CHAPTER 3 ANCIENT CHINA

CHINA: 600 BCE-600 CE (JUST LIKE ROME) STUFF THAT’S ALWAYS TRUE ABOUT EVERY….. SINGLE……. DYNASTY

IN CHINA

CHINESE DYNASTIES1. Qin (pronounced Chin - its where China gets its name)

2. Han Dynasty (most important one)3. Tang Dynasty 4. Song Dynasty5. Yuan Dynasty6. Ming Dynasty

7. Manchu Dynasty (like the mustaches)8. Communism in 1949

1. First of all, they always go from one Dynasty to another. The Chinese LOVE dynasties and Emperors! Whenever one collapses the Chinese start a new one.

They prefer order over chaos, and they prefer a collective group approach to any kind of separation.

2. They always have an Emperor. And that Emperor is always a dude. (The youngest was 15 years old (I thought 15 year olds were useless)

Cool Emperor namesZǔ YǐWài RénLiu YingRomashue Shtrakhanawu

3. This Emperor always has THE MANDATE OF HEAVEN (otherwise known as God’s permission to rule)

The MANDATE OF HEAVEN: the idea that God GAVE you permission to rule. This comes in very handy when the peasants are starving and you want to justify your rule, riches and palace!

If an Emperor was defeated in battle and a NEW Dynasty took over, it was cuz God wanted it. **In 2008, 4 Presidential Candidates in the United States said “God told me I should be President!”

4. Confucianism will always be the philosophy of China (SEE BELOW).

Confucianism

Confucianism is more of a philosophy than a religion. It really isn’t concerned with the existence of a god or goddess but is instead concerned with how society should be run. For example, Confucianism preaches above all else SOCIAL HARMONY and obeying your superiors.

Social Harmony and Social Hierarchy:- Obey your parents (filial piety)

- Obey your Emperor- Obey your Government officials

- Obey your ancestors (ancestral veneration)- Obey your teachers (Yeah, go get me a Starbucks!!!)

Government workers were VERY HIGH on the list for the Chinese. If you worked for the government it meant that you could read and you were thus going to be more successful.

Filial Piety: Obeying your mom and dad (How many of U practice this?!)

Ancestral veneration: Praying to your ancestors even after they’re long dead. How many of U believe in ghosts?! The Chinese did!

This is why China has such an ingrained sense of social responsibility today. In the United States, for example, we consider individual rights very important (What do I want? What is best for me?) In China, however, the benefit of the groups is considered much more valuable. This is also why the One-Child Policy (1971) could exist in a place like China. It could NEVER exist in America even if theoretically that’s what we would need.

Confucius may have been considered a WISE-MAN but he was more like a WISEGUY, cuz he really felt that women should be subservient to men. Check out his rules for girls below:

Confucius rules for women: The 4 dutiesCook the 5 grains

Heat the wineMake clothes

Look after her parents-in-law

The 3 submissions:1. When she is young, she must submit to her parents.

2. After she is married, she must submit to her husband.3. After her husband dies, she must submit to her son!!!!!!

(yeah mom. Where’s my dessert!!!!??????)

Arranged MarriagesIn the United States girls are essentially free to marry whomever they wish (no

motorcycles and no tattoos). Of course, the divorce rate is close to 60% so more than half the time we get it wrong but still, we are free to choose. This is not the case in many places around the world. In half the world girls must do what their fathers say, and marry who their fathers choose. Even if the man is cruel or treats them badly. You see, in much of the world marriage is not seen as a love-based relationship. Instead, it is seen as a social and economic agreement. The girls’ fathers try to find the most wealthy family to marry them into so that the girls don’t die of poverty. That’s why arranged marriages happen in the poorest countries in the world (India, China and Sub-Saharan Africa). Basically, to be born a girl in these countries is a difficult proposition, and not find a husband is seen as a death sentence. Unfortunately, the girls essentially have absolutely no choice in the matter and in many places the fathers will kill the girls if they disobey. This is called an ‘honor-killing’ and it happens more times than you think (5,000 times per year!!)

