China and India: comparative analysis and regional significance

China and India

One of the most basic questions in human history surrounds the move from a hunter-gatherer existence to a settled, urban civilization. Most scholars believe that environmental factors, for instance, allowed societies to develop near the great river valleys of the world (Nile, Tigris/Euphrates), but also, through again, a series of geological factors, included raw materials that contributed to the technological advancement of societies. These early civilizations then, had the advantage of early urbanization and organization, turning into the great empires. In China, for instance, evidence shows that there were communities as early as 400,000 years ago and in South Asia on the Indian Subcontinent, at least 200,000 years ago -- predating the Middle Eastern cultures by millennia. In both China and India, though, population pressures forced agricultural development -- in China along the Yellow and Yangzi River and in India along the Indus Valley river basin (, Bentley, et.al., 48).

Two examples of these early river valley civilizations were the Ancient Chinese and Ancient Harappan society on the Indian subcontinent. In both areas, the development of agriculture allowed nomadic peoples to establish permanent settlements, which, over time, caused more specialization of labor and tasks. Out of this grew civilizations because of the need of government, social structure, writing systems, and technology/science. Some think that climate change - perhaps a mild winter or other social issues, caused tribes to remain in one place long enough for the germination of plants to take place. . This was more of a strategy for survival, scholars believe, than a planned out series of events. Because of the lack of artifacts, it is difficult to say just why hunters and gatherers in this region turned to agriculture. One theory indicates that in settled areas that were developed around a political or religious hierarchy populations increased, infant mortality decreased, and the need for just agricultural workers decreased. (Bentley, 9-10).

Harappan society probably began about 5,000 years ago, centered around the Indus River. Major cities were located all along the fertile plains of the area, but much of the early artifacts now lie underneath the water table. In addition, we are not able to translate the written records, so we rely on artifacts and evidence from other cultures who wrote about the Harappans. The cities were built of brick, had a sewage and drainage system, and the builders had mastered multistoried houses. The Harappans developed weights and measures, likely due to commerce, and, like the Chinese, developed rather sophisticated metallurgy using copper, bronze, lead and tin. We also know that they engaged in robust trade, both domestic and foreign and even over the Hindu Kush and into the Persian Gulf areas. Between 1800-1700 BC, though, most of the cities were abandoned, perhaps from environmental reasons (deforestation, etc.) and perhaps from invasion from Central Asia (Bentley, et.al., pp. 49-50).

By 3000 BCE, Ancient China had developed larger regional states and political/social units called dynasties. Each succeding dynasty took over more and more territory, which allowed for a similar development in Chinese culture. Chinese political orgaqnizations were complex, and based on both the family and socio-cultural unit. Because of the abundance of population working in agriculture, though, they also turned to technological innovations that increased their own power, but also tended to shield them from outside influences. Some of these inventions include: iron casting, the compass, gunpowder, geological mining techniques, mechanical clocks, row farming in agriculture, silk farming and processing, and porcelain. One of the most amazing facts about Ancient China is that as early as 2300 years BP the Chinese had mastered the art of casting large objects in iron, something that was not done to the same level until the 1600s in Europe. This, of course, aided in navigation, cartography, and the ability to establish regular trade routes. Gunpowder developed out of the experiments of Chinese shamans throwing mineral powers into a fire to produce special effects. The Chinese developed a very strong technology of what we would now term geology. In the search for salt wells, the Ancient Chinese developed a technology of driving bamboo poles into the earth, which also tapped natural gas, causing a technology of a new fuel source. Through astrology, the Chinese developed accurate mechanical clocks, and, because of cultural and religious views, was refined (Bentley, pp. 55-59).