Transcript Ancient China - Edinboro University

Ancient China
Effects of Geography
• Access routes into China limited
– China isolated
– Limited outside cultural and political influence
Zhōngguó
Middle Kingdom
• How is development in ancient China the
same as that in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and
India?
• How is it different?
• Geography?
• Political and social organization?
• Religion?
Chinese Dynasties
• “Three Sovereigns and the Five Emperors”
(“Culture Heroes and Sage Kings”) 2852 – 2205 BCE
• Xia
2070–1766 BCE
• Shang
1766 – 1122 BCE
• Zhou
1122 – 481 BCE
• “Warring States Period”
• Qín Shǐ Huáng (259 – 210 BCE)
–
The “First Emperor”
Yellow
Yangzi
Pearl
• Homo Sapiens in China
50,000 – 20,000 ago
• Yangshao Culture
5,000 – 3,500 BCE
• Longshan Culture
4,000 – 2,000 BCE
• c. 2,000 BCE, “civilization”
• Dapenkeng Culture
5,000 – 2,500 BCE
– Original source of Polynesian
Culture ?
Map 4.1 Early China: Geography and Climate.
Shang Dynasty 1766 – 1122 BCE
• “First genuine flowering of urban society in
east Asia.”
• Later than other areas we have seen,
• However:
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cities
metal working
social stratification
religious and political organization
written language
Chinese Writing System
• Invented by Cangjie, c. 2650 BCE
• Earliest probable real use
of ideograms as language
in late Shang Dynasty
1,200–1,050 BCE ?
“Mandate of Heaven”
• Idea developed by the Duke of Zhou (c. 1045 BCE ?)
• The right to rule China is granted by Heaven.
• There can be only one legitimate ruler of China.
• The right to rule is based on the virtue of the ruler and
his good performance as a steward for Heaven.
• The right to rule may be passed down from father to son,
but only on the conditions established above.
Chinese Society
• Primarily agricultural
• Artisans and merchants in towns
• Patriarchal
– Filial Piety
Chinese Society
• Status of women?
– educated
– eventually subordinated
Religion
• Local deities evolved from natural forces
• Ancestors
• Becomes more abstract during the Zhou dynasty
• “Heaven”
–
“. . . A relatively neutral, impersonal controlling force of the universe.”
The Emperor:
天子 “Son of Heaven”
Map 4.4 Zhou China.
Chapter 5
• Understand how civilizations in the America’s
are different
– What did they lack when compared to the Middle
East, India, and China?
5000
4500
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
China
1000
500
0
+ Ideograms
Sumerian culture
/ Empire
Development
of Towns
Akkadian
Babalonian Empire
Development of towns
Hittite Empire
Assyrian
Empire
Hittites
Phoenicians
Judah / Israel
Greeks
Archaic - - - - - - - Classical
- - - Classical - - -
+ cuneiform
+ Hieroglyphis
+ Iron
+ Bronze
Copper
c. 4300
Uruk
copper
plows
potters wheel
+ Linear A + Linear B
+ Phonecian
Egypt