Transcript River Dynasties in CHINA

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To explain the effects of geography on cultural
development in China
To describe the growth and structure of the
Shang Dynasty
To describe Shang family structure, religion, and
technology
To summarize the rise and fall of the Zhou
Dynasty
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Label the following:
 Oceans
 Pacific
 Indian
 Mountains
 Himalayas
 Rivers
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Indus
Ganges
Huang He (Yellow)
Yangtze
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Questions:
 What geographic
features might have
prevented trade between
China and the Indus
Valley?
 What area of China was
weak to invasions? What
physical features were
located there?
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Long distances and physical barriers separated it
from Egypt, the Middle East, and India
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This isolation led to the belief that China was the
center of the earth and sole source of civilization
Regions:
China’s Heartland:
Huang He (yellow)
river, and the Yangzi
river supported
the largest
populations
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Xinjiang and Mongolia are harsh and rugged
Mainly nomads and subsistence farmers
At times invaders from these regions conquered
China
 Genghis Khan and the Mongols
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Chinese history starts in Huang He valley
Called “yellow” river because of the loess that
turns the river yellow
Called “China’s Sorrow” because of the constant
flooding
Peking Man- Homo erectus
skeleton discovered near Beijing
on the Yellow River, settled
500,000 yrs ago
 Myth: 2000 B.C.E. first
civilization arose
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 Mythic ancestor of Chinese: P’an
Ku
 A leader named Yu tamed Huang
He river
 No written records
 Fact
 organized state rose around
2000 B.C.E. with irrigation of
Hwang He river
 By 1000 B.C.E.
 Used pottery, Rode horses
 Used Bronze, Introduced
Iron
 Writing developed
 Scientific advances
 Interest in music
1532 B.C. E.
Shang controlled
Huang He valley
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 Invaders?
Dominated until
1027 B.C.E.
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 Decline due to Invasion
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Characteristics:
 First to leave written
Records
 constructed impressive
tombs and palaces
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Oracle bones: animal bones or turtle shells on
which priests wrote questions to ancestors or
gods’
by interpreting the cracks in the bone, they
answers were provided
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4,000 years ago
Each character represented a word or and idea
Over 10,000 characters
Calligraphy was an art form
Writing was a unifying force since not everyone
spoke the same language.
1027 B.C.
overthrew the Shang
 Lasted until 256 B.C.
 To justify overthrowing the Shang, the Zhou
promoted the idea of Mandate of Heaven, or divine
right to rule
 Explains the dynastic cycle
 Floods and famine were a sign that the dynasty was
out of favor with the gods.
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Zhou rewarded supporters with land
Feudalism: system of government in which local
lords governed their own land but owed military
service to ruler
Eventually feudalism became more powerful
than the dynasty
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Iron-making leads to more
food production
New crops and irrigation
systems
Commerce expanded, use of
money
New roads and canals
Led to increase in population
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771 B.C.E. – nomads sacked the Zhou capital of Hao
and murdered the monarch
 A few family members escaped and ruled from new capital
for 500 years
 Powerless, couldn’t control noble families
 Warlords claimed to be “kings” of territory
 Led to “warring states” period
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Warring States
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Warfare changed, no longer honorable
Peasants main force on battlefield
New weapons such as a crossbow
Central values changed
 No longer order, harmony, and respect for authority…. Now
chaos, arrogance and defiance
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