Ancient Indian and Chinese Civilizations

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Ancient Indian and Chinese Civilizations
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Mauryan Empire

• Chandragupta Maurya seized power in India
• United North India for the first time.
• Raised a vast army.
• Relied on Kautilya (an adviser) to run the
  empire.
• Built a grand capital city and palace.

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Mauryan Empire

• 301 Chandraguptas son assumed throne
• Grandson Asoka brought empire to its greatest
  height.
• Asoka promotes Buddhism.
• Built extensive roads.
• Made travel and communication easier.
• The death of Asoka left a power vacuum.
• The kingdoms of central India regained
  independence.
• Northern India began to absorb a flood of new
  people fleeing from political instability in
  other parts of Asia.
• Southern India kingdoms were often at war.

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Gupta Empire

• Chandra Gupta emerged as a strong leader.
• Indian Lifestyle
• Most Indians lived in small villages
• Most Indian families were patriarchal
• Tax on water
• India experienced a period of achievement in the
  arts, religious thought, and science.
• Over the next 100 years the Gupta Empire broke
  into small kingdoms
• Empire ended about 535.

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The Spread of Indian Trade

• India had precious resources and trade expanded
  even after the Mauryan Empire ended.
• Indians learned about the Silk Roads.
• Acted as middlemen.
• Sea trade also increased.
• Traded with Rome, Africa, and Asia.
• Effects of Indian trade
• Rise of banking in India.
• A number of Indian merchants went to live abroad
  and brought Indian culture with them.

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Trade Routes
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Ancient Chinese Civilizations
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Geographic Effects Isolated
Gobi Desert
Sea of Japan
Gobi Desert
Plateau of Tibet
Yellow Sea
Himalaya Mts
East China Sea
South China Sea
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River Systems Challenges

• Huang He (Yellow)
• Chang Jiang (Yangtze)
• Loess soils from flooding
• Little trading
• Invasions from north and west

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First Dynasties

• First cities 2000BC
• Shang Dynasty rise to power
• Written records
• No link between written and spoken
• Symbols stand for ideas
• Massive earth walls around cities
• Constant warfare
• Middle Kingdom
• Importance of groups family
• Obedience and respect to ruler

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Social Classes

• Nobles control the land
• Tribute paid to ruler
• Peasants do the work

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Religious Beliefs

• Ancestor spirits bring good or bad fortune
• Believed in many gods
• Shang Di is supreme god
• Oracle bones

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Technology and Trade

• River control
• Roads and canals
• Coined money
• Blast furnaces
• Daggers/axes/swords
• Sickles/knives/spades
• Better agriculture
• Paper
• Gunpowder

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Zhou and Dynastic Cycle

• Mandate of Heaven
• Disasters indicate displeasure of the gods
• Mandate may pass to another family

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Qin Dynasty

• Replaced the Zhou Dynasty.
• Employed Legalist ideas.
• Ruler, Shi Huangdi, meaning First Emperor.

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• Murdered hundreds of Confucian scholars
• Book burning
• Established an autocracy.
• Instituted a program of centralization.
• Built the Great Wall of China.
• Peasants rebelled just three years after the
  second Qin emperor took office.

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Han Emperors of China

• During the civil war that followed, two powerful
  leaders emerged Xiang Yu and Liu Bang
• Liu Bang won and declared himself the first
  emperor of the Han Dynasty.
• Han Dynasty ruled China for more than 400 years
  divided into two periods.
• Liu Bangs first goal was to destroy the rival
  kings power.
• He departed from strict legalism
• Lowered taxes
• Softened harsh punishments.
• Martial Emperor

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Han Emperors of China

• Highly structured society
• Relied on a complex bureaucracy to help rule.
• Great advances in Chinese technology and culture.
• Paper was invented in 105 CE.
• Collar harness invented for horses.
• Perfected the plow.
• Han unifies Chinese culture.
• Encouraged assimilation.
• Han emperors faced problems.
• Main problems were an economic imbalance.
• In 11 CE a great flood left thousands dead and
  millions homeless.