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Reading Guide Bentley Chapter 5
Early Society in East Asia
AP World History
Corder 08-09
(1) What great deed was sage-king Yu famous for? Be specific in describing the way in which he completed this
task? What was the name of the first ruling house of China founded by Yu?
(2) “Peoples of southern China and southeast Asia domesticated ________ after about 6000 B.C.E. and by 5000
B.C.E. ________________ villages throughout the valley of the Yangzi River depended on __________ as the
staple item in their diet. During the same era, ____________ came under cultivation farther north, in the valley
of the Yellow River, where Neolithic communities flourished by 5000 B.C.E In later centuries, wheat and barley
made their way from ________________________ to northern China.”
(3) “Like the ____________, the Yellow River is boisterous and unpredictable. It rises in the mountains, bordering
the high plateau of _________ and it courses almost 4,700 2,920 miles before emptying into the ____________
Sea. It takes its name, Huange He, meaning “Yellow River” from the vast quantities of light-colored loess soil
that it picks up along its route. _____________ is an extremely fine, powderlike soil that was deposited on the
plains of northern China, as well as in other parts of the world, after the retreat of the ____________ at the end of
the last ice age…So much loess becomes suspended in the Yellow River that the water turns yellow and the river
takes on the consistency of a soup.” On your map, label the Yangzi River, Tibet, the Yellow River, and the Yellow
Sea. Also draw in the path of all of the rivers.
(4) Why is the Yellow River often called “China’s Sorrow”?
(5) Describe the irrigation systems used in early agricultural society in China.
(6) What did the excavations at Banpo unearth in 1952?
(7) What were the three ancient Dynasties of China? Why were two of these dynasties not recognized by scholars for
many years? What have archaeological studies of the Xia dynasty revealed? Study the map on page 115. Locate
the region occupied by the Xia Dynasty. Color in purple and label the area on your map. Also, write in 2200
B.C.E., the approximate time of origin for this dynasty.
(8) Why do we know more about the Shang Dynasty than the Xia Dynasty? How did bronze metallurgy
transform Chinese society during Shang times? What items traveled to China from southwest Asia?
What group of peoples we have studied previously brought these items into China? Approximately
when did bronze metallurgy and horse-drawn chariots reach China? Locate the map in your text. Color
the area occupied by the Shang in green on your map. Be sure to label.
(9) How did the Shang overpower the Xia? Why didn’t ruling elites permit free production of bronze?
(10)
What did the Shang kings use the surplus agriculture to support?
(11)
Describe the Shang political organization.
(12)
What did archaeologists find at the early Shang capital of Ao? What did this find suggest about
the Shang ?
(13)
Describe the tombs excavated at Yin near modern Anyang. What were some of the finds at this
location? What do these finds reveal about the Shang? Be sure to look at the illustrations of these
artifacts in your text.
(14)
How did the Zhou Dynasty replace the Shang? The Zhou theory of politics rested on the
“mandate of heaven.” Read carefully the description. Describe the “mandate of heaven” in your own
words. According to the “mandate of heaven,” what happens when a ruler fails in his duties? What
happens when he succeeds? How did the Zhou use the “mandate” to its advantage?
(15)
Why did Zhou leaders rely on a decentralized administration, unlike the Shang? What is a
decentralized government?
(16)
In spite of the initial success of decentralized rule, why did the Zhou Dynasty weaken? Why is
this period often called the Period of Warring States? In what way did iron metallurgy contribute to the
weakening of the Zhou? Revisit the map. On your map, color and label the area occupied by the Zhou
in orange.
(17)
What five social classes existed in ancient China?
(18)
Describe the diet of ruling elites. What did the less privileged elites eat? What was unique about
the eating utensils of the privileged class? Describe the education of the privileged hereditary
aristocrats.
(19)
Why did many of the craftsmen and artisans live comfortably?
(20)
What artifacts indicated that ancient China traded with other regions? From where did these
items come? Locate and label the following trading areas on a map: Mesopotamia, the Malay
peninsula, Burma (Myanmar), the Maldive Islands, and the Indian Ocean on your map. Create symbols
to show the items that were traded from these locations. Create a key for these items.
