2024 Chinese New Year outlook
In order to understand how states are formed, we must first understand the evolution of human society. Human society has generally gone through the development process of nomadic groups, tribes, chiefdoms, and nations.
The evolution of primitive groups to chiefdoms
In the Paleolithic period, humans relied mainly on hunting animals or gathering plant fruits to fill their stomachs, which was an unstable way of survival, so humans had to move constantly in search of new sources of food. In this treacherous natural environment, it is impossible to survive on the strength of one person alone, so others are usually a dozen people working together, sharing the fruits of labor, and living in groups. During the long life of hunter-gatherers, people gradually became familiar with the growth characteristics of animals and plants, so that people began to domesticate animals and plant plants themselves, and gradually entered the Neolithic Age or agricultural society.
The raising of animals and the cultivation of plants provided humans with several times more food than during the gathering and hunting period, so people began to spend more time on raising animals and cultivating plants. Agricultural production required people to settle down, so humans gradually moved away from their nocturnal lifestyle. In the process of engaging in agricultural production, production technology has also been developed rapidly, and pottery making and textile technology used for production and life have also made great progress.
In an agrarian society, a village is basically a family unit, and several villages together form a tribe. In the early agricultural tribes, everyone had the same economic and social status, and the hierarchical differentiation was not yet obvious. After entering the agricultural society, the ability of human beings to produce food has been greatly improved, and the population has also increased, when the food produced by the existing resources in nature cannot meet the needs of population growth, in order to alleviate the population pressure, many mountain residents began to migrate to the two river basins. The soils in the basins have been found to be more suitable for agricultural production, but low-lying areas also suffer from insufficient rainfall and regular flooding. Therefore, in order to cultivate the two river basins, people tried to bring river water into the fields, so agricultural irrigation appeared. With the development of agricultural irrigation technology, productivity has increased once again, and the population has also increased.
At the same time as the development of agricultural production technology, people also mastered metallurgical technology. The first metal to be smelted was copper, which could be turned into a liquid after being heated and then processed into various containers. At the same time, copper can also be used to make production tools, which greatly improves production efficiency.
With the advancement of technology, the productivity increases, and the population grows rapidly. When population pressures cannot be alleviated by the development of new land, resources become even more important. Wars began between tribes over natural resources and food. In frequent wars, some tribes were conquered by others, some tribes formed alliances with other tribes, and the tribes continued to decrease in number and increase in size, eventually developing into city-states. The conquered tribes were ruled by others, and wartime leaders who excelled in the war gained prestige through their victorious experiences and gradually gained power to govern the rest of society.
The evolution of the chiefdom into the state
1. Chiefdoms. A chiefdom is a multi-tribal aggregation organized by political hierarchical subordination under the rule of a supreme ruler, with the chief as the supreme ruler and the tribes governed by a subordinate ruler, so the chiefdom is the beginning of a hereditary period of social inequality. The chiefdom was a society in which there were class divisions in both political and economic status, and the sheikh's absolute control over the armed forces gave the other political and economic positions a clear advantage. The social status of the chief's family members would also increase, and social inequality would become a major feature of the chiefdom.
2. Changes in the three elements of the evolution of the chiefdom into a nation.
The formation of a state must have at least three elements: first, a viable tax system; second, an effective military system; The third is a stable entrusted hierarchical management system. In 2205 B.C., Dayu established the Xia Dynasty, the Xia Dynasty society is still a gathering of tribes, in addition to the direct management of the Xia tribe living in the area, the Xia Dynasty to other places is mainly through the control of some tribes to achieve indirect rule. In short, the Xia Dynasty had a simple power structure, using the primitive taxation method of paying tribute, and its essence was still that of a chiefdom.
In 1766 BC, the chieftain of the Shang tribe of the original Xia Dynasty destroyed the Xia and established the Shang Dynasty. The rule of the Shang Dynasty was similar to that of the Xia, with not only areas under the direct jurisdiction of **, but also areas under the jurisdiction of numerous vassal states. The Shang Dynasty implemented the internal and external service system, the internal service refers to the Wangji region directly controlled by the Shang king, and the external service refers to the Fang state and tribe indirectly controlled by the Shang king, which is specifically divided into four categories: Hou, Dian, male, and Wei, and undertakes the obligations of Wubian, accompanying the king on the expedition, and paying tribute to the king. Although there is some progress compared with the Xia Dynasty, according to the three elements of state formation, it still belongs to the category of chiefdoms.
After 500 years, the Shang Dynasty was destroyed by Ji Fa, the chief of the Zhou tribe, and established the Zhou Dynasty. At the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, the feudal system was implemented, and the areas outside Wangji were divided among the princes. The vassal states were directly subordinate to ** and had equal status with each other. The vassal states undertook the obligations of paying tribute, military security, and obeying orders to the Zhou Dynasty. In addition, the Zhou dynasty also established a large system of officials. Generally speaking, the sub-feudal system implemented by the Zhou Dynasty was much more complicated than that of Xia and Shang in terms of entrustment, and had certain national characteristics.
With the weakening of the Zhou Dynasty, the vassal states began to go their own way, and China entered the era of the "Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period", that is, the era of China's city-states. In the late Spring and Autumn Period, Lu implemented the "initial tax per mu" and recognized the privatization of land, which was the earliest land tax levied in China. In the early years of the Warring States Period, Qin Guo carried out the Shang Dynasty reform, and the specific reform measures involved many aspects such as political system, legal system and taxation system, which made Qin quickly become a superpower and eventually unified China.
King Yingzheng of Qin established the Qin Dynasty, implemented the emperor system and the three princes and nine secretaries system in the first place, and implemented the county system in the local area. In addition, the peasants were registered in the households, and the peasants of each household were burdened with taxes such as land tax, poll tax, conscription, and military service. The Qin Dynasty also had a well-developed military system, and military power was in the hands of the emperor. Therefore, the Qin Dynasty basically met the three requirements of the state, and it can be called the early state of our country.