The Unification Of China (104-107)

Question 1

Who was Confucius?

Answer 1

• China’s most influential scholar, lived in the Zhou decline
• Believed in Confucianism

Question 2

Filial piety

Answer 2

Confucius believed children should have respect for their parents and ancestors- devotion to parents during lifetime

Question 3

What is Confucianism?

Answer 3

• RIGHT VS WRONG
• Social order, harmony, and good government should be based in family relationships
• Respect for parents and elders is important to a well-ordered society
• Education is important both to welfare and of the individual and to society

Question 4

What is Daoism?

Answer 4

• KNOWLEDGE/ UNDERSTANDING OF NATURE
• The natural order is more important than the social order
• A universal force guides all things
• Human beings should live simply and in harmony with nature

Question 5

What is Legalism?

Answer 5

• POLITICAL
• A highly efficient and powerful government is the key to social order
• Punishments are useful to maintain social order
• Thinkers and their ideas should be strictly controlled by the government

Question 6

What is a bureaucracy?

Answer 6

A trained civil service, those who run the government

Question 7

Who is Laozi?

Answer 7

• Chinese thinker
• Believed in Daoism
• Wrote a book about it

Question 8

Who were two main founders of of Legalism?

Answer 8

Hanfeizi and Li Si

Question 9

What was I Ching?

Answer 9

• A book of oracles to solve ethical or practical problems
• Readers used the books by throwing a set of coins, interpreting the results, then reading the appropriate oracle/prediction
• Helped people lead a happy life- good advice and simple common sense

Question 10

What was the concept of yin and yang?

Answer 10

• Two powers that together represented the natural rhythms of life, compliment each other
• Yin- cold, dark soft, mysterious
• Yang- warm, bright, hard clear
• Helped people understand how they fit into the world

Question 11

What was the “warring states period”?

Answer 11

By the end of the Zhou dynasty, China had descended into chaos

Question 12

What happened because of the “warring states period”?

Answer 12

• China moved away from its ancient values of social, harmony, and respect for authority
• Chinese scholars developed a number pf solutions to restore these values

Question 13

What are the 5 fundamental relationships of Confucianism?

Answer 13

1. Ruler to subject
2. Father and son
3. Husband and wife
4. Older brother to younger brother
5. Friend to friend

Question 14

How did Confucianism affect Chinese government?

Answer 14

Confucius believed that:

• the government should lead the nation in virtue by serving as the epitome of virtue
• there should be social class distinctions because harmony is based on the balance of different roles
• chaos would ensure people didn’t behave according to their role (gender, class, age etc)
• ability would determine social role and standing (talented = advance in society)