68

India and China3000 B.C.–A.D. 500

Key EventsAs you read, look for the key events in the history of the early civilizations of India

and China.• Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism profoundly affected the

way of life of the early Indians and Chinese.• The Silk Road provided a means for prosperous trade.

• The ruler of the Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty and established the longest lastingdynasty in Chinese history.

• The Great Wall of China was built to keep out enemies.

The Impact TodayThe events that occurred during this time period still impact our lives today.

• The well-organized government of the Harappan culture provided a public water supply, wastewater treatment, and trash disposal similar to what many cities

provide today.• The difficulties the ancient Chinese experienced in maintaining a strong central govern-

ment are similar to those facing modern governments.• The early Chinese created a written language and made lasting technological

advances.

World History Video The Chapter 3 video, “Writings of India andChina,” chronicles the emergence of civilization and cultural developments inIndia and China.

3000 B.C. 1000 B.C.1600 B.C.

3000 B.C.Indus River valleycivilization begins

Ruins ofMohenjo-Daro

1500 B.C.Aryans invadeIndia

Oxen pulling iron plow

The Great Wall of China

HISTORY

Chapter OverviewVisit the Glencoe WorldHistory Web site at

and click on Chapter 3–ChapterOverview to preview chapter information.

wh.glencoe.com

Art or Photo here

400 B.C.

563 B.C.SiddharthaGautama, founderof Buddhism, isborn

69

A.D. 500A.D. 200

551 B.C.Confucius is born

A.D. 202Han dynastybrings peace andprosperity toChina Han burial suit of jade

The Buddha

Confucius

70

Two Great Leadersn the sixth century B.C. two remarkable people appearedin the civilizations of India and China.

In India there lived a man named Siddhartha Gautama. He is better known as the Buddha. In his lifetime, he gainedthousands of devoted followers. People would come to himseeking to know more about him, asking, “Are you a god?”

“No,” he answered.“Are you an angel?”“No.”“Are you a saint?”“No.”“Then what are you?”The Buddha replied, “I am awake.”The religion of Buddhism began with a man who claimed

that he had awakened and seen the world in a new way.At about the same time the Buddha was teaching in India,

a philosopher named Confucius traveled the length of Chinaobserving events and seeking employment as a political coun-selor. He had little success in his job search and insteadbecame a teacher to hundreds of students who sought hiswise advice. He taught by asking questions and expectedmuch of his students. As he said, “Only one who bursts witheagerness do I instruct; only one who bubbles with excite-ment, do I enlighten.” Some disciples of Confucius recordedhis sayings, which became guiding principles for Chinesecivilization.

I

Confucius

The Buddha

Why It MattersBuddhism was the product of oneman, Siddhartha Gautama, whosesimple message of achieving wisdomcreated a new spiritual philosophy inIndia. In China, the philosophy ofConfucius opened the door to a newidea of statecraft that would be putinto widespread use. Both Buddhismand Confucianism continue to influ-ence the ways of peoples in India,China, and around the world.

History and You Using the Inter-net and print sources, prepare achart that compares the historicalorigins, central ideas, and the spreadof Confucianism and Buddhism.Show how those ideas are put intopractice today. Be sure to cite threereliable sources that support thedata in your chart.

1000 B.C.Aryans developSanskrit writing

c. 500 B.C.Buddhism develops

480 B.C.Gautama (theBuddha) dies

Guide to Reading

Early Civilization in India

Preview of Events✦1000 B.C. ✦800 B.C. ✦600 B.C. ✦400 B.C.

Guide to Reading

Arjuna was in despair as he prepared for battle. Many of his friends were in theopposing army. Some of them he had known since childhood. According to theMahabharata, India’s great historical epic, Arjuna appealed to the god Krishna:

“O Krishna, when I see my own people . . . eager for battle, my limbs shudder, mymouth is dry, my body shivers, and my hair stands on end. I can see no good in killingmy own kinsmen.” Krishna replied, “Do not despair of your duty. If you do not fightthis just battle you will fail in your own law and in your honor.”Arjuna understood. He was a warrior, and he must do his duty without regard for theconsequences.

—The Bhagavad-Gita, Barbara Keller, ed., 1986

Arjuna’s decision—to fight no matter what the personal cost—illustrates theimportance of Hinduism’s concept of divine life. In fact, two religions—Hinduism andBuddhism—were crucial in shaping the civilization of India.

The Land of IndiaIndia is a land of diversity. As of the year 2000, people in India spoke 18 lan-

guages, with hundreds of dialects (varieties of a language). Diversity is alsoapparent in India’s geography. The Indian subcontinent, shaped like a trianglehanging from the southern ridge of Asia, is composed of a number of core regions,

Voices from the Past

CHAPTER 3 India and China 71

Krishna supportingMount Govardhana

Main Ideas• India’s earliest cities provided the foun-

dation for the Aryans.• The caste system was a set of rigid

social categories in Indian society.

Key Termsmonsoon, Sanskrit, raja, caste system,caste, Hinduism, reincarnation, karma,dharma, yoga, Buddhism, ascetic, nirvana

People to Identify Aryans, Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas,Sudras, Untouchables, Siddhartha Gautama

Places to Locate Indian subcontinent, Himalaya, GangesRiver, Deccan, Persian Gulf, Hindu Kush

Preview Questions1. How did geographic factors impact the

civilization that arose in India?2. What is a patriarchal family?

Reading StrategySequencing Information As you readthis section, use a diagram like the onebelow to illustrate the process that ledSiddhartha Gautama to enlightenment.

enlightenment

including mountainranges, river valleys, adry interior plateau, andfertile coastal plains.

In the far north are theHimalaya, the highestmountains in the world.Directly south of theHimalaya is the rich val-ley of the Ganges(GAN•JEEZ) River, oneof the chief regions ofIndian culture. To thewest is the Indus Rivervalley, a relatively dryplateau that forms thebackbone of the modernstate of Pakistan. Inancient times, the IndusValley enjoyed a moremoderate climate andserved as the cradle ofIndian civilization.

South of India’s twomajor river valleys—thevalleys of the Gangesand the Indus—lies theDeccan, a plateau thatextends from the GangesValley to the southern tipof India. The interior ofthe plateau is relativelyhilly and dry. India’seastern and westerncoasts are lush plains.These plains have histor-ically been among themost densely populatedregions of India.

The primary feature of India’s climate is the monsoon, a seasonal wind pattern in southern Asia.One monsoon blows warm, moist air from the south-west during the summer and another blows cold, dryair from the northeast during the winter. The south-west monsoon brings heavy rains, and throughouthistory Indian farmers have depended on these rainsto grow their crops. If the rains come early or late, ortoo much or too little rain falls, crops are destroyedand thousands starve.

Describing How does the monsoonaffect Indian farmers?

Reading Check

India’s First CivilizationAs in Mesopotamia and Egypt, early civilization

in India and China emerged in river valleys.Between 3000 B.C. and 1500 B.C., the valleys of theIndus River supported a flourishing civilization thatextended hundreds of miles from the Himalaya to the coast of the Arabian Sea. Archaeologists havefound the remains of more than a thousand

72 CHAPTER 3 India and China

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Physical Geography of India

Winter monsoon(dry winds)

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Mountain Peak

India is a triangle bordered by the Himalaya and severalbodies of water.

1. Interpreting Maps Locate the Indus River valley anddescribe its physical and human characteristics. How didthese characteristics vary over time?

A priest-king and the restored city ofMohenjo-Daro are pictured. What elements of an advanced civilizationcan you find in these photos?

History

was carried to sewage pits beyond the city walls. Asystem of chutes took household trash from housesto street-level garbage bins. Only a well-organizedgovernment could have maintained such carefullystructured cities.

Rulers and the Economy As in Egypt andMesopotamia, Harappan rulers based their power ona belief in divine assistance. Religion and politicalpower were closely linked. The fact that the royalpalace and the holy temple were combined in thecitadel, or fortress, at Harappa shows this close con-nection. Priests at court probably prayed to a god orgoddess of fertility to guarantee the annual harvest.

Like those in Mesopotamia and along the Nile, theHarappan economy was based primarily on farming.The Indus River flooded every year, providing richsoil for the growing of wheat, barley, and peas, thechief crops.

This Indus valley civilization also carried onextensive trade with city-states in Mesopotamia. Tex-tiles and food were imported from the Sumerian city-states in exchange for copper, lumber, preciousstones, cotton, and various types of luxury goods.Much of this trade was carried by ship via the Persian Gulf, although some undoubtedly went by land.

Explaining What evidence leads usto conclude that there must have been well-organized govern-ments in Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro?

Reading Check

settlements in thisregion. Two of theruins, about 400 miles(643.6 km) apart,were sites of whatonce were the majorcities of Harappa(huh•RA•puh) andMohenjo-Daro (moh•HEHN•joh DAHR•oh). Anadvanced civilization flourished in these cities forhundreds of years. Historians call it Harappan orIndus civilization.

Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro At its height,Harappa had 35,000 inhabitants, and Mohenjo-Daroperhaps 35,000 to 40,000. Both cities were carefullyplanned. The main, broad streets ran in a north-southdirection and were crossed by smaller east-westroads. Both cities were divided into large walledneighborhoods, with narrow lanes separating therows of houses. Houses varied in size, some reachingas high as three stories, but all followed the sameplan of a square courtyard surrounded by rooms.

Most buildings were constructed of mud bricksbaked in ovens and were square, forming a grid pat-tern. Public wells provided a regular supply of water

for all the inhabitants. Bath-rooms featured an advanceddrainage system. Wastewaterflowed out to drains locatedunder the streets and then

I N D I A

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Daro

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The Arrival of the AryansEventually, floods, an earthquake, changes in cli-

mate, and even a change in the course of the IndusRiver weakened the once-flourishing civilization inthe Indus River valley. Invaders—the Aryans—brought its final end.

Who Were the Aryans? Around 1500 B.C., a groupof Indo-European nomadic peoples began to moveout of their original homeland in central Asia.Known as the Aryans, they moved south across theHindu Kush mountain range into the plains of

northern India. They con-quered the Harappans andcreated a new Indian societybased on Aryan culture andinstitutions.

Like other nomadic peo-ples, the Aryans excelled atthe art of war. Between 1500and 1000 B.C., the Aryan peo-ples gradually advanced east-ward from the Indus Valley,across the fertile plain of theGanges. Later they movedsouthward into the DeccanPlateau. Eventually theyextended their controlthroughout all of India.

Aryan Ways of Life Orga-nized in groups, the Aryanswere a pastoral people with astrong warrior tradition. Aftersettling in India, the Aryansgave up the pastoral life forregular farming. The intro-duction of iron—probablyfrom Southwest Asia, whereit had first been used by theHittites about 1100 B.C. (seeChapter 2)—played a role inthis change. The creation ofthe iron plow, along with theuse of irrigation, made it pos-

sible for the Aryans and their subject peoples to clearthe dense jungle growth along the Ganges River andturn it into a rich farming area.

The basic crops in the north during this periodwere wheat, barley, and millet. Rice was common inthe fertile river valleys. In the south, grain and veg-etables were grown, supplemented by cotton andspices such as pepper, ginger, and cinnamon.

Like most nomadic peoples, the Aryans had nowritten language. The Aryans developed their firstwriting system, known as Sanskrit, around 1000 B.C.This enabled them to write down the legends and reli-gious chants and rituals that had previously beenpassed down orally from generation to generation.

The early writings of the Aryans reveal thatbetween 1500 and 400 B.C., India was a world of war-ring kingdoms and shifting alliances. Various Aryanleaders, known as rajas (princes), carved out smallstates and fought other Aryan chieftains. They

74 CHAPTER 3 India and China

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Aryan Migration, 2000–500 B.C.

2000–1500 B.C.

1500–1000 B.C.

1000–500 B.C.

