Ancient China
Section 1: Geography and Early China
China’s Physical Geography
• Geographical features separated groups of people within China.
• Others separated China from the rest of the world.
• China covers an area of nearly 4 million sq. miles (about the same
size as the US)
• The Gobi
• Low-lying plains
• Cover most of eastern China
• One of the world’s largest farming regions
• The Pacific Ocean
• The country’s eastern boundary
• The Plateau of Tibet
• Southwest
• Qinling Shandi
• Separates northern China from southern China
• Weather and temperature patterns vary widely across China
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Northeast – cold and dry
Northwest – deserts are very dry
Eastern plains – heavy rains
Tropical southeast – wettest region
• Monsoons
• Two great rivers
1. Huang He (Yellow River)
• 3,000 miles across northern China
• Often floods; leaves behind a layer of silt
• Can be very destructive – called China’s Sorrow
2. Chang Jiang (Yangzi River)
• Cuts through central China
• Flows from the mountains of Tibet to the Pacific Ocean
• Longest river in Asia
Civilization Begins
• China first settled along rivers
• Farmed, built villages and forms a civilization
• Separate cultures developed in southern and northeastern China
• These included the Sanxingdui and Hongshan peoples
• Little is known about them
• Features of China’s earliest settlements:
• Used potter’s wheels, dug wells, homes in villages buried partly
underground, strawcovered roofs, animal pens, storage pits, cemeteries,
walls to protect settlements from flooding and hostile neighbors
China’s First Dynasties
• Xia Dynasty
• A series of kings rules early China
• One of them, Yu the Great, is said to have founded the Xia Dynasty
• Tales claim that Yu created some of China’s major waterways because of
terrible floods
• Archaeologists have not yet found evidence that the tales about the Xia are
true
• Shang Dynasty
• The first dynasty for which we have clear evidence is the Shang
• Strongest is the Huang He Valley
• Ruled broad area of northern China
• The royal family and the nobles were at the highest level
• Artisans were at a middle level of importance
• Made beautiful bronze containers for cooking and religious ceremonies
• Axes, knives and ornaments from jade (hard gemstone)
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Farmers ranked below artisans
China’s first writing system
Military developed war chariots, powerful bows and bronze body armor
Calendar based on the cycles of the moon