Ancient China Flashcards
1
Q
Rivers & Oceans
A
- Huang He = Yellow River runs from mountains west to Pacific Ocean
- Deposits a yellowish, fertile soil = called loess - Chang Jang = Yangtze River runs from central China east to Yellow Sea
2
Q
Mountains & Deserts
A
- Himalayas to west
- Taklimakan Desert to northwest
- Gobi Desert to north
- Vulnerable to invasion from west & north
3
Q
Fertile Valley
A
- Approx. 1-% land suited to agriculture - “North China plain
- Country’s isolation led to much early self-sufficiancy
- Huange He = called China’s Sorrow bc of disastrous flooding
- Despite changing political boundaries, area remained centre of civilization
4
Q
Taoism
A
- Influenced folk + national belief
- 500 BCE: Philosopher Lao Tzu wrote main book: Tao Te Ching = “The Way and Its Power”
- Collection of poetry sayings
- Guidelines for behaviours + spiritual ways to live in harmony w/ energy
- Ch’i = energy present in + guiding everything - Humans + animals should live in balance w/ the universe
- Believed in spiritual immorality - Spirit of the body joins the universe after death
- Tao = way of the universe
- Yin & Yang = everything is connected + nothing makes sense by itself
- Well-known in the 8th century CE as the religion of the TANG dynasty
5
Q
Confucianism
A
- Confucious = teacher/philosopher (551-479 BCE)
- Followers later recorded his ides
- Focused on ethics & good behaviours
- Ren = humanity - Ancestor worship - shrine w/ offerings + filial piety
- Upheld class divisions + roles
- Golden Rule: “do no to unto other what you would not want others to do until you”
6
Q
Taoism & Confucioanism: Similarities
A
- Part of ‘3 teachings’
- Religion or philosophy???
- Originated from founders
- Behaviours/conduct important
- Believed ppl are essentially good
- Temples used + no god
7
Q
Shang Dynasty
A
(1600 - 1046 BCE)
- ‘Bronze Age’
- Written records
- Ceramics
- Oracle Bones - communication w/ gods
- Calendars, astronomy, maths
- Horse-drawn chariots
- Capital: Anyang - 1st major city + built mostly of wood
- Kings functioned as priests - Shangdi
8
Q
Zhou Dynasty
A
(1046 - 256 BCE)
- 1027 BCE: overthrew the Shang
- Middle Kingdom perspective
- Foreigners = barbarians
- Supreme deity of Tian
- Sun Zi’s Art of War
- Decentralized political system
- Massive construction projects
- Walls, canals, roads
- Soybeans + new strains of rice + wheat
- Confucionism & Taoism
9
Q
Legalism
A
- Philosophy concerned w/ power of state+ elevation of its ruler
- Not concerned w/ ethics or morality
- 3 guiding principles
1. Anything that strengthened the state is justifiable
2. Ruler should be devious to prevent officials/rivals from gaining power
3. Common ppl needed to be completely subjugated- Through harsh punishments or lavish rewards
10
Q
Warring States Period (475-221 BCE)
A
- Overlapped Zhou Dynasty - approx. 300 yrs
- 7 rivals completed for dominance
- Incessant warfare YET great developments in commerce, agriculture, philosophy, + art - Qin state victorious = 1st Unified Chinese state
11
Q
Zhou Dynasty: Mandate of Heaven
Historical Perspective
A
- A just ruler had divine approval
- A wicked/foolish king could lose the Mandate = lose right to rule
- Floods, riots, + other calamities might be signs that ancestral spirits were displeased w/ king’s rule
- Explanation for rebellion, civil war, + rise of a new dynasty
Pattern of rise, decline, & replacement of dynasties = Dynastic Cycle
12
Q
Zhou Dynasty: Feudalism
Historical Perspective
A
- Gave control over diff. regions to members of the royal family + trusted nobles
- A political system where nobles are granted use of land that legally belongs to the king
- In return, nobles owe loyalty + military service to the king + protection to residents
13
Q
Shang Dynasty: Family
Historical Perspective
A
- A person’s loyalty was to their family
- Respect + obedience to rulers & elders
- Family Structure:
- Elder men controlled property + made decisions