Aryan migration:

Modern-day border

The Aryans were nomadic peoples who moved throughIndia. Eventually, they controlled most of India.

1. Interpreting Maps What geographical feature enabledthe Aryans to end their nomadic lifestyle?

2. Applying Geography Skills Examine the pattern ofAryan migration. Why do you think the Aryans followedsuch a route?

Aryans in India and Nazi GermanyThe Aryans were a group of Indo-European nomadic

peoples who moved into the plains of northern Indiabetween 2000 and 1500 B.C. In the nineteenth centuryA.D., linguists (people who study languages) borrowedthe term Aryan to identify people speaking a commonset of languages known as Indo-European.

In the twentieth century, Adolf Hitler and the Nazisused the term Aryan in a new way. They identified theAryans as a race that included the Greeks and Romansof the past and the Germans and Scandinavians of thepresent. They viewed the Germans as the true descen-dants and chief leaders of the Aryans.

Hitler believed that the Aryan race, to which all “trueGermans” belonged, was the highest race

of humanity. According to Hitler, “Allthe human culture, all the results

of art, science, and technologythat we see before us today,are almost exclusively the cre-ative product of the Aryan.”The Aryans, according toHitler, were once rulers of theearth. The German people

were destined to regain the

former ruling positionof the Aryan race andensure Aryan worlddomination.

To Hitler, however,one major obstaclestood in the way ofAryan destiny—the Jews.Hitler thought the Jewswere poisoners of theblood of the Aryan race. To eliminate them becameHitler’s special “higher mission.” The Holocaust, thedeliberate attempt to kill all of Europe’s Jews duringWorld War II, was a result of Hitler’s twisted ideas of theAryans as a race.

In our time, the existence of such organizations as theAryan Nations shows the continuing influence of Hitler’sideas. The Aryan Nations is but one of a number of neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups in the United Statesand Germany that continue to follow Hitler’s racist ideas.

who were dark skinned, despite the fact that the civ-ilization of the dark-skinned inhabitants of the IndusValley was much more advanced than the Aryan’scivilization.

There were five major divisions of Indian classes(known as castes in English) in ancient times. At thetop were two castes that were clearly the ruling elitesin Aryan society: the priests and the warriors.

The priestly class, whose members were known asthe Brahmans, was usually considered to be at the topof the social scale. They were in charge of the religiousceremonies that were so important in Indian society.

The second caste was the Kshatriyas (KSHA•tree•uhz), or warriors. As Aryan society changed, theKshatriyas often found new forms of employment. Atthe same time, families from other castes were some-times accepted into the ranks of the warriors.

The third-ranked caste in Indian society was theVaisyas (VYSH•yuhz), or commoners. Most Vaisyaswere merchants who engaged in commerce, or farm-ers caring for the land.

attacked one another’s fortresses and seized women,cattle, and treasure.

Evaluating How did the introductionof iron impact the Aryan way of life?

Society in Ancient IndiaThe conquest by the Aryans had a lasting impact

on Indian society. Out of the clash between con-queror and conquered came a set of social institu-tions and class divisions that has lasted in India, withonly minor changes, to the present day.

The Caste System The caste system of ancientIndia was a set of rigid social categories that deter-mined not only a person’s occupation and economicpotential, but also his or her position in society. It wasbased in part on skin color.

The Aryan invaders were primarily a light-skinned people. They looked down on their subjects,

Reading Check

� Adolf Hitler

� Neo-Nazi rally

Identify ways that Hitler misapplied the term Aryan.How does this point out the importance of studyinghistory?

76 CHAPTER 3 India and China

Brahmans have opportunities denied to lower classes.Untouchables choose to call themselves Dalit, meaningoppressed. Why has this system persisted for years?

History

Below these three castes were the Sudras(SOO•druhz), who made up the great bulk of theIndian population. The Sudras were not Aryans, andthe term probably originally referred to the conquereddark-skinned natives. Most Sudras were peasants andpeople who worked at other forms of manual labor.They had only limited rights in society.

At the lowest level of Indian society—and in factnot even considered a real part of the caste system—were the Untouchables. The Untouchables were givenmenial, degrading tasks that other Indians would notaccept, such as collecting trash and handling deadbodies. The Untouchables probably made up about 5 percent of the total population of ancient India.

The life of the Untouchables was extremely diffi-cult. They were not considered human, and their verypresence was considered harmful to members of theother classes. No Indian would touch or eat food han-dled by an Untouchable. Untouchables lived in ghet-tos. When they traveled outside their quarters, theywere required to tap two sticks together so that otherscould hear them coming and avoid them.

The Family in Ancient India Life in ancient Indiacentered on the family, the most basic unit in society.The ideal was an extended family, with three genera-tions—grandparents, parents, and children—livingunder the same roof. The family was bascally patri-archal, because in most of India the oldest male heldlegal authority over the entire family unit.

The superiority of males in ancient Indian societywas evident in a number of ways. Only males could

inherit property, except in a few cases where therewere no sons. Women were not allowed to serve aspriests, and generally, only males were educated. Inhigh-class families, young men began their educationwith a guru, or teacher, then went on to higher stud-ies in one of the major cities.

Upper-class young men were not supposed tomarry until they completed 12 years of study.Divorce was usually not allowed. Husbands, how-ever, could take a second wife if the first was unableto bear children.

Children were an important product of marriage,primarily because they were expected to take care oftheir parents as they grew older. Marriage, arrangedby the parents, was common for young girls, proba-bly because daughters were seen as an economicdrain on their parents.

Perhaps the most vivid symbol of women’s dom-inance by men was the ritual of suttee (suh•TEE). Inancient India, the dead were placed on heaps ofmaterial called pyres, which were then set on fire.Suttee required a wife to throw herself on her deadhusband’s flaming funeral pyre. A Greek visitorreported that ”he had heard from some persons ofwives burning themselves along with their deceasedhusbands and doing so gladly; and that thosewomen who refused to burn themselves were heldin disgrace.”

Summarizing What are the namesof the castes in Indian society?

Reading Check

religious basis for the rigid class divisions in Indiansociety. It justified the privileges of those on thehigher end of the scale. After all, they would not havethese privileges if they were not deserving. At thesame time, the concept of reincarnation gave hope tothose lower on the ladder of life. The poor, for exam-ple, could hope that if they behaved properly in thislife, they would improve their condition in the next.

How does one achieve oneness with God? Hindusdeveloped the practice of yoga, a method of trainingdesigned to lead to such union. (In fact, yoga means“union.”) The final goal of yoga was to leave behindthe cycle of earthly life and achieve union with Brah-man, seen as a kind of dreamless sleep. As oneHindu writing states, “When all the senses arestilled, when the mind is at rest, that, say the wise, isthe highest state.”

Most ordinary Indians, however,could not easily relate to this ideal

and needed a more concrete formof heavenly salvation. It wasprobably for this reason

that the Hindu religioncame to have a numberof human-like gods andgoddesses.

There are more than33,000 deities in theHindu religion, includ-ing three chief ones:Brahma the Creator,Vishnu the Preserver, and Siva (SIH•vuh) the

Destroyer. Many Hindusregard the multitude of gods

as simply different expressionsof the one ultimate reality, Brah-

man. However, the various godsand goddesses give ordinary Indians a

way to express their religious feel-ings. Through devotion at a Hindutemple, they seek not only salvation

but also a means of gaining theordinary things they need in life.

Hinduism is the religionof the vast majority of theIndian people.

Comparing How do karma,dharma, and yoga relate toreincarnation?

Reading Check

HinduismHinduism had its origins in the religious beliefs of

the Aryan peoples who settled in India after 1500 B.C.Evidence about the religious beliefs of the Aryan peo-ples comes from the Vedas, collections of hymns andreligious ceremonies that were passed down orallythrough the centuries by Aryan priests and theneventually written down.

Early Hindus believed in the existence of a singleforce in the universe, a form of ultimate reality orGod, called Brahman. It was the duty of the individ-ual self—called the atman—to seek to know this ulti-mate reality. By doing so, the self would merge withBrahman after death.

By the sixth century B.C., the idea of reincarnationhad appeared in Hinduism. Reincarnation is thebelief that the individual soul is reborn in adifferent form after death. As one of theVedas says, “Worn-out garments areshed by the body/Worn-out bodiesare shed by the dweller [thesoul].” After a number of exis-tences in the earthly world, thesoul reaches its final goal in a union with Brahman.According to Hinduism, allliving beings seek toachieve this goal.

Important to this processis the idea of karma, theforce generated by a person’sactions that determines how theperson will be reborn in the nextlife. According to this idea, whatpeople do in their current lives deter-mines what they will be in their nextlives. In the same way, a person’s cur-rent status is not simply an accident. It isa result of the person’s actions in a pastexistence.

The concept of karma is ruled bythe dharma, or the divine law. Thelaw requires all people to do theirduty. However, people’sduties vary, depending ontheir status in society.More is expected of thosehigh on the social scale,such as the Brahmans,than of the lower castes.

The system of rein-carnation provided a

77CHAPTER 3 India and China

Siva is the god of destruction, transformation, andchange. Siva creates with the right hand, destroys with theleft hand. Compassion and healing are offered with thelower hands. How does this bronze statue illustrateSiva’s role in Hinduism?

History

78 CHAPTER 3 India and China

History through Architecture

The Sanchi stupa, third century B.C.Originally the stupa housed a relic of the

Buddha. This stupa has become thegreatest Buddhist monument in India.Describe how the decorative archi-tecture reflects the monument’simportance to Buddhism.

BuddhismIn the sixth century B.C., a new doctrine, called

Buddhism, appeared in northern India and soonbecame a rival of Hinduism. The founder of Bud-dhism was Siddhartha Gautama (sih •DAHR•tuh• GOW• tuh•muh), known as the Buddha, or“Enlightened One.”

The Story of the Buddha Siddhartha Gautamacame from a small kingdom in the foothills of theHimalaya (in what is today southern Nepal). Bornaround 563 B.C., he was the son of a ruling family. Theyoung and very handsome Siddhartha was raised inthe lap of luxury and lived a sheltered life. At the ageof 16, he married a neighboring princess and beganto raise a family.

Siddhartha appeared to have everything: wealth, agood appearance, a model wife, a child, and a thronethat he would someday inherit. In his late twenties,however, Siddhartha became aware of the pain of illness, the sorrow of death, and the effects of old ageon ordinary people. He exclaimed, “Would that sick-ness, age, and death might be forever bound!” Hedecided to spend his life seeking the cure for humansuffering. He gave up his royal clothes, shaved hishead, abandoned his family, and set off to find thetrue meaning of life.

At first he followed the example of the ascetics,people who practiced self-denial to achieve anunderstanding of ultimate reality. The abuse of his

physical body, however, only led to a close brushwith death from not eating. He abandoned asceticismand turned instead to an intense period of medita-tion. (In Hinduism, this was a way to find onenesswith God.) One evening, while sitting in meditationunder a tree, Siddhartha reached enlightenment as tothe meaning of life. He spent the rest of his lifepreaching what he had discovered. His teachingsbecame the basic principles of Buddhism.

The Basic Principles of Buddhism Siddharthadenied the reality of the material world. The physicalsurroundings of humans, he believed, were simplyillusions. The pain, poverty, and sorrow that afflicthuman beings are caused by their attachment tothings of this world. Once people let go of theirworldly cares, pain and sorrow can be forgotten.Then comes bodhi, or wisdom. (The word bodhi is theroot of the word Buddhism and of Siddhartha’s usualname—Gautama Buddha.) Achieving wisdom is akey step to achieving nirvana, or ultimate reality—the end of the self and a reunion with the GreatWorld Soul.

Siddhartha preached this message in a sermon to his followers in the Deer Park at Sarnath (outsideIndia’s holy city of Banaras). It is a simple messagebased on the Four Noble Truths:

1. Ordinary life is full of suffering.2. This suffering is caused by our desire to satisfy

ourselves.

