedia - Slave Society

Baidu Encyclopedia - Feudal Society