ancient china Flashcards
1
Q
What isolated china’s civilisation from the rest of the world?
A
natural barriers
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.
3
Q
name two vast deserts in ancient china
A
gobi and the talimakan
4
Q
What did the gobi and talimakan do?
A
they discouraged invaders and immigrants
5
Q
name three mountain ranges in western china
A
himalaya, tian shan, pamir
6
Q
What waters separated china from its neighbours
A
pacific ocean, yellow sea, east china sea
7
Q
between which two rivers did China’s civilisation arise on?
A
Huang He and Chang Jiang
8
Q
Where does the hunag he lie?
A
northern china
9
Q
What is Hunag he also known as?
A
Yellow river
10
Q
Why is huang he called the yellow river?
A
for its high concentration of yellow silt
11
Q
Where is the yellow silt diposited?
A
along its floodplains, creating good farmland
12
Q
is the huang he predictable?
A
no
13
Q
What are some negative points about huang he?
A
heavy rains cause the river to flood
14
Q
What is the chang jiang also known as?
A
Yangtze river
15
Q
What’s the third longest river in the world?
A
Yangtze river
16
Q
What is a similarity between yangtze and yellow river
A
they both carry fertile yellow silt
17
Q
What’s a difference between yangtze and yellow river?
A
yangtze river maintains a relatively predictable course
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
19
Q
What is the area between the huang he and chang jiang called?
A
north china plain
20
Q
What is the north china plain?
A
It’s the birthplace of chinese civilisation
21
Q
name 3 cultures that developed around the north china plain
A
longshan, liangzhu, honghsan
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
23
Q
What dynasty emerged along the banks of the Huang he?
A
Shang dynasty
24
Q
What’s a dynasty?
A
a line of rulers from the same family
25
What kind of society did the Shang dynasty establish?
a king at the top, warlords next, and farmers at the bottom
26
What did farmers do for china?
they helped advance agriculture in china
27
What did the shang develop?
a system of writing using characters
28
What is the basis for modern chinese writing?
the shang's system of writing
29
Where did the shang's form of writing first appear on?
oracle bones
30
What are oracle bones?
animal bones used to consult the gods they worshipped
31
how were the oracle bones used?
priests carved a question on the bone then heated it. they believed the pattern of cracks revealed the god's answer
32
What did the shang worship?
the spirits of their dead ancestors
33
Why did the shang worship the spirits of their dead ancestors?
they believed these spirits influenced everything from the king's health to farmer's harvests
34
What did priests do to keep spirits happy?
they conducted ceremonies often using bronze vessels
35
What did the shang craftspeople make for the dead?
elaborate tombs
36
Who overthrew the shang?
the zhou
37
What was China's longest ruling dynasty?
the zhou
38
What did the rise of the zhou mark in chinese history?
the beginning of china's classical period
39
What is china's classical period?
a time of great social and cultural advances
40
What concept did the zhou develop?
the Mandate of Heaven
41
What was the mandate of heaven?
a guiding force for rulers
42
What did the mandate lead to?
the dynastic cycle, a pattern in the rise and fall of dynasties
43
name all 6 steps of the dynastic cycle
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
44
What did the zhou establish?
a strong central government
45
What did the zhou do with their land?
they divided it among local lords
46
What happened after the lords received the land?
they grew too powerful, fought with each other, and disobeyed zhou kings
47
What did china descend into?
the warring states period, a time of constant war
48
Who was Confucius?
a teacher and government official
49
What did Confucius believe?
Chinese society was breaking down as a result of constant conflict
50
What did Confucius teach, in an effort to restore order?
he taught people to respect authority and each other
51
What did Confucius's beliefs form the basis of?
Confucianism
52
What 5 relationships did confucianism focus on?
father and son, older brother and younger brother, husband and wife, friend and friend, ruler and subject
53
What 3 things did Confucius promote?
education, family unity, filial piety
54
What does filial piety mean?
the respect children owe their parents and ancestors
55
What is the name of the book collecting Confucius's ideas?
The Analects
56
What was required from governemnt officials?
Confucius's teachings
57
Who founded Daoism?
laozi
58
What does dao mean?
"the way", believed to be the driving force behind everything that exists
59
What is Daoism?
It emphasis living in harmony with nature and the dao
60
How do Daoists seek order and balance in their lives?
By merging and blending with nature
61
What does Legalism emphasise?
Order through strong government and strictly enforced laws
62
Who set down ideas for legalism?
Han Feizi
63
What were Han Feizi's ideas?
Humans are naturally bad and need to be controlled through the threat of harsh punishment
64
What is the daoist yin and yang symbol?
It's used in daoism to show how seemingly opposite ideas form a whole
65
How did China(s warring states period end?
When the leader of the Qin kingdom defeated all the other kingdoms
66
Who was the leader of the qin kingdom
Shin Huangdi
67
What did Shi Huangdi do to the kingdoms he conquered?
