CHAPTER 6ANCIENT CHINA

SECTION 1: Geography and Early China

Physical Geography• Desert – Gobi• Plains• Plateaus • Rivers :

Huang He (Yellow) – China’s Sorrow Yangtze

China’s First Dynasties Xia Shang

• Advances: China’s first writing system Oracle bones

Oracle - prediction Calendar

Section 2: The Zhou Dynasty and New Ideas

Defeated the Shang Dynasty Ruled longer than any other dynasty Mandate of Heaven – heaven gave

power to the king

Social Structure• King• Lords – people of high rank• Peasants – farmers with small farms

Confucius and Society Confucius – most influential teacher

in Chinese history. Ethics – moral values Ideas became known as

Confucianism• Guidelines for family and government (p.

169)

Daoism and Legalism Daoism – stressed living in harmony

with the Dao, the guiding force of all reality• Yin and Yang

Legalism – belief that people were bad by nature and needed to be controlled• Strict laws to keep people in line

Section 3: The Qin Dynasty

Unified China in 221 BC Shi Huangdi – “first emperor” Used army to expand the empire Established:

• Uniform system or laws, written language, and currency

Qin Achievements Network or roads Canals and irrigation systems Great Wall – a barrier that linked

earlier walls across China’s northern frontier

Great Wall of China

Section 4: The Han Dynasty

Lasted for 400 years 1st emperor – Liu Bang Next great emperor was Wudi

• Follower of Confucianism Family became important

• Father was the head of the family• Women’s duty was to obey her husband• Children had to obey their father

Han Achievements Art and Literature

• Figure painting• Poetry

Inventions and Advances• Paper• Sundial – uses the position of shadows cast by the

sun to tell the time of the day• Seismograph – device that measures the strength

of an earthquake• Acupuncture – practice of inserting fine needles

through the skin at specific points to cure disease or relieve pain

Section 5: Han Contacts with Other Cultures

Ironworking Swords and armor Iron plow and wheelbarrow

Silk – a soft, light, highly valued fabric

Silk Road – 4,000 mile long network of routes that stretched westward from China across Asia’s deserts and mountain ranges, through the Middle East, to the Mediterranean Sea

Buddhism Spread from India to China Diffusion – the spread of ideas from

one culture to another