China BCE

Adler Chapters 6 and 18

Impressions of China

1
 Geographical Influences
 Mountains, sea, and desert provide some
protection and isolation
 Vulnerable to northwest
 River valleys 1. Yellow(Huang Ho) earliest
civilization - damaging floods 2. Yangtze-
very important in unification-
transportation- irrigation

2
 Earliest Civilizations- most
isolated
 Earliest- Neolithic- Ban Po- similar to other parts
of the world/ one of the oldest
 Shang Dynasty 1500-11 BCE in No China along
the Huang Ho- raised silk worms- silk part of lure
and fascination of China, famous for bronze
sculpture, daggers, jade jewelry paid homage to
ancestors- family important
 Chou (Zhou) 1027-256-longest-developed
foundations for Chinese society

3
 Ancient China
Way of Life- Confucianism

p58-59
Moral and ethical code highly developed
treat everyone with consideration
 Advocated paternalistic government
 Value on family head- ancestor respect
 Values- loyalty, righteousness, wisdom,
sincerity
 very practical and humanistic Gentility

4
 Daoism (Taoism)
LaoTzu (Lao Zi) p 60
 contemporary of Confucius
 Tao= the road way
 Absolute=sum of existence
 Goal to bring people into harmony
 very introspective
 not as influential as Confucius

5
 Zhou (Chou) Dynasty (cont)
 Feudal society- emperor gave out fiefs
 Shang thought they had a divine right-
Chou rulers had responsibility
 Zhou did take title “Son of Heaven”
 compared to medieval Europe- had a code
for dress, fighting etc.
 no contracts

6
 Ancient Philosophies
 About 500BCE Buddha, Confucius, Greek
Philosophers and Chinese - Lao Tze
 Called a flowering period
 India more concerned with cosmos and soul
 China more concerned with ethical life on
earth
 Ironic comparison of Asoka and Shi Huangdi

7
 Qin (Ch’in) Dynasty 221-206
BCE
 dominated by “The First Emperor”
 Qin Shi Huangdi (Chin Shi Huang Ti)
 ambitious= understatement
 centralized the government- rid of feudal lords
 constructed roads and canals
 The Great Wall- sacrifice AND
 An amazing tomb found in 20th Cen

8
 Han Dynasty 202BCE-220
CE(Roman Times)
 Similar: built cities, officials to carry out edicts, heavy
taxes collapsed under invasions and internal revolts
 contact along the Silk Road, Buddhist Missionaries to
China
 combination of Confucius and legalism
 advanced in science and literature
 invented rudder, paper, magnetic compass, acupuncture
 Short period of Civil War- Sui Dynasty connected two
rivers with canal- over extended

9
 Tang Dynasty 618-907 CE
Contributions
 Internal renewal(improved lives of people) and
external expansion
 Used formal civil service exam to recruit-set up
university
 Tried to equalize land holdings- fought corruption
 literature and art flourished- Tang horses p 203
 Inventions- paper during Han- used for clothes and
tp- 589 used for writing- invented printing, gun
powder, encyclopedia

10
 Song(Sung) Dynasty 960-
1279
 moved the capitol east-
 economic expansion- used paper money,
 used abacus-
 Silk Road traffic at height
– when dangerous went to sea routes
– first period of great oceanic commerce
– trades tea, silk and porcelain for exotic woods
and precious stones
11
 The Mongols
Nomadic peoples
 Loosely organized clans in a state of stress
 Genghis Kahn- son of impoverished noble
with army of less than 130,000 conquered Asia
 mastered military tactics on horseback- pursue
and ambush, firelance, took China
 Kublai Kahn- grandson Yuan dynasty at
Peking- adopted Chinese ways- lasted 100
years- gave way to Ming dynasty

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