Chapter 6-Ancient China Flashcards
Huang He
yellow river; china’s sorrow or river
of sorrows
jade
a hard jemstone
oracle
prediction
oracle bones
bones with questions written on them that are heated and then priests will make predictions from the cracks
lords
people of high rank
peasants
farmers with small farms
ethics
moral values
confucianism
the ideas of conucius
Confucius
the most influential teacher in Chinese history
Confucius’ teachings
moral leadership, not laws brought order to china; chinese need to return to ethics; king should lead by example; respect and loyalty in the family
daoism
stressed living in harmony with the dao
legalism
the belief that people are bad by nature an need to be controlled
laozi
most famous daoist teacher; wrote basic text of daoism the way and its power
mandate of heaven
idea that heaven gave power to the king or leader and no one could rule without heaven’s permission
dynastic cycle
come to power; rule; fall from power; repeat with different ruler
zhou dynasty
the longest lasting dynasty in chinese history
Shi huangdi
Qin king Ying Zheng who changed name to Shi huangdo because it means first emperor; unified china with policies and strict laws
Qin dynasty
united china under one government
Great wall
a barrier that linked earlier walls across china’s northern frontier
han dynasty
chinese dynasty lasting more than 400 years
sundial
uses the position of shadows cast by the sun to tell the time of day
seismograph
device used to measure the strength of earthquakes
shang dynasty
king was center of political and religious life; organized social order; china’s first writing system
acupuncture
the practice of inserting fine needles through the skin at specific points to cure disease or relive pain
silk
soft, light, highly valued fabric
silk road
this 4000 mile long network of routes stretched westward from china across asia’s deserts and mountain ranges through the middle east until it reached the mediterranean sea
diffusion
the spread of ideas from one culture to another