� The Buddha

3. The way to end suffering is to end desire forselfish goals and to see others as extensions ofourselves.

4. The way to end desire is to follow the Middle Path.

This Middle Path is also known as the EightfoldPath, because it consists of eight steps:

1. Right view We need to know the Four NobleTruths.

2. Right intention We need to decide what wereally want.

3. Right speech We must seek to speak truth and tospeak well of others.

4. Right action The Buddha gave five precepts:“Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not beunchaste. Do not take drugs or drink alcohol.”

5. Right livelihood We must do work that upliftsour being.

6. Right effort The Buddha said, “Those who follow the Way might well follow the exampleof an ox that arches through the deep mud car-rying a heavy load. He is tired, but his steady,forward-looking gaze will not relax until he comes out of the mud.”

7. Right mindfulness We must keep our minds incontrol of our senses: “All we are is the result ofwhat we have thought.”

8. Right concentration We must meditate to see theworld in a new way.

Siddhartha acceptedthe idea of reincarnation,but he rejected the Hindudivision of human beingsinto rigidly defined castesbased on previous rein-carnations. He taughtinstead that all humanbeings could reach nir-vana as a result of theirbehavior in this life. Thismade Buddhism appeal-ing to the downtroddenpeoples at the lower end of the social scale.

Buddhism also differed from Hinduism in its sim-plicity. Siddhartha rejected the multitude of gods thathad become identified with Hinduism. He forbade hisfollowers to worship either his person or his imageafter his death. For that reason, many Buddhists seeBuddhism as a philosophy rather than as a religion.

Siddhartha Gautama died in 480 B.C. at the age of80 after eating some poisoned mushrooms. After hisdeath, his followers traveled throughout India,spreading his message. Temples sprang up through-out the countryside. Buddhist monasteries were alsoestablished to promote his teaching and providehousing and training for monks dedicated to the sim-ple life and the pursuit of wisdom.

Contrasting How does Buddhismdiffer from Hinduism?

Reading Check

79CHAPTER 3 India and China

Checking for Understanding1. Define monsoon, Sanskrit, raja, caste

system, caste, Hinduism, reincarnation,karma, dharma, yoga, Buddhism, ascetic, nirvana.

2. Identify Aryans, Siddhartha Gautama,Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Sudras.

3. Locate Indian subcontinent, Himalaya,Ganges River, Deccan, Persian Gulf,Hindu Kush.

4. Describe the relationship that exists inHinduism between the caste systemand the dharma, or divine law.

Critical Thinking5. Evaluate How did Arjuna’s decision to

fight illustrate the importance of Hin-duism’s concept of dharma in Indianlife?

6. Compare and Contrast Prepare a Venn diagram like the one shownbelow to show the similarities anddifferences between Hinduism and Buddhism.

Analyzing Visuals7. Examine the photographs on page 76.

Explain how the photos represent thecaste system in India. What photoswould you take to represent the classsystem in your community?

Hinduism Buddhism

8. Expository Writing In spite of thedifficulties they faced, most Untouch-ables did not opt to convert to otherreligions or emigrate to other coun-tries in order to escape their lot inlife. What social pressures might pre-vent a person from converting fromthe religion of his or her culture?

HISTORY

Web Activity Visitthe Glencoe WorldHistory Web site at

andclick on Chapter 3–Student Web Activity to learn more aboutBuddhism.

wh.glencoe.com

80

Finding Exact Location on a MapWhy Learn This Skill?

A friend tells you that she lives at the northwestcorner of Vine Street and Oak Avenue. By giving youthe names of two streets that cross, she has pin-pointed her exact location. We use a similar systemto identify the exact location of any place on Earth.

Learning the SkillOver many centuries, cartographers developed

a grid system of imaginary lines—lines of latitudeand lines of longitude. Lines of latitude run east andwest around the earth. Because they always remainthe same distance from each other, they are alsocalled parallels. The parallel lines of latitude meas-ure distance north and south of the Equator, whichis located at 0 degrees latitude. Each line of latitudeis one degree, or 69 miles (110 km), from the next.There are 90 latitude lines between the Equator and each pole. For example, New York City lies 41 degrees north of the Equator, or 41ºN.

Lines of longitude, or meridians, run north andsouth from pole to pole. Unlike lines of latitude,lines of longitude are not always the same distancefrom each other. Lines of longitude are farthestapart at the Equator, and they intersect at the North and South Poles. The prime meridian marks 0 degrees longitude and runs through Greenwich,England, and western Africa. Longitude lines aremeasured by their distance east and west of theprime meridian up to 180 degrees. New York City,for example, lies 74 degrees west of the primemeridian, or 74ºW.

With this system we can pinpoint the “gridaddress” of any place on Earth. For example, if wewanted to find a grid address for New York City, we would first find the line of latitude closest to it.Then, by following this line, we would locate thenearest line of longitude to cross it. The point wherethe lines intersect is the grid address. New YorkCity’s grid address would be 41ºN, 74ºW.

Practicing the SkillUse the map above to answer the following

questions.

1 What is Babylon’s approximate grid address?

2 What city sits at approximately 30ºN, 31ºE?

3 What is Nineveh’s approximate grid address?

4 What is Tyre’s approximate grid address?

N

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Memphis

Cities ofSouthwest Asia

Applying the Skill

Create a travel itinerary for a tour of the ruins of ancientEgypt, Greece, or Southwest Asia. Choose at least 10sites to visit. Draw a map of each region, including gridlines. On the map, identify each site’s approximate gridlocation.

Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook,Level 2, provides instruction and practice in keysocial studies skills.

New Empires in IndiaGuide to Reading

✦300 B.C. ✦100 B.C.✦200 B.C. ✦A.D. 1 ✦A.D. 300✦A.D. 100 ✦A.D. 200

301 B.C.ChandraguptaMaurya dies

232 B.C.Asoka dies

A.D. 320Gupta kingdombegins

Preview of Events

CHAPTER 3 India and China 81

One of the decrees of Asoka read:

“By order of the Beloved of the Gods [Asoka] to the officers in charge: Let us winthe affection of all people. All people are my children, and as I wish all welfare andhappiness in this world and the rest for my own children, so do I wish it for allmen . . . . For that purpose many officials are employed among the people to instructthem in righteousness and to explain it to them.”

—Asoka Maurya, B. G. Gokhale, 1966

Asoka is remembered as one of India’s greatest rulers, one who used Buddhistideas as a guide to good governing.

The Mauryan DynastyBoth Hinduism and Buddhism developed out of the Aryan culture in India. As

we have seen, however, the Aryans brought little political unity to India. Between1500 and 400 B.C., warring kingdoms and shifting alliances prevented a lastingpeace. After 400 B.C., India faced new threats from the west. First came Persia,which extended its empire into western India. Then came the Greeks andMacedonians.

The Macedonian king Alexander the Great had heard of the riches of India.After conquering Persia, he swept into northwestern India in the summer of 327B.C., but his soldiers refused to continue fighting. They departed almost as quicklyas they had come. His conquests in western India, however, gave rise to the firstdynasty to control much of India.

Voices from the Past

Asoka

c. A.D. 100Silk Road connects Chinaand Mesopotamia

Main Ideas• The Mauryan dynasty flourished under

Asoka. • The Kushan kingdom prospered.• The Gupta Empire left a lasting legacy

through literature, architecture, andscience.

Key TermsSilk Road, pilgrim

People to Identify Asoka, Faxian, Huns, Kalidasa, Aryabhata

Places to Locate Persia, Changan, Antioch, Syria, Mediter-ranean Sea

Preview Questions1. How did the Kushan kingdom become

prosperous?2. In what way did early Indian literature

influence the Indian people?

Reading StrategyCategorizing Information As you readthis section, complete a chart identifyingthe indicated characteristics of theMauryan and Gupta Empires.

Mauryan Gupta Empire Empire

Dates

Government

Economy

The Founding of the Mauryan Dynasty The newIndian state was founded by Chandragupta Maurya(CHUN•druh•GUP•tuh MAH•oor•yuh), who ruledfrom 324 to 301 B.C. He drove out the foreign forcesand established the capital of his new MauryanEmpire in northern India at Pataliputra (modernPatna) in the Ganges Valley.

This first Indian Empire was highly centralized.According to the Arthasastra, a work on politics writ-ten by a Mauryan court official, “It is power andpower alone which, only when exercised by the kingwith impartiality, over his son or his enemy, main-tains both this world and the next.”

The king divided his empire into provinces thatwere ruled by governors who were appointed by theruler. He had a large army and a secret police that fol-

lowed his orders. According to Megasthenes, theGreek ambassador to the Mauryan court, Chan-dragupta Maurya was always afraid of assassination.All food was tasted in his presence, and he made apractice of never sleeping twice in the same bed inhis large palace.

The Reign of Asoka The Mauryan Empire flour-ished during the reign of Asoka (uh•SHOH•kuh),the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya. Asoka isgenerally considered to be the greatest ruler in thehistory of India. After his conversion to Buddhism,Asoka used Buddhist ideals to guide his rule. He setup hospitals for both people and animals. He orderedthat trees and shelters be placed along the road toprovide shade and rest for weary travelers.

Asoka was more than a kindruler, however. His king-dom prospered as India’srole in regional trade beganto expand. India became amajor crossroads in a vastcommercial network thatextended from the rim ofthe Pacific to SouthwestAsia and the Mediter-ranean Sea.

After Asoka’s death in232 B.C., the MauryanEmpire began to decline. In183 B.C., the last Mauryanruler was killed by one ofhis military commanders.India then fell back intodisunity.

Evaluating Why was Asoka con-sidered a great ruler?

Reading Check

82 CHAPTER 3 India and China

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Mauryan Empire, 250 B.C.

Pillar inscribed with Buddhist teachings

Height of Mauryan Empireunder Asoka Chandragupta Maurya formed the first Indian empire, the

Mauryan Empire, unifying India and bringing it a greaterrole in the region.

1. Applying Geography Skills Look at the map closely.Pose and answer a question about the geographic distributions and patterns shown on the map.

The Kushan Kingdom and the Silk Road

After the collapse of the Mauryan Empire, a num-ber of new kingdoms arose along the edges of Indiain Bactria, known today as Afghanistan. In the first century A.D., nomadic warriors seized powerand established the new Kushan kingdom. For thenext two centuries, the Kushans spread over north-ern India as far as the central Ganges Valley. In therest of India, other kingdoms fought for control.

The Kushans prospered from the trade that passedthrough their land on its way between the Mediter-ranean Sea and the countries bordering the PacificOcean. Most of that trade was between the RomanEmpire and China. It was shipped along the routeknown as the Silk Road, so called because silk wasChina’s most valuable product. One section of the

Silk Road passed through the mountains northwestof India.

The Silk Road, which had arisen sometimebetween 200 B.C. and A.D. 100, reached from the cityof Changan in China across central Asia toMesopotamia. It covered a distance of about 4,000miles (6,436 km). On it, people and camels took theirgoods through mountains and deserts, winding up atAntioch in Syria, a port city on the Mediterranean

83CHAPTER 3 India and China

SPICES

SPICES

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Trade Routes of the Ancient World

Trade goods produced: Ivory

Metal

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Cloth and clothing

Coinage

Glassware

Incense

Trade in the ancient world brought many cultures and king-doms together. The Silk Road was one of the main routes oftrade, allowing people and camels to move goods across4,000 miles (6,436 km).