- Women were viewed inferior + had to obey father, husband, + sons
- Arranged marriage 13-16
- Having sons = higher status
14
Q
Zhou Dynasty: Tech. & Trade
Change & Continuity
A
- Large constructed walls demonstrate rulers’ ability to raise + control large work forces
- Roads, canals built to stimulate trade + agriculture
- Intro to coined money - further improved trade
- Developed blast furnaces produced cast iron
- Used iron to create weapons (ex. dagger-axes + swords)
15
Q
China’s 1st Dynasties: Historical Significance
A
- Xia Dynasty (2000 BCE): Yu = engineer + mathematician
- Used flood control & Irrigation to make River valley habitable
- Transition to civilization
- Used flood control & Irrigation to make River valley habitable
- Shang Dynasty: 1st family of Chinese rulers to leave written records + tombs in palaces
- Languages: 10 000 characters
- Kinda the same today
- Spoken diff. from written - Time of Warring States
- Amidst bloodshed - traditional values collapsed
- Heart of Chinese civilization-love of order, harmony, + respect for authority replaced w/ chaos, arrogance, + defiance
16
Q
1st Emperor: QIN SHI HUANGDI (260 - 210 BCE)
A
- Personal name: Zheng - King of state of Qin (capital: Xianyang)
- Age 12.5: ascended throne - king under a regent until 238 BCE
- Age 21.5: staged a palace coup + assumed full power
- Abolished feudalism - to avoid warring states
- Divided land into 60 - Died of swallowing mercury pills - meant to make him immortal
- Li Si & chief Zhao Gao persuaded 18th son Huhai to forge the emperor’s will
- Forced 1st son to khs, stripped command of troops from Meng Tian, + killed his family
- Huhai = 2nd emperor
17
Q
1st Emperor: Qin Shi Huangdi
POSITIVES
A
- Unified China economically by standardizing units of measurements
- Continued military expansion to the south + fighting nomadic tribes north + northwest
- Oversaw construction of roads + highways
- Defended borders
- Divided China in 36 states - each had 3 governors
- Govenors constantly moved around so they don’t gain too much power
18
Q
1st Emperor: Qin Shi Huangdi
NEGATIVES
A
- Burned books + executed scholars
- Made everyone dress the same
- Common ppl couldn’t have weapons
- Legalism = he can do wtvr he wants
- Prisoners executed, mutilated, or harsh labour
- 36 states - induced corruption
- Construction of the Great Wall - killed workers
19
Q
Great Wall of China
A
- 13 000 miles long, 16ft wide, 22ft high
- Core of loose rubble + stacked on granite slabs
- 2 billion+ clay bricks
- Approx. 1 million workers (700 000 forced conscripts)
- Approx. 400 000 died = “longest graveyard”
- Died of thirst, injury, hunger, exposure, raids, elevation
- Approx. 400 000 died = “longest graveyard”
- China’s 1st line of defence
20
Q
Terra Cotta Army
A
- 1974: farmer dug for a well = discovered pottery pieces & head
- 7000+ figures
- All unique = facial expressions, hair, clothing, = brightly coloured
- Warriors, archers, cavalry horses
- Diff. weapons/ranks
- Gov officials, dancers, acrobats, animals
- All figures face east = towards conquered territory
- All unique = facial expressions, hair, clothing, = brightly coloured
- Took 36 yrs + 7000 workers to complete
- Used assembly line system for constructing figures
21
Q
HAN Dynasty (206-120 BCE)
A
- Golden era of Chinese culture
- 130 BCE: 1st official trade route w/ west
- The Silk Road - China - Middle East
- Languages, religions, foodstuffs, tech, ideas –> developing cultures - 105 CE: invented refined paper - produced maps
- Irrigation improved by mechanized pumps + wells made more efficient w/ bricks
- Constructed extensive road + better harbours
- Crossbow - more popular + various sizes
- Greater value of cavalry - more dramatic + deadly battlefield
- 31 CE: Abolished universal conscription
- Gov invested 10% of its revenue on gifts to rival states
- Loss of tax revenue - peasantry dissatisfaction + increase of wealth + power aristocracy
- Overthrow Han - splitting China in 3 warring kingdoms
22
Q
