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China
“Eastward goes the great
river, it waves have swept
away a thousand years of
gallant men.”
China
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Draw a picture or
write down words or
phases that express
your ideas about
China.
Prehistoric Society:
Yangshao
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5000-3000 BCE
Ban Po Village
Painted pottery
Bronze tools
The Earliest Dynasties
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Xia
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Shang
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C. 2200 BCE
1766-1122 BCE
Zhou
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1122-256 BCE
Neolithic village at
Ban Po
The Shang Dynasty
Yellow River
near the frontier
 traditional date: 1500 B.C.
 invaders
 eventually absorbed
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Shang Dynasty
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Horse-drawn chariots, other wheeled vehicles
Large armies
Political organization: network of fortified cities,
loyal to center
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1000 cities
Capital moved six times
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Impressive architecture
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Other regional kingdoms coexist:
Characteristics
silk
 no animal milk or milk products
 ancestor worship
 central place of the family
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Operative unit of Society
the family
 not the individual
 not the state
 not the religion
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Other features
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ornate architecture
chopsticks
ideographic script
 still
readable by
modern Chinese
Oracle bone with early
ideographic script
An example of
Shang bronze
(religious objects)
cast using a “lost
wax” process
More bronze ware, with early ideograms
A bronze temple bell
-many will strike two
distinct and separate
notes, depending on
which part of the bell
is struck
The Zhou Dynasty
(JOH)
China would become large and powerful
 Leave a heritage that would last
thousands of years
 Heritage is a set of ideas that has been
passed down from one generation to
another
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The Zhou Dynasty
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The Zhou dynasty
worshipped a god
called Tian (TYEN) or
“Heaven”
Lived in the Wei River
Valley as herders
Learned to farm and
settled in villages
Zhou Dynasty
Began to move east, and came into
contact with the Shang people
 1050 B.C. , the Zhou Dynasty attacked the
Shang Dynasty
 In 1050 B.C. the Zhou ruler, King Wu,
claimed victory over the Shang Dynasty
 Zhou Dynasty believed the heavens
ordered the attack on Shang
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Zhou Dynasty
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Virtues: good
qualities, needed to
lead the people
Book of Documents:
an early Chinese text,
calls Heaven’s order
to claim rule over
China the Mandate of
Heaven
Division of Classes
King
Nobles
Peasants
Division of Classes
King was at the top of Zhou Society
 Everyone owned loyalty to the king
 King gave land to nobles in return for
military service
 Kings used nobles armies for protection
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Division of Classes
Nobles received land in return for military
service
 Nobles ruled their land as separate
states, governing in whatever way they
wanted
 King would use Nobles armies for
protection
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Division of Classes
Peasants lived on the land owned by the
nobles and farmed it
 For the right to farm a noble’s land, the
peasant had to serve in the noble’s army
 Life filled with hardships
 Peasants farmers supplied king with an
endless number of workers
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Zhou Dynasty
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Under the Zhou kings
China’s civilization
grew
By 700 B.C. more
people lived in china
than anywhere else in
the world
The Decline of the Zhou Dynasty
Kings would be strong rulers, however
eventually weakened
 People to north and west of the Zhou
kingdom invaded the valley of the Wei
River
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Warring Kingdom Period
Invaders would capture the Wei River
Valley, Zhou had to move their capital
 Power would weaken and nobles
increased
 The collapse of Zhou would bring China
into a time of warfare
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The Period of Warring States
771 B.C.
 dozen-plus states
 balance of power until 500’s
 period of consolidation by warfare
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 warfare
chronic
The Period of the
Warring States,
ca. 500 B.C.
