China Flashcards
China’s geography
Its territory includes mountains, high plateaus, sandy deserts, and dense forests.
Loess
a loosely compacted yellowish-gray deposit of windblown sediment of which extensive deposits occur
Environmental Challenges
water shortages and pollution, desertification, and soil pollution
1st Chinese Dynasties
Xia Dynasty
Yu
legendary king in ancient China who was famed for his introduction of flood control, his establishment of the Xia dynasty which inaugurated dynastic rule in China
Early cities
Shang Dynasty cities
Chinese culture
The Chinese traditional cultural values of harmony, benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, honesty, loyalty and filial piety are embodied in China’s diplomacy through the concept of harmony, the most important Chinese traditional value.
Chinese Family/Social classes
- Family is a central social institution, respect for parents virtue
- Elder males control family property
- Women expected to obey all men even sons
- King and warrior-nobles lead society and own the land
Religious beliefs/oracle bones
- spirits of the dead ancestors can affect family fortunes
- priest scratch questions on animal bones and tortoise shells
- oracle bones use to consult gods, supreme god, Shang di
Chinese writing
Different languages for the same system, symbols, and numbers
Zhou
Took control in 1027 BC
Mandate of heaven
the belief that just a ruler had divine approval, developed as justification for the Zhou
Dynastic Cycle
Rise and decline of dynasties, a system to go through them
Feudalism
Feudalism as a political entity. Feudalism in ancient China is about enfeoffment, and as a system, it only existed during the Zhou dynasty
