The concept of a two-tiered society and ancient Chinese history

(Thesis Title: The Concept of a Two-Tier Society and Ancient Chinese History
Thesis Category: Research Note
Word Count: 14755 words)

Abstract: This paper divides human society into genetically encoded primitive society and man-made secondary society. Examining ancient Chinese history through this lens reveals that, unlike other ancient civilizations, Chinese civilization began as a peaceful superpower, building its newly emerging secondary society upon numerous primitive societies. This ensured the long-term stability of ancient Chinese society at the primitive or quasi-primitive society level. This primitive society-style superpower only underwent fundamental change during the Warring States period. In contrast, Western civilization began as a typical secondary society within city-states, following a path of war-driven development. This article rigorously argues for the feasibility of classifying ancient Chinese society into a primitive society, presenting six pieces of evidence, both positive and negative, to demonstrate that pre-Warring States period Chinese society closely resembled a primitive society. It also discusses this in relation to Western civilization. Unlike other social and cultural evolutionary stages, the classification of primitive society and secondary society is based on different levels, much like the distinction between cells, tissues, and organs such as the heart and lungs in the human body—a distinction that is insurmountable and lacks in other social and cultural classifications based on gradual change. This social stratification helps us understand the history of human civilization, especially in explaining different philosophical thoughts between the East and West. The author speculates that the division of labor and connection between the left and right hemispheres of the human brain may be the neurological basis for the construction of secondary societies.

Keywords: Primitive society, Secondary society, Dual structure, Superpower, Humanity

Chinese Society was Essentially Genetically Coded Primary Society before the Warring States Period (476-221 BC)

Summary: All human societies can be divided into genetically coded primary society and man-made secondary society. A study of early Chinese history shows, unlike any other ancient civilization in the world, Chinese civilization started with a super state of the two-level system, namely, the newly emerged secondary society was built on top of numerous primary societies. This system enabled Chinese people to still live in primary or quasi-primary societies after civilization. A broad array of evidences was presented to support this conclusion, and it is discussed in comparison with the Western civilization that started with a typical secondary society of city states. Unlike other sociocultural classifications which are all based on gradual change at the same level, the primary and secondary societies are at different levels. It is part of the seven levels of our biological world: DNA, cells, tissues, organs, individuals, primary society, and secondary society. The left and right hemispheres and their connection in our brain may be the neuroscience basis for the emergence of human secondary society.

Key Words: primary society, secondary society, the two-level system, ancient super state, human nature.

Jaynes argues that the emergence of human subjectivity presupposes language, therefore subjectivity itself is a cultural construct based on language (Jaynes 1976; Li 2008). Following this reasoning, modern humans are also a cultural construct, that is, humans as we are (Yousheng 2008a). This is precisely the understanding of human nature held by many modern sociologists, who believe that human nature is merely a blank slate to be painted on, and that we are, in short, what we make ourselves (Marshall 1994: 227; Wolfe 2001). Xunzi said, “That which cannot be learned, cannot be done, yet exists within us, is called nature. Human nature today can be seen with the eyes and heard with the ears.” Therefore, Xunzi refers to the ability to see and hear as human nature, which is essentially a blank slate. Xunzi also said, “That which can be learned and acquired, and accomplished through work, is called ‘false’,” where Xunzi is referring to the idea of people being human. (Xunzi, “Human Nature is Evil”) Gaozi said, “Human nature is like a willow branch, and righteousness is like a cup and a plate.” (Mencius, “Gaozi Part 1”) Here, Gaozi compares the relationship between human nature and Confucian righteousness to that of a willow branch and a cup and a plate, meaning that human nature is the material for making all kinds of people.

Zhuangzi first proposed the concept of the “True Person,” which later became the goal of Daoist cultivation, inevitably exhibiting an idealized tendency. Zhuangzi’s “True Person” is actually the opposite of the artificial (pseudo) person proposed by Xunzi and others; here, it is called the “Natural Person.” If the Natural Person is still the willow itself, then the artificial person is the cup and plate. The willow in nature transforms into wood in the hands of a craftsman, undergoing the calamity of chiseling, and then becomes utensils like cups and plates. This is a continuous process, but the willow and the cups and plates are things of different levels, much like the relationship between Chinese characters and literature. Similarly, in human history, the evolution from the Natural Person to the Artificial Person may be a gradual process, but the social environments that cultivate the Natural Person and the Artificial Person can exist at different levels. Historical examples of so-called wolf children illustrate that people separated from human social and cultural environments cannot develop into normal individuals, and their behavior can resemble that of wolves, demonstrating the decisive role of social and cultural environments in shaping different individuals.

When we divide human society into genetically defined primordial society and artificial secondary society, we find that they belong to different levels. (Yusheng 2008a) The biological world is divided into seven levels: DNA, cells, tissues, organs, the human body, primordial society, and secondary society. All animal societies belong to primordial society; only humans have built secondary society.

The transition from natural to artificial society is a crucial step in human evolution, significantly impacting the overall evolutionary history, yet it is rarely addressed in modern social sciences. The Wikipedia entry on the evolution of society and culture lists over a dozen periods of human society, none of which relate to the evolution of human beings themselves, reflecting a strong Eurocentric bias in modern social sciences. These periods all focus on a gradual evolution of a single nature; primitive society and secondary society represent leaps between different levels, and their classification emphasizes the impact of this leap on human nature and psychological experience. Cells cannot directly enter the organ level without being separated from tissues. While humanity is capable of constructing secondary societies, the arduous journey of human civilization demonstrates that there is an insurmountable divide between primitive and secondary societies. Confucianism discusses the good and evil of human nature, while Taoism proposes the concept of the “True Person,” indicating that pre-Qin philosophers recognized humanity’s betrayal of its natural instincts. This article intends to first clarify the boundary between natural and man-made societies, and then, based on the unique characteristics of Chinese civilization, deduce that the primary aspect of social life in pre-Warring States China was a natural primitive society, rather than a man-made secondary society.

Primary Society and Secondary Society

If we divide all human societies throughout history into genetically encoded primitive societies and man-made secondary societies, and examine Eastern and Western cultures through this social stratification, it shows that ancient Chinese civilization was based on genetically encoded primitive societies, while the West took the path of man-made secondary societies from the very beginning.

From the definitions, we can deduce many fundamental differences between these two types of societies. The genetically encoded primitive society is the society that humans are born into. Human nature is clearly the pillar of harmony and operation in this society, and human nature itself is sufficient to make it stable. Because it is determined by genetics, there is only one type. Anthropological research shows that this primitive society has about 150 people, based on face-to-face interaction and the principles of equality and reciprocity. Because they are face-to-face and live together day and night, there is psychological and emotional communication between them. At a deep level of psychological and emotional consciousness, the primitive society is a unified whole, and each member is a part of this whole. The primitive society is governed by a leader who does not have the ability to force others to accept his or her will; he can only persuade and comply with the wishes of the masses, which is the Daoist principle of non-action. He had no reliable means of punishing those who disobeyed his leadership.

