River Dynasties in China

1
River Dynasties in China

• Chapter 2 Section 4
• p. 46 51

2
Focus Question

• Today is 9/11.
• What do you remember?
• What do you know about
• this date?
• How does it make you
• feel?

3
Terms to Know

• Loess
• Oracle Bones
• Mandate of Heaven
• Dynastic Cycle
• Feudalism

4
The Geography of China

• Natural barriers isolate China
• Taklimikan Desert
• Plateau of Tibet
• Himalaya Mountains
• Gobi Desert
• Mongolian Plateau
• Pacific Ocean

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Chinas Heartland

• Much of China is isolated by mountains and
  deserts
• Most of the population live in the eastern half
  of the country, near rivers
• 90 of the arable land lies between the Huang He
  and Yangtze Rivers

7
Environmental Challenges

• Huang He Yellow River carried huge deposits
  of wind-blown silt called loess
• The river floods and is nicknamed Chinas
  Sorrow
• An 1887 flood killed nearly a million people.
• Isolation has forced the Chinese to develop and
  supply goods on its own rather than getting them
  through trade.

8
Civilization Emerges in Shang Times

• Fossil remains show evidence of humans in China
  1.7 million years ago.
• Peking Man a Homo erectus skeleton found
  near Beijing shows settlement over 500,000 years
  ago

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The First Dynasties

• First dynasty was the Xia, founded by an engineer
  and mathematician named Yu
• Legend states that Yu planned flood control and
  irrigation projects that made farm surpluses
  possible
• The Xia dynasty left no written records

10
Shang Dynasty

• Chinas first historical dynasty
• Written records from oracle bones
• 1532 to 1027 B.C.E.

11
Early Cities

• Shang capital was Anyang
• Anyang was a walled city built mostly of wood
• Chariots were used by the Shang in warfare

12
Social Classes

• Shang society divided between nobles and peasants
• Noble families controlled the land
• Peasants worked the land using digging sticks
• Bronze was used to make weapons, but not farm
  tools. It was thought too valuable

13
The Origins of Chinese Culture

• Chinese culture tends to stress the importance of
  the group over that of the individual
• Peoples lives are governed by their duties to
  their families and to their king or emperor

14
Family and Society

• Elder male family members made the important
  decisions concerning property
• Women were treated as inferior
• Women were married between 13 and 16 and could
  raise their status only through bearing male
  children

15
Religious Beliefs

• Ancestor worship
• Belief that the spirits of family ancestors could
  influence daily life
• Family members paid respect to the fathers
  ancestors by making sacrifices in their honor

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Oracle Bones

• Animal bones and tortoise shells were used to
  consult the gods
• Questions were written on bones which were heated
  till they cracked
• The cracks were then interpreted as messages from
  the gods

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Development of Writing

• Earliest evidence of Chinese writing comes from
  oracle bones
• Characters stand for ideas not sounds
• One can read Chinese without being able to speak
  it
• Speakers who speak different dialects of Chinese
  can read the same written language

21
Pictographic Language

• An English speaker and French speaker can both
  understand
• 224
• But the English speaker may not know what Deux et
  deux font quatre means

22
Advantages and Disadvantages of Chinese Written
Language

• People from all parts of China can read it even
  if they speak very different dialects
• You need to know more than 10,000 characters to
  be barely literate
• Literacy tended to keep social classes separate

23
Shang Technology and Artistry

• Bronze working was their main focus
• Mostly used as religious articles
• Shang dynasty developed silk making technology

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Shang Bronze
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Zhou Bring New Ideas

• Overthrew the Shang around 1027 B.C.
• Justified their takeover with the Mandate of
  Heaven
• Belief that the gods had ordained them to rule
• Disasters, floods, wars and other calamities were
  seen as evidence of the loss of the mandate

28
Dynastic Cycle

• The pattern of rise, decline and replacement of
  dynasties

29
Control Through Feudalism

• A system in which nobles, or lords are granted
  the use of lands belonging to the king in
  exchange for a pledge of military service and
  loyalty

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Improvements in Technology and Trade

• Zhou rulers built roads and canals
• They stimulated trade and agriculture
• Coined money was invented
• Civil servants worked for the government
• They developed iron-making technology
• Improved tools and weapons

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A Period of Warring States

• The later years of Zhou rule
  (771 256 B.C.) are known as the period of
  warring states
• Law and order declined as warlords took power in
  various regions of the country
• A new dynasty would come to restore order