ancient china Flashcards

1
Q

What isolated china’s civilisation from the rest of the world?

A

natural barriers

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2
Q

How did the natural barriers influence China?

A

china had little outside cultural influence. It helped unify chinese culture and establish a firm foundation.

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3
Q

name two vast deserts in ancient china

A

gobi and the talimakan

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4
Q

What did the gobi and talimakan do?

A

they discouraged invaders and immigrants

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5
Q

name three mountain ranges in western china

A

himalaya, tian shan, pamir

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6
Q

What waters separated china from its neighbours

A

pacific ocean, yellow sea, east china sea

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7
Q

between which two rivers did China’s civilisation arise on?

A

Huang He and Chang Jiang

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8
Q

Where does the hunag he lie?

A

northern china

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9
Q

What is Hunag he also known as?

A

Yellow river

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10
Q

Why is huang he called the yellow river?

A

for its high concentration of yellow silt

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11
Q

Where is the yellow silt diposited?

A

along its floodplains, creating good farmland

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12
Q

is the huang he predictable?

A

no

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13
Q

What are some negative points about huang he?

A

heavy rains cause the river to flood

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14
Q

What is the chang jiang also known as?

A

Yangtze river

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15
Q

What’s the third longest river in the world?

A

Yangtze river

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16
Q

What is a similarity between yangtze and yellow river

A

they both carry fertile yellow silt

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17
Q

What’s a difference between yangtze and yellow river?

A

yangtze river maintains a relatively predictable course

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18
Q

What influences did the yangtze river have on china?

A

It helped unify china by serving as a useful transportation and trade network

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19
Q

What is the area between the huang he and chang jiang called?

A

north china plain

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20
Q

What is the north china plain?

A

It’s the birthplace of chinese civilisation

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21
Q

name 3 cultures that developed around the north china plain

A

longshan, liangzhu, honghsan

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22
Q

What did the longshan, liangzhu, honghsan cultures contribute to?

A

the development of china’s unique civilisation and to the rise of its earliest rulers- the shang and the zhou

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23
Q

What dynasty emerged along the banks of the Huang he?

A

Shang dynasty

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24
Q

What’s a dynasty?

A

a line of rulers from the same family

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25
Q

What kind of society did the Shang dynasty establish?

A

a king at the top, warlords next, and farmers at the bottom

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26
Q

What did farmers do for china?

A

they helped advance agriculture in china

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27
Q

What did the shang develop?

A

a system of writing using characters

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28
Q

What is the basis for modern chinese writing?

A

the shang’s system of writing

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29
Q

Where did the shang’s form of writing first appear on?

A

oracle bones

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30
Q

What are oracle bones?

A

animal bones used to consult the gods they worshipped

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31
Q

how were the oracle bones used?

A

priests carved a question on the bone then heated it. they believed the pattern of cracks revealed the god’s answer

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32
Q

What did the shang worship?

A

the spirits of their dead ancestors

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33
Q

Why did the shang worship the spirits of their dead ancestors?

A

they believed these spirits influenced everything from the king’s health to farmer’s harvests

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34
Q

What did priests do to keep spirits happy?

A

they conducted ceremonies often using bronze vessels

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35
Q

What did the shang craftspeople make for the dead?

A

elaborate tombs

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36
Q

Who overthrew the shang?

A

the zhou

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37
Q

What was China’s longest ruling dynasty?

A

the zhou

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38
Q

What did the rise of the zhou mark in chinese history?

A

the beginning of china’s classical period

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39
Q

What is china’s classical period?

A

a time of great social and cultural advances

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40
Q

What concept did the zhou develop?

A

the Mandate of Heaven

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41
Q

What was the mandate of heaven?

A

a guiding force for rulers

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42
Q

What did the mandate lead to?

A

the dynastic cycle, a pattern in the rise and fall of dynasties

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43
Q

name all 6 steps of the dynastic cycle

A

1 people believe the gods have approved of the new dynasty
2 the dynasty weakens
3 disaster occurs
4 people believe the dynasty no longer has the approval of the gods
5 dynasty is overthrown
6 new dynasty re-establishes order

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44
Q

What did the zhou establish?

