ANCIENT CHINA: ORIGINS TO EMPIRE

1
CHAPTER 2

• ANCIENT CHINA ORIGINS TO EMPIRE
• FROM PREHISTORY TO 220 C.E.

2
The Creation of China

• 7000 B.C.E. - 1027 B.C.E.
• The Neolithic Age
• The Huang Ho (Yellow) and Yangstze Rivers
• Climate and rainfall dictated crop choice and
  settlement patterns.

3
The Bronze Age

• 2000 B.C.E
• Shang dynasty and sophisticated bronze
  metallurgy.
• Developed a writing system that has lasted for
  three millennia.
• The King religious and secular power.

4
The Zhou Dynasty The Feudal Age

• Shortly after 1030 B.C.E., the Zhou tribe came
  from the west and overthrew the Shang dynasty.
• Zhou Economy and Society
• The Philosophical Schools
• Confucianism Rationalized Hierarchy
• Kong Fuzi (known in the West as Confucius)

5
Confucian Philosophy

• The Confucian philosophy of China addressed the
  problems of human society.
• It was very simple and direct.
• It was applied not only in government and
  education but also in family matters.

6
Confucianism Throughout Asia

• Confucianism was applied in households throughout
  China
• Later it was applied in the Chinese-influenced
  societies of Korea, Japan, and Indochina.

7
Daoism The Magic of Letting Go

• The second philosophical reaction to the troubled
  times of the late Zhou period.
• Revolt against both society and the limitations
  of the intellect.
• Confucianism and Daoism together shape the course
  of Chinese history.

8
Menciusthe Confucian Mandate of Heaven

• Mencius' right of rebellion against evil rulers.
• Legalism, another alternative.

9
The First Chinese Empire

• 221 B.C.E - 220 C.E.
• Unification of China by the Qin and the Han
  Dynasties.
• 48 provinces with administrative units and
  centrally controlled civil and administrative
  bureaucrats.

10
Han Dynasty

• Confucianism, Legalism, and Taoism were
  synthesized in the Han dynasty.
• They created a system that offered a single
  comprehensive answer to the full range of human
  problems and needs.

11
Han Culture

• The Empire Consolidated
• Wu Di and Pax Sinica
• Han Decline

12
Han Scholarship Art and Technology
13
Ban Zhao, the Confucian Woman
14
Popular Daoism and Buddhism
15
China and Foreign Trade
16
Conclusion

• The geographic environment that shaped Chinese
  society.
• The common themes that carry over from
  prehistoric into historic China.
• What China was like during the Shang and Chou
  dynasties.
• The principles of Confucianism, Legalism and
  Taoism.

17
Conclusion

• The manifestations of art, technology and
  statecraft that emerged under Ch'in and Han.
• The elements that caused a cycle of rise and fall
  during the Ch'in and Han dynasties.
• China's foreign contacts and attitude toward the
  outside world.