Ancient China

The customs and traditions established in ancient China still influence the country. Alongside India, Mesopotamia, and Egypt, ancient China was characterized by the rise of urban societies and the development of trade networks with Eurasia, in spite of geographical barriers that were difficult to overcome. Surrounded by vast deserts and daunting mountains, including the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas, China was a relatively remote area whose western border was particularly hard to cross. This geographical position caused China to have less contact with other urban societies of the ancient world. In addition, the country's vastness encouraged the formation of regional allegiances so that local networks developed, hindering the growth of a centralized state and the enforcement of common [Page 31]policies. Rather, the relationship between the different states was characterized by competition and by the presence of closely knit family groups. Social networks were thus heavily influenced by the geographical features of the country. The ancient Chinese, however, also came into contact with Turkish-speaking peoples from Central Asia, an ethnic formation that still exists in modern China in the western Xinjian region. Tibetans, who were mostly herders and subsistence farmers, also began to form their own separate sets of connections.

Although the ancient Chinese had contacts with several other Asian populations because of trade and military conflicts, regionalism was encouraged by the vastness of the land area and by the tendency of the population to inhabit the inland areas rather than the coasts. Naval commerce and contacts therefore did not play an important role until 1000 C.E. The inland river valleys where most people lived were separated by hostile natural features such as deserts, mountains, and swamps, which made communication and contact difficult. The three major rivers that run through China also helped the development of regional loyalties. The Yellow River, the Yangtze, and the West River all flow from west to east and could not be used to link the central, northern, and southern parts of the nation. Different civilizations emerged from these river basins and eventually merged into a more unified Chinese society, dominated in turn by those extended social networks based on kinship, called dynasties. The most influential philosopher of ancient China, Confucius, theorized the importance of social relations to create a stable society.