Since the secondary society is a man-made society, it has a goal, which is the ideological system of the society. Society also has corresponding social constructions that are compatible with this goal. If today’s secondary society is regarded as a society where wealth accumulation is the goal, the degree of wealth becomes the scale of social rewards, punishments and measurement, thus forming numerous classes and strata symbolized by the amount of wealth. Since secondary society is a human creation, it naturally has countless possible forms. A society can only choose one form, blocking other possibilities. In order to prevent members of society from unbridled pursuit of other possibilities, legal institutions of violence such as the military, police, and courts are indispensable. In secondary society, it becomes possible to impose established intentions on others and becomes a necessary means to organize large-scale social projects. In a secondary society, its members cannot communicate psychologically and emotionally with the society. The unity of a secondary society depends on the recognition of the society’s established goals and direction by all its members.

The different mindsets of primitive and secondary societies in perceiving the world, especially the human world, lead to different cognitive paths and outcomes. Primitive societies lack the goals and utilitarianism of secondary societies. People in primitive societies don’t perceive the rabbit they chase as part of the world around them. They observe the world in their leisure time, combining their observations with their own feelings and past memories to form their understanding. Therefore, they see the entire world, including themselves. Just as a two- or three-year-old child might place their small pillow next to their large pillow and say, “The pillow wants to find its mother!”—that is, seeing the large pillow as the mother of the small pillow—this is how children infer the world from their own experiences, and from observing the world, they come to understand themselves—a state of oneness with nature.

Secondary societies have their own purposes, forming ideologies that correspond to these purposes, and individual cognitive subjects are influenced by these social ideologies. The cognitive process guided by these purposes relies on the interaction between subject and object, sometimes leading to situations where the object harms the subject—that is, a betrayal and transformation of human nature itself. Western civilization, beginning with secondary societies, holds negative criticisms of Chinese culture, including: Chinese thought does not emphasize pure epistemological analysis and reflection; the core value of Chinese culture and thought is human relationships; and the Chinese language and script, as the basic material or formal norm of culture and thought, are better suited to lyrical poetry than argumentative prose. (Chen Qiyun 2010) Traditional Chinese visual art depicts landscapes, flowers, birds, and also figures, while Western visual art, from ancient Greece onwards, long focused solely on figures, until landscape painting emerged in the 17th and 18th centuries in two coastal countries: the Netherlands and England. (Chi Ke 1983: 341, 156) This can only be explained by the fact that the tradition of diversity in secondary societies led to war and conflict between people, forcing humanity to focus its attention on the people it was fighting against. The development of modern navigation enabled the Netherlands and Britain to expand outwards, come into contact with other traditional cultures, and have the possibility of escaping the military threat from the European continent by sea. This allowed them to return to the leisurely mentality of prehistoric primitive society and broaden their horizons.

The human brain is divided into left and right hemispheres. Individuals who have half their brain removed in childhood due to illness may have normal intelligence. Because the connections between the two hemispheres are limited, impressions and feelings received by the right brain may need to be encoded before being transmitted to the left brain. The language center is located in the left brain, and rational thinking is also a function of the left brain. The author hypothesizes that the division of labor and connections between the left and right hemispheres of the human brain may be the neurological basis for the construction of a two-tiered society, explaining the different hierarchical distinctions within it. (Li 2008)

The unique characteristics of Chinese civilization

The author has previously emphasized the uniqueness of Chinese civilization to explain why Taoist philosophy only appeared in China. (Li 2005: 2-4; Yousheng 2009a) There are six original ancient civilizations in the world: China, Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, Mexico in Central America, and Peru in South America. Ancient Greece and Judaism were two secondary civilizations that later became the source of Western civilization. Among these eight ancient civilizations, Chinese civilization exhibits many characteristics that are distinct from the others. This article elucidates the uniqueness of Chinese civilization from eight aspects, aiming to explain that it was not accidental for ancient China to form a superpower similar to the United Nations in maintaining peace.

(I) Proximity to the Ocean

When I first conceived of the concept of genetically encoded primitive society and artificial secondary society many years ago, I initially thought of primitive society as living on land, grounded; secondary society as living on the ocean, without land, needing a reference point external to their ships to determine their location. If they wanted to remain stationary, they would anchor themselves to the seabed; if they were on a journey, they would have a destination as a reference. This destination is shared by everyone, and no individual can choose it. Cao Cao, in his poem “Viewing the Vast Sea,” wrote, “The autumn wind is bleak, the waves surge high. The sun and moon seem to emerge from within it; the Milky Way shines brightly, as if emerging from its depths.” When you gaze at the boundless, surging ocean, you feel its magnificent power and the mysterious unpredictability hidden beneath its surface, a feeling that the earth does not evoke. The ocean seems to better inspire humanity’s need for and yearning for a secondary society.

Prehistoric megalithic cultures were mostly distributed along coastlines, as was the case in Europe, and it is said that China’s megalithic cultures were similarly distributed along the coastal areas of Shandong and Zhejiang. It is worth mentioning that numerous islands in the Pacific Ocean are also known for their various megalithic cultures. This seems to be no coincidence. Dragging these megaliths, weighing several tons or even tens of tons, and erecting them, or piling them into commemorative structures, or carving them into statues, would not be an easy task even today. It would require a temporary secondary social structure to coordinate hundreds or thousands of people in a relatively long-term effort.

According to Haviland’s anthropology textbook, of the six proto-civilizations he maps, five occurred in coastal areas, including along the coastline, with the Xia Dynasty of China being the sole exception. The Xia Dynasty was clearly an inland state. (Haviland 2003: 303) The Dawenkou and Hongshan cultures, which may be related to the Shang Dynasty, both bordered coastal areas, and their inhabitants generally had experience with the sea. However, the Shang Dynasty was a later development of Chinese civilization, and we should not include this later development in our calculations. Therefore, the conclusion that Chinese civilization was the only inland civilization is valid.

The civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and India covered vast areas, extending deep into the interior. Secondary civilizations like Judea and ancient Greece were located on the coast and had smaller territories. Similarly, the original civilizations of Central America (Mexico) and South America (Peru) were situated along a narrow strip of land along the coast. One theory suggests that after entering the Americas from Asia, ancient humans migrated south along the coast in rudimentary boats. For example, the Olmec and Maya, among the earliest civilizations in Central America, were located on the coast, while the Peruvian civilization first appeared on the coast, gathering shellfish from the beaches for food. We can say that the ocean played an irreplaceable role in the development of American civilizations. Perhaps this is why American civilizations are known for their megalithic culture: whether it’s the human heads carved from giant stones or the pyramid-like structures built of stone. Whether these structures were built of stone or mud is not important; what matters is that they constructed a tall material idol as a source of social cohesion, making unified action in a secondary society possible. For prehistoric humans, these tall material idols may have evoked similar psychological feelings as the ocean. They developed megalithic culture to express these feelings, which was later used by a minority and led to the establishment of a secondary society.

