Download Ancient China 8B1

Name: _____________________________________________ Period: _______ Date: __________
Ancient China
Directions: Read the following article on Ancient
China. Highlight each event with its date. Construct
a timeline from what you have read. You should find
at least ten events within the text for your timeline.
The civilization of China began on the
banks of the Yellow River—also known as the
Huang He River—7,000 years ago in Neolithic
times. There, the foundations of Chinese
civilization were laid down. These ancient
farmers learned how to grow many crops,
including millet, soybeans, and rice. There is
also evidence that they began venerating their
ancestors during this time. The ancient Chinese
believed their ancestors could help them with
their troubles in this life, so they prayed to them
and gave offerings of food. These customs still
persist in China to this day.
In about 1800 BCE, the first true
civilization in China arose, the Shang dynasty (a
dynasty is a ruling family). During this dynasty,
the Chinese first learned to make tools and
weapons from bronze. The Shang used these
weapons to forge a large kingdom on the
Yellow River which they ruled with brute force
from their fortresses. They practiced bloody
rites of human sacrifice at their funerals. Still,
they gave a gift to later generations of Chinese
which has endured to this day. They developed
Chinese writing in its early form, using the
script to communicate with their dead ancestors
and foretell the future.
The people of ancient China despised the
Shang. In time, led by the hero, Wu, they rose
up and overthrew the Shang dynasty around the
beginning of the 1st millennium BCE. In its
aftermath, Wu founded the Zhou dynasty.
History remembers this dynasty as a gentler
time. Human sacrifice became a thing of the
past, and it was a time of plenty among the
kingdom’s peasants. During this time the Yi
Jing (also known as the I Ching or Book of
Changes was written). With this book—which
is still used today—the Chinese used hexagrams
to foretell the future.
Assignment 8A1 Updated 2011
A little over two centuries later, the
Zhou dynasty collapsed. This ushered in what
historians call the Warring States Period.
During this time, China broke into seven small
kingdoms. Many wars followed—one ruler
went to war twenty-eight times in his forty-two
year reign—as each of these states tried to
overthrow the others.
Still, during this period, many new ideas
about government and religion began to form in
China. Kong Fuzi—known to the West as
Confucius—developed his ideas at this time.
He believed the people had a duty to obey their
rulers and live by a strict moral code. In return,
rulers should set a good example and be kind to
their subjects. Laozi (also known as Lao Tzu),
the founder of Daoism, believed that people
should rather “go with the flow” and live in
harmony with nature. Finally, Legalism became
a powerful force in China. Han Fuzi, its
founder, believed that people were basically
evil. They needed harsh laws and punishments
to make them behave as members of a society.
All of these schools of thought melded to form
the national mindset of the modern Chinese
people.
In 221 BCE, the Kingdom of Qin under
Shi Huangdi conquered the other Warring
States. He became China’s first emperor, the
first man in Chinese history to have complete
control over lands of what is now called China.
To unify his nation, he insisted that all of his
subjects speak his language. He also
standardized weights and measures and coinage
in his realm. Finally, he standardized Chinese
script in his kingdom. As a result, a person
schooled in reading modern Chinese script
today can still read the script read by the First
Emperor over 2,000 years ago.
Qin Shi Huangdi was also a brutal man.
He was a Legalist, believing that his subjects
should be ruled with harsh laws and terrible
punishments. For example, he buried a group of
scholars alive who disagreed with his policies.
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He sent hundreds of thousands of workers north
to build the Great Wall, which formed the
northern boundary of his realm. A hundred
thousand people died during its construction.
Legend has it that their bodies were thrown into
the wall and buried within it. Dubbed “the
World’s Longest Graveyard,” the Great Wall
nevertheless helped to unite Qin Shi Huangdi’s
empire.
Qin Shi Huangdi’s dynasty did not last
very long. Shortly after the First Emperor died,
Lu Bang overthrew the feeble new emperor who
had taken the place of Qin Shi Huangdi and
took the reigns of power himself to form the
Han dynasty. During this time, cultures began
to arrive from outside the Chinese Empire.
Around 190 CE, the Han dynasty began trading
silk with the Roman Empire some 5,000 miles
away over the Silk Road. Along this route, the
Chinese traded cultural ideas and technologies
with the outside world. Buddhism, a religion
developed by the Indian prince, Siddhartha
Gautama, arrived in China at this time. It still
remains in China as a powerful religious
influence.
In 220 CE, the last Han emperor stepped
down from his throne. In the chaos that
followed, China once again split into three
warring states. A period of civil war followed
that lasted for 300 years. It was a dark age for
China. In addition to the wars being fought
amongst themselves, the Chinese also had to
fend off barbarian raiders from the north. Still,
cultural achievements were made in this time.
Paintings of landscapes in the distinctive
Chinese style became common during this
period. This is a style known by the world to
this day.
Unlike the Roman Empire, which fell
apart permanently, China was able to reunite
itself under the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties.
Starting in 589 CE, China entered a long period
of peace and prosperity under the Sui, Tang, and
Song dynasties. These dynasties conquered
many of their barbarian neighbors, absorbing
them into their culture. In this period the
thoughts of Neo-Confucianism began to spread.
