interpreted in many different ways. However, historical writings were
usually written from the perspective of those in power. Significance was
often placed on military adventures, emperors and their courts, and the
ideas and actions developed and determined by the ruling classes. Little
attention was given to the possibility that historical determinants �ame from
I Flanders was a medieval country in western Europe extending along the north sea to the straight ofDover to the mouth of the river Scheidt. Related modern areas are east and west Flanders in Belgium
and. cpnnecling parts of northern France and south·western Netherlands.
the ordinary events, practices and beliefs in the lives of the masses. These historical accounts usually gave a chronological description of events, and from the Han2 times divided history into dynasties and presented a cyclical theme. According to these accounts, dynasties arose when there was a decline in the power and influence of the central authority and a new power arose to form a new dynasty which had a renewed moral imperative. However, Chinese history is predominantly about efforts to maintain stability by sustaining a strong central authority. In .china, there has always been a direct correlation between the strength of the central authority and its ability, especially before
1000
AD, to hold itself together as a homogeneous political entity by resisting the tendency of power to gravitate to various peripheral states (Eberhard1977:
xviii; Reischauer1965: 31-33;
Wiethoff1975:
9-31, 70-110).
2.2.2
Chinese innovation: andThe old feudal structure was replaced more than
2 000
years ago by a bureaucratic monarchy, devised in an attempt to organize central power as a response to the continual undermining of authority under feudalism. This system was developed originally in the peripheral regions of the Chou3 states because these states were in permanent conflict with the 'barbarians' at their borders, and they had to look toward new socio-political ways of surviving. Under the Ch'in dynasty4, centralized power was strengthened further as a harsh response to the constant threat to authority. Through the efforts of reformers in different states, this crude form of bureaucracy flowered which was the prototype of the more complex systems of later dynasties. There were clever amalgamations such as the incorporation of legalist principles with its emphasis on the rule of law and a systematic and pragmatic approach to government, and the more humanistic style of Confucius which emerged during the Han dynasty. There were important innovations, such as the introduction of a civil service apprentice system under the Han and the establishment of regional administration under the2 Han dynasty 202BC-220AD. During the Han era, a version of Confucian ethics gradually supplanted
the Legalism of the previous dynasty, and the beg!nnings of an efficient bureaucracy emerged nearly
2 000 years before such a system was adoRted in the West. This became a mode for later dynasties. The rich landowners became the usua y tax exempt leaders and officia s while reasants paid the taxes. This remained the situation in China until the 20th century.
Chou dynasty: a feudal empire lasting from circa 1127BC-249BC.
4 Ch'in dynasty succeeded in unifying China between 230 or 221 BC to 2Cfl BC for the first time by any vestige of the feudal system and the land into command aries and dismc!s. The
Ch'i� a':1to�atic control proved to be short lived due to its excessive 21
Sui5 administration, which helped strengthen the function of government and therefore the stability of the Empire. The establishment of state monopolies under the Han helped to control the economy and was a forerunner to traditional government intervention in the economy. The re introduction of the examination system during the reign of the Sui was significant because it was the beginning of attempts to separate officials in the bureaucracy
from
the aristocracy. Over many centuries, the Chinese dynastic system fostered inventions as diverse as the iron stirrup, paper, porcelain, printing, the water powered mill, the wheelbarrow, gunpowder, the use of coal, the crossbow, cast-iron, canal lock gates, the compass, and the introduction of the world's first paper money in 1024 (Fairbank and Reischauer 1990: 138). Many treatises were produced on medicine, science, agriculture and philosophy.The rise of the monarchic bureaucratic system is connected to the patriarchal concept of the 'Mandate of heaven', the earthly part of the duality being the 'Son of Heaven', which
is
connected to family structure, lineage and ancestor worship and in tum relates to the land, peasants and agriculture. The principle on which this ethicis
based is that the 'Son of Heaven'has
the right to rule only while maintaining the correct moral stance toward the people. If the incumbent becomes unworthy, then the "Mandate" can be transferred to one whois
more worthy. This remained a basic political tenet throughout Chinese history, and out of this notion developed the idea of an omnipotentcentral
authority, that was refined and adapted for 2 000 years.In
the traditional Chinese view 'man was envisaged as functioning in two spheres within the family (inside) or within the state (outside)' (Dawson 1978: 137). Wiethoff (1975: 133) argues that despite revolts and uprisings in China over the centuries, the reason the culture was able to maintain a cohesive foundation was the 'basic acceptance by every Chinese of the traditional order of things. Rulers and the ruled obeyed the same law'.Filial piety, among other things, is a respectful affection for one's parents, resulting in a respectful attitude towards one's 'big parent', the Son of heaven. Traditionally Chinese culture viewed the family as the basic unit of society and it was the individual's responsibility to support the family. The
Confucian
ideal was to have all the generations of the family meD}bers livingin
the one complex. though this ideal was rarely achieved except by themore affluent groups. Families who were able to maintain extended family relationships were at an advantage because the family was the important economic unit in an agriculturally based society. Because the family was the fundamental economic unit on which society was based, the health and strength of the unit was crucial to the successful running of government.
