Chapter 4: Study Guide
Ancient Chinese
Civilization Developed
Lasting Traditions
I)
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
II)
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Vocabulary:
Loess: Extraordinarily fertile soil.
Calligraphy: Artful form of writing originated by the Chinese
Silt: Fertile soil
Oracle Bones: bones used by Chinese priests, who wrote questions on the shoulder bones of cattle or the
bottom of tortoise shells and then interpreted answers to the questions from patterns or cracks that
developed when the bones were heated.
Mandate of Heaven: Right to rule that ancient Chinese rulers were believed to have received from the
gods.
Civil Service: system that administers the government on a day-to-day basis; its members are usually
appointed on the basis of competitive examinations.
Section 1: Geographic and cultural Features Helped Shape Chinese History
Neolithic people settled along Huang He River.
A) Huang He and Chang Jiang are the two most important rivers of China, together forming the Qin
Ling, the divider between north and south China.
(i)
North grows wheat as principal due to lack of rainfall; south, with more abundant rainfall,
grows rice as principle crop.
B) Huang He is 2900 miles long, carries 10% to 40% of its weight in loess; it has a yellowish tint from
the loess, extraordinary fertile silt. Huang He flooded a lot due to the loess building up on the bottom
of the river, so dikes were built to stop the flooding. Every generation built them higher to beat the
water; Nowadays, the dikes are 10 to 40 feet high. Sometimes the dikes break, flooding and destroying
nearby farms and settlements, so they nicknamed it "China's Sorrow".
C) Chang Jiang is 3400 miles long; large ocean going ships can navigate 600 miles upstream to Wuhan,
the smaller ones going about 1300 miles to Chongqing. Xi Jiang is 1200 miles long; ships navigate to
220 miles inland.
Gobi desert and other natural barriers kept Chinese culture isolated, thus creating a very distinctive culture.
Foreigners would come to trade livestock, crops, and other things, but some nomads were hostile and
attacked settlements. These barbarians were considered culturally inferior.
China has always been divided politically into two main sections
A) The first, China Proper (the heart of China), is the land that lies along the seacoast and stretches
inland up the valleys of Huang He and Chang Jiang.
B) The second is the area that surrounds China Proper including Tibet, Xinjiang, Mongolia, Manchuria,
and Korea.
They thought of themselves and their land as the only civilized land and called it zhongguo, or the Middle
Kingdom. They thought of themselves as the best civilization that ever existed. They said that even
outsiders will at some time be absorbed into China’s flourishing nation. “China,” they said, “is a sea which
salts all rivers that run into it.”
Two basic patterns create differences between Chinese civilizations and those of your own civilization, The
dynastic cycle and cultural evolution.
A) The Dynastic cycle: Since the beginning of china’s recorded history until as early as the 1900s, a
succession of dynasties ruled China. The first dynasty was the Shang that came to power about 1500
B.C.E. The last dynasty, the Qing (CHING), ruled China from A.D. 1644 to A.D. 1912. Some
dynasties lasted only a few years; others held power for centuries. No matter how long they lasted,
however, all went through a dynastic cycle consisting of several stages.
(i)
The first stage involved the founding of the dynasty. By defeating military rivals in war, an
individual leader gained control of China. The right to rule the country then became hereditary
within the leader’s family, and a new dynasty emerged.
(ii)
Next came a period of internal peace, expansion, and great power. The new dynasty began to
function; collecting taxes and labor services from the people. The dynasty used it’s wealth to
improve roads and irrigation systems, to support education and the arts, and to build splendid
palaces to enhance it’s prestige.
(iii)
Finally a period of regression marked by decline followed the period of great power. During
this stage the rulers thought less of the people and more about living in luxury. It raised taxes
whenever it could, created hardship among the people. The government stopped maintaining dikes
and irrigation systems, increasing the risk of floods. The ruling dynasty gradually became unable
to defend the frontiers of China, and nomadic invasions increased. When its decline reached a low
point, with chaos and rebellion in many parts of the land, the dynasty collapsed. A new leady
emerged, and another dynastic cycle began.
(a) So basically the 3 stages are:
 The creation of the dynasty fighting off the dynasty that ruled before them, and tries to start
up from the beginning and to get the people to trust you to control China better then the
previous ruler.
 Then there is the stage when everyone is rather ok with the government. They are
collecting taxes and functioning well. This is the point where the dynasty reaches its peak.
 Then there is the period where it begins to decline the ruler thinks everything is all right so
they raise taxes. They do very greedy things to benefit themselves. They tax the people in
order to build items for themselves. They slow down production on the dikes, so floods
continue to ravage the land. Soon they become too weak to fend off attacks from the
outside that in most cases ends the dynasty.
(iv)
Cultural evolution. Explains many other aspects of China’s history. Beneath the recurring
pattern of events in politics was a continuous evolution, or development, of culture over the
centuries. Some are the family, the farm, and the village developed their own patterns of change.
During some stages of the dynastic cycle, the pace of cultural evolution quickened; during others, it
slowed. Over the centuries, however, civilization in China maintained a steady pattern of growth as
institutions and ideas became more complex.
Section 2: Chinese Civilization Flourished Under the Shang Dynasty:
6) Legends of China tell of Pan Gu, the first man who was of god-like power, worked for 18,000 years to
make the universe. Legends also tell of hero-kings that rule for 100+ year periods that invented things like
the wheel, marriage, painting, and music. Legends also tell of the Xia dynasty of the Huang He river
region, ruling from approximately 2000BC to 1500 B.C.
A) Historians are unsure if the Xia ever existed, but in that 500-year period the Chinese made many
advance, such as improved agricultural methods and beginning of a writing system. With writing,
Chinese history became more concrete.
B) China's first historic dynasty was the Shang, beginning in the 1500 B.C. period. Evidence shows that
the Shang were immigrants, and when they took over, no government existed at the time to regulate
irrigation, drainage, and flood control. The Shang introduced irrigation and flood control and regulated
these functions, therefore controlling the area.
(i)
The Shang region was probably made up of approximately 1800 conquered city-states. The
capitol moved around many times due to difficulty to defend or floods. During the last century of
rule, the capitol was at present day Anyang.
7) Shang rulers established dynasties, or hereditary rules. The ruler distributed the land to his principle
followers, and in return they pledged loyalty, performed certain services and paid dues. The less advanced
people lived on the borders. The Shang used war chariots and bronze weaponry in conjunction with their
military force to conquer most of northern and central China.
A) The Chinese believe in the Mandate of Heaven, or permission/right to rule for a monarch. They
believed that if the gods were happy with the rule, they would reward with plentiful harvest or
successful wars. If something went wrong, rebellion would break out and a new dynasty would
overthrow the current. This was justified by saying the old dynasty lost their Mandate of Heaven.
B) Culture During the Shang Dynasty: Shang ruled from 1500BC to 1122BC, during this time the
Chinese people refined their old methods, developed new ones, and prospered through trading.
(i)
Shang excelled at agriculture; chief crops were barley and millet. Some rice was grown, but
most was imported from the south. They also domesticated cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, chickens,
dogs, and elephants (for war and some other kinds of work). Sometime during the Shang rule,
people learned to raise silkworm, spin silk from their cocoons, and weave silk from the thread.
(ii)
Not all of China was agriculture, though. Artisans and merchants lived in cities, earning a
living by making clothing with silk or cords from hemp. Also, artisans made jade jewelry and
inlaid turquoise with ivory and bone.
(a) The foundation for all Chinese ceramic art came from the Shang. They used kaolin, fine white
clay, with the pottery wheel to shape items. They even glazed their pottery with a nice, shiny
finish.
(b) Shang also excelled at bronze casting. They may have learned these techniques from the
Middle East and Africa, but they had unique designs of their own. Most probably they
imported copper and tin and made the bronze themselves to make both small and large bronze
objects.
(iii)
Astronomy and the calendar: The Shang developed a lunar calendar to track days for
farming. The shortest period was 10 days, and 3 together (sometimes shortened by a day) made up
a month. Six 10-day periods made up one cycle. Six cycles made up a year of 360 days. Sometimes
the priest-astronomer would add days as needed to make up a full 365-day year. Because the
calendar determined what time the harvest took place, and that success of the harvest determined
the king's popularity, the priest-astronomers were very important.