It is worth noting that the adventurousness of maritime life is something lacking in land-based life. According to Thucydides, a Greek historian who lived in the fifth century BC, after the Minoan civilization emerged on the island of Correia, their kings controlled the Mediterranean around 1600 BC. For about a thousand years prior, pirates and bandits were a serious problem in the Mediterranean region, he said:

“In ancient times, when people learned how to reach each other’s settlements by sea, the Greeks living on the coast and islands, like barbarians, often relied on piracy for survival. They raided towns and villages without walls, sustaining themselves through this plunder. The inland areas were also rife with bandits, a situation that persists in parts of Greek settlement to this day. The fact that people living in inland tribes still carry weapons today is a remnant of this ancient plundering practice. In ancient times, all Greeks carried weapons because their homes lacked adequate defenses, and interpersonal interactions were unsafe.” (Jowett 1900)

The oldest collection of poetry in humankind is the *Classic of Poetry* in China, the *Rigveda* in India, and the Homeric epics in ancient Greece. Generally speaking, these works reflect the thoughts and emotions of ancient peoples. The different frequencies of word usage reflect the different main images in the minds of these three ancient peoples, as well as the different social environments they lived in. The author compiled the frequency of word usage in these three works. To improve comparability, the author used English translations as the standard. The *Classic of Poetry* was used in its entirety, while random sampling was used for the *Rigveda* and the Homeric epics.

The frequency of the word “sea/ocean” is highest in Homeric epics (0.14%, 74/53258), followed by the Rigveda (0.05%, 15/28017), and lowest in the Book of Songs (0.015%, 9/60856). This is directly related to the distance of the three civilizations from the ocean; ancient Greece, located on a peninsula, was closest to the sea. It is worth noting that the English translation of the Book of Songs uses nine words related to the ocean, while the original Chinese text only contains seven instances of the character “海” (sea). Six of these instances mean “distant,” such as in “四海” (four seas) or “海邦” (sea nation). Only one instance might have the meaning of “ocean,” namely the line “沔彼流水，朝宗歸海” (The flowing water of Mianshui flows towards the sea) in the Lesser Odes of the Kingdom. However, the Book of Songs also refers to large lakes as “sea,” so the “sea” in “returning to the sea” could also refer to a lake. The conclusion is that the authors of the Book of Songs may never have seen the ocean and did not understand its true meaning.

The word “god” appears most frequently in the Rigveda (0.87%, 244/28017), while it appears least frequently in the Book of Songs (0.072%, 44/60856). This seems inconsistent with the aforementioned idea that the ocean stimulated secondary societies. However, the frequency of other words suggests that ancient Greek society was more typically a secondary society.

The frequency of the word “battle” appears most frequently in Homeric epics (0.13%, 68/53258), followed by the Rigveda (0.096%, 27/28017) and the Psalms (0.028%, 17/60856). This aligns with the frequency of battles described in the ancient histories of these three texts. Similarly, the frequency of the word “anger” appears most frequently in Homeric epics (0.092%, 49/53258), followed by the Rigveda (0.018%, 5/28017) and the Psalms (0.025%, 15/60856). The frequency of joy (joy/joyment/joyful) was lowest in Homeric epics (0.0094%, 5/53258), highest in the Rigveda (0.14%, 38/28017), and in the middle in the Psalms (0.087%, 53/60856). In terms of the frequency of anger and joy, the ancient Indians exhibited more masculine emotions, possibly related to their emphasis on religious faith and relative peace. The ancient Greeks exhibited more feminine emotions, directly related to their adventurous maritime lifestyle. (Li 2010)

The remaining seven points further confirm the uniqueness of Chinese civilization, but due to space limitations, they will not be discussed in detail here.

(II) The Impact of Nomadic Peoples: Only Chinese Civilization Survived: According to Zhao Lin, the first major invasion of the agricultural world by nomadic peoples occurred from the end of the third millennium BC to 600 BC. Ancient civilizations in Europe, Asia, and Africa were all conquered by these nomadic peoples, with the exception of Chinese civilization. (Zhao Lin 2006: 1-21) According to DeMeo’s research, nomadic invasions caused by similar arid climates and desertification processes also occurred in the Americas. (DeMeo 2004)

(III) Only in the early stages of Chinese civilization was there a more definitive matriarchal society: Wang Yuzhe listed seven detailed pieces of evidence to demonstrate that there was a relatively certain matriarchal society in the early stages of Chinese civilization. (Wang Yuzhe 2004: 75-80)

(iv) Preservation of early human migration: Among the world’s major ancient civilizations, only the ancient Chinese civilization preserved the migration of its early hunter-gatherer ancestors until very late, possibly until the Warring States period. This is in stark contrast to the urban civilization of the West.

(V) According to the author’s research, the bidirectional brain-human phenomenon proposed by Johnny seems to be unique to Chinese civilization. (Li 2008)

(VI) Differences in Water Conservancy Projects: The four ancient civilizations—Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China—all emerged in major river valleys, leading to the understanding of the role of water conservancy projects in the formation of states, i.e., the water conservancy theories that emerged with the development of civilizations. Among the four ancient civilizations, three had irrigation projects, while only China controlled the flooding of the Yellow River. Modern archaeological discoveries show that Central American civilizations, beginning with the Ormec civilization, had irrigation systems; South American civilizations originated from people who collected shells along the coast and naturally did not need water conservancy projects, but later, after the emergence of states, they also had canals and irrigation projects, such as the Inca Empire, which had large irrigation canals. To some extent, among the six original civilizations, China is the only one that did not have major irrigation projects for a long period after the emergence of states.

(vii) The primitiveness of Chinese religious belief culture suggests the influence of primitive society.

(VIII) Chinese civilization appears to be the only civilization without circumscription factors: Carnello first proposed the theory of natural barriers to the development of human civilization, namely the role of circumscription factors in the development of civilization. This theory holds that war is a way to drive humanity to expand in all directions; that is, if you don’t expand further, I will attack you. When humanity has nowhere to expand, the social cause of war-like violence becomes long-term, namely the emergence of the state. Another expression of this theory is that those who want to escape state control and migrate to surrounding areas suffer significant losses, leading to a substantial decline in living standards. People endure state control and the inequalities brought about by the state in order to avoid suffering losses. (Carneiro 1970) The civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and Mexico in Central America were all characterized by irrigation systems. The presence or absence of irrigation could result in agricultural yields differing by several times. However, the Nile River in Egypt was flanked by deserts, meaning those who fled could lose their lives. The Peruvian civilization originated in coastal areas, subsisting on seashelled fish; leaving this environment meant losing their livelihood. Therefore, they all possessed what we call natural barriers. Chinese civilization, however, lacked natural barriers, resulting in constant migrations. Even during the Spring and Autumn Period, vast tracts of wasteland existed between different states. Mencius, during the Warring States Period, advocated unifying China through benevolent governance, an idea that required the free migration of farmers.

The dual structure of ancient Chinese society and its superpower status made primitive social life possible.

From the time of the Yellow Emperor and the Xia Dynasty, China adopted a two-tiered structure, building its newly emerging secondary society upon numerous primordial societies. This social form only changed during the Warring States period. Furthermore, because China was a superpower in the known world, without any equally powerful external states to rival it, this leads to an important conclusion in this paper: the Chinese people during this period still lived in primordial societies, or in quasi-primordial societies similar to primordial societies. The feasibility of this conclusion will be discussed below.

