Early Civilizations Indus River ValleyEarly China

1
Early Civilizations Indus River Valley/Early
China

• Day 31 Semester 1

2
Geography

• Natural barriers isolated ancient China
• Large bodies of water Yellow Sea, East China Sea
  and the Pacific Ocean
• Taklimakan and Gobi Deserts
• Plateau of Tibet and Mogolian Plateau
• Himalayas
• Did not completely protect from invasion
  invaders came from north and west

3
Geography (cont)

• Rivers flow from mountains in west toward
  Pacific Ocean
• Huang He (means Yellow River)or Yellow River
  leaves behind yellow silt called loess nicknamed
  Chinas Sorrow for disastrous floods
• Chang Jiang or Yangtze
• Only 10 of land is suitable for farming the
  North China Plain or Chinas Heartland

4
Shang Dynasty

• Xia Dynasty emerged around the same time as the
  first Chinese cities (2000 BC)
• Leader Yu came up with flood control and
  irrigation projects for the Huang He
• Shang Dynasty (1700 BC 1027 BC)
• 1st to leave written records
• Anyang capital city built of wood
• Used walls for protection
• Ruled by an aristocracy upper class wealth is
  based on land and power passed on from generation
  to generation

5
Chinese Culture

• Family
• Central to society
• Respect for parents
• Elder men controlled property and made decisions
• Women treated as inferiors expected to obey
  fathers, husbands and own sons
• Girls between 13 and 16 had marriages arranged
  moved into husbands house and could increase
  status if gave birth to sons
• Filial piety the duty of members of the family
  to subordinate their needs and desires to those
  of the male head of the family every one had
  their place

6
Chinese Culture (cont)

• Social Classes
• King
• Ruling class of warrior-nobles (owned land)
• Peasants
• Religious Beliefs
• Family linked to religion
• Spirits of family ancestors good bring good or
  bad fortune

7
Chinese Culture (cont)

• Religious Beliefs (cont)
• Family ancestors were not gods, but still needed
  attention and respect
• Paid respect to fathers ancestors
• Shang worshipped, Shang Di and many lesser gods
• Oracle bones were used to consult the gods
• Animal bones or tortoise shells priest scratched
  question onto and then applied a hot poker
  priest interpreted cracks to see how the gods
  answered

8
Chinese Culture (cont)

• Writing
• Each character stands for one syllable or unit of
  language
• No link between spoken language and written
  language (2 2 4)
• Advantage no matter what language spoken every
  one could learn same system of writing
• Disadvantage enormous number of characters to be
  memorized (1,500 barely literate) (10,000
  scholar)

9
The Zhou Dynasty/Dynastic Cycle

• Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty
• Adopted Shang culture
• Brought new ideas
• Mandate of Heaven
• Believed gods took away right to rule if a poor
  ruler
• Royal authority came from heaven
• Just rulers had divine authority/evil rulers lost
  right to rule/Mandate of Heaven
• Natural disaster were signs that ruler had lost
  the Mandate of Heaven

10
The Zhou Dynasty/Dynastic Cycle (cont)
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The Zhou Dynasty (cont)

• Governed lands through feudalism under the Zhou
• Different regions were governed by members of the
  royal family and nobles
• The land legally belonged to the king, but nobles
  were granted use of land in exchange for loyalty
  and military service also had to protect those
  living on their estates

12
The Zhou Dynasty (cont)

• Improvements in Technology and Trade
• Built roads and canals
• Coined money
• Developed blast furnaces to produce cast iron
• Warring States
• Zhou empire was peaceful and stable
• Rule weakened and nomads attacked killing the
  monarch
• Lords began fighting one another for power

13
Chinese Philosophies

• Confucianism
• Founder Confucius
• Political and ethical not spiritual
• Dao duty and humanity
• People subordinate their needs to the needs of
  the family and community
• Governed by the Five Constant Relationships
  parent and child, husband and wife, older sibling
  and younger sibling, older friend and younger
  friend, ruler and subject

14
Chinese Philosophies (cont)

• Confucianism (cont)
• Dao (cont)
• If each individual worked hard to fulfill duties
  then society would prosper
• Compassion and empathy for others
• Doaism
• Founder Laozi
• Ideas found in The Way of the Dao
• Not action, but inaction
• Act spontaneously and let nature take its course

15
Chinese Philosophies (cont)

• Legalism
• Proposed humans were evil by nature
• Needed harsh laws and punishments
• Strong ruler necessary

16
Honors Assignment

• Read pages 88 -97

17
Honors Worksheet
18
Regular Assignment

• Read pages 50-55

19
Regular Workbook pg 7