Download Chapter 01 China in the Bronze Age

HIST 270: China
STUDY GUIDE
S. Austin
CHAPTER 1
The Bronze Age: The Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties (ca. 1500-771 b.c.e.)
GLOSSARY
Look up the following terms in a dictionary or encyclopedia if you do not know them.
Loess soil
Logographic
Vassal
Feudal
Hereditary fiefs
b.c.e./c.e.
totemism
shamanism
patrilineal
IDENTIFICATION
Briefly identify the meaning and significance of the follow terms:
Book of Documents ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Book of Poetry ________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Mandate of Heaven ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Oracle Bones ________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Rammed Earth ________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 1
Page 1
HIST 270: China
STUDY GUIDE
S. Austin
Sanxingdui ________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Shang Dynasty ________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Shi ________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Taotie ________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Western Zhou Dynasty __________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
MATCHING
Match the following people with the appropriate description
___ 1. Duke of Zhou
___ 2. Shi
___ 3. Lady Hao
___ 4. Rong
___5. Son of Heaven
Chapter 1
A. One of the many wives of King Wu Ding,
her royal tomb was not robbed before it was
excavated.
B. The Book of Documents assumes a close
relationship between Heaven and the king,
who was call the
C. Consolidated the Zhou conquest of the
Shang and served as regent.
D. lower ranks of the Zhou aristocracy who
could serve in either military or civil capacities.
E. Northern Barbarians
Page 2
HIST 270: China
STUDY GUIDE
S. Austin
COMPLETION
Answer the question or complete the statement by filling in the blanks with the correct word or words.
1. Until modern times, Chinese civilization did not spread into Inner Asian regions because they
were not suited to _________ ________________.
2. The Shang kings were ____________ ______________ who regularly sent out armies of three
thousand to five thousand men on campaigns.
3. Archaeologists often can identify ____________ _____________ because they were
decapitated or cut in two at the waist.
4. The Chinese ____________ played a large role in holding China together and fostering a sense
of connection with the past.
5. Development of more complex forms of social organization in Shang China coincided with the
mastery of ________________.
6. What image symbolizes rebirth in the realm of ancestral spirits? ____________________
7. Heaven gives the king a _____________ to rule only as long as he rules in the interests of the
people.
8. The Zhou king’s authority was maintained by rituals of _____________ ____________ and
court visits.
9. After the Zhou king was killed in 771 b.c.e., the Zhou royal house and nobles moved east to the
area of modern ______________, just south of the Yellow River in the heart of the central plains.
10. In Zhou society, at the upper reaches at least, sacrifices to _______________ were one of the
key rituals used to forge social ties.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
Circle the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question.
___ 1. A fine, wind-driven earth that is fertile and easy to work with even with primitive tools.
A. Clay
B. Loam
C. Silt
Chapter 1
D. Peat
E. Loess
Page 3
HIST 270: China
STUDY GUIDE
S. Austin
___ 2. How did the Shang kings discern the will of the gods and royal ancestors?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Interpreting the cracks made on the oracle bones when they were heated.
Interpreting the shape and direction of tea leaves left over from the Kings morning tea.
Prophets appeared from time to time to announce the will of gods.
Shaman priests would go into a trance and voice the will of the gods.
A visit to the oracles of the temple of heaven.
___ 3. Shang kings justified power by
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
acting as military general, protecting the people against their enemies.
claiming direct descent from the Sun Goddess.
acting as the high priest, the one best qualified to offer sacrifices.
claiming the mandate of heaven to rule the people.
claiming the divine right of kings.
___ 4. The key excavated texts connected to the Shang kings found at Anyang in modern Henan
province.
A. Cave paintings
B. Papyrus scrolls
C. Stele inscriptions
D. Oracle bones
E. Bamboo strips
___ 5. What gave the Shang Dynasty a possible military advantage over its neighbors?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Bronze technology gave Shang warriors improved weapons.
Shang warriors made use of military strategies discussed by Sun Tzu in the Art of War
Shang dynasty was able to field a 100,000 warriors.
Shang dynasty invented the horse-drawn chariot for speed in warfare.
Shang practice of human sacrifice terrified its enemies.
___ 6. Why did Chinese civilization not spread into the northern grasslands of Inner Asia?
A. They were already occupied by China's traditional enemies, the Xiongnu and the Mongols.
B. Peoples of the regions spoke different languages and they had no way of communicating
with the Chinese.
C. These regions were not suited to crop agriculture.
D. People of the grasslands had their own advanced civilization.
E. Chinese civilization did spread into these regions.
Chapter 1
Page 4
HIST 270: China
STUDY GUIDE
S. Austin
___ 7. Which of the following was not an important element of Shang dynasty religion?
A.
B.
C.
D.
divination using cattle scapulas and turtle shells.
The Mandate of Heaven
Intecession with Di, the high god, by a Shaman king
Large scale human sacrifice
___ 8. The Zhou kings never attempted to rule the conquered areas directly. Instead, it favored a
system of government that most resembles
A.
B.
C.
D.
Democracy
Chinese Imperial Bureaucracy
Western Feudalism
Communism
___ 9. Archaeological finds in Sanxingdui in 1980 yielded a wealth of material culture, including
bronze, jade, and gold artifacts. Much of the material culture from the Sanxingdui site strongly
suggests that it represents a tradition
A.
B.
C.
D.
that was weak and barbaric compared to the Zhou
dependent on Shang dynasty civilization
that had little if any contact with the Shang
very similar if not the same as the Shang
___ 10. From the archeological evidence, we can infer that Shang dynasty religion is best
characterized as
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
animistic -- belief that elements of nature have a spirit.
a sacrificial cult.
a sympathetic magic cult.
non-theistic.
monotheistic -- belief in one god.
Chapter 1
Page 5
HIST 270: China
STUDY GUIDE
S. Austin
MAP
Find and label:
Anyang
Luoyang
North China Plain
Xi’an
Yangzi River
Yellow River
Chapter 1
Page 6