Han Dynasty - ART
A
- Wealthy ppl became patrons + consumers of art works
- Demand - innovations + experimentation in art - 1st attempts at realistic human portraits
- Painting + calligraphy - most important areas
- Weaving greatly improved - silk - new foot-powered looms (220 warp threads/cm of cloth)
23
Q
Han Dynasty - EDUCATION
A
- Promotion of philosophies - schools + colleges to promote literacy
- 124 BCE: Imperial Academy established - scholars studied classics
- End of dynasty: Training 300 000 students/yr - Education = mark of a civilized society
- Expenses - limited young ppl access
- Education - possibility of bureaucracy
24
Q
Han Dynasty - LITERATURE
A
Confucianism + Legalism followed (+Taoism)
- Best-documented periods of Chinese history
- Massive rewriting project to preserve knowledge from memory
- writers were selective according to their ideas
- Famous work: Shiji (Historical Records) by Sima Qian - China’s 1st historian
- Descriptions of tech + cultural developments, + biographies
- Canon of Medicine - credited to the Yellow Emperor = record of medicine
25
Q
TANG Dynasty (618-906 BCE)
A
- China - preeminent civilization in East Asia + world
- Capital: Changan - cosmopolitan
- ‘3 teachings’ - Compromised between Confucian family emphasis + filial responsibilities & demands of Buddhist monastic life
- Maintained until 845: emperors limited wealth + economic power of Buddhist monasteries
- Poetry - primary literary form
- Everyone who is literate writes poetry - essential for social comm. - Links Korea - Japan
- Classical languages, script, literature, Buddhism, Confucianism, chopsticks - 1088 irrigation projects, 40 flood-control projects, 27 waterway transportation projects
- Optimization of A chemical Process by Suphuric Method by Sun Simiao (most famous doctor)
- earliest written recond on gunpowder
26
Q
Tang Dynasty: ASTRONOMICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
A
- Developed instruments + tools for observation + measurements
- Li Chun Feng expanded concept of an armillary sphere for mapping heavens to include 3 intersecting rings
- Astronomical administrator, Xi Xing
- Created planetary model
- Led national project to observe, identify, locate stars - concluded length of a degree of the meridan
- 1st astronomer to measure imaginary circle around the earth
- Published most comprehensive + influential calendar in Chinese history - Dan Yun calendar
- Based on understanding of sun’s orbit, calculated new moon, full moon, ongoing movements
27
Q
Tang Dynasty: MEDICINE
A
- Imperial pharmacopeia - Revised Material Medica: 1st recorded worldwide
- Listed 844 medicines in 9 categories w/ illustrations
- 70 yrs later, Chen Zangi compiled Supplements of the Material Medica - intro to 692 medicines
28
Q
SONG Dynasty (960-1279 BCE)
A
- Paper money
- Intro to tea drinking
- Enormous commercial growth
- Urbanization: Chinese cities largest + most sophisticated worldwide
- Rice: staple crop of Southern China- produces a higher yield/acre than wheat
- Supports a larger pop. - Capital: Hangzhou (below Yellow RIver)
- By end of Song: 2/3 - 3/4 of pop. below Yangtze - Grand Canal: facilitating transport of agricultural production from south-north
- Helping unify economy - Extensive star maps + array of complex Astronomical instruments for measuring movement + location of heavenly bodies
- Invented compass + printing
29
Q
Song Dynasty: Gunpowder
A
- Gunpowder tech refined for military purposes
- Introduced to Central Asia, Middle East, Europe by Mongols
- Many kinds of firearms invented + produced in large quantities
- 7000 ordinary arrows, 10 000 crossbow arrows, 3000 barbed packages daily
30
Q
MONGOL Invasions - The Way of War
A
Song Dynasty - Yuan (1271-1368)
- Mounted Archers
- Deception: surprise attacks + ambushes
- Propaganda: exaggerate size of forces
- Invaded Szechuan - spread rumours that 40 000 forces were actually 100 000
- Military Intelligence: Diverse forces
- Adaptability
