Download Yellow River Valley

9/24/2010
1. Notebook Entry: Yellow River Valley
2. What is a dynasty?
EQ: How does the Yellow River Valley fit into
our model of a civilization?
Advance Cities, Specialized Workers, Complex Institutions,
Record Keeping, Advanced Technology, Social Hierarchy
By the end of class our objectives are to:
- explain the effect of geography on the cultural development of China
- describe the growth and structure of China’s river dynasties
- describe the family structure, religion, and technology of the Yellow
River Valley dynasties?
River Valley Civilizations Quiz - Wednesday
Geography:
• Natural barriers
– Pacific Ocean
– Taklimakan Desert
– Plateau of Tibet
– Himalayan Mountains
– Gobi Desert
– Mongolian Plateau
• River Systems
– Huang He: Yellow River
– Yangtze
Yellow River Valley
Boisterous & Unpredictable – 2,920 miles long
The need for large-scale
public works projects helped
to establish recognized
authorities and formal
political institutions.
Led to the founding of cities and
development of metallurgy.
Yellow River:
• Huge amounts of loess (yellow silt) when it
overflows its banks
Challenges:
• Dangerous flooding
• “China’s Sorrow”
• Isolated settlers had
very limited trade
• Protected from
outside invasion
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China’s Heartland:
• Only 10% of China’s land is arable
• North China Plain – small area suitable for
farming
Shang Dynasty:
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1700 – 1027 B.C.
Left written records
Elaborate palaces and tombs
Cities built of wood
Huge walls – constant warfare
– Rulers able to control large labor forces
Culture:
• “Middle Kingdom”
• Family central to society
– Linked to religion
(ancestor spirits)
• Sharp divide between
nobles and peasants
• Worshipped Shang Di
(supreme god)
– Communicated through
oracle bones
• Many spoken - but one written language
• Barely literate knew 1,500 characters
– Scholars knew 10,000-plus
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Feudalism:
• Zhou controlled vast lands
– Nobles (lords) granted the use of lands
belonging to the king
– Nobles owe loyalty, military service, and
protection to the people who live there
Dynastic Cycle:
• Rise, decline, replacement of dynasties
• 1027 B.C. Zhou overthrow Shang
– Justified through the Mandate of Heaven
• Adopt much of the culture
Technology and Trade:
• Roads and canals
– trade and agriculture.
• Coined money introduced
• Metallurgy
• Blast furnaces
– Produced cast iron
– Weapons and tools
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