2.2.4
and theIt was mainly the tax paying peasants in China who not only provided the necessary funds for the running of the bureaucracy and for supporting military operations, but it also enabled the aristocracy to lead leisurely lifestyles. Saywell suggests
(1969: 5)
that it was the creation of the wealthy class of men of leisure during the Chou period, that enabled them to study and discuss ideas on how to unify China. It was from this setting that Confucianism, Daoism and Legalism emerged. China's wealth and culture depended on the ability of farming communities to not only pay taxes, but to feed her sometimes burgeoning population. The fact that the Chinese peasant has been able to do this (with notable exceptions due to famine) for at least4 000
years without exhausting the soil, indicates that Chinese cultivators developed techniques that were not only productive enough to support the population, but were sustainable. Mitchell(1946: 1-3)
argued that the health of a civilization is reflected in the health of the soil and that other civilizations such as Greece and Rome depleted their soils in their decline. He suggests that modem Western cultures are in danger of doing the same. Chinese agriculture was (and continues to be) very labour intensive, and exhaustive methods were used to renovate and fertilize the land. As agriculture developed, the introduction of new technolOgies and seed varieties, and the circulation of agricultural literature was obviously important.However, the meticulous attention to detail in traditional intensive Chinese agronomy resulted in high productivity from sometimes small areas of land. By the Late Chou period texts were being written on intensive farming techniques with attention to fine detail which the Chinese proceeded to refine and broaden. The text 'Jen-ti' (on Land) was one of four sections from the agricultural treatise, LV-shih ch'un-ch'iu. It recommended:
The general principles: the hard soil
will
be made tender, the loosewill
be solidified, the exhaustedwill
be restored, the rested will be put in use, the lean will be enriched, the over rich will be reduced, the hard will be softened, the softwill
be hardened, the dry will be 'moistened, the wet will be dried (Hsu1980: 7).
Chinese methods of maintaining the fertility of the land included removing and replacing subsoil, composting of various materials, green manuring, use of canal and pond mud, oil seed cake production for fertilizer, and the gathering, storage and use of human and animal manure. Since animals have played a minor role in Chinese agriculture, the peasant populations relied largely on human excrement for fertilizer to complement other
manures (Latourette
1967: 492;
Ball1904: 22;
McGarry1976: 150).
2.2.5
Humanexcreta in Chinese
The Chinese are the earliest known users of human excrement as a fertilizer in cultivation, and have been doing so since at least the Shang dynasty
(1700-
1022
BC). Needham(1984: 292)
notes that since the Chinese often do not distinguish between animal and human excrement, there is a character6 in the Shang oracle inscriptions depicting defecation which can be understood as 'manuring the fields'. A Chinese Emperor wrote3 000
years ago in emphasizing the importance of using human excreta as a fertilizer:The inspectors of agriculture
will
see to it that there is not lost or wasted the least molecule, for it is the strength and health of the people. They will have it gathered in vases in which it will ferment during six days, and after that they will use it by placing therewith ten times as much water. For the rice, theywill
spread it on during the growing period, and not before, and as many times as is necessary, but not more, forif
too much is put on it evaporates in theair.
For unflooded lands itwill
be placed at the foot of plants while they are coming up, forif
it were placed between the rows a great deal would be lost. Acting thus with wisdom and economy, littlewill
be spent and therewill
be obtained abundant harvest, and the people will be happy (Cressey1955: 114).
According to Wu Tzu-mu, a Chinese author of the thirteenth century, there were 'swarms of boats carrying away rubbish and night soil' from the city of
Hang-chou to sell to farmers for fertilizer (Elvin
1973: 120).
He laterelaborates:
There is a dense population in the city of Hang-chou; and many families of humble folk who live in the streets and alleys do not have pit-privies. They can only use tubs, which they put outside their door every day to be emptied by other ordure-carriers. Ii' 6 Characters