Tonight’s reading club officially begins. Tonight, we start discussing Chinese ancient history. While world history is certainly important, Chinese history is even more so. Many people do not understand Chinese history; they only know Greece and Rome, but not China, so it is still necessary to study it. Moreover, Chinese history, from primitive society onwards, is full of struggles; everywhere is conflict.
\n\n# Part One: Primitive Society (600,000 years ago to 4,000 years ago) · Chapter One: The Beginning of Chinese History · Section One: Ape-man Stage (Emergence of Primitive Humans)
\n\nChina is one of the earliest places in the world where civilization arose, and also one of the earliest places where ape-men and primitive humans appeared, with human society existing long ago. Our great motherland has a long history and culture, and is one of the cradles of human civilization. Chairman Mao said: “Since ancient times, our Chinese ancestors have worked, lived, and multiplied on this vast land.” Humans evolved from ancient apes. About 15 to 10 million years ago, along the Afro-Asian route, an ancient ape called Ramapithecus, which had diverged from the ape lineage, lived. Ramapithecus fossils have been found in Yunnan, northern India, and Kenya.
\n\nTherefore, it is sad to say that all human races originated from the East African Great Rift Valley. Ramapithecus appeared in various places very early; it is impossible to say it only appeared in Africa and then evolved from there. Moreover, this species existed worldwide, and due to different environments and rates of evolution, their development varied. I am actually very opposed to the idea that all human origins come from one place, as it promotes racial superiority theories. It is clear that the civilizations of Eurasia and Africa are more advanced than those of the Americas, and the Americas are more advanced than Australia, which is the most backward. Why? Because Australia has fewer people, fewer conflicts, and less struggle. This fully proves that humans on all continents are progressing simultaneously. Some apes and some humans work harder and develop faster; others do not work as hard and develop more slowly. Humans can migrate, but they are not necessarily produced only from one place. If humans could only originate from one place, then other places could not produce humans. Why can’t other places produce humans? What are the reasons? Why are some humans unable to evolve? These are impossible questions to answer.
\n\nThese ancient apes, in a semi-upright posture, had upper limbs slightly longer than lower limbs, but their upper jawbones and teeth had already become very similar to those of apes, mainly feeding on fruits, roots, and small animals. The further development of Ramapithecus was Australopithecus, which lived in the last few million years. Its brain volume was larger than that of modern apes, and it could walk upright. Its limbs were comparable to humans, and it could use sticks, stones, and bones as tools. Fossils of teeth and lower jawbones similar to Australopithecus have also been found in Guangxi and Hubei. This clearly indicates that, in ancient times, on our vast land, the natural evolution from ape to human had already begun, marking the dawn of human history.
\n\nSo how did apes evolve? It was through labor.
\n\nIn the process of evolution from ape to human, labor played a decisive role. According to the more than ten early human fossils discovered in China, the earliest can be traced back over 600,000 years. These primitive humans, based on their physical and morphological development, transitioned from ape-men to archaic humans, and then to modern humans. There are different terms for these stages: archaic humans are also called early Homo sapiens, and modern humans are called late Homo sapiens. All these stages have yielded representative fossils and rich cultural relics, revealing the general appearance of early primitive society in China.
\n\n1. Lantian Man
The fossils of ape-men discovered in China include Yuanmou Man from Yuanmou, Yunnan; Lantian Man from Lantian, Shaanxi; and Peking Man from Zhoukoudian, Beijing. The upper jaw fossil of Yuanmou Man was found in 1965 in Shangna Bang, dating approximately 600,000 to 500,000 years ago. Lantian Man, also about 600,000 to 500,000 years old, is among the earliest primitive humans with relatively abundant fossils. From 1963 to 1964, Chinese archaeologists found a complete lower jaw and most of a skull in Lantian, Chenjiawo, and Wangling. In 1966, some stone tools from the same period as ape-men were also discovered.
\n\nMany archaeological findings from primitive society were made during the Cultural Revolution, which was the golden age of archaeology. Because at that time, there was a need to study social history, and excavating these relics helped understand the evolution of China’s primitive society. Unlike now, after the restoration of capitalism, large-scale excavations have often damaged ancient artifacts, which is a catastrophe for Chinese culture. The bourgeoisie’s hired intellectuals viciously attacked the Cultural Revolution as destructive to cultural relics. In fact, the most destructive period for relics was after Deng Xiaoping took power.
