Transcript 6-1.3 Ancient China Notes

Creativity Session
Presenter’s Name
1.Jade
5.Ethics
2.Oracle
6.Confucianism
3.Lords
7.Daoism
4.Peasants
8.Legalism
• Nearly 4 million
square miles
• Separates China:
• Gobi Desert – North
• Low-lying plains – East; form
one of world’s largest farming
regions
• Pacific Ocean
• Himalayas – West
• Plateau of Tibet – Southwest
• Qinling Shandi – Moutain
range that separates northern
China from southern China
• Two great rivers flow from
east to west in China:
• Huang He (Yellow
River)
o Nearly 3,000 miles
o River often floods –
leave behinds silt
o Sometimes called
China’s Sorrow
o Millions have died
due to floods
• Chang Jiang (Yangzi
River)
o Flows from the
mountains of Tibet
to the Pacific Ocean
o Longest river in Asia
• Two rivers helped link
people in the eastern
part of country with
those in the west
• Mountains between the
rivers limited contact
• Farming
Rivers
started along the Huang He and Chang Jiang
Silt deposits from the rivers’ floods made the land ideal
for growing crops
Farmers grew rice along the Chang Jiang
Farmers grew cereal such as millet and wheat along the
Huang He
• Fished,
• **Led
hunted, domesticated animals
to population growth**
Chinese Life
Houses – partly underground and may have had straw-covered roofs
Animal pens, storage pits, and a cemetery
Some villages grew into large towns
Walls surrounded towns to defend them
Left artifacts such as arrowheads, fishhooks, tools, and pottery, pieces of cloth
Separate cultures in southern and northern China
Sanxingdui and Hongshan peoples
Little is known about them
After 3000 BC, people used potter’s wheels to make more types of pottery
Also learned to dig water wells
Burial sites have provided information about the culture – filled tombs with
objects
Often graves held beautiful jewelry and objects made from jade
• Chinese
Dynasties
Xia: 2200 BC, little is known about this dynasty
 According to ancient stories:
 a series of kings ruled early China
 2200 BC, Yu the Great founded the Xia dynasty
 Yu dug channels to drain flood waters to the ocean – said to have
created the major waterways of north China
No evidence yet that the tales are true
• Chinese
Dynasties
Shang: first dynasty with much evidence
1500s BC
northern China
Social Order
1st - Royal Family
2nd – Nobles
3rd – Warrior Leaders
4th – Artisans
5th – Farmers
6th - Slaves
Advances:
 China’s first writing system – the Chinese symbols
used today are based on those of the Shang period
 Oracles – wrote questions on bones or shells then
heated them to cause them to crack, then “read”
the cracks to predict the future; called oracle bones
 Artisans made beautiful bronze containers for
cooking and religious ceremonies
 Axes, knives, and ornaments from jade
 Military developed war chariots, powerful bows,
and bronze body armor
 Shan astrologers developed a calendar based on the
cycles of the moon
Chinese Dynasties
Zhou Dynasty
 1100s BC
 Overthrew Shang
 Lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history
 Zhou kings claimed to possess mandate of heaven:
heaven gave power to the king or leader, and no one
ruled without heaven’s permission. If a king was
found to be bad, heaven would support another
leader.
Chinese Dynasties
 Zhou Dynasty
 Social Order
 Established order
 Helped rule far areas
 Eventually led to local
rulers gaining power and
rejecting kings
Chinese Dynasties
Decline
 Many lords loyalty to the king lessened; many
refused to fight against invasions
481 BC:
Warring States Period
Lords fighting against each other
Armies grew
Fighting within small families, especially upper
class
China fell into a period of disorder
In Addition….
Decline
 Sons plotted against each other over inheritances
 A Wealthy father sometimes tried to maintain peace by
dividing his land among his sons, but this created new
problems
 Each son could build up his wealth and then challenge his
brothers
 Some sons even killed their own fathers
 During the Warring States period, China lacked a
strong government to stop the power struggles
within the ruling-class families.