025 - Life in the Early Han
To understand all of the issues the Han would face, we must understand China and the Han Dynasty at a societal level. Confucianism is ushered back in, but what were the social classes? What was life like? How was the military comprised? Find out the answers to those questions and more on this weeks episode.
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Confusing? Yes. Remember, social classes where not entirely indicative of wealth. A merchant was much more likely to accrue more wealth than an artisan, but alas, they were viewed as lesser. This image is a bit harsh in putting peasants above artisans, though again there are three factors at play: The way society viewed them, legal freedoms they had, and the power/money they had.
Modern map of the Han Dynasty palace
Liubo game board.
The Han Dynasty was well ahead of its time. Besides inventing Paper, Seismograph, Blast Furnace, Suspension Bridges, and other world changing things, the Han farmers were using the Moldboard Plow to farm. “The tool had a central piece that ended in a sharp point, and wings to push the soil away and reduce the friction. The new plow helped the Chinese practice contour plowing, in which they followed the shapes of the hills, to reduce soil erosion.”
Map of the early Han Dynasty.
Han-era sculptures playing Liubo
Regarding Liubo:
“Liubo which literally means “six sticks” was commonly played by two players. The most complete description of the rules of Liubo occurs in a quotation from the lost Book of Ancient Bo in a commentary by Zhang Zhan to the Book of Liezi that was written during the Jin Dynasty (265–420). According to these indications each player had six game pieces with which one was making moves on a square wooden board with inscribed symmetrical patterns. The six sticks were used in order to determine which move to be made, and had the same function as dice.
It is commonly held that the game had its origin in 1000 BC and reached its biggest popularity during the Han Dynasty. However, its playing was not always approved by authorities in the Chinese tradition. Thus Confucius was one of the people who did not approve of Liubo. According to the Kongzi Jiayu (the Family Sayings of Confucius) he stated that he would not play the game because it promoted bad habits.”