Primitive society is based on consanguinity, with a small population and an average distribution of economic life. Social control is maintained by tradition and parents, without customary law and government power. In a typical primitive society, there is no full-time leader. People of the same age and sex have the same social status. If there is a dispute, mediation will be conducted according to traditional norms, which is generally observed. There are various forms of primitive society all over the world. Some focus on hunting and gathering economy, some focus on fishing, or simple natural agriculture. Tribal organization is a feature of some primitive societies, but not all primitive societies have this feature. According to the theory of cultural evolutionists, some primitive societies maintained the egalitarian nature, but others gradually became hierarchical societies and then developed into chiefdoms, with more complicated organizational forms.
Primitive society is the first stage of the development of human society. So far, it has not been found that any nation in the world has not experienced primitive society. When human beings appeared, primitive society came into being. But his death varies from place to place. In primitive society, the level of human productivity was very low, and the means of production were all public. With the improvement of productivity, after the emergence of product surplus, there has been polarization between the rich and the poor and private ownership. The original relationship between distribution and labor was destroyed and replaced by the relationship between exploitation and exploitation.
One of the characteristics of primitive societies is that when the environment is stable and the contact with other cultures is limited, these societies are not easy to change, at least the speed of change is not easy to be detected. Western culture, on the other hand, comes from this and changes rapidly-sometimes at the speed of explosion.
Primitive society is divided into primitive groups, clan communes, or three primitive groups, blood families and clan communes. According to the development of human physique, people have completely formed people in the process of formation, that is, from apes, ancients to newcomers. The primitive society in China began with Yuanmou people about 6.5438+0.7 million years ago and ended with the establishment of the Xia Dynasty in the 20th century BC. Primitive society experienced two periods: primitive people and clan commune. The clan commune has experienced two stages: matriarchal clan commune and paternal clan commune.
Yuanmou Man is the earliest known human being in China. Beijingers are typical primitive people. Neanderthals lived the life of a clan commune. Hemudu clan in the Yangtze River basin and Banpo clan in the Yellow River basin are the prosperous periods of matriarchal clan communes. The middle and late Dawenkou culture reflects the patriarchal commune.
According to legend, the Yellow Emperor was the leader of the primitive tribal alliance that lived in the Yellow River valley about 4000 years ago. He advocated planting grain and domesticating livestock, which made this tribal alliance stronger gradually. He once led the tribe to defeat the Yan Di tribe in the upper reaches of the Yellow River and the Chiyou tribe in the south. Later, Yan Di tribe and Huangdi tribe formed an alliance and lived and multiplied in the Yellow River basin for a long time, which constituted the main part of the Chinese nation in the future. The Yellow Emperor is revered as the ancestor of the Chinese nation. Now the Chinese nation is called descendants of the Yellow Emperor, and that's how it came about.
After the Yellow Emperor, the outstanding leaders of tribal alliances in the Yellow River valley were Yao, Shun and Yu in turn. At that time, the leader of the tribal alliance was elected. When Yao was old, a tribal alliance meeting was held, and everyone elected the talented Shun as his successor. After Yao's death, Shun inherited Yao's position. When Shun was old, he also used the same method to give up his position to Yu, who had made contributions to water control. This method of changing the position of the leader is called "abdication".