Ancient China ABC book
By: Mac C.
Ancestor Worship
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Ancestor worship was very important to the
early Shang kings and nobles. It was a way
of life. When a man died, the ancient
Chinese believed his spirit lived on in the
afterworld.
They believed their ancestors had magical
powers. These magical powers allowed
their ancestors to punish them or to help
them. To keep their ancestors happy, they
brought gifts of food and wine to special
places or temples. They held many
celebrations to honor their ancestors.
Buddhism
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Prince Siddhartha Gautama, who
would one day be known as the
Buddha, began his life as a
prince in a kingdom in ancient
India. Prince Gautama (Buddha)
was born about 553 BCE. He
had parents who loved him,
many servants to wait on him,
the finest clothes, and a different
palace for each season of the
year.
Yet, he found his world full of
suffering. It upset him that painful
old age, sickness, and death
were all part of life in this
world. One day, he met a monk.
He was amazed that this monk
could find calm and peace in a
world filled with such sufferings.
Chinese Zodiac
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Tiger people are brave, powerful, loyal,
intelligent, competent, and stubborn. Tigers
make great friends. Tiger people tend not to
respect their elders and that can get them in a
lot of trouble.
Rabbit people are lucky, happy, independent,
affectionate, bright, ambitious, and trustworthy.
Rabbit people have little interest in learning to
appear smart. They simply like to know how
things work.
Dragon people are honest, full of energy,
stubborn, loyal, strong, and protective. Dragon
people are incredibly lucky. They love flattery,
and can be attracted to bad behavior. That is
their weakness.
Snake people are wise and focused. They trust
their own judgment. Snake people cannot help
but do their best because they hate to fail at
anything. Snake people believe everyone should
lend a helping hand.
Dragons
•WOOD DRAGON: The Wood Dragon is creative, imaginative, and inquisitive. He is both a thinker and a doer and is
capable of brilliant new concepts. His every move is guided by sound logic. His drive and ambition allow him to put
many of his ideas into practice, nevertheless this Dragon is capable of concealing his domination and tries not to
offend. He will even compromise if it is advantages. Although not as self-centered as other Dragons, he is still
outspoken and fearless when challenged.
•FIRE DRAGON: The Fire Dragon is the most extroverted and competitive Dragon. He tends to push too hard and
expects a lot from everyone. His criticisms are objective and he has the ability to arouse massive popular support.
His insatiable ambition can make him short-tempered and intolerant. He is an empire builder who needs to master his
less favorable traits and learn how to communicate more humbly with people as individuals.
•EARTH DRAGON: The Earth Dragon is a quieter, more reflective Dragon, He will be appreciative of
other's opinions even if he fails to agree with them. He is reasonable in his approach to problems
and his leadership is less dictatorial. He is not given to outbursts of temper, but at the same time
demands respect. He knows the value of cooperation and is more diplomatic than the other
Dragons. He is ambitious, but his initiatives are less hurried and more carefully thought out.
•METAL DRAGON: The Metal Dragon is the most strong-willed Dragon. He is inflexible, unbending
and combative. He gives little regard to the feelings of others. This ruthlessness can result in a rapid
rise to a position of authority, but often at the cost of destroying important relationships. It is futile to
attempt to convince him that certain things are simply undoable. He will go it alone if he can't gain
support. He succeeds because he refuses to accept failure.
•WATER DRAGON: The Water Dragon is less selfish and opinionated than the other Dragons. He is
more inhibited and less power-hungry. He can accept defeat without recriminations. He makes a
good negotiator as he knows when, where, and how to apply pressure. He has a tendency to be
over-optimistic and needs to learn how to relinquish what is unfeasible so that he can concentrate
his energies on the most rewarding endeavors
Forbidden City
•
Construction of the Forbidden
City began in relatively modern
times, in the year 1406.
•
The construction took an
estimated one million workers 14
years to build hundreds of
perfect and beautiful buildings of
the Forbidden City. It served as
the seat of government for the
Ming Dynasty. Today, it is a
museum now.