The Ideas of Confucius
One of China’s most important thinkers,
Confucius
 Lived during the Warring Kingdoms Period
 Confucius is often called China’s first
philosopher
 Philosopher: is a person who studies the
meaning of life
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The Ideas of Confucius
He spent much of his time thinking about
ways to improve society and restore order
in China
 China’s first teacher
 Used short sayings to teach his ideas
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Confucius (ca. 551-479 B.C.)
poor family
 well-educated in the “classics”
 ambitious (wanted to be a bureaucrat...)
 couldn’t get honest work...so he became a
teacher
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Kung Fu-Tse
Tomb of Master Kung
Confucius, con’t
wrote nothing--his followers wrote about
him
 difficult to separate myth from fact
 the Analects
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 his
“sayings”
Important Confucian concepts
Ren – innate goodness in human beings
 Li – normal standard of conduct
 the TAO –what is appropriate
 no speculation on metaphysics
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Confucian Ideas
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Ethics and politics
 Avoided
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Junzi: “superior individuals”
 Role
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religion, metaphysics
in government service
Emphasis on Zhou Dynasty texts
 later
formed core texts of Chinese education
Confucius, con’t
a failure?
 ideas spread by students
 adopted by the Han dynasty
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Taoism
Mo Tzu: ca. 470-391 B.C.
 Lao Tzu: 4th or 3rd century
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 taught
about the Tao
Taoism
supplied the metaphysical
 multiple lines of thought
 very fluid
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Taoism
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Critics of Confucianism
 Passivism,
rejection of active attempts to
change the course of events
Founder: Laozi, 6th c. BCE
 The Tao te Ching (Classic of Way and of
Virtue)
 Zhuangzi (named for author, 369-236
BCE)
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The Zhou (Chou) and Qin
rise of the Qin
 new technology
 gave land to peasants
 new military draft
 new bureaucracy
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The Qin and the Legalist
tradition
ideology of rule
 absolute power of the ruler
 people existed to serve the state
 destroy Confucian philosophy?
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The First Emperor
Qin Shihuangdi (r. 221-210 BCE) founds
new dynasty as “First Emperor”
 Dynasty ends in 207, but sets dramatic
precedent
 Basis of rule: centralized bureacracy
 Massive public works begun
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 Incl.
precursor to Great Wall
Shi Huangdi
united China in 221 B.C.
 ruled by the Legalist theory
 massive conscription for labor
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China under the Qin dynasty,
221-207 B.C.E.
Resistance to Qin Policies
Emperor orders execution of all critics
 Orders burning of all ideological works
 Some 460 scholars buried alive
 Others exiled
 Massive cultural losses
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Tomb of Shi Huangdi
The Great Canal
Rise of the Han
rebellion of peasants
 Lui Bang
 a successful failure
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Han dynasty
ruled for 400 years
 new bureaucracy
 emphasis on centralization
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 weakening
of the aristocracy
imperial expansion
 destruction of the Legalists
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East Asia and central Asia at
the time of Han Wudi, Ca. 87
B.C.E.
The Han Dynasty
Han society
the Confucian educated elite
 free peasants
 non-free peasants
 improvement in women's’ status
 beginnings of “secret societies”
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Population Growth in the Han
Dynasty
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60
50
40
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30
20
10
0
220 BCE
9 CE
Population (millions)
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General prosperity
Increased agricultural
productivity
Taxes small part of
overall income
Produce occasionally
spoiling in state
granaries
Facts
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It is located between
Mongolian grasslands and the
farmlands of Han.
It is about 10 meters high.
It is five meters wide.
The wall stretches from east to
west for about 5000
kilometers.
The wall runs up and down
along the mountains and
valleys.
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Construction
The Great Wall was built as a
defensive
fortification by the three following
states –
Yan, Zhao and Qin.
Construction of the first section
began no later than the 6th or 7th
centuries B.C.
The last section was added on
between the 14th and 17th
century A.D.
It went through constant repairs
during the later dynasties.
Purpose of Creation
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The reason the Chinese created this astonishing wall
was to defend China.
A lot of people think that this wall was built to keep the
Mongolians out, but eventually the Mongols would have
gotten over it since it isn’t very tall. So instead of keeping
them out, it slowed them down.
In reality, it began as independent walls for different
states.
The idea of joining the wall came from the emperor Qin
Shihuang.
This is the perspective of how big the
Great Wall is.
 From on side of America to another.
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