\n\nIn terms of physical morphology, Lantian Man’s brow ridges are large and robust, the forehead is distinctly receding, the skull wall is very thick, and brain capacity is small, about 780 milliliters. The chin protrudes. These features show that it is more primitive than Beijing Man. The stone tools made by Lantian Man had a low utilization rate of quartzite and were processed by percussion. Compared to Beijing Man’s stone tools, there are still some differences.
\n\nBut from here, we can already see human superiority over other animals. Even dinosaurs, like Tyrannosaurus rex, which weighed ten tons, had a brain capacity of only 300 milliliters. When humans had not yet evolved into modern humans, their brain capacity was already 780 milliliters. Modern human brain capacity is about 1,400 milliliters. Dinosaurs had brains about the size of walnuts, but humans have brains the size of basketballs. This explains why humans are the most intelligent beings. Humanity is noble among all things in heaven and earth, and humans are noble among all creatures. With humans, all miracles are possible. Dinosaurs are actually useless and very stupid.
\n\nWith humans, history begins. The archaeological discoveries of Yuanmou and Lantian Man opened the chapter of human history in China and provided important clues for materialist theories of human origins. They convincingly refute various imperialist and social imperialist claims about “racial superiority of the Chinese race.”
\n\n2. Culture of Peking Man
Peking Man’s site at Longgushan, Zhoukoudian, southwest of Beijing, is the hometown of China’s ancient humans and a famous home of ape-men. Peking Man left behind a rich cultural heritage here. The deposits in the cave are 140 meters wide, 42 meters long, and over 40 meters thick, and have not yet been fully excavated. It is a treasure trove of ancient world culture.
\n\nPeking Man fossils date from about 500,000 to 400,000 years ago. Short-term excavations began in 1921, and large-scale excavations started in 1927, during which a molar was discovered. Based on its shape, it was named Chinese Peking Man, or simply Peking Man. By December 1929, the first complete skull was found, laying a solid scientific foundation for Peking Man studies. To date, six skulls, many skull fragments, facial bones, jawbones, and limb bones, as well as over 150 teeth from more than 40 individuals, have been found in the cave. Among these, the skull discovered in 1966, including the frontal and occipital bones, is the most important specimen of Peking Man fossils since the founding of the People’s Republic.
The richness of Peking Man fossils is rare in the world. From these fossils, we can see the basic physical features of Peking Man. The skulls are somewhat more primitive than modern humans but more advanced than modern apes. The forehead slopes backward, unlike modern humans. The brow ridges are thick and connected across the midline, but lower than those of modern apes. The face of Peking Man is not as protruding as that of modern humans, but it has receded noticeably, leading to the appearance of a chin.
The top of the Peking Man skull has a prominent sagittal crest. The average skull thickness is 9.7 mm, about twice that of modern humans. The brain is small and flat, with simple wrinkles, but much more advanced than that of modern apes. The average brain volume of Peking Man is about 1,075 milliliters, approaching the modern average of 1,350 to 1,400 milliliters, while modern apes have only about 415 milliliters. The face of Peking Man is short and broad, with a wide, flat nasal bone and forward-projecting cheekbones. The incisors are shovel-shaped, characteristic of modern Mongoloid races. The molars are enormous, with both the crowns and roots thicker and more complex than those of modern humans, features close to apes.
Estimated height of Peking Man is about 1.56 to 1.57 meters, similar to the average height of modern northern Chinese. The femur’s shape, size, proportion, and muscle attachment points are similar to those of modern humans, but still retain primitive features. For example, the upper half of the femur has an inward bulge, and the front edge of the tibia is rounded and blunt. Internally, the marrow cavity is small, and the cortical wall is thick, similar to apes.
At that time, men and women had the same height. Today, the height difference between genders has become larger. In the past, it was about 1.56 to 1.57 meters; despite modern nutrition, many women are still not as tall as 1.56 to 1.57 meters.
The upper limb bones of Peking Man, including humerus, clavicle, and lunate, are more developed than the lower limb bones. The short humerus compared to the femur indicates that Peking Man was already accustomed to upright walking, using both hands freely for labor, very similar to modern humans. A large amount of material proves that Peking Man’s physique already had the basic features of humans, but the development of different parts was unbalanced. The reason for this imbalance is that, during evolution from ape to human, different organs evolved at different speeds depending on their functions in labor.
