Download Origins of writing in China

MEDIEVAL
CHINA
Ruling the Far East
• Dynasty- ruling families,
used by historians to divide
Chinese history
• As many as 23 dynasties
took place from 220BCE to
1644 CE
• Emperor Zheng (Qin) was
the first emperor of China
• Emperors named a relative,
often a son, to become the
next ruler
The Mandate of
Heaven
• Chinese rulers/emperors based
their right to govern on the
Mandate of Heaven (Tian)
• Heaven chose a dynasty to
rule, supported that dynasty
with good fortune, but
showed displeasure with
natural disasters like floods
and plagues
• A dynasty could lose the
mandate by being overthrown
by the people
The HAN Dynasty
Emperor Gaozu
206BCE-220CE
• Golden Age of Expansion
• Grew because of a large bureaucracy, a
highly organized body of workers with
many levels of authority
• Bureaucracy becomes corrupt, servants
seize the government
• Warlords, non-government military
leaders, begin to attack the people and
each other
• Taxes rose and the farmers rebelled
• China broke apart into separate
warlord kingdoms, like Europe after
the Fall of Rome (lasted 300 years)
• 589- Sui Dynasty reunifies China
The Great Wall of
China
• Qin Shi Huangdi was the
emperor who ordered its
creation to protect China from
invasions (214 BCE)
• Over the course of nearly
2000 years, the wall is rebuilt
and lengthened for various
reasons
• At its height, it stretched 3728
miles, but over time…2175
miles
stop
CHINESE WRITING
Origins of writing in China
• Linguists believe that writing was
invented in China 4,000 years ago
• There is no evidence to suggest
the transmission of writing from
elsewhere.
• The earliest examples of written
Chinese date from 1500-950 BC
(Shang dynasty)
• They were inscribed on ox
scapulae and turtle shells - "oracle
bones".
Bronze
Inscriptions
Calligraphy
How many strokes?
Compound words
Chinese verbs and adjectives generally consist of
one character (syllable) but nouns often consist of
two, three or more characters (syllables):
“rì
”
“mù
”
“shān
”
“tián
”
“yī”
“èr”
“xià”
“lín”
“rén
”
“zhōn
g”
“mén”
“shàng”
“kǒu
”
“rì
chū”
“gōng”
Copy these words down on margin of
paper
above
mouth
below
one
bow
person
field
sun
forest
sunrise
gate
tree
middle
two
mountain