Primitive societies are genetically encoded societies, and unless strongly influenced by external forces, humans have a natural tendency to form primitive societies. The following is a key assumption of this paper:

Under the following conditions, a primitive society or quasi-primitive society will automatically form:

1) The community size is within a few hundred members; if the number of members is too large, the community has the freedom to split in two.

2) Within the community, people interact face-to-face;

3) They had no contact with secondary society, nor were they influenced by its culture or ideas;

4) There are no external forces threatening its survival.

This assumption is derived from the definition that primitive society was a genetically encoded society, and is an inevitable conclusion. The following arguments demonstrate that pre-Warring States period society in my country could satisfy the four requirements of the above assumption. The following is the social model of the entire state during the Three Dynasties period:

The Imperial Family: Quasi-Primitive Society + Scholars

The quasi-primitive society of feudal families + literati

Village Family Primitive Society

According to the definition in this article, the emperor and feudal lords in the above model diagram should be considered a secondary society, forming a dual structure with the village families of the original society. In reality, the emperor and feudal lords still lived in a society similar to the original society because the conditions of the aforementioned important assumptions were met one by one. They were neither influenced by the ideology and culture of the secondary society nor faced any external forces threatening their survival. The following six points are explained in detail:

1) The three levels of families—the emperor, the feudal lords, and the village—all lived in a primitive social structure;

2) The material standard of living of the emperor and feudal lords may have been higher than that of village families, but the one-tenth tax did not change the leisurely and contented lifestyle of village life;

3) Although the emperor and the feudal lords did not live together, they met frequently. The number of the emperor and the feudal lords together was within several hundred, forming a quasi-primitive society;

4) Similarly, the feudal lords and the chieftains of their respective villages formed another level of quasi-primitive society;

5) All the aforementioned primordial societies and quasi-primordial societies handled and coordinated their relationships according to the principles of equality and reciprocity inherent in primordial societies, and their management was based on the management principles of the primordial society leaders;

6) The ideal is to have near-zero administrative management and military conflict at the secondary social level, which is the Taoist principle of non-action.

This primitive, super-powerful society was first established by the Yellow Emperor. The Records of the Grand Historian begins by saying, “The Shennong clan declined, and the feudal lords invaded and attacked each other, tyrannizing the people, and the Shennong clan could not subdue them.” Scholars believe that Shennong likely represents an era, not a specific ruler. During Shennong’s time, agriculture developed, and people lived in a relatively peaceful environment. However, towards the end of this era, due to increased local population density or food shortages caused by natural disasters, violent conflicts erupted continuously, and no one could stop them. According to the logic of the challenge and response by British historian Arnold Toynbee, the capable Yellow Emperor emerged in response to this challenge. His solution was to build a powerful army, conquer the invading Yan Emperor, and kill the rebellious Chi You, thus winning peace and stability for all nations. The Yellow Emperor’s contribution lies in ushering in a golden age in Chinese history, followed by the emergence of figures like Yao, Shun, and Yu, renowned for their virtuous rule and non-interference, demonstrating that the Yellow Emperor’s use of force was for peace. Yu the Great, through his public works project of flood control, further laid the foundation for the institutions that enabled the superpowers of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties to maintain peace. This bears a striking resemblance to the peacekeeping function of the United Nations, whose permanent members are the world’s military powers.

Many Western scholars only acknowledge the Shang Dynasty after the emergence of writing, which does not contradict the argument cited in this article regarding the Yellow Emperor: the philosophical foundation of Chinese culture was laid during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, and the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn period, together with the Zhou Dynasty, functioned as peacemakers. The system of maintaining peace among the superpowers of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties still largely existed, and legends about the Yellow Emperor and Yu the Great were also widely popular at this time. Even though they were legends, they still influenced the philosophical thinking of thinkers at the time because they could believe them to be true; however, the influence of prehistoric facts discovered by modern archaeology is highly questionable if scholars at the time were unaware of them. If humans are a cultural construct, whether the history that people believed to be true in ancient times is legend or reality is like a fiction within a fiction in a novel, with very little difference between them.

The four aspects of social life in pre-Warring States China serve as evidence of primitive society.

The above theoretical analysis demonstrates the feasibility of the main aspects of social life in China before the Warring States period being a primitive society. The following examples, both positive and negative, from ancient China prove that this conclusion is a historical fact.

(i) The early philosophers of the Hundred Schools of Thought lacked an understanding of secondary society.

Most of the philosophers of the Hundred Schools of Thought belonged to the lower strata of the ruling class, giving them the opportunity to understand the upper and lower levels of society. Their doctrines mostly focused on social life and political management. However, the early philosophers of the Hundred Schools of Thought clearly lacked an understanding of secondary society, strongly suggesting that the main level of social life in China before the Warring States period was primitive society.

Confucius and Mencius both said many things that are clearly unsuitable for a secondary society and can only be understood through the lens of the headman management system in a primitive, face-to-face society. Confucius said, “Government is about being upright. If you lead with uprightness, who would dare to be unrighteous?” (Analects, 12:17). He also said, “If one’s conduct is upright, one’s orders will be followed without being given; if one’s conduct is not upright, one’s orders will not be followed even if given.” (Analects, 13:6). These sayings are clearly only applicable to the headman management system of primitive societies. This kind of exemplary politics is limited to social circles involving face-to-face interactions. Leaders in a secondary society need to come up with solutions to problems and provide clear policies and guidance to their subordinates; simply setting an example in everything is not enough. Farmers are idle at least all winter, so how to organize them to pursue public good seems to be a concept completely overlooked by Confucianism. This idea of organizing the people’s leisure time to pursue material civilization is a Western concept, and it seems to be outside the vision of ancient Chinese thinkers.

Mencius opposed unifying the world through wars of conquest, believing that benevolent governance and winning the hearts of the people were sufficient for unification. In a dialogue with King Xuan of Qi, Mencius proposed what modern scholar Li Shen considers the concrete standards of a moderately prosperous society’s economic ideal (Li Shen 2003). Mencius said, “The elderly wear silk and eat meat, and the common people are neither hungry nor cold; yet, there has never been a king who did not rule.” (Mencius, King Hui of Liang, Part 1) Ensuring that the common people do not suffer from hunger or cold, and that the elderly are well cared for, is not difficult to achieve. Many countries and regions have reached this standard, yet unification has not been achieved, nor has war been completely eradicated. Only when material life is guaranteed under the original social conditions, and people are content with a leisurely and comfortable life, can a unified and peaceful state emerge. In secondary societies, there will always be some people who want to exploit the labor of others to realize their unlimited ambitions, and secondary societies provide them with this possibility. In addition, Mencius’s idea of ruling the world through benevolent governance requires the free movement of people, which is only possible under the conditions of primitive societies where there are neither national borders nor the concept of household registration.

Lao Tzu’s concept of “governing by non-action” is essentially a philosophical and idealized representation of the social phenomenon of powerlessness among early societal leaders. In early society, everything followed nature and human nature—this is the essence of “governing by non-action.” It should be mentioned here that Confucianism also advocates governing by non-action. The *Analects* (Taibo chapter) mentions, “Shun had five ministers, and the world was well-governed.” The *Analects* (Weilinggong chapter) records Confucius saying, “He who governed by non-action, was it not Shun? What did he do? He simply sat respectfully facing south.”