•
There are 800 buildings that
have in total about 9,000 rooms.
The Forbidden City is the world's
largest palace complex. Millions
of people visit this incredible
place each year and gaze in
awe.
Great Wall
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About 3000 people worked on
the wall during the Qin Dynasty.
The rocks fell on people. Walls
caved in on them. Workers died
of exhaustion and disease.
Laborers were fed only enough
food to keep them alive.
The Chinese worked on the
Great Wall for over 1700 years.
In turn, each emperor who came
to power added pieces of the
wall to protect their dynasties.
First Emperor Qin wanted a much
better barricade to protect his
people from the Mongol invaders
to the north. He wanted a strong
wall 30 feet wide and 50 feet
high.
Han Dynasty
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This was not the Golden Age of
China, but life was very good for
many of the people because of
the demand for Chinese silk. The
creation of the "silk road". The
trade routes across the fierce
deserts - allowed trade to
flourish more easily with the
Roman Empire.
•
People bonded together into
one civilization during Han times.
They had a common culture.
Even in remote sections, district
officials copied the manner of the
imperial court. Peasants built
homes and plowed their fields in
the same way all over China.
Inventions
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The ancient Chinese invented
many things we use today,
including paper, silk, matches,
wheelbarrows, gunpowder, the
decimal system, and the
waterwheel.
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Also the sundial, astronomy,
porcelain china, lacquer paint,
pottery wheel, fireworks, paper
money, compass, seismograph,
tangrams, medicines, dominoes,
and jump rope,
•
kites, tea ceremony, folding
umbrella, ink, calligraphy, animal
harness, playing cards, printing,
and ... well, you get the idea.
Lantern Festival
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This holiday is celebrated
approximately 15 days after the
start of the Chinese New Year.
Chinese Lantern Festival is very
old.
By T'ang times, many families
simply set aside one evening,
during the first full moon after the
new year, to honor the moon.
They would sit outside, and gaze
up, in awe and delight.
Today, people wear white in
honor of the moon, lanterns are
hung in the malls and markets,
and children carry paper lanterns
to school, to light their way to a
bright and happy future.
Ming Dynasty
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The Ming Dynasty was a time of
adventure and travel. The great
Chinese mariners mapped the
world. They brought back
treasures from around the
globe.
Out of all the incredible things
they brought back, some of
which are on display today in the
Forbidden Palace, one of the
most popular items was the
folding fan.
Mariners brought many fans
home from Japan and Korea.
Fans had always been popular in
ancient China, but the concept of
a folding fan caught on quickly.
New Years
• Chinese New Year is a very
old celebration, a time for
repaying debts, enjoying
feasts, giving "red envelopes"
of lucky money to friends and
relatives, and remembering
ancestors.
• Yan Yat - The seventh day of
the Chinese New Year is
called Yan Yat it means
Everybody's Birthday.
• There are many delightful
ancient stories. Superstitions
surrounding this holiday. A
most popular story is the
ancient story of Nian.
Oracle Bones
• To communicate with their
ancestors, the Shang kings used
oracle bones they are sometimes
called dragon bones.
• Here's how it worked: The king or
emperor would ask a question. The
priest would carve the king's
question on an oracle bone, which
was just an animal bone or turtle
shell.
• Then, the priest would heat a
bronze pin and hold the hot pin to
the bone. This created a pattern of
cracks over the bone. The priest
would study the cracks to find the
answer to the question.
Paper Fans
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The ancient Chinese loved fans. The
earliest fans were made of feathers.
One of the ancient Chinese gods, often
carried a fan of feathers, although no
one knows why.
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Over the years, the clever Chinese
people made fans from all kinds of
materials including straw and wood. But
it was not until the Ming Dynasty that
the Chinese discovered the art of paper
fan folding. They did not invent the
folded paper fan. That invention arrived
from Japan and Korea on the Ming
ships that wandered the earth in search
of treasure.
