2 The Chinese view of the world
The birthplace of Chinese civilisation was on the North China Plain,
watered by the Yellow River and its tributaries. It was inland and
inward-looking, far from any other centre of civilisation. It was also a
superior civilisation whose fine pottery, bronze metallurgy and inven-
tion of writing clearly differentiated the early Chinese from
surrounding peoples. From as early as the Shang dynasty (sixteenth to
eleventh century BCE), China’s isolation and its sense of superiority
shaped not only Chinese attitudes towards other peoples, but also their
conception of themselves. From this period date key characteristics of
the Chinese view of the world. Among these were a belief that the
Chinese stood at the centre of the universe, that theirs was the ‘Middle
Kingdom’, surrounded in all four directions by less culturally advanced,
‘barbarian’ peoples.
Belief in a powerful protective deity, Shang Di, probably the
original ancestor of the ruling house, encouraged a sense of commu-
nity. Shang Di was never thought of as creator of the world. Rather,
Shang Di presided over organically connected divine and human