Questions 200-300 Flashcards
What reason did the anthropologist, Marvin Harris, suggests as a reason for cannibalism in Aztec society, i.e., “cannibal kingdoms”?
Lack of protein; Aztecs lacked domesticated animals to substitute for human sacrifices.
Where was the capital of the Inca empire?
Cuzco
What is the term used to describe the system that required Inca communities to work on state projects?
Mita system
What economic occupation common to most civilizations was virtually absent in Inca society?
Merchants
The Incas did not have a writing system as we know it, but they did have a system of communicating information. Describe and name this system.
Quipu- knotted strings
Approximately how many Indians inhabited the Americans before the Spanish conquest?
72 million
Much like the Qin and Han dynasties, the reunification of China in the late 6th century began with a dynasty that reunited China, but was quickly replaced by a more long-standing dynasty that ruled for another 300 years. Name these two dynasties.
Sui and Tang
What were the capitals of the Sui and Tang dynasties?
Loyang and Changan
What great construction project was undertaken by the Tang?
Grand Canal
Name two regions conquered by the Tang that had never before been ruled by China.
Central Asia, Korea, Vietnam
What was the relationship between the Tang imperial family and the Turkic tribes on China’s frontier?
Li Yuan, Duke of Tang was of Chinese-nomadic origins.
China conquered many nomadic groups who had previously threatened the empire.
Frontier forces were recruited from Turkic nomads.
What title did the Tang emperors take?
Heavenly khan
Whose reign marked the height of Tang power and was characterized by the famously tragic love affair?
Xuanzong
Who founded the Song dynasty?
Zhao Kuangyin/ Emperor Taizu
What was the one rival in Northern China that the Song dynasty failed to conquer, and what group of people did represent?
Liao dynasty/ Khitan
What is the term used to describe peoples who are not Chinese, but adopt Chinese culture?
Sinified/sinification
Name two reforms introduced by Wang Anshi?
Loans Government irrigation projects Agricultural expansion Tax landlords and scholars Established mercenary military forces rather than peasants Reorganized university education
What group overthrew the Liao dynasty of the Khitan and established the Qin kingdom and forced the Song to flee to southern China?
Jurchens
What was the capital of the Southern Song dynasty?
Hangzhou
What financial innovations were developed during the Song dynasty?
Deposit shops (banks)
Paper money
Flying money
What school of thought is Zhu Xi most closely associated with?
Neo-Confucian
What practice best exemplifies the reduced status of women in the Song era?
Foot binding
What art forms are the Tang and Song eras famous for respectively?
Tang- poetry and short stories
Song- landscape painting
Name two innovations of the Tang and Song that are considered typical of Chinese civilization today.
Tea drinking
Upturned roofs
Rice terraces