What was life like in ancient China?

ancient China can be divided into three stages: primitive society, slave society and feudal society. In these three stages, people's life in each stage has its own characteristics, which are mainly reflected as follows:

1. People's life in primitive society:

(1) It is recognized that the earliest primitive human in China was Yuanmou, about 1.7 million years ago, and the primitive society of Xia Dynasty was established by Yu in 27 BC. Generally speaking, the people's society in the primitive society was more difficult, and * * * worked together and * * * enjoyed the fruits of labor.

(2) The early primitive society was called the Paleolithic Age, and the stone tools were mainly made. People's productivity is low. Living mainly by hunting and collecting wild fruits, the people live a very hard life;

(3) The late period of primitive society was the Neolithic Age, in which grinded stone tools were mainly used. Due to the improvement of production tools, primitive farming began to appear. Therefore, people's life improved during this period, and settled life began to appear. Besides hunting and collecting wild fruits, there is also farming. The most famous in farming are rice and millet. China is the first country to grow rice and millet in the world.

2. People's life in the period of slave society:

(1) The general view is that it was a slave society in China from the establishment of the Xia Dynasty in 27 BC to the Warring States Period. Slave society is more prosperous than primitive society;

(2) In the slave society, the slave owners lived a carefree life, but the slaves lived a miserable life. Slaves have no personal freedom, life is not guaranteed, and slaves can be bought and sold at will. Large-scale collective labor by slaves;

(3) The prominent feature of China's slave society is highly civilized bronzes, which are collectively called "splendid bronze civilization" in Xia, Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties. The famous bronzes in this period include the world's largest bronze ware, Simu Wuding, and the four sheep square statue with strange shapes.

3. People's life in feudal society:

(1) During the Warring States Period, after political reforms in various countries, China entered feudal society. Feudal society has existed in China for more than two thousand years, and its people's life characteristics are the most distinctive;

(2) Feudal society can be roughly divided into two groups: landlords and peasants. Landlords make a living by renting land and collecting land rent, while farmers produce by renting land from landlords. After exchanging land rent, they can get a certain source of livelihood. Therefore, the landlord's life is carefree, and the peasants' life is more difficult;

(3) The economy of feudal society in China was mainly a small-scale peasant economy, with men plowing and women weaving and self-sufficiency;

(4) In feudal society, some people were engaged in commerce and handicrafts, but many rulers adopted the policy of "emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce", so merchants and craftsmen were inferior to farmers in status.

(5) Confucianism has become the orthodox thought of feudal culture since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "ousted a hundred schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone". Therefore, people in feudal society took Confucianism as their own code of conduct, and there were provisions such as three cardinal guides, five permanents, three obedience and four virtues.