Geography of China
What information can be obtained by looking at this map of China?
 Isolation
Video Segment
China vs. the U. S. in Size
1.3 Billion People
0
250
500
1,000
1,500
Miles
2,000
300 Million People
Geography of China
• For thousands of years, the ancient Chinese thought they were
pretty much alone on the planet Earth.
•
They knew there were people to the north, the Felt Tent People the Mongols - but they did not know that other advanced ancient
civilizations existed anywhere else.
• China's natural barriers to the west, south, and east helped to
protect these early people from invasion.
• China's natural barriers include seas - the China Sea and
the Yellow Sea, both located in the Pacific Ocean.
•
These seas provide a huge coastline, which provided trade routes
and easy access to food.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_NzFXFpCc
c
Early China & Xia Dynasty
10,000 BCE to 1500 BCE
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.
• 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.
Shang & Chou/Zhou Dynasties
Shang Dynasty About 1700 BCE to 1100 BCE
Chou (also called Zhou, pronounced "joe") Dynasty
About 1100 BCE to 250 BCE
Shang and Chou times are known for their use of jade,
bronze, horse-drawn chariots, ancestor worship, highly
organized armies, and human sacrifice.
 Cities were surrounded by protective walls. One city was
surrounded by a wall 30 feet high, 65 feet thick, and 4 1/2
miles long!
Inside these walled cities lived the rulers, priests, and
warriors.
Merchants and craftsmen lived in mud houses built up
against the outside walls of the cities. Farmers lived in nearby
villages.
Chopsticks were invented, which changed the way people
ate their food.
Shang & Chou Families:
• Family: For both the rich
and the poor, the family
was all important. The
oldest male was the head
of the family.
• If one member of a family
did something wrong, the
entire family was in
disgrace.
• In the nobles, marriages
were arranged to strength
or to create a union
between two clans or
families.
• The young obeyed their parents without a fuss. This was
important part of ancestor worship.
• Even a wealthy noble with many servants might patch
his father's robe with his own hands.
• Children looked forward to the day when they would be
parents, and their children would honor them.
• The role of the woman was to be gentle, calm,
respectful, and to obey her husband.
• In ancient China, home and family were so important
that they were nearly sacred.
Shang & Chou kings and nobles:
• The rich lived in large
homes and palaces
made of mud and wood.
• They had tall bronze
candlesticks.
• They used bronze
drinking cups. (Shang
leaders were famous for
their drinking bouts.)
• They loved to hunt.
Shang & Chou kings and nobles:
• Their bronze weapons
were decorated with
elaborate designs.
• Horseback riding was
very popular, both as a
sport and, in late Chou
times, as a method of
war.
• (Chariots had not worked
very well as the
landscape was rather
bumpy and rugged.)
Shang & Chou kings and nobles:
• The nobles wore
elaborate gowns of silk
and lived in large, brick
homes with tiled roofs.
• They were lavishly
decorated and furnished.
• Jugs of wine lined the
walkways.
• The air was scented with
flowers in the gardens
and spices from pots of
food steaming on stoves.
Shang & Chou kings and nobles:
• They were buried in
lavish tombs.
• Unlike the ancient
Egyptians, the Shang and
Chou were buried with
living people.
• In their tombs,
archaeologists have
found entire chariots,
objects of art, and the
remains of guards and
dogs who accompanied
kings to their graves.
Shang & Chou kings and nobles:
• Warriors: The
leaders of different
clans were continually
waging war with each
other.
• Warriors were
knights in bronze
armor who went to
battle in horse-drawn
chariots made of
wood and bronze.
Shang & Chou kings and nobles:
• They wore bronze
helmets, and carried
daggers, spears, and
axes.
• Each chariot had a
driver, a spearman,
and an archer.
• Behind them, came
the foot soldiers, who
were usually
peasants, forced to
leave their fields.
• Foot soldiers wore
tunics and trousers.
Shang & Chou Farmers,
Merchants, and Craftsmen
• Farmers: Most people
were farmers (peasants).
• Their life was very hard.
Farmers lived in nearby
villages.
• Their homes were very
simple. In the summer,
peasants lived on the
land near their fields.
• Summer homes were
made of bamboo
branches.
Shang & Chou Farmers,
Merchants, and Craftsmen
• In the winter, they moved
to their permanent homes
in the villages.
• Winter homes were
drafty, one room houses
with thatched or tile roofs,
dirt floors and no
furniture.
• The walls were made of
mud. Doors faced south.
Each family had their own
winter home.
Shang & Chou Farmers,
Merchants, and Craftsmen
• They farmed small plots
of land with primitive
stone and wood tools.
• They did not own the
land. They worked the
land assigned to them by
the royals and the nobles.
• They had to give the
nobleman part of the food
they grew.
Shang & Chou Farmers,
Merchants, and Craftsmen
• They were also
expected to give gifts
to the nobleman of
wine or silk.
• They worked without
pay on the noble's
house, roads, and
bridges.
• They pretty much
worked all the time.
Shang and Chou Religion
• Their gods were the gods
of nature, the river god,
the rain god, the earth
god.
• They believed in many
gods, but the most
powerful was the sky god,
T'ien, the king of gods.