This is a normal phenomenon. Because the hand is the organ of labor, and the hand and upper limb parts are most directly and closely related to labor, they developed the fastest and earliest toward modern humans. Similarly, after division of labor between hands and feet, the lower limbs specialized in supporting walking and movement, playing an important role in physical labor, and thus evolved more rapidly. Unlike the lagging skull structure—head bones—this allowed the evolution of advanced hands, then feet, and finally the brain.
Over a hundred years ago, Darwin used the principles of biological evolution to refute the myth of divine creation of humans, demonstrating that humans and apes are very similar in embryonic development, body structure, and physiological features, sharing close kinship. However, Darwin and his school did not recognize the role of labor in the transition from ape to human, nor did they understand the essential differences between humans and animals. The question of human origins was only fundamentally addressed after Engels proposed the great theory that “labor created humans themselves,” laying the foundation for dialectical materialist theory. The discovery of Peking Man is a scientific testament to the materialist theory of human origins.
Therefore, apes everywhere can evolve toward humans. The process of evolution from apes to humans everywhere is a process of labor and self-transforming labor. Primitive apes initially moved underground, using natural sticks and stones to hunt and resist predators. With accumulated experience and mental processing, they developed conscious activity, began making tools, and experienced a qualitative leap from ape to human. The key sign of human emergence is consciousness. The hallmark of consciousness is labor—activity through which humans consciously transform the objective world. What kind of labor, what kind of human activity, was the earliest? It was the activity of making tools. True labor begins with tool-making. With these primitive tools, through continuous active transformation and improvement in labor practice, and the accumulation of experience, our ancestors gained the means to struggle against and transform nature, gradually breaking away from the animal kingdom.
In the caves inhabited by Peking Man, a large number of primitive chipped stone tools have been found. The raw materials mainly include quartzite and sandstone, with some flint and crystal. Most of these stones were collected from riverbeds. The method of tool-making involved striking river cobbles with force to remove rounded edges caused by river friction, creating thin blades suitable for smashing animal bones and cutting meat—these are percussion tools. Another method involved smashing hard stones like quartzite into fragments, producing sharp blades for cutting animal skins and flesh—these are scraping tools. The quartzite used was difficult to break; Peking Man discovered a special method: placing the stone on a large stone anvil, gripping it with one hand, and repeatedly striking with a hammer to peel off flakes from the core. These flakes are mostly elongated with sharp edges on both ends, making them convenient to use.
This means that rounded edges are protrusions that are useless. Only by fighting against the old form, breaking it, and creating new forms can the stone become useful. Rounded stones are waste; only through struggle and transformation can they become useful tools.
By 1958, Chinese archaeologists had preliminarily completed the study of Peking Man’s stone tools, totaling about hundreds of thousands of pieces, including raw materials and semi-finished products. Among the discovered tools, besides scrapers and cutters, there are also some pointed tools, axes, and bifacial tools. Some were retouched, and some show signs of use without retouching. The methods of production were rough, mainly flaking on one side, just creating thin blades and edges for cutting. All this shows that Peking Man was among the earliest users of stone tools. Through long years of arduous production struggles, they continuously broke through old experiences, improved their labor skills, and learned to select better raw materials and craft more regular flakes, making more effective tools.
Therefore, all labor is based on physical effort. Without physical labor, there is no brain. The brain is developed through physical labor. First, physical labor increases knowledge; without physical labor, there is no mental effort. Without physical effort, there is no brain—so physical labor is extremely important, the universal preservative.
In the caves where Peking Man lived, a thick layer of ash and many burned objects have been found—animal bones, branches, soil, and stones, piled together or concentrated in one place—indicating initial control and use of fire. The traces left inside the cave show conscious management of fire, not natural wildfires. They brought fire from nature, kept it burning day and night, and stored it for use, but did not yet master artificial fire-making. The role of fire in human cultural development and in the history of mankind’s struggle against nature is epoch-making. Once humans learned to use fire, life changed dramatically. Peking Man was the earliest human to use fire in world history, and from this point, China led. They already mastered fire for illumination and warmth, improving their living conditions. Lighting fires at the cave entrance protected them from wild animals and freed more manpower for production. Fire also allowed them to cook captured food, including animals, fish, birds, and nuts, which shortened digestion, increased nutrition, and greatly promoted physical and brain development. The use of fire fundamentally changed the appearance of primitive human life and played a significant role in the subsequent development of material culture.
