Research Paper: Explain the Lifestyle of Ancient China

Research Paper: Explain the Lifestyle of Ancient China 

Ancient Chinese people led a simple and undisturbed lifestyle that they valued. The majority of people living in Ancient China had a strict order of life that they followed and had become accustomed to. The Ancient Chinese people believed in order and organized their society based on respect. They had a spiritual connection to life and believed in leading good lives to benefit themselves in the future, after death. 

One major part of the ancient Chinese lifestyle were the daily practices and daily customs which were simplistic and mostly the same every day. Some aspects of the ancient Chinese lifestyle are still the same today however most things that they did are not done anymore due to evolution. Similar to what people today do, Ancient Chinese people lived in small villages, in small round homes built into the ground. In these houses, it was very common for the women to take care of the house while the men worked and earned money. Like Modern-day China, food was a fundamental part of their day to day lifestyle. The principal food was rice, which was eaten in every meal. Since the ancient Chinese believed in a healthy and human way of eating, they practiced vegetarianism and seldom ate meat. Another part of the strong food culture of Ancient China was tea, which was believed to have healing powers and was widely consumed throughout the country. A daily practice that is no longer followed in day to day life is the clothing worn by the Ancient Chinese people. Their clothing was selective based on gender and age but all clothing was made out of hemp. Women and men both wore tunics however women’s tunics were longer than men’s tunics. A well-known practice that all females followed was foot binding, which Ancient Chinese people believed to make females look elegant and “lady-like”. The everyday life of most ancient Chinese people was based around simplicity and was….??

Another prominent part of Ancient Chinese culture was the social structure, which was simply divided into five categories. Unlike today, in Ancient China people based their society on a strict social hierarchy. They believed that a society could not be successful without a strict social order and discipline so they had a system of organization to classify people in their society. Since there was a very strict social order in place, people in each social group knew what was expected of them. The societies were structured so that the Imperial family were the most powerful and the most respected people. After the imperial family, the most respected people were the nobles and officials, the shi, who were people who were close with the emperor or were wealthy. This was a vast group that consisted of the emperor’s relatives, top army commanders and wealthy landowners. Following the nobles and officials were the farmers, the nong, who were poor but highly respected since they fed the population. Although farmers led simple lives compared to some other Ancient Chinese people, they had to work in harsh conditions and were highly respected. Just below the farmers were the artisans and craftsmen, the gong, who were also a mostly poor group but were appreciated for their skills in labor and producing. The least respected people in society were the merchants, the Shang. The merchant class included traders, animal breeders and moneylenders. Despite being a wealthy group, they were still considered the lowest social class in Ancient China. This was because most people thought that they did not contribute to the good of the entire society but instead worked for their own gain. How to end paragraph??

In Ancient China, death and funerary customs were straightforward but different in certain situations. When someone dies, it is believed that they are entering the afterlife. However, if the person did bad things in their lives, they wouldn’t enter the afterlife but instead, they would enter hell. When a dead body is being buried, the relatives would write up a legal contract to purchase the land from the gods because they believed that the gods were the true owners of everything. After someone has died, the relatives would place a white banner over their door to signify that someone has died because they believed that white was the color of respect to show death. When showing respect to the deceased, the ancient Chinese people would never pay respects to anyone younger. For instance, when a baby would die, nobody would pay their respects out loud. How to end paragraph??

In Conclusion, Ancient Chinese people led lifestyles that were straightforward and had no complications. They had many beliefs on certain matters of their lives such as that they incorporated into their daily lives and customs. These strict rules also shaped the basis of the structure of Ancient Chinese society, which was straightforward and followed by all people. How to incorporate the Death and funerary customs?? Overall, the Ancient Chinese people had candid and conventional lives which they led for over 1000 years. Their lives were straightforward and people always knew what was expected of them.