• To the peasants, T'ien
was more brilliant and
more powerful than any
earthbound king.
Spring Festival/Chinese New
Year
• As in Xia times, the
earliest times, each year
they celebrated the
Spring Festival.
• Several villages would
gather for the Festival.
• Unlike the nobles,
marriages were rarely
arranged.
• Boys and girls met each
other at the Spring
Festival.
Spring Festival/Chinese New
Year
• This is when young
boys and girls found
husbands and wives.
• Girls were about 15
years old when they
married.
• Boys were about the
same age, or a little
older.
Merchants and Craftsmen
• Since this group did not
produce food and were
not part of the nobility,
they were outside the
class structure.
• Like slaves, they were
hardly considered men.
• In times of war, when the
city was attacked, they
were not taken inside the
protective walls, but were
left to fend for themselves
as best they could.
Shang/Chou Dynasty Wrap-Up
• Shang Dynasty About 1700 BCE to 1100 BCE
– The kingship was very odd. Instead of going from father to son, it
went from brother to brother or from brother to nephew.
– Mandate of Heaven Two of the most important contributions of
the Shang Dynasty are the use of bronze and a system of
writing.
• Chou (also called Zhou) Dynasty
About 1100 BCE to 250 BCE
–
–
–
–
This dynasty was divided into feudal states.
Literature flourished.
People began to study astronomy.
Roads and canals were built to move supplies over long
distances.
Qin Dynasty
221 BCE - 206 BCE
(pronounced “Chin”) – from which came the
name China
Many dynasties in
Ancient China lasted for
hundreds of years. But
the Qin Dynasty lasted
for only 15 years. Yet,
First Emperor Qin
accomplished an
amazing amount of
change!
Qin Dynasty
• Qin was the first man to
control all of China.
• He did not want to be
called a king. he called
himself First Emperor
Qin.
• He died of natural
causes.
• But in the short time that
he ruled China, he
readied China to be
pulled together as one
country. But at what cost?
Qin Dynasty
• First Emperor Qin
was a legalist.
Legalists believe that
people are basically
bad.
• They believe that it is
necessary to control
and regulate every
minute of people's
lives.
Qin Dynasty
• Qin ran his dynasty with
absolute control and swift
harsh punishment.
• It was illegal to whine
about Qin's government.
If you simply suggested
that things might be
improved, you could be
put to death without a
trial.
Qin Dynasty
• Qins’ changes
– Bureaucracy - He divided his empire into 36
provinces. Each province was divided into districts.
He put two government officials in charge of each
province.
– Spy System - People had to spy on each other - it
was the law.
– Land: First Emperor Qin took land away from the
nobles. Argued = Work on Great Wall
– Standardization: He introduced one system of
weights, measures, money, written language, and
laws.
Qin Dynasty
• Qins’ changes
– Law Code: He introduced a new law code that
applied to everybody
– Peasants: Peasants were assigned a job. They were
either assigned the job of farmer or of silk maker.
– Censorship: Qin practiced total censorship. All books
he considered useless were burned.
– The more time people spent studying, the less time
they had to grow food.
End of Qin Dynasty
• Qin did not think his rule was
cruel.
• He did do many good things –
Dams, Canals, Great Wall
began.
• Saved thousands of lives
• He died of natural causes in
210 B.C.E.
• Son took over
• Was overthrown by a man who
started a new dynasty – The
Han Dynasty./
Qin Dynasty Wrap-Up
•
•
•
•
•
Qin (also called Ch'in)
Dynasty 221-207 BCE
End of the Feudal
System
Forced labor to begin
the Great Wall
Standardized money
and system of
measurement
Burned books,
including Confucius
texts
Han Dynasty
200 BCE to 200 CE
Han Dynasty
• Han Introduction: 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.
Han Dynasty
• The Arts & Sciences:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
They created new works of literature and music.
Beautiful murals were painted on the walls of palaces.
Iron was used for making plows and other cast iron objects.
Their medicine was advanced.
They invented acupuncture.
these ancient people invented paper.
They also invented an instrument that told them when an
earthquake was happening, somewhere in the Empire, so they
could send troops and food to help.
– It was called a seismograph
– All-in-all, the Chinese invented many, many items.
Han Dynasty
• Public Schools: One of
the Han emperors
(Emperor Wudi), around
100 CE, agreed with
Confucius that education
was the key to good
government.
• He started a system of
public schools, for boys
only, taught by Confucian
teachers.
Han Dynasty
• Jobs: Jobs were
given to educated
people, as well as
nobles.
• People were paid for
their work.
Han Dynasty
• Merchants &
Craftsmen: As in
Shang times,
merchants were
hardly recognized as
men.
Han Dynasty
• Life in the Country:
Country folk were
farmers.
• Several families lived
in one house to allow
them to work their
fields together.
Han Dynasty
• families had learned
to team up. This
solved a major
problem.
• Together, they were
able to produce more
food, some years,
than they needed,
which allowed them to
trade food for other
items.
Han Dynasty
• They steamed much of
their food over boiling
water on stoves.
• In the south, they ate rice,
steamed dumplings, and
fish, flavored with garlic
and onions.
• In the north, they ate
much the same, only they
ate wheat instead of rice.