In Chapter 29 of the *Tao Te Ching*, Lao Tzu says, “The world is a sacred vessel; it cannot be manipulated, nor can it be seized. Those who try to manipulate it will fail; those who seize it will lose it.” Lao Tzu means that the human world is sacred and should not be altered or possessed. These words describe the aforementioned two-tiered structural system. That is to say, the emperor and feudal lords cannot manipulate or seize their subordinate societies; they cannot control them arbitrarily, nor can they possess them, because there is no absolute authority in the original and quasi-original societies.

The *Book of Rites* records Confucius’s words: “Therefore, strategies are employed, and wars arise from this; Yu, Tang, Wen, Wu, Cheng, and the Duke of Zhou were chosen based on this. This was to demonstrate their righteousness, to examine their trustworthiness, to record their faults, to punish them for their lack of benevolence, to emphasize humility, and to show the people constant principles; those who do not follow these principles will be removed from power, and the people will consider them a calamity. This is what is meant by a state of relative peace.” This means that from the Xia Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty, the world was in a state of relative peace, where the system of rites and rituals examined the right and wrong, trustworthiness, faults, benevolence, and consistency of rulers. Rulers who did not follow these principles were seen as a calamity by the people and would lose their positions. This also illustrates that there is no absolute authority in this system; the fate of rulers is determined by whether the people consider them a calamity.

(ii) Both Taoism and Confucianism take the original society as their ideal.

The first systematic philosophical system to emerge in China was Daoism, represented by Laozi. It was a philosophical summary of the primordial society preserved in the ancient two-tiered structure, a philosophical idealization of that primordial society. It is well-known that Laozi idealized a primordial society of small states with few people. Similarly, Confucianism regarded the era of Yao, Shun, and Yu—a primordial society or one similar to it—as its ideal society. Confucius praised Yao, Shun, and Yu extensively in the *Analects*, and the Confucian doctrine of Great Harmony recorded in the *Book of Rites* further supports Confucianism’s advocacy of the primordial society.

This means that the two earliest philosophical systems in Chinese intellectual history, Taoism and Confucianism, both took their real-world primitive society as their ideal. Lacking firsthand experience of a secondary society, they could not formulate their ideal of one, providing further evidence that pre-Warring States Chinese society was primarily a primitive society. Confucius provided a concrete description of his primitive social system: he opposed executions and litigation, and advocated virtuous governance (Analects 12:19, 13:11, 2:3). Confucius used the Western Zhou society as a model. Both the *Records of the Grand Historian* and the ancient *Bamboo Annals* record that “during the reigns of King Cheng and King Kang, the world was at peace, and punishments were not used for forty years.” This sufficiently demonstrates that Confucius indeed wanted to establish a society without litigation, a society where “victory prevails over punishment,” and this was achieved during the Western Zhou period. Based on the world population of 50 million in 1000 BC and China’s population accounting for 27% of the world’s population in 400 BC (McGoe 2004: 10-11), the population during the Western Zhou period may have been over 13 million. The fact that punishments were not used for forty years can only be attributed to the immense power of human nature and social stability inherent in the aforementioned primitive social system. In human history, a secondary society of this scale, without punishments, or even with milder punishments, would have descended into chaos.

(III) The Five-Rank System of the Xia and Zhou Dynasties was an inevitable result of the primitive social superpowers: a universal vision that equated political territories with cultural dissemination.

Both the *Shangshu* (Book of Documents) and the *Guoyu* (Discourses of the States) record the Five Zones of Authority, referring to them by almost identical names. The Five Zones refer to the division of administrative regions by the political center based on proximity, with the outermost zone called the Wilderness Zones. The *Shangshu* states that the Wilderness Zones were open to all, while the *Guoyu* states that the lords of the Wilderness Zones only needed to pay homage to the emperor once in their lifetime. In short, these were the edges of the superpower, and also the edges of the world in the minds of the Chinese. This illustrates that the ancient Chinese believed themselves to be the sole center of power in the world, representing all of humanity, and therefore they felt responsible for all of humanity—a universal perspective. Their culture should also be considered the original social culture of all humanity, not just a particular culture of a secondary society; only in this way could it truly represent all of humanity. Equating political territory with the scope of cultural dissemination is an inevitable result of primitive social superpowers.

In his pamphlet, *Unification and Division: Revelation from Chinese History*, Ge Jianxiong argues that Chinese dynasties desired the vanity of being the Celestial Empire ruling the world, not actual power. Economically, tribute was not a system of exploitation; the latter was often of higher or equal value than the former. To demonstrate the Celestial Empire’s wealth, granaries were often opened, allowing the recipient to choose freely. This explains the lack of foreign trade records in ancient China. (Ge Jianxiong, 1994) Ancient China’s superpower status was not a trading institution, nor did it conform to the Western concept of a nation or people; rather, it represented a unified cultural system for humanity.

(iv) Ancient China lacked a social mechanism for the operation of a two-tiered society.

In conclusion, ancient China lacked a directional ideological system and corresponding culture for a secondary society. This further illustrates that ancient China lacked a social mechanism to organize the entire society towards a common goal, which refers to objectives beyond the system’s security and stability, such as wealth accumulation and territorial expansion. Security and stability are prerequisites for the existence of any social system and should not be confused with the social goals of a secondary society.

The essence of pre-Warring States China’s state-building lay in exchanging tribute and a tenth of the national rank for the protection of a superpower. This superpower’s protective function relied on a balance of power between the dynasty and the various vassal states, as well as mutual trust in personal interactions. The dynasty was stronger than the vassal states, and the combined power of several vassal states was stronger than the dynasty—this was a balancing system. Human nature, as the primary guiding force for self-adjustment after imbalance, represented the will of the people. This will was not the will of the people as instilled by modern culture, but rather the innate will of the people. Therefore, this primitive superpower possessed the function of ensuring its own security and stability, but it was difficult to accommodate other objectives.

Eyal divides power into four types: social, military, ideological, and economic. He analyzes that all complex societies are backed by military power, but military power has inherent limitations: those who rely on military force are often rebelled against by it—a situation described by the Chinese as “those who play with fire will get burned.” Social power, built on kinship, faces the possibility of constant fragmentation, while ideological power, difficult to monopolize, is also difficult to concentrate, just like social power. Eyal concludes that only economic power can stabilize a regime on its own, and control over economic sources is a shortcut to acquiring the other three types of power. (Earle 2002)

Consistent with Iyar’s assertion, China’s military power was subject to a hierarchical system of checks and balances, capable of dealing with barbarian invasions externally, but lacking absolute power internally. King You of Zhou deposed his crown prince, who then complained to his maternal grandfather, resulting in the fall of the capital and the king’s execution. This demonstrates that the king’s military strength existed within a system of checks and balances.

