history 8: early China
Terms
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- desert
- Gobi: east of Tian Shan mountains
- What special powers did Shang kings have?
- They could call upon ancestors. Oracle bones: They had a priest scratch a question in an animal bone or tortoise shell, then heated it, when the bone cracked, the priest would read the pattern of cracks to answer the king's question.
- What is Anyang?
- One of the 7 capital cities of the Shang Dynasty. A palace and temple was at the center of the city, public buildings & homes of government officials circled the royal sanctuary, outside city center was workshops & other homes.
- China's coastline
- on the east China touches the Pacific Ocean
- What religious duties did Shang kings perform?
- As high priests they communicated with nature deities on behalf of the people. They prayed and made sacrifices to bring a good harvest, change weather or win a battle.
- another name for Yellow River
- "the Great Sorrow" because of the traged caused by its floods.
- China: civilization -
- Oldest continuous civilization in the world.
- Huang He Valley civilization
- like river valleys of Egypt, the Fertile Crescent and South Asia, there was settlement here from early times
- What happened if a ruler lost his mandate?
- If there were poor crops or losses in battle, the ruler lost his mandate and someone else started a new dynasty. It was probaly a convnient way to overthrow an unpopular dynasty.
- North China Plain
- in eastern China / fertile river valleys good for farming / for centuries Chinese have farmed here / good climate: melting snow, monsoon rains feed Yellow River / floods from Yellow River leave silt deposits & make land rich for farming
- Myths: deeds of larger than life rulers
- Yao:a person in the form of a mountain / Shun: the master of elephants
- What was Wu's dynasty called and how long did it last?
- It was called Zhou and it ruled China for 800 years.
- What was the first known example of writing in China?
- The scratching on the oracle bones.
- China's geography
- It is varied so affected China's historical development.
- Shang
- first dynasty to be dated from written records / ruled China 1700 BC - 1000 BC
- What ancient things were found in Huang He Valley ?
- traces of Neolithic life: Yang-shao culture: painted pots / Lung-shan culture used a potter's wheel
- mountain ranges
- 1. Himalayas: SW / 2.Kunlun Shan: W / 3.Tian Shan: W
- What is the Mandate of Heaven?
- The Chinese believed that their rulers governed according to a principe known as the Mandate of Heaven.
- Who was Wu and what did he do?
- Wu was a ruler of a former NW Shang territory. He marched on the capital and killed the Shang king. He established a new dynasty.
- Pan Gu / ancient myth
- giant who hatched from a egg - the universe was created from his body
- Chinese myths -
- created myths to explain their past / also celebrated hero-kings
- Huang He (Yellow River)
- more than 2,900 miles long: from north highlands to Yellow Sea / As flows downstream river picks up loess (rich yellow soil) and deposits it downstream, that's where it gets its name, / These silt deposits made North China Plain a rich agricultural area.
- Did many people use the script?
- Few people could master all the characters and few could read or write
- What were the cultural developments of the Shang Dynasty?
- 1. written script 2. metal casting skills: produced some of the finest bronze objects ever made: daggers, figures, urns, ceremonial cauldrons 3. carved fine ivory & jade statues 4. wove silk 5. made pottery from kaolin, a fine white clay
- Shang kings
- political leaders / performed religious duties / had special powers
- Chinese called their homeland -
- the middle kingdom (Chinese thought they were center of the world)
- What was the writing like on the oracle bones?
- script with may characters / characters represented objects, ideas and sounds written in vertical columns / writer had to memorize script
- Where did Shang kings rule?
- a small part of northern China and most of Huang He Valley
- Rivers of eastern China
- 1.Huang He (Yellow River) 2. Chang Jiang (Yangtze) 3. Xi Jiang (West River)
- How did physical features affect cultural development?
- The physical features isolated China from other cultures. Cultural diffusion was not possible in and out of China for centuries
- When did the Mandate of Heaven first appear?
- During the Zhou dynaasty.
- Yu the Great
- Mythic engineer / founded China's first dynasty named Xia around 2000 BC / no evidence of Xia has been found
- What is a mandate?
- an authority to rule
- What building developments happened during the Shang Dynasty?
- The Chinese built their first cities. 7 capital cities have been identified.