1. Interpreting Maps How was the Silk Road differentfrom the other trade routes of the ancient world?

2. Applying Geography Skills What pattern do you seebehind the placement of the ancient trade routes?

Silk Road

Other trade routes

His successor, his son Samudragupta, expandedthe empire into surrounding areas. A court officialwrote of Samudragupta that he “was skillful in wag-ing hundreds of battles with only the strength of hisarms. The beauty of his charming body wasenhanced by the number of wounds, caused by theblows of battle axes, arrows, spears, pikes, barbeddarts, swords, lances, javelins, iron arrows, and manyother weapons.”

Eventually the new kingdom of the Guptasbecame the dominant political force throughoutnorthern India. It also established loose control overcentral India, thus becoming the greatest state inIndia since the Mauryan Empire.

Under a series of efficient monarchs—especiallyChandragupta II, who reigned from 375 to 415—theGupta Empire created a new age of Indian civiliza-tion. The greatness of its culture was reported by aChinese traveler, Faxian (FAY•SYEN), who spent sev-eral years there in the fifth century. Faxian, a Buddhistmonk, admired the character of their rule, their toler-ance of Buddhism, and the prosperity of the country.

The Gupta Empire actively engaged in trade withChina, Southeast Asia, and the Mediterranean andalso encouraged domestic trade in cloth, salt, andiron. Cities famous for their temples as well as fortheir prosperity rose along the main trade routes

84 CHAPTER 3 India and China

Pataliputra

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INDIA

History through Architecture

The Sun Temple at Modhera, IndiaHinduism thrived under the Gupta Empire.How were Hindu beliefs reflected in the architecture of India?

Sea. At Antioch, luxury goods from the West weretraded for luxury goods from the East, which werethen shipped across the Mediterranean to Greece andRome. Only luxury goods were carried on the SilkRoad because camel caravans were difficult, danger-ous, and thus expensive.

Chinese merchants made large fortunes by tradingluxury goods, such as silk, spices, teas, and porcelain.Indian merchants sent ivory, textiles, precious stones,and pepper. They were exchanged for woolen andlinen clothes, glass, and precious stones from theRoman Empire. Silk was especially desired by theRomans, who considered it worth its weight in gold.In fact, the Romans knew China as Serica, whichmeans “Land of Silk.”

Explaining What was the Silk Roadand why was it important?

The Kingdom of the GuptasThe Kushan kingdom came to an end in the third

century A.D., when invaders from Persia overran it.In 320, a new state was created in the central GangesValley by a local prince named Chandragupta (norelation to the earlier Chandragupta Maurya). Helocated his capital at Pataliputra, the site of thedecaying palace of the Mauryas.

Reading Check

throughout India. Much of their wealth came fromreligious trade as pilgrims (people who travel to reli-gious places) from across India and as far away asChina came to visit the major religious centers.

Much of the trade in the Gupta Empire was man-aged by the Gupta rulers, who owned silver and goldmines and vast lands. They earned large profits fromtheir dealings. They lived in luxury, awakening to thesound of music and spending much time in diningwith followers and guests. It was said that “the kingand his companions drank wine out of ruby cupswhile lutes were strummed.”

The good fortunes of the Guptas did not last.Beginning in the late fifth century A.D., invasions bynomadic Huns from the northwest graduallyreduced the power of the empire. A military com-mander briefly revived the empire in the middle ofthe seventh century, but after his death, the empirefell completely apart. North India would not bereunited for hundreds of years.

Examining What characteristicsmade the Gupta Empire great?

The World of Indian CultureFew cultures in the world are as rich and varied as

that of India. The country produced great works inalmost all cultural fields, including literature, archi-tecture, and science.

Literature: A Lasting Legacy The earliest knownIndian literature comes from the Aryan tradition inthe form of the Vedas, which were primarily reli-gious. Originally, these were passed down orallyfrom generation to generation. After the Aryan con-quest of India and the development of a writing system, the Vedas were written down in Sanskrit.

With the development of writing, India’s great historical epics, the Mahabharata (muh•HAH•BAH•ruh•tuh) and the Ramayana, were also put into writ-ten form. Both of these epics told of the legendarydeeds of great warriors.

The Mahabharata consists of over ninety thousandstanzas (a series of lines of poetry), making it thelongest poem in any written language. Probablywritten about 100 B.C., it describes a war betweencousins in Aryan society for control of the kingdomabout 1000 B.C. The most famous section of the book,called the Bhagavad Gita (BAH•guh•VAHD GEE•tuh), is a sermon by the god Krishna on the eve of amajor battle. In this sermon, he sets forth one of thekey points of Indian society: In taking action, one

Reading Checkmust not worry about success or failure. One shouldonly be aware of the moral rightness of the act itself.

The Ramayana, written at about the same time, ismuch shorter than the Mahabharata. It is an account of the fictional ruler Rama. As a result of a palaceplot, he is banished from the kingdom and forced tolive as a hermit in the forest. Later, he fights thedemon-king of Ceylon, who had kidnapped hisbeloved wife Sita.

Like the Mahabharata (and most works of theancient world), the Ramayana is strongly imbuedwith religious and moral lessons. Rama is seen as theideal Aryan hero, a perfect ruler and ideal son. Sitaprojects the supreme duty of wifely loyalty to herhusband. To this day, the Mahabharata and Ramayanacontinue to inspire the people of India.

One of ancient India’s most famous authors wasKalidasa, who lived during the Gupta dynasty. Kali-dasa’s hundred-verse poem, The Cloud Messenger,remains one of the most popular of Sanskrit poems. Ittells of an exiled male earth spirit who misses his wifeand shares his grief with a passing cloud. He laments:

“I see your body in the sinuous creeper, your gaze in the startled eyes of deer,

your cheek in the moon, your hair in the plumage of peacocks,

and in the tiny ripples of the river I see your sidelong glances,

but alas, my dearest, nowhere do I find your whole likeness!”

85CHAPTER 3 India and China

History through Art

Krishna and Maidens by Himachal Pradesh,1710 What similarities does this painting sharewith Hindu architecture?

Architecture Some of the earliest examples ofIndian architecture stem from the time of Asoka,when Buddhism became the religion of the state. Thedesire to spread the ideas of Gautama Buddhainspired the great architecture of the Mauryandynasty and the period that followed.

There were three main types of structures, all serv-ing religious purposes: the pillar, the stupa, and therock chamber. The pillar is the most famous. DuringAsoka’s reign, many stone pillars were erected along-side roads to mark sites related to events in Buddha’slife. These polished sandstone pillars weighed up to50 tons (45.4 t) each and rose as high as 30 feet (9 m).Each was topped with a carving. The carvings usu-ally depicted lions uttering the Buddha’s message.

A stupa was originally meant to house a relic ofthe Buddha, such as a lock of his hair. These struc-tures were built in the form of burial mounds. Even-tually, the stupa became a place for devotion and themost familiar form of Buddhist architecture. Eachstupa rose to considerable heights and was sur-rounded with a spire. According to legend, Asokaordered the construction of eighty-four thousandstupas throughout India.

The final development in early Indian architecturewas the rock chamber, carved out of rock cliffs. Thisstructure was developed by Asoka to provide a seriesof rooms to house monks and to serve as a hall forreligious ceremonies.

Science Ancient Indians possessed an impressiveamount of scientific knowledge, particularly inastronomy. They charted the movements of the heav-enly bodies and recognized that Earth was a spherethat rotated on its axis and revolved around the sun.

Their most important contribution was in the fieldof mathematics. Aryabhata, the most famous mathe-matician of the Gupta Empire, devised a decimalsystem of counting in tens, a method unknown else-where. Indian mathematicians also introduced theconcept of zero and used a symbol (0) for it.

After Arabs conquered parts of India in the eighthcentury A.D., Arab scholars adopted the Indian sys-tem. In turn, European traders borrowed it from theArabs, and it spread through Europe in the 1200s.Today it is called the Indian-Arabic numerical system.

Evaluating How have Indianadvances in science and mathematics impacted our world today?

Reading Check

86 CHAPTER 3 India and China

Checking for Understanding1. Define Silk Road, pilgrim.

2. Identify Asoka, Faxian, Huns, Vedas,Bhagavad Gita, Kalidasa, Aryabhata.

3. Locate Persia, Changan, Antioch,Mediterranean Sea.

4. Explain what sorts of goods were car-ried on the Silk Road and why.

5. List three examples of early Indianarchitecture.

Critical Thinking6. Analyze How do the historic epics

Mahabharata and Ramayana reflectreal life in early India?

7. Organizing Information Create a table showing the main imports and exports of Chinese and Indianmerchants.

Analyzing Visuals8. Examine the painting of Krishna shown

on page 85 of your text. How does thispainting reflect Aryan culture? Whatfundamental ideas are represented inthe picture?

Country Imports Exports

China

India

9. Expository Writing Write a shortessay about what would have hap-pened to India’s economic develop-ment without the Silk Road.

Stone pillars built during the rule ofAsoka were topped with decorativecapitals. The Lions of Sarnath capital(left) is famous for its beauty andBuddhist symbolism.

87

The Good Life in Gupta IndiaIN THE FIFTH CENTURY A.D., A CHINESEBuddhist monk, Faxian, made a visit to the India ofthe Guptas in search of documents recording theteachings of the Buddha. He provides a descriptionof life in part of India under the Guptas.

“Beyond the deserts are the territories of west-ern India. The kings of these territories are all firmbelievers in the law of [the] Buddha. They removetheir caps of state when they make offerings to thepriests. The members of the royal household andthe chief ministers personally direct the food giving.When the distribution of food is over, they spread a carpet on the ground and sit down before it. They dare not sit on couches in the presence of the priests.

Southward from this is the so-called middle-country. The climate of this country is warm andequable, without frost or snow. The people are verywell off, without poll-tax or official restrictions. Onlythose who farm the royal lands return a portion ofprofit of the land [to the king]. If they desire to go,they go; if they like to stop, they stop. The kings gov-ern without corporal punishment; criminals arefined, according to circumstances, lightly or heavily.Even in cases of repeated rebellion they only cut offthe right hand. The king’s personal attendants, whoguard him on the right and left, have fixed salaries.Throughout the country the people kill no livingthing nor drink wine, nor do they eat garlic oronions, with the exception of the [U]ntouchablesonly. The [U]untouchables are named ‘evil men’ anddwell apart from others; if they enter a town or mar-ket, they sound a piece of wood in order to separatethemselves; then men, knowing who they are, avoidcoming in contact with them. In this country they donot keep swine nor fowls, and do not deal in cattle;they have no shambles or wine-shops in theirmarket-places. The [U]untouchables only hunt and sell flesh.”

—Faxian, Describing Life under the Guptas

Analyzing Primary Sources

1. What was good about life in Gupta India?2. Is there anything that the monk viewed as positive

about life in Gupta India that you view as negative?Explain your answer.

3. Analyze your high school community (students, teachers, administrators, and other staff). Is there a caste system? What is the high school good life? Is school life equally good for everyone? Develop your ideas.

� The caves of Ajanta,India, are famous for thepaintings and sculpturesof the Buddha foundinside.

Gupta painting of Prince �

Gautama, from Ajanta caves shown above

1750 B.C.Shang dynastybegins

1122 B.C.Zhou dynastybegins

403 B.C.“Period of WarringStates” begins

221 B.C.Qin dynastybegins

Guide to Reading

Early Chinese Civilizations

Preview of Events✦1800 B.C. ✦1400 B.C. ✦1000 B.C. ✦600 B.C. ✦200 B.C.

Confucius wanted to promote good government in China. Confucius said:

“If the people be led by laws, and uniformity be imposed on them by punishments,they will try to avoid the punishment, but will have no sense of shame. If they be ledby virtue, and uniformity be provided for them by the rules of propriety, they will havethe sense of shame, and will become good.” He also said, “Let the ruler be filial andkind to all people; then they will be faithful to him. Let him advance the good andteach the incompetent; then they will eagerly seek to be virtuous.”

—The Chinese Classics, James Legge, 1893

Confucianism, along with Daoism and Legalism, sought to spell out the principlesthat would create stability and order in society.