The culture of wealth accumulation controls the means of production within a social mechanism held by a minority, encompassing the entire social population. Without this existing social mechanism, an individual cannot survive. Ancient Chinese society was different. People’s livelihoods relied on agriculture and hunting; the population was sparse, and there was much wasteland, making absolute land control impossible. Ancient China did not establish a mechanism for controlling society through the control of the means of production. According to Wang Yuzhe’s research, from the Xia and Shang dynasties to the Western Zhou dynasty, the concept of a state existed only as points, not as a whole. Minority ethnic groups were allowed to reside freely between the Han Chinese strongholds under state rule. (Wang Yuzhe 2004: 3-5) Both the Xia and Shang dynasties moved their capitals multiple times, and Chinese agriculture, being extensive and based on slash-and-burn methods, also required constant relocation. The *Book of Rites* (Liji), specifically the chapter “The Great Learning” (Daxue), which appeared during the Warring States period, states, “Therefore, the superior man first cultivates virtue. With virtue, there are people; with people, there is land; with land, there is wealth; with wealth, there is use.” This clearly states that the nation’s revenue primarily comes from the people who support the monarch’s virtuous rule. In the *Analects*, Confucius spoke three times about using virtuous governance to attract farmers from afar to submit. (*Analects*, 16:1, 13:4, 16) This aligns with the aforementioned lack of geographical constraints in China. King Li of Zhou’s consolidation of the mountains and forests into state property may have been an attempt to establish a mechanism for controlling society through the control of means of production, but it resulted in utter destruction.

The conclusion is that ancient China lacked a two-tiered social management mechanism, making it impossible to undertake large-scale engineering projects beyond survival and security, such as the Egyptian pyramids. The military power of the dynasty and the feudal lords was mutually balanced and constrained, while their social power was limited by the free migration of peasants. This can be explained by the limitations on the development of productive forces. Although China had mastered metallurgy at that time, according to the renowned anthropologist Zhang Guangzhi, from the Xia and Shang dynasties to the Western Zhou dynasty, agricultural tools were made from wood, stone, bone, and shell. (Zhang Guangzhi 2004)

Foreign scholar Anderson points out that among the four ancient civilizations, China is an exception compared to the other three: Mesopotamia, Egypt, and India. Its agricultural technology remained relatively simple, close to the Neolithic level; its urbanization was low, and commerce was underdeveloped; it seemed to have never been involved in conquest, diplomacy, or commerce between states, only interacting with neighboring barbarian tribes; the wars that demonstrated its power were only on the scale of Bronze Age chariots, and not very large; slaves were few and used within families, making it impossible to consider it a slave society. (Anderson, 2000) These descriptions also illustrate the lack of an effective mechanism for the operation of a secondary society in ancient China.

(V) Military conflicts in ancient China were similar to violent conflicts in primitive societies, while Western civilization has been a continuously escalating civilization of war from the beginning.

Due to the characteristics of a superpower and a dual-structure society, my country’s long-standing military conflicts possess features reminiscent of primitive social violence. When survival was threatened, prehistoric humans might also attack their neighbors, known as small-scale raids, often driven by hunger. When conflicts arose between two groups that could not be resolved through other means, prehistoric humans also resolved them through ritualistic warfare. This allowed both sides to display courage and emotion; injuries were usually minor, and death was rare. Because violence is not a fundamental aspect of humanity, but rather a peripheral potential that emerges under certain circumstances, hunger and conflict could lead to violent clashes, but they could also be resolved peacefully. Such violent conflicts remain at the level of isolated incidents, constrained by human nature. Therefore, throughout millions of years of human history, these conflicts have neither escalated nor increased in frequency. The renowned historian Huang Renyu described the wars of my country’s Spring and Autumn Period as aristocratic warfare, stating: “Chariot warfare in the Spring and Autumn Period was a kind of aristocratic warfare. Sometimes, both sides viewed it as a competition, with certain procedures for deployment and generally accepted principles for intersections—that is, still bound by etiquette. Self-interest was the general trend at the time.” (Huang Renyu 1989) In short, their wars were also constrained by human nature. The wars of the Warring States period truly possessed the characteristics of secondary social wars. These wars were fought to establish a power politics unrelated to human nature, and were political conflicts caused by different social orientations.

From the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period, the military and agriculture were intertwined; citizens served as soldiers, while commoners did not. The truly regular soldiers were limited to the royal guards, and their numbers were very small. (Liu Baocai, Qian Xun, and Zhou Suping 2001: 74) Chinese historical records indicate that the Shang Dynasty’s replacement of the Xia Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty’s replacement of the Shang Dynasty both occurred when the last emperors lost popular support and faced widespread rebellion. However, accounts of the last emperors’ misdeeds must be understood within the context of the power balance system not allowing for deviations too far from human nature. Because war is constrained by human nature, the victorious side properly resettled the defeated, not enslaved them. The Records of the Grand Historian, in its chapters on Xia and Yin, states that when the Shang dynasty destroyed the Xia dynasty, “Tang enfeoffed the descendants of Xia, and later the Zhou dynasty enfeoffed them in Qi.” When the Zhou dynasty destroyed the Shang dynasty, “they enfeoffed Wu Geng, the son of Lu Fu, to continue the Yin sacrifices and ordered him to implement the policies of Pan Geng. The people of Yin were greatly pleased.”

Western civilization originated from Mediterranean civilization, including the Middle East, North Africa, and Greece and Rome. From its inception, it was characterized by commerce and wealth accumulation. Existing family structures were broken down, particularly in Mesopotamia and ancient Greece, where free individuals formed city-states located along rivers and coasts, becoming hubs for transportation and trade. In this context, war was no longer the violent conflict of primitive societies constrained by human nature, nor a way to resolve disputes on an equal footing; it was driven by the plunder of wealth, resources, and slaves. They typically killed all the men of the defeated nation and sold women and children into slavery. This provided the economic foundation and social mechanisms for the continuous accumulation of wealth and the escalation of war. Ancient China did not establish such a two-tiered social operating mechanism.

Eckhardt recently proposed the so-called dialectical evolution theory to explain the evolution of human civilization. He described his theory as follows: “Dialectical evolution seeks the interrelationship between civilization, empire, and war, such that the interaction among the three leads to positive feedback, causing them to form a constantly ascending and advancing spiral motion. Unless negative feedback is established, causing the three to spiral in the opposite direction.” (Eckhardt 1995)

Eckhard used the frequency of wars as a measure of warfare, the area of empires as a measure of empires, and the number of notable figures included in encyclopedias and textbooks as a measure of civilization. Eckhard called these notable figures geniuses, thus the number of geniuses constitutes a measure of civilization. Eckhard’s research found that the world as a whole, throughout its five-thousand-year history of civilization, has been in a continuously ascending spiral, with only upward movement and no downward movement. Within a single region, there have been both upward and downward movements over those five thousand years. When expenditure exceeds income, this spiral reverses, and civilization declines, manifesting as decentralization, feudalization, and invasion by foreign powers. Eckhardt found that in the spiral ascent of all civilizations, not only did civilization, empire, and war rise simultaneously, but this also led to an expansion of social inequality, manifested in slavery, the caste system, class differentiation, and social hierarchies. (Eckhardt 1995)

This doctrine can be verified by the words of the ancient Greek scholar Heraclitus (c. 540-470 BC), who said, “War is the father of all things, war is the king of all things. War makes some gods, some men; some slaves, some free men.”

