Transcript CHINA_NOTES

China
Ancient China
12000 BC – 221 AD
BC & AD
BC = Before Christ
Years count towards 0
Ex. 19 BC, 18 BC, 17 BC, . . .
AD = Anno Domini (Latin for
“in the year of our Lord”)
Years count away from 0
Ex. 1 AD, 2 AD, 3 AD, . . .
Centuries
Centuries are 1
ahead of years
Ex. 1900’s = 20th
century
1500 =
Why?
0-99 AD was the 1st
Century, so 100 AD199 AD was the 2nd
century
th
16
Century
Early Humans
Over 12,000 years
ago, early humans
lived in small
groups. They lived
by hunting animals
and gathering
plants to eat.
(Paleolithic)
They soon learned how to farm and domesticate animals. With
a steady food supply, they stopped hunting and gathering. They
began to build homes and settle in small villages. (Neolithic)
Ancient China - Geography
•The
availability of
resources affect
where people
migrate and
settle.
Civilizations
Many of these villages
began to grow and
create civilizations.
A civilization is an
advanced state of
human society, in
which a high level of
culture, economy, and
government has been
reached.
rivers
agriculture
villages
civilizations
Two river systems in China provide fertile soil and safe
drinking water - the Huang He (Yellow River) and the
Yangtze River (Long River).
HUANG HE RIVER
YANGTZE RIVER
The Yangtze (Long River)
is the third longest river in
the world. It is about 4000
miles long. It floods each
year and leaves fertile soil
along the banks.
The Huang He (Yellow
River) is about 3000
miles long. It also
floods each year since
the banks along the
Huang He River are
low. The Huang He is
full of loess. Loess is a
powder-like soil that is
extremely fertile.
These early people called all rivers in China by the
nickname "The Great Sorrow". That is because each year
during the flood season, all homes along the Huang He
River were destroyed. Each year, the ancient Chinese had to
rebuild their homes and their lives. Over time, people
learned the techniques of flood control.
Ancient China - Geography
•Landforms can provide more
than water and fertile soil.
•China's landforms helped to
protect the early people from
invasion. The China Sea, the
Yellow Sea, Himalayan
Mountains, and Gobi Desert
isolated the country from the
rest of the world for many
thousands of years.
•Although protection is a
positive, what would be a
negative about these
landforms?
The Gobi desert prevented
people from invading/migrating
from the north.
The Himalayas also prevented
people from invading/migrating
from the west.
fertile
Definition:
Capable of producing
good crops; good soil
Category:
Geography
Examples:
Land around Huang He
and Yangtze Rivers
civilization
Definition:
An advanced state of
human society, in which
a high level of culture,
economy, and
government has been
reached
Category:
Cultural
Economic
Political
Examples:
Ancient China
Ancient China - Government
Neolithic Period
(Xia Dynasty)
•12000 BC-2000 BC
•Debate if Xia dynasty
existed
•Small Villages
•Still Hunters & Gatherers
•Begin Agriculture
•Pottery
Ancient China - Government
•The growth of villages created a need for an
authority to maintain order and settle arguments.
•Small dynasties formed and began to extend their
control over larger and larger areas.
•A dynasty is a sequence of powerful leaders from
the same family. The name of the ruling family
became the name of the dynasty.
Shang Dynasty
•1800 BC-1123 BC
•Formed around the Huang
He
•First Dynasty of China
•Chinese writing
•Polytheistic
•Mandate from Heaven –
The gods chose the family to
rule.
•Developed silk
Zhou Dynasty
•1122 BC-256 BC
•Adopted parts of Shang
Dynasty culture
•Controlled for the longest
period of time
•Copper and gold coins used
for the 1st time
•Ruled during a time of
constant fighting between the
areas
•Confucius and Laozi
Qin Dynasty
•221 BC-206 BC
•First emperor - Shi
Huangdi
•Standardized currency
(money)
•Built 5000 miles of road
•Great Wall of China
Shi Huangdi
•Shi Huangdi was not a
popular leader due to the
large taxes the people had to
pay.
•Shi Huangdi banned all
books that advocated any
other forms of government.
The writings of Confucius
and other philosophers were
burned and more than 400
opponents were executed.
Han Dynasty
•202 BC-220 AD
•Military expansion
•Trade
•Paper invented
•Acupuncture
•Adopted Confucianism
•Buddhism spread rapidly
toward the end of this
dynasty.
dynasty
Definition:
a sequence of
powerful leaders
from the same
family
Category:
Political
Examples:
Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han
emperor
Definition:
Category:
Leader
Examples:
Political
Shi Huangdi
What cultural
impact did
Ancient China
make?
The “Four” Great Inventions of
Ancient China
• Gunpowder
• Compass
• Papermaking
• Printing
Gunpowder
• Accidentally discovered gunpowder
when trying to find a medical liquid
that would give the user immortality.
• Chinese later realized that the chemical
liquid created would flash and explode
when exposed to an open flame.
Compass
• The circular center
represents Heaven, and
the square plate
represents Earth.
• The handle of the spoon
points south. The plate
bears Chinese characters
which represent the eight
main directions of north,
northeast, east, southeast,
south, southwest, west,
and northwest.
Papermaking
• Made paper from hemp fibers and silk.
