Chinese Dynasties

1. Chinese Dynasties What is a Dynasty? How does the Dynasty cycle work? What were the major Chinese Dynasties? The First major Dynasty was the Shang Dynasty, but Qin’s dynasty really began the cycle that would follow for almost 2000 years. It began with the strange circumstances surrounding Qin’s death. Do you want to know what those were?

2. What is a Dynasty? • A Dynasty is a series of rulers from the same family or ethnic group. • Chinese dynasties were usually headed by Emperors. • ” Many Chinese Emperors believed that they were Emperor because of the “Mandate of Heaven” • The Mandate of Heaven was the idea that you were Emperor because of God’s will and that you had been chosen by God to be Emperor.

3. The Dynasty Cycle • Chinese Dynasties would rise and fall in Cycles. A cycle is something that repeats itself over and over. 1. A new Dynasty rules for a period of time A new Dynasty rises 2. These cycles lasted for almost 4,000 years! Chinese Dynasty Cycle A period of violence (Civil War) follows 5. The Dynasty Grows Weak 3. 4. The Dynasty Falls

4. Your Assignment • Chinese Dynasties are broken into 10 major Dynasties. • 1. You will get a handout that lists the 10 major dynasties • 2. Get a sheet of poster paper and fold it in half. You will make a time line that spans from 2000 B.C. to 2000 A.D. Every inch is 250 Years. The sketch to help you is on the board. • 3. You need to represent each of the 10 dynasties with it’s name, dates and a color picture to show what that dynasty accomplished. The dynasties will not overlap. • 4. You need to plot the span of each dynasty on your basic timeline. Show when each dynasty started and ended. • 5. A large title, labels for B.C. and A.D. and your name should be included as well! • Points= 35