Assignment 8A1 Updated 2012
This philosophy blended Master Kong’s moral
teachings with the Daoist and Buddhist beliefs.
This happy time in Chinese history came
to a close when barbarian invaders crossed the
Great Wall. Led by Genghis Khan, the Mongols
swept out the north to invade China. His
grandson, Kublai Khan, completed the conquest,
overthrowing the Song dynasty to form the
Yuan dynasty in 1279 CE. During this dynasty,
the Chinese continued to make contact with the
West. One of these contacts was the much
celebrated explorer, Marco Polo. He spent
many years traveling the Silk Road and in the
court of Kublai Khan, learning about Chinese
customs, technologies, and beliefs.
But the Mongols ruled over the Chinese
in an unfair manner. Many of their laws put the
Mongols and other alien peoples over the ethnic
Chinese. This made the people angry, and by
1368 CE the Chinese ousted the Mongols to
retake control of their lands and form the Ming
dynasty. During this time, the Chinese began
making superb porcelain. This fine china
became highly prized in the lands of Europe,
encouraging them to open new trade routes to
China. They also moved the capital to
Beijing—the capital of China today—and built
the so-called Forbidden City there, the imperial
palace. To avoid the fate of the Song dynasty,
the Ming rebuilt the Great Wall. They also
began cutting themselves off from the rest of the
world.
In 1644 CE, the Manchus breached the
Great Wall and overthrew the Ming dynasty. In
its place, they set up the Qing dynasty. It
continued to follow the path of isolation that the
Ming rulers had. This policy led to stagnation,
and as the world changed around the Middle
Kingdom, the Chinese did not change with the
times. Rather, powerful outside forces from
Europe and America, with the benefit of their
advanced military technology, began forcing the
Qing rulers to do as they wished. The British,
for example, forced the Chinese to accept
shipments of opium—a highly addictive drug—
after the aptly named Opium Wars. In time, the
Ming dynasty fell as so many other dynasties
had before.
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Name: _____________________________________________ Period: _______ Date: __________
Ancient China
Directions: Read the following article on Ancient
China. Circle the response that best answers the
question.
1. Which of the following Chinese
traditions developed in Neolithic
times 7,000 years ago?
a. Chinese writing
b. gunpowder
c. ancestor worship
2. What
a.
b.
c.
is a dynasty?
a group of warriors
a ruling family
a king
3. What gift did Shang dynasty give to
China that is still used in China
today?
a. Chinese writing
b. Confucianism, a philosophy
c. human sacrifice
4. In what dynasty was the Yi Jing or
Book of Changes written?
a. the Shang dynasty
b. the Zhou dynasty
c. the Qin dynasty
5. What
a.
b.
c.
was the Yi Jing?
a calendar to guide farming
a means of telling the future
a guide for kings to rule well
6. How many kingdoms vied for power
during the Warring States Period?
a. five
b. six
c. seven
Assignment 8A1 Updated 2012
7. Which of the following punishments
would a Legalist give to a convicted
thief?
a. “Have him work off what he was
stolen for his master with three
years of slavery.”
b. “Have him suffer the death of a
thousand cuts.”
c. “Let him go if he apologizes to his
master.”
8. How did the First Emperor, Qin Shi
Huangdi unify China after he had
conquered the other Warring States?
a. He standardized everything he
could in China—currency,
writing, and language.
b. He built a wall around the
capital at Anyang.
c. He built his tomb with 10,000
terracotta warriors in it.
9. What did Qin Shi Huangdi do to the
people who disagreed with him?
a. He had them burned alive.
b. He convinced them to think his
way.
c. He had them buried alive.
10.
What was the name of the man
who overthrew the Qin dynasty?
a. Wudi
b. Laozi
c. Lu Bang
11.
What was the Silk Road?
a. It was a trade route that
stretched 5,000 miles from
China to America.
b. It was a trade route that
stretched 5,000 miles from
China to Europe.
c. It was a trade route that wound
around the Chinese Empire, but
never left its borders.
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12.
What teachings did NeoConfucianism blend together?
a. Legalism, Daoism, and
Confucianism
b. Buddhism, Daoism, and
Confucianism
c. Hinduism, Daoism, and
Confucianism.
13.
What Mongol leader led the
Mongols over the Great Wall to
conquer China?
a. Pu Yi
b. Genghis Khan
c. Wudi
14.
What explorer made contact with
Kublai Khan?
a. Christopher Columbus
b. Henry Hudson
c. Marco Polo
15.
Where did the Ming dynasty move
the capital of China?
a. Chunking
b. Taipei
c. Beijing
16.
What is porcelain?
a. A type of glass.
b. A type of writing paper.
c. A type of fine China.
17.
What palace did the Ming dynasty
build in China?
a. The Taj Majal
b. The Great Pagoda
c. The Forbidden City
18.
What group of people started the
Qing dynasty in China?
a. The Mongols
b. The Manchus
c. The Huns
Assignment 8A1 Updated 2012
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