Chapter III:
India and China
Geography: India
• Where is India located?
Southern edge of Asian continent
To east = East Asia and South East Asia (China,
Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, etc.)
To west = Central Asia ({Pakistan, Afghanistan,
Iran, Iraq, Arabia, etc.)
To north = China, Nepal
To south = Indian Ocean
• b. What is India's land like?
Separate subcontinent riding on a tectonic plate
Riding northeast
Colliding with Asian continent
Collision zone wrinkling up into Himalayan mountains, still growing
Northern border = high mountains, even the passes are high
North = wide river plains
Rivers fed by snow melt
South = hilly
Rivers fed by unpredictable rainfall
Two major rivers = Indus (1800 miles long), so important it is source
of name of country
Ganges (1560 miles long), holy
• . What is India's climate like?
Summer = monsoon season
Almost all rain falls in summer
4 months of rain
Winter = dry winds from central Asia
Monsoons sometimes late or fail
• d. What was the impact of India's geography on its development?
Mountains kept invaders out
cut off from other Asian cultures
Northern rivers' predictable flooding allowed boat travel
Southern river's irregular flow prevents boat travel
North more united because of easier travel
Large, ancient empires were in the north
Flooding still a problem in north
Deforestation making it worse
• Monsoons= a seasonal wind pattern in southern Asia/ farmers
depend on these to grow crops
• Indian subcontinent
• To the north, the highest mountains in the world…the Himalaya
• Just to the south…Ganges River
Geography: China
• Where is China located?
Eastern edge of Asia
West coast of North Pacific Ocean
b. What is the land of China like?
A little larger than mainland USA
Isolated by deserts, mountains, and oceans
from rest of world
• To north = Gobi desert = grazing, too dry for
farming
To northwest = Taklamakan = "go in and you will
not come out"
Locally known and "moving sands" just like an
ocean flood, not stopping it if it overruns oasis
Waterless, no food, searing heat
To south = mountains
Few routes through, altitude sickness, blizzards,
snowbound passes, not fodder for animals
Southwest = high plateau (Tibet)
• 13,000'-26, 000' elevation
Rimmed by mountains
Many long and wide rivers
Yangtze = 3rd longest (after Nile and Amazon)
Rivers run west to east, not to other countries
Canals dug for north to south transportation
(1,000 mile grand canal hand dug)
(dug between 500 BCE to 1300 AD)
• Geography made China governing difficult
also made movement of ideas and goods
difficult
lots of coal beds, coal their main energy
source, lots of air pollution
[half of all their mammal types are rodents
(rabbits, mice, rats, squirrels, hares)]
• What is the climate of China like?
Warmer than USA
Summers = hot and humid in south
Winter = cold but little snow because of dry
winters
North = hard to grow food - too cold and dry
Central = Yangtze valley = low plains, milder
climate
• South = produces 3/4 of country's food
Rice, wheat, corn, beans, vegetables
In the settlement of the western hemisphere, what were
geographic barriers?
With today's technology, how significant are geographic barriers?
What are today's barriers preventing the free flow of goods, people,
and ideas?
• One of the greatest food-producing areas of the ancient
world…developed in the Huqang He (Yellow River),and the Chang
Jiang (Yangtze ) River
• Huang He flows from Mongolia to the Pacific Ocean, 2,900 miles
long
• Only 10% of China can be used for agriculture
First Civilizations: India
• Harappa/ Mohenjo Daro= India’s first civilization 30001500 BC
• 35,000 people and planned meticulously
• Grid of streets were divided into neighborhoods
• Bathrooms and drainage systems
• Aryans= Indo-European nomadic peoples who created
a new Indian society
• Sanskrit= Aryan’s first writing system
• Aryans excelled at war
• Aryan leaders known as rajas(princes)dominated India
First Civilizations: China
• Who were the rulers of Ancient China?
Periods of time divided into dynasties
ruled by one family and sons
600 BCE Cho /Joo/ Dynasty
invented bureaucracy - took land from nobility
gave land to people chosen to govern
535 BCE Zeng Dynasty
earliest written laws in China
• 226 BCE = Qin /chin/ Dynasty (origin of name
for China)
ruler = Shi Huangdi
unification of China = one of China's most
important historical events
206 BCE = Han Dynasty
Ruled by Confucian beliefs
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What made the Qin Dynasty notable?
appointed government officials to run counties with single federal bureaucracy
ruled by legalism, (written laws and bureaucracy)
(obey - reward, disobey - punishment, people obeyed out of fear, not respect)
(felt government based on virtue and respect wouldn't work, not Confucius's way)
forced nobles to move to capital to break peasant loyalty
expanded empire
built road system for communications and control
standardized - coins, weights, writing, axle width, controlled text books, burned
Confucianism books
built a great wall (not The Great Wall)
protection from Northern tribes (30' high, 1500 miles long)
built in 7 years, 500,000 died in construction
(current wall build 1300 AD in Ming dynasty, 3,700 miles long)
remembered as cruel and uncaring leader, (killed challengers and their families)
dies - tomb with thousands of terra cotta warriors
favored son too politically weak to hold country together
• What made the Han Dynasty notable?