In addition, in many of these arranged marriages the girls are very young, maybe 8-12 years old, or just 15. Rarely are they even 16.

- 53% of ALL marriages in the world today are arranged - That’s 25,000,000 marriages per year- In Africa, 42% of the girl were under the age of 18- In Bangladesh, near India and Pakistan, 27% were under the age of 15!!!!!!!!!

Confucianism really made it tough for Chinese girls. Not only did they have to obey their parents and then their husbands, but they had to obey their sons if the husband died. They also had to work for their mother in laws until the mother in law died. Finally, girls in China were subject to arranged marriages.

**Look, every society since the beginning of time has basically been patriarchal. The only question is to what extent. For example, in the United States women got the right to vote in 1920 but still only make about 78 cents for every dollar a guy makes. Thus America is still a patriarchal society even today. Women make up 50% of the population but we only have about 20/100 Senators. China and India are considered 2 of the worst countries to be a woman. The worst is Afghanistan.

CHINESE SCHOOLSIn the United States of America we severely underestimate the importance of school. More attention is given to High School football scores than who can read or write. Many people around the world understand, however, that school is supposed to be the vehicle for a stable life and a good job, in addition to all of the other many wonderful things books and teachers can give us.

In Asia people truly appreciate the value of a good education. In South Korea, for example, parents and other well-meaning adults line up outside of the school door and clap for the kids as they are about to take their SAT’s. This is admirable. Everybody knows that the SAT’s are arguably one of the most important tests of your life, yet how many of us know someone from Broward who has gotten above a 1400/1600? How many newspaper articles have been written about such teenagers, and how many CNN specials have bene devoted to them? What percentage of Broward County students got into Harvard, or Yale, or Princeton? We don’t know because so many in our society don’t care. But that is to their detriment, to their disadvantage.

School was MAJOR in China. In fact, they had the first college in the world. It was the University of Chang’an (their capital since Beijing doesn’t become the capital for a while) and had about 30,000 students. That’s basically the same size as FSU or University of Florida.

The Chinese invented the first SAT: It was called the Chinese Civil Service Exam The first tests were given during the early teenage years. (13, 14, 15 AND 16) Each student taking the exam arrived at school with only a few amenities: a water pitcher, a chamber pot (for going to the bathroom), bedding, food, an inkstone,ink and brushes. (No more bathroom passes during tests. Just bring a chamber pot with you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Guards would verify the students' identities and search them for hidden printed materials. (CUZ FRESHMEN and SOPHOMORES CHEAT!!!!!!!) Each student spent three days and two nights writing— 8 ESSAYS — in a tiny room with a makeshift bed, desk and bench. There were no interruptions in those three days, nor were candidates allowed any communication. (No cell phones)

If someone died during an exam, officials wrapped his body in a straw mat and tossed it over the high walls that ringed the compound. (Same policy during our Mock AP Exam)

The Curriculum music, arithmetic, writing, ritual Militaristic: archery and horsemanship "Five Studies": military strategy, law, revenue and taxation, agriculture and

geography, Confucianism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fun Fact: In India they just took their Indian Civil Service Exam (started in the 1800’s ) and 2,000,000 people took it to get 2000 jobs! Your education is no joke and in the United States of America too many students take it for granted! (2nd, 3rd and 5th Hours)

Did u know that: 50% of new college graduates are working at a job that doesn’t even require a college degree and 30% are moving back home with their parents.- And, of all the unemployed in America, 40% are under the age of 30!!!

If you didn’t pass it you could never become wealthy because you could never get a government job.

- Without it you couldn’t get a good job. Kind of like an ‘A’ from Shtrakhman!- To be a government worker was to be very prestigious and to have very high

standing in the community.- The Chinese placed ‘GOVERNMENT WORKERS’ or bureaucrats, just below the

Emperor in terms of societal importance. If you were a government worker, you were considered THE MAN.

