Download Filial Piety - Public Schools of Robeson County

Ancient China
 Geography
- Physical features:
1. Rivers – Huang He (Yellow River) 2,900 miles; Chiang
Jiang River (Yangtze River) flows east into the Yellow
Sea
2. Mountains – Himalaya, Kunlun Shan, Tian Shun
3. Deserts – Gobi
 Dynasty – a series of rulers who belong to the same family
 The Shang Dynasty
- Shang Social Structure
Shang King and family
Warlords, Aristocrats, Government Officials
Farmers, Craftspeople, Enslaved People
- Aristocrats – government officials, owned land, passed
land and power to their sons, wealthy.
- Farming:
1. What they grew: grain, millet, wheat, rice
2. What they raised: cows, chickens, sheep, pigs
- Religion
1. Polytheistic – believed in many gods and goddesses
2. Ancestor Worship – prayed to ancestors and spirits
- Language/Writing
1. Originally Pictographs – pictures that represent words
2. Changed to Ideographs – 2 or more pictographs put
together, represent ideas.
Ancient China
- What the Craftsmen and Artisans made:
1. Sculptures made from ivory (off white color) and jade
(green stone)
2. Vases and dishes were made from clay
3. Bronze objects and weapons
4. Drinking cups
5. Urns
6. Silk (type of fabric)
- Role of the Shang Warlord
1. Ruled areas of land
2. Led small armies
3. Participated in government
 The Zhou Dynasty
- How did the Zhou come to power? Shang kings were
cruel. In 1045BC Wu Wang rebelled and began a new
dynasty, the Zhou.
- How long was the Zhou Dynasty? 800 years
- Bureaucracy: many officials that help make up and run
the government
- The kings main job: to carry out religious rituals
- Mandate: a formal order or law
- The mandate of heaven: religious law, stated that the
king was chosen by the gods
1) Dao – “the way” – all about keeping the gods happy
Ancient China
2) Gave people important rights  ex. To overthrow an
unfair king
- New Tools:
1) Iron Plow – allowed farming to increase, increase in
crops, increase in population
- The Zhou Dynasty Falls
1) 403BC fighting broke out and lasted 200 years
2) This civil war is called the “Period of Warring States”
3) Fought with
a. Swards
b. Spears
c. Crossbows
d. Cavalry (fighting on horseback) – due to the
invention of the saddle and stirrup
4) Who overtook the Zhou dynasty? Qin overthrew the
Zhou in 221BC
 Life in Ancient China
- Social Classes
Landowning Aristocrats
Peasant Farmers
Merchants (shopkeepers, traders, bankers)
- Share-cropping: farmers planted the crops on Aristocrat
land, but gave what they grew to the Aristocrats as
payment.
- What they grew:
1) North: grain, wheat, millet
Ancient China
2) South: rice
- Family Life
1) The Chinese had big families.
2) Everyone, even the children, work in the field.
3) They ate: fish, turnips, beans, wheat, rice, and millet.
4) Practiced Filial Piety. Filial piety means children had
to respect their parents and older relatives.
5) The head of the family was the oldest male, usually
the father.
- Roles of Men and Women:
1) Men
a. Were shown respect
b. They grew crops
c. Went to school
d. Ran the government
e. Fought in wars
2) Women
a. Raised children
b. Ran the house
c. Common women could not hold government posts
d. Royal women could affect government decisions
- Land owned by aristocrats decreased over time because
the father would divide up his portion of land between
his sons. Each generation the land sections grew smaller
and smaller.
Ancient China
 Chinese Thinkers
- Philosophy: thinkers that come up with many ideas for
solving problems between people.
- Three Chinese Philosophies
1) Confucianism
2) Daoism
3) Legalism
- Confucianism
1) Led by a man named Confucius, born 551BC.
2) He believed people needed a sense of duty.
a. Duty – people should not think of themselves first,
they should put their family and community first.
3) Thought that society would be fine if each person did
their duty.
4) Encouraged people to be good and seek knowledge.
5) Thought there would be peace if people treated each
other the way they wanted to be treated.
6) Believed all men should be part of the government.
- Daoism
1) Belief that promotes a peaceful society
2) Is based on the Dao or “the force that guides all
things”
3) Believed that Laozi, or the Old Master, was the first
teacher of Daoism
4) Was a popular belief between 500-300BC
Ancient China
5) The belief is centered around not wanting worldly
things, but instead follow nature and the Dao
6) Taught to seek inner peace
7) Opposite of Confucianism – Confucianism is about
trying to improve the world, Daoism is giving up the
concerns of the world to focus on yourself.
- Legalism
1) Belief that strong laws were the only thing that would
bring peace.
2) Literally means “School of Law”
3) Developed by Hanfeizi in 200BC
4) Hanfeizi did not believe that people were naturally
good, but naturally evil, and needed to be punished
to make people do their duty.
5) Followers of Legalism believed only a strong leader
could keep peace.
6) The aristocrats liked Legalism.
 Emperor Qin Shihuangdi
- In 221BC the first Qin Emperor was declared
- He made changes in government that lasted 2,000 years
a) Made the central government stronger
b) Appointed Censors (government officials that made
sure people did their job)
- Used the ideas of Legalism
- Created one type of currency (money)
Ancient China
- Built roads and canals
- Built the original Great Wall of China by connecting and
strengthening walls with stone, sand and trash. (The
modern day Great Wall of China was built 1,500 years
later.)
 The Han Dynasty
- In 202BC Liu Bang founded the Han Dynasty
a) He was born a peasant that became a military leader
b) Took the title Han Gaozu or “Exalted Emperor of Han”
c) He took out the harsh policies of the Qin Dynasty
d) Kept the Censors to help govern all of the different
provinces and counties
- Han Wudi (“Martial Emperor of Han”) ruled from 14187BC
a) Created and gave tests to job seekers
b) Only people with the highest scores got the jobs, only
1 in 5 passed the test
c) These tests also determined the government officials
for over 2,000 years
d) Favored the rich, because they could educate
themselves for the test
e) Aristocrats owned thousands of acres of land
1) Had farmers work the land
2) Had large armies to do their will
Ancient China
f) After Wudi’s death, the Chinese lived in peace for 150
years
- Inventions
a) Waterwheels
b) Iron drill bits
c) Steel
d) Paper
e) Medicine improved
1) Used herbs to cure illnesses
2) Acupuncture: sticking thin needles into the skin at
pressure points to get rid of pain
f) Rudder to help steer ships
 The Silk Road
- Large network of trade routes
- Stretched 4,000 miles from western China to southwest
Asia
- Used between 200BC and 100AD (300 years)
- Chinese would use camels to transport good to central
Asia, Arab people from Central Asia would then trade
and carry goods to the Mediterranean Sea
- Goods that were carried
a) Silk
b) Spices
c) Tea
d) Porcelain
Ancient China
 Buddhism
- Merchants and teachers brought Buddhism to China
during 100AD
- China was in a period of unrest, and Buddhism helped
people deal with their stress and fear