A

a strong central government

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45
Q

What did the zhou do with their land?

A

they divided it among local lords

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46
Q

What happened after the lords received the land?

A

they grew too powerful, fought with each other, and disobeyed zhou kings

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47
Q

What did china descend into?

A

the warring states period, a time of constant war

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48
Q

Who was Confucius?

A

a teacher and government official

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49
Q

What did Confucius believe?

A

Chinese society was breaking down as a result of constant conflict

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50
Q

What did Confucius teach, in an effort to restore order?

A

he taught people to respect authority and each other

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51
Q

What did Confucius’s beliefs form the basis of?

A

Confucianism

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52
Q

What 5 relationships did confucianism focus on?

A

father and son, older brother and younger brother, husband and wife, friend and friend, ruler and subject

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53
Q

What 3 things did Confucius promote?

A

education, family unity, filial piety

54
Q

What does filial piety mean?

A

the respect children owe their parents and ancestors

55
Q

What is the name of the book collecting Confucius’s ideas?

A

The Analects

56
Q

What was required from governemnt officials?

A

Confucius’s teachings

57
Q

Who founded Daoism?

A

laozi

58
Q

What does dao mean?

A

“the way”, believed to be the driving force behind everything that exists

59
Q

What is Daoism?

A

It emphasis living in harmony with nature and the dao

60
Q

How do Daoists seek order and balance in their lives?

A

By merging and blending with nature

61
Q

What does Legalism emphasise?

A

Order through strong government and strictly enforced laws

62
Q

Who set down ideas for legalism?

A

Han Feizi

63
Q

What were Han Feizi’s ideas?

A

Humans are naturally bad and need to be controlled through the threat of harsh punishment

64
Q

What is the daoist yin and yang symbol?

A

It’s used in daoism to show how seemingly opposite ideas form a whole

65
Q

How did China(s warring states period end?

A

When the leader of the Qin kingdom defeated all the other kingdoms

66
Q

Who was the leader of the qin kingdom

A

Shin Huangdi

67
Q

What did Shi Huangdi do to the kingdoms he conquered?

A

He united them to form one empire

68
Q

What did Shi Huangdi base his government on?

A

Legalist ideas

69
Q

Why did he build magnificent palaces in his capital?

A

to demonstrate his power

70
Q

What did Shi Huangdi do to China’s most powerful families?

A

He forced them to relocate to his capital so he could keep an eye on him

71
Q

What was the name of Shi Hunagdi’s capital?

A

Xianyang

72
Q

Into how many areas did Shi Huangdi divide his empire into?

A

36 areas governed by hand-picked officials

73
Q

What 3 things did Shi Hunagdi do, which brought order to China?

A

standardized unit, brought a writing system and currency

74
Q

What did Shi Hunagdi do to unite his territory?

A

He has thousands of roads built to link different parts of the empire

75
Q

How were the canals and irrigation projects built?

A

through forced labor and high taxes

76
Q

What did Shi Huangdi have beside his tomb?

A

an army of terra cotta warriors

77
Q

How was China’s nothern border vulnerable?

A

nomadic tribes often swept over the border, destroying farms villages and towns

78
Q
A
79
Q

How was the great wall created?

A

thousands of peasants, soldiers, and prisoners were forced to build the wall

79
Q

What did the great wall workers die from?

A

exhaustion, hunger, disease

79
Q

Who was Liu Bang?

A

a peasant from the han kingdom who seized control and began the han dynasty

79
Q

What happened after Shi Huangdi’s death?

A

his son became emperor, but farmers fueled a bloody rebellion that brought the end of the qin dynasty

79
Q

What changes did the han emperors make?

A

lowered taxes, ended harsh shi huangdi rules, required lighter punishments for crimes

79
Q

What happened to the wall after Shi Huangdi’s death?