THE GREAT WALL OF CHINAThe Great Wall of China is called “The longest graveyard…in the world!” Why? Because the Chinese government forced peasants and criminals to build it and so many of them died in the process. You basically got it instead of jail time. It is 6000 miles of misery. It was not built in a day. It took 1800 years to finish and represented 5 different dynasties.

FUN FACTS:- It’s 5000 miles long- Between 16-25 feet high- Towers every few miles that would light fires to warn the next tower- You can see it from space (kind of)

- There’s actually sticky rice mixed up with the earth and stone- It’s not one long wall but has different sections all through northern China

There were 2 reasons why the Chinese built the Great Wall:1. To keep the pesky nomads AKA Mongols and Mongolians” out of China2. To protect the Silk Road

THE MONGOLS ARE ALSO KNOWN AS…….NOMADS……..HUNS…….CENTRAL ASIANS*Look, every empire will suffer from invasions. And the Chinese were NO exception. Their biggest enemy was……..THE MONGOLS!!

If you look at a map, you will see that the area above China is known as Mongolia. Well, it is also known as Central Asia and it is home to the MONGOLS, HUNS, BARBARIANS, and other NOMADIC GROUPS. The infamous Genghis Khan will come from this area.

** Genghis Kahn will rape so many women in Asia that 7% of Asian men have his DNA today

These Central Asian nomads will attack China year after year and century after century. You see, Central Asia is mostly just grassland. The people there had horses and sheep and nothing else. They couldn’t grow fruits and vegetables and they couldn’t manufacture their own stuff. That’s why they kept attacking the Chinese and anyone

else that had stuff they were looking for. Their land was cold, it was hard, and they were expert horse warriors, that could even shoot a bow and arrow from horseback and hit their target.

The Great Wall of China was built to keep these nomads out. It was also built to protect the traders and travelers of the famous Silk Road.

Sometimes the Chinese would pay them off, and sometimes they would even sell Chinese princesses to the nomads to keep them at bay. If I had to sell one of you to the nomads it would be………….. Erina, Alexia or Hanayah.

We will cover A LOT of the Mongols in Chapter 7!!!!!!

THE SILK ROAD SILK, SILK, SILK We already know that the Chinese LOVE silk and so does everyone else.

Why?1. It’s lightweight

2. It keeps you warm3. It’s shiny!

The Great wall was built as a way to protect the traders who were moving along the Silk Road. See, very rarely would anyone travel the whole length (10,000 miles). Instead they would hand stuff off from one merchant or businessman to another. The GREAT WALL gave them some protection from nomadic groups attacking, hijacking and kidnapping them.

THE SILK ROAD ALSO BRINGS BUDDHISM FROM INDIA TO CHINA You will learn in the next chapter that Buddhism was actually invented in India (after Hinduism) and then SPREAD all throughout Asia later. Just like the Romans spread Christianity, Buddhism spread through monks, nuns, merchants and missionaries.

And silk was not the only thing that China traded with Rome or anyone else. DON’T 4GET about things like food, farming techniques, farming technology, horse and camel saddles, irrigation techniques etc. And of course THE PLAGUE will spread all throughout Asia and Europe in the 1300’s and kill 33% of China and 25% of Europe (Chapter 10)

THE HAN DYNASTY (200 CE-200 CE)(The most important dynasty on the AP Exam)

400 years long.

IMPERIAL BUREAUCRACYThe Chinese system of Imperial Bureaucracy was NOT like the Romans. Instead of allowing different Governors to run each Roman province, the Chinese would just send out individuals from the capital (today its Beijing but back then it was called Chang’An), and EACH GUY WOULD HAVE TO REPORT BACK TO THE EMPIRE. Thus, Beijing/Chang’An was the center of the whole thing. This is known as CENTRALIZED BUREAUCRACY. It is NOT what we practice here in the United States and its NOT how Plantation High School works where teachers have a lot of autonomy and then report to Assistant Principals who then report above them. In China, all local officials reported back to Beijing and in Rome local officials were basically left in charge of their won territories. As long as they paid taxes it was all good.

