GRASSLAND AND FARMLAND—SMITH 375 
The horse, especially the horse bearing grassland man upon its 
back, seems to have carried destruction to ancient societies in a way 
that suggests a strong resemblance to the work of the airplane today. 
CHINA AND ITS RELATION TO THE GRASSLAND 
The relations of China with the grasslands of Central Asia fall into 
two epochs. In the first epoch China received culture elements. In 
the second epoch China received conquerors and destroyers. 
Considerably before 8000 B. C. Babylonia had a well-developed 
culture which included writing and a complete mastery of work in 
bronze. Babylonia also had wheeled vehicles, ox-drawn plows, wheat, 
many other crop plants, and all the common domestic animals except 
the horse (Bishop). 
There is no evidence that China had knowledge of metals before 
2000 B. C., but 500 years later peoples ruled by the Shang Dynasty 
in the central and lower Yellow River basin had a mature and devel- 
oped system of writing, evidently homegrown. These peoples also 
had a skilled technique for working in bronze. Bishop says, “Bronze 
working was carried to a pitch of technical and esthetic excellence 
hardly if ever equalled in later times in any land.” Much of this 
craftsmanship was undoubtedly borrowed, together with many plants 
and animals, from the Near East. It had taken the Mesopotamians 
several thousand years to develop these things. 
Before Chinese contact with the Near East, the Stone Age man of 
the loessial area on which Chinese culture is believed to have devel- 
oped, was a sedentary agriculturist. He lived, at least for the colder 
part of the year, in a pit house which gave unusual opportunity for the 
preservation of archeological records. These pit dwellers had dogs 
and many domesticated pigs. As early as the fifth millennium B. C. 
they cultivated millet and some leafy plants (Goodrich). 
There is no sign of fortification about their villages until culture 
elements from the Near East appear—sheep, and bronze or copper 
arrow tips. The need for defense had come. The villages of the pit 
dwellers now have earthen walls. These tillers of the loessial lands 
are learning unpleasant things from the west whence they had de- 
rived so many useful things. 
About 1050 B. C. (according to Bishop), the Shangs were con- 
quered by the Chous, assisted by rebellious Shang subjects. The 
Chous came in from inner Asia—conquerors from the grasslands. 
Ellsworth Huntington will smile with satisfaction at the mention 
of the Chinese tradition to the effect that the Shang Dynasty came 
to its end during a period of protracted drought for which the king 
was held responsible because he neglected to observe the proper rites. 
619830—45——25 
