Download Ancient China Study Guide Geography China is located on the

Ancient China Study Guide
Geography
 China is located on the continent of Asia.
 The Yellow River, or Huang He, is yellow due to silt called loess. The Yellow River empties into the Yellow Sea.
 The Yangtze River, or Chang Jiang, is the largest river in China. The Yangtze empties into the East China Sea.
 China’s mountains and rivers are one reason for great differences in regions. For centuries, the mountains and
rivers separated groups of people. Without much contact from outsiders, each region developed its own way of
life.
 Gobi Desert in the north between China and Mongolia
 Tibetan Plateau in the west
 Yellow Sea, East China Sea, South China Sea
 Taihang Mountains and Qinling Mountains
Early Chinese Civilization
 The legend of Yu and the Great Flood tells about a time when floods covered much of China. The story says Yu
dug out all the rivers in China to stop the flooding.
 Pigs and dogs were domesticated during this time. Farmers in southern China grew rice.
 No one knows for sure if the Xia Dynasty really existed. There is no written record. It may have been a legend or
a myth.
 The Shang Dynasty is the first “real” dynasty.
 The Shang used bronze-a mix of copper, lead and tin- to make war chariots, weapons and vessels, such as cups.
 Oracle bones are turtle shells and bones which have ancient Chinese writing on them. A diviner would touch the
bone or shell with a hot rod. It was believed the cracks that were made would give them some clues about the
future.
 The Shang people created early Chinese writing.
The Zhou Dynasty
 The Zhou worshipped a god named Tian, or “Heaven.”
 According to the Zhou, Heaven ordered King Wu to conquer the Shang and begin a new dynasty because the
Shang were not virtuous. This was called the mandate of Heaven. The Zhou believed as long as they were moral,
they would lead the dynasty.
 There was a division of classes made up of the king (at the top), the nobles/land owners (in the middle) and the
peasants (bottom) worked the land for a small percentage of the crops.
 The Zhou governed carefully because they feared losing the Mandate of Heaven. This good standing began to
weaken, however. Outsiders eventually invaded the valley of the Wei River.
 King You ordered fires to be lit when an attack seemed likely. He often lit the fires when there was no real threat
of attack, just to see if the nobles would come. When a real attack was imminent, the nobles thought it was
another false alarm and did not come to fight. King You died in the attack.
 The Warrings Kingdom followed, with nobles ruling over small areas and some even calling themselves kings.
 The philosopher Confucius lived during this time. He is considered China’s first teacher. He believed people need
to live by a moral code and that if the leaders were good and virtuous, the people of the kingdom would also be
good. “If the mat was not straight, the master would not sit.” Confucius believed in respecting ancient traditions
and ancestors-“filial piety” He believed people should respect their king in the way people respect their parents.
The Qin Dynasty
 Qin Shi Huangdi, First Emperor of the Qin, became king at age 13. He became emperor by defeating the
other kingdoms in China.
 Qin used a method of governing called Legalism, which taught that people obeyed out of fear, not respect. It
was a system of laws with punishments and rewards.
 Because China was united by Qin Shi Huangdi, the Qin Dynasty, although only fifteen years long, was very
significant. The word China comes from Qin.
 Qin Shi Huangdi has a system of roads and canals built to improve communication in his growing empire.
 The Great Wall of China was originally built of dirt and rocks. These were built in sections by individual
groups. Qin Shi Huangdi ordered that these mounds of earth be connected and fortified. The original Great
Wall was about thirty feet high winded through mountains, valley, marshes and deserts for about 1500
miles. This took seven years to complete.
 Many people died in the building of the Great Wall. Some simply dropped dead from exhaustion or
starvation. Others were buried alive within the wall as punishment.
 Soldiers along the Great Wall communicated by smoke during the day and fire at night.
 A later dynasty, the Ming, extended the Great Wall over a period of 200 years. It is now more than 3700
miles long. It was meant to protect them from the Mongols to the north.
 Shi Huangdi created a system of standardization making coins, weights, measurements and writing alike so
people among the empire could communicate, trade and thinks of themselves as one.
 Shi Huangdi died in 210 bc. His son came into power, but proved to be a weak leader. A civil war broke out
within the empire and the Qin collapsed. This allowed the Han to take over and a new dynasty began.
 In 1974 the elaborate tomb of Shi Huangdi was discovered. It contained about 8,000 life size warriors made
of terracotta, each one different. Shi Huangdi’s body has not yet been recovered. Some believe his private
tomb is booby trapped.
The Han Dynasty
 The first ruler of the Han was Gaozu, or “High Ancestor.”
 Gaozu abandoned the ideas of Legalism and turned to Confucianism. He restored the old kingdoms of the Zhou
Dynasty.
 Later in the dynasty, both Legalism and Confucianism were used. Leaders were feared and respected.
 Wu Di or “Warlike Emperor” came to the throne in 140 bc. He and his favorite wife, Fu Hao, led large armies of
300,000 soldiers to conquer new lands and expand the borders of the empire.
 Wu Di also brought peafce to the empire by setting up a civil service which oversaw the day to day running of
the empire. These government jobs could be given out as a reward for loyalty or for performing well on tests.
 The Han made many lasting contributions to Chinese society, such as the seismograph, papermaking, essays,
poems, landscapes and portraits, the compass, the odometer and iron.
 Philosophy is another significant contribution. People still learn about the teachings of Buddha, Confucius and
Taoism today.
 Taoism was taught by Lao Tse. It teaches the way to happiness through accepting life as it is.
 Today, Chinese people call themselves “children of the Han.”
 The Silk Road was a series of paths that started in China and ended 4000 miles away in Europe. People imported
and exported items through this trade route. The Chinese exported porcelain and silk. They imported lumber
and horse, as well as other things.
 Travel along the Silk Road was very dangerous but many people felt it was worth the risk due to the high profits.
Camel caravans became a common sight along the Silk Road.