ASIA- CHINA
MIDDLE AGES
Shang Dynasty: mandate of Heaven; noblemen were regional
rulers with authority
Dynasty
Peasants couldn’t own land
GROUP MORE IMPORTANT THAN INDIVIDUAL
Confucious 551 BCE: impt. In govt.
Laozi (Daosim)
-Qin: 221 BCE: calls self 1st emperor of China; strict authority;
Building projects.. Peasant labor
SOCIAL: (based on status, not wealth) 1st class: emperor & court
2nd Class: peasants
-Han 207 CE
3rd Class: artisans
-Sui 589 CE
4th Class: merchants
-Tang 618 CE: trade, civil service exams
-Song 907 CE: taxes; trade, bureaucracy
-Mongols invade: 1205 CE strict ruler/ unliked/ ‘uncivilized’
-ISOLATIONISM: 1430’s missed out on Western technology
MIDDLE AGES
- Start to trade on the Silk Road built through the mountains and
across Asia
MIDDLE AGES
MIDDLE AGES
Isolated- surrounded by Himalayan Mtns, Gobi Desert, & S. China Sea
5000BCE farming, animal domestication
Along: Yangtze R & Yellow R.
Isolation kept China unaware of advancements in rest of world
Han Dynasty: general Zhang Quian out to explore
- Wudi wanted to make the best of Western trade
Sui Dynasty: unites N & S China with The Grand Canal
Built walls for protection
Peace: no one invaded for a long time
• Shang Dynasty: 1500 BCE- 100 BCE
• Zho Dynasty 1028-256 BCE: new economy: China GREW;
noblemen gained power
• Qin: 221 BCE: Great Wall of China
• Han Dynasty 207 BCE- Wudi sends explore to W; opens up Silk
Road; many INVENTIONS
• 100 CE Buddhism comes to China
• Unrest & civil war in China 220 CE
• Sui Dynasty 589 CE; Building Projects increase; forced labor
on Grand Canal
• Tang Dynasty: “Golden Age” 618-907 CE (inventions)
• Son Dynasty: taxes for public works (inventions)
• ***Mongols invade China 1234 CE: Genghis Khan
• Marco Polo 1271-1295
• Mongols invade Japan 1274, 1281 (ENDED Mongol rule)
• Ming Dynasty 1368-1644 CE: CHINESE ISOLATIONISM
• Quin Dynasty: last
Shang: -writing systemof symbols & characters representing ideas
-family & honor very important
- after death, deceased loved ones could still help
-Confucionism: how to treat people/ethics
-Daoism: how to treat people & nature
Qin: gives name to China; Great Wall of China
Han: (Wudi) Silk Road; opened trade with West; inventions; paper,
sundial, siesmograph, acupuncture
Tang & Song: INVENTIONS: porcelain, gunpowder, woodblock
print, 1st book, compass, paper money, movable type)
Mongols influence
Ming Dynasty: Forbidden city built; censors