•
Once the folding paper fan was
introduced into ancient Chinese society,
it was immediately adopted. Everyone
had to have a folded paper fan. Fans
were embroidered and painted and
decorated and hung. It was more than a
fad. It soon became a national activity nearly everyone made and carried
gorgeously decorated folding paper
fans.
Qin Dynasty
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In 221 B.C.,Chinese were unified for the
first time to construct a great country
that ended the long era of disunity and
warring. In that year the western frontier
state of Qin, the most aggressive of the
Warring States, subjugated the last of
its rival state.
•
Centralization and autarchy were
achieved by ruthless methods and
focused on standardizing legal codes,
bureaucratic procedures, the forms of
writing and coinage, and the pattern of
thought and scholarship.
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To silence criticism of imperial rule, the
kings banished or put to death many
dissenting Confucian scholars and
confiscated and burned their books. Qin
expansionism was aided by frequent
military expeditions pushing forward the
frontiers in the north and south.
Red
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Red stands for good
luck
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Also stands for good
fortune
•
Last they raped
presents in red or
money
Song Dynasty
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Like the Han and the Tang Dynasties, the
Song Dynasty was a time of wonderful
invention and art. Chinese opera began
during this period, as did the art of paper
cutting.
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So many things were invented during the
Song Dynasty that this period in history is
sometimes referred to as China's Age of
Invention.
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Legend says that out of all the wonderful
things that Marco Polo discovered in the
Song Dynasty. Marco Polo was most
impressed by the fabulous new creation, the
Rainbow Bridge.
Tan Dynasty
600 CE-900 CE
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Around 600 CE, the T'ang managed to
pull China together once again. T'ang
times were neat! Under T'ang
leadership, ancient China entered her
Golden Age. It was a time of prosperity
and gaiety and experimentation. People
tried new things, like bananas!
•
You did not have to be a noble to hold a high
position. To be assigned a job in high office in
one of the many towns and villages, you had
to pass the government exams. It was a
route to riches and fame. On examination
day, the day the tests were given, horses and
coaches thronged the road to the city.
•
A famous poet of T'ang times is Po Chu-I
(772-846) Po, like many Chinese, liked the
simple things of life best. Although fame and
fortune are nice, the joy and pride his parents
might have in him and the joy of a beautiful
spring day, were more important. This is his
poem, about examination day in the city.
Xia Dynasty
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For many years, the Xia Dynasty was thought
to be a part of a myth that the Chinese tell as
part of their history. The Xia Dynasty was in
oral histories, but no archaeological evidence
was found of it until 1959.
•
Chinese civilization started around 10,000
BCE, when a group called the Yangshao
(yahng show) settled near the Huang He
River. Archaeologists have uncovered many
Yangshao villages in northern China. In one
village, they found the remains of
farmhouses, built partly underground, with
plaster floors, and roofs held up with wooden
posts.
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About 3,000 BCE, another farming group
appeared, the Lungshan people. The
Lungshan were very advanced for their time.
They harvested silk, and used it to weave fine
fabrics. They used the potters wheel. They
baked strong bricks in ovens, and used them
to build their homes. They worked together
on flood control and irrigation projects. They
had great engineering skills. Legend has it
that their "Great Engineer", Yu, founded the
Xia (sometimes called the Hsia) Dynasty in
about 2,000 BCE.
Yellow River
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From the earliest times in the
history of humankind, water, in
the form of lakes, seas, and
especially rivers, has played an
essential role in the development
of civilization. This is a truth
universal to cultures throughout
the world.
And the great amount of
archeological information
available about ancient Chinese
civilization tells us that their ways
of life were greatly influenced by
the Yellow and Yangtze River
civilizations. The Yellow River, in
particular, was essential to the
development of Chinese
civilization.
Zhou Dynasty
Around 1045 B.C.E., a
group of people in
northwestern China
moved into the central
plains. They rebelled
and established a new
dynasty. For several
centuries, the Zhou
ruled over a group of
states in china. But in
the later years of the
dynasty, wars between