Transcript Chinese History Geographical Realities & Early History

A Glimpse of Chinese
History
By Jenny [email protected]
4 great ancient civilizations:
1.Egyptian (based on Niles river civilization)
 2. Mesopotamia (based on Tigris and
Euphrates civilization)
 3. Indian (based on Indus Valley civilization)
 4. China (based on Yellow River civilization)
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Geographical Locations
The Prehistory Period
-----Archaeological Excavations
From Paleolithic to Neolithic Ages
 “Peking Man” Chinese Ape Man Zhoukoudian 0.4 -0. 5
million years ago
 The Lantian Man 0.5-0.6 million years ago
 The Yuanmou Man 1.7 million years ago
 Maba, Changyang, Liujiang, in the Yellow River Bend
region: the Paleolithic Age
 South of the Yangtze River: Neolithic Ages
 Unearthed material: specimens of painted pottery
(Yangshao Culture); specimens of black pottery
(Longshan Culture)
Pre- and Early History of China
Several Legendary Characters
Pan Gu split the world into heaven and earth.
 Nu Wa used soil to create human beings and
saved the earth from being drowned by the
leaking Heaven.
 Cang Jie（仓颉） invented Chinese characters.
 Shen Nong（神农）invented agriculture.
 Sui Ren（燧人）found out how to produce fire.
 You Cao Shi （有巢氏）invented houses and
shelters.
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Legendary Emperors in Prehistory China:
* The legendary sovereign of Huaxia(华夏）
Group and the founder of the Chinese
“Empire”( pre-historical)
 * Fought off Chiyou in the battle of Zhuolu and
then defeated the Yan Emperor to assure his
reign
 * The inventor of “the south-pointing wheeled
vehicle”, armour, pottery, etc. and the regulator
of sacrificial and religious
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The Ancient Dynasties
 Prehistoric
Times 1.7 million years - the
21st century BC
 Xia (2205—1766BC))At minimum, the Xia
period marked an evolutionary stage
between the late Neolithic cultures and
the typical Chinese urban civilization of
the Shang dynasty
Yao （尧）, the first sage king who chose a
talented young man Shun （舜）instead of his
own son as new emperor，an action revered
as “demise”（禅让）for centuries to come.
 Yu the Great （大禹），a hero in taming the
flood, the founder of Xia Dynasty ，and the
terminator of demise system.
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The Xia Dynasty (21st --- 17th cn. B.C)
A
Dynasty that can only be detected
through archeological evidence
 An evolutional stage between the late
Neolithic cultures and the typical
Chinese urban civilization
 The pioneering dynasty
The Dawn of History
 商The
Shang dynasty (from 1700 to 1027
B.C also called the Yin
 the Huang He Valley --the cradle of
Chinese civilization--provide evidence
about the Shang Dynasty.
 Two important events: the development
of a writing system; and the use of
bronze metallurgy.
The Shang Dynasty (1766 --- 1100 B.C.)
 The
first dynasty that left its traces in
written word inscribed in archaic
Chinese characters on tortoise shells or
flat cattle bones (also known as the
oracle bones 甲骨文)
 A dynasty that boasts on its bronze
metallurgy. Many ceremonial bronze
vessels attest to high level of
craftsmanship.
The Zhou Period
周Zhou (1027 to 221 B.C), which had settled in
the Wei () Valley in modern Shaanxi ( )
Province. It extended Shang culture through
much of China Proper north of the Chang
Jiang ( or Yangtze River).
 Historians divide the Zhou era into Western
Zhou (1027-771 B.C.) and Eastern Zhou (770221 B.C.). The first, from 770 to 476 B.C., is
called the Spring and Autumn Period ( ), the
second is known as the Warring States Period
(475-221 B.C. ).
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The Hundred Schools of Thought
诸子百家
 the
"golden age" of China. So many
different philosophies developed during
the late Spring and Autumn and early
Warring States periods that the era is
often known as that of the Hundred
Schools of Thought .
Schools of Chinese thought
the School of Literati (儒 ) Confucius; Mencius；
Xunzi
 the School of Law ( 法), or Legalism : Han Fei
Zi ; Li Si
 Taoism ( 道): Lao Zi and Zhuangzi
 the school of yin-yang (yin: dark, cold, female,
negative; yang: light, hot, male, positive) and
the five elements (water, fire, wood, metal, and
earth).
 The doctrine of Mo Zi ( 470-391 B.C.):
Advocating that all action must be utilitarian
and pacifisms.
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The
Imperial
Era
秦221 BC - 206 BC
The First Imperial Period
汉Western Han (206 BC - 24 AD) Eastern Han (25 - 220)
Era of Disunity
Restoration of Empire
Three Kingdoms Period 220 – 280
Western Jin (265 - 316)& Eastern Jin (317 - 420)
Northern Dynasties (386 - 581)& Southern Dynasties (420 - 589)
隋581 - 618
唐Tang 618 – 907
Liao Dynasty 916 --- 1125
Jin Dynasty 1115 --- 1234
宋Northern Song (960 - 1127)
Mongolian Interlude
元1271 --- 1368
The Chinese Regain Power
明1368 --- 1644
The Rise of the Manchus
清1644 --- 1911
Qin Dynasty 221BC Qin,
Shih Huang-ti or First emperor
 He established the first united, powercentralized, multi-nationality and feudal
autocratic monarchy
 The Silk Route
Emergence of Modern China
Ⅰ
 The
Western Powers Arrive
 The Opium War, 1839-42
Emergence Of Modern China: II
 The
Taiping Rebellion, 1851-64
 The Self-Strengthening Movement
 The Hundred Days' Reform and the
Aftermath
Emergence Of Modern China: Ⅲ
 The
Republican Revolution of 1911
 Republican China
 Nationalism and Communism
 Opposing the Warlords
Emergence Of Modern China: Ⅳ
 Consolidation
under the Guomindang
 Rise of the Communists
 Anti-Japanese War
 Return to Civil War
Emergence Of Modern China: Ⅴ
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The People's Republic of China
The Transition to Socialism, 1953-57
The Great Leap Forward, 1958-60
Readjustment and Recovery, 1961-65
The Cultural Revolution Decade, 1966-76
The Militant Phase, 1966-68
The Ninth National Party Congress to the Demise of
Lin Biao, 1969-71
The Ninth National Party Congress to the Demise of
Lin Biao, 1969-71
The Post-Mao Period, 1976-78
China and the Four Modernizations, 1979-82
Reforms, 1980-88
Review Questions:
1. What makes the Chinese civilization unique in world
history ?
2. Try to explain the following terms:
 Huaxia Civilization & Yan-Huang descendents
 A Hundred Schools Contending
 Terra cotta warriors --- the Eighth World Wonder
 The Three Kingdoms
 The Opium War
 Xinhai Revolution
 The May 4th Movement