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Summary

In this week’s class, we learned about the evolution of communication from 40,000 BCE to 0 BCE. We learned about how people started to communicate with each other with cave paintings, pictographs, and petroglyphs. People would move on from creating paintings to inventing the first form of writing system called cuneiform. Cuneiform was made by the Sumerians when civilization and agriculture developed, and would eventually spread and influence other forms of writing such as Egyptian hieroglyphs and the Phoenician alphabet. These writings would result in the creations of the first laws and stories. Examples include Hammurabi’s Code, Blau Monuments, and the Book of the Dead. People would write on materials that were available to them such as papyrus, clay, bone, or wood. And in Egypt, writing would engraved or painted onto walls for people to see. In Rome, the first typeface called capitalis quadrata and rustica were invented. Branding first made an appearance in this era where bread makers would make their own seal to ensure customers that their bread was high quality We also learned about how writing also evolved in Asia with the beginnings of Chinese characters and how the symbols were inspired by the items in nature. The Chinese writing would influence Korea and Japan and soon, the two countries would develop their own form of writing later on. In Korea, they developed Hangul and in Japan, Hiragana and Katakana. The Chinese would also invent a way to create more paper to write on. Other cultures like the Australian aboriginals would use dots to create a pattern as a form of communication.

Research

For this period, I wanted to research more about the development of theatre in ancient China. Theatre in Ancient China dates all the way back to the Shang Dynasty which existed from around 1600 BCE to 1066 BCE. Originally, theatre performances were mainly done by shamans or priests as a form of a religious ritual. Shamans were seen as a way to bridge humans and spirits together. The shamans would sing, danced, and performed gestures in temples because it was believed that the spirits would enter their bodies and the shamans would impersonate them by performing so that they could communicate with the audience. The priests would also use these performances to ward off evil spirits. Hunting dances also existed and were done where people would impersonate as different animals The rituals would soon become an art during the Zhou Dynasty(1066 BCE – 256 BCE). Chorus dances soon became popular and was divided between men and women. The men would perform wu and the women would perform xi. The dances would incorporate ballet with new costumes. These dances would move away from temples and be performed on stages for people to enjoy. Later on, performances would be about harvests, joy of working, civil and military accomplishments. Items such as wands with feathers, caps with feathers, undergarments, yak tails, and shields were used as a way to symbolise harmony and military merit. These dances would work in a sequence of six ceremonial dances with each promoting a certain idea or representation . Rituals continued to exist but became strictly governed by the ideas of Confucius. Thus, funerals had puppet shows to help the grief and in ceremonies, descendants would show reverence towards ancestors by impersonating as them. These new ritual practices had to coincide with Confucianism’s ideas of filial piety and proper conduct. Monarchs would later hire court fools or jesters as a form of entertainment but also as emotional support and to inappropriately criticise public policy. The Performing arts would continue to evolve and expand later in the Han dynasty and Tang dynasty. The history of Ancient Chinese theatre is complex and diverse but in short, Chinese drama has evolved from being rituals only performed by shamans to communicate with spirits to eventually being about entertainment for everyone and for special occasions.

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