The Geography of China

1
The Geography of Chinas River Valleys

• Sec. 1

2
The Dragon

• The dragon is a respected spirit
• Dragons bring luck
• Dragons symbolize rivers, streams and deltas

3
The Geographic Setting of China

• Rivers, the North China Plain and monsoons are
  very important to China
• Southern China has wet monsoons
• Northern China has dry monsoons

4
The Middle Kingdom

• Geographic barriers cut China off from other
  lands
• China only knew of the nomadic people to the
  north and west
• They thought that they lived in the center of the
  world, the Middle Kingdom

5
Rivers, the Birthplace of Civilization

• The Huang He or Yellow River got its name from
  the loess or yellow-brownish soil it gave to the
  land
• The Yangzi River in the south gave water for
  fertile soil

6
Chinas Sorrow

• The rivers sometimes brought too much flooding
  which came without warning
• Thousands of people drowned and the rivers would
  make new paths over the land

7
How was flooding controlled?

• The Chinese people build dikes along the banks
• Dikes were protective walls that held back the
  waters
• Sometimes the loess would collect and bring the
  water level up and broke the dikes

8
Beginnings of Chinese Civilization

• As early as 5000 B.C. farming settlements
  developed along the rivers
• The Shang dynasty was the first civilization
  1700 B.C.
• They invented bronze, first cities, and writing

9
The Chinese Family

• The family was the center of Chinese life
• The Chinese households contain many generations
  of extended family living together
• The status of each person depended on age and
  gender

10
The Chinese Family

• The oldest male had the most power and privileges
  in the family
• After the oldest man died, all land and money was
  divided among his sons
• Women had to respect all males in the family
  fathers, husbands, brothers and sons
• When a woman married she left her home to live
  with her husbands family

11
Family Names

• The Chinese were the first civilization to have
  two names
• The last name is used first and then the first
  name