(a) The astronomers were so skilled at predicting the eclipses of the moon that even a 24-hour
error surprised them. Because of their skill, they were kept in charge of keeping other records,
giving the Chinese "official records" very early in their history.
(iv)
Language and writing: The Chinese are considered one of the few to create an original
written language. The language consists of different 1-syllable words, and stringing different words
together would combine to form a new word. For example, magnet is pull-iron-stone. Also, there
weren't that much variation to words to use them in different situations. For example, a word can be
used as plural or singular. Symbols, or pictures that represent what the word means represent the
words. Later on, a phonetic sign, or sound sign, was added to tell how to pronounce each character.
(a) Even though it was an efficient language, to learn how to read well one would need to know
10,000+ characters. Thus, until a simplified version was developed, only a small percent of the
population could read and write.
(b) The Chinese writing system wrote from up to down, right to left. Writing became an art,
known as calligraphy, which is even practiced today.
 In order to learn the Chinese language it would take many years of studying. So out of
around 10,000 people begin to study around 1% will actually learn the largest portion of
the language. For those who could actually read they could easily become rich because
much less then 1% of China could actually read their language and for someone who
understood that language would be paid a LOT to do they’re written work.
(v)
Religion in the Shang Period: The religion that developed during the Shang dynasty
combined animism and ancestor worship. People believed in an all-powerful and kindly dragon
that lived in the seas and rivers and could rise into the clouds. They believed that dragons fighting
in the heavens caused the summer thunderstorms that brought rain. In time this good dragon
became the symbol of Chinese Rulers.
(a) They had these huge religious festivals in the spring and autumn.
 In spring, the planting season, the ruler plowed the first furrow to ensure good crops.
 In autumn the people thanked the gods for the harvest
(b) In addition to animistic beliefs, the Chinese revered the elders and ancestors of their families.
They believed that the families were both earth dwelling and spirit dwelling, believing that all
members of the family- the living and the dead- were united forever through their religion.
 A child’s obligation to a parent was very important. In the Chinese language the symbol
for honor and reverence owed to parents shows a son support his aged father as he walks.
(c) Priests played an important role in Chinese religion. Some were priest-astronomers; some
foretold the future in order to learn the wishes of the spirits, especially of the spirits of
ancestors.
 The priests wrote questions on oracle bones, the shoulder bones of cattle or the bottoms of
tortoise shells, into which they read the pattern of cracks that formed to interpret the
answers, which the priests then inscribed on the bone or shell. The inscriptions often
included the name of the ruler who asked the questions. These recorded questions and
answers have helped scholars solve many of the historical and cultural mysteries of the
Shang dynasty.
C) The fall of the Shang Dynasty: The Shang kingdom collapsed in 1122 B.C.E. apparently because the
lasting king was busy trying to expand his boundaries south to the Chang Jiang. He failed to guard he
northwest frontier, where a tribe of soldier-farmers called the Zhou led a rebellion. The Zhou
ultimately conquered the Shang, claiming that the lasting Shang King had lost the Mandate of Heaven
because he was a monster of corrupt wickedness and cruelty. Yet another dynastic cycle had begun.
III)
Section 3: Chinese Civilization Evolved Through Changing Dynasties:
A) When the Zhou conquered China in 1122 B.C.E. marked the beginning of a dynamic era in Chinese
History. Under the rule of three successive dynasties-the Zhou, the Qin, and the Han –China gradually
became a large and powerful empire.
(i)
Great technological and economic growth occurred in China during this first imperial age, or
age of an empire.
(ii)
Tremendous philosophical activity also took place, as the Chinese formulated ideas and
theories of lasting importance to their civilization.
(iii)
Eventually, internal weaknesses and foreign invasions brought this imperial age to an end.
2) The Zhou Dynasty:
A) The Zhou Dynasty lasted for over 800 years from 1122 B.C.E. to 256 B.C.E.
B) At first they were less advanced then the Shang, but the Zhou quickly adopted many aspects of Shang
culture and later developed some of their own.
(i)
They called themselves Sons of Heaven. They also claimed they were to rule according to the
Mandate of Heaven, which gave them a certain duty to keep the gods, which put them in power,
satisfied with his achievements. They performed rites to ensure the fertility of the soil, and control
the rivers.
(ii)
During the Zhou rule they created many techniques and advances.
(a) They expanded China’s internal trade
 Copper coins came into use because of this
(b) They introduced the use of iron (very important)
 This helped advance Chinese agriculture. It made it easier to farm, to cultivate the land,
and to protect the farms from the floods.
 They used iron farm tools and plows pulled by oxen. Chinese peasants cultivated the
land and produced more grain then ever before.
(c) They built canals, dikes, and reservoirs for irrigation.
(d) They built the Grand Canal.
(e) They established a central government in the capital city of Hao and later in Luoyang.
 They also created many different city-states. Even thought they were part of the Chinese
Empire they could act as their own.
(iii)
When the Zhou ruler would ask the individual city-states for military and financial assistance.
However in 771 B.C.E. King You wanted to entertain his favorite princess by lighting up the sky
by using the warning fires. This signaled the nobles that nomadic raiders were attacking. The
princess and the King enjoyed watching the Nobles gallop into town to protect the capital.
(a) When an attack of nomads really did appear the nobles ignored the lights and carried on. King
You was killed and they ransacked the capital. After this the city-states grew rebellious. The
warring states, they were called, began to fight among themselves to expand their own
territory.
(b) By the 400s B.C.E., the Zhou rulers had no real power outside their own city-state. Instead,
local rulers wielded great power. Zhou rulers continued to hold the Mandate of Heaven,
however, until a new dynasty, the Qin, replaced them.
C) The Qin Dynasty:
(i)
They came to power in 221 B.C.E. by means of war.
(a) They used bows and arrows, which was unknown to the Chinese.
(b) Shi Huangdi, meaning first emperor, was their first ruler.
 He established the capital of Xianyang, which will at one point be the capital of a large
flourishing empire.
(ii)
Even though the Empire lasted only a short time they still had many achievements.
(a) They standardized weights, measures, and coinage, and established a uniform system of
writing.
(b) Shi Huangdi sent his armies far to the south that eventually conquered the central part of
southern China all the way down to the delta of the Xi Jiang River.
(c) Even though China has natural barriers from the West and southwest from the large mountain
range and from the East and Southeast from the Sea, he also wanted a strong protection from
the north and northwest. So he sent people out to build a massive wall. The Great Wall of
China- it’s size was of 25 feet high, 15 feet wide and extended 1,400 miles from Gansu
province to the sea. It had a road on top that enabled soldier to travel quickly to any threatened
area of the frontier.
(d) He wanted to advance the stages of transportation and communication, so he built large treelined Highways. He set standard widths for carts and other vehicles so that they could pas each
other easily on roads and bridges.
(iii)
The Qin were harsh people. They established an autocracy where the emperor held total power
over the people. Shi Huangdi understood the danger of allowing the Scholars to study and talk
about the problems of the empire freely. He began his attack on the scholars by burning two
important books called the Classic of Songs and the Classic of Documents. When the scholars did
not stop after this warning, he had 460 of them executed. He was worried that they would cause a
revolt from the people because they noticed too many problems with the empire.
(a) Soon the distance between the ruler and the middle class people began to expand. He sent
700,000 workers to die working on the Great Wall of China. Because of the high costs of it’s
construction he set high taxes for the people. In 207 B.C.E., Liu Bang led a revolt against the
Qin. He overthrew the empire and in 202 B.C.E. founded the Han Dynasty.
(b) When Shi Huangdi died he had “The Imperial Tomb of Shi Huangdi” constructed. It housed
over 20,000 terra-cotta statues of warriors, horses, and the emperor’s royal guards
D) The Han Dynasty:
(i)
The name came from the Han River, where Liu bang had been stationed as a general
for several years.
(a) The Han were a lot like the Qin that they were an expanding and flourishing empire but
they were less autocratic and succeeded in maintaining it’s power for almost 400 years.
 The Han Dynasty influenced China so much that today some Chinese people call
themselves “Sons of Han”
(b) Wu Di one of the most famous Han emperors ruled from 140 B.C.E. to 87 B.C.E. He
established his capital at Chang’an, now called Xian, and extended Chinese territory
north into Manchuria and Korea, south into Indo China, and west into central Asia.
(c) The Civil service system administers the day-to-day business of government, and its
members usually received their appointments based on results of competitive
examinations.
 Confucius, who believed that only educated and virtuous people should enter
government service, originated the idea for civil service examinations. These tests
tested them for civil service positions on their knowledge of the great classics of
Chinese literature and law. This ended up creating a well-organized government.
They had the most educated scholars at the top of the government positions.
 Technically anyone could take the examination, so a little boy could rise really high
in the government positions. But normally in order to pass the test you would have
to have many years of study, which usually costs a lot! So in order for someone to
rise in power they would have to work many jobs to earn an education and then get
high paying jobs and maybe rise up in the government positions.
(d) Leveling: Wu Di created this economic policy because the rise and fall of prices of
farm products had caused endless hardships for peasants. This helped the peasants and
kept the prices of farm products at an average. When the farm products were at its peak
the government would buy some and store them as a surplus. When the amount of farm
products dropped, and the prices rose, the government would begin to sell their
supplies in order to level out the costs.
(e) The Pax Sinica: Nomadic Huns of central and eastern Asia threatened the frontiers of
Wu Di’s empire. He later established what historians called the Pax Sinica, or
“Chinese Peace,” through much of Asia.
 This was a period of Peace throughout most of Asia. During this period merchants
opened the famous Silk Route from China across central Asia to the Mediterranean
region. This brought to the Chinese glass, amber, asbestos, and wool and linen
textiles. They would trade their own common items for items they didn’t have in
China, this made the Merchants very wealthy even with just one trip.
(f) China’s population flourished during the Han Dynasty. The imperial capital oat
Chang’an became a huge city, with imposing palaces and broad avenues and a
population of 250,000. On it’s many side streets stood the shops of merchants and
artisans. There one could find luxury goods from lands throughout the world as well as
many products from China, including two of the greatest of all Chinese inventions,
paper and porcelain. Both of these inventions spread from China to the Western
World life. None of Wu Di’s successors in the Han Dynasty matched his leadership
abilities. Sill, with the exception of one brief interruption, the Han dynasty ruled China
until C.E. 220, when a revolt overthrew the last Han emperor
 For hundreds of years, countless nomadic tribes swept across China, ravaging the
countryside and terrorizing the people. Not until C.E. 588 did a Chinese general
unify China once again.
IV)
Section 4: The Ancient Chinese Created unique Philosophies
1) Naturalism:
A) They were interested in Human Beings and the real world than the divine or spiritual matters.
B) They explained the workings of nature by certain cosmic principles –principles that applied to
the whole universe.
(i)
They believed in dualism, which was two-sidedness
(a) They believed in the Yin and Yang
 Yin: female, dark, cold, and passive
 Yang: male, light, hot, and active
(b) They didn’t conflict each other, however, as did the concepts of good and evil in
Western civilization.
(ii)
They also believed that that balance in human affairs was inevitable.
2) Confucianism:
A) Kongzi, meaning “Kong the Philosopher,” or “Reverend Master Kong,” as Confucius.
(i)
He was left in poverty at the age of 3 when his father died, he lived from about 551
B.C.E. to 478 B.C.E
(ii)
At the age of 22, Confucius began teaching and soon gained many followers.
(iii)
He taught about the importance of the family, respect for one’s elders, and reverence
for the past and one’s ancestors
(a) He didn’t believe completely on politics and wanted to end the political disorder. he
believed they could achieve this in one of two ways:
 First, they could have every person accept an assigned role in society and perform
the duties of that role. Second government should be virtuous. Instead of relying on
military power, rulers should be honest and have concern for others. He believed
that only well educated people should be appointed government positions
 He thought that the government should set an example to the people
3) Daoism:
A) Laozi, thought to have lived in the 500s B.C.E., founded a philosophy called Daoism. Daoism
got its name from its central idea, Dao, which can be defined as the “way of Nature.” Laozi
saw Dao as an indescribable force that governed the universe and all nature.
(i)
They believed people shouldn’t try to earn money, or strive for education or power.
They should just accept themselves the way they are.
(ii)
IT became the second most popular to Confucianism
4) Legalism:
A) They believed in power, not virtue, and in harsh laws.
(i)
They believed that people were born bad, selfish and untrustworthy. They believed that
for the smallest things they should be punished at a large extent.