MILITARY AND TAXATIONThe QIN (CHIN) DYNASTY also had the famous Terracotta Warriors. Emperor Wu had them built in order to help him fight in the afterlife (What an idiot!). I saw a whole bunch of them in a museum in Chicago over the summer. I’ll show you pictures if ur good but I’m in every picture **Also, we’ll watch scenes from ‘Mummy 3: Dragon Emperor’ about the terracotta horses and Emperors who think they’re gods……………

DRAFT:Every Chinese Dynasty made its citizens fight in a war if the country was attacked. This is known as THE DRAFT or CONSCRIPTION. The last time America had the Draft was the Vietnam War. Do u think we should bring it back?

The Chinese had SO MANY PEOPLE, that they would just throw peasants into the Army and make them fight for free. You see, China has always been a land of peasants. They have always made up the majority of the population and they were never treated properly by either the Emperor or the government officials.

China has 1.5 BILLION PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!China population in the year ‘0’= 100 million

U.S population= 325,000,000TAXATION:This idea of TAXING the people, either by taking their money, making them work for free, or taking some of their food, has been a around A LONG TIME. The Romans made every conquered territory pay a tax and the Aztecs and the Incas used to make conquered tribes bring them “TRIBUTE” every month; either gold, jewels or food. If you paid your TAX properly they let you live! After all, why even conquer a place if you can’t get any money out of them?!

My ‘tribute’ is made up of Starbucks Gift Cards. Every country you write about is gonna have a tax. - In Broward County, our Sales tax is 6%, in NYC its 8%. - If you make one million dollars per year, your USA yearly Income Tax is around 39%. - In NY, my parents also pay a 10% State Tax.

So this idea of a TAX is something you can use on an essay about ANY empire.

VIETNAM, KOREA AND JAPANEvery single Dynasty the Chinese had would basically try to conquer Vietnam, Korea and Japan. Vietnam and Korea were essentially occupied pretty easily and took a lot of customs from China: Confucianism, Buddhism, Chinese language, Chinese architecture etc. Japan has always been much harder to conquer. The Chinese never really won but they never really lost either. Japan also incorporated Buddhism and the idea of an Emperor and the Japanese alphabet gets a lot of its influence from the Chinese alphabet as well.

THE FALL OF THE HAN DYNASTY----JUST LIKE ROME!!!!1. TOO BIG (JUST LIKE ROME)

2. TOO EXPENSIVE (JUST LIKE ROME)3. TOO HARD TO CONTROL (JUST LIKE ROME)

4. TOO MANY POOR (JUST LIKE ROME)5. TOO MANY WARLORDS!!!!

6. AND THEY TOO WERE INVADED BY NOMADS LIKE THE HUNS EXCEPT THIS TIME IT WAS NOMADS FROM MONGOLIA (JUST LIKE ROME)

WAIT, SO WHY DID THEY FALL? The last Emperor of the Han Dynasty was only 13 yrs. old and who the hell is gonna listen to anyone from the age of 13-16, right??!!!

The Emperor just wasn’t strong enough to keep China united. The next Emperor would have said that he “lost the Mandate of Heaven”. There were LOCAL REBELLIONS and WARLORD UPRISINGS all over the place. Its just too hard to control a massive empire before the advent of cars and cell phones. Also, taxes were always too high and with so many wars that the Han Emperors were always fighting it was just too much for the peasants. Eventually the peasantry, who make up 99% of the population don’t 4get, get upset and start revolts. Keeping a country like China under CENTRALIZED CONTROL is very tough. There are no phones, no e-mails, no Shtrakhmans. What’s an Emperor to do?!

The year the HAN FELL was 220 CE right in the middle of the fall of the Roman Empire.

