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Ancient China
Location

North - Yellow river
valley


Grew Wheat
South – Yangtze river
valley

Grew Rice
Distinct Characteristics
Silk
 Bronze weapons and chariots
 Ancestor worship
 Family = most important
 Chopsticks
 Writing

Oracle bone with early
ideographic script
An example of
Shang bronze
religious objects
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
Feudalism
Nobles own land
 King taxes nobles to pay for national
projects
 Peasants work, pay the nobles most of
their crops in return for being allowed to
live on the land.

Dynasties
A ruling family
 Chinese history is
divided into dynastic
periods

Zhou dynasty 1100-256 B.C.
Zhou invaders were also eventually
absorbed into Chinese society
Mandate of Heaven
God puts the emperor in charge
 But later, emperor may lose God’s favor

Early Chinese Money
The Period of the
Warring States,
ca. 500 B.C.
The First Emperor
Qin Shi Huangdi (r. 221-210 BCE) founds
new dynasty as “First Emperor”
 Dynasty sets dramatic precedent

 Centralized
power
 Legalism

Massive public works begun
 Grand
Canal
 Great Wall
China under the Qin dynasty,
221-207 B.C.E.
Three Chinese Philosophies
Legalism
 Confucianism
 Daoism

Legalism
The leader determines what’s right and
wrong
 No need for morality

Confucianism



Desired the “good old days”
Respect for ancestors, family, morality
Confucius sayings…
 What
one does not wish for oneself, one ought not do
to anyone else…

proper training, education, and aptitude make a
“gentleman”
 not
simply birth into a certain family
Ruler
Subject
Father
Son
Husband
Older Brother
Older Friend
Wife
Younger
Brother
Younger
Friend
Daoism (Taoism)
Focus on nature
 Non-action or “effortless doing”
 Kindness, Simplicity, and Modesty

* Feminine
* Masculine
* Passive
* Active
* Darkness
* Light
* Cold
* Warmth
* Weak
* Strong
* Earth;
Moon
* Heaven;
Sun
The Han Dynasty
Han society



Confucianism
becomes the
dominant philosophy
Golden age for
Chinese society
Trade with Western
cultures – Silk road
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
220 BCE
9 CE
Population (millions)
Silk Road