Real Birth of Chinese Civilization

Birth of Chinese Civilization

Chapter 10, Lesson 1

The Land of China

● Powerful Rivers

○Huang He
■Filled with yellow soil called loess (similar in nature to silt)

■Often overflows causing large floods

■River nicknamed “China’s Sorrow” due to deaths from
floods

○Chang Jiang
■Third longest river in the world

○Yangtze

Mountains and Desert

●

Mountains and deserts cover much of the land

●

Himalaya in southwest

●

Kunlun Shan and Tian Shan mountains in the west

●

Gobi desert in the north

●

These characteristics kept China secluded and independent

Shang Dynasty

●Built the first cities in China

●Capital of Anyang

●King was most powerful (political, miliary, and religious leader)

●Expanded territory from small portion in Northern china to all of the
Huang He valley

●Appointed warlords

○Military leaders who lead their own armies

○Shang kings relied on them to stay in power

Open Ended

Who did the kings appoint that led armies and helped the kings stay in power?

The First Chinese Dynasty

●

Archaeologists found artifacts in the Huang He valley.

○Birthplace of chinese civilization

●

People settled in this valley due to its rich soil

●

Used the river for travel and trade

Myths and Legends

●

Created myths to explain creation

●

Yu the Great is most well known

○Dug the channels to control flooding of Huang He

○Chased away the dragon that created the floods

○Founded China’s first dynasty

■Known as the Xia dynasty

■No known evidence of this dynasty exists

●

First dynasty is the Shang

○Ruled from 1750 BCE to 1045 BCE

Open Ended

What is the name of the first official dynasty of China?

Shang Dynasty Daily Life

●

Upper Class also consisted of

○Aristocrats

■Noble birth whose money came from land they own

●

Most people were farmers

○Lived in villages

○Worked the aristocrats land

●

Polytheistic

○Shang Ti ruled as supreme god

●

Honored their ancestors

○Believed to bring good luck and help in difficult times

○Still done to this day

Multiple Choice

Most people were what in China?

• Aristocrats

• Merchants

• Slaves

• Farmers

Guidance From Ancestors

●

Shang Kings believed they received their power to rule from
the gods and ancestors

●

Asked the ancestors for help before making decisions
○Did this using oracle bones

○Priests heated the bones over a fire until they cracked

○Pattern of cracks provided answers

●

Wrote in pictographs and ideographs
○Pictographs: characters that represent objects

○Ideographs: link to or more pictographs to express an idea

○Most characters in the Chinese language represent words

The Zhou: China’s Longest Dynasty

●

The last of the Shang rulers was a wicked tyrant

●

Many turned against him
○Led by Wu Wang, rebels overthrew the king

○Declared a new dynasty called the Zhou

○Ruled for 800 years
■Longest dynasty in Chinese history

The Rule of Zhou

●

Zhou kings governed China the same as the Shang

●

Ruled with the help of the bureaucracy
○Made up of officials who carry out the tasks of government

●

Created a strong army

●

King divided the kingdom into territories
○Aristocrats would rule the territories

○This position was hereditary
■Passed down by generation

The Right to Rule

●

Mandate of Heaven
○Belief that Chinese king’s right to rule came from the gods

○Stated the idea that the gods chose a wise and good person to rule

○The person would govern honestly and well

○Changed what the Zhou people expected from their king

○Must rule by the proper way known as the Dao
■Honor and please the gods

■If there was a natural disaster of bad harvest, that meant the
king had failed and could be replaced

Multiple Choice

According to the Mandate of Heaven, where did the right to rule come from?

• Ancestors

• Parents

• Gods

• The People

Technology and Trade

● Under Zhou kings

○

Developed new systems toirrigate the land

○

Farmers able to grow more crops

● Trade also expanded

○

Archaeologists have found silk in central Asia and as far
away as Greece

War Between the States

●

Aristocrats grew more powerful over time

●

Ignored the king and took control of their territories

●

Aristocrats began to fight with each other
○These wars lasted almost 200 years

●

Known as the “Period of the Warring States”

●

Aristocrats forced farmers to serve as soldiers

●

Horseswere used regularly in battle
○Invented the saddle and stirrup

●

These wars led to a new dynasty

Multiple Choice

What was the time period called after the Zhou Dynasty?

• Period of Peace

• Period of Chaos

• Period of Warring States

• Period of Anger