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Ancient China
SETTING THE STAGE
• China’s first city walls were built 1500 years after the walls of Ur, q,000 years
after the great pyramids, and 1,000 years after the planned cities on the Indus
River.
• Unlike most cultures on earth, the civilization that began in China over 3,500
years ago still thrives there today.
Geography
• The Geography of China
• Natural barriers isolated
ancient China
• East: Pacific Ocean
• West: Taklimakan
Desert and 14,000 ft
Plateau of Tibet
• Southwest: Himalayas
• North: Gobi Desert and
Mongolian Plateau
• Mountain ranges and
desert dominate 2/3 of
China’s landmass
Gobi Desert
Taklimakan Desert
Himalaya Mts.
Pacific
Ocean
Geography
• River Systems
• Huang He (Yellow River) in
the north
• Deposits large amounts
of yellowish silt (fertile
soil) called loess.
• Loess is blown by winds
from deserts into the river
Geography
• Yangtze River in central China
• Flows east from the Yellow Sea
• At 3,988 miles long, it is the longest river in Asia
Geography
• Environmental Challenges
• Unpredictable
• Disastrous floods from the Huang He (China’s Sorrow)
• Trade was difficult so settlers became self-dependent
• Geography DID NOT completely protect from invasions
Geography & Culture
• Only 10% of China’s
land is suitable for
farming
• Most of farmable land is
on North China Plain
between Yellow River
and Yangtze
Civilization emerges
• Xia Dynasty – 1st Chinese Dynasty
• Around 2000 bc
• No written records
• Shang Dynasty – 2nd Dynasty
•
•
•
•
1532-1027 bc
Capital was Anyang
Surrounded cities with earthen walls for protection
1st to leave written records
• Zhou Dynasty – 3rd Dynasty
• 1027-256 bc
• overthrew the Shang
• Zhou had already adopted Shang culture, but brought new ideas to Chinese
civilization
• Forced to move capital to Luoyang after being attacked by nomads in 771bc
The origins of
Chinese culture
• Strong bonds made
for unity: the group
seems to have been
more important than
the individual
• People’s lives were
governed by their
duties to two
authorities- their
family and their king
Chinese
culture
• Social classes
• Sharply divided between nobles
and peasants
• Governed by ruling class of
warriors headed by the king
• Family and Society
• Family was central
• Most important virtue was
respect for one’s parents
• Elder men controlled the family
• Women were inferior
• Chief loyalty throughout life
was to the family, then beyond
this people owed obedience and
respect to the ruler
• Unlike other river
valley civilizations,
the Chinese held
peasants higher
than artisans or
merchants because
they produced food
Religious
beliefs
• Family closely linked to
religion
•
•
Spirits of ancestors had
power to bring good
fortune; not seen as gods
Paid respects to the
father’s ancestor
• Use of Oracle
Bones to consult
the gods
•
priests scratch
question on bones,
apply hot poker,
bone would split,
interpret the cracks
Writing
• Each character stands for an
idea, not a sound
• No links between spoken and
written language
•
One could read Chinese
without being able to speak
the language
• All parts of China learned the
same system of writing even if
spoke different language thus
unifying parts of China
• Disadvantage: Needed to know
1500 characters just to be
considered literate; scholars
knew 10,000 characters
• As a general rule, a noble’s
children learned to write, but a
peasants did not
Government
• Governed by ruling class of warriors headed by the king
• Zhou leaders over threw the Shang Dynasty and declared that the final Shang
king had been such a poor ruler that the gods had taken away the Shang’s rule
• Mandate of Heaven
• Royal authority came from heaven, a just ruler had approval
• King could lose the Mandate and lose the right to rule
• Used to explain rebellion, civil war, and the rise of a new dynasty
• Dynastic Cycle
• The pattern of rise, decline, and replacement of dynasties
• Feudalism develops
• A political system in which nobles, or lords, are granted the use of lands that legally
belong to the king. In return nobles owe military service to the king and protection to
the people
Science/Techno
logy
• Shang Dynasty
• Bronze work is the
leading craft
• Silk cloth
• Zhou Dynasty
• roads/canals,
• coined money,
• Blast furnaces to
produce cast iron
Warring States
• The Zhou were generally
peaceful
• Later years of the Zhou
Dynasty were known as the
Period of the Warring States
due to weakened power of
Zhou kings, attacking nomads
and greedy lords
• What was the great advantage of
the Chinese written language?
• Explain the Mandate of Heaven
and the dynastic cycle in China
• Compare the roles of women from
Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China.