Early Civilization in China

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Early Civilization in China
Shang
Zhou
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Old DynastyTaxes people too muchStops
protecting peopleLets roads and walls fall apart
treats people unfairly.
The Dynastic Cycle
New Dynasty brings peace builds roads and canals
gives land to peasants protects people.
Generations go by. New dynasty becomes
New dynasty claims Mandate of Heaven.
Problems-floods, earthquakes, peasants revolt,
invaders attack empire, bandits raid provinces.
Old Dynasty loses Mandate of Heaven.
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Geography of China

• 1)Natural barriers isolated ancient China from
  all other civilizations.
• Distance.
• To east- Pacific Ocean.
• To west- Täklimakän Desert and the icy 14,000
  miles of the Plateau of Tibet.
• To the southwest- Himalayan Mountains.
• To north- Gobi Desert and Mongolian Plateau.
• To the southeast- thick jungles.

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Geography (Continued)

• 2) This isolation contributed to the Chinese
  belief that China was the center of the earth, so
  they called themselves The Middle Kingdom.

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Geography ( Yes More )

• 3) Two major river systems flow from the
  mountains of the West to the Pacific Ocean.
• Huang He (Yellow River)- named for loess.
• (loh-uhs) fine yellow soil from Mongolia and
  Siberia.
• Yangzi ( also River of Sorrows and Chinas
  Sorrows).

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Yangzi

• Loess settles to the bottom and raises
  water level. Dikes are constantly built and
  repaired to keep the river from flooding. If the
  dikes burst, crops would be destroyed, and mass
  starvation would occur.

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Geography

• 4) Chinas natural barriers did not completely
  protect them from outsiders. Invaders from the
  West and North attacked again and again.

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Religion

• The legend of a man-god, Yu who drove out
  serpents and dragons along the Huang He. He also
  drained land so people could live along rivers
  and cross them. According to Chinese
  civilization, Yu founded the kingdom Xia (sheah).

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Religoin ( Continued again )

• The chief god was Shang Di. There were many gods
  of nature, such as spirits living in mountains,
  rivers, and seas.
• Yin was the force linked to Earth, darkness, and
  females.
• Yang was the force linked to Heaven, light, and
  males.
• Harmony balance must exist between the two for
  the well of the universe.

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Speaking to the Spirits

• Chinese believed spirits of ancestors had power
  to bring good fortune or disaster to the living
  members of the family. They offered ancestors
  food, wine, and special prayers.

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Oracle Bones

• Oracle bones are animal bones and tortoise
  shells on which priests scratched questions for
  the gods or ancestors. Priest applied a hot
  poker to the bone causing it to crack. Priest
  interpreted the cracks to see how the god had
  answered them.

• The king was the link between the people and
  the gods.

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Chinese Writing

• Ideographs express signs that represent thoughts
  or ideas not sounds.
• Pictographs stood for objects.
• Each character represents a word or ideas that
  can be made up of several strokes.

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Dont You Just Love Chinese Writing? Heres more!

• No links between Chinese written language and
  spoken language. Although Chinese speak many
  languages and dont understand each other they
  all have the same writing system and all can read
  it. So Chinese written language helped unify a
  large and diverse land.
• To be barely literate a person must know 1,000
  different characters. To be well educated you
  must know 10,000 characters.

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Words to Know

• Zhongguo Name Chinese used for their land The
  Middle Kingdom.
• Loess Fine, wind blown yellow soil.
• Clan Group of people who claim a common
  ancestor.
• Yin and Yang Terms used to describe the two
  forces Chinese believed must be balance in the
  universe.
• Ideograph Pictures that express abstract
  thoughts or ideas.
• Oracle Bones Used by Shang priests to
  prophesize the future.

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Yes, Even More Words To Know

• Calligraphy Finely styled handwriting done with
  ink and brush.
• Mandate of Heaven The support of the gods for a
  ruling family.
• Dynastic Cycle The rise and fall of dynasties.

