Download Ch 3 Ancient India and China - 2600 BC – AD 550

Ch 3 Ancient India and China - 2600 BC – AD 550
Early India and Pakistan
•Geography of India
–Indian subcontinent
•India, Pakistan, Bangladesh
•Sri Lanka
•Nepal and Bhutan
–Boundaries
•Mountains to North
•Water to the East and West
•Indus Civilization
–5 large cities
•Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro capital cities
–Well-planned
–Complex plumbing system
–System of weights and measures
•Organized governments
–Occupations
•Farmers
–Cotton
•Merchants and traders
–Interact with Sumerians
–Religious beliefs
•Polytheistic
–Male and female gods
–Sacred animals
–Decline
•Evidence of decline in the quality of life
•Mohenjo-Daro abandoned
•Signs of great flood and earthquake
•Aryan civilization and Vedic Age
–Nomadic group from Russia
–Vedas
•collection of hymns, chants, ritual instructions, and other religious teachings
•Information source for Aryan civilization
–Warriors
–Measured wealth in cattle
–Nomads to farmers
•Learn from conquered peoples
•Spread east
–Structure of society
•Rajahs – tribal chiefs
•Groups ranked by occupation
–Brahmins – priests
–Kshatriyas – warriors
–Vaisyas – herders, farmers, artisans, and merchants
–Sudras – little or no Aryan heritage
»Farm workers, servants, and laborers
–Religious beliefs
•Polytheistic
•Gods and goddesses of natural forces
•Brahman
–Single spiritual power
–Resided in all things
•Mystics
–Seek direct communion with divine
–Meditation and yoga
Hinduism and Buddhism
•Hinduism
–No founder or sacred text
–The beliefs of diverse groups who settled in India begin to overlap.
–Hinduism develops from different Indian religions.
–One force underlies everything
–Beliefs recorded in the Vedas
–Life goal is achieving moksha, union with Brahman
–Reincarnation
–Karma
–All existence is ranked
–Symbolized by the wheel
•Dharma – religious and moral duties
•Ahimsa - nonviolence
•Caste system
–Based on class divisions of the Vedic Age
–Close link to Hindu beliefs
–Complex rules
–Maintains social order
•Buddhism
–Siddhartha Gautama reaches enlightenment, becomes the Buddha
–Four Noble Truths
•Life means suffering
•The origin of suffering is attachment.
•The cessation of suffering is attainable
•The path to the cessation of suffering
–The Eightfold Path
•Wisdom
–1. Right view
–2. Right intention
•Ethical conduct
–3. Right speech
–4. Right action
–5. Right livelihood
•Mental discipline
–6. Right effort
–7. Right mindfulness
–8. Right concentration
–Final goal is nirvana
•Union with the universe and release from rebirth
•Buddhism
–Spreads to Asia
–Splits into two major sects
–Declines in India
Maurya / Gupta Empires
•Maurya
–Chandragupta Maurya forms first empire
•Power by force
•Female warrior guards
–Asoka
•Converts to Buddhism
•Missionaries spread Buddhism
•United empire
–Empire declines and divides
•Gupta golden age A.D.320-540
–Peace and prosperity
–Advances in learning
•Monastery-university
–Not just religious studies
•Mathematics
–Number and decimal system
–Concept of zero
•Medicine
–Herbs to treat illness
–Surgery and bone setting
–Small pox vaccine
–Gupta empire declines
•Weak rulers
•Civil war
•invasions
•Family and village life
–Joint family
•Patriarchal
•Sons stay with family
•Property owned by whole family
–Family before individuals
–Honor ancestors
–Dowry- payment to the bridegroom
•Role of women
–Aryan women enjoyed a higher status
–Late Gupta times
•Women kept inside
•Covered in public
•Few rights
•Sati – join husband on funeral fire
Rise of Civilization in China
•Geography Influences China
•Geographic barriers isolate China
•Brutal deserts and high mountain ranges to west and southwest
•Thick rainforests divide China from Southeast Asia
•Gobi Desert to the north
•Pacific Ocean to the east

Civilization begins in Huang River valley
•Early peoples learn to farm.
•Huang River causes frequent flooding and destruction; called “River of Sorrows.”
•Shang founded first dynasty 1766 BC
•Kings and princes rule.
•Social classes develop
•Top level – royal family and noble warriors
•Most citizens were peasants.
•The Zhou overthrow the Shang in 1122 BC
•Develop Mandate of Heaven, or the divine right to rule
•Establish feudal state
•The economy expands.
•Knowledge of ironworking leads to better tools.
•Farm production increases.
•Zhou dynasty ends in 256 BC.
•Early religious beliefs
•Chinese pray to many gods and nature spirits
•Chinese honor their ancestors.
•Two major beliefs emerge
•Confucius teaches that relationships shape behavior
•1/3 of the world’s population is influenced by Confucianism.
•Daoism teaches harmony with nature.
•Chinese Achievements
•Improve bronze technology
•Invent silk-making
•Develop complex writing system
•Writing fosters unity.
•Chinese scholars turn writing into an art form – called calligraphy.
•Create first books
Strong Rulers Unite China
•Shi Huangdi (shur hwahng dee)
–Zheng names himself “First Emperor”
–Classical age of China
–Qin Dynasty
•Legalism
–Imposed strict laws and harsh punishments
•Great Wall
–Unity imposed
•Coins
•Standardized writing
•Standardized weights and measures
•Han Dynasty (202 B.C. – A.D. 220)
–Wudi
•Economy
–Government monopoly on salt and iron
–Silk Road
»Linked China to the Fertile Crescent
•expansionism
•Confucianism official belief system
•Civil service system
–Han decline
•Warlords take control
•Invaders cross Great Wall
•Achievements of the Han
–Science and Medicine
•Astronomy
–Wang Chong
»Scientific theories must be supported by proof
»Eclipses are not caused by political actions
•Acupuncture
–Technology and Engineering
•Paper
•Shipbuilding
•Suspension bridges
•Buddhism
–Mahayana Buddhism from India
–Personal salvation
–Absorbed Confucian and Daoist traditions