• Paper was used to keep records and other
information.
Printing
• The text was first written on a
piece of thin paper, then glued
face down onto a wooden
plate. The characters were
carved out to make a woodblock printing plate, which
was used to print the text
when it came into contact with
the paper or cloth.
• Wood-block printing took a
long time as a new block had
to be carved for every page in
a book.
Chinese Cultural
Impact: Chinese
Literature
Mulan: Fiction or Nonfiction?
•The Disney movie, Mulan, is based on a Chinese poem
entitled The Ballad of Mulan.
•In the poem, Mulan is the only child of a Chinese
general. She is trained by her father on how to use a
weapon and ride a horse.
•When each Chinese family was required to send a male
to war, Mulan took her father’s place. It is believed
that Mulan served for 12 years in the Chinese army.
•Mulan’s story is considered a legend. There is no
evidence that she existed, but there is also no evidence
that she did not exist.
Chinese Cultural
Impact: The Great
Wall
Construction During the Qin Dynasty
• The main reason why the
Chinese built the Great
Wall was to prevent troops
from invading Chinese
territory.
• The Qin dynasty first
constructed the wall with
just loose stone.
• Then the wall was
constructed by a wooden
rectangular frame filled
with loose soil. Workers
would come and stomp the
soil until it was 4 inches.
Construction During the Han Dynasty
• The Han dynasty extended the wall and made it more durable.
• They even constructed the wall in the Gobi Desert.
• The Han dynasty improved the Qin process of building the wall
which was much quicker and faster.
Completion of Great Wall
• After the Han dynasty, the building and rebuilding of eroded
sections of the Great Wall were completed by 2 additional
dynasties.
• Currently, it is the world’s longest wall and biggest piece of
ancient architecture.
Ancient China - Religion
Confucius
551 BC-479 BC
Buddha
560 BC-480 BC
Laozi
Confucianism
•Founded by Confucius
•Based on a strict code of behavior that
honored ancestors and ancient rituals.
•Confucius said that there were 5
principle relationships. Each person in
the relationship had responsibilities to
each other.
1. Ruler & Subject
2. Father & Son
3. Husband & Wife
4. Older Brother & Younger Brother
5. Older Friend & Younger Friend
Daoism (Taoism)
•Founded by Laozi
•To practice Daoism one must follow
Tao. Tao is a force that flows through
all life. The goal of the followers of
Daoism is to find a way to harmonize
themselves with the Tao.
•Yin-Yang is the most recognizable
symbol of Daoism. It represents the
balance of opposites in the universe.
The symbol shows that in nature
everything that appears to be all bad
has some good in it, and that
everything that is good has some bad
in it.
Origins of Buddhism
•Prince Siddhartha Gautama, who would one
day be known as the Buddha, began his life
as a prince in ancient India.
•The prince was bothered by the pain,
sickness, and death in the world. He
decided to leave his wealth, his comfort, his
wife, and his newborn son, to become a
monk.
•After 6 years of traveling through India as a
monk, he came to an understanding that he
believed was the way to end suffering. On
this day, he began to earn the new title, the
Buddha, which means “Awakened One”.
Buddhism
Four Noble Truths
1. Life is filled with suffering
2. Suffering is caused by
people's wants.
3. Suffering can be ended if
people stop wanting things,
like more pleasure or more
power.
4. To stop wanting things,
people must follow 8 basic
laws, called the Eightfold Path.
Eightfold Path
1. To know the truth
2. To intend to resist evil
3. To not say anything to hurt
others
4. To respect life, property, and
morality
5. To work at a job that does not
injure others
6. To try to free one's mind from
evil
7. To be in control of one's feelings
and thoughts
8. To practice appropriate forms of
concentration
Buddhism
•Buddhist believe in karma and
reincarnation. Karma is the basic
principle that “what goes around, comes
around.” Reincarnation is the idea that
when you die your soul is reborn in
another form.
•Buddha believed that if you had good
karma, you would be rewarded in
reincarnation. If you had bad karma,
you would be punished.
•According to Buddha, once a person no
longer wants for anything, his or her
spirit has reached nirvana.
reincarnation
Definition:
The idea that when
you die your soul is
reborn in another
form
Category:
Examples:
Religion
Buddhism
karma
Definition:
What goes
around, comes
around
Category:
Examples:
Religion
Buddhism
More Dynasties
in China
Using what you know about
dynasties, why is the show
called “Duck Dynasty”?
After the Han Dynasty
• The end of the Han Dynasty
was followed by a long period
of civil war.
• From 220-589 AD, China was
not stable. There was a
constant change in
governments.
Sui Dynasty
•580-618 A.D.
•United China
T’ang Dynasty
•Fortified the Great Wall
•618-907 A.D.
•Expanded their territory
through costly military
campaigns
•Built Grand Canal
•Land distribution program
•Rice production rapidly
increased during this period.
•Didn’t think the Great Wall
was important
Song Dynasty
•960-1279 A.D.
•Used gunpowder as a
weapon in warfare
•Foreign trade expanded
Yuan Dynasty
•1279-1368 A.D.
•Was ruled by the Mongols
•Genghis Khan led the Mongols
when they defeated the Chinese.
•Kublai Khan founded the dynasty.
•Marco Polo
•At the end, China was
impoverished.