206 BCE - 220 AD
Rule by Confucius beliefs - rulers deserved respect (became official
teaching)
restored nobles doms with appointed overseers
set up civil service system - government jobs earned by tests
Supported Daoism = key to long life and happiness is accepting life
as it is
Expanded the empire
Traded with other lands
Establishment of Silk Road
Peace
Lowered taxes,
Improvements in writing
Paper developed (first dictionary, first recording of history)
Seismograph - 132 AD (told strength and direction of EQ)
• Historians of China have traditionally dated the
beginning of Chinese civilization to the founding
of the Xia dynasty, about which is little known
• Shang dynasty( 1750-1122 BC)aristocratic-run
farming society
• Strong central government
• The Chinese believed that supernatural forces
could help with worldly life…To get this help,
priests read oracle bones
• Most of the Shang were peasants
• Zhou dynasty
• The Zhou leader revolted against the Shang king and established the Zhou
dynasty (1045-256 BC…China’s longest dynasty)
• The king was believed to connect Heaven and Earth
• Han period= age of prosperity, however, free peasants began to suffer.
Land taxes on the land-owning farmers were fairly light, but there were
other demands on them, including military service and labor for up to one
month per year
• Chinese population tripled under the Han dynasty
• Emerged 202BC and was founded by Liu Bang
• Free peasants suffered during the Han period…Military service and a
month’s forced labor each year were required
• Technology progressed under the Han…advances in textile making, water
mills and iron casting
• Paper was developed during the Han period
Accomplishments and Contributions:
India
• Ancient Indians possessed an impressive amount
of scientific knowledge
• In astronomy, they charted the movements of
heavenly bodies and recognized that Earth was a
sphere that rotated on its axis and revolved
around the sun
• In mathematics, they were the first scientists
known to have used algebra
• Introduced the concept of zero and used the
symbol (0) for it
Accomplishments and Contributions:
China
• The development of the fore-and –aft rigging
and rudders on ships led to major expansion
of trade in the Han period
• One of the technological advances of the Han
dynasty was the invention of water mills for
grinding grain
Silk Road
• A trade route between the Roman Empire and
China that ran through India’s Kushan
kingdom
• In the first century AD, nomadic warriors
established the Kushan kingdom in what is
now Afghanistan…
• The Kushans prospered by trade
• What was the significance of the Silk Road?
From Xian to Mediterranean
5,000 miles long (twice the distance between
San Francisco and New York City)
not just goods traveled
ideas and technology moved in both
directions to change the world
• What traveled on the Silk Road?
goods had to be high value to weight
from China - silk, spices (cinnamon), bronze
weapons, gems, furs, animals,
China is source of: peach, apricot, ginger, tea, and
many citrus
To China - jade, preserved exotic food, animals,
ivory, coral, incense, glass, horses, perfumes
Against the law to smuggle silk works west
(sericulture), silk stays a state secret until 500 AD
(Romans thought it grew on trees - tree wool)
• ideas = politics, popular styles, artwork,
military tactics, technology
from China = printing, gunpowder,
From West = Buddhism from India through
Central Asia, into China and Japan
• What were the concerns of Silk Road travelers?
Caravan leader's concerns = weather, terrain,
animals, animal attendants, care of customers,
care of customer's goods, good, water, fresh
animals, medicine, bandits, guards
Merchant's focus = prices, supplies of good, can
he find a buyer at desired price, can he find seller
at a desired price, safety of his goods, personal
safety, taxes, exchange rates of money, language
barriers
Daily Life: India
• Caste system= created by the Aryans
• Determines a person’s occupation, economic
potential, social statues…based on skin color
• Castes (from highest to lowest : Brahmans
(priestly class), Kshatriyas (warrior class), Vaisyas
(merchants), Sudras( made up most of the Indian
population…they were the dark skinned natives
the lighter-skinned Aryans had conquered…did
manual labor) and the Untouchables( lowest
rung/ performed degrading jobs…5%)
Daily Life: China
• Filial piety= family members family members must
subordinate their needs and desires to the will of the
male head of the family
• Warfare changed in China…armies used iron weapons
and were divided into infantry and cavalry
• Peasants worked on land owned by aristocracy… silk
was a major export
• China - Social Structure
1.) What were the social classes?
