Shandong History
Edition HistoryEditIntroduction:
View 11 photos, or upload your photo.
Since ancient times, Shandong has been one of the political, economic and cultural centers of China. Early during the Xia Dynasty, in 21st century B.C., the tribes of Dongyi people lived here. The early activity center of the Shang Dynasty (from around 17 B.C. to 11 B.C.), was in Southwest Shandong. During the Spring and Autumn Period, (between 770 B.C. and 221 B.C.), the Qi and Lu states under the Western Zhou Dynasty (from around 11th century B.C. to 256 B.C.), were the largest states in today’s Shandong. Since the two states had exerted a significant influence on the politics, economy and culture in history of China, Shandong is also called Qilu in short. And“Lu” is used as an abbreviation for the province.
Shandong was first used as a geographical name during the Warring States period (475 B.C.-221B.C.).It generally referred to the area east to the Taihang Mountain. The name Shandong was used to describe an administrative area in the Jin Dynasty(1115-1234). In the Yuan Dynasty(1206-1368), the government established Shandong “dao”(an administrative division at that time).In the Ming Dynasty(1368-1644),the government established Shandong “buzhengsi” (an administrative division), forming a territory similar to today’s Shandong Province, and most of the names of the counties were used until now. Shandong Province was formally established in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), its capital was Jinan. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the province assumed its present administrative division after several adjustments.
Historical Figures
Confucius (Kongzi in Chinese)
Confucius, who lived from 551 B.C. to 479 B.C., was born in Changping, Zouyi of the state of Lu in Spring and Autumn Period. His given name was Qiu and courtesy name Zhongni. He is a great educator, thinker in ancient times and the founder of Confucianism
Confucius was born in a time full of chaos caused by war. His life was very hard and poor, what’s more, his father died when he was just a little boy. In spite of the hardships and impoverishment, he was much industrious to seize every minute possible to study. He had obtained a good master of rites, music, archery, driving, calligraghy and mathematics which were known as "Six Skills" in the ancient times. He had his own far-sighted political ambitions and specific ideas of running the government, and he advocates to recover the prosperity of the slavery society at the beginning of the West Zhou Dynasty. He was assured that “Wise person would love other people”, “Do as you would be done by others”. Even though he was anxious to make a full play of his political talents and to realize his great and ambitious political ideals; even if he had held a very high post which was almost equivalent to the prime minister of the Lu State, and at that post, has been in his prime for a short period, his political advices were not put into political practice by the rulers, so his political career was full of unrest and setbacks, this is doomed by the contemporary times and the contemporary society.
The most outstanding achievement of Confucius is in field of education. He had broken the tradition in which culture and education were controlled entirely by the slave owners and the aristocrats. It was he who first set up private school and received students from every walk of life without consideration of their social status. He publicly put forth a slogan “just education, no discrimination”, trying his best to provide people of every social status an opportunity of receiving education. In his teaching, he teaches his students according to their aptitudes, and takes different methods for different people. He pays much emphasis on the dialectic relations between study and thinking, as well as the relation between study and review. He had taught 3,000 students, of whom 72 were the most distinguished, and were called the 72 wisdoms by the posterities. Just because of the inheriting and publicizing of Confucius’s disciples, his thoughts and wisdom as well as his personality not only exerted influence on the contemporary people, but also been handed down to the later generations. What’s more, these disciples have further developed and enriched Confucius’s doctrines and thinking. In this sense, they themselves have played an essential role on the development of early Confucianism and even on the whole process of Confucianism’s development.
Another great achievement of Confucius is that he has organized and compiled many historical records and cultural materials, such as the “Book of Songs” and “Classic of Documents”. Besides, based on the history of the state of Lu, he had edited the first history book of annalistic style---“The Spring and Autumn Annals”. Most of his thoughts, sayings and deeds are included in “The Analects of Confucius” compiled by his disciples or the posterities of his disciples.
Mencius (Mengzi in Chinese)
Mencius lived from 372 B.C. to 298 B.C., his given name was Ke and courtesy name Ziyu. He was born in the state of Zou in the Warring States Period, a famous thinker, statesman and educator. He lived in hardships and impoverishment and his father died when he was still very young. Fortunately, he has received good education from his mother. It is said that when Mencius was a little child, his mother thought the surrounding environment would do no good to Mencius’s study, so she moved their house for three times and finally settled down in a place not far from the school, so that Mencius could be absorbed in his study. “The mother of Mengzi cut the cloth on her loom to teach her son a lesson. Mencius is the second generation of disciple of Zisi, grandchild of Confucius. He paid high respect to Confucius; he studied very hard and industrious. To inherit the career of Confucius is his life-long will, and at the same time, he has made the Confucius’s thinking and doctrines much more developed and popular.
The theory of “ren” (benevolence) is the kernel of Confucianism, but Mencius added to it a second concept—yi, and he attaches more importance to people’s right of survival. Mencius thinks that the power of people must not be ignored, and he advocated that in the Constitution of a state, “the people rank the highest, the land and grain comes next, and the ruler counts the least”. He called for the ruler to lighten taxes and to run the government by “ren” (benevolence). In order to propagandize his political ideas, he had been engaged in private teachings for a long time and had led his disciples touring around all the states to popularize his teachings. Because of the great contribution he made to the development of the Confucius’s theory, he is regarded as the second sage in the Confucian school. Most of his thoughts, sayings and deeds are included in the book of “Mencius” compiled by his disciples.
Wang Xizhi
Wang Xizhi, who lived from 303 to 361 A.D., is the great calligrapher in the state of Eastern Jin, the nephew of Wangdao. He was born in Langya, Linyi, and his courtesy name was Yishao. He had seraved as a general of the right arms force, and an imperial officer in Huiji, and was called “Wang Right Arms Force” by people. After he resigned his official position, he settled down in Shanyin, Kuaiji and was devoted to calligraphy. At the beginning, he studied after a well-known lady calligrapher, Madam Wei Shuo, then he learned from Zhangzhi and Zhongnu. He learned much from the precious calligraphers, absorbing all the strong points of other styles and attaching much attention to create his own style of calligraphy, which is a new flowing and elegant style and has revolutionized the simple style of calligraphy since the Han and Wei Dynasties. His calligraphies assimilate many other styles, and has a quiet beauty. He was especially good at the zheng (regular) style and xing (walking) style of calligraphy which breathed life and motion into the written words, but he wrote with more fluidity and grandeur. Wang Xizhi's style of writing continued to be a dominant influence of Chinese calligraphy. He was highly respected by scholars of all dynasties. His influence was so great that it is hard to say how many calligraphers in history can obtain such a place in art history as Wang Xizhi, so he is known as the Sage of Calligraphy. Original examples of Wang Xizhi’s handwriting are rarely seen today. Most of the works we can see now are rubbing copies of his works by later people. Most celebrated pieces of his calligraphy include “”, “Lan Ting Xu”(the prelude of the Orchid Pavillion), “Leyi Lun” and “Shiliu Tie”. His son Wang Xianzhi is the son-in-law of the emperor Jin Weidi, and had served as the Zhongshu Ling (an official position in the past), so he got the name “Wang Daling”. He is also a famous calligrapher. He learned much from all the other styles of calligraphy, and is especially adept in Xing and Cao calligraphy. He had further revolutionized the contemporary archaic and clumsy style of handwriting, and his style is renowned as the Po (break through) style. Both the father and the son enjoyed a same high fame, and are called “Two Wangs” by later people.
