Transcript China`s Geography and Shang - White Plains Public Schools

ANCIENT RIVER VALLEY
CIVILIZATIONS OF CHINA
Global Honors: Spiconardi
Geography
 The Middle Kingdom
 China is surrounded by natural barriers
 Kunlun and Tian Shan Mountains, Gobi Desert, Jungles,
Pacific Ocean
 China remained isolated and did not come in contact
with other cultures often
 EthnocentrismBelief their culture was at the earth’s
center and centrally important to other cultures
 Referred to themselves as the Middle Kingdom as a result
Geography
 Huang He River (a.k.a. The
Yellow River)
 River is known as “China’s
Sorrow” because of frequent
devastating floods killed
thousands (Turbulent river;
often unpredictable)
 Chinese crossed it by crafting rafts
from inflated goat skins
 River gets it’s name from the
yellow silt deposited by the
floods
 The silt known as loess creates
fertile soil
“Mother River”
Geography
 Yangtze River
 China’s longest river
The Shang Dynasty
 Political Structure
 Centered around the Huang He River
 Established a line of hereditary kings to rule over
northern China
 Royal family members & warlords used to help govern
outlying areas
The Shang Dynasty
 Religion
 Animism – belief all things in nature have a spirit
 Worshipped ancestors
 King was head of ancestor worship cult
 Chief priest was eldest male in each family
 Divination - ritual act performed by Shang kings &
diviners by burning tortoise shells to give insight into
the future from the gods.
 Write a question on the shell, burn it, and interpret the
cracks to answer the question
 Chinese were most literate culture fore centuries
The Shang Dynasty
 Religion
 Buried their dead with jade believing it possessed
magical powers
 Kings & warriors buried with valuable belongings and
slaves (who were often buried alive)
The Shang Dynasty
 Achievements
 Bronze work
 Casted ritual vessels often buried with their dead
 Bronze vessels often contained inscriptions
 Along with oracle bones, demonstrates a well-developed
writing system
 Ideographs/Pictographs
 Symbols/pictures represents an entire word or concept
 Shang had developed over 3,000 characters
 http://www.omniglot.com/writing/chinese.htm
Silk
 Well before the Shang, Chinese developed silk
making skills (at least3000 BCE)
 2,500 to 3,000 cocoons are needed to make just one
yard of silk fabric
 Originally, silk was only for the king’s use