The Geography of ChinaThe Huang He (HWONG•HUH), or Yellow River, stretches across China for

more than 2,900 miles (4,666.1 km), carrying its rich yellow silt all the way fromMongolia to the Pacific Ocean. The Chang Jiang (CHONG•JYONG), or YangtzeRiver, is even longer, flowing for 3,400 miles (5,470.6 km) across central Chinabefore emptying into the Yellow Sea. The densely cultivated valleys of these tworivers began to emerge as one of the great food-producing areas of the ancientworld.

Voices from the Past

88 CHAPTER 3 India and China

Confucius

Main Ideas• Chinese dynasties followed a rise and

fall pattern.• Three schools of thought about the

nature of humans and the universeemerged.

Key Termsaristocracy, Mandate of Heaven, Dao, filial piety, Confucianism, Daoism, Legalism

People to IdentifyConfucius, Laozi

Places to LocateHuang He, Mongolia, Chang Jiang, Yellow Sea

Preview Questions1. Why was family important in ancient

China?2. What are the major ideas associated

with Confucianism, Daoism, andLegalism?

Reading StrategyClassifying Information As you readthis section, create a diagram like the onebelow that illustrates the dynastic cycle.

A new dynasty establishes powerwith a Mandate of Heaven

China, however, is not just a land of fertile fields.In fact, only 12 percent of the total land area is suit-able for farming, compared with 23 percent of theUnited States. Much of the rest of the land in Chinaconsists of mountains and deserts, which ring thecountry on its northern and western frontiers.

This forbidding landscape is a dominant feature ofChinese life and has played an important role in Chi-nese history. Geographical barriers—mountains anddeserts—isolated the Chinese people from peoples inother parts of Asia. In the frontier regions created by these barriers lived peoples of Mongolian, Indo-European, and Turkish backgrounds. The contacts of these groups with the Chinese were often markedby conflict. The northern frontier of China becameone of the areas of conflict in Asia as Chinese armiestried to protect their precious farmlands.

Describing What isolated theChinese people from peoples in other parts of Asia?

Reading Check

The Shang DynastyHistorians of China have traditionally dated the

beginning of Chinese civilization to the founding ofthe Xia (SYAH) dynasty over four thousand yearsago. Little is known about this dynasty, which wasreplaced by a second dynasty, the Shang.

China under the Shang dynasty (about 1750 to1122 B.C.) was a mostly farming society ruled by anaristocracy whose major concern was war. An aris-tocracy is an upper class whose wealth is based onland and whose power is passed on from one gener-ation to another.

Archaeologists have found evidence of impressivecities in Shang China. Shang kings may have had atleast five different capital cities before settling atAnyang (AHN•YAHNG), just north of the HuangHe in north-central China. Excavation of some ofthese urban centers reveals huge city walls, royalpalaces, and large royal tombs.

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Physical Geography of China

China is one of the most populous countries in the world,though much of its geography is uninhabitable.

1. Interpreting Maps Locate the Huang He and ChangJiang. How were they important to Chinese civilization?

CHAPTER 3 India and China

Political and Social Structures The Shang kingruled from the capital city of Anyang. His realm wasdivided into territories governed by aristocratic war-lords (military leaders), but the king had the powerto choose these leaders and could also remove them.The king was also responsible for defending therealm and controlled large armies, which oftenfought on the fringes of the kingdom. The king’simportance is evident in the ritual sacrifices under-taken at his death. Like rulers in Mesopotamia andEgypt, early Chinese kings were buried with thecorpses of their faithful servants in the royal tombs.

The Chinese believed in supernatural forces withwhich they could communicate to obtain help inworldly affairs. To communicate with the gods,rulers made use of oracle bones. These were bones onwhich priests scratched questions asked by therulers, such as: Will the king be victorious in battle?Will the king recover from his illness? Heated metalrods were then stuck into the bones, causing them tocrack. The priests interpreted the shapes of the cracksas answers from the gods. The priests wrote down

the answers, then the bones were stored. The inscrip-tions on the bones have become a valuable source ofinformation about the Shang period.

The king and his family were at the top of Shangsociety, aided by a number of aristocratic families.The aristocrats not only waged war and served asofficials but also were the chief landowners. Thegreat majority of people were peasants who farmedthe land of the aristocratic landowners. In addition tothe aristocrats and peasants, Shang society alsoincluded a small number of merchants and artisans,as well as slaves.

Religion and Culture under the Shang The earlyChinese had a strong belief in life after death.Remains of human sacrifices found in royal tombsare evidence of peoples’ efforts to win the favor of thegods. The Chinese also wanted to provide compan-ions for the king and members of his family on theirjourney to the next world.

From this belief in an afterlife would come theidea of the veneration of ancestors (commonly

Ancestral Rites

Shang bronzes are one of the greatcultural achievements of the

ancient world. One reason for the unusual quality of Shang bronze work is the method of casting used. Clay molds made in several sections were tightly fitted together before the liquid bronze was poured. This technique enabled artisans to apply their designs directly to the mold. In this way they could use intricate motifs in a rich surface decoration.

The most important deco-rative motif on Shang bronzeswas the taotie mask. It fea-

tured a pair of large eyes,nostrils, and fangs, givingit the look of a fantasticbeast. Although fierce inappearance, the taotierepresented a protective

force against evil spirits.These bronze vessels

played a significant rolein ceremonies for theveneration of ancestors.

90

Oracle bones were inscribed with questions and answers,then preserved in the king’s records.

Shang bronze

91

Political Structure The Zhou dynasty continuedthe political system of the rulers it had overthrown.At the head of the government was the Zhou king,who was served by an increasingly large and com-plex bureaucracy. The king was seen as the linkbetween Heaven and Earth. The correct performanceof rituals or ceremonial acts that served to strengthenthose links was crucial to a king’s duties.

The Shang practice of dividing the kingdom into anumber of territories governed by officials appointedby the king was continued under the Zhou. The governing officials of these territories were membersof the aristocracy. They were appointed by the kingand were subject to his authority. Like the Shangrulers, the Zhou king was in charge of defense andcontrolled armies that served under his commandthroughout the country.

The Mandate of Heaven The Zhou kings alsomade some changes, however, as the Chinese beganto develop a theory of government. The Zhoudynasty claimed that it ruled China because it pos-sessed the Mandate of Heaven. What was the Man-date of Heaven? It was believed that Heaven—whichwas an impersonal law of nature—kept order in theuniverse through the Zhou king. Thus, he ruled overall humanity by a mandate, or authority to com-mand, from Heaven. The king, who was chosen torule because of his talent and virtue, was then

CHAPTER 3 India and China

The vessels were used as instruments forpreparing and serving food in the ancestralrites.

Ancestor veneration was important tothe Chinese. They believed that the soulsof the dead could bring good or evil for-tune to the living members of a family.Thus, ancestral rites had to be properlyperformed. As one poet observed, “Everycustom and rite is observed, every smile,every word is in place.”

As part of the ritual, members of thefamily knelt before several vessels thatheld offerings of wine and various kinds offood. The quality of the vessels was con-sidered an important part of the ceremony.Well-to-do families, who were the only

known in the West as “ancestor worship”). The prac-tice of burning replicas (exact copies) of physicalobjects to accompany the departed on their journeyto the next world continues to this day in many Chi-nese communities. The early Chinese believed thatthe spirits of family ancestors could bring good orevil fortune to the living members of the family. Itwas important to treat the spirits well.

The Shang are perhaps best remembered for theirmastery of the art of bronze casting. Objects made ofbronze have been found in tombs in urban centersthroughout the area under Shang influence. Morethan ten thousand vessels of an incredible variety ofform and design survive today. These bronze objectsare among the most admired creations of Chinese art.

Identifying How did the Shangrulers communicate with the gods?

The Zhou DynastyAccording to legend, the last of the Shang rulers

was a wicked tyrant who swam in “ponds of wine”and ordered the writing of lustful music that “ruinedthe morale of the nation.” This led the aggressiveruler of the state of Zhou (JOH), to revolt and estab-lish a new dynasty in 1122 B.C. The Zhou dynastylasted for almost nine hundred years (1122 to 256B.C.), making it the longest-lasting dynasty in Chi-nese history.

Reading Check

ones who could afford bronze vessels,competed to acquire these magnificentlycrafted pieces.

Once a year, the Chinese also celebrateda major festival called Qingming (“Clearand Bright”). On the day of the festival,people visited their family graves, usuallylocated on hillsides outside their villages.They cleaned the graves and left offeringsof food for the spirits of their deceasedancestors.

CONNECTING TO THE PAST

1. Drawing Inferences Did death sever familial tiesfor the Chinese?

2. Writing about History Why would rituals and fes-tivals be important to Chinese families? Do you haveany family traditions? If so, explain what they areand how they evolved.

92 CHAPTER 3 India and China

N

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LuoyangXian

Zhou Empire,1122–256 B.C.

The Fall of the Zhou Dynasty The Zhou dynasty,too, followed the pattern of rise, decline, and col-lapse. For centuries the dynasty was ruled by wiseand efficient rulers, but later Zhou rulers began todecline, both intellectually and morally. The Zhoukingdom had been divided into several small territo-ries, and some of these territories began to evolveinto powerful states that challenged the Zhou ruler.In 403 B.C., civil war broke out, beginning an ageknown in Chinese historical records as the “Period ofthe Warring States.”

By this time, the nature of warfare had alsochanged in China. Iron weapons, more powerfulthan bronze weapons, came into use. Foot soldiers(the infantry) and soldiers on horseback (the cavalry)made their first appearance. Members of the cavalrywere now armed with the powerful crossbow, a Chi-nese invention of the seventh century B.C. Eventually,one of the warring states—that of Qin (CHIN)—tookcontrol. In 221 B.C., it created a new dynasty.

Life during the Zhou Dynasty During the Zhoudynasty, the basic features of Chinese economic andsocial life began to take shape. The Zhou continuedthe pattern of land ownership that had existed underthe Shang. The peasants worked on lands owned by

responsible for ruling the people with goodness andefficiency. The concept of the heavenly mandatebecame a basic principle of Chinese statecraft.

The Mandate of Heaven, however, was double-edged. The king was expected to rule according tothe proper “Way,” called the Dao (DOW). It was hisduty to keep the gods pleased in order to protect thepeople from natural disaster or a bad harvest. If theking failed to rule effectively, he could be overthrownand replaced by a new ruler.

This theory has strong political side effects. It setsforth a “right of revolution” to overthrow a corrupt orevil ruler. It also makes clear that the king, thoughserving as a representative of Heaven, is not a divinebeing himself. In practice, of course, each founder of anew dynasty would say that he had earned the Man-date of Heaven. Who could disprove it except byoverthrowing the king? The saying, “He who wins isthe king; he who loses is the rebel,” sums up this view.

The Mandate of Heaven was closely tied to thepattern of dynastic cycles. From the beginning ofChinese history to A.D. 1912, China was ruled by aseries of dynasties. The Zhou dynasty, as we haveseen, lasted for almost nine hundred years. Othersdid not last as long, but the king of each dynastyruled with the Mandate of Heaven.

No matter how long the dynasties lasted, all wentthrough a cycle of change. A new dynasty estab-lished its power, ruled successfully for many years,and then began to decline. The power of the centralgovernment would begin to collapse, giving rise torebellions or invasion. Finally, the dynasty collapsedand a new dynasty took over, beginning anotherdynastic cycle.

Temple of Heaven, BeijingZhou Empire

The ruler of the state of Zhou revolted in 1122 B.C. andestablished the longest-lasting dynasty in Chinese history.

