Download File

Early Society in East Asia
Key Terms
Ancestor Veneration
Artisans
China’s Sorrow
Consort
Dynasty
Extended Family
Hereditary State
From Traditions and Encounters chapter 5
Big Picture
Human beings have inhabited east Asia since at least two hundred thousand
years ago. The domestication of rice began around 7000 B.C.E., and
neolithic societies such as the Yangshao rose in the valley of the Yellow
River by approximately 5000 B.C.E. Early dynasties such as the Xia,
Shang, and Zhou saw the rise of a distinctive and in many ways uniquely
secular society. Politically, none of the early dynasties achieved
centralization until the Qin unification in 221 B.C.E. Nevertheless, despite
centuries of unstable political decentralization and at times outright warfare,
the Chinese moved inexorably toward the establishment of a remarkably
sophisticated political and social structure. Works such as the Zhou
classics, and especially the Book of Songs, remained the foundations of
Chinese thought for centuries.
Content Objectives
Loess
Mandate of Heaven

Royal Court



Shang

Steppe Nomads

Oracle Bones
Discuss early agricultural society and political developments in
early China.
Understand the rise and fall of the Zhou dynasty.
Identify key aspects of ancient Chinese society and culture.
Explain the connections between early Chinese writing and cultural
development.
Understand the relationship between Chinese cultivators and the
nomadic peoples of central Asia.
Identify the reasons behind the southern expansion of Chinese
society.
Xia
Zhou
Language Objectives






Students will discuss early agricultural society and political
developments in early China.
Students will explain the rise and fall of the Zhou dynasty.
Students will list key aspects of ancient Chinese society and
culture.
Students will discuss the relationship between early Chinese
writing and China’s cultural development.
Students will summarize the relationship between Chinese
cultivators and the nomadic peoples of central Asia.
Students will identify the reasons behind the southern expansion of
Chinese society
Essential Understanding
1. Where did the Chinese acquire their technical knowledge (e.g. wheeled vehicles,
metallurgy, horse-drawn vehicles)?
2. In what two river valleys did Chinese civilization emerge? What three dynasties emerged
to bring order to China?
3. Where does the Yellow River (Huang He) get its name?
4. Where other cultures we’ve studied were concerned with irrigation, early Chinese
civilizations along the Yellow River were concerned with what?
5. Who founded the Xia (shee-a) Dynasty? When did the Xia Dynasty come into power, and
what precident did it establish?
6. When did the Shang dynasty come to power? Why do we know more about the Shang
than the Xia?
7. What did the Shang control that gave them an advantage over the Xia?
8. Briefly describe the Shang political structure – how many different capitals did they
have?
9. In what way did the Shang rulers keep order? (Hint: like the Pharoahs)
10. What dynasty rises and eclipses the Shang?
11. How did the Zhou overtake the Shang?
12. Briefly describe the Mandate of Heaven.
13. Briefly describe the Zhou political organization.
14. How did a decentralized government lead to the downfall of the Zhou?
15. What set the Elites apart from the less privileged societies?
16. How extensive was Chinese trade during Shang times?
17. What were peasants’ lives like?
18. How was the role of family important in Chinese life?
19. Chinese society was organized around ____________.
20. What was religion like in Ancient China?
21. What are “oracle bones”? What do they tell us about the Ancient Chinese?
22. What is the earliest form of Chinese writing?
23. Aside from the Yellow river and Imperial societies, who else existed in Ancient China?
24. Describe briefly the nomadic way of life.
25. What Chinese State emerges in the Yangzi River valley?
26. Describe the period China enters with the collapse of the Zhou.