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Shang Rise of Cities

• By 1800 B.C., farms and villages were built all
  along the Huang He River.
• The first records of Chinese civilization came
  about 1766 B.C. when Shang dynasty came to power.

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Shang Technology and Artistry

• People skilled in special crafts made up a
  separate class in Chinese society.
• Lived outside city walls.
• Manufactured weapons, jewelry, and religious
  items for nobles.
• Excelled in bronze working.
• Silk became most valuable export.

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Arent you tired of my stupid remarks? Well too
bad heres more Shang!

• They learned how to make silk cloth from threads
  of silk worm cocoons. Women took care of the
  silk worms by weaving threads into cloth and
  colored cloth with dyes. Only royalty and nobles
  could afford silk robes.
• According to legend, a group of visiting
  Byzantine monks stole some silkworm eggs
  concealed them in hollow bamboo walking sticks
  smuggled them to the west.

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The Fall of the Shang(Bout time, eh?!)

• In 1027 B.C., the Zhou people overthrew the
  Shang and set up their own Dynasty period. The
  Zhou told the people that the gods had become
  angry with the Shang and now the Zhou have been
  chosen to rule.

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The New Zhou Dynasty!

• To justify their conquest, Zhou leaders declared
  that final Shang King had been such a poor ruler
  that the gods had taken away the Shangs rule
  given it to the Zhou. This justification
  developed over time into a broader view that
  royal authority came from Heaven. A just ruler
  had divine approval known as the Mandate of
  Heaven.

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What the Zhou thought...

• A Wicked or foolish king could lose the Mandate
  of Heaven thus lose the right to rule. The
  Mandate of Heaven became central to the Chinese
  view of government.
• The historians described the pattern of rise,
  decline, replacement of dynasties as the
  dynastic cycle (2nd slide).

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How the Zhou explained chaos

• Flood, riots, and calamities might be signs
  that the ancestral spirits were displeased with a
  kings rule. In that case the Mandate of Heaven
  might pass to another noble family. This was the
  Chinese explanation for rebellion, civil war, and
  rise of new dynasties. Dynastic rule was finally
  overthrown in the early 1900s.

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Feudalism

• Feudalism is a political system in which nobles
  or lords are granted the use of lands that
  legally belong to the king. In return, the
  nobles owe loyalty and military service to the
  king and protection to the people who live on
  their estates.

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Local Lords

• Local lords lived in small walled towns and had
  to submit to the superior strength control of
  the Zhou rulers. Gradually, as towns grew into
  cities, and expanded into surrounding territory,
  the lords grew stronger. Local lords became less
  dependant on the king.

• More and more they fought among themselves and
  with neighboring peoples for wealth and
  territory.

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Innovations

• Zhou built roads canals. These stimulated trade
  agriculture.
• Zhou introduced coined money which also improved
  trade. To run the daily operations of growing
  cities, a new class of civil servants emerged.

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More Innovations!

• They developed blast furnaces that allowed them
  to produce cast iron (iron poured into molds).
  Iron farm tools helped make farm work easier and
  more productive.

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Innovative aren't they!?

• They produced the first books by taking thin
  strips of wood and bamboo and glued them together.

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The Bigger They are the Harder They Fall!

• The Zhou ruled from 1027B.C. to 256B.C. For the
  first 300 years the empire was peaceful and
  stable. Gradually Zhou rule weakened. They could
  not control noble families. As power of nobles
  grew they claim to be kings of their own
  territory.

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The Zhou Collapsed

• Peasant foot soldiers cavalry replaced
  chariots in battlefield. The crossbow was also
  introduced. Traditional Chinese values
  collapsed. The dynastic cycle is about to bring
  a new start!

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• This is the end. Happy? We are too.
• Jamie Pitts Animation and some typing.
• Will Sparks Information, most typing, and
  some animation.
• Zac Payne Sounds, pictures, and very little
  typing. ( Also did the web page )
• Justin Sane Did all the work producing while
  we sat around and looked stoopid!

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oiji!
Meow