This shows that Chinese people led the way. Western fire came from Prometheus stealing it from the heavens; China’s fire was created by these apes themselves. Without fire, many meats and other foods could not be eaten because animal meat often contains parasites, which could be deadly if ingested. After learning to use fire, many animal meats could be roasted and eaten, allowing for faster absorption and providing abundant protein, which contributed to the development of the body, especially the brain.
Cedar: How did primitive humans realize that meat should be cooked before eating?
How did they realize it? Of course, through practice. Did they always eat raw meat before? Primitive humans also had brains and could observe. Primitive humans understood the difference between raw and cooked, and then discovered that cooked food was more fragrant, while raw food was not. They found cooked food tastier, and after eating it without dying, they began to eat cooked food on a large scale.
Cedar: Is this true?
Absolutely true. Why not? Primitive humans could observe and learn through practice; they weren’t incapable of thinking. They probably thought that cooked food was fragrant because they observed it, not knowing that cooked food is fragrant. But they found it tasty and continued eating it, and they didn’t die. They must have studied this repeatedly in the wild—hunting animals, making stone tools, and experimenting with fire. They encountered natural phenomena like lightning and flames and surely understood fire. They definitely knew.
Luanma: Why doesn’t Cedar believe it’s really true?
Actually, this is a priori theory—believing that knowledge is innate, not produced or transmitted through practice. They don’t realize that practice inevitably leads to understanding, and human practice is constantly developing. So they think that primitive humans had no one to teach them that cooked food was better, and they wouldn’t have learned to roast meat on their own. They believe this knowledge fell from the sky, and primitive humans only spontaneously learned to eat raw meat. Only if someone externally taught them to eat cooked meat would they do so. This actually denies the practical ability of primitive humans and negates the idea that humans gain knowledge through practice.
- Primitive Human Production Activities and Social Relations
With humans, there are production activities and social relations, and thus social history. In the long course of human history, primitive society accounts for over 99%. Its early form was a loose primitive group with few people. Starting about 600,000 years ago and lasting until about 200,000 to 300,000 years ago, our ancestors experienced a long ape-man stage. Due to the extremely harsh environment and very limited labor experience, and with weak individual strength, our ancestors initially lived in groups. It was this social life of collective living that allowed them to fight against nature’s hardships, overcome numerous difficulties, and create ancient cultures.
During the time of Yuanmou Man in Lantian, the climate was more temperate than now. In the vicinity of Gongwangling, besides the already discovered forest animals like saber-toothed tigers, mammoths, water deer, and wild boars, there were also grassland animals like horses, cattle, and antelopes. The soil layers where ape-man fossils were buried were suitable for the climate of forest and grassland animals. This basic condition indicates that the environment of Lantian Ape-man was relatively ideal. However, the fossil materials excavated from Gongwangling are sparse, and the stone tools are few, with no clear signs of fire use. We cannot yet make a scientific judgment about the social life of humans at that time.
At the site of the Peking Man—“The Ape-Man’s Home”—to the north are towering mountains and dense primitive forests; to the west and southwest are rolling hills with shrubs. Fierce predators like saber-toothed tigers and other carnivores—tigers, leopards, bears, wolves, wild boars—frequently appeared in this mountain forest area. Large herds of elephants and rhinoceroses also occasionally roamed here. To the southeast is a vast grassland with wild horses, wild sheep, and deer running everywhere. In drier, waterless places, traces of camels and ostriches can be seen. Thus, China’s ancient species were very rich. On the eastern side of Longgushan, a small river flows year-round. Nearby wetlands are habitats for water buffalo, otters, and beavers. Archaeological evidence shows that around 400,000 to 500,000 years ago, during the Peking Man period, the climate was colder than today, but later it became warmer and wetter, increasingly conducive to human growth and development. In such an environment, the main activities of ape-men were gathering and hunting. Fruits like nuts and roots were primary gathering targets; deer and antelopes were main prey. In the caves of ape-men, about 70% of the animal bones found are broken deer bones and antlers, with burn marks indicating cooking. The fossil record includes about 2,000 individuals of fossilized bones of large herbivores. Hunting tools included not only stone tools but possibly wooden sticks. Using fire for illumination helped scare away wild animals during hunts. Setting up ambushes was also an important tactic. Living in a wild environment full of vegetation and fierce beasts, Peking Man resided in caves that protected them from the elements. The dampness inside and outside the caves affected their health. Seasonal changes and natural disasters made hunting difficult.
