Download The Great Wall of China

Name___________________________
World History, period _____________
Activity #2
Using classroom resources and your book, fill in the chart with pertinent information about each place or region.
The Yangtze River
Means: The Long River
 3rd longest river in the world (about 4000 miles)
 Floods each year and leaves fertile soil along the banks.
 High banks, which keeps homes safe from the annual flooding
The Huang He River
Means: Yellow River
 About 3000 miles long
 Floods each year
 Low banks
 Civilization in ancient China began along the Yellow River about 5000 years ago.
 Called The Great Sorrow because each year during the flood season, all homes
along the Huang He River were destroyed. Each year, the ancient Chinese had
to rebuild their homes and their lives.
 Called the Yellow River because of the yellow soil found in the river--LOESS
The Himalayan Mountains
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Not located in modern day China; in Nepal
They run along the border to the south
Helped to protect the early Chinese people from invasion.
Very rugged
Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world (8,848 metres (29,029 ft))
The Himalayas include ten (10!) of the highest peaks in the world
The Gobi Desert
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One of the driest deserts in the world—HOWEVER, there is a chance of water
The Taklamakan Desert Nickname:nd Sea of Death
The Great Wall of
China
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2 largest desert in the world
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Worked on it for over 1700 years
Not a solid wall—series of disconnected barriers
Each emperor added on to it
First built to protect from Mongol invasions in the north
Built by First Emperor Qin (Chin)
1. 30 feet wide and 50 feet high
2. Used peasants, captured enemies, criminals, scholars, and anyone else who
irritated him, and put them all to work
3. Slave labor
Eventually over 3700 miles long
Communicated using a series of smoke signals and flags
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Poisonous snakes, frequent sand storms, boiling days, freezing
nights, and intense water shortages.
The Silk Road
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The Grand Canal
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Name given to any route that led across China to Rome
~4000 miles long
Rome had gold and silver and precious gems.
China had silk and spices and ivory.
Ideas also travelled (spread of religions like Buddhism)
Dangerous to travel along the SR (hot sand dunes in the desert, forbidding
mountains, brutal winds, and poisonous snakes)
Traders used RELAYS—they would only travel a short distance back and forth;
meeting other traders who did the same thing
As time passed, it got easier to travel on the SR (but never easy)
World’s longest man-made waterway
Runs north/south
Connects Yangtze River Valley to the Yellow River Valley (Beijing to Hangzhou)
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Building of the canal began in 486 B.C.E. during the Zhou Dynasty.
Extended during the Qi Dynasty, and later by Sui Dynasty during six years of
furious construction from 605-610 CE.
1800 km long (820 miles)
Allowed the north and the south to share resources and for soldiers to travel
quickly from one part of the empire to another
Steppe
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Mongolian Steppe
Grasslands with very little human influence
Forms a crescent around the Gobi Desert
Tibetan Plateau
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Found in southwestern China
~965,000 square miles
Source for both Yangtze & Yellow Rivers
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