Download Old China

Old China
Chinese Civilization
• Middle Kingdom
– Referred to as center of the civilized world
– Limited contact with outsiders
• Emperor had no interest in opening relations with a
kingdom he thought was inferior to China
Chinese Civilization-continued
• Contributions
– Gunpowder
• Used in fireworks and cannons
– Method of printing
• Block printing
– Seismograph
• Used to measure earthquakes
Chinese Civilization-continued
• Contributions
– Paper
• Used paper 1,000 years before Europeans
– Pottery
• Luxury for wealthy Westerners
– Great Wall of China
• Designed to keep invaders out
• World’s longest man-made structure
Chinese Civilization-continued
• Acupuncture
– Method of inserting different-size needles into
specific points of the body
• Needles used to lessen pain and cure diseases
Dynastic Rule
• Dynasty
– A line of rulers from the same family
• Shang Dynasty
– United Chinese villages around 1600 B.C. in
Huang He Valley
Dynastic Rule-continued
• Qin Dynasty
– Laid foundations for system of government
that lasted more 2,000 years
– Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi held absolute
power
• Created a bureaucracy to carry out his orders
– Group of specialized government agencies
Dynastic Rule-continued
• Specialized agencies carried out large
projects
• Qin ordered building of Great Wall of
China
– Longest man-made structure in world
– Tourist attraction today
Dynastic Rule-continued
• Ming Dynasty
– Built most of what remains today of the Great Wall of
China
• Terracotta Warriors
– Army of baked clay figures buried with Qin dynasty
royalty
– Royal tomb carefully built to last which contains
artifacts that show how royal lives were led in China
Mandate of Heaven
• Mandate of Heaven
– Theory or idea Chinese used to explain the changes
in rulers
• Heaven, a force that controlled the universe,
gave the emperor the mandate, or right to rule
• Emperor had to rule wisely to receive mandate
– Disasters showed a dynasty had lost Heaven’s favor
• People could rebel to bring new rulers to power
Mandate of Heaven-continued
• Mandate of Heaven reflects Confucian idea that
rulers must lead the people in a moral and
upright way
• Confucian ideas guided all areas of government
– Emperors used officials educated in Confucian
thought
– Government set up an examination system for
government positions
• Government changed little no matter who was the emperor
Questions
1. Confucian ideas guided all areas of
government, so government policies and
activities remained the same despite
change in dynasties.
2. The empire was huge, its people were
inventive, and the transportation system
enabled China to become prosperous
through trade.
Questions-continued
3. For its time, it was probably the largest fleet ever
assembled and gone so far. It went as far as the
African coast and had over 28,000 people.
4.
Overseas expeditions meant contact with the ideas of
other cultures, as well as trade and exploration. China
believed it had everything its people needed.
Therefore, it had no need of the outside world.