A

it fell into despair, but rulers built and extended it

79
Q

Under Han rule, how much did the peasants have to work?

A

Only one month per year to build roads, canals, and irrigation systems

80
Q

what did the han rulers establish their government on?

A

a bureaucracy, in which the appointed officials ran the bureau (offices)

80
Q

What did the han empire follow?

A

Confucianism

80
Q

What did Han officials have to pass?

A

an examination testing their knowledge on confucianism

80
Q

What did emperor lu do?

A

After her husband’s death, she placed their young son on the throne, and ruled in his name.

81
Q

What happened to emperor lu’s relatives after her death?

A

they were all executed

82
Q

what did emperor wudi do?

A

he used military conquests to expand the empire’s boundaries

83
Q

Where did merchants, government workers and craftspeople live in the han dynasty?

A

large houses in cities

84
Q

Where did peasants live in the han dynasty?

A

Small mud houses in villages

85
Q

What do the chinese call themselves?

A

people of the han

86
Q

how did chinese people make paper?

A

from tree bark, plant trees, old rags

87
Q

What did the availability of paper allow for?

A

ideas to spread further and faster

88
Q

what was paper like?

A

cheap to produce and easy to write on

89
Q

Which dynasty created the compass?

A

han dynasty

90
Q

What was the first compass used for?

A

To determine the best location for burials

91
Q

What did the first compass lead to?

A

the navigational compass

92
Q

What does the navigational compass allow?

A

exploration of distant lands

93
Q

name 3 things that were invented thanks to the compass

A

gps receiver, ww2 radio receiver, sextant

94
Q

Name 3 agricultural inventions

A

plow, wheelbarrow, harness

95
Q

What is China’s most traded good?

A

silk

96
Q

How did the chinese cast iron?

A

heating iron until it becomes liquid, then pouring into a mold to solidify

97
Q

How did the invention of paper affects confucianism?

A

Confucianist ideas were among the first to be spread by paper

98
Q

What did the silk roads begin as?

A

a network of local overland routes

99
Q

What do the silkroads connect china to?

A

asia, europe, africa

100
Q

What did the silk roads also include?

A

maritime (sea routes)

101
Q

What did the mediterranean sea connect to?

A

Europe

102
Q

What did the Indian ocean connect to?

A

east africa

103
Q

What did the pacific ocean connect to?

A

korea, japan, southeast asia

104
Q

How did chinese traders trade?

A

the passed their goods near kashgar to central asian nomads, who then traded with other merchants

105
Q

What is China’s western border?

A

Kashgar

106
Q

What pack animals were most idea for critical conditions in the silk road?

A

camels. because they were strong, sure-footed, and tough

107
Q

What did traders on silk roads travel in?

A

groups called caravans

108
Q

What were the caravans a tempting target for?

A

bandits and thieves

109
Q

Why was the hard process of making silk worth the trouble?

A

Since demand for the rare fabric allowed chinese merchants to charge high prices for it

110
Q

How did the chinese government sometimes pay their soldiers?

A

with silk

111
Q

What did China trade?

A

paper, lacquerware, items made of iron/bronze

112
Q

What did China trade for?

A

gold, silver, olive oil

113
Q

What did the Chinese value?

A

central asian horses

114
Q

Name 2 market towns that sprang up along the silk roads

A

Kashgar, Changan

115
Q

Name 3 things that were sold in the market town

A

central aisan rugs, european wool, indian spices

116
Q

What did traders often do?

A

They bartered

117
Q

What does bartered mean?

A

exchange items for other goods

118
Q

Why did traders barter?

A

traders used different currencies, and many had no money on them at all

119
Q

What did the silk roads serve as?

A

a network for the exchange of inventions and ideas

120
Q

What do you call ideas spreading from one culture to another?

A

cultural diffusion

121
Q

What chinese ideas spread?

A

papermaking, metalwork, farming techniques

122
Q

What ideas did the chinese absorb?

A

buddhism, greek and indian style in sculpture, painting, temple building