Social Studies China and India Flashcards
Monsoons
A very strong storm where dry wind from the mountains in the winter and wet winds from the summer. It provides a large amount of rain to India.
Mauryan Dynasty
The first Indian empire that was founded by Changragupta Maurya.
Gupta Empire
A dynasty that was made by Chandragupta that lasted for 200 years. The Guptas traded with countries like China and countries throughout the mediterranean.
Hinduism
A religion that teaches Karma, Dharma, and Samsara which is the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. It was founded in India in 2300 BCE.
Buddhism (who is the founder, what are the teachings, where was it founded?)
A religion in Asia that was founded by Siddhartha Guatama. Buddhism was founded in the Indian Subcontinent. The teachings of Buddhism where to focus on ending suffering, and how to end it through the Noble Eightfold Path. Buddhist teachings say that you should focus on the good present and not worry about the bad future.
The Caste System
A system where it rigidly defines which social class you were in or born into and you can not move from the class you’re in. You are not allowed to interact with people outside your caste.
Indus River
A river that gets water from the Himalayas when snow melts in the summer. It was used for agricultural reasons.
Varna (what are each of the varna and which jobs are associated with them?)
Dalits=street cleaners, Shudras=Manual laborers, Vaishyas= farmers and merchants, Kyshatriyas= Rulers and Cleaners, Brahmins=Priests, Kings=academic class
Harappa/Mohenjo-Daro
They were both major cities each holding around 35,000 people; they were made to store food and garbage.
Asoka
The leader of the Mauryan Dynasty that spread Buddhism, built stupas, cared for his people, and built hospitals for his people.
Sanskrit
A language that was used to write down many Aryan poems, songs, and prayers.
Karma
People believe that karma defines what kind of rebirth a person experiences. If someone does good things, they’ll get good karma and if someone does bad things, they’ll get bad karma.
Ganges River
A river that gets water from the Himalayas and it was very important to India.
Silk
A very valuable item that is only found in China.
China Geography (What kind of geography is in China? How much of the land is farmable?)
China has major river valleys which have a lot of water. 10 percent of the land is farmable in the east.
Zhou Dynasty
The dynasty was formed after the Shang dynasty fell, and was the longest ruling dynasty in China. The Zhou king ruled all of China and divided the dynasty in smaller groups which made it easier to rule.
Period of Warring States
A period of time when local rulers that the Zhou gave power to began to ignore the Zhou kings and tried to set up their own kingdoms to get the mandate of heaven for themselves.
Shang Dynasty
The first official dynasty of China. The Shang were spiritual people that needed to treat others well or they would be punished.
Mandate of Heaven
The Mandate of Heaven was an idea that kings were chosen by gods. If life was not good in China, people would believe that the gods wanted the king removed.
Qin Dynasty
A dynasty that was ruled by Qin Shihuangdi. He started ruling this dynasty at 13 years old and he gave himself the title of China’s first emperor.
Legalism (What is it and why did Qin Shihuangdi like it so much?)
Legalism is a philosophy that everyone should follow law and you will be punished if you do not obey the law. Emperor Qin liked this philosophy so much because it gave all the power to him and he can make the punishment for the littlest law death.
Daosim
Laozi was the founder and Daosim is a philosophy that belived all things in nature are connected and it’s a constant cycle. This philosophy said that people were evil.
Qin Shihuangdi
The leader of the Qin dynasty that strongly belived in legalism, he was evil, and he killed 400,000 people building the Great Wall of China. He centralized China’s Government power and he built the terracotta warriors to guide and protect him when he went to the afterlife.
Confucianism
Confucious made in philosophy that no matter who you are or what you do, treat others the way you want to be treated. This philosophy belived people were good.
The Great Wall of China
A wall built to protect China from bandits and around 400,000 people died when building it. Emperor Qin was the leader to build it, practically enslaving everyone to build it for him.