1. Interpreting Maps What was the extent of the ZhouEmpire?

2. Applying Geography Skills Compare this map to themap on page 89. What do you notice about the locationof the Zhou Empire in relation to the rest of China?

their lord, but they also had land of their own, whichthey farmed for their own use. A class of artisans andmerchants lived in walled towns under the directcontrol of the local lord. Merchants did not operatefreely but were considered the property of the locallord. There was also a class of slaves.

Trade in this period involved the exchange of localproducts that were used on an everyday basis. Even-tually, it increased to include goods brought in fromdistant regions. Among these goods were salt, iron,cloth, and various luxury items.

Economic and Technological Growth The periodfrom the sixth to the third centuries B.C. was an age ofsignificant economic growth and technologicalchange, especially in farming. For thousands ofyears, farmers had depended on rainfall to watercrops such as rice and millet. By the sixth centuryB.C., irrigation was in wide use. Large-scale waterprojects were set in motion to control the flow ofrivers and spread water evenly to the fields.

Changes in farming methods also increased foodproduction. By the mid-sixth century B.C., the use ofiron had led to the development of iron plowshares,which made it possible to plow land that had not yetbeen used for farming. This development allowedthe Chinese to add to the amount of land availablefor growing crops. Because of these advances infarming, the population of China rose as high as fiftymillion people during the late Zhou period.

Improved farming methods werealso a major factor in encouraging thegrowth of trade and manufacturing.One of the most important items oftrade in ancient China was silk. Chi-nese silk fragments from the periodhave been found throughout centralAsia and as far away as Athens,Greece—clear indications of a far-reaching trade network.

The Family in Ancient China Fewsocial institutions have been asclosely identified with China as thefamily. As in most agricultural soci-eties, in ancient China the familyserved as the basic economic andsocial unit. However, the family theretook on an almost sacred quality as asymbol of the entire social order.

At the heart of the concept of fam-ily in China was the idea of filial

piety. Filial refers to a son or daughter. Filial piety,then, refers to the duty of members of the family tosubordinate their needs and desires to those of themale head of the family. More broadly, the termdescribes a system in which every family memberhad his or her place. The concept is important in Con-fucianism, as you will see later in this section.

What explains the importance of the family inancient China? Certainly, the need to work togetheron the land was a significant factor. In ancient times,as today, farming in China required the work ofmany people. Children, too, were essential to thefamily’s needs. They worked in the fields duringtheir early years. Later, sons were expected to takeover the burden of physical labor on the family plotsand provide for the well-being of their parents.

Male supremacy was a key element in the socialsystem of ancient China, as it was in the other civi-lizations that we have examined. The male was considered so important because he was responsiblefor providing food for his family. In ancient China,men worked in the fields. They also governed societyand were the warriors, scholars, and governmentministers. Women raised the children and worked inthe home.

Although women did not hold positions ofauthority, some did have influence in politics. Thiswas especially true at the royal court, where wives ofthe ruler or other female members of the royal familyplayed a part in court affairs. These activities were

93

This photograph from the 1900s illustrates the continuing importance of the family in Chinese culture.

clearly looked down upon by males, as this Chinesepoem indicates:

“A clever man builds a city,A clever woman lays one low;With all her qualifications, that clever womanIs but an ill-omened bird.”

The Chinese Written Language Perhaps the mostimportant cultural contribution of ancient China tolater Chinese society was the creation and develop-ment of the Chinese written language. By Shangtimes, the Chinese had developed a simple script thatis the ancestor of the highly complex written lan-guage of today. Like many other ancient languages, itwas primarily pictographic and ideographic in form.

Pictographs are picture symbols, usually calledcharacters, that form a picture of the object to be represented. For example, the Chinese characters for mountain , sun , and moon were meant torepresent the objects themselves. Ideographs arecharacters that combine two or more pictographs torepresent an idea. For example, the word eastsymbolizes the sun coming up behind the trees.

Each character, of course, would be given a soundby the speaker when pronounced. In other cultures,this process eventually led people to stop using pic-tographs and ideographs and to adopt a written lan-

guage based on phonetic symbols representingspeech sounds, such as the Roman alphabet. The Chi-nese, too, eventually began to attach phonetic mean-ing to some of their symbols. However, although theChinese language has evolved continuously over aperiod of four thousand years, it has never entirelyabandoned its original format.

Describing What is the pattern ofdynastic cycles?

The Chinese PhilosophiesConfucius believed that the govern-

ment should be open to all men of superior talent. Thisconcept became a crucial part of Chinese history afterhis death.Between 500 and 200 B.C., toward the end of the

Zhou dynasty, three major schools of thought aboutthe nature of human beings and the universeemerged in China—Confucianism, Daoism, andLegalism. While Hindus and Buddhists focused onfreeing the human soul from the cycle of rebirth, Chi-nese philosophers were more concerned about theimmediate world in which people lived and how tocreate a stable order in that world.

Reading Check

94 CHAPTER 3 India and China

456 is written as

The Chinese system of numbering is based on units of 10. It uses characters to represent 0 through 9 and the powers of 10 (10, 100, 1,000, etc).

Below are some examples of how Arabic numbers would be written in Chinese.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 100 1,000 10,000

Chinese Numbering System

1. How would you write the number 328, using theChinese numbering system?

2. What is the equivalent Arabic numeral for

?

20 is written as (2 x 10)

200 is written as (2 x 100)

3,000 is written as (3 x 1,000)

[(4 x 100) + (5 x 10) + (6)]

Zhou jade dragon

Confucianism Confucius was known to the Chineseas the First Teacher. (Confucius is the western form ofthe name Kongfuzi [KOONG•FOO•DZUH], mean-ing “Master Kung,” as he was called by his followers.)Confucius was born in 551 B.C. He hoped to get a jobas a political adviser, but he had little success in find-ing a patron.

Upset by the violence and moral decay of his age,Confucius traveled around China in an attempt topersuade political leaders to follow his ideas. Few lis-tened at the time, but a faithful band of followersrevered him as a great teacher, recorded his sayings inthe Analects, and spread his message. Until the twen-tieth century, almost every Chinese pupil studied hissayings. This made Confucianism, or the system ofConfucian ideas, an important part of Chinese history.

Confucius lived at a time of great confusion inChina. The chaos in China was largely caused byunceasing warfare among numerous Chinese armies,which did not hesitate to slaughter opposing soldiersand their families. Men, women, and children werebeheaded in mass executions. China was faced withone basic question: How do we restore order to thissociety? Confucius provided a basic set of ideas thateventually came to be widely accepted.

Confucius’s interest in philosophy was politicaland ethical, not spiritual. He believed that it was use-less to speculate on spiritual questions. It was better

by far to assume that there was an order in the uni-verse and then focus on ordering the affairs of thisworld. The universe was made in such a way that, ifhumans would act in harmony with its purposes,their own affairs would prosper. Much of his concernwas with human behavior. The key to proper behav-ior was to behave in accordance with the Dao (Way).

Two elements stand out in the Confucian view ofthe Dao: duty and humanity. The concept of dutymeant that all people had to subordinate their owninterests to the broader needs of the family and thecommunity. Everyone should be governed by the FiveConstant Relationships: parent and child, husbandand wife, older sibling and younger sibling, olderfriend and younger friend, and ruler and subject. Eachperson in the relationship had a duty to the other. Par-ents should be loving, and children should revere theirparents. Husbands should fulfill their duties, andwives should be obedient. The elder sibling should bekind, and the younger sibling respectful. The olderfriend should be considerate, and the younger frienddeferential. Rulers should be benevolent, and subjectsloyal. Three of these five relationships concern thefamily, which shows the family’s importance to Con-fucius: “The duty of children to their parents is thefoundation from which all virtues spring.”

The Confucian concept of duty is often expressedin the form of a “work ethic.” If each individual

95CHAPTER 3 India and China

This early nineteenth-century painting illustrates scenes from the life of Confucius, who is shown here with his followers.

worked hard to fulfill his or her duties, then theaffairs of society as a whole would prosper as well.As Confucius stated,

“If there is righteousness in the heart, there will bebeauty in the character. If there is beauty in the char-acter, there will be harmony in the home. If there beharmony in the home, there will be order in thenation. If there be order in the nation, there will bepeace in the world.”

Above all, the ruler must set a good example. If theking followed the path of goodness and the commongood, then subjects would respect him, and societywould prosper.

The second key element in the Confucian view ofthe Dao is the idea of humanity. This consists of asense of compassion and empathy for others. It is

similar in some ways to Christian ideas but with atwist. Christians are taught, “Do unto others as youwould have others do unto you.” Confucius wouldsay, “Do not do unto others what you would not wishdone to yourself.” To many Chinese, this meant thatothers should be tolerated. Confucius urged peopleto “measure the feelings of others by one’s own,” for“within the four seas all men are brothers.” The ideasof Confucius had a strong appeal to his contempo-raries. After his death in 479 B.C., his message spreadwidely throughout China. Confucius was a harshcritic of his own times. He seemed to stress the needto return to the values of an earlier age—the GoldenAge of the early Zhou dynasty. He saw it as an age ofperfection that no longer existed. In referring to thatage, he is quoted as saying the following:

“When the Great Way was practiced, the worldwas shared by all alike. The worthy and the ablewere promoted to office and practiced good faithand lived in affection. The aged found a fitting closeto their lives, the robust their proper employment;the young were provided with an upbringing and thewidow and widower, the orphaned and the sick, withproper care. Men had their talks and women theirhearths. They hated to see goods lying about inwaste, yet they did not hoard them for themselves;they disliked the thought that their energies were notfully used, yet they used them not for private ends.Therefore all evil plotting was prevented and thievesand rebels did not arise, so that people could leavetheir outer gates unbolted. This was the age of Grand Unity.”

Confucius was not just living in the past, however.Many of his key ideas looked forward rather thanbackward. Perhaps his most striking political ideawas that the government should not be limited solelyto those of noble birth but should be open to all menof superior talent. This concept of rule by merit was,of course, not popular with the aristocrats who heldpolitical offices based on their noble birth. AlthoughConfucius’s ideas did not have much effect in his life-time, they opened the door to a new idea of statecraftthat would later be put into widespread use.

Daoism Daoism was a system of ideas based on theteachings of Laozi (LOW•DZUH). According to tradition, Laozi, or the Old Master, was a contempo-rary of Confucius. Scholars do not know if Laoziactually existed. Nevertheless, the ideas people asso-ciate with him became popular in the fifth and fourthcenturies B.C.

96 CHAPTER 3 India and China

This sketch portrays Laozi, the founderof Daoism. What is the artist tryingto convey about Laozi or Daoism?

History

The chief ideas of Daoism are discussed in a shortwork known as Tao Te Ching (The Way of the Dao).Scholars have argued for centuries over its meaning.Nevertheless, the basic ideas of Daoism, as inter-preted by followers of the doctrine, are straightfor-ward. Like Confucianism, Daoism does not concernitself with the underlying meaning of the universe.Rather, it tries to set forth proper forms of behaviorfor human beings on Earth.

Daoism’s point of view is quite different from thatof Confucianism. Followers of Confucius believe thatit is the duty of human beings to work hard toimprove life here on Earth. Daoists believe that thetrue way to follow the will of Heaven is not actionbut inaction:

“Without going outside, you may know the whole world.

Without looking through the window,you may see the ways of heaven.

The farther you go, the less you know.Thus the sage [wise man] knows

without traveling;He sees without looking;He works without doing.”

The best way to act in harmony with the universalorder is to act spontaneously and let nature take itscourse by not interfering with it:

“The universe is sacred.You cannot improve it.If you try to change it, you will ruin it.If you try to hold it, you will lose it.”

Legalism A third philosophy that became popularin China was Legalism. Unlike Confucianism orDaoism, Legalism proposed that human beings wereevil by nature. They could only be brought to followthe correct path by harsh laws and stiff punishments.Legalists were referred to as the “School of Law”because they rejected the Confucian view that gov-ernment by “superior men” could solve society’sproblems. Instead, they argued for a system ofimpersonal laws.