(21)
What did the invention of oar-propelled vessels prior to 2000 B.C.E. support? Where were
Chinese ships sailing by the time of the Shang dynasty? What science did early mariners learn? On
your map, label modern-day Korea.
(22)
On land, a “large class of semi servile peasants populated the Chinese countryside? What is
meant by semi servile? Describe the duties of women in this peasant class.
(23)
Who made up the slave class in ancient China? What duties did slaves perform? How were
slaves used during the Shang Dynasty?
(24)
“In China the extended family emerged as a particularly influential institution during
_________________ times, and it continued to play a prominent role in the shaping of both private and
public affairs after the appearance of the __________, _______________, and __________ states.
Indeed, the early dynasties ruled their territories largely through family and kingship groups.” What
does this line mean?
(25)
What is meant by “Veneration of Ancestors”? Cite some specific examples from the reading that
illustrate this tradition which took root in Neolithic times?
(26)
In what ways did the family patriarch “possess tremendous authority”?
(27)
Why were women honored in Neolithic times? How did this change during the establishment of
the Shang and Zhou states?
(28)
How did Chinese religion differ from the other complex societies? Be specific in answering this
question.
(29)
During which dynasty did writing come into extensive use? What were the two uses of writing
in ancient China? How was this different from writing in Mesopotamia and India?
(30)
Who used “oracle bones” and for what purpose in ancient China? Describe the process. What
kind of information have historians gathered about the Shang royal court from these oracle bones?
Discuss 2-3 examples from your text.
(31)
Study the illustrations of oracle bone scripts in your text and review the passages describing the
relationship between the early oracle bones and modern Chinese writing. Is there a relationship between
the two? Explain
(32)
What was the subject of the following works from the Zhou Dynasty: Book of Changes, Book of
History, Book of Etiquette, and the Book of Songs? How was the book of songs different from other
works? What was the purpose of the Book of Songs? What aspects of ancient Chinese life are revealed
in works such as this one?
(33)
“High ____________________ ranges, forbidding ____________________, and turbulent
__________ stood between China and other early societies of the eastern hemisphere…Nevertheless,
like other early societies, ancient China developed in the context of a larger world of ______________
and exchange.”
(34)
“As Chinese communities brought new lands under cultivation and expanded the boundaries of
agricultural society, they encountered ___________________ and ____________________societies.
Some of these foragers became cultivators and joined Chinese society. Others remained apart and
sought to move beyond the range of Chinese agricultural society. As they migrated to the north and
west, however, they entered the grassy ___________________ of central Asia that were inhospitable to
foragers as well as cultivators. These peoples gradually devised their own distinctive societies and
economies based on the _______________ of domesticated animals that could consume grass. The
steppes north and west of the fields cultivated by Chinese farmers thus became the home of the nomadic
peoples—ancestors of the _____________ and Mongols—who herded horses, sheep, goats, and yaks in
the thinly populated grasslands of central Asia.” Label this region on your map.
(35)
In what way were the nomadic peoples of the grassy steppes “intermediaries in trade networks”?
(36)
What did the nomadic peoples of the steppes trade with the ancient Chinese? In return, what did
the Chinese provide?
(37)
In spite of this trade relationship, the ancient Chinese and the nomadic people of the steppes had
tense relations. Why? Be specific in answering this question.
(38)
What political structure did these nomadic people use?
(39)
“Known in China as the ___________________ (“Long River”), the Yangzi carries enormous
volumes of water from its headwaters in the lofty Qinghai Mountains of Tibet to its mouth near the
modern Chinese cities of _____________ and _________________, where it empties into the East
China Sea. The moist subtropical climate of southern China lent itself readily to the cultivation of
_______: ancient cultivators sometimes raised two crops of rice per year.” On your map, label the
Qinghai mountains, Nanjing, Shanghai, and the China Sea.
(40)
What was the result of agricultural surpluses and growing populations?