He united them to form one empire
68
What did Shi Huangdi base his government on?
Legalist ideas
69
Why did he build magnificent palaces in his capital?
to demonstrate his power
70
What did Shi Huangdi do to China's most powerful families?
He forced them to relocate to his capital so he could keep an eye on him
71
What was the name of Shi Hunagdi's capital?
Xianyang
72
Into how many areas did Shi Huangdi divide his empire into?
36 areas governed by hand-picked officials
73
What 3 things did Shi Hunagdi do, which brought order to China?
standardized unit, brought a writing system and currency
74
What did Shi Hunagdi do to unite his territory?
He has thousands of roads built to link different parts of the empire
75
How were the canals and irrigation projects built?
through forced labor and high taxes
76
What did Shi Huangdi have beside his tomb?
an army of terra cotta warriors
77
How was China's nothern border vulnerable?
nomadic tribes often swept over the border, destroying farms villages and towns
78
79
How was the great wall created?
thousands of peasants, soldiers, and prisoners were forced to build the wall
79
What did the great wall workers die from?
exhaustion, hunger, disease
79
Who was Liu Bang?
a peasant from the han kingdom who seized control and began the han dynasty
79
What happened after Shi Huangdi's death?
his son became emperor, but farmers fueled a bloody rebellion that brought the end of the qin dynasty
79
What changes did the han emperors make?
lowered taxes, ended harsh shi huangdi rules, required lighter punishments for crimes
79
What happened to the wall after Shi Huangdi's death?
it fell into despair, but rulers built and extended it
79
Under Han rule, how much did the peasants have to work?
Only one month per year to build roads, canals, and irrigation systems
80
what did the han rulers establish their government on?
a bureaucracy, in which the appointed officials ran the bureau (offices)
80
What did the han empire follow?
Confucianism
80
What did Han officials have to pass?
an examination testing their knowledge on confucianism
80
What did emperor lu do?
After her husband's death, she placed their young son on the throne, and ruled in his name.
81
What happened to emperor lu's relatives after her death?
they were all executed
82
what did emperor wudi do?
he used military conquests to expand the empire's boundaries
83
Where did merchants, government workers and craftspeople live in the han dynasty?
large houses in cities
84
Where did peasants live in the han dynasty?
Small mud houses in villages
85
What do the chinese call themselves?
people of the han
86
how did chinese people make paper?
from tree bark, plant trees, old rags
87
What did the availability of paper allow for?
ideas to spread further and faster
88
what was paper like?
cheap to produce and easy to write on
89
Which dynasty created the compass?
han dynasty
90
What was the first compass used for?
To determine the best location for burials
91
What did the first compass lead to?
the navigational compass
92
What does the navigational compass allow?
exploration of distant lands
93
name 3 things that were invented thanks to the compass
gps receiver, ww2 radio receiver, sextant
94
Name 3 agricultural inventions
plow, wheelbarrow, harness
95
What is China's most traded good?
silk
96
How did the chinese cast iron?
heating iron until it becomes liquid, then pouring into a mold to solidify
97
How did the invention of paper affects confucianism?
Confucianist ideas were among the first to be spread by paper
98
What did the silk roads begin as?
a network of local overland routes
99
What do the silkroads connect china to?
asia, europe, africa
100
What did the silk roads also include?
maritime (sea routes)
101
What did the mediterranean sea connect to?
Europe
102
What did the Indian ocean connect to?
east africa
103
What did the pacific ocean connect to?
korea, japan, southeast asia
104
How did chinese traders trade?
the passed their goods near kashgar to central asian nomads, who then traded with other merchants
105
What is China's western border?
Kashgar
106
What pack animals were most idea for critical conditions in the silk road?
camels. because they were strong, sure-footed, and tough
107
What did traders on silk roads travel in?
groups called caravans
108
What were the caravans a tempting target for?
bandits and thieves
109
Why was the hard process of making silk worth the trouble?
Since demand for the rare fabric allowed chinese merchants to charge high prices for it
110
How did the chinese government sometimes pay their soldiers?
with silk
111
What did China trade?
paper, lacquerware, items made of iron/bronze
112
What did China trade for?
gold, silver, olive oil
113
What did the Chinese value?
central asian horses
114
Name 2 market towns that sprang up along the silk roads
Kashgar, Changan
115
Name 3 things that were sold in the market town
central aisan rugs, european wool, indian spices
116
What did traders often do?
They bartered
117
What does bartered mean?
exchange items for other goods
118
Why did traders barter?
traders used different currencies, and many had no money on them at all
119
What did the silk roads serve as?
a network for the exchange of inventions and ideas
120
What do you call ideas spreading from one culture to another?
cultural diffusion
121
What chinese ideas spread?
papermaking, metalwork, farming techniques
122
What ideas did the chinese absorb?
buddhism, greek and indian style in sculpture, painting, temple building
