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AP World History
Chapter 5: Eurasian Social Hierarchies
Reading Questions
China
1. Which group has represented the cultural and social elite in China for more than 2,000 years?
2. Describe the lifestyle and benefits/perks of being Chinese elite.
3. Owning what meant wealth in classical China?
4. Why did peasants have to sell their land to large landowners in China?
5. In what 2 major ways did wealthy landowners challenge Chinese state authority?
1)
2)
6. What are the 4 major components of Wang Mang’s reforms in China?
1)
2)
3)
4)
7. Why did these reforms fail?
8. Describe the life of the scholar-gentry class in classical China.
9. What made life difficult for Chinese peasants?
(A) natural causes:
(B) demands of the state:
10. Although the Yellow Turban Rebellion was suppressed, how did it affect China?
11. How were merchants viewed in Chinese society at this time?
India
12. What features did India’s social organization share with that of China’s?
1)
2)
3)
4)
13. Where does the word “caste” come from AND what does it mean?
14. What are “varnas”? What are the 4 varnas in the Indian caste system?
15. According to legend, how were the varnas formed?
16. Who are the “untouchables”?
17. What is a samskara?
18. What are the 4 stages of life AND the duties within each stage?
Stages
Duties
19. What are jatis?
20. What is dharma?
21. What determined what caste you were born into?
22. What are the 3 major differences between the Indian and Chinese social systems?
1)
2)
3)
Slavery
23. What does slavery entail? What does being a slave mean?
24. Describe slavery in early China – include how popular it was, who could become slaves, etc.
25. Who could become slaves in classical India?
26. In what ways did India secular and religious texts protect slaves there?
27. How did slavery in the Western world compare to slavery in the Eastern world?
28. How many slaves were in ancient Athens? How many were in the early Roman Empire?
29. How did most people become slaves in the Roman Empire?
30. Where were some other ways in which people acquired slaves in the Roman Empire?
31. What are the two major ways in which Greco-Roman slavery differed from slavery in the New World?
1)
2)
32. What was “manumission”?
33. List some ways in which slaves in the Roman Empire resisted their enslavement.
34. Describe (in detail) the slave rebellion led by Spartacus. You may use bullet points.
Patriarchy
35. List some common elements of patriarchal societies. You may use bullet points.
36. Explain how the Daoist idea of yin and yang was used to justify male dominance in China.
37. What are the “3 obediences”?
38. Which groups of Chinese women were given political authority on occasion?
39. What event resulted in the political weakening of patriarchy in China?
40. Who was the only woman to ever rule China with the title of emperor?
41. What limitations/restrictions did Athenian women face?
42. Explain the various reasons why Spartan women had more rights/freedoms than Athenian women.