River Dynasties in CHINA

1. River Dynasties in CHINA

2. Objectives • To explain the effects of geography on cultural development in China • To describe the growth and structure of the Shang Dynasty • To describe Shang family structure, religion, and technology • To summarize the rise and fall of the Zhou Dynasty

3. Map • Label the following: • Oceans • Pacific • Indian • Mountains • Himalayas • Rivers • Indus • Ganges • Huang He (Yellow) • Yangtze • Questions: • What geographic features might have prevented trade between China and the Indus Valley? • What area of China was weak to invasions? What physical features were located there?

4. Geography of China • Long distances and physical barriers separated it from Egypt, the Middle East, and India • This isolation led to the belief that China was the center of the earth and sole source of civilization

5. Tien Shan and Himalayas

6. Southeast Jungles

7. Gobi Desert

8. Regions: China’s Heartland: Huang He (yellow) river, and the Yangzi river supported the largest populations

9. Xinjiang, Mongolia, and Manchuria • Xinjiang and Mongolia are harsh and rugged • Mainly nomads and subsistence farmers • At times invaders from these regions conquered China • Genghis Khan and the Mongols

10. River of Sorrows • Chinese history starts in Huang He valley • Called “yellow” river because of the loess that turns the river yellow • Called “China’s Sorrow” because of the constant flooding

11. First Dynasties • Peking Man- Homo erectus skeleton discovered near Beijing on the Yellow River, settled 500,000 yrs ago • Myth: 2000 B.C.E. first civilization arose • Mythic ancestor of Chinese: P’an Ku • A leader named Yu tamed Huang He river • No written records • Fact • organized state rose around 2000 B.C.E. with irrigation of Hwang He river • By 1000 B.C.E. • Used pottery, Rode horses • Used Bronze, Introduced Iron • Writing developed • Scientific advances • Interest in music

12. Shang Dynasty • 1532 B.C. E. Shang controlled Huang He valley • Invaders? • Dominated until 1027 B.C.E. • Decline due to Invasion • Characteristics: • First to leave written Records • constructed impressive tombs and palaces

13. Writing • Oracle bones: animal bones or turtle shells on which priests wrote questions to ancestors or gods’ • by interpreting the cracks in the bone, they answers were provided

14. Written Chinese • 4,000 years ago • Each character represented a word or and idea • Over 10,000 characters • Calligraphy was an art form • Writing was a unifying force since not everyone spoke the same language.

15. Zhou Dynasty • 1027 B.C. overthrew the Shang • Lasted until 256 B.C. • To justify overthrowing the Shang, the Zhou promoted the idea of Mandate of Heaven, or divine right to rule • Explains the dynastic cycle • Floods and famine were a sign that the dynasty was out of favor with the gods.

17. Feudal States • Zhou rewarded supporters with land • Feudalism: system of government in which local lords governed their own land but owed military service to ruler • Eventually feudalism became more powerful than the dynasty

18. Economic Growth • Iron-making leads to more food production • New crops and irrigation systems • Commerce expanded, use of money • New roads and canals • Led to increase in population

19. Warring States Period • 771 B.C.E. – nomads sacked the Zhou capital of Hao and murdered the monarch • A few family members escaped and ruled from new capital for 500 years • Powerless, couldn’t control noble families • Warlords claimed to be “kings” of territory • Led to “warring states” period • Warring States • Warfare changed, no longer honorable • Peasants main force on battlefield • New weapons such as a crossbow • Central values changed • No longer order, harmony, and respect for authority…. Now chaos, arrogance and defiance

21. Homework: