Download Section 2:iv

Early China
Chapter 2:iv
China developed in isolation
from the rest of the world.
Because they viewed their country
as the center of the world, they
called their homeland Zhong
Guo, or “Middle Kingdom.”
Effects of Isolation
• development of one culture
across a wide area
• strong sense of cultural identity
• resulted in the oldest, continuous
culture
Mountains make up about
one-third of China’s area.
The Himalayas
close-off China to
the southwest.
Kunlun Shan
The Kunlun Shan and Tian Shan
ranges to the west cut-off China
from Europe.
Most Chinese peasants
focused on developing the
agricultural resources of the
fertile river valleys and plains.
•
[Image source: http://www.wsu.edu:8001/vwsu/gened/learn-modules/top_agrev/2-soil/soil1.html]
Three major rivers drain
eastern China:
• Huang He (Yellow River)
• Chang Jiang (Yangtze)
• Xi Jiang (West River)
Huang He
The “Breadbasket
of China.”
On it’s 2,900 mile (4,640 km) journey
to the sea through north China, the
Huang He cuts through a thick layer
of loess, a rich yellow soil.
The Huang He is also known as
“the Great Sorrow” because of
frequent, devastating floods.
•
[Image source: http://www.redcross.org.hk/news/floods_cne.html]
The silt deposits brought by
the flooding river has made
the North China Plain a rich
agricultural area.
Yangtze River
The Yangtze is
also known as
the Chang Jiang.
It is called the Chang Jiang (“Long
River”) by the Chinese because it is
the longest river in China.
The Chang Jiang is the
“Rice Bowl of China.”
Xi Jiang
In the 1920s,
archaeologists
digging near
the Huang He
uncovered
traces of
Neolithic life
in China.
[Image source: http://www.regenttour.com/chinaplanner/sia/xia-sightsbanpo.htm]
The excavations revealed that
Neolithic Chinese farmers lived in
circular pit houses.
[Image source: http://www.deall.ohio-state.edu/jin.3/c231/images/prehistp.htm]
[Image source: http://www.wsu.edu/~wldciv/brians_syllabus/6.html]
These and other finds reveal
that the Huang He valley was
settled as early as 5000 B.C.
[Image source: http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/prehistory/china/ancient_china/neolithic.html]
The magnificent painted pots
left by the Yang-shao culture
date back to 3000-1500 B.C.
[Image source: http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/prehistory/china/ancient_china/neolithic.html]
The people of
the Lung-shan
culture (25001500 B.C.)
used potter’s
wheels to
fashion
delicate pots
and goblets.
[Image source: http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/prehistory/china/ancient_china/neolithic.html]
[Image source: http://www.naturejpn.com/newnature/hottopics/zhang/]
One Chinese
myth tells of
how the
universe was
created from
the body of a
giant named
Pan Gu.
[Image source: http://www.sh.com/culture/legend/pangu.htm]
Chinese legends celebrate the
deeds of hero-kings
known as the sage
emperors.
Sage-Emperor
Yao, considered
to be a model
ruler, set the
standard when
he abdicated in
favour of Shun.
[Image source: http://www.span.com.au/100emperors/3.html]
The SageEmperor
Shun, a
virtuous
farmer and
fisherman,
abdicated in
favour of Yu.
Sage-Emperor Yu was known as
the “Great Engineer” because he
tamed the Huang He.
“When widespread waters
spread to Heaven and serpents
and dragons did harm, Yao
sent Yu to control the waters
and to drive out the serpents
and dragons. The waters were
controlled and flowed to the
east. The serpents and dragons
plunged to their places.”
Sage-Emperor Yu founded
the legendary Xia Dynasty.
[Image source: http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/prehistory/china/ancient_china/xia.html]
Dynasty
• a ruling family that passes the
right to rule down from one
family member to another
• the Xia Dynasty was founded
circa 2000 B.C. when sageemperor Yu appointed his son
to succeed him
The Shang dynasty was established
when King Tang defeated the Xia
army at Mingtiao.
The Shang
Dynasty, which
ruled China
circa 1700-1100
B.C., is the first
dynasty that can
be dated from
written records.
In addition to being
political leaders, Shang
kings were also high
priests responsible for
performing religious
rituals communicating
with nature-deities on
behalf of the people.
[Image source: http://www.users.bigpond.com/wernerschmidlin/ancientchina.html]
The earliest
examples of
Chinese
writing are
found etched
onto animal
bones and
tortoise shells.
[Image source: http://www.chinapage.com/calligraphy/oracle/oraclebone1.html]
These oracle
bones helped
Shang kings
predict the
future.
[Image source: http://www.crystalinks.com/chinascript.html]
Date
Name of diviner
and location of
divination
Negative Charge
Positive Charge
Conclusion
Shang
Achievements
[Image source: http://petersnonfictionblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/quotes-from-book.html]
Originally the
Chinese written
language used
only pictographs
or characters
that depicted
the objects they
represented.
[Image source:
During the
Shang, some
characters
became
ideograms
representing
ideas and
concepts.
Mastering the
complex system
of characters
took time, so
only a few
people in
ancient China
were literate.
[Image source:
http://www.chinapage.com/calligraphy/steles/steles.html]
The Shang
perfected their
metal-casting
skills and
produced some
of the finest
bronze objects
ever made.
[Image source: http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/prehistory/china/ancient_china/shang.html]
The Shang
cast bronze
vessels that
were interred
with corpses
as burial gifts.
[Image source:
http://www.users.bigpond.com/wernerschmidlin/ancientchina.html]
The Shang
also cast
massive
ceremonial
cauldrons out
of bronze.
[Image source:
http://www.users.bigpond.com/wernerschmidlin/ancientchina.html]
[Image source: http://www.pitt.edu/~asian/week-2/week-2.html]
Other
items cast
from
bronze
included
daggers,
figurines,
and
fittings for
hunting
chariots.
[Image source: http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/prehistory/china/ancient_china/shang.html]
The few surviving examples of
jade artwork reveal the Shang
were accomplished artisans.
[Image source: http://www.wisc.edu/arth/ah370/s02g17.htm]
[Image source: http://www.wisc.edu/arth/ah370/s02g17.htm]
[Image source: http://www.chnmus.net/English/newpage19.htm]
Ivory
Kaolin pottery
The Shang capital was at
Anyang.
[Image source: http://www.chinatoday.com/city/anyang/a04.html]
Shang chariot
The Shang employed the yoke
to harness the power of animals
in times of both peace and war.
[Image source: http://www.rom.on.ca/pub/shang/]
Shang warriors in chariots using
bronze weapons easily conquered
the people of the Huang He valley.
Using their superior weapons, the
Shang eventually conquered
much of eastern China.
Shang kings were entombed
in large burial pits.
The retainers of the Shang monarchs
often followed their rulers in death.
Their severed skulls were buried
in another part of the grave.
[Image source: http://www.wsu.edu/~wldciv/brians_syllabus/6.html]
Chinese rulers governed as a
result of the Mandate of Heaven.
[Image source: http://www.he.net/~archaeol/9803/abstracts/china.html]
If a ruler was just
and effective, they
received a mandate,
or the authority to
rule, from heaven.
[Image source: http://www.users.bigpond.com/wernerschmidlin/ancientchina.html]
Indications that a king had lost
the Mandate of Heaven included:
• crop failures
• catastrophic floods
• losses in battle
• corrupt government
New Dynasty
Arises
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Natural Disasters