The Legalists believed that a strong ruler wasrequired to create an orderly society. Confucius hadsaid, “Lead the people by virtue and restrain them bythe rules of good taste, and the people will have asense of shame, and moreover will become good.”The Legalists did not believe this. To them, peoplewere not capable of being good. Fear of harsh pun-ishment would cause the common people to servethe interests of the ruler. The ruler did not have toshow compassion for the needs of the people.

Summarizing What three philoso-phies became popular in early China?

Reading Check

97CHAPTER 3 India and China

Checking for Understanding1. Define aristocracy, Mandate of

Heaven, Dao, filial piety, Confucianism,Daoism, Legalism.

2. Identify Xia dynasty, Shang dynasty,Zhou dynasty, Confucius, Laozi.

3. Locate Huang He, Mongolia, ChangJiang, Yellow Sea.

4. Explain the importance of filial piety tothe Chinese. How does the concept offilial piety relate to the Confucian viewof how society should function?

5. List some of the agricultural advancesdeveloped in ancient China and explainhow they increased food production.

Critical Thinking6. Evaluate What are the advantages and

disadvantages of a society based onLegalism?

7. Taking Notes Using an outline format,describe the Confucian ideas of the FiveConstant Relationships.

I. The Five Constant RelationshipsA. Parent and Child

1. parents should be loving, childrenshould revere their parents

B.C. Older Sibling and Younger SiblingD.E. Ruler and Subject

1. rulers should be benevolent, subjects loyal

Analyzing Visuals8. Analyze the Shang bronze vessel

shown on page 90. What artistic or cul-tural ideals are represented? Why arethese bronze vessels considered to beamong the greatest cultural achieve-ments of the ancient world? How werethese vessels used by the Chinesepeople?

9. Expository Writing Write a paperabout the philosophical traditions ofConfucianism, Daoism, and Legalism.Use newspapers, magazines, and theInternet to identify examples of theinfluence of these three philosophiesin historic and contemporary worldevents.

202 B.C.Han dynastybegins

87 B.C.Han Wudi dies

A.D. 170Han dynastybegins collapse

Guide to Reading

Rise and Fall of Chinese Empires

Preview of Events✦200 B.C. ✦A.D. 1✦100 B.C. ✦A.D. 200 ✦A.D. 100

Faced with the invasion of China’s northern frontier, Emperor Qin Shihuangdiresponded forcefully. According to an ancient Chinese historian:

“The emperor dispatched Meng T’ien to lead a force of a hundred thousand mennorth to attack the barbarians. He seized control of all lands south of the Huang Heand established border defenses along the river, constructing forty-four walled districtcities overlooking the river and manning them with convict laborers transported to theborder for garrison duty. Thus he utilized the natural mountain barriers to establishthe border defenses, scooping out the valleys and constructing ramparts and buildinginstallations at other points where they were needed.”

—Records of the Grand Historian of China, Burton Watson, 1961

The First Qin Emperor unified the Chinese world, though his dynasty was short-lived. The Han dynasty that followed, however, lasted more than four hundred years.

The Qin Dynasty (221–206 B.C.)As we have seen, from about 400 to 200 B.C., China experienced bloody civil

war. Powerful states fought one another and ignored the authority of the Zhoukings. One state—that of Qin—gradually defeated its chief rivals. In 221 B.C., theQin ruler declared the creation of a new dynasty.

Voices from the Past

98 CHAPTER 3 India and China

Qin Shihuangdi

Main Ideas• The Qin and Han dynasties established

strong central governments that werethe basis for future dynasties.

• Technical and cultural achievementsduring the Qin and Han dynastiesincluded the invention of paper andwritten literary classics.

Key Termsregime, censorate

People to IdentifyQin Shihuangdi, Xiongnu, Liu Bang, Han Wudi

Places to LocateGobi, South China Sea, Indian Ocean

Preview Questions1. Why was the Great Wall of China built?2. How did nomadic peoples affect Chi-

nese history?

Reading StrategyCompare and Contrast As you read thissection, compare and contrast the Qinand Han dynasties using a Venn diagram.

Qin dynasty

Han dynasty

The ruler of Qin was Qin Shihuangdi (CHINSHUR•HWONG•DEE), meaning “the First QinEmperor.” A person of much ambition, Qin Shi-huangdi had come to the throne of Qin in 246 B.C. atthe age of 13. In 221 B.C., he defeated the last of Qin’srivals and founded a new dynasty, with himself asemperor.

Changes under the Qin Dynasty The Qin dynastydramatically changed Chinese politics. Legalism wasadopted as the regime’s (the government in power)official ideology. Those who opposed the policies ofthe new regime were punished or executed. Bookspresenting ideas opposed to the official views werepublicly burned. ; (See page 991 to read excerpts from LiSu’s The Burning of Books in the Primary Sources Library.)

The Qin dynasty made a number of importantadministrative and political changes, which servedas models for future dynasties. In the first place,unlike the Zhou dynasty, the Qin dynasty ruled ahighly centralized state. The central bureaucracy wasdivided into three parts: the civil division, the mili-tary division, and the censorate. The censorate hadinspectors who checked on government officials tomake sure they were doing their jobs. This becamestandard procedure for future Chinese dynasties.

Below the central government were two levels ofadministration—provinces and counties. Officials atthese levels did not inherit their positions (as wasdone under the Zhou), but were appointed and

dismissed by the emperor. The censors, who reporteddirectly to the throne, kept a close watch over officials.Those found guilty of wrongdoing were executed.

Qin Shihuangdi unified the Chinese world. Hecreated a single monetary system and ordered thebuilding of a system of roads throughout the entireempire. Many of these roads led out from his capitalcity of Xianyang (SYEN•YONG), just north ofmodern-day Xian (SYEN).

Qin Shihuangdi was equally aggressive in foreignaffairs. His armies advanced to the south, extendingthe border of China to the edge of the Yuan(YOO•AHN) River, or Red River, in modern-dayVietnam. To supply his armies, he had a canal dugfrom the Chang Jiang in central China to what is nowthe modern city of Guangzhou (GWONG•JOH).

The Great Wall The Qin emperor’s major foreignconcern was in the north. In the vicinity of the Gobi,there resided a nomadic people known to the Chi-nese as the Xiongnu (SYEN•NOO). Mounted ontheir horses, the Xiongnu ranged far and wide insearch of pasture for their flocks of cattle, sheep, orgoats. They were organized loosely into tribes, andmoved with the seasons from one pasture to another.

The Xiongnu had mastered the art of fighting onhorseback. The historian Sima Qian remarked that“the little boys start out by learning to ride sheep andshoot birds and rats with a bow and arrow, and whenthey get a little older they shoot foxes and rabbits,which are used for food. Thus all the young men areable to use a bow and act as armed cavalry in time of

99CHAPTER 3 India and China

Qin Shihuangdi259–210 B.C.—Chinese emperor

Qin Shihuangdi was described bythe famous Chinese historian SimaQian as having “the chest of a bird ofprey, the voice of a jackal, and theheart of a tiger.” Landed aristocratsand Confucian intellectuals, as well as thecommon people, groaned under the censor-ship of speech, harsh taxes, and forced labor projects(instituted by the ruler). Sima Qian said of Qin Shi-huangdi, “He killed men as though he thought he couldnever finish, he punished men as though he were afraidhe would never get around to them all, and the wholeworld revolted against him.” Indeed, Qin Shihuangdi wasto be his dynasty’s only ruler.

As a Chinese ruler looks on, books are burned and scholars are killed.

war.” The Xiongnu soon became a challenge to Chi-nese communities near the northern frontier. A num-ber of Chinese states in the area began to build wallsto keep them out.

Qin Shihuangdi’s answer to the problem in thenorth was to strengthen the existing system of wallsto keep the nomads out. Today we know Qin Shi-huangdi’s project as the Great Wall of China. How-ever, the wall that we know today from films andphotographs was not built at the order of the FirstQin Emperor but 1,500 years later. Some of the wallsbuilt by Qin Shihuangdi do remain standing, butmany of them were constructed of loose stone, sand,or piled rubble and disappeared long ago. Defensivewalls against nomads had existed in parts of NorthChina for years. Qin Shihuangdi linked these sec-tions of walls together to create “The Wall of TenThousand Li” (a li is about a third of a mile, or half akilometer).

This is not to say, of course, that the wall was nota massive project. It required the efforts of thousandsof laborers. Many of them died while working thereand, according to legend, are now buried within the

100 CHAPTER 3 India and China

wall. With his wall, the First Qin Emperor enjoyedsome success in fighting off the threat of the nomads,but the victory was only temporary.

The Fall of the Qin Dynasty By ruthlessly gather-ing control over the empire into his own hands, QinShihuangdi had hoped to establish a rule that“would be enjoyed by his sons for ten thousand gen-erations.” In fact, the First Qin Emperor had angeredmany Chinese. The emperor died in 210 B.C., and hisdynasty was overthrown four years later.

The fall of the Qin dynasty was followed by aperiod of civil war, but it did not last long. A newdynasty would soon arise.

Identifying What were the threeparts of the central bureaucracy developed by the Qin dynasty?

The Han Dynasty (202 B.C.–A.D. 220)One of the greatest and most long-lasting dynas-

ties in Chinese history—the Han (HAHN) dynasty—emerged in 202 B.C. The founder of the Han dynastywas Liu Bang (LYOH BONG), a man of peasant

Reading Check

30°N

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CANCER

120°E110°E100°E

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Wei He

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u a ng H e

SouthChina Sea

YellowSea

EastChina Sea

G O B I

XIONGNU

Xian

Xianyang

N

S

EW

500 kilometers0Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection

500 miles0

Qin Empire, 221–206 B.C.

Extent of Qin Empire

Great Wall in Qin period

Attacks by Xiongnu

The Qin Empire pursued apolicy of aggressive expan-sion but simultaneously hadto protect itself againstincursions from the north.

1. Interpreting MapsCompare this map withthe one of the HanEmpire on the next page.Which geographicalareas did both empiresinclude?

2. Applying GeographySkills Pose and answera question about the QinEmpire’s pattern ofexpansion.

origin who became known by his title of Han Gaozu(“Exalted Emperor of Han”). Under his strong ruleand that of his successors, the new dynasty quicklyestablished its control over the empire.

Political Structure The first Han emperor dis-carded the harsh policies of the Qin dynasty. Confu-cian principles, rather than Legalism, soon becamethe basis for the creation of a new state philosophy.However, Han Gaozu and his successors found itconvenient to keep some of the practices of the FirstQin Emperor, including the division of the centralgovernment into three ministries—the military, civilservice, and censorate. The Han rulers also kept thesystem of local government that divided the empireinto provinces and counties.

Most important, the Han rulers continued the Qinsystem of choosing government officials on the basisof merit rather than birth. To create a regular systemfor new officials, the Han dynasty introduced thecivil service examination and established a school to train these candidates. This system for officials

influenced Chinese civilization for two thousandyears. Students were expected to learn the teachingsof Confucius, as well as Chinese history and law. (Fora discussion of the civil service examination system,see Chapter 8.)

China under the Han dynasty was a vast empire.The population increased rapidly—by some esti-mates rising from about twenty million to over sixtymillion at the height of the dynasty. The large size ofthe population created a growing need for a largeand efficient bureaucracy to keep the state in properworking order.

Expansion of the Empire In addition to providinga strong central government, the Han emperors con-tinued to expand the Chinese Empire. Han rulers,especially Han Wudi (HAHN WOO•DEE) (“MartialEmperor of Han”), added the southern regions belowthe Chang Jiang into the empire. Along the coast ofthe South China Sea, part of what is today northernVietnam became part of the empire. Han armies alsowent westward into central Asia, extending the

CHAPTER 3 India and China 101

600 kilometers0Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection

600 miles0

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110°E 120°E90°E

40°N

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Han Empire, 202 B.C.–A.D. 221

Han emperors continuedthe expansion of the Chi-nese Empire, reaching intomodern Vietnam and mov-ing further west than everbefore.

