Ancient China Flashcards
Rivers & Oceans
- 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
Mountains & Deserts
- Himalayas to west
- Taklimakan Desert to northwest
- Gobi Desert to north
- Vulnerable to invasion from west & north
Fertile Valley
- 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
Taoism
- 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
Confucianism
- 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”
Taoism & Confucioanism: Similarities
- Part of ‘3 teachings’
- Religion or philosophy???
- Originated from founders
- Behaviours/conduct important
- Believed ppl are essentially good
- Temples used + no god
Shang Dynasty
(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
Zhou Dynasty
(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
Legalism
- 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
Warring States Period (475-221 BCE)
- 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
Zhou Dynasty: Mandate of Heaven
Historical Perspective
- 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
Zhou Dynasty: Feudalism
Historical Perspective
- 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
Shang Dynasty: Family
Historical Perspective
- 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
Zhou Dynasty: Tech. & Trade
Change & Continuity
- 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)
China’s 1st Dynasties: Historical Significance
- 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
