Transcript 5 Lecture HIST 101 Ancient China_1 - Learning

Lecture 5
September 16, 2009
Ancient China
HIST 101 History of World Civilization I
University of Montevallo, Fall 2009
Adjunct Instructor Jill Cooley
Lecture 5: Outline
• Neolithic China
– Agricultural areas
– Development of
villages
• Shang Dynasty
– Chinese writing
– Cities
– Society
– Spirituality
• Zhou Dynasty
– Early Zhou period
– Warring States period
• The Iron Age
Lecture 5: Key Terms
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Yellow River
Yangzi River
Shang dynasty
Chinese writing
Anyang
Bronze working
Serfs
Feudal society
Ancestor worship
Divination
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Human sacrifice
Zhou dynasty
Mandate of Heaven
Warring States Period
Infantry and cavalry units
Iron Age
Neolithic China
• 4000 BC settled around the Yellow River thus forming
agricultural villages yielding grain cultivation
• Yangtze River along southern border yielded rice
production
• Lush (sandy yellow soil) blown by winds thus the name
of the Yellow River
• Domesticated pigs, chickens, cattle, and sheep
• Villages however moved around once the soil was
depleted on nutrients
Ancient
China
Dynasties:
•Shang
•Zhou
Geographical
Features:
•Yellow River
•Yangtze River
Shang Dynasty 1776 BC
• Developed system of writing, very complex, each word represented
by a symbol; very much today’s Chinese writing
• Shang dynasty continued to move around in search of better soil
• City: Anyang
• Use of bronze, but was in limited supply
• Used stone tools in farming, mostly farmers (serfs) in this society
• Feudal society
• Vassals owned land in return gave loyalty to the king
• Warfare predominant
• Made human sacrifices to the gods to win favor, polytheistic
however elevated one god more so than the others
• Divination practiced, used oracle bones to tell future
• Human sacrifices usually done for the death and burial of kings
Zhou Dynasty
• Continued and adopted many of the Shang Dynasty concepts
• Vassal State
• Created “Mandate of Heaven” and idea continues on after the
dynasty falls
• Even more so a feudal system
• Expanded territory but became more decentralized
• Land ownership depended on kinship ties greatly
• Royal women had power behind the scenes, however average
women had very little power
• Vassals became more powerful and independent thus leading to the
fall of this dynasty representing decreasing power and authority of
the king
• Oracle bone
Chinese writing
Lecture 5: Timeline
Time Period
Political Development
Important Points
ca. 4000 BC
Neolithic China
Agricultural villages
ca. 1766-1050 BC Shang Dynasty
Earliest historical dynasty,
ancestor worship, divination
ca. 1050-481 BC
Early Zhou Dynasty
Mandate of Heaven; feudal
society
ca. 481-221 BC
Warring States Period
Warfare among several
independent Chinese states
ca. 600 BC
Chinese Iron Age
Iron Age began in Asia Minor
in 1200 BC
Iron Age
• Began in Asia Minor by society called the
“Hittites”
• 1200 BC begin smelting Iron
• 1600 BC spreads throughout most of
China
• Used in weapons and farming