History Midterm (China) Flashcards
Like in mesopotamia and egypt, civilisation is invented how?
independently in Northern China in settlements around the yellow river
Agricultural communities would mainly grow what?
Millet (later on, rice)
what kind of animals has china been domesticating?
pigs,cows,dogs… and silk worms
What were some geographical advantages? and what can it cause?
big navigable rivers, useful plants and animals in abundance The yellow river is very powerful and carries huge amounts mid every year: so much so that it raises its bed and its banks …
- This can cause major flooding and be very dangerous for the population …
what were the Chinese elites, and later the Empress concerned about controlling? and how?
control this useful but dangerous force of nature.
- They built canals, retaining wall, using millions of forced laborers to achieve this.
what did the majority of the population do?
agriculture - but the also had to go work on government projects.
what was one of their major projects?
to secure the space of the chinese civilization is the great wall
Who were they trying to keep out by construction the great wall of china
to protect Northern China from nomadic “barbadian” invaders ( xiangnu, huns, mongols, manchus )
what was Qin Shi Huang able to do, in terms of territory?
He was able to extend his rule from his small kingdom of Qin to a large territory including most of Eastern/Northern China today.
What was Qin’s reputation and ideology?
He is remembered as a very harsh ruler, who used the ideology of legalism: so his way of ruling was by using control and violence.
what is despotic growth?
the effective use of state control to discipline society and get things done.
The legalist tradition never went away, but was counterbalanced by what?
the confucian idea that it was better to gently get people to internalize values and moralities that you want them to have.
who was Qin replaced by? and when?
replaced by the Han Dynasty, (206 BCE - 220 CE)
At the time of the Han, a new political idea became popular. What was it?
the “Mandate of Heaven”
Explain the Mandate of Heaven
- It became the responsibility of the Emperor to maintain people and order in the realm - to prevent natural catastrophes.
- If catastrophes happen (bad harvests, floods, epidemics, foreign invasion) maybe the Emperor doesn’t have the support of the Gods, and it’s ok to try to overthrow him.