Therefore, on rainy days, they might get sick because they had no umbrellas or clothes. To survive, they worked and struggled constantly, with no one to rely on; if they depended on others for even a day, they would die and have no means of livelihood.
When diseases spread, they were even more helpless, and their lifespan was generally short. Among about 40 individuals found, nearly 40% died before age 14. Dying at 14 meant they were still children, working hard every day.
Thus, at that time, most Peking men did not live beyond 20 years.
As fully human beings emerged, new factors appeared: society. Like their ape ancestors, Peking Man was a social animal. Since recorded history, Peking Man has not been isolated but lived in primitive groups. They usually formed groups of dozens of people, making tools, preserving fire, resisting wild animals, and hunting for food. Collective labor required them to unite and cooperate to compensate for individual weaknesses. Relying on this collective strength ensured normal social production, continuous innovation in labor experience, and promoted the development of human history. Such social activities formed the earliest primitive society.
The living sites of primitive groups were unstable; when environmental conditions changed, they had to migrate collectively. Long periods of harsh life tempered them but also strengthened them. They practiced primitive marriage customs, with no regulations on gender relations. Social relations were based on primitive collective labor and sharing equality, without top-down rules. However, through conscious activity and persistent struggle, our ancestors finally gained the means to dominate and transform nature, gradually expanding social life and advancing human history.
In the practice of Peking Man, the continuous development of the hand caused changes in other parts of the body and promoted brain development. Engels said: “First comes labor, then language and labor together, becoming the two main driving forces, under their influence, the ape’s brain developed into the human brain.” In Peking Man’s skull, the lower part of the left hemisphere was particularly developed, indicating that the language center had already matured. Human labor has always been social. In primitive cooperative labor, communication of feelings and ideas was necessary, producing simple syllables and language. The emergence of language, in turn, promoted brain development. This dialectical development vividly demonstrates that human evolution is a natural process, strongly criticizing reactionary idealist theories of genius.
Thus, it is said that labor first, and labor causes the development of the human brain. People who do not labor have dull, numb brains—completely inert. Only those who constantly labor develop their brains, and their brains contain knowledge. Without physical effort, there is no mental effort. Without labor, there is no brain—so physical labor is extremely important, the universal preservative.
In the caves inhabited by Peking Man, a thick layer of ash and many burned objects—animal bones, branches, soil, stones—were found, piled or clustered together, indicating conscious control and use of fire. The traces inside the caves show deliberate management of fire, not natural wildfires. They brought fire from nature, kept it burning continuously, and stored it for use, but did not yet master artificial fire-making. The role of fire in human cultural development and in the history of mankind’s struggle against nature was epoch-making. Once humans learned to use fire, life changed dramatically. Peking Man was the earliest human to use fire, and from this point, China took the lead. They already used fire for lighting and warmth, improving their living conditions. Lighting fires at the cave entrance protected them from wild animals and allowed more manpower for production. Fire also enabled them to cook captured food, including animals, fish, birds, and nuts, which shortened digestion, increased nutrition, and greatly promoted physical and brain development. The use of fire fundamentally changed primitive human life and greatly contributed to subsequent material cultural development.
This demonstrates that Chinese people led the way. Western fire was stolen from the heavens by Prometheus; China’s fire was created by these apes themselves. Without fire, many meats and foods could not be eaten because animal meat often contains parasites that could be deadly. After mastering fire, many animal meats could be roasted and eaten, allowing faster absorption and providing abundant protein, which helped develop the body and especially the brain.
Cedar: How did primitive humans realize that meat needed to be cooked before eating?
How did they realize it? Of course, through practice. Did they always eat raw meat before? Primitive humans also had brains and could observe. They understood the difference between raw and cooked, and discovered that cooked food was more fragrant, while raw food was not. They found cooked food tastier, and after eating it without dying, they began to eat cooked food on a large scale.
