Download Chapter 2. An overview of Traditional Chinese Culture

A Outline of Traditional Chinese
Culture
An Overview of Chinese
History
The Brief Chronology of Chinese
History(中国历史年代简表)
Paleolithic Period(旧石器时代)1,700,000-10,000
years ago
Neolithic Period(新石器时代)10,000-4,000 years ago
Xia Dynasty (夏) 2070B.C.-1600 B.C.
Shang Dynasty (商) 1600 B.C.-1046 B.C.
Western Zhou Dynasty (西周) 1046 B.C.-771 B.C.
Spring and Autumn Period (春秋)770 B.C.-476 B.C.
Warring State Period(战国) 475 B.C.-221 B.C.
The Brief Chronology of Chinese
History(中国历史年代简表)
Qin Dynasty(秦) 221BC-206BC
Han Dynasty (Western Han & Eastern Han)(汉)
206BC-220AD
Three Kingdoms (三国) 220-280AD
Jin Dynasty (Western Jin & Eastern Jin)(晋) 265-420
Southern and Northern Dynasties(南北朝) 420-589
Sui Dynasty (隋) 581-618
Tang Dynasty (唐) 618-907
The Brief Chronology of Chinese
History(中国历史年代简表)
Five Dynasties (五代) 907-960
Liao Dynasty (辽) 907-1125
Song Dynasty (Northern Song & Southern Song) (宋)
960-1279
Western Xia Dynasty(西夏)1038-1227
Jin Dynasty (金) 1115-1234
Yuan Dynasty (元) 1206-1368
The Brief Chronology of Chinese
History(中国历史年代简表)
Ming Dynasty (明) 1368-1644
Qing Dynasty (清) 1616-1840 (Opium War)-1911
Republic of China(中华民国)1912-1949
People’s Republic of China(中华人民共和国)19491、夏商与西周，东周分两段，春秋和战国，一统秦两汉。
三分魏蜀吴，两晋前后沿，南北朝并立，隋唐五代传
宋元明清后，皇朝至此完。
2、尧舜禹，夏商周，春秋战国乱悠悠，秦汉三国晋统一，
南朝北朝是对头， 隋唐五代又十国，宋元明清帝王休。
3、黄尧舜禹夏商周，春秋秦汉又三国，两晋南北隋唐起
五代十国宋辽金，元明清后皇朝止。
The historical development of the
Chinese culture

1. The Dawn of Chinese History: The Pre-Qin Period
Culture(中国历史文化的开篇——先秦文化)
(1) The Earliest Human Beings in China:
Yuanmou Man (dated back to 1,700,000 years ago,
the earliest human beings ever found in China)Lantian Man (walk upright on 2 feet)-Peking Man
(skilled at making fire, making and using stone tools)Upper Cave Man (18000, resembled modern human
beings in appearance )
(2) The Great Myth of the Creation of Man in
Ancient China
The historical development of the
Chinese culture
(3) Ancestors of the Chinese Nation: 4000 years
ago, Emperor Yan and Emperor Huang
defeated Chiyou.
(4) Confucius, the Great Educator
(5) The “Hundred Schools of Thought” and their
Exponents.诸子百家
(6) The Art of War: the world first treatise on
military science世界上第一部兵法——《孙子
兵法》
An outline history
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Yuanmou Man and Peking Man
The Ancient Period
The Modern Times
Yuanmou Man and Peking Man

The first primitive man
known to have existed in
China is Yuanmou Man,
who lived 1.7 million
years ago.

Peking Man, who existed
more than 400,000 years
ago, could walk upright,
make and use simple
tools, and make use of
fire.
The Ancient Period


Why are we called “the descendants of Yan
and Huang (炎黄子孙)”?
Chinese history began with two legendary
figures—Emperor Huang and Emperor Yan,
who, together with their tribes, inhabited the
drainage area along the middle reaches of
the Yellow River. By the time of Xia Dynasty,
after centuries of living side by side, these
two tribes had gradually merged into one.
Consequently, the Chinese people usually
themselves “the descendants of Yan and
Huang”.
Yu conquering the flood
Yu inspired people to dig ditches to divert
water instead of building dams. He worked
ceaselessly for 13 years and succeeded in
controlling the floods.
The historical development of the
Chinese culture
2. The period of Great Feudal Unity: The Qin
and Han Dynasties封 建大一统时期——秦汉
(1)Qinshihuang, the First Emperor in Chinese
History
(2)The Great Wall and the Terracotta Warriors
(3)Sima Qian and his Records of the Historian
(4) Zhang Heng, and his seismograph / seismoscope
(5) Zhang Zhongjing, the saint of medicine and Hua
Tuo, the founder of surgery
Qinshihuang, the First Emperor
 The First Emperor of Qin (watch a movie)
He unified the Language, the
measurement system and the currency, set
up the prefectures and counties system,
constructed the famous Great Wall and
built extravagant palaces and mausoleums.
The Terracotta Warriors
The historical development of the
Chinese culture
3. The division of China once more and the
intermingling of ethnic groups: The Three
Kingdoms, the two Jin Dynasties and the
Southern and Northern Dynasties.
封建国家的分裂和民族大融合——三国、两
晋、南北朝
Chao Cao, Zhuge Liang
Romance of the Three Kingdoms《三国演义》
Wang Xizhi, the saint of calligraphy

The historical development of the
Chinese culture
4. The heyday of Feudal Society: The Sui and
Tang Dynasties封建社会的繁荣——隋唐
(1) The Grand Canal of the Sui Dynasty
(2) Xuanzang’s Journey to the West
(3) Jianzhen Crosses the Ocean to Japan

The historical development of the
Chinese culture
5. The continued development of Feudal Society
and the coexistence of ethnic regimes:
The Five Dynasties, and the Liao, Song, Xia, Jin and
Yuan Dynasties
封建社会的继续发展和民族政权并立时期——五代、
辽、宋、夏、金、元
(1)Yue Fei, Wen Tianxiang
(2)The Four Great Inventions
(3)Riversides scene on the Pure Brightness Festival
(4) Sima Guang and the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in
Government 《资治通鉴》

The historical development of the
Chinese culture
6. The period of further development of the
unitary multi-ethnic country and the decline of
feudal society: The Ming and Qing Dynasties
(before the opium war of 1840)统一的多民族
国家进一步发展和封建社会由盛而衰时期
明清（鸦片战争以前）
Zhu Yuanzhang, Zheng He, Qi Jiguang
Li Shizhen and Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of
Materia Medica)

The historical development of the
Chinese culture
7. Modern Period近代中国
(1) Lin Zexu and the Destruction of Opium
at Humen
(2) The first Opium War
(3) The May 4th Movement

The historical development of the
Chinese culture
8. Contemporary Period 现代中国
 You know much about this period.

Brief introduction to Chinese
Symbols
National Day
 National Emblem
 National Anthem
(Internationale国际歌）
 National Capital
National Day
 Chinese
celebrate October 1 as
National Day in honor of the
founding of the People’s
Republic of China (PRC) on
October 1, 1949.
National Flag
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
The red color of the flag symbolizes revolution and the
yellow color of the stars the golden brilliant rays
radiating from the vast red land.
The design of the four smaller stars surrounding a
bigger one signifies the unity of the Chinese people
under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.
National Emblem

Composed of patterns of
the national flag, the
Tian’anmen Rostrum, a
wheel gear and ears of
wheat, it symbolizes the
New-Democratic
Revolution of the Chinese
people since the May 4th
Movement in 1919 and the
birth of New China.


National Anthem
March of the Volunteers was written in 1935 and
was officially adopted as the national anthem of the
PRC on December 4, 1982.
The lyrics of March of the Volunteers goes as follow:
Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves;
Let us amount our flesh and blood towards our new
Great Wall!
The Chinese nation faces its greatest peril,
The thundering roar of our people will be heard!
Arise! Arise! Arise!
We are many, but our hearts beat as one!
Selflessly braving the enemy’s gunfire, march on!
Selflessly braving the enemy’s gunfire, march on!
March on! March on! on!
National Capital


On September 27,
1949, Beiping was
renamed as Beijing
and became capital
of the PRC.
Beijing is not only
the nation’s political
centre, but also
serves as its
economic, scientific
and cultural heart.
Geography

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Location and Boundary
Topography
Rivers and Lakes
Climate
Location and Boundary
What’s the location of China in the
Map?

Located in the east of the Asian continent,
on the western shore of the Pacific ocean,
the PRC has a land area of about 9.6 million
sq km, and is the third largest country in the
world, next only to Russia and Canada.
Topography
What are the features of Chinese
topography?


China is a country of varied topographical
features with highlands in the west and
plains in the east.
Taking a bird’s-eye view of China, the
terrain descends from the west to east like a
four-staircase:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in Southwest China;
(above 4000m)
Inner Mongolia Plateau, the Loess Plateau,
the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, the Tarim
Basin（塔里木盆地）, the Junggar Basin
and Sichuan Basin; (1000m-2000m)
The Northeast Plain, the North China
Plain and the Middle-Lower Yangtze Plain;
(500-1000m)
The continental shelf
Rivers and Lakes
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More than 1,500 rivers each drain 1,000 sq
km or larger areas
Rich in water-power resources
Exterior and interior river systems
The Yangtze River and the Yellow River
24,800 natural lakes
The Grand Canal
What’s your impression of the
Yangtze River?

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
The Yangtze River is
the longest river in
China; (6,300km)
It flows through 11
provinces, autonomous
regions and
municipalities.
It is one of the main
artery of water
transportation between
eastern and western
China.
What’s your impression of the
Yellow River?

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The Yellow River is
China’s second longest
river; (5,464 km)
The most heavily siltladen river in the world.
The Yellow river
catchment area is an
important base for
grains in China.
Anything about the Grand Canal?

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The Grand Canal is
also called Jinghang
Canal (1,801 km)
The canal was open to
navigation over 1,000
years ago.
It passes through one
city, four provinces
and links five major
rivers.
Climate

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A warm climate and distinct seasons
Continental monsoon climate in China:
1) cold and dry winters;
2) warm and humid summers;
Administrative Divisions (5 minutes)

Three-tier system (三级建制), dividing the
nation into provinces, counties and
townships；

At present China has 23 provinces, 5
autonomous regions, 4 municipalities and
two special administrative regions (SAR：特
别行政区)
Population
More recent data using sampling by the
National Bureau of Statistics announced
that by Nov. 1, 2010, the population of China
was 1,370,536,875.
 What is “One Child Policy”?
It is a policy of family planning, hoping to
control the population increase, improve
population quality.

Distribution of the Ethnic groups
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56 ethnic groups (Han, 91.51%)
According to the fifth national census conducted
in 2010, the population of all the 55 minority ethnic
groups totaled 113,792,221, accounting for 8.49
percent of the total population of China.
What is the ethnic policy in China?
Equality, unity, mutual assistance and common
prosperity (平等，团结，互助，共同繁荣)are the
basic principles of the Chinese government in
handling the relations between ethnic groups.
 Guess
what ethnic group are
they from?
Dong
Yi
Tujia
Li
Miao
The Political System

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The Constitution of the People’s Republic of
China is the fundamental law of the state.
The NPC is the highest organ of state power.
The Communist Party is the sole party in power in
China. Apart from it, there are eight democratic
parties in China.
The State Council, or the Central People’s
Government, of the People’s Republic of China is
the executive body of the highest organ of state
power and the highest organ of state
administration.
Economic Development and Reform
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
What is GDP?
Gross domestic product, the total market
value of all the goods and services produced
in a country in a specific period. (13,687.59
billion RMB in 2004)
Economic reform and opening-up are the
two fundamental State policies of China.
Students’ Presentation


Please do brief introduction to your
hometown， including the details about the
location, population, climate, the main
scenes，etc.
First in pairs and to the whole class.
Homework
Please prepare for next class’ presentation.
Time : 10 minutes (Followed by 5-minute’s
comments from other students)
 Topic: Any festivals except the Spring
Festival, the Mid-autumn Festival and the
Lantern Festival.
 Arrangement: two or three students each
time.

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