Ancient China

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Ancient China
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Key Terms in the China Unit

• Loess
• Dike
• Extended Family
• Philosophy
• Civil Service
• Silk Road
• Silk

• Be Able To Define These Words

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Geographic Setting of China

• Rivers were important to the development of China
• Landforms and climate also influenced the culture

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Middle Kingdom

• Geographic barriers like mountains and seas cut
  China off from other lands
• They had no knowledge of other cultures
• They thought they were at the center of the world
  and called themselves the Middle Kingdom

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Contrasting climate and landforms

• There were many differences in climate throughout
  China
• Monsoons bring rains for the South China Sea
  towards the southern half of China
• The rain does not reach the northern, cooler part
  of China
• The climate there is very dry, people depend on
  Rivers

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Rivers The Birthplace of Civilization

• Early civilizations developed near rivers
• Chinas rivers overflowed and provided fertile
  soil for farming
• China had few rivers that provided resources to
  be successful
• Chang Jiang River (longest)
• Huang He River
• Yangzi River (Yellow River)

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Huang He River

• The Huang He River is also known as the Yellow
  River because of the loess
• Loess is yellow brown soil that the Yellow River
  carries along

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Chinas Sorrow

• The rivers were unpredictable
• The rivers brought life through fertile soil
• Destructive floods would come without warning
• To control the flooding the people built dikes or
  walls to hold back water

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The Shang Dynasty

• First known civilization in China
• There are famous for their bronze work
• They also produced the first Chinese writing

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The Bonds of Family

• The family was considered more important that the
  nation
• Family was the chief source of well being
• In China, using the family name shows the
  importance of the family

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Traditional Families of Ancient China

• As many as five generations lived together in
  homes
• This included aunts, uncles, parents,
  grandparents, cousins, and siblings
• If they did not live in the home they lived very
  close

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Status within the family

• Status depended on the age and sex with oldest
  man in a position of authority
• He decided many things for the family
• Marriage
• Punishments

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Women of Ancient China

• Women were usually governed by men
• The obeyed their fathers in youth
• Then their husbands
• And later their sons

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Confucius

• Was known as a great teacher
• He was born in 551 BC to a noble but poor family
• He died in 479 BC at the age of 72

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The teachings of Confucius

• Confucius did not claim originality, but he
  thought of himself as a person to pass on
  important teachings form wise people in hopes of
  influencing others to reform
• He wanted peace, stability, and prosperity for
  China

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Confucianism

• This philosophy became known as Confucianism
• His goal was to bring order to society
• If people learned how to behave properly, peace
  would follow
• People should know their place in their family as
  well as society
• Respect people above and below you
• People in authority must set an example for
  others
• Always follow the golden rule

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Some other ideas of Confucius

• He felt that the government has to be reformed on
  order for suffering, corruption, and war to come
  to an end.
• Yin and Yang
• The yin and yang are opposites of each other.
  They balance each other and bring harmony.
• The Five Elements
• It meant that the entire universe was made up of
  five things wood, fire, earth, metal, and
  water. These elements must balance to have peace
  in nature.

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Achievements of the Ancient Chinese and the Silk
Road

• Trade with people of Central Asia introduced the
  Chinese to new goods, like grapes, walnuts, and
  garlic while the Chinese traded their goods
• This open up a major new route called the Silk
  Road

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The Route of the Silk Road

• The Silk Road ran from China all the way to the
  Mediterranean Sea. It was a series of routes
  covering over 4,000 miles (like traveling from
  China to Hawaii)

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The Silk Road

• The travel was very dangerous because of the
  violent weather as well as thieves and gangs
• Using this route the people of China were able to
  trade with Mesopotamia, Rome, Greece, Egypt, and
  all of the other lands reaching the Mediterranean
  Sea

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The Silk in the Silk Road

• The name of the Silk Road comes from the cloth
  silk Which was first made in China and sought
  after by very rich people who would trade horses,
  ivory, linens, and other good for some silk
  clothes
• The Chinese people kept the process of making
  silk a secret and cornered the market

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The Silk Road helped to spread new ideas

• Because more goods were traded by more merchants,
  ideas spread as well
• While ideas about religion spread, so did many
  inventions and ideas about government, economy,
  and morality

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The most influential inventionPaper

• Clay tablets and wood scrolls were very
  cumbersome and took up so much space, so when
  paper was invented helped to improve education
  and communication
• This spread throughout Europe and Asia

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Achievements in Ancient ChinaThe Arts

• Silk Weaving
• Bronze Working
• Architecture
• Poetry and History
• Jade Carving

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Achievements in Ancient ChinaMedicine

• Acupuncture (the treatment of disease using
  needles)
• Herbal Medicines (the use of plants in the
  practice of medicine)
• Circulatory system (the discovery that blood
  travels through the body)

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Achievements in Ancient ChinaTechnology

• Paper made from wood pulp
• Iron plow for breaking up soil
• Rudder a device used to steer ships
• Seismoscope a device that registers the
  occurrence of earthquakes
• Compass
• Wheelbarrow