Eckhard’s theories are suitable for my country’s Warring States period, but not for the situation before the Warring States period, nor for the world after the founding of the United Nations. Scholars studying Chinese warfare between 2700 BC and 722 BC have found that China was unusually stable during this period compared to other eras and regions, with a level of stability similar to that of the modern world during the Cold War era after World War II. (Cioffi-Revilla and Lai 1995) The unprecedented technological prosperity and the emergence of numerous geniuses after World War II were not accompanied by an escalation of warfare.

Lao Tzu said, “Weapons are inauspicious instruments, not the instruments of a gentleman. They are used only as a last resort, and tranquility is paramount. Victory is not beautiful; those who find beauty in it delight in killing. He who delights in killing will not gain the support of the world.” “When many are killed, mourn and weep; treat victory in battle with funeral rites” (Tao Te Ching, Chapter 31). Lao Tzu here views victory in war as a bad thing because both sides have died, and it should be handled with funeral rites. No country in later civilizations has ever used funeral rites to celebrate victory in war. If a country insisted on doing so, its army would lose its direction, the people would oppose it, and it would only collapse amidst widespread opposition. Lao Tzu’s ideas on warfare are only applicable to primitive societies.

(vi) Confucianism’s doctrines of benevolence and righteousness, along with its system of rites and music, are extensions of the original social management system rather than evidence of the emergence of a secondary society.

If we consider Confucianism and Taoism as a way of life, neither Confucianism nor Taoism alone can encompass the culture of China over thousands of years. Only the complementary relationship between Confucianism and Taoism represents the mainstream direction of Chinese culture. As philosophies, Confucianism and Taoism emerged during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, but as a way of life and social trend, the idea of mutual complementarity between Confucianism and Taoism existed from the very beginning of Chinese civilization.

Confucianism centers on the doctrines of benevolence and righteousness. These doctrines were commonly used in early societies when they faced hardship and division, though they might not have been explicitly called benevolence and righteousness. They did not impose the power of social unity on any individual; they simply used terms like benevolence and righteousness to remind people, hoping they would not split apart.

Modern people, having experienced a secondary society, have lost the ability to perceive the psychological and emotional impact of such words. The reactions of ancient, primitive societies to these words were fundamentally different from ours. A superficially similar situation is this: a two- or three-year-old child is naughty, and after repeated reprimands, the parents call out, “Don’t you want Mommy anymore!” The child immediately stops being naughty. It is said that a six-month-old baby, when excited about receiving a new toy, will constantly exchange glances with their mother to achieve emotional and psychological communication. The mother represents the child’s deep-seated, holistic social interaction, something the child cannot relinquish.

Rural life in China most closely resembles the ideal of early Daoist society, and in some areas, clans and patriarchs still exist. The patriarch no longer has the power to convene clan meetings; instead, he fulfills his role through negotiation and expressing his opinions. When internal conflicts escalate to the point of affecting clan unity, the patriarch speaks to both sides through relatives and friends. The first instruction is to have a conscience—the meaning of Confucian benevolence. If this is ineffective, the second instruction is to be worthy of one’s ancestors. Ancestors represent the entire clan—the essence of Confucian righteousness. In short, even without a secondary social management mechanism, people still appeal to human conscience to maintain social unity and stability.

In primitive societies where language and social institutions were underdeveloped, ritual and music served as a system for social communication and integration. Like language, ritual and music were an expressive system with an inherent structure, not necessarily involving the use of language. Compared to law and language, ritual and music were richer in emotional and psychological communication. All primitive societies had their own systems of ritual and music, which played a vital role in social functioning. Only with the increasing maturity of secondary societies today have these systems, along with religious life, become secondary. Confucianism’s emphasis on both benevolence and righteousness, along with its emphasis on ritual and music, reflects the shared ideal of primitive society in both Confucianism and Taoism, and Confucianism’s approach of using primitive society as a model for governing secondary societies.

The Confucian system of rites and music is itself an institution of a secondary society, but it retains characteristics of primitive society. The ritual and musical behaviors of primitive society can be seen as a holistic expression and exchange of the deep-seated psychological and emotional levels of that primitive society, just as people laugh when they are happy, and laughter is contagious, causing those around them to laugh as well. The Confucian system of rites and music adapts to the needs of social stability and also contains elements of human self-expression. As Confucius said, “One is inspired by poetry, established by rites, and perfected by music” (Analects, 8:8). This means that the emotional expression inspired by poetry becomes rites and music, that is, the system of rites and music is seen as a way of expressing emotions. This is the thinking of primitive society, which differs from that of secondary society. The rites and music of primitive society primarily aim to please human nature, while the rites and music of secondary society primarily aim to maintain social order. This should not be confused with religious rituals and music. Humans have an innate need for the integrity of the original social and psychological level, and religion today has the function of compensating for and catering to this need.

V. Conclusion: Historical Impact

After the bloody ravages of the Warring States period, farmers had nowhere to escape, and the state no longer needed to attract farmers to its rule through benevolent governance, as Confucius had suggested. The social model of this original, superpower-like society transformed into:

The Quasi-Primitive Society of the Imperial Family

Secondary society of bureaucrats and reserve intellectual groups

Village family quasi-primitive society

The main difference between this social model and the aforementioned two-framework social model lies in the disappearance of the central vassal states, replaced by a bureaucratic and reserve scholar group. According to data provided by John King Fairbank, the vast Qing Dynasty employed fewer than 20,000 officials, but had a reserve scholar group of 1.25 million who had obtained official titles through the imperial examinations. (Fairbank 1995: 105) After Emperor Wu of Han, Confucianism became the official ideological system, complementing the Daoist school of thought, and it still appeared as a unified culture of humanity. The hundreds of millions of peasants, just as in the previous social model, paid taxes in exchange for a guarantee of peace and stability. The original social system, rooted in natural human nature, possessed a powerful appeal to humanity, which is the source of its strong inclusiveness and integrativeness, and the fundamental reason for the continuous development of Chinese civilization. A change of dynasty is merely a change of the imperial family, and it simply involves selecting one or two thousand officials from the same pool of potential scholars.

The fact that this system has remained unchanged for thousands of years implies a weak secondary social structure and middle class. The ancient Greek city of Athens, with a population of only a few hundred thousand, possessed a well-developed secondary social system that enabled it to mobilize the wisdom and strength of all classes, maximizing the energy and time of its members. This allowed it to accumulate vast wealth in a short period, build a powerful navy, erect magnificent temples, and create a profound and sophisticated philosophy and culture. For thousands of years, China has not established a similar massive secondary social system as ancient Greece. This had a significant impact on the development of material civilization, but a negligible impact on the development of spiritual and cultural values.

Due to the insufficient development of the secondary social operating mechanism, large-scale projects such as the construction of the Great Wall and the excavation of the Grand Canal relied entirely on administrative orders, leading to operational failures and the sudden collapse of the Qin and Sui dynasties. Historical records show that both the reigns of Empress Wu Zetian and Emperor Wu of Han saw more than half of their population flee to other places without collapsing, which similarly illustrates the lack of a balancing mechanism at the secondary social level.

