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China’s Early
History
Before we begin, lets reflect on three questions!
What do you know about
China?
What do you think people
do to defend themselves?
Do you think building a
wall would work? Why or
why not?
Do you think building a wall would work?
The Great Wall of China
Video
http://www.history.com/topics/great-wall-of-china
The Great Wall of
China Reading and
Questions
Pair-up and, in your pairs, you will read the information on the handout and answer the questions
attached
The Great Wall of China:
The Great Wall of China:
The Great Wall of China
Summary Video
http://www.history.com/topics/great-wall-of-china/videos/building-the-great-wall
Early Civilization and the Dynasties:
▪ China is the world’s oldest continuous civilization
▪ Because of its long distances that separated it from Europe and other continents,
it followed its own direction
Early Civilization and the Dynasties:
▪ China has been a settled society for more than 4,000 years
▪ China was ruled by dynasties
▪ A dynasty is a series of rulers from the same family
▪ The first Chinese dynasty was the Shang
▪ This dynasty arose during the 1700s B.C.
What is a dynasty?
A series of rulers
from the same
family
Early Civilization and the Dynasties:
▪ The Shang ruled central China for about 600 years until it was overthrown by the
Zhou Dynasty
▪ The Zhou Dynasty ruled part of northern China
▪ The next important dynasty was the Qin Dynasty
▪ They gave their name to China
▪ In 221 B.C., the Qin Dynasty defeated and united a number of smaller states under a
strong central government and established the Chinese Empire
Early Civilization and the Dynasties:
▪ The first Qin emperor was Shi Huangdi
▪ This Chinese Empire lasted for 2,000 years and was ruled by different dynasties
▪ Another important Chinese dynasty was the Han
▪ These rulers pushed the empire into central Asia
▪ Many other dynasties followed over the centuries
What occurred in
221 B.C.?
The Qin Dynasty defeated
and united a number of
smaller states under a
strong central government
and established the Chinese
Empire
Early Civilization and the Dynasties:
▪ In 1644, the Manchu people of Manchuria invaded China and established the
Qing Dynasty
▪ In 1911, the Manchus were overthrown by revolutionaries and this ended the
dynasties and the Chinese Empire
Main Dynasties of China:
▪ Shang Dynasty
▪ Zhou Dynasty
▪ Qin Dynasty
▪ Han Dynasty
▪ Qing Dynasty
History of China Timeline
Activity
Lets review the directions for this activity!