King and Family = show virtue by doing service to their
country and people
• Nobles = receive land from king
In return give loyalty and pay tribute of gifts and
soldiers
Peasants = lived on land controlled by nobles
Farm, pay taxes with crops and service in army
Compare Chinese peasants with European peasants.
Both given use of land to farm if pay rent to landlords
Rent = crops and labor
Chinese farmers could leave if they were unhappy, not
slaves
European peasants couldn't leave,
they were bought and sold with the land
like slaves
Mandate of Heaven
• The belief that Heaven kept order in the
universe through the Zhou king
• The king was expected to be virtuous and to
rule in the proper way (Dao)
Belief Systems: Hinduism
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Based on Aryan beliefs
Vedas= collection of hymns and ceremonies
Religion of most of the Indian people
Karma= the force generated by a person’s
actions that determines how that a souls will
be reincarnated. The present life is a reflection
of one’s actions in the previous life. What
people do in their current life determines
what their next life will be
• Teaches that one’s role in life is defined by
one’s birth into a certain class (caste).
• Worship a multitude of gods and goddesses
• Dharma= divine law that requires all people to
do their duty
• Yoga= was developed as a practice to achieve
oneness with God
• Basic Hindu Beliefs:
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1.) 1. Vedas (scriptures) are God's word
2. One, all-pervasive Supreme Being, creator
3. universe undergoes endless cycles of creation,
preservation, and dissolution
4. Karma = law of cause and effect, each individual creates
his own destiny
5. Immortal soul reincarnation (re = again, in, carne = flesh)
until liberation achieved
6. personal worship creates communion with God
7. To reach liberation we need: personal discipline, good
conduct, purification, pilgrimage,
self-inquiry, meditation, guru (guidance)
8. All life is sacred, to be loved, and revered, practice noninjury
9. No particular religion teaches the only way to salvation.
All genuine religions are facets of God's pure love and
deserve tolerance and understanding.
Belief Systems: Buddhism
• Siddhartha Gautama= founder of Buddhism
• Siddhartha lived a privileged, sheltered life
among great wealth…he gave up his life to
find the meaning of human suffering
• First an ascetic= practiced self-denial…almost
died though
• Buddha= enlightened one
• Rejects the human division of human beings, instead,
teaches that all human beings can reach nirvana
(ultimate reality) as a result of their behavior in this life
• Much simpler than Hinduism: forbidden to worship
ANY god (even Buddha can’t be worshipped(more of a
philosophy rather than a religion)
• Buddha believed that our thoughts create reality…He
(Siddhartha Gautama) believed that the physical
surrounding s of humans were simply illusions and that
sorrow and suffering were the result of the
attachments to the things of the world
• Basic Buddhist Beliefs:
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1.) Four Noble Truths
1. Dukkha: The reality and universality of suffering, causes by loss,
sickness, pain, failure,
Impermanence of pleasure
2. Samudaya: The cause of suffering is a desire to have and control
things
cravings, desire for fame, desire to avoid unpleasantness (trouble,
fear, anger, jealousy)
3. Nirodha: Suffering ceases with the final liberation of Nirvana
mind experiences complete freedom, liberation, and
nonattachment for cravings and desire
4. Magga: The eightfold path leads to the cessation of suffering
• Five Precepts (similar to second half of Ten
Commandments)
1. Do not kill.
2. Do not steal.
3. Do not lie.
4. Do not be unchaste.
5. Do not consume alcohol or other .
• Eightfold Path
Wisdom
1. Right understand of Four Noble Truths
2. Right thinking, following the right path in life
Morality
3. Right Speech - no lying, criticism, condemning, gossip, and harsh
language
4. Right Conduct - follow the Five Precepts
5. Right livelihood - support yourself without harming others
Concentration
6. Right Effort - promote good thoughts, conquer evil thoughts
7. Right Mindfulness - become aware of your body, mind, and
feelings
8. Right Concentration - meditate to achieve a higher state of
consciousness
Belief Systems: Confucianism
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Confucius= the First Teacher of China
Born 551 BC…motivated by Chinese society’s moral decay and violence
His sayings were written down by his followers called the Analects
His ideas were political and ethical; not spiritual: Most important duty is
duty to parents
Confucius believed that duty is expressed in the form of work ethic, in
which individuals working hard to fulfill their duties enable society as a
whole to prosper.
Confucius also believed that rulers have a duty to set a good
example…”kingly way”
Confucius also held that humanity is a sense of compassion and empathy
for others
Confucian view of the Dao…the idea of humanity, consisting of a sense of
compassion and empathy
Belief that the government should be open to all men of superior talent
Hinduism
karma
dharma
yoga
many gods
Both
Buddhism
A single force
Four
Noble
Truths
governs universe
Eightfold
Path
Reincarnation
All
people
can
Humans can merge
achieve
Nirvana.
with universal
force.