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China
Geography
• About the size of the US
• Has natural barriers for protection
– Gobi Desert
– Pacific Ocean
– Himalayas
• Climate-monsoons-cause a lot of flooding
• 2 major rivers: Huang He and Chang Jiang
– Leave behind silt for farming
Qin Dynasty
• Ying Zheng unified China creating an
empire
• Renamed himself Shi Huangdi (first
emperor)
• Not a nice man
• Burned books that disagreed with him
• Expanded empire taking down walls of
each city to create one large city
Qin Achievements
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Uniform laws
Standard money system and measurement
Language-made everyone speak the same
Built large roads to connect cities
Improved the irrigation system
Built the Great Wall connecting all cities
Terracotta Soldiers
• Emperor Shi Huang built them to protect him
in his next life
• Each one was different and built to human size
• 8,000 were built along with horses and chariots
• Discovered by farmers digging a well
Han Dynasty
• Liu Bang, a commoner, became emperor and
started Han Dynasty because of the Mandate
of Heaven
– Mandate of Heaven-Heaven gives the leader the
right to rule
– When the ruler isn’t doing well, Heaven takes
away his right to rule
• Well liked- lower taxes and gave out land
Han Dynasty
• Emperor Wudi took over
• Make a strong government, raised taxes
• Made Confucianism China’s gov’t philosophy
– Confucianism-basic guidelines or moral values to
live by
Social Class
• 4 social classes
– Top: emperor and his court
– Second: Peasants (largest class)
– Third: Artisans (produced items for daily life)
– Bottom: Merchants (didn’t produce anything)
– Military didn’t have a class, was like part of the
government
Family Life
• 90% of people were peasants
• Lived simple lives in small villages
• Confucian teachings about family were honored
– Children were taught to respect their elders
– Disobeying was a crime
• Father was the head of the family, wife and children must
obey him
• Expected to honor dead family members with ceremonial
offerings and keeping up burial sites
• Han officials thought if people obeyed their elders they
would also obey the emperor
• Boys were valued more than girls since the boys carried
on the blood line and took care of parents when they get
old
Han Achievements
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Known for Poetry
Created paper that we use today
Sundial- uses shadows of the sun to tell time
Seismograph- measures strength of Earthquakes
Acupuncture- inserting needles at specific points
to cure disease or pain
• Iron- used to make a plow and wheelbarrow
• Silk-soft, light, highly valued fabric