1. Interpreting MapsUsing the map’s scale,calculate the length of theGreat Wall. How muchlonger was it in the timeof the Han dynasty thanit was in the Qin period?

2. Applying GeographySkills Why do you thinkthe Han expanded intomodern Vietnam ratherthan move west?

Han Empire at greatest extent, A.D. 210Regions under Han protectorate, 59 B.C.–A.D. 23Great Wall in Han periodModern-day border

Chinese boundary there. Han Wudi also had to dealwith the Xiongnu, the nomads beyond the Great Wallto the north. His armies drove the Xiongnu back, andafter his death in 87 B.C., China experienced almostanother 150 years of relative peace.

Society in the Han Empire The Han period wasone of great prosperity. Free peasants, however, beganto suffer. Land taxes on land-owning farmers werefairly light, but there were other demands on them,including military service and forced labor of up toone month per year. Then, too, the tripling of the pop-ulation under the Han dynasty eventually reducedthe average size of the individual farm plot to aboutone acre per person—barely enough for survival.

As time went on, many poor peasants were forcedto sell their land and become tenant farmers, whopaid rents ranging up to half of the annual harvest.Land once again came to be held in the hands of thepowerful landed aristocrats. These nobles often

owned thousands of acres worked by tenants. Theygathered their own military forces to bully free farm-ers into becoming tenants.

Technology in the Han Empire New technologyadded to the economic prosperity of the Han Era.Much progress was made in such areas as textilemanufacturing, water mills for grinding grain, andiron casting. Iron casting technology led to the inven-tion of steel. In addition, paper was developed underthe Han dynasty.

With the invention of the rudder and fore-and-aft rigging, ships could sail into the wind for thefirst time. This made it possible for Chinese mer-chant ships carrying heavy cargoes to travelthroughout the islands of Southeast Asia and intothe Indian Ocean, leading to a major expansion oftrade in the Han period. Trade relations were evenestablished with areas as far away as India and theMediterranean.

102 CHAPTER 3 India and China

Papermaking in Han China

T he ancient Chinese were responsible for four remarkable inventionsthat were crucial to the development of modern technology: the

magnetic compass, paper, printing, and gunpowder. How tomake paper was one of their early discoveries.

The oldest piece of paper found in China dates from the firstcentury B.C. Made from hemp fibers, it was thick, rough, anduseless for writing. That was not a problem for the ancient Chinese, however, because they preferred to write on bambooor silk.

Paper with writing on it dates from around A.D. 100. By thistime, the Chinese had figured out how to make paper of betterquality. After hemp or linen rags were soaked in water, theywere mixed with potash and mashed into a pulp. A frame with afine bamboo mesh was lowered into this vat of pulp. When theframe was removed, it held a thin sheet of pulp. Any extra waterwas removed before the sheets of paper were hung up to dry.

The art of papermaking spread eastward from China begin-ning in the seventh century A.D. First India and then the Arabworld developed the technique. The Arab cities of Baghdad,Damascus, and Cairo all had large papermaking industries.Paper was shipped from these centers to the West, but Europeans did notbegin their production of paper until the twelfth century.

Describing What did the Chinese use to make paper?

A contemporary artisan demonstrates ancient papermaking techniques.

Bamboo for paper islifted out of China’sMekong River.

The Fall of the Han Empire Over a period of time,the Han Empire began to fall into decay. As weakrulers amused themselves with the pleasures of courtlife, the power of the central government began todecline. The great noble families filled the gap,amassing vast landed estates and forcing free farmersto become their tenants. Official corruption and theconcentration of land in the hands of the wealthy ledto widespread peasant unrest. Then, too, nomadicraids on Chinese territory continued in the north.

By A.D. 170, wars, intrigues at the court, and peas-ant uprisings brought the virtual collapse of the Handynasty. In 189, rebel armies sacked the Han capital,Changan (CHONG•ON). The final blow came in 220,when a general seized control but was unable tomaintain his power. China again plunged into civilwar, made worse by invasions of northern peoples.The next great dynasty would not arise for four hun-dred years.

Identifying What new technologydeveloped during the Han Era?

Culture in Qin and Han ChinaThe Qin and Han dynasties were also known for

their cultural achievements. The key works of theConfucian school, for example, were made into a setof Confucian classics, which became required read-ing for generations of Chinese schoolchildren. Theseclassics introduced children to the forms of behaviorthat they would need as adults.

Reading Check

Perhaps the most remarkable artistic achievementof the Qin period was discovered in 1974. Farmersdigging a well about 35 miles (56 km) east of Xiandiscovered an underground pit near the burialmound of the First Qin Emperor. It contained a vastarmy made of terra-cotta (hardened clay). Chinesearchaeologists believed that it was a re-creation ofQin Shihuangdi’s imperial guard and was meant tobe with the emperor on his journey to the next world.

The army, dressed in uniforms, is contained infour pits. Archaeologists estimate that there are morethan six thousand figures in the first pit alone, alongwith horses, wooden chariots, and seven thousandbronze weapons. The figures are slightly larger thanlife-size. They were molded, then fired and painted inbrilliant colors. To achieve individuality in the faces ofthe soldiers, ten different head shapes were used,which were finished by hand.

Describing What was the purpose ofthe terra-cotta figures discovered near Xian?

Reading Check

103CHAPTER 3 India and China

Checking for Understanding1. Define regime, censorate.

2. Identify Qin Shihuangdi, Qin dynasty,Xiongnu, Great Wall of China, Handynasty, Liu Bang, Han Wudi.

3. Locate Gobi, South China Sea, IndianOcean.

4. Explain how free farmers sometimesbecame tenant farmers.

5. Discuss Qin Shihuangdi’s actions forunifying the Chinese world.

Critical Thinking6. Explain What is the importance of the

technological advancements in sailingthat were made during the Han dynasty?

7. Organizing Information Create a flowchart showing the government organi-zation during the Han dynasty and theduties for each division.

Analyzing Visuals8. Examine the illustration on page 99.

What is the significance of the politicaldecision the emperor made to burnbooks? What else is being depicted?

9. Expository Writing Write an essaythat explains what the Chinesearchaeological site east of Xian tellsus about the people of the Qindynasty. What might future historiansconclude about our society shouldthey uncover memorials such as theWashington or Lincoln Memorials?

Emperor

An army of life-sized terra-cotta soldiers was found in Qin Shihuangdi’s tomb.

104

Using Key Terms1. Aryan leaders (princes), known as , fought other

Aryan chieftans and seized their property.

2. The major divisions of the Indian classes of people werecalled , in English.

3. The belief that the individual soul is reborn in a differentform after death is .

4. is a method of training designed to lead to a unionwith Brahman.

5. In Buddhism, reaching , or ultimate reality, is the endof the self and a reunion with the Great World Soul.

6. The Kushan kingdom prospered from trade that passedthrough their land along the .

7. According to Confucius, the key to proper behavior was tobehave in accordance with the (Way).

8. The Qin bureaucracy had civil and military divisions and a .

Reviewing Key Facts9. Geography Describe the diverse geography of the Indian

subcontinent.

10. Culture Explain the following statement: “The Harappanrulers were closely linked to their religion.”

11. History Identify the physical changes that occurred in theIndus River valley that contributed to the collapse of theonce-flourishing civilization there.

12. Culture Discuss the connection between the Four NobleTruths and the Eightfold Path.

13. History “Faxian, a Chinese Buddhist monk, traveledthrough the Gupta Empire and admired the character oftheir rule, their tolerance of Buddhism, and the prosperity ofthe country.” Describe what Faxian found in India that sup-ports this quote.

14. Geography Describe the geography of China.

15. Science, Technology, and Society Identify the ways inwhich warfare changed in China near the end of the Zhoudynasty.

16. Culture Discuss the life of a peasant during the Han Era.

17. Culture How does the ancient Chinese system of writingdiffer from cuneiform and hieroglyphic writing?

18. Government The dynastic cycles in China meant eachdynasty would eventually fall. What factors caused this to happen?

Critical Thinking19. Evaluating How might Chinese society and culture have

evolved differently if there had been more contact withother civilizations?

20. Compare and Contrast In what ways are the ideas of theBuddhist Eightfold Path similar to and different from theideas, beliefs, and practices of other religions or philoso-phies you may know about?

21. Analyzing What do Chinese art forms tell us about techno-logical development in ancient China?

Chinese and Indian civilizations are remarkable for their achievement and innovation. This chartshows their accomplishments in several areas.

HinduismBuddhism

Iron plowCaste systemConcept of zeroDecimal system

MahabharataRamayanaArthasastraVedas

PatriarchalMonarchyIndia

ConfucianismDaoismLegalism

ConfuciusLaoziQin Shihuangdi

Bronze castingCrossbowPaperIron plowshareSilk

AnalectsConfucian classicsTao Te ChingPoetry

PatriarchalMonarchy

China

Siddhartha GautamaAsokaChandragupta II

Country Key People Innovation Literature Government/Society

Religion/Philosophy

Analyzing Maps and ChartsStudy the map above to answer the following questions.

28. Compare this map to the maps of the Fertile Crescent andEgyptian civilizations in previous chapters. What geographicfeatures are common to each of these civilizations?

29. In what mountain range does the Indus River originate?

30. Two of these rivers are very close in latitude. Which ones?

31. Name the river valley civilizations studied thus far.

Self-Check QuizVisit the Glencoe World History Web site at

and click on Chapter 3–Self-CheckQuiz to prepare for the Chapter Test.wh.glencoe.com

HISTORY

Directions: Choose the best answer to thefollowing question.

In general, women in ancient India

A could not get an education or inherit property.

B passed down the Vedas to the younger generation.

C traded with Chinese merchants.

D became a force in politics.

Test-Taking Tip: Even if you don’t know the correctanswer, you still may know which answer choices arewrong. Eliminating only one or two answer choicesimproves your chances of answering the question correctly.Using all of your knowledge about ancient India, eliminatethe answer choices you know are wrong. Then choose thebest answer from the choices that remain.

CHAPTER 3 India and China 105

Writing About History22. Persuasive Writing Prepare an editorial for a newspaper in

which you discuss the philosophies of Confucianism, Legal-ism, and Daoism. Explain why you think the current govern-ment of your country should adopt one of thesephilosophies in its system of government.

Analyzing SourcesRead the following decree of Asoka, one of India’s greatest rulers.

“By order of the Beloved of the Gods [Asoka] to theofficers in charge: Let us win the affection of all people.All people are my children, and as I wish all welfareand happiness in this world and the rest for my ownchildren, so do I wish it for all men. . . . For that pur-pose many officials are employed among the people to instruct them in righteousness and to explain it tothem.”

23. What is the relationship between Asoka and the Beloved of the Gods?

24. How does this quote reflect the Buddhist beliefs that wereadopted by Asoka?

Applying Technology Skills25. Using the Internet The Chinese had the Great Wall of

China built for protection from enemies. Using the Internet,research how other countries have protected themselves.Using a word processor, write a brief description of twoexamples. List the name of the country, what was used toprotect, and who was being kept out.

Making Decisions26. In this chapter you read about Chinese pictographs and

ideographs. In Chapter 2, you learned about cuneiform,hieroglyphic writing, and hieratic script. How do archaelo-gists, historians, and linguists decipher (translate) anunknown language?

27. Religion has always played a major role in Indian society.How might religious differences have affected India and itsdevelopment as a nation?

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Early Asian Civilizations

StandardizedTest Practice

Indus River valleycivilization, 2500–1700 B.C.

Shang Empire,1700–1000 B.C.