Bellringer 9-14-12

1. Bellringer 9-14-12 • Review questions! • What are the four ancient river valley civilizations we have studied? • Identify the following geographic terms - a peninsula, plateau, valley, mountain, and desert. • How does geography affect a civilization? • What is social structure? • Why is it important for a civilization to a government or form of rule?

2. Ancient China Outcome: Geography & Culture

3. China & East Asia

4. Geography & Culture • Setting the Stage: • China’s first city walls were built 1000 years after the walls of Ur, the great pyramids, and the planned cities on the Indus River. • Unlike most cultures on earth, the civilization that began in China 4000 years ago still thrives there today.

5. Geography & Culture • The Geography of China • Natural barriers isolated ancient China • East: The Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and Pacific Ocean • West: Taklimakan Desert and 15,000 ft Plateau of Tibet • Southwest: Himalayas • North: Gobi Desert and Mongolian Plateau • Mountain ranges and desert dominate 2/3 of China’s landmass

6. Geography & Culture • River Systems • Huang He (Yellow River) in the north • Deposits large amounts of yellowish silt called loess. • Loess is blown by winds from deserts into the river

7. Huang He (Yellow River)

8. Geography & Culture • Chang Jiang (Yangtze) in central China • Flows east from the Yellow Sea • At 3,988 miles long, it is the longest river in Asia

9. Geography & Culture • Environmental Challenges • Disastrous floods from the Huang He • Trade was difficult so settlers became self-dependent • Geography did not make invasion impossible

10. Geography & Culture • Only 10% of China’s land is suitable for farming • Most of farmable land is on North China Plain between Yellow River and Yangtze

11. Earliest Dynasties

12. Zhou & Shang Culture

13. Geography & Culture • The Development of Chinese Culture • Fossils show that modern humans lived in SW China 1.7 million years ago • According to legend, the first Chinese dynasty, The Xia Dynasty, started about 2000 B.C. • Chinese viewed everyone outside of their culture as barbarians • Viewed themselves as center of civilized world • Chinese name for China was Middle Kingdom • Family is central to Chinese society; respect for one’s parents • Women treated as inferiors • Girls were arranged to be married between 13 and 16

14. Geography & Culture • Religion: Spirits of ancestors had power to bring good fortune; not seen as gods • Use of Oracle Bones- priests scratch question on bones, apply hot poker, bone would split, interpret the cracks • No links between spoken and written language • One could read Chinese without being able to speak the language • All parts of China learned the same system of writing even if spoke different language thus unifying parts of China • Needed to know 1500 characters just to be considered literate; scholars knew 10,000 characters

15. Oracle Bones

16. Chinese alphabet

17. Geography & Culture • Zhou and the Dynastic Cycle • 1027 B.C. a people called the Zhou overthrew the Shang, culturally similar • Zhou believed in Mandate of Heaven or divine approval to rule • Mandate of Heaven became central to Chinese view of government • This helped explain the dynastic cycle: a pattern of rise, decline, and replacement of dynasties if the spirits did not approve of one king’s rule • The use of royal families controlling different regions was known as feudalism • Zhou Dynasty innovated roads/canals, coined money, blast furnaces • The Zhou were generally peaceful • Later years of Zhou Dynasty known as warring states period due to weakened power of Zhou kings, attacking nomads and greedy lords

18. Geography & Culture • Result: The heart of Chinese culture, love of order, harmony, and respect for authority, were replaced by chaos, arrogance, and defiance. The Qin Dynasty would bring new order to one of the oldest cultures on earth.