The nomads, all the warlords, the size of the Chinese Empire, all these factors made it hard to control. Plus, the people are so poor, and treated so harshly, having to build the Great Wall and stuff, that pledging allegiance to the Emperor is not always a sure thing.

ASSIGNMENTS

ASSIGNMENT #1: ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS1. Explain the main principles of Confucianism:

- Explain how Confucianism treated women:

2. Explain the main idea of the Mandate of Heaven

3. What were the various purposes of the Great Wall of China?

4. Explain what a nomad is and why they were so nasty: _________________

5. Explain the significance of the silk road:

6. How did the Chinese treat peasants? Provide 3 examples:

7. Why ‘exactly’ did the Han Dynasty collapse (hint: it’s always kids’ fault!!)

THE CHINESE CIVIL SERVICE EXAM

1. What did you bring with you for the exam?2. What happened if you died during the test?3. What are the subjects?4. How long is the test?5. How long are the SAT’s in China today?6. Why take the Civil Service test?

PART B: SPEECBreak everything I told you about ancient China into SPEEC format.Either use notes, or highlighters, or even just marks on your packets.S: SOCIAL E: ENVIRONMENTALP: POLITICAL C: CULTURALE: ECONOMICPART C: CONFUCIUS

BELOW ARE SEVERAL QUOTES FORM CONFUCIUS. PUT EACH ONE IN YOUR OWN WORDS

A. “A youth, when at home, should be respectful to his elders.  _________________________________________B.  “If a man withdraws his mind from the love of [beautiful women],  and applies it as sincerely to the love of the virtuous men say that he has not learned,  I will certainly say that he has.______________________________________

C.  “Let there be a careful attention to perform the funeral rites to parents,  and let them be followed when long gone with the ceremonies of sacrifice;  then the virtue of the people will resume its proper excellence.”__________________

D. “He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn toward it._________________________________________

I The Master said, “Riches and honors are what men desire.  If they cannot be obtained in the proper way, they should not be held. Poverty and meanness are what men dislike. If they cannot be avoided in the proper way,  they should not be avoided.”_________________________________________

ASSIGNMENT #2: FCAT ESSAY

SHOULD WE PAY KIDS TO DO WELL IN SCHOOL? There are so many students in the United States who cannot read and do basic math, that some schools are starting to pay students to do well.

- They are paying them to do their homework.- They are paying them to do math.- They are paying them to pass AP Tests.- They are even paying them to get an ‘A’.

Examples:

1. In Baltimore, kids get $100.00 if they pass all their EOC Exams.

2. In New York City, you get $500 to pass the Reading and Math FCAT

3. In Atlanta, you’ll get $8.00 per hour to go to Study Hall after school for 15 hours per week!!!!

4. In Los Angeles, Middle School kids get $50.00 for every ‘A’ and $25.00 for every ‘B’

SHORT ESSAY QUESTION: Do you feel that we should be paying students to do well in school

MAP ASSIGNMENT

Grab a blank map from up on the wall and use the purple textbooks to fill in the countries and the capitals

CHINA-BEIJINGJAPAN-TOKYO

SOUTH KOREA- SEOULNORTH KOREA-PYONGYANGTHE PHILIPINNES-MANILLAMONGOLIA-ULAN BATOR

Southeast AsiaVIETNAM-HANOI (HAN-OY)

CAMBODIA-PHNOM PENH (NOM-PEN)LAOS-VIENTIANE

THAILAND-BANGKOK

EXTRA CREDIT ASSIGNMENT Write a poem about China using the words found on the next page. You can fill

in the poem with your own words.

Here is mine:3,4,5,6

Winter, summer, fall and spring7,8,9,10

Angry, sad, joy and love.All are the same!

(YOU CAN LOOK UP WORDS ON YOUR OWN IF U LIKE)

WHEN U R FINISHED, PLEASE MOVE ON TO INDIA: CHAPTER 7.

(This will be the last chapter of Historical Period 2: 600 BCE-600CE. Then, your test!!!!)