Cedar: Is this true?
Absolutely true. Why not? Primitive humans could observe and learn through practice; they weren’t incapable of thinking. They probably thought that cooked food was fragrant because they observed it, not knowing that cooked food is fragrant. But they found it tasty and continued eating it, and they didn’t die. They must have studied this repeatedly in the wild—hunting animals, making stone tools, and experimenting with fire. They encountered natural phenomena like lightning and flames and surely understood fire. They definitely knew.
Luanma: Why doesn’t Cedar believe it’s really true?
Actually, this is a priori theory—believing that knowledge is innate, not produced or transmitted through practice. They don’t realize that practice inevitably leads to understanding, and human practice is constantly developing. So they think that primitive humans had no one to teach them that cooked food was better, and they wouldn’t have learned to roast meat on their own. They believe this knowledge fell from the sky, and primitive humans only spontaneously learned to eat raw meat. Only if someone externally taught them to eat cooked meat would they do so. This actually denies the practical ability of primitive humans and negates the idea that humans gain knowledge through practice.At first, it was labor, and later it was language combined with labor. In the beginning, it was labor itself, which required thinking, and this promoted brain development. Then, the result of labor was increasing productivity, which provided rich nutrients for brain development. As labor became more and more complex and human cooperation increased, language was needed. After language was created, human thinking expanded. Before language appeared, humans did not have this kind of thinking, they had not reached a high level of thought, and there were no concepts—there were no such things as concepts. Language is the carrier of rational understanding; it is the carrier of all thinking. After language appeared, human thinking became more complex, and humans developed this kind of thinking, which made their thoughts suddenly more complex, greatly promoting brain development. Therefore, those who do not exercise their brains—those who do not engage in social practice—will see their language functions regress, and they will only be able to say “hungry.”
Fengli: So, does that mean that primitive humans in different parts of the world developed simultaneously, and it was just because environmental factors varied in speed?
Environmental factors? Certainly not environmental factors; it’s still struggle. It can only be said that the environment indeed influences the development of human society, but what determines it is human struggle itself. Otherwise, why did Asians evolve the fastest, followed by Americans, and Australia lagging behind? It’s not Europe; Australia is the most backward. It’s not a problem with the environment—are the environments in the Americas worse than in Asia? Not necessarily, right? Is Australia worse than Asia? Ultimately, it’s because there are more people in Asia, more conflicts, more struggles, so its development is faster. It can only be said that the lower the productivity of human society, the greater the influence of natural forces.
Fengli: If we do not struggle against nature, can we only perish?
If we do not struggle against nature, then we can only die, right? Animals must struggle against nature; humans are no exception. Those who do not struggle against nature will perish. Take dinosaurs, for example—they were actually quite useless. They originally lived on the fringes of the environment, but later, during the Cretaceous period, a great flood occurred, bringing two million years of rain, and the climate became extremely humid. This caused water cycles all over the Earth’s continents, making the climate extremely humid, which made Earth suitable for dinosaurs. Then, dinosaurs developed. However, their ability to struggle against nature was very weak. Later, the climate turned dry and cold, and all dinosaurs went extinct. So, it wasn’t a meteorite that caused their extinction, but the Earth’s natural environment changing itself. Dinosaurs couldn’t adapt and died out in large numbers. Dinosaurs were just useless.
Dinosaurs came and went, but protozoa like blue-green algae and microorganisms have always existed. Why? Because dinosaurs are at the top of the food chain. The higher they are in the food chain, the more dependent they are on what’s below. In the natural struggle, they did not evolve to become increasingly powerful, lacking the ability to survive in various complex environments. Their survival capacity did not expand; they could only rely on their original food sources. When environmental changes occurred, they couldn’t survive and went extinct. Because blue-green algae are producers, and consumers depend on producers—this is also a dialectical development law. Initially, the lowest level of organisms were producers; over time, higher organisms appeared, such as consumers, which exploited producers and became more advanced. Then, humans evolved from consumers to producers, reaching the top of the biological hierarchy. In human society, there are also producers, consumers, exploiters, and the exploited. Ultimately, exploiters will become extremely corrupt and will eventually perish.
