Ancient China

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Ancient China

• I. A Land of Difference
• A. Civilization emerged in about 3,000 BC
• B. China
• 1. Largest country in Asia
• 2. Largest population of any country in the
  world
• C. Land of Contrast
• 1. Wide variety of landforms
• 2. Many different climates
• 3. Many different ways of life for the people
  who live there
• II. North China Plain
• A. Heavily populated area of China that serves
  as the center of agriculture and industry
• B. Agriculture
• 1. Fertile farmland from loess that blows from
  the dessert
• 2. Loess- yellowish soil that blows in from the
  desert
• 3. Crops are grown on terraces- platforms like
  stairs
• C. Beijing
• 1. Capital of China
• 2. 12 million people live there
• 3. Center of trade for about 800 years

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• Chinas Sorrow
• A. Huang He River
• 1. Known as Huang river Yellow River
• 2. Picks up yellow silt in the desert
• B. Path
• 1. Begins in the mountains of Western China
• 2. Flows east through the desert
• 3. Turns south and flows through the North
  China Plain
• 4. Empties into the South China Sea
• C. Flooding and Control
• 1. Levees and Dikes have been built for
  centuries to try to prevent the flooding
  during the summer rainy season
• 2. Levees are walls built up along the banks
  of a river
• 3. Huang River is Chinas Sorrow because
  of the severe flooding that occurs and the
  destruction of crops and homes

3

• Guangxi Zhungzu
• A. Location
• 1. Located in Southern China along the Gulf
  of Tonkin
• B. Cliamate
• 1. Great climate for farming
• 2. Plenty of rain
• 3. Very warm and steamy
• C. Farming in this Region
• 1. Use double cropping cultivation
• 2. Double cropping is when 2 crops are
  grown on the same land in the same year
• 3. Usually rice and either sugar cane or
  vegetables
• D. Landscape
• 1. Rugged peaks of limestone
• 2. Sinkholes filled with water

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• To the Roof of the World
• A. Tibetan Plateau
• 1. Rocky mountain range in
  Southwestern China
• 2. Reffered to as the Roof of the World
  because it is in the Himalayas
• 3. Himalayas are the highest mountain
  Range in the world
• B. Zhuang
• 1. Chinese people who live in the
  Tibetan Plateau Region
• 2. Larges minority group in China
• 3. Nomadic people who herd animals

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Lesson 2 Chinas Past

• Picturing Chinese History
• A. Civilizations
• 1. Chinas first civilizations developed
  along the Huang River in about 2000 BC
• 2. Chinas Civilizations are not among the
  oldest in the world
• 3. Chinas Civilizations are the most
  continuous civilizations meaning they are
  unchanged over time
• B. Writing
• 1. Pictographs pictures that represent words
• 2. Chinese writing could read and
  understand their own language for
  thousands of years ago

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• Ancient Voices
• A. Chinese Legends
• 1. Pangu creator of the universe
• 2. Developed super heroes that taught people
  how to find food clothing and shelter
• 3. Stories date from 2000-1700 BC
• 4. Stories formed a link between prehistory
  and written history
• The Shang Dynasty
• A. The first Dynasty in Ancient China
  (1760-1500 BC)
• B. They were farmers
• 1. grew millet, rice, flax
• 2. Raised animals
• C. War
• 1. Warriors used chariots in battle
• D. Bronze
• 1. Used bronze in tools, weapons
• 2. Bronze is a harder metal mixing tin and
  copper
• 3. Bronze age time period when humans used
  bronze
• E. Anyang- Capitol city of the Shang Empire

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• F. Oracle Bones
• 1. bones used in rituals to predict the future
• 2. People would write questions on bones of
  deer, oxen or turtle shells
• 3. They would then heat the bones and see how
  they cracked
• 4. Then people would read the bones and make
  predictions
• G. These oracle bones proved to archeologists
  that the Shang dynasty was the first
  civilization in China with a system of
  Writing
• The Longest Dynasty
• A. Zhou Dynasty
• 1. Zhou Dynasty conquered the Shang Dynasty
• 2. Zhou Dynasty is the longest dynasty in China
  lasting 800 years
• 3. The Dynasty is split into two periods the
  west and the East

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• B. The Western Zhou Dynasty
• 1. Capitol was in Hao
• 2. Most people were farmers who grew wheat,
  rice, beans
• 3. Farmers worked small pieces of land and
  contributed food to the king
• 4. Women
• a. Women did most of the harvesting
• b. Women were also responsible for harvesting
  of silk from the silk worm cocoon
• c. Women used the silk fiber to make cloth
• C. Eastern Zhou Dynasty 770 BC 221 BC
• 1. Capital was in Luoyang
• 2. Period of time is known as the golden age
• 3. Economy
• a. a system of money encouraged trade
• b. The economy thrived
• c. Began to use iron for tools and weapons
• 4. Government
• a. Many building projects- flood control,
  canals, irrigation, walls around cities

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• b. Kings power began to weaken
• 1. Fighting with neighbors
• c. New Ideas
• 1. More people became scholars, teachers,
  and government officials
• 2. Some of the teachings changed China for
  thousands of years
• The First Emperor
• A. Shi Huangdi was the first Emperor
• B. Earned this title when he defeated the Zhou
  Dynasty and began the Qin dynasty
• C. Accomplishments
• 1. Organized the empire into provinces-
  political regions
• 2. Standardized money and weights and
  measurements
• 3. Began the building of The Great wall of
  China
• D. Problems
• 1. Wanted to control everyone, what they said
  and did
• 2. Punished those who spoke against him
• 3. People wanted freedom and revolts broke
  out
• 4. Dynasty only lasted 20 years

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• Han Dynasty
• A. Came to power after revolts against Qin
  Dynast
• B. Gaozu was the first ruler
• C. Wu Di was the next Emperor
• 1. Advancements
• a. Lifted the ban on books
• b. Took land from wealthy and those who
  were against him
• c. Taxed imported and exported goods
• d. Built many new roads
• e. Historian (Sima Qian) wroted a complete
  history of China
• f. Taught women
• g. Civil Service- (people who work for the
  government) had to take tests to prove
  they could do the work. Before the
  wealthy got the jobs now peasants or poor
  people could work for the government.
• D. Inventions
• 1. Middlemen- people to go between buyers and
  sellers
• 2. Porcelain type of pottery
• 3. Paper and ink
• 4. Silk Road- Trade route between China and
  the rest of the world
  Middlemen traveled this road making trades

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Lesson 3 Legacy of Thought

• Master Kung
• Confucius
• 1. Well educated man who traveled China
• 2. Became an advisor to the emperor
• 3. Taught morals valued harmony and wanted the
  world to be right
• Writing
• Revised older texts and wrote his own books
• Had 3,000 followers

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• The Masters Work
• A. Analects
• 1. Collection of Confucius sayings
• 2. Gives advice to people
• B. Confuciusism
• 1. Values- family, humility, modesty
• 2. Middle way think twice before fighting
• 3. Accept your role in society
• C. Mandate of Heaven
• 1. Ruler have divine right to rule
• 2. Rulers should be wise and bring peace
  and prosperity
• 3. Unjust rulers should be pushed off the
  thrown by the people

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• Beyond Confucianism
• A. Mencius
• 1. believed people were good by
  nature
• 2. Followed and spread Confucius
  thoughts
• B. Daoism
• 1. Focus finding the way of the
  universe
• 2. Taught by Laozi
• 3. Believed people should live in
  harmony with nature, not apart from it