The insurmountable historical influence between primitive and secondary societies is more evident from the perspective of humanity as a whole, although China is included, but not a typical example. Prehistoric humans, like animals, lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Women carried their children on foot, resulting in a lactation period of three to four years. Furthermore, a high-protein diet was not conducive to fat storage, and low-fat diets and lactation were natural mechanisms that limited the frequency of pregnancy. The emergence of agriculture ten thousand years ago marked the beginning of human civilization, leading to local population increases and the development of secondary societies. Humans began building altars, and megalithic cultures appeared along the coast. The invention of agriculture led to a high-carbohydrate diet, and the lack of childcare shortened the lactation period, resulting in a dramatic increase in the birth rate. However, large-scale infectious diseases, such as smallpox, caused by human-livestock contact persisted for tens of thousands of years, only being controlled by advanced medical science in modern times. As mentioned above, five thousand years of civilization is a history of escalating warfare. Under the supervision of the leisure class, people worked day and night to support the war effort, and those wiped out by war were not necessarily genetically or culturally inferior. On the contrary, they were misled by inherent human conscience and simply didn’t have time to betray their humanity before death. The agricultural revolution and the establishment of Middle Eastern states in human history were accompanied by a shortening of human lifespan. Before the invention of agriculture, humans, like other animals, did not labor. After the invention of agriculture, they began to labor, resulting in increased population but also the deaths of children due to infectious diseases. After the emergence of civilization, people worked day and night to support an even larger population, leading to the deaths of adults due to war and disasters. Thirty thousand years ago, the average height of men was 177 cm and women 165 cm, while in the 1960s, the average height of American men was 175 cm and women 153 cm. (Harris 1977: 14) The gap between primitive society and secondary society is insurmountable; civilized humanity is caught in the chasm between them, engaging in a futile struggle. If modern people pursue personal happiness, the doubling of suicide rates in North America in the 20th century sufficiently illustrates that, from an individual perspective, humanity is still engaged in a futile struggle. This is akin to the axe-cutting disaster that Gaozi described before the willow tree was transformed into cups and plates, something that was difficult to avoid. No other social classification can explain the insurmountable chasm of disaster.

Under the onslaught of Western civilization, Chinese civilization has suffered repeated defeats since the Opium Wars; even the name “Republic” is a concept from Europe over two thousand years ago. Humanity is beginning to recognize the value of non-Western civilizations. The fundamental differences between primitive and secondary societies lead to differences between East and West in philosophical thinking and cultural arts, and these differences can all be explained by the distinction between primitive and secondary societies. The value of Chinese civilization lies in its demonstration of the power and charm of primitive society, perhaps pointing humanity towards a new direction for social thinking. (Yousheng 2008b, 2009b)

Bibliography

Wang Yuzhe, Ancient History of China, 2004, Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House.

Anderson/Sheng Qinwenzhong (translators), 2000, “The Origins of Ancient Chinese States”. Twenty-First Century, Issue 58, April 2000.

Li Shen, “Five Thousand Years of Xiaokang History”. Southern Weekly, January 19, 2003.

Yu Sheng (2008a): “A New Perspective on Examining the Differences Between Eastern and Western Cultures.” *Xue Deng* (Learning Lamp), Issue 7. www.confucius2000.com

Yu Sheng, 2009a, “On the Uniqueness of Chinese Civilization.” *Xue Deng* (Learning Lamp), Issue 9. www.confucius2000.com

Yu Sheng, 2008b, “The Five Mourning Degrees System and Early Literary Thought in the East and West.” *Xue Deng* (Learning Lamp), Issue 8. www.confucius2000.com

Yu Sheng, 2009b, “Differences in Eastern and Western Artistic Thought as Seen Through the Different Attitudes of Confucius and Plato Towards the Art of Poetry.” *Xue Deng* (Learning Lamp), Issue 11. www.confucius2000.com

Chen, Chi-Yun, 2010, “On the Future of Confucianism from Huntington’s Perspective on Civilizational Consciousness.” (Confucius2000 Website: http://confucius2000.com)

Translated by McGuire and Jia Lei et al., 2004, Five Centuries of Civilization. Jinan: Shandong Pictorial Publishing House.

Zhang Guangzhi, 2004, “On the Origin of Chinese Civilization”. Cultural Relics, No. 1, 2004, pp. 73-82.

Huang Renyu, 1989, “Talking about History on the Banks of the Hudson River”. Taipei: Times.

John King Fairbank, translated by Xue Xuan, 1995, *John King Fairbank on China*. Taipei: Zhengzhong Book Company.

Zhao Lin, 2006, Clash of Civilizations and Cultural Evolution. Beijing: Oriental Press.

Ge Jianxiong, 1994, *Unity and Division: Revelation from Chinese History*. Beijing: Sanlian Bookstore.

Liu Baocai, Qian Xun, and Zhou Suping, *Chinese History: Pre-Qin Period*, 2001. Beijing: Higher Education Press.

Chi Ke, 1983, A Brief History of Western Art. Beijing: China Youth Press.

Carneiro, Robert, 1970, “A Theory of the Origin of the State h. Science, 169:733-738.

Cioffi-Revilla, Claudio and David Lai, (1995): “War and Politics in Ancient China, 2700 BC to 722 BC: Measurement and Comparative Analysis”. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 39:467-494.

DeMeo, J., 2004: Saharasia. Orgone: Orgone Biophysical Research Lab.

Earle, Timothy, 2002, “Political Domination and Social evolution”. p940-961.

In Tim Ingold eds, Companion Encyclopedia of Anthropology,

London and New York: Routledge.

Eckhardt, William, 1995 gA Dialectical Evolutionary Theory of Civilizations,

Empires, and Wars h. p75-108. SK Sanderson, eds., Civilizations World

Systems Studying World-Historical Change, Walnut Creek, USA:

AltaMira Press, 1995.

Harris, Marvin, 1977, Cannibals and Kings. New York: Random House.

Haviland, William, 2003, Human Evolution and Prehistory. Belmont, USA: Wadsworth.

Jaynes, Julian, 1976, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the

Bicameral Mind. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.

Jowett, Benjamin, 1900, Thucydedes. Second edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Li, You-Sheng, 2005, A New Interpretation of Chinese Taoist Philosophy. London, Canada: Taoist Recovery Centre.

Li, You-Sheng, 2008, gJulian Jaynes’ Theory of the Bicameral Mind and Different Pathways Leading to Subjective Consciousness in Human History h.

(website: http://taoism21cen.com)

Li, 2010: All the poems studied are in English translation. A full text was used for the Book of Poetry but a random selection of 94 out of 1026 hymns was used for the Rig Veda and a random selection of five out of 24 books for the Homer fs epics: Iliad and Odyssey. Their sources were as follows:

a). Book of Poetry: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/chinese.

b). Rig Veda: http://www. sacred-texts.com/

c). Iliad and Odyssey: http://www.sacred-texts.com/

Marshall, G., 1994, The concise Oxford dictionary of sociology: human nature.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wikipedia, 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org.

Wolfe, A., 2001, “Human nature” in Encyclopedia of Sociology. p1233-36.

New York: McMillan Reference.