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

6. China’s 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 “China’s 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

9. 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 • China’s 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 father’s ancestors by making sacrifices in their honor

16. 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

20. 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 2+2=4 • 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

24. Shang Bronze

27. 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

30. 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

31. 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