Ancient China
World History Core
Geography/Interaction with
Environment
 Location:
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Asia
Natural Barriers
EAST: Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and Pacific Ocean
 WEST: Taklimakan Desert and Plateau of Tibet
 SOUTHWEST: Himalayas
 NORTH: Gobi Desert and Mongolian Plateau
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Geography/Interaction with
Environment
 Isolation by Distance
 Yangtze River
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Central China to Yellow Sea
 Huang He (Yellow River)
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Northern China to Yellow Sea
LOESS: deposits of yellow silt (fertile soil)
“China’s Sorrow”: dangerous floods of the
Huang He
Yangtze River
Yellow River
Geography/Interaction with
Environment
 Challenges
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Dangerous Floods
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Solution:
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Yu’s irrigation and flood control methods
Isolation
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Solution:
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Had to supply all goods, could NOT rely on trade!
Geography/Interaction with
Environment
 China’s Heartland
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10% of land in China is ARABLE
North China Plain

Farm land between the two rivers
Power and Authority
 Dynastic Civilization
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Ruled by families
 Xia Dynasty and Yu the Great:
First Dynasty
Mathematician and Engineer
Developed way to control
flooding which allowed a
civilization to develop
Power and Authority
 Shang Dynasty: 1st family to leave written records
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Warrior Kings: rulers who were constantly at war
Middle Kingdom: China’s name for itself, believed they
were the center
Barbarians: outsiders to China
Class Division:
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Between peasant and nobles
NOBLES: owned all the land that the peasants worked on
Power and Authority
 Zhou Dynasty: overthrew Shang 1027 BC
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Mandate of Heaven: divine approval to rule comes from
heaven
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Developed by the Zhou to get rid of Shang Dynasty
Dynastic Cycle: pattern of rise, decline, and replacement
of dynasties (see p. 54 and next slide)
Feudalism: political system in which nobles are granted
land that legally belongs to the King

In RETURN: Nobles must (1) Give loyalty and military service
to the King and (2) Must protect the people living on the land
Religious and Ethical Systems
 Loyalty to Family:
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Center of Chinese society
#1 virtue: Honor and respect PARENTS
Elder men were in charge of family
Women were inferior
13-16 arranged into marriage
Must bear a son to improve your social worth
Religious and Ethical Systems
 Ancestor Worship:
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Power to bring good or disaster to a family
Must give sacrifices to ancestors
 Polytheistic: Belief in many GODS
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Shang Di
 Oracle Bones: used to communicate with the Gods
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How they worked:
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Wrote question on animal bone
Priest pokes bone with a hot rod
Bone cracks
Priest interprets the cracks to answer the question on the bone
Cultural
Interaction/Economics/Empire
Building
 Agrarian Society: depend on farming
 Expansion Limited by Distance
 Warring Nomads:
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Sacked Zhou capital, killing the monarchs
Leads to quarrels among NOBLES, thus the end
of the Zhou Dynasty
Revolution
 Shang are overthrown by the Zhou
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Due to the idea of Divine Mandate
Zhou believed the Shang were no longer doing a
good job
Developed idea that Gods no longer wanted the
Shang to rule
Thus giving ruling power to the Zhou
Science and Technology
 Written Language: united large, diverse area
because you didn’t have to be able to speak the
same language to be able to read Chinese
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Symbols NOT letters: each character = one syllable
Calligraphy: writing of characters, each character made
up of single brushstrokes
Difficult to LEARN:
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1500 = barely literate
10,000 = scholar
Science and Technology
 Silk Production: religious beginnings,
discovered by a Goddess
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Silk worms produce the fabric
Worn by rulers
Silk Road: Chinese silk trade route
Science and Technology
 Coined Money:
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To improve trade
 Iron Weapons and Tools:
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Blast furnaces to cast iron
Weapons: daggers and swords
 Agriculture: knives and spades
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 Made farming more efficient!