Where is China???

1. Where is China??? • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OlYyRP3ugY

2. Geographic and Cultural Influences • The Physical Setting • China is a land of enormous size, great geographic variety, and widely contrasting climate patterns • Snow capped mountains, desert plateaus and coastal regions

3. China Geography • Mountain range that cuts from the west to east across China is called the QinlingShandi • Mark boundary between Northern and Southern China • North: less rain, temperatures more extreme, growing season shorter, wheat is principal crop • South and Central: rainfall is more plentiful, rice is the leading farm product

4. China Geography • Two great rivers in China, the Huang and the Chang, or Yangtze • What we call China has consisted of many different geographic and political sections over time • The heart of China is called China Proper • Three great rivers wind through China Proper • Huang, Chang, and Xi • Other political sections of China • Tibet, Xinjiang, Mongolia, Manchuria, and northern Korea

5. The Rivers of China • Huang, Chang and Xi have played major roles in Chinese history • Huang River flows over 2,900 miles across China emptying into the Yellow Sea • Produces fertile yellow soil called loess • Loess gives the river a yellow tint • Huang means “Yellow” River • Also known as “China’s Sorrow” because of the devastating floods

6. The Rivers of China • Early farmers built earthen dikes, or walls, along the Huang River to protect crops from floods • Dikes had unintended effect, however, of slowing the river down • This built up more silt at bottom of river making the river level higher • Chinese engineer, Chang Jung, determined the Chinese needed to let the river run its course instead of building dikes higher • He was ignored

7. The Rivers of China • Rain would flood the even higher dikes and then would not be able to return back to the river because the river was now 12 feet above the surrounding land • Chang River and Xi River form important commercial waterways

8. China’s Isolation • Great distance, rugged mountains, and harsh deserts, such as the Gobi, isolated China from the civilizations of India and the West • Developed distinct culture • Probably influenced less by other cultures than any other people in ancient times • On China’s northern borders they were in contact with nomadic people who traded with them and sometimes warred against them • Considered them barbarians and inferior

9. China’s Isolation • Infrequent contact with foreigners gave China a sense of identity and superiority • Believed they were the only civilized land, calling it Zhongguo, or Middle Kingdom, meaning center of the world • Believed other cultures only became civilized when they learned the Chinese language and adopting Chinese customs

10. The Shang Dynasty • China’s early history of development were legends • One was of Pangu the first man who awoke from an 18,000 year sleep to create the universe • Another is of Yu a mythological figure who drained away floodwaters so people could live in China • Yu established a line of kings called a Xia • Xia ruled over a late Neolithic people who lived in the Huang River region (2200 BC)

11. Shang Dynasty • Little evidence exists to support legends but scholars agree that the Xia people existed and made great advancements • Improved agriculture • Used written symbols • Little control of flood prevention measures • Invaders in the 1750 BC and 1500 BC called the Shang swept into the Huang River Valley • Introduced simple irrigation and flood-control systems • Created China’s first historic dynasty

12. Shang Government and Culture • Shang kingdom stretched over 40,000 sq miles • Changed capital city many times in their history • Avoid invaders and floods • Shang rulers created a complex bureaucracy, a government organized into different levels and tasks • King ruled over land • Shang army used chariots and bronze weapons • Government and military allowed Shang dynasty to gain much territory

13. Shang Economy and Handicrafts • Economy based mainly on agriculture • Millet and rice • Domesticated animals • Pigs, chickens, and horses • Raised silkworms for silk thread to make silk cloth • Many merchants and artisans lived in the capital city • Worked in bone, ivory and jade • Ceramic art, Shang potters used kaolin, a fine white clay, and could glaze pottery to give it a shiny finish, also made pottery more durable

14. Astronomy and the calendar • Used two calendars, one based on the sun and the other based on the movements of the moon • Lunar calendar kept tract of important dates such as births and deaths • Calendars also used to predict flooding • Priests-astronomers added days to make calendar work

15. Religion in the Shang period • The religion that developed during the Shang period combined animism, the belief that spirits inhabit everything, with ancestor worship • People believed in an all-powerful dragon that lived in the sea and river • Became the symbol of Chinese rulers • Also worshipped gods of the wind, sun, clouds, an moon • Honored many in festivals • The Shang also believed in Shangdi, a great god who controlled human destiny and the forces of nature • People pleaded with ancestors to plead on their behalf with Shangdi

16. Religion in Shang period • Priests also played an important role in Chinese religion • Predict future events and interpret divine messages • Priests wrote questions on oracle bones, the shoulder bones of cattle or tortoise shells • Heated bones and interpreted the cracks that appeared on the bones • Priest marked their interpretations on the bone or shell

17. Language and Writing • The Chinese of the Shang period were among the few early peoples to develop a written language • Spoke many dialects, or variations of their language • Developed a written language that could be used for all these dialects • First used pictographs which later became complex • Then they developed ideographs

18. Ideographs • Ideographs consisted of two parts • A signifier, or idea sign, and a phonetic sign • Signifier showed the meaning of the character and the phonetic sign told how to pronounce it • Could invent new characters by combining existing signs

19. Ideographs • Each character, however had to be memorized • Earlier these were clerks, scribes, and teachers • Scribes recorded special events and composed literary works • Wrote from the top to the bottom of the page, beginning on the right side • Writing became an art called calligraphy

20. Fall of the Shang Dynasty • Shang exhausted their efforts by fighting continually with herders that had settled near the Shang territory • In 1050 BC a people called the Zhou formed an alliance with nearby tribes and overthrew the Shang dynasty • The Zhou justified this overtaking by saying the Shang were corrupt and unfit to rule