Download Chinese Dynasties Notes

ANCIENT DYNASTIC CHINA
Hemudu:
c. 5000-4000 BCE
Settles and cultivates rice on Hangzhou Bay
Yangshao:
c. 5000-3000 BCE
Settles villages in Yellow River valley of North China
Longshang:
c. 3000-2000 BCE
Builds walled cities, develops class society, makes fine black pottery
Located on Shandong peninsula
Xia:
c. 2000-1500 BCE
Possibly mythical, supposedly founded by god-like Yu
Urban sites, bronze implements, tombs
Stage between Neolithic (late Stone Age) and urban civilization
Shang:
c. 1500-1046 BCE, Huang He (Yellow River) valley
Founded by rebel leader who overthrew Xia (supposedly)
Agriculture, hunting, settled pastoralism
Development of writing (oracle bones) and bronze
High level of civilization, rigid social stratification
Wars with western nomads and neighboring settlements
King as head of ancestor and spirit worship, leader of religious rituals and
sacrifices
Zhou:
c. 1046-221 BCE, in Wei valley
Longest lasting of any, extended Shang culture outward (Sinicization)
Enunciated Mandate of Heaven
Proto-feudal, emphasized family bonds
City-states become centralized, developing bureaucracy and central government
Kingdoms fragment into East (770-221 BCE) & West (1046-771 BCE)
Spring & Autumn Period:
770-476 BCE, Golden Age of pre-imperial China
Reforms triggered by struggle for survival among warlords
Iron Age, commerce, massive public works, scholars, teachers
c. 551-479: Life of Confucius
Period named for title of history written about the era
Warring States Period:
476-221 BCE
Political fragmentation, many small feudal states
Nearly constant warfare, social upheaval, famine, etc.
c. 370-290: Life of Mencius (Meng Ke), Confucian philosopher
369-286: Life of Zhuangzi, Daoist philosopher
361-338: Reforms of Shang Yang in Qin
256: Liu Bang born
246: Ying Zheng becomes King of Qin
Qin:
221-206 BCE, first united imperial dynasty; Warring States Period ends
Founded by Qin Shihuangdi, First Emperor of China (Ying Zheng)
Centralized, non-hereditary bureaucratic system, Legalism as political philosophy
Standardization of everything—money, weights & measures, construction, roads,
writing
Oppression of intellectuals and dissidents
Military expeditions, massive public works (including Great Wall & Terracotta
Army)
Collapses as numerous rebel armies rise up in opposition to harsh rule & weak
second emperor
Han:
206 BCE-220 CE
Founded by peasant Liu Bang, or Gaozu (“Lofty Ancestor”)
Confucianism instated as guiding political principle
Flourishing intellectuals, formalized civil service
Paper, porcelain, silk, trade routes with the west
139-132 BCE: Emperor Wu sends trade missions to west, inaugurating Silk Road
9-23 CE: Interregnum of Wang Mang & Xin Dynasty
25: Han restored by Liu Xiu
65: First record of Buddhism in China
142: Zhang Ling experiences revelation, founds formal institutional Daoism
184: Yellow